I am going...

2007-03-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

to start posting over at every-single-day! Check it out.

My goodness!

2007-03-15T22:47:00.000-07:00

You've got to know how difficult it is to move so far from home and create a new life. Emotionally things are a roller coaster, up is down and down, up. So in moments of clarity, it is good to follow through on what I can do.
Last week I was given a card about a raptor rescue program that needs or encourages volunteers.
Now to back track, I am working with an impressive young woman who finds great joy in volunteering. She looks for the next idea in volunteerism. I have always thought of volunteering as a means to give away valuable time for free. But right now qwesting outward is better than experiencing the depths of the mind and its woes and worries.
Anyway! An idea was sparked.
So I called the number on the card and left a message. They of course called back saying that today was a volunteer training day, they would be flying birds! I went.
There were 6 birds, some of which, I cannot remember the name. There was this one funny bird, a hawk who is primarily a ground dwelling bird. Watching him run around was just, plain, funny. There were two Harris's Hawks, A Eurasian Eagle Owl and a Barn Owl.
The woman who ran the program gloved me up and I was able to hold the Barn Owl! When she let me know that that was the bird she would have me hold, I nearly cried! Deb L and many of my friends back east must remember how addicted I was to watching the Barn Owl Nest Cam last spring. Eggs, roosting, birth, death and survival of two out of three eggs, I watched right up until the day they left the box.
They are WAAaaaay prettier in person.
And all of this after getting to see Saturn for the first time in my life from the Clark Telescope just the night before. I saw 4 moons, Titan brightest among them.

Still here

2007-03-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

This will be a short post to let you know I am still here.
I got my hair trimmed today. I couldn't get any of the styles that I clipped and saved from the pages of the magazines because my hair isn't long enough. Instead she took off the mullet like back portion, trimmed the razor edges and sent me home with a bunch of bobby pins to help me ignore the pain. This hairstyle will lead into the next, which I will keep tucked into my wallet for the next trim up.
This is good because I was feeling like my hair was making my head look large. I wish I could jump to the next style without all the growing, though.
Oh! I bought skirts one and two! I waited long enough that they went on sale.
So even though I have not 'felt' the sewing vibe for too long for comfort, I am going to make myself go sew. I have to fake it till I make it.
Goodbye.

A Good Day

2007-03-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I had Patty over to finish making some covers for her RV seats. She is a neat person, didn't hesitate to sew, helped in every way possible, even cooked some left over pasta and spruced it up for lunch.
So at one point she was sitting at the machine and yelled over to me, "There are birds at your feeder." I rushed into the room. And started to cry.
My dad bought me this set up over the Christmas holiday. I mounted and filled it over the week of February 14. I was beginning to think that I wouldn't get any birds at this feeder because it was mounted onto the house, and that the birds did not want to come so close to a human structure. Wrong.
This is a Pygmy Huthatch, the first bird we saw. Pretty little stubby tail. Then came a White Breasted Huthatch and a Dark-eyed Junco (scroll down the page to see the Arizona form). They didn't stay for long, had a few seeds, checked out the digs and went away. I tried to capture my own photos to no avail. So I was pretty happy. YEAH!
I have been researching bird friendly plants, berry plants that will attract birds and give them special treats. I would like to make this a backyard habitat for birds using native plants. Or should I call it a side yard?
David and I are going to take a beginning birding class given by some folks at the local Audubon Society. We will have four classes indoors and three field trips. It ought to be fun and will be nice to see the birding spots they choose for field trips.
OPS!! I was able to take a photo!

A job found me and then they flood in.

2007-03-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

Well. I have taken a job. Part time. As an educator at the Lowell Observatory. They were also talking about my helping them out with their installations. I will get to learn about the telescopes, astronomy. I look forward to meeting intelligent, passionate people.
My Mom got me a gift certificate to J. Jill for Christmas. I haven't used it yet and it is burning a hole in my pocket (so to speak).
Because I won't be leaning over and crawling on tables, coloring or painting at this new job and because I want to start wearing more skirts, I have been trolling the pages of the J. Jill web site. These are the skirts that I have been dreaming about. And because I cannot afford all of them, I have to choose. I would like to get two and like the skirts in the order I have uploaded the photos. what do you think? There have not been too many comments to my posts lately...
anyone? They are basically the same skirt just slightly different. All are A-Line, all below the knee. I can picture them with my keen sandals. Dressing up here in Flag is very informal. Fleece has a special flair here, though honestly, I don't know that I will ever be sold on it.
Maybe I should choose an entire outfit.
I have to say, J. Jill presents their stuff better in the actual catalog than on the web. I can feel the situation and my part in it when I leaf through the catalog. Not so much over the web. They take different photos for the web than the print version. hm.
So. I have been putting this post together over the day. I have not gotten out of my P.J's to be honest. We were eating garlic popcorn, drinking wine and watching videos earlier when another call for a hob interview came through. Hm. That job would not call for the wearing of skirts or cater to my will to wear them.
Damn it.
This other job is full time, and working for a nursery. The job might have broader application in this job market but would not entail learning about telescopes or astronomy. Both would pay the same. I would like to go on the interview just the same.
And this, the third and still well liked skirt but bottom on the list. Who knows.
I have been shopping for my next haircut. I am not quite there, needing a bit more growth but I have not figured out what the cut is called or at least can't find it on the web. I asked a woman who had it and she said it was an asymmetrical wedge. I saw the perfect version of it last night but was not able to ask the woman what it was called and where she got it cut. Damn it again.
To venture away from simple fashion I am listening to Cordero, because JJ just sent me a bunch of music. She got to see them in person recently. I really like them. They started out here in Arizona.

Time

2007-02-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

We are doing well. Some days it feels difficult some days we know everything is just right. It is a day to day thing. In some ways I feel like I have it easier than David. I have been networking, reaching out, meeting new folk and building a support system. David has been settling into his new job.
On other days I fall apart. I forget to have faith that THE correct job for me will come through. On these days the old habit of beating myself up comes easily. I had one of those on Monday. Then I stepped back and began taking care of myself. A walk outdoors, coffee with my friends Harry and Patty. Self care.
We both knew this first year would be the toughest and it is.
But driving home the clouds were huge, the light great. When we got out the the car the light on the Aspens and Ponderosa Pines were spectacular. We stood looking at our home, the light, the trees and knew everything was OK. I verbalized that this community is just what we wanted. We have never had community like this and it really is supportive, open and amazing.
We know we made the right choice. No matter how much every now and again, the childhood voice creeps into our minds saying, "I want to go home." The feeling of knowing a place is gained only with time and three months isn't enough to obtain that feeling.

I am still here...

2007-02-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

I have been drawing and painting in my journal almost daily. I haven't been able to sew much and my dye studio is not yet functioning. It irks me and I wish I could feel satisfied sewing but there you have it. I am in transition and soo is my art making. I drew these folks this morning. The bearded man on the left made me long for my own bearded father.
Patty gave me Birds of America by JJ Audubon. The book is amazing. I wonder if his painting style was affected by his methods.
Here is what Wikipedia says, "In order to draw or paint the birds, he had to shoot them first, using fine shot to prevent them from being shot to pieces. He then used fixed wires to prop them up, restoring a natural position. His birds are set true-to-life in their natural habitat. This was in stark contrast with the stiff representations of birds by his contemporaries, such as Alexander Wilson. Audubon once wrote: "I call birds few when I shoot less than one hundred per day". One of his biographers, Duff Hart-Davis, reveals: "The rarer the bird, the more eagerly he pursued it, never apparently worrying that by killing it he might hasten the extinction of its kind."
Anyway. This is a drawing taken from the book, done in my own hand, not traced, and painted.
This page is inspired by a book of marks that Dorothy Caldwell did. I got to see photographs of her visual journal last weekend while taking an indigo dyeing workshop from her. I was really taken by her idea of marks and bet these will be percolating within me for quite some time.
So anyway. I am still here, we both are actually. I look forward to settling into sewing and making cloth again but until then...

Twirling Tour

2007-02-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

This is a carry over from yesterday. This is the unfinished journal entry of the walking tour I took yesterday. I like what I started doing by stylizing the bark, shadows and tree stumps. I think it is fun to do the quick sketch while out and about and coming back later with no particular attachment to the initial drawing. I like thinking about how shadows fall on uneven surfaces, how to allude to a texture while not being married to it. So although I think this page still needs more, I knew I would forget to post it if I didn't jump on the idea. So there you go.
Staying with the theme of 'walking tours', I thought I would give a twirling tour of my sewing room. Over the next week weeks, as other rooms become more settled and begin to feel homey, I will continue with this theme.
Starting on the west most wall of the of my sewing room, you may recognize a tiny little bit of my CD storage unit, some of my storage bins, my XM radio hook up (very important to sewing entertainment, no TV for me. My chimney cabinet is filled with fashion cloth.
Odd bits of un-pack-ed-ness appear in the rolled up rug and the spare kitchen chair. I wish that I could just futuristically through a ball into the center of the room and poof, all our belongings would settle into livable, neat and orderly living space. oh well.
Here is my painting table, which used to fit so tidily into a dormer alcove. I am going to try to do without a long table, as I had in my last sewing room. I will hang shelves over this table and put my paint supplies above. As long as I am able to keep this area clutter free, I will be golden, otherwise I will figure something out. If it were affordable, I would put a doorway between right where this table is because the room behind this will be my dye studio. We will see.
I left out the doorway into the room which borders the left side of my design wall. You can see a tiny bit of it. I haven't quite been up and sewing yet. I am too busy having contractors in to give us bids, doing day long job interviews and unpacking.
Apparently Blue Bird flour is a favorite of those who eat fry bread. The flour is sold in 20 pound cotton bags printed with my new favorite bird, the Western Bluebird. I need to get my hands on several of these bags.
Well, I will have to finish this post some other time...
OK. Next day.
I went to the grocers this morning and saw this flour on sale. Fry bread must be the intention because they sold lard right along side the Blue Bird flour. I look forward to eat ting my first fry bread and wonder just how different it could be from fried dough pizza.
So this is my storage closet for all my sewing and painting needs. Once those shelves are up, I will have an addition area in this closet for sewing supplies. I will also be taking the bi-fold door from the dye studio and hanging it on this closet. I won't need the door in the dye space. That is a much more utilitarian room. This room needs it.
The previous owners had a challenge about doors. The only interior doors in the house are on the bathroom (thankfully) and the two downstairs bathrooms. There are a total of three closets upstairs, one downstairs that need doors. We'd also like a door to the room we will someday call our bedroom. They hung curtains over all the doors... YUCK. I don't know. It feels like the house and it's various needs were abandoned.
I have arranged my cloth storage bins differently from how they were previously and I quite like it this way. They create a surface area and leave an expanse of wall to hang a piece of art or cork boards or something. It is still a work in progress but coming along quite nicely.
I will not be leaving the tiny wooden drawers atop the cloth storage bins. I would like to get rid of them entirely or spruce them up, somehow.
And, my favorite part about this room, the windows. My sewing machine will find a permanent home in this corner. I am daydreaming about ways to extend my sewing surface by using my sewing table as a set of legs, creating a prop that is attached to the wall and resting piece of Formica with the proper jigsawed cut out across the two supports. Hard to describe, but I can see it working. Another 2 feet wouldn't go amiss and if I could turn the machine to face south and make sure I had table space to the right of my machine, I would be in heaven.
It is hard to see but I have mounted the bird feeder that my Pop gave me for Christmas just outside the window. Today, while out and running errands, I bought some sunflowers seeds. I tried to purchase a squirrel baffle but they didn't have any at the feed and seed store. This is a really great store called Olsen's. They didn't even know what a squirrel baffle is. Now I don't know if the squirrels around here don't cling to feeders and empty them or if Olsen's just doesn't cater to many birders. They did have a variety of feeders and seed...
Thank you Pop!

Walking Tour

2007-02-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

So today I decided it was time to take a bloggable walk in an effort to introduce you, my dear readers, to Mountainaire. I gathered my camera and my journal and pens and off I went. This is the view from our driveway. Standing close to the chimney you've seen in photos past. The weather was warm, perhaps 45 degrees. The Ravens were having fun flying from tree to tree, cawing, making a ruckus. The air smelled fresh, the sun was out. I was dressed in my winter coat, no hat or gloves. The camera fit nicely in the front pocket.
This is the view walking down Seneca, our cross street. You can't really see it but the roads are covered with Cinder, the locals answer to traction during snow. It doesn't work to melt the snow, but it does melp with traction and is better for the environment. There isn't enough water in this area to salt the streets, it would affect the water table.
The main trees in the area are Ponderous Pines (you know I mean Ponderosa, right?) The smell faintly of caramel if you shove your schnoz in the bark.
You know, how when you photograph something and you want it to be recognized as a certain size? You place say, a quarter near the thing? I wish I could do that with these squirrels. It is a Kaibab Squirrel. They sound like elephants when the run across the roof. Their ears are difficult to photograph too. They have long tufts on them, like rabbits.
So anyway. This guy ran by at the corner of Seneca and Pawn (where the cottage we rented is).
Um. Hmm. I don't know it might be an Albert's Squirrel. Now go look at the Kaibab. You know I vaguely remember hearing that the Kaibab is specific to the North Rim area of the Grand Canyon. hmmm.
Here, I am walking into the national forest that surrounds Mountainaire. There is a bit of snow, which was a bit slippery today. But I have to say that today of all days was a good day to have melting snow around... I stepped in dog poop. It came off really easily and I learn my lesson, look downward as you walk! There are many trails back there and folks use them. It is well loves. Elk use them too. Elk have rabbit like turds (I mean scat), being as big as you are you'd think they'd be bigger, but no.
There are three tanks back here. A tank is a man-made watering hole. The elk use them.
Flagstaff in general is a dog town. Mountaiaire has it's share! On previous days I was accompanied by Gypsy and Yukon. Many dogs run free here. It is GENERALLY safe. I don't think it is a great idea to allow your dog to run free in any situation but it seems OK out here.
I do like having canine company! I am going to get a box of bones and make some dog friends. I like when they meet up with me and us.
This last photo I took just for you Mom. These Geodes are everywhere up here. Very shiny. Very sparkly. Come play geologist with me!
And Hey! Don't forget that if you click the pictures, they get bigger.

Domesticity

2007-02-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

David is home if you haven't figured that out... YEAH!!! While picking him up at Sky Harbor in Phoenix, I almost got the car towed and drove in circles for 45 minutes because I couldn't figure out if Short-Term Parking was the same thing as Economy Parking, it is not. They don't make it easy to figure out that if you want short term parking you need to go up to the departures level and park there. But I didn't get towed. The nice tow lady allowed me to get away, and told me what to do next time. Phew. David and I put a really big dent in the box pile up today. This is the first time since we've moved in that we've had a relatively unobstructed pathway into the kitchen nook. David is pictured making our favorite snack, Garlic Popcorn. YYYYYum.
Gotta go eat it...
So anyway we got lots unpacked. We did alot. The car is packed with broken down boxes to be recycled, there are bags and bags of packing paper to be recycled, though getting them to their designated spot is a challenge. I do need to return a shelf set up to the store we bought it from; so that I can get the proper size. I will purchase cup hooks at the same time.
I found The Sink of my dyeing DREAMS last week and now own it. It is hand cast cement, measures 3'x2'x10" and weighs quite nearly 150 pounds. I am hoping the bathroom cabinet we are about to replace will hold and distribute the weight properly. Otherwise we'll have to frame something out. All that for the same 50$ I would have spent for a plastic one.
I also bought a new stove and a stackable washer and dryer yesterday. They will deliver it on Wednesday (Valentine's Day!). Lots of movement and change this week.
And hey! I have a day long interview for a job on Tuesday (I'll be paid for my effort). This is my first call-back, ever. Don't know if I want it, it is full-time, but perhaps for the short term, it will be a decent little job. I might be a dental assistant, and get to wear scrubs. I hope they are fun colors, it is a kids dentist after all.
So how about that?

Gettin' my MoJo on.

2007-02-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

This post should really be over there at the neglected every-single-day, but I will keep posting here till we are settled in the house.
I taught the first of two classes at The Quilter's Store Sedona. I had two students. Secretly, I wish thier were more, but I am new here and not well known. So really I felt I did a great job and that two students is a good start. And hey! I get paid to do something I love.
I also bought three fat quarters for myself, seen under the purse. Deep, rich suprising colors. Yum. I want to make a blouse, purse, something to look at.
I am beat. Dead tired. staying present to teach takes energy!
David comes home tomorrow night! Yeah!

Mucilaginous Substance

2007-02-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

HI!!
David is going away on a business trip today. YUCK. As I've stated here before, with all the newness in life, we don't like to be separate.
We have Internet, we have a land line telephone, although walking amidst stacks of boxes, we begin to make a home. Unpacking is the word of the day(s). Yesterday I had two contractors in to get more estimates, the previous two were so widely divergent that we felt we needed to see more. So I unpacked while waiting for them to show up. I am to the point where I need to start getting creative in where I choose to store things.
I have two large boxes of fashion cloth and nowhere within my studio space to hide them. As JJ may know, I stored alot in my old sewing room closets. The new closets are not nearly so deep or large.
Maybe I should ebay it! :) Get rid of some cloth, make some money. create space all in one go. So this is our house. Real photos, no more cell phone photos. And the back of our new Prius. Prius butt. This is the south east corner of the house. You can see the beginnings of the retaining wall that is so prominent from the road. And all the Ponderous (I mean Poderosa but like the spell checked substitution) Pine.

Here is a close up of the front door and our Tibetan Prayer Flags. The fabric of these flags is supposed to deteriorate and fall away as part of the prayer that they are. Yeah.

And this is a view of the back entrance. We are officially part of the back-door-friends-club. If you come to see us, come to the back door. We have a small Aspen stand!Yeah!
Doesn't the house look warm and toasty? Wouldn't you have wanted to purchase it, had we not snapped it up?
I think I found a great dye sink today. I am going to call the plumber to see if it is a viable option. It's concrete, you see. 3 feet by 2 feet by 10 inches deep. I will need a cabinet. A strong cabinet.
So photos! Real photos. I think if you click on them they will get larger.

First Night...

2007-02-04T08:51:00.001-07:00

Here is the cup I bought with my mother at the Guilford Handcraft Fair.
Oh the potato pan!
The wine glasses as big as a babies head.
We imported a single piece of popcorn with the silverware.
And a leaf.
Unpacking feels like authenticating myself, ourselves, our lives.
We spent our first night in the new house last night. This is the first time we have been truly warm in two and a half months. The furnace works wonderfully.
I have all but two boxes of books unpacked.
David can't find a box of kitchen goods.
Monk walked around meowing all night.
Arrow found the computer chair and was happy.
Oh! Please cell me Professor Melly. I will be teaching two classes for the Coconino Community College soon. One of surface design using Procion MX dyes on silks and cottons for one full week in July. The other for credit! Teaching mixed media collage journaling for four saturday mornings in September.
There are some other exciting ideas forpaid work on the back burner. I will say more about that soon.

Sing Praise to Stuff

2007-01-30T18:36:00.001-07:00

Today David and I made progress on moving into our new home. Not great strides, we are still sleeping in the cottage, but good progress.
It is tough because we are waiting on estimates from contractors and moving in accordingly. There is carpet in three rooms. Yuck. It is dirty and well, carpet. So if the contractor does nothing else we'd like him to install a wood floor in the bedroom and hang a door. We have a birch platform bed with a bookcase headboard made by Pompanoosic Mills.
http://www.pompy.com/furniture/?category=9&product=2438
Lucky for us it fits perfectly into the second floor dormers.
BUT anyway.
We are setting our bedroom up in what will be, at some point, our sitting room with TV and computer.
We need lots of doors hung. The previous owners pooped out and instead of finishing the addition they sold the place. But not before installing lots of dowels and curtains over all the doors. So while we are moving in we are also trying to foil Monk and Arrows future attempts at great adventure. Blocking doors wherever possible.
So we set up the bed...
And just before leaving for the night? Laid down on it. Heaven.
Soon we will be able to lay side by side in the same bed. Bliss. We will be able to spoon.
I unpacked my CD's... My music...
I fondled my cloth. I began constructing the layout of my sewing room... We unearthed some clothing...
We are so rich... So incredibly wealthy.
To think we've been separated from our belongings for just 2.5 months. To unwrap cherished belongings is so phenomenal. To have so much and be so blessed even better.

Today We Move.

2007-01-27T07:11:00.001-07:00

We have rented a truck, found some good help and are taking our goods our of storage. Want to know how good it feels?
I can't tell you how excited we are. To have our own pots and pans and have the ease of cooking with known objects? To have more than three pair jeans and five shirts. We are wealthy.
Soon I will unearth my cloth, threads, all the stuff I had begun to collect to make assemblages. When I feel that urge to make something my choice of materials will be broad. Hmm. Contentment.
Within a week or so we will have a landline and internet connection.
We are wealthy.

This is the end...

2007-01-24T19:47:00.001-07:00

My only friend the end.
Jim Morrison got to be dark and forboding. So heavy and raw. Poor guy.
No. I only write that because I have no idea if blogger will publish my whole post. And as I start thinking about getting a REAL internet connection, I wonder if I will continue writing on this one or move the whole blog back to my original home at every-single-day.
Next week sometime we will have a connection. I hope anyway.
Today I met a wonderful person. His name is Harry. He must be in his 60's, He gives Canyon tours, lives close to us, studies a huge dictionary. Reads and knows how to laugh at life.
We laughed so hard it lifted my spirit. At the end of our time together he offered to help us move. That is just how folks are here.

2007-01-24T16:43:00.001-07:00

I think I have reached the limits of my Palm Treo's ability to work in the manner I hope it will. The last post, Comforts, was originally 6 or 7 paragraphs. It won't go through. This is a test post to see if it cuts me off again...

Comforts

2007-01-22T06:45:00.000-07:00

I like keeping an ongoing list of comforts in my mind. I like to go over the list regularly each day. Because our world has changed so much in moving across country it is helpful to remind myself of the things that comfort me

An Unwitting Collaboration

2007-01-20T11:06:00.001-07:00

Before moving, while packing up my stuff I gave the J-ster a bunch of stuff Among them the beginnings of a stuffed felt bird, an unfinished project I could not see myself completing.
She took it up with gusto, creating 'Betty the Bird' a hatted, bejeweled creature with surprising personality. But that is just how the J-ster is.
Look over to the right to see a cell phone photo of the little bugger.
David and I are still giddy about the new house. We visit it each day making sure the gas stove is keeping the pipes from bursting and daydreaming about the layout and completion of the projects we will be able to do.
It is a cute little house, big house. It is supposedly 1600+ SqF. The largest house we have ever lived in.
The heating contractor will come on Monday and I have two appointments with carpenters. We need estimates.
I is snowing right now. We probably got 3 or 4 inches over night. Have I mentioned how dry the snow is?

392 Excitement, Quirks and Idiosincracies

2007-01-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

Today we own it. The cutest little house in Flagstaff!
This week I went to the Ponderosa Utility Corp. To have the water put in our name. I fell in love.
It is a one room outbuilding type office run by a woman named Jean. It's surrounded by a chain link fence that never gets locked. There is a drop box/mailbox painted blue mounted to the right of the gate. There is a hole cut into the fence and a slit cut into the drop box. That is where you pay your monthly bill.
The water tastes so good that we won't need to buy water from a bottle again. It comes out cold and tasty. Jean says it doesn't need treatment, unlike our Kachina neighbors on the other side of I17.
I picked up the keys around 3 o'clock. After I picked David up we bought a bottle of wine and went over, toasting in the kitchen, near the gas burning stove. We hugged super hard and walked through each room.
There is wall to wall carpet in three rooms, it's a bum deal because there is no hardwood underneath and that can't be a priority for a while.
The electrical needs some help. Some switches are horizontal and counter intuitively installed. Homeowner installed.
I hope to have an archway or if possible, French doors installed between the two rooms I will call my studios. I don't know how or if it will work because it is a load bearing wall.
There is a room upstairs that David has claimed for himself. I can't wait to see what he will do for himself.
We'll live at the corners of two streets named after Indian tribes, under Ponderosa and a few Aspen on a double lot.
We saw the biggest hawk I have ever seen today. I need to identify it.
................oOo.....................
Two nights ago we went to see Children of Men.
http://www.childrenofmen.net/
It was awesome. I loved it, feel haunted and keep thinking about it. I didn't know what to expect.

Immune support

2007-01-15T19:00:00.001-07:00

I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia on Saturday. A startling diagnosis to be sure. Walking pneumonia is different than pneumonia in that it will not turn into the bedridden hospitalization that you hear about.
So antibiotics, and inhaler and the continued use of Mucinex are on the schedule.
David went to a local herbalist called Winter Sun Trading Co. and got us an immune booster tincture.
http://www.wintersun.com/
So it is time to slow down and heal. No more eating snow either.
On to other things.
My Sister in Law told my mother about The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory.
http://www.philippagregory.com/
My mother went straight to the bookstore and bought it. I jumped on the bandwagon this weekend. It really is as good as my SIL says. Fun, pageantry, good writing.
I have been finding immense satisfaction and inspiration in the pages of Jennifer New's Book called Drawing from Life, The Journal as Art. Just to give you an idea of one of the artists that interest me, go here:
http://www.artsnashville.org/registry/?scan=az&main=artist&id=3
There are some big names too. David Bryne, Lynda Barry and of course John Copeland, whom I have discussed and admired on my main blog.
I have been really enjoying the respite of delving into my journal over a cup of coffee. I have been sewing small works, and enjoying it. But I draw upon my journals in such a major way that it is important to keep engaged in the process.
I sometimes, secretly think I should expand my site to include my journals.
Three more days and we will own a home. I got a call from the heating contractor saying they could probably come on Monday. Pray.

Keeping on

2007-01-12T20:49:00.001-07:00

Today was the day that I'd told myself to go get antibiotics. And 8" of snow fell instead. So I took Debra's advice and asked David to pick up some Musinex on his way home from the office, slept in and stayed warm and safe. He came home early and I have my first dose in me.
It is good he came home early because the sander-the large municipal trucks that plow and sand, and also drive with chains on their tires, had trouble getting up our hill Spun out its tires. Making me want David home and in my fold.
He came around 1, parked the car at the bottom of the hill, walked up and shoveled. He wasn't wearing gloves and was incredibly cold when he arrive safely.
My cold, although beginning to break up is still quite bad. I can't breath deeply. Am wheezy. I itch. I am tired of laying around and am ready to feel better.
Mom, it is a bummer that I got this cold but apparently, whether you gave it to me or not, my body was ready for it. Don't feel badly. It is one of those things.
Jods, I am sorry I didn't call you today, it takes too much energy to breath.
Debra, can you please email me your web address?
Kristine, I can't comment on your blog and it makes me sad.
I forgot to mention that Arrow tried to make a great escape into the great white yonder today. When David was in and out shoveling snow, he'd left a pile of snow on the rug just inside the door. I went to shake it out and Arrow made a run for it. I had my Acorns on (the best slippers in the world with a cork and rubber soul both) and corraled him as I shrieked, "no!". Stopping him in his cold wet (and to him) completely foreign tracks. He made an about face and buried himself under the bed overs for the rest of the afternoon.
He rests happily on my lap as I complete this post.
Tomorrow I will get the antibiotics.

Cough, cough, cough.

2007-01-10T06:17:00.001-07:00

We are both sick now. It went straight to the chest. I don't know if I think it is bronchitis, yesterday I heard chest wheezing in the morning but not the rest of the day or today.
So. I feel better today though I just woke up. David is grumpily worse.
I have recently thought I would like to make soap for David and I. I have found the book I would like to learn from but someone has not returned it to the library for two years; http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/104-5324899-5829544?ie=UTF8&a=0882669656 .
I don't want to purchase it until I know this is something I want to do. First I need to find out how our favorite soap is made. We buy handmade soap, scented with essential oils. I *think* we buy melt and pour soaps, which is the easier way to make your own soap. The other way is called cold press and requires a six week cure time. I need to go back to the library and see if they can do an interlibrary loan.
A few weeks ago David and I cashed in our change at a machine that gave full monetary value if you choose a gift certificate. We chose Amazon. Yesterday our order came from them! Excitement. I got Drawing From Life, The Journal as Art by Jennifer New. http://www.pergl.net/jennifernew/drawing.htm
David got a box set of music, Tortoise: The Lazarus Taxon. check out this review at one of his favorite music resources; http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37797/Tortoise_A_Lazarus_Taxon. One of the disks was a DVD of short videos put to their music. I love David's interest in this sort of creative expression. I love watching visuals put to music because it is watching art, a visual expression of sound. I am not talking about MTV type videos.
So we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, we are just sorta sick. I bet it was all that snow eating I did with Patty on Friday. Too damn much fun.
Hey did I say our closing date is the 18th? Not the 23rd? It got bumped up. Today we will get a date for the heat installation. You know I am going to want to set up my studio space with or without it! I will layer up, I want to sew! Dye! Make!

Scratchy

2007-01-08T07:15:00.001-07:00

Early morning. I have the beginnings of a cold. Am taking Zicam. I have a bad sounding cough.
Last night was a bad nights sleep. Monk decided there was something to be hunted in the air. Only he could see what he was looking at but it entailed sitting on the bed beside me, purring loudly and occassionally standing on me to get closer while meowing strangely.
He has pointy needle paws.
So I brought my covers into the sewing room, because it has a door. A few minutes later, David dragged my mattress into the room. Though he didn't bring his own. We are sleeping on two twin sized beds right now.
Oh well.
It made me start daydreaming about the new house which needs doors hung on several closets and the master bedroom. Then I began thinking about all the different little things that need doing.
I did get to sleep after a while.
David stayed awake.
Monk and Arrow would much prefer that we become nocturnal.
Now I need to go back to sleep.

Does this work?

2007-01-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

I figure if I can do live link (not embedded) maybe I can send photos too.