externally desperado finger

There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that's your own self.

Aldous Huxley 

An update on my whiney post a few days ago-  Somehow I have escaped the dreaded diagnosis I was expecting.  I went for my follow-up tests yesterday afternoon after spending the day making little yarn balls to keep me busy during an expected long recuperation.  I really wasn't afraid of losing a breast but the hair thing kind of bothered me, but in my all night worrying I had that figured out too, but it was not to be, everything is A-OK and I had to drop all my fears and anxieties right there in the waiting room.  Good thing because simply everything I picked up reminded me of my mortality-  an old Time magazine, the only thing to read other than brochures, opened directly to the obit pages and there were six deaths listed, one guy in his 90's and the other five ALL MY AGE. Really brought it up to me that I *am* that age and the days of not buying green bananas are right around the corner.  

So, the upside to all this maudlin talk is that I now have a whole box of 1" balls of yarns, a sample of every single yarn in my giant Koigu leftovers box so I am ready to make more hexagons.  The idea is that they are very tiny and it will take hundreds to actually make an afghan and that means I have to stick around for a long time to come.




So, my friends, it's back to work, back to making plans, back to building a new house and spending long hours looking at plumbing fixture sites and putting duvet covers on my wish lists.  I figure this will take a year at best, so I will start stockpiling 'stuff' now so I'm not hit with a big stack of bills the day we can move in!  So far I have a roll of some fabulous wallpaper I had no use for but grabbed because I knew I'd never find it when I needed it.  (And OK, so I have had to plan a wall to fit the wallpaper...  Definition of a sick-puppy, eh?)

So today I go back to the studio and life-as-I-know it.  In doing the yarn winding yesterday I came across a whole garbage bag of unwanted yarns-  things I've used, things I will never use, so I will haul that to the thrift store.  And I am taking a cue from Kay and getting rid of things wholesale.  But unlike her I probably don't have the discipline to actually count items, nor to put them on eBay like I should.  So, if you WANT a garbage bag of yarns get to me asap and for the cost of postage they are yours.  Today I'm going to do a shelf-purge,  just one.  It's the first bucket of sand in a giant sandcastle but I have to do a little at a time so I don't end up hiring a dumpster!  

OK-  I DO have some art, sorry I've gone on so!  We'll start with these gorgeous atmospheric paintings:

It’s almost impossible for me to select a favorite piece when looking at paintings by San Francisco painter Jeremy Mann (previously). Each of his works seems so wholly genuine, a mix of mystery and grit that brings a sublime light to iconic cities like New York and San Francisco. Above are a selection of paintings from the last two years or so, and you should also check out his recent Figures series. 

And for something a bit more lighthearted~

Scotch Tape’ is a photo series that captures the distorted expressions and features of people wrapped up in the transparent packaging material. Albuquerque-based commercial photographer Wes Naman came up with the novel concept while he was wrapping presents.  We will never again have to buy a Halloween mask as long as we have a roll of Scotch tape!

A Squirrel of Joy