June 26, 2012

  • I know I say this all the time but…

    Geez what a GLORIOUS day!  And I don’t use all caps lightly!
    Since having the baby, I’ve been incredibly busy just making sure she’s taken care of. There have been lots of wonderful things… seeing her smile and learn to hold her toys… managing to keep up with cloth diapers and getting the feeding thing together…

    But I have to say that one of the biggest things for me has been learning to fit my own life in those gaps between feedings and diapers.

    Today was a great triumph.
    I have desperately missed working the garden and playing on the interwebs.
    Today I got to spend about an hour and a half tying up tomato vines and watering the garden. I worked on my fb page (Ocean Starr Cline). I took some photos of my work and our garden, posted another listing on my Etsy site, got a portrait commission, had a delightful lunch at a local restaurant with my husband and father in law (and Tiny of course), did dishes and two loads of laundry, cleaned house…

    Another thing I’ve really missed since having the baby was spending quality time with my parrot. I don’t take lightly my duty/responsibility to my daughter, but my bird will not leave in 18 years. He’s with me for maybe 25-30 more years and he will always have the mentality of a human toddler. Today I managed to fit in some good cuddling and grooming time with my dear birdy.  Spending the evening time with him cleaning his feathers of their pins was so marvelous!  I’ve missed it desperately and so has he.

    My husband is spending the night at my father in law’s place helping out on the house so I’ve been mostly alone with the tiny creatures and my task list. I miss him when he’s gone, but he’s such a dear. When we met for lunch he even brought some leftover pasta salad to make sure I ate dinner.  Even after the years we’ve been together, he calls at the end of every day and we never run out of things to talk about.

    So this is my last happy task of the day. Tiny is in her crib sleeping and the bird is in his cage sleeping.  I’m full and happy and all is beautiful in the world.


    A blooming artichoke from our garden… So vibrant!

    As a good friend of mine says, if you don’t like your life, change it. Whatever you pick, work toward it and you’ll get closer and closer to the life that you dream.

    Onward and upward
    *

June 24, 2012

  • Adventures

       
    The cuteness… She and I just returned from our first camping trip. It was awesome!  She was so good!

    And a crocheted art scarf/belt. I love this one so I’ve been slow to post it, but it’s up now…
    Geez it’s hot… If you have air conditioning, enjoy it for me!!!

June 17, 2012

  • First Fathers Day

    This morning that sweet man made me potatoes (yellow fingerlings from our garden) with dill (also from our garden) and butter with a poached egg. 
    Life is good. Baby grows and smiles.  Laundry happens daily. 
    I finally finished my most recent painting – it accompanies and is inspired by a poem by @plantinthewindow I so hope he approves – but alterations can be made if necessary.
     
    MicroMonkey in Synth Tree
    Acrylic on canvas – heavily textured
    12″x16″ ( I think – need to measure)
    Happy Fathers Day to all the daddios out there
    Onward and upward
    *

    EDIT:
    Here’s the poem @plantinthewindow sent me to inspire the painting.
    a.i.

    see the micro monkey as she navigates electric
    boughs of the synth tree.  she ascends to
    upper reaches for the finest fruit,
    freshest breeze, pauses in the glow
    of ionized dusty sunset.  she closes her
    celluloid eyes in this warm moment of neon orange
    fire.

    the ozone breeze ruffles her kanekalon hair, brushes
    her skin.  she holds the buzz fruit in her tiny
    hands. she is in heaven.

    jeglaze

June 16, 2012

  • Garden Day


    These are a couple plant markers I made to sell. They were super fun. Husband cut the wood and glued them together; I painted the veg on. I have more on my Etsy site. 
    We’ve finally had a day more or less “off”… There are no real off days here, but there are days when I don’t have to drive a car. That’s what I love best! It’s lovely to be able to hang out at the house and watch the garden (and baby) grow. Our tomatoes are coming online now. We’ve had a couple. I failed to photograph them yet, but I’m getting back into the swing of it. I do like to document my garden progress over the years. I’m SO looking forward to the tomatoes.
    We’re thinking about really spreading the herbs around – dill, oregano, lemon balm, mint, rosemary – and selling those and their seeds at the Farmers Market. I figure I could take hats and plant markers and herbs and have a pretty good day with Tiny. She gets so bored just hanging out at home.
    This was also a very good day for painting. I love it when I have one so close.
    In other news, we brought home a bunch of stuff from our friend’s moving adventure and are buried in new stuff… Fortunately a lot of it will help us get better organized in the house.
    I’m going to do the thing I never thought I’d do… set up a sewing machine station. There are some kids clothes I want to sew and the best, most efficient way to go is by machine. I so prefer sewing by hand, but I will compromise to make better use of the time I have. Quality does not have to be sacrificed for efficiency. It’s a little too old school and slow to do it all by hand.
    My wrist is doing a little better as long as I stay away from the crochet hook… We’ll see how long it takes to recover.
    Ah.. well.. the baby is calling me.
    Gotta run
    Onward and upward
    *

June 11, 2012

  • A Day in the Life

    A taste of how busy my life is…
    Yesterday
    AM- spent time with family (and taking care of baby)
    10:30-4 – hunting a truck/driver (and taking care of baby)
    4-5:30 arranging driving and … taking care of baby
    5:30-8:30 moving furniture, babysitting someone else’s 4 year old and… taking care of baby
    8:30-9:30 new couch at the house, moving old couch out, cleaning, and… yeah… you know…
    9:30-10:30 trying to relax and eating a bit
    11:00 got in the bed

    Up at 3 AM today to get back to the house of the moving person to help more through the day

    I know I’ve sat down and relaxed a bit somewhere in all this, but it has just been constant activity for the last couple weeks.

    Any wrist tips from other crocheters? My right wrist is all busted so I can’t crochet anymore for a while. I am going to learn to knit and a couple other things to give the wrist a break.  I watched a bunch of YouTube videos yesterday looking for the next good project. I still have a bunch of hats that I haven’t put online, but I won’t be making more for a bit after I finish the one I’m working on.

    Oh yeah… something else that got done … very exciting! I’m entering the home stretch on my Micro Monkey painting.  I’ve been working on it for ages and it’s finally getting close to done. I can see the finished product and just have to lay in the last little bit of work – some tree branches, a little fruit, a little fine tuning on the lady monkey.
    It feels so good to finally have this piece near completion! 

    I didn’t even mention that my counter is sealed, range siliconed in and backsplash tile in place.

    So I have to run now… More running all day long.

    At least I have a nice new comfy couch to rest on when I do get to land!
    Onward and upward
    *

June 6, 2012

  • Busy Days

    Life has been so busy lately! It’s craziness. We have a friend moving to Mexico and are helping her pack up her house, we’re constantly being invited out, and have all this work at the house to do…
    I had my art show Saturday night and got to see some dear friends – sold a little crochet  and had a great time. The sweet baby is still really enjoying going out and meeting people so that, at least, isn’t tough. 
    Another new hat went up on Etsy today:

    My darling husband took this shot for me – for once I’m not reaching out to photograph myself. You can see leeks blooming in the background. They are also the subject of the next painting on the easel. Hopefully, Tiny will help me work on that some today.  Food is really pretty.
    And a new painting
    Dragon Flower
    Acrylic on Plywood
    About 23″xabout 12″
    The edges are uneven because it’s salvage wood. I like painting on interesting surfaces and I mount a couple pieces of wood on the back so it stands out from the wall a bit when hung. This way you get this cool shadow behind the piece and don’t have to have a frame.
    Well… Tiny is looking for my attention so I have to run again. Hopefully I’ll have more time at home to catch up with you guys soon!  I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer as much as we are!
    Onward and upward
    *

May 29, 2012

  • New work

     
    Cloud Bonzai
    Acrylic on Canvas
    24″x30″
    It turns out I might have a show this weekend. A local place (The Birdhouse for the locals) had a last minute cancellation and I have plenty of work to hang so I volunteered.
    I’ve also been making lots of progress on hats.  These are a couple baby hats… Both are taken already, but I’m making more. A couple good friends of mine had babies lately so I’m sending these to them.  I also finished a hat for @plantinthewindow, but haven’t photographed it yet. That’ll happen after I feed and water the birds and take care of some other morning chores (feed baby, change diaper, feed baby, change diaper, feed baby, change diaper…)


    We’ve been eating some tasty produce lately too. The rainbow chard is doing well and my darling husband has been making greens with bacon for me. Bacon is kind of a new thing for me and is kind of interesting. Tasty, but REALLY salty.  Definitely more of a seasoning than a stand alone protein. It’s kind of weird to encounter normal regional food for TN after living in the south all these years, but I’m adapting.
    Onward and upward
    *

May 26, 2012

  • Baby Bluebird

     
    Baby Bluebird
    Acrylic on Luan
    39″x21″
    And the magnet (on Etsy):

    Good news! In order to keep the Tiny One from getting bored, I am required to spend some time at the easel with her on my lap. She loves the painting and is already reaching for a brush.
    I got so lucky. 
    She enjoys jam sessions and meeting new people and is forcing us (le sigh) to go out and be more social lol…

    I love my life.
    That is all
    Onward and upward
    *

May 11, 2012

  • Happy Mothers Day

    This Mothers Day is special… Ok… so this project would have happened anyway and this is just convenient timing, but I have a COUNTERTOP!!! WOOOOO!!!!!!
    First, the formwork. My husband and a friend put this together in preparation for the concrete. 

    As you can imagine, having the form in correctly is paramount to a successful pour – especially since it’s done in place. It could have been a collapse catastrophe, but I have a smart and good man who did a great job. There is some cage wire on the floor there that serves as reinforcement.

     And this is the concrete counter with the form removed and cook top in place. The hole under the window is a small wash sink for food prep on the way to the pot. The two bowl sink is behind the camera on the other side – not cast yet. 
    And a baby picture for those who are craving one. She’s almost 8 weeks, loves her hand-crocheted tam (hehehe shameless plug) and is growing super fast. Everyone’s healthy and happy.  She’s starting to squeak over there so I have to run and snuggle her up or some such thing…
    That sounds a lot better than saying I need to go clean an icky buttocks doesn’t it? ha! 
    Happy Mothers Day everybody

May 6, 2012

  • Growing fast

    Everything’s going well on the home front. The baby is growing and thriving – new little developments every day… as it should be.  She sleeps through the night and is pretty happy most of the time so it’s pretty easy and nice considering the amount of work required.
    The garden is growing well too. We have two horseradish plants growing well, one blueberry bush made it from last year and sports a healthy handful of berries. My flowers are starting to bloom. Asparagus is doing well (but won’t be edible till next year).  My mother promises to try to get me some plum tree babies and some blueberry suckers we’re going to try to plant here.  We had some chard at our cookout last night.  And here… our prized artichoke plant!  Husband worked hard to get a seed to sprout. They don’t always grow true from seed, but out of 3 or 4 seed packets, we got a winner and have eaten a couple already. We’ll try to divide this plant at some point so we can keep things going.  Isn’t it a lovely plant?

     

    More news?  We have officially seen the dawning of the age of Aquarius!!! When I watched Hair as a kid, I thought it was already here (damn Fifth Dimension sounding the trumpet early).  Now, though, we’re in it! So I’m hopeful for brighter days for our planet… especially as I learn more about the atrocities that our country (among others of course) has committed. 

    Hopefully I’ll be better at making the rounds, photographing my creative ventures (which haven’t stopped by a long shot!) and showing off my super bad garden in the days to come as the tiny one requires less hands on care.

    Onward and upward!
    *