testing …

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Today, 2:15 pm: Just about an hour ago, Norman and I were tested for Covid-19. Walgreen’s Drug Store is opening 700 sites across the country … and we’re lucky enough to have one as a next-door neighbor – in fact, I understand, the only site in Washington DC, so far. It is a drive-through only site.

The test itself was easy enough to conduct: we each received a packet with 4 Q- tips, were given verbal instructions on what to do: use the same Q-tip to swab inside both nostrils and deposit [it] in a small fluid-filled vial. Contact with the testers was minimal:

  • everyone had on masks and conversation/directions conducted with windows closed, i.e, rolled up; 
  • ID: insurance cards/driver’s license were held up to the windows – the worker entered the information on the forms;
  • we were asked if we’d had any flu-like symptoms in the past 7-10 days;
  • we each swabbed our own nostrils and deposited the cotton swab in a small vial – filled with a liquid – maybe water ???-  that we put into a plastic bag and dropped into a receptacle;
  • and then we drove off.

Results from this totally painless test are expected in about 5 days …

A quiet  – though still very hot – weekend on tap… I’m looking forward to reading, finishing my #100dayproject, staying cool —temps forecast low 90s for the next 9 days. It’s July. Why should I expect anything different?

Whatever’s on your agenda, do have a safe and good weekend.

Cheers~

 

unraveled wednesday |7.8.20…

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In early April, I started a noon time practice : Daily Pages, led by rukristin of the Awesome Ladies Project. We meet via Zoom and have a virtual creative party for about 20-45 minutes… each of us makes some type of art page in a journal of our choice on a technique/topic of our choosing. We can choose to share or not! No pressure. Just a lovely way to spend time during Covid-19, +++

Over the past two months, I’ve shared about 6 of my pages on this blog. The photo above shows the pages I made yesterday and today; the top half also features the little art zine booklet by Malaka Gharib that appeared in npr’s Jan 7 Life Kit (and also shared by Bonny on her blog, Highly Reasonable). I find that I really enjoy this noontime break and have at least 3-5 pages in various stages of make… No pressure. No illusions. Just fun!

Today, I went to the dentist and my hygienist inquired about my quilting. I admitted I’ve not really done any quilting. I’m not sure why – other than I’ve just not been so inclined or inspired or both.  In fact, I’ve barely stitched anything – other than mask making – since I finished Kayla’s quilt (pictured above in the lower photo) when she graduated high school June 2019!  Funny that she asked that question for just earlier this morning, before my appointment, I began again – for the first time-  a book from my personal library: Why We Quilt: Contemporary Makers Speak Out about the Power of Art, Activism, Community and Creativity by Thomas Knauer,  Storey Publishing, ©2019. Perhaps I was feeling the desire to resume quilting. I suppose time will tell.

I find it interesting that on the one hand I’m buoyed by a new creative practice and on the other, rather out of sorts with an older one … for both have in common creating something new and whole out of pieces.

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday.

 

sometimes mondays | 7.6.20…

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It is Monday and post to blog is always a staple. Most Mondays I do… As the day moved on, I found my energy fizzling, my list of must do projects/tasks growing and several creative projects forwarded to tomorrow ~ which is probably already overbooked. Ah, such is life.

I shall blame my inertia on the heat – low 90s. As I look out the window, I see a darkened sky, moving trees, a flash of lightning and off in the distance, hear the rumble of thunder. A summer storm … an invitation to bring this post to a close and to play some with the creative project I paused earlier this afternoon. Yep, I think that’s what I’ll do. Fingers crossed we don’t lose electricity!

Cheers~

 

 

begin again*…

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This year, 2020 – 244 years ago – the United States, on July 4, 1776  declared its independence as a nation…

This year, 2020, the United States, is experiencing  a world-wide health pandemic of epic proportions…

This year, 2020, the United States, is at a crossroads, on the threshold of finally living up to the ideals and principles of the Declaration of Independence for all peoples of this country  – or not.

*Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., published just this week: [It ] is at once a searing exploration that lays bare the tangled web of race, trauma, and memory, and a powerful interrogation of what we all must ask of ourselves in order to call forth a new America…  Good Reads

Will we begin again?

unraveled wednesday | 7.1.20 …

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~1 july 2020 Daily Page~

Starting my third month of  creating Daily Pages in 3.25 x 5.5 pocket-sized FieldBooks. I find that I am very much enjoying this mid -day break (held via Zoom, 5 days a week)… a chance to stretch, express my creativity, play around with paper, glue, paints, color, design, stickers, etc with no required outcome beyond F-U-N!  Plus, the added bonus of using a BIG LOT of my scrappy supplies. When I started this activity, I had no idea I’d take to it so wholeheartedly or that it would be such a welcome diversion to Covid-19 times. And for that, I am extremely grateful.

Knitting on the log cabin-9patch continues, tho’ with some difficulty. As I join rows, I’m stressing my hand so I’m taking 1-2 days off in between the row joins. I may just stitch, rather than knit, the one last row of join. I’ve been knitting during the 4  – 5 pm hour most days. My next project: a second sock to knit, including the toe of the first sock. I thought I’d knit the 2nd and then do the toes on both at the same time…

Walking and Reading the past few days accompanied by the audio version of Louise Penny’s Bury Your Dead; I’m about 1/3rd through. It’s been too hot to go out every day…and that has slowed my audio reading to a crawl. I’ve four books – print- in the queue that I am starting this week…keeping track in a new planner…more to come, later.

Looks like it’s time to publish this and go downstairs for the 4 pm knitting hour.  Joining Kat and Friends for another Unraveled Wednesday

Have a great week.

Cheers~

 

one little word |6.30.20 …

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Birdsong @ Sunrise – 5:51am /6.30.20

Last month I wrote about my desire and intention to resume some form of daily art journaling, a practice I abandoned, perhaps 5-6 years ago. Why ? I know not. This time around, I think I want to be messy – but, that’s not really me, my style, despite the fact that I someitmes leave my computer desk in a state of messy. If I’ve been there too long and tired overwhelms, I put the computer to sleep and walk away until the next day. I don’t do this often but it is a habit . And I must admit, since we’re on the subject, that is exactly what I did last night.

Over the past two months, I hae been creating some form of art – though I wouldn’t call it messy, on an almost daily basis. My canvasses are small, ranging in size from 3.5 x 5.5 inches to 5.25 x 8.5 inches. I  find that doing this daily is causing the juices to flow a bit.  I look forward to the daily break and miss it when I don’t make.  I’d have to say that this definitley is  a habit in the making … including my quest to try my hand at messy art journaling. 

I wonder how July will fare?

In this month of June, how has your word shown up in your life? Please share your link below and if there are problems, add the link to your post in this blog’s comments. The linkup expires July 7, 2020.

I look forward to reading  about your June 2020 One Little Word experience. Thanks for sharing and have a safe July 4 holiday.

Cheers ~

PS. Ever wonder why birds sing at sunrise? Read on.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

friday 5 | 6.26.20 …

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Wednesday turned out to be a gorgeous day: I was especially buoyed by the jaunty day lilies I saw and I took not one, not two but three walks. The middle, longer one accompanied by Gretchen Rubin and her sister Liz Craft on their weekly Happier podcast – Episode 279: Halfway through 2020: Check In with Your #20 for 2020 list and #Walk20in20 and a Spotlight on Just Mercy.

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Thursday I spent the best part of the afternoon in the dentist’s chair – having a molar readied for a crown…not on my agenda, at.all! C’est la vie…Best way to sum it all up: when it rains, it pours. And pour it did – buckets … just as I was leaving the dentist.

Friday (this morning) brought these two articles to my attention:   This article is another viewpoint on a subject of attention and concern for many Americans, as well it should be for us all. I also read Austin Kleon’s weekly Friday update and found this week’s to have a lot of interesting links. And the best news …

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Today, niece Dolly and Eugene were married in a park where family members and guests could social distance. Those of us not in the area – as far away as Ohio and Los Angeles – attended via Zoom. Great, great fun…and in these times, possibly the next best thing to being there!

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After the wedding, I took a long walk to the Franciscan Monastery.  Yes! The outdoor sanctuary/grotto was open… complete with fish in the Koi pond. I sat a while to regain my energy for the return trip but more to appreciate the beauty and the peace of the grounds, trees, sky, so very needed in these trying times.

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Have a lovely and peaceful weekend and life.

hello today | 6.23.20 …

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this intro page in my art journal* 

  1. it’s tuesday and, and hot ~ a cool 90°!
  2. the new air conditioner is working just swell!
  3. the clock ticks, ticks, ticks, bringing my attention to the time of day: 3:15 pm. my time flies…and
  4. I’m rambling…
  5. interrupted by Norman needing help with the iPhone 6+ ( I gifted him my old iPhone when I upgraded to an iPhone XR just days before Covid-19 began to shut everything down, back in March. (Geez, it’s been that long?)…
  6.  he can never seem to get the phone to recognize his fingerprints; perhaps someday soon we can go to an Apple Store and get them to help make it easy for him to use the phone…
  7. t’is a source of frustration and consternation: the former for him; the latter, moi…
  8. this summer, I’m attending stay @home art camp, created by me for me. camp includes Daily pages, Haiku and a new activity: a summer art journal, and other creative pursuits, including more mask making…guess the latter is just going to be the case… and oh yes, the other item in the photo is the cover of a  2019 Happy Planner notebook of paper, most likely no longer available …
  9. and to wind up this post, a reminder that tuesday next, 30 june, is the monthly sharing of activity with our 2020 words – right here on this blog.

Stay cool and create on!

Cheers~

*is a collage I created from a quilting magazine article promoting a quilt – “Pine View” – created by Lori Mason using a fabric line, Shasta from RJR Fabrics; the butterfly shapes I made and I also used stick on letters and phrases…