the list

Way back in '92 I was working for AT&T as a telephone operator. Good money and benefits. Not a bad job if you were thick-skinned and unconcerned with a stranger's opinion. I personally found the daily quota of assholes amusing, but at any time, up to 20% of the crew was out on stress disability. Did I have something missing, or something extra? I never figured it out.

Then AT&T dropped the bomb. Our office was closing. We could quit, retired (if eligible) or relocate - take "lateral" positions in Pleasanton, CA, Silver Spring MD, or Atlanta. I forget how much notice we had. Months.

They brought in outside soft skills coaches and counselors. The union helped some I recall. There was a career counselor. An Episcopal minister with a handful of degrees in something. I can only suppose he was qualified to put us through a battery of tests...the kind of thing all over FB these days. "What you should be when you grow up". That sort of thing. At some point, we were asked to write our top three job choices (?) on a blackboard. I wrote:

Phone Slut
Writer
Supreme Court Judge

Two out of three ain't bad, to quote Meat Loaf.

weeks fly by

A piece from the last (I swear) dyefest. There was a nice clutch of threads too. None of it posted yet. I may make up some bundles tomorrow.

I've been putting in what feels like 18 hour days.

A new project on the horizon, too.

No school today, so I spent it artfully in good company.

a day out of time

Today is the first weekday since school started (August 6 down here) that I wasn't up before dawn to get Charlie up, fed and off to school. They have some family time today and I got to sleep in. Like I could.

I watched the full moon dance through the trees, consulted Sweetie on the state of her sandbox, made coffee and got on with it. My place, my things, even myself have been so neglected for so long in favor of other projects, a morning shower felt bizarre.

Now I'm in the studio looking over the cloth and threads that got rinsed in the light pass that Florence gave us. There's been no rain since and nature is parched. But it's clouded over with showers promised. I have a post office run, then I'll be back. I need to clear the design walls. To make way.  Go through these things and decide if and what to keep for future dreaming.

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Running with it

One more day of summer. We heard they might keep the pool open another week or so if the warm weather holds. I'll take what I can get. This was coupled with a Braves win - in fact they swept Philadelphia.

Then a very hedonistic trip to Whole Foods. Sweet Sunday. I also got some decent words on a page. But first...a nap.

fun with sick days

This is where the contamination began, but I wouldn't trade that long, lazy Wednesday. He'd spent the whole night throwing up and was reluctant, afraid to eat. We went through a lot of juice and a lot of low key kids tv even though it was glorious outside. A brief car ride made him green.

The next morning, I was my turn. No pictures, please.

Late in the second day, I took my laptop outside for some real air, but it was still very hot in the sun and the glare just didn't work.

Still, it was pretty out after a full day and night in my dark bedroom. Waking up on serious "E" was interesting too. Something I may try with intent, fasting.








I carried these tiny things around for a while, kidded myself that I would make them into a book. If they travel anywhere, I promised to sterilize them first. A strong sneeze would blow them away, they are so delicate, eight x four inches?

Then fretted about whether or not this purchase would arrive alive. It did. I went two days without coffee because there was no point in consuming it, but we've gone without power here often. We still have wires strung on poles and a lot of old, drought-ill trees in the area. The current cheap coffee maker is losing its grip on "hot" and I'm sick of shelling out for a new one every two years.  When we lose power,  I will still be cooking with gas and there WILL be coffee!

Fever lifts, circles, then returns.   I miss someone holding my hair.

That was sometime yesterday. I don't remember. Spent Wednesday with Charlie who was home from school due to a stomach virus that had him barfing through the night. He was chipper and back to school the next morning, I didn't fare as well.

It felt like the flu. Symptoms linger a bit today, Friday. I'm sure the worst is over.

L'chaim!

I found a better location in the library. Those are herbs and lettuces in a hydroponic garden. They harvest every so often. Greens going to a food co-op somewhere.

The machine makes a distant gurgling sound, like a brook. It also makes me have to get up and pee hourly. Not a bad thing.

Writing here, ten to one each day. It's going well. I know we pay taxes, but the library should put out a tip jar somewhere for the use of this beautiful place.

Jimmy's friend Donald was still a bachelor when he came to our wedding in June, 1977. He probably stopped off at a grocery store on the way to nab us a gift, a lovely Dieffenbachia which we named Louie. Through the years, I've divided it, cut it back, given away sections - over and over.

This spring I repotted it for the first time in many years. Poor thing was a mess. Way down in the bottom of the pot was this shriveled, hairy, black kernel. I wasn't even sure what it was, but I dropped it in an empty pot and used the end of the potting soil to cover it. Tucked the pot in a dark corner with the Christmas cactii.  Just the other day, I found this. L'chaim!

June 4, 1977

Charlie Monday

This is just the Best!

Looks like he's mastered the fine art of Monday.

just a little Florence here

A little wet-cloth porn for all the textilians. I hatched this one out to see what might be going on and because I have no idea when I'll be able to mess around with the rest of these.

From the looks of the weather map, we are in for a week of this damp crap.

I started early but I got caught in the light rain anyway and just kept on working. Clean-up is cut to a minimum.

waiting for the wind & rain

Setting up for a gorgeous one a day or so ahead of Hurricane Florence dragging her wet skirts over the ATL. Oh, we'll get more rain than we need at once, hopefully, not too much wind for the tired stressed out trees.

It's hot and humid as hell. I should be headed for the pool, but I'm here in the library stalling about putting the hard eyes and the sharp ax to the last half-dozen scenes of my book. Even though I wrote the closing scenes over a year ago, this revision/rewrite is coming to a close, and, although I know there will be more, the process is giving me pangs. I dawdle, I procrastinate - I've even dug up an old short story (really an excerpt from the next book) and prettied it up for submittal to a short story contest. Deadlines and restrictions. What to leave in, what to take out...(thanks Bob)

I was in Kroger, supposed to be buying batteries (I refuse to believe those are D cells in that thing!) and what did I buy instead? A dozen quart mason jars. I also found a small tub of soda ash tumbling around in the trunk of the car. What's that you say? Too busy dyeing thread and cloth to write? What could be next? Stitching? These old pictures gift me a lot of vicarious comforts. The known is sweet.

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skip Monday

Charlie Monday turned out to be just that. He had a meltdown early in the day that was beyond the crew at Pre-K so we spent the whole day together escaping the cares of the world as best we could.






This could be his anthem.

summer wrap-up

Sunday was still hot enough, so I threw off all other plans and headed for Jan's pool, expecting it to be crowded. Silly me. Even as I drove there, the sky started closing in, but as soon as I got into the water, a window of blue kept the scene idyllic. After an hour or so, a few hardy souls joined us, and the clouds got serious.

Then the skies opened up and it poured. The chilly rain made the pool water feel like a spa, and we were already wet, so no one got out and we lurked around like gators in a swamp, noses, and eyes poking out of the water.

The only drawback was that it was surprisingly noisy. I didn't take this picture but it looked just like this. It was an exhilarating experience.

After a while, thunder let us know it was time to haul ass.

wrappings

My arms are tired from wrapping things.
Does anyone else remember that intoxicating fragrance by Clinique, Wrappings? It was always so unexpected.

Writing about how something smells is very hard, but satisfying work if you do it right.  Comparisons are just not enough.  I need to find a sample of this one to refresh my memory.

I went outside to get a better look at these threads, confirm the colors in natural light, and wound up messing around with the houseplants. These are already spoken for, but there are plenty more available. (And some free Swedish Ivy if you live within a drive!)

catching up

Getting up at 5am to get Charlie up, fed and off to school each day is reaping some unexpected rewards - beyond getting to spend time with him each morning.

He's been having trouble adjusting to the regimented world of Pre-K and some days, he just can't hack it and winds up needing a caretaker for the day.

Rather than drive all the way home after dropping him off, I've been hanging out at the nearest library working on the book pretty consistently. Whether I'm working on mine or someone else's, it's getting done. But why can't libraries open before 10am?  I chill in the parking lot, and as you can see, by nine, I'm not alone.

There's a fair number of what seem to be homeschool groups - three to five kids and one adult - working quietly, (away from the computers) no cell phones in sight. It's encouraging.

Here are about half of my houseplants enjoying their last weeks outdoors. I'm going to do some serious pruning and repotting as soon as hurricane Florence drags her hem through the area next weekend. If anyone local is interested in cuttings, let me know.










Mrs. Wilson, the Swedish Ivy is totally off the chain.

Friday brought joy. As a reward for a week of good behavior, Charlie got to bring the class pet, Pete, home with him for the weekend. There were adventures that I'm sure I'll hear all about in the morning.

R&R eludes me

Four days free from the day job, but real life goes on. I got a lot of revising done, lost myself in the new season of Ozark and am presently having a delicious wallow with Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, "Born to Run". I don't want to think about politics at this moment, but wouldn't THAT be something?

He's a consummate entertainer in any medium. I was enjoying his accounts of his early childhood in Freehold, NJ and some pop culture reference made me check on how old the Boss actually is. Just three weeks older than me! 

We drank the same Tang, shoplifted the same 45's, and watched Ed Sullivan together, a scant one-hundred miles apart. For fun, I wrote him (anonymously) into my novel. You would if you could.

While soaking up the blood and chaos of "Ozark" I finished what will probably be the last batch of Dirty Threads until next year - unless I can figure out a way to make this very messy magic in my kitchen.

ps. Did I tell you how much I love seeing other artists put my stuff to wonderful use?  Thank you, Liz.

Blue

To liven things up..

stretching summer

I've always labored on Labor Day.

If you had a corporate job that paid double time on federal holidays, who wouldn't work if they had the chance.

As luck and the calendar would have it, this year, as of midnight tonight, I'm off the day job until Thursday!

Summer is hanging on by a thread, weatherwise. There are plenty of things hanging around the studio needed color and the mailman just came through with the order I placed with ProChem.

There will be color, but the mood is hushed. melancholy. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

New office space

My corner office at the library. Must remember to bring thick socks and a sweatshirt next time. If I had one of those mister things, I could have made snow!

Edited three scenes for me and two for a friend. Temporary insanity allowed me to order new dyes from ProChem.  Electric blue, turquoise, Sun & Golden yellows, Pagoda & Mixing Red, a serious black and some strangeness called red-purple.

Also brought home the Springsteen bio,  "Born to Run" and "Tibetan Peach Pie" by Tom Robbins.

Abiding

Hanging out at the library a few minutes from the school, in case my co-pirate needs a pep talk. Whatever it takes, cause all I have is time and love.

Taking a breath

Sun day.

Braves on the radio, cold Corona, some cherries.
Jim would approve.