Well that was a busy weekend. I’m still tired from it. I may have been semi-productive around all the things I had to do. I dropped a quilt at a gallery for a show that opens Saturday. I went to another exhibition closing reception and then pulled all 6 of my quilts down and packed them into the car to drive home. I was there for the artist panel, which I enjoyed, but I did work through it.
Writing and sending our team’s weekly email. And then grading warmups and test corrections. I was supposed to be on a Zoom from 3-4 and totally forgot. It’s fine. Hopefully they recorded it.
It was a nice panel. I’m always up for listening to fellow feminist artists.
I cut stuff out Friday night…that’s the moon. Ironically, after the shitshow of a day I had on Friday, I found out the full moon was Saturday.
Everything makes sense now.
Saturday night, after the Man’s dad’s birthday dinner (and 3 hours of canvassing for the local school board and another 3 hours of grading).
And then last night, I stayed up late to finish.
Almost 11 1/2 hours. Ready to iron together? Well, no…it’ll take an hour to sort all the pieces into 100s for easier ironing. So that’s tonight. Am I behind my schedule? Well, yes, I usually am. Can I catch up? We’ll see. I’m buried in grading; hence the grading at an art event and every afternoon/night this weekend. Never stops. But I’m closer.
Friday night, Bowie needed to be close.
And then, so did Simba. Well, he always needs to be close.
It’s hot again here, although we got a tiny bit of rain last night…leftovers from one of the hurricanes off the coast. There’s like four of them rotating around out there, throwing shit our way, but mostly hot and muggy shit instead of decent rain.
The Man’s dad turned 89 this month, so there was a dinner for him.
Not actually in Venice unfortunately.
This is too true.
I’d like to thank my brain for all the overthinking I do when I’m trying to fall asleep. I have a couple of potentially stressful conversations that need to happen today with other adults at school. One I think will be OK. The other one is defensive as shit and there’s no way it will go well. So that’s fun. Imma try anyway because I’m a mature adult who knows she has to work well with other people. Crazy, huh?
Otherwise, there’s like two hours of staff meetings, plus reviewing PE/KE for the roller coaster project, plus grading ten tons of stuff and buying a bunch of other stuff and trying to fix the sprinklers AGAIN and packing quilts to be shipped and/or delivered. Pro: got into four shows. Con: all the packup, dropoff, and pickup. Then grading and cooking and book club (timed dinnermaking wrong, didn’t I?) and then sorting fabric. Probably more grading. Did I mention grading? Yeah. Probably not enough times.
I feel like it must be later in the week than Wednesday. I was ON all day yesterday, teaching writing and graphing. Mostly OK, but like pulling teeth in a couple classes. Certainly lets you know which classes are lacking in some skills. Good thing to know. Since the standard we’re learning about requires graphing knowledge. At least knowing which line is going up faster…or whether it’s going up or straight. Sometimes I think old people thoughts like, “Back in the day, we could actually get them to do math in science.” Not so much now.
In between the 17 meetings (school and art) and trying to get my yard under control, I have been cutting things out. But first, I sorted the fabrics I used by color…168 fabrics in this quilt.
Heavy on the earth tones. Here’s Monday night…
It never looks like much…that’s more than an hour’s worth of trimming.
Last night, I cut these two crazy mushrooms…
Very satisfying to finish. Kind of crazy to contemplate.
I stayed up too late to do another hour. I had two Zoom art meetings last night and I graded through both of them…I thought about cutting stuff out, but getting the assignments done was more pressing. I just finished the last test/packet grading cycle and another one started. We did the test Monday and the packet is due Friday. Ugh.
I have a piece that was at the Rancho Penasquitos library, traveling, currently at the La Jolla library, that will go to University City library next month. These are photos from Rancho P.
It’s the quilty one in the bottom right.
I think this is the 3rd library?
Some San Diego library patrons have been trying to ban books by checking out the ones they think are problematic and then not returning them. Dick move. This exhibit is about banned books, so it’s important that it travels.
Today I’m teaching conservation of energy…another concept that might be complicated. Certainly it’s another day where I am ON ON ON all day. Then pilates after school, figure out where I put all the greenery trashcans and put them out, maybe fill some more, cook dinner, and then I get to cut things out. Hopefully. Long day. Parents are finally on their way home, so I made the last mail trip for them. Nice to have that off my plate. Looking forward to the trimming part at least. And reading my book. It’s a good one. Not written by AI. I read enough of that all day long. One art meeting last night kept talking about what they were using AI for, and I’m like, nope. Not doing that. Not encouraging that. Not destroying the planet for THAT.
Ah blessed extra day off. I am actually in a union; nay, I am a union representative. So I gladly take this day and thank those who had the brains before us to make good laws about labor. Will I be laboring today? Unfortunately yes; despite putting in about 4-5 hours yesterday, I am nowhere near done. I did spend a chunk of Saturday doing art things (while doing school stuff in between, when I was waiting for things to heat up). I had some art plans for this weekend that may or may not happen, and the next three weekends, maybe more, are a shitshow. So yeah. I’m thrilled about being back at the day job. It wants to steal so much time…it will take every moment you allow. And even those you don’t. Because you can’t be in front of kids unless you do some work. So on Friday, when I realized our TA didn’t show up and do the thing we needed done for tomorrow, I stayed and did it. Because I knew Tuesday morning’s self would appreciate it. I don’t have everything copied for next week, unfortunately, but planned? I think so. I finished one rewrite of a doc I’ve hated for probably 10 years…on Saturday…while waiting for water to boil. I also submitted for a residency for next summer…I need a backup in case I don’t get in (very good chance I won’t).
Why boiling water? I washed out four more dye paintings from the residency. They had some washing in the sink in Oregon, but not at the right temperature. So they are good now. Two of them are for a show I need to enter in January. Need to figure out how to finish them. When this big one is done.
There’s a haphazard pile of them. I have two more big ones to wash out and some glue resist pieces that will need even more hot water. I’m paranoid about using our hard water, although the final washout is in the washing machine. It seems to be holding up pretty well. Definitely washout, but not horrible. I still have the dyes I mixed in July. I did a test piece and they are still OK. I have one piece, maybe two, that I want to dye paint. I don’t know where to do it though. I had this great setup in Oregon and I don’t have that here. I was hoping to do that this weekend…not sure I can pull that off.
Because I’d like to go into ceramics today too…I’m almost done with the underglazing…
Just need to do the flower petals. And some red around the hole and on the fabric. I keep forgetting about that. I have meetings all this week, so if I don’t go today, it’ll wait until Friday. It’s not the end of the world…I’d just rather get it done and start working on the head. No breakages (knock on wood) on this one. It’s been solid the whole time.
I trimmed Wonder Under Friday…
Side view…
And Saturday I finished…
Last night, I sorted them all out by 100s…
Scribble observed.
And then I came in here and started cleaning up and putting stuff away so I could actually start ironing to fabrics tonight. It was a mess in here. It still kind of is. Too much stuff. I still need to put all the fabrics away from the last quilt I made; they are piled up by color on the ironing board. Next on my list. After breakfast.
Saturday night, we went out to North Park…but here was the eastern sky from the house…
The western sky driving through town…
And the western sky from the parking garage…
The hurricane remnants that are making it hot and muggy as hell here (supposed to be 101 degrees today, 102 tomorrow) are making pretty skies at least.
We went out for a drink and listened to really bad karaoke and then had a burger and fries at Crazee Burger…always a good choice.
We came back to drama.
Oh no!
Go mantis!
Freedom!
That is one weirdass bug there. But pretty.
Katie is still holding it together. Sometimes she’ll eat where the food is and sometimes we provide personal delivery service.
She’s having a hard time getting up, doing lots of sleeping. We’d like her to hang around until my parents get back. Meanwhile, I do a lot of cajoling and lifting. She’s still enjoying dinner; breakfast is not as exciting (no green beans…seriously).
Yup. That’s September for you. If you’re a teacher, you know what I’m talking about. If not, buy a teacher a drink. Probably caffeinated.
OK. Today. Yes, it’s a day off work. I have a test to grade and some homework as well. I got all the posts done for the week on Saturday (water boil watch!). I need to put fabric away. I’d like to go to ceramics. I’m supposed to do two blogposts for art groups. I’m going to do one of them. I haven’t even dealt with the photos on the other one. They just got sent to me with no info. Sigh. Whatever. Then ironing to fabric tonight. More color, more fun. Looking forward to spending time on that, although this might be the hottest room in the house at night. And my fan is failing. It’ll be fine. It’s just sweat. Drink more water. It works. Oh yeah, finally got the blood sugar to stop crashing at night. Not really sure why it took such a drastic change in insulin (down, not up) after a year of being on that dose. Weird shit.
I swear yesterday was Friday. Today is Second Friday. I know why; I gave a test and had kids turn in their science packets and they were not prepared. And I thought it would be easier…I at least should be prepared for the chaos and I guess I was not. So I ended the day with a parent meeting for a different kid than I thought it would be for (pure confusion on my part; we had already met with the parent of the other kid, so yes, I am losing it)…got home, and sat in exhaustion. I eventually rallied. I usually do. I had a stitching Zoom meeting and all I did was seating charts, because I need those this morning and one of the classes is like an impossible chart. There is no way on Earth to separate the kids who need it and support the kids who need it with the languages they need and not have it turn into a chaotic disaster. I have 7 mosquito bites from school…to be specific, from my classroom. My workload is shite. I have stuff copied for Monday, but need to copy stuff for Tuesday. Copier jammed yesterday and IDK if anyone fixed it (I didn’t have time) and I bet there’s no goddamned paper.
Deep breath in, deep breath out. Pro: I think we finally got my blood sugar to stop crashing at night…by reducing my insulin by nearly half? Like WTF is happening there? It’s been fine and now this. I guess at least it’s reducing and not increasing.
So. Today. Plus. We start a new unit; it’s usually a pretty chill drawing day. I can get stuff organized and maybe start grading for the weekend. I need to make ice cubes for next week’s demos. I keep forgetting. I’m hoping the two-day lab isn’t for another week…I think we need materials. We should check that today. Deep breath again.
I’m still in the boring trimming stage. It’s boring to look at, but I don’t mind doing it because it’s meditative and I need that right now.
Compare Wednesday night’s progress (above) to Thursday night’s (below).
Yeah. The trash pile looks deeper? Maybe. I think I have two yards left. I might only have one. I was too tired to look last night. I’m hoping it’s one.
This old lady is staying with us right now, my parents’ dog Katie.
I love this sweet baby. But we are near the end. It’s always a matter of where the end actually is with pets though. I mean, it is with humans too…we just have fewer choices. Trying to make the best decisions for her…and that’s hard.
This is cool. IDK if it’s legit, but it’s fun anyway.
And I don’t need one of these.
If I want to read another chapter, I probably will…and I realize the negative effects of not enough sleep on my next-day’s self. Although I do still stay up too late to make art. I’m rolling on a sleep deficit most of the time.
Sigh. OK. Today will be easier. It has to be. Well. Except maybe for the dog. I’m hoping she’s OK today. And tomorrow. And all the days until my parents come back. I’m hoping to go to ceramics today (depending on the dog). I’m hoping to do some art this weekend and enter some shows and a residency and to clean the kitchen floor because it needs it and to read the books I have and get far enough ahead in grading that it doesn’t feel like it ate up my weekend but so that next week doesn’t feel as heavy. All those things.
OK. Deep breath. Wednesday. All I can think about is making art and applying to shows and residencies. My job is demanding though, so I keep waking up at 3 AM and going SHIT. I FORGOT TO DO THAT. This morning, I forgot I set my alarm early, ignored one of them, and reset the other one. SHIT. It’s fine. I got it. Just so many things happened yesterday and so many balls are in the air that something is gonna drop…and bounce. I’m not sure if bouncing is good, bad, or neutral at the moment…or just more chaos. I know that my nighttime art brain wants more time. And my day job demands more time. At some point, things give…or explode. Kinda like me. For now, though, I’m demanding an hour a night and hoping for more. The real problem is having all these more computer tasks for art, and not my personal art, but for groups I’m in, and it’s hard to give up my personal art time for that. I do have a 3-day weekend coming up though…hopefully I can do both. Plus grade. And plan. Ugh.
I finished tracing Wonder Under on Monday night…
Thanks Scribble. It’s a little more than 5 yards.
Trimming is usually about an hour a yard. There’s a lot of big pieces in this.
As of last night, I trimmed the little piece, one full yard, and about 1/2 another. So yeah, about an hour a yard.
On Insta I said I thought it would take another 5 hours, but I think it’ll be less than 4. One a night. Sometime on Saturday. Then sort, then start ironing to fabric. I don’t know if I have a background fabric that will work, so I need to start thinking about that, because that’ll have to happen Saturday if I need to buy some.
I made it to ceramics on Monday and it was quiet and almost empty and not as hot as it would have been last week. So I glazed all the ribcage.
I also started on the front with some details. I had some glazes dry out over the summer, so I rehydrated and am hoping they’re OK by Friday. Getting close to done with this part. Then I can work on the head, which is just a neck at the moment, sitting in my damp box.
This is Social Justice Sewing Academy…and I started the block in the bottom left.
Presumably someone embroidered it (can’t tell) and then it made it into a quilt. I made it at the first QuiltCon in Phoenix after COVID. It’s about trying to protect kids from all the things teachers have to worry about with them. Still doing that…the worrying.
Still worrying. Because this is sick.
Seriously, this is where every dystopian novel goes. And then real kids are caught up in it because the AI isn’t ‘good enough’ or the AI gets trapped in it. I’d be OK with the AI taking out the users of this when that happens. I just don’t get why the lawmakers don’t think this through. They won’t stop with AI…they’ll just use it as a jumping-off point.
Making the world a better place gets harder and harder every day right now.
OK, I woke up late, I have a meeting early, I’m teaching (ironically) about AI today, but mostly with the environment (bad bad bad) with brief forays into trade-offs. Then Pilates and book club, with a dog drop-off in the middle. It’s busy. I’ll be grading in there somewhere. And cutting out little pieces of Wonder Under.
Whoa. It’s been seconds since I realized it is now July. It is July, right? WTF. How did that happen? I know, the inexorable march of time forward blah blah blah. I’m leaving for my residency in 17 days. I did start making a pile of stuff on the girlchild’s bed. I fall asleep to lists of things I need to pack or ship (I need an iron for sure…do I need a ruler? Unknown.).
I have been chipping away at all the things…the back deck railing is painted. The fascia is a mess; I’m surprised the people putting the gutters up didn’t say anything (then they would have had to DO something). So I’m doing something. On a ladder. Fun times. I started painting the other half of the east-facing deck wall. At some point, I will need a ladder for that as well. I don’t like ladders. I got my car fixed and got the radio replaced. I’m very happy about that…I upgraded a bit so my phone connects. Excited about that (weird thing to be excited about unless you’re about to leave on a million-mile driving trip). OK, it’s not a million miles. Short route is only 847 miles. One way. So it’s not a short distance. Longer than we usually go for a vacation, but the Man is only going halfway. The first day of driving will suck, but it will be fine after that. I’m really excited. Trying to control the need to take everything I own with me. Hard to do. I’m a hoarder at heart. Yardwork is slowly getting done, but since it will never BE done, it’s fine. A little every day. Mostly. I figured out all my medications and how to organize that…that was a challenge.
In quilt progress, I cut stuff out on Monday night…
Yesterday, I finished cutting stuff out in a couple of hours, forgot to take a picture, and then spent 90 minutes sorting them.
I’ll start ironing it all together tonight. I might put a small dye-painted quilt together first, so I can add it to the pile coming to Oregon. I think I’m going to bring two of them with me and try to finish them there; I have so many shows coming up that I want to enter and so little work that’s available.
I went to ceramics the last two days…when I took the class, I wasn’t thinking about (a) where to store these things and (b) the fact that I needed to finish them. So it took about 2 1/2 hours to glaze the smaller one…
It’s Stroke and Coat, so it’s one and done. It’ll still need to dry for about two weeks before it can go in the kiln though.
This is 2 1/2 hours on the second one…
Probably another two hours to go. Here it was before I started glazing.
I think they’re just going to go out in the yard to scare the squirrels away. I like the idea of these. I might make more? I don’t know. I need to finish the upper torso of the other one and get it bisque fired before I leave. Yikes. It seems like I have plenty of time, but I have a lot of stuff planned in the next 2 1/2 weeks. The Man has two shows, we have a weekend away for his birthday, a friend is visiting for two days, and I have four different doctors’ appointments? Maybe 5. Plus getting the fabric prepped and entering a few more shows. Plus all the house and yardwork. It’s a lot. Plus I sat in the library parking lot today so I could return a book. I like to NOT leave the house if I can get away with it. It’s nice here; there’s a breeze, it’s sunny, but not too hot, and it’s quiet at the moment.
Anyway. So the day is almost done, but the car radio got done this morning. I think I’m going to go put gloves on and do the kind of dangerous fascia wood treatment, so I can patch it this evening. Sand it tomorrow? Maybe paint Friday? The sun has to be in the right place for all the painting stuff or it’s too hot. For me and the paint. I’ll keep letting my brain percolate about what to take to Oregon. I found the cute little iron mom bought me…so it’s going. I thought about that at about 1 AM, when the Man’s snoring took a turn for the worse. Fun times. Tonight, I’ll work on some fabric stuff, probably ironing stuff together and quilting. That’s the plan anyway. Looking forward to it. More fun than climbing up and down ladders.
I’m trying to get my writing back on schedule. My brain has been summer break fuzz. I did realize over the weekend that I’m leaving for my residency in less than three weeks, and I have 17 thousand things to do before I leave, so there’s a tiny bit of panic in there. But also, I’m still waiting to get my car back…it’s been gone since Thursday. I’m glad I took it in, because the radiator probably would have died and maybe the battery too and that would have sucked big time. So it’s all good. Still don’t have the radio thing fixed though. Sigh.
OK, let’s start with fabric…I finished ironing everything to fabric last Thursday…
I used 176 different fabrics.
I like to sort by color; it gives me an idea of what I used more or less of in that particular quilt. Although sometimes if pieces were small in one color, it won’t be as obvious in the quilt as when I use big pieces of colors…like I know there’s big gray clouds everywhere and some big fleshy patches plus a giant sun. So those fabrics will show up more in the quilt than they might in this color sort.
I actually started trimming them during an art Zoom on Wednesday, but here’s the first official photo of trimming on Thursday night…
Top left is trimmed, top right is not, bottom is trash, which I hold onto until the quilt is done in case I lose a tiny piece and need to replace it. I also keep all the sorted fabrics until the quilt is done; same reason.
Scribble likes to sit on my lap while I do this, which is not always convenient. No way can I reach my tea in this situation.
But I will rarely say no to a cat on my lap.
Friday night…flipped
Trimmed stuff is on the right.
Saturday night…trimmed still on the right…
More Scribble assistance.
Sunday night…
And more Scribble…
She doesn’t stay for super long. And she does bat at the loose bits. So at this point, I am almost 13 hours into the trimming and I probably have at least 2 hours to go, if not more. I’m hoping to be done today, but there’s a lot of chaos today that needs to happen as well, so we’ll see. I need a car!
I also took a ceramics class on Saturday from Moni Blom. I had gone to a demo class of hers before. Her stuff is just fun and whimsical…
However, I didn’t consider that whatever I made in class would need to be added to list of things I needed to get done before I left! I made two sculptures…you can see another student’s piece behind my blurry ones (obviously badly focused in the moment).
Plastic is covering my Fallopian tubes. You know. Like you do. I made two because the first one (taller) was starting to lean. My hand is holding the second one. In real life, you’d make all the parts and let them sit for a day before trying to put them together. I’m hoping they are still standing upright when I go in to glaze them today or tomorrow.
I dropped at least two of the parts doing this anyway. Fun things though. Would look great in the garden, if your garden was less chaotic than mine.
My heart made it out of the bisque fire.
Oh yeah, they said the sculptures needed to sit for 2-3 weeks before firing. That’s when I leave. Yikes. I’m a little stressed at the moment at the timing of everything. I’m trying to enter shows too, and that’s kind of a clusterfuck…can I ship before I go? Can I deliver before I go? Who knows. I dumped one because I couldn’t tell…not enough info. Frustrating.
More art-related stuff. This is the Instagram of the newish group I joined at the end of last year.
You should go follow it; this is a detail from a piece by Luana Rubin. We have a show just finishing up at the New England Quilt Museum in a few weeks, then it travels to Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England. There will be an exhibit at IQF in Houston, Texas, but I unfortunately won’t have a piece in that. I was considering going, but it’s all a timing thing. Then it will all go to Road to California in January. There are more exhibits planned, but I will be making a new piece to travel at that point.
Here’s a photo Margaret took of me in front of one of her pieces I really liked, when I was up in San Francisco.
One of my favorite shirts too.
I had two work-related events in the last few days; here’s my whole teaching team at the retirement party of one of our principals…
Almost mentally on break. Soon. I said goodbye until August to a lot of people on Sunday. I suspect I may be on Zoom with this crew at some point before that though.
Ah this.
I’m eternally frustrated by humanity…and the lack thereof. Because this…
And this…
FFS folks. We work our asses off. And it’s so hard starting break and having people tell us we’re LUCKY to need this time to recharge so we can go back to working our asses off. Unpaid too. I won’t see a paycheck until the end of August. But at least we have this…
Thanks to my solar panels and the battery. They help.
But this happened today…
And the more disturbing part of this is the far right’s argument that childbirths are down and we need more babies. From teens? Who need more supports? Which you have also decimated? What the absolute fuck. So I’m considering a quilt about this. Maybe. I have so many things I have to do in the next 7 months quiltwise. The topics are up in the air though, so if I can get my head around what this would look like. I think I can. Certainly there’s falling…lots of falling and flailing with no help.
And lastly, because it’s summer…
Although not potatoes; too many carbs. It’s summer and my blood sugar is a pain in the ass. Plus I have two MRIs next week, and though I’ve done one with my glucose monitor in, when I called, they said no for the first one…so I think I’m going without the monitor for a week. Which is a little scary with the numerous lows I’ve had. My body is in recovery from school still. And the heel pain is still there, though walkable. So I have another acupuncture appointment set up. And I have a pile of exercises to get through. Plus a pile of pieces of fabric that need trimming. I need to be ironing this thing together in the next day or so. Yesterday, I started putting the 20+ quilts away that had accumulated in the girlchild’s room over the last few months, as shows returned work and I finished a few. I got three rolls of quilts dealt with, but I can’t fit one of them under the bed any more. Not sure how I fit it before, because I didn’t add anything to it…just tried to put back the six quilts that had come back. I can’t lift the other roll up onto the bed, so I’ll deal with those tonight. But I think I need to start a new one and I’m not sure where it’s going to go. I’m still storing other people’s art for a possible airport show that hasn’t come about yet. I feel like I’ve had those hanging around for a year or so. Ah well.
OK. Today. Need a car. Need to go grocery shopping (see ‘need a car’). Need to paint the back deck railing for the third time. Need to finish cutting things out. Need to get to ceramics if possible and glaze. Definitely tomorrow if not today. I’m doing laundry. Need to put quilts away. Need to lay out stuff I want/need to take to residency so I can get a good idea of what I’m shipping and what is going in the car. Need a walk, honestly, but it’s warm. And no car, so that limits my walkiness. I do have a lunch for today though. And I have paint and stuff to cut out. So if I can’t leave the house, there is (unfortunately) plenty to do. I need someone to help me lift this quilt roll up. Should have had the Man help before he left for work. Oh well. Plenty of yardwork to do (always…never ending). You know what I don’t have to do? Lesson plan. Grade shit. Go to school. Whoop whoop for that.
The Monday post is where I evaluate how much I got done (including books and art) over the weekend and consider how much of a shitshow the week is going to be. I did OK with the weekend: got some stuff done but never enough (always the case) and yes, this week will be a shitshow. Until it’s not. Grades are due Friday, probably while I’m at the local tiny amusement park with a bunch of 8th graders. So I’ll have to be done Thursday night. Problematic. They used to be due the following Monday, which gave us more time, but no, not this year. It has not been logical all year. Frustrated by that.
Friday, I managed to cut out the last yard (yup, stayed up too late).
Thanks Scribble. Then Saturday, I sorted them…
I also put borders on the third dye painting this time around…
This is one of my favorites…I was sitting around, at a self-directed residency in Temecula, waiting for the results of yet another biopsy, and it was the 10th day of waiting. I finished this, and about an hour later, got the email that everything was fine. Sigh. That shit is terrifying.
Then last night, I put away all the fabric from the last big quilt I did and cleaned other stuff up and swept the floor (it was bad), and then I set out the first 100 Wonder Under pieces for ironing to fabric tonight.
They’re in piles of 10. Makes it easier to find them on the drawing. I also bought a couple of possible background fabrics on Saturday during my errand blitz. Can’t do a lot of errands during the school week, so I bang them out on Saturdays. I was efficient.
Friday, Simba had his annual teeth cleaning. They send me a picture midday of his drugged-out little self.
He’s recovered since then.
Nova pretends to be all serious and then you catch her doing this…
Serious, my ass.
So I think the baby owls have dispersed. I didn’t hear them last night at all. I heard an owl threat sound, which they also know how to do, but none of the baby cry for food and parental assist. So this might be the last video I have of them.
I don’t think we’ve ever had them leave this early. Last year, it was well into the end of August.
So many things this administration is dismantling, so petty about things like vaccines and immigrants and climate change…it’s so frustrating to watch them destroy things that have been working, that have a purpose, just to deny that. Like this one…
The cost to recreate this at this point would be insane. And stupid. Like if we don’t have the sensors, we can ignore the damage we’re doing, the damage that will affect our people. Meanwhile, we have this…
No Epstein files, no questioning a man who is definitely not healthy. None of this makes any sense.
S
Well. It’s the last full week of school (no, I’m not out yet!). Yes, we’re still teaching…egg drop this week. Then into promotion stuff starting Friday. That part is exhausting in its own way. But closer to the time when I get to go on my residency. The foot is better (not well yet). I’m moving around just fine; just a little soreness at times. My neck and shoulder are also fucked at the moment, so there’s that. I have 70 million doctors’ appointments scheduled before I leave. I need to do all the house/yard stuff before I leave, and make sure I can jump into teaching the day after I get back. I’m actually not really worried about that. That’s the easy part. But I still need to get through the next 8 days of school. Knock on wood that there will be no major issues. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s a plus.
Friday. FINALLY. Seriously how does a normal 5-day week get so LONG?! So much stress at the end of the year over grades…this kid’s grades, that kid’s grades, FINISHING grades (I have one week). Parent emails after midnight (I didn’t see it until today). I’m so ready for this school year to be done (I say this every year). We have 9 more days. NINE. I wrote to two parents last night with that number: can you please persuade your child to behave for NINE days and then they can whatever with YOU. Sigh. And the Man asked me again today, so are you out NEXT week? FUCK NO. Sigh.
It’s fine. I’m getting there. I spent over 3 hours making art last night and I don’t feel bad about it. Friday morning self wishes I had graded more (I did grade some!), but that’s OK. So I went to ceramics, because I won’t make it there today…
I carved the arm…
I don’t think you know how hard it is to carve lines around a 3D shape. I’m laughing. It’s hard.
Then I came home and did my monthly stitching Zoom and put borders on two dye paintings from last summer.
I have two more to border and then I’ll make quilt sandwiches and quilt then and decide what else they need. Actually, I like the idea of 3D loose leaves on this one.
I still have one other quilted dye painting that needs embroidery. Piling them up.
Then I cut stuff out until way too late…in the way of my people (art folk). Wednesday night…
And last night…
It’s taking longer than I thought it would. I have one yard left…for tonight. Sort tomorrow, clean up studio (finish grades), then start ironing to fabric. Although I’m not sure I have a background. Hmmm. So a trip to the fabric store if my stash doesn’t have a piece big enough that’s the right color.
Otherwise, the last test in science is today (which means grading it in class, which is my goal, and this weekend). So they should be quiet (ha!). And I should be able to get shit done in there (ha ha!). Then duty after school, plus a meeting about the new science teacher decision, then pick up the dog from his teeth cleaning, then finish my book (I’m so close) and grade and make more art. Figure out how to exercise without exacerbating the foot. I went to the podiatrist yesterday and it was positive and vague, as always. Don’t know why it happened. Don’t know if it will happen again. Here’s all the things you can do, which you remember from 17 years ago. GO! Yeah. Well. Bodies age and it’s annoying. At least my brain is still making all the things.
OK we only have two full weeks (and a short one) left. It doesn’t make this week easier, mostly, because we’re still here, trying to teach, while students dream of summer vacay (trust me, y’all…we also are dreaming of this…we’re just capable of dreaming AND working). I woke up this morning, and my foot is behaving (knock on wood). Not even any pain (in that one, ironically, let’s not talk about the other foot). Weird shit, bodies. I managed to pick up three pieces from the photographer yesterday and get them entered (the deadline was today). And I did art this weekend. All good.
I traced Friday night…
I was close to the end…about 150 pieces away.
Foot was still hurting Saturday. We had to go grocery shopping and I took the crutches because they force me not to limp and destroy all my other muscles, which is part of what happened last week. Everything hurt.
Saturday night, I finished tracing…5 full yards and a little bit of one.
Scribble guarding them. And I started cutting them out.
Usually I can do about a yard a night, but I started late, had to be up early Sunday for an art meeting, and had that funny little bit to do as well, so I’m already off my easy tracking plan.
Last night I finished that yard and got about a 1/3 of the way through another.
Friday night, I should be sorting them, ironing Saturday…I hope. Lots of busy weekends this month though…but also, school will end. I have to get this to a good place before I leave for Oregon. For some definition of ‘good place’. I also started the borders of the next set of dye paintings I’m going to finish, but I didn’t take any photos. Yes, I bought more fabric for those, because I don’t have enough of anything in my stash to work.
The local fabric store usually has an awesome stash for this stuff, but they have downsized and their stash was not as awesome as before. It does not bode well for me and my batik habit. Maybe it bodes well for my finances.
Local wildlife…the two (blurry) young coyotes who ran through my yard, over my fence, into my neighbor’s yard, over their fence.
The hawks were out in force. This one has something in its talons.
Two of the owl babies are racing around, flying everywhere. One is still staying back, I think. This is so early for release.
Our own wildlife…Scribble loves this bed.
Simba was at the ex’s house with the boychild…and Annie.
Peaceful moment for them.
This is my brain on the regular, especially last week.
I actually didn’t lose my mind over the foot/brain stuff for too long. I prefer to make art and read books.
Especially when I see this.
So frustrating. As is this.
Any other president and we wouldn’t be speculating like this.
Anyway. Teaching space this week still, focusing on mass and gravity. So a simulation today, a demo tomorrow with help from kids. Leaving the crutches home. Frustrated about my district/principal. Not sure who came up with the busywork we’ve been assigned for 2 hours after work, but it’s already been done, just not in this format. Differentiation for professional development is not a thing in my district. So quietly simmering and trying not to. Trying to think about getting stuff set up for tomorrow and finishing grading and getting myself back to my art instead of considering my WHY. If you’re a teacher, you’ll get that reference. But if my district/principal are not telling me why I need to do this thing, then WHY do I need to do it in this format? It already exists. If it’s for me and my department, that should be enough. Right? Anyway. We know how these arguments go. Rarely on the side of the worker bee.
