Summersgate - (Egg Shell)

The little manger scene on the coffee table. At one point Andy wagged his tail and sent everything flying but I set it back up later and took this pic. There was a lot of chaos while people were opening presents and there was wrapping paper all over the place. Andy kept busy ripping it into tinier pieces. Afterwards I thought, why had I been concerned before about getting the house clean and the floors swept? Skye spent the whole day on the couch, getting petted by people. I don't think she'll be here next year at this time so it's good that her last year has a lot of love in it.


One, Two, Three.

I had a weird pain in my right wrist yesterday. It started in the morning and got worse as the day went on. In a way it was good because it allowed me to ask for help with preparations. It's better now since I've slept a bit. I was exhausted and went to be early last night - 8 pm. Woke up at 1.

Jules gave me a cool tarot deck that I'd been wanting. The Grim Tales deck. Lots of strange images that will be good fodder for future art.

Marsh on a Foggy Day. Today is a misty, rainy day.

Trying to keep busy with "important" things like sweeping, cleaning, sprucing stuff up. Though I keep veering off into stuff like painting, piano and netflix. I say, whatever! The house will be what it will be. All the family is used to me keeping a dusty cluttered house and if they don't like it they can host at their house next year! I have to say that to bolster myself up to accept that in no way can I get this house to look like a house in a magazine anyway so don't worry about it. Just try to improve it a bit and whatever I get done will be okay. I got the small box of Christmassy stuff down and found some crocheted snowflakes to put here and there. Also found the Nativity scene so I put that out too. It's very small. I covered over the front of the big shelves that I didn't want to dust with a shiny green holiday cloth. That takes care of that.



This is garbage night. Putting the chickens to bed and then taking that out is next up.

I took this last evening while we were walking down back. This is what I was kinda wanting to recreate in the painting I did yesterday. I was dissatisfied with the painting at the time because I failed at showing THIS. Which I think is beautiful in its way. But then I got sidetracked into putting other shapes and things in that weren't there - decorating it up. I feel drawn back and forth between doing something realistic (isn't that the BEST and most skilled painting?) or doing something psychological and weird. I admire people who can paint realistically immensely but the other kind of painting (painting for paint's sake) comes so much easier to me.


I was getting started in cleaning for the holiday and I needed to get the puppet off the living room table so I wrapped her up in her blanket and put it/her on my pillow. Rainy came in and was very curious. I watched them for a while and got this picture and then we both left. When I came back the doll was out of her blanket and was moved about a foot away from it on the bed. It had wet marks on it's tummy, from I assume Rainy. If Andy had moved it he would have taken it clear out to the living room to give it to Dave (retriever mentality). I thought Rainy must have gotten over her fear of it after that but when I put it on like a puppet and talked to her with it she was very scared again.

I've been putting off cleaning and readying the house to be at a "holiday level" of clean house so today I must finally get busy.

Face. Doesn't mean anything - just something that evolved like a doodle.

We went down to Pittsburgh to a birthday party for Dave's niece's little one year old, Bo this afternoon. I dread parties. But this time I acclimated pretty well once we got there. Thank goodness when we first came in the door we were greeted by Dave's siblings and their spouses who were sitting in the front dining room. There must have been at least 100 people there (barely any that I knew) but most of them were in the basement - a huge room. The birthday boy was a very sweet child and it was fun to watch his face while everyone was STARING at him constantly and smiling. He was so good natured. But how weird to have that happen to you - you are the CENTER of attention of all these people, many of them strangers and they are singing a song at you. They gave him a small cake to get his hands in. He wanted to touch the candle when they put it front of him and dad needed to pull the cake away quick. After he licked his fingers he wanted to feed some to his parents. A sweet boy.

I finished watching Touched By an Angel. Now I'm watching Stranger Things. My favorite thing to do right now: sit and watch something on my phone while weaving with the pin loom. I can do that ALL day and not want to do anything else. In the evening I've been making popcorn and drinking cider. I was reading about alcohol and aFib and found out that alcohol can definitely be a trigger. I did not know that before. Many nights before bed I'd have a little glass (about 2 ounces) of brandy to help me fall asleep. So that is a habit that I'm going to quit.

I found Morgan's Tarot hiding in the clutter on my writing table so I thought I'd pick a card and do something with it. The "Who Am I?" card turned up.


Morgan's card. Probably meaningful to me right now. I have been looking inward TOO much. Looking negatively. All I've been seeing lately are my faults and the unattractive parts of my personality. But of course whatever I look at will be magnified. The Magic Magnifying Mind.

I can't remember where I got the idea to get a Morgan's Tarot. From someone on my friend's list, or Nancy probably. I got it quite a while ago but haven't delved into it much.

A seemingly busy day today. Went to Berdella's for group in the morning. Lunch at McCullough's Kitchen Table in Sandy Lake. Came home and took a nap. Got up just in time to go out before it got dark and put up clear plastic around the chicken's run for a windbreak. Dave helped. It was relatively warm today. The snow on the roof was melting and dripping down on us as we worked.

I had uneven heart beats early in the morning and that always puts a damper on things. It makes me think about my mortality. Am I ready to go? Sometimes I feel like I am. Other times I feel desperate to fix things before I go, but then I don't feel capable of fixing anything and that's depressing.

*****
About a week ago, before the snow, when I was still letting the chickens out into the yard, I went to check on them and saw they were all clustered in one corner of the run. I went to the doorway and there was a young opossum inside the run, right by the door. I motioned with my hand for him/her to come out through the door and they did, very nicely and I shut the door. Then a couple days later I came back from checking on the chickens and the dogs were sniffing something on the floor by the back door. It was the opossum, laying dead on its side with its mouth grinning open. Rainy was sniffing the mouth and Andy was sniffing its back end. I freaked out with Rainy's nose half an inch away from all those sharp teeth but it stayed "dead". I got the dogs into the house and watched through the door. As soon as we all got inside it got up and trundled off the porch. I kinda like opossums. Though I know if they get into a chicken coop at night while the chickens are sleeping they will kill. In the daytime I'm not that concerned - an adult chicken can take care of itself in the daytime. Now that there's snow on the ground and I'm keeping the chickens and their food locked up day and night I think the opossum will leave. I hope so.

Snow. Yesterday's pic.


Sunset. Today's.

We took Skye to the vet for a follow up appointment early this morning. Now that she's not feeling so great she's easier to catch and load into the carrier. That's one good thing. They did blood work again so they could compare it to two weeks ago and gave her a shot of B12 and more subcutaneous fluids and we brought her home. I'm still waiting to hear back about the results of the blood work to see what the plan is for the future. It's 5:15. I wonder if I'll have to wait till tomorrow to hear? 

Yesterday's quick painting. I had to do something by the the end of the day if I was going to keep up art-a-day so this was it. A Cute Puppy.


I spent most of the day yesterday weaving this little piece of cloth. I wanted to try out joining methods for the pin loom blanket I'm going to make for Rowan. When I was done it seemed the perfect size for Little Me.

Passing time till I hear from Jules. I'm going to help him today paint some more in the middle bedroom next door. We did the walls last time but he's decided he wants to do the ceiling and inside the closet too. I helped do the trim last time but afterwards I was shocked at what a bad job I had done. I don't have the control that I used to have with my right shoulder anymore. Especially when I need to do things up high. 

I finally used up the last of my ball of sari silk thread. I was able to make 13 bookmarks in all with it. I had a pajama day yesterday. Only went outside in my bathrobe and long coat a couple times to take care of the chickens. Maybe I needed a full day at home alone. The one thing I did that was social was call Kenyon and get caught up with what's he's been doing.

Today it's OA and then I want to go shopping at walmart - get more clear plastic to put up around the chicken coop run. The run is where I feed them and I'm finding that the snow is blowing in a lot. I think we are going to have a bad winter with lots of snow this year. That's my prediction. 

Yesterday's art a day: Snow Doodle.


I'm into weaving with a new pin loom I got that makes 2" by 12" strips. Bookmarks I guess. I have some really unique yarn that is made from silk sari cloth - that's the colorful yarn in the pic. But you can't use it as a weft (the yarn that you pass through the warp - it's too "sticky" and uneven) so I need a more normal yarn for that - the gray yarn in the pic. I also ordered 3 more new little pin looms. A 4 x 4, 2 x 4, and 2 x 2. So my reveries are into thinking about ideas of how I can combine those 3 shapes in designs for blankets or cloth.

There were sirens of fire trucks earlier and just now I saw an ambulance go by. Somebody's not having a good day. The snow is falling in small flakes, drifting, not gusting. But you can see slight air currents because it doesn't fall straight down - the flakes individual pathways are criss crossing as they all move in a general easterly direction. There is something wonderful about having a window where you can just watch the snow fall.

Warm Heart.