Life After the Festival

I survived the festival. I didn't mess up too many things. There were volunteers in places that needed volunteers, usually in numbers sufficient to handle the job. People seemed to be having a good time and a few even said they were having fun and would be back to volunteer next year. I didn't get any really negative feedback about anything over which I have control. Susan P is coming on board with me as co-director for the 2007 festival, our 50th Anniversary year. It'll be great to have here with me as she could do this job blindfolded and tied up but she'll let me think I am doing some of it and she will share in the worry as well as the glory (??). Besides, she's fun! I have written all the thank yous I needed to send and have only to write up my report (two copies, please) to turn in for the wrap-up meeting Wednesday and then I can put the festival away for two months and recharge.

I miss my grandbabies. I miss my family. I have been eating, sleeping (sort of sleeping....) and breathing this silly festival for so long that everything else has fallen between the cracks. I have weeds in my front yard as tall as I am and they are threatening to crowd out my beautiful lilies that are just starting to open. I haven't seen Emma, except for a quick minute the first day of the festival when she cam by with her mother and other grandmother to say hello, in ages. She is growing up and I'm not there to enjoy it or be a part of it. Waaaah! That will change. Now.

Alex had her eye surgery in early June and while it is still really too early to be sure of how well it went, I can't say I was unhappy to hear she was, once again, in her glasses and eye patch. She is just so dang cute in her little pink glasses. There is something about an adorable little girl in pink glasses that just seems right. Of course, everyone in the family wears or has worn glasses, so they seem like a normal thing to me. But she is especially adorable in hers. I should be wishing they were a thing of the past, but in my heart of hearts I'm glad she's still wearing them. If you doubt me, see below and judge for yourself!
Jen had a good trip to London and Paris and came home with some fantastic photos. Frankly all the photos she posted to the web were fantastic. She has an amazing eye and a unique style of her own. You could take all of her shots and publish them into a beautiful coffee table book just as they are, and I'm sure it would be a top seller. I'm green with envy.

Connie had a good trip to visit with Annie. He helped build her pergola in the backyard and had fun trying to teach Alex to crawl. Apparently she's close to crawling but hasn't yet gotten the leg and arm thing coordinated enough to really start moving. Both Connie and I think Annie and Chris have had it quiet enough for long enough and now it's time for them to start running all day, every day, after Alex. Yes, I know we are mean. That's what grandparents are for. Payback is sweeeeeeeeet.

Annie and Alex will be here 1 August for a two week visit. Chris will join them for the end of the stay, so we get to have the whole family with us for a bit. I can't wait!

I had one day of painting at Anna's last Saturday but life got in the way on Sunday and I had to cancel. I was working on a painting of shoes, really Moroccan slippers, that somehow morphed into more like Dutch wooden shoes as the day progressed. I guess Will was greatly on my mind that day. "They" say you paint what you have in your heart and I surely do have Will and Bernice in my heart these days, so maybe it's true. I didn't get to finish the painting but I got a good start on it. It was really odd to be using my Caron d'Arche sticks outside as they were melting and kept breaking off in my hands. I hadn't brought my paints box so I had to rely on the crayons entirely to do the painting. I had technicolor hands by the time I had to leave! I will have to go back and pick up the painting and some supplies for Anna in the next week or so, as I have promised to haul what I can fit into my car up to Sooke Harbour House for the retreat next month. It's going to be much (MUCH) more expensive than anyone had planned now that we can't go to The Hawthorn because of Will's illness, but Sooke Harbour House is so beautiful and it's such an inspiring place that I really don't begrudge the money I'll have to spend. I do love it there.

Well. I feel better. I still have days and weeks and months of writing to do in my journal to catch up but I guess there is time enough for that in the coming weeks. Got to get that report done first. Then, I'm free!!!!

Ten Days and Counting

I got my crow platter back from the ceramic painting store and I am quite pleased with the results. The crows look pretty good and I didn't get any chipping when I did the sgriffito technique. Now I think I'll try the same design on some other items. Maybe a vase, maybe a big mug. Something....

The arts festival starts in TEN DAYS. And today I found out I have a voice mail box other than the box I'd been told about and had never had a message in....and guess what? Yep. Four messages and who knows how many I've already missed that have been deleted for just sitting there...unheard, unanswered, unloved? I feel awful but I didn't know! Now, one more thing to do each day. At least I managed to salvage a good lead for the children's area. Jeremy came through with a windfall of volunteers for Thursday, set up day. He wrote and asked if we could use about sixty volunteers? Well, ah.....gee....YES. If we can get a few of them to show up at 7 am Chris will have all the help she needs to get the field organized and a good, efficient unload for the artists rolling. Wouldn't that be sweet? some things seem to be so much better, others seem so much worse. It's just an on-going nightmare and I won't be able to wake up from this one for about two weeks! Aaaargh!

I will not go on and on with this feckless whining, but it's getting bad and will only get worse. Signing on for this job proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am incurably insane.

I did get to play over the weekend. It was so wonderful! Nonie and I took old Red Truck for a spin on Saturday, got the old crankcase fluids and oil pumping and flowing, showed off the elegantly dusty ratty paint job and had a good time doing it. We 'dined' at Haggens in Arlington. The sushi wasn't bad and Nonie seemed to like the honey glazed chicken and fried rice. The price was surely right, too. We were so lazy we didn't even go for a walk, although I will admit that the best weather we had all weekend was while we were driving around in Old Red. It poured most of the day yesterday and I got drenched while planting one tomato, three thyme plants and a couple of geraniums. At least no one need worry about watering up there for a while!

Annie reported that Alex was sick over the weekend but has made a full recovery, even if there is a slight lingering cough. At least she won't have to have her eye surgery postponed because of illness. That's scheduled for Thursday.

Tomorrow night we are having a family dinner at Giraldi's for Kellie's birthday. Eunice, Nonie, Don and Kellie, Emma and the old grandparents will all be in attendance. I am looking forward to having us all together for a nice meal that I don't have to fix. I don't have the time or energy (not to mention a house that is decent enough to let folks into!) to cook a dinner right now. Rune is coming over tonight for supper and the poor guy is getting hot dogs and chili! I know that'll please Connie, but I'm not too sure about Rune.

I have accomplished one page this weekend for my art journal and also did a bit of sketching. The journal page took an odd turn. The prompt was "Pink and orange are the navy blue of India" and I rather thought I'd have a bright, happy page to show for my efforts. But, no. I somehow got to thinking about all the poor girls who are burned to death because they didn't bring a big enough dowry in the opinion of their husbands families. I thought about all the women who comitted sati. I kept thinking "women as fuel" and it was very depressing. So the page took a dark turn and I smacked on my handpring right in the middle and cut out two little hands that I used as a border design. I found a poem about sati on the internet, and while it's not my feelings on the subject of ritual (usually enforced) suicide of a widow, it is an opinion that many women may have had, so I used it. Not the cheey page I invisioned. But that's the joy of doing something like this---you can let it lead you where it may.