I've noticed that I often want to update my blog even though I have very little to actually say (maybe I should become a politician...?) I've also noticed that the only way to keep Facebook from eating my life was to subscribe to a feed that just shows my friends' status updates. It's looking like short-and-sweet messages just work well for me.
So yeah, I went ahead and put up an account on Twitter, and yeah, it's linked to this blog, over there on your right. I'm wondering if the "tweets" will show as updates to the blog or not, 'cause if they do, you could be notified when I update. That assumes you don't have a Twitter account and don't want one, 'cause otherwise you could just follow me there.
***
Embroidery is progressing. Maybe when I unbury the scanner (currently there's a box of data entry work on it) I'll get some pictures in for y'all.
And, as the first tweet says, flower seeds have pretty colors on them. One packet is more expensive than one skein of thread, but you get lots more flowers once they sprout, and if you buy perennials, they're the gift that keeps on giving!
Speaking of flowers... Note to self: it was a mistake showing the kiddo how to blow the fluff off of dandelions last year. Our yard is now very, very well populated with pretty yellow flowers. Man, those things are fertile little buggers. Supposedly their roots produce a purple dye - this may be enough incentive to get me out there with a spade (but probably not).
Kid and I went to the local greenhouse for the first time today. She thought it was great, right up until the roof dripped on her nose and startled her. We now own a snapdragon start -- any flower that you can squeeze and make it go "roar" is automatically COOL -- along with the fennel I was looking for, and some delphinium seeds that I wasn't. Couldn't find the darn Maximillian sunflower seeds, though. This is getting frustrating.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Good news, bad news
Categories:
embroidery?,
marketing
The good news - the wimple and veil were almost completed....
bad news - in the wrong colors.
The good news - I apparently know how to make my stitches good and solid and secure...
bad news - which makes them a royal pain to pick back out.
*sigh*
***
Now taking suggestions for a domain name and website ideas... I think I'm going to take the good folks at Mobiuz up on their offer, once I figure out what sort of site I want to build.
bad news - in the wrong colors.
The good news - I apparently know how to make my stitches good and solid and secure...
bad news - which makes them a royal pain to pick back out.
*sigh*
***
Now taking suggestions for a domain name and website ideas... I think I'm going to take the good folks at Mobiuz up on their offer, once I figure out what sort of site I want to build.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
New residents, new opportunities
Categories:
deep thoughts,
embroidery?,
marketing,
mosaics,
music,
nature
Yeah, okay, this has nothing to do with my creative endeavors, but everything to do with beauty, so...
Our housing addition has a pond. I don't know how far I can go to call it a habitat, since they mow down to the water's edge and treat the water to counteract all the lawn chemicals that wash in and cause algae blooms, but still. Pond, fish, frogs, and drop-in visits from ducks, geese, and about every other year a family of muskrats takes up residence in one of the culverts and starts undermining the bank.
Well, we also get great blue herons, one of my favorite birds. Last year a really HUGE one got his foot caught in a muskrat trap - I know this because I was the one who noticed he'd been in the same spot all day, and got close enough to confirm how badly he was stuck.
This year it's either a different heron, or he was immature last year and has come into his full color this year, because he is spectacular. All the pictures you see with the shiny white head, black streak across the eye, kind of shaggy feathers on the throat and chest?... This particular bird looks like he has a sideline modeling for the Audobon calendar.
Yesterday and today, for the first time, I've seen a kingfisher in the area. Yesterday he was on a wire about a mile off, along the route I drive to take the kiddo to preschool. This morning he was sitting on the culvert at the pond. Yes, the same one that the muskrats like so well.
I'm going to miss the house swallows this year, though; they were living in a mailbox just across the street from the pond, and for some reason the homeowner wasn't too happy about that. Barn swallows are this really rich midnight blue with orange chest and bellies; house swallows are an equally rich deep teal-green, with white chest and bellies. I'd never seen them before last year, but in the fall the guy took down his mailbox and replaced it with something harder for birds to set up housekeeping in.
***
At the event where I taught the henna class, I also proved once again that I needed a chaperone anytime there is colored thread around. But they were five skeins for a dollar, and how can you pass up a deal like that?
Things are actually progressing with the embroidery thing. I'm outlining the lady's wimple and veil right now. You might recall a griffin I mentioned doing in Bayeux stitch; I gave it to a friend of mine whose "kingdom" emblem is a gryphon, and she said it would probably end up being part of the front panel for an early-period gown. Cool. Probably I should ask her to send me a picture of it, since I never thought to take one.
***
When you're clinically depressed, it's too easy to fall into the trap of struggling to be "happy" as the opposite of "sad." Thing is, happiness comes in moments and snippets. A guy I know describes it as the butterfly landing on your shoulder - beautiful, but impossible to try and keep around. What is better, according to my counselor and my college memories, is the idea of "peace" as the opposite of "suffering". So I've been checking in with myself yesterday and today, asking what feels peaceful to me, what brings me contentment, that kind of thing.
Or, as a great many sources of wisdom like to say, "Pain is; suffering is optional." Another way it gets phrased is, of course, "shit happens"... it's how you handle the shit that determines, oh, pretty much everything.
***
Had an email out of the blue (heh - out of the ether (I'm so clever)) from a guy who wants to host a web domain and site for me, for free, simply because he likes to assist artists and the arts. Sadly, I keep finding myself trying to examine the horse's teeth, just because it's been awhile since something like this has dropped into my lap without conscious effort on my part. All I did was leave some business cards somewhere and the guy found one.
Also, I have no freaking idea what domain name to pick. Just my name isn't very catchy, nor does it describe what I do... but like this blog, I do a lot more than just henna, even if that's the only art I'm making money with at the moment.
Hmmmm... suggestions welcome, both serious and otherwise.
***
Anyone know how to repair a stepping stone that has cracked into four pieces, just from having a three-year-old walk on it? This was the one I discovered had poorly mixed concrete, and was crumbling around the edges and all that.
I'd really rather not redo the mosaic from scratch, nor "recycle" the thing by chipping each piece of glass out of the broken sections to rebuild into another stone. Even though that probably would be both faster and the wiser course to take. That damn thing took me about a year to finally finish; I really don't want to dork with it anymore if I can help it.
***
I think I'm on an upswing emotionally; I can tell I'm improving when my brain starts providing me with song lyrics without my asking. Today it was "Beer Run" while at the cashier, paying with a $10 and getting back a $5. If you've never heard the song, try to imagine a nice hillbilly twang and someone going "yee-ha" in the background. It doesn't have a banjo, but it should.
B, double-E, double-R-U-N, Beer Run,
B, double-E, double-R-U-N, Beeeer, Ru-un,
All we need is a ten and a fiver
A car and a key and a so-ber dri-ver
B, double-E, double-R-U-N, Beer Runnnn.
Not sure who wrote it, but it plays on Bob and Tom every now and again, so I guess it qualifies as their contribution to American culture.
I will continue to agree with Steve Martin's (very old) assertion that it is impossible to remain unhappy when a banjo is playing. 'Course, at the time I'm sure he'd never heard Bela Fleck playing BACH on banjo... which would only serve to confirm, reinforce, and utterly and competely prove the point.
Our housing addition has a pond. I don't know how far I can go to call it a habitat, since they mow down to the water's edge and treat the water to counteract all the lawn chemicals that wash in and cause algae blooms, but still. Pond, fish, frogs, and drop-in visits from ducks, geese, and about every other year a family of muskrats takes up residence in one of the culverts and starts undermining the bank.
Well, we also get great blue herons, one of my favorite birds. Last year a really HUGE one got his foot caught in a muskrat trap - I know this because I was the one who noticed he'd been in the same spot all day, and got close enough to confirm how badly he was stuck.
This year it's either a different heron, or he was immature last year and has come into his full color this year, because he is spectacular. All the pictures you see with the shiny white head, black streak across the eye, kind of shaggy feathers on the throat and chest?... This particular bird looks like he has a sideline modeling for the Audobon calendar.
Yesterday and today, for the first time, I've seen a kingfisher in the area. Yesterday he was on a wire about a mile off, along the route I drive to take the kiddo to preschool. This morning he was sitting on the culvert at the pond. Yes, the same one that the muskrats like so well.
I'm going to miss the house swallows this year, though; they were living in a mailbox just across the street from the pond, and for some reason the homeowner wasn't too happy about that. Barn swallows are this really rich midnight blue with orange chest and bellies; house swallows are an equally rich deep teal-green, with white chest and bellies. I'd never seen them before last year, but in the fall the guy took down his mailbox and replaced it with something harder for birds to set up housekeeping in.
***
At the event where I taught the henna class, I also proved once again that I needed a chaperone anytime there is colored thread around. But they were five skeins for a dollar, and how can you pass up a deal like that?
Things are actually progressing with the embroidery thing. I'm outlining the lady's wimple and veil right now. You might recall a griffin I mentioned doing in Bayeux stitch; I gave it to a friend of mine whose "kingdom" emblem is a gryphon, and she said it would probably end up being part of the front panel for an early-period gown. Cool. Probably I should ask her to send me a picture of it, since I never thought to take one.
***
When you're clinically depressed, it's too easy to fall into the trap of struggling to be "happy" as the opposite of "sad." Thing is, happiness comes in moments and snippets. A guy I know describes it as the butterfly landing on your shoulder - beautiful, but impossible to try and keep around. What is better, according to my counselor and my college memories, is the idea of "peace" as the opposite of "suffering". So I've been checking in with myself yesterday and today, asking what feels peaceful to me, what brings me contentment, that kind of thing.
Or, as a great many sources of wisdom like to say, "Pain is; suffering is optional." Another way it gets phrased is, of course, "shit happens"... it's how you handle the shit that determines, oh, pretty much everything.
***
Had an email out of the blue (heh - out of the ether (I'm so clever)) from a guy who wants to host a web domain and site for me, for free, simply because he likes to assist artists and the arts. Sadly, I keep finding myself trying to examine the horse's teeth, just because it's been awhile since something like this has dropped into my lap without conscious effort on my part. All I did was leave some business cards somewhere and the guy found one.
Also, I have no freaking idea what domain name to pick. Just my name isn't very catchy, nor does it describe what I do... but like this blog, I do a lot more than just henna, even if that's the only art I'm making money with at the moment.
Hmmmm... suggestions welcome, both serious and otherwise.
***
Anyone know how to repair a stepping stone that has cracked into four pieces, just from having a three-year-old walk on it? This was the one I discovered had poorly mixed concrete, and was crumbling around the edges and all that.
I'd really rather not redo the mosaic from scratch, nor "recycle" the thing by chipping each piece of glass out of the broken sections to rebuild into another stone. Even though that probably would be both faster and the wiser course to take. That damn thing took me about a year to finally finish; I really don't want to dork with it anymore if I can help it.
***
I think I'm on an upswing emotionally; I can tell I'm improving when my brain starts providing me with song lyrics without my asking. Today it was "Beer Run" while at the cashier, paying with a $10 and getting back a $5. If you've never heard the song, try to imagine a nice hillbilly twang and someone going "yee-ha" in the background. It doesn't have a banjo, but it should.
B, double-E, double-R-U-N, Beer Run,
B, double-E, double-R-U-N, Beeeer, Ru-un,
All we need is a ten and a fiver
A car and a key and a so-ber dri-ver
B, double-E, double-R-U-N, Beer Runnnn.
Not sure who wrote it, but it plays on Bob and Tom every now and again, so I guess it qualifies as their contribution to American culture.
I will continue to agree with Steve Martin's (very old) assertion that it is impossible to remain unhappy when a banjo is playing. 'Course, at the time I'm sure he'd never heard Bela Fleck playing BACH on banjo... which would only serve to confirm, reinforce, and utterly and competely prove the point.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Bits and Pieces
Categories:
embroidery?,
henna,
teaching
Had a private henna appointment not too long ago, which was nice. I really need to thank the Java Roaster, a local coffee shop, for being so relaxed about my bringing clients there. The house is pretty much never in a state where I feel comfortable bringing people here, and coffee shops make for a nice atmosphere, so...
Taught a sort of "Henna 101" class this past weekend at our local SCA event. It's funny - I have street cred in the Society as a scribe, and all my henna experience is completely outside that hobby, yet my scribe classes in the past have never drawn more than two people, while the henna class had five or six.
The embroidery thing is progressing, slowly, but it is progressing. I'm just happy to be finished with outlining things in black, and able to move on to the colors.
There hasn't been much else happening in my creative world lately; looking forward to the Farmer's Market season in a few weeks, need to get my contract and booth fee in, NOT looking forward to using the damaged pop-up from last season. I really need to get out of the house, though, and this is my best way to do it.
Taught a sort of "Henna 101" class this past weekend at our local SCA event. It's funny - I have street cred in the Society as a scribe, and all my henna experience is completely outside that hobby, yet my scribe classes in the past have never drawn more than two people, while the henna class had five or six.
The embroidery thing is progressing, slowly, but it is progressing. I'm just happy to be finished with outlining things in black, and able to move on to the colors.
There hasn't been much else happening in my creative world lately; looking forward to the Farmer's Market season in a few weeks, need to get my contract and booth fee in, NOT looking forward to using the damaged pop-up from last season. I really need to get out of the house, though, and this is my best way to do it.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Happy and Sad
Categories:
angst,
deep thoughts,
henna
Happy: I got a call yesterday for a henna appointment with a young lady which, after answering all her questions, became an appointment for her and her mom. I'm cooking up a fresh batch of henna downstairs right now.
Sad: The Husband asked me what I really want to do with the henna, in terms of commitment and goals and all that, and I get the impression that there is a right and a wrong answer to that question.
Most of my messed-up-edness comes from focusing more on what I think I'm "supposed to" want or need, and less on figuring out what I actually do want or need. What matters to me, vs. what I believe other people think should matter to me instead.
(Sorry if that sentence didn't make any sense.)
I need to get downstairs, finish the henna batch, and sit down with my big new planning book (a sketch book with big enough pages for me to have lots of room for commentary) and figure out what the hell I'm doing.
Sad: The Husband asked me what I really want to do with the henna, in terms of commitment and goals and all that, and I get the impression that there is a right and a wrong answer to that question.
Most of my messed-up-edness comes from focusing more on what I think I'm "supposed to" want or need, and less on figuring out what I actually do want or need. What matters to me, vs. what I believe other people think should matter to me instead.
(Sorry if that sentence didn't make any sense.)
I need to get downstairs, finish the henna batch, and sit down with my big new planning book (a sketch book with big enough pages for me to have lots of room for commentary) and figure out what the hell I'm doing.
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