Sculpture and Beer

Sitting in an airport again. Listening to boarding assignments and the high-pitched squeals of an obviously tortured child. Got food and caffeine in me (never enough of the latter). We had a good trip…wish it would have cooled down more so we could’ve hiked at least one more day, but so be it. We never made it to either of the National Parks, so we’ll have to come back anyway. We were constrained by how long the dogs’ bladders would last…speaking of the two dogs, Gracie and Betty are bed hogs.

These two drawings are still only preliminaries for some idea developing in my head. This smaller one was done in two different breweries we walked to…

The bigger one was done in the evenings…

The basement was cold; hence the Christmas socks.

A view from the second walk…warm but mostly shady.

We also did some wandering in the Fremont area…

Can’t miss the troll…and Lenin…

His left hand appears to be dripping blood.

We also went to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which did engage the Man, but I enjoyed it.

I remember Richard Serra’s Wake from the last time I was here.

And Alexander Calder’s Eagle, which I think looks like a dog.

Love & Loss by Roy McMakin…or at least the ‘&’ part.

The Man looking reflective.

Probably wondering when we can stop looking at sculpture.

Part of Mark di Suvero’s Schubert Sonata…

Part of Seattle Cloud Cover by Teresita Fernandez.

And Echo by Jaume Plensa. It’s ok, I rewarded the Man with a brewery visit.

So we’re glad to be going home…I’ve been gone 11 days, so I will have a very needy cat and probably some dead plants, based on the boychild’s texts of doom. Hopefully the bee swarm is gone. Next week looks busy, but I’m definitely finishing that quilt that’s been waiting for me. That gets priority. That and the dryer. Thanks Seattle for the break. May the next trip be sooner than 8 years from now (that’s how long it’s been since I was here last). May it also be cooler.

Tourist Day

It’s been a long time since I’ve been gone this many days. It feels weird. Am I more productive? Making more drawings? Stitching more? Nah. I’m reading a lot, zoning out some. The drawings are unfocused. I’m tired, but that might be because its light at 4:30 in the morning. I’d sleep better if the room were dark, I think. Reality check: I never really sleep well.

But it is nice to hang out with the dogs. It was nice to see the niece. She has continually improved with age.

Yesterday was the 4th, Independence Day, problematic across the board, both as a nation (god DAMN we’ve fucked up a lot of things in the last year) and personally (we flailed on fireworks watching, and ended up standing on the trampoline, the deck, and in my brother’s upstairs bedroom to see bits and pieces. It’s OK.). We cooked some food, played a game, I drew some…working through something I started a few days ago but much bigger now.

Obviously not done. I did some embroidery yesterday too, not a lot. Sitting outside…it’s hot and humid, but OK in the shade.

Today was our tourist day…we went to MoPOP, which was cool. Jimi Hendrix drawing…

Also by his girlfriend, Kathy Etchingham…in 1967…the year I was born. The year Kurt Cobain was born (Nirvana exhibit).

Good holiday photo there.

Creepy scene in The Walking Dead with all these zombie heads in tanks.

Lots of cool exhibits in MoPOP. From there, we went to the Chihuly Museum.

Glass is fascinating. The reflections in the glass, the reflections of the glass, light bouncing off the glass. Amazing.

I have a friend who works in glass and sometimes does one-on-one classes. I’ve thought about it, but the heat and sharp glass stuff freaks me out. Maybe someday.

Dorky selfies all over Washington.

We’re back at the house, the dogs are peed, and we’re relaxing. We have dinner plans tonight with a friend of mine from San Diego who moved to Portland and whose son lives here in Seattle. Talk about reaching out! Tomorrow, we may walk the dogs on a longer walk (although it’s still gonna be hot), who knows? And then Friday, we come home. I need to do a copyediting bid. I turned one down that was a little out of my wheelhouse…but this one would work. I’m always thinking about money; it never feels like there’s enough. And summer has no paycheck, so that’s part of it. I’ll get paid for my week of professional development, but probably won’t see that until August or September. The mortgage still needs to be paid in August. With magic money.

But for now, I can just write a bid, stop thinking about the bee swarm in the composter at home, don’t worry about getting that quilt done or what the next quilt will be, don’t think about how the dryer needs fixing or the computer that isn’t behaving and probably needs to be replaced (desktop or laptop?). Too much. Stare at the greenery and read some more… Take dogs for a walk. Draw.

Lots of Green

Yo. Still in Seattle. I have not moved here. Winter weather scares me. But the trees and green and flowers are nice. I will never get those in San Diego, it’s true.

I didn’t write this morning because it was day 2 of get the fuck up early and get out of here to beat the crowds hiking. We were pretty successful at that. I haven’t done much else: read a lot, stitched a little, drawn a little. Too many distractions. Too easy to zone out. Plus lots of driving. And hiking.

Did you know Seattle has a sugar tax? Weird but intriguing. Not sure it would stop my students from buying soda. They’re pretty hooked.

So what have I been doing? Damn good question. Graduation party for the kid of a friend (really proud of him for getting through). Hanging out with the niece (a bit) as she gets ready to go back to a dig. We set up two tents and determined that (1) her new cot would not fit in the smaller tent and (2) my bro has a way nicer tent than I have. All good.

I drew a little more on the second drawing, not much.

There was a dog in the way. I turned around and turned back and then there was no more drawing.

I also drew before dinner last night…didn’t finish, but this is a rough start to the next quilt.

Needs to be bigger. And more complicated.

Sunday morning, we were up early and headed out to Little Si for our first hike. It was good we got there relatively early, because both parking lots were full when we got back.

This wasn’t a hugely long trail, but there was some up. We are out of shape…two people in physical therapy at the same time for a variety of ailments…

Hiking in Southern California is so much hotter and browner and drier. We appreciate the green, the ferns, and the moss.

Wait. Look. It’s us. We think that’s Mt. Si behind us. We didn’t hike that one. It was too high.

Lots of green. And a bench.

5.12 miles. Lots of up and down. Lots of people. It was nice though for most of it.

Then today we got up early again to hike to two alpine lakes, Talapus and Olallie. This was a longer hike, 6.25 miles.

Lots more trees…not as hefty a climb.

Cool bridge.

Cool lakes…

Olallie…

And Talapus…

That is not the same log jam.

Also, a toilet with a view.

So tomorrow we are taking a break from the hiking, I think. Maybe spend the day drawing and stitching, with a walk down to the water for fireworks. Maybe a longer walk with the dogs.

We are trying to relax. And get more sleep. We suck at the latter.

I feel like we need a down day. A book day. A drawing day. Also, though, I need more milk.

Desperately Grading Papers…But Home…

I think that’s the longest blogging break I’ve taken in a while. I managed to blog the second day I was in Seattle, but not after that. It was a little busy, and honestly, any time I had with the computer, I was desperately grading papers…which I’m still doing, unfortunately. It’s all so time-consuming. I even graded in the airport yesterday while waiting to board the flight. I have a ton of pictures, but culled them down of course. And I just got off the phone with my bank, because my debit card number was stolen…but they declined the over $500 at a GameStop in Chula Vista. Little fuckers.

Anyway, guess banks are better at catching the liars now. I’m glad. Because I had to pay college and didn’t need them rampaging through my already troubled checking account right before Xmas.

So I went to Seattle to have Thanksgiving with my brother’s family and my parents. I haven’t seen them in almost two years, so it was nice to be up there, despite the noise and argumentation levels. It made coming back to my quiet lonely house quite a relief…how ironic. I’m sure I’ll be tired of that by Monday, but last night, it was pure bliss. Except for the grading part. And the headbutting needy cats. And I must not have gotten enough sleep, because getting up this morning was extremely prolonged and somewhat painful.

Anyway, I guess this is like a photo essay of the holiday…well, actually, the first batch are my own kids. I flew girlchild to boychild in Ithaca and she cooked for him. I couldn’t afford to fly them both home for 4 days, and they’ll be home in 3 weeks anyway.

I miss the little bastards. Despite their obnoxiousness…

It snowed a bit in New York before she got there…

Yeah. So she’s back in Boston now at someone else’s Thanksgiving and he’s reveling in the silence. They hiked and went to an art museum and who knows what else. She made a decent Tday dinner.

Meanwhile, her mom did Seattle…here’s the middle cousin, my nephew…

We spent a few hours at a car museum…not my favorite, but I survived. I have about 700 pictures of grills and hood ornaments. I don’t know why.

We ate here. My bro and I are expert yelpers. It was good. And close to that car museum…

Plus around the corner from this cool bookstore where I could have bought everything on my Goodreads to-read list. If I’d had a million dollars. I bought one. There’s my mom, resting…

We came back and made stuffing and a Brussels sprout salad…two piles? Yeah, I did one and my SIL did the other.

Then we made mom over. OK, that’s a wig, but I don’t think it looks bad on her. She might consider a hairstyle/color change…

Then Thanksgiving morning was kickball in the mud, kids against adults. I should have stretched before that…

Mud yep. I brought some of that mud back with me in my suitcase. (p.s. do laundry)

Then we did Thanksgiving at my cousin’s house, whom I haven’t seen since she was a teenager. Now she’s married with 4 kids. Yeah, so that was interesting. They’re nice. There were a lot of kids. I had a long conversation with a Mormon feminist. It was interesting…didn’t I say that? It’s gotta be harder to be a Mormon feminist than an atheist feminist, that’s for sure. A good chunk of my family is Mormon, in case you didn’t know. It’s made for an interesting childhood.

Then on the airplane home, I did draw…

I kinda love that line. I knew exactly what it was going to be…

I was reading a book about dragons who can change into human form when it’s useful to them.

I did this drawing first…

I’m sure the people next to me were a little confused, but hey, they didn’t talk to me. So that was good.

Then I got home and made some food and sat on the couch and graded more stuff, mostly trying to finish out what I had done on the computer in Seattle. I still have 700 tons of grading to do…it’s not even funny. There are four piles the size of the one on the coffee table of science units that need grading. Then there’s the pile of tests on the right, on top of my work bag. Then on the couch, there’s the pile of warmups under the notebook. I did all the ones online in the Seattle airport, but some kids prefer paper, so those aren’t done…four more periods of those. The piles on the far left of the couch are all done. So it’s not like I didn’t do a ton. But there’s a bunch on Google Classroom too.

But I don’t think I can handle any of that today. I need to run some errands and hang out and be human and sociable with adults who aren’t stressed out. It was fun but exhausting. Thanksgiving is always a bit of that. I’m OK to be back where no one argues with me (until I walk into the classroom on Monday morning). My house is still a disaster, and now I have a deadline…boychild wants his room back in three weeks. I don’t blame him, but I’m not out of there yet. Not enough hours. At least I get to pick the music here. Oh yeah, and the bed needs flannel sheets. It was bloody freezing here when I got home. Funny considering I was in Seattle, but I got used to the cold there pretty easily. Their house was really warm at night, way warmer than mine. So unless you went outside, it wasn’t so bad.

So I hope y’all had a good feast and avoided the crazy shopping crowds. And you still have intact bank accounts. And you’re ready for the rush to Christmas etc. I’m not.

How to Do the Holidays…

I’m eating cold toast at my brother’s dining room table right now, having been woken by light early enough…having listened to a teenager wake up very differently than my girlchild, then having two boys come down to play some Star Wars video game. The cold toast is because we blew a fuse, of course.

Kitten was not thrilled about my leaving…No, you don’t fit in the suitcase…barely anything fits in the suitcase, honestly.

My flight was uneventful, except for the old guy (my age, maybe a bit older) dancing in his seat next to me and offering to rub his companion’s feet or feed her peeled grapes while wearing a toga (say WHAT?)…I was greeted by a sweet dog and a goofball of a nephew…

The dog is Gracie and she loves me, of course. Apparently she also loves underwear. So she’s a real dog.

Yesterday we ran some errands and hung out with middle child and then went to pick up youngest at his hip environmentally friendly private school…lots of cool stuff going on there, but this was my takeaway as a science teacher…I could do this in my classroom I think…in fact, a rack on wheels with two sides would be kinda cool. Just an idea for next year’s grants…if I remember.

Then home, where I graded stuff until dinner time, with a brief view of oldest child, the only girl, who is now taller than I am, I think. Amusing. It’s been almost two years since I’ve seen these guys, I think, and that’s too long.

Indian food for dinner and conversations of people now dead or might as well be, plus childhood etc. My kids are together in Ithaca, where most people went home for the holidays…I couldn’t afford to fly them home for four days, and they’re home in three weeks anyways. I get occasional pictures from them as they move around…entertaining themselves. I haven’t heard from them today yet. Girlchild’s phone is probably dead.

Yes, I was grading here. I have to. I am so far behind, it’s not even funny. I have five assignments on Google Classroom and another major one I left at home, because it’s really not transportable. Ideally, I need to finish all of them this week (ha!). I finished two periods of one assignment last night. I’m about to start the third period (one was done at home), which won’t take long because many made the incredibly crappy choice of not actually turning the assignment in. Some shockers for them when grades come in.

I haven’t drawn yet, but yesterday, I was so tired…up at 4 AM is not fun. I fell asleep on the couch watching TV with my brother (now that’s funny). I’m sure I will draw today…my niece is an artist, which is very cool. The boys are goofy…apparently they know me as the aunt who makes vajayjay quilts. So I lectured on the difference between…well…you know.

Hope your Thanksgiving preparations are coming along (if that’s what you do). This is the first year in a long time where I basically have nothing to do but show up (and maybe help prep things I don’t usually cook). I have to behave as well…as well as I can. And there might be a quilt store today (because they have different fabric in Seattle? Yeah, I know…).

How to buy fabric for Kathy: walk into quilt store. Walk around. Pick 4 or 5 fabrics you like. YOU like, because Kathy is a fabric slut and will use everything, and she likes it when other people pick, because they see different stuff than she does, stuff she might never think to pick out. Get a half yard of each. Put a bow around them and hand them to Kathy. She gets happy. So easy.