Feature Works

Since I did this journal entry four days ago there has been no time to get back to it.

After our early morning walks alternating between the river and the dam……

it has been sorting out my studio closet! What a mess! I collected so much thinking I might just use it one day. The first thing to pack up was all the pigment processing equipment and the collected colors from all over. Once I separated what I would take with me, the rest was boxed up for an enthusiastic student who has gone on to gain a reputation for processing and painting with earth pigments. I am so happy to have her grateful acceptance of so many travels, colors and materials.

Next to come out of there was everything related to sewing. What I will keep with me is in this antique shoe makers trunk filled to the brim.

When emptying out this trunk I found these.

Remember those Friendship Coverlets where everyone in the weaving guild wove a square with the idea being they would all be pieced into a coverlet. Well, thirty years later and they were still waiting. My daughter will get these now and hopefully will enjoy putting them together onto a backing fabric.

All of my prints from printmaking have been corralled into boxes and I will try to sell my Richardson Etching Press. I have a small tabletop X Cut to do whatever I need in the future.

Now the only thing to come out of that closet is the large flat file, three heavy duty shelf cases that will work out well in the new garage, and a work table for the drill press, etc.

I have lots of paper to go through and dispose of. Some will stay in the flat file to be taken by the fellow who is getting the board shear, some I will give to a friend who has been helping me do this and some I may keep.

So far today three more bags have been added to this lot of five headed for the garbage.

Also found in the back on a top shelf was a box of artist book sculptures. One I will keep, one goes home with my helper and two were tossed. This one was never exhibited. It was a found book about being a good preacher, an advice book of sorts that was quite anti gay. I shredded each page keeping them connected to the covers and spine to make this very large nest. The “egg” in the nest of misery is a book written by Joan Biaz in the days of love and acceptance. The red ribbon book mark is for the pain and loss through bigotry.

Why did I think I needed so much! One bag and one carton ready for a weaving friend to pick up and about three cubic feet of “possibles” for the friends from St Louis coming next month.

Marla who has hauled and helped me get moving on this project will be heading home with a carload.

I have taught her how to do white line printmaking and today she seems hooked. We are going upstairs to have a bit of libation before starting again tomorrow.

Til later

You would think mornings like this would encourage you to make changes, do something different, make a fresh start, something!

But I remain as still as these ducks on the river.

I called a developer of a retirement community in the area.

Me: “Do all your houses have to be lined up close together?”

Him: “Yes, that is the ordinance. But there is twenty feet between them.”

From where I am sitting, that is across the room.

Me: “Couldn’t you put one house away from the others?”

Him” No, that can’t be done.”

Me: “Can a person change the floor plans you offer?”

Him: “Not by much.”

Me: “Are people happy there?”

Him: “Happiness just depends.”

I thank him for his time and call the Senior Assistance Center to talk with a woman who apparently knows quite a lot about the area and senior’s needs.

Me: Hi, it is me again. What do you know about senior communities in the area.”

Her: “There aren’t many. Actually other than the one you talked to this morning I can’t think of any. Let me ask around the office.”

Me: Waiting.

Her: “Well there is a place in a town not far from here that rents cabins with a view. They are just two bedrooms and cost close to $3,000 per month. It is a religion affiliated community.”

Me: “Do I have to be religious?”

Her: “Maybe.”

I am passing on the idea of finding anything local. It was just a thought that I could keep all my doctors of near thirty years and still downsize. I will reconsider that. I did look at the website of the local senior housing development to see that someone from Florida was moving into their new house and saw how excited that made another resident. Florida has one of the highest percentages of those refusing to be vaccinated and takes pride in their support for putting imbeciles in office. I will still go down to Greenville SC and see what is there in possibilities.

And I would miss this:

Eight new adolescent turkeys in this group and four in another that come by later.

I walked the dam this morning before the humidity set in.

And photographed this folding Queen Anne’s Lace to draw later today.

This kudzu vine ended up on the latest page.

And I could not resist the latest condition of the bergamot.

I need to spend the day cleaning up my sewing area from making clothes for a friend. The tiny linen scraps will go into new bits of thread work for the journal.

Nothing else going on here. Too much thinking at times. Missing someone to bounce ideas off of. Talking to myself and asking questions does no good as we share the same opinions. I might need to get out more but now putting the mask back on and staying away from people is looking the wiser choice.

Til later….

 

I think I am more sporadically busy at new moon times. Up early to capture the moon and a lone star at 6:15.

Five minutes and the star is lost.

And I toss corn and bird seed out to those waiting.

I have been taking pictures of flowers along my walks and using them to draw from.

The other day the most thoughtful card came from Tasmania. Suzi BJ saw that I loved this photograph by a Mr. Sikes as I remember of an old spool of thread and made this to send kind words all the way across the world.

They are so very clever down there. See how she stitched the two pieces together to look like the threads are coming out of the needle in the spool? See how she stitched her own envelope to recycle? So clever. So lovely to have someone who would think to make this for me. I love it Suzi. Thank you.

Speaking of stitching…..all the large wood blocks of man and his stages are finished. Here they are with their heart details. My fingers were so cramped by yesterday evening.

I am thinking of getting them framed individually to hang side by side. I would like them double matted with a thin blood/barn red edge peeping out from an off white mat inside simple black wood frames. It will be expensive but that is how I see them. Just need to find a framer now and that is not easy out here in the country.

I walked on the trail and saw signs of fall already.

And Lee’s basket continues to deteriorate and become more beautiful in the process.

He is always on my mind. Especially when I make my coffee in the morning and he is not here to share it with me. We found this old original Farberware Expresso/Cappuccino machine in a cupboard. It is perfect for my one cup per day and comes with the wooden tamper that Lee turned for it.

The fresh ground coffee beans last forever making coffee this way.

Today the landscaper who put our yard in five years ago is coming by to look at all the suffering going on out there. One dogwood just up and died. Bushes near it have died and all their roots are gone. Then looking across in a line you can see more bushes drying up and dying. All the Japanese maples are suffering way beyond the late frost damage. Yet other plants are thriving next to the dead ones. A mystery. May end up having to get the soil tested. It is always something! Makes condo living more attractive by the day.

Til later when I am not bouncing around so much. Blame it on the potent cup of coffee…..