Tuesday, July 5, 2022

Quiet Fourth, with diversions

Yesterday's weather was perfect for outdoor reading and plant watering. In the eighties, low humidity, wispy clouds. A long, sad day all the same, lonely.

I usually have fun Bad Food for the Fourth, hot dogs, potato chips, things I don't go for usually. This year not much heart for fun, but thinking I'd be better tending my health right now.


Salmon baked 20 minutes at 400°f, then five more at 385 . Sprig of thyme, black pepper, lemon juice, seasalt, very good, just right. With local butter crunch lettuce. Blueberries for dessert, sprinkle of raw cane sugar. Same again today with the rest of the salmon. 

I alternated between a bit of knitting on the current sock, nearly done,

some stitching on the vest, now only needs armholes and hem, no picture because it looks exactly like last time I showed you, and had a good time stitching linen squares.

These are sample small squares a friend got with an order of fabric, couldn't think what to do with them, and passed on to me to figure out

So for starters I'm making strips, then I'll decide whether it's another pillow top, or maybe a trim on the linen curtain in the bathroom replacing cabinet doors, currently just plain white. 



Second picture shows wrong side on left, with the pressed flat seams. After pressing I used the rotary cutter to make the strips even, the sample squares varying a bit in size. 

This sounds simple, but of course involved finding the rotary blade was blunt, a search for the new blades, a fumbling series of attempts to unscrew the blade without losing the gasket, nut, screw, plate etc then to reassemble in the right order with a new sharp blade, without getting cut.

This accomplished, it's a good feeling to stitch linen, and to lay the strips together in different combos. The colors are subtle and intense. No need to know their destination yet.

Outside I lounged on the lounger and read


A history of psychedelics and their ancient ritual uses, then to the present when the authorities can't decide what to do about them. 

One hilarious passage is the account of the one hundredth birthday celebration with speeches and papers, of the modern discoverer of LSD 25, Swiss researcher for Sandoz, Albert Hofmann, in 1938. 

I'm guessing quite a few of the gathered researchers were surprised to find it wasn't a memorial, because he was present, on the platform, and gave a paper about the discovery!

Not many bird sightings yesterday, couple of cardinals, bunch of crows wheeling and dashing overhead, one white butterfly. 

I notice neither the butterfly bush next door, nor my marigolds nor morning glory are budding up at all. This might account in part for the lack of wildlife.

Since art will save us all, I am stepping up on the soapbox briefly with a couple of terms. 

The bits of art I've been posting here are drawings, not sketches, no matter how quickly they were made. That's because they're freestanding, finished small works. 

Strictly speaking a sketch is a preparation for another artwork, a painting usually, or a 3D project. Some artists also call those prep works drawings. 

It's better to refer to works as drawings rather than sketches, because it's dismissive to imply it's nice but unfinished, a preparation for something more significant. 

Similarly, to ask, as I've been asked, if I'm going to "color in" black and white drawings. If you're using color it's integral to the idea, not an add-on.  Color has power, shape and meaning in its own right.

Anyway I understand perfectly that these terms may not be familiar and nobody means any offense by using them or asking questions. None taken!  Just seizing the passing thought.




Happy day everyone. Today I'm going to try to navigate the patient portal to give the required information to the surgical center before next week's eye work.

Tomorrow is the rheumatologist consult about the hip bone loss. Not that I'm having any hip problems at all. It's all go around here!




17 comments:

  1. I guess I knew the difference between 'sketch' and 'draw', but have been sloppy about the distinction. Thanks for the reminder. I am i,pressed by the socks.

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  2. Thanks for explaining the technical difference between sketching and drawing!

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  3. I can understand why you wouldn’t have felt so celebratory. But you seem to make the best of life.

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  4. Thanks AC. I do try to enjoy whatever I can find to enjoy!

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  5. Thank you for clearing up terms for me. I have been so unsure as to how to refer to your drawings which I enjoy seeing very much.
    Those linen squares would make a very fine hippie skirt if you had enough. Linen squares seem like a treasure to me.
    I do not think that many of us felt especially celebratory yesterday. We did go over to my daughter Lily's house where Lauren cooked on the grill for us and there were lots of delicious sides. And that was nice but really, I just felt like coming home and being quiet. I was glad to have gone, though.

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  6. Not enough linen squares for a garment. So it's an embellishment idea mainly. Around my neighborhood very quiet. Some neighbors never left home at all.

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  7. Way too much "rah rah rah" here in this bastion of red. The dogs and I escaped up the mountain (an hour drive from Boise at 3,000 ft to Bogus Basin at 6,000 ft) for a quiet twilight hike, and then dozed at the trailhead till 1 am when the fireworks in town had pretty much died down. Mike took "Mountain Duty" the night of the 3rd, which was also very noisy here in town.

    That is a helpful explanation of the difference between sketches and drawings - thanks!

    Happy July 5...Chris from Boise

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  8. I didn’t know the difference between drawings and sketches. Thank you!

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  9. I've heard that's an interesting book! Your lunch looks good. Thanks for the clarification on sketches vs. drawings -- I'm sure I would not have known the difference. (It always amused me that some preliminary drawings for formal paintings are known as "cartoons.")

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  10. Likewise, drawings set up behind the warp for tapestry work are called cartoons. I wonder if the present day cartoon gets its name from the simplicity of the outlining. I must find that out.

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  11. Very quiet day here. We watched a movie, did not put out the flag.

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  12. It's quite humid here so it's a quiet day. Lunch looks delicious. Thanks for the info re sketch vs drawing.

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  13. It was a deadly quiet day here. First, the city to the south cancelled all sponsored events in acknowledgement of the police shooting, 20 or 30 times, of an unarmed black man. Several smaller cities around also cancelled celebratory events. But most telling, individuals did not explode their own fireworks. It was deadly quiet.

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  14. Was sorry to read your day felt sad, lonely, but do know the feeling. It particularly ssems to arise when there is a 'sentence' of some sort hanging over me (awaiting an eye op would do it). Knowing that packing-to-move starts soon sort of does it too. A sense of lack of commitment contributes in some way, even when there is still plenty to commit to.
    Your meal looks much more interesting and attractive than hotdog and fries.

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  15. It would be potato chips, ie crisps, if I remember rightly. But yes, salmon and salad beats them.
    You're going back to the uk? Yes, that's quite an undertaking.

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  16. Interesting terminology explanation. Yes, i think sketch does sound, well, sketchy.
    You are good. When we have salmon I am always tempted to do chips with it!

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  17. Interesting to read the differences between sketching and drawing because, like many people, I've used the terms interchangeably.
    We didn't do anything to celebrate Canada Day here although I think the town had fireworks at the ball park. There were a few let off at the river in front of our building but not nearly with the exuberance of other years.

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