OK, I think I remembered everything for today. Maybe. I’ll find out later if I did. I did come home yesterday and just finished my book. Because I wanted to. I worked too, unfortunately, but that’s a given with this job. You’ll come home and work at least a few nights a week, sometimes all the nights (ugh), or you’ll stay at school or come in really early to do it. Unpaid overtime. Fun times. Yesterday, my job was to get my rosters in order, figure out where all the special ed kids were (I mostly knew that) and read all their IEPs (individualized education plans)…they give us these short versions and they are mostly useless. Also, we have kids who should have these plans and don’t, because no one has ever identified him or the parents don’t want to know. The stigma…is apparently worse than your kid struggling in school. So I have one kid who doesn’t talk and another who never stops and two with Tourette’s but so far, no diabetics, kids who need heart monitors, organ transplants, or vision or hearing issues, beyond the normal “I have glasses but won’t wear them” and “I can’t listen to an adult because my brain is not fully developed”. No cerebral palsy or other diseases that will shorten their lives. We’ve had all of those. And they packed my classes full of neurodivergents, which is kind of my people…although I’m technically not one? Or am I? Hard to say. Art brain is a little whack and no one really tries to categorize it. So my rosters are done, my seating charts are mostly done, the first assignment is mostly handed in, and I’ll have to start grading things soon. Not today. Today I need to plan some during prep with the other two 8th-grade science teachers…and probably doing that for the next few preps. We’ve avoided it so far because brain power low. But we’re gonna have to psych ourselves up and do it. Ugh.
The art is slow right now. I only barely get an hour a night; partly, that’s my fault for reading when I get home and sometimes, if my blood sugar is running high after eating, I have to get on the stationary bike, and you know, one thing I can’t do on that bike is cut out little pieces of fabric. Unfortunately. Because I’d do it if I could, y’all. I totally would. So here’s Monday night…
So close, looking at the bottom of that top box of untrimmed pieces. Also, Nova was still supervising, but from below.
She likes to be around. Then last night, I keep thinking I might finish, but it’s like the box is the same amount of full at the end of the hour…
OK, I know it’s not, because I can see more of the bottom of the box, but do I know for sure that I’ll be done tonight? I do not. And tomorrow night is an artist talk at night, so IDK how much I’ll get done after all that. Ugh. I might be sorting pieces by Friday? And then starting to iron Saturday, but I already know my Saturday night is co-opted, so probably ironing all next week though…I know that. When is the 3-day weekend? I’ll be ironing then. For sure. So close to done!
Last night, I was dogsitting Annie and trying to type up rosters and this is her uncomfortable, need to be right next to me, position.
Yup. Paw touching me. Head down. Blood running into brain. She doesn’t seem to mind.
We ask the kids what they’re most worried about for the year…I did explain that worry is not the same as scared, but I also know who wrote the note on the right and he’s never telling us what he’s worried about. The one on the left is telling though…that’s a 13-year-old.
Me too, friend, me too.
No ceramics the last two days; too tired. I do like owls though.
Makes me want to draw a whole bunch of weird owls. In my spare time. Also I got my kitty’s cremains back and they are in this tiny box. She was so small at the end. At some point before I die, I need to bury all these boxes and cremains of all the animals who have helped me get through all the days…but right now, they live on a shelf in the bedroom. Weird, I know, but whatever. Maybe that’s a drawing in itself, all of them watching over me. Anyway, it was hard to pick those up and then think about going to ceramics, where I might have to interact with humans. Like nah.
So. To school…finishing up the safety assignment and then…well, we’ll see how it goes. Then pilates…my body will appreciate that. Then come home and blessedly not cook, but maybe read and definitely cut things out. MAYBE FINISH THAT. Nah, probably not. We’ll see. Staying up late to finish when I have to get up early tomorrow and have a really long day would be a bad plan…do you hear me, Art Brain? Seriously bad plan.
Hmmm…there’s nothing like waking up on a Monday morning, getting ready for school, sitting down to the computer, and realizing there was something you were supposed to do over the weekend and you totally forgot about it. Oh yeah. I totally remember how school feels. Like that. Like this morning. Damn. It’ll be fine. Really. It will. There’s always tonight. Sigh. Even yesterday, I knew I had work, some work, and normally I would have done it in the afternoon, but I didn’t feel like succumbing to school on the weekend yet, so I didn’t do it until 8:30 PM. Not the best plan. Oh well. It’s done now. I will go write this other thing on the to-do list (which I made Friday and did not look at all weekend). Also, there’s nothing like food prepping a variety of breakfasts to get you through the next two months, and not wanting any of them when you get up in the morning. Score! Fun times.
OK, first full week of school with kids. Always a challenge. I think I mostly prepped today’s activity on Friday, which is good, because Advisory is only 6 minutes and I have to be on duty at 8:30 and I’m rolling late already. On Friday, I was amazing! I made it halfway to school before I remembered I hadn’t taken my insulin. OMG, yes, I had to turn around and drive back, so I didn’t have the day prepped, and first period suffered. I too suffered. I’m going to take my insulin right now. I used to take it at night and it was much easier to remember, for some reason. Morning brain foggy? Sure. That’s probably it.
I am still chugging along on the trimming…closer to done. Here’s Friday night, when we were going to go out to see a band, and that totally didn’t happen…
I can see some of the main figure pieces in there. Saturday night, I cut some more…
Saturday, we vacuumed the whole house, washed all the cat bedding, and I got the special pleasure of washing all the cats. Fleas. Ugh. The meds the Man was using were totally not effective. More meds are coming, but blech. It was a lot of work. So I’m glad Nova still loved me enough to sit with me. She made the most amazing yowling sounds during her bath. I think I started cutting out the flag there.
Sunday night, I’m definitely in all the little people and the gravestones.
And some veins and stuff from the main figure. I can see the bottom of the box, but I still think I’m two or three days away from done. I have almost 12 hours in at this point.
I went to ceramics on Sunday afternoon (hence part of the work chaos)…I need to get this part of the torso in the kiln, so I need it to stop breaking. Fuck me. Here’s me with everything laid out to reattach and reglaze.
Luckily, there was only one other person in there. She was spread out even more than I was. I have over 75 hours into this piece. Crazy. That’s the head in the front, under the plastic. I’m hoping to work on it today. But also to finish fixing things. I think there’s only one unattached thing right now (knock on wood), but some glazing needs to happen. Depends on how crowded it is. Hard to do with a lot of people around.
I did a little stitching down of things on Friday…with Nova’s droolio help.
I am really hoping to get these all stitched down soon. Too many other things to do. I delivered two quilts for a show up in Newport Beach on Sunday…the show opens September 12, but I can’t get there for the opening (it’s a Friday night…can we talk traffic?). So I cleaned those up, put a label on one, cut slats, packed them up, etc.
I hiked 3+ miles on Saturday…trying to make sure my blood sugar stays down for date night! And they moved the trail…
I hadn’t been here for a while and the entire middle section of the trail moved…not a little bit, but a lot. Weird. Maybe there was a sensitive environment over by the river that they were trying to protect? I could probably figure that out eventually.
This crazy ass caterpillar was in my yard this morning…it’s apparently a Rustic Sphinx moth…
Or it will be, if a bird doesn’t get it. It does seem like it’s ready to cocoon itself. Massive.
OK. School. I’m already getting texts this morning. Fun times. Teaching safety today. Then going to ceramics, then doing the work thing I forgot to do this weekend. I took pictures of all the kids and I need to put names on them. Ugh. It’s fine. I do it every year. It’s just time-consuming. Useful though. Helps me learn names and faces. Time to go. Get out of here. Go to school. No really, go.
Well some cat just puked on my bag apparently. I’m staying in here; letting someone else deal with it. Too tired. Did not sleep well last night…too much noise, too much dog. We had kids for the first time yesterday…my first period was a shitshow (actually changing seating chart on day 2), but the rest were fine. I’m in my 23rd year of teaching (I officially started midyear in my first year, replacing someone who quit midyear…crazy, huh?), my 18th at this school, my 10th with this team. Nuts. Here we are…my team on top, the 8th-grade team below.
Yesterday was as exhausting as you would expect it to be. Today will be pretty chill. I think. Except for first period, which will still be a shitshow and kept me up repeatedly throughout the night. In between the dog barking and the owls and the coyotes and IDK WTF else. I should sleep well tonight anyway.
I’ve managed an hour or so of cutting things out each night…no grading yet, so that’s a plus. Although this weekend will be the first weekly email to send out. Joy. Here’s Wednesday night…
Again, looks a lot like Tuesday night….I’m in the 800s here, still mostly in the swamp with swamp things (ICE agents and kids mostly…an alligator).
Last night, I went to stitching with a friend, so I did some on the July Rooted block (Sue Spargo).
These are very relaxing to stitch, but it’s taken me forever to do all those fly stitches. And then I came home and cut stuff out for another hour…
I can see 700s and 600s now. Yes, I’m going mostly backwards. I’m in the main human figure now. I suspect I won’t be done until sometime next week. I’m hoping to be ironing together next weekend. Goals! Of course, that will be all standing after the first full week of school, all standing. Still watching the blood sugar. It was all over the map yesterday.
I love this guy and his medieval picture translations. I am one with this elephant.
I’m not really angry. I’m frustrated with some things. School hasn’t hit a particularly painful stage yet. Give me a week. Seriously, that’s all it will take. Now my government? Yeah, already frustrated, well beyond that honestly.
There’s a lot of not good people out there right now. Sigh.
Anyway, today we color! First cover page, very chill, but I will also be walking around, learning kids’ names, and taking their pictures. Fun times. I forgot to set up my classroom before I left last night (I had to be home to meet the tree guy), and my morning self is a little stressed about that. My afternoon self has to be the responsible one because morning self is a little out of it. Then I’m going to ceramics after school (still fixing things that break), and I think we’re going to see some music tonight, depending on how we feel. Then SLEEP. Oh joy. Maybe. I mean, the dog could bark as much as he did last night and I might get very little sleep again. But I won’t have to be up at 6:30 AM at least. And that’s a plus.
Heyo. It’s halfway through…well, there’s one more prep day and then kids. That’s the hard part, although the first few days aren’t too bad…just a lot of talking. I could do without that. My voice could also do without it. I’ve actually enjoyed the last day and a bit in my classroom, because for the first year in a long time, I’m not panicking. I’m not unpacking everything out of a locked cabinet because they used my room over the summer, and I don’t have a lot of newbies to deal with, so I’m doing things that have waited for years. I moved some stuff in my room to be more logical. I put together a shelf thing I brought from home two years ago. I actually looked at the bulletin boards I never finished for 8th grade (I only looked at them; it’s OK). It’s been pretty chill. Hopefully that bodes well for the new year. Today I have a meeting and I need to copy stuff (the copier is not so chill, but that is always the case), but otherwise, I’m going to pilates. Yesterday I went to ceramics. Almost like a normal person. They let us sign up for afterschool duty for the first time ever, and I got an easy one. I never get an easy one…I’m always walking a long way because my classroom is closest to the front of the school, so I get the crappy duties, while other people waft through the easy ones for years. I get the same ones over and over again. But this year, I picked the easy one. I chose. I know, it’s silly, but let someone else do the light or the crosswalk or the bike rack. It’s time. I’m sure next year, I’ll get assigned something else, but the new principal wants to do things this way and I’m going with the flow. There are some things where I’m not going with the flow, in typical Kathy fashion. But whatever. I do my job and I do it pretty well most of the time. And when I don’t, it’s because I’m tired and burnt out. So yeah. Aiming away from that feeling this year.
Artwise, I haven’t had a ton of time each evening. Things like cooking and dishes…not so fun, but have to be done, ya know? And less time at home affects that. Always, it’s a bit of a shock to go back to the long days, although we are still in that sweet spot when I can come home and NOT work (well, I did on Monday). I can sit and read or stitch a little. Or go to the ceramics studio. I’m still breaking things on the torso. So frustrated with it at the moment, but I’ll get there. I’m building a crazy head for it though.
I’m gonna need room for the tree on the head though; it won’t fit on my shelf. Problematic. I’ll figure it out.
Monday’s staff meeting was long and mostly boring. Some new info, but they read the slides to us. And the ones they didn’t read to us were small and hard to read. But they won’t give us the slides until the end of the meeting, because they don’t want us on our computers. But there are still people on their computers. So I drew for the first hour or so.
I can’t just sit in meetings. My brain doesn’t work that way. It needs entertainment. This was good for that. The next hour or so, I read my book on my phone. I did listen. I heard most of the things. I just wasn’t particularly engaged. A lot of it is stuff I already know. It’s hard, because we have so many new teachers who know nothing but I don’t need to hear all that again, but we also have a new principal and some fairly new assistant principals who don’t know or remember how things work here. Like there’s a reason we don’t let kids in the hallway behind our classrooms. We used to and it was a behavior disaster. So now we have to deal with that again. Whatever. I won’t be responsible for the hallway; I already told them why. They can deal with it.
Certain parts of the quiltmaking process look the same every night. I mean, I can tell the difference, but when all I cut out are tiny pieces, the piles don’t change much in an hour. I think I’m in the 900s mostly? Going backwards…so not even halfway done. So here’s Monday night, right before I started cutting out the swamp trees.
And here’s last night, as I start cutting out the people in the swamp.
Still some swampy bits in the top bin, but there’s progress. I can see it. I’ll be here for a while though.
I’ve been stitching this stuff down all summer…in bits and pieces.
Most of the wool pieces are on…I think there’s a few more, but mostly I’m appliqueing cotton now. Which is maybe faster, IDK. And after they’re stitched down, they all need embroidery. I’ll be here for a long while.
We are back to one juvenile owl, I think. I could have sworn I heard a second, but I’m not seeing it, so I feel sorry for this lonely. It’s very loud.
That’s the moon, believe it or not.
It’s started flying around and squawking from other trees, so we are a few days to weeks out from it leaving. It’s weird how loud they are as babies and how mostly fucking silent they are as adults. They do squawk as adults, but it’s different and mostly threat related. And it’s usually just once, not all night. I apologize to the neighbors. A little.
OK, I have a morning meeting to deal with team stuff, plus meet a new teacher for some of our special needs kids. I get to ask why I have paraprofessional support in one class with only one kid who needs it when I have another class with six of them and no support (that actually goes over the 20% mark, so they will have to support in there…they just don’t know it yet). The email thread back and forth yesterday about one of the kids with the admin in charge of scheduling them ended badly. I’m just not going to sit and not say anything when what they’re doing is not best for the kids. Or me, for that matter, or honestly, the poor para who is sitting there with only one kid to help…which is fine if the kid needs that. I’m just curious if there was thought behind it, because last year, there wasn’t.
Then pilates after school…my body will appreciate that, even if my blood sugar doesn’t necessarily go along with it. Transitioning to school and stress and a different schedule has been interesting. I did very well yesterday. Let’s not talk about the other three days around it. It’s fun. My doc wants me to check in with a nurse once a month about the diabetes, and I’m like sure, here’s my first question about crashing sugar in the middle of the night (again). They have not called yet. Probably trying to decide which nurse will have to deal with me. I’m having positive results…I’m hoping to keep that going as school really goes. September is the best test of it…it’s usually absolute daily chaos. Then after that, I get to read and stitch and cut things out. Bliss. Remember your why! (teacher in joke)
First official Monday of the school year. Yesterday was the first Sunday and I totally ignored it…went to ceramics, prepped breakfasts (OK, that’s not really ignoring it), cut stuff out, stitched some things down. OK, I also did laundry and grocery shopping, so still not ignoring it…just not sitting down at the computer and sending emails. I did that Saturday briefly…wait, no, I did that yesterday. I so often end up in charge of things that I’m wondering, when I’m retired, if I will miss that. I will probably find something else to be in charge of. It is the way of my people.
Still need to get used to getting up at 6:30 in the morning and functioning. Not there yet. We night owls have a hard time with normal work hours. I do anyway. Today is an all-morning meeting about things, then nothing in the afternoon but classroom and prep. I’m sure I will have a few meetings pop up; they always do, but I’m going to try to leave everything at school for the rest of this week. I can do that for one week, right? Then my weekly emails from my team start, sent on Sundays. No grades until next weekend; that’s a plus, but I will have to do rosters and that stuff. Let’s hope there’s no other crazy stuff about to rear its ugly head. Here’s my team; apparently this is our 10th year together…
Mostly we get along. No really, we are like any group in that there are people who do certain things, and we work really well together and support each other, but sometimes, we need to isolate. So we do. That’s probably how we made 10 years.
I ironed Friday night; I really thought I’d finish, but then I looked at the clock and it was midnight and I was tired (up at 5:30 AM y’all)…so I stopped.
With about 5 planets to go…
So I did finish ironing on Saturday, despite having a long, mostly unproductive day, wallowing in Kitten missing. I’m still doing that daily…she was so tiny at the end and I held her until the end. And like I said before, here I am, in her space. Bowie keeps coming in and looking for her. Ugh. It’s fine; I’ll get used to her not being here. Maybe. So here’s the 187 fabrics I used in this quilt…
I love to sort by color. And here’s what I’ll be working on for the next week or so…trimming all of those.
I started that Saturday night as well.
Didn’t get very far; did another hour last night though.
It never looks like much at this stage. I’m going backwards through all the pieces, unless I flipped the pile at some point (which I did). But right now, I’ve cut out most of the planets, the stars, the sun, and I’m working on the spacey pieces in the sky. I barely started the barn owl. It’ll be a while. But it’s delightfully relaxing to sit on the couch and bingewatch stuff and not have to think too hard about anything. The sitting will help with the first two weeks of exhaustion too. Seriously.
I’m making a very strange head with a tree coming out of it for the ceramic sculpture I started in November.
Still needs eyes and stuff. Ears. Maybe. Yeah. Ears.
And I actually drew at dinner.
I’m going to have to start hiking on Saturday afternoons again so I can eat the dinner I want to eat. Revised. Blood sugar was high all day and then crashed Sunday AM at about 3. Fun times. When my body decides to be logical about how it deals with food, I’ll let you know. I think I’ve got it, and then it’s like, NO. You don’t.
Always true.
OK, meeting, then prep, then other meeting, then meeting here about trees, then collapse with a book. Then cut things out and repeat. Well, I don’t have to meet about trees again, but I’m sure tomorrow will be more meetings, just not full-school meetings in the library. For 3.5 hours. Ugh. Remind me to skip long meetings in retirement (which is still years away, but I’m still gonna think about it) unless they’re about things I love.
Summer Break is officially over; ironically, summer in Southern California is just beginning (it was like 97 degrees yesterday). We’ve got at least two months of ugh weather, depending on how bad the apparently nonexistent climate change wants to make it. At least I’ll be in air conditioning during the day, right? With 140 kids. It’s fine. I’m totally not ready and had to be up at an ungodly hour this morning…it was early enough that the baby barn owl hadn’t gone to sleep yet.
It was light out by the time I got out of the shower. I’m not feeling positive about today. I know some people totally get into the first day back, they’re all hyped up. I’m an introvert. A million people in the mall (yes, we are meeting in a mall on the first day) is not my idea of fun. Honestly, talking to people at 7:30 in the morning is not my idea of fun. They give us popcorn and soda (can’t have those) and then the new guy posted all the treats he has for us, and I can’t have any of it…it’s either chocolate or sugar or both (I’m allergic to chocolate, if you didn’t know, and diabetic). So whatever. I already have the nutrition menu pulled up for our lunch options, so I know the carb issues. How does a salad have so many carbs in it? Sigh. And that doesn’t even count the dressing. So I bring my stitching with me for the morning part, and I have a book on my phone, snacks in my bag, ready to walk if the blood sugar alarm goes off. Wearing my new school year shirt (we had to go in early and pick one up). I’ll be OK next week when the kids come. Just not a fan of the adulting part (the part with the hundreds of adults). And I get to be one of the first people to talk at our meeting this afternoon. I actually don’t care about that part. It works OK after so many years of doing it. Get up in front of a hundred people and talk? Whoopdidoo. Got it.
Here’s baby owl and a parent…
I’ve had a hard time being in the studio the last few days. Kitten is supposed to be in here. When she was an actual kitten, she was in here…
That’s my old office chair. I’m three chairs past that one now, I think. They’re always covered in cat fur though. Already just hanging out with me. Sigh. Poor baby. Miss her. Maybe I’m the poor baby in this equation.
So I spent a bunch of time futzing with Spargo stuff in the living room yesterday instead. I still have a million things to stitch onto the borders of Homegrown…
And then all the embroidery. I then checked on some of the other in-progress Spargos and cut out pieces for another month of the mushroom one (just finished a mushroom book…seemed appropriate), reminded myself I was close to done on one of the forest blocks, and remembered that the critter blocks are next on the embroidery list when I finish the Rooted trees…think I’m on June or July with that one, so another three? I think. I appreciate the brainlessness of following someone else’s pattern sometimes.
I did iron in here: two hours yesterday and two and a half the day before. I know it’s hard for you to see the difference between the days, but I can. Here’s Wednesday night’s progress…
Made it through all the swamp trees and maybe a little past that…looks like there’s two rockets in there.
Then yesterday…
I did all the space stuff…well the ‘sky’ stuff, which is the big blue and purple pieces you see, but not the planets and stars and sun…that’s all that’s left. About 100 pieces. Complicated because I try to decide what each planet looks like in terms of color, but not super hard like all the people pieces. I should be able to finish tonight and then start cutting them out. A good part of the process for the start of the school year…sitting on the couch and bingewatching a show the Man is calling “Call of the Midwife in India”, which it kind of is: The Good Karma Hospital. Light fare, but about helping people, certainly, which is what I need right now.
I was reading a book by T. Kingfisher, one of her shorter soldier series based on old stories (I liked the second better than the first, which was based on House of Usher)…and she wrote…
That’s definitely from the second one. They are definitely dark. And in the acknowledgements, even better…
I’m amused by that. The first is What Moves the Dead; the second book, which both of these quotes are from, is What Feasts at Night. The third comes out this fall.
When it’s hot, cats flop.
Nova makes biscuits. It’s adorable. Bowie is less adorable, but I still like him.
OK, damn, I have to leave in 15 minutes. Ugh. I did make it to ceramics on Wednesday, but it was packed, so instead of trying to get the big torso out, I worked on the head.
This thing will never be done.
And as we go back into the school year, one run by AI apparently (even in my district, they are pushing it)…see in June, when school gets out, what happens to the graph?
I am so amused. And not. Ah well.
OK. Back to the crowd in my head and my personal space. Remember to keep fabric at the forefront. Remember Kitten. Finish ironing tonight. All good.
Well. I have two days left of Summer Break. I feel like a lot happened. A lot of it was awesome and a lot of it was stressful and it’s ending on a very sad note. On Monday, Kitten turned 17. We adopted her from one of the rescue groups outside of a Petco. She had been adopted out and returned for being ‘feisty’ (yeah, that never changed really)…she was supposed to be a Christmas present for the kids (it was December), but she latched onto me and was never anybody else’s cat.
We had two cats and two dogs at the time, so it’s not like we needed more, but the other two were getting older, so? Her original name was Holly, because we had mostly been naming animals after plants (of course, the current cats were Midnight…named by girlchild…and Limbo…who was supposed to be adopted out, but I was pregnant with the boychild and well, it was a baby). But she never answered to it and it never really fit.
OMG…look, CDs! WTF. Back in the day. She was feisty, which meant she survived the dogs…you know, I think we only had Ivy at that point? I think Calli came in 2009. So just Ivy and Midnight and Limbo…so she didn’t answer to her name, but she did answer to Kitten. So she became Kitten, and eventually I had to tell the vet, because they would call about Holly and I’m like, who the fuck is that. Doing well, y’all. Even back in the day. The kids were in elementary/middle school. I had just started to teach in the valley here instead of driving 45 minutes plus into the mountains.
Already sleeping on sewing supplies, even in the early days. That never stopped.
She survived many other animals coming through here. In the last month, we basically had to move her permanently into my office (she was already living there for like the last five years, although she’d venture out, even sleep with me…best memories ever of her curling up under my armpit, however uncomfortable it was. But Bowie was insistent on bugging her, so we finally moved her food and litter into my office. Yes it was a pain and sucked for me (I hate stepping on litter and it’s always everywhere), but it was more peaceful for her, and she needed that. She slept a lot the last few months. She had inflammatory bowel disease for the last five years or so, and we’d finally gotten medications that seemed to be working, until the last week. She would have episodes, like they do, and she’d rally. There were many times in the last year when we thought she was done. She’d lose a ton of weight and stop eating and then she’d come back. But this time, she was sick over and over again and I knew we were probably done. It’s hard to make that decision, and certainly it’s one I’ve been debating for a few months now. She knew it was time, even if I didn’t; Because she was so feisty, the vet had tags on her file, and when I took her in, she was purring and chill and headbutting my shirt, like she does when she wants love. So I gave her all the love I could and said goodbye.
And it fucking sucks. And I really need to stop crying because I have to go get my eyes checked today and swollen and red will probably impede the eye doctor’s assessment. Sigh. This room sucks without her in it. It all sucks. And I know if you’ve said goodbye to a pet, you know what I’m talking about. Shit, I still get tears in my eyes when my damn phone shows me pictures of Calli (the Golden Retriever) or Midnight (one of the best cats ever). And yes, there are still three cats and a dog in this house. The Man even said I could claim one of his cats as mine, and they all give me love and I give them love back, but it’s not the same. She was a sweetheart who bit me so hard last year I needed antibiotics, but she was my sweetheart. Fucking sucks.
Also the Man wanted me to count how many quilts she’s in and it’s a lot. A bunch. She’s the cat in most of my quilts.
Wet washcloth on the eyeballs before I have to leave for the eye doc.
So yeah, had an awesome time in SF, then got COVID, then put my cat down, now going back to school, so not ready. At all.
I spent a lot of time with Kitten in the last few days, ironing in here. Almost 5 hours on Monday…
Only 2 1/2 yesterday…
Before and after going to the vet. Difficult. I made it through the swamp and the ICE officers. Still need to finish a bit up on them and add in the children they are dragging through the swamp. Then the trees and that gets me into the 1000s…with about 350 pieces to go. I could knock that out today, but think I’m going to ceramics. Debating book club. Not sure I can do that. They saw Kitten in all the Zooms and I don’t know if I can sit through that right now. Probably not. And I’m hoping to get into pilates (haven’t been in SO LONG), but I’m still on the waitlist and it’s less than 12 hours, so…it’s all hopeful. So I’ll iron some today and tomorrow and hopefully finish.
My craft room, my office, my studio is where Kitten was. So hard to be in here.
OK, and here’s the politics. My school board has members on it who lie. This is a flat out lie. The top two are a board member and his wife. Absolute bullshit. No one is paying us to show up. We show up because y’all are idiots.
And IDK who Amy is?
When I type her name into our district mail, it does not pop up…which doesn’t mean she doesn’t work for us…she could be new, and I don’t necessarily get everyone on email, but also, no one in the fucking district calls it by that name, because that name is WRONG. She doesn’t say here that we’re being paid to show up (we’re not; maybe those parents are though). Please open your eyes, y’all. People lie to get their agendas across. Luckily, we have three board members who are not Project 2025 sycophants, and they renewed our superintendent’s contract and finally approved the sex ed curriculum, which contrary to parents, does NOT teach kids to be trans or LGTBQIA. It does try to teach them tolerance. Heaven forbid we do that. God wants y’all to be tolerant (another staff member was quoting god things with regard to Trump the other day…this is what will drive me out of teaching). Read the Bible a few times, and you’ll see that. It’s funny when the atheist knows the bible better than the religious folk.
ANYWAY. Not shutting up about the stupidity…and it’s obviously not going away. Neither is my headache, so I’m going to go take meds, cold washcloth on the eyes, and do the things. And miss my baby kitty.
Hey it’s a Monday. The last Monday before I officially go back to work, although I am in fact going to go lesson plan today with my coteacher. Because that’s what teachers do, y’all. On summer. When we don’t get paid. Why do I do it? Because my later-August self will be so happy that I didn’t leave everything to the last minute. I’ll be exhausted because school started, but things will be mostly planned, because the planning days they give us will get eaten up by stupid meetings. They always do. So. That’s what we do. This will be the third 4-hour session this summer for us. We’ve done more in previous years; we’ve done less. Luckily (or biologically), as of Friday, I started feeling much better, able to stand and iron things, and I tested negative for COVID yesterday. The Man is still paranoid as shit (he started a new job this morning after 18 months of unemployment due to a work injury that has still not been solved), so he does not want to get sick. I agreed to giving him the 10 days of ‘stay away from me’ and even wore a mask in the car with him. It’s fine. He would get much sicker than me anyway. Although this is the third time I’ve gotten COVID (that I know of), and he gave it to me the first two times, including the first day of school a few years back. Fun times. Strangely, I was not sick at all last time (18 months ago) and was definitely sick the first and third times.
So, ironing!! Oh bliss, oh wondrousness. It’s funny. Often I put it off, OMG, it’s gonna be so hard, especially this time, because Kitten is now living in the studio with me (it’s not very big) and so I have her on a rolling office chair, her food and water is in here, with the damn litter tray, and the ironing board and another rolling office chair for my butt, plus the 17 tables that live in here. I finally just up and moved a bunch of stuff into the girlchild’s room (needs to be managed anyway…although now that school is starting, ha!). It’s crowded, and I can’t reach some of the fabric because Kitten is in the way. She gets freaked out if I move too much around or over her, and rolling the chair out of the way is problematic too. So it means I am limited to the fabric I can reach.
I started ironing before I went to San Francisco…got about 2 1/2 hours in, but hardly any pieces. This thing is complicated. Lots of little things. Friday night, I did about 90 minutes, I think…nah, almost 2 hours.
Definitely did some flesh in there, although there’s way more to come. Not much in the way of color yet.
Saturday, I felt FINE. And I had nothing else to do, so I got about 5 hours done.
Yeah…moved the pieces into a bigger box (had to find one that wasn’t being used). Lots of little people in this…still not very far into the pieces though. I was trying to keep track of what flesh colors I used for which arm (this thing has a lot of arms)…
Then yesterday, I went over two hours, no, almost three, and got the main figure ironed…
Still lots of brown and earth colors. But another Statue of Liberty. So far, I’m in the 700s, but I haven’t done all the 600s, and I’ve ironed for 12 1/2 hours. So almost halfway? It would be nice to get all these ironed down by Friday (the day we go back). We’ll see. I have all day tomorrow. I have some time on the other days. I had to move the dentist and the eye doctor to this week. Plus you know, all the stuff I was going to do all summer? Well, I never get it all done and so I should finish it all this week. Ha! Not happening. Never does. I know I need the down time, and I did so many fun art things this summer. I am worried about my ceramics. Don’t know if I can get there today though. We’ll see. The animals are going to have a shocking day with no one home. They’re already freaked out. Ah well.
I like this.
Especially as a public school teacher. But boss, the president told me to! New boss this year. Ugh.
I definitely need one of these, but I would just ignore it. I have a nonfiction book I’m trying to finish (so much harder than fiction), and I tell myself to read a chapter a day, but every chapter is LONG. Like 30 minutes or longer. Yes, I am spoiled by short fiction chapters. Remember reading real books (I’m reading one right now) and you would have to flip forward to see how many more pages until the chapter was over?
Well now it tells me how long it will take to read it, so I can read one more before I go to bed. Or work. Or whatever.
In reality, I just keep reading. OK, I need to take meds, find my work stuff (it’s all in the bag I shoved it in the last time we met, in the beginning of July), and get out of here for a few hours. Reality check. Not the fun kind. Wait, is there ever a fun kind of reality check? Huh. Then run errands and come back and find time to iron a bunch of things on the main figure, before I iron the ICE swamp. Second quilt ever with a swamp in it. Same president. Same fucking swamp. Enjoying the last four days before the next school year starts. Deep breaths.
OK. So I’ve been sick with COVID since Sunday night, apparently (sorry to my plane mates…I didn’t know). Yeah, I should have been masked, although I’m not sure where the girlchild and I both got sick. Hoping today is fever free. I am better…the first few days were very low energy and sleepy. I’m definitely increasing in energy, but was still running fevers yesterday on and off. I’ve canceled/rescheduled the dentist, exercise, lunch, not sure what else. I was planning on getting a booster shot this week, before going back to school. Oh well. Interestingly, the last time I tested positive, I had almost no symptoms. Not so much this time. Lots of sleeping and reading going on, and when I felt more energetic, I started appliqueing wool bits down to the borders of Sue Spargo’s Homegrown.
It’s mindboggling how long this takes.
Once I had tested for COVID, I moved into the girlchild’s room and my office, trying to limit the other people in the house from exposure. Hoping I wasn’t too late. It didn’t even cross my mind when I first started feeling sick. Silly really. The Man starts his new job on Monday and we’re hoping he doesn’t come down with it.
I’ve stitched down all the stuff on the top and bottom borders; I’m doing the side borders now.
Five flowers a side. Big ones. Time-consuming. Not hard though, which is good, because my brain is mostly nonfunctional. Amusingly, I’m also doing my district/state-mandated online trainings today, with about half my brain. Seriously, I’ve experienced over 20 years of integrated pest management and bloodborne pathogen trainings. The assessments are often stupid, making you memorize things that are not useful, like how big an opening a mouse needs to get in a building (all of them were small; you literally had to memorize which small thing they had mentioned in 28 minutes). I’m not saying we don’t need to know these things…it’s just a lot of minutiae.
Back to the stitching…there’s about 85 pieces that need to be appliqued down on the two side borders, and I probably have spent 8 hours so far. Not all of it this week…
Last night, I had Simba on the bed (past his bedtime) and Bowie coming to visit.
I kicked Bowie out later because he keeps climbing on shit and knocking things over.
Sleepy boy.
So I still have a ton of those to stitch down if I need more down time, which I probably do. I’d like to be energetic and well enough to stand in here (I’m in the office right now) and iron things to fabric…the thing I started before I went to San Francisco. I’d also like to have enough energy to go to ceramics, because it’s been a while and I’m worried about my piece. Not much I can do about it at the moment. I’ve had to move a bunch of stuff to next week that was supposed to happen this week, so it’s all of a sudden more full than I like. It is what it is, I guess. It’s now officially August and I have to think about school. Total mindset flip.
Meanwhile, the cats are all exhausted.
And hot…
Kind of with them.
There’s this…
No hubs but…and this is a joke, but I’d rather spend time making art, thanks.
OK, back to mandated reporter videos. I would like to thank them for making up a new complicated story for each year. Just watching this set of videos is traumatic. And having reported more than once, it’s too bad that humans can’t be better across the board. I have one anonymous card that I’ve kept for three years now. I do often wonder about that child and how they’re doing (multiple reports, police were involved, they sent the kid home with parents). Ah yes. And watching this training while thinking about the current government and the Epstein files? WTF. There’s a gap there that cannot be explained.
Sigh. Hopefully no fever today so I can be a little more active…starting tomorrow, I can be out of the house if I have no fever, although I need to track down a mask. Pretty sure there’s one in a purse or bag somewhere, or maybe in the car. I have a million at school…ironically. My gym bag? I’m glad I had enough books and brainless stitching lying around to entertain me, and furry beasts to provide sighs, boofs, and love. And someone to go out and buy more meds and food. Not that food is very exciting at the moment. I’m doing a lot of revising what I eat to get blood sugar to behave (hard when you’re sick). The CGM has been really helpful and I’m glad I finally agreed to it. Insurance is covering it completely, and if I keep up how I’ve been doing, my A1C will be coming down in the next three months. All good. Art. Health. Balance.
I’m back after 4+ very busy days in San Francisco with the girlchild, who is really very patient and fun to be around, even though we are now both sick. I’m not sure how. Maybe someone at SFMOMA? Someone at the show on Friday? Hard to know. Still an awesome trip…so much art.
Here’s all of it chronologically. Mostly. Before I left, I did some more ironing on the quilt in progress that won’t be done before school starts (which is fine).
And I washed out the last two dye paintings I did. The dye seems to be holding particularly well, being 8 days old at this point.
The one book that made any claims for how long the dyes last said 5 days; the other one said, yo, document your shit! So yeah, some of the dye is washing out, but I still like it.
NOW, today, the dyes are hmmm…15 days old. I haven’t tossed them. I was hoping to do some this week. This is before I got sick. We’ll see how it goes.
OK, so Thursday, I flew to San Francisco kind of early so we could do the one day SFMOMA is open late…just for Ruth Asawa’s show. And wow. Not only are her iconic pieces truly beautiful in person…
And the shadows!
But there is a lot of background info and other artwork of hers as she branched out (sometimes literally) that adds to the exhibit.
Also, holy crap, but she had 6 kids and was able to create consistently. I appreciate that. We did joke that almost every piece was called “Untitled”. She did some things with pens and patterns, plus ink…the repetitive quality of her work is very satisfying to experience.
And her later, more branching work, is also beautiful.
I really enjoyed her work.
We watched another segment of the Ragnar Kjartansson The Visitors exhibit. I’d seen about 20 minutes of it last July, and saw another 20, the last 20. Truly beautiful.
And we went through Yayoi Kusama’s Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love again.
Last time, there was a huge line, but late-night Thursdays seem to be the best time to go. Also, the show has been open for a year and is closing soon.
We had a late dinner and went to bed.
The next day, the girlchild needed to work and I had a couple of shows I wanted to see, so I headed out at a reasonable hour. I was staying in the Mission District, and the murals blow my mind every time I’m there. This is Boneyard Luv by Raiz y Gonzalez con Safos.
I didn’t get the mushroom artist.
And then I took BART over to Berkeley (easy to get there once I figured out where the station was) to BAMPFA to see Routed West.
I do love some old quilts, especially when they’re wonky. This is by Willia Ette Graham, started before 1944, completed in the 1950s, repaired in 1985. I love the addition of each set of new bits. Started with a crumb quilt and moved on.
This is a shadow star by Rebecca Smith and Bettie Chaffold (mother and daughter). I like the color of the squares with the stars.
This is Alice Neal’s Mary Bright Commemorative Quilt from the 1950s, in honor of her mother.
The center is very contemporary art quilt, with the hat and embroidery.
This is Quinciana Tatmon’s fan quilt. I love that she didn’t make it the way most fans are usually designed, and they she randomly appliqued them on top of the background. This is from the 1950s-60s.
And I always love clothes being put whole into a quilt. This is a britches quilt by Arbie Williams, pieced in 1993, and quilted by Irene Bankhead.
There are a lot of repeat names in these quilts…many were just tops and were finished later. I have a few of those from my grandmother lying around.
This was pieced by Cora Lee Hall Brown in 1981 and then quilted by Willia Ette Graham. there is one block but its repeat is so random and yet repetitive in a beautifully random way.
This was pieced by Louisa Fite in the 1950s-60s. It’s a log cabin with the blue and white feathers at the center of the log cabins. It was quilted in 1970 by Joan Thompson, her daughter.
More fun colors here…Johnnie Wade made this piece in 1996. Very graphic.
But check out the star and how it’s attached to the background. I love this. Because it’s not straight and it’s all buttonhole stitched down by hand.
Whatever works y’all. Great show…again at BAMPFA through November 30. From there, I walked through one corner of UC Berkeley, where I saw this sculpture by Arnaldo Pomodoro. This is Rotante Dal Foro Centrale in 1971.
I went to Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics, bought a few half yards, but also felt like I should be making my own pants. In my spare time. It’s an option, I guess.
I have buttons in jars too, but nothing like this guy. I knew about the clothing, but my favorite piece in the show was this bathtub covered in buttons with the hint of a female figure (in white). This is darkmuskoilegyptiancrystals&floridawater/redpotionno.1 from a poem by Ntozake Shange. It’s about suicide and self love.
I was also fascinated by how he used buttons sculpturally.
And turned denim clothing into things they weren’t…this is the yoke and sleeves, but I also like how the pockets hang down.
Also he does some stitching between the buttons.
Here’s some more stacks…on this sleeve, kind of protective.
Another yoke, this is no sleeves.
I wasn’t great about documenting titles in this show. This is Button Apron: Black Target.
These are Button Shorts: Chillin’ Chaps.
And my favorite speedos…Button Speedo: Black Ice.
Nobody is coming near you with those on.
The show offered a chance to make your own button necklace or bracelet, so I did.
There was also a small exhibit there called A Roadmap to Stardust with this little ceramic sculptures of what look like astronauts. The exhibit was created by artists Neil Forrest and John Roloff (collaboratively known as OortCloudX).
It’s supposed to be an archaeological dig.
They’re fun.
Definitely an interesting little exhibit.
Oh here’s the 5 fabrics I did buy. I wanted to buy linen type stuff for pants, but I didn’t.
After all that, I made it back to the Mission and headed out for dinner with the girlchild and two of her friends…more murals. This is by Nychos, who I’ve followed on Instagram for years…nice to see one in person.
We had a great Burmese dinner, then walked a million miles uphill to an art collective to watch a friend of theirs sing in a band in the basement…it was mostly 70s and 80s with some more current stuff. Fun times.
The next day, I had persuaded the girlchild to take me to the International Fiber Arts XII exhibit in Sebastopol at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. And there’s the bridge.
Me in front of my piece War Zone.
This was an interesting and varied show…not just quilts, but all types of fiber arts, which is nice. This is Oh Know by Mark Sullivan.
Here is Does the Caged Bird Sing by Jóh Ricci. A really intriguing texture.
I realize this is a fungus, but it also looks like a dress to me (it’s highly likely it’s supposed to look like a dress). This is Mango Tango by George-Ann Bowers.
This interesting piece is Fairyfellers by Leonard Greco.
Intriguing characters…
This is two different pieces that work very well together. The top piece is Chimera by Erica Dincalci and the bottom is All in a Band by Mercy Hawkins.
The 3D work was fascinating. Here is Il Sogno della Bambina by Penelope Lenaerts.
More buttons and texture in Still Kickin by Marie Bergstedt.
These black clouds were very cool. This is Cloud Bursts by Kathy Pallie.
And this little cutie by Eileen Morabito, Make Love. Fuck War.
It was a very visually entertaining show that closes this week, I think.
We drove out on Florence Street, where we started to see the work of Patrick Amiot and Brigitte Laurent. Almost every house had a sculpture in the front yard, and then we saw them all over town.
Patrick builds them out of junkyard remains and Brigitte paints them.
I love all of them. I want one in MY yard.
We headed out for the winery experience to a tiny but lovely place, the Horse & Plow Tasting Room. They do wine and cider and have a lovely outdoor space.
You can see we kinda needed this.
We shared one because this place is 90 minutes away from the girlchild’s home, so it was nice that she drove all that way for me.
When we got back, we rested a bit and headed out for bao and dumplings, which was fun. We happened to walk through an art exhibit on the way back and saw two art quilters’ work I knew…Joe Cunningham’sShelter dominating the exhibit.
The exhibit was for locals about the area and had a lot of fun work in it.
We walked back through the Mission…
The next morning was a late start for us, in that the girlchild wanted to watch a soccer game and I decided to wander around, feed myself, head over to Balmy Alley to photograph more murals, yadda yadda. I like how they all have their fists up in this mural by Martin Travers.
This is Victorion: El Defensor de la Mision, by Sirron Norris.
I kind of like the chairs here, but it blocks the painting a bit. This is Cosmogonia by Chilovia, Raiz-Peskador. I see two Instagram accounts on the painting: Pancho Pescador and Pablito Something.
I love the detailed storytelling murals. This is Mission Makeover by Lucia Ippolito & Tirso Araiza, her father.
Two details I found really interesting…this with Adam and Eve being pushed out by riot police is way too close to the ICE kidnappings happening recently.
And this bit with the monkeys and the guy that looks like he’s in court robes by plugged in with his mouth zipped shut.
Great imagery. This piece too…Women of the Resistance by Lucia Gonzalez Ippolito (the same artist from the last one) and more (the names are very hard to read, even in real life).
The upper portion with all the puppeteers of evil is amazing. There are strings coming down from their hands to try to control everything.
Absolutely on topic.
That gas tank dispenser…
Here is an older one; the part with the name is deteriorated…bottom left corner.
I like the tree with the body below in this one…by Laura Campos.
This sign was in one of the windows in the alley…I heartily agree.
I passed this trailer parked on 25th Street enough times to agree with it.
This is Leyend Azteca, which was directed by Leia Maahs and Jaime Wynn, painted by a bunch of people, possibly originally painted by Gustavo in 1978. Long story here…bottom right corner.
The girlchild eventually picked me up and we headed south to Filoli, which is this huge mansion in the middle of nowhere.
But it had (17,000 people AND) 6 of Thomas Dambo’s trolls, made from recycled materials. I saw one of these in Seattle and have kept an eye on them since.
It’s an expensive trip, unless you’re a member, but I found between the trolls, the gardens, and the house…plus there happened to be an art fair while we were there…it was worth it. We spent about 3 1/2 hours wandering around (in the heat, to be fair).
It was harder to get photos without people in them…
Hence no picture of this one’s face…
Except here, where I cropped out the entire family in the lower half.
And this one never had no kids on it.
But this is nice. And yes, they all have names and stories and are very kid friendly.
But awfully adult friendly too.
Super loved this place.
The gardens are pretty and have some interesting stuff in them.
And the house…well the ballroom is amazing and so are all the kitchen rooms (multiple rooms).
Yeah, I didn’t have time to figure out what these were.
I tried to get a picture of the squirrel I saw this morning running along the wires in front of my second-story window, but that didn’t happen. I flew back this morning…which is kind of when the girlchild and I realized we were both sick. This flight was delayed as well, which might just be a summer thing. And then I spent most of the afternoon lying on the couch or the bed and sleeping. I’m feeling a bit better now, but suspect tomorrow will still be ugh. I was just thinking I hadn’t been sick in ages…well, since my trip to Ohio, when I actually got sick when I got home. Fun times. It was a great trip…lots of good food and time with kid, plus art up the yinyang, whatever that means. Totally a cool time. I’ll be resting up for a couple of days and trying to figure out how to be ready for school next week. Too soon, y’all…too soon.
Kathy Nida 