Wednesday, April 26, 2017

cotton cottonmouth cottonseed

“I seem to be two people. One who does not paint and one who does. The one who does not paint assumes that the one who does can paint anything. The one who is the painter sometimes finds it difficult to live up to that faith.” (Mary Pratt)


Squirrel Underpants, thank yew Archie!

I have been so swamped with 24/7 duties for 2 weeks now that I haven't had time to even think, let alone blog.  First week was having the kiddos here and spending all my time hiding the fact that we have a rat still in residence.  Hard to do with the dishwasher in the middle of the room so the Rat Guy can come by and check his traps.  I did get caught by one of them, so the Rat Guy and I decided he would now be the dishwasher repairman.  Frankly I think the Rat ran out for the week once he understood all the noise and confusion because we had nary a bite the whole week.  Not a nip.  Not a snap of the 20 traps we have stuck under and around everything.  I am feeling more and more like those old women who sit in a lawn chair to keep the Hoarder Junk guys away from her house.  Imagine myself shaking my rake at them that they CANNOT have the rat traps they want to steal from me.

The good thing is the poor Hoarder is supplied with psychological help, I am not.  She has an exasperated family standing around wanting their childhood back the way it should have been before mom started crapping in plastic bags and saving them.  I know for sure my kids wouldn't stand around trying to be nice, wearing blue surgical gloves and Japanese face mask..

 I am NOT a Hoarder, I promise.  Granted I hold onto some things a bit too long but not things like chicken wire and tar paper.  I do have my collections but they are cleaned semi regularly and culled out a little bit less than they should be.

And now I have my new Warby Parker glasses that work so well!
OK, So kids were here for a week and we swam and cooked and swam and cooked and stayed up way too late.  I then took the plane back to Boston with them so I could have a day of downtime before the program at the museum.  I have to admit I was getting excited about it, and my long time friend Lisa asked to go with me to see the show.  (And stop at the Eileen Fisher outlet on the way).  So we got to Lowell and it was freezing cold and blowing like crazy-  got inside and there were lots of people milling about.  Finally we herded them into the room where we were to talk and I found Susan who had driven down from VT to see the show.  I was SO happy!  Then after we started talking the door in the back opened and a few later arrivals entered-  one wearing a coat I had made years ago out of the ties from Lisa's husband!  She was thrilled, Diane came in and pirouetted in the coat which I haven't seen in about 20 years, and I cracked up completely.  Diane was  in the first group I found when we moved to Jupiter 20 years ago, but in a short time she up and left for CT so I only see her rarely any more except on Facebook   Then there was a woman whose collages I loved when I met her because we in the same book-  she started making quilts, I started making collages!  there were all sorts of 'layers' of these people I used to know and I was having such a good time-  of course I don't have a clue what I said.  Then it was over.  Boo hoo.

We are taking a skeleton sample to the Quilters Connection guild show in early June, and there are a few other irons in the fire we are waiting to hear about so it ain't over 'till the fat lady sings!  I now will go back in June for that and hopefully see a few folks I didn't have time to see.
But one thing I DID do was head into Boston with my SIL to eat at Eataly.  Fabulous, I had such a good time wanting one of those hams to fall on my head!  I'm gonna get back there as part of the next feel-good trip!  In the condo, late at night, I got all the stainless switch plates installed, and the paint job looks wonderful.  Baby steps, next project will involve a new bed and couch so I'll order those to be delivered this summer.

Yakkedy yak.  Sorry, I arrived home to a screeching mess throughout the house-  all sheets and towels needed washing, windows are smeared with goo up about 30", dogs have been neglected, and the refrigerator is overflowing with mystery leftover boxes.

Whew, how 'bout an ARTY PARTY and then I will get out of here quickly to get back to work at the dryer folding stuff:








 Moscow-based embroidery artist Lisa Smirnova continues to stitch beautifully rich illustrations of people, capturing the subtle details of eyes, hair, and shadows, thread by thread. Smirnova brings an almost painterly quality to her embroideries that are each infused with bright splashes of color and occasional patchworks of materials.


Sent to me on the inter webs:
 Old age is not as bad as I thought. It's a good feeling when you just don't give a hoot anymore and you feel happy just to wake up in the morning.
And now we are again back to our regular programming!  

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