slowly she turned

Living the Slow life in North Carolina

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  • It’s been a full week, with the inevitable twist at the beginning of the semester. We had new student orientation and a party tonight and I was “on” all day. I really don’t know what got into me, but I played the extroverted crusty good ole gal all day. Some days I really am like that, though, so it wasn’t all play-acting. It just surprises me when I remember how socially phobic I was only 6-7 years ago.

    Maybe it is part of my transformation into Betty White.

    It was fun. Hope that I didn’t offend anyone. I guess that I didn’t since I got an invitation to another party. Woot!

    I have a feeling that this is going to be an exceptionally good academic year.

  • Sunday sweep

    Boy, I sure have gotten lazy with the titles of my posts. Maybe I should just not title them.

    I’ve been working hard in the Back Forty, mainly weeding and mulching as much as I can before the hot weather and mosquitoes arrive. Sandy has requested to be in charge of the big tomatoes this year, so I gave him the primo spot and I just added compost and organic fertilizer to that area this morning. I want to get as much done this morning as I can since the rain will move in later.

    We’re still having little cold spells, and I think that we’ve been particularly patient about planting the tomatoes this year. I see how slowly even the cold-tolerant plants are growing and that has informed me that the soil isn’t ready yet. Plus I’m following Pat and Brian’s advice. I’ll have to buy my pepper plants this year because my seedling trays were invaded by two slugs when I set them outside during a warm spell, and now it’s too late to start them. Bummer. I love saving seeds.

    I’m very tempted to go ahead and plant my field peas and beans, but I think that the reason that I’ve avoided pests in the past with them is that I have planted them later than most people do. I think that I’ll plant my butterbeans next weekend and see what happens, since they have a long growing season before I get any pods. I always have a ton of butterbeans that are not filled out at the first frost and it pains me to see what might have been.

    Anyway, most of my day is going to be devoted to making paper on the front porch. It will be a challenge to dry it, but I’ll press the stack until Wednesday when the sun should be back out.

    I’ve been slogging through The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Well, I don’t know if the word “slogging” is deserved – let’s say “slogging” through certain philosophical theological parts. But I’m fascinated with the whole historical aspect of the library and the process of copying and illuminating and binding the books. I haven’t seen the movie so I’ll see if I can check it out from our library.

    My trip to the Art and Soul retreat in Hampton is in two weeks! I’m looking so much forward to it. I’m not getting much art done at home, although I did a bit of weaving and some studio clean-up yesterday. My woodcut class has pretty much sucked up my artistic energy. I’m going to try to get my color print of the turnip woodcut done on Thursday. Our last class and critique will be right before Art & Soul so my brain will be clear for two days of creativity and new ways to bind books. Then I’ll concentrate on doing smaller woodcuts on my own that I can use in my little books.

    I’m taking History of Photography late May to late June for one of my art history requirements. It is writing intensive so I’ll be writing a lot of papers I guess. That is a very slow time for me at work so my eyes won’t be so wiped out from being on the computer when I come home. I think that this will be a fascinating subject.

    And in mid-July, ta-da! I booked the Alaskan cruise!

    Now, back to the Back Forty for some more weeding and mulching.

  • Great news – Miss Ginny is back!

    I’ve been pretty lazy other than work and so I don’t have a whole lot to say.

    I was in Ed McKay’s tonight with an armload of assorted strange books from the free shelf. You know I usually pick them not for their content but for the size and condition of the cover. I was looking at the art books when a man came up to me and said, “You look like a person who would be interested in these things. Do you know where I can find books on finding inner strength?” I must have looked really shocked because he immediately apologized, but I had no problem with it. It just surprised me a lot! And in fact, I was able to point him to the right section so his intuition was right.

    Maybe it was my Piedmont Land Conservancy t-shirt. His t-shirt said “100% Organic”.

  • Killian Mansfield – Somewhere Else

    I received this CD in the mail today. I ordered it mainly because it was by my friend’s son and a lot of interesting musicians. But let me tell you, if there hadn’t been that connection, I still would LOVE this CD! It’s fun and it swings. And proceeds go to the Killian Mansfield Foundation.

    Take a listen to a few of the songs. And buy one on Amazon or on iTunes. It’s for a great cause. I might give a few out for Christmas.

    Here’s a link to an article about Killian and the whole project. I love Killian’s attitude about life. I only met him once at his parent’s wedding. He wore a tux and a red cummerbund and grinned at everybody without a tooth in his head (he was a baby). What a charmer!

    Some of you may be familiar with Celebrity Goat Dairy near Siler City. Killian is the grandson of Fleming and Brit Pfann.

  • Yesterday’s papermaking with Susanne was great. I did almost all of it – except for a few details of operating the beater and she dried the paper for me in her paper dryer after I left. She says that she will give me a small dryer and a paper press because she is excited that I’m serious about it and wants to set me up. Woo hoo!

    She’s talking about teaching me a LOT – two semesters of independent study work that includes a lot of papermaking and we both want to work through the Keith Smith series of bookbinding books. She says that my books deserve handmade paper and she’s right. She has finally convinced my inner child that she likes me and wants me around, and that is a real accomplishment in itself. I have found an art mentor and I am well pleased.

    This afternoon she dropped the paper by. It is thin, strong, crisp, and beautiful.

    The only fly in this ointment is that my back really hurt by the time I stopped yesterday. I’ve been doing back strengthening exercises and yoga positions every morning for several weeks but standing in one spot and leaning slightly is the worst thing for my back. I don’t think that it was just the papermaking because I’ve done a lot of standing at the kitchen sink preparing and washing and freezing stuff for the past week, but I know from experience that over an hour of papermaking does a number on my lower back. I may need to sign up for yoga again. I’d really like to find a way to push through this problem. Ibuprofen and a heating pad were my friends last night, and took care of it in a couple of hours.

    Tonight I’m making tomato sauce. I didn’t have quite enough Romas and San Marzanos so I threw in a couple of Green Zebras and a bunch of cherry tomatoes. The sweet onions are from the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market and the garlic and basil are my own. The olive oil, sugar, salt, and pepper were from my local co-op, Deep Roots. I tossed in a few red pepper flakes, origin probably from Harris Teeter. They’ve been on the shelf forever!

    Tomorrow, the deluge of new graduate students for advising. I’ve been thinking about how lucky I am to have this great job. I help people fulfill their dreams, and for those who don’t, they at least got the chance to see if it was the right direction for them. That’s the way I see my first BA in Drama. I may have sucked at it, but at least I won’t lie on my deathbed wondering if I had only tried what might have been…

    Book on beside table: Writing Down the Bones, by Natalie Goldberg.

  • A handkerchief

    If there was a contest for sweating, surely I would win. Especially if it was held early in the morning. I tell people at work that I don’t wear makeup because I would sweat it all off before 9 a.m. (although I really don’t wear makeup because I have no interest in it). I used to think that it was the coffee but recently when I ran out of coffee and drank a cold drink instead there was no difference in the sweat gland production.

    Anyway, it would make sense to work in the Back Forty early in the morning when I have the most energy and it is cool, but all my sweating attracts every mosquito in the neighborhood.

    I have been using tissues to mop down at work but it occurred to me that with this quantity I needed to think back when I was an athlete because I was a sweat-er then too. If I didn’t wear a headband I couldn’t see. And I carried bandannas. I was digging in my dresser drawer for my bandannas when I came across an item that I had forgotten about. My daddy’s handkerchief.

    Daddy was of the World War II generation – he wore hats and he carried handkerchiefs. Farm work and fishing meant a cap or fishing hat. Church or other social occasions meant a fedora. I loved my Daddy’s hats. And our laundry always had handkerchiefs in it. Handkerchiefs make a lot of sense – they hold up much better than paper towels or tissues and can be washed and used over and over again.

    Remember the movie scenes when a man offered a weeping woman his handkerchief? How gallant. And in the comedies, the woman would blow her nose loudly into it and hand it back to the man, who would say, “That’s okay, you keep it.”

    Although I will probably still use tissues to blow my nose, I’m going to start carrying this handkerchief with me to lessen my glow, so to speak. And it will be a nice reminder of my father.

  • Saturday morning coffee pot post

    I’ve already been to the market, and I’m finishing up the rest of the pot now.

    My haul: 11 ears of what seemed to be the last of the bicolored corn in the market, 2 bars of Gardener’s Soap from Mimi’s Soaps, half a loaf of rosemary/garlic bread from Simple Kneads, smoked goat cheese from Goat Lady Dairy, zephyr squash and white potatoes from Faucette Produce (now certified organic, woo hoo!), hamburger from Rocking F Farm, lowfat milk from Homeland Creamery, and 16 beautiful glazed clay buttons from Jim Rientjes to go on my handmade books.

    Along with my tomato, fig, and bean bounty we are covered for some good eatin’.

    Still need to do today or tomorrow:
    Buy cat food and crib mattress pad (for Miss Jazz’s “accidents” around and near the litterbox).

    Freeze figs, butterbeans and corn. I hope that this corn will be as delicious as last week’s. I can’t believe that I actually have enough figs to freeze. Loads of them.

    Boil corn shucks with soda ash to prepare for papermaking with Susanne, sometime this weekend.

    Paint some handmade paper and recycled book covers.

    Read and relax. Try not to get into any more political arguments on Facebook.

  • This daily post will be short because I’m getting a migraine.

    Friday night is the perfect time to listen to Louis.

    Have fun!

  • Put together paper signatures for more books. This weekend I’ll work on covers.

    Still obsessed with Betty White. Now my motto is What Would Betty White Do?

    I have to go to the DMV tomorrow because the online registration renewal is still saying that my license number doesn’t match my VIN. These are the numbers that THEY sent ME. Oh, I love the govmint.

    I don’t think that there’s anything funny about the crazy near-rioting that is going on, but I saw one photo of a protester that amused me. He held up a sign that said “Obama Bring Back Arrested Development.”

    Oh yeah, I now have ten books up for sale at slowturnstudio.etsy.com.

  • B-Dub Love

    After enduring massive skeeter attack while picking butterbeans, field peas, figs, and tomatoes, I sat down with a Yuengling and indulged in the magic that is Betty White.

    I didn’t know that Betty did a regular schtick on Craig Ferguson’s show.

    I want to be Betty’s bitch. I want to be HER. Seriously, can I be Betty White? Can I?

    Search YouTube for more Betty White on the Late Late Show. Man, is she funny. I wish I could find a clip of when she was on St. Elsewhere way back when.

    It is encouraging that she and my mother bear a great resemblance.