Exciting Day in the Life

Wednesday was an exciting day in my life. The Artist’s work appeared on the cover of a national magazine.

We had known that the owner of the dulcimer was writing an article for the magazine and she had notified The Artist that it would be in the Winter 2011 issue, but to have it appear on the cover (and the CD that accompanies each magazine) was a gigantic surprise and brought us both tremendous pleasure.

I give huge thanks to the author, a prominent banjo and dulcimer musician, Mary Z. Cox, for her very kind words and thoughtful insight into the true value of historical instruments. Mary maintains a great appreciation for instruments made in the traditional way and believes that musical instruments have real personalities and destinies of their own.  As The Artist said last night, “She really gets it!”

But… the day wasn’t over!

Wednesday evening was the annual Gail Rich Awards in our home town. The awards honor the abundance of creative artists—dancers, craftspeople, musicians, writers, artists, actors, entrepreneurs, teachers, clowns, exhibitors, purveyors—who make our town so culturally rich. This year, one of our good friends was honored. We had to attend and waited in line for a half hour before the awards began.

Of course, I took a copy of the just-received DPN magazine to show everyone we knew and some of those we didn’t! Turns out one of those we didn’t know formerly owned a well-known dulcimer shop in town. (People at shows still ask us if we knew the shop.) “Didn’t know that magazine was still in business,” he quipped. Well, it is and at volume 37, #1, it’s better than ever; in fact, I think it's the best one yet!.

Another Heat Wave

Two more days to summer, but it's hot in our normally foggy and cool coastal town. Moreover, the "chiller" at my place of business died early this morning. The chiller is a giant air conditioning system for the entire building. We had a portable unit in the parking lot when I left this evening, a large tractor trailer, but we were making do with fans. My desk is under a vent and I am usually freezing all day. Not today.

The nice thing is, usually the hot weather "over the hill" (a 2000' mountain) pulls in the fog and after a couple days of heat here, the natural air conditioning turns on and we get fog, while it's still sweltering in the valley over the hill. Today's Thursday. That means Saturday or Sunday. Let's see if it works.

The good thing about the heat is blackberries and ice cream. Blackberries grow in the alley behind the house and The Artist picked two sun-ripened pints each of two days. The Artist and I have reached the age when seeds no longer agree with the digestive system, so I use the food mill and make seedless blackberry pulp. Slightly sweetened fresh blackberry pulp over vanilla ice cream is to die for.

The Artist has several new pieces that will be photographed tomorrow.

I have entered my fiber art piece in a local show. I left it with a friend to get it photographed for several days and it loked like a new piece when it was returned, so I guess it passed the sniff test of likability, at least for me.

Oh, yes. The main computer hard drive crashed. We knew it was getting flakey and The Artist backed up everything earlier this week, but it's never pleasant when it crashes. Let this be a lesson. If your computer starts squeeking, get a new drive. Don't let your husband tell you, "It's just the fan.". Take it from me. Forget removing the case and vaccuuming out the back. Forget oiling the fan. It's the hard drive. It's been the hard drive, not the fan, the last two times the computer has squeeked. Believe me, there will not be a third time it's the fan.

An Unfortunate Scene with a Gopher

First Sweet Pea

I started out to the garden this chilly, foggy morning to take a sniff of my newly blossoming sweet peas. As I got half way thru the sliding glass door, something caught my eye, running along side the house at my feet, under the door plate. I, a rather voracious reader of Medieval novels, immediately assumed it was a large rat carrying the bubonic plague. The giveaway was the lack of a long tail. Not a rat, but a fat gopher. We have often seen them running around the neighborhood this year, probably because of all the building. (In this year of real estate doom and gloom, there are about 4 new houses going up and several remodels. Some people are optimistic, or else have lots of cash and want to live by the ocean.)

Anyway, this confused gopher was not going to get in the house on MY watch! I slammed the door and caught him against the side of the house with my be-slippered foot and screamed for The Artist, who was a few feet away in his shop creating a wonderful new rote with six double-faced keys. My Hero. The gopher was shortly sent to the garden as fertilizer. We checked gopher central, out in the alley, and among all the gopher mounds was a patient little kitty, waiting to pounce on his next treat. Poor kitty missed this lucious one. (All I could think of was that old children's song, which starts out, "Gobs...".)

Worked on my fiber art piece all this weekend. I have to get it done in order to get slides made for a show deadline. It was going really well until I ironed some glue without the parchment. Whoops. Time to pull the plug, cool the iron, and do something else. I'm really pleased with my accomplishments this weekend. I've learned so much about fiber art in the past three years, thanks to so many people in my fiber art group.

I decided to celebrate and made myself some hot chocolate. The way I make it always makes me think of breakfast in France.

Nap time.

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.

Easter Sunday

Beautiful day. This is the earliest Easter in over 100 years. Our house is a mess, since we are redoing the guest bath. So, no Easter dinner. I just can't handle it. But, like my husband the artist said, "This is what you wanted." I know, I know. Only about two more weeks. Then, full Spring housecleaning.

Ranunculus in the Garden

In the meantime, we have cases of musical instruments all over the house, chairs in the wrong places, guitars in the bedroom. The office is 1/3 blocked with plastic tarp, the gallery is full of contractor's tools, my office/art studio has piles of junk. I know that this, too, will pass, but I feel like the only sane place is sitting on the couch knitting or reading, facing out the front window. It's still a little chilly to sit outside.

A month ago, my husband the artist/luthier/craftman and I went to NYC for vacation and to see friends and then on to Baltimore to participate in The American Craft Show, the annual fine craft show sponsored by the American Craft Council. Such a great show. Wearables, glass, ceramics, metal, wood, fiber. Incredible artists. Wonderful experience, probably our best ever at a show. We try to make that feeling last. I wish we had started doing this years ago. We took a class on blogging at the show, which is the impetus for creating this journal.

I'm working on a fiber art entry for a local show with my fiber art group. Each of us is doing an individual piece and then we'll put them together to show as one. I had such a hard time getting going, but I think I've started now.