Slowing Down July With Art

2015 Dry Corn Husks

In 2015 I had a fascination with dry corn husks. Found objects have a way of capturing my attention in ways that result in small stashes of things that I have yet to decide what to do with. A recent closet dive turned up a plastic bag of dry corn husks, none of which have a tint of green.
 

More Dry Corn Husks 2015

My current interest is handmade paper. This morning I tore up a piece of an old cotton sheet. I will cut it up more with scissors, and then try my hand at pounding it to make a paper slurry. I have good pounding stones. It is the mortar that I need. I'm thinking an older microwave bowl is  sturdy enough.

Then, I saw the photographs of the dry corn husks as I was searching for a photograph. Hm? Handmade paper and corn husks? A quick Internet search tells me dry corn husks are good for making paper!

If you are busy, then time can fly by faster. However, if you are engaged in creating art, when your art concentration spell lifts,  it is amazing how time feels as if it stood still.

Now I wish I hadn't thrown the bag of dry corn husks in the compost bag.

Pondering the Subject of Clash

Mother's favorite colors were various shades of pink and orange, together, the brighter, the better. One might call the combination loud.

In my fifth or sixth grade year, she made a cotton semi flared (poofy) skirt of swirling flowers in those colors...for me. I did actually wear it to school, feeling if on a florist's trash pile, I could almost disappear.

The clash.

I'm not much of a loud bright colorful clothes person. I sense that I was born with the wonderful LLBean vibe of Earth colors with a hazy summer tone. 

Pink and orange don't clash. The taste for color in clothes between my mother and I did. 

Looking back, how often does what you want in life clash with reality? Your choices versus your love ones? Common sense collide with passion?

On a positive note, not all clashes are negative events. Extreme sports, for example. The only time I will fly through the sky is on a plane, no matter how much fun hang gliding might be.

What clashes have you had? 

Thoughts On a White Cosmos

Cosmos 2023

Like a faerie among the green,

a cosmos petal pushes a leaf 

out of the way, 

to see the white summer sky.

At peak Summer time,

the few weeks ahead are the days we should be out enjoying the season.

Don't  miss your summer.

July 2023, Week 27, Day 189

 

Dusty Miller & Petunia

Nearing mid July, we will be at peak Summer here in this Northern Hemisphere. 

I still have a sense of waiting for summer to arrive. 

On the bright side, Neutrogena* Beach Defense sunscreen SPF 30 doesn't irritate my facial skin (applied lightly).

Mosquitoes I've seen this year, haven't reached a high level due to regularly spraying repellent before I go outdoors, especially my foot area. I read last year mosquitoes are drawn to the odor of feet. Mind you, feet can be clean and still have a scent. That explains  why my feet were bitten so often when I got in my vehicle. 

Last week I was reminded of website glitches. Walmart, for example, (using a cell phone), sends verification codes that are rejected when I'm trying to change my phone number. On my computer, I can't log in because Walmart requires sending a code to my old phone number. No other option is provided. Contacting and, sending feedback about the problem has yet, in I think a year plus, helped them fix the glitch.

In order to have correct information on my Walmart page I had to open another account. Imagine a business with duplicate accounts. 

The glitch is not unique. There are other websites I've used that have similar problems. To their credit, Google is not one of them.

To be fair, human glitch. I couldn't find my phone. Using the Google Search, I found my phone on the phone stand right beside me where I put it. The problem...I also put a paper in front of it to cover the lens.

Ugh.

The more I shop online, the more I love feet in the door at a real live in person store. 

How was your week?

*Not a sponsered post

Photograph of the week

Pink Grapefruit
 Achillea (Yarrow)

The Middlebury Agway Farm & Garden had a nice sale for buy 3, get 1 free. Perfect timing because I wanted a special flower for my tiny deck garden without spending a lot of money. 

I've loved the perennial, yarrow, ever since I read a 1980s article in Woman's Day Magazine on how to dry and dye a yarrow bouquet. 

The Pink Grapefruit Achillea Yarrow has an enchanting magical vibe. In full sun it will be planted to give height. Torenia and snapdragons will be layered in front of the tiny pink blossoms.  One achilllea will  over the years will spread to fill the space.

~~~~~~~~~~

Have a pink lemonade weekend! 

Read about the biosphere

Baked stuffed zucchini

Try on a temporary tattoo

Draw a bouquet

Make rope sandals

Sing to your sunscreen

Write yourself a funny letter

Mail the letter to yourself

Weather & the Thunderstorm

Thunderstorm Weather Symbol

Weather

Earth's mood swings

Atmospheric goings on

What's it like outdoors?

Wherever we may be,  there is weather. We plan for it. We dress for it. We pray for it. 

What surrounds us under the sky is our background. 

This morning  I step outside to a gentle breeze, warm, dry, comforting. The biosphere is embracing the beauty of summer, and me with it.

The National Weather Service meteorological forecast  indicates rain and possible thunderstorms mainly after 1 PM EDT in Vermont today. 

I haven't counted the number of days we've had a similar report, but I guess it is well over a dozen since late May 2023.

Looking Towards the Southwest

A recent thunderstorm system moved directly over Vergennes. It was huge from north to south, nearly horizon to horizon.

Looking Southeast

Safety. The rule is that if you can hear thunder, then lightening is close enough to strike you. 

Get out of the water!

When we heard that command at the town pool or beach, we got out of the water.

Thunderstorms may be beautifully dramatic, but they can also be tragically fatal.

The Moon, Writing & Reading

Northern Hemisphere 
Over Vergennes, Vermont, 2 July 2017

 Identifying a photograph is important as adding the 

who, what when, where and 

sometimes the how to an article. 

For the Moon photo, I added the 

where and when in the caption. 

The  photo was first posted 

on this blog on 7 July 2017. 

~~~~~~~

Thinking back on writing, I've taken more writing courses in my life time that I have art courses beginning with journalism in high school to experimental writing in college. I could not tell you in a conversation the technical terms of grammar, techniques of writing or even the define the types of writing with good accuracy.

Over time we can develop habits. For example, I use but, and, sometimes, and thus too often. Keeping our writing skills fresh can be done by reading, fiction as well as non fiction.

Twice a year, I make a summer and winter reading list that is mainly books recommended by bloggers. I also subscribed to Good Reads.

Today I will be reading, doing laundry, staying indoors, and, washing floors. At the moment, it is time to make coffee.

Have a wonderful day!

About That Flashlight

 Night and Day

An epiphany fell out of nowhere to tell me it might be a good time to think about who I am. Write down a few pages and/or do a two column page of good and bad of me. (Which column will be longer?)

A simple way to begin is to list my physical appearance, attitude, major concerns, strengths  and weaknesses.

Strength. Today I bought and installed a window air conditioner, an inexpensive model that has low frequency hum*. I discovered it also has a tapping noise inside that I thought was rain on the outside. 

I did not want to do the drive or deal with the installation at all. I had to remind myself that during heat waves last year, twice I was in the danger zone for heat exhaustion. I pushed myself to get the a/c done today. 

Weakness. Too much of my life is spent trying to not feel bad by managing intense dreads and depression. 

Anyway, changing the angle of how we think about ourselves feels like looking around a corner we didn't pay attention to before. The light is different. 

Whatever you think about yourself, be it a road in day or night,

have a good flashlight and extra batteries.

* Hum noise was fluctuating this morning. I unplugged a/c, plugged it back, pressed the reset button, and changed the setting to a medium cool. The humming noise isn't loud enough to be annoying. There's nice cool air in the room with a gentle rush of the fan.

The Star Spangled Banner | Our National Anthem performed where it was wr...

Reflection Monday July 2023

The current social atmosphere in America today is very sour. People can no longer voice their opinions without the very real worry they will be seriously harmed in various ways, property, physically, emotionally, their family, reputation, career, job. 

This is REAL folks.

Their are people, good American people that seriously believe lies, despite multiple facts, evidence and eye witness testimony that clearly beyond a reasonable doubt reveals the truth. 

Let's forgive ourselves and move forward. There is a huge amount of women and men that can do good things for America. Please, put effort to knowing who they are in the political arena. 

Please, Don't give omnipotent status to any person.

Your vote is precious.

Please Protect America 

and yourselves by

Voting wisely

July 2023, Week 26, Day 182

What are your plans for July 2023?

Beach, lake, lawn or patio, July is peak summer in this northern hemisphere. 

At the Seaside c. 1892
William Merritt Chase

I think of sun, sand, sweat, shorts, sunscreen, umbrella/parasol, humidity, and heat waves. Last year the season was perforated with brutal heat that kept me indoors. 

At my age, there is no braving the high temperatures. As a kid, being outdoors was better than inside a home with no air conditioning. Cooling off was at the penny pool, (later price increase). Kids yelling, water splashing sprinkled with a scream now and then, those were the days.  

Learning to swim, I was so proud as I literally annihilated the pool surface in a violent flaying of arms and white water. "See what I can do!" I can still feel those words. No surprise that a life long dream is to be able to glide through the water like Ester Williams. (I can float and glide though.)

Time for me to stop day dreaming and do errands. Deciding on dinner today always ends with a no, too salty, too hot to use the oven or no McD's for a diet consideration.