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.

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.

Reminder of the Line…

So I have about 27 minutes to write this. Not really true. I have 27 minutes (26) before I need to leave, and I like to finish things before leaving. We’ll see how that goes.

We got back Friday afternoon, the most trouble-free trip I’ve ever taken. Uber, then light rail, easy TSA, flight was not delayed, flight was easy, got off, picked up baggage right away, walked out front, and there were my parents, ready to pick us up. No problems on the way home, walked in the front door. Ahhh. It’s nice when it works out.

I managed to do some stitchdown on Friday night…

Kitten spoke to me clearly about how she felt about my being gone for so long…

Not pleased. Saturday I had a short meeting that I stitched through…

I feel like I will never finish this.

Then it was the Man’s birthday and he wanted a short hike/walk and dinner with a good burger, so we wandered through some trails I’d never been on at Balboa Park…

Had dinner at the Balboa (good burger, weird drunk guy)…

Selfies are not something we’re good at…

But this one wasn’t bad. Getting older and having birthdays is weird. This one was pretty quiet and chill. He says he was OK with that. I get it. Plus we’d been gone for a while and were just tired.

There was a confused bird…probably a fledgling or a mom trying to take us away from the nest…

I stitched more that night and got close to the end, but finished it up Sunday afternoon.

The last views of the back…

Before it gets shut up into the quilt…

A reminder of the line drawing…

Then I pieced a backing, found the batting, and had to clean a floor and wait for it to dry. So I cooked a complicated dinner that I never have time/energy to cook during the school year, but that I like to eat, then watched a show with that and finished one June Homegrown block…

And started another…

I finished about 1 1/2 blocks on the trip, compared to the 7 I brought with me (wishful thinking). I also brought 4 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of jeans, a pair of leggings, and a sweatshirt that I never wore. Plus a pair of shoes I only wore once. It is what it is. You never know.

After dinner, I laid it all out, sandwiched…

And pinbasted it.

It’s not a particularly big quilt, because I had a deadline.

And then I started quilting it last night.

My goal is to finish quilting today, bind it tomorrow, have it done Wednesday. We’ll see how that goes. Then turn those two Supreme Court drawings into something usable. Combined with what’s in my head.

Sleepy Kitten. But first, I have to pee a puppy and go to lunch with a friend, and maybe figure out a dog walk in the afternoon. We’ll see. Certainly the dog needs it. I probably do too.

Lots of Green

Yo. Still in Seattle. I have not moved here. Winter weather scares me. But the trees and green and flowers are nice. I will never get those in San Diego, it’s true.

I didn’t write this morning because it was day 2 of get the fuck up early and get out of here to beat the crowds hiking. We were pretty successful at that. I haven’t done much else: read a lot, stitched a little, drawn a little. Too many distractions. Too easy to zone out. Plus lots of driving. And hiking.

Did you know Seattle has a sugar tax? Weird but intriguing. Not sure it would stop my students from buying soda. They’re pretty hooked.

So what have I been doing? Damn good question. Graduation party for the kid of a friend (really proud of him for getting through). Hanging out with the niece (a bit) as she gets ready to go back to a dig. We set up two tents and determined that (1) her new cot would not fit in the smaller tent and (2) my bro has a way nicer tent than I have. All good.

I drew a little more on the second drawing, not much.

There was a dog in the way. I turned around and turned back and then there was no more drawing.

I also drew before dinner last night…didn’t finish, but this is a rough start to the next quilt.

Needs to be bigger. And more complicated.

Sunday morning, we were up early and headed out to Little Si for our first hike. It was good we got there relatively early, because both parking lots were full when we got back.

This wasn’t a hugely long trail, but there was some up. We are out of shape…two people in physical therapy at the same time for a variety of ailments…

Hiking in Southern California is so much hotter and browner and drier. We appreciate the green, the ferns, and the moss.

Wait. Look. It’s us. We think that’s Mt. Si behind us. We didn’t hike that one. It was too high.

Lots of green. And a bench.

5.12 miles. Lots of up and down. Lots of people. It was nice though for most of it.

Then today we got up early again to hike to two alpine lakes, Talapus and Olallie. This was a longer hike, 6.25 miles.

Lots more trees…not as hefty a climb.

Cool bridge.

Cool lakes…

Olallie…

And Talapus…

That is not the same log jam.

Also, a toilet with a view.

So tomorrow we are taking a break from the hiking, I think. Maybe spend the day drawing and stitching, with a walk down to the water for fireworks. Maybe a longer walk with the dogs.

We are trying to relax. And get more sleep. We suck at the latter.

I feel like we need a down day. A book day. A drawing day. Also, though, I need more milk.

Dumplings of Fury

Still in Seattle. Trying to be relaxed and all. Apparently I suck at that. If you know me, you know that already. I have been drawing…at first, just a little bit every day, just because there wasn’t time. But after everyone left, there was more time. And normally I would have written yesterday, but I’m off. No clue what day it is.

Wednesday was graduation chaos.

Wednesday night (?) I managed some more on that drawing…might have been in the afternoon, now that I think about it. I stitched a little on the Sue Spargo Homegrown block at graduation. I finished one the day before, and then started this one.

I worked on it yesterday too…I feel weird sitting in the house when the cleaner is here, so I sat outside and stitched.

I finished the bottom part of the house…still need to do the roof and the tree, plus I missed a flower. Whoops. Not sure how much of this will be happening over the next week. I don’t usually draw when there’s an audience…I can handle the Man, but not a lot of other people. So once they all left, I could draw. So here was what I added Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday, everyone left except me, so I planted myself on the couch and realized that’s where the dogs like to be too, and I drew some more.

I also went for a walk…

It’s so light here, late at night, at 4 in the morning. I’ve been sleeping with a pillow over my head.

This drawing isn’t done. There’s a blank space in the top right. But another one popped into my head, so I started drawing it yesterday.

Also not done. Summer break has had some issues so far that make me feel like I’m somewhat out of whack, maybe even incompetent or out of of it, so working through that? In drawing?

Saw some friends last night…and this place…

Dumplings of Fury. Perfect.

So today is my friend’s son’s graduation party (she’ll tell you it’s her party), so we’re going to that. My niece will be showing up at some point to pick stuff up. We’re planning hikes for the next two days before it gets super hot here. Not sure what happens after that. Hikes? Touristy stuff? We’ll see.

All Up in My Head…

Hey. It’s Friday. But it’s not a work week for me, so what does that mean? Not much, except for the people around me who are working are doing their stuff, so I guess that affects me. It’s a nice place to be finally, although yesterday tested my summer break self on the first day I actually felt like I was on break. It’s still all up in my head, so I’m going to do my best today to dispel it and do the things I want to do.

The quilt is progressing, although let’s just ignore yesterday, because progress yesterday was nil, nada, nichts, nothing.

The previous day, I sorted all the pieces…

Super fast when there are only 500 and something of them. Then I started ironing it together…

As always, although my numbering seemed logical at the time, in reality, it’s a clusterfuck. I can’t fit all the background swirls on at the same time, so I did most of the 0-100s and then laid out the 100s for the next bit, but that was where I got tired and couldn’t do any more. And last night was not conducive to doing any art, so hopefully today will be a million times better, because I wanted to be further along than this.

Part of yesterday’s issue is that I took the dogs out for a 3-mile hike to try to tire them out before a Zoom call I needed to be on (mostly the puppy was the issue, but it turned out that Simba barked during the whole thing).

It was a nice walk, not too hot, mostly breezy.

The dogs were much better after the first mile.

Although trying to keep the puppy on her side was an issue. We were all tired when we got back, but Annie did sleep for most of the Zoom, so that was good.

Yes. On the bed. Where else? Oh yeah, also here.

After that, things just kinda went downhill. So I’m not focusing on all that doom and gloom (except I say that and my brain doesn’t like to leave those things alone), It’s not the end of the world. Everything will be OK in the end. We’ll all be dead in the end, actually, but it should get better significantly before that. Meanwhile, I’m on break and I don’t have to think about all the things right now. There are books to read and wontons to make.

The girlchild made it to San Francisco, by the way…here are the two days with her dad helping.

If you want to know about the crickets, Google Ekko, Nevada. Then be glad you’re not there. She went into her job in person finally (she’s been on Zoom for weeks) yesterday. Big changes. She needs to find a real place to live and get settled. Easier said than done, yeah? Her dad comes back today to pick up the puppy. We get two days off from extra dogs, and then my parents’ dog comes while they are in Seattle (and coincidentally, me too…wait, not a coincidence…my nephew is graduating from high school). So I won’t be here for most of Katie’s visit.

Find the cat.

Nova has not been thrilled about Annie’s visit. Luna has chased Annie down the hall two or three times, so she’s living her real thug life, but Nova is just hiding.

OK. Shower. Make wontons (my reward for existing right now). Eat wontons. Save some for later. Pick up ex from airport, pass over dog. Iron some quilt pieces while watching British murder mysteries. Maybe do some more weed whacking, find the art for tomorrow’s meeting (if I can get my head around it…yesterday, I couldn’t. I tried.), read my book some more, don’t think about things that suck. Oh yeah! Go see an art quilt exhibit that has been on my list for a month. That’s my treat. Doing that.

Doozy…

This is the last full week of school. It’s a doozy, of course. Nothing like next week, but still a ton of stuff going on, both at school and in the evenings. Fewer kids turning in late work this trimester. A blessing for me; maybe not so much for their grades. No more lesson planning really though. That’s a plus. Spent so many hours over the last school year trying to do that. Desperately doing that. Can’t teach if you don’t know what you’re teaching. Glad that’s done. Mostly. Yeah. This week is pregnancy and STIs, plus bridge building and maybe breaking, plus a field trip, but coming back and teaching afterwards. Ugh. It’ll be fine. Right? It will? It will be something.

I did get some significant progress done on the new quilt…traced a chunk of time on Saturday…

Before a hike and after dinner. Made it more than halfway.

Then last night, I was going to grade another thing (I graded all afternoon), but then a kid, two kids really, cheated in a truly annoying assholular way, so I quit. Did not have the mental stamina to continue. So I traced instead, which may always be the healthier option.

There’s only 60 pieces left for tonight, and then I can start cutting.

Simba curled up on the couch. Yeah, I had hoped to be done with the tracing yesterday, but I did other things instead. Got a lot of things crossed off the to-do list, which is good. Feels less overwhelming at the moment.

The next goal is to be totally cut out this week and ironing to fabric by the weekend. Hopefully. Gotta put a lot of stuff away in the studio for that to happen, and I’m not sure I have a background fabric that will work. We’ll see.

I drew a little at dinner…

I don’t know if I posted this one, from the last two weeks of dinners…

Some places serve food super fast and I don’t have time to really finish a drawing. This sketchbook is almost finished. It’s a perfect size to fit in my purse. I probably have another one in my stash that will fit.

I went to my quilt guild meeting and worked on this. The never-to-be-finished scarf.

Almost got the body done. Still need to do the face and then decide what else I’m doing. I’m not covering all the black. I think.

We also hiked the dogs…mostly trying to tire out the puppy.

We tired the old man (the dog, not the Man) out pretty quickly…

But Annie was still zooming around at the end of 3 miles.

She was pretty good…a few moments of chewing stuff and she peed and pooped in the house in the first hour, but then figured out how to tell us she needed to go out. Good thing; she’ll be back in two weeks when the ex helps drive the girlchild across country. I’ll be off school, though, so hopefully that will help. Or not! Who knows.

Lots of blooming going on in the yard…

Lots of my chipping away at weeds, cleaning up the yard, trying to make it nicer. A little bit at a time. It probably needs more than a little bit, but that’s what I have time for. That and reading and making art. Lots of reading to do…looking forward to more of that. I do have a school training I have to do in July, and I really should plan things (but not sure how that goes…probably need to meet with my 8th-grade team at some point, but one is a newbie to our school and the other one is as burnt out as I am). Hmm. Not worrying about that right now. Maybe later this week.

Annie meets Kitten. Pretty sure I have scratches from this meeting.

9 days y’all. I might actually survive this school year…it felt pretty desperate last November…but I seem to have managed it. Not sure how. OK. Monday. Go to school.

Coming Back Up the Down…

I fully realize that I just had a three-day weekend, an extra day off, thank you to those who died in wars for that (I’m actually really sorry it had to go that way). But I feel exhausted still. I know I didn’t do a good job of the sleep thing; I tried, but ’twas not in the cards. At some point yesterday, I had the distinct and very strong feeling that I didn’t want to teach this week. Which is funny, because this week is pretty easy…short week, plus teaching puberty and menstruation (not hard), and starting to build bridges (shouldn’t be hard to start; might be hard to finish…these 8th graders have decided to stop working on many things). I’m not super behind on grading, for once. I have three morning meetings, which kind of sucks, but none of them are crucial. I mean, waiting until the end of the year to figure out why your kid is failing? Eh. Well nothing has changed since the last meeting, so…I’m not even sure why this meeting is happening. The other one, we’re pretty sure mom is nuts, and if your kid is home all the time, I’m not sure how you expect them to pass, so that should be an interesting one, but not crucial to the kid passing. She’s a sweet kid, by the way. Perfectly capable. Freaked out as all get out though. Not that I blame her; middle school is legit something to freak out about.

So that’s not a good reason to not feel like teaching. I suspect I’m just done. I’ve been done for a while. Maybe since Spring Break. More done than usual? Feels like it. But what do I know? I do this every year and then read my blog from a year ago and that’s how I felt then too. Sad but true. I love parts of teaching, I really do. I’m hoping to see some cool bridges next week, hoping there’s some fun with breaking them. But I’m also really deeply reflecting into what went wrong this year and why, and how much of it I have any impact on for next year. Mindset flip. Maybe. I don’t know. It’s not all me. But some of it is.

So I didn’t do any school work at all until Monday. Friday night, I put the binding on the quilt…

Then Saturday morning, we made an attempt at hiking Corte Madera.

We didn’t get all the way to the top. It was a test of my knee, which was definitely having issues, but we kind of forgot the man’s shoulder/back issue. There was one portion that was basically like climbing down a rock fall. I was almost all the way down when he said he wasn’t going to be able to do it. Too much pulling on the bad part of his back. He’s in physical therapy for it and it had already been bugging him, so we turned around with 3/4 of a mile to go.

Not here. We went up that.

There’s Corte Madera in the background…

And we went up to the hill on the far right…so up wasn’t the issue; it was down that was the problem.

Because there’s a goodly way up the up. Or maybe coming back up the down that was the issue. I’ve done this hike multiple times…and it’s not easy, per se. It’s not impossible. It’s just a challenge at times, especially with injuries.

So this was on the way back down again. It was a good test of my knee, at least. We’ll try again when everyone is out of PT, maybe.

I spent most of the afternoon and evening sewing binding and sleeves on…and then finished those on Sunday…

I’m standing on the fireplace hearth to get that photo. It goes to the real photographer this week.

Yes, I already started on the next one. It’s been in my head in a variety of configurations for about 6 months, so it is proving relatively easy to draw. This was Sunday night…

Followed by Monday night, after grading for hours…

Yes, I’m drawing in a circle. I’m trying to keep it relatively simple, because I have a deadline and I’ll be out of town for a chunk of the making time. Not sure how that will work, so there’s that. But getting a solid start on it now will help. I figure at least one more night of drawing, maybe two, and then I can start tracing.

I did a little yardwork as well, this weekend, trying to clean up, still dealing with weeds. Found some turkey tail fungus though…

Never seen that in my yard before; it isn’t usually wet enough. Cool though.

And there was an owl interloper this weekend.

I’m pretty sure the one hanging onto the hole does not belong. There’s been lots of screeching going on from the parents in general. And there are definitely two babies I can hear now. So much drama.

This amused me. Because Kloob can’t do all the things for me either.

My teachers’ aide, though…she can do some toothpick counting for me today, for the bridges. She has the other science teacher, so she’ll be building them too. She filled all my glue bottles last week. Exciting life. She gets to draw a lot. Jelly.

So physical therapy, probably the last one, after school. Then home to a quiet evening as the Man is at band practice. I’m hoping to finish the drawing, maybe number it. Also maybe finish my book (at 82% and it’s good). I can do the things. I can start thinking about next year. Although that’s weird. Unless things change drastically, I won’t be teaching 7th-grade science for two years, as I’m in the 8th-grade-only part of the rotation. First time ever in 20 years of teaching. Weird shit. Change…it’s all over the place. Hopefully for the best.

Survival-Level Info

Well we are back to everyone in the house trying to leave in the morning. I’m not sure Simba realizes he’ll be alone all day today. The boychild is back to work this week, so schedules will be weird. Mine won’t. Mine is reliable through the middle of June, and then I’ll be home for a bit and then gone for a bit. Hopefully there won’t be any fires while I’m in Seattle or it will get complicated. It’s always complicated. I remember driving Calli to my ex’s every day so she wouldn’t try to run away, and forgetting she was in the back of the car until I got to work. She’d sigh and I’d go, DAMMIT Calli, why didn’t you tell me you were back there. Silly old dog. I miss her.

This week is the last week of state testing…math and science. Stressful. I’ve never proctored the science test…and I’m going to feel bad if they don’t feel like we taught them what they need. That said, I also know the state tests put stuff on there that is not in the standards, which is just irritating as hell. Ah well, hopefully the next principal does not obsess over data. The test covers 6-8th grade science, and 6th grade for my kids was the COVID hybrid year…or the Zoom year, for me. So they don’t remember much, unfortunately. That said, they didn’t remember much from last year either. I gave them some review questions on states of matter and chemistry…sigh. Ah well. What can you do? I would rather have them be able to think and figure stuff out than to know the differences between the molecules of a solid and those of a liquid. Although it’s cool info, I’m not sure it’s survival-level info.

There was a bunch of art stuff I was supposed to do this weekend, but for one, I never saw the invite info, and for the other, I ran out of time. I’ll make it to the other show next weekend hopefully (have an extra day!). Not sure what happened with the other one.

Instead, we did our usual late-afternoon hike, showers, and then dinner. But Friday, the Man had a show. I quilted a little bit before I left, but was out most of the night. It was hard to get a decent picture of him: he was in the dark corner.

Their lead singer was easier to get…

This was after dissecting frogs at the end of the school day…

I only saw one obvious female in my two classes…

The table that got her was very excited. Maybe a little TOO excited (they cut all the organs up in a really destructive way to get at all the eggs). Glad to be done with that lab. It’s cool, but exhausting. Luckily, I now know that my 7th graders will respond to CLASS CLASS (if you don’t know what that means, consider yourself lucky).

So I dissected with those kids, did my afterschool duty at the corner light, got my classroom ready for this week, came home, and napped. Seriously zonked out for 30 minutes. Then ate dinner, changed out of frog/teacher clothes, and drove out to Ocean Beach to watch the Man play. I was in bed around midnight, exhausted. He came home around 1, and then I felt the larger of these two earthquakes…

Late night partying in the tectonic-plate world.

Saturday I managed to get organized enough to run errands, including buying binding for this quilt, so I can finish it this week, hopefully. We hiked…

After I sent 42 emails to parents/kids about failing grades and the trimester cut-off date in less than 2 weeks. Down from 60 emails in April. Getting there. It’s been a rough year for my 7th graders. Or me. Not sure which was worse.

Tiny pink flowers that are a pain to photograph. We’ve been trying to do at least 3 miles a weekend; next weekend, we’re going to do a longer hike. My physical therapy is probably coming to an end, so we’re testing the knee out. I suspect my knees will always hurt, but at least I can get up the stairs at the moment. The Man is supposed to be hiking the trans-Catalina trail in October with a pack; he’ll need to start training for that soon.

He’s still recovering from a pinched nerve in his shoulder/back area…and talking about lightening the pack. Probably a good plan.

I did manage a good chunk of quilting on Saturday night…

I got the pigoon done and the rest of the wing/arm, then up into the fourth arm (three is NOT enough)…

And got the bird done as well. Went to bed a little late, and then last night, I did the head with corresponding eyeball tree (not the first, won’t be the last)…

And then started quilting the background.

I’m over 9 hours into the quilting, and there’s at least a couple more to go. There’s a lot of background filler in the upper half of the quilt, plus the borders around the bottom. So ideally, I finish tomorrow night, then trim it Wednesday, get the binding on, maybe ready for the photographer this weekend? Then on to the next one, which will be a difficult finish. I have a complicated idea in my head, but don’t have the time for the whole shebang before the deadline. Might have to tone down the complication.

Luna thinks that’s crazy.

But it might be what has to happen.

I asked my students a question about why National Parks were important…this kid…

Which is better than the girl who just wrote that she didn’t really care. Yeah. We know. Neither does half the planet. We’re aware. It’s obvious.

Anyway, we try. Yeah, I’m trying to brainwash your kids into caring about the planet more than I’m grooming them to be homosexual or trans. I still think the best answer to the teachers brainwashing kids thing is the fact that we can’t get them to turn any work in. I mean, that’s where I’d start. It would make my life easier, for sure, if they would just turn shit in. Stupid politicians.

OK. Today. Review for three classes, finishing up all the things with the other two. We had to juggle the schedule slightly. It’s fine; this is easier. It’s OK to make things easier sometimes. Then staff meeting, run to Home Depot afterward to get a sprinkler and some stakes for the lemon tree. Some more dirt too. Can never have enough dirt apparently. Then book club tonight…just finished the book on Friday, I think. It was good: When Women Were Dragons. Then quilting after that. Hopefully a chill day. That would be nice.

Or Not…

Monday mornings. I didn’t do enough schoolwork this weekend because I just couldn’t. I had other priorities and I will pay for that today, I’m sure. I have curriculum done for 8th grade through Wednesday, probably. Not ready for next week at all, not even close. 7th grade is fine except for the fact that we just barely got approval for the sex-ed program last week, sent letters Friday, and start next Monday. It’s good but it’s less time than we usually have to prep for it, so that’s stressful. Plus frog dissections this week and collecting a bunch of stuff…so yeah. I’m not prepared. I hate that; usually this is the time of the year where we can step back a little from the crazy. We’ve taught sex ed enough that it is a known entity. There are some stressful bits, but mostly the kids are engaged, unlike in math or whatever, so that makes it easier. I’ve spent most of the year, though, with 7th grade curriculum being the known, the easier (the actual kids in the classes are not)…so that’s been the only saving grace to teaching two grade levels. Otherwise it’s been a stressful shit show. I’m not sure how the other members of my team are so chill about it. It’s been nuts. 23 days left.

My goal this weekend was to get the quilt pinbasted. Which meant finishing the stitchdown. Which meant blowing off most of my schoolwork.

Friday night, I didn’t get far…

Pigoon, legs, stopped at the arm, hadn’t finished the torso.

Saturday morning I did some before going to a baby shower…

Maybe 20 minutes. At that point, I was fairly sure I wasn’t going to finish…

Came back from the shower and hiked…I promised my physical therapist I’d hike every weekend until I saw him again to test out the knee. Lots of ravens on the hike…

Came back and went to dinner, date night, drawing with no plan…

Not sure why it ended up being a dog…but last week’s was even weirder…

Then I did stitchdown for about 2 1/2 hours. At some point, I was just thinking it needed to be done. That if I went to bed and did the rest the next day, I wouldn’t be pinbasted until Tuesday and that would suck.

This is the back, by the way, never to be seen again.

I scan the back, looking for mistakes, stuff I’ve missed, didn’t stitch down. I’m seeing one right now. It’s OK. I can catch them in the quilting.

I guessed 6-7 hours on the stitchdown and I was right…6 hours and 45 minutes.

Then Sunday happened. Chaos. I was ready to clean the floor, and then remembered I hadn’t checked for batting. So I did that. Went through the whole pile…nothing’s big enough. Dammit. Drove to Joanns, which was mostly empty (Mother’s Day?), came back, washed the batting, dried the batting, but in between, found another pile of batting I’d set aside after the last time I bought batting. Pretty sure it would’ve been big enough. Giant ass sigh. That’s where my brain is right now…in not-very-efficient panic mode. Also I cleaned the floor and taped the backing down that I had pieced, then remembered the batting wasn’t dry yet and we were running out of time to leave for the parentals, so I pulled it back up, didn’t finish before we left. See, that was the plan…finish pinbasting before we left so I could do school stuff when we got back. Or not. So I went to dinner at the parents, forgot to take any photos because my brain. Fuzz. Then came back and laid it all back out, this time with dry batting.

Then pinbasted while watching the first episode or two of Queen Charlotte.

Kneepads and all. I think I’m in love. With the show, the quilt, and the kneepads. And now I can quilt. Well, after I go to school and try to plan the rest of the week during a staff meeting. It’ll be fine.

This is very true of the classroom, except we skip the spraying it black part. Today we are doing embryos in 8th grade (embryology as part of the theory of evolution) and human impact on national parks in 7th grade. On Friday, I heard that The Way Out won Honorable Mention at Form, Not Function.

It’s still a very relevant piece. Unfortunately. Nice to get an award for it.

When you live with an artist, there are always things all over the house that remind you of that. I found this in the hallway. Not sure how it got there…on an animal butt? or my shirt? Oh yeah, and I’m the artist.

I do know what it’s from, at least. Seriously miles away from where I was working.

No yardwork this week either…

I don’t actually have a pile of dirty dishes OR laundry, but there are definitely things piling up that are driving me nuts but that I don’t have time to deal with. Ah well. I will get to it all eventually. Or not.

Quilting tonight though. I’m figuring the quilting will take 16-20 hours. There’s a shitload of details in this thing. Plus a healthy chunk of just plain background. It won’t be quick. So an hour a night this week? Maybe a little more. I don’t have a ton of meetings this week like last week. And my weekend is more free for once. I’m still not expecting to be done this week. Next week. Yeah. I have some deadlines I’m dealing with. I’ll be fine with this one; it’s the next one that’s questionable.

Anyway. Mother’s Day was stressful (school and my fault with the batting) but ended well. Saw my mom (she looks good), talked to the girlchild (she also looks good). Got some nice gifts from the kidlets…always nice when they get me stuff, because it’s not stuff I would have gotten myself. Appreciate that. Hoping to hear at school about a new science hire plus our principal for next year…hoping the district is not populated by total idiots. You know how that goes. And I get to quilt tonight. I love that. I can’t watch Queen Charlotte while I’m doing that, but I’ll figure that out. Worst case it’ll be listening to music or podcasts. Meditative. All good.