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I wanted to add a swallowtail butterfly to the second page. It was not easy to do and I was glad to get to the point of saying, “That’s enough.”

Now I have finished a screech owl (grey phase), little meadow mouse and a large squirrel hiding among the leaves. On the next page I will do the deer standing in the bush and a small chipmunk with maybe another bird to finish off those paired pages.  A Carolina wren was stuck on the porch today and I had to let him out. He would be a good subject. This is really fun.

And a catch up on the drawings a day with haiku.

I welcome winter

months with a goblet of wine

that has been heated.

( just now re-reading that, the syntax is off…the wine is heated, not the goblet. I will go back and fix it.)

 

A ridiculous

drinking mug because it soon

hits you in the nose!

 

We remove the stick

to roll down his back just to

hear him call in Spring.

 

The frog gets dizzy

as he’s swirled into circles

just to hear him croak.

 

It dips into pans

of boiling water to catch

the food cooked just right.

 

Whack on the corners

of lids that will not open.

Then just unscrew them.

 

I like looking around the kitchen for pieces to draw. We are spending lots of time there cooking up some soups for now and later. A neighbor has brought over some of the best soups and sauces I have ever had. Now I have some of her recipes. It is nice having someone be that thoughtful. It saves having to think of what to fix for dinner. No one else is doing that for us so it is doubly appreciated.

This past week a woman in the grocery store told me that I looked familiar and asked my name. Then she told me were neighbors and I remembered her. When I first came to Brasstown to teach at the Folk School in 1988 she took my class. She was talking about her grandchildren back then. I told her that she didn’t look old enough for grandchildren and that she looked more like her own children’s babysitter. She laughed at that. I then told her that most Southern women I met are very youthful looking and maybe when she got older, it would all go bad at once. I have to say that these women are charmed. She looks just as good thirty one years later. I don’t know whether it is their Baptist faith, their close families or the water….whatever it is works quite well for them.

Yesterday I had all new tires put on the car. One more thing that I don’t have to worry about if the roads get slippery with winter coming on. Also yesterday the steam mechanism in our sauna shower decided to just turn itself on whenever it wanted. I couldn’t get it to turn off without jamming a hard pair of scissors at what looked like the on/off button. I called the fixit man and he came over, just went to the breaker box and threw the switch over. We didn’t use the steam part of the shower except maybe once or twice. Why it would take it upon itself to just start on its own is beyond me.

Lee used to know how to handle these things. Now I don’t even bother to tell him. It is too confusing for him and he will have thankfully brief thoughts of taking care of the problem. Speaking of which I finished the fourth hand and have outlined another one.

He has trouble with seat belts, can no long figure out how to push the on button to make coffee, mixes up where the silverware goes, can’t work his jacket zipper, misses some buttons at times, needs help with the batteries to the leaf blower, and finally has stopped noticing that the toilet needs flushing. But other than that, things are fine. He loves going out to lunch at the brewery, can strip a rotisserie chicken pretty well, dry dishes if only to stack them on the counter, can take his shower and get dressed while I am at the gym but only if I have laid out his clothes, and is in good spirits most of the time….almost all of the time.

But as you can see I am ready for whatever comes next.

Til later.

 

Our son, Patrick, came down for a week and one of his jobs at Thanksgiving is to help me get another unusual Christmas tree put in place. This year we featured all the reindeer of my iron animal collection.

And even the next morning it still looked okay to us.

Now I am waiting for an order of batteries to come so they candles can light up. Remember when we used matches, wicks and wax?

Also I am going to show the drawings a day with haiku before some pictures of my new project.

From the oven comes

The Second Best Malt Cookies

I Have Ever Had.

 

I think this is a

sweet potato but maybe

it could be a yam.

 

I was told that these

nests of pasta hold their shape

while boiling – Nonsense!

 

I pulled my pasta

back into a nest before

piling on the sauce.

 

Some Turkish coffees

are not as good as those with

extra cardamom.

 

These woven strainers

make teas taste much more

like they’re supposed to.

Only the nests of

partridges remain in our

pear-filled Christmas tree.

 

Reindeer are coming.

Some on rockers to gather

near the Christmas tree.

And now for the new project! I really like doing these drawings a day and wanted to do some more work like this. And since I brought my watercolors upstairs from the studio to make white line Christmas cards I needed to find something more to paint.

So down in the studio I found this perfect book made by Lorraine O’Brien from Australia. I bought it from her when she was a student at Halls Gap a couple of years ago. It is simply gorgeous and packed full of contact prints of Eucalyptus leaves….lots of accordion bound pages. Here is the outside cover.

And here is what I am doing. It was inspired by an artist that I saw on facebook who was painting butterflies into her contact prints. I wish I had saved her name. And it is similar to what I was doing a few years ago when I drew into the marks of my books about Lost Time and Down the Rabbit Hole.

 

I gathered up all my Nature guide books to fill the pages with only the animals, birds and insects that we have here where I live.

Here on page one is a song sparrow, convergent lady bug and on the next page a woolly bear caterpillar.

I have drawn in very loosely for several pages so I can keep on painting. Some of them will take lots of time to do.

Next pages have a screech owl peeking out of what could be a split in a tree and a field mouse down below. Opposite is a caterpillar and chrysalis.

After that a white tail deer and squirrel. And next will have a large Imperial Moth spreading its wings in the center fold.

Those little triangle shapes at the bottom of the pages are actually folded up pockets. Much as I look at it, I can not figure out how Lorraine got those pockets there! But I will use them to put a bit of information on whatever is painted on that page. Isn’t this a great idea? It is going to keep me busy and smiling all winter and I can do it all while sitting with Lee upstairs.

I ordered some new watercolors the other day. Over eighty dollars for just six tubes of Daniel Smith Extra Fine ones….luscious colors.

Thank you, Lorraine, for this wonderful book and thank you for all the kindnesses via emails/messages during some difficult times here. I will miss you all so much this next year at Halls Gap.

Lee got to spend lots of time with Patrick in his work shop and I had several hours of reading, painting, drawing and cooking up some pretty good meals.

And last week Lee and I went to see a movie. The Good Liar. I have to say it is one of the best stories I have ever seen. The acting superb simply because it is Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen. If you have not seen it, treat yourself. The movie stays with you.

And tomorrow we are off to see Knives Out. Also a good “escape your real world” movie.

We did notice that we don’t eat the popcorn we used to. Last time and all the times before a very big box of popcorn, extra butter and we had it gone before the previews finished. We brought it home from the theater and called it dinner after pouring a bit of wine to go with it. Tomorrow we will forget the extra butter and come down one size in boxes.

I am avoiding reading a lengthy article on Knives Out that is in the New Yorker until after I see the movie. I’ll let you know how it is.

Not much else new…just a very good week and grateful to have Patrick here to let me have some time alone.

Til later.

I like this piece of prints, fabrics, and stitches. Fragmented like my days. Trying to keep it all together just so I can say, “Okay, there goes another day with nothing bad happening, nothing new going on, nothing, just nothing.” It is so much easier when I know there is going to be nothing that I need to add to the routine of sameness. An occasional delivery from Amazon is a high point. A hand written letter rates almost at the top. Going to bed is a relief knowing I will have close to eight hours of hilarious adventures via my dreams and be worry free for that length of time.

Last week two delicious looking quiches went into the freezer.

This week four new pans of lasagna and one meat loaf. Tomorrow we make more cookies, more of those Second Best Malted Cookie I Ever Ate cookies. And Lee’s favorite cranberry relish.

I got more stitching done while watching the impeachment hearings. The jabs of the needle were aimed not only at the cloth bits but those galling members who are so firmly ensconced in Trump land. I wonder sometimes if we will ever return to truth and decency. Certainly not while he still holds the power bestowed on him by a gullible public so easily maneuvered by him and his Russian counterpart.

But aside from the hearings this week I did my daily drawings and haiku.

Sugar and creamer

that fit perfectly in your

palm before pouring.

 

If you only want

a “spot” of tea then this is

the best mug to choose.

 

Leave your glasses off.

You will see the softer side

of those before you.

 

I heard that warriors

carried nourishment in this.

So I now own it.

 

It used to serve milk,

but now used exclusively

to pour hot gravy.

 

This cruet came out

of the cupboard only once.

It was not useful.

 

Threads stay in bundles

waiting to be licked into

the eyes of needles.

 

Tiny scissors make

it difficult to control

the cutting of scraps.

 

So those entries are up to date with this morning. I had a hair appointment today and Lee got his pedicure. I told my girl to just trim it and give it all a squeeze. Don’t comb it. Much easier to manage with finger flipping through. Lee’s girl just keeps him amused and comfortable while she tends to the feet that remind her of her grandfather’s. I love that she does that. Next month when I go in for a trim, he will have her give him a body massage. He likes this young woman. So do I.

Our son arrives in a couple of days to spend Thanksgiving week with us. Just the three of us will be nice. I will have a bit of time to get in the studio to frame some of the newly stitched works and continue with filling in my “responsibility hands”. Lee has lost a bit of awareness this past month and I need to record it and draw another outline of my hand….it will be the fifth one.

I also have a book to read and maybe an outing all by myself to see a movie.

It is a dreary day today but I think a good one for us. Leftovers for dinner and a scotch beforehand is in order.

Til later.