So Much to Work On

Posted on by Sandy Webster

The walks to the gym continue. Love the dew on the grasses in the meadow on my way back before seven-thirty in the morning.

Two days ago the mail lady rang my door bell to show me a much-damaged package. When I saw it was from Australia, I automatically signed for it rather than to refuse delivery. I carefully brought it in the house to the kitchen sink. Once opened and cleaned up, there were four cans of Saunders malt extract – all with lids popped off due to the crushing, one can of Keens curry powder, crushed and spice sticking to a bit of leaked Vegemite jar (one of two), some Dukkah that had a ruined carton but packet inside was safe. A mess to be sure!

I rescued all but one can of Saunders (because its inner foil seal was broken), and the disappearing curry powder. It turns out the package was a birthday gift from my daughter from a store in Victoria Aus. that caters to those who miss their foods of home when they have moved out of the country. They did a lousy job of packing but the house smelled wonderful and I now have enough malt extract to make my malt cookies until the day I die! One of the jars of Vegemite went to the Australian bike shop owner because he told me how much he missed it and was unable to find it here. When I took it to him I had a chance to visit with his father fresh from down under and very grateful for the Anzac cookies I took in.

I hope to visit with him again before they head back to Perth.

I watched Sadie make a book selection the other evening. She is in the middle of the top shelf of Australian selections.

And today, right after returning from lunch with neighbors, the stone man made his delivery of flagstone and sand for the front and back yards.

I have been laying out both books, the poetry one and the essays one, in the proper format. It took a couple of days to figure out how to number pages, but I got there. I am keeping each of them the same size and hope to have them ready soon to send in and ask for preview copies to go over one more time.  Designing the covers was an interesting part of this adventure.  I want them similar in size, feel and look.

Not much else going on. Next week the stone laying crew come in and we are hoping that it finishes up in the five days they will be here. All depends on weather and how much help he can bring in.

And one more thing. Many years ago our tax man told me to keep track of my car mileage because I used my car for business purposes. I kept up the practice. So when I bought my yellow Ford Escape in 2002, I started a new little binder to keep track.

When I bought a new car, another Ford Escape, the green one I now drive,  I continued to keep track in the same book.

Well yesterday I was filling up and noticed there was only the smallest space left to record the date, mileage, and amount of gas put in. I stood there having a moment all by myself as this little spiral book of every gas fill up, oil change, new tires, car repairs, etc. just came to an end.  Since 2002 I knew all about my relationship with my car. Now I have about three weeks to find another binder of 3 x 5″ with the spiral on the long side. Friends and family think I am a bit obsessive to keep this up when it is not necessary anymore. And hasn’t been for some time. But I need to hang onto what I can at seventy-nine. I love this tattered book that has gone every place with me when I am driving. I just need to find another little companion to go with the pens waiting in the console til needed.

Better go…it is time for a walk around the neighborhood and some wine.

Til later….

 

Bamboo and Books

Posted on by Sandy Webster

My yardman came today with the last bamboo fencing piece. We thought it looked better in the center because it was quite tall, so switched it with the center original one.  It has been a cloudy day and the picture is not that good. he also brought a couple of extra pieces of good size bamboo poles. Not to waste anything I suggested we cut one to fit horizontally along the inside of my porch to hold in the shade from blowing into the screen, table and chairs. In my former home we had lots of bamboo at our disposal so posted two vertically between floor and ceiling in front of each shade to keep them from hitting us in the head when a wind came up.

Well here I just don’t want to see my neighbors gas tank and keep the afternoon sun out. But it still gets a bit breezy so…..

Now the bamboo is tightly wedged across to keep the shade from flapping and my neighbor has simply disappeared! Not really, but his side of the house has, taking the gas tank with it.

And not to waste a good long piece of bamboo, I had him cut it for the front entry. Notice he cut it a bit short and we used a stone to make up the difference. I like how enthusiastic he is about my ideas. Now he plans to bring another for the opposite side.

I am hoping to find a storm door with a built in screen to put on the entry doorway. It would make the best breeze flowing through the house from porch to front door.

The other day my neighbor called me over to see the deer in her back yard. I have not seen any since I left my old house where we fed them regularly.

It was a welcome break because I have been covered up with designing and laying out the poetry book. I had it all set and saved as a six by nine inch book, but then got to thinking that it just was not an “intimate” size for poetry. So had to start all over with a new template for the smaller size. I dug out a Billy Collins and Mary Oliver books to check if I was being a bit picky…..no, both of theirs’s are smaller than six by nine.

Then of course, I need to see it actually on paper because the cold flatness of the computer does not tell me where exactly things are.

I notice that the slightest adjustment can throw everything off so am most grateful that there is that clever “undo” tab to hit. That and a daughter who understands the hidden meanings of what a computer actually wants of me.

This week I will have three ton of flagstone and two ton of sand delivered so that my yardman and his crew can get started next week. Then once that is all in place, I can quit thinking about what else the tiny yard I do have, can use to make it more me.

That is it for now…I need to take a walk when the rain stops….

Til later…

A Lot Going On

Posted on by Sandy Webster

My nasturtiums seem to have peaked. I thought they would stay bushy and full of blooms, but they are getting leggy and want to either bloom or grow more leaves. It will be one or the other. So I will enjoy them until they just give up. I am not a gardener. Just buying them and giving them a pot was enough, or so I thought. Of course I water them, but they seem to want something else. Alas.

This morning I was watching Sadie and Dilly have a fur tussle.

I suggested a time out.

The trips to the gym after a heavy rain had me looking for the bright spots.

And after all this time of walking past abandoned bleachers, they finally moved them.

The image shows “the presence of absence” that I think says so much more than if the “something” was there. My imagination has a place to go and stories of things that probably never happened can come in and get told on paper.

And that reminds me that the last several days have been sorting the poetry and getting it all in the same font and on the correct pages for the book. Also a cover designed.

Then it was sorting out all the essays by putting them in categories or chapters. I am glad that so much was put down on paper. Now I will get those formatted and design a cover for the Essays book.

And finally I am also working on the pincushions. Here are the four extreme conservative judges hell bent on limiting our civil rights and taking us backward. From left to right is Ginny Thomas whispering her conspiracy theories into husband Clarence Thomas’s ear, Judge Alito with his catholic upbringing and faith determining decisions, Kavanaugh, drinking beer and keeping women in their useful places, and finally the handmaid herself, Coney-Barret.

Not nearly enough pins but at least it is a start.

I have a few more to go and then all in the plastic bag with their predecessors to have all the air removed. I should make Trump an orange prison suit after today but probably will wait awhile.

Til later….

All Over The Place

Posted on by Sandy Webster

This morning was a nice foggy walk to the gym. The sun trying to make its way through a haze of fog and perhaps smoke from burns.

For the past few days I have been working out how to meet the demands of self-publishing. Of course designing the cover is so much more fun for a visual artist. I found this black and white photo from under graduate school. I was taking a photography class while working on an installation about men leaving home. When asked, most men told me it was a lack of nourishment of one kind or another. This image made in black and white back then seemed perfect for a book of poetry.

But unfortunately, too low a resolution. I know I have the original somewhere so could just scan it to start over but then I thought, just photograph it again, because I still have the work. So now I have another photo of it sitting on rocks outside my front door on the walk with no background distractions. Then I decided to locate and alter other images that would make good book covers for my writings…and got completely sidetracked with the memories of the pieces of sculpture. Now I have plenty to choose from.

Speaking of books and poetry, Andie, a most thoughtful and intuitive friend from Australia, sent me a book of poetry that takes fifty poems and discusses their purpose and meaning. Just what I needed as the poetry group seems only to get together to read and not answer my way too many questions. Thanks so much Andie.

Also I have ordered Cressida Campbell’s book from the exhibition at the National Gallery in Canberra.

I think it was bothering me to not see her work up close and this is the next best thing.

My studio is a mess of felt, threads, pins and needles as I attempt to put the most contemptuous of the Republican Party in pincushion form. Today I completed DeSantis and the representative Santos, known for his lack of ability to tell anything but lies, and has a flair for dressing up. Here they are dancing together. DeSantis is sporting a Mickey Mouse hat and his too long Trump tie. And Santos’s nose increases in length as he tells more whoppers in his dress up heels.

They will get well-deserved pins before joining their peers.

That all was yesterday. I got sidetracked with filling a request to make a drawing of what the “common ground” area could look like here in the subdivision.

And this morning I decided that I should not put off getting my car inspected and a new license tag. As soon as the inspection was over, I shoved all relevant paperwork in my glove compartment and came home. Once here I realized that I was still registered in my former county. So decided to go the thee tag office and try to sort it out. Reaching into the glove compartment, I found that the necessary document I just received from the inspector had completely disappeared! I found former inspection sheets and car repair records from over ten years ago, but not the paper I needed. I went back to ask the man for another ( which he gave me ).  Then off to the tag office to correct my county information and pay the state for the new tag.

A woman busy working on her biscuit waved me over. I heard all about her indigestion from the night before and her unwillingness to forego sloppy joe sandwiches, as she worked diligently to sort me out. The cost was ten dollars cheaper in this county and she complimented me on my wrinkly linen pants as I went out the door. I won’t see her for another year but am already looking forward to it.

And as soon as I got home and opened the now cleaned out glove compartment to put the new papers in, my inspection paper from earlier fell out the back.

Seems I should show a picture of the old un-nourishing bowl in the new photograph.

I need to stop messing about with photos and memories and get busy stitching the four worst Supreme Court members.

More later…..