Update- it's still June! Yay!

School has been out for over a week now and summer is in full swing!  We are back to setting up to sell on Thursdays and Saturdays- it's been feast or famine- and have a new selling buddy on site.  Tracy (the produce guy from last year) moved down the street to a shady spot.  Chicken Man (I have no idea what his real name is) is now in Tracy's spot- he has an assortment of chickens, biddies, guineas and the occasional duck or turkey.  They are well cared for- kept shaded, watered- and I've been obsessed with taking photos and painting them.  Occasionally he will have the odd bird in with the Rhode Island Reds and basic-white-chickens, like these black Polish roosters~  or big game birds, or tiny bantams that crow louder than anyone else.  Chicken man is a character, little and wrinkled and toothless like a chicken, talks all the time either on the phone or to Charles.  They get along and it is quite funny when they get to telling stories, even funnier when a bird jumps the box during transfer and they are chasing it around the parking lot like ..... like a couple of chickens.

Teaching online is good, time consuming because you are never 'off'- students call and text for immediate fixes. That's ok though, part of the job, which I like and am hopefully going to be good at. Fingers crossed.

Other news is that Holly Shelter is on fire- these are state game lands, peat pine swamp.  They have been burning for a week, 21,000 acres so far.  Somedays you can smell the smoke and their is ash on the car, other days nothing.  Thing is, my road to the beach is closed for now, so I am staying home this am and grading, cleaning, instead of taking doggs for beach walks.  Just as well, gas money doesn't grow on trees and yesterday was a fair dry day selling wise. (I did paint some chickens tho, and sold 2 Tiki Owls- )  Manz went to work with Suavey afterwards, has to go back this morning, off to Ms. May's church to work tomorrow.  I worry about him working in this heat, but they are starting early in the morning and hoping to avoid it in that manner.  And it's been oven-hot, more like August than June, but I love, love the heat so am ok with it.  I'll take heat over cold anyday!

Last night drempt of rivers, hands painted blue, taking a math test.  (stress dream that part).  I did like the hands painted blue though- I felt like Krishna or some many armed Hindu god.  Mysterious, impatient, powerful.

Kitchen Witch

Kitchen Witch

Another one of my surprises!  You see, I've been trying to 'eat right' (aka diet) again...and have been doing really well so far.  So today, we had our roadshow, then came home- I went into the fridge for a yogurt for lunch and *tada* Kitchen Witch!   The manz had found her in a box of stuff, and had a brain storm~  so when I opened the fridge, there she was, dancing on the meat drawer reminding me to be good!  Can't you just hear her saying 'Halt!  Thou shalt not pass to the land of cheese!'  I hollered then laughed so hard I about died- she now hovers in a place of glory above the fridge.  

Gotta love it!

Black Coffee and Jiffy the Skunk

black coffee and Jiffy the skunk

Today I am going to learn how to drink black coffee, hot.  I can drink it cold without a problem (strange, eh?) but hot? Haven't done that since I was in college the first time (I think I drank it then because dorm refrigerators weren't invented yet, and I dislike powdered creamer).  But today- today we are out of milk, and cash-on-hand, and besides that, I'm not going to Walmart at this hour.  I want to write, and read, and start my day instead.  Well... actually there is a spot of milk left, but I'll let the manz have it because his coffee requires milk and lots of sugar, and I earn bonus points on the 'martyrwife' chart.  (which I would also earn by digging around for change and taking myself to Walmart, but that is so not going to happen~).

Last few days of school, I have everything packed up, cleaned up, signed off on except the papers we do today- and that's ok, because I can concentrate on starting up the virtual high school job, getting my personal ducks in a row etc.  I am feeling the flush of summer- maybe because clayplague has finally left, maybe because the students are gone and - while I do really love them- the silence and ability to concentrate for more than 2 seconds is nice.  Maybe it is that I am not taking courses, that I am eating right- or trying to- that I went to the beach, have books to read, a new project to play with (that is just for me! It's not an example, or a gift, or bread-n-butter art or anything but an abandoned backpack that was a) free  b) perfect for me- color, size, shape and c) I can do with it whatever I want to. )  

I think I'm waking up and I feel great.  Beyond great.  And that is a good thing.

Now Jiffy, the Skunk, came as one of my auction treasures from the Manz on Saturday.  He brought back a van load of scrap metal, a recliner to sell (it looks like my old blue one I had at the beach), a door for the doorway between the studio and living room (there is an ongoing boundary battle with the 'no cats' in the living room.  It involves a cat gate that I am forever tripping over, the spray bottle and constant vigilance. Truthfully, I could care less if the cat was in the living room, but it keeps the manz and cat busy and happy to play this game).  Anyway- there is also an assortment of plant shelves, some metal roosters to paint and sell,  an absolutely stunning concrete lion, assorted art treats like sidewalk chalk and crayons (the estate was that of a teacher.  All teachers have chalk on hand, no matter how long they were retired), cuff links with Huckleberry Hound on them, 2 tiny gold purse key chains that open and close, Jiffy the Skunk, and my favorite thing- a pair of small brass cuff links with owls on them.  I have unconsciously developed quite an affinity with owls lately- entirely not on purpose- just find them everywhere, have been drawing them constantly.

Anyway, I dissembled the owl links last night and sewed them onto my new backpack, along with an embroidered border and some small pink/purple frosted glass beads that look flowerish to me.  Perfect!

I love the manz- I love summer, a new project, and yes...I am learning to love black coffee.

Graduation Day!

Turrello with flowers~

It's graduation day- and an estate auction day- it's 5 am and Charles is already gone off to the auction, I've had to many cups of coffee, and all the animals are wondering why we are up and about so very early on a Saturday.  Usually we are up early on Saturdays- it's a roadshow day- but today it is extra early and we are not loading Esmeralda up with treasures.  I fell off the face of the world for the last week plus again- it all started with cleaning the studio at school.  I had the *students* move clay and clean out that room...but I breathed in some dust, which kicked up the claylung problem, and then I caught a right nasty bug from yet another kid.  So- while I haven't missed any school, since that is forbidden at the end of the year- I've been sick again, sleeping constantly and drowning my sorrows in nyquil.  It's finally getting better though, which is good- I have started teaching at NCVPS (the virtual public school) and that is demanding.  

It doesn't seem like teaching online would be demanding, but it is- much more so than teaching for ECU was.  The virtual high school has much higher expectations for teachers and interaction, a quicker turnover time for grades and I'm teaching a subject (digital photography) that I haven't taught before- so I'm trying to do assignments right along with the kids.  At least that is my plan, along with losing weight, fixing up the house and yarden, and a kabillion other things for the summer.  Taking a break from college classes though- the financial aid didn't work out for summer and truth be told, I'm glad.  I don't know how I would of managed the course work these past few weeks- I didn't manage much of anything.  Thankgod for the manz.... taking care of me and keeping me in beautiful flowers and nyquil.

The glads are really lovely this summer- and Turrello is obsessed with them- he loves to smell them, rub his head in them, looks longingly up at the vase... I have never seen a cat who loves flowers the way he does.  He loves to smell other things as well- but he will go to the flowers first, every time.  I'm thinking in another life he must of been an eccentric gentleman, perhaps an impressionist painter like Monet- he is so fond of flowers, watercolor paint and spice cookies.  Yet he is not a girly cat at all- (Max is our girly girl.... btw, another 200 vet visit, he has stopped itching so much but still is all naked-mole-rat looking, which is not a good look for a girly girl).

mmmm....I have to get started on my school work, but I'm enjoying this morning- the writing, the coffee, the sheets tumbling around in the washer.... just taking my time to get to the day.  It's a good thing.

Gifts of the yarden

Shark teeth in a brass dish- from the driveway

First of the Glads!

I am a very lucky woman- my husband not only loves me, but is still in love with me.  He puts up with all my angst, shenanigans, work and paint everywhere....he works hard, but finds time to stop, look for treasures, bring them home.  Little things- sharks teeth from the driveway, a rock shaped like a face, the first gladiola from the yarden carefully placed in a glass decanter in the studio.  Things that he knows that I love, or will find beautiful, or curious.  That is one of the reasons I love him dearly- not the gifts, but his constant attention to the world.  The ability to look at the ordinary and find something extraordinary~ and know that I will treasure that as well.  We are not of the shopping mall, and that perhaps is why I am not-so-great at buying gifts.  I make things or find things and he is the same. We know what makes each other happy.

Today is the first of summer (I count by months- for me, June/July/August is summer) and it is hot, humid, breathless.  The doggs are passed out on the kitchen floor, the cat in front of the fan, I am home from school but the manz is still working.  The house is warm but pleasant, no sound but the ceiling fan and my typing- I like this stillness, it lets me slow back down and think.  I am in the mood for a summer book, iced tea, afternoon naps.  Walks on the beach.  Painting in the sun. Singing in the car on the way to nowhere (I love it when he sings!). Long, slow days....