Time Again…..

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Where did the four days go? If I don’t write a blog today then the photos and thoughts just pile up.

Saturday was my birthday. I usually make my bed as soon as I vacate it, but was so taken by how inviting it looked to just get back in… I didn’t.

I am in the third day of my 79th year.

So I have watched the second hearing of the January 6 Insurrection, had some lunch or maybe just some crackers, washed the dish detergent  bottle because there was some dirt in the grooves, thought about packing some more boxes, books preferably, but instead just ordered two more books…Suzanne Stryk’s In the Middle of Somewhere, and a hardbound on the drawings, illustrations and artwork of Beatrice Potter. They will come in two days and sit next to a book I bought last week, Making a Life by Melanie Falick. I can’t settle down to just opening them up and reading…I just wanted them to give me places and things to think about when I can get back to drawing in a designated place.

But in my defense, I worked out at the gym, walked the dam, grocery shopped and picked up a breakfast drink before settling in for the hearings.  Now I poured a glass of wine to prattle on here. Speaking of which, I found these in the grocery store and had to bring them home at only $7 each. This was the first Australian wine I ever had a chance to buy here in the states and although it probably is not the best, it does have a sentimental value. But it is true what that snooty wine shop owner told me years ago in New South Wales, “You Americans will buy anything with a critter on it.”

Aged in barrels it says…probably its second week of fermentation and then bottled for the US. And can you believe I am saving these for a special occasion while I sip a box red.

Back to the last few days….Walks. This morning the dam…

And a couple of days ago over to the house,

All lined up correctly.

Hot and cold for master bath shower. And drawn in the book…

Getting older makes me think about holding onto memories. Probably has something to do with leaving this house…Anyway I did write a very short short story and if it was not so terribly hot and humid at noon today, I would have gone out to lose myself like Lillian in the grasping of memory with shadow. I do have two shirts to iron so I can touch base with her that way.

Four more boxes were packed yesterday. About all that is left in the studio is the empty shelves that will follow me over to new walls only to hold the same old things.

The fixit man came the other day and did everything he needed to do, and a new bathroom faucet has been ordered for the guest bathroom vanity, so he will be back to finish this week.

Tomorrow I will go back to the house to see what might be new there. I am hoping insulation at least. It is getting harder to find things to draw.

At 4:30 this morning there was the most beautiful big fat orange moon setting on the horizon while giving a wonderful glow to the bed. I am going to watch it float about tomorrow morning before making the bed, feeding the cats, taking my shower, dressing, wondering about makeup and hair, remembering that splash of Jean Nate before heading back off to the gym, a visit with old men and coffee before coming back to the ironing I just postponed while doing this blog and drinking two thirds of the glass of wine.

Til later….

Keeping Focused

Posted on by Sandy Webster

The early morning walks are the perfect place to start. Especially going to see what, if anything, has progressed on the house.

I love the walk through the meadow from the gym…and the details are changing in the grasses.

I got to visit with two electricians. One tells me that they do not place the dining room ceiling lights until after I move in so he can see where the table is placed. I think that is such a nice idea. He said he will give me a couple of weeks of living there to decide where that table will stay. And we went over again where all the switches go for turning things on in one place and off in another. The dimming switches will be added later depending on which lights I want to be able to turn down. He has a good eye and pointed out that you don’t want a four switch box paired with a three switch box….keep the switch plates even. And how he wanted to realign the heat vent in the ceiling with where he is placing the recessed ceiling light in the foyer…you don’t want a crooked line when you glance up.

The other electrician helped me make sure that upright two by fours were where I needed them to hang heavy pieces and told me about how he helped a lady hang all her African masks in a stairwell. Nice fellows.

I love how the electric wire spool is put on this roller tool to just pull off what is needed.

There is now a shortage of electrical boxes making it hard on builders and electricians. Luckily mine are already here.

And put in place. Now the house is ready for the insulation and drywall (sheet rock).

Another walk to the dam.

And this morning back on a very overflowing river!

I have packed up more boxes in the office and up here in the living room, dining room and some pictures off the walls in a bathroom. Once the things come off the walls I get out my paint and dab at all the holes and scratches that have become exposed.

It isn’t just dust that clings to these things but the memories as well. I don’t dwell, just cover them all up with bubble wrap or paper and then into a box and taped up tight. The dust and memories will still be there when I unwrap them in new surroundings.

I miss writing. I was going to go to a writers’ group this evening but changed my mind. Writing is such a solitary thing, an emotional outlet, a way to fix a thought on a page…a story. I wish I could get back to my short story about a woman alone and the things that give her comfort. I don’t need to share a part of her story with others who may interpret the sharing as asking for suggestions or input as to what happens next. Only the woman knows and she only shares that with me when the time is right. I just miss her and wonder what is happening as she hovers above the page. When all my things are in boxes and there are several cloudy moody days in a row can she and I have that conversation.

What gives me such a good escape right now is the drawing in my house building book. When I thumb through it I can see so much progress on the house. New pages this week.

Last night I had dinner out with friends and then lunch today with two other ones. The leftovers from both meals will become dinner tonight. I will have wine as well, and be glued to the television coverage of the January 6 Committee’s exposure of what truly was a dark time for our country. I watched the Watergate Hearings, the Clarence Thomas confirmation to the Supreme Court that exposed how little the powers that be believe women, the Clinton impeachment process, the two impeachments of a despicable president still pulling strings of the weak….so I will watch this as well. And what strikes me as so obvious is that by far the sorriest behavior lands squarely in the lap of Republicans. Their attraction to greed and power seems limitless….and always at the cost of those less fortunate.

So I am off to pour a glass of wine and think of the moral compasses so many other countries hold dear….

Til later…

 

 

Packing Up – I Thought I Downsized!!!

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Back on the river…practicing my social skills. Two women coming toward me stop. One asked me if she knew me because I looked familiar. I gave her my name and she said, no, must be someone else. Before they moved on I asked her name. She gave it and I said that now we know each other. She found that funny. And of course, by now, we have both forgotten. But for me it was another big step to talk to someone.

Poor trees…reaching out, waving all their new leaves…it gets to be too much! The river is very high and more trees may just give in to the wet and topple in.

And then the things I couldn’t help bring back home. Goose feather and “Tennessee Toothpicks” that are really the centers of tulip poplar blooms.

They mow a path from my new place over to the soccer fields and gym I go to.

When I checked the house Thursday only this black pipe seemed new in the building process.

The builder says August 15 is a good date to move in…..but “Don’t hold me to it.”      I won’t.

After the inspection last week and what looks like a sure sale of the house, I started packing up more.

There was little to no sadness taking the things down and packing them in boxes. It is time to start again. Some pieces were very, very dusty! I will have to get someone, a tall someone, to come and climb a ladder to hand down the rest. This piece I found in the entry was pretty packed with dust. I took a damp paper towel to get a good look at it.

I bought a large gourd, drew on it, then covered the drawing with basswood inner bark that I had stripped to make cordage and baskets in the eighties. Then I burned in designs on the basswood strips. Next other dried plant fibers and cornhusks after making a clay face and coiled hat.

Finished off with coconut and clay beads from Africa that my irresistible importer tempted me with. All together, The Gourd Woman makes a nice rattly chatter when handled.

So she will come along with me as a reminder of those days when I loved the natural fibers of the basket making world.

There is a large carton, never unpacked, down in the storage room. It will go back north when the U Haul truck goes with all that the kids and Marla are taking home. This morning on our weekly call, they wanted to know what was in it. So I looked.

A frame Lee made fallen away from its painting and a watercolor copy someone, his mother or aunt did.

A painting of a barn I did in 1981. Wallpaper across the back kept the frame attached.

Crewel work I did when the kids were very young. I liked drawing with yarn back then….or they more likely are my mothers because she loved doing these on visits.

Puzzles, lincoln logs, leggos, clay blocks, and those sticks and wheels with holes (I forgot what they are called).

Patrick’s wood carving signed and dated on the back when he was twelve years old.

Another water color copy to make a pair and another pair of Godey girl prints, nicely framed and from Lee’s side of the family.

All of it goes north and between the three of them, it will be taken care of.

Why do we keep things that we really would not want. It must be that someone in the family made it. These things are the physical evidence of what they loved doing. Are we supposed to keep these unopened boxes forever? Drag them from house to house only to stuff them into basements and attics? No, they are not coming with me on this next trip. There is just enough space for the things I love looking at, touching, reading, caressing…..And later on my children will have to deal with every one of those things. Just not now.

Til later…

 

 

Catching Up On Past Four Days

Posted on by Sandy Webster

Walking over to the new house the past couple of days have had good results. I have met more new neighbors including the man next door who moved in three weeks ago, and two women who were most welcoming. The heat and air ducts have advanced a bit and the electrician will likely be there today. Talked with my builder and he says likely mid August for a move in date.

Even the meadow grasses are adding new interesting things to catch my eye.

I have spent quite a bit of the day with the two realtors involved, new owners and the house inspector. He is still here now going over the shop and apartment. He arrived at eight o’clock this morning. A most pleasant fellow. I promised the new owners that I would quit feeding the deer as of now. They are planning on doing lots of gardening and the deer have eaten so much of the plantings the yard man has put in. I just kept doing the early dawn feedings because it was something Lee and I always did. Time to stop and let them go elsewhere for handouts.

Since I do not have to worry so much about showing the house, I have begun to address the things on walls and shelves. The first to get down was the long African textile that hung in the stairwell. I bought it from a textile author and importer who came to textile forums in Australia. I just had to have it because I had never seen one this long….a Kuba skirt length from Zaire. At the time Australian dollars were somewhat depressed so he was offering very good prices in sympathy with the economy of the time. It even became a better deal when I offered US dollars in cash which were much better for him to use internationally. It has hung in every home since.

I had to get help to take it down so I could unstitch it from the stained and framed cloth.

Then the unpicking of stitches….

Then a quick rinse to remove dust before hanging out on the deck to dry.

I have pressed all nine plus feet of it and rolled it onto a 2″ carved wooden dowel to move to the new house and fill a wall at the end of a hallway.

Now I have something to talk about that hit me as just plain wrong…not school shootings, not the pathetic ignorance we suffer from, but something else.

A few weeks ago I was asked along with about twenty others to send images of my shifu works for a new book that would be coming out about shifu threads in artwork. Because I was busy with house matters, I neglected to get onto it immediately. And of course I looked up the author requesting images of the works. The other day I had time to send pictures and hoped I was not too late in submitting them for her book.

Within two days here was her response:

“Hi Sandy,

Thanks so much for the photos of your lovely artwork! Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure I won’t be pursuing a book on this topic. The artists I’ve contacted all have beautiful pieces, but everyone has chosen to work with neutral colors and the book would be too monochromatic to garner attention from potential readers.”

I was dumbfounded and wrote back that I found that the most bizarre reason not to pursue publishing a book that I had ever heard!

Her response:

 “I know. Wish it were different. This would be my 5th book so I know what publishers like and don’t like. Sigh.”

Good grief! It is not colorful enough to warrant being published! Thank goodness these shallow requirements did not apply when Susan Byrd published the definitive book on shifu, A Song of Praise for Shifu. 

I am not sure I would be interested in purchasing a book that only existed because of it’s brightly colored images and not the information it might offer the reader. If this were a true criteria for publication there would be very few books on drawing, printmaking and many other arts and crafts that do not rely on color for the recognition they receive.

Pathetic!

Til later…..