Well...
I guess I'll go back to Substack and write my newsletter That's Gneiss on a more random schedule. It was trying to fit it in to the weekly delivery model that was getting to me - along with it become a very long endeavor.
More random writing, more random topics, still the same weird me!
Head on over if you happen to see this... https://librarianguish.substack.com
Cheers!
Today we decided to venture out and make a couple of stops, including a visit to the grocery story we used to shop at pre-pandemic. We both thought it would be nice to check it out, see how things are going and maybe start shopping there again now and then.
IT WAS HORRIBLE.
The entire experience of being out was horrible. Well - the first stop we made was okay, but I just ran in and grabbed something and it was very easy. It quickly went downhill from there.
First, there was the traffic. Typically heavy for Marysville, and no trip out there would be complete without having to wait for a train.
Truly a delight. NOT.
We got to the store, and my friends, it was unpleasant and stressful. Overwhelming. People everywhere. By the time we left we both felt anxious and strange.
Even though it was a relatively short trip out, it ruined the day for getting anything fun or productive done at home. Spending a big chunk of my precious weekend time driving through traffic and shopping amongst strangers is not how I want to spend my time, ever again. Having our groceries delivered and buying almost everything online is the only way to go. We can even get everything we want from Costco via delivery.
There really is no need to ruin a weekend with the drudgery of errands. And is this the "normal" that everyone is so anxious to get back to? Why?
Life is short and there are better things to do with our time.
I followed the very good instructions from the Mindful Art Studio's Coptic Bound Journal workshop, and without much trouble made these two small sketchbooks.
The individual steps are not difficult, but they took time and care to ensure a nice finished product. There was a lot of cutting, glueing, folding, and finally sewing to bring it all together.
The process starts with cutting the materials for your covers and the inner pages, called signatures. I used watercolor paper for these, but any paper can be used depending on the purpose of the book. The cover is made from chip board covered with decorative paper or fabric.
The paper cutter I bought a while back was a real life-saver. This could all be done by hand, but that would take a long time. It took a while as it was. This is not a process to rush through!
The final step before sewing is to poke holes in the signatures and covers. Again, having the correct tool really makes a difference! When I made my first simple sketchbook a couple of months ago, I did not have an awl and improvised with a sharp screw Michael found in the garage. It worked, but was slow and hurt my hand. Because I enjoyed making the sketchbook and knew I would make more, I bought a beginner's bookbinding kit with the various tools needed to make different books. I've used almost everything in the kit already.
Look at those neat and tidy holes!
The next step is sewing the pieces together. As you can imagine, this is a bit awkward at first while trying to figure it all out. I was really happy to have the curved needles from the bookbinding kit! A straight needle can do the job, but requires a lot more fiddling around with the book which might lead to loose stitches. Lots of sharp things involved in book making!
Once you have the hang of it, the sewing step is very enjoyable.
Here's a close up of the stitching. I know with practice the stitches will be more uniform, but either way they look pretty nifty.
The books lay flat when open, which will make painting in them easy. The other sketchbooks I've made don't do that, so the paint tries to pool in the middle.
I made a painted piece for the inside cover. Next time I'll cut the inner pieces smaller so they don't have holes poked in them (and I'll make sure the outer cover paper is big enough to fold in further and cover the board better.
Now I've got these two great books to fill with art! I know I'll be making more of these, and am really looking forward to visiting a craft store in person to pick out nice paper for the covers.
So many possibilities...
Five days to go and I will be fully vaccinated! I got my second shot a week ago Friday, felt like garbage on Saturday, and it's all been great since then. Other than my normal spring allergies, they can go away please. Among other things, I noticed the Scotch Broom along the freeway is blooming now, yippee.
When Michael sweeps the porch this time of year the pollen creates quite a pile. No wonder I have issues.
It's worth it though. Our yard looks great right now!
I spent some time in the garden today, cleaning up the bed next to the house on the north side. It was great to be outside again after a few days of rain. Rowland loves hanging out with me while I work. I was weeding along the edge of the trailer and heard him fussing around. I thought he had gotten into the trailer but no - he was under it!
I have a ridiculously busy week ahead at work. I'm just going to have to power through.
There are things I want to write about but it's getting late and I had better be well rested tomorrow to start the hell week. Waaaaaaay too much of my time will be spent on Zoom. I don't know about you, but I'm really bloody sick of Zoom. It's not done with us yet by any means though.
Mary Jo Salter has written some sonnets about life with Zoom. Here's a sample.
Nose-scratches broadcast, thoughts shrunk to an icon
or two (Clap, Thumbs Up), and if you leave your mic on
while others talk, your faintest sighing framed
in gold light like a vanity mirror? Named
on your little tile, you can’t slip out unseen.
Self-surveilled, your eye contact onscreen
seems off. Don’t look at people! Focus where
the tiny camera is that proves you’re there.
I'm not much into poetry, but these really hit home. Via On the Commons.
Last Wednesday Michael got his second vaccination, this time at the Arlington Municipal Airport drive-through site. It was a beautiful day and I would say this is probably the most scenic mass vaccination site one could visit! Hundreds of cars snaked through the older part of the airport, and it seemed like it was going to take forever.
The entire week was lovely, with temperatures getting up into the 70s on a few days. Sadly, the rainy, colder, typical spring weather has returned for a while. The rain is good for the gardens though!
We finally made it to the tents where they were jabbing people in the arm, and then it we entered the video game portion of the experience.
Heck - it was just fun to be out driving! We've barely done anything in over a year, and have probably driven less than 500 miles total with both of our cars combined. Things should pick up soon though. I'm due to get my second shot this Friday.
Yesterday I was feeling a bit blue, no particular reason why (pandemic). I felt like now all I'm doing is WAITING for Friday to get here. I will be so glad when I have my appointment settled, which right now means checking the website every few hours for updates and additional days added for the local sites. It shouldn't be hard to get an appointment close to home - I notice that most of the sites have loads of time slots and they're not filling up as quickly. Once I've got my shot and make through the two week waiting period (more waiting!) we'll be able to start doing more and getting out of the house a bit.
I really want to go to a thrift store, shop at Michael's for some odds & ends that are hard to buy without seeing them in person, and go see some scenery a little further from home! I think we'll head over to Yakima first to see my parents. We're not going to go too wild though - no eating inside restaurants!
For now I'm still wandering the neighborhoods close to home. The trees are blooming and I'm enjoying watching each new variety burst forth. So many gorgeous colors! The lilacs and dogwoods are starting to bloom this week, but the cherries, apples, and plums are still looking good too.
I'm counting down the days until Friday - I hope they go by quickly!
Have you ever found yourself face to face with a spider and wondered whether it was going to harm you with it's bite as you gazed into its eyes? Wonder no more! Study this handy chart designed by Thomas Shahan, who has taken many a closeup photo of spiders so you don't have to.
Have a try at identifying this anxious arachnid...
Did you guess jumping spider? That's correct! This is an adult female Phidippus mystaceus Jumping Spider. Her anxious expression is no doubt caused by her concentration as she calculates the length of jump onto your face.
If you prefer something other than closeups of spiders and other small creatures, Thomas also makes interesting art and takes nice non-macro photos, such as this mossy table somewhere in Oregon.
Ahhhhhhh...
In other news, the "ink" experiment didn't amount to much other than pink water that barely tinted my paper strips. I'll try again when I get the proper equipment and ingredients.
I've been reading up on how to make inks from natural materials, and following the experiments of others. It's not a difficult process, but I don't have quite everything I need at the moment.
No worries! I decided to go ahead and try a very crude method today without fancy stuff like a dedicated pan for boiling things in (instead of one of Michael's cooking pans). I also don't have gum arabic, or an essential oil to prevent mold.
First, I picked a lot of flowers off of that plant across the street. In case you're wondering the stems are incredibly sticky. I washed my hands with soap and that did not get rid of the stickiness! I tried some hand sanitizer with alcohol in it and that did the trick.
The flowers have a nice fresh smell. Not "flowery" at all - just fresh. And they're so tiny!
I picked them off of the sticky stems, and filled up a salsa jar.
Then I smashed them with a stick!
Since I didn't have a pan to boil them in, I poured boiling water over them into the jar, then set it in the sun all afternoon to keep it warm as long as possible.
The water is taking on a pink hue, and I've tested it on a piece of watercolor paper - pretty pale! The color shows up a bit better on a paper towel. Tomorrow I will strain the flowers out, and let it sit in the sun again with the lid off so it can evaporate a bit. For a first try and not following the directions closely, it's still turning out interesting!
I really miss being able to dash off to the thrift store - soon! I'll get my hands on a dedicated plant boiling pan before long, as well as a few of the other vital ingredients to make proper ink. In the meantime, I'll report back tomorrow after I've messed around with this batch some more. I should have some decent marks on paper to share. If nothing else, it's very pretty pink water!
Cheers!
Oh for crying out loud! No sooner did I switch over here and encourage you all to sign up to get notification for new posts in email than Google decides to go and do away with Feedburner, the service that sends you those emails.
Seriously? Sigh.
The service goes away in June, so I'll work on finding a solution that keeps things easy for you, and keep you posted.
Good grief.
In other news - I took a very bold action this morning. I subscribed to the Sunday Seattle Times. It will now be delivered to my house - a real newspaper! I can't remember when the last time was that I subscribed to an actual paper. I'm looking forward to enjoying the paper while I drink my coffee. I'm also amazed that every sentence in this paragraph starts with the letter I!
Today is the first day of a long weekend for me. It coincides with what is turning out to be warm, sunny weather. Good for sitting outside reading, making art, and poking around in the garden.
I love walking around the neighborhood this time of year, it's so colorful. My own garden has been popping with hyacinths, which will require some digging up and moving around once they've died back. They smell so good!
Later
Did I achieve all that I had hoped today? Why yes, I most certainly did. Today was the first day to top 70 degrees, and it was lovely. I pulled a lot of weeds, read a little bit, sketched a few things in the garden, and later did some watercolor painting. Other than my allergies which are quite annoying right now it was a pretty good day.
More of the same tomorrow!
I'd offer you a beverage, but, well - pandemic. I trust you've got something tasty and refreshing to drink right where you are.
Let me show you around a bit!
Over to the right, you can sign up to get a daily digest of new posts sent directly to your email. You'll only get an email if I write something, and if I suddenly decide to go wild and post six times on the same day, you'll still get just the one email the following morning - no spamming your inbox! When you sign up you'll get a confirmation email to complete the process. Check your spam folder if you don't see it right away. Super easy. The new post notification emails very clearly say "Oh Schist!" so they're hard to miss.
You can read the posts in your email, but clicking to visit here on the blog will give you a better reading experience. For example, if I share a video it might not show up in your email, and you could miss out on something really good. Also - it's blue! Who doesn't like the color blue?
You'll also see the spot where you can send me a private message. Unlike the newsletter, you won't be able to reply to the notification emails to send a message to me. I'd still love to hear from you, either via the contact box or by leaving a comment on the blog.
You'll also find links to my favorite newsletters, old posts on this blog, and a few other odds & ends. I'll be adding more pages, but for now you can see all the books I've read so far this year. This section of the blog will change from time to time with new information.
Scroll down and you'll see a few recent posts. It's not fancy, but I like it here and am enjoying a bit of good old-fashioned blogging.
Thanks to the hoards of maskless people out at the park today it will still probably be a while. Cases are on the rise! Huzzah. We'll soon be angling for our second shots, so our biggest goal right now is to stay the heck away from everyone just like we've been doing for the entirety of the pandemic. No sense in messing it up now after making it so long.
Anyhow - thanks for following me over here. Make yourself at home, enjoy your visit, and I hope you come back soon!
A few things you may find interesting...
Get out of your geographic music bubble
Are you stuck in a music bubble based on where you live? Analysis of the #1 song where you live vs. your nearby neighbors indicates yes! You probably are. If you listen to pop music that is. I scrolled through and discovered that I'd never heard of any of the songs or performers listed for my area. I'd say I must be getting too old, but I'm sure it's really that I have better taste in music. Explore the maps to learn about the top pop hits around the world. (H/T University of Winds)
Schietti finds his inspiration among the tree-lined streets of his hometown of Brasília as well as in more remote landscapes. The natural background is a perfect canvas for the photographer's abstract creations. “The light becomes a brush, the space around me is the canvas,” he says of Impermanent Sculptures, “the paper on which I write questions, sketch answers, rehearse thoughts, reveal or hide mysteries.” (My Modern Met)
Winter is still trying to cling to us a little longer. Not in an horrible snowy way, but today was cold, gray, and a bitter wind is blowing. Rain is lurking nearby.
Thank goodness for the bright flowers that are starting to pop up everywhere. This little cutie is in my garden. Tulips are blooming, and I saw a bright red rhodie while out with the dog.
All we need is for the sun to stick around longer for a day! Temperatures will allegedly hit 70 a week from today. I certainly hope so, we could use a little warmth.
I spent some time playing around with my new Daniel Smith tube watercolors. Michael has been encouraging me to delve into tubes for quite a while, and I finally did it! I ordered the Pablo Rubén’s Master Artist Set which has some lovely colors in it. I was not familiar with his work - he does amazing realistic scenes some of which almost look like photographs. Wow.
Here's a bit of what I ventured to do today...
Heck, I need to do swatch pages for all of my paints and other art supplies. That will be a good summer project.
I've got a few days of access left to all of the Sketchbook Revival videos. There's not way I'll get to them all, and that's okay! There's a couple that I've watched but haven't tried yet, and a couple of others that I'd like to revisit before they disappear on the 18th. This crummy weather weekend will be perfect for it.
Today I did the exercise from Using Your Inner Voice to Create a Powerful Visual Message to Yourself with Jessica Swift. Don't be fooled by the title of it and think that I've gone off the deep end of wooey motivational-think. This workshop was really about creating a fun lettered piece with markers. My internal voice only provided me with some misheard lyrics from a Fontaines D.C. song.
WASH YOUR CARDI.
The neighborhood we live in is full of alleys. Some are paved, some are not. I frequently walk the paved alleys with Rowland, the dog with sensitive feet. He knows where all the dogs live, and he especially enjoys inspecting to see if people have sorted their recycling correctly. It's an important job that he takes very seriously.
A few days ago we went on a "family walk," our name for when both Michael and I take him out together. These are the best walks, as Rowland will walk faster when he's with Michae and we cover more ground. I often see parts of the neighborhood I don't get to see very often. On this most recent walk we traveled down an unpaved alleyway which I had never been down before.
It was a good one!
It's private - of course you can't see it!
Alley garages have character of their own. Some look really old, and I can only imagine the treasure that might be hidden within them. Or spiders.
These aren't the coolest cars, but these people may win the award for the most cars stashed in their back yard. I'll have to keep an eye out for close competitors.
It was a good walk and now that the days are longer and warmer I'm looking forward to more alleyway explorations. There are quite a few stretches I've not checked out yet.
Cheers!
Greetings from the second pandemic spring.
In case you haven't noticed, I've been gone for a while. I was actually pleased to see that it had been less than two years since I've posted here, so it isn't THAT bad. At least I'd already moved here to Everett and written about the house that burned down just across the highway.
They still haven't cleaned up the lot. It's a mess. I wonder what the story is behind it all.
The cherry trees have been blooming, and recent winds have started blowing the petals to the ground. Last night while walking the dog we passed through a pink snowfall of petals at the condos-used-to-be-an-orphanage. It was very pretty. There's an artist who lives in one of the bottom floor units; I know this because I can see easels and what looks like it could be a printing press of some sort on their table. I'm not spying - I can't help but see what's there while Rowland sniffs around the trees in front of the building.
Our world has become very small during the pandemic. I'm so tired of it. Today we were talking about how nice it would be to go to the Oregon coast for a couple of nights. The problem is getting there, and all of the people we might come into contact with along the way. I cannot trust that they've been taking precautions.
There is hope, however. Both Michael and I got our first vaccinations this week. He got Pfizer, I got Moderna. I will get me second dose in a month, and then it takes two weeks to be fully protected (as good as it gets). Six more weeks, and we can consider expanding our world a bit.
Maybe.
Opening things up too soon sends a bad message and many people make poor decisions.
I don't know when I'll feel comfortable around strangers again.
