Perfect Day

Yesterday morning I realized I do not have any stretched watercolor paper, so I spent the morning getting ready to paint. Stretching watercolor paper takes a whole day. I took Hazel off the board, found my reference and decided what to paint next, cleaned the bathtub, filled it, and set a new sheet of paper to soak for the day. Then I tried to find some pre-cut mats for the studies I already finished and found that a pre-cut mat for 5" x 7" artwork really means a 4.5" x 6.5" opening and got really irritated. All of my studies are 5" x 7", 5" x 7" means 5" x 7"! So I will try going to Michael's and see how much they will charge to cut a bunch for me.

It is supposed to cool off today, so yesterday I sat in my backyard and read Seabiscuit and got some sun with the cats. Cruiser plops himself down in the grass and shade and Spit examines the perimeter, then finds some shade herself. Both are no longer jumping up at every noise. Then we all went inside, both cats gave themselves a thorough cleaning and then took a nap.


I was overwhelmed by the feeling that everything is right with the world, or maybe it was a quiet happiness.

I finished putting away the livingroom.




Those folding doors on the left are to the washer and dryer closet. The cats were scratching the carpet at the base when the doors were closed, so for now they stay cracked open. I don't need the cats damaging the new carpet in the first month of living here.

The food was pretty bland and their idea of chips and salsa was questionable, but the Mexican dinner last night was enjoyable. My apologies to anyone who caught me, empanadas are not Mexican food, they are Spanish. There were 2 nurses there and 2 breast cancer survivors, which made me think of my friend Ann and feel a bit homesick. I told them everyone in California thinks people in Idaho are skinheads and militants and they cracked up. Everyone asks me why I picked Idaho and looks baffled at my choice until I explain.

I picked up a Boise Weekly after dinner. After several warnings, the operator of Boise Trolley Tours was shut down for inappropriate behavior and foul language. Who would not clean-up their language to keep their business? What a crack-up. The article does not describe the inappropriate behavior. I wonder what it was. Their weekly picks include a festival for Hare Krishna's birthday at the Hare Krishna Temple and Vedic Cultural Center, a roller derby smackdown with teams from Washington, Canada, Utah, Arizona, and Boise, and a recommendation for a Hawaiian cakes shop. There is an article about stand-up paddle boarding on the rapids (that sounds hard) and ads for a meeting to repeal the 14th Amendment (we are a republic, not a democracy), Sun Valley golf packages (Dad that's mySVfun.com), the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival sponsoring a show called Shrishti Creation featuring a dance company and orchestra from India, and several yoga studios. One of the yoga studios is called Bikram Hot Yoga. What is hot yoga? For their $20 for 20 days special I can find out. On second thought, I think I will check out the website first.

Pretty eclectic mix for what people think of Idaho.