Sketchbook page from 'Vote', Fall 2012
Today- and some of yesterday- is a day of small omens. Good? Bad? Well, omens of disruption, an odd current running through the world. It started with my phone, which inexplicably refused to disconnect from a call. Thus no one could call me, and I could call no one, or access any normal phone stuff. Of course I was blissfully unaware of this all day until the manz called my office phone after work... I though it was a case of lost signal, so I went out to the car, which turned on to the mileage of 66660 (I took a picture! weird). And then I fixed the phone (when in doubt, turn something off, wait a bit, turn it back on again. Most always works for computer things.) Anyway, small but weird.
This morning it was nothing so obvious- just little annoyances one after the other. The cat threw up twice, Bear howled when my alarm went off (she doesn't usually howl- but this was full-on bloodhound voice, which the manz miraculously slept through. Now, he magically wakes up if I sneak out of bed for a midnight m&m, but dogg howls? Nothing to em.). Then I split the wet coffee grounds, and then the dry coffee. Thought I was grabbing one color of shirt but ended up with another. Just small things. Slightly curious things.
Anyway, onwards. Of microscopes and sketchbooks. Yesterday while my students were working, I began to photograph my sketchbooks. Part of something that I've wanted/ needed to do for a long time- so let's call it a New Years Resolution. Most of them have names, some don't, and I am notoriously bad at dating things so it takes some detective work to figure out what year they are from. I managed to get through three books yesterday- 2 from last year and one from 2010- a total of 300 some odd photos of double paged spreads. Not portfolio quality pictures (or work) but just so I don't have to frantically shuffle through physical books when I am trying to find something. And for posterity, or at least the illusion of it. An interesting journey into how I record my world, thoughts, life... and what I tend to draw over and over. One of those things is my microscope.
I've always, always, loved science- and it seems that there has always been a microscope in my life. I remember a small red plastic one when I was little, and an older one in a case. I know one Christmas Sue and Tom gave me a nice one- with slides and cover slips and all the good things. In college I had access to labs full of scientific scopes... and then somehow I ended up with no microscope at all. Awhile ago at the auction- after I met the manz, before we were married I think- I acquired a nice, small, very old brass microscope. I don't use it for looking through so much (though it does work), but I use it for looking at. It lives in our living room on one of our curiosity shelves at the moment.... and I draw it often. Very often, as it turns out... more so than I thought I did. One of my enduring symbols, I suppose. The drawing above was done this fall- ink pen for the most part (both sides)- while watching something or other on TV. The color side is of our hearth- the red glass cornucopia, rocks brought back from Asheville, pine cones, blue hydrangeas from the yarden, the cauldron, horseshoe and gold rug. On the right, plain black pen- other things on our shelves- one of the butterflies, Charles's magnifying glass, ink bottle and quill pen, some random grass (just for decoration!) a plate-thing, for some reason unknown the letter 'f' and number '5', and the microscope. Just bits and spots of our things, our lives, one night in front of the TV.
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