Monday, August 20, 2018

Monday-2:45pm

Good afternoon!
It's difficult to take a photo of a black cat who's half in shadow--LOL!
I got closer at a new angle. 
Wanted to show you that Annie is getting stray long white hairs in her old age--LOL!  Maybe you can see it on her upper arm.  Can click to enbiggen--LOL!  (Isn't that a funny word somebody made up?!)
She has a couple more but she's not that easy to get pictures of.  Easier now that when she arrived a year ago, though--LOL!  I'll try to get pictures as I can.  These lone grey hairs crack me up.  Maybe because this old lady is also dealing with stray hairs showing up where they never used to be--ROFL!
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 I am getting a few stray birds.  Twice there was a small group here that reminded me of old times.  Not 20-30 of them, but 5-8.  I'll take it.
But this is 1/2 cup of birdseed (vs the 2-4 cups I could put out and they wanted more) after TWO DAYS.  Very few birds still.  I have seen a lone bee twice.  Pretty quiet out there. 
The bookcase arrived!! 
This giant guy (I'm only 5' 1" and he almost could hit his head on the door frame) carried it in over his shoulder like it was nothing (over 70 lb.) on a 90 degree day.  Such a sweet man.  I had a place ready for it right inside the door and he brought it in for me, too.  (Some of them will not enter your apartment even a couple feet because it's against the rules, I believe.)  The bookcase is still there--until we can arrange for a bookcase assembly day.  ;)
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I've been very slowly plugging away in the studio.  Been basically working on this one bookcase...but gathering in appropriate supplies from other spots that should go in this bookcase with all the extra skinny shelves.
Getting closer to done with this first one.  I picked the two hardest to organize bookcases on this side of the room to tackle first.  The rest will seem like a breeze.  Well, not quite a breeze, but easier by comparison--LOL! 
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Still sorting through stuff...
...but once in a while the tables look more cleared off before I fill them up again.  ;) 
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On Tuesday Caroline came to clean and Leah dropped off items from Costco and the Natural Food Store.  
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On Friday it was Gramma Day!  Ian had his lunch at home this time so I could set up the table for gelli printing.  We only used the one small rectangular gelli plate.  I ended up getting out the Pebeo iridescent acrylics in the tubes because Ian fell in love with the shimmer of the gold and silver Dick Blick matte acrylics (in the bottles you see on the right side of the table).  I had picked out a bunch of mark-making trash--also on the right side of the table down front (straws, mesh that held cheeses, pill bottles, pen parts, bottle covers, parts of a syringe/ no needle, an old shower scrubber, PVC pipe samples, cardboard tape rolls, etc).  Had the old gelli prints (that Ian took pictures of last week) ready to use for rolling the brayers clean and a stack of white card stock cut down to fit.
We were soooo busy all afternoon!  I put the paints on, Ian brayered the paint out (until he finally got tired in the late afternoon and asked me to), we put our marks on the painted gelli plate (mostly Ian), I put the paper on top, I did most of the rubbing (Ian got tired of that after about an hour), and then Ian did most of the peeling up of the paper (the magical part!!). 
You can't see well from these pictures but 3/4 of these have shimmer paint. 
We had such fun!!  Even drug out a few stencils.
Leah brought these back over with her (how I got pics because I forgot) because she wants to make cards out of them since they were mostly Ian's handiwork with a little guidance!!  Awesome!
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My back had a rough time standing over the table for so long, though.  Ian and I took a long snack break and watched Ian's favorite on youtube--Maru and Hanna.  Then we went back and played some more until we had used every color of the pebeos.  By that time we were both ready to quit.
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  So I got the stool out for Ian so he could help scrub paint off himself, the brayers, and the supplies we didn't throw in the trash as a few were reusable.  Then Gramma rested her back while Ian played "don't step in the lava" using four pillows.  He moved pillows and jumped and jumped and jumped until he was exhausted and came to sit with me to watch a final couple of gelli plate videos.  Leaves looks like something we should try!
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Let's just say Gramma was shot--LOL!  On Saturday I never even got dressed--but Leah came over for a couple of hours in the afternoon to make those invites to Liam's birthday party.  So that got done--tada!  And I was still hurtin' yesterday and had another pajama day.  
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Back has calmed down quite a bit by today, so I have been doing laundry and bedding.  I am even able to sit here to blog without having to get up as often.  (Knock on wood.)  Annie is sleeping in the chair next to me at the table.  No birds.  I was out cleaning up the planters and watering earlier--put out a whole cup of seed--and I think I have seen one sparrow stop for a snack.  Oh well.  I'm sure hungry birds will be here this fall when it gets cold.  If they aren't coming around then--I'll be shocked. 
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We've had troubles with sharing photos lately.  This is the only one that came through.  It's a little blurry--but I love it.  Daddy and Liam--eye to eye, nose to nose.
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Maybe this week--or sometime soon--we'll get the bookcase together and move things around in here.  I will try to remember to get before and after pics.  During?  Always questionable with me but I hope so.  
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Ian saw the box and right away said he wanted to help put the bookcase together.  I said I don't know what the plans will be.  Could be just Mama and me--don't know yet.  He loves to help, though. 
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Some rain came through that helped clear some of the smoke out of the air and dropped the temperature from around 90 down to mid-70s.  Ahhhh!  Loving it.   Have had the patio door open yesterday and today.  Very, very quiet with no birds.  The flowers look a little better, though.  Maybe they are breathing a sigh of relief from the sweltering weather, too.  ;)
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Till next week.  
May it be a good one.  :) :)
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"Light is in both the broken bottle and the diamond."
Mark Nepo

18 comments:

Rita said...

I remembered to make a comment right away--TaDa!! ;)

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Annie doesn't look that old. Wait till her face looks old. Then she will be old. You look like you had lots of fun with Ian and had a great day with the gelli. I'm glad you two like yours. I still don't like mine. Hope you are feeling well now, and we get to see the bookcase being assembled next time.

Serena Lewis said...

Awwww...sweet Annie! OH yes on dealing with stray hairs showing up where they haven't before. haha

I sure hope more birds come...I do wonder what became of them all. Maybe they were unimpressed by the new management taking over too?

Good idea to get the two hardest sorting tasks done first. Glad to hear Ian had a great time with the gelli-plates. Loved the end results! They will make nice cards.

Such a sweet photo of Liam and his Daddy!

I do hope your next post will be letting us know that the birds have returned. Very strange...

I hope you have a lovely week too.

Love and hugs xo

My name is Erika. said...

Hurrah for the new bookcase and and everything getting straightened out.Your prints came out great. I bet Ian had a blast making art with his grandma. :) What a fun thing to share. Happy new week Rita. Hugs-Erika

Jon said...

If I lived near you, I would assemble the bookcase. I've done a lot of stuff like that (that doesn't make me an expert, but I enjoy it).

Annie looks so relaxed and happy. I'm so glad she has a good (and stress-free) home. I didn't know cats get grey hair. My eldest cat Scratch is over 12 yrs old and I haven't seen any grey on her yet. But I did notice it on the photo you took of Annie.

Cats are probably like people - - some get grey hair and some don't. Neither of my parents ever got grey hair, it's weird.
And so far I haven't, either.

Joy@aVintageGreen said...

Hi Rita - what a lovely and exhausting and wonderful time with your happy little artist Ian! Anna is looking happy too. Your plans and organization are coming along well and I know that you are feeling better every time you write even when you are exhausted from your activities.
Rain - almost a dream - our weatherman is saying rain at the end of the week and I hope that is true.
Hugs.
Joy

Lady Fi said...

Awww - Annie looks very much at home these days!

DJan said...

Annie does look happy and content. I suspect some kind of pesticide took away your birds, but others will come if that's the case. You and Ian sure did have a lot of fun together. But remember you need to take care of yourself, too. Glad you're feeling a bit better now. We have terrible air quality, on the way to "very unhealthy." I hate it but what can you do? :-(

Anonymous said...

Tiring or not, Gramma Day is the BEST!!

Divers and Sundry said...

I bet I go white before Annie does lol I'm glad you've had some birds beginning to find their way back and hope their numbers increase as the weather cools. Sounds like you and Ian had a blast! What fun to hear about you two artists and your busy, productive day. Such wonderful art and memories y'all are creating!

Far Side of Fifty said...

Your birds will be back. I am certain of it. Your Annie is getting old! How old is she anyways? I cannot recall...6 maybe? She sure is chilling out!
You have quite a project with the bookcases and storage areas:)

Rosie said...

I love days with the grandchildren too, but they are very tiring. I treasure those days because as they grow into teenagers they might not be so keen to spend time with Grandma. Those stray grey hairs are a real nuisance, thank goodness cats don't know the difference!!

IntenseGuy said...

Ah such a wonderful gramma day!!!

TammyV said...

I think having a gramma that has as many goodies to play with creatively as you do has to be the very best gift for any child! Need something for that idea - look! Gramma has it! no need to stop - just keep on moving through. Glad to hear some of your birds are back but am sad that you are seeing no bees and not many birds. Breaks my heart.

Jenny Woolf said...

Black animals really are hard to photograph! that's such a lovely picture of Liam and Daddy. Ian must love his sessions with you, I wonder if he will be artistic when he is older because of all this early fun!

froebelsternchen said...

Just wonderful Granny Rita! You can feel blessed with those wonderful boys!

pearshapedcrafting said...

I'm glad some of the birds have returned - Annie has her own TV back!! Gelli printing with Ian sounds fun! What a great photo you got of Liam and his Daddy! Good Luck with the sorting - and I guess by now the bookcase will be up! Have a good week, Chrisx

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

Ian's artwork is beautiful. He has a good eye and is very creative. What a treat it must be for him to spend time with you and get to do such fun projects!

Annie looks very comfortable and relaxed. Quite a change from when her first days with you. :)

That cooler weather after the hot, steamy 90s sure feels good, doesn't it? Enjoy!