on my own...

and at last i can read! no longer participating in whatever that foofraw was about, i still intend to do the marathon, just on my own. i've put down the Aubrey/maturin audiobook, which i'd had to skip back in inumerable times, since i'm really not all that anxious to make go away, and tookup frank delaney's the last storyteller, which i have out until the 28th. i want to do some reading with eyes during most of this, after all. i'm trying to figure out which of delaney's books make up the series of which this is the last (?) installment, but no joy yet; shouldn't it be clearer, if it really is a series? anyway, i have this, and i have ireland--which seems to be a standalone book?--from audible waiting for a listen, and there's a three-book bundle that contains at least one of the series books, in kindle on overdrive. i really would like to read them in order, though, if only i could find out what that was, does anybody know? in the meanwhile, i'll finish the one i began last weekend. and lunch begins to make itself necessary...

snack? perhaps they mean lunch, still hours off. lunch is loaded up to be tampa's signature sandwich, with chips, milk, and chocolate chip cookies. i swear, if you did even half the things they want to distract you with (snacks, for god's sake!) you'd never get any reading done! this read-a-thon thing must be amother one of those non-reader activities, like monday's book night? i'm supposed to be doing that, too, but as yet have found no non-readers to give away books to... these people sure do like their distractions. but what's it got to do with books or redding?

i attempted to do the first minichallange, but on the ipad, which will not post images, it is taking more time to ppost than i have yet given to reading my book, even just listening! bah!

trying dewey's read-a-thon again...

...this time with ipad.. 1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? TAMPA, FL 2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? AUBREY/MATURIN AUDIOBOOKS WIL LAST FAR LONGER TAN THE READATHON! HOPE TO GET THROUGH BOOKS 9-11, or so… 3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? SNACK? 4) Tell us a little something about yourself! SOMETHING… 5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I’LL TRY TO REMEMBER TO POST OCCASIONALLY, BUT REALLY, IT INTERRUPTS THE READING SO, I FORGET. AT LEAST WITH AUDIOBOOKS, I CAN GO BACK A FEW MINUTES AND CATCH UP WITH MYSELF…

sunday

coming back down to normal…

here. a week of absurd online assessments during which the computers went down completely in a quarter of my classes, and sporadically in nearly all the rest, causing those kids to hurry and log back in and mark anything at random just to catch up to the rest, which would be more amusing than it is if only it did not affect my future employment.  at least it doesn't’ affect the kids yet, for which i am thankful.

drove car there and back again all week. trying to see if hi gas mileage is as good as his brother’s was, but the jury is still out.  no license plate or insurance papers have arrived yet, so he is presently doubly insured as i’m not taking any chances.

decided to knit up all the remnants of my first year’s spinning into a pi shawl, which i will finish up with cream spun on the CPW.  calling the shawl gerbera.

finished the 5th aubrey/maturin; taking a break with the weird sisters while awaiting  the 6th from the library…

and so it goes.  tomorrow will be 20 years since my mother did.

en studio

i took these today in memoriam of the spring break i was supposed to have had, now reduced to not much more than a regular weekend.  i suppose i shall pack it all off to brigadoon again in a couple of months—do you know how many times i have packed that particular watercolor off to brigadoon in hopes of actually finishing it where it started?  sigh.

it’s been a looong two weeks…

and one i really don’t wish to relive or recount, so let’s just leave it that car is at home. which is good as i don't think i will ever have the nerve to move him again, voluntarily.

he’s actually superior in some ways to his late older brother, of which, i now find i have no picture. so you’ll have to trust me, he looked just like this, only just a shade warmer color.  car is a 2001 corolla with 100,415 miles right now, which makes him nearly 60% less worn in two years younger.  i am so unnerved by the whole experience that i can’t imagine ever putting back those miles, but i must drive to work and back, and to brigadoon (and back :( albeit without ever turning left again, i’m sure.  or at least not for another three years.

still, i have four days before i have to do any of that.  late on my spring break chores, as usual.  i’m going to sit in the (stationary knitting chair awhile…

just in time!

my first handspun christmas presents!

changed my mind…

blocked out to  a bit over 60 X 6 1/2”

one down

one muffler down, one to go.

just off the needles, 54” X 6” before blocking.  don’t really wanna block before i get the other one done, for which i must spin laceweight of this:

and so that will be my weekend.  next one? in brigadoon!!!!!!!

Flickr Tags: knitting,spinning,brigadoon

sunday morning market

i have done my bit and bought local, not an easy thing to do as everything looks all alike,  but i got this kitchen sculpture, which has possibilities:

now to get in there and mix it up some more, the way it should have been made.  forgive the backsplash wall, en restauro—i recently popped some more tiles off (or rather, i allowed them to remain down when they slid off in the summer humidity) to provide opportunities for further rustication.  thanksgiving week, in a week, is one of the only two weeks i’m here and not teaching during the year, when “everything” must happen.  this year i’m planning on implementing the “40 bags in 40 days” (modified, of course) and completing this kitchen piece, at the least.

Flickr Tags: assemblage,sculpture

the new view from the knitting chair

fall

for some reason, change in the set.

i don’t know that i like it, but it lets me sit in the mitt.  we’ll try it til spring.

today

will be the third day back in tampa isolation.  so far i’ve done all the laundry and swept out the bedroom, bought the few grocery essentials needed to use up what i have and caught up on harry potter dvds.  today:

• make gazpacho from the heirlooms i brought back
• clean bathroom
• make cucumber mint soup for overnight?
• cream of sweet potato for future stock?
• return potter/get king’s speech?

that’s enough necessary doings for one day, i think.  trying not to overcommit as usual and then do none of it.  i threw out four (4) unopened packages of stirfry veggies when i got home:(  the very full garbage gets picked up today, so i can begin again…

brigadoon

for the first time i took few pictures while in brigadoon this summer, and no videos except for goats—despite buying all new equipment just days before i left!!--and wrote almost nothing during my month there.  i guess i’ll just post here a bunch of representative photos of my working life since school let out in june, as there’s no other structure and little volume, but here goes:

 

small wonder i dream of retiring here, hmmm? but i’m back in tampa now.  three weeks left til i resume the plow and i have to remind myself how to sing live here again; so far it’s amounted to flopping on the bed and plugging in. this morning there’s coffee and sunrise, just like brigadoon, but it will grow from there.  it has to: i ran out of here just as soon as school got out over a month ago, and this place looks like it!

 

Flickr Tags: brigadoon,spinning,woodcarving,john c. campbell folk school