Ramblings and meanderings on friends and art and stuff

[rhiannon_black]

Quote of the day: The trees that have it in their pent-up buds
To darken nature and be summer woods --
Let them think twice before they use their powers
To blot out and drink up and sweep away
These flowery waters and these watery flowers
From snow that melted only yesterday. (Spring Pools, Robert Frost)

Last night in class was old home week. I looked up to see Lorena standing in the 'lobby,' holding her baby, with her older boy at her side. The baby is already eight months old. He's big and very bright. His older brother is tall, too, looks easily like a first grader. Lori made the rounds and chatted with everyone and then got into a long conversation with Pat about equipment. She's setting up a studio at home, looks like. I hope she does come back some day, if only to visit again and show us her work.

 
 

Later I stepped out to the restroom. When I came back I saw a smiling face that I've been longing to see in class--Chania. She's been so busy, she's taking care of her mother again. Her mom has vertigo from time to time, the doctors still haven't figured out why. This is in addition to her diabetes. So Chania has been getting up at six to get her mom to work, as Mom isn't safe to drive, at least not when the vertigo hits. I'm not sure if she's staying with her mom most of the time. I know she's back to fixing her mom her diabetic diet. She's also been taking her Saint Leo's classes--the computer one is a bit of a struggle, but the marketing one is good. She didn't see my email from last Sunday until maybe one in the morning Monday.

I knew I should have called her instead. She's going to try to come in this Sunday and work some with us. I have not extende the offer to Miss H--- though she knows that I'm planning to go in to the studio. I also did not send word to Miss H--- this last Sunday. I don't intend to anymore. I'm not sure if I'm sending emails out to anyone anymore. Everybody always says oh yes yes please I want to work. But no one shows up. I'm not their mom and have no desire to be helpful and convenient.

Pat tells me that the 'big jewelry show' is planned for about a year from now. And they want to showcase 'major work.' I told her I'm working on it. Now I just have to figure out what 'major work' is and how to make it.

I splurged, or something, the other day. I was out doing errands and thought to run into CFOP in hopes that they might have copper, any copper, again. Of course not. But then I thought, why not try the Pit of Hell? And I did. I picked up some copper wire (unfortunately they only have lighter gauges but still...) and some things (drawing a blank) to put my radial bristle discs on to use the flex shaft. And bought some copper. Boy howdy do they charge through the nose. But it was at hand and I wanted some and not to wait for a shipment from anywhere. Some cute little chiquita wanted to know what I was going to do with it and I said 'fold forming' and oh how didn't that sound like the neatest thing. So I brought some in.

When will I learn? I let myself be trampled on. I got some more of the soft voiced, 'um, why yes, that dress is a um lovely color' routine. Sure, it doesn't hurt as much as when it comes from a friend as it did some days ago but it still hurts. Or something. Note to self, stop casting pearls before swine.

I managed to get over to school on time Monday to drop off my pieces and Sandi's for the call for entries. My 'tribal' armbands made it in as did Sandi's House of God. The only other metal that I know got accepted was Tiina's pendant. She's a toddler in the casting side of class. Seems nice enough. Taught me to say a naughty word in Finnish. Karen forgot all about it until it was too late to do anything. She was already at work, etc.

Hell, I did what I could. I wrote the time and date up on the blackboard a month ahead. What else could I do?

I have to take my cuffs and Sandi's house in for installation on Monday the 23rd. I suppose this makes sense for the paintings and all but please, the metal stuff is all going in one of those displays with the glass lids. It's not like it's difficult to figure out where to put our stuff.

I played with the corrugator some last night, put some wire through it--both copper and sterling--and put various gauges of copper sheet through. The heavy duty copper foil corrugated the best. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the thing.

I ordered Heikka Seppa's Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths from Books a Million by the Haunted Wal-Mart. It should come in on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to looking through it. He's supposed to have pretty much invented anticlastic forming and the book is supposed to be a great reference for that and other nifty stuff.

Sandi and I plan to meet for breakfast on Sunday and then wander over to the studio to get some work done. She has been experimenting on making her own casting wax formula. The stuff that Pat had didn't do the trick. So she tried straight parafin and that was not satisfactory. She then called her daughter-in-law's parents and asked what it would cost to get some beeswax. They ended up having an old candle, sans wick, about a pound in weight, that they gave her. They raise bees commercials. She has mixed beeswax and parafin and come up with a much more satisfactory compound. She is close to being able to cast her thimble. She has hit upon a new project--that of making a chatelaine and various sewing implements to hang from it.

My lawn looks almost not putrid. I had to buy a new weed whacker. I don't know if the old one is bad but the charger will no longer work. Black and Decker has not stood still and the new charger won't work with the old weed whacker. The new thing now has two battery packs which are designed to work with a number of B&D tools. It's 18v and covers a 12 inch diameter. The old one was only 12v and 10 inches. The battery doesn't seem to last as long but I'm probably covering a larger area in that time. So far, I'm content. I also picked up a few other tools--rake, cultivators, etc. I have pulled a lot of the dead grass and the live weeds out from around the roses on the side yard. Gartendirektor Otto Linne and Champneys' Pink Cluster almost look presentable.

I am almost resolved to buy a Back Porch ComposTumbler. It will handle about a 30 gallon trash bag's worth of material at a time. And because it is a tumbler, it turns the compost out quickly. There are larger ones available but this one has wheels and I could drag it around and pull stuff out and put stuff in. And it's not too overly large as to be unwieldy. Or so I hope.

I have mentioned Blue Highway Pizza to Karen and Chania and they are enthused as well. I need to pass the word on to Jessica the Younger and also Leah and Cree. I should have thought of Leah (am I spelling that right, I'll have to check) before. She wouldn't have wanted to drive down to Amrit Palace last December--she doesn't like to drive at night owing to her macular degeneration. But she could have ridden with someone. Same with Blue Highway. Bad Soukie, no biscuit.

Miss H--- looked sour last night. I did not ask her if she was interested in Blue Highway. I've been through that before, including the sour, hurt looks. She doesn't want to go. She doesn't like the company of women. But she wants to reject the offer, to make sure I know that she has better things to do than to hang with us. Sorry, been there, done that. Later, Chania and I spent some time over at the computer looking at some stuff. Miss H--- finally had enough and had to come over and get Chania attention. She made it clear that it was Chania's only that she wanted. Here, look at this nifty thing I made. Isn't it absolutely precious. She couldn't help herself, she had to interrupt and thrust herself into the middle of a private conversation. 

I think the fact that Chania and I are friends really bothers her. Chania should pick her. And maybe even I should pick her. She's special and sparkly.

I have a new phone. The old one was fixing to die a messy death. The screen was going bad. The rest of the phone might have worked fine but wouldn't have been much use without a viewable screen. I went in to AT&T on Saturday and the man who waited on me was so much more inclined to sell me stuff than the girl was two years ago. Then, she handed me the little cheap thing I bought and said 'here, this is what you can get.' This confused me as I had been online and it sure seemed like there were more options available in GoPhones. Now I have a camera phone, almost like the big kids. I also picked up a bluetooth though I have yet to really play with that. I need to run over there today, though, because the guy sold me the wrong car charger. Oh, well, Breck and I need to get out and have some fun.