slowly she turned

Now that I’ve finished my posts about our trip to Scotland, and I highly recommend that you scroll to the bottom of that linked page and begin at the beginning, I can get on with journaling my regular life here in North Carolina.

A week after we returned from Scotland, I participated in a group show across the street at Kevin Rutan’s house and studio. Kevin is an abstract painter who has a large clientele and I angled for years to get him to let me set up at one of his home shows. Lately he showed appreciation for my collage work and I’ve gone to him for advice for things like presentation, etc. So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he finally had a group show and asked me to be part of it with him and three other artists. He advertised it heavily, including a full page ad in the local magazine. I had a variety of work to show and sell, and I sold a bit of each kind of media. It was a success and Kevin mentioned having Jeanne, who makes incredible ceramics, and me do it again in spring.

I sold the two framed leaf prints, a woodcut print, two collages, a small abstract painting, and a small weaving.

With that and my anxiety about politics and Sandy’s broken arm, I haven’t gotten any artwork done since the trip. I did do a stitch meditation the night before last. For over a week, I couldn’t use my kitchen much because a critter of some kind (I suspect a chipmunk) got under my kitchen cabinets and died and the funk was overwhelming. Thankfully the weather was pleasant so I had the doors open and fans pushing air through the house and I simmered cinnamon on the stove. My studio is next to the kitchen and there is no wall between them. There was nothing else I could do about it. We went out to eat a LOT and I was grateful for our screened front porch. We also had to get a plumber to fix a leak under the sink and now the Volvo is in the shop because the turn signal handle broke and is hanging beside the steering wheel. My phone is not working well, so I didn’t get the call that it was finished until after they had closed for the weekend. I wonder if I need to upgrade my phone.

I seriously thought about searching for a part-time job after I came back from Scotland, but I’m going to see how it goes for a little longer, since I am now the house chauffeur.

Sandy and I both had appointments. I got a cardiac scoring scan and finally assented to trying statins for my high cholesterol, although from the low cardiac test score I don’t think the results looked that bad. Sandy sees an orthopedic doctor tomorrow, almost exactly a month after he broke his arm at the shoulder. They couldn’t do much for him other than put him in a sling and tell him not to move it. After we see this doctor he will find out about physical therapy, which he needs for other parts of his body other than his arm and shoulder too, but he has to voice that to the doctor. I’ll probably go in with him if he will let me. He has been letting me go in with him lately. He is not able to drive and it is his dominant arm as well. Most of the time he has refused to take even acetaminophen or ibuprofen, much less the codeine the Scottish ER doctor provided him, but now he says that the pain has gotten better. He is quite stoic.

So now the plan is to finish my tapestry, get back on my stitch meditation daily practice, and maybe making some more paper pulp sculptures. My friend Susanne has a Hollander beater and can make the overbeaten pulp, which is really expensive if you buy it. She is very motivated to do it. I still have some small amounts in the bottom drawer of my refrigerator that I added alcohol to to cut down on the fermented smell. I’m eyeballing a couple of random weave baskets that I made long ago and thinking about dipping them, and I’d like to make some more birds.

Reading: Finished “Penmarric” by Susan Howatch, a really great novel that takes place in late 19th-20th century southern Cornwall. Started “The Weight of Cloth” by my friend Dee Mallon, and it is a very good, very sad novel about an 18th century plantation near Charleston told from four different narrators. She has a poetic way with language. I’m almost ready to tackle another Sharon Penman historical novel, “Lionheart,” whose story “Penmarric” parallels in the 20th century.

Next door at our former property, the landscaping company has cut down all the camellias, and several trees. It’s a shame about the camellias but I am not too sad about it because I’m just happy somebody is doing something, anything, about that lot. We won’t have as much shade but at least the solar panels will get the sun that they got when we first installed them. I talked to the landscapers and they are leaving the yellow maple that grows right on our property line and the area where our cats were buried when we lived there. They are trying to get rid of the invasive vines and the English ivy. Good luck to them because I never could.

Heigh ho, onward! Alan Rickman said “heigh ho” a lot in his diary. Gosh, I really do need to watch those Harry Potter movies, don’t I? Instead we are rewatching “Northern Exposure” and what a pleasure it is!

Okay, time to weave.