Life with Snow

Last week school was cancelled Monday through Thursday including COCC, the community college where I take my art class.  I didn't even venture from the house those days, but with three short weeks of school left, I braved the elements to attend last Monday.  They had only shoveled the two ADA sidewalks and cleared the ADA parking lot.  The rest of us were on our own. As one friend quipped, those unshoveled sidewalks could make you ADA. The powder was close to two feet deep and I was sinking up to my knees in places.  I struggled up the slope that really needed snowshoes and realized that coming back down was going to be even worse.  I turned about and went home.  The whole thing took 90 minutes, almost an hour more than normal.  I went on Wednesday and still nothing was shoveled but at least enough people had tromped through that I was able to negotiate the whole shooting match.  The handrails weren't very helpful!

The neighborhood deer have been hanging close these days.  Fish and Wildlife warn us not to feed them because there's no commercial food that won't sicken them since they're not ruminants.  I feel bad but at the same time I'm glad to see them.

In spite of still having over a foot of unmelted snow, the Community Garden group have been meeting, planning and ordering seeds.  Cinda and I went to the church Friday to set up our fundraiser, the Classy Junque Sale.  All proceeds pay for our needs, including the repairs to the greenhouse.  Carol, our leader, was still there when folks came in for the AA and NA meetings and they spent $300 before we even got started!

This gem got the White Elephant award.  It's not wired for a lamp, and in fact, it's nothing but glass pieces affixed together with that shallow glass bowl on top.  The donation was anonymous and absolutely no one knew what it was.  It's at the Humane Society Thrift Store now, taking up space.  The sale was a whopping success.  As soon as the greenhouse is fixed we can start planting seeds, that is after we can shovel out to the greenhouse!

It was snowing again this morning so I played hooky from church.  It's also the first day in a week that I haven't had to leave the house - so I didn't.  I got these towels started but the real pressing need was to finish my sketchbook.  It's due Wednesday and when I woke up this morning I knew I still had eight of the 40 sketches to go.

This was the very first sketch I did and it represents the word "hot."  I have learned so much in this short time that if I were to draw it again, and I might, the bottom wouldn't be flat, but an elliptical shape mimicking the top of the cup.

The words left were the ones I couldn't conceptualize, thus the toughest ones.  I have class tomorrow and my volunteer shift on Tuesday with the notebook due on Wednesday.  I decided to tough it out and finish today.  "Ugly" had me stumped and finally I went with this semi-automatic handgun.

I tackled ignorant and aware, though I didn't necessarily work the words in pairs.  "Ignorant" became an old TV with rabbit ears because I think that people who get spoon-fed news by talking heads don't fall into the category of "inquiring minds want to know."  This became "Aware" - my very first collage.  I found an article in a National Geographic about the Flint Michigan water situation and the piece is probably too preachy to be art, but it sure was nice to tick off another box, plus it was fun.  I taped it onto the page because I read recently that Richard Diebenkorn sometimes would tape paper together, and he's my favorite Abstractionist.

I was really fighting with "pretty."  I put in a print that I did of a canary a couple of years ago but even I know that's a cop-out.  I cut out the shapes of Alpha and Omega from a failed print for "beginning" and "end" and had pieces of the print left over, so I cut them into strips and wove them into this.  It's pretty and even better, it represents me as a weaver.  Sketchbook done, this quarter is in the bag!

I gave my notice at SMART last Thursday.  My last time to read to my kinders will be the first Thursday in April.  I cannot tell you how much I'll miss my kids and the whole experience.  However granddaughter Delaney Jane is due in three weeks, my foot surgery is April 11th and then we'll be watching Delaney on Thursdays and Fridays when DIL Julia goes back to work.