Art leaving home, other friends, too.

After what was starting to look like a penpal correspondence with one freecycler, who asked many questions but didn't commit, another one came in, selected four artworks, count them, and wants to pick up Thursday morning. That's better.

So once I had disentangled his choices, selected from two different posts, I set them aside for him, and we'll see. He definitely picked well, if I understood his choices correctly.

This morning I set up the official hearing-aid fitting ready to get the aids built for me. Mid July. Good thing I'm not in a mad rush. After the fitting and order, another month to get them.  So by fall I hope to hear leaves falling!

This afternoon the ficus leaves for her new home, speaking of leaves.

Library crew in action 

Off to her new home. I told her to be a good tree, and make me proud. Gary has been loudly campaigning against this move for months, but he was out when the Big Lift happened. Came home about five minutes later! Phew.

It's all go, this simplifying life. I'm tired out making things easier. I did get a sort of picture of a pleated pocket, hard to see with a printed fabric. But for people wondering, this is more or less the idea.

Once it's in action, I may add another pleat. If it flops with stuff in the pocket. As you see, just a simple unpressed mini pleat. It hangs pretty well now, in a nice shape. Easy, really.

Happy day, everyone, keep cool if you're in the heat dome. Currently my screen reads "feels like 99°f". Probably better if I don't know that.

Ready with my suntea

 

Neighbors, a two way street

I often note the help Gary gives me, and it occurs to me that you may not realize how much this is a two way activity, involving my being roped in to assist with projects, and my stuff traveling next door for various reasons.

Currently at Gary's house:

My outdoor path sweeping brush

My box  cheese grater

My stepladder

My glass container

Another container

All will return eventually.  

Meanwhile, for him I'm Freecycling these

Back in the kitchen, a fast food lunch One can good diced tomatoes, no use using fresh in winter, they're like red plastic, one can cannellini beans, rinsed, egg broken over, baked together 20minutes at 385°f.

Mini naan, soft Indian bread, to make sure all the sauce is accounted for.

Then these cookies, using chickpea flour instead of ap which is why they look golden when baked

caraway seeds on top. This is a Home on the Range old recipe brought up to date. 

I took a few over next door and found myself taking pictures of the free cycle items to organize for him, then pruning the big fig plant that was taking over the living room. Then giving an opinion of possibly framing a painting on canvas.

I brought home a couple of prunings to start in water

and you see them in front of the wash stand, on which is the coleus I brought in in October. I've pruned the top, and I'll propagate for more coleus outdoors this summer.

 Meanwhile, among this headlong rush, The Pant is done, here seen front, tilted to show how it works

and back. A bit of finishing and it's done. It fits a treat, though I'm resisting my local knitting group's pressure to model it -- in a meeting room with glass walls, open to the main library floor, yesh!

Happy day everyone! Raining today, but the bag of freecycled fabric is being picked up anyway this afternoon, probably colliding with the Misfits delivery.

NADM!

Textiles and Tea, Mouseland, Alaska

Thank you to Ruth for reminding me about Sootypaws, the Maggie Rudy mouse version of Cinderella! I went to her YouTube channel and had a wonderful time in her magical world where she shows us her workshop and practice

 Definitely go there, if you love miniatures and upcycling and thanks again to Ruth. This blog is a group endeavor!

Textiles and Tea yesterday was so moving, this artist being a survivor of domestic violence, which is expressed throughout her current work. Originally a painter, she moved early into expressive weaving, spinning most of her wefts, sometimes dyeing yarns, too.  She is Chicago based, trained at the Art Institute there, stellar credentials.

She uses a floor loom but has also used the kind of cardboard loom I make,too, and seeing her exciting small works rekindled my own need! 

In addition to major commissions like the Delta work hanging in O'Hare airport, and solo exhibits, she leads workshops free of charge to survivors of domestic violence, to find calm and safety, learning to weave in the company of others who understand. 

I really recommend you check her website. She's a brilliant young artist to learn more about.

And fabrics are on my freecycling mind, here's the latest batch, silk, mixes, cotton, towels, in search of a home.

Then for evening viewing pleasure I'm  going to check back into Alaska. I was reminded of this recently and find my library has several seasons

Happy day, everyone, plenty to look at in here today.

Also a puzzle

Weaving, whither? Freecycle, Textiles and Tea, Misfits, it's all go..

 I finally located the fabric that is probably going to be a skirt, and the woven panels which turn out not really to play nicely with the fabric. Dang. So they'll be something else, once I decide what. 

Meanwhile I can trim and knot the fringes, no matter what the eventual product.

My viewing Wednesday of Charing Cross Road was repeatedly  interrupted by sudden desperate needs by Gary which ended in my  taking two large artwork things, reproductions, but oh well, to free cycle, to hear his  despair at the breakdown of communication about free cycling the dracaena, I should have known, and to discuss home safety and how I don't let freecyclers into the house, and how these items are available because he's changing his colors, his phrase.

Here are the two pieces, both now spoken for

Finally I got to watch the movie. 

I think Gary hasn't grasped the number of tasks it takes to free cycle. It looks easy when someone else is doing it. You take a picture, wrestle endlessly with the hinky website which mostly declines to work with you. If the picture won't load, after multiple tries and workarounds,  I offer to send an email with it, in the body of the text I  compose. You have to describe etc. 

Then you cope with people who don't read what you said, ask a series of questions instead of expressing interest with day and time, or send a phone number wanting a  texted image. Duh. There's a reason I said email. My phone doesn't transmit nor receive images, just text.  Even people looking at a picture with indicators of size, numbers even, will ask size.

Finally you get a commitment, not always, and check the weather, to decide how to wrap the item.  Then set it out in good time. Then say:  what I go through for Gaia, keeping good things out of the landfill and increasing the sum of  human happiness, between people happily shedding and people happily receiving. It's a Good Thing. Just not a Simple Thing.

Because of the events of Tuesday, I missed Textiles and Tea but rounded up a few images of the guest's work, interesting ideas there, and you can check her website.

Today my friend Giorgio brought my Misfits box. Nice kid, waves, speaks, very personable, always puts the box far enough from the door to let me open it.  The door, not the box.

Small order this week because of all the chili and shrimp pasta and chicken soup around the place. I have been living, at least eating, large.

Oh, did I mention the good news from the funeral home? Lauren, my Personal Director, called to say she's figured out how to process my check, and redirect it to the right account, and I need do nothing, yay. Which was pretty much what I'd thought she could do all along, but I'd refrained from mentioning in case there were laws about it. They have a lot of regulations to follow. So it seems, knock coffin, that I'm set. 

I have been coughing though. It's not the cough that carries you off. It's the coffin they carry you off in. Couldn't resist.

Anyway after all this I feel this way

Happy day,  everyone, get some time alone if you can, it's good. If you can't, then  grumble loudly about it. Come to think of it, you might then find yourself mysteriously alone..