Freedoms…

‘Tis Veterans Day. Thanks to those who protected our freedoms. Hopefully you’ll keep doing that, even against homegrown incursions. It’s ironic. But not funny. It’s a day off for teachers, also appreciated. I needed an extra day to decompress…aka read another book, do some gardening, get to the ceramics studio. Hopefully get healthy. I think the cough is wandering (very slowly) off and the sinus crap might not be far behind. Although still not well well, better.

Friday night, all I had in me was reading. So I did that. With Nova…

And then Simba…

I was cold, I felt like crap, I was tired. It worked. The Man was still on soft food, so I ate leftovers. And then I sewed a handheld tornado together.

Like you do. I spent a lot of time looking at memes and cat videos. Also like you do when you are trying to get over all the things. Friday…was a lot of things…I had to sub my prep (Math! Anathema) and then stay after school with my co-teacher because we hadn’t figured next week out, and I needed to get my head around it.

I copied stuff for Tuesday and then was too tired to go to ceramics…in the dark.

So I did that Saturday afternoon instead. In the morning, I lounged, I entered two art shows, I did some accounting-type shit.

It’s good I didn’t go earlier, because they had a class in the morning and it would have been crowded. I’m loving this new clay, B-mix…it holds up much better than half and half. I built up…

And it held! This was fun.

We’ll see how much it held up when I go in today, yeah? It seemed pretty stable. I only have an inch or two before it’s taller than my shelf space though. Again. There is going to be a top half. But now I need to decide how I’m handling the rest of it. She needs legs. And for me to decide if the inside is going to be fabric. I think it is.

Saturday also included a dinner drawing (the Man ate solid food!)…

Plus I sewed some clouds…

My machine kept pausing to tell me there was too much fabric under the needle and I just kept telling it to forget about it, keep sewing, it’ll all be OK.

I also built a tiny house out of balsa wood. I need at least two more of these.

They are a rancid pain. I sewed cars on a cloud too…trying to decide if they need painting. I think they do. But they are already sewn on. Ah well.

That Fuentes idiot and everyone who follows him…

I’m loving hearing about the 4B movement in South Korea by the way. Reminds me of the play Lysistrata and the movie Chiraq, both inspiration for the We Got the Power exhibit I’m in that’s currently showing in Florida. The timing of all this.

I’m honestly confused by the majority of married white women. Is it really easier to give up your power? I don’t get it.

I get that too.

Sunday…went by too fast. All of a sudden, it was late in the afternoon. In an attempt to save (remove from house) a large gecko, I had moved a bunch of stuff off a bookcase…two days later, I actually found the gecko and rehomed him outside. But I had to clean off all these books and tins and find homes for them, and I found this.

There was no disk inside. I kept the tin because, remember when you could cover them and then put a magnetic thing inside and it would be a needleholder? Yeah that. That was what I’d saved it for. It’s OK…I’m sure my mom has 10 of them. I tossed it. I also got rid of some books. And threw out a file folder filled with recipes I’d cut from magazines that I will never ever look at again. It was good.

I’m actually fairly reality-bound, unfortunately.

The other good thing was that the Wonder Under I’d ordered a week ago showed up. It’s still not the same as the old stuff, but it’s not as heavy as the stuff I had in my stash. I was still worried about the heaviness of the paper and the plasticky feel of the fusible, so I decided to test it out on something small before I committed to using it on the quilt I’d already started tracing with the old stuff. I was so freaked out about the change…they’ve changed the formulation before, but not so drastically.

Good news…it actually seems easier to use. The fusible is less bumpy, so it’s easier to trace over. The heavier paper probably helps with that too.

And it peeled right off…usually I have to wait at least 24 hours to peel, but this was immediate and worked well.

Done. Only issue is that the bolts are half the size they used to be and I can’t find them locally, so I have to ship. I also have two full bolts of the thicker stuff…don’t know what I’ll do with those. I bought them quite a while ago. Not sure why they’re so different, but they have a slightly different code on them.

But it means I can start tracing again. Ahhhh. Such a relief. Video of Annie greeting me when I went to pick up Simba…

This dog is a freak. A loving freak, but a freak nonetheless.

OK. Today. More yardwork (watering mostly…it’s been very dry, warm too)…maybe some digging and removing plant matter if I have the energy. Totally going back to ceramics today. Also grading more stuff. I’m almost done with the Unit 2 packets and I need to input some grades at some point. I’m trying to get caught up so Thanksgiving Break is not all grades. I did some lesson planning last night and got stuff made for every day but Friday. Friday is started at least. I need to copy stuff tomorrow. I need to build a couple more balsawood houses and paint them and the cars. I need to figure out what I’m doing with the wings and test drill some ceramics so I can get some stuff attached. I need to read my book. I need to write a blogpost for one of my art groups. I sat down to do this one and it’s taken forever. Not sure why. And then I’m going to trace Wonder Under. Happily. Short week of school, brother will be in town, hopefully continuing to get over this sinus infection and bronchitis. Trying to come to terms with half the country. I’m not sure why voting for someone who only has rich people in his sights ever makes sense if you want things to be cheaper. But it’s what we have. No shortage of artmaking ideas for the next four years…I guess that’s the plus. Retirement plans? Aaugh. Try not to think too hard about that. I’d like to hike, but I’m not sure I have it in me. We’ll see.

Hurdles and Crunches

Hey Friday. I’m glad you’re here. This week has been cool in terms of kids learning and doing stuff (except for the 5 who aren’t). It’s been a physical hurdle due to the crap in my lungs and sinuses. It’s been a time crunch that is continuing…I was woken up at 4:45 AM by either a cat or the dulcet snoring tones of my partner, and then my brain wouldn’t let go of the fact that only one day next week is planned and 48 things need to happen before Tuesday and I don’t know when they will be happening. Minor issue. Plus many people want things from me and I just want to finish my book (I did that last night…it was well worth it).

Also an earthquake/fire drill on a lab day, when they moved where we stand (I’ve stood with my class in the same place for 16 years…I understand half the move, but the other half was idiotic…and yes, I told them so. I am so unapologetic in my ancient years…oh hell, I haven’t even come close to ancient yet. Hold on to your hats.). It’s OK. It’s done. Today will be OK. I hope. Still need to get most of that period done with building because they couldn’t do it yesterday because we spent half the period doing other stuff.

What are we building? Roller coasters…a quicker, faster, easier version than what I’ve been doing for the last two years…which is awesome.

Insulation tubing. Way easier than the paper stuff.

So much better. I may hate grading the paper part of it, but I’m OK with trying it. So that was cool.

I’m still waiting on Wonder Under. I’ve been working on parts for the ceramic sculpture…

I made tubing for the tornado rope. It’s long and is taking For. Ev. Er. to pull through.

Here’s day 2, when I found the big tweezery things…

Still not done, but closer. And I need more fiberfill or stuffing or whatever. Maybe I’ll remember that after school today. We’ll see. I also want to do clay but can do that tomorrow as well.

First not-very-fair response to the election…

Not fair because where I live is actually in California and red. So there’s that. Certainly a lot of people are going to better understand tariffs in the next 4 years. I guess it will play out and we will yell a lot and hopefully the world will not end. Will it affect my retirement? Almost certainly. Unfortunately. Ah well. This might be more relevant.

And then there’s this…

I wish that were totally true, but I guess art and books are my forest.

OK. Survive today. Take all the meds. Hopefully get some planning in and some clay in. Still fending for myself on food because the Man had a tooth pulled and is still on a liquid diet. And cranky about it. I guess it would be rude of me to go get a burger tonight. Hmmm. I’m personally tired of leftovers. Looking forward to getting my Wonder Under tomorrow. Looking forward to a 3-day weekend. Another one. Yup. It’s all good. More sleep would be lovely, if that’s an option. It may not be. Snorers and cats and dogs…

The Monsters…

America. I had hope, you had hate. It’s not all of you. My social media shows me that. But too many of you do. Hate for my students, hate for my friends, hate for me. I dodge a lot of it by being a white woman, but an artist? A teacher in a Title I school full of immigrants and refugees and kids of color? Sigh. I’m…there’s got to be a better word than disappointed. I’m wearing all black today…ninja teacher, ninja artist, ninja liberal. My plan to retire in 2029 may be thrown by this. When the orange monster was in before, my med costs went up, my taxes went up, my expenses went up. They all relaxed during Biden. I’m not rich enough to get the benefits of a GOP ruler. Ah well. We fight the monsters, y’all. And the monsters are half of us.

My art is sort of stalled…or waylaid? Or on a different track. I started a new clay piece…loosely based on my The Way Out quilt. Same shape to start anyway…

Gotta figure out how to piece it together so it fits on my shelf again.

I also brought stuff home that looked cool that I forgot to photograph. Oops. And one thing is drying, getting ready to bisque. And I had a tiny bit of the old clay left and I made a pot shape. I always need more pots for plants. Anyway, it will start to look more like something eventually.

Then I started with the ceramic winged woman (who still doesn’t have wings). She’s all about climate change, which is going to get worse because of who y’all voted in, in case you were unclear about that. I made some shapes on paper and picked some fabrics and decided to try to build a tornado…like you do.

I bought that rope during the beginning of COVID to do something with. Last night, I cut the pieces out and cut an appropriate piece of rope…

I have tiny people, and there are tiny cars coming, plus balsa wood, because apparently I’m going to build a house? Or am I? Hard to say. Wonder Under isn’t arriving until Friday. Need to entertain my art brain.

I’m also grading things…

It’s slow. Nova thought this one smelled nice. It’s a nice kid. I’m slowly getting through these packets. I spent two hours at Urgent Care again yesterday for the cough that was getting worse. Acute bronchitis and a sinus infection. Fun times. More meds. Hopefully will kick it though, because I’m tired of coughing violently for no apparent reason. It’s kind of exhausting. Much like my country.

Those cloud things are going in those smokestacks on the top of her head. Then I’ll work on the wings. Slow and weird process for me, but I like it. It’s different. Different allows our brains to grow and develop. Some of you should try it.

OK. Teaching roller coaster parts and design still today. Fun to watch the kids work together (or not). One pro is the super-psycho didn’t win school board. The semi-psycho incumbent did. He at least understands laws and tries to follow them. Although there’s another psycho coming in. Sigh. I guess watch this space. My art will continue in the political realm…how can it not? My job will continue as long as I’m allowed…or until I can’t stand it and can actually afford to retire…all up in the air now. Things will still need fixing around here (two hosebibs today, finally), trimming, watering, painting, digging, etc. Cats will need petting and feeding, dogs will need the knots combed out of their fur and their bellies rubbed. Kids will need to learn how to be humans and productive members of society, even if they don’t figure it out in 8th grade. Some kids are awesome and will continue to be so, and I will rejoice in their existence and that of my friends who support all kinds. The monsters can fuck off.

Not Connecting

My internet is out at home. I’m at school, tired (like take a nap tired), getting ready for a mandatory meeting that could be an email, trying to get my head around the to-do list…which requires my orange notebook…which has disappeared. Fate! My head has been off for over a week…getting over a virus and an infection plus the side effects of the meds…I feel mostly alive.

I started tracing…

But it’s not a fast process, and someone needs to stay out of it…

Going well…

In fact, I was super relaxed last night while tracing, feeling the meditative powers, then realized the reason I’d gone to Home Depot after school was to buy slats so I could ship a quilt today. I’d put a label on it Monday night but didn’t do the rest. So I started that at 10 PM. Might be part of why I’m tired.

So I’m hoping for more meditative tracing tonight. Also need to start to get ready for camping this weekend. I’m alternating between excited and exhausted again for that. Some part of me wants to nap in a pillow fort for days.

Hoping the Meds Kick In

Graded all day Saturday. Drove all day Sunday. Did some art. Still recovering from virus and infection. Body not thrilled with any of it.

I finished the drawing Friday night…

And started numbering…

Did not finish.

Kept going on Saturday night.

Managed to finish. Notionally 1606 pieces.

Odds are I missed some.

Started tracing last night…

Didn’t get far. Big ground pieces are a pain to trace. This will be the view for a while.

This was the grading view at some point…

Followed by some of this…

The Man had a show on Saturday night…Barbie-themed.

Nice outfit.

This is Bowie trying to get comfortable.

He’s not very good at it.

This is where I’m at right now.

Can’t go back to bed though. Hoping all the meds kick in and I survive the day.

Tiny Pieces…

My voice is still shot. I think it’s allergies…super dry here and I keep doing that dry tickle cough. Which sucks because I have to talk a lot at school today. Also I talked a lot this weekend. Some weekends I don’t talk hardly at all…this was not one of them.

Quilt Visions opened this weekend. I don’t have much time to write right now, but in general, it was fun, it was good, it was inspiring. Makes you wanna come home and make more art, yeah? I might need to put some of the pictures in the next post, just because I always try to link the artist’s website if I post their work, and I don’t have much time for that today.

Anyway, here’s me with mine at the opening…

And the artist talk on Saturday…thanks to whomever I stole this from.

And here’s all the artists…

Like I said, I’ll post some art with links probably Wednesday. But you can see the whole show here. Not that it makes up for seeing it in person, but I get it. Who would want to visit San Diego? Crazy. That guy in the pink shirt in the background of the photo? He’s the musician.

OK, got 4 minutes left. I drew a lot this weekend too…

Finished an arm, added to the head area, did the speech cloud.

Then added the visual disturbances and some barbed wire. Like you do. Someone said ‘omg the tiny pieces!’. Well fuck yeah! That’s why I’m here.

Anyway, I still need to deal with the tree (started drawing it yesterday) and the ground and the sky. But less of the tiny pieces and more of the bigger sweeping pieces. I think. What do I know? Monday night artist might feel differently. I do want this thing to span the next three months, so I think I’ve got that down.

Yes to that.

The brain scan (my actual brain) I used for the top part of the head.

And reading with Bowie.

He’s not very good at it.

More Visions stuff Wednesday. Right now I need to find my lunch, take meds (headache), and get to school to teach…something. I’m sure it’ll be obvious when I get there. Friday self is good at prepping for Monday morning self. She knows. Then ceramics after school and more drawing. Good times.

Positive Emotions

Yes Friday. Yes. My voice is giving out (oh wait, I have to talk at two artist events this weekend), I’m tired (this is nothing new…by Friday, I sleep through the Man coming to bed late and the multiple urges to pee and just SLEEP through the night. But because of exhaustion.). The boychild comes back today from 6 weeks of training. Simba will be so excited. I’ll probably miss seeing that, because I’ll be gone most of the day, but it makes me smile to think about it. Also because the barky dog will be off my bed for three whole nights before he leaves again. Not for 6 weeks this time…just like 10 days. My voice might get a rest today; we’ll see. Yesterday was a lot of notes and finishing a lab and a couple of kids who like to blame adults for their actions. Fun times. Some things about middle school never change. There’s always kids who drop papers on the floor and just leave them there, and those who yell out in class while you’re in the middle of instructions, and those who fall asleep multiple times a day in class. And I often wonder how they turn out in the end. The two boys I had to deal with are on the immature side of middle school, which still happens in 8th grade, unfortunately. Next year, I go back to 7th grade and it will be all over the place again. Might be a relief to be back in 7th. We’ll see. It’ll be different anyway. All the stuff I’ve spent time learning and preparing will have to go into mental storage for two years while I just teach 7th grade. Weird.

The drawing is going well. It feels good to draw. Something big. It’s been a while. OK, a few months. And someone just proposed a new show for one of my groups where I’d have to have a piece made by January…a relatively small one, but still, WTF, y’all need to plan ahead. Sigh.

ANYWAY, back to the positive emotions from drawing…

Wednesday night, I did the vine and the hands…and maybe the snake? Can’t remember. Last night, I drew for 2 hours because I had a Zoom call with friends…so I worked on the torso a bit…

I’d like to say that Bowie was helpful, but you know he wasn’t really. He wasn’t as bad as Luna used to be…she’d try to dive under the paper while I was drawing. Kitten would just lie on top of the whole thing and whack you if you tried to move her.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but I drew the brain scan (one of two) they did to try to find the source of my visual disturbance, which has been there since March. Annoying. I guess I’m more used to it than I was, but it still freaks me out when I’m trying to sleep. So it’ll be in this drawing too. Along with LGTBQIA rights, banned books, medical and reproductive rights, missiles piling down upon us, and who knows what else. Angel cat. Everyone should have an angel cat.

Tonight is the member opening at Visions. It’ll be crowded and overwhelming, which will be awesome after a long day at school…actually seeing the show and the artists is usually pretty cool. Tomorrow are the artist talks at 1 PM…those are my favorite. I get to hear what other people have to say about their work. Last year, I showed up late and didn’t realize I would have to talk about my work. Luckily I’m a teacher and that’s all we do…talk without a plan half the time. Luckily the stuff lives in my head for free. My piece, Nowhere Else to Go, is about climate change and climate migration…

This picture is missing all the little people running for their lives in the lower section.

A tornado in this one.

Not a hurricane. Plus fires. I live in California…wildfire country. Although lot of other places are becoming wildfire country that weren’t previously.

Lots of people displaced by our need for oil and drilling and coal and big SUVs.

We need to work on being proactive and not just reactive. Two hurricanes in the last month, so much destruction. I don’t have solutions…I just know what we’re doing, denying climate change, not trusting scientists, not thinking critically about how we live in the world and what it does the futures for our kids and their kids…that shit isn’t working.

Welcome to my TedTalk. Also donate money somewhere. I chose CERF+ to help the artists who have needs because of the hurricane damage.

OK. School. Assessment today. On friction. Hopefully they are focused and on task. Ha! It’s Friday. When is the full moon? It was last night (laughs hysterically). Figures. That explains a lot from this week. After school, coming home…no ceramics this weekend, I think. Ah well. The greater good of art, right? Although two things were supposed to come out of the kiln. I always assumed they blew up if I don’t see video on Instagram right away. Lots of Visions activities this weekend. Probably a little school stuff, although I’m sort of caught up…but Trimester 1 grades are due soon, so there’s that. My dad’s birthday is Sunday…he’ll be 84…so there’s that happening too. Busy. But with good stuff. Hopefully I’ll get to read my book a little bit? The things that sustain me…and draw! Eventually. That too.

Drawing at the End…

Hey. Wednesday. You never feel like far enough into the week to be a relief. Sorry. I know it’s not your fault. It’s the 5-day workweek thing. Lots of people think of you as hump day, and maybe that’s it…once I get over the hump that is you, it will feel like a slide (it’s never really a slide if you’re a teacher…unless it’s a slide like those cheese wheel races down huge hills where you’re just rolling head over heels trying to beat the wheel down the hill) into the weekend. This weekend is the Vision opening…so member opening Friday night, artist talks Saturday at 1 PM, then artist dinner at night. Lots of art things. Hopefully cool. We’ll see.

Not a lot of art happening…at least it looks that way. Monday night, I had to label and pack two quilts for a show up in Glendora that’s coming up. I won’t make it to that opening (it’s midday on a Wednesday? or something like that). I still need to pack up the Quilt National quilt…I was going to do that last night, but didn’t feel like it for the second day in a row. Ah well. I did do ceramics on Monday…picked up two fired pieces…

They look pretty good, yeah? Well there’s this…

It ran like crazy, stuck to the biscuit. It’s OK. I’m going to glue it back together and then put it outside. Maybe bury it in the ground even, just a bit. The boot turned out fine! All ceramics is a guess sometimes. I even wiped this up a good bit…but not enough. You learn some; you lose some.

Still doing this…

A peaceful couple of hours working on this…the orange ran like crazy, so I had to fix some stuff…not sure how to make the underglazes less runny once they are.

I’ll be here for another couple of hours before she’s done. And I bought more clay finally…gonna try a new one. I have ideas. I always have ideas.

Last night, I was supposed to go to the gym, but I ended up running late finishing stuff at school, then doing more work at home to try to catch up and maybe get ahead, and then I bathed the old lady cat. She’d gone to the vet because we thought she might have a UTI (accidentes), but it doesn’t look like she does. She hasn’t been cleaning herself well for a while, and I worry about stressing out old ladies with baths, but she needed it. She’s so much cleaner now. I even combed her a bit, which she likes…until she doesn’t. She’s still cranky as shit…and probably was the source of random poops all down the hallway last night (sigh)…but she’s still kicking. When I had finished making dinner (and next week’s lunches coincidentally), I just wanted to draw. I love drawing. I miss drawing more. I just can’t fit it in. Either I draw or I read and even that is a fight…always work is calling. And the house. So much stuff. Ugh.

So I drew.

There’s a rough pencil drawing of the body, just because it’s hard to get everything on there and semi-proportioned right…for some definition of right. Then I stare at it and decide what I want to add. I know what this piece is focused on (everything?), so I think about how that can be portrayed…you can’t see all the hands on her thigh from here. It’s still in pencil. Anyway, hopefully I’ll be communing with this most nights for the next week or so, trying to wiggle an image out of a tired brain. It’s where I love to be. And though there are other things that need to be worked on, for now, this is it.

Is 9 the average women’s shoe size? I do always feel like I am huge-footed. Maybe not? Seems wrong.

OK. School. I’m doing a lab that I’ve only done once and it was two years ago. I don’t remember HOW to do it. I’m sure it will be fine. Pretty sure I made a video. I have pilates after school. I’m tired already. I don’t have to cook tonight. I do probably have to grade things…or prep things. Last night, I recorded things, so there’s dogs barking, cats meowing, men coughing, and timers going off. Like normal. Then more drawing hopefully. Plus reading. I’ve been reading at lunch instead of hanging out with my team. They are stressing me out, I guess. Probably I need to check in up there. Plus I had to set up a lab yesterday during lunch. So that took time. Whatever. Drawing at the end.

Under Control…

OK. So my butt is wet. The cat did something on my chair. This is not a nice way to start Monday. Actually, I started with randomly low blood sugar. Always fun. The cat is old. I’m hoping it’s not…fuck…I’m pretty sure it’s pee. Sigh. She’s looking pretty irritated right now. Maybe because I’m accusing her of peeing herself. I guess I need to call the vet. Sigh. She’s old, it’s true, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for her to be gone. She has been getting worse…unfortunately.

So artwise, I finished all the bugs. Except I need to repaint one for like the fourth time. I delivered 4 to Visions Museum on Saturday. The rest will hold for a bit (maybe?) and go on Etsy (maybe?). I took official photos of them; I’ll put them on the website later too. Here’s the last one though…

With the one that needs repainting in the background.

I finally started drawing the next big one…it’s been in my head for well over a month.

Not that you can see much, and the boobs might need redrawing based on this. I just get the general shapes with the pencil on something this big. I don’t usually use pencil on the smaller drawings. Here’s a pre-drawing for it…done in two restaurants before dinner came…

Not quite all there. But a vague idea of it. I drew this too, with no purpose…

On Friday, I did some underglazing…

This stuff takes forever…

But it’s relaxing…

Apparently two of my pieces came out of the glaze fire, but I couldn’t find them on Friday. Ugh. Maybe today.

I also finished the center panel of Homegrown…

So now I can piece all the houses around it and spend another year making the borders. It’s also relaxing, but in a different way.

My piece Stop the Murder Madness made it to Miami for the opening…

A fellow artist took a picture of it for me…

Her name is Eden Quispe and you should go look at her work because it’s amazing. And I appreciate her recommending this show to me in the first place and sending me photos as well.

I managed NOT to work most of the weekend (on school stuff), which I think is pretty healthy. We walked the dog on Saturday.

I also blew leaves off half the roof, terrified of being up there, trimmed a bunch of stuff, dumped plant matter in greenery trashcans, finally rehung the art in the hallway…

Drove to a sketch location and bought a recliner for my kid, who may or may not actually want it because he was in Pinnacles with no cell service. Long weekend. I finished a book! That was good. Wait, I actually finished two. So even better.

For some reason, all the animals were giving me judgy looks this weekend. Here’s Nova.

Bowie…

You already saw Kitten up at the top…and Simba…

Luna avoided me mostly, so I guess I didn’t wrong her too badly.

I’ll finish up with two new skull finds…

The one on the right is a new type…I don’t think I’ve seen it before? I’ll wait for nature to clean it up a bit. We get a lot of rats and mice…this is not the right shape for that. Wait and see.

OK, today is teaching speed and velocity…pretty easy stuff. Then a 2-hour staff meeting about literacy. I’ve been prewarned that the scientific content is factually incorrect (oh good), so I’m prepared to be irritated. Then to clay, to hopefully underglaze some more and find my two glazed pieces. Then back here to pack up three quilts for shipping. Fun times. And more drawing, hopefully…get those boobs under control. On the drawing. Those are the only ones I can control.

Check for Zombies

Well hey. I wish I had slept more last night, but the little dog made me get up once to check for zombies and there were definitely other barky moments when I was like, “it wasn’t zombies LAST time, so no, I’m not getting out of bed”. He’s definitely in need of something these days. A long walk…a cuddle with his boy (who still has 10 days of training to go). He is a grumpy old man (the dog, to clarify…although there are other grumpy old men in my vicinity, for sure). What it means is that my brain is a little fuzzy (when is it not?) and my eyes a little crusty, and maybe I’m drinking this whole cup of tea quickly so I can get another one down? Ugh. When my doctor tells me to improve my sleep, for health reasons, I want to explain to her that I’ve always been a bad sleeper and that has not improved with age and there are many factors affecting my sleep, most of which (zombies) are out of my control. Oh well. Doing my best. Mostly. Nah, I could do better. If I had more sleep. Maybe.

So I’m still slogging along on bugs. I stitched the edges of the last two on Monday night…

And last night, I painted all five canvases…

Last time, some of them needed a second coat, but hopefully there’ll be a couple ready to stitch down tonight. I also need to make labels for the back.

I did some carving on Monday as well…

Just for fun planter…

In video…

I’m just gonna work on this here for a while. I need to buy more clay for the next batch of projects. Not there yet.

After dinner, I’ve been working on the centerpiece for Homegrown.

I think I just have that last flower on top to do and then I can piece the whole quilt together and start the borders. I’m ahead of schedule! I thought I wouldn’t finish the center until next year. I figured 5 flowers, 5 months? But I’ve been faster than that for once. Mostly because I’m trying to get work done before I leave school and then leave it there. Much as I can. I did last night, anyway.

This is the face of a cat spying a gecko on the window.

I was reading a book the other day and they used the term ‘sanguivore’ for vampires, and turns out, it’s a real word (I love learning new words) for things like vampire bats and mosquitos (bloodsuckers), so my co-teacher and I thought it would be cool to add this word learning to our 7th-grade curriculum when we do trophic levels (carnivores, herbivores, etc), adding this one to the mix and then having kids make some up…I came up with ‘cerebrevore’ for zombies…

Makes sense? Right? We are supposed to be teaching literacy.

This is relevant as I get closer to the Quilt Visions opening, where I will have to explain my work in front of people…

Sometimes it’s a challenge. This quilt is actually easy to explain and way too relevant these days.

This is another word I like.

Unfortunately, I think if I do that today, kids aren’t going to try to learn…they’re just going to copy each other and then Friday’s test will be painful. So I will have to interact with them. And I have a union meeting after school, so that’s more people and talking. When I just want to read my book in silence. Not happening. Tonight, I’ll be sewing little bug quilts on canvases and/or repainting some of them. All good. I will read my book at some point though. It’s required.