Windy Day
It's windy today.
And it's over 60 degrees out. Warm, it seems, after the highs in the 20's.
So I spent the morning in the OUR Center garden, cleaning it up and wishing for a better way to keep the mulching leaves down on the dirt. I dunno. The gusts were just swirling the covering leaves everywhere. Watering them down worked for just a little bit, but then they were dancing around as soon as they dried, and that was pretty quick around here, it was just a waste of water, and I can't condone that here. But I laid them on all the beds with plants still in them, covering them up against the cold weather that is coming.
I pruned back all the raspberries, and I'll have to setup some kind of support system for them during the winter. It's easier when they're bare, but I am just covered in scratches from the thorns. I dumped three heaping wheel barrows full of clippings, weeds, and other dead plants as well into the dumpster. I'm glad it was half empty.
I didn't stop until past 1. It was good, hard work, and I'm now sore all over. I had my usual lunch at Good Times, a crispy chicken sandwich, a small lemonade, and a single scoop of the Oregon Blackberry.
I thought about all the folks in the Pacific Northwest. I hope you're doing okay with power and are dry with that storm that slammed around out there. It made John and I oddly homesick and still anxious for everyone. I hope everyone's okay.
Spent the afternoon with a How to Draw Manga book from, of all things The Society for the Study of Manga Techniques. There are nearly 70 volumes at the local library, and I'm starting with #1 and getting lots of work in for each of the chapters. It's really good stuff, and I finally drew a picture of Danny Boy that I like and can recognize rather than the completely generic "uhm... it's an elf??" kinds of portraits I've been doing for a while. Dandelion hair, laughing, and without an ounce of guile, now I have to think of the rest of the Gomi Gumi gang and see what I can think of.
Now all there is is practice. I love practice. I don't know if I need to be really good at it, just good enough to satisfy myself that I've learned it, I guess. But it would be cool to be able to whip out a manga-like drawing of anyone I wanted to do, the basic forms are pretty simple, actually, with plenty of room for detail when one wants to. I still have Chrisber's picture of Soccer Angel Liralen, and that is kind of inspiring. :-)
Jet and I get the evening together as John's got a meeting. I managed to write another chunk to the Ash and Thorn group but the scene isn't done. I'm trying to do better at taking my time and setting things up and really describing more rather than doing what I do when I read, which is skim everything until I get to The Point, damnit. Sometimes it's better to create a little anticipation. But I'll have to make sure it still gets somewhere good.
The Dragon Slayer Academy books are only nine chapters long, each with only three or four pages to them. I'm starting to think it would be a fun form and length to work in... but then the whole idea of a manga-like thing would be very cool, too. *laughter* Too many choices!!
And it's over 60 degrees out. Warm, it seems, after the highs in the 20's.
So I spent the morning in the OUR Center garden, cleaning it up and wishing for a better way to keep the mulching leaves down on the dirt. I dunno. The gusts were just swirling the covering leaves everywhere. Watering them down worked for just a little bit, but then they were dancing around as soon as they dried, and that was pretty quick around here, it was just a waste of water, and I can't condone that here. But I laid them on all the beds with plants still in them, covering them up against the cold weather that is coming.
I pruned back all the raspberries, and I'll have to setup some kind of support system for them during the winter. It's easier when they're bare, but I am just covered in scratches from the thorns. I dumped three heaping wheel barrows full of clippings, weeds, and other dead plants as well into the dumpster. I'm glad it was half empty.
I didn't stop until past 1. It was good, hard work, and I'm now sore all over. I had my usual lunch at Good Times, a crispy chicken sandwich, a small lemonade, and a single scoop of the Oregon Blackberry.
I thought about all the folks in the Pacific Northwest. I hope you're doing okay with power and are dry with that storm that slammed around out there. It made John and I oddly homesick and still anxious for everyone. I hope everyone's okay.
Spent the afternoon with a How to Draw Manga book from, of all things The Society for the Study of Manga Techniques. There are nearly 70 volumes at the local library, and I'm starting with #1 and getting lots of work in for each of the chapters. It's really good stuff, and I finally drew a picture of Danny Boy that I like and can recognize rather than the completely generic "uhm... it's an elf??" kinds of portraits I've been doing for a while. Dandelion hair, laughing, and without an ounce of guile, now I have to think of the rest of the Gomi Gumi gang and see what I can think of.
Now all there is is practice. I love practice. I don't know if I need to be really good at it, just good enough to satisfy myself that I've learned it, I guess. But it would be cool to be able to whip out a manga-like drawing of anyone I wanted to do, the basic forms are pretty simple, actually, with plenty of room for detail when one wants to. I still have Chrisber's picture of Soccer Angel Liralen, and that is kind of inspiring. :-)
Jet and I get the evening together as John's got a meeting. I managed to write another chunk to the Ash and Thorn group but the scene isn't done. I'm trying to do better at taking my time and setting things up and really describing more rather than doing what I do when I read, which is skim everything until I get to The Point, damnit. Sometimes it's better to create a little anticipation. But I'll have to make sure it still gets somewhere good.
The Dragon Slayer Academy books are only nine chapters long, each with only three or four pages to them. I'm starting to think it would be a fun form and length to work in... but then the whole idea of a manga-like thing would be very cool, too. *laughter* Too many choices!!