Change the Calendar…

Straight up, I started this yesterday (well I downloaded a bunch of photos and cropped and resized them) and then totally forgot about it in the overwhelm of doing things. I thought I had written it…or at least part of it…nope. None of it. And I need to leave in like 10 minutes to go work on ceramics until my doctor’s appointment. And there is no way I’m finishing this before I go. I still need to finish the closet (that damn closet!)…we got the doors shortened (thanks to my ex) yesterday and back in…I was going to paint them outside, but installing them was enough of a pain in the ass that I will be painting them in place. Let’s not discuss the hallway, or the fact that I will be at school twice next week before I have to be back for real, and I have to be back in 7 days. And I am (as always) so incredibly not ready. I got 17 emails about required videos I have to watch (again. for the 22nd time…oh I guess sometimes they change over the years.) and who the new hires are districtwide (APs and principals). My principal’s email will probably come later today…or not. I’m not sure it matters. It only matters in how many meetings I’m going to have to attend. So far, one hour, plus a morning of professional development, plus another day of who the fuck knows what. And prep time. Although I didn’t have to take my room apart this year, so prep will be pretty easy, I think. Maybe. Y’all know the copier will be broken no matter what.

Anyway, I got home from San Francisco late Tuesday night and spent yesterday trying to be functional…kind of like all summer. Here’s some of the San Francisco stuff…back to PIQF…a few more things I didn’t post before…this by Carmay Knowles.

This bug is a detail on a piece by Ann Horton…

OK, I guess I’ll show you the whole thing (although the bugs were my favorite part).

There was a whole series of older pieces by Marilyn Bedford, created from paintings she had done.

And I know I posted some of the Social Justice Sewing Academy quilts earlier, but here is one of my blocks…I only did the embroidery…

There was another one but I didn’t notice it until someone else posted the quilt. I think I’d seen it before.

My fabric haul before Britex…mostly African textiles and aboriginal prints.

I was hyperfocused on owls and feathers apparently. Plus some kantha samples. Not sure why. Don’t question the artistic brain. The boychild sends us fire photos sometimes…although there’s no actual fire here.

He’s still at the Park Fire today…33 days? I’m not sure. By the way, I did start this in the morning, went to ceramics, was manhandling the top part of the piece to make sure it would fit in the bottom part, did fine, until it slipped and the damn left arm broke again…in a different place. Fixed that, painted more of it, set it to dry slowly, and went to the neurologist. Interesting that. No, he doesn’t know what the visual disturbance is (but he’s calling it a hallucination, so I am crazy, right?), so I’m getting more tests. One of them requires me to sleep only 4 hours the night before and we are starting school and there are only appointments Monday-Thursday AM. So I do the thing and then go teach on 4 hours of sleep? Ah shit. OK. Fuck me. ANYWAY.

The girlchild had made me a dog water bowl (the cats are enjoying it) in her ceramics class…

She didn’t want to ship it–afraid it would break–so I took it back in carryon. It’s cute!

More street art.

I love all the murals.

Saturday, we went to MOMA…I posted a bunch of stuff on Instagram, but really enjoyed the Kara E-Walker installation, even though two parts weren’t working.

The Zanele Muholi exhibit was also amazing…great photographs, but I did really love the bronze piece.

I had never seen any Yayoi Kusama in person and there were two, so that was cool.

Also, I was really bad at taking pictures of people, so if you know the girlchild (or her SO), there they are.

The tunnel was by Olafur Eliasson…

Definitely prettier on the way back. An interesting version of a flag…by Marlon Mullen.

I really enjoyed the 15-20 minutes we had in this…

I almost went back on Monday, but got kind of stuck in Golden Gate Park (mentally stuck really). It was very cool. Plus here’s a video of a Bruce Nauman neon piece…

Monday, I had some plans. Girlchild was back to work, so I was on my own. Headed out to see some contemporary quilts in an office building in the Financial District…I do love Margaret Fabrizio’s work…

Fun to look at.

There were two other artists, Joe Cunningham and Adia Millett; I posted pictures on Instagram of those too. From there, I shopped at Britex and then headed to Golden Gate Park…I wanted to see bison in the city.

They were pretty far away and very much not mobile at the time. The girlchild had recommended the Japanese Tea Garden, and I knew the DeYoung Museum was in the same area, so I headed in that direction…this is part of how I hit 9 miles of walking that day. Yes, I did figure out the bus system, but there isn’t always a bus. The park has a golden mile that is longer than a mile and has bits and pieces of art along it. A series about California climate decisions…this is the bad choices direction; the good choices had that sequoia living to 250 years old.

Meanwhile, the Park Fire is raging.

This piece was part of a series…I never saw the artist info, but this was my favorite…

Also the favorite of small children and teenage boys. When I got to the garden, I decided to buy the gardens ticket and go see all of them…I thought the botanical garden would be the best, but it ended up being the one I got lost in (should have gone back for the map); the Japanese garden fed me lunch at 2:30 PM…

Damn good tea…also, yes, I did read my book for a while.

And the conservatory was the most interesting, with all the carnivorous plants, mostly Nepenthes…

And like I said, botanical garden…take the map…

I realized my phone was dying and I needed to meet the kids for a soccer game (I wasn’t playing; they were)…

So I mapped things and there were locked gates where the map told me to go…

So I mapped again and got some chai with a plug in the wall…

Got the phone back up to 50% (yes, I have a charger brick thing, but I couldn’t find it…read back to the post about moving everything out of the bedrooms into the living room and there’s a bunch of stuff I still haven’t found)…then ran (not really) for the bus…if it had been on time, I would have been 30 minutes late to the game, but it was early, so I ended up in a Lyft.

I do still love watching her play.

I do not miss 4 games a weekend though.

It was a long, exhausting day. I packed up all my crap and stitched for a bit…

This is Sue Spargo’s Rooted block-of-the-month…I had appliqued everything down last year (it was easy to do that), but hadn’t done any of the embroidery. My stitching friend said I should take 6 blocks with me; I took 3 and barely worked on this one. I’m still appliqueing stuff onto the center block borders for Homegrown, so it wasn’t ready for embroidery.

I was up early the next morning so the girlchild could drop me at the train station…I went south to visit a friend who happens to own some of my quilts…I had never seen them hung in her house, so that was cool.

Very colorful hallway…

Nice to see them again…

We hung out all day and ate and talked and walked…and then I flew home. And it’s taken me all day to get this post done. Yikes!

Bowie in the tent, playing…

And this…yes this…

I did quilt for a while during a Zoom this afternoon. I am going to go patch the holes on the closet doors so I can either prime them later tonight or tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, there is nothing…oh no, I lied. Pilates in the AM (not my favorite day or time, but the only time I could get) and dentist in the afternoon…I think one of my crowns was loosened during surgery (breathing mask instead of tube). Eye doctor on Monday. Then school stuff Tuesday and Thursday, in for real on Friday. So I need to finish quilting this weekend and figure out what binding is going to work. I also need to do a couple of school-related things (ugh). And yardwork and painting…because the hallway still isn’t painted dammit. Ugh. UGH.

But this evening, I have a lovely artichoke for dinner, plus I’m going to quilt some more and read a bit and maybe paint. I don’t know. Painting in the dark is difficult for me.

I have appreciated this summer…although we didn’t really go anywhere and camp, and I did have to deal with a lot of house stuff, but I did lots of ceramics and fabric and reading. I got to hang out with the girlchild, which was cool. I didn’t work. I was so burnt out after the last school year. I can’t say I’m ready to go back (I’m not; I never am), but I am hoping this year will be less of the bullshit and more doing what I know and am good at…we’ll see if that’s how it rolls. Also I need to change the damn calendar to August.

Avoid Monday Feelings…

Oh hey. I’m not sure what day it is again. Pros and cons to that feeling. It’s Monday! Best to avoid Monday feelings. What a crazy weekend, eh? I’ve been saying for months that I’ll vote democrat no matter what, because the alternative is evil Satan (not satin…although satin has some evil qualities). I’m really pro voting for a woman again and for a person of color again. When I look at the small portion of Project 2025 I’ve seen (no, I have not read all 900 pages…yet), I realize that my retirement plan would be sidelined by them…I wouldn’t be able to afford to retire when I want. Insulin costs alone would make it impossible. But it’s not just about me…I heard someone explain the difference between the current Republican party and the Democrats as one party cares about money and power and one cares about people. I wouldn’t be a teacher if I didn’t care about people. I wouldn’t make the art I make if I was in it for the money and power. So I guess it’s always obvious where I roll on that. That said, I’m putting my vote in for Kamala Harris…but if the Democrats nominate another candidate, I’d still put my vote in for them. I won’t vote for rapists and pedophiles. I won’t vote for a party that is so incredibly clueless and careless about anyone who isn’t rich and white and male. I’m hoping voters come out and make it happen. I have friends who don’t vote and I don’t understand it. Anyway. That’s where I’m at right now. Flabbergasted a little, but rallying. Still not voting for the orange asshole, no matter what.

Artwise, I presented some bug demonstrations at the Oceanside Museum of Art Street Level event on Friday. It was good…not a ton of people, but I was busy explaining and ironing all night.

They set me up right in front of my own quilt, which was cool. I brought some quilts and pinned them to the table (thanks to the Man and some bystanders for helping me with that idea).

And then I spent an hour demonstrating and talking.

It went fast. Yes, that’s my pool noodle. Meant to shove that under the table. Never happened. Oh well.

The Man hung out in a bar until near the end, and then helped with photos and cleanup.

It was an experience. I had overthought it completely in my head (how my anxiety helps me?), and it worked really well. I didn’t do hardly any embroidery, but I did iron three or four bugs down to backgrounds. Everything is still in the box…so I should probably get my act together and figure out how to finish the rest of them. Certainly binding them is really time-consuming and makes them really expensive, so I think I’ll change that up and toss them all on Etsy. The embroidery also makes them expensive, so maybe that’s something I could do by machine as well, but I think it really adds to the piece. We’ll see. It’s not super high on my priority list.

I didn’t iron Friday…Friday was too busy. Saturday, I went to a friends and stitched for a while and then came back and read a book. So braindead. No pictures of that apparently. But I did iron an owl and some bombing planes…

Sunday, I finally got it together again and started ironing for real…

So the crone figure is part of a tree. She’s standing behind the other three figures. She’s missing her head here and a large part of her lower torso, which is behind the figures. But I got most of this part done. Fussy as shit. So what’s left? Her head, a cat (gotta be a cat), and one of her very complicated hands. I’m in the 1400s, but oh no, wait…I’m in the 1500s. So hopefully I finish today, pick a relevant background, and iron her down. I wanted stitchdown to be done before I left for San Francisco. That MIGHT happen? Certainly it will be started.

I got no clay done in the last three days, between my schedule and a class being in the studio. Hoping to get over there today. Yesterday, I measured the pieces I want to add fabric to and made notes in my journal about what I wanted to do. I have plans! I did pick up the winged woman after her final glaze and I am really happy with her, but now she needs fabric and a base.

This is some awesome artistic photography here…barely cleared space for her.

Love that cat…

Definitely some burnout of underglaze that wasn’t covered by the satin clear, but man, those arteries rock. By the way, there is nothing quick or cheap about how I am making ceramics pieces. But I am enjoying the journey, so that’s the plus.

Other crap that happened this weekend? I bought a bunch of milkweed to supplement those in my yard, which were grown from seed two or three years ago. I got some narrow leaf, but also some special kind and some woolypod, which is what grows in our mountains. Two of the plants came with caterpillars…

Butterfly starter kits…

So I got those in the ground yesterday evening. Too hot before that.

I’m having a hard time balancing the stuff that needs to be done (I really need to paint and I really don’t want to) with the stuff I want to do (read, clay, fabric). I’m doing my best.

The boychild got released from one fire and sent further north to another one.

23 days gone? 24? Not sure. I need to wash his fridge out (I just put it outside, hoping he would come home soon) and move one of his furniture pieces out of the living room that the cats are just way too interested in…need energy for that though.

This thing wakes us up early though, so I’m tired…

And then he sleeps half the day. Like a kitten.

That’s a yawn, not a yell.

Meanwhile, I’m listening to the mom behind me screaming at her kids. I think she said she would paddle one of them into the next planet if they didn’t get over here right now. She’s fun. I get being frustrated as a mom. I was there. I know. But she is a screamer.

THIS.

Man, even those who didn’t teach for very long, or, and this is key, haven’t taught post-COVID. My lord. Y’all know nothing. And we don’t just have one class…there’s five of them with a four-minute break between…max. I remember my principal saying we needed to be at the door immediately after the last class came out, no shutting the door in between. Dude, sometimes we need a reset…of the classroom, the materials, our BRAINS.

We need a few of these here.

Love that.

And from the book I’m currently reading, A House with Good Bones, which is already good…

This is exactly how my brain works. If you’re wondering how I got from here to there, because you can’t see the path, this is what’s going on inside my head. ALL THE TIME.

OK. So. Monday then. I need food and a shower, possibly in opposite order. Then I’m going to go work on ceramic stuff…I know I’m going to be gone for 5 days, so although I want to start the base for the winged woman, I think it’s better if I wait until next week, when I get back. I have one piece that’s ready to go on the drying rack and another piece that needs a few hours of underglazing. I should focus on that. I love starting new things, but it will just dry out while I’m gone, and I don’t want that. I’m also planning on ironing a lot, and dammit, I’m going to at least wash the closet and prime the two parts that have no paint or wait, three parts, need to be primed so the paint will stick. I’d also like to plant a few more things, but I’m a little concerned about the Man watering while I’m gone. So maybe wait on those. We’ll see. It’s already a lot for the day and I’m losing time just sitting here typing. I’m also still not awake. Not enough tea. Never enough tea. And I have a Zoom call at 1 PM, so I have to work around that. Ugh. Get going.

Nowhere You Have to Go

I do love the middle of July. Well, except for trying to pay bills with no paycheck. That’s stressful. In my district, we get paid at the end of June and then not again until the end of August. Now we go back to school on August 9, so it’s a challenge to pay August’s mortgage and other bills with the one check from June that already paid all of July’s bills. Forget traveling…I start panicking about having enough money for the summer sometime in February. This year I’m OK, despite the huge construction/remodel expenditure, although the August credit card bill includes the carpet costs (oh ouch). Deep breaths.

The part I love is when days start popping up that have NOTHING scheduled on them. No meetings, no exercise class, no Zooms, no nothing. Yesterday. That was the day. There’s one next week too, I think. Today, I only have pilates, which is fine…good for me, actually. It’s such a relief to get up in the morning and think, there is nothing you HAVE to do. There is nowhere you HAVE to go. I mean, my brain has a to-do list, so it’s not REALLY nothing, but I’ve been working super hard on carving out 6-hour art days from these. I do yardwork as breaks, I move furniture and crap back into bedrooms in between bits and pieces of art, but it feels so much better than the crazy that is my work life. This is what Saturdays used to be like. Pre-COVID. I need to find that Saturday vibe again.

Meanwhile, I’m totally enjoying these parts of the summer. The rest of this week gets a little whack-a-doodle, but it’ll be cool. Monday, after the news program, I was pretty tired, but I rallied and ironed. This is part of the left side…about reproductive rights (what’s left of them).

And the right side is about the war in Gaza (and everywhere else…sheesh).

There’s bombs falling all over this piece.

Monday night, I ironed a lot of toes…although I may have ironed just as many on Tuesday? It was just a lot of toes. And an unwieldy large piece, which seems to be how I spend all my summers…delightfully.

I really wanted this ironed together by the weekend, but I think I just lost part of Thursday and a big chunk of Friday, so we’ll see. I did manage to get the legs done in the early afternoon yesterday…

And then started into the torso of the left figure last night.

I’m missing some pieces…one seemed to just have been missed completely from the piece it should have been attached to, but the other five are just not there. I was missing two pieces in an earlier part, and they showed up in the wrong box (I need new glasses, y’all), so I’m just gonna wait it out and see if they show up. If not, I’ll retrace and cut them: two nipples, one elbow, and two heart pieces. Weird to be missing so many.

None of them are crucial to continuing to iron. There was an arm piece missing that was more crucial, so I recut it. So I’ve ironed all the way through about piece 650, but I’ve also done a chunk of the 700s and 800s, with one in the 900s. So I’m close to halfway with almost 12 hours in. I’ve been putting in about 3-4 hours of ironing a day (depending on the day…Sunday was a cluster). Another 12 hours at the same average is about 3 days…but there’s challenges coming up in the next few days, some art events, some people events, some family events. So like I said, end of the weekend? Then iron it to a background, stitchdown, etc. My goal is to finish it by the time school starts for real (August 15…ignore all the prep beforehand, even though it will suck up time). We’ll see…I’m in San Francisco for 5 days next week, so that’ll slow me down. It’s good to have a goal though.

I made it to ceramics yesterday and spent a delightful 2+ hours cleaning up the lines on this and adding more…

And then clearing out the background…

And starting the color…

I really like the black and white, but I also love the color…

This is for a series of garden poles/stakes that my studio is making. It was a test for me to see if I could make a roundish shape (I can). Also a test of this new-to-me clay (which was free). All good. I really need to go in tomorrow and work on underglazing the top of the other piece too, since its partner is on the greenware shelf. The winged woman finally made it into the glaze fire…woohoo! After getting mansplained and whatevered by a couple of people. She IS unstable, yes. Imma have to do something about that. I’m thinking of making her a base of some sort to extend what’s there. Not sure how. Gotta think about that. One of my favorite parts of the clay stuff right now is that I rarely know what I’m doing.

The new kitten finally got a name…Bowie.

He’s a sweet baby except at 6:52 AM when he wants to play. In the bed. By jumping on all the sleeping things, including me, the Man, the dog (not pleased), and all cats. Toes especially. And then he crashes and I’m wide awake. Ugh.

He strangely lies on the floor like he’s a dog. Anyway. He’s a good eater, has a chill temperament, except when he’s got the rips, and is very accepting and interested in all the other animals. Kitten is still ignoring his presence, but her 16th birthday is in a few weeks and she’s pretty happy sleeping most of the day, hidden in my office. The other two are still negotiating how they feel about Bowie. They like the smell of his food, but that might be it.

In politics…WTF, USA? Like really. I don’t understand ANYTHING that’s going on in my country right now, although I’m amused to see my district is being cited by the state for removing LGTBQIA from the sex ed curriculum. Hmmm. I’m not going to comment too much, because I’m on that committee, but here’s a link to one news story…and a link to another. That’s the first time I’d seen the ‘more palatable and proper’ comment. I say, let’s go! Hold us up to that standard! I know we’re rewriting this fall anyway (ugh, I hate two things: this committee and creating curriculum by committee. I LOVE that we’re going to get the chance to add to it.).

But also this…

Not my religion. Also this…

I won’t say his name, but he’s not more important than elementary school kids and their teachers. And if you think he is, we aren’t friends.

Also this…

Not a fan of Project 2025, not a fan of the RNC, not a fan of the crazy states who regulate the uterus more than guns. I’m sure if you’ve read this blog for a while, this is not a surprise…but just wanted to be clear about it. I can’t watch/listen to much of it (it’s OK, the Man is doing it for me)…but when we put power and money ahead of humans, it’s never going to end well.

OK. Today. Fabric. Ironing. Lots of it. Still moving/culling things in the living room that need to go away or find a home. I might be able to move the table back today. Depends. Boychild is still on the Lake Fire. He rode in a helicopter yesterday to his worksite…apparently that was fun. I’m sure he’s exhausted…he doesn’t think he’ll be back until next week…so it’ll be over 3 weeks since he left. He’s rocking a cold at the moment, so I don’t want him coming back until he’s not contagious. The fire is getting under control, a little every day. Hopefully he’ll be home by Monday, so he can see his cousin and uncle…they’re coming in for a soccer tournament, so that’s my Friday morning. I haven’t been to a soccer tournament in a while (don’t really miss them). Gotta find my chair and my sunscreen. But for now, more tea, some breakfast, some ironing. More yardwork (got one more trashcan to fill by tonight), more moving things. Pilates later…

Chaos and All.

Ah chaos. There’s nothing like it. When things seem like they are finally chilling out a bit, add some chaos to it. I can never remember whether chaos always moves to order or not, because my experience is that order always returns to chaos.

So pro: the carpet is in and I’ve managed to move a chunk of boxes and furniture back to where they belong. Con: boychild is still at the fire and probably will be until next week, and he wants to go through his stuff, so he doesn’t want it all moved back in. Hmmm. So I meant to go to ceramics the last two days and it didn’t happen, because when I’m at home, I feel like I either need to paint (I primed the drywall patches yesterday) or move shit (I did a lot of that yesterday). I now have about 7 boxes of books that need to go back in bookshelves, a box and three bags of clothes that need to go back in their shelves, and about 3000 other things that need to go back where they were. I did finally clear enough of the living room to be able to swing the other couch back out, so I can get in to the couch without climbing over the Man. Plus the oppressive height of bookshelves in the middle of the room is gone. What’s not gone is my inability to focus on any one task for a given period of time. It’s summer, it’s chaos, I’m tired, I’m overwhelmed in a very different way than during school. It’s OK, because I get to read every day and I’m not at school (oh wait, I was yesterday) and I’m getting this house back into shape (that is the overwhelming part). There’s so much painting, and I hate that, and it takes forever, and I’ll never finish. So there’s that.

Artmaking has been slim for the last few days. I need to change that. Monday night, I cut binding and sleeves for the two quilts from my stash (score!). I don’t need to buy more fabric right now. I’m going to PIQF in two weeks…I can buy it there (ha ha). I did not sew them on yet…that’s a goal for today. There are many goals for today.

This one has matching binding and sleeves…I had a lot of this fabric. It was a background for another quilt.

This one, the sleeves match the backing, which I’ve had for about a million years. Seriously. So I’m glad to start using it. And the binding is from my stash.

I don’t usually buy more than a half a yard of fabric unless I’m using it for a background. And then I use the leftovers on the back when I can. Or the rejects sometimes. I get a background home and it’s way too busy to BE a background. And one of my friends who gifted me a bunch of fabric when she moved, she had larger pieces (yardage) of fabric, so I’ve been using those on the backs, and I just found some remnants from my niece’s old curtains and bedding (I think?) that will be great for backings too…when I was cleaning out under the bed. You forget what you put away…it’s hidden from sight and mind.

Then I started tracing the bugs for the OMA Street Level event next Friday. Why did I agree to this? Because now I’m doing a TV news thing too. That sounds terrifying. ANYWAY. At some point, I’m going to retire from teaching and I need alternate sources of income. That’s how I see it. I have weak moments…if you ask me to do things at certain times, Imma think I have to. Lame but true.

So I traced two of each. I am demoing at the event, so I need to have some in process pieces. I haven’t figured out what/how I’m doing it entirely, but I’m going to turn at least 5 of these into stepouts of some sort. I can’t decide how many I’ll need to demo at each stage…hopefully I’ll have that figured out next week. Ha! Today, I’ll cut some of these out and iron them to fabric, I think. I also need to start ironing the big quilt together. Like today. AND go to ceramics, but that might need to be tomorrow. Today is a little chaotic. A lot chaotic.

Oh, here’s the carpet…no more 1980s dirty beige. And it’s delightfully squishy.

How long until that cat has an accident on it? Probably not long.

That is the boychild’s half-destroyed chair blocking my office during the carpet install.

He needs a new chair. Not my problem though.

And here’s a sunset view of the Lake Fire area.

Pretty if you don’t think about where the particulates that made it came from. It’s at almost 30,000 acres and 16% containment. He’s been there since Sunday night late aka Monday morning hella early. They usually do 24 hours on and 24 hours off…but since they left San Diego at midnight on Sunday, IDK how they’re counting hours. I do know we heard from him this morning and he was headed back in. This is Day 12 of his being gone. I should go water his plants again. The last bout was 12 days. I think this will be closer to 17 or more. Tough on them. This fire season has started out worse than last year’s, for sure.

I did a drawing a week ago at dinner. It was weird. Post hike.

There were lemons at the bar. What can I say? Sometimes I just roll weird.

I have two tomatoes growing and a few bell peppers…this one is growing quite fast.

But I can’t seem to get the zucchini to do anything but make flowers. I collected some pollen and read about male/female flowers, but I’m not seeing any female flowers. Plus something keeps trying to eat them. I don’t know. I got zucchini because I hear all these stories of 100s of zukes being produced by one plant. I don’t NEED 100s…just a few would be nice.

These little spiders (and their webs) are EVERYWHERE in my yard right now.

At least they are tiny. The big orbweavers freak me out. That’s fall.

Simba misses his boy too.

OK, so more chaos yesterday…

Um. Yeah. We have a new kitten.

He has no name yet. Don’t even ask how or why. Unless you’re buying me a drink. Then I might explain the convolution. He’s very sweet, hyper, and friendly.

Although I think lots of hissing has gone on. And we are puppysitting today (set up before the kitten showed up). So there are four cats and two dogs in a space that still has all the furniture willy nilly. Yeah. Chaos. So I’m going to stick around here today, I think, a bit more than I was originally planning to, just because I think the Man’s patience might be worn a bit thin. Although the cat is his. Or Simba’s. Hard to say.

I have plenty of stuff to do around here. I can go to ceramics tomorrow if I don’t get there today. I do need to be more focused today than I was yesterday. I guess I was focused on moving shit yesterday. The Man’s back injury doesn’t allow him to lift much, but he is a Logistics guy, so he was useful for how to do things, but sometimes a little too tell-me-how-to-do-it. Sigh. There’s a fine line, I know. I also have some school stuff to work on, after meeting with my co-teacher yesterday to evaluate the mess in each others’ rooms and for me to find my packets…why I didn’t take them with me in June? Oh I know. Because I needed to lock it all up and walk the fuck away. I’m not necessarily WORKING on stuff now. But at least I have it. It’s a beautiful day. I have art to make. I need a shower and more tea (Simba barking at 5:22 AM y’all). I need some food. It’s all good. Chaos and all. Maybe that’s the kitten’s name.

Always Good…

Apparently no one has explained to Simba that people like to sleep in on days they don’t have to go to work. He’s UP! Wants to know why no one else is UP! The world is a noisy place. He wants to bark at it.

OK, three days post surgery, it still hurts to swallow, there’s a little pain on and off (ice packs! Motrin!), but all is good. It’s not going to be a pretty scar…ah well. I don’t really care about that. I do care that the doc just messaged me that everything is benign and clear and I don’t need to do anything else for now, although the tissues they removed are more likely to develop into cancer (we knew that going in). So one worry checked off. Always good. I feel fine, although I’m still not lifting things or working out. First of those is Sunday, fully approved by the doc. I’ll hopefully hike before then.

I made it to the ceramics studio yesterday…finished all four of the pots for the Man. Couldn’t leave the one blank, so I made little Venus flytraps all over it, rainbow-colored.

Simple. I now have 5 pots on the drying rack. I did work on the world figure I started back in April, but I forgot to photograph it. I’m glad I’m finally got some space on my shelf to put the top part…so that’s the next plan.

I have to go in to school today and tomorrow for interviews: new science teacher today, assistant principals tomorrow. Fun times. Yes, I get paid. I also get to make sure they don’t pick someone lame.

I’ve been doing lots of ironing, because it’s easy enough. Well, is it? Lots of complicated stuff being ironed. Tuesday…I did two sessions and got one entire figure ironed.

Lots of browns and flesh tones. Last night, I got the flesh ironed on the third figure, but not all the other stuff…I did the hair and the eyeball, but then I got tired.

That’s her fleshy colors on the right. Plus a dark eye. I’m in the 1000s, but also I’ve ironed some of the 1100s. And some of the 900s aren’t ironed. So that’s clear. There’s still one entire figure to go and a shit ton of stuff in the sky. But the box is full of pieces to cut out. That’s fun.

I drew last night.

I haven’t been drawing. It’s been harder and harder with school the last four years to get time to draw. I work so many hours at the day job. I reserve an hour a night for art, but it’s mostly working on whatever project I’m currently obsessed with. There’s no time for just random drawing, except at the occasional dinner out. I used to do these big random drawings for no reason at all, just because I wanted to draw. So there’s that. Boob and brain in that one. Still waiting on brain results.

Reading a book about the period…called Period.

Fascinating stuff…science and politics and history. I can read nonfiction as long as I’m reading a fiction book concurrently. Which I am.

I replanted a few things. Not this. Just saw this.

It makes the prettiest flowers.

Found this little sweetheart bouncing around the leaves last night…

Hoping it’s OK. I always figure parents are nearby and I should leave it alone. We do occasionally find dead hummingbirds. Sad.

And the owls are still here, seemingly acting like there’s eggs or babies in the box?

I have not given up on them. Hoping to hear future squawking of tiny owlets.

OK, off to school for a little while. Then back here, ironing, plus setting stuff up for an Insta takeover. Tomorrow is interviews all day. I just wanna know if I should bring my lunch? I’ll ask today. Otherwise, I’m gonna sit in the good news for a while.

Hard to Sit Still…

OK, I’m off on my writing days. It’s OK. I probably don’t actually know what day it is most of summer. It’s better that way. We’re so hyperfocused on days and dates when we’re teaching that it’s nice to take some time off from that. As long as I don’t miss any appointments.

Yesterday was surgery. It went well. I’m not in a lot of pain. Got rid of the heavy duty pain meds already. I feel better without them anyway, and now that I can take ibuprofen again, it’s effective enough. I get results next week. Meanwhile I’m mentally designing tattoos for the scar. It’ll be a while before I can do that, but I can still dream it. Everyone wants me to rest, but my body likes to move more than rest. I did OK yesterday…did a lot of stitching and watching videos. One was this Textile Talk by Dr. Teri Walker, who interviewed me at some point for an article she’s writing. Three of my quilts are in the talk, which was cool…

Shout out to all my political activist quilt friends also in this talk.

My surgeon had to sign the side he was operating on.

That sharpie is not coming off anytime soon. I have dissolvable stitches with a waterproof coating that will slowly deteriorate (I’m supposed to gently wash it with soap)…the plus is that I could shower today! There’s some adhesive that caused a mark and some other adhesive that will apparently take a few days to get the fuck off (not on the wound), so that’s fun. But I am no longer orange. I am signed though. WEIRD.

Stitching I did yesterday…

That freaking drizzle stitch tail took forever…

Finished the wings, put the eyes on, and started around the leaves…

I also finished one book and started two more. Wait, I think I finished two books. Hmm. I’m reading one on the Kindle app (nonfiction) and one in actual book shape (fantasy) so I don’t lose my saved up days/weeks on the Kindle. Yes, I guess that’s a thing.

I did ceramics on Saturday afternoon. This is one of the pots for the Man’s carnivorous plants.

It was fun to do, much faster than the last one.

I did a couple of coil pots too…

Just to use up the clay. I’d like to go in today, but everyone keeps yelling “REST” at me. You know, part of my resting is sitting on a stool at the ceramics studio and playing with clay. I could do that for 2-3 hours with no complaint.

From one of the books I’m reading…the last phrase especially.

Yes it’s a book about a bookstore. Once Upon a Tome. It’s amusing, but I’m not sure what the plot is. Or if there is one.

We hiked Saturday.

I’m allowed to take short walks today.

Hiking by Saturday? Maybe sooner. Except I’m doing all these school-related interviews Thursday and Friday. My fault for saying yes. My fault for giving a shit about who is foisted on me next year.

Saturday night’s drawing. New place for dinner. We liked it.

Nice space.

Saturday night’s ironing…I finished the tree in the 1400s.

It was easier than saving those fabrics aside until I got there.

Then Sunday night, I ironed all the fleshy bits on the first woman.

And last night (yes, last night I felt well enough to stand for an hour to iron), I did all the non-fleshy bits on the same woman.

Tried to add a lot of color. This quilt is heavy on the browns and grays at the moment.

Tonight (or this afternoon), I’ll start on the second figure. New flesh tones.

Legit.

OK, one of the things that sucks the most post surgery is that I have to wear a bra for 48 hours straight. I’m already done with it. I was done with it last night. I took it off to shower and it was hell to put it back on.

Not because it hurts…I just hate bras. It’s summer. It’s anathema to wear a bra.

This is the hood of my car…it is covered with bunny fur bits that were pulled out, probably by the hawk that was eating it…

In the tree above my car. It was sad. Although I’m glad only fur landed on my car. Ugh.

More random shit from the internet.

Also legit. And the last one…I swear…before I go REST again (I am tired of resting…yes, it has been 24 hours. Might be my max.).

Oh yes. Well, I will go read for a while and maybe stitch, or maybe come back in here and STAND. I was not put in this world to rest. Some people are very good at it. I fail. I get an F. Don’t lecture me about my body needing the time to recover. I think my body needs what makes me feel better right now. I know better than to lift furniture or dig holes (both are on my to-do list), but if I have to sit on the couch for another 8 hours, Imma kill something. Not a baby bunny though. I’m definitely watering things today. I’ll hold off on planting the other things, because I would have to use a big shovel, and I’d get shit for doing that. It’s a beautiful day out there though. Hard to sit still when there’s so much to do. Please don’t email me and tell me why I need to rest. I KNOW. I still don’t like it.

Slow.

OK whoa Nelly. We made it. The 2023-2024 school year has ended. That’s 21.5 years of teaching in the bag. That’s 16 years at my current school. The last 5 have been rough. I keep hoping (because I am apparently eternally optimistic) that the next one will be better. The pro of this last year is that the kids weren’t too bad. There were a few issues, but nothing like the previous year. This last year was difficult for a lot of reasons, and not all of them were school-related. But it’s done! Woohoo! And I have absolutely no school stuff planned for the next 54 days. Well, that’s a lie. I have two possible meetings with my co-teacher who is coming back after a year. The weird shit that happens in life. May we both have a chill year. At least one. Part of one. Dammit.

Promotion and the day before were hot and sunny; I’m a little sunburnt, but mostly did OK with a hat and sunscreen. I did definitely feel off, whether dehydration or stopping all my supplements pre-surgery, I don’t know. I just know I don’t feel well right now. Exhaustion? Who knows. I took very few promotion photos, but this one, of one of our favorites from the last two years, giving a speech during promotion, while a bird happily chomped on a bug above his head.

So proud of that kid.

After promotion, I cleaned up my room and moved a bunch of shit. Then went to the end-of-year party, which my whole team didn’t go to (ugh). I didn’t feel well there either (heat? dehydration?)…drank lots of sparkling water and ate something. Then went to my stitching meeting…

These tails are time-consuming. But fun. Still felt like crap. Came home, didn’t eat dinner (ugh), and ironed for a while…

I actually need to use those same fabrics for a bunch of tree parts in the 1400s, and I didn’t have the energy to deal with that last night. Friday, I had to be up early and at the outpatient surgical center for injecting the radio transmitter thing that will help the surgeon on Monday find the lesion in my left breast. It was a lot of squishing. But relatively quick. I went straight to school after to check out, but realized I needed to move all the stuff in the prep room so they could do that floor as well. I wasn’t supposed to lift anything, but um, I did. Oh well. I wasn’t bleeding much so yeah.

They don’t tell you about all the marks that will be left…the biopsy mark is still there. Now there’s another one on the side. And a giant purple X where the radio thingie works. I’m sore today, but not too bad. I don’t know exactly where the scar will be or how big it will be, or whether there will be a dent forever or not. I don’t really care; strangely the marks freak me out more. They don’t really matter…what matters is whatever is in there needs to come out and it needs to be benign. The odds are on my side on that.

I needed a 2-hour nap yesterday after the procedure and checking out. I read one whole book, finished another one, and started a third. Mostly in waiting rooms. Had to take the dog to the vet too. So much waiting. This was in one of the books.

Interesting that the author said that about textile art. The author is Japanese and this is translated.

My zucchini plant is growing…

It’s finally gotten sunny during the day…here’s this morning…

I’m not a very serious vegetable gardener. But I do like to do it. I like to see things grow.

I’m currently watching a ceramics video in Spanish. I know, weird. I didn’t make it to ceramics yesterday; I’m going today. I’m allowed to hike and do pilates before surgery. After surgery, I need to wait a few days. No weightlifting. Which I did yesterday at school. It’s OK…I’m not doing it next week. Last night, we went and watched some friends play a one-off show.

This is them pretending to be Run DMC. It was a fun show, but I was exhausted and spacey afterwards. I went to bed without making art. Hopefully I can do some clay and fabric today without dealing with exhaustion. I have a hard time slowing down. I’ve already started moving furniture and stuff for carpet installation later. Not today…or if today, I’ll do the lighter stuff. Pack the quilts up. Pack up the tchotchkes. Not the heavy stuff. The boychild is working overtime the next two weeks, so he’s home less. Less help. It’s OK. I don’t have measurements yet; waiting on the carpet guy for that. Waiting on the glass installation. Waiting on the gutters. Waiting waiting waiting. As long as they aren’t here Monday. I’d like to recover from surgery without dealing with humans. Cranky. I am.

Anyway. I have 54 days…8 weeks. Minus a few days when I will have to do some planning. I’m not doing summer school. I’m not going to our summer academy to improve myself. I’m not taking any education-related classes or going to any education-related conferences. I am going to PIQF in July, I’m visiting my daughter in San Francisco, I might be camping (if the Man or I get our acts together), I’m definitely reading a million books, playing with clay, and making art quilts. Hopefully getting plenty of sleep (ha! but not Monday; because of the diabetes, I’m the first surgery of the day and have to be up at like 4:45 AM. UGH.). Right now, I need breakfast, more tea, a shower, some reading, still watching this video in Spanish (it’s a ceramic handbuilding conference online all weekend; it’s not ALL in Spanish), and trying to get my head around all the other shit I need to do. It usually takes 2 weeks before I feel OK again after school ends. And surgery isn’t going to help with that. Slow. Reading. Stitching.

I Might Say It Every Year…

OK. Two days. Two weird days. No teaching. Finally. No coming home and grading or lesson planning. That was nice. I stayed late on Monday and finished up the last of the grades, the sex-ed opt-out kid packets. Three kids didn’t turn them in, haven’t turned most of it in. Their attitude? They’re walking across the stage anyway…why do the work? Great attitudes. It’s OK. They’re not mine anymore. They’re going to high school. I get new problems. I already know about one of them, so that’s fun. But we get new ones every year…this will be the first year in a while that we don’t know anything about the kids coming up to us. I’ve had some of this year’s kids for three years…6th-grade art, then 7th-grade and 8th-grade science. Pros and cons to that. Realistically, if we request a kid NOT come to us next year, they’ll be going to our friends on the other team, so that seems shitty. Anyway. This kid, we’ve got no choice. I’ll worry about it later. Right now, I gotta get through the next few days, which are a little nuts. Too much shoved into the next 6 days.

I went to the ceramics studio on Monday. I had some leftover reclaimed clay from the sgraffito piece and the Man had requested some pots for his bog plants, so I used up almost all of what I had…

I am going to make the coil pot a little taller…I needed it to solidify a little. I’m probably going to do a little carving on them when I get to go in next…not entirely sure when that is. Not today…hopefully Friday? But maybe not. I don’t know. Saturday? They’re notoriously busy on Saturday. I don’t want to deal with a bunch of people. We’ll see. One of the tiles made it out of the glaze firing, but the other one is still on the rack.

Fabric choosing is still happening, super slowly.

Everything is just super complicated imagery that requires a lot of thought for just 10 or 20 pieces. Takes forever.

I’m in the 300s still. Got two figures done in the flesh; one still needs her clothing done. Kitten is my stalwart companion. Oh no, wait…I am in the 400s. More than halfway through them. Geez. I think the big figures will go faster…it takes the same amount of time to pick 5 or 6 fleshtones, but the pieces are bigger and there are more of them. So less choosing per number of pieces. That’s my theory anyway.

I am exhausted. I had to stop taking all my supplements, including the ones that help me sleep. Good week for that. Be real, though…the last week of school and two weeks after, it’s all recovery, sleep, etc. I remember last year that the Man was irritated by having to go to work in the morning as I went back to sleep. But the tables are turned now! I know he wants to go back to work and hopefully they’ll figure his back out or release the work restrictions so he can go back. But he doesn’t get to complain about my sleeping in.

Ah sigh. I wish that were true. This summer is chock full of shit I need to do. Starting with today. Keep cleaning my classroom. I got some done yesterday. I have a bunch of paper that needs recycling. I got my yardsticks back from the other science teacher, who is leaving. So we get to interview again. Fun times. We will be practicing promotion for at least two hours this morning. Then we get kids for maybe one period. I’m putting on a video. Then out to the carnival in the afternoon. We might actually have clouds all morning today and tomorrow. A girl can dream. Still need sunscreen and a hat, but it’s not as bad as the sun beating down on you. Pilates after school. Tomorrow, there’s a staff party but hardly anyone is going. My team is not. Sigh. Then I have a stitching meeting. Friday, we check out, but I have to have this radio transmitter thing injected into my boob for Monday’s surgery, so I’ll be late to school. Hopefully it won’t be too uncomfortable. We’re almost done. That’s a relief. It’s been a rough year. I probably said the same thing last year. I might say it every year.

Very Fine…

Hey. It’s the last Monday of this school year. We’ve got four days. Four days of utter chaos and mayhem, but four days nonetheless. I can do four days. I think. Actually, I do have to be there on Friday, but usually not for long. Weirdness is happening this year on Friday. Complicated.

ANYWAY. Today I teach STI prevention, although 1st period might be trickling in one kid at a time due to bad scheduling. Not mine. Tomorrow I teach goal setting, although again, 1st period might get screwed. Whatever. I wonder sometimes what non-teachers think we do after state testing. Because we have to do something or we have anarchy, and not in a good way. Wednesday is all promotion practice and carnival (hat and sunscreen), and Thursday is promotion (also hat and sunscreen). My grades are mostly done; I have 23 kids who are supposed to turn in two papers each today. We’ll see if they do. So I might just have to tweak their grades…but probably not. And I need to clean my classroom. Not entirely sure when that is happening. Normally it would be during my prep or while the kids were watching a movie, but with 8th grade, there’s less of both. I’ll probably get prep today, but maybe not Wednesday. Who knows.

So artwise, it might feel like I’m gearing up for summer enjoyment, and I am hoping to (a) get my sewing machine back this week and (b) to actually have more time to make art, but I also have a ton of house stuff to do…painting mostly. Moving stuff so we can install carpet. That’s overwhelming in itself. Claywise, I finally figured out which clear glaze I was gonna try on the tiles…

They’re going in the next glaze kiln…the second one, a kid had me sign their yearbook with a fingerprint drawing, and I had washed it off but only sort of, so when I went to rinse the tile, some of it came off in the background, so I ended up putting a wash over it. It needed the contrast anyway.

So we’ll see how they turn out. Then I did more underglazing on the winged woman…

Broke the damn snake head off again. I have a plan for fixing it…I think I just need to fire this thing and then move on.

Nice kitty.

The quilt in process (well, the third in process) is still being ironed to fabric…slowly. Friday night…

Still down in the grassy knoll. Then Saturday…

Got most of that done, and Sunday, I moved up the left side…

Didn’t quite finish ironing men’s white shirts (see Kitten asleep in the top left?). But I’ve made it into the 300s. I don’t think I’ll be done this week, but I might. We’ll see. It would be nice to be done before surgery so I could just sit on the couch, bingewatching something and cutting things out.

We hiked…

It’s still all about the flowers…

Ah cudweed…you make everything smell like maple syrup.

This is what grading looks like…

Thanks Nova. So much help.

This is what I think when all the rumors at the end of the school year are whirling around.

It’s not all about classroom management. There are some definite social and parental issues here. Sigh.

Probably not cannibalism. I’ll leave that to the rest of you.

I’m still working on Sue Spargo’s Homegrown…finally to the center square.

It’s coming along. There’s a lot of stitching on it. Well, supposed to be. Not so much at the moment. It felt weird yesterday actually having time to stitch and mop the kitchen floor (which was disgusting). I didn’t have to lesson plan or post a bunch of assignments. Kids don’t have computers after today unless they buy them (so again, wtf are we supposed to be doing with them?), so I can’t put any assignments on there. A relief really. No more of that for two months. Woohoo! Anyway. Close. Not there yet.

Had my brain scan on Saturday. Results sometime this week. That’s a bit stressful. What’s worse…they find something that explains the visual disturbances? Or they don’t find anything? Sigh. Probably the finding something is worse…so that’s a waiting game. Also I’m full of gadolinium now. I’m waiting for my super power to surface. I forgot drawing with dinner…

OK. School. Teach the things. Leave school and go play with clay. Come back, finish grades. Or finish grades, then clay? IDK. We’ll see. Then iron. No more grades after today. That’s fine. Very fine.

Fast at the End…

Whoa Nelly. It all goes fast at the end. Five days. Field trip today to Belmont Park. Grades due Tuesday. 23 sex-ed opt-out assignments get turned in Monday so I’ll have to grade those Monday afternoon. Room has to get ready for summer…thank goodness we don’t need to lock everything up because they aren’t using our rooms for fucking summer school. For once. But still, there’s a lot of moving that has to happen. I lose my prep today, so no time to do any of that. We come back from the field trip and just show movies…and hope for no ODs. I didn’t used to hope for that, because I didn’t expect to HAVE to, but now I hope for that. I often wonder what admin thinks of the last three weeks of school. Obviously they think we aren’t teaching anything, because they keep fucking with schedules, they tell us at the last minute that the kids will have no computers, etc. Like just whatever. Keep them in the classroom with nothing really to motivate them to do anything, then blame us for bad class management when these post-COVID kids with their permissive parents act up. Fuck that.

ANYWAY. I don’t have to teach today. That’s a plus. I’ll be patrolling bathrooms and hidden corners for the druggies. I might go on a roller coaster. Just one. Then come back, show a movie, and try to finish grading the piles on my floor and clean up a bit. Stand at the corner for duty and hope there isn’t a police-level fight like there was on Monday. Fun times. Then hopefully the surgeon will have figured out if I really need blood tests and how to put the damn orders in, so I can go BACK to the lab and have more blood drawn by an arrogant prick who literally blamed me for any bad draw in the last million years. I really did have fun yesterday afternoon. Then to ceramics! I got a glaze that should work on my sgraffito tiles, I’m hoping to get that crazy winged woman done, and then I can go back to the world figure I started ages ago and haven’t been able to work on because of other stuff.

I’m ironing, very slowly. It’s hard to pull my brain back from overwhelmed state long enough to manage it. Wednesday night was dirt and volcanic bits, plus bones…

Then last night was body bags. OK, that might have been part of the difficulty. I mean, no one wants to think about body bags, but the people in Gaza have been thinking about them way too much. And that problem still isn’t solved. Because humans and land and religion and power and politics and and and. Never a reason to kill children. Or anyone, for that matter.

Sigh. Well the pro is I don’t need any more blood drawn this week. He just messaged me. They might try to draw it the day of the surgery, when I haven’t drunk anything since I went to bed, so that’ll be fun for them. Not my problem. You know, last night, I went to the only pilates class I was able to get into this week and it was supposed to be an easy center and balance (and it was), but somehow I pulled a shoulder muscle and that doesn’t even seem fair. Everything hurts…but especially that. I can’t even think what I did to cause it. Some rainbow movement (pretend you’re a rainbow!). Sigh.

It’s going to take me a long time to iron everything to fabric for this quilt. It’s complicated and every complicated little bit requires thought, and I really don’t have a lot of spare brain power for that.

I appreciate this.

I also appreciate one girl’s drawing on her pregnancy packet…

Legit.

Found a barn owl feather in the yard.

They’re still out there. I hear them every night. No babes. Wah.

The Man is still enticing crows, now onto the deck. I guess he put the nuts away that were on the driveway because we had workers here, but the crow came and complained at him. So he put it on the deck. And now this ballsy rat is a fan.

Sigh. OK. I bought boxes so we can start boxing up books. To do the carpets in the hallway and all three bedrooms, we have to move all the things. I figure we box the books so the bookshelves can be easily moved. Get the girlchild’s room cleared out early. Move whatever we don’t need right now, stack it all in the living room as much as we can, so OMG I can’t believe how much house shit I need to do this summer. Please don’t ask me what exciting thing I’m doing this summer. The house stuff literally makes me wanna cry sometimes. This whole year. I’m just done. And it’s only June. OK. School. Gotta go in. Gotta go on this field trip. I love the nurse yesterday who’s like, “You have to take care of yourself too” and I’m like, “Welcome to teaching.” It’s an impossible balance. The plus is that it is Friday and the weekend is here, even though it’s a crazy busy weekend full of brain scan, grading, stained-glass window install (hopefully…because I don’t think everything is ready to go). I might get a hike and dinner out, but I’m not really in the mood for even that. It’s just easier than figuring anything else out. Yeah. School. Go. Go there. Do the things.