Sharing My World 83

Share Your World Nov.19, 2018

Are you an early to bed, early to rise person, a night owl and day sleeper/dozer, or an ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ person?

Well I don’t know, I’ve been both the first and the last one for sure. Early to bed is easy this time of year since it gets dark around 5 p.m. By eight it feels like midnight. After sleeping for eight or nine hours it’s STILL dark, but I get up and make coffee anyway and drink it by the light of my iPad, resisting the urge to stay in bed waiting for daylight while also lessening the likelihood of hibernating until February.

When we lived in Pond Inlet, NWT with close to six months of round the clock daylight, sleeping was something I would just sometimes suddenly remember I hadn’t done for a while, so I’d check my watch to see if it was a.m. or p.m. We covered our bedroom windows with tin foil to get some semblance of night. The six months of darkness were a whole other story.

W is a night owl prowler (we have night lights everywhere so he doesn’t bump into things and wake me up….I mean, kill himself) and he takes about 500 naps during the day. That could be a slightly exaggerated number. The snoring probably makes it seem to go on longer than it actually does.

What are some misconceptions about your hobby, should you have a hobby?

All my painting and drawing and crafting things are in my bedroom. That’s also where I store my yarn and finished art pieces and tools and patterns and ideas. If I don’t try to keep all this stuff confined to one room, it will grow and expand and multiply and eventually take over the entire house. It is impossible for me to create anything without making a colossal mess. Sadly, this makes me reluctant to start a new project because I dread the clean up that inevitably follows.

A penguin walks through the door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?

He is here to remind me that life is a lot less serious than I’m trying to make it out to be. He says

“Humor is the great thing, the saving thing after all. The minute it crops up, all our hardnesses yield, all our irritations, and resentments flit away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.”

I’m surprised to hear a penguin quote Mark Twain. I’m even more astounded by his poor choice of head-gear for such a chilly day in November.

Aliens have landed…do they come in peace?

They had engine trouble and were forced to make an emergency landing to do repairs. Everyone is busy texting on smart phones and no one notices. So I guess we’ll never know.

What are you really, incredibly thankful for this week?

Amazon. I am SO excited to have finally ordered a keyboard to use with my iPad so I don’t have to use the on-screen one anymore when writing things like this. I’m tired of pecking away with one finger. I will be extra thankful if my left hand still works and I can actually remember how to type. And W will be happy there are less greasy fingerprints to look through when I show him something like the above cartoon. Which he didn’t find nearly as funny as I did.

In a Different Light

It’s the same picture from yesterday, but this time with indoor light from the left instead of bright daylight from the right.

It makes a big difference! Maybe I’ll keep posting this same piece in different places for the rest of the week….in moonlight, fluorescent light, candlelight…..  No, don’t worry, I’m done.

Except to add that the candle colour matches the bathtub et.al.

There is a reason why you should look at paint samples on every wall of a room as well as at different times of the day and night before finally deciding on a colour.  As if I’ve ever done that.  But it sounds like a good idea, right?  Right.

Also, don’t paint in the dark.  What would you do without me?  I meant in dim light.  Because it will look surprisingly different in the morning.

 

 

Gentle

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Snow is gently falling this morning and if there is any wind at all, it is gentle too.

My Saturday morning house is quiet and the January light reflects off the gently rotating hangy-things dangling across the kitchen window.

Yes, there does appear to be a photo in this slide show which doesn’t belong.  It is meant to show that beauty can be found on a cluttered kitchen counter.

I am about to begin session three of my gentle stretching of miscellaneous newly awakened muscles.

There are miles to go before I sleep.

Feel free to take all of this and shape it in to an epic piece of poetry.  My brain is currently tuned to the gentle setting and won’t cooperate.

Art du Jour 24

Although perhaps it’s hard to tell from this round baby head, I’ve been working on softness and subtlety. And patience.

I spent the better part of my Sunday doing this, and still, the eyes are a little too blue, the lips too red, pencils are hard to blend…..and my patience faded with the light, so I stopped and took a picture of my picture in the daylight and this is what you get.

Then I continued watching Scott and Bailey on Netflix.  It’s a good series.  I’m too lazy to find a link, but it’s easily googled.  I like that it was created by, and stars, women.  If you think whatever you’re doing is hard, imagine being a murder investigator.

Christmas prep in earnest tomorrow!  I keep saying that….

Art du Jour 8

Today is a six-hour travel day for me.  I will be visiting 4/5 of my grandchildren for a week.  That’s not counting dogs, the count for them being 1/2.

In lieu of writing something interesting and worthwhile I am giving you this serious little person with wonky eyebrows and one large ear to look at.  It’s difficult to take a photo of a sketch, (especially at midnight under artificial light when you should be packing) and not have the reflections on the eyeballs do funny things.  Daylight works better.

And speaking of daylight, our clocks were turned back an hour on Saturday.  Spring ahead, fall back.  End up with exactly the same amount of light you’d have if you left the clocks the hell alone.  So I’m not sure who we’re fooling with this.  A better idea would be to extend October, a month that everyone likes, by a week;  and then transfer the last week of November into December, because that month is never long enough.  Isn’t that a great idea?  Except maybe not so much for all the November novel writers who would have to type a lot faster.

My great expectations for my week away include answering some of the excellent Nano Poblano prompts and learning how to draw a realistic ear.

Enjoy your Sunday (1/5 of the total number of Sundays for this November).  If you need anything else put into fractions, just ask.

I Love You June!

“If a June night could talk, it would probably boast that it invented romance.” Bern Williams

Starting off in the month of June is like starting off on the first day of a holiday and knowing that there are days and days to follow just like this one.  Because all that warm sunny weather in July and August and September is still to come and winter is far, far away.  It’s also the month of the property tax bill, but I’ve already paid that just to get it over with and make the interval from now until the next one that much longer.  And the longer daylight of this month is maybe the best thing about it.  Going to work in the daylight and coming home in the daylight – wow.  Makes me feel like work is not the only thing I did while the sun was shining.

There are birds in the bird house, seeds in the bird feeder, nuts and things in that little tray for the squirrel and green leaves on the tree.  A big black crow has taken a liking to the squirrel food and the squirrel is not amused.  It can get a little noisy out there.

And speaking of noisy, I was finally able to snap a picture of my elusive magpie, hopping about on the garage roof screeching magpie expletives at me.  There’s a reason why it’s called wildlife.

Sparkly shingles are not his natural habitat, although he does spend a lot of time up there pretending to be severely pissed off.  It’s actually my roof buddy, you need to get over yourself.  And come down to the ground where I can get a decent shot of your mad little face.

Photogravure of Robert Browning, 1865, printed c. 1893 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“And let them pass, as they will too soon,

With the bean-flowers’ boon,

And the blackbird’s tune,

And May, and June!” 

Robert Browning

Well, I’m off to flip over all the calendars.  Be still my heart.  Have a perfectly beautiful June kind of day.

I’m Saving Up

Saving up my energy

For all the stuff I gotta save.

Time in a bottle.

Nickles and dimes, and pennies in a jar.

My breath, my bones, my bacon.

Zip files, work sheets,

Drafts, attachments, changes.

The day, the trees, some time.

My voice and my own skin.

Water, whales and dolphins,

The oceans and the daylight.

Rain forests in the Amazon.

Recipes in a box.

God Save the Queen

So I don’t have to.

Also Nemo, Private Ryan.

Save the Moon for Kerdy Dickus.

Save my marriage, save my life.

Save my soul and save the fallen.

Save me if I’m drowning.

I’ll save the best for last

And the questions for later

If you save the last dance for me.

Save your tears and prayers and wishes

For the times that really matter.

Saving face and saving grace.

Save this bleeding heart of mine.

Save the children

And your heart and your goodbyes.