Also, it's COLD outside! Dang.
I am third from the left.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Shortest Post Ever
Hopefully I'll have more stuff next time but right now I have a house guest to entertain so I leave you with only one pic and one drawing from last Wednesday's sketch group outing to a local vineyard.
Also, it's COLD outside! Dang.
Also, it's COLD outside! Dang.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Blue Jeans Are Boring
On Saturday I went to the Merrie Greenwood Renaissance Faire held right here in Columbia Park.
I'd never been to one of these things before, and just wanted to check it out.
It was full of colorful tents, colorful people, and colorful costumes.
There were dozens of tents full of colorful wares for sale.
The women below were demonstrating how to spin yarn.
And you could even buy a wooden shield, should the mood strike you.
I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the amazing clothing people wore there, and thinking that the standard American fashion statement of blue jeans and t-shirt was kind of boring. Why don't we wear more colorful clothes? I looked at booths selling colorful clothes, and was briefly tempted to buy something, but then of course I asked myself, where would I ever wear this colorful full-length skirt with peasant blouse except to a Renaissance fair?
So I passed. Guess it's jeans and t-shirts for me.
Other than that little expedition, the week was as usual: dog walks, library book shop, garage sales, and sketch outings. The urban sketcher group met at a shopping area on Wednesday. I almost didn't go, because I didn't think there would be anything of interest to draw there. Eventually I decided to give it a go, because I like hanging out with the group and it's good to be challenged.
Turned out the section of shops they had chosen was challenging to draw, and I had a good time with it.
Then on Friday I joined the local art gallery's "paint-in" session, where I hung out with pretty much the same people and where I did a practice piece from a book about English country churches:
I also bought a piece of art on Friday. Janet Hutchinson is a member of the urban sketcher group, and she also comes to the paint-in sessions, and on the previous Friday I stopped in briefly to the paint-in with Truman and Pippin just to say hi, as I couldn't stay that day. Janet was there and being a huge dog lover, she snapped a lot of pics. And then she did a portrait from one of Pippin:
I'd never been to one of these things before, and just wanted to check it out.
It was full of colorful tents, colorful people, and colorful costumes.
There were troubadours and dancers and jugglers and a magician and all sort of entertaining things.
There were dozens of tents full of colorful wares for sale.
The women below were demonstrating how to spin yarn.
And you could even buy a wooden shield, should the mood strike you.
I thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the amazing clothing people wore there, and thinking that the standard American fashion statement of blue jeans and t-shirt was kind of boring. Why don't we wear more colorful clothes? I looked at booths selling colorful clothes, and was briefly tempted to buy something, but then of course I asked myself, where would I ever wear this colorful full-length skirt with peasant blouse except to a Renaissance fair?
So I passed. Guess it's jeans and t-shirts for me.
Other than that little expedition, the week was as usual: dog walks, library book shop, garage sales, and sketch outings. The urban sketcher group met at a shopping area on Wednesday. I almost didn't go, because I didn't think there would be anything of interest to draw there. Eventually I decided to give it a go, because I like hanging out with the group and it's good to be challenged.
Turned out the section of shops they had chosen was challenging to draw, and I had a good time with it.
Then on Friday I joined the local art gallery's "paint-in" session, where I hung out with pretty much the same people and where I did a practice piece from a book about English country churches:
I also bought a piece of art on Friday. Janet Hutchinson is a member of the urban sketcher group, and she also comes to the paint-in sessions, and on the previous Friday I stopped in briefly to the paint-in with Truman and Pippin just to say hi, as I couldn't stay that day. Janet was there and being a huge dog lover, she snapped a lot of pics. And then she did a portrait from one of Pippin:
That definitely captures his friendly outgoing personality (plus the fact that he almost always has his tongue out). I asked if I could buy it, and she brought it last Friday and now it's mine -- yay!
I have out-of-town company coming in one week so I'm going to spend a lot of this week cleaning the house. Or at least, that's my intention. I may find better things to do, you never know!
Monday, September 16, 2019
On the Atomic Frontier
Last week's main event was a celebration deemed Atomic Frontier Day. Other towns have Pioneer Day or the like, but here in Richland, WA, home to the Hanford nuclear site, we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the part the town played in the Manhattan Project. It's pretty much our only claim to fame.
Above is a model of an "A" house -- the government built "Alphabet" houses in the 1940s here to house its workers. If you lived in an A or C or F house, you knew exactly what your friends' homes looked like if they lived in an A or C or F house...and most of them did.
The parade was short and fun -- here is a Girl Scout troop sporting vintage uniforms:
And there was the usual assortment of vintage vehicles:
There were two marching bands.
And horses! Pippin barked madly at them until I told him to think of them as really big dogs, and then he shut up.
More fun was to be had at the main park in town, where there were historical booths and displays, including this 1940s bus that took workers out to the Hanford site:
It was a long commute (35 miles), and workers brought games to play during the ride.
Note the sign banning games in the aisles.
My friends Sue and Irina were there, manning a table for the Friends of the Library book shop:
Here's an overview of the festival booths:
A staffer at the booth below cajoled me into picking a question from their trivia board. They were surprised when I boldly passed the easier 100 and 200 levels and went straight to "Shrub-Steppe" for 300. The Shrub-Steppe is what our local bioregion is called. When they revealed a picture of a bird and asked what it was, they were very impressed when I firmly declared, "That is a Greater Sage-Grouse!" I won a plastic ruler. Wowza.
Then we stopped in at the community center, where there were more historical displays:
All in all, it was a fun, old-fashioned, low-key festival and we both enjoyed it very much.
Plus I found stuff at the Uptown sidewalk sale!
Otherwise, this past week I did the usual things that I do -- walked the dogs, went out with the sketch group, hit up the yard sales as well as a church book sale (good stuff!), hung out with the family, read some of those many books I keep buying, and watched a lot of baseball.
Here is one sketch I did while on one of my regular morning riverfront dog walks:
And here are some members of the Tri-Cities Urban Sketcher group, who met at an RV and boat dealership.
I got ambitious and did a sketch that tried to show as much of the location as I could fit in -- we have 1-1/2 hours to do our sketch and I was pretty happy with it overall.
This coming week has a lot of showers in the forecast so I may not get out and about as much. We shall just have to wait and see.
Above is a model of an "A" house -- the government built "Alphabet" houses in the 1940s here to house its workers. If you lived in an A or C or F house, you knew exactly what your friends' homes looked like if they lived in an A or C or F house...and most of them did.
My friend Beckie and I (and the Hounds) went to the Uptown shopping center (opened in 1949 and going strong) where they were staging for a parade, and also having a sidewalk sale. Pippin was very popular there.
The parade was short and fun -- here is a Girl Scout troop sporting vintage uniforms:
And there was the usual assortment of vintage vehicles:
There were two marching bands.
And horses! Pippin barked madly at them until I told him to think of them as really big dogs, and then he shut up.
More fun was to be had at the main park in town, where there were historical booths and displays, including this 1940s bus that took workers out to the Hanford site:
It was a long commute (35 miles), and workers brought games to play during the ride.
Note the sign banning games in the aisles.
My friends Sue and Irina were there, manning a table for the Friends of the Library book shop:
Here's an overview of the festival booths:
A staffer at the booth below cajoled me into picking a question from their trivia board. They were surprised when I boldly passed the easier 100 and 200 levels and went straight to "Shrub-Steppe" for 300. The Shrub-Steppe is what our local bioregion is called. When they revealed a picture of a bird and asked what it was, they were very impressed when I firmly declared, "That is a Greater Sage-Grouse!" I won a plastic ruler. Wowza.
Then we stopped in at the community center, where there were more historical displays:
All in all, it was a fun, old-fashioned, low-key festival and we both enjoyed it very much.
Plus I found stuff at the Uptown sidewalk sale!
Otherwise, this past week I did the usual things that I do -- walked the dogs, went out with the sketch group, hit up the yard sales as well as a church book sale (good stuff!), hung out with the family, read some of those many books I keep buying, and watched a lot of baseball.
Here is one sketch I did while on one of my regular morning riverfront dog walks:
And here are some members of the Tri-Cities Urban Sketcher group, who met at an RV and boat dealership.
I got ambitious and did a sketch that tried to show as much of the location as I could fit in -- we have 1-1/2 hours to do our sketch and I was pretty happy with it overall.
This coming week has a lot of showers in the forecast so I may not get out and about as much. We shall just have to wait and see.
Monday, September 9, 2019
The Fine Art of Puttering Around
I wasn't going to post today because I couldn't remember doing anything last week, but then I looked at my calendar, where I write down stuff, and it turned out that I did do a few things in between a lot of puttering around.
Puttering around is when you wander around the house for hours, or sit on the sofa all day, looking at things, and wondering if you should do something about them, and occasionally actually doing a small thing or two before returning to a refined state of idleness. I am a past master of puttering around.
On last Monday, for instance, I stared at the floors for a long, long time. And then I actually got out the broom and swept them. It took about fifteen minutes. Then I returned to staring at them some more, wondering if I should mop them, too.
I didn't.
Instead, I wandered outside and stared at the roses for a while. Eventually I got around to finding the pruners and deadheading them. Today, a week, later, they need more work, but I am steadfastly ignoring them.
On Tuesday I puttered around long enough to do a load of laundry. Then I did something! I took my mother to Macy's Furniture to look for a recliner to replace an old, broken one. We started at Mor Furniture, but they were perplexed when we asked for a recliner that only reclined. They had recliners that swiveled. They had ones that rocked. They had recliners that only reclined if you plugged them into an outlet and pushed buttons on a remote.
"We don't want a recliner that does things," I explained. "We want one that just reclines. Without electrical assistance."
This they did not have, so we tootled on down the road to Macy's where they had this:
It's the same recliner that I bought for my own home, and it does nothing but recline. Manually. Success!
On Wednesday I went out with the Tri-Cities Urban Sketchers to the Church of the Nazarene. It was 85 degrees out. Luckily, there was shade, and I managed a wee montage of sorts:
The heat, in fact, was one reason I spent a lot of time at home last week, puttering around. It was 90-95 every single day. My standard routine was to eat breakfast and then take the Hounds for a walk by the river by 8:00am to beat the heat. After that, I really had no reason to go outside other than to drive to places that had air conditioning.
I spent the rest of Wednesday staring at things until deciding to do a load of dishes.
On Thursday my biggest adventure was to visit My Hearing Center to see if they could clean my hearing aid, which needs service once a year, and how much that would cost. Well, they did it for free and then tried to sell me a lifetime service plan for $950. I did calculate that with the cost of annual hearing exams (included), regular cleanings (included), and batteries (included), I'd break even in two years, but still. Not right now, thanks. Maybe next year.
Then I puttered around the house some more. I felt that I was achieving a new level of puttering mastery that would be tough to top until possibly Winter, should we get another housebound-inducing snowfall again which I dearly hope we do not.
On Friday I was BUSY! Surprise! I took the Hounds for their riverside walk and then strolled them up to the Farmers' Market where I grabbed free samples and bought molasses bars. After dropping the Hounds off at home, I went to the art gallery for the weekly "paint in" session where artists work on whatever they want in the nice big back room, and where they chat a lot. I worked on another "postcard" view and got this far:
I'm not sure when I'll finish this, as I can't decide what images to put inside the letters. I have plenty of photos from my 2009 Alaskan cruise, though, so maybe I'll come up with something someday after puttering around for a while.
Did I do anything on Saturday? Hm. I can't remember.
Oh, wait -- I went to garage sales! Also did that on Friday. Some were advertised, most weren't. Garage sales are great for puttering around in a car -- I just drive around randomly, up and down the main streets, looking for signs with big arrows on them pointing me to the unadvertised yard sale. Found some good ones!
On Sunday the heat wave broke -- huzzah! Overnight Saturday into Sunday morning there was THUNDER and LIGHTNING and RAIN! Whew. Very pleasant, and now we're down into the 70s for a few days, anyway. I spent a lot of time on the sofa, reading and watching sports (the Mariners had an epic defeat at the hands of the Astros, losing 21 to 1). In the afternoon it was sunny enough and warm enough to take the Hounds to the river again, where Truman went wading and where Pippin went swimming. It wore them out:
Dogs are excellent at not doing anything.
According to my calendar, I have Stuff to Do this coming week, and the temps should stay below 90. While I enjoyed my week of Mostly Puttering, it will be nice to get out and about a bit more.
Then again, I am retired. Once in a while I remind myself that I don't have to do anything at all if I don't want to. Well, except for dishes and sweeping and pruning and shopping and dog walking and someday maybe mopping the floors that still haven't been mopped.
Next time I putter around, I just might get to that.
Puttering around is when you wander around the house for hours, or sit on the sofa all day, looking at things, and wondering if you should do something about them, and occasionally actually doing a small thing or two before returning to a refined state of idleness. I am a past master of puttering around.
On last Monday, for instance, I stared at the floors for a long, long time. And then I actually got out the broom and swept them. It took about fifteen minutes. Then I returned to staring at them some more, wondering if I should mop them, too.
I didn't.
Instead, I wandered outside and stared at the roses for a while. Eventually I got around to finding the pruners and deadheading them. Today, a week, later, they need more work, but I am steadfastly ignoring them.
On Tuesday I puttered around long enough to do a load of laundry. Then I did something! I took my mother to Macy's Furniture to look for a recliner to replace an old, broken one. We started at Mor Furniture, but they were perplexed when we asked for a recliner that only reclined. They had recliners that swiveled. They had ones that rocked. They had recliners that only reclined if you plugged them into an outlet and pushed buttons on a remote.
"We don't want a recliner that does things," I explained. "We want one that just reclines. Without electrical assistance."
This they did not have, so we tootled on down the road to Macy's where they had this:
On Wednesday I went out with the Tri-Cities Urban Sketchers to the Church of the Nazarene. It was 85 degrees out. Luckily, there was shade, and I managed a wee montage of sorts:
The heat, in fact, was one reason I spent a lot of time at home last week, puttering around. It was 90-95 every single day. My standard routine was to eat breakfast and then take the Hounds for a walk by the river by 8:00am to beat the heat. After that, I really had no reason to go outside other than to drive to places that had air conditioning.
I spent the rest of Wednesday staring at things until deciding to do a load of dishes.
On Thursday my biggest adventure was to visit My Hearing Center to see if they could clean my hearing aid, which needs service once a year, and how much that would cost. Well, they did it for free and then tried to sell me a lifetime service plan for $950. I did calculate that with the cost of annual hearing exams (included), regular cleanings (included), and batteries (included), I'd break even in two years, but still. Not right now, thanks. Maybe next year.
Then I puttered around the house some more. I felt that I was achieving a new level of puttering mastery that would be tough to top until possibly Winter, should we get another housebound-inducing snowfall again which I dearly hope we do not.
On Friday I was BUSY! Surprise! I took the Hounds for their riverside walk and then strolled them up to the Farmers' Market where I grabbed free samples and bought molasses bars. After dropping the Hounds off at home, I went to the art gallery for the weekly "paint in" session where artists work on whatever they want in the nice big back room, and where they chat a lot. I worked on another "postcard" view and got this far:
I'm not sure when I'll finish this, as I can't decide what images to put inside the letters. I have plenty of photos from my 2009 Alaskan cruise, though, so maybe I'll come up with something someday after puttering around for a while.
Did I do anything on Saturday? Hm. I can't remember.
Oh, wait -- I went to garage sales! Also did that on Friday. Some were advertised, most weren't. Garage sales are great for puttering around in a car -- I just drive around randomly, up and down the main streets, looking for signs with big arrows on them pointing me to the unadvertised yard sale. Found some good ones!
On Sunday the heat wave broke -- huzzah! Overnight Saturday into Sunday morning there was THUNDER and LIGHTNING and RAIN! Whew. Very pleasant, and now we're down into the 70s for a few days, anyway. I spent a lot of time on the sofa, reading and watching sports (the Mariners had an epic defeat at the hands of the Astros, losing 21 to 1). In the afternoon it was sunny enough and warm enough to take the Hounds to the river again, where Truman went wading and where Pippin went swimming. It wore them out:
Dogs are excellent at not doing anything.
According to my calendar, I have Stuff to Do this coming week, and the temps should stay below 90. While I enjoyed my week of Mostly Puttering, it will be nice to get out and about a bit more.
Then again, I am retired. Once in a while I remind myself that I don't have to do anything at all if I don't want to. Well, except for dishes and sweeping and pruning and shopping and dog walking and someday maybe mopping the floors that still haven't been mopped.
Next time I putter around, I just might get to that.
Monday, September 2, 2019
A Little New Art
It's been very quiet here of late, mostly because it's been 90+ out every single day for ages and after the very early morning dog walk, I hide indoors and lounge around a lot. It's been so dull here that I actually spent time last week cleaning the house. Well, at least, a little bit.
I did get out to a sketch outing -- the group met at a private home where the owners had antique cars out for us to draw.
There were some very cool vehicles there, both restored and not.
I tried something a bit different -- a montage of sketches in different media. Top is brush pen with a light watercolor wash, middle is sepia pen, and bottom is my more usual pen drawing with watercolor. Fun stuff to try!
Even more fun was this month's watercolor society challenge: paint a place you've visited in the style of a postcard (though it could be any size -- mine is 6x9 inches). I borrowed the lettering from an online postcard, then filled it in with scenes from my own vacation photos. I think it turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.
One day I got bored, which is sometimes dangerous, and decided the gray wall with the fireplace simply had to go away. I mean, really, who paints interior walls gray?
So I went out and bought some lavender paint and made it disappear! I had fun with the fireplace bricks as well.
That's it for this week. I'm tired of the heat. It's September, it should be cooling down! Even the Hounds are tired of it:
Now I'd better get them out for their early morning walk while it's still only 70 degrees!
I did get out to a sketch outing -- the group met at a private home where the owners had antique cars out for us to draw.
There were some very cool vehicles there, both restored and not.
I tried something a bit different -- a montage of sketches in different media. Top is brush pen with a light watercolor wash, middle is sepia pen, and bottom is my more usual pen drawing with watercolor. Fun stuff to try!
Even more fun was this month's watercolor society challenge: paint a place you've visited in the style of a postcard (though it could be any size -- mine is 6x9 inches). I borrowed the lettering from an online postcard, then filled it in with scenes from my own vacation photos. I think it turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.
One day I got bored, which is sometimes dangerous, and decided the gray wall with the fireplace simply had to go away. I mean, really, who paints interior walls gray?
So I went out and bought some lavender paint and made it disappear! I had fun with the fireplace bricks as well.
That's it for this week. I'm tired of the heat. It's September, it should be cooling down! Even the Hounds are tired of it:
Now I'd better get them out for their early morning walk while it's still only 70 degrees!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)