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I did get up at five a.m. to photograph this rose-toned moon the other morning. It hung so heavy in the sky before it gave up any more ideas of floating and sank into the trees.

Walking over to the house paid off two days ago with the discovery of insulation being almost completely installed.

But while there was nothing new happening I did find things on the site to draw in my building book.

This morning I headed over to the river. It was so high with not much movement, that there was a smell of rotting plant life. But still beautiful to see early in the morning. I won’t even bother to walk on the downstream path because that is bound to be covered with overflow.

And the garden at the foot of the bridge.

On the walk this morning a couple passed me from behind. From under his t shirt flowed the perfect pattern of diagonally plaited basket weaving….down both arms to the wrist. I couldn’t help but wonder if the pattern curved around and down his chest to finish in a large potato basket on his stomach. But enduring the pain of all that to end up with potatoes just did not seem logical, and I was happy not to have asked him. Tattooing is beyond me. The pain and that creepy blue of impending doom…..

I have called the moving company wondering if I should get on a list for an undetermined date in August. They said not to do that yet and to wait til mid July to see if I have something affirmative from the builder. So far no one is scheduled in August. They have worked with my builder before and know he is pretty accurate in his estimates.

Then I asked my electric company how I change accounts from here to there and what could they recommend about their internet service. Simple, just call when I am ready and they have a plan that is sure to give good internet at a much lower rate than I now pay for an outside company. This moving just gets simpler and simpler. All I need to do is tape together more boxes and fill them.

And before I could stop myself I bought two more books this week. I read about Suzanne’s on a FB feed from an Asheville, NC gallery where she will be giving a talk. I had seen her work and admired her dedication to documentation. In fact while I was doing a two week artist residence she came down for one week to record the Nature of the area. So, while I was on the internet ordering her book, I added my one and only Beatrix Potter. One artist draws the brutal reality of road kill and the other dresses her little animals in perfect attire for wandering about in their homeland.

Both of them make me want to draw, draw, draw. I think the last thing in a box to be moved will be my pencils and watercolors. I am missing Burke and Wills while they are safely tucked into that old field portfolio. But I need uninterrupted time to get back to their story.

I started to read Suzanne’s book this morning. Only meaning to read the preface…but found it hard to put down. I can appreciate how she says the art is not enough and needs her words to complete the story. And I so admire those Nature artists who spend so much time with research and live (or dead) specimens. It is a good book and more than worth the twenty dollars it costs.

It makes me wonder if I should take one of my blank journals, made before I packed up the studio, and dedicate it to documenting all I see in the meadow between my new house and the gym. In just the few months I have been walking through there it has changed so much. And it would be perfect timing to start in late summer to see the landscape and all it supports die off only to re emerge next spring and peak into full bloom like it was earlier this month.

It is going to be another hot humid day…..pack boxes or read?

Til later….

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…