I'm Not at All Inspired

Climbing Cecile Brunner Rose

These little pink roses on huge, trellis-covering bushes are at their peak all over town this week. This one covers part of The Artist's studio. We hope that in a few years it will cover the entire porch. Simply beautiful and beautifully simple.

A Day off Work ... So I Can Work

Cecile Brunner climbing rose

A Friday off has been one of my goals this year. Well, not just one Friday off, but many Fridays off. It's just for me. No "Life with the Artist" - (bookkeeping, marketing, publicity), no computer stuff, no shopping, no housecleaning. Just fiber art, reading, maybe yardwork. Lots of thinking. Relaxing. Walking. List making. Picture taking. I'm tired already.

More later.

Apple Blossom Time

Apple Blossom Time

Shades of Pat Boone. Lovely day, but cold and windy. The artist and I bundled up for our weekly walk to the ATM and Farmers' Market. Yard Sale on the way. (Fire alarm sound, please.) For a buck, I bought a wooden carved komoto dragon from Indonesia to add to my carved animal collection, a rather large piece, but c'est la vie. (The seller needs to repair her truck. My heart went out to her.) Earth Day in the park. We strolled thru with our asparagus, artichokes, carrots and fresia, then along the choppy bay, watching the sea otters.

We're showing off our new bathroom and office to everyone we can get our hands on to pull into the house. Waiting until we get the shower glass in to show you. It's so exciting! A real office. A real bathroom. The artist and I each swore we'd never again buy a house that needed repair and look what we have done. I added up just how much we've spent on this house and it makes me almost weep. But, it is a half block from the water. And we have a $2 million plus house going up across the street. And, we really like it here. It's cozy.

Trying to put stuff back in my work room (the guest room), the thoroughfare for the recent tiling. Dusty from leaving the door open to the outside; I ordered a new vaccuum cleaner attachment.

The artist has been in his workshop all afternoon, except for a short time with one of his graphics clients and time he helped me hang something. He's so good. He works so hard. He's a great artist.

Time for dinner. The artist is a good cook, too. He likes to be an artist in everything he does.

One More Accolade for the Artist

More Pacific Coast Iris

The artist has been accepted into the Sausalito Art Festival! Three shows this summer. Lots of work to do to prepare for all the shows.

Interesting info I've read in the past few days:

• On elevators built since about the 1990's, the "close door" button doesn't work. It's only there to make people feel they have some control over the elevator. (New Yorker Magazine 4/21/08)
• Isotope signatures of elements in your teeth will indicate where you grew up. (National Geographic, March 2008)

The bathroom is almost completed. Just the commode, shower door and shower hookup are left. What color towels? I vote for chocolate brown.

Life on the Coast

Pacific Coast iris in the yard and miscellaneous oxalis (really weeds).

I finally saw a whale on my morning walk. That's partly because I took a morning walk. The artist sees them all the time, because he has time to take a walk. I just don't do it sometimes because, well... not enough time.

Also - sea otters, pelicans, cormorants, the usual.

Great Springtime; Also,Tax Time

Life with an Artist isn't all about HIS work, although most of the time it is. Today, I did his work and he did mine. Sort of.

I'm a firm believer that an artist should always marry an accountant so that the artist can get his or her books and taxes done for free. I just can't imagine how creative artists could fill out five different sales and use tax forms from five different states or get all their business expenses together to produce financials and do it correctly on a timely basis. Creatively, I suppose, but it's not what they do best. It's what we accountants do best.

The artist used to ask me why I would thrust his bills at him saying, "What's this bill for?" "Where's that receipt?" He would explain or find it and whimper, "Don't you trust me?". "It's not that," I matter-of-factly counterexplained, "It's the IRS." "Well, then," he wanted to know, "couldn't you be nicer about it?"

What he didn't know, and I failed to appreciate is it's just the way we accountants talk with each other. "What's this?" "Where's that backup?" We don't have time to go into a lot of detail and we all speak the same business dialect. Once I recognized and explained that, the artist and I understoond both each other and the IRS better when it came to receipts and invoices and bills and taxes. So I'm still in charge of the books and he's in charge of the creativity.

I digress. Spring. Today, the artist did (what used to be) my work - the garden. Weeding, digging, spreading compost. Actually, he got the better deal, because it was a simply wonderful day - very hot and no fog. He did a great job, and got two gophers this week besides. I think he should tan the hides for banjos, but he doesn't.

Freesias from the Farmers' Market. Ahhh. Took a long walk over there today. We're so fortunate to be a half block from the ocean, about six from the FM and four from the knitting store.

Tomorrow will be my day in the sun, unless I decide to stay inside and do something else, like fiber art, since taxes are, well, done!