Monday morning the floor installers arrive with my new floor boards. The necessary quarter round (shoe molding) is all painted and waiting in the garage. Tomorrow I will move all things that I would rather they not wonder what to do with it, to safe and temporary spaces. As soon as a section of the floor goes in, they will move furniture back and I can replace whatever was there before. Simple, yes? I will need their help getting things off top shelves, but feel confident I can sort the rest. No point in accepting extra help because that would just be more bodies and directions. I am planning on this studio being the last room to be shoved about.
In the meantime I thought I needed a rice cooker.
Just thought it would be a good idea. NOT! I am sure it is just one faulty appliance but the first attempt burned very badly and the second try with using another safe, recommended amount of rice and water resulted in it blurping out the steam hole and all over the counter. So back to Amazon. I will stay with the familiar pan on the stove method.
I think the story Scrabble the rat is mostly finished. It will be the same size as Burke and Wills. Some illustrations might fall a bit short of my expectations, but that is easily remedied by doing them over…again and again. Here is what I think will be the cover drawing and another from the story.
As you can tell by this next picture that I still try to get my Tuesdays in at the bar. Back to writing about Joey the librarian. It is like he is sitting there with me having a bit of pizza. This one is their Fungus one. Very good!
I am glad to see February over. Even though it snagged an extra day this year. I always thought it the most obstinate of all the months. It elbows its way in only to fling about extremes in weather conditions, and thinks because some idiot put Valentine Day in the middle of it, that all is okay. It’s not okay. It is a month of high hopes peppered with low expectations. It exaggerates each and every mood we get stuck with. I bet if there was a survey, people drink more alcohol in February and smile less. Now that March finally arrived, I have put a smile on my face and swear that Spring is in the air.
Last week I saw the most amazing flock of red-winged blackbirds landing in the neighborhood. Up high, they looked like a swallows’ murmuration. The flashes or red and yellow wings in the sunlight was hard to capture with my IPhone. Speaking of my phone, the other day the remote for my TV simply refused to turn it on. So I used the button on the TV, but to no avail because the remote still would not make selections. So I googled the problem, did what it suggested…all three solutions and then called the TV people. They took me through the same solutions and came to the conclusion that the remote no longer works. I needed to order a new one. I asked how I could watch TV then. The nice lady took me through all the steps to make my IPhone a remote.
I am amazed that I could follow all her instructions and get an app on my phone for the TV to now have a separate remote until the mailman brings a new one.
There is not much else new. I feel distracted until the floor gets put in and everything is back where it belongs.
I have decided that I will clean out my garage this spring and give away more art supplies and things no longer needed. Funny how we think that “Surely, I will use that again” is just not being realistic. The two main reasons for getting rid of things is,
A. It is too hard and heavy to handle and
B. Those things we thought were necessary are no longer the tools we need for self expression.
Another thing I will do is go through my closet and pull out some of the clothes I made because I loved the cloth, and cut small swatches from them to add to the small scraps that are irresistible when a needle is threaded. I am giving myself over to the gentle arts of writing, stitching and drawing. All of them are wonderfully solitary and a pleasure to be involved with.
I did go with a friend to an art exhibit at a local college recently. The artist is a songwriter and performer as well. The characters in his paintings had a folk art quality and were reminiscent of Beavis and Butthead. I might be getting too old, but will certainly go to another one when it happens.
Okay, there is nothing else….it will be another week before I’m able to get to another blog.
Til then….