Monday, October 15, 2012

Better late than never

I have a spider that lives behind the door trim outside my bathroom door.  Down at the bottom, sort of tucked behind the door trim and the baseboard.  I walk by him a zillion times a day, because I have to go through the bathroom to get from my bedroom to the living room/kitchen/dining room/only-other-room-I-have.  I always, with apologies to Charlotte, think of spiders as boys.  And I've been thinking lately, with great frequency, that I always think of spiders as boys.  Today I realized why.  Sixty years ago today, Charlotte's Web was published.  I don't remember what the book is about, but I'm not going to celebrate its anniversary by reading it again because I have a feeling there is something sad about it.  "Babe" sad.  Or "Bambi" sad.  Hey, I just had a thought.  Maybe I think of all spiders as boys in a hopeful, ignorantly optimistic way.  If there are no girl spiders in my house, there will be no pile of baby spiders in my house.

But enough about creepy crawly things.  My new camera finally got here!  It was supposed to arrive on Friday - I signed up for a free month of Amazon Prime in order to get 2-day free shipping, and then there was some kind of weather delay in Billings, Montana.  Damn Billings.  But it is here, I have read part of the manual, I went into town to buy a memory card, and I have taken a few photos, although the weather is crap today so no good photo ops outside.  Except poodle, of course.


She got to play ball today even though the grass was wet and the field is so full of deer poop there's hardly a clean spot to stand in.  I am eternally thankful deer poop doesn't stick to her wee paws.

Since I needed something to do this weekend while waiting (not so patiently) for my camera to get here, and since I was afforded an EXTRA day off on Sunday, I got all crafty crafty.  I had an idea for something I could make for the Festival of Trees, so Roxie and I went to Kalispell on Sunday and shopped for a minute.  I'm not much of a shopper, but if there are art supplies involved I can make a sacrifice.  I had to wait in line forever and ended up buying two magazines - one I refuse to name because it is not something I would normally buy, and the other is a painting mag.  Got some fabulous ideas from both.  Hopefully at least one good thing will materialize.

I also painted a bit.  Here is the first piece to be photographed by the new camera.  Remember, I'm still learning how to use the darn thing.


The learning curve is not going to be with the camera, but with the mucking-around software.  This painting is a deep purple, by the way, not brown.  In real life, it's kinda cool.  And I started it on Friday night, at the same time I was making a pie for Tamarack Time.  For what, you ask?  Tamarack Time is a lovely, hokey Bigfork annual tradition.  There are a bunch of food categories, and people enter their favorite recipe.  Tables are set up all along the sidewalks downtown.  At noon, judges hit each category and pick 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.  Then people buy $4 tickets - which entitles them to a not-so-fancy nametag - and they eat their way around town.  Soups, stews, ethnic, non-chocolate desserts, cookies, pies, chili, pickles, bread, jam, etc.  I was the Chili Chair.  I didn't think I would have many entries so Derek took pity on me and made chili.  He won 1st place.  It was a pork chili verde.  Anyway, getting back to my pie.  I wasn't entering in the hopes of winning a prize - I just didn't want to say no when Lynn called to ask.  There are always a zillion pie entries, but the year I said no (because there are always a zillion entries) she only got about four pies.  FOUR PIES!  It was a travesty.  So I tried something I've never made.  Remember back a while ago when I posed the question of whether or not painting and cooking in the same room, at the same time, creates scratch-and-sniff art?  Well this one would be Chocolate Walnut Pie.  Do I have to call it mixed media if I accidentally got flour in it?

In all my pseudo craftiness this weekend, poodle got a little too close to the Christmas ornaments and now she is partially covered in bright green glitter.  If you look at her from the right angle.  My fantasies about having a separate space for artsy junk are in high gear.  Where's that winning lottery ticket when you need it....

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