Thank God it's Friday! Wow, I have not said that in a long time. The week got easier and I was not so tired at work as the week progressed, but I still have no energy when I get home. I received the reject email from Parks and Recreation and it made a depressing end to a long week.
I went on a tour to meet everyone at my new work on Tuesday afternoon. I felt bad going on my tour while I was dreaming about the Parks and Rec job. Everyone seems happy and everyone likes their job. There seems to be very little gossip and the atmosphere is pretty nice and comfortable. At least that is different. I am in a cubicle, but most people have individual offices and almost everyone has a window. There are atriums in the middle of the building, so it is easy to take a break and sit outside and get some sun. The one month new girl was promoted from the front desk and the week old new girl was an internal transfer and I am lucky to have this job as a stranger off the street.
I came home to the reject letter from the City of Boise, I was not chosen to do a traffic box.
Tuesday night I went to a workshop after work on the legal side of being an artist. It was a bit tough to get myself there by 5:30, but it was only an hour and a half. I learned that the My Free Copyright that I have on my blog is absolutely useless and that as soon as I post artwork on Facebook I loose my rights to the work. I can submit a portfolio of work under one copyright (and one fee) to copyright.gov, rather than having to copyright each piece. Even if I do this, it is expensive to defend. My donation of artwork to a charity auction is not deductible, and neither is your purchase of my artwork at a charity auction. The lawyer/presenter did not like China much, they appear to have entire cities dedicated to copying artwork, mass producing it, and selling it all over the world. Some useful links:
http://www.copyright.gov/
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/vc_majorthefts/arttheft
The presenter talked about a scam I already know about, which is when someone sends an email or calls saying something like their dying mother really wants one of your paintings before she dies and they will give you a cashiers check and you ship the painting. There is you giving them cash in there somewhere, but I can't remember how. The cashier's check is a really good fake, but no good, and you are out the painting and the shipping cost. I remember Dad talking about that scam last summer. I can see how any artist would be so happy to be finally selling something that they would get easily caught in a scam.
Cruiser and Spit started out looking at me in the morning like, What are you doing up so early? Where are you going? But by this morning, Cruiser was walking around on the bed and looking at me like I need to get up 5 minutes before the alarm went off. Spit licked her dinner plate so clean on Monday night that she scooted the plate across the floor. Both cats are now pretty well adjusted to me being gone all day and an evening in the backyard searching for worms in the too-tall-already grass seems to replace the evening brushing, or at least neither cat is whining for it.
Last night I went to bed with the window open and the frogs were so loud that I thought about closing the window, but then I fell asleep.
I think I will just update my resume with my new job on the state jobs website and then take a break for a while. I've had my fill of rejection for now.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
First Day of Work
I am home from my first day of work since June 24, 2010 and I am tired, cranky, and my eyes hurt. My neighbor, Kurt, came back Saturday from truck driving for at least a month straight, and he has been weed-whacking his overgrown yard since I got home.
I did not get a good night's sleep and I was tired all day. I can see why they hesitated to hire me for this job, I am going to be super bored within the week. It is in the fiscal department and I am pretty much matching invoices in one system to account numbers in another system and either approving them or researching numbers that do not match. Today I just got set up on the computer systems and sorted letters and put them in envelopes all day. I met the girl who got the job a month ago, who is Basque, and a girl that has been there a week that is very pregnant. I heard I am there to replace the lead, who is retiring in September, and fill in for the pregnant girl when she goes out on maternity leave at the same time. Right now I am hoping and praying for that city job so I won't be there.
The thing that set me off is that today is the beginning of the two week pay period and I will not get paid for this pay period until June 10. That is an outrageous lag time and really screws me up financially for the next two months. My rent will have to be late. I also have to pay in to retirement right away, even though I am now temporary. I guess government jobs are screwed up everywhere.
At least my commute is only 5 minutes and 3 miles. It may have been longer this morning because it was snowing. Snowing!? I remember when I came here on my road trip I came into Boise and there was snow on the mountains on May 23rd, and I said, hey, I do not want to live someplace with snow in May! People told me there had been an unusual snow all the way down into the city that morning. This is either the 2nd year of unusual snow in May or it's not that unusual. The sun came out in the afternoon and the snow was really low on the mountains, but most of it is already gone. Kurt must have been really determined to whack his lawn, because not only was it a foot tall, it was cold and wet from two days of rain and snow.
Cruiser and Spit were at the door for their late lunch when I got home. Spit is now looking a bit resentful, but that may be because she hasn't received her brushing yet.
Funny to think that one week from today it will be one year since I arrived in Boise on my road trip.
I did not get a good night's sleep and I was tired all day. I can see why they hesitated to hire me for this job, I am going to be super bored within the week. It is in the fiscal department and I am pretty much matching invoices in one system to account numbers in another system and either approving them or researching numbers that do not match. Today I just got set up on the computer systems and sorted letters and put them in envelopes all day. I met the girl who got the job a month ago, who is Basque, and a girl that has been there a week that is very pregnant. I heard I am there to replace the lead, who is retiring in September, and fill in for the pregnant girl when she goes out on maternity leave at the same time. Right now I am hoping and praying for that city job so I won't be there.
The thing that set me off is that today is the beginning of the two week pay period and I will not get paid for this pay period until June 10. That is an outrageous lag time and really screws me up financially for the next two months. My rent will have to be late. I also have to pay in to retirement right away, even though I am now temporary. I guess government jobs are screwed up everywhere.
At least my commute is only 5 minutes and 3 miles. It may have been longer this morning because it was snowing. Snowing!? I remember when I came here on my road trip I came into Boise and there was snow on the mountains on May 23rd, and I said, hey, I do not want to live someplace with snow in May! People told me there had been an unusual snow all the way down into the city that morning. This is either the 2nd year of unusual snow in May or it's not that unusual. The sun came out in the afternoon and the snow was really low on the mountains, but most of it is already gone. Kurt must have been really determined to whack his lawn, because not only was it a foot tall, it was cold and wet from two days of rain and snow.
Cruiser and Spit were at the door for their late lunch when I got home. Spit is now looking a bit resentful, but that may be because she hasn't received her brushing yet.
Funny to think that one week from today it will be one year since I arrived in Boise on my road trip.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Baby Geese and Ducks!
The sun rose this morning and lit up the trees against a dark gray sky, but that was it for the sun today. It is raining and back to temperatures in the 60s. I think these are lilacs and they are all over town in shades of purple and pink,
I tried to go to see art at the Linen Building again this morning, and again there was nothing there. It is is listed in the Weekly every week, but is supposed to be the 3rd Sunday of the month, isn't this the 3rd Sunday of the month? I give up. As a reward for my effort, I noticed baby geese in Ann Morrison Park on my way home, so I pulled in to Katherine Albertson Park across the street to check. Once I go in to Ann Morrison Park in my car, I have to go all the way through the park to get out, and Katherine Albertson Park is less crowded with no dogs allowed through June. There were baby geese and ducks everywhere!
These have to be just hatched, there were two groups here, a couple with five chicks and what looked like dad taking one chick for a stroll while mom sat on the rest of the eggs. I thought that it was funny that even baby geese have feet that are too big for their body.
Then I came around the corner to a sea of geese with chicks that look like teenagers,
The sea of baby geese proceeded across the park supervised by a few grownups and then spilled in to an opening in the thicket and disappeared. The lunchtime stroll must have been over and it was time for the teenagers to have a nap.
Then it started to rain really hard and I came up on the duck family,
Even the tiny little ones move super fast. Trying to get pictures in the pouring rain while standing under a tree and pulling the camera out from under my jacket was a challenge, but of all baby animals, I think baby geese are the cutest. I am amazed this is less than a mile from my house and because of the rain, I was almost the only person there.
Cruiser and Spit have been enjoying breakfast and lunch every day for almost a year. They can't wait for dinner, and I have been feeding them lunch instead because I can't stand to hear them whine about it. They are back to breakfast and dinner tomorrow and they are not going to be happy.
I tried to go to see art at the Linen Building again this morning, and again there was nothing there. It is is listed in the Weekly every week, but is supposed to be the 3rd Sunday of the month, isn't this the 3rd Sunday of the month? I give up. As a reward for my effort, I noticed baby geese in Ann Morrison Park on my way home, so I pulled in to Katherine Albertson Park across the street to check. Once I go in to Ann Morrison Park in my car, I have to go all the way through the park to get out, and Katherine Albertson Park is less crowded with no dogs allowed through June. There were baby geese and ducks everywhere!
These have to be just hatched, there were two groups here, a couple with five chicks and what looked like dad taking one chick for a stroll while mom sat on the rest of the eggs. I thought that it was funny that even baby geese have feet that are too big for their body.
Then I came around the corner to a sea of geese with chicks that look like teenagers,
The sea of baby geese proceeded across the park supervised by a few grownups and then spilled in to an opening in the thicket and disappeared. The lunchtime stroll must have been over and it was time for the teenagers to have a nap.
Then it started to rain really hard and I came up on the duck family,
Even the tiny little ones move super fast. Trying to get pictures in the pouring rain while standing under a tree and pulling the camera out from under my jacket was a challenge, but of all baby animals, I think baby geese are the cutest. I am amazed this is less than a mile from my house and because of the rain, I was almost the only person there.
Cruiser and Spit have been enjoying breakfast and lunch every day for almost a year. They can't wait for dinner, and I have been feeding them lunch instead because I can't stand to hear them whine about it. They are back to breakfast and dinner tomorrow and they are not going to be happy.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Here Comes the Sun!
It has been close to or above 80 degrees since Wednesday. Either the heat or the job starting on Monday has inspired an incredible laziness in me. I kept thinking I should take advantage of my last few days of not working, but I seem to want to take advantage by not doing much of anything.
My neighbor's backyard tree was a big puff ball of white flowers a few weeks ago, but last weekend all the petals started to drop and it looked like it was snowing again, and today the flowers are all gone. Two days of warm weather also did in the tulips, the few that are left are just wilted.
This morning it felt like summer in Michigan, it was hot, but with the clouds and humidity of a coming thunderstorm. It did not finally rain until early evening, but thunderstorms are due to continue for a few days and the temperature drops 20 degrees tomorrow. The thunderclouds are spectacular to see and it would have been a good day to go to Bruneau Dunes, but I was afraid of coming back in the thunderstorm.
I drive by the trees with these flowers every day and I finally got out at the right time of day and took pictures,
After taking pictures for a few minutes, my eyes started to water like crazy and they did not stop until I left, so whatever kind of tree this is, it either has toxic fumes or I am allergic to it.
Last Thursday was my AA bithday. I am 7 years sober. On Tuesday May 11th 2004, I walked in to my third meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and was warmly greeted by someone that changed my life. I had been drinking that entire day, but that night I chose the next day, May 12th to be my sobriety date, and I have not had a drink since. My sobriety has been hard and there are many times that I said, I did not get sober for this! Every year my birthday message has been that you can stay sober through anything, through letting go of houses, people that you love, credit, half of your possessions, shopping, TV, and even going to a job that you hate for more than five years. I got better and better, but the outside of my life just kept getting worse. This year I thought I was going to have the same message (add moving to a place you thought would be good for your spirit, being unemployed for almost a year, spending all of your retirement, and maybe having to move back home with your parent) and I was a bit pissed off about it, until I got that job. Besides being relieved at having a job, I was pleased to finally get to say how great my life is today. This has been the best year of my life.
My brother John says that you better like yourself, because that is the only person with whom you have to spend your entire life. It was so great to move and change my life into something that I wanted and take myself with me, rather than thinking that a different environment would make me different. I've done that lots of times and it didn't work.
Anyway, it is so much easier to see how my experience can benefit others when I am not wondering how I will pay my rent next month and thinking that moving to Idaho was a crazy, irresponsible idea.
In honor of my birthday, I have video and lyrics. I've been listening to Richie Havens since Wednesday, and these are my two favorites. Richie Havens' version of "Here Comes the Sun" is one of the best covers ever done, and I think it is better than the Beatles' version. I could not find decent video for "Follow", so I just have the lyrics, which are awesome.
"Follow" by Richie Havens
Words by Jerry Merrick
Let the river rock you like a cradle
Climb to the treetops, child, if you’re able
Let your hands tie a knot across the table.
Come and touch the things you cannot feel.
And close your fingertips and fly where I can’t hold you
Let the sun-rain fall and let the dewy clouds enfold you
And maybe you can sing to me the words I just told you,
If all the things you feel ain’t what they seem.
And don’t mind me 'cos I ain't nothin' but a dream.
The mocking bird sings each different song
Each song has wings - they won’t stay long.
Do those who hear think he's doing wrong?
While the church bell tolls its one-note song
And the school bell is tinkling to the throng.
Come here where your ears cannot hear.
And close your eyes, child, and listen to what I’ll tell you
Follow in the darkest night the sounds that may impel you
And the song that I am singing may disturb or serve to quell you
If all the sounds you hear ain’t what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream.
The rising smell of fresh-cut grass,
Smothered cities choke and yell with fuming gas;
I hold some grapes up to the sun
And their flavour breaks upon my tongue.
With eager tongues we taste our strife
And fill our lungs with seas of life.
Come taste and smell the waters of our time.
And close your lips, child, so softly I might kiss you,
Let your flower perfume out and let the winds caress you.
As I walk on through the garden, I am hoping I don’t miss you
If all the things you taste ain’t what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream.
The sun and moon both are right,
And we’ll see them soon through days of night
But now silver leaves on mirrors bring delight.
And the colours of your eyes are fiery bright,
While darkness blinds the skies with all its light.
Come see where your eyes cannot see.
And close your eyes, child, and look at what I’ll show you;
Let your mind go reeling out and let the breezes blow you,
Then maybe, when we meet, suddenly I will know you.
If all the things you see ain't what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream .
And you can follow; And you can follow; follow…
My neighbor's backyard tree was a big puff ball of white flowers a few weeks ago, but last weekend all the petals started to drop and it looked like it was snowing again, and today the flowers are all gone. Two days of warm weather also did in the tulips, the few that are left are just wilted.
This morning it felt like summer in Michigan, it was hot, but with the clouds and humidity of a coming thunderstorm. It did not finally rain until early evening, but thunderstorms are due to continue for a few days and the temperature drops 20 degrees tomorrow. The thunderclouds are spectacular to see and it would have been a good day to go to Bruneau Dunes, but I was afraid of coming back in the thunderstorm.
I drive by the trees with these flowers every day and I finally got out at the right time of day and took pictures,
After taking pictures for a few minutes, my eyes started to water like crazy and they did not stop until I left, so whatever kind of tree this is, it either has toxic fumes or I am allergic to it.
Last Thursday was my AA bithday. I am 7 years sober. On Tuesday May 11th 2004, I walked in to my third meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous and was warmly greeted by someone that changed my life. I had been drinking that entire day, but that night I chose the next day, May 12th to be my sobriety date, and I have not had a drink since. My sobriety has been hard and there are many times that I said, I did not get sober for this! Every year my birthday message has been that you can stay sober through anything, through letting go of houses, people that you love, credit, half of your possessions, shopping, TV, and even going to a job that you hate for more than five years. I got better and better, but the outside of my life just kept getting worse. This year I thought I was going to have the same message (add moving to a place you thought would be good for your spirit, being unemployed for almost a year, spending all of your retirement, and maybe having to move back home with your parent) and I was a bit pissed off about it, until I got that job. Besides being relieved at having a job, I was pleased to finally get to say how great my life is today. This has been the best year of my life.
My brother John says that you better like yourself, because that is the only person with whom you have to spend your entire life. It was so great to move and change my life into something that I wanted and take myself with me, rather than thinking that a different environment would make me different. I've done that lots of times and it didn't work.
Anyway, it is so much easier to see how my experience can benefit others when I am not wondering how I will pay my rent next month and thinking that moving to Idaho was a crazy, irresponsible idea.
In honor of my birthday, I have video and lyrics. I've been listening to Richie Havens since Wednesday, and these are my two favorites. Richie Havens' version of "Here Comes the Sun" is one of the best covers ever done, and I think it is better than the Beatles' version. I could not find decent video for "Follow", so I just have the lyrics, which are awesome.
"Follow" by Richie Havens
Words by Jerry Merrick
Let the river rock you like a cradle
Climb to the treetops, child, if you’re able
Let your hands tie a knot across the table.
Come and touch the things you cannot feel.
And close your fingertips and fly where I can’t hold you
Let the sun-rain fall and let the dewy clouds enfold you
And maybe you can sing to me the words I just told you,
If all the things you feel ain’t what they seem.
And don’t mind me 'cos I ain't nothin' but a dream.
The mocking bird sings each different song
Each song has wings - they won’t stay long.
Do those who hear think he's doing wrong?
While the church bell tolls its one-note song
And the school bell is tinkling to the throng.
Come here where your ears cannot hear.
And close your eyes, child, and listen to what I’ll tell you
Follow in the darkest night the sounds that may impel you
And the song that I am singing may disturb or serve to quell you
If all the sounds you hear ain’t what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream.
The rising smell of fresh-cut grass,
Smothered cities choke and yell with fuming gas;
I hold some grapes up to the sun
And their flavour breaks upon my tongue.
With eager tongues we taste our strife
And fill our lungs with seas of life.
Come taste and smell the waters of our time.
And close your lips, child, so softly I might kiss you,
Let your flower perfume out and let the winds caress you.
As I walk on through the garden, I am hoping I don’t miss you
If all the things you taste ain’t what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream.
The sun and moon both are right,
And we’ll see them soon through days of night
But now silver leaves on mirrors bring delight.
And the colours of your eyes are fiery bright,
While darkness blinds the skies with all its light.
Come see where your eyes cannot see.
And close your eyes, child, and look at what I’ll show you;
Let your mind go reeling out and let the breezes blow you,
Then maybe, when we meet, suddenly I will know you.
If all the things you see ain't what they seem,
Then don’t mind me ‘cos I ain’t nothin’ but a dream .
And you can follow; And you can follow; follow…
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Got a Job!
DDS, State of Idaho Disability Determination Service, called and offered me a job starting Monday! I go in tomorrow to do paperwork! I must admit that during the job offer call I was struggling with my interview tomorrow and the possibility of my dream job, but I went with the bird in the hand. I will worry about how to handle a new job offer when it happens.
What a relief! Now I am going to take my IWS painting entry to the framer and then I am going to have some fun before I do my interview homework.
Yay!
What a relief! Now I am going to take my IWS painting entry to the framer and then I am going to have some fun before I do my interview homework.
Yay!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Another Interview!
Interviewing for a administrative job for City of Boise Parks and Recreation on Thursday. This would be an awesome job and would pay almost twice as much as the jobs I interviewed for DDS and Medicaid. I am pretty excited about this one.
(When Cruiser is jealous of the computer, he sprawls across the desk, knocking everything off, and lays his paw on my mouse hand, but Spit plays a circle game. She walks across the desk in front of the monitor, careful not to step on the keyboard, then down to one side of my chair, behind my back, onto one end of the desk, and then across the desk in front of the monitor again. Round and round. I try to head her off at the pass by leaning against the back of the chair, but then she just switches direction. She is playing the circle game now.)
When I decided to change careers in 2004, I was originally going to get my Master's degree in psychology, but then I looked at the jobs available and I did not like them. So, I tried a different tack and looked for a job I thought I would like and what education it required. The job I thought I would like was Community Services Director for the City of Simi Valley and it required a Master's degree in Public Administration, which is why I now have one. This job I'm interviewing for on Thursday is a step towards a job just like that Community Services Director job, and why I got that silly degree in the first place.
This afternoon I met a girl for coffee that I met at that Business Side of Being an Artist workshop last Fall. It was a sunny, warm afternoon with puffy white clouds and being able to sit outside and drink coffee in the afternoon was just wonderful.
Then I came home and mowed the backyard grass again. Once it gets a bit warm, grass grows really fast here in Idaho. In only a week it was almost too tall to mow already.
I added some of my old computer art to my website yesterday, in the hopes of getting some work making computer art again. It looks really outdated and putting it together made me a bit depressed, like I was reliving the painful end of an old career, but I put it up anyway. There is some work I could not find and some work I have, but not in a useable format. I do not have any of the 3D programs anymore, and it is more likely that I can get 2D work, like storyboards, so I figure I will do some more of those, but not today.
Tomorrow I am doing research for my interview.
(When Cruiser is jealous of the computer, he sprawls across the desk, knocking everything off, and lays his paw on my mouse hand, but Spit plays a circle game. She walks across the desk in front of the monitor, careful not to step on the keyboard, then down to one side of my chair, behind my back, onto one end of the desk, and then across the desk in front of the monitor again. Round and round. I try to head her off at the pass by leaning against the back of the chair, but then she just switches direction. She is playing the circle game now.)
When I decided to change careers in 2004, I was originally going to get my Master's degree in psychology, but then I looked at the jobs available and I did not like them. So, I tried a different tack and looked for a job I thought I would like and what education it required. The job I thought I would like was Community Services Director for the City of Simi Valley and it required a Master's degree in Public Administration, which is why I now have one. This job I'm interviewing for on Thursday is a step towards a job just like that Community Services Director job, and why I got that silly degree in the first place.
This afternoon I met a girl for coffee that I met at that Business Side of Being an Artist workshop last Fall. It was a sunny, warm afternoon with puffy white clouds and being able to sit outside and drink coffee in the afternoon was just wonderful.
Then I came home and mowed the backyard grass again. Once it gets a bit warm, grass grows really fast here in Idaho. In only a week it was almost too tall to mow already.
I added some of my old computer art to my website yesterday, in the hopes of getting some work making computer art again. It looks really outdated and putting it together made me a bit depressed, like I was reliving the painful end of an old career, but I put it up anyway. There is some work I could not find and some work I have, but not in a useable format. I do not have any of the 3D programs anymore, and it is more likely that I can get 2D work, like storyboards, so I figure I will do some more of those, but not today.
Tomorrow I am doing research for my interview.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
This was hanging on a banner in the Egyptian Theater (sorry, I could only find it as an image),
The piece is by Anthony Doerr, who's short fiction has won three O. Henry Prizes, among other awards, and he was the official State of Idaho Writer-in-Residence for three years ending June 2010. He lives right here in Boise.
Happy Mother's Day!
Friday was gloomy, so I did not go to the botanical garden. I went to the Eagle gallery, but I did not stay long. Some watercolor artist came up to me when I first got there and tried to give me a flier for her commission work of children. She was pushy and I was annoyed. Maybe I was annoyed because I thought that was what I should be doing. I watched Dwight Williams do watercolor demos and talked to him for a while, it cracks me up how much he tells stories like Dad.
It started to rain a warm Spring rain on my way home from the gallery, but it stopped early and I let the cats out after dark. I think when I watch them pounce across the yard they are trying to catch worms. Spit did finally grab one up with her paw, look at it, and then try to shake it off. The cats loved to catch lizards at the Simi house, I figure worms are the next best thing.
Now that it is warmer the world's loudest frogs are out. You would think they are giants and right outside the door by the sound of them. Too bad they are not in my yard, Spit would love a pet frog.
Yesterday I set up the Wacom tablet. (That is a drawing tablet that you plug in to your computer and draw on the computer using a pen, rather than a mouse.) I have not used it in years and when I installed it on my last computer, the computer crashed, so I was stalling on attaching it to my new one. I downloaded the latest drivers on-line before I attached the tablet and it works just great, no crashing.
Today I finished another landscape,
I have not felt very motivated to paint and I had to force myself work on this one yesterday until I started to like it.
Yesterday afternoon I went over to Sarah and Joe's to watch the Kentucky Derby. All the women were wearing hats, except me, and Joe was wearing a suit. If I go next year I will have to get a Derby hat. Sarah made Derby food, including a dip with pimentos. I can't remember the last time I saw pimentos, what are pimentos, anyway? She also had mint juleps, but I had iced tea.
This afternoon, Sarah and I went to see the play "Always, Patsy Cline", which was super fun. The show is based on a true story about Cline’s friendship with a fan from Houston named Louise Seger, who befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk in l961, and continued a correspondence with Cline until her death. It includes only two actresses and two guys that make up the band. One actress plays Patsy Cline and she sang many songs that I know, and a few that I did not. The other actress plays Louise Seger, who in this case was a short, round, loud, Texan single mom. I forgot how young Patsy Cline was when she died.
I was hesitant to plan to go to a play on a Sunday afternoon now that the weather is warming up, but it was raining today until after the play and a good day to be indoors. Boise is not like So Cal where one beautiful day follows another and if you don't go out in it today, it will be nice again tomorrow.
The piece is by Anthony Doerr, who's short fiction has won three O. Henry Prizes, among other awards, and he was the official State of Idaho Writer-in-Residence for three years ending June 2010. He lives right here in Boise.
Happy Mother's Day!
Friday was gloomy, so I did not go to the botanical garden. I went to the Eagle gallery, but I did not stay long. Some watercolor artist came up to me when I first got there and tried to give me a flier for her commission work of children. She was pushy and I was annoyed. Maybe I was annoyed because I thought that was what I should be doing. I watched Dwight Williams do watercolor demos and talked to him for a while, it cracks me up how much he tells stories like Dad.
It started to rain a warm Spring rain on my way home from the gallery, but it stopped early and I let the cats out after dark. I think when I watch them pounce across the yard they are trying to catch worms. Spit did finally grab one up with her paw, look at it, and then try to shake it off. The cats loved to catch lizards at the Simi house, I figure worms are the next best thing.
Now that it is warmer the world's loudest frogs are out. You would think they are giants and right outside the door by the sound of them. Too bad they are not in my yard, Spit would love a pet frog.
Yesterday I set up the Wacom tablet. (That is a drawing tablet that you plug in to your computer and draw on the computer using a pen, rather than a mouse.) I have not used it in years and when I installed it on my last computer, the computer crashed, so I was stalling on attaching it to my new one. I downloaded the latest drivers on-line before I attached the tablet and it works just great, no crashing.
Today I finished another landscape,
I have not felt very motivated to paint and I had to force myself work on this one yesterday until I started to like it.
Yesterday afternoon I went over to Sarah and Joe's to watch the Kentucky Derby. All the women were wearing hats, except me, and Joe was wearing a suit. If I go next year I will have to get a Derby hat. Sarah made Derby food, including a dip with pimentos. I can't remember the last time I saw pimentos, what are pimentos, anyway? She also had mint juleps, but I had iced tea.
This afternoon, Sarah and I went to see the play "Always, Patsy Cline", which was super fun. The show is based on a true story about Cline’s friendship with a fan from Houston named Louise Seger, who befriended the star in a Texas honky-tonk in l961, and continued a correspondence with Cline until her death. It includes only two actresses and two guys that make up the band. One actress plays Patsy Cline and she sang many songs that I know, and a few that I did not. The other actress plays Louise Seger, who in this case was a short, round, loud, Texan single mom. I forgot how young Patsy Cline was when she died.
I was hesitant to plan to go to a play on a Sunday afternoon now that the weather is warming up, but it was raining today until after the play and a good day to be indoors. Boise is not like So Cal where one beautiful day follows another and if you don't go out in it today, it will be nice again tomorrow.
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