so here I am...

At the Greenville Arms, figuring I had better get some blobbing in before the students arrive and the evening begins.

Along the way I crossed the Rip Van Winkle bridge (built in 1933-35 for $2.4 million) heading for nearby Hudson, NY to visit Usha.

Glad she was here today - she's leaving tomorrow for multiple quilt shows - first stop, Quilt Odessey in Hershey, PA.  She lives here - in a town that has reinvented itself and oozes charm, galleries,interesting restaurants (but no Indian food), antique shops, and cool clothing stores. It seems to be thriving and is mobbed with tourists.  It's about a 2 hour drive from NY City.

Usha's store is like walking into heaven. Color everywhere!
Gorgeous scarves, bags, pillows, her fabrics, and lots of other items. What a visual treat!

I had hoped we could get out for lunch but the store was busy when I got there. So, I went out by myself and ate at
Earth Food (or some name like that) and had to take a photo of the chilled avocado and cucumber soup. It was divine.

Despite the heat and humidity, I then wandered up and down Warren St., which is the main drag.

I walked into an art gallery where the 12"x12" paintings were $1200@. Someone was seriously contemplating a purchase of one. When is the last time you sold a 12x12 for 1200 smackeroos?  Even net, not bad for that size.

Back at the Greenville Arms - I was happy to meet Cindy Ferguson in person today and spend some time chatting while we were multitasking (both on our computers).  I KNEW she looked familiar, and sure enough - we're FB friends - LOL.

Time to get ready for wine and cheese, which can't come soon enough for me.

yesterday's laugh and good/bad stuff

Somehow, I found James Walsh's blog yesterday and in about 2 minutes, was laughing out loud. I couldn't relate to every post, but his rants are too funny and so British. This is good.

I

You can tell I am desperate for content when I scrounge around on my camera and find a picture like this one, let along post it here.
1) I took it a few days ago but I have no idea where I was. This is not good.

2) I think there was a monarch butterfly I was trying to capture on film (uh - disk) but it was faster than I was. This is also not good.

I worked all day and accomplished a few things but none of my pictures came out well and I am too lazy to retake them.
Hence, the above photo of weeds and the missing Monarch.

The Lexus people towed away my husband's beloved car today. It has gone through 3 batteries in 6 months and they can't figure out why or how to fix it.  This is bad.

What is good is that now I have room on the driveway to park away from the sticky tree.  I have to get my car washed about 5 times in a row to get all the glop off.  I need to see out the window while I am driving to the Hudson River valley.  Was going to get the car washed today but it got pretty clean sitting in the torrential rain this afternoon.  This is also good.

Got out my el-cheapo alginate blender and made print paste this morning, to take with me.  I just hope I remember everything I need  -- steam pot, hotplate, and a bolt of PFD in addition to the usual suspects.

Just in the past two weeks, two esteemed gallery curators have asked me to participate in ART exhibits they are putting together. Mine will be the only textile work. This is VERY good.

  Fortunately, they have not seen this piece of my handiwork, of which there are 4 more that turn up like bad pennies every time I turn around.  I can't even burn them because of the polyester fabric. This is bad.  I need to re-use them but this is also bad.

What is on your good and bad list?

frying fish

Well, not literally.  Dentist this morning, after which I continued my hunt for tahini.  I used to be able to buy it everywhere but somehow, these days, I can't find it very often. So on the way home from the dentist I stopped in yet another supermarket and bought the last two cans. This should hold me for a while, like maybe 2 years. The top can is almost empty.

Now why, you might ask, do I need so much tahini? Good question.  I seem to use a lot of it.  I always make my own hummus bi tahini and baba ganouj, which require this ingredient.  Both are so simple to make and so wonderful and much less expensive (if you amortize the $6.49 can over a year's time - LOL) than buying it.  Besides, it is authentic when I make it. The recipe comes from a Syrian/Lebanese cookbook that the father of my children brought back as a gift when he returned from a sojourn to the middle east 35 years ago.  I almost always have some in the fridge and can make it on the spur of the moment.

Hummus bi tahini

1 cup canned chick peas, drained.
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed

Throw chick peas in food processor and purée.  While the processor is running, slowly add tahini and lemon juice, alternately.  Add garlic crushed w/ salt.  Sauce should be thick and smooth but if it seems to thick, thin with water.
Yum yum yum.

1 large eggplant, baked or broiled or grilled till skin is crisp and starts to crack open & flesh is soft.  Scoop pulp out and throw into food processor.

Add 1/3 c. tahini
1/2 c lemon juice 2 cloves garlic, 3/4 tsp salt
Process till smooth.

I bought radishes and was going to make a delicious radish salad with tahini from a vegetarian cookbook I have,but never got around to it tonight. Maybe tomorrow I'll post this very different, tasty recipe. I mean, there aren't all that many recipes for things to do with radis.

Now it is almost 3:am - I drank too much coffee but did get some work done, moving things around on my design wall, which is out in the hallway by the front door.  The problem is, if I move it so it is not blocking the a/c vent, then it is blocking the door from the garage (which we use constantly) and it falls over every time, scattering my carefully placed pieces of cloth. 

So this is why it looks different every time I post it. It falls down and can't get up.  I feel as though it's one of those rubic cubes - I can move the pieces around but will never get them in the right places.  I think it is my procrastination board.  But I have given up for tonight.

a vintage day

In 1950, there were penny postcards.  Letters cost 3 cents if you sealed them; 2 cents if you tucked in the flap.

I found these postcards I had sent from camp when I was at my mother's apartment today and brought them home. "What are you going to do with them?" asked my husband.

The doorman at the luxury building where my mother no longer resides, called me today to ask whether I would rent the ap't to someone who was having renovations and needed a place for a couple of months.  So I went over there to see what was what. There had been a leak on the outside of the building and there is some damage near the window.  The garbage disposal doesn't work and there is a leak under the sink. The bathrooms have not been redone since the building was built 40 years ago, and the closets and drawers are overflowing with papers and STUFF.    I called the potential renter and gave her a heads-up on her voice mail but I don't think she'll want to rent it.

I cleaned out the refrigerator, threw away notes on little pieces of paper, NY Times magazines from 2005 piled up on the kitchen floor, and god-knows what else. And it made me sad to throw away stuff without even looking at it, knowing
 that my children will do the same thing.  I stuck the "household hints" folder back in the cabinet; loaded with newspaper articles like "how to keep your mahogany furniture shining."  Someday I'll go through them.

I had thought my mother might come back here some day, but even if she does -- with a live-in -- she doesn't need 5 year old frozen pizza or 10 year old shampoo.  I have my work cut out for me...but not yet.  First, a plumber.

I did come home with one treasure.

They're making repros now but this is the real thing: a Toastmaster that I grew up with.  It is older than I am and probably in better condition. I checked the serial # - it was manufactured between June1938 and May 1939.  My parents got married in May 1939 so there you are.  I doubt it was a wedding present; my grandfather had a hardware store and I am sure my father brought it home.

Marty will love using this toaster and I suspect I will, too. But we still need the toaster oven for bagels or thick slices of good bread.

And what, you may ask, have I been doing tonight?  I cannot tell a lie: therapy sewing.  I sorted all my strips into one box and have been thinking about what I can make with them.  No conclusions yet. I have other fish to fry.

ahhhhh

We took a walk after dinner. After three days of heat so intense we could not leave the house (you know what they say about elderly people not going out in a heat wave), a cool breeze is wafting in my window and the air conditioning is actually off.

It rained a little bit last night and we are expecting more tonight -- good, beause my poor flowers are thirsty.  Mums are doing better, albeit in the wrong season. I don't get it -- they are autumn plants.

And the few daylilies that are left were blooming this morning when I went out to get the papers.

The pile of small pieces waiting to be finished includes one that is already sold, so I am not going to post it.  Here are a couple of others standing in line.  I finally decided it needed the black border and decided to leave it alone.  It just didn't look as good stretched.

This one hasn't been stitched yet -- although I did put some in last night and then unpicked them.  Shouldn't quilt when I am tired.  Once I sit down to do it, it doesn't take that long -- it's finding the time to sit that is the problem. My friend Victoria advises taking just 15 minutes a day at the sewing machine.  Sounds like a plan for me: I can do it on my coffee break.

There's one more 12x12ish but I couldn't get a good picture of it -- and then a big one that requires thought before I stitch it; something I am short on these days.

This has been one long weekend - from one end of the week to the other, probably because I have been working at home.
Next week, hopefully it will be cool enough to go to the studio.

it's Friday

Up late working, which I haven't done in a long time.  Stitched a small quilt and just need to sew down the facing; have two more sitting next to the machine and ready to be stitched.  Maybe tomorrow, after I do what I have to do.
And maybe tomorrow, I will have pictures.

The Textile Blog

In case you missed all my excited posts yesterday about being profiled on The Textile Blog, go take a look at a review of my art by someone who gets it.

I love this erudite, interesting and wide-ranging look at textiles, artists, and design - both historical and contemporary.  John Hopper, the author, sees textiles as ART and his overview and insights are illuminating.  I feel very lucky.

I remember being blown away by seeing the work of my friends Gerrie Congdon and Helene Davis  reviewed on the Textile Blog and there have been others -- some of whose work we know; others you might not be as familiar with. A world of discovery!  Check it out.

Except for picking up the newspapers from the driveway, I did not poke head out all day into the triple-digit heat. It was 103 here for the last couple of days and no signs of cooling off to any great degree.  Goodness!  That's ok - I have plenty to do that requires me to stay right where I am.
I think it is a day for therapy sewing...

blogger will evict me

if I don't post.  It has been a week of errands, medical appointments, and bill paying, plus a lot of other even more boring things. YES, there are more boring things. LOL.

This morning when I went out for the newspaper, I noticed that despite the heat and drought (and the underground sprinkler system that doesn't work) the mums are starting to bloom. MUMS?? It's only July: what's wrong with this picture?

And here's another picture: you might wonder why there are FOUR - count 'em - 4 phones on the small desk in the kitchen.

Uh --a year's worth of static on the line led me to drag these up from the basement and test each one to make sure it wasn't the phone.  Today, after 500 years of paying for "line maintenance," I finally cashed in.  The phone guy showed up bright and early and found/fixed the problem with the wires.  We are now static free.  Hooray!  Do you think I need to remove the phones from the desktop?

We spent the afternoon at the V.A. hospital, where Marty has a  primary care physician.  He (the doctor) is adorable (that counts for a lot), gave us his cell phone number (also counts for a lot) and spent at least an hour with us today (jackpot!) None of this 15 minutes, "next patient" business at the V.A.  OTOH - you can sometimes wait and wait and wait.  But today wasn't bad -- in at 1:30, out by 3:45, including lab work and x-ray.  I'm getting kind of fond of the place.

Long day, capped with martinis, ribs, and a stop for Haagen Dazs on the way home.

I did manage a day in the studio last week but when I got home, the housekeeper had invaded my sewing room and neatened it up. Horrors!! I normally don't let her in there but since I wasn't home, she couldn't resist. So the floor was vacuumed and clean and everything else was piled on the tables.  I spent last night removing the offending items and putting the mess back where it belonged.  Now, at last, there is some horizontal surface visible.

So, I am caught up - sort of.  Time to go have some of that ice cream!

Thursday check-in

One of the on-line lists I belong to has a Thurs. check-in, which is good because even if you don't post any other time, you poke your head in once a week. It's so late that it's already Thursday so I'm checking in with you before I call it a day (or a night).

You'd think I would stop leaving my camera in the studio - but no-o. Anyway, I was there today and it was amazingly relaxing.  Imagine that!  My daughter-in-law Nancy stopped in and we had lunch, surrounded by Thermofax screens, paint, and who knows what else.  By the time she left, I was feeling mellow enough to get something done.

The piece I've been working on for myself I will not show you, but here's some other stuff that was on the wall.  I brought it home with me and played further tonight.  I am still futzing around with this thing as a diversion.

And I'm auditioning stuff for this one, which started by accident. Really!

That's all, folks.  Early appointments tomorrow - we have to be up at 6, so I'm outa here now.

it's the weekend

I keep referring to the past few days as "the weekend," although they were not.  When we got home yesterday we regrouped and then met our friends Bonnie and Ron for dinner.  They had flown into Newark en route to France and were flying out today, so we met them at their hotel and went out for paella in Newark's Ironbound section.

Getting to the hotel was such a nightmare of convoluted turns and "you can see it but you can't get to it" maneuvers that I am finally ready for the dreaded GPS.  More dreaded, however, is trying to find one's way around New Jersey: land of no road signs and many death-defying highways like Route 1&9. Yes, that is 1 AND 9.  There is also a route 9, although I don't think I've ever come across the phantom route 1. It must be someplace else.

Then, there is Route 22, where the left lane is the slow lane and where my car was once totaled while I was stopped at a red light. I no longer drive on that road. 

While I have been throwing fabric at the wall today, to no avail, Heather Dubreuil, who took my class in Canada, has been busy making art with the fabric she printed.  She cheered me immensely by sending me some pictures: here are two of the pieces she created with her gelatin prints.

That's all from the Front.

can you believe it??

This is the first time in a decade of collecting construction fence that anybody ever said NO.  I went back, asked the guy nicely if I could have a few inches of it and he told me to go to the hardware store. NO, he said, I don't have enough.  There were piles of the stuff lying around in the back and he couldn't spare 6 inches? I could have cried.  So much for asking, next time.  Ha - this gives Picasso's quote new meaning!  "Good artists borrow; great artists steal."

Next, on to what purports to be the Botanical Gardens of the Berkshires.  $7@ entry fee and I have no comment about what we saw and didn't see (mostly).  After that,we drove into Stockbridge and sat on the porch of the famous Red Lion. Marty napped, I had a bloody mary.  We grabbed a bite - I will spare you the details of THAT, too. It is hot and humid and the promised rainstorm has not materialized.   Marty is napping and I am going out into the heat to read my book which, btw, I am loving.  I do wish I were reading it in the original French,however.


Things should improve with our dinner at Chez Nous tonight.   Can't upload any pix because I am on the Inn's computer and there is no visible USB.

Tomorrow, after breakfast, we head home to start our 29th year of marriage.