It’s looking like the end of summer. Time for an August Misc. update. The leaves are starting to color on the trees and the goldenrod is in bloom. It just feels different now, too. Of course, you could argue it’s the loveliest time of the year, and is not so hot so you can actually enjoy being outdoors. Our veg garden did nothing this year, but the flower beds were gorgeous.
I’ve made another moss terrarium, this one for Mom. It’s doing well and I’m pleased with how it turned out. The little cat glass terrariums I posted in the last post are going crazy. The baby tears cuttings are going to take over.
Pi is scheduled for surgery to remove the leg September 14. He’s struggling a bit. Everything feels a bit crap these days. I’m watching Twister constantly and dreaming of inappropriate toilets.
It’s already mid July. How did that happen? The summer is going much too quickly, as always. What have I done to show for it? Not much, actually. Some art projects. Some garden maintenance. Lots of riding the spin bike in the evenings. Watching YouTube videos on how to make better YouTube videos. I’m trying to take care of my health, but I’m still waiting for my CPAP machine and new glasses to come in. I don’t know, it rather feels like I’m squandering life.
The last two summers were spent with painting, and I haven’t done any painting at all. I do miss it. My latest project was creating this small moss terrarium (below). I wanted it to be like a living book nook, but I don’t think it was successful. I did manage to make a tiny staircase which is kind of cool. I will be interested to see if the moss grows or dies. I think they are kind of fun to make, and might make nice gifts, especially for people who have cats and can’t have regular houseplants.
Not that anyone ever reads these posts, but if you do, I’d greatly appreciate it if you’d subscribe to my YouTube Channel (click here). As I mentioned above, I’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos on how to make better YouTube videos. I don’t know why I find the work so interesting. You can see more garden updates that way, too as I’ve been taking regular videos.
I do miss reading. I used to love the summer reads each summer, sitting on the couch with Maxy on my lap. Maxy is gone, reading puts me to sleep, and my bad glasses give me a headache when I do try to read. I have been listening to audio books. The latest is Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts. They aren’t ghost stories in the traditional sense, though I suppose there’s one or two like that in there. It’s more the uncanny type of stories that will remain in your mind long after you’ve read them. I wasn’t sure with the first one or two, but now I highly recommend it. Many years ago I read a collection from Breece D’J Pancake, and there was one particular short story that never left me about a snow plow driver. This book is full of interesting tales like that one.
After finishing Severance on Apple+, I am now on the third season of Servant. I guess it is renewed for a fourth season, but that won’t be out for quite awhile. Severance was excellent.
Yes, mid July and I am squandering life. How is your summer going?
It’s the end of June; the 4th of July weekend is upon us. June has passed incredibly quickly. Temperatures have either been high or low, no averages. Barely any rain. Things seem abnormally stressful, and I wish I could just let go of everything and enjoy the weather and the season and life. Any suggestions for how I make that happen?
I did finish the koi print, above. I’m pleased with how it turned out. I drew the image free-hand on the wood, then carved it and printed it. One of the things I like about carving the wood blocks is they are a bit of a work of art themselves, compared to linoleum. If you would like a printed copy of this koi piece, just email me and I will snail mail it out to you, free of charge. I’m not sure what else to do with the prints? I had said when I finished this piece, I’d go back to drawing/painting, but I have a bit of fear about that. What image will I choose? There’s just a complete fear of the blank page. I’m at my best mentally when I’m doing an art project, so I should start something. Last night I put myself to sleep thinking of Zines, so maybe I’ll do that in the meanwhile?
We’ve had almost no rain, so the garden is struggling a bit. The grass is turning brown and it’s hard to water enough to keep up. We have some green tomatoes, little peppers, and a tiny eggplant. We are trying to work out some watering solutions for Mom’s garden. It takes forever to water everything. As always though, her gardens are gorgeous and everything is three times the size of mine at home. I’m so glad I put the little water feature in this year. If anything, I’d have made it a bit larger. There’s something so peaceful about bubbling water.
June is Bustin Out All Over! Summer weather has returned to Michigan. We’ve had the air conditioners in service at home and at work. Everything is lush and green. I’ve got all of the annuals planted at home, but still need to put in the perennial natives at the shelter, clean the vegetable garden, and plant all of the vegetables. It seems like I’m a little behind. Last year in the first week of June we were concerned about frost, but it doesn’t look like that will be the case this year.
Mom and I did the greenhouses, and got (most of) the cemetery plots planted. A major rain storm stopped us from completing all of our tasks, but we will go back later in June to finish up and see how our plantings are doing.
I’ve started working on a full size Book Nook (click here for examples, from Buzzfeed). While I have lots of ideas, I’m starting with a forest scene. Fingers crossed it turns out well. I’ll post some photos of the progress. As always, I don’t wind up having a ton of time to work on art projects. I’m anxious to get back to some wood cut printing as well. I am working on catching up on crochet cat blankets for adoptions at the shelter. We had run out while I was working on my last baby blanket project.
I’m not doing summer reads this year, but I am listening to the audio book for The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore. It’s quite captivating so far. I mostly listen to audio books when I’m making dinner.
If you are feeling also that June is Bustin Out All Over, and have the need to sing, click here for the song. Hope your month is off to a great start.
It’s Gonna Be May? No, it already IS May, and well into it. This week May feel more like July though, with highs predicted in the 80s. I saw a meme the other day that said something like Summer? No, Outdoor Depression. With the state of the world, it’s hard to look positively on things outside your own home. I’m lucky to have happiness there.
While I did not manage to create my own postcards to send this year for National Postcard Week 2022, I purchased some cards from amazing artist MN John (check out her website here, postcards and stickers and all amazing!). I didn’t send out many, just enough to feel like I sort of participated this year.
The flower beds have been all cleaned up, though I haven’t started on the vegetable garden. I did install our tiny water feature, and this Thursday will be putting in the water plants. I’m super excited to see how it turns out. The perennials are coming right up and looking good, but nowhere like they will be in a few weeks. It’s an exciting time of year for gardeners. Just over two weeks until greenhouse day.
Work has generally been a giant dumpster fire of stress. Not enough staff, unhappy staff, not enough money. Typical nonprofit stuff, I suppose. Kitten season has started, and as I’ve said before, you should never give your heart to a kitten. Cass here has spend some time in my office helping me work. He’s a good boy.
Ideas on the horizon? More linocut printing, book nooks, more YouTube videos and follow up on My Michigan Garden. Gardening, reading Nature is a Human Right, and waiting for my sleep test. Hope you are having a decent spring, or at least enjoying better weather.
It’s time for some mid April misc. thoughts. This morning we had snow, enough to coat the grass, but the rain later in the afternoon took care of that. With today’s high at 41 degrees and tomorrow at 43 degrees, we’re about 20 degrees below average for this time of year. Our daffodils at home are at least a week behind. The crocuses in the woodland garden did bloom, though the ones closest to the house were eaten by deer.
The gardening group started some spring clean-up at the shelter, and I cut back two bunches of tall grasses, mulched and caged the baby trees near the paw, and put down some plastic to kill the grass under some new beds. I have yet to do any garden clean up at home. You can see progress on my garden at the My Michigan Garden YouTube channel here.
50th Wedding Anniversary
On Friday for Mom and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, I took breakfast over and Mom and I ate and looked through her wedding albums. It was a lovely morning. On Sunday, Easter, Bob and I went over for a delicious dinner. The rest of the weekend, we had a plumbing project in the laundry room that took up a good deal of time. Having a washer and dryer in your home really makes a difference.
Art
In my recent Plein Air magazine, there was an article entitled ‘Painting New Mexico’s High Desert’ by John Meister. Sometimes, I’ll read something that will just have me feel in my mind’s eye the description the author paints in words. This article contained such a description:
“Some people get why it’s called the Land of Enchantment the minute they step out of the airport; others spend years here before they realize it’s part of them. For the visitor, the history, sights, and cultural diversity provide a host of experiences. This is a place where stories are born. This is New Mexico.
Santa Fe, one of the top art markets in the country, sits a 50-minute drive north of the state’s largest airport in Albuquerque. The city’s warm adobe walls cast shadows and pitch light in every direction; bright floral gates and windows trimmed in color provide alluring subject matter for visiting plein air painters. At this elevation, the zenith of the sky is a deep ultramarine, and an outdoor painter doesn’t need much training to see this blue clearly reflected in the shaded areas below.“
I’ve continued to work on some linocut printing. I’ve turned out a fox that was ok, and I’m using this bee to print on notecards for inclusion in my Little Bee Basket for the shelter’s upcoming auction May 5th, Cinco de Meow. My friend and previous boss Tina Slayton passed away. Though she’s been away from the shelter for some time, she helped me through a really rough period where I wasn’t sure if I could continue to work at the organization. She made things better for me, for the staff members, and for the animals. If there is a rainbow bridge where the animals wait, I know Tina’s Gracie will be there. But there will be so many other dogs and cats from the shelter that will be there too, to thank her for caring for them.
We are past the vernal equinox, and spring is officially here. Mom’s crocuses are up, and perhaps after a warm start to the week ours will be up at home as well. Next weekend is supposed to be cold and snow again, but that’s pretty normal for this time of year. We almost always have a snow in April when the daffodils are in bloom, but we are getting to the end of that kind of weather. In less than a month the oriole and hummingbird feeders will be up. We are starting to hear more spring songs from the birds in the mornings, and Bob’s coworkers have heard the spring peepers. I will start working on the hardscaping on the garden soon and the gardener’s group at work is getting started.
I’ve been working on some zines, and as a side project I’ve been doing some linocut block printing. It’s not great so far, as you can see, but it’s a skill that takes practice for sure. I’m really enjoying it though. I put myself to sleep at night thinking about linocut designs.
This is my first real completed zine. I started out with one on declawing, but I have to adjust the margins to get it to print. I’m working on one on monarch butterflies now. I’ve also amassed my own nice little library of other people’s zine creations. Zines are a lot of fun.
I’ve been spending a little time on oil pastels, and I am so pleased with how the one above turned out. I’m using a Sennelier oil pastel set. They blend beautifully, and there’s something nice about just being able to grab them and get to work on the couch without water and brushes. I did a little quartet of pieces below. I am anxious to do some more painting for sure, especially with the oil pastels. I like the soft pastels, but I haven’t figured out how to blend them without rubbing a hole in my finger tip. There seems to never be enough time to do everything I’d like to do.
Our garden is reaching the end. We have some cherry tomatoes that I’m not sure will ripen. And we’ve had these monstrous cucumbers.
Honestly I don’t even like cucumbers. They are slimy. But I did make three jars of refrigerator pickles and I think they turned out ok. It won’t be long before I start cleaning up the gardens. Some of the asters are still in bloom, but everything else is starting to look kind of dead. The temperatures have been in the 70s during the day and it’s been sunny and lovely out. It seems hard to believe that it’s nearly October already.
Painting #47 is the final of a trio of cats, painted in gouache. This one was the final painting required for the HSSCM Pet Portrait FUNdraiser. Sage is actually a shelter cat. I think the fur on the back turned out pretty good, and her eyes are good but not quite how they really are in person. Sage has gorgeous eyes. I feel ok with this painting. At a bit of a loss on what to paint now, but whatever it will be will take place in watercolor. I barely had a chance to play around with watercolor before I started the cat trio.
Do you ever get so tired you feel physically ill? Yesterday I lived life in dog years, and today I am suffering. I have yet another headache, but the tiredness is making me sick to my stomach. I feel like I could sleep for days and not catch up.
It’s been hot and humid again. Some of the leaves are changing early. We had a few Cherokee tomatoes out of the garden, and some cherry tomatoes as well. The cucumbers are just starting to come in, and I planted another round of arugula and radishes over the weekend. The flowers are looking pretty good.
Next week I am taking an online three-day course with MSU on gardening. A little bit of continuing education is good for everyone. Normally this would be an in-person thing and I wouldn’t consider going. I really prefer Zoom meetings, and COVID has been good for that. Calhoun County is up to a “substantial” level of COVID again thanks to the Delta variant. I never stopped masking so it’s not a big deal for me, though masks aren’t mandated here in Michigan anyway. Between COVID, the state of climate change and the environment, and political views, the best thing you can do for your mental health is observe and work to protect yourself. It is a scary time for humanity, though.
I’m done with Amazon. Their refusal to pay corporate taxes, the way they treat their staff members, and the horror that is Amazon Prime delivery services has finally ended it for me. So for me, it’s no more amazon. I’ll be paying more to place orders at independent stores and will be supporting hopefully the USPS (even UPS and FedEx are better than Amazon Prime deliveries). Today I ordered a book from The Book Beat in Oak Park, Michigan. Last week I ordered two from Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately we don’t have any great independent art supply stores around here, so I usually order from Blick. My favorite peanut butter is cheaper on Amazon, but I ordered directly from the company. And don’t even get me started on Etsy:
Anyhow, in July please consider shopping local or supporting independent sellers online. It can really make a difference in their lives! Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite local or online independent retailer.
It’s been raining a crap ton (over four inches in the past week). Everything is wet, inside and outside the house. Ants have moved into my office. But at least we haven’t had to water? Consumer’s Energy gouged electric rates daily from 2:00 – 7:00pm. That’s not an exaggeration. It was literally a 50 percent increase. When it rains forever, it’s pretty humid. And the only way to beat it back is using air conditioning. Which is now much more expensive. At least it’s not as hot as it is in the west right now.
I did start the summer reads with Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time. It’s pretty good so far. Lots going on this week, and at this point I’m not sure how everything is going to shake out. In the meanwhile, try to breathe deep and appreciate the little things.
