Gosh it's cold...

At the next Friends of the Alphabet meeting I am going to do the program: calligraphy on fabric. Yesterday I worked on more samples, with a 3-D project in mind. It was lovely to work in my studio, as I have cleaned everything out of it. It is a big empty space, ready for whoever wants to work there. Everything felt new and wonderful, and it all still worked.

I had thought John would want to work there, but his work keeps him too busy to work on printmaking as well.

Unfortunately, the big computer on which I used to upload photos has died. The other computer does not have the specific photo uploading software on it, and who knows where the original disk is that came with the camera...so this is why no photos at the moment. Hopefully we can remedy the problem soon. I miss photos.

We have a visiting cat. How can I turn away a cat when it is 19 degrees out? What are her owners thinking, leaving her out?

School begins again on Monday. I think I know what a sailor on a little ship feels like when a storm draws closer.

Alas for Bhutto

So, my first full year as a resident of Gainesville is winding down. It has been quite an adjustment. And I am still adjusting.

The lake dwindles, and I find myself morbidly half-hoping that the water will completely disappear just so I can see how Atlanta handles the crisis. My parents-in-law brought their own drinking water when they came for Christmas, just in case. My kids are helping with the water crisis by eliminating bathing, and we have been just busy enough not to notice.

And I finished my first semester as a grad student. It went better than I expected, after I got over the going-back-to-school jitters. Only 4 more semesters to go! And it is so interesting! And I am learning so much! However, my thoughts turn back to calligraphy in this "break." Can I crank out some things in the next week or so? Or will I just keep sewing? (I have been sewing Christmas presents.)

And now I am going to roust my youngest for a bath, even as I mourn for Benazir Bhutto. She was an amazing woman, and I will miss her presence on the world political scene. We need more such good women.

Sad little neglected blog! You got me through those awful first months right after we moved, and now I've temporarily abandoned you. But fear not! I'll be back! I'm learning all kinds of exciting things at my new school, and having a great time. But it will end. And I do have something to scan that I got excited about...it is too dark now, so I'll have to wait until morning.

Distracted

My basement studio is all cleaned up for the houseguests who stayed there recently. It looks like an inviting, yet alien corner of my life. For I am mired in my statistics class until July 31. Then I get to go visit my dad with my whole family, and then the kids go back to school, and then I myself go back to school. I am going to go to Brenau University, here in Gainesville. I am enrolled in their Clinical Counseling program (MS). For I have decided that this is something I can do, and maybe enjoy and be good at. At the same time I will leave my options open and perhaps I will end up an Art Therapist, or maybe not. Hard to say right now.

I am just consumed with p-hat. And probability. Life is interesting that way--you think you are doing one thing and then suddenly you are doing something else, yet really you are the same person you were before, just on a different path, thinking, "I wonder where this will go." It is a luxury to be able to do this, to explore new avenues of growth. I can peel out in different directions because I know life is cyclical, and I will return to this same spot before I know it. If I thought I would never return to calligraphy then I could never leave it.

Yet my thoughts are pulled back to Holbein Acrylagouache. You are so much fun, acrylagouache--I have not forgotten you! And the messages from Cyberscribes pile up...I dove in and found a thread in which Sheila Waters participated in and that was a thrill--but mostly I don't have time to idly peruse those messages. And of course the constant pressure from the kids--they must play Runescape as much as possible...

Well, all is chaos, between the problems with our good computer and my classes and everyone being home all the time for the summer. The old monitor died, so John bought a fancy new one that should accommodate our every need over the next few years, and so of course the graphics card in the computer itself couldn't take the stress. Although John bought a new graphics card and installed it he cannot load the software because he can't get on the computer...and all of this is more information than anyone except me really cares about. The up shoot is I cannot load pictures onto my blog. But that's ok because I've been busy with other things anyway.

Life is cyclical that way--I can't do any art in the summer because kids are here. Fall is my most productive time. I will look forward to fall. Only 7 weeks until the kids go back to school. And only 6 weeks until my statistics class ends (it's only been meeting for a week). Statistics is a totally different world. I am trying to keep an open mind. My instructor wears white socks with his boat shoes. and shorts. He's a sweetie.

While I'm rambling I have to say that the gardenias and magnolias are blooming and heavenly scent is everywhere. This must be what heaven is like.

School

I have not abandoned my blog! I have just been busy studying for the GRE. And digging in the garden. A very nice lady down the street gave me a bunch of daylilies she dug up out of her yard, and I've been trying to find places to put them. As far as the GRE, I took it a few days ago and all that studying paid off! I have respectable scores. Whew! And now I've begun an abnormal psychology class at a local college, which is a prerequisite for the program I hope to begin in the fall. All the pieces are not yet in place so I'll shut up about it.

There is a small exhibit of my work at the Gainesville public library. It was fun to have a goal in order to finish some things. Other things need to be redone. Something to look forward to doing in the breaks during school! I am going to continue doing this stuff...can't help it...

I have been working on this wall hanging some more, to see if I will like it. It looks kinda crooked. It is 18" x 23".