Ben and colleagues had a lot of leave accumulated, so it appears half the team had a nearly-month-long (or longer,) summer holidays; Ben had exactly four weeks off, which ended on the weekend. We, I, prepared a very long house project To Do list beforehand, some items long standing, but most tied to the building work we had done last winter/spring.
We worked often but in short spurts, sometime taking turns going outside depending on the task, while the other cooled down inside or cooked; very different from our usual pattern. One big reason was we did a lot of scrubbing/sanding and oiling/staining/painting outdoors, so there was a lot of waiting for things to dry. The weather was largely cooperative, except a very wet Week 3. (Around then, Ben hurt his back again - he just gotten over his November incident, and the homeopathic remedies I've been taking for arthritis abruptly stopped working.) But it felt as if we fell into a new old-people working pattern. With a couple of holiday left, we had not even finished a third of the list.
Another reason we worked in such a (re)lax(ed) way was probably because we had "four weeks" in mind; somehow it felt so much longer than three weeks, Ben's usual summer break. We kept doing a little here and a little there, that on Sunday when we debriefed, we actually finished a little under half the jobs!!
Our place looks chaotic inside and out, because we're not finished with projects and sometimes stuff is left out; flower pots and dead weeds are left all over the patio that's not what we're focusing on at that moment, but we'll get around to them eventually. Even the garden, overgrown even more than usual, had bits done, and I can tell which trees Ben pruned and look more polite better than before he pruned them.
Plus, it's January/February when we get the really high temperatures, so some of the paint jobs, (I'm dying to paint the inside of three most frequently used closets,) can be done before the summer is well and truly finished. It's also up to Ben to build two small outside "tables", one for weeding/tidying/repotting flower pots, (so I don't have to kneel or bend often,) but more importantly a skinny side table on the front door step so folks don't walk too near the kitchen window and hit their head against the sharp corners. If he does, it's my job to clean up the wood we'll recycle.
Our To Do list and the house remains in jumble, which kept me awake some nights, but importantly we feel rested, that we didn't spend the entire summer break doing chores. We're relieved because by last October/November, we were utterly exhausted from what felt like a hectic year but really wasn't.
Old people ways of life, eh.
* * * * *
No weaving took place during the break, but suddenly it popped up. I'll talk about it really soon; it's an exciting, in a way complex project, but won't take long to finish, either.
On paper, I only finished the smallest of the unfinished collage/drawing books, though I made progress on four other. I attended three zoom art session and rediscovered the joy of face drawing, even though the faces are through a tiny screen. Without intending, I found myself drawing larger and gestural. It's been great to suddenly find myself back in familiar territories.
Mary Ann Moss has a new Substack, and in one of the vids she recommended face drawing zoom sessions by Brit Chloe Briggs, so I "went". Funny how one thing leads to another, giving me courage to try new things, or old things in new places with new people. I'm having fun, even though there are great sessions, good sessions, and downright sucky ones.
We worked often but in short spurts, sometime taking turns going outside depending on the task, while the other cooled down inside or cooked; very different from our usual pattern. One big reason was we did a lot of scrubbing/sanding and oiling/staining/painting outdoors, so there was a lot of waiting for things to dry. The weather was largely cooperative, except a very wet Week 3. (Around then, Ben hurt his back again - he just gotten over his November incident, and the homeopathic remedies I've been taking for arthritis abruptly stopped working.) But it felt as if we fell into a new old-people working pattern. With a couple of holiday left, we had not even finished a third of the list.
Another reason we worked in such a (re)lax(ed) way was probably because we had "four weeks" in mind; somehow it felt so much longer than three weeks, Ben's usual summer break. We kept doing a little here and a little there, that on Sunday when we debriefed, we actually finished a little under half the jobs!!
Our place looks chaotic inside and out, because we're not finished with projects and sometimes stuff is left out; flower pots and dead weeds are left all over the patio that's not what we're focusing on at that moment, but we'll get around to them eventually. Even the garden, overgrown even more than usual, had bits done, and I can tell which trees Ben pruned and look more polite better than before he pruned them.
Plus, it's January/February when we get the really high temperatures, so some of the paint jobs, (I'm dying to paint the inside of three most frequently used closets,) can be done before the summer is well and truly finished. It's also up to Ben to build two small outside "tables", one for weeding/tidying/repotting flower pots, (so I don't have to kneel or bend often,) but more importantly a skinny side table on the front door step so folks don't walk too near the kitchen window and hit their head against the sharp corners. If he does, it's my job to clean up the wood we'll recycle.
Our To Do list and the house remains in jumble, which kept me awake some nights, but importantly we feel rested, that we didn't spend the entire summer break doing chores. We're relieved because by last October/November, we were utterly exhausted from what felt like a hectic year but really wasn't.
Old people ways of life, eh.
* * * * *
No weaving took place during the break, but suddenly it popped up. I'll talk about it really soon; it's an exciting, in a way complex project, but won't take long to finish, either.
On paper, I only finished the smallest of the unfinished collage/drawing books, though I made progress on four other. I attended three zoom art session and rediscovered the joy of face drawing, even though the faces are through a tiny screen. Without intending, I found myself drawing larger and gestural. It's been great to suddenly find myself back in familiar territories.
Mary Ann Moss has a new Substack, and in one of the vids she recommended face drawing zoom sessions by Brit Chloe Briggs, so I "went". Funny how one thing leads to another, giving me courage to try new things, or old things in new places with new people. I'm having fun, even though there are great sessions, good sessions, and downright sucky ones.
When I'm not doing it alone, I'm pretty good at not looking while drawing blind contours, although mine are never strictly contours. There is magic in them, where we inadvertently get things surprisingly and pleasingly accurate.
I've also made steady progress on the needlepoint project; I'm still not using colors as attractively as I used to, but the shapes are more interesting and I don't have to think too hard now.
And lastly but not the least, we cooked some delicious meals, nothing exotic or challenging, but ordinary meals that tasted great. Among other things, I'm into making pizza with a tortilla shell as a base. Because there is substantially less carbo, I can taste the toppings better, but the shell holds better than the cauliflower base we tried some time ago.
I/we have plenty of projects leftover, but I'm making 2026 a(nother) year of finishing projects. It won't stop me from starting new ones, but things will get done, fingers crossed. And if we can use up old material, all the better.
Onwards!
No comments:
Post a Comment