slowly she turned

Weave Every Day Challenge July 3

July 3, 2023

Finished Jorge I, after playing chicken with the very last of that old kelly green Paternayan crewel yarn from a needlepoint project in the 70s that I saved from my mother’s house when we cleaned it out. Part of my designing for this class was to try to use up some of this stuff. It’s a little fuzzier than I would like to use in a larger weaving, but in good enough quality to use for these little samples.

Then I went back to Jorge II to weave more of that pick-and-pick background. I’ll weave it until I either run out of yarn or reach about the same size as Jorge I. I’ve learned from this one – I haven’t woven pick-and-pick technique to the edges before, and my edges expanded as I wove. But I have plans, sort of, for the two of these that will take care of the problem of the messy edges.
Weave Every Day Challenge July 2

July 2, 2023

Almost finished weaving the little Jorge tapestries. I decided that I didn’t like how different his back leg was on the top side so I ignored the cartoon.

Picked up where I left off about a year ago when I started warping up my floor loom. For what? Rag rug or fabric, I guess.
Sunday Morning Coffee Pot Post

July 2, 2023

It’s gonna be a hot one today with the heat index well over 100 F. I plan to get my groceries bought right after I write this post and then I’ll settle back into playing in my studio and cleaning house. I did both yesterday and it was really one of the nicest days I’ve had in a long time. I resisted Sandy’s entreaties to go to an outdoor festival and out to eat because I woke up thinking that today is MY day. I’ll do what feels good to me. I realized that I can have more days like this on the weekends if I try. My weaving post will come later.

I couldn’t sleep last night, I guess because “A Gentleman in Moscow” didn’t want to let me go until I finished it. So I gave in at 1:30 a.m. and finished it around 3 a.m., at which time I slept soundly. Now I’ll go back to “The Reckoning” by Sharon Kay Penman, the second book in her trilogy about the 13th century wars between England and Wales. What I love about Penman is that women take a leading role in her books. It’s not just about the menfolk swinging their swords and burning up villages.

TV: We finished Ted Lasso (whimper) and are watching the last season of Better Call Saul and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. We started watching Shrinking, and after we finish that, my Apple TV is canceled. So is Paramount Plus. I’m paring down my budget in a lot of small ways that I know will add up.

I’ve had a project going for several months in which I’ve been using familysearch.org to chart the generations of my family tree back twenty generations. This gets me to some interesting and famous figures in English and Scottish history, which I’m studying at the same time. The men (and at least some of the women) are appalling oppressors and murderers, and the women are breeders, under huge pressure to produce sons. I can see the parallels for our next generations if they don’t start resisting in a very big way. I’m afraid my marching days are over. All I can do is vote and contact my politicians, who either agree with me, or don’t care about my opinion. I feel quite helpless.

I’m wrapping up this generations project mostly because all these people married each other so I am weary of all the repetition in this inbred heritage, and it means that I’m not learning much from it once I get to the “nobility.” Part of the reason I am stopping is because I became addicted to it as a way to ignore everything in the world that is upsetting me. I do the same thing with games and reading. This seemed like a more legitimate way to waste my time but now I see that it’s feeding a compulsion. Now I’m going to try to channel that compulsion into art-making. Thus the weave every day challenge.

Victor couldn’t make it yesterday to give me the work estimate, so hopefully I’ll see him late Monday and I’ll know how much to get the home equity loan for. I have been out of debt for years so this will be an adjustment, but I just can’t wait any more on getting these house issues resolved. I also need to save up for a trip to England and Scotland.

Considering our choices in planning the trips to England and Scotland is overwhelming. Usually I enjoy trip planning and I begin a year out for big trips. But there is so much to see and it won’t be just me and Sandy – I have to account for other people’s preferences and interests this time – so it is making me very anxious. I guess that I wasn’t meant to be a travel agent after all.

I started thinking – with the shrinking window of time we have left in this world – why am I not focusing more on what I need and want to do? When I do, there is an underlying guilt that is not productive and it sucks. I am anxious about whether I’ll be able to travel for eldercare and financial and world war and climate change reasons if I wait much longer and at the same time I kick myself for not being satisfied with a house in a nice neighborhood, heat and AC, and enough money to support ourselves at a reasonably comfortable level.

Okay, I’m spinning down an anxiety hole now, so it’s time to go shopping and then I’ll be back later tonight with a weaving post.
Weave Every Day Challenge July 1

July 1, 2023

I suspect that I will weave more today or at least warp a loom, but I want to go ahead and post.

One of the questions that tapestry weavers (and probably all weavers) often get asked is “How long did/does it take you to do that?” Most of us don’t like that question, because most of us don’t chart our time per square inch, so we don’t have an answer. There are SO MANY FACTORS in how much time it takes to weave tapestry – size, warp sett, complexity, techniques, style of the weaver, not to mention design time, drawing a cartoon, and warping the loom.

So today, I wove on one of my little Jorge the Beautiful Mexican Beetle tapestries for exactly one hour. Jorge was the little friend I met in San Miguel de Allende, and when I took MJ Lord’s “Birds, Bugs, and Butterflies” tapestry design class in early June, I used a photo I took of him for inspiration.

I took a photo before and after. The weaving is five inches wide and sett at ten warps per inch.

And here’s a photo of Jorge. As you can see, I took liberties with his look!

Anyway, it’s a fun exercise.

I picked up and cleaned my studio up a bit, although it needs more work. I picked up a perfectly good metal lamp that my neighbor put out at the curb. Hey, I was good – he put out about five of them. I’ve considered the things I need to make this room more inviting. One of those things is better light, so I put the scavenged lamp with a decorative light bulb in the corner and moved the work light over to my tapestry work table.

Yes, this is where the sausage is made. What a mess!
Saturday Morning Coffee Pot Post

July 1, 2023

Well, I got way behind on my “special event” postings. I’ve actually been to the Tapestry Weavers South retreat since and finished writing my Mexico travel blogs from Lake Waccamaw over a month later. So I have some catching up to do, which leaves me to wonder – why am I doing it at all if I procrastinate about it?

The best thing about blogging is that it leaves me a record of my life which I can revisit later, if needed or wanted. I used to keep a diary, now I blog. It’s much easier to type than to write. The photo editing is a bit of a pain, but I could upload my photos straight from my phone. I don’t do that because of the size. This blog is almost 20 years old and although I lost a lot of it in transitions from platform to platform and in a virus attack in the 00s, I have a lot of photos and I don’t want to pay more money for storage space, so I reduce the size before I upload. It is also helpful as far as getting my photos stolen for commercial use if I upload in a low-res, smaller format.

You’d be surprised how many photos get filched from artists by unscrupulous companies and for use in magazines or catalogs. I’ve given permission a couple of times for this use, but they never want to pay other than sending me a copy of the magazine (not even a subscription, really?) or a coupon for their product. But I’ve been lucky – I’ve seen other artist work get absolutely ripped off the Internet and copied and sold with nary a thank you, even.

Speaking of Internet theft and corruption, just found out that my old Facebook account, which was active between 2009-2016, was hacked and all my old posts and photos and comments from dearly departed friends are GONE. So I deleted the account. It seems that I put out to the universe the question of why I blog, and here’s the answer. My photos are here, but those priceless comments are gone forever. And this blog, as I’ve found in the past, is not a permanent solution. Nothing is, really.

Today I am focusing on getting my weaving practice going. At least for the month of July, I plan to join Mirrix Looms’ Weave Every Day in July Challenge. https://mirrixlooms.com/pages/weave-every-day-in-july-challenge I’ve got my Jorge the Beautiful Mexican Beetle tapestries to finish, and I’m going to prepare my other travel loom and my floor loom for switching off to when I need a change. I do not lack for looms! So that’s my priority this weekend.

My other priority for the month is to move forward on some house repairs and improvements that are sorely needed. Hopefully I’ll get an estimate for three small projects, including replacing my front door, today. Then I’ll go to the credit union and revive my home equity loan. The front door will not be cheap. It has to be a wood Craftsmen style door, and I have to get it approved by the city staff in the historic preservation office. They’ve worked with me before on this, though, and are very helpful. The prices of these doors are shocking. However, since before we bought this house in 2001, the front door has been a hollow three step window 50s ranch style door, and it is ugly as sin and doesn’t provide much insulation. I could probably kick a hole in it even with my messed up feet. I can’t imagine the reason that the former owner of this house chose this door, or why it was replaced. Our house is 101 years old.

The main thing is to get this dryer vent situation resolved. It is creating a fire hazard and I’m done tiptoeing around it. For the past year we’ve been drying our clothes on racks and finally bought a new dryer, only to have the same problem crop up again. It has to be the vent. I’m getting it fixed.
Lake Waccamaw June 2023

June 25, 2023

This will be photo heavy.

The source of the Waccamaw River, at the dam at Lake Waccamaw.

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It rained heavily off and on while we were there, but after the rain, you know…
San Miguel de Allende, May 16, 2023

June 23, 2023

Our real wedding anniversary – we were married 36 years ago on this day.

This was our last day in Mexico, so we made the most of it by walking around the Centro Historico and shopping. First we had lunch at Cafe de la Parroquia.

Then, as we sat people watching in the Jardin Allende, we noticed a hoopla over at the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. When we investigated, we discovered a quinceteria in progress. The girl was lifted up and carried down the street while a mariachi band played.

^Inside the cathedral

Here’s the official UNESCO web page for the Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús Nazareno de Atotonilco:

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1274/

I took a lot of street shots as we returned to the hotel that day.

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When we got back, I went to the roof and saw my last Mexican sunset (for now). I probably shouldn’t have photographed the balcony of the house next door, but I could picture myself living happily there, although I’d likely kill the plants.

We tried to go to sleep early because our transport to the airport fortyish miles away was to pick us up at 4 a.m. The rest of the day was your usual flying day – we stopped again in Houston with a quick connection that we barely made to Newark, then arrived in Greensboro that evening where my buddy Susanne picked us up at the airport.
San Miguel de Allende, May 15, 2023

June 22, 2023

On Monday, many places were closed, and we spent a lot of time just hanging out and reading and watching a long Mexican farce on Netflix.

Sandy decided to get on a city bus and just ride around to see wherever it took him. I found a little art supply store just around the corner that had lovely amate paper sheets, and I hit it again the next day when I was trying to use up my Mexican cash before we left.

There was a sweet little coffee and pastry shop at the point of our triangular block, Cafe Zenteno. One thing that I found interesting was how small many business places were.

During the week you might see just a door opened to a counter crossing the doorway, with the person inside selling cold drinks or tacos or laundry services. This door across the street from our hotel sold tacos on at least one weekday. A dog barked at passerby at the window.

That night, we found a small place, Venencia, a mezcal and wine tasting bar, with Oaxacan small plates and wandering musicians stopping by. My tamale was wonderful. Sandy’s taco was extremely hot. Wickedly good, though. It was another friendly spot, with locals sitting at the bar and a diverse group of older Americans at the other table. Maybe they were tourists, but I got a feeling that they were retired ex-pats. Note that fried crickets were on the menu. We didn’t try them.
San Miguel de Allende, May 14, 2023

June 22, 2023

When I checked to see what our possibilities were for Sunday, I saw that a large art complex, Fabrica La Aurora, that had been converted from an old mill was open that afternoon. https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g151932-d1439804-Reviews-Fabrica_La_Aurora-San_Miguel_de_Allende_Central_Mexico_and_Gulf_Coast.html

We slept very late and lolled about, then called an Uber to take us there, where we ate a pasta lunch at the Food Factory. I think they should rename the restaurant because it was quite good and they need a name to fit the food, although I understand that it is in a former factory.

It was a maze of many galleries and studios with mostly very fine contemporary art here. I wasn’t allowed to take photos inside the galleries unfortunately. One gallery had famous artists represented such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, M.C. Eschler, Alexander Calder, Howard Finchman, Alejandro Santiago, and Marc Chagall to mention a few.

There were also antiques, including machinery from the former textile mill, and fine crafts of all kinds. I searched out the tapestry weaver there, but she wasn’t in her shop that day. There were opportunities to take classes there too…something I’ll keep in mind if I ever go back.

This was an experience that made me wish that I was rich with a big house that I could fill with art. I don’t often feel that kind of envy.

Other than that, we enjoyed a bit of rain and started thinking about the trip home. I tended to my friend, Jorge the Beautiful Mexican Beetle, and stitched on my little scroll. I identified his species as Pachylis gigas.

We ate dinner around 9 pm at Trattoria Antigua, the little Italian place we ate at when we first arrived here. It started filling up right after we got there with families. We were not too worried about eating in crowds because almost everything is outside in courtyards and lots of fresh air. This place had the doors open and lots of fans going. The temperature was probably in the 70s and a family came in with coats on like it was in the 50s. Anyway, we went back because the food was so good and it’s just around the corner. Plus they bring you warm foccacia! Now I want to bake my own foccacia.

We considered changing our flight to a day earlier, but what we could have gotten would have gotten us home on Wednesday anyway. We were missing our kitties, although they were getting excellent care.
San Miguel de Allende, May 13, 2023

June 22, 2023

We began Saturday with a slow walk uphill on this street.

So many shops and galleries were open now. One of the shops we visited was a print shop with many fine relief prints and artist books for sale. We talked to the employee there and her brother for a long time, and I laid down some money for handmade paper and a woodcut printed bag.

Across the street was a shop with beautiful amate (bark) paper pieces for sale, and a couple of those came home with me as well as a bookmark that reminded me of the greater-tailed grackles. This might be my favorite souvenir from Mexico:

Then we had brunch at Petit Four. It was delicious and their pastries were art, although we were good and only looked at them.

Every day we had said that we were going to visit a history museum, and we finally did. The Museo Histórico Casa de Allende was the renovated 18th century residence of one of the heroes of the 1810 revolution, Ignacio Allende.

^This is the parlor where the wimmens hung out. They sat on cushions on the floor while the minz got the comfy chairs when they decided to invade the space.

There was an outdoor exhibition of women artists around the Jardin Allende, but it seemed to be more of the same stuff we had seen in the artisan market, so we wandered through other places instead. I thought it would be good to find the local small book stores.

I searched for a farmacia because I had a sudden allergic reaction that was driving me crazy with itching on my arm. I left Sandy at a book store and took off down hill to the nearest farmacia I could find on Google Maps. Foolishly, I didn’t have much cash on me, and many of the stores didn’t take credit. This one didn’t. They asked for more than I had on me for a tube of hydrocortisone. I bought a tube of aloe gel instead. Then I marched back up the hill to meet Sandy and found that there was a tiny farmacia on the corner of that street, smaller than my bedroom. They asked less than half the price of the hydrocortisone cream. I think I was a victim of gringo pricing at the other place.

We took our siesta, and I started spending some time with my stitching in our little courtyard or on the roof of the hotel. I enjoyed spending time with my new friend Jorge the Beautiful Mexican Beetle. His leg was broken. I put him in one of the potted bougainvillae and gave him some water. More about Jorge tomorrow.

Then we decided to visit the restaurant at Hacienda El Sanctuario, just up the street from us. The host had engaged us in a pleasant conversation on one of our walks in search of a rooftop restaurant a couple of nights before. It was early and we were one of only two couples there, but there was a classical guitarist playing in the courtyard and the art surrounding us in the hotel and in the courtyard was fabulous. After dinner, I was told that I was welcome to go up to the roof and take photos as well. I had not ordered tacos the whole time that I was in Mexico, and I decided on the shrimp tacos here, and Sandy chose the shrimp enchiladas. I can report that these were the best tacos I’ve ever eaten anywhere, and the taste I had of the enchiladas was fabulous, too.

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