My favorite door

The Virginia creeper might actually be helping to hold up our garage, which is kind of a falling down heap of crap. We're planning to level it this winter, and I have grand visions of turning the scraps into an adorable little shed that will fit in the back of the truck, so we can haul it to Vermont and throw our tools in it. This will likely not happen, on account of having ten thousand other things to do, but I REALLY WANT TO BUILD SOME SHIT. So maybe I'll get to it.

Doings

The craft fair life, it's an up and down affair, I'm learning. It's exhausting for me (at home I have just me, my imaginary cat, and Matt to talk to, but when I go to a craft fair, I have to talk to people all day!). But I've got a system down, and an excellent assistant (that's Matt), and lots of help from my dad with pre-fair printing and other prep. So it seems more doable than it did at first. And yesterday's Clover Market in Chestnut Hill was actually quite fun! Friends we hardly ever get to see stopped by, plus other great folks I haven't seen in years. Sales were good, the sun shone, we had a little celebratory dinner in a nice restaurant and I ate the best seafood risotto of my life, and the truck did not break down even a little bit. Thanks to everyone who came out! Thanks for buying art, and also being an all-around fun crowd.

That picture up there is Otto on a night like no other. He is available as a print in my etsy shop.

Back from Vermont

We spent two glorious fall days on our land in Vermont. What fun! I am at my happiest outside on a crisp morning, sitting on a stump, with a giant fishbowl-size mug of coffee clutched in my paws. My disposition is also at its least disagreeable level then. The picture above proves this. While on our land, we planted one pear tree, a few pots of ramps (wild leeks), and some garlic. We investigated what we hope is a viable spring, dug it out a bit, and then promptly befouled it with balsam resin, which does indeed (as we had read) do wondrous and entertaining things when dropped in water. Easily amused, yes we are. Can't wait to get back up there.

Completeandutterchaos

is my middle name.

Friends and family

Here we are, back from vacation! It was a fun whirlwind to North Carolina and back. Good times were had with family and friends - lots of laughs happened. We celebrated Matt's little sister's birthday; spent a soul-reviving few days with the Immortal Mountaineers and toured Cadyn's beautifully curated shop gathered in Front Royal, Virginia; and met up with another good friend to disassemble the awesome gift he and his partner are bestowing on us, a 16x20 canvas tent and platform which we'll live in on our land in Vermont next summer. Finally there was a wedding in Durham, with excellent food, music, and chardonnay that flowed so freely it nearly washed me out to sea. I have recovered.

In the picture above, it's a bear's head mushroom on the cutting board, not some bizarre orb from the etherworld. Or maybe it's both. Matt found it on a tree in North Carolina where we were camping, and we chopped it up and put it in our curry.

Our lives have been underwritten by the great generosity of others over the past month or so. I was so busy before this trip that I didn't take time to feel really grateful for that. Friends and family have offered up material things along with support and excitement as we plan our next move, north. We won't be outta here til the spring, but we're getting our ducks in a row. And I mean that literally. I'm buying ducks, damn it.

this week, a beast

It's a bear with some rose hips!

Things haven't improved any with my brain function. But that isn't all bad - like yesterday, here's what happened. I had tallied up all my completed drawings, based on my multiple countings, my torn apart scrap paper lists, my hormones, and the position of the moon relative to this and that but nothing much. I need a total of thirty pieces for the two shows I have coming up. My precise calculations had shown, disappointingly, that I had only 24 that were exhibit-worthy.

Then I says to myself, you know, you're more of a pictures person than a numbers person, so maybe you should spread all the drawings out on the bed, and see where you're at, just to be sure. Lo and behold, I had thirty-three totally acceptable drawings! That means I was off by, like, a really big percent. Which is no matter - I'm going on vacation soon, and my to-do list just shrank measurably. That puts it not quite into the can-do realm of things, but closer.

The moral of this story is, sometimes your own ineptitudes will delight you in the end!