Every Night

When I was in college, I took art classes (duh, it was one of my two degrees), including a couple of painting classes. I don’t remember much about the one class except that the professor was really nice and I liked his work. The other professor (are they professors if they’re hired as working artists who taught us AND took time off to make their own work? Not sure of their official titles) was traumatic for me and I came away from it knowing I wasn’t a painter, never would be. I had a friend at the time who was an amazing painter as well, and it’s hard to compare yourself.

That said, I found my art way, it’s good, but also realized with ceramics, that here I was doing all this painting, but more to denote shapes. Dye painting though… it’s painting, and I’m still trying to find my place in it. Originally I thought I would be all loose and freeform, and I did a few of those last year, but maybe drawing, which is much more controlled, and then filling in the drawing is just how my art brain processes the world. Because that’s what I’m doing so far here. But now that I’m realizing that, maybe I can flail out of that mold in the next week and do some things that are looser, less about line.

So I washed this one out.

And painted this one Wednesday…

I also flipped one tray of colors onto the floor…whoops…in case you thought I’d outgrown my klutzy stage.

And yesterday, I painted this one after some unfortunate experiences with men in the big wide world.

Reminiscent of a smaller piece I made a while back that is part of a larger group piece.

Today, I mixed three more colors (was waiting on additional supplies being shipped here) and made more mixers. I’d like to try some looser stuff this afternoon.

We had some beautiful clouds the last two days, plus a full moon, where we went out on the Playa, drank some wine, hung out, cut a lock of hair, and threw it to the wind. Like you do. Seriously, it’s not the first time.

Wait, those are last night’s clouds. Still beautiful though.

The smoke from one of the fires (not sure which one) is really bad here today, so I have everything closed up. Tomorrow I’m actually going to drive an hour to the local grocery store, mostly for veggies, but we also have some potlucks coming up. Today, I’m still eating a weird mishmash of leftovers. Kinda over it. I also met with my school team on Zoom for a couple of hours…wondering how this year is gonna go…sliding start of some kind. Not ready, but never am.

Still embroidering too…

Every night.

Might Paint a Bird

Ok. Mornings are just not my good art brain time. It might not help that someone is weed whacking (not a huge deal; my brain will currently distract itself no matter what).

I have to write down the day and date every day at the moment. Helps me focus. I did three dye paintings that first day, but have branched out a bit since then. And filling in lines I painted last year is different from creating anew…and the ideas are mushy, and the brain is trying to process everything, so that makes it harder at times. So my goal is one dye painting a day. But also leaving the cabin sometimes. Maybe just to take the trash out. Definitely the heat and air quality affect my desire to go outside during the day.

Monday, I filled in one of the drawings I did last year…

And I washed it out yesterday.

The fires near us are still affecting the air on a regular basis…air quality was in the purple range midday yesterday. It’s better today, but makes you think twice about when you go walk. So she obviously came from that.

Yesterday I started a new one from scratch.

Definitely considering war with that one. She’ll get washed out later today. Sometimes the colors change drastically; sometimes they don’t. And they’ll get a final washout at home, which will change them again.

I’ve been hanging them up in the studio once they’re washed out, so I can see my progress.

I do need to see what I’ve done and document it for myself, but I am also resting my brain and letting ideas roll around in there. I started doing a freehand cutting/stitching thing too.

Both these things are looser than how I usually create, which is harder for me…and one of the reasons I came here. Stretching the process, the brain.

I’m also still embroidering this every night…

This is taking a while, but I like how it looks.

I finished the one drawing…

But haven’t done any more. I really wanted to sit outside yesterday but everything was so buggy. I removed a spider, a beetle, and a wasp from the cabin yesterday. One unalived because nope, big spider, ick, no. I’m still dealing with some crazy bites.

I also spent a couple of hours yesterday morning in the local wildlife viewing area, which is all about birds.

What’s funny about that is that I draw a lot of birds, but they’re all made up.

These are real, and I rarely knew what they were. This goose refused to move for a very long time, then ambled down the road (this is a driving tour, not walking).

And I think this was a Bittern…

Unfortunately, my rolling my window down scared it off the pole it was sitting on. It’s so weird to me to drive through this…I spent the whole time apologizing to the birds for disturbing them. Also did not know pelicans lived inland. And I think the big dark birds I keep seeing are ibises. I’m not really a birder, but I like birds. Honestly I think I’d rather drive, park, and then hike it, but even walking makes birds leave, and I don’t have the patience to just sit for an hour.

Ok, so a dye painting today, plus wash another one out, plus do some fabric/embroidery stuff. Sounds lovely. might even paint a bird…but probably not a real one.

Smoky Skies

I’m sitting here in the quiet morning (well, there’s birds). I’ve had most of one cup of tea, breakfast, a shower, went and refilled my water jug (issues with arsenic in the water) and got my dyes out of the big fridge…hoping they last longer, although last year, I painted one piece 10 days after I mixed them and there didn’t seem to be much color loss. I made sure there’s enough money for the mortgage (don’t get paid in summer). The skies are smoky again today from fires well east of here, so no danger, just hazy skies.

There’s a lot of sitting around and staring at stuff, interspersed with dealing with food (not my favorite and the kitchen is small and a bit of a challenge), and reading. I’ve managed to finish stitching the binding and sleeves on this piece from last year…

And I started the embroidery last night, which is gonna take a while…but it’s kind of rhythmic, meditative, and a little brainless honestly, so I do this at night.

During the day, I started dye painting yesterday. The first one was a line drawing I did last summer, so I just colored it in.

It’s gotta sit around for a day, and it will be much less bright after I wash it out. They all will. I aimed for pastels (some) on this one because the landscape here is more in that range. We’ll see what actually comes of it.

I’m a pretty haphazard dye painter. I don’t test things out; I don’t keep track (much) of what I’m doing. I just wing it and hope for the best. Like this one…

It won’t be that bright.

I started a drawing yesterday but it’s not what I meant to draw…

It’s also not done. I sat on my porch for an hour or so and drew for a bit, stared for a bit, read a little, repeat. Like this is what life should be like.

Here’s the three drawings I did on the way here…I think all the fire pix were blurry.

I also used Inktense pencils and fabric painting medium to color this drawing from last year.

It’s not all art, all the time though. I went swimming in the local reservoir with some of the residents.

I went to the Paisley Mosquito Festival…the parade…

And the quilt show in the church…

Voted for my favorite. Also had some BBQ for lunch and checked out the two local convenience stores, which have milk and some other stuff, but not much in the way of veggies.

I’ve walked out on the Playa twice, once just a ways out…

So many crazy ground textures out there.

The next night, I ate dinner earlier, then set out prepared with a wet washcloth for my feet, plus water and a headlamp. At 3/4 of a mile, I hit mud that was collecting on my shoes, sticky stuff, so I went barefoot.

At about 1 mile out, it was so slippery, I knew I’d have issues…damn knees. And the water was still not close! So I turned around and came back. I walked some on the dried stuff but it got to the point that it was too painful…

The top layer wiggles a bit as you walk across it. Eventually I got some of the mud off and shoes and socks back on. If I try again, I’m taking my poles. We have muck boots we can use, but the mud is so sticky, it just builds up on the shoes/feet and you lose grip. Not today…too much smoke. Even sitting here, it’s gotten worse. All these poor people (and animals) being evacuated.

Morning sky…

I can’t see those mountains any more.

Ironing view…

Including cute little iron my mom gave me. Hoping to track down another table today for a dry setup. Not enough flat surfaces to cover for me.

Today’s plan is to dye paint some more…I’ve got a couple more line drawings that need stuff, plus a ton of fabric ready to go. Maybe finish that drawing. There’s a resident dinner tonight, so that should be fun. I realized I barely talked to anyone yesterday, but I did a bunch of socializing the day before…so that seems to balance out. It’s cooler the last two days, which is also nice, and less windy. Peaceful. I miss my kitty, but I get a daily pic…

Sometimes with bonus animals. And the Man sends a daily update on how annoying my chores are 😂. Yeah. Well aware. Anyway, gonna go make more tea and check the dye temperature…and then make some more art.

Arrived.

I’m half-lying on a daybed (who thought these were comfortable for sitting? They are only comfortable for lying down…maybe that’s the point)…wondering how hard it would be to bring the nice comfy chair from upstairs down here. Do I want to end up in a cast in the first week of my residency? Not really. Hmmm. Will think that over. Right now, it’s in the mid-90s, I have a fan blowing on me, and I’m processing lunch in my normal afternoon lull of energy. I’m on a computer, but all my photos are on a different set of devices, so I’m going to write and then add pictures, I guess. Or I could go over to the device and add all the photos and come back here and type? I do not have the brain power for this level of decisionmaking at the moment.

It seems the app also has issues. Ah well…back to the smaller device that is more difficult to type on. I’m a few days behind my actual existence. Honestly, I’m not sure what day it is. Friday? I think so. So on Wednesday, we made it to Crater Lake and it was much cooler than the apps claimed it would be. Something about a big body of water and elevation seems to make that happen. We were OK with it…also flabbergasted by the size of the lake/crater/mountain that existed before the volcano blew.

Really that’s what we do…stare at the valley/crater/lake and imagine the size of the volcano that used to exist there.

There were a few hikes available, but we only did one…

Out to a version of pinnacles…we’ve seen a lot of pinnacly things in our time (Bryce, Chiracahua, Pinnacles), and these were definitely different.

Caused by geothermal things (shockingly). Cemented minerals from the inside of fumaroles…mostly hollow. Very bizarre. But cool to see. Hot out though, so the Man refused the hike to the waterfall after. Not a problem…just a reason to come back. I always need a reason to come back.

The next morning, we were up and out early to get the Man on a plane home.

We drove north to Redmond, where the smoke was bad; lots of fires going on north of here. Hope they are improving. We did follow this truck.

Definitely smoky. I worked on this bird. I dropped the Man at the airport, and then ran some errands (gas is cheap here, y’all), picked up one of the other residents, went shopping at a variety of places, and headed south to Playa at Summer Lake, where I will be for the next 17 days, which sounds like forever. So I just saw a group of residents heading off to the local reservoir to go swimming. I’m OK. I’m tired, honestly…water might help? But I think I need some quiet headspace more than I need to swim. There’s plenty of time for all that.

Painting from Bend.

It was hot when we arrived, and a lot of the stuff in my car is from the trip up, but I moved it all in and just piled it up in places.

Mine is the building in the middle. Bedroom upstairs, living area, kitchen, and bathroom downstairs, and the one-story bit to the right is my studio, which is bigger than anything I get to use in my house. I’m debating going and asking them for another table at the moment.

There’s a pond right across the grass from me. It hosts coots and grebes and a muskrat I saw last night (first muskrat ever).

Then way out there is Summer Lake…we’ll walk out there eventually. It’s too hot and windy at the moment.

I woke up around 6 AM and saw this out the upper window.

I breakfasted with a marmot.

Here’s the first, relatively clear version of the studio, with everything unpacked. It’s all moved since then.

I spent time today making print paste and urea water, plus doing my laundry. I’m waiting for the print paste to set up a bit and then I’ll start mixing some dyes. I don’t have a ton of fridge space in my cabin, but I can store things in the Commons, which is the building just to the left in the photo up above. I might need to store the dye concentrates there. It’s too warm here.

There’s the wind picking up earlier.

So yeah. I’m here. Doing different stuff. I have some commercial fabric with me, not a lot. I have two dye paintings that need embroidery. I have a few line-drawing dye paintings from last summer that need color; I brought some Inktense pencils to try, but also might just dye paint them. I have about 10 yards of prepared fabric that can be dye painted. I have paper for a few quilt drawings for upcoming shows. And of course, I have my sketchbooks (only 3?). A lot of the people here have admitted to just needing headspace for a while, and I’m with that crew I think. Prepping dye things is one part of the brain (mix this with that and label it) and actually making something with it is another part. That part is not ready yet, but it will be.

There Are Bugs and They Will Eat Your Face.

I don’t know if you’ve seen those bad National Park reviews made into posters; the girlchild got me one that said something like all there is do to here is walk around, which kind of defines all our park experiences, and we’re totally fine with that (you can find them at this website). That said, Lassen Volcanic National Park has some seriously nasty biting bugs and we both have some serious welts from them. I’m not sure where we saw this comment, but it seems relevant.

We left Sacramento Saturday morning and headed to Lassen. We couldn’t camp on this trip because I needed to carry some art stuff, and the car is full when we bring the tent and everything, so we sort of are glamping. We waited too late to get in the actual park, but were 15 minutes outside in a cabin with a bed, fridge, tea kettle, but also an outdoor picnic table and fire pit. Not big enough to really hang out inside, hence the bug bites.

I’m writing this in the car as we leave Lassen, but don’t have enough bars to add photos yet. So I’m adding the photos this evening at our cabin in Oregon. Not the one in the photo above.

We drove through the park on the way in but didn’t stop except at the visitor center. Also came to the realization that my height-induced anxiety has not improved. Don’t look down!

We did dinner, a fire, and drawing in the dark. My favorite.

The next morning, we had decided to at least hike TO Cinder Cone, although probably not UP it. We got to see the lava beds, which did not look like I expected them at all.

Plus a deer and a lot of people in inappropriate shoes. Hiking on cinders is a challenge. I did go part way up, and realized the bigger issue for me (and my decrepit knees) would be coming back down, so I quit. I was right…the down was painful. Sliding rocks galore.

See where the trail curves? I got maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the way up from the curve. We did about 4 miles total at 6300 feet elevation, in the heat, and that pretty much was the day. That and 12 miles on a washboard dirt road. Nice lake though and beautiful view of the cone. I think I had it a lot easier than the Man…his ears weren’t popping like mine the day before, but the elevation seemed to affect him more.

We also saw some cloud iridescence near the cone…

Showered (lovely), read, embroidered.

Drew by the fire…

( I really need a better picture of that one).

The next day was Monday and we were hoping there’d be fewer people (there were) than when we drove through on Saturday. When most of the park is closed except for the summer months, everyone comes in the summer. So we did the west drive through, after meandering through the countryside for 90 minutes to get back to the beginning. We saw (and smelled) Sulphur Springs…

Then headed out for Bumpass Hell…this hike was harder and felt longer than we’d thought, mostly again probably elevation related (8300+), but was definitely worth it.

Fumaroles, bubbling mud, stupid tourists stepping off the trail…all the good things.

Loud too. And then we hiked out to Cold Boiling Lake, which might be bigger and more impressive? Some time? Unsure. But we saw another deer and a chipmunk taking a dirt bath, which was cute as hell. Plus a baby chipmunk.

And a lot of burnt trees. The Dixie Fire did a lot of damage.

We skipped another hike (gotta leave something for next time), but did do the Devastated Trail for info about the 1915 eruption. You know, I used to teach volcanoes when I taught 7th grade, and we labeled them as active, inactive, or extinct. All through the park, there’s nothing about the status of the volcanoes. There’s obvious geothermal activity everywhere…

Then we walked some more (the Man under extreme duress) but we saw a fawn and mom…

And then got most of Lassen Peak with Manzanita Lake…

Apparently the extra 1/4 mile (plus round trip) to get a better photo wasn’t happening (next time!)…we had been gone 8 hours at that point and needed to stop. Back to camp, shower (bliss!), reading, stitching…

Although I missed 2 1/2 lines of instructions, tried to find them online, failed, and made shit up. Then found the instructions and ignored the fact I used the wrong thread (it’s still green; it’ll be fine), then drew again.

(Another blurry photo).

We left this morning for areas north…more on that later this week. We did things today too. Can’t handle that right now. It’s hot and humid and I’m in a house with A/C, a bathroom, and no bugs. Life is good.

On the Road

I took one really bad photo yesterday of yellow hills north of Los Angeles. It’s Interstate 5, y’all. Nothing pretty about it. We drove for 9 1/2 hours yesterday and made it to Sacramento, where I lived for a few years as a kid. Lots of stupid car behavior. Lots of trucks. Not much else. Hot. Finished my book, which is good, because it’s due back to the library tonight.

Window is dirty too. Great photo. Today we head to Lassen National Park, which will be much more picturesque and photogenic.

Before we left, I had at least one panic attack…you know, as an introvert, I sign up for things and then when it’s actually time to do them, sometimes I panic and think WTF was I thinking, this is crazy, I just want to stay home and pet my kitty and be a home body and finish my quilt, but I know that’s not really what I want, so I make myself get in the car and prepare for this crazy adventure.

Really though, I just needed another 90 minutes or so to finish quilting this thing…

I just had the right side left to do…it is a LONG side though. I did make time Thursday during all my errands to buy binding fabric so when I get back, I can finish quilting and bind this thing for a deadline I didn’t think I could meet. AND I brought stuff with me to draw the next two possible quilts….got more deadlines coming.

Wednesday night, I finished the outline quilting…that’s the longer bit…took about 6 1/2 hours…then the background quilting on this piece is just the dark blue bits, so the edges, and some stuff at the top, plus some smaller bits in the middle. I got three hours into that on Thursday.

So it’ll be done in August. Hard to walk away from it when it’s so close to done, but I didn’t bring my sewing machine with me. On purpose, yes.

Ok, need to pack up the car, find a Trader Joe’s, buy ice (so much for the new cooler keeping ice longer…although it was over 100 degrees for at least four hours yesterday), then drive to Lassen, figure out what hikes we might be able to do, and settle down in our glamping cabin in a weird not-really-a-resort. Looking forward to it. Animals and house are being guarded and fed by the fam. It’s all good.

A Bit of Sunburn

Well I’m sitting in an airport, which seems to happen every summer. It’s not a bad thing…it’s expensive if you need to eat, the process is annoying (although I think I got fast-tracked through security for looking like a benign old lady), but I get a lot of reading done. Trying to eat has gotten more difficult over the years…so many carbs! I’m currently picking the egg and chicken out of fried rice and wishing there were more veggies. And my flight was just delayed…only a bit. No worries. Just stressful.

Survived promotion, checking out of school, and the end-of-year party with only a bit of sunburn…the one place I missed with the sunscreen. Despite my exhaustion, sleeping in is not an option. Cats, dogs…even partners…I need quiet to sleep. I’ll take 7 AM over 6:30 though. I’ve been ironing, but not more than usual. I had a million things to do yesterday that got in the way.

A lot of years with this team…

I did manage some ironing each night after a million errands. Here’s Wednesday night, proving I make art no matter what…long day though.

And last night, after all the crazy stuff I did. Two Zooms, two medical appointments, three stores, gas, whoops, another store last minute.

Not sure the piles look that different. I made it to the mid 900s. I wanted to iron this morning, but I needed to pack, water, enter a show last minute, pay bills, and sew on a missing piece of a squirrel’s tail. Like you do. So there are about 500 pieces left to iron. So slow. My goal? Ironed down Wednesday, start trimming Thursday. I can trim faster than ironing, which is good, because I’m 17 hours into the ironing and less than 2/3s of the way through…so another 9 hours? Yikes.

Ironing is a type of rest luckily.

There’s Scribble helping me rest.

Not so my crazy country.

But yes to the hawk….

Ok. I now have an hour, a full cup of tea, air conditioning, two books, a sketchbook, and some stitching. I might need to walk in a bit to counteract the rice, but right now, I can’t read for a bit. May your Juneteenth be a radically left one…and may the colonized win their soccer games over the colonizers.

Travels for Quilts

So I’m in Virginia, currently sitting in the kitchen of the Virginia Quilt Museum. We have demonstrations happening this afternoon, and my co-conspirator in fabric is interviewing the director of the museum.

We both arrived Wednesday and were ensconced in an old guesthouse filled with antiques. Definitely a cat theme.

Cats…

Thursday we toured the museum and saw all the exhibits…looking forward to meeting Holly Cole tomorrow. Her animals are amazing.

Such a creative use of materials…

Three-dimensional designs fascinate me; I can’t get my head around them. I’m impressed by those who can.

Here’s Lena Meszaros, the other artist in the Fantastic Stories exhibit here.

Her work is very different than mine, but definitely works with them. She’s more of a collage quilter and works with a wide range of materials.

I’ll get some closeups today. I’m here all day.

Here’s a video of my six pieces in the show.

We also visited one of the top 10 quilt stores in the US, Patchwork Plus. Lots of fabric, patterns, notions, and Jamie. No explanation for that.

We went for a random walk in the afternoon, no sidewalks, out in farmland mostly.

This building was fascinating…

I don’t know how it wasn’t falling down. Lots of Virginia smells like cow so far (limited to where we’ve been so far).

I talk to the animals.

I’ve drawn a bit, read a lot, probably not slept enough (when do I ever?).

Ok. So today, I demonstrate fusing bugs, probably start a new book, maybe draw or stitch a little. Tomorrow is an artists’ talk…so we’ll be here all day again, I think. Oh, and I forgot that thing in my room…

Dog? Unknown. Guards over me while I sleep.

Out

Well the news is slightly exaggerating the TSA lines in San Diego…they are not for the faint of heart, but they aren’t four hours long. Honestly I think people panicking made it worse. It took 52 minutes and the last ten were because I got stuck behind a dysfunctional family of five.

So I have about 30 minutes to find some food to eat later for lunch. It took that long to find someone who had tea that wasn’t sugar or Earl Grey (not a fan).

I made some last-minute luggage changes… hope I don’t regret it…but this was what I was looking at.

That’s a bigger range than I normally have to plan for. I put my demo kits together for Friday the other night when I had a strange burst of energy. I tried to mostly rest yesterday to try to kick this cold. Definitely better today.

Not sure what I’m going to do with these bugs…probably put them in something else. Maybe design a female figure with the bugs as part of the landscape. Thoughts for another time.

We have squirrels. This one yelled a lot at Simba, who chased him off the deck.

Yesterday included pulling a super long root out of the toilet that’s been blocked for a few months. Good times.

Crossed that off my to-do list.

I was in bed before 10 pm last night, so I missed the snoring. That said, my blood sugar sensor wasn’t connecting to my phone around midnight, so the alarm kept going off… I was totally stressed out and convinced I had another dud sensor and I’d have to survive a week just poking my finger 17 times a day…but this morning, it was fine, so wtf. Be thankful technology eventually figured shit out?

Word. Dog snoring, even cat snoring…adorable.

I have one of those loaded up for the plane ride. I also have grading if I feel like it. Right now, I think I just want a nap. So I fly for 5 hours, get picked up, fed, dropped in a strange place with a woman I barely know 😜. It’ll be fine. She’ll be on French time; I’ll be on California time. Our pickup time tomorrow is problematic for my body, but I’ll go to bed early again. And then explore Virginia…was last there for my brother’s wedding…the girlchild was almost two and now is 28…so that long ago. And DC? I think middle school? Long time. Adventures await…

Do Everything Faster…

It’s Friday. I don’t think I got anything done in the last two days. I mean, I’m sure I did something, but not enough. Never enough. And this weekend is a long one, but chaotic as fuck. And because I didn’t get anything…well, not enough done in the last two days, I will have to do everything faster. And maybe just not sleep. That might do it. Might be able to get it done.

Even quilting…missed one evening…for a good reason, but I had plans to get through some grading and quilting and it just didn’t happen. So no, I am not done quilting…not even close…I did get the outlining done.

Looks good. Then I started the background quilting, which is a pain in the ass.

I did all the tiny fussy areas in the center bit and then started around the edges. Imma be here for a while.

I’ve been buried in meetings, so I made it to ceramics for 10 whole minutes on Wednesday after one meeting. Yesterday there were three school-related meetings and I didn’t even get home in between those and my stitching meeting, where I started the next Sue Spargo block of the month embellishment. These animals are gonna be fun…

Plus I’ve had two early mornings, which fuck with me. And tonight will be IDK how late, but it sounds like I might need to go over two hours early. Ugh. It would be fine if I could sit in the bar and grade while the band sets up, but then what do I do with my computer after? I’m actually considering this y’all. It’s the Man’s band’s last show in the version they currently are. The drummer is leaving, one of the guitarists and the lead singer already technically left. They’re gonna have to remake themselves, but everyone is coming back for tonight, so it’s going to fill up quickly. That said, the Man usually has a bag of stuff backstage. Maybe I can just hotspot the computer and grade for a while and then shove my computer into his bag? It might work. I know, it’s a crazy thing to do on a Friday night, but otherwise, I’m just sitting there for two hours until the show starts. I can’t even go out and sit in the car or something, because they’ll just stop letting people in at some point. Aargh. OK. It’s a plan.

Yesterday’s drive to stitching…the sky was so much more stunning than a phone camera can ever capture.

And then I turned north and just kept seeing it in my rearview mirror getting redder and redder and then just fading out. The sky is fascinating. I used to teach the color part of that…but this year, this year is absolute shit for that. Maybe the last 5 years. Sigh.

Here’s Annie and Simba at the other house. Apparently not allowed on the couch?

Man, Simba looks old there. He’s 11. He’s not really old. Just a baby.

OK, apparently I did a lot of meme-hunting instead of all the things I should be doing. Disassociating. In the way of my people. Honestly though, with all the crazy shit this country is doing, it’s a miracle I can get my head around any of it. This one…except I do love me some sci fi…

And I had to explain this one to my students yesterday when our warmup question about spying came up (we’re reading Maze Runner in Advisory and the docs are spying on the kids with these weird beetle blade creatures).

Crazy world. Sick world. I mean my phone did want to tell me yesterday about the places I’d been and what categories they were.

So then there’s the Epstein Files…or more importantly, all the (mostly men) people who should be arrested.

Do it! Let’s protect some little kids for once. It’s about time…even if they’re grown up now, they still deserve protection.

Sigh. Did I tell you about my high-school acquaintance who was like “the American people don’t care about the files; move on.” WT everloving fuck. I want to talk to your wife. Now.

Exactly. And watching Bondi yesterday? I can’t. These people. And I don’t know what a quilt about this looks like and it’s possible I’ve used that imagery of telling the stupid people in the bubble to stop while we protect women and children and they look stupid, but oh, maybe I can do that again. When the art you’re making is pissing you off…I really need a short break from the part where the topic of it, the content, makes me angry. We’ll see how that goes.

Or both. At the same time.

OK. Meeting at school, in my room. Last-minute. I asked someone else to handle all the organizing and he did jackshit. Love that for me. Then I have an assignment for the kids that is pretty low-key for me. I’m hoping to bang through the homework assignments from last week and maybe work on the academic one I tried to grade Wednesday (I got halfway through). Then duty at school, race home (pick up prescription first), eat, pack quilts, go to the Man’s show, collapse into bed. Up tomorrow, gotta quilt but also have to drop off quilts and do other stuff, hopefully hike, chaos to-do list, scares me, mostly work but also digging and who knows what else. Shit, I need to set up a lab today too. Ugh. I don’t think there are any more bins for that. Huh. Will figure that out. Maybe. Unless they make me sub my prep again. Hopefully not (that was yesterday).