holes, oops, faces

September 11, 2007


Sept 11
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

deeply odd day.

something in my back went scrunch in yoga (little oops – fixed with child’s pose)

miscommunicated with new barn woman, and was there when she wasn’t (little oops, but I got to scratch a bunch of friendly horses)

punched a hole in the cutting mat (little oops)(had no idea i was that strong)

Oops

van got smacked by a lost lady in a SUV (moderate oops) good news? no airbag, no blood, no vital car or human fluids, all the lights still work; bad news? a costly dent, probably replacing the headlight on that side, and me rattled enough to cry for the rest of the afternoon

late to circus class, no private classes for me until october (just as well, i still need to get stronger in the shoulders)

a glass of wine later, the little oopses are getting smaller

June Journal Quilt

September 10, 2007


June Journal Quilt
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I have not been so reliable about finishing (or blogging) the Journal pages. I signed up for a Journal Quilt class at Valley Fabrics. The plan is to make a page for every month. I have finished through June (shown here) but I hated July until I got some suggestions from my cohort in class on Saturday. I am working on August and September both at once right now. August is about being married to Al – it has been 21 years as of August 25, 2007. September is a self portrait on account of it being my birth month. I am torn between some kind of funky sideways view and attempting to recreate a Chuck Close kind of gridded dot thing. And eventually I’ll have to go back and fix July. All the done pages are on Flickr. Click this image and you’ll be whisked there, almost magically.

stomping on details

September 10, 2007


Sept 10
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Here is the last of the family portraits in shades of blue. I realized I wanted to cut out from the right side fabric that had already had fusible applied to the back. In a fit of brilliance, I printed the black and white image I wanted onto freezer paper, on the paper side, and ironed it to the fabric. Then I could iron fusible to the other side and cut out exactly the image I wanted with no flipping it around or going backwards. I got braver as I went along, with tiny lines and two colors. I like the set of four together. I wonder if more shades are possible.

For today I spent my time spinning. I think that comes from Jamaica, where someone is not attaining much forward motion, for all the effort they are putting into it. Kate sympathized that it was much like the unexpected nap of the young child. It is very difficult to decide what to do, how best to use your time, when faced with a nap of unknown length. It took a while to learn to chunk life into nap sized pieces. Of course it all fell apart when they stopped napping, but school started eventually and … well, you all know this I am sure.

Mostly what I did was swat things on my to-do list. I showed Al my list, a half sheet of paper scribbled and about half crossed out, and he said "oh. overhead." He frequently says "half life is overhead" by which he means that for any fun thing you do, you spend at least the same amount of time preparing for it and picking up after it. I think it comes from grant writing, when the university took 50% off the top of whatever you were awarded for overhead. Fifty percent to cover the basics; turning on the heat, the electricity, keeping it clean, all under overhead. So to speak.

So maybe I should think of today as spent on overhead. I missed the fun part though. Have to make up for that tomorrow.

dizzy social whirl

September 9, 2007


Sept 9
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Still working on faces; I figured I’d get more local in time and space. These last three are my family. I was thinking about saving mine for later, or saving all the others til I could post all four together, but the deal is a-Postcard-a-Day.

We had two parties today, both local. The first was the 2nd annual Ward Three Picnic, with Politics and Neighbors. We had a nice time schmoozing with neighbors, talking about real estate prices and local views and the proposed off-ramp.

But we had to leave early to make it out to my neighbor’s Pirate Birthday at their lake house. We made it in time for beer and pizza and cake and the pinata. And the giving of the presents. Alice wanted to give Yelena a pony with a cart. She made the cart, and I  finished a pony. Alice found three legs on my desk. I made a fourth leg and a body, and finished it up this morning. Here he cavorts with his brothers before going into the box with ribbon. The new one is purple.

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Sept 7

September 7, 2007


Sept 7
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Just messing about with photos. I am experimenting with this technique for catching the essence of a face. I think the stone dude worked better, but his face is less familiar to me than Aerin’s.

Alice’s comment to Al, as she climbed into the car to go home: "Well, that was different." That is what we were hoping for.

so goes Alice

September 7, 2007

Img_2482_1

Alice headed off to Montessori School, first day of Fourth Year. The backpack is stuffed with the things they would like her to keep at school (spare clothes, a mug for coffee cocoa, smock for art projects, etc. plus a healthy lunch.

We were ready so early it wasn’t funny. We sat with the other madly-anticipating-school people on a bench until we the kids were allowed in. Parents were stopped at the door, and allowed to peer through a one-way mirror (brilliant but ever-so-slightly creepy) to see how they were settling. They were all settling fine. Alice was first in the door, wearing her new glasses, finding someone to sit next to, ready to roll.

I have always considered the first day of school a triumph if my child was not the one wrapped around my ankles weeping, and I was not the mom in the car with her head on the steering wheel weeping. There was no weeping, ergo, must be a triumph.

and so it begins

September 6, 2007

one child started:

Img_2478_1

Aerin on the right, with a neighbor, headed off to the bus stop and eighth grade.

Tomorrow, Alice goes to the Montessori school, and I get a day to start whatever I needed to do with no children around. What was that? oh….you know, secret grownup stuff.