owls around

 
 This scrap has been following me around for some time. I found it tucked into a summer shirt pocket from the back of the closet. 

I've been contemplating killing off one of the characters in my story by having him blunder into a live wire. 

We saw this happen once.  A great blue heron crossed the road up ahead, high enough and far enough away for my son and I to track its majestic progress and be awed.

That awe turned to staggering horror as it came into contact with a power line. That grandeur became a lifeless bundle of bones and feathers that dropped from the sky into a deep ravine on the far side of the road. I have trouble revisiting the memory.

This shape, this iteration of spirit, came about very spontaneously. 

Message received.

From a fixed position

A bedside enchanted forest. All the houseplants want to be outside. 

Cheapo solar lights delight me. I stuck all twelve in a big pot full of some cute weed. I should look it up. On a few hours of charge, they blazed all night on the deck. I felt like I was sleeping beside a campfire...which may account for waking up feeling like I slept on a beach after an all night brawl. 

Here's the extent of my efforts today. More easy amusement - a set of arteza woodless watercolor pencils and a water brush pen. 

Something here might fall under the needle. 
 

a chill day

 After the valium wore off, I spent some time soaking up a fine day under the watchful eyes of the posse. I hesitate to speak it aloud, but ever since my neighbor across the street died, they don't cross the road and saunter up her driveway to disappear behind her house. She knew Bailey on sight and called Camilla "the chubby one". Can't prove it, but there may have been treats involved.

The procedure was routine and familiar. This time I paid more attention to the doctor's detailed explanation about what she would be doing and why. I've also been keeping careful notes on the pain diary I was given. Every fifteen minutes for the first six hours, then hourly and daily. Happy to say I woke up a 2 this morning, but I'm going to tread lightly. Not rock the back boat.

I'm so tickled with this quick and dirty logo that I whipped up yesterday from a sketch. I didn't even transfer the drawing to the cloth that way I was mindful of the placement of every single stitch. No wandering to the left or right of a line. 

Names for the show, (which is not until January '26 - an eternity) were being tossed out and I came up with 

"Warp, Weft & Wonder"...

three textile perspectives. Subtitles are always optional.

I will continue the delicious escape into writing. Spinning worlds.

Monsters mild

 

Pain is so distracting. 

As of 9 this morning, the pain in my lower back has been switched off. Of course, all those muscles have given up doing anything beyond guarding against movement (any) that might cause pain. They will have to be retrained and I fucking HATE physical therapy.  But I'll do what I have to regain some mobility. I'd very much like to walk more than 50 feet without collapsing.

I hate that this much relief is only temporary. The first two rounds of marcaine injections are to pinpoint and define the nerve branches that will be targeted for radiofrequency ablation. Second marcaine in two weeks. Ablation within a month of that. Soon. 

Going forward, anything that keeps my butt in the chair will have to be balanced with an equal amount of active time. Not an unfair tradeoff. 

I can listen to books while I walk. 

Walking leads to all kinds of things.

 

No hubris here, just gratitude

 

This morning dawned glorious. No damage here.

The local weather forecasters whipped themselves in a frenzy of Cover My Ass with a chorus of We Warned You since the middle of the week predicting weather Armageddon for Saturday night.

It was tediously ominous for a full twenty-four hours. I even decided to wrap my car against reports of quarter-sized hail two states away. I still carry full coverage on a car that's fifteen years old, but I'll bet they would find a way to screw me out of glass coverage. 

I moved my big wind chimes from the dye deck to right outside the slider to my bedroom. Big winds would wake me.

As if I ever got more than an hour's sleep. The very high thunder and lightning were incessant from midnight to dawn, but the wind and rain were run of the mill for a spring thunderstorm.

(That bright thing is Bhagdad Bazaar from 2011. It's been in the trunk of my car, a trusty beach and picnic blanket doing something useful.) 

Later I'll drape them over the law chairs to  dry out. The brown quilt needs a wash before storage and the artquilt will go back in the trunk, always ready.

This morning, I'm just having a little fun with some of Charlie's monster drawings getting goofy on a lovely commercial placemat I was gifted, along with a raft of beautiful linen clothing, table and bed linen. Gorgeous stuff full of potential.

There will be a nap in the sun later.