...with preliminary thinking about an abstract that's due in early September.
7/30: after-dinner writing
...about the Vita Nostra series (which I finished listening to last night). I didn't write this morning, and when a free time for writing came around this evening I thought that I was too frazzled, but I gave it a try anyway. And it was really good. My thoughts coalesced more. I also became un-frazzled.
7/28: pigs & figs
Chris has harvested many figs from his trees! It's fun to try the various kinds and taste the differences.
We donated today to a pig rescue charity that Chris' aunt liked to visit. We'd been thinking about a fitting way to honor her, and when we heard today from her daughter about the pig rescue, it felt perfect.
7/26: writing
...4 pages in the morning for the past 10 days. It's something I used to do regularly. It's nice to get the habit back for a little while and to have thoughts emerge as I write. Today I realized some things about how my artist-books are different from a lot of others--many others are extending the tradition of medieval manuscripts, while I am extending the tradition of early modern pamphlets. It turns out, that's a tidy way to express a collection of significant differences, and it was good to work that out through writing this morning.
7/25: finishing
...a commentary project that started in 2020. I had been waiting on my collaborator's contributions, and I received them at the beginning of this month. Since then, I've been re-reading the novel we were writing about (Trollope's Can You Forgive Her?) and editing our entries. Tonight I posted the whole commentary online. Whew.
7/24: thinking
...about Joan Brown's Flora and its relationship to Rembrandt's Flora as well as the Roman wall-painting of Flora.
7/23: receiving
...another pair of pants that I love. I bought the first pair on sale a few weeks ago, and they fit so nicely and feel so good that I decided to order another pair (since it seems they're being discontinued).
7/22: a quiet polyptoton
...in Trollope's Can You Forgive Her? "But the slow clouds were passing over [the lake], and the shades of darkness on its surface changed themselves with gradual changes." I love the gentle movement and variation from changed to changes, as if the words are doing the same thing that they describe.
7/21: 11 things
...in honor of Barbara, who told me about the strategy of keeping going until completing at least 10 things in a day. I try not to count regular chores (e.g., taking care of the cats or making meals).
1. Reading Artforum.
2. Writing morning pages.
3. Doing more botanical line drawings.
4. Preparing mail to go out to my siblings and to someone on the Angel Card list.
5. Getting my hair cut.
6. Going to the craft store for paint, a small sponge roller, and colored pencils.
7. Picking up packages in town.
8. Putting a layer of new paint on the canvas (whose previous colors I'm trying to cover up).
9. Making energy bites, which will be my breakfast in the coming days.
10. Walking on the treadmill and doing a spin with the seated elliptical.
11. Reading some Dungeon Crawler Carl.
7/20: pulling down
...my Botanical Line Drawing book from the shelf and trying my hand at a few of the plants. I think I did especially well with the hydrangea.
7/18: writing
..."morning pages" about Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl, which I'm about one-quarter through and am puzzled by. My writing touched on episodic rhythms, spectacle and power, personal growth, The Pilgrim's Progress, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, chutes and ladders, and more.
7/15: reading
...a good article in the February 2025 issue of Artforum: "Out of Order: Mario Carpo on Mannerism, the Canon, and Generative AI."
7/14: cool enough
...to do a morning walk outside. It wasn't really "cool" at all--it was about 78 degrees. But it was overcast, and compared to hotter, sunnier days it seemed cooler than it was. It was nice to be moving in the world.
7/12: no list
I've been making to-do lists for most days, but today I took a needed break from a check-things-off mindset.
7/10: out of my hand
Emma the Cat eats his daily pill right out of my hand (along with a little morsel of wet food). He doesn't fuss or resist, and for that I'm very grateful.
7/9: maybe fixing
...my coffee machine by giving it a good clean? Now that I've cleaned it, a spring that seemed to have given out is working once again.
7/7: stories
A new story by my friend appeared on her Substack (link to the Substack here), and I read a short story by Naoko Awa to Chris.
7/6: cleaning
...the carpet in the bedroom. It needed to be done, but I kept putting it off. When I finally got to it, I enjoyed the work and the results. < I need to keep this in mind in the future, so the lesson I learned is an additional good thing.
7/5: so happy
...that my mother gave me the 6 cookie stamps we used at home when I was a kid. I love them, and I love using them to make peanut butter cookies (like I did today).
7/4: echoes
...of a meal. Last year on 7/4 I wrote about the dinner I had with my mother and a friend in Pennsylvania: pierogi, baked beans, vegan dogs, sauerkraut, peanut butter and jelly pie. I wondered what they were having for dinner today, so I texted them to ask. My friend had opted for pierogi, vegan dogs, sauerkraut, and a vegan ice-cream sandwich. It turns out that I had decided on that same menu for Chris and me!
7/3: happy finds
...via Artforum today: an essay on Blythe Bohnen's brushstrokes and a recommendation of Max Davies' Inventions for Broken & Prepared Guitar. The digital world has caused troubles for sure, but today it allowed me to see more of Bohnen's art and listen to Davies' album.
7/2: working
...on websites I manage. I'm not good at it, which frustrates me, but I kept going, and that's a good thing.
7/1: good emails
...one of which I received yesterday, from a friend I first met 40 years ago; the other I received today, from a former student I first met almost 11 years ago.
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