7/31: up early
During the summer I normally don't set my alarm clock, but I had to today because I needed to do some things before the door installation people were scheduled to come (right after lunch). Being up early meant that I could enjoy the coolness of the early morning porch and get a fair amount of reading done before the time I usually get up.
7/30: woolly hollow outing
We spent the afternoon at Woolly Hollow. I took pictures in the creek while Chris read on the bank.
7/29: walk with Chris
Usually I read and write in the morning, but today after reading for a little bit I went with Chris on his walk. The flowers smelled oh so good! And as I was taking a photo of a thistle, a skipper flew into the frame.
7/28: shorter hair
I got my hair cut earlier in the week and I'm feeling the goodness of the shorter length in the summer weather.
7/27: glasses
I chose two new sets of glasses frames this afternoon. It'll be a few weeks until I can pick them up, but I'm glad they're in the works.
7/26: micro-collages
I met up with a friend and we made inchies from old Artforum magazines--we each did half of each, so that each one is really a mini-collaboration. We backed them with magnetic tape to make it easy to put them on our filing cabinets in our offices at work.
7/25: smoother sailing
I've been thinking through an idea for another new pamphlet for two weeks, and now that the format for Hers is finally set I decided to give the new idea a try this afternoon. And by this evening I had a little stack of them made (they're entitled Sisters: Three Palimpsests). It's nice to have a smoother trip from idea to thing after having had to wrestle with Hers.
7/24: portrait time
...for a bear figurine:
Taking some funny pictures was a nice break from around-the-house chores. And getting those chores done was a good thing, too.
Taking some funny pictures was a nice break from around-the-house chores. And getting those chores done was a good thing, too.
7/23: summer rain
Chris, the cats, and I sat on the porch as the wind and rain churned up the green-and-brown smells of the ground and brought the temperature down.
7/22: all in one go
I try to proofread 10 pages each month for Project Gutenberg--it's not a lot, but it's a sustainable minimum especially during the school year, and of course I can always do more in a month if I want. I did 12 pages for July this evening and am feeling happy that I started--and have kept on--volunteering this way.
7/21: finally?
My most recent pamphlet has been the most challenging to format so far. I've had some breakthroughs over the past 10 days, and each time I've thought, "This is it." But this evening I think I really settled on a final form. Though it's been a clear development (retrospectively!), it's been a somewhat awkward and uncomfortable process, and I'm glad to have pushed through.
7/20: three cats together
I've been a little worried at the changing dynamics in the house, with three cats now rather than two. The two got along so well, often sleeping together and in general hanging out together. The new cat is a kitten, so the older cats are needing to adjust to his energy and the kitten is needing to see how he can fit in. But they were all three playing in the same room this morning and this evening--I'm hoping it's a positive sign for the future.
7/19: back to Trollope
It's time to write commentary on the uses of Classics in another novel by Trollope, and as I'm reading I realize how good it feels to be among his words again.
7/17: creative projects
A kind of ache-y day, so it was hard to settle into any one thing, but I enjoyed a number of little activities: hanging the banner Chris and I made, making a collage from Artforum clippings (I had been stuck on how to do it but then had a bit of a break-through), and experimenting with more paper-pocket formats for my pamphlet.
7/16: zuleika dobson
I've been having trouble picking books--though I'm loving listening to Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching novels, I've been disgruntled with my recent choices for leisure reading. But now I've started Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm, and maybe I needed some British satire to shake me out of my rut!
7/14: book-binding break-through
I worked on a new pamphlet last night: I really love the words for it, but I've been having a hard time (since January!) coming up with a format that feels "right." When I called it quits last night, I had something that would work, but I wasn't super-psyched about it. This morning I paged through an old Artforum while drinking my coffee, and while nothing in particular pointed the way forward, just seeing other people's experiments seemed to help, and by lunch time I had a good way forward. By dinner-time I had refined the idea even more, and now I have a prototype in hand.
7/13: Shakespeare's dust
I started Dust by Michael Marder, and my jury is still out on it (though I'm tipping toward the not-so-pleased with it). But he did mention one of Shakespeare's uses of "dust" in Hamlet, and that prompted me to look at all of Shakespeare's uses of the word and categorize them. A kind of fun activity with my morning coffee.
7/12: paper
A kind of paper I ordered for a project arrived, and it's pretty much exactly what I was hoping for (always a risk when you order sight unseen).
7/11: teaberry cookies
I love teaberry ice cream and frozen custard--it's a taste I associate with the summers of my childhood. I recently bought some teaberry extract, and today I used it to make an Amish cookie recipe. I halved the recipe, but still ended up with 44 cookies! They're tasty, though, so I won't mind eating them.
7/10: cascade
I drove to Woolly Hollow in the evening, and when I got out of the car I heard the rushing water of the cascade. It seems late in the year for it still to be running, and I was so glad.
7/9: power-washing (part 2)
Today I power-washed the porch furniture and then (sans power-washer) scrubbed and mopped the porch. The porch feels and looks so much better now--I hadn't realized how much gunk had gradually accumulated through the past few seasons.
7/8: power-washing (part 1)
This morning I washed the kayaks with our new power-washer. They look great.
7/7: finished
...Walking by Thoreau. I'm pretty vexed by the book, but I've left it half-done since early in the year so it felt good to finish it while drinking my coffee on the porch this morning.
7/6: re-railed
I got myself a bit emotionally derailed in the late morning and into the early afternoon, but then I switched to work on projects that made me feel like me, and--bam--I was back on track.
7/5: quiet writing
...with a colleague and friend in the library. (Jackhammering outside, alas, but it was still wonderful.)
7/4: better relations
We brought home a new (as yet unnamed) kitten yesterday, and Tilde and Emma weren't too happy about it. Today there's been some thawing in the inter-cat dynamics, and let's hope it continues.
7/3: walking track
I'd not been to the indoor walking track for quite some time. It was good to go this evening: I needed to move; it was uncrowded (only 2 other people on the track); and listening to Pratchett's Hat Full of Sky made me smile.
7/2: 65
...Postcrossing postcards traveling. It's been a long time since I've had in motion all the cards I'm allowed to have in motion, but I was feeling like it's weird to have a lot of cards piling up at home unsent so I've spent some hours this weekend writing and stamping!
7/1: leftover lunch
Orange tofu on rice, leftover from yesterday's dinner. It was my first time making it, and it was easy enough and successful enough that I know I'll make it again.
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