slowly she turned

Living the Slow life in North Carolina

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  • Saturday afternoon after voting post

    I really struggled at the end on who to vote for in the presidential primary. The rest was pretty easy. I’ve been a Sanders Sister for years, even before he ever ran the first time. But I really really really like Elizabeth Warren. I could not decide right up to filling in the ballot, and then my pen automatically went to Bernie Sanders. So there my decision was made. I hope that Liz is his VP, or he is her VP.

    Because of this heavy thinking on my part, I found it very hard to stomach all the vitriol aimed at Bernie’s supporters. Also because most of my friends were struggling with the very same decision. I haven’t seen any cult-like or ugly behavior in person, and it pisses me off to be lumped in with a few loud assholes on the Internet. (There are a few loud assholes in any given group, especially on the Internet.) My guess is that about half of my friends and family will vote for Sanders and the other half for Warren. And I am absolutely fine with any vote other than Twitler or Bloomberg, although if it came down to it in the general election, I would choose a sane person over an insane person instead of a third party or write-in or not voting at all.

    I am not a Democrat any more and frankly, I despise both parties, but I vote Democrat because I am practical. I think that we need bold solutions fast but I don’t see how other parties or independents have a chance here in the states for the short time we have left to act. In fact, I think that our time is already up but that’s me being negative again. So for me, progressive politics is actually the middle ground.

    Now that that is taken care of, I have a wild collage in progress on the work table. I wanted to play and push myself by starting with some colors that I don’t like. I may end up making this into a book cover – I think that would be fun.

    I got rid of a bunch of books this week but brought home twice as many from a free pile outside of Pages Past used bookstore. Old books are an addiction, but in this case I was looking for old cloth covered battered ones that nobody wants that can be torn apart for collage. I will give about half of them to the collage group members. Of course, after I picked them out based on color and damage and material, I brought them home and got interested in them, like these…

    Two books by the author of Beau Geste, Mary Renault, saucy political books from the 20s-40s. “The Nine Old Men” is about the Supreme Court.

    A preachy patriarchal book published in 1914 about how to raise your children, “Life’s Golden Ladder from the Cradle to the Throne for The Young and the Old,” is a delight.

    My other project this weekend is to set up the four foot wide grow light. I actually have it out of the box and a space set up for it, so it might really happen! I told the director of UNCG Gardens that I didn’t think that I would be physically able to handle cleaning up my plots to garden there again this year, and so the students in the garden club cleaned them up and put down new soil! She said that they loved the work and would help me more if I came out to direct them the Wednesday after spring break. That really did my heart good, so I’m starting seeds. Once it gets out of the 20s and low 30s at night I will move them out to the little greenhouse.

    And I am doing better physically. I think this is the first February in a long time that I have not gotten sick, and my neck and elbow and shoulder is better. My major issue is anxiety right now, to the extent that I nearly had a panic attack for the first time in ages on Thursday. Fortunately, work stuff is about to slow down just a tad, and with Spring Break (shouldn’t they call it Late Winter Break?) next week it will be much quieter.

  • Big weekend

    On Saturday morning I worked on collages again. They are still in progress, but I may be close to finished with this one. It tells a story about choice. I pulled the text out of a Victorian novel called The Brown Eyes of Mary. At first I intended them to be random blocks of text, then I realized that I liked the way they pulled my imagination when combined. So this is a “choose your own relationship story” collage.

    One choice I made was to pull out the silver wrapping paper so that it showed at the bottom. I think that I might glue some very small snippets of silver near the right top side.

    Stitching on it later? Maybe.

    I also played with a collage that I’ll share later, maybe. I deliberately chose a bright pink that I normally would not use in order to loosen up and not get attached to the materials. It is a good exercise.

    Later that day, my friend Joe, who is a luthier, came by with Susanne and delivered my woodrow that he has been working on. A woodrow is basically a dulcimer that you can play like a banjo. Sandy bought it for me for Christmas in 2012. I don’t know how to play stringed instruments, but I’ve noodled around on it from time to time and it is pretty easy to play. Joe made some improvements and added a couple of knobs for a strap. He might teach me how to play – I just don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything I’d like to do.

    After that we all went to see the Alison Saar exhibit at Weatherspoon Art Museum. So inspiring and powerful. Made me want to do wood and linocuts again.

    Sunday night was the twice-postponed Gordon Lightfoot concert at the historic Carolina Theater in downtown Greensboro, which is a superb venue for music. Gordon is 81 years old but still held his own in a 90 minute concert that was the last of a nine show run before he takes a break and does it again. His voice was not as powerful as you might expect but was still wonderful. He did most of his big hits and a few deep cuts. We were impressed.

    Before the concert we went to M’Coul’s Irish Public House and took goofy selfies, as we like to do. The concert photo is not good, but I decided to take only one quickly and then put my phone away and allow myself to be fully present for the concert.

    Other than that it is a very busy workweek and I came home extremely anxious, mostly about political commentary I’ve seen, so heading to bed early.

  • Snow Melt

    I always think that snow melt is prettier than snow. Look at these textures. I was reminded of the Burren in Ireland (bottom photo), a huge water sculpted landscape.

  • Snow in NC

    I didn’t take photos. Guess I’m not used to having a working camera with me yet. It is our first snow that stuck, so it made everyone excited, and it was pretty covering the tree limbs. I’m happy that I don’t have to go to work until noon, although I can go in at 10 a.m. I don’t think I will.

    We were freed today at 2, although again, I could have stayed, but since I had a headache and a choice I didn’t. Most of the time we don’t get a choice and we can’t come in and we have to take vacation time or make it up within 90 days. That’s no problem for me because I already have comp time built up.

    Anyway, that gave me time to get rid of my headache and we went downtown to eat pizza then listen to the Piedmont Old Time music jam at Horigan’s House of Taps. Sandy wants to join this group to learn fiddle and I’ll just listen. Lisa was there and we sat in the corner and talked. I took my crochet.

    We stopped at Oden Brewing on the way home and asked about the Irish music jsm they are planning there. It will be on the same nights, unfortunately, on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays beginning in March. Maybe I will learn how to play my bodhran.

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  • Lisa’s magical crazy quilt

    Last night I visited my friend Lisa along with a couple of other cool women for our monthly “craftivist” get-together and we took a really good look at the crazy quilt Lisa has been making for her daughter for quite a few years now. It includes scraps of her clothing. The embroidery is stunning, and there are a hundred stories in this very large quilt.

  • Seafood birthday feast

    Welp, Sandy took me out for a huge seafood feast at Full Moon Oyster Bar last night. The oysters were some of the best I ever tasted.

    This was taken before the meal, but I joked on Facebook that he just saw the bill.

    Another reason we belong together – we are both goofs.

    When I got home, I crashed and slept so well.

    I don’t have time to write much tonight…headed out to the get-together and I need to put together a stitching project. Or I’ll crochet.

  • 20th Annual 39th Birthday

    This won’t be long. I’ve done nothing all day but look at spreadsheets, push numbers around, and eat leftover soup for lunch. I think that the Sandman plans to take me out for either oysters or Italian for dinner.

    Yesterday was nice, though. I built a fire in the wood stove and cuddled up in a comfy chair reading “Still Life” by Louise Penny. Had my massage and then went to Deep Roots Market and bought good things to eat for this week. Then we ate spaghetti for dinner. All in all, just about perfect.

    It’s weird to be getting old. I just can’t get my head around it. It doesn’t seem possible – I feel so immature. Whole years of my life seem faded away and so why should they count? But so many things feel surreal these days.

    I think that I’m going to collage and write in one of my art journals during the week. Also, get back to stitching now that my hands feel better.

    Tomorrow I’m going to the get-together that started with the local Tiny Pricks Project group, so I have that to look forward to.

  • Studio Sunday

    I piddled around for a long time yesterday and finally decided that I could at least do some backgrounds that I would collage over. This proves to be a great way to get started.

    These started with old book pages, a 1931 newspaper page from the Oroville, Colorado Mercury-Register and hawthorns.

    This morning I added some very thin old book cloth to the second one. I learned the hard way why I was advised not to soak the glue off the cloth. When it dried I found that the faint design that I loved on the cover was gone.

    The reason I scrubbed most of the glue off the back was so I could incorporate a suggestion from a member of our collage study group – a piece of sparkling silver wrapping paper beneath the black cloth that would show through.

    This one might be done after I glue this down.

    The other one still needs something…even though I like the subtlety of the colors I want to consider adding contrasting pieces. I’m going to put it aside for a little while.

    I got my hair cut yesterday and boy, did that make me feel better. And having this new phone camera that takes decent photos – golden.

    Here are some shots of my “new” studio room.

    Now I have to see if I can force myself to go over to the UNCG gardens and clean up my plots before I get my massage and grocery shop this afternoon.

  • Saturday morning coffee pot post

    Well, first off, I thought that I had made the last post here private, so if you read it, :::::sigh::::: my first impulse is to apologize, but I won’t. I needed to get some stuff out of my head and to do so I addressed it to the world. Posting it made me feel better, and now it is private, so if you don’t know what I am talking about, good!

    Anyway, this week one of my friends that I rarely see on social occasions any more told me that I should find my own drinking buddies. It was kinder than it sounds…I won’t go into the reasons why the two of us aren’t drinking buddies any more but they are wise, necessary, and mutual. The problem is that most of my friends my age either don’t drink beer, don’t or can’t go out at night, or spend most of their spare time with their partners. One of my very best friends moved to New York. My younger friends tend to be ruled by family obligations – either babies, young’uns, or old’uns. So that is frustrating sometimes because I really love going to breweries and taprooms and trying new beers. And it looks and feels weird to do it by myself. It looks terrible if I go out with a male friend, although I never used to think twice about that. Sandy will go with me but often I sense that he is bored and would rather be somewhere else.

    After work I was out with a few co-workers and ran into one of my old “drinking buddies” and she came over and hugged me and we will get back together sometime soon. Maybe she read the post? And Wednesday night Sandy and I went to Oden Brewing which is practically just down the street, played rummy, ate fries from a food truck, and listened to live music. That was fun and helped pull my mood into a better direction.

    The fact is, I have cut way down on my drinking except for this week when I took a deep dip in spirits, and it is a trend that I need to continue. Drinking and depression do not mix well although it did help my anxiety! Politics, work issues, and weather made a perfect storm this week. I am horrified at the state of our government, as are most people I know. I can barely even think about it without crashing. This is also the anniversary of a tragedy that took the lives of two friends.

    Last night Sandy made our signature seafood pasta dish with very little help from me. I sat in the studio/keeping room and answered questions, played with Pablocito, and got my new phone activated. HOORAY! I have a working refurbished phone with an unbroken camera lens for the first time since May 2018. I wish I had done it earlier, but I thought that I would be able to get a free phone at the end of my contract. Turns out that they don’t do that anymore.

    I can be quite a miser when it comes to being able to finance my art retreat and travel addiction.

    So. Today. I am going to go to the farmer’s market with Sandy, then go to Leon’s Beauty School and get my hair cut. I am tired of it. I am prepared for it to look a lot grayer, but I’m not going to dye it yet. I bought a phone and a laptop this month and I like to keep my credit card paid off. When and if I do dye it, I will do some kind of fun color.

    I will attempt to get some artwork done. I dreamed about weaving on a loom last night. The looms and weaving methods in my dreams are always so strange and fascinating. In this one, though, I was struggling to add on to a warp in a weird way because I didn’t have enough of the right colors, but I was determined and I had worked on it for ages. Then a friend of mine walked over with a big pair of scissors and like a flash cut the whole thing off at the front beam. I was shocked and he explained that it was never going to work and he was doing me a favor. Then I was relieved that I wasn’t going to be dealing with it any more.

    Tomorrow I need to do some cleanup on the UNCG garden plots and decide if I am going to rent them again this year, as I was sent an invoice for them yesterday. I probably will. I have a massage scheduled for late afternoon.

    Monday is my birthday, and we MIGHT go out for oysters that night at Full Moon Oyster Bar. I’ll see how I feel at the end of the day.

    Tuesday, I get together with my buddies from the Tiny Pricks Project, which has morphed into a monthly meeting of really cool fiber artists/crafters at our homes. A lot of these artists are also musicians or have partners who are musicians.

    I’m still working a couple of hours a week on shifting my photos from Flickr to this platform, which also means changing links. My routine is down, so it is faster. This past week I shifted over the Alaska cruise from 2009. This week I started working on the Ireland 2012 trip. Wow, did we look younger!

    I think that I will post this jewel from our Alaska trip in honor of the late great Terry Jones.

    So things are better, but my mood swings are fairly severe. I’m going to try to journal here more, but you may not see it. As much as I want to put my mental illness out into the world, sometimes it is a bit too hard. I do think that it is important that we talk openly about it. It helps people like me get help. I wish that I hadn’t waited so long to get medicated. It made such a huge difference in my life, and I might not even be here now if it hadn’t been for that.

    Photos will ratchet up from here on out too.

  • New inspirations

    The leader of our collage study group, Barbara Livingston, introduced me to a couple of artists that speak strongly to me: Hannalore Baron, and Irwin Kremen.

    I realize that I am not too fond of the white watercolor paper for the backgrounds and plan to trim these or start with a different color substrate in the future.

    Yesterday, I first added a few small elements to this collage and now I think that it is complete. I extended the black lines with bits of dark blue and added a couple of small squares of the pinkish brown book cover. What is the name for that color? I was thinking puce, also “puke,” but that’s too gross.

    Next, I kept layering this collage I began on Saturday until I was satisfied with it. I ended up pulling off a piece of book cloth meant to be the focal point but it was too overpowering. A nice textural surprise resulted when the glue pulled off bits of the paper backing.

    I also used tea bags in a few spots and Valspar antiquing glaze to knock the whole thing back a bit.

    Lesson learned – don’t become so attached to a certain part of the collage that you’re not willing to change what is not working. Here are the before and after photos.

    Along with the one in the previous post the three are related because they all contain parts of the Quantitative Analysis book.

    In other news, I finally bit the bullet and ordered a new phone. Well, refurbished, not new. The same model I have now, which I like. This time I am putting a sturdy case on it right away since I broke this phone a few weeks after I bought it. It’s been patched together with shipping tape and stickers for months.