Checking In
I've been nudged. I didn't realize it had been two weeks since I had last posted. Ok. It's been a busy two weeks.
Lillian, being 4 had a much easier (and cheaper) birthday than the others. It was fun and she liked all her presents, especially the belly dance doll who's name just happened to be "Jasmine."
Anna resigned her presidency and I am now president of the Fellowship. I'm okay with being president. I do have my own control issues! Things seem to be going fairly well at NUUF. Tracy finally managed to land some repairmen who can make repairs and do all the painting for a heck of a lot less than the first company who wouldn't return phone calls or show up to appointments. They even have a practice of smudging the building before and after the project! A good fit, obviously. Craig Corbin has rejoined and, oddly, so has Lee Agnew. I don't know what *that's* about and I'm trying to figure out how to ask.
Banmala asked me to lead their "farm team" sister troupe and I agreed. I needed SOMETHING to rekindle my interest in belly dance. I'm looking forward to making up dances and molding the look and feel of the group. I don't want to dance with Banmala. They are a fabulous group of fun ladies, but I don't want to put the work into it that they do.
I have enrolled in an on-line watercolor course. Naturally Steve Rice has reared his, uh, head and has buried me in work. Now, I need the money pretty badly. Having the roof and the car fixed in the same month as some major birthdays and SWUUSI has left me pretty flat. So I've barely done the exercises in the first lesson and if I get cracking tomorrow night I'll be able to slide the homework in under the wire--a simple painting using 2 of the 4 techniques in lesson 1. I finally have a sketch of Lillian that looks like a pretty young girl that could be distantly related to me. Now I'll tackle Samantha (metaphorically speaking) and work my way up to Catherine and Elizabeth. I really enjoy drawing people. I draw lots of things because I want to be able to draw anything, but people are the most interesting subject.
I am finally, finally, finally giving the final read and polish to the Man Who Needed Killing. I think I'll finish A Memory of Damascus next. Then I'll have to think about what I want to write next. I *should* write another countess and I may. I read a bunch of Nero Wolfe books last spring and it sort of breathed new life into the Countess. They are contemporary and they have a wonderful light, sardonic tone.
I took last Monday off. It was Debrah's birthday--she would have been 60. I put flowers and chocolate on her grave and sat on the grass for a while crying. What a raging bitch! And yet . . . it's so impossible that she is dead. I treated myself to a high-calorie lunch and sat in La Baguette with an Ipod and a sketchbook, zoned out pleasantly for a while.
The air conditioner was out at work today and I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm forgetting something but if it comes to me I'll do an addendum :-) or maybe just another post.
Lillian, being 4 had a much easier (and cheaper) birthday than the others. It was fun and she liked all her presents, especially the belly dance doll who's name just happened to be "Jasmine."
Anna resigned her presidency and I am now president of the Fellowship. I'm okay with being president. I do have my own control issues! Things seem to be going fairly well at NUUF. Tracy finally managed to land some repairmen who can make repairs and do all the painting for a heck of a lot less than the first company who wouldn't return phone calls or show up to appointments. They even have a practice of smudging the building before and after the project! A good fit, obviously. Craig Corbin has rejoined and, oddly, so has Lee Agnew. I don't know what *that's* about and I'm trying to figure out how to ask.
Banmala asked me to lead their "farm team" sister troupe and I agreed. I needed SOMETHING to rekindle my interest in belly dance. I'm looking forward to making up dances and molding the look and feel of the group. I don't want to dance with Banmala. They are a fabulous group of fun ladies, but I don't want to put the work into it that they do.
I have enrolled in an on-line watercolor course. Naturally Steve Rice has reared his, uh, head and has buried me in work. Now, I need the money pretty badly. Having the roof and the car fixed in the same month as some major birthdays and SWUUSI has left me pretty flat. So I've barely done the exercises in the first lesson and if I get cracking tomorrow night I'll be able to slide the homework in under the wire--a simple painting using 2 of the 4 techniques in lesson 1. I finally have a sketch of Lillian that looks like a pretty young girl that could be distantly related to me. Now I'll tackle Samantha (metaphorically speaking) and work my way up to Catherine and Elizabeth. I really enjoy drawing people. I draw lots of things because I want to be able to draw anything, but people are the most interesting subject.
I am finally, finally, finally giving the final read and polish to the Man Who Needed Killing. I think I'll finish A Memory of Damascus next. Then I'll have to think about what I want to write next. I *should* write another countess and I may. I read a bunch of Nero Wolfe books last spring and it sort of breathed new life into the Countess. They are contemporary and they have a wonderful light, sardonic tone.
I took last Monday off. It was Debrah's birthday--she would have been 60. I put flowers and chocolate on her grave and sat on the grass for a while crying. What a raging bitch! And yet . . . it's so impossible that she is dead. I treated myself to a high-calorie lunch and sat in La Baguette with an Ipod and a sketchbook, zoned out pleasantly for a while.
The air conditioner was out at work today and I'm exhausted. I feel like I'm forgetting something but if it comes to me I'll do an addendum :-) or maybe just another post.