funk funk funk

I’ve been in a bit of a funk the past couple of days. Due to this that and the other thing. I’d been coping with this and that because they were of my making and procrastinating and were my fault, but the other thing, that was a different story and it knocked me a bit off kilter. I decided to wallow a bit – remember adolescence and playing the same sad record (!) over and over and over – and that’s just what I did. Wallowed, made myself miserable and then really miserable. Finally I started explaining to myself why it was about time, regardless of my subjective age, to start acting like an adult when these “other things” come along and Snap Out Of It! I gave myself all the reasons, I listened and I think I might actually finally Get It.

So now I feel better.
I finished a project – pictures in a couple of weeks – can’t reveal just yet. It went exactly as planned from start to finish.

and

I’m gonna see some Penguins on Wednesday. Can’t possible stay funky with Penguins in your future.

Just A Short Story

But it led me to a small investigation which made the story longer.

Inside I feel and am considerably younger than my chronological years.  In fact, I have to consciously remind myself how old I am.  My inside age feels natural and real.  The “other” age is always accompanied by an inner “oops, I forgot again”.  I will always answer truthfully when someone asks my age – my hesitation is because I have to remember what it is.  So I wanted to see what this meant.   I travelled around google-land and finally the term “subjective age” popped up.  That was it.  

I discovered that this subjective age thing is common and in adult women tends to be significantly younger than the chronological age and is a Good Thing.  

For a few seconds last week I felt ten years old but I promptly snapped back to my real age which is older than that but a LOT younger than the one on my driver’s license.

Self-explanatory

Plus, the Navy is in town!

100% Correct

Talking about my prediction.

See what I mean – check this out:

http://www.paperandthreads.com/2010/05/every_day_in_may_22_2.php

Waxing in multiple forms

I had an eventful week. ?First I met Melly on Broadway and 34th Street Wednesday at 5:30. ?The corner she was standing on was crowded with rush hour all directions foot/vehicle traffic.?

Amongst all this confusion was a little tiny pocket of serenity. ?There was a street artist with a chair, a shabby sketchbook and various possessions on the ground around her. ?It looked as if she was finished for the day so I couldn’t see what she had been drawing. ?But – look! – in front of her was a yellow cat wearing a collar and leash. ?Now, I don’t know much about cats but I have the impression they like to curl up and sleep most of the time. ?This cat was sitting up, alert, staring at the artist intently with RAYS of adoration shooting out of its eyes and oblivious to all the surrounding hubbub. ?That’s what happens in the city – all of a sudden you will stumble upon the unexpected – and sometimes you walk away with a smile on your face. ?We sure did.

Then Melly took me to the coolest Japanese store – 6th Avenue & 41 Street (or 40th I wasn’t paying attention, just following and chattering) – Kinokuniya Bookstores. ?We went to the office supply area and just let our eyes pig out on the feast of the unusual. ?Mechanical pencils galore. ?Fountain pens! ?Books we couldn’t read but were unable to not touch and ogle. ?Hours we didn’t have could have passed just on that floor alone. ?We headed to the upper floor and, instead of a proper meal, indulged in sweets and smacked our lips and felt no guilt at all. ?It was too tasty to feel guilty about.

Next we headed over to 35th Street between Lex and Park and attended a meeting of the Textile Study Group. ?Joanne Mattera was lecturing on encaustic and fibers. ?When Melly took out her purple sock knitting it broke the ice and women turned around or leaned forward. ?Despite some power point projection issues it was a very interesting talk. ?

On Thursday and Friday I drove up to the Center for Contemporary Printmaking to take part in an encaustic workshop. ?I’ve been there multiple times but was a bit worried because my head seemed to be Empty and there were No Apparent Ideas so I was very Scott Dramatic with myself and worried I would be blocked and frustrated blah blah blah. ?Well, the drama was unnecessary. ?I ended up having, in my opinion, a very successful two days and came home with six completed pieces – four of which consist of two pieces each nailed together – so really, I guess ten pieces in total. ?

Here’s a sliver of “Small Crocus” – I used a bit of Wednesday’s Japanese freebie newspaper – see how the three days are intermingled? ?I really amaze myself sometimes.

and this is a sliver of “Scrolls 1”. ?Yes, there is a “Scrolls 2”. ?

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I was Very Brave

I was working on an idea – making a dummy. ?It turned out as expected but I didn’t have the right paper. ??I decided to drive over to Utrecht Art to buy the correct paper and since I was going out maybe I should check out last week?s landfill park.? See if it is suitable for walking alone on a Sunday afternoon. ?

I arrived at the park at 3:00 exactly.? The small parking lot was mostly full and I saw a scattering of people.? I set off on what I thought was the pathway we went on last week and soon found myself alone.

?I saw Robins and some Red Winged Blackbirds. ? A gentle incline upwards with some nice views

and then a pathway led to the? left and the walk upwards was a bit more strenuous – maybe ?strenuous? is not quite the word I want.? Almost strenuous – whatever that word would be.? Doesn?t matter because it felt healthy to be doing it.

?I walked out on the pier

?and spotted two Snowy Egrets, ducks, some kind of sea/water bird.

As I walked back on the long pier I was able to take some pictures of a seagull which had used the wood deck to crack open a clam and then devour the innards.

Finally I made it to the top of the hill, admired the view of Manhattan?s skyline for a second, passed the windmill and headed down.? It?s a funny thing about that particular downward path.? At some point it starts going upward for about a half mile but is actually heading back to the parking area.?

I spent some time watching the baby Nigerian Dwarf Goats first playing with each other and then when the ranger brought in branches with leaves which he draped over a small climbing area as they all chomped on dinner.

I have become an Official Outdoors Woman!!

They wore me out

I met Shirley and Melly at the Metropolitan Museum of Art today.  We went in via Shirley’s Entrance.  She’s got clout.  We spent quite a while sitting on a bench opposite the coat check area and examined each other’s journals and chatted, chatted, chatted.  Finally, to the relief of the guards who were longing for some peace and quiet, we headed to the Picasso exhibit.  Wow and Zowie.  Fantastic show and a lot of things I had never seen before.  All of us especially loved the linocuts.  We have also devised a challenge for one of our future Journal Study Group meetings based upon something Picasso did.  Should be just enough to make us crazy.

Then we went to another exhibit of women’s fashions – forget the proper name of the exhibition.  I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this but was blown away by the fabrics and textures.  Very worthwhile.  

I mentioned that there were very old and beautiful encaustic portraits in this museum and we asked several guards and an information lady but, since I didn’t know the name of them or where they were from no one was able to point us in any direction.  We wandered around in the Near East area hoping to spot them but to no avail.

Oh well.  Then up to the roof to an installation of bamboo.

Every time we headed over to a particular area of this museum we had to pass through zillions of other exhibits and it was mandatory to stop here and there every time something caught our eye.  We must have stopped hundreds of times to look at this and that and snap pictures of things that trigger ideas for future projects.  Remember, there were three of us and different things were catching each of our left and right eyes and then we had to call the other two over to also see and discuss.  

I’m exhausted.

Hey Shirley

Bet you can’t stop with just one.

I know I can’t.

Shirley, I heard a rumor

According to the grapevine you have new crayons.

That’s nice.

But I have more crayons than you do.

HA!

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http://www.paperandthreads.com/2010/05/every_day_in_may_11_1.php#comments

Landfill & Wildlife

Today my adventure with nature was a 3 mile walk in the Norman J. Levy Park and Preserve.  According to the web site: 

?…one of the most outstanding, and certainly most unique, parks in Nassau County. It is not because it has natural ponds, creeks, marshes or woodlands? in fact it is completely made by humans. What makes it so unusual is that it is the highest point and the only hill in the South Shore of Nassau County.

Norman J. Levy Park & Preserve is the former Merrick Landfill. Sixteen years after the landfill was closed, the Town of Hempstead smartly transformed it into a public park.

Opened in 2000, it is now a ? mile-long narrow hill, 115 feet high, providing the best view, a 360-degree panorama, on Nassau County?s South Shore. From its top, Manhattan?s skyline can be seen, 24 miles to the west.

The 50-acre park boasts 3.3 miles of groomed trails, a boardwalk across a restored wetland, exercise stations and an information kiosk about recycling and solid waste treatment. On the hilltop, there is an osprey nesting platform, two summit ponds with water birds, and a working windmill that circulates the water of the ponds. On the shore are a fishing pier and a kayak launch site.?

It was really a very nice walk.  It is hard to imagine but it is quite beautiful there. The pathway is wide and covered in broken and crushed shell.   We were able to walk three abreast and have conversations since the uphill grade is just right to make itself known in your thighs but not to leave you gasping.  It was an extremely windy day (trees had been downed all over the metropolitan area) and chilly with low clouds zipping by overhead.  A three-layer day, sweatshirt, hoody and jacket.   At the ?summit? – lo and behold – the Manhattan skyline could clearly be seen and obvious buildings (Empire State) picked out even though everything was too teeny to photograph.  

The wildlife walked right up to me.  Someone in the group mentioned this was part of the “tick control”.

I?m thinking it would be an enjoyable place to take a daily walk.  I think I?ll try it one of these Saturdays (oh, yeah – I have a Saturday job now – keep forgetting) or Sundays when there should be more people around.  I get creeped out being in parks alone when they are too under-populated.  Sends shivers down my spine – just got one as a matter of fact.