Ride It Out…

Ah yes, finally typing this on a computer. Not everything is fixed and back to normal, but I am no longer fighting a 10-year-old computer that is slowly (very slowly, because it’s the only speed it had) dying. Yes, it’s taken like three weeks to get functional again. There are some things that I just can’t easily do on a phone or an aging iPad (also needs replacing this year). The boychild was a massive help, although in the end, we didn’t use the backup service I’ve been paying for for years…so fun that.

This weekend was another in a series where I don’t get 1/10th of the stuff done that I wanted or needed to. It’s just my life, maybe? Hard to say. I did some grading and some school stuff but mostly didn’t. I spent time in Home Depot (must be spring) and digging a hole that probably isn’t big enough. I finished one book (actually two) and started another. I made some art and went for a hike. I don’t feel ready for the week. I’m fighting a cold…I’m hoping I can hold the worst of it off, because we have a field trip this week. I’ve drunk a lot of Vitamin C this weekend in hopes it would boost things enough to kick this thing that’s trying to sneak in. Who knows.

OK, art…I ironed a lot this weekend…

I did like three sessions on Saturday…there’s the setup with one computer backing up, one being set up, and the one I was actually watching stuff on…

Too many computers…there’s the beginning of the flesh fabrics, which I spent most of Saturday ironing.

Got through the whole pile…they were interspersed between the 200s all the way to the 600s, so I officially have no clue how far I am in the ironing. But I got the actual flesh done and then still need to do all the eyeballs and the heart and lungs and all those fussy bits that aren’t flesh colored.

I really wanted to be done Sunday, but that didn’t happen. It took too long to do everything on Sunday. I don’t even think I got an hour in, unfortunately.

More of the bits and pieces though. I suspect I’ve got another three nights before I’m done. We’ll see. I have a ton of schoolwork to do as well. As always.

I’m underglazing the base in clay…with Bart’s help (not really…he was wet from outdoors and tried to headbutt the part of this that keeps breaking off).

It just takes forever to do this stuff.

Coral is done, some other bits and pieces in that color range. I’ll be back at it tonight.

We hiked Saturday…got the full 3 miles in this time.

With two coyote sightings…

Broad daylight…

Went out for dinner…

I did draw…just totally forgot to photograph it.

Ah, falcon payments. This lasagna thing was from the book for The Electric State, which was very different than what the movie seems to be.

But lasagna…

The next puppy I get…

This is maybe too real and also applies to my quilts…

Lastly, in cleaning up hard drives all over my office, found this from around 2001 (not 1994 like the time stamp says)…

One of the best pictures I’ve ever taken of the kids.

OK. School today…with an impending incipient cold. And still tired. But hopefully a chill day. Turn the things in, y’all. Then staff meeting (ugh but short) and ceramics (yay). Then home, grading, and ironing (more yay!). Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all who celebrate (most of whom aren’t Irish in the slightest). And may the government fall into a deep hole it can’t get out of (we’re close, but not quite). I checked my retirement funds over the weekend. Thanks to the billionaires in charge, I’m now down a significant amount…well, we’re gonna ride it out y’all…just let me retire when I need to.

No Power

Power’s out. Some car crashed into something. The road sounds closed; I don’t hear cars down there. It’s cold…and I need tea, so I’ll be leaving for school soon.

I did finally get the studio cleaned up…

It took two nights…it was a lot. And I started ironing last night.

School was a little rough, but it’s been like that for days. Kids are fighting; not sure why. Hard to get them to work. I’m feeling underwater on getting stuff done. I guess that’s nothing new.

Dumbassery abounds. Ok I think it might be bright enough in the bathroom for me to take my meds and get out of here to school, where it will be warmer and I can make tea. I’m making a lot of art this weekend…yes, I need to grade too, but art is large on the agenda. That and getting my computer to work. Sigh.

How to Get There

Yo ho yo ho a pirate’s life…wait. No. I’m teaching gravity today…not going to Disneyland. Seems like a questionable life decision. Computer is still not restored. The internet is intermittent. So frustrating. I just need it to finish ffs. I’m tired of trying to do things on the phone or this ancient iPad. Ah well…at least I have that option.

Artwise…I finished trimming Wonder Under…

And last night, I sorted them…

Ready to iron to fabric. Unfortunately, my studio is not ready for that. I’d like to be ironing tonight, but realistically, I will probably be cleaning and putting fabric away after a long long day, so wish me luck on actually ironing. Definitely tomorrow night though.

Someone needs to change all the clocks in the house. I don’t know why I am in charge of clock changes. I have changed two…well three if you count my school clock. I’m sure the men would argue that I’m the only one who cares about the other two…possibly true.

I started underglazing (finally!) the base to the newest piece…someone bumped it (again) and broke two things off. Community shelves sometimes suck.

Super pale at the moment with 2 coats…got one more coat and then all the details. I’ll be here a while.

The current government just needs to die. I’m done with the stupidity. The illogical bullshit that puts Teslas on the White House lawn and claims we can’t speak our minds. At least some of us have minds…

Gonna end with that. Too much in my head right now between the Orange Dumbass pissing off Canada and the crazy demands of the day job…gonna demo some gravitational force today and get through a union meeting and go to Pilates and then clean the studio so I can make art. Sleep if I’m lucky (not last night). Dream of a better world and how to get there.

No Time Has Passed

I have a new computer. It’s still restoring all the stuff from before. It was at 12% when I went to bed last night and it’s still at 12% this morning, like no time has passed. Granted I feel the same way about the amount of sleep I had last night. I know I went to bed at the appropriate time for whatever time hell we’re in now, but I was still out of bed in the early dark feeling like I hadn’t slept. So maybe the computer feels the same way. It’s gonna be a rough week, for me and the kids.

This weekend was my 58th birthday, and I did my best not to work. There’s some level of having to pay for it during the week, but the week is already a shitshow, so I probably won’t notice much. What did I do? I read, I made art, I went on a short hike. All good.

Simba appreciated it. Maybe.

It was a little closer than I like to be to coyotes, but it reminds us that they are always there.

I did a little ceramics on Friday. I was tired though. There’s a bunch of stuff going on her arms.

Fun times. My glazes came in Friday as well, so that’s hopefully what I’m doing after a two-hour staff meeting after school. Ugh.

Friday night I finished tracing…

Four yards (just under) of Wonder Under. I spent almost 4 hours cutting stuff out this weekend…

And not a lot else honestly.

There are never enough hours in the day. I did a little yard work; I have bulbs to plant. but I quit when I accidentally trimmed a branch with a hummingbird nest and broke two eggs. Mom bird had lots to say about it and I felt (still feel) horrible, so I quit. It’s spring! Don’t kill baby animals. If you can. I was actually trying to avoid another thing that looked like a nest so it felt even worse that I fucked that up.

I had two dinners out, which was nice, and got a pile of books to read and my mom’s stash of silk ribbon, which is fun, so that didn’t make up for the hummingbird babies, but I also found out there’s a grove in Humboldt named after my Great Great Aunt Bertella who was an obstetrician, so we’re totally visiting that over Spring Break.

Government still sucks, if we can call it that. Our National Parks are at stake here. And people’s lives. Sigh.

I am coral. Ok, gotta teach and professionally develop and clay.

Paper Towels!!!

Yo Friday, I appreciate you. It’s been a long week. Eye issues, kid issues, but grades are done! So I’m not working this weekend…it’s my birthday. I’m gonna hike and read and make art and go out to dinner. And try not to think about school…although next week is not fully planned, nowhere close, so I’m freaking out a little bit. Ah well.

I’ve been tracing Wonder Under all week…I should be done tonight.

Crazy ass butterfly…did not number it well. Brain must have taken a break.

Last night, I had a stitching Zoom meeting, so I got two hours in…I’ve got about 150 pieces to go. Then trimming for a few days, ironing by next weekend? Hopefully.

Minus the pumpkin patch.

Agreed. So much stupidity going on right now. I’m having some panic moments about where to buy things I need due to The JoAnn closing down and avoiding Amazon. My free time is generally not free and online shopping is awesome. Working on a list. But with quilt stuff, the secondary issue is the politics of stores. Sigh. My local quilt store is owned by a trumper.

Working on all of it. Today is an assembly (ugh), but mostly making a little eclipse flipbook. And planning. Hopefully some ceramics, finish the tracing. There’s something I need to remember for today and it keeps flitting into my brain (paper towels!!!) and leaving again. Caught it. Good times.

Vitreous Not So Humerous

Well good news, I can still see, no surgery (knock on a big piece of wood), and the odds are that in 6 weeks, I won’t have to be low-key stressed about any weirdness in the right eye…besides that bizarre swirling thing that is still there. Yeah. As a visual artist, the thought of losing any eyesight is pretty terrifying. I guess I’d still have clay, but it wouldn’t be the same if you couldn’t see it. My vitreous humor (and perhaps a hefty chunk of my sense of humor) is floating around my eye with wild abandon, occasionally panicking me with “OMG what’s that“ moments, but otherwise, I’m OK. Exhausted but what’s new. My retina is holding strong. All good.

I had to take Monday off because I wasn’t sure how long it would take to get in to the doc or what might happen after. I spent a million hours grading this weekend, so I refused to grade after the doc appointments. I try to save the stuff I can do at school so I have some down time at home, so I finished the new quilt drawing, numbered it (just under 700 pieces), and started tracing.

It’s not huge, so I’m hoping I can hit the deadline. Knock on wood.

I’ve already found 7 pieces I didn’t number at all and one number I used twice. Good times.

So maybe not just under 700.

I traced for about 3 1/2 hours on Monday…such a delight.

Then another hour last night…

I’m just under halfway. Realistically I could be done tracing Friday night. Although I still need to input grades. And we don’t have next week planned for school. Minor issue. Not so minor.

I’m also reading two books and trying to decide if I can pull off another show. The proposal has to be done by the 15th, but I need to. Finish at least one of the books first to make the proposal. Some level of insanity going on here…or a reaction to the day job’s grab on my personal life. Hard to say. There’s also about 2 hours of quilting left on this (I try to do a little each night).

My self-imposed deadline is coming up and I’m not going to meet it.

I spent 100 minutes working on hands, knuckles, and fingernails. It was glorious.

I had to persuade the fingers to change shape and direction.

A rare moment of sisterly friendship. Although Nova is doing some side eye.

In case you were wondering how daylight savings might affect you.

Sometimes AI is really stupid. This can lead to sleepiness…

This is too true. Ok today is the end of lunar phases (well, not really) into eclipses, plus desperately trying to plan for next week without interruptions (ha!), then Pilates (gently) and book club. Whoa. Busy night. I finished the book Sunday? I think. I hope. Then tracing some more. Getting grades completed so I can just input Thursday and be done. That’s what I need.

Flashes of Light

God damn what a way to start a Monday! I’m rolling (roughly) on 4 hours of sleep, trying to get an eye doc appointment this morning after a lovely (really it was) ER visit at midnight last night (was it last night or was it fucking today already). Started seeing flashes yesterday , but didn’t realize that’s what I was seeing until I was turning all the lights off to go to bed. SIGH. So I have vitreous detachment, possible retina. Well. Fun times. I’ve been told to stand in the doc’s office until they can see me. I wrote sub plans at 1:30 AM, forgot to request a sub, luckily remembered to email my amazing office staff, who are covering my ass as always. I had a minor panic attack for about oh 3.7 hours before I fell asleep. I’ve messaged the doc team and will call at 8. Meanwhile practicing meditative breathing and trying not to grind my teeth out of my mouth.

This weekend…well, I graded for like 11 hours, plus went to a closing art reception, where I saw my piece, And Then There Was One.

Which I then picked up from the venue on Sunday, the crazy driving day. My bro came and we went to dinner after. It’s been nice seeing him more often. He lives far away and when we are in the same place, he’s often super stressed about having all the kids around etc. but they’re all adults now…very weird.

I did a different drawing Saturday night…

Then enlarged and added it to a drawing from last June…

Like you do. Now I just need to connect them. Long story…decided to try to enter a show, different than the banned book one. Still gonna do that one. Not sure I can pull it off…especially with the eye stuff. Whoops. Not thinking about that right now.

More art of mine in an opening at Shoebox Arts in Los Angeles this weekend…

The drawing in the top left is mine, interpreted in digital collage in top right by Moya Devine. Then her collage is in the bottom left, with my quilt version in the bottom right.

I think I have some animal pix and a meme to finish up, as I wait for the on-call doc to triage my info.

Dog sat Annie this weekend. Bought a new computer because mine went into old age almost dead stage.

Cyclops Luna. Eye on said dog.

This is me. Actually I just ate cereal even though I don’t feel hungry because that’s what you do when you’re a diabetic.

But I can’t jump around or head butt anything because I don’t wanna fuck up my eye.

I have some grading to do and a headache from not enough sleep. Just waiting for a call to go in. Stressful, but at least there’s help to be had. Gotta lot of political stuff in my head too…trying to figure out how best to deal with that. Those two dimwits in the Oval Office with Zelensky reminded me of middle-school gaslighting boys. Deep breaths. Take care of yourselves.

More of It

Still no working computer…and this iPad is ancient. I will have to deal with all that at some point, but not today. Today I will be teaching more lunar phases, going to an art opening, having dinner with my bro and the Man, and probably grading. This weekend I will be grading until I’m done. Not really looking forward to it, but it needs to be done. I want next weekend off work. Yes, I was traveling the last two weekends, but I graded. Got two weeks of homework graded across California and Arizona. Anyway, the plan is no grading. One weekend. That’s all I ask.

I’ve been drawing the last of the banned book pages…

I feel like I could do way more than 4, but time is limited. And now I think I’m going to try to fit another one in first, another quilt. Not a huge one…we’ll see.

Maybe I’ll plan out how to do the words by hand while I’m working on the other piece?

Not sure. Not a lot of brain power left at the end of the day for creative endeavors.

Too bad the current administration isn’t staffing the parks.

I did say I was retiring, assuming they didn’t fuck it up. It looks like they’re fucking things up for everyone but the rich white boys. Mind-boggling stupidity. I keep googling the crazy stuff I see my few friends who support the Cheeto post, wanting to fact check them, because they make so much shit up. It’s like middle school…if I say it’s true, it must be. Honestly I don’t know where to start protesting. Let alone how.

Such destructive tendencies. Just like middle schoolers…who by the way, are losing their minds this week. Let’s hope they can pull it together so the next 5 weeks before Spring Break don’t make us bang our collective heads on the desk. Also I need a plan for camping over break. I have two nights in Humboldt in the redwoods, but need to figure out where to stop on the way up and how to come back down. I’m hoping to get that figured out in the next week. Knock on wood.

Ok, gonna let the next possibility of a drawing percolate today. Hopefully kids will be more focused, less asleep and whiny. The art opening and dinner should be cool. I’ve got a book to finish. and the hot weather is gone. All good. Artsy thoughts. Art gets me through it…just want to make more of it.

Nonfunctional

So my computer is being nonfunctional. Aka it’s on but refusing to behave…I restarted it because every time I tried to use the mouse, it would do something whack instead of just scrolling like a normal mouse. There was a cat/keyboard interaction Monday night that might have been part of it. The boychild comes back here tonight, so maybe he can figure it out.

I feel a little nonfunctional as well. I mean all I do is work work work and try to fit art around all that. Got back to clay on Monday…

Her hand needs some work. Trying to keep everything from breaking and/or falling apart is a challenge at the moment. Never mind trying to figure out the head. I have too much going on this week so I probably won’t get back there until next Monday. Which sucks.

Quiltwise, I need to be working on my friend’s mom’s quilt but haven’t been able to clear enough time at night. Just playing catch-up from being gone two weekends. So I’ve been spending a little time (not enough) with drawing the next piece, which will have four panels. I think. I drew the first one before I went to QuiltCon, but inked it Sunday. Monday, I added the author (it came to me…).

Then I sketched the 2nd page…

And yesterday, I inked it.

And numbered the first two pages. Then stared at a blank piece of paper for a while, waiting for pages 3 and 4 to manifest. I can always start tracing these. Hard to have brain power some nights unfortunately. It all got used up for the day job.

Ok. Today is a chill day where the kids are working independently and I’m grading. Originally I was supposed to be at the District Office one day this week and that fell through, so I had a lesson plan ready for a sub. I’m going to take advantage of that today so maybe I won’t have to spend the entire weekend grading. Ha! It’s not looking good. Then Pilates…thank goodness. I missed the weekend class. Then home to grade and draw. Hopefully. And quilt maybe too. I think if I just get the quilt back under the sewing machine, it will be easier to do a little every day. Oh yeah, and fix the computer. Sigh.

Traveling Again…

It’s Monday again. It’s like it happens every week. This one feels like a bit much. I really enjoyed my three days away from home, wallowing in quilty stuff. It was a relief. Talking to people about quilts and art (and politics, because that came up over and over again)…it was nice; it was a relief. Seeing all the quilts…yes, I have a million pictures and I may put some in here when I have time (when do I ever have time???)…even though I don’t make that kind of quilt, some of them truly sing to me. Having one’s head solidly in something that is not school-related is a blessing.

And now I’m back. Woo! Actually, I had kids emailing all weekend and a slew of coworker texts on Friday that just about made me implode in the car on the way to Phoenix. More last night. Anyway, I’m sure that will just be the norm from now until June 17. Wait, probably after that too.

So before I left for the show, I hung out and stitched with friends…

I thought I would work on this on the trip. Nope. Not at all. I did make a spectacular knot in this thread on Thursday night, and three stitchers valiantly tried to unknot it and got it to this…

Two well-managed bits on each side and then an uncontrolled disaster in the middle. Kind of a metaphor for life.

We drove to Phoenix, leaving Friday morning. We had a nice little cottagey condo, with these guys in the kitchen…

And their friends on the fence out back…

I’m a fan.

We spent a tiny bit of time out here. I spent most of my time at the convention center.

It was a comfortable place though.

I went to two lectures: Susan Hudson of the Navajo Quilt Project, which I’ve sent a ton of fabric to…

Don’t sit close if you want to see their faces…I will send her more fabric when I get around to going through it. I didn’t make it through all the colors.

And Anna Maria Parry (was Horner)…

No, I don’t make quilts like her at all…I do love to listen how artistic brains work though, so it was fascinating for that. Same with Susan’s.

Somewhere in between all that, I was back at the cottage.

Relaxed and exhausted.

I sat at the SAQA booth on Saturday for a couple of hours with my quilt, Woman 3.0, which is traveling with the StitchPunk exhibit.

It was nice to see her. And I finally met Maddie Kertay of BadAss Quilter Society and got one of her ribbons.

That was nice. Appreciate the ribbon too.

Saw some art that wasn’t fiber…

And took a nighttime class (with a lot of caffeine) from Nichole Vogelsinger (aka Wild Boho). It was fun; I enjoyed my tablemates and time to stitch…

Again, this was more about listening to how the artist thinks than trying to make her stuff. I did buy way too many sequins though…

And beads that didn’t arrive in time. It’s OK; I went through my stash and ended up using stuff from crazy quilt swaps I did a million years ago.

The Man walked back from the convention center with me at 9:30 PM, and we saw this amazing thing…Janet Echelman’s ‘Her Secret Is Patience’. Beautiful piece.

Then Sunday, we drove home, I pissed off someone in a Zoom meeting (well, I didn’t agree with her), and tried to get a bunch of stuff done. I didn’t draw at all this weekend. It’s OK, I’m fine with that. I inked the drawing I did on Wednesday night…

With no help from Bowie…

Or Nova, who kept taking my seat…

Yes, I bought fabric. I notionally said I wouldn’t, but I knew that was a lie because I was looking for e bond’s new line and the African fabrics fascinate me…but not a huge haul…

Fun stuff.

Anyway, now I’m back and need to grade a million things and deal with kids and adults and parents. Ugh. Starting with this morning and a meeting that starts in 45 minutes. Did I tell you that 4 subs canceled on me for Friday? So I got the one I’d requested in the beginning that the district made me cancel? Long (stupid) story. It’s fine. We’ll see how the kids did in a few hours…making them do presentations today on what they should have done Friday. We’ll see how that goes. Tons of meetings today and then clay. And grading. And hopefully drawing after that. I’m back and there’s nothing planned until Spring Break, which isn’t really planned. And may not happen. Sigh.