Archive for June, 2010

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about life in general, and the biggest conclusion I’ve come to is that I’m scared of a lot of things.  And when it comes to art, I’m petrified of showing anyone anything because I never think it’s “good enough.”

So, as I told you earlier, I’m going to take part in The Sketchbook Project.  But it will be a few weeks before I can order the sketchbook.  So when I stumbled across Journaling in July, I realized it would be the perfect warm-up.

I’m trying to decide what sort of book I’m going to use.  I do have a blank, medium-sized  journal that would probably do nicely.  The paper is a little thin, but maybe I could toughen it up with paint, or glue something in, or …?

I think I’ll try a variety of things, from sketching, to painting, to digital.  But I’m going to try to keep a balance, and not rely on the digital too much.

Anyone else interested in journaling too?

Ten days ago, I went to my first meeting of my new book club.  The club has been meeting for at least a year (I’m not quite sure how long, exactly), and it feels like a really good fit! (So it looks like I can cross “#20 -Become an active participant in a book club” off my Day Zero list!)

The book we read was Matthew Kneale’s When We Were Romans.  It was a quick and interesting read, told from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy.  As the story unfolded, it was hard not to get caught up in the drama, and begin to wonder how reliable the narrator was given his age, his sources of information, and his perceptions of events happening around him.

As books go, I can say that I enjoyed it, but it did make me sad.  I try not to include spoilers when I talk about books, but I will say that there was a glimmer of hope at the end, and that made me happy.

The next book we are reading is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.  I don’t have it yet, but I’m looking forward to reading it.

I actually made it to my rughooking guild today.  I think it was the first regular Friday gathering I’d made it to all year!  But I picked a good time to show up, as it was the last day before the summer break.  It was also the last day of our guild’s rug show at the Saint John Arts Centre.

The ladies never cease to amaze me with what they can do with a hook and some strips of wool.  So much colour and expression and individuality.  I took pictures of each piece so that my eyes could savour them long after the show had concluded.

I didn’t have anything in the rug show because I am (only just now, more than two years later!) finishing the edges on my first piece.  I have three hooked projects that need the edges finished (the covered bridge was framed, so it’s all done), so I made myself swear that I wouldn’t hook anything else until my UFOs (unfinished objects) were taken care of.  This naturally meant that I stopped hooking for months, but I finally bit the bullet and, with my pal Rosa practically holding my hand, began finishing my first project.

I’ll post pictures when I have my three UFOs finished, but for now, enjoy the “shear” wonderfulness of the rug show: The Carnegie Rughookers — For the Shear Delight.

In the middle of the night, at 2:54 AM to be precise, I woke up.  I toddled off to the bathroom and then went back to bed, stunned that a certain black and white dog hadn’t stolen my spot in that brief amount of time.

At 3:24 AM, I tweeted, “Wide awake in the middle of the night, listening to the falling rain.”

A half-hour later, this tweet followed: “3:54 AM: The first sounds of birdsong for the day…”

For the next hour, I laid awake, listening to Hubby breathe, smiling at the tiny woofs and foot movements of Piper chasing something in her slumber, and wondering if I would get back to sleep, or if I should just get up and enjoy the quiet.

I wish I’d gotten up.

When I finally did fall back to sleep, I had the worst nightmares.  Thankfully, I don’t remember much about them now, but the vividness at the time was a little too much for my liking.  And then the inevitable (and probable cause of the nightmares): I woke up with the worst, rip-roaring migraine imaginable.  A “hold onto the wall as you move because you can’t really see because you’re blinded by pain” kind.  So I took drugs and went back to bed and now I’m up again.  I don’t have to hold onto the walls anymore (thank heavens!), but somehow I don’t think I’ll be running any marathons today.

Zaph, in the meantime, has decided that there is nothing wrong with me that eighteen pounds of purring Maine Coon Cat can’t fix.  Not content to merely play nursemaid, he has become part of today’s wardrobe, either draped around my shoulders as a stole, or sprawled across my lap like an apron.  In any case, he’s determined to let me know he’s here for me.  (And yes –  he’s already had today’s treats!)  Ah, my handsome boy.

So it’s time for more drugs and then I’m going to go lie down with a book.  A friend who saw my Day Zero list (#20 — Become an active participant in a book club) has told me about the two book clubs to which she belongs.  One of them meets tomorrow night at her place, and she has helpfully found a copy of When We Were Romans for me to read.

Catch you later, Gentle Reader!