vacation, relaxation and back to work

DH and I got to take a mini vacation, in Portsmouth NH.  We used the last of the Marriott Rewards Points we had, and he did a photography job to get gas and spending money.

see, I'm really there.  The sound of the waves, the smell of the salt air, the rocks and shells to pick up... it was great.

I love to catch a wave just as it is breaking...

DH patiently Blackberry-ing and waiting for me to finish getting rocks and pebbles.  The round rust circle was a base for some sort of gun, I think from WWII.  This was at the Seacoast Science Center.

I am now a very ferverent convert to the iPhone - got one since I was due for an upgrade, and I love love love it.  I have all sorts of apps on it, and can get work email plus regular email, and can make lists, and read books... I looked at tablet computers but really like the small size of the iPhone and the fact that I don't need to carry around all this other stuff.  i've got everything in one place.  I do still need to get the TeleNave option but I've got the phone, camera, music player, several e readers, games, tasks and to do lists, travel stuff, etc.   DH is still a staunch BlackBerry fan, though.

Inside they had displays and an aquarium set up.  This was a very strange but very friendly fish, came right over when I looked through the glass at him.  Or her, hard to tell.

foam at the edge of the waves.  I'm trying to replicate this in knitting for an art quilt but it is not easy.  I can get the holes but the transparency of the bubbles is something I'll have to think about.

We visited open studios at a mill building in Rollingsford, NH and I picked this room for me.  I can see myself moving in there with all my stuff.  The windows overlooked a river and trees.  We also visited artist's studios in Lowell MA, run by a former art quilter Maxine Farkas.  She's doing really cool boxes and assemblage now. Could only stay a little bit but it was great to see her again.  I could have a studio there too!

Walking down one of the flights of stairs in the NH building.  Very steep but very cool stair shapes.

We visited the American Textile History Museum in Lowell MA.  Great exhibits and friendly staff.  They don't allow flash photos, and only personal photos, but I did get permission to post a photo here.  I highly recommend visiting, you can see hand made textiles all the way up to very technical racing gear.

 Had lunch in an Irish pub, with real Irish food and Guiness.  Got pizza for dinner, ordered online and delivered right to our hotel room.  So convenient!  Went to Portsmouth Fabric Co, and got some great fabric.  Also during the artist studio day I met Wen Redmond, an art quilter, very friendly and great work.  It was so interesting to see her studio and the things she had to create with.
  Here's her website:
Wen Redmond Artist  and I really wish I could take a workshop with her.

Went to a friend's daughter's senior recital at Emma Willard school, in Troy NY and this lil guy was hanging out above me, along with some other stone friends.  Creepy and cute at the same time.

 Now I'm home, at least for a little bit - going to visit my brother over Memorial Day, and then to Boston the end of June for a business conference.  I am working on some artist trading cards, for swaps, through ATCs for All to just play and experiment with drawing and collage. 

And now I leave you with another crazy cat picture... this is Sir Douglas Fir Tree exhausted and resting from the ordeal of shredding tissues and papers all over the bedroom floor...

the weekend goes by too fast

Errands to run, meals to cook, books to read, internet searching to do... just a regular weekend but satisfying.  I got some stuff at the Salvation Army, shirts to dye, two old cursive writing blank books, a picture painted by someone named Diana of a woman looking at a lunar eclipse.  I love the anticipation and the fun of finding things.  Sometimes I can't afford everything but I sneakily take pictures of things that I would own if I could. 

My dream was if I ever won the lottery to buy the old 2 story Borders store on Wolf Rd, (the shopping and restaurant corridor), and have the upstairs be for classes and workshops in the fiber arts, and the downstairs to be a shop where artists sold things, and I sold things from all over that I found in my travels.  Can you imagine having enough money to just get in the car and drive the back roads, stopping at all the thrift stores and flea markets and antique stores and getting things, rescuing things, that would become part of a display in a store that people would want to shop at because it had such funky stuff?  But  a group of Albany NY state workers won the lottery and I am glad for them.  Especially since I rarely buy a ticket.  My big win was $2 from a scratch off ticket that was part of a holiday gift.  I really wanted the $30 K but  ....

I visited a place called At the Warehouse - a combo of antiques, art, and salvage.  I got a crystal ball from a chandelier and had lots of fun wandering around and taking pictures.

branches and shadows

 old typefaces

 looking out through glass blocks

 looking through stacked windows

decayed cardboard in the parking lot

I am working on a new piece for a show, and since it has yarn, it is a magnet to my cat Aspen.  So I will have to give her credit, since she is my helper, as you can see.

I am not quite sure how she fits in there since sometimes I can't even get the quilt in there.

Happy Spring! My spaces are Organized!

It's sunny outside.  The robins are here.  Husband is at baseball practice. I'm enjoying the day and contemplating cooking dinner.

At work, I've moved up two floors, to a different office.  Smaller space, smaller window, but near a colleague who I need to work closer with.  I will miss my third floor group, but am also enjoying the new space.  Almost all of the historical files and things didn't move with me, but will eventually go into storage space.  So the ambiance is much nicer.

Some views of my new office:

looking in from the doorway

view out the window and some of my prisms

 the wall I face when working at my computer.  The art quilt is about geckos and has little gecko forms attached to it.  The watercolor was originally in the Dean's office when I first started many years ago, and it has ended up with me.

looking up.  Eventually when the other person goes in the office next door to mine there will be a drop ceiling put in, since there is no privacy, but for now it is fine. Makes an interesting arrangement of lines and spaces.

my plants and my working files  next to this on the right is a white board for my tasks and things to write.

And I am very happy too that we are almost finished with the Clean-Out of our house.  One downstairs closet left, and my son's room.  But that he'll have to do himself, I will just shut the door.  The external storage room will need to be gone through one more time, when the weather is warmer, but I feel like we can now have friends over to visit without them being shocked at how we live.  I'm also looking foward to doing some kind of garden out back, at least tomatos and maybe squash.  It's kind of hard to have a kitchen garden in a townhouse lot.

This is the supply room, originally meant to be a storage area.  It may not look great to you, but everything is labelled and accessible.  I can walk in and get something I need.

This is my very small but cozy studio space.  Also meant to be a storage area, but we had the builder put in an AC/heating vent, outlets and an overhead light.  Works in progress are on shelves above, and tools of the trade are within reach, colorful things to look at are all around.  There is a table for my sewing machines and a table for writing and painting.  The chair is from my husbands grandmother's kitchen set and needs a new covering of oilcloth on the seat,  but it is surprising comfortable to sit on.

my gallery wall - some favorite colorful things hung up

This is the part of my son's room that I took over.  Eventually when he moves out someday the whole room will become mine, but until then this is my paper supplies and vintage books for collage.  The two sets of bookshelves provide a wall type barrier.  There's a walk in closet that holds my clothes, my yarn, and other supplies. to the right past the shelves.

He's not happy about my being there, but I usually try to knock before I go in.

New goals include getting more stuff put in for sale my etsy.com shop, and working on art quilts for entry into shows. I have also allowed myself to have some fun, I found a website ATCs for All and I have been making some artist trading cards and participating in swaps.  I love having all those tiny examples of other's art and sending mine out into the world.  I had done this a number of years ago, and have a huge binder full, starting a second one.

And, I really don't need any more art supplies, beads, buttons, fabric or yarn.  Notice I didn't say I didn't want anymore!

Busy busy busy

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted. Things at work are of course always busy. The co-op is changing, one of our members has moved to Florida, right near the beach! She's still part of us, but not physically present. We have some new consignment artists, and the ceramic artist and the glass artist are now sharing a space in the studio area on the first floor. It's really exciting.

Artwise, I am in the middle of sorting all, and I do mean all, of my "stuff". I will be moving some into an external storage room to share space with our household things (we don't have a basement in our townhouse). I'm donating supplies and books to several Goodwill's and Salvation Army's stores in the area. I'm not keeping things for the kinds of art I know I won't be doing. And all of my books will be in one place, sorted by topic. It's a mess right now in the middle of it, but it will be worth it when everything is done.

I'm also getting ready for my solo show at Strolling Village Artisans in two weeks. I'm done with the art quilts, and the fiber/fabric books but still working on several altered books. I need to write all the narrative that will be posted alongside the artwork. The show is titled "words + images - telling stories in mixed media art quilts and altered books" and it will have some of my earlier art quilts based on my poetry and fabric and altered books that I've done more recently. I'm excited but still have several books to finish. I also plan on having an interactive area where people can do collage in a large blank book I'll provide.

The two detail shots are from one of the fabric books.

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Happy Mother's Day

I was lucky to have my mom, two grandmothers, an aunt, several great aunts and assorted other female relatives around me when I was growing up.  Lots of love, lots of cooking, and stories...

I don't remember being born, although my mother, Rita Cintula Merges, told me about the problem pregnancy, with being rh negative and how tiny I was 3 lb 6 oz and being in an incubator for 6 weeks and how even when she brought me home all of her girlfriends, most of them mothers too, were afraid to hold me.

One time, trying to let her know I loved her even though I hadn't followed her rules or lived the way she lived, and feeling guilty for all that she gave me, I asked her to write a poem for my birthday present.  She did.

I am a december winter baby, born too early, afraid I won't live long enough to get done all that I want to do, and I miss my mom a lot.  I do know this:  my mother had courage, and strength, and the most wonderful ability to love and give and share, even though she never believed it...  I hope I am like her.

aggghhh technology warning cranky user rant ahead

technology.  bleah.  went to do a blog post and my blog was gone!  so I think I got in using one of my many google accounts - I have many emails depending on what I'm giving my email out for.  Who knows if I will every find my way back again?

ereader.com  by far my favorite site for e books.but  not since they got bought out by Barnes and Noble tho.  I am not happy with the fact that they are taking away many authors from ereader.  Even though I am supposed to be able to download any book from my bookshelf, and I've got over 600, guess what.  The authors that are gone?  I'm having problem after problem trying to get these books that I've bought and paid for.  And the customer support?  used to get a reply within 24 hours.  Now, I've been waiting a week.

This means that I am not going to be able to use my vintage but much loved Palm T3.  I did inherit a Blackberry Curve from my sister in law who got an Iphone.  So, I've spent time the last several days trying to see about transferring Palm data to the Blackberry.  the BB thing doesn't work at all.  So now I am supposed to somehow transfer to outlook and then to the Blackberry.  But I don't want to use the Blackberry calendar, I want to use Google Calendar so I can actually type stuff in on my laptop or desktop and not using that ridiculous Blackberry keyboard.  Stay tuned.  I'm going to sync my Palm T3 at home one more time, and go from there.

I am trying ereader for blackberry, we'll see how it goes.

So, I can get Docs to Go for BB.  Yes.  That will work well.  I cannot get anything like Passwords Plus, which I depend on heavily for keeping track of the myriads of website sign ons and passwords for work and for me. So  another problems.  At least Data Viz is giving me a discount on buying the version for the B Berry because I own the version for the Palm.

Now I have a lot of books that are in text format, worked great on the Palm.  Can't read them on the Blackberry, they won't paginate, have to now copy them to MS word and save as a word document.  And some of them have mysteriously gotten turned into white text onto a white screen.  Not sure how to fix that yet.  Am appalled at the amount of time it will take me to get my e books in readable format.

So now I am trying Barnes and Noble e book reader.  OK so far, even have some decent free e books.  But one book I wanted on ereader.com was $25 there and only $9.99 on bn.com.  Not right!  Owned by the same company, should be the same price.  I'm thinking they are trying to get rid of ereader.com and make everyone do bn.com reader.  But, I don't really have a choice, so I'll use bn.com reader.  I will not buy a nook or a kindle.

Next, I email customer services at bn.com to see if there is any way I can import my ereader bookshelf into my bn bookshelf.  Three days and counting, no response.  Same owner, same e book format, you'd think they would already have an answer.

Finally, I go to Staples, for a bigger micro SD card for the blackberry. I know, it's an oxymoron.  Clerk says get the generic brand, cheaper than SanDisk which was $24.99, and just as good.  I pay approx $19 and change.  Go to WalMart, Find the SanDisk one for $14.88.  Buy that one.  Go back to Staples and return the one from there.  Tell clerk I need to buy the one at the best price.  Wonder what it was at Best Buy?  Oh well, different shopping plaza and I'm low on gas, so will stick with the WalMart one.

In between all this I made 12 little pincushions for the co op, and three scarves.  New work day is Apr 28.  Tomorrow will hand dye clothing and embellish clothing and finish up some ribbon scarves.  I'll try to have some pictures.  If I can find this blog again

I did it! We did it! Mozart's Requiem got sung!

The Rensselaer Festival Chorus performed tonight in the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center aka EMPAC.  And I was there!  A slightly crazy somewhat old lady alto.  Who had to sit and not stand because of my foot and knees and hips being in pain.

 We did several songs and then Mozart's Requiem.  When I first got the music it was like looking at some weird kind of computer language or something.  I was only going to listen at rehearsals, but got coaxed into singing.   I used to have a nice choral voice long long ago in high school, but don't really have much range anymore.

So I went to most of the rehearsals, to some of the alto sectionals, and got the cd from the library and listened to it over and over and over and over... drove my poor office colleagues nuts playing it all day long.

Eventually I learned some of it, and then a little more, and more... Something happened in rehearsals, and again tonight at the concert.  I got into the zone.  You know that zone when you are creating art and you are totally in the moment and focused on what you are doing and nothing else matters.  I didn't realize that could happen with music, too.

So for tonight, I am proud of myself for stretching my limits, for trying, and for succeeding.  Oh, there were more than a few wrong notes on my part, but overall I am very happy.  At the end I got tears in my eyes, and was sorry it was over. I think my dad, who sang with a Russian male chorus and was a cantor at church, would have been proud.  Keith, my dh came, and took this picture on his Blackberry:

If you look at the left most part of the cellos, then follow up to the music stand, I'm right behind the top left part of the stand, right next to the tenors.  In my black skirt and black shirt and pearls.  But no red lipstick  I wore a very nice tan shade.

It was great being with the students.  The conductor is a Rensselaer VP from the Hartford campus, and I enjoyed seeing his musical side.  Dr. Jackson attended, too.  The soloists and orchestra were from the Boston area, and were excellent.

We stopped at Price Chopper on the way home and got some groceries for a late night snack.  Tomorrow I am going to take down Easter decorations and put up Pink Flamingos, a la my sister in law Becky.

PS I still like Brahms Requiem better!