New Babies…

OK. Mondays. They are just hard. I’m awake. The alarm took care of that. And the shower. And the first half of a cup of tea. Plus it is daylight. Some neighbor is already making gardening noises, so if I weren’t back to work, I’d be irritated by how early it was. But it’s supposed to be hot today and right now it is overcast and cool, so I get it. I’m an evening gardener as opposed to a morning gardener. It’s just my thing. I’ve been planting cuttings from a few succulents that have gotten too large and fallen over in the last week. One yielded about 15 large cuttings; the other, only 4. Plus I think there are two more floating around somewhere. I love succulents for their ability to regrow, to just lie around for a while and then find the dirt. Some I had just lying on the ground, ready for transplanting, but I waited too long and they rooted there. Whoops. Makes it easy for those like me who are not GREAT gardeners. I water. Sometimes I fertilize. Sometimes I forget to water, although I find it meditative to wander around the yard, checking on plant status, looking for caterpillars or new growth.

Like this one…broken off the main cactus, which was grown after I carried a piece back during COVID, filled my hand with stickers because it LOOKED smooth. I put this little piece in a pot months ago and it curled over and broke and I’m like, well that’s it, it’s going to rot away now, but NO. The joy of new babies.

Check them out. That’s exciting. One of my weird old lady habits now.

So. I know, I just posted, but I wrote that Friday morning. Then somehow walked away from the computer (probably panicking about time) and didn’t post it. It was missing a title and a photo and that was it. So here’s Friday and the weekend.

A 3-hour staff meeting…but I forgot my sketchbook. I meant to drop it in my bag, but no. And they logically made us put our computer lids down. So we could answer questions and talk to each other. OK. Well I don’t function well under those circumstances, so I drew all over the question paper.

With the only color I could find in my bag.

These would make cool little quilts. I don’t have time for that right now, but someone remind me later, eh? Because I don’t have a million little drawings lying around. Ha! Here’s the one from Saturday night, which I started last week somewhere…

It’s still not done. I don’t draw fast enough or they bring the food too fast. No, I don’t know if they’re being shot out of cannons or planted in toilet paper tubes. Hard to say. Is that grass or fire on the right? Unknown.

Friday night, I finished cutting all the Wonder Under.

It took 11 hours and 38 minutes. I stayed up too late to do it, because I had an opening to go to before. Then Saturday night, I sorted all the pieces…

That was 2 hours and 11 minutes. And 21 boxes. Significant.

Then last night, I picked my background (luckily I had enough of something that worked, because I forgot to go to the quilt store) and cleaned the studio, putting all the fabric away from the last quilt. I laid out the first 100 pieces and started with the volcano.

I hang the drawing up so I can see it. Yes there’s some chaos going on below the drawing. I don’t know what to say about that except I need more storage or to clean up what I have, but time for that takes away from time for this.

And I have limited patience for that. Barely a start there, but a start. Looking forward to the next probably 25 hours of ironing these…hopefully more than an hour a night, or it will take me until September. Ugh.

Friday night’s opening was at the San Diego Downtown Library, in their 9th-floor exhibition space, which is very nice. My crooked photo of the blurb.

And there’s my piece, Doctor’s Orders…

Plus me! After a very frustrating day at work managing a lot of other people’s stuff instead of my own. I came home, showered, changed, and left again. With more tea in me. This show was mostly Allied Craftsmen, but a few other people added in.

I made an Instagram reel of this video of me rolling around my very undone room. It might be better with the music.

Many people were like, it looks great! Good enough! The only thing I had done was open/unlock cupboards and move the tables and chairs. Literally nothing in the eyes of what needed to be done. All those boxes needed to get OUT of the prep room so we can use it.

It’s OK. This was after three hours on Saturday…

I also went in Sunday and mopped the prep room floor because it was disgusting. Plus made a bunch of copies because they needed to be made. Today, I have two meetings and hopefully I’ll get a big chunk done. Hoping. Saturday, I was feeling very stressed about all of it. I’m still having issues. Also, the A/C isn’t working. So it’s warm. Not great. Supposed to be in the 90s this week.

And I also did a reel of this, so you could see what 2 hours of sorting pieces looks like. The plus of the reel is not listening to whatever I was watching I guess.

For each one, I’m looking at the number and finding the box with that number. Sometimes with the little pieces, I put them in my hand and pile them up by number, which is a little faster.

Sunday, I also cut out pieces for a revision of a tattoo quilt I’m doing.

We did a short hike.

The Man’s back is bothering him.

Plus it’s hot. But check out that thundercloud! It did not make its way to us, unfortunately.

And Kitten this morning. 15 years old. Definitely slowed down. Poor old lady.

Yes, she has taken over that drawer of blue fabric.

Anyway, that’s it. And I have to be at school in 30 minutes. Need meds, brush teeth, etc. More tea! Totally more tea. One meeting this morning, then one this afternoon. Hopefully my room will be presentable by 1 PM for that one. Or not! Then home after a couple of errands, to maybe go to the gym with my book, definitely ironing to fabric tonight. Definitely.

Wow.

First of all, I wrote this Friday. And then forgot to post it. If that’s not evidence of my brain fuzz at the beginning of this year, I don’t know what is. Enjoy.

I don’t know if I have a ton of words today. I’ve spent the last two days go go going for work, and now I realize why I can’t do much on school breaks…I’m exhausted. It’s so much ON. Today is more ON (3 1/2 hours of one meeting, who knows how much of another meeting…although that is only four people total) and hopefully some prep time in my classroom. Everything has to be put back and they still hadn’t finished my floors as of yesterday afternoon. I hid out in the prep room and did lesson prep. That was after the 3 hours in a sports arena where I stitched for sanity.

I listen to all the things. I just need something to counteract all the loud noises and people.

I did hang out with my core team…

IDK how many years this is with them, but it’s a good thing. 7? 8? Crazy. There’s a lot of change on our campus this year, so it’s nice to have this group as backup.

I’ve been trying to trim one yard of Wonder Under a night. Wednesday night, that was fine…here’s 2/3s done…

Last night? Not so much. I did have a stitching meeting and didn’t get home until 9 PM (after stopping by In ‘n Out and having a former student in the pay window). And then I was trying to find my middle-school yearbooks and couldn’t, because I need a middle-school photo for school. I have my school photos somewhere, but IDK where that is either. I found MY kids school photos, a nice little envelope of each year that the girlchild will treasure and the boychild will probably not. If only I had been so organized with my own photos. Ah well.

So then I only cut things for an hour (and I still went to bed late, whoops), and didn’t finish the yard.

I have one more yard after this, but I have an art opening tonight. So. Yeah. Not sure how that will go. I’d like to finish. And I don’t have to be up early tomorrow (but inevitably, the neighborhood and animals will not let me sleep). So we’ll see. Hoping to be sorting them tomorrow, then maybe I’ll try to figure out what the backing fabric will be, clean up the studio from the last quilt, and then start ironing to fabric. Maybe not all on Saturday, but who knows? I do need to do some planning for school, but who knows how much needs to happen this weekend. And if it does, it’ll be Sunday afternoon.

Sigh though. I don’t feel ready. I can do the teaching and the kids, although I’m also doing literacy and the sex ed curriculum (toe to toe with dumbassery) this year. It’s the time suck I can’t do. It should be better than last year. We’ll see what that looks like. And I have some repeat kids I’d rather not have. But whatever. Yesterday’s meeting about whatever personality test they had us do the last school year that was supposed to help us know our work style better? Y’all, I’ve been working in multiple fields for a really long time. I do know how I work. I learned nothing from the new 5 designations you’ve given me (Strategic, Input, Determination, Achiever, can’t remember the last one). Plus some are adjectives and some are nouns. That’s just damn annoying. I know what I bring to the table. So does my team. Maybe the new science teachers don’t, but they’ll figure it out pretty quickly. Anyway. I’m looking forward to a year of just one grade level in this subject. I’m looking forward to HELP this year on that grade level. I’m looking forward to a new group of kids, new personalities, new quirks (only the fun and weird ones). I’m looking forward to bringing books back in the classroom. And I’m always looking forward to coming home and making art.

Oh yeah, I finished another book yesterday. That was also nice.

As One Should…

We’re Baa-aack. With emphasis on the AACK. Today is not the first official day of school…that’s tomorrow, when I have to trolley to SDSU, sit through the 150 minutes of rah rah, then trolley or get a ride back to my car, drive to my school, and sit through an hourlong meeting there. Taking a book and probably some stitching. Considering driving to SDSU instead, but they claim there’s limited free parking and I’m trying to be a good citizen. Not sure why, since they didn’t really consider us in their design process. As usual.

Am I ready for a new school year? Well. No. But I never am. Curriculum-wise, I’m OK, although I’m still tweaking the first few days and I have no clue what will be going on with the rest of 8th grade. Not entirely my problem. Probably some of my problem. We’ll see. I am entirely one grade level this year, though, which is nice. I think. There were pros to only having to grade 2 or 3 classes of an assignment. The con was there were twice as many assignments and very little help with one grade level. So there’s that. It can’t be worse, right? I’ve got a fairly zen attitude at the moment. We’ll see how that goes. I’m not really known for being zen. My grandma’s name was Genevieve Zenobia, Zenobia being a family name. I always wished I’d been named Zenobia (although if I actually HAD been, I probably would have hated it…why couldn’t you name me something NORMAL, like KATHY). Then I could be Zen for short. And I am short. Ha ha ha.

OK. So I’ve been cutting out Wonder Under. It never looks like much at this stage. I see progress. You probably don’t. So here’s Monday night, when I got 1/3 done…

And then last night, when I was halfway done…

The piles are bigger. That’s it. I’ve got three more yards to do. I’ve been getting one done a night. At this rate, I’ll be done and ready to sort by Friday night. I say that, but I have meetings tonight and tomorrow night, and Friday I have an art opening. So who the fuck knows what I can actually get done. Today, I have two official school meetings and one unofficial one, plus pilates and book club. I’m not even sure WHICH book club and WHICH book. Let’s hope I read it. And I have been hugely unsuccessful in retraining myself on a 10:30 PM bedtime. Let’s face it, my natural sleep cycle can’t be changed, despite what my doctor says. I will suffer, exhausted, this week, and eventually my body will be like, FIIIINE. I won’t go to bed after midnight. You’re such a wimp. Stomps off into the distance.

When I retire, I will not get up early and I will stay up late.

Here’s the official Team Science at Art photo from Monday…

Look! We are out in the world! Hey, I tend to hermit during the summer. As one should.

This is so true…

I don’t try to be a bit much. It just happens.

So I have this piece that was at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, UK, last weekend. I made it in 2019 and it was accepted into the SAQA Opposites Attract show. It was sent off to Australia for its opening exhibit in, well, May 2020. So you know what happened there. And I think it’s been shown in Australia, but I’m not exactly sure where and when at this point. This is the first time I’ve seen it exhibited, and Quilter on Fire made a video. Mine is the last one in the video, which is actually kind of cool, considering how she ended it.

Interestingly, I think it’s hung upside down. Which for this quilt, might not matter, but usually I put a label on them and so if I did, the label is also upside down. This is Each Piece Belongs…

Man, it’s been so long since I’ve seen this quilt. I must have shipped it off at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020. I know I’ve mentally lost it a few times, mostly due to a lack of communication, honestly. But I do know it is supposed to be at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, opening October 13 through December 3. So go see it. Unless you saw it in Australia or the UK. Now I’m wondering why it was upside down. Sigh. Whatever. It doesn’t really matter. I’m just glad it finally got shown.

OK. School meeting with team. School meeting with coteacher. School meeting with literacy team. School school school. We know how all that goes. Simba is not thrilled about his week at all…no boychild, nobody. Oh yeah! And it’s the girlchild’s birthday. She’s ancient. OK, not really. But here’s where I find an old picture of her when she was an adorable (loud, door-banging, delightful) child. WAIT! Even better…oh look at all those red eyes. The boychild behind the chair, girlchild on the chair, holding the nephew that just graduated high school and is going to COLLEGE, and the niece on the left who is just starting her senior year in college.

LOOK AT THOSE PANTS. And the sweatshirt matches. I’m losing my mind. Also the nephew’s face may be skinnier, but he totally looks the same. Miss all those people.

Untitled #1

OK, I have a good reason (or 10) for being late today. Just trust me. I could’ve gotten up earlier and written this, but you know what? I have just two days left before school stuff starts for real, and I didn’t wanna. So there.

So where’s the art at? Now that school will suck up a major portion of my life and I won’t get more than an hour or two a night? Well, the good news is that I finished tracing on Saturday night…almost 6 yards of Wonder Under in 23 1/2 hours…

And then last night, I started cutting all that out.

Guess what? It’s not fast. And chicken butt.

It’s fine. I’ll finish it this week hopefully and get it sorted, and then I can spend the next two weeks ironing it to fabric.

My quilt guild met on Saturday, so I did a little more on this…

Which will probably never be finished.

We also walked the dog…

It was after 6 PM before it was cool enough. Speaking of cool, we saw this tarantula and tarantula hawk wasp that had apparently been in a struggle…there were drag marks across the path…

So when you watch our video below, you’ll hear us guessing what is gonna happen next…

Oh no. Well here is what actually happens: The female tarantula hawk wasp stings a tarantula between the legs, paralyzes it, then drags the prey to a specially prepared burrow, where a single egg is laid on the spider’s abdomen, and the burrow entrance is covered. But oh yes, that spider is dinner for the progeny. Yummy. Mmhmm. Yup. Pretty cool to see it, although the creepy crawly things were going up and down my spine the whole time.

This morning, my co-teacher and I went to the Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore exhibit at the San Diego Museum of Art. It’s not that I don’t like Moore’s stuff…it’s just that I think I need to see it full size and I need to touch it. The security people are very much NOT about the touching. I understand…but also the airspace around things is sacred. Yeah. OK.

Anyway, it was a cool exhibit…quite a few O’Keeffe goodies in the show. You only have until 8/26 though. At the end is an interactive thing where you can sit down and color. I wonder sometimes why teacher professional development doesn’t have more sitting down and coloring, because it calms adults AND kids. The days we do cover pages of units at school are the calmest chillest ever.

And then we hung them up with everybody else’s and left them there.

Which is always a weird thing to do as an artist who sells their work, but this isn’t worth anything except in tribute to O’Keeffe. So there we are.

OK, so for the rest of the day, I need to organize all my clothes, cut the cord with cable TV, finish uploading 12 thousand photos to my art group’s Google Drive, try to organize WTF I’m doing the first week or so of school, finish the gardening list, and I don’t know, read a book or something. I’m reading Margaret Atwood’s book of essays, Burning Questions, but probably need some actual fiction as well. But seriously, these two old ladies of word and image…

When you read about O’Keeffe arguing that her flowers were just flowers, and not female genitalia, not what the masculine gaze demands, and you think back to your art/reading education and realize it was always from the male gaze…man, it just makes making art as a woman such a better thing to be doing in this world. As I get older, I get more and more feminist. I am also less concerned about wearing a bra…although that’s not such a shocker if you know me. OK. Do the things.

Wishing That…

Late again, lost my days. Not many left until every week is prescribed, Monday this, Tuesday that. So it’s OK that I lost one? Maybe. I was doing something else, posting for an art group I’m in…and then had to drive forever for a meeting for another art group. I have more of that to do today for another art group and some organization for yet a third art group. Volunteering is hard.

I’m still tracing, but I’m close to done.

It’s funny, because I’ll comment on social media on things, like this necklace…I knew I was making it harder for myself by drawing this, and one part of my brain thinks it’s stupid, but I know I can do it, so it’s OK, but people are like rushing to give me alternatives. It’s OK.

I know what the alternatives are. I chose to do it this way. My brain already had that conversation. I guess people just want to help…and I’m help-adverse. Independently minded. Nope, I’m good.

I traced just under 2 hours on Thursday, because we went to a concert that afternoon/evening. Then Friday, I did a few more hours.

This is where I’m at…in the mid 1700s, so about 300 pieces to go. I’ve finished the justices except for Ruth and all of the Supreme Court building. I’m up into the goddess and all that stuff. Almost done. Maybe today? Who knows. Today’s to-do list is massive.

One of the things I need to do is get this piece of a jade plant that broke because it was too heavy into the ground, probably in pieces.

Poor thing.

Annie getting pets after being peed…

Only a couple more days I can do that I think before I go back.

I walked Simba one morning, but it was already too hot.

I had water, kept him in the shade as much as possible, and kept it short. He was so excited though.

I also want more walks but am too hot. Not as hot as he is though. So I’m careful with when and where I take him.

Nova guarding the Wonder Under box.

Also there’s a breeze up there on the light table.

Simba excited about bedtime for some reason.

Or maybe just excited to be him.

So the concert we went to was Danny Elfman…

Yeah, he’s old. And it did show in what he could do, but it was still fun. We were invited by the Man’s brother and SIL to join them in box seats, which were pretty awesome.

Space around us, nice padded seats, drink service, etc. Nice touch. I’ve avoided the big stadium-like shows for years, but this was very nice.

They played some Oingo Boingo, some from his new album (which was eh), and lots of musical scores from movies and TV shows, with clips, which was cool.

I didn’t realize all the things he’d done music for…

I really want to watch all the video behind him again…there were some truly inspirational things going on, very surreal, sometimes not so nice, but some very cool stuff. I’m sure they’ll make a video/movie/doc and I can watch it again then, right? Anyway, we had fun, but I think we’re still tired from it, two days later. Because we’re old. And I don’t sleep.

OK, it is Saturday. I’d like to walk the dog (and ourselves) later. I need to get that jade plant in the ground, and then get some things crossed off the to-do list. I have a quilt guild meeting first though, so I should do that, with more caffeine. This is my last Saturday before I go back to school. I don’t feel like I have it in me this year, but I’ll figure it out. I never get particularly rah rah about going back anyway, but it would be nice if it didn’t take me 2-3 hours to fall asleep every night. Yeah. Wishing that for myself.

Until I Don’t…

Oh hey. Hi. School dreams every night. Can’t fall asleep for a good two hours, even though it’s midnight. It’s not even that hot. The dog is in the bed, my body hurts, my brain won’t shut the fuck up. All good. It is August. So school is on my mind. Heavily.

Yesterday was the first day I didn’t have copyediting. I had to deliver some art, but it was trouble-free and relatively quick (come to our opening at the downtown San Diego library on August 11!). Today I had my eyes checked (all good). I try to keep the last few days before school starts relatively open, so I can introvert myself into a pillow fort coma before all hell breaks loose. The to-do list might kick my ass. So yesterday, I had about 3 1/2 hours of online training for school (sexual harassment, mandated reporter, pest management, blood-borne pathogens…was that it? Nah, forgot cybersecurity…ironically.). I still have 45 more minutes on active shooters (as opposed to inactive shooters?). I also panicked about the planning calendars for this coming year. My co-teacher sent an email out and I thought, oh shit, newbies are gonna look at these, and I hadn’t touched them since June, so I touched them. Fussed a little with 7th grade just for the first few months…I’m not teaching it this year, but there were a few things that needed fixing. Then took a look at 8th grade. Oh yeah. Fuck. So I fussed with January through June. I’d done some stuff with December already and then stalled on August through November. I had COVID last year for the first 8 days of school, which was a clusterfuck, and the calendar reflects that. I’m hoping the new 8th-grade teacher is ready and willing to plan. Most of the issues are in February and on, but the 2nd unit needs something. I think. I have more to do on Unit 1 today and tomorrow, but I now have a better handle on what I need to do. Maybe. Until I don’t.

So. School. Need to order some supplies. Need to do some stuff with documents. Need to be ready for next week…going back. Not ready. Nope. Nuh uh. Never am.

So I also traced yesterday and Monday…progress! Still fucking slow, y’all. But I’m getting there.

This is what it really looks like when I trace. I usually have about 2 yards of Wonder Under out, one for big pieces and one for filling in with all the little pieces that need to go somewhere. I hate to waste Wonder Under. I blame my grandmother, my raised-in-the-Depression grandma who saved everything. And my mom who was raised by her. Hence the pile of hard, cracked rubberbands I tossed out at work back in June. It’s a thing. I always have rubberbands somewhere that should be tossed. And I never toss a paperclip unless it breaks. Or it’s inexplicably sticky.

I’ve been going through my clothes, trying to be way more organized than I have been. Thrifting some, sending some to a recycler, organizing the rest. We’ve banned the cats from the closet because they cause so much damage. I have clothes with holes from Luna catching them on her kamikaze way down from the top shelf and everything is covered in fur. So I washed a lot and will hang them back up and leave the doors closed. She doesn’t like it. Oh well.

This tracing stuff is hard on the eyes…

This was me tracing through all the trainings…

See tiny computer? Yeah. Well. I’ve heard some of these videos so many times I can ace the test the first time through. I feel like if you pass the test, you shouldn’t have to sit through the videos. Whatever. How about just a brief update on what changed? Nah.

I’ve got 4 yards mostly done and I’ve started the 5th yard of Wonder Under…

I’m 15 hours into the tracing and on piece 1199. So more than halfway. About 830 to go. I’d like it done. But IDK if it will be before the weekend. I have most of the rest of today, but need to do school and yard and house stuff too, tomorrow is wide open (I think? Oh wait, no, have a concert to go to and we’re leaving incredibly early), and Friday is a clusterfuck. Same with Saturday. Ah well. We’ll see. So it will probably be 8 or 9 yards of Wonder Under and 22 hours of tracing. That’s my semi-educated guess.

As part of cleaning out clothes, I tossed a few of my old school shirts, put three in a pile to take to school (I never wear them…one is just the wrong shape for me, so uncomfortable, and the other is polyester, and we are not friends). But I found this white shirt that WOULD fit just fine, unlike the new one I got at the end of last year, but I don’t wear white. I just don’t. I don’t even own bras that won’t show through (they’re all black, what can I say), and I just don’t like white. Ugh. Stains. Makes me even pinker than I already am. SO. I put it in a pile to tie dye and yesterday I decided not to wait any longer and did it on the dryer.

This is the before picture with the one glove I found (yes, the other hand has two blue fingernails right now). I’m letting it percolate and will pull it later today. I’m hoping for awesomeness.

As part of the yard work, I was trimming in the backyard, and was tugging on some ivy taking over one of my trees. I heard a ‘whoosh’ and saw one of the barn owls move to the eucalyptus.

It was STARING at me, like lady, that tree you’re tugging on is my daytime nest. Knock it off. And it makes sense, because we hear one of them vocalizing from the backyard and then around the deck almost every night. So yeah. I still have a barn owl in my yard. All good. There’s also a cat on the roof. We haven’t seen it anywhere else. I haven’t seen it at all. The Man is standing on the deck at night, hears a noise, looks up, and there’s a cat head silhouetted against the night sky. Twice now. Weird, huh? I moved my yardwork to the bougainvillea next to the bedroom window, where there is probably a skunk living, and at least two bunnies that I’ve seen, so that’s safe, right? The reality is that this yard is overwhelming on a good day. I’ve made some progress this summer, but not enough. It’s never enough. Pile of gravel is still there, although I’ve made it a little further around the corner. Ah well. Can’t do it all.

With that in mind, I have a list for today, and once this is posted, I will have done two of the things on it. Plus the eye doctor and Kitten’s meds because she’s not eating. Which I didn’t put on the list because they were on the other list. Hmmm. Don’t have multiple lists. Bad plan. So I’m going to go pee the ex’s puppy…all my wounds from her have finally healed. Then come back and eat lunch maybe and do all the other things on the list. Well maybe not ALL of them. There’s always too many things. Might be a mistake. Plus trace for a good long while. That’s pretty important.

It All Looks the Same…

Pros: I’m almost done with copyediting this project. Correction. I am done, I just need to do some final shit so I can send it back. It was not the easy ride I wanted. It took ALL the time and still needs a proofreader, I think, but I know I did an awesome job. Well. I’m sure I missed some things because at some point, it was too much. But hey, I get to send it back. I don’t have to proofread it. Someone should. It’s also the last full week of vacation before school starts. I have a few things planned or that I have to do, but mostly, once I send the copyediting project back, it’s my week. So lots of gravel moving and tracing will hopefully happen. We’ll see, though. I also need to sort through clothing and get organized for school, so there’s that.

Cons: See comment above about school. Not ready. Never am. It’s warm and humid here, although it rained briefly this morning. I think my yardwork days are today and Thursday, looking at the weather. The whole-wheat flour keeps getting bugs. I’m annoyed by that. Not too bad for cons.

I’ve been tracing every day. I have not been particularly good about photographing it, because it all looks the same, honestly…

I have a little over 800 pieces traced…not even halfway, y’all. Such a joke that I thought I might be able to finish this weekend. The copyediting took a healthy chunk of my days.

Not helping, Luna. Not.

I’ve got almost 11 hours into the tracing so far. So another 15 to go? Maybe? I feel like the bigger pieces take longer to trace and I’m about to do all the justices and they have lots of little fingers and eyeballs. Those trace faster. But then their robes are bigger pieces. Huh. I guess we’ll see. Not expecting much. Not gonna be done quickly.

Saturday, I made us leave the house and walk three miles…but at the beach, at Silver Strand. It started out very peoply, but got better quickly.

In fact, it got very birdy instead.

We saw dolphins too…but no photos of those.

It was good. It was cooler than home, although still not particularly cool in temperature.

It’s hard to find hikes/walks in the summer that don’t just feel like work because of the heat. The Man is planning to hike the Trans-Catalina Trail in October, so he needs to get some hikes in. So do I, although the knee does not necessarily appreciate it. Oh well. Sorry knee.

I’ve been using this cup to drink chai each evening, mostly so I can giggle when I get to the bottom.

I’m very mature for my age. I actually don’t like the word ‘tit’ for my breasts, but it makes a nice bird.

Did this drawing at dinner Saturday night…definitely weird.

Finished stitching things down on this. Easy to do the stitchdown…

Then need to find the mental space for the embroidery. Don’t have that right now. Soon? Maybe.

OK, so I have the rest of the day to move gravel…it’s cooler and raining occasionally, but just a few big drops…nothing really big. And I need to decide how to handle the rest of this copyediting project. Gonna do that first. Then I have some books to read and art to make. And it’s my summer break, so I’m gonna do that. No school stuff today…maybe later this week, but not today.

Do Something Else

WTH July? Where are you going? STAAAY. It’s OK. We can do more things, hike on the beach, go to a wine bar, sit outside and read our book. You don’t need to leave. PLEEEAAAASE. Yup. Here it is. August. In your face. Though the school district has never stopped sending emails. Ever. Nope. Hasn’t. Stopped.

I’ve been doing a pretty good job ignoring it though. I needed the Visa bill to post before I could afford to order stuff for school. I don’t think I need a lot, luckily. Just folders and some minor stuff for me to start the year. I don’t get paid from the end of June to the end of August, so it’s a stretch getting through that period. Always. Although it’s been OK this year so far (knock on wood). Getting close to the time I need to think more seriously about school. Some planning, some copying. Ugh. Not in the mood. Don’t have to be yet, but it’s coming.

The copyediting is slow. Mostly that’s because of me, I think. I ran a bunch of errands yesterday that needed doing, and I was supposed to go BACK to the copyediting after, and I didn’t…I entered an art show instead. I have two more to enter in the next few days.

So I started tracing Wonder Under on Wednesday night…

Not fast. Uh uh. Not sure why. Bottom pieces are bigger…they take longer. Landscape stuff takes longer. Maybe. I got through 100 pieces in almost two hours. Man that’s slow.

Last night was no better…my goal was to finish tracing the swamp and I did that…another two hours for about 100 pieces. I think.

Three hours and 46 minutes in, got to piece 206. SLOW. Everything is slow at the moment, though, except the days and the weeks and the damn month. Getting things DONE is slow. So I have about 1832 pieces to go. I had to add 8 pieces because I forgot to number them. Wait. Actually. I think it’s 9. or maybe 10. This is why I stop keeping track. I’m barely in the 200s. There is no actual point in counting right now. I need to finish copyediting so I can do more of this every day. Ha! Yeah. Well next week has a bunch of stuff, appointments, meetings, etc. So I am way less efficient than I’d like to be. How is it Friday already? Damn.

I’m hoping to be done with the tracing by next weekend. I figure that’s plenty of time. We’ll see. I also need to clean out my clothes, but I feel like that’s gonna take a big chunk of time, so I need to finish copyediting first. I just don’t feel like it. It’s haaarrddd. God I’m whiny. Gotta go pick up the dog; boychild is back to real work. Then shower, then copyedit until the cows come home. Whoo!

I had my stitching meeting on Zoom last night and finished the third June block of Homegrown.

It’s cute. I started the last June block. So then there are only 3 or 4 houses left after that, and then the center and the borders. I might finish in 2025. Maybe. I was supposed to finish quilting the Bird Crazy (not its real name) quilt this summer, or maybe even over Spring Break. Nope. Not done. It’s half done. I really should just do it, but it’s hot and the damn thing is wool. So I would quilt even faster!

I don’t really want to be extinct. I just like paintings where dinos are yelling at each other. “Did you vacuum today?” “No, dammit, I was playing with my dinner!” Someone needs to vacuum. And clean the kitchen floor. And put a bunch of shit away. Seriously. Summer is never as productive as I need it to be.

OK. Dog. Then shower. Might wake up. Copyedit. Lots. Then trace. Pro: it was cooler here yesterday afternoon. Lovely clouds. The really hot day next week, I might just take the work computer somewhere air-conditioned and do some schoolwork there. Like SCHOOL. Summer school is out of my room finally. Pros and cons. Until then, ignore that job. Do something else.

Days Disappear

Well. I finished the drawing. And I numbered it. That in itself is a major achievement for the week. I’ve also been copyediting a teacher’s manual, which is different, but not. It’s work. I need the money to pay for the dog’s dental visit and the dryer fix, which both add up to much more than I will get paid for this, but that’s OK. It means I spend a few hours each day staring at this computer in this hot room and feeling like I’m getting nothing done. Which is fine. It’s too hot to do the other things anyway. I currently have two fans blowing almost directly on me, not on my eyeballs, because they get dry and weepy and tired if I do that. My goal is to finish the copyediting this week, around the other things I need to do, and then next week is mostly wide open, if I ignore all the appointments and meetings I tossed in there. Yeah. That. They have to happen sometime. I did get the referral to musculoskeletal for my knee…they messaged asking for days/times, and I ever so hopefully gave them all this time before school started, and then realistically gave them some guidelines for after school starting, and then said if it was more than a month out with those guidelines, to use these other guidelines. I have an appointment in October. They should have just said they were booking two months out. I’m glad I’m mobile and can get around…it just hurts. It’s workable.

So finishing the drawing happened in bits and pieces at night, when it cooled down. I can’t draw in the heat and make sense of it. This was near the end…most of the last bit was penciled in when I went to bed on Sunday…

And then I finished it Monday night…

It’s about 48″ x 56″ I think. Not as big as I thought, but still big. And complicated. Kitten for scale…

I started numbering it Monday night and realized it would take forever…

So I finished last night, very late…didn’t even start until 10 something…

I thought it was 2023 pieces last night, thought that was weird because that’s this year, but it was actually 2029, which is funny, because that’s the year I’ve set for retiring from teaching. It may slip a year or two, but that’s the goal, that’s what’s keeping me going with all the clusterfucks, and yes, I’ll still have to work, copyediting or something else, but it won’t be in the classroom.

I had guessed 2000 pieces, so that was a good guess. I knew it was complicated. It took 15 hours and 38 minutes to draw it and 2 hours and 54 minutes to number it. Big time. Tonight I start tracing. It’s good going into the new school year with a big project. I appreciate the meditative time to work on it.

I did a little of this while watching TV over the last few nights.

Very basic applique. All I can handle. I say that, and I’m reading two books at a time. Not sure why. Some sort of ploy by my brain to read twice as much because I haven’t read any of that book today, even though I spent an hour reading the other one. I’m going along with it for now.

I have work in this show, opening August 11 at the downtown library in San Diego.

I’ve never had work in the library gallery, so that’s cool.

I don’t want to be tolerated. True that. I also like my tea really strong.

This guy has been licking his leg where they shaved all the hair off for his dental visit. So it is time for the floatie around his neck.

It’s hot and uncomfortable and he keeps looking at me like this, please take it off, but sir, you have licked a sore onto your leg and we will not be dealing with infected leg sores. It is not on the Bingo card for summer. So there.

OK. Today. Sorting through clothes, found a white school shirt that I will never wear because it is white, so I’m going to tie dye it…it’s a good size and fit, so that’s why I don’t just toss it or donate it or whatever. Copyediting…hopefully going to get all these silly Lesson boxes done that all have to be formatted the same but aren’t. I know I’m a copyeditor because I pay attention to this stuff; I’m just amazed at the people who don’t pay attention. I shouldn’t be. I need to pack up a quilt for delivery to a show…I probably need to pack up two quilts, but the other one isn’t due until next week, so maybe I’ll delay on that. I have yardwork…ALWAYS have yardwork. And tracing Wonder Under later. A book to go back to the physical library. Strange that these days…almost everything I read is digital unless I own it. And reading those two books…crucial part of the day. Oh wait, I have pilates too. That’s nice. I should remember to go to that. Days disappear if you aren’t watching. That’s not entirely a bad thing unless you’re like me and you like to check off the boxes of what you’ve done.

Fold All the Laundry I Didn’t Fold

Mmmm. No class today. Well. I say that and I signed up for a different kind of pilates class, just because I wanted to try it out and that shit’s harder to do during the school year. But I like pilates and it’s actually an exercise class, which is good for me. No more literacy class this week…I did learn some things, but more remembered that we need to do more to boost reading, and that takes time, and time is something we may not have a lot of, so there’s that. But with two+ teams doing it all together, hopefully we can make some progress with the kids. Here was my setup on the last day, with everything back in the purple bag, which will go to school, plus the stitching I did to help me focus.

I put away all the highlighters and pens and post-its. Now I officially don’t have to think about school until…the next crazy email comes from that one teacher who apparently has nothing to do over break, no books to read, no relaxing beaches to lie on (I don’t really do that anyway), no giant-ass drawings to finish. Oh wait, that one’s me. I’m hoping to finish the drawing today. In between pilates, laundry, cleaning, moving gravel (got a whole ‘nother pile of it that needs moving), keeping the pup from licking his shaved foot (he had a dental cleaning on Friday and is notoriously bad about licking a sore into shaved areas)…all the things. It’s supposed to be hot all week, so that will be (not) fun. Not sure what my plan is for that. The boychild is home but going to training all day and then leaves again on Friday for his regular shift. Exhausting. I guess I work all week, but not like that. Gotta take days off…he had yesterday off. At least he has the pup in bed at night, so I have some chance of a decent night’s sleep.

No one seems inclined to dust or vacuum or mop…even me, it seems. Oh! I also need to copyedit. I put my editing service back into vacation mode, declined all the other offers I’d gotten, so I’m down to the one. That’s the one I can handle. I have two weeks to do it, and it’s not very big, but I should actually start. Yeah. This afternoon. I will.

So the drawing. The drawing has progressed. My Art Brain has been engaged, now that it doesn’t have to think about Latin roots and spelling rules. And pretend teaching those. So Friday night, I drew the swamp. It was in my notes…and I’m realizing, I need to write a post that just documents all the stuff I took notes about and was thinking while I was drawing, because it may not be so so obvious from just looking at it. But here’s the swamp…

I hid a Swamp Thing in it.

Then what did I do next? Oh yeah, started working on the pedestals under the swamp justices.

Finished those last night…

So Gorsuch is all corporation instead of individual, so he is standing on individual people, who are sort of compressed by him. Alito has had some issues with a fishing trip and possibly some other money-related things, so he has the fish and the money. Roberts is a mess, with money clouding any decision he makes. He also seems to make decisions completely against his own race…he seems race-blind to me, or maybe if he does that, that’s how he gets the money. So I added a few chained slaves to his pedestal, because I’m not sure he remembers…I would like the Court to have more people of color, all colors, to make the decisions more diverse, more pro those groups who need support. I don’t think he does that. Kavanaugh likes beer. He also has some sexual issues of harassment in the past that popped up (ha!) before his confirmation, but it’s OK, because boys will be boys, right? Sigh. Let’s not use that as an excuse for bad behavior. Please. Amy. Oh Amy. Coney Barrett has People of Praise behind her. She claims she speaks for all people, that her religion doesn’t shape her decisions, but like the other swamp judges, I don’t find her trustworthy. Religion is fine unless it’s making decisions for a bunch of people who don’t subscribe to that religion…and reproductive freedom is something all five of these judges have voted against. Four of them have penises, so they have no right dealing with a uterus…and the other one thinks LGTBQ marriages are a sin. So should she be in the Court? Nah. I don’t think so…not representing the people and not interpreting the law appropriately for ALL the people.

So why is Roberts on the other side? Well, it was getting crowded on that side and occasionally he votes like a sane person. OCCASIONALLY. He’s also skating on a slippery slope. He has the key to the Court (being the Big Guy, the one in charge). I still think he’s pretty swampy, but…so I’m probably going to have to copy some of this into a Court post. I’ll do that. And go back and explain some of the other decisions I made. You may not agree. I’m OK with that. Unless you think we shouldn’t have rights, like all of us, then I’m not OK with it. Feel free to limit your own rights. Then get out of my face.

I’m still working on the left side. Literally and figuratively. But I need to go to class, so I’ll be back. You won’t even notice.

So the other thing we did on Saturday, which was a little nuts, was drive up to Los Angeles. I had an opening in Torrance (which wouldn’t have been as bad), but there was a show in LA that I wanted to see that closes in a couple of weeks, Faith Ringgold: A Survey, at the Jeffrey Deitch gallery in LA.

I know I have Faith’s Tar Beach book somewhere in the house. I loved her people flying in the sky at night. In looking at her website, I might need to buy more books.

I also love her mix of paintings with quilts. Although here is one of her prints, also very cool.

The handwritten words on this one…

Very powerful seeing her work in person.

Strangely, the same gallery had some work by one of my university painting instructors, Judy Baca. She has created some fairly awesome murals in Los Angeles over the years.

Honestly, although her art and achievements are impressive, she was (for me) not the most present professor. The rumor was that she was working on a mural in Los Angeles the semester I had her, so the teacher’s aide ran (ha! he did nothing) the class, and then she would show up maybe once a month and berate many of us. I have some serious painting PTSD from her class. Maybe not all artists should teach art? I don’t know…your mileage may vary. Maybe it was a bad year for her. I just didn’t really paint after that class. I still don’t think I CAN paint. That said, a lot of the art classes at UCIrvine were just show up, get an assignment, and go make something that meets it. There was very little technical instruction. We were often just left to our own devices…so there’s pros and cons to that. I do appreciate the time to mess around and fuck with stuff, but sometimes, a little more technical know-how might have been useful (exploded my ceramics final in the kiln, which I don’t actually think was MY fault, but I made do…glued all the parts to a plywood board…most were whole and the ones that weren’t, I glued the pieces and then the shards and quickly rewrote my statement). Sometimes I think I’d really like to go back to art school now just with a stronger, more confident state of mind, but then my adult brain slaps my face and says NO NO NO, we are NOT getting another degree. But maybe more art classes would be fun.

Also in the Deitch gallery was Karon Davis: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, which was very powerful. I didn’t photograph the whole thing, because I couldn’t figure out an angle that showed how large and dominating the judge and flag were in the face of this figure of Bobby Seale during the Chicago 8 trial.

Whitewashed. Beautifully painful work.

I had been scrolling through Instagram the day before we left (like you do when you are supposed to be listening to someone talk about teaching vocabulary) and saw an artist whose work I love post that her stuff was in a show in LA…hey, I’m going to LA…I could stop by if it’s close. It was close to the other gallery, and on the way back to the museum in Torrance, so we headed for a small gallery, the Seis Gallery. The show was called The Horror…

And included two pieces by Svetlana Shigroff. This is Sim-Ya…

And this is Refusal of Man…

I took a tufting class from her before COVID, and it was fun, but crazy lots of work. I say that knowing full well my stuff is also a crazy lot of work…it’s just what do we want to do more of. Anyway, it was cool to have a chance to see more of her stuff in person.

Straight up, traffic going to LA was horrible. It was a long day. We saw good art, but were exhausted by the end of it.

I have another LA opening coming up in September. Makes you think about driving to these things. We spent over 10 hours going up, going to three shows, eating dinner, and coming back. And we were exhausted the next day too.

So the Torrance Art Museum had two shows, one of which I was in (hence the original reason for all this). Art and Med, curated by Ted Meyer…

Here’s a video of the whole thing…

I did take a few photos, but was mostly (as always) overwhelmed. Plus I forgot how to smile, so a lot of the photos of me look psychotic. A good look for the summer. But here’s my piece, Here Comes Life…

And here’s Bhavna Mehta’s beautiful piece, I Found a River in My Body #3…

With a detail of her embroidery…

The other show in the museum is Body Politics…

Which also had some beautiful work…Liz Young’s Skinning Spilling Soiling Swelling Stuffing Balls.

I did Google this one because I wanted to know more about the thoughts behind the piece. I really liked that the Art and Med show had explanations with the art, and I can see the point of having the art stand alone, but…I don’t know. There must be a fine line there.

This was Bather (after Ingres) by Katherine Sherwood.

Sherwood makes a lot of work highlighting disabilities, having had a cerebral hemorrhage and having to relearn the process of making art with her other hand. Her work was wonderful, incorporating brain scans into the paintings.

I’ll try to post more art from these two shows later this week. I know this post is already LOOOONG…all in all, though, a good art day. Though tiring. Says Nova.

Also here is my brain at the moment.

Or always. Not sure.

Friday night, we also found this in the yard.

It has flashing red lights, presumably so it can be found easily, but it made me think it might be a drone, so I left it there. Like I’m not bringing that crazy shit in the house. The Man stomped out there and then left it on the deck after talking to it, also thinking it might be a drone. But it doesn’t seem to have a motor. Just flashing lights, which can be turned off. You might think, just throw it back into the yard it came from. Well, we have kids on all three sides, so it could be any of those houses. So IDK what to do with it. I might text the houses above and below me, and if they don’t claim it, toss it over the back fence. Seems like a lot of work.

Oh yeah, forgot this psycho. Annie. Sweet pup. Has scratched the hell out of my arms. Still love her.

OK. Laundry is going (fixed dryer yay!). I need to eat lunch. I need to fold all the laundry I didn’t fold. I need a long-term solution to my clothing during the school year…not sure what that looks like, but the piles I currently have are not working. I need to finish that drawing and do some copyediting. It’s supposed to be hot all week, so honestly, the drawing part of the house is hot as hell for a goodly chunk of the day, although better after noon. The office part is cooler in the morning, as long as there’s a breeze. And honestly, I’m still on break. So there should be some reading and maybe a nap. I took a timed nap yesterday and Friday and I am pro. It’s still July. I’m still on summer time.