Yes, I have them!
Many, many books.
But sometimes I get books from the library, as well.
This is by a woman who has a bookshop in New Zealand. The stories are about dogs she has known, and also about her interactions as a youth worker.
I haven’t read much yet, but I’ve had a few sniffles so far…
I have also been fixing some of my blank and writing books.
I have discovered the joys of washi tape! 😆
Hopefully I can keep the covers from shedding too much.
Now I just have to write/draw in them…
At least, it was…
Thought I’d take advantage of the break in general raininess to go on an Artist Date.
It’s something I’ve not been too consistent with, but today, everything came together.
I started off at the library, finishing off a book I’d been reading, and looking through a magazine. I enjoyed taking my time, and felt rested.
It seemed like a good time to check out the gallery, which is showing an exhibition of abstract art at the moment. It’s called “Arriving Slowly“, which seemed appropriate for my day.
It looks better in person…still time to check it out!
There was a little side room, which contained some paintings – one of which was a Rothko.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in real life before.
For some reason, I didn’t expect it to be so big.
I had a look at the rest of the gallery, and came across a lovely Margaret Preston.
I believe I have seen her work before, but it was nice to come upon this unexpectedly.
This one is called “Wild Apple”.
Next, I went down to the Community Gallery, where they were showing an exhibition called “Terrain“, an exploration of landscapes through ceramics.
I believe these are all pieces by Rachel North, although I wasn’t sure I was reading the labelling correctly.
Go and have a look, and tell me if I got it right! 🙂
There were a variety of pieces, which didn’t really photograph well for me…
probably best to go and see for yourself.
I’ll end with this one, which I believe was made by Kirsti Falconer.
It was a refreshing day.
And something I should do more often…
Very, if you can trust my camera phone.
My pots have been inundated with rain, and seem to be ok with it.
Our house has had some inundation as well, but hopefully that’s been fixed.
And I finally got the towels (all the spares in the house!) that were used to mop up, and set aside (for a rainy day 😆 ) clean and drying…
My mini(ish) rose flowered.
And the plants in the back were enjoying their shower.
Frog garden?
Presumably, the unicorns are hiding…
Happy space 🙂
My bee-on-flower ornament fell over with the storms, so I moved it to another pot.
And my frangipanis are glorious!
It was a bit of a storm tonight…
no inhouse flooding for us, thankfully, but some hail.
The hail didn’t last for long. Just long enough to get the car as far under the overhang as possible, before the rain drowned it out! 😆
There was a spectacular lightning display out the bedroom windows as well.
So, we’ve been checking the windows for flooding most evenings this week, as the rest of the world flows around us.
Feels like there are storms all over the place, and at least half the world has lost their collective minds.
Feels like time for prayer.
And no, not “thoughts and prayers”.
More like the warrior kind…
and a time to not forget that joy is coming.
Or, if you’re not quite there yet, and need to remember that you’re seen –
I’ve been out this morning – a women’s get together at church. We were doing “faithbooking”, which is basically scrapbooking.
Lots of fun!
It wasn’t as hot as I’d expected, even while I was waiting outside for my ride home.
I took some photos of flowers, just because they were there.
And I’m sure the sky was smiling at me!
😀
It’s Saturday night – time for some music!
Ok, I can fit in another one…
Whether scraps or smiles
flowers or fuzzy clouds –
it’s been a good day!
🙂
I don’t like this summery version of spring…
felt a bit woozy in the heat today. Lots of water/cordial was had.
Well, at least I finished my lino print!
Not perfect, but I quite like it.
I plan to call it “Ya Reckon?”
…which is sort of how I’ve felt today. Lots of thoughts rolling around in my brain! It’s been a bit difficult to process the news lately.
I found comfort in my Bible reading this morning. Someone made an interesting choice!
Also enjoyed listening to songs I’ve loved in the past, and reflecting on the variety of music in this world.
But this morning I also realised that, no matter what happens in the world, I can still create beauty. I think that’s sort of my job 🙂
And I can continue to notice the little bits of good in each day, whatever the circumstances.
Life grows, even through the cracks in the concrete, the dirt, or the bitumen.
Time to create – to burn bright in the dark skies.
Still haven’t finished my print.
I have done quite a lot of it.
It’s me! 🙂
Only in one colour, though.
I finished the carving for this colour yesterday, and printed up proofs and the prints for the edition.
There are always things you don’t quite expect – this time around, the pin holding the roller in the holder fell out, and there were a few ink-where-it-shouldn’t-be mishaps.
Overall, it went well.
I was achy this morning, but had hoped to get the last bit done.
My back argued with me, after hours of bending over the lino block. And my (cutting) hand wasn’t best pleased either. I decided that the best results would come from leaving the final printing until next week…
The (mostly) final block – it’s only while I’m looking at it now that I see that one area needs a bit of fine tuning. I’ll need to cut some paper to mask the bigger areas, as well.
Why am I thankful?
Well, for one, right now I’m comfortable in bed with the fan on, and a cup of tea by my side. 😀
But also – even though I ache from using muscles harder than I’ve had to lately, I was still able to do it.
And that’s just wonderful!
I don’t do Halloween.
Our neighbours do…
Yes, it’s not very clear – had to take it quickly because there were people walking around it and I don’t like to put random strangers (at least their faces) on here without permission.
That’s just one section of the yard – there’s lots more to see. And at least some of them are movement activated, so we’re getting strange sounds drifting across from time to time.
Skeletons don’t scare me, but I have been putting off carving my lino block for my next assessment.
I’m very good at procrastination.
Got started on it today and, as usual, it wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be. Not the design or design transfer anyway. The actual carving requires more energy than I had today, so I’ll continue tomorrow. Of course, it would all be easier if I didn’t take aeons to think about everything that could go wrong!
The block that I’m using is 40 years old, so it might not be as easy to use as these new-fangled lino blocks…
Yes, I have carved a bit more than that!
I think I’m so tired today because we were out yesterday (I pretty much came home to bed). Glad to be able to be out and about, though 🙂
We went to our favourite place.
🙂
Checked out the flowers before going in.
I don’t know what these are, but they look like tiny parrots.
Pink seemed to be the order of the day.
…and a welcome cup of hot chocolate.
I did find my own little monster for the windowsill.
A…dinochicken? Chickosaur?
Like I said earlier – I don’t do Halloween.
I do, however, do “silly”.
😀
..to see where the leaks are!
We (along with lots of other people) were suddenly hit with a bit of a storm last night.
Pretty sure there was hail, too.
The people over the road had their Halloween display reconfigured, including an absolutely massive spider upending itself on the lawn – I’m assuming it’s some sort of heavy plastic. Now they’ve added giant figurines…
I was feeling snug and dry inside – we’ve been through storms here before.
There was leaking through the roof of the back porch, and a river was running down outside our bedroom window (the guttering is either split, or has a hole), and there was a fair lot of water that had come through the door/window downstairs. That’s happened before, and we had enough spare towels to plug all the leaks, in the end.
The boys were watching the cockatoos grimly hanging on to the tree next door – one seemed to be attached to a branch just by a wing tip – so I went to check the back porch area again.
I thought it was funny that, amid all the sound and fury, one tiny sprig of leaves had stuck to the kitchen window, with nothing else around it.
This little mini twiglet.
It’s not focused particularly well because, just as I snapped a shot, I realised that the kitchen windowsill was rapidly trying to emulate Niagara, and the next chunk of time was taken up by plugging the gaps. I’m not sure whether it was coming through the window seals or around the metal frames – I just stuffed towels everywhere they’d fit.
All dry today, and nothing wrecked.
Glad I decided to keep all those towels when we moved, though!
😀
a bit of creativity, a bit of eco consciousness, a bit of inspiration.... hopefully not a lot of pompousness and blathering :D
i'm not entirely sure what's going on here... let's travel along and see...
1000 Fields of Roses 