Art Challenge, Day Six

Day off! Strange not to use the studio for an entire day.
I have one chicken tile sketch to show for myself. For future installation on the chicken coop

5th Day of Art Challenge

Polka-dot Cherry Dress Day!
I'm much more precise this time, knowing do-over time is long. The wonky strap spot can have a red band added easily ;)
There is inch-wide red trim, zig-zag topstitched, between cherry & dot panels on the skirt.
When I assemble the dress, there'll be a red band between skirt & bodice. Tomorrow. *squee*
Do I dare say it? Proud. So proud.

Art Challenge, day four

Studio has wonky weekend hours & I arrived too late for two disciplines. Tiles cried to me!
I've now finished the 4th tile in my Yellow Submarine series:

And my very first labyrinth

Good day!

Art Challenge, day III

Sewing class at the studio tonight.
Sally brought in her new patternbook: Shape Shape. How to sew to cutest layerable clothes.  Looked it up online, I found 8 Simple Projects (wrap shirt, dress, skirt). Basic skills ---> awesome clothes!
Now armed with the Joanne's coupon.... linen tablecloth into dress dreams for me tonight!

Edit: Cut all pieces for cherry dot Dress!

Art Challenge, day two

Another amazing day in the studio.  I was able to finish three of my Yellow Submarine tiles :) They'll be bisqued as soon as they're dry & I'm still planning a giant LOVE hand.

I had much slab awaiting me, perfectly cured for some carving...
Amy Steinberg's design for this years LiG tee shirts.

And lookee this guy!

Happy Mama Today!

February Art Challenge, day i

February is the perfect month to challenge myself with Art <3
I already feel the soulful benefits of regular creation experience, I'm now courageous enough to document my labors of love, loss, healing & learning for posterity.
Today I arrived at the studio and set up camp with Faith, my favorite Singer machine. I pinned my first dress pieces. While listening to The Help.
I broke from manic sewing to attend my Celebrating Surfaces class. Aunt Flo thwarted full creative flow, so I gathered ideas & let them swirl their way to a future fruition.
I promptly returned to Faith & my Daisy Dress, truly returning to the amazingness of my audiobook, to assemble much of the dress. 
As soon as I recognized I'd been pushing it, both listening & creating, I stopped. 7 hours was a great day of creativity!

Oh the Things I Learn

I can almost, almost, giggle at recently receiving TWO blood-relative communications addressed to the wrong name.
It's not a misspelling to call me Diane. It's not my name. My mama loved me enough to put that extra syllable there, I'd appreciate you using it.
Funny, if you've known me more than 3.5 minutes you'd probably know that by paying attention. What does that say for those who've known my name more than 40 years?
It says more than anyone on this planet could ever imagine. (this may be why I'm a theist)
My blog was discovered during a google search for a dead relative.
Now I'll be the first to say I'm sorry my blog contains the only story on the internet about said relative. Not even an obituary comes up. My memories of the guy are just plain unpleasant. I don't have details, I don't have the Big Picture of Him Story. I don't need them either.  The point of writing about his death, was to document and examine my incredibly odd reaction & the way it was completely ignored and not discussed with me by ANYONE.
At this point in my life, I have enough experience with Death to know I've evolved not so far from the girl who was joyous for peace. I've now become joyous to know this hard-to-understand grownup in my crazy childhood found his very own peace through his death. For that understanding, for that Gift to Me, I will be forever indebted to his experience. Painful & confusing as it was for me as a child.
In wanting to respond to an all-caps heart-felt outpouring of concern for my mental health and ability to function within the family unit, I found this:

Our job is unconditional love. 

The job of everyone else in our life is to 

push our buttons. -Byron Katie

So thank you, Dear Concerned Cousin. I love you. I appreciate the examination opportunity brought to me by your pushing of my buttons.  May my pushing of your buttons bring about great joy and love for you and yours.
May you always remember:

"The truth will set you free. 

But first, it will piss you off."  -Gloria Steinem    

Namaste,
diana not diane

A Chicken Lady is Born

Brand New Babies, 2 days old

On March 31, my life changed forever. All I did was get into my car, drive to the feed store, and retrieve some chicks I'd ordered weeks before.  Simple. Profound.  

I received: 3 Australorps, 2 Buff Orpingtons, and one Black Sex-Linked. Though my thoughts on names swirled, I finally decided to name them each for an important female character on Dr Who.  River Song, Rose Tyler, Martha Jones (Australorps) Amy Pond & Donna Noble (Orpingtons) and Harriet Jones, Prime Minister (or MP Flydale North, only elected official in the brood, depending on the day; Sex Linked).  

My Girls, Day 5

Rose Tyler, an easy favorite, even at 11 days

For the first many weeks of their lives, they lived in our living room. Where I lovingly socialized them, hoping for a Reptile Gardens worthy chick (Read: able to play tic-tac-toe).  

Martha, Donna & Amelia  15 days

First order of focus, however, was acclimating them to my interference in their business & busyness.  The Hand came down regularly to hold, groom & reward the chicks.  It was clear from the beginning who liked it (Rose & River), who tolerated it (Harriet Jones, PM & Donna), and who avoided it (Martha and Amelia).  

First Roost, 22 days
Amy, Harriet Jones-PM, Donna,
Rose, Martha & River 

Around 5 weeks, they ventured outside to play. Well, they went outside and stayed in their box the first few times, THEN they ventured out and about... And Amelia went missing.  We live where there are prey and predators. I knew it was a risk, I knew it could happen (counted on it) and it did.  

30 Days Old! <3
(notice the yellow on the Australorp girls is fading!)

42 Days Old, River Donna Rose Harriet Jones PM Martha

  Eventually, the girls were big enough (had enough feathers) to move from the comfort of our living space, to the back porch. There they would stay until their transition outdoors.


...Stay tuned for part ii

Mighty Awesome Monday

Take this O'Voice of Doubt:

As Alex's World of Food expands with me, we have agreed upon a code of conversation.  I want to uphold and honor his food needs, while opening his culinary world; He wants to trust me to feed him without judgment and open his culinary world in a gentle fashion.  We now view offers of new foods as "Challenges" - there is no attachment to the outcome of said challenges, I think of it as Strewing Food and this is the term he chose to use. So many examples of his courageous acceptance of challenges this summer! To his rotation he has added: Newman O's (mint and chocolate!!), 2 flavors of Dutch Cheese, Coconut Bliss, stevia sweetened koolaid things, Cheddar Cheese Popcorn, Trader Joe's Goodies ... And Today.... Tortellini! The Magic works something like this:
A: Hey Diana 
D: Hey Alex
A: That pasta I had yesterday was really good!
D:Would you like me to make you some pasta today?
A: That would be *AmAzInG* 
D: Oh wait! We're out of penne, but I've got some of that tortellini we talked about, if you want to try that.
A: Hmmmm (full minute of thinking) Challenge Accepted!
While cooking, Alex takes a stroll past the stove....
A: Diana, I didn't notice that they were different colors before. I hope it's not as horrible as the different colored Goldfish. The red was okay, but the rest of the colors? Yuck.
D: I hope you notice the different flavors are the actual foods the different pastas are made of, not the chemicals that make up the colors in a laboratory.
A: Me, too.
Large bowl of Tortellini, layered with shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese...
A: Hey Diana?
D: Yes Alex
A: I taste tested the colors and, well, the green ones taste funny.
D: I thought you'd think so, they're made from spinach.
A: Oh.
D: I can take the green ones out when I make it for you.
A: That'd be great.
(Bowl abandoned, non green tortellini tainted by association with greens. I understand, without comment)
A few hours later...
A: Hey Diana?
D: Hey Alex
A: Can we try pasta again? Without the green ones?
D: Of course!
I remove the green torts and put them back in the bag, cooking the yellow & orange ones.  Alex enters the kitchen and picks up the package.
A: Diana?
D: Yes Alex?
A: I think the weird flavor might be they're stuffed with cheese.
D: Maybe. Would you like me to make you a different pasta? Or would you like a bowl of rice with salt at this point?
A: Rice & SALT!
D: Can do!
In four minutes, I served him a bowl of Organic Jasmine Rice with Himalayan Pink Salt ♥ Both a far cry from Minute Rice and Morton's. 

Meanwhile, I began with washing the dishes (as an excuse to listen to MORE Storm of Swords), moved on to the window sill, the window, the curtain, the frame, the walls, the crown molding, the cupboards, the floor, the moving of furniture... I had no idea the impact of wiping the front of one's refrigerator - it looks so prettyful!! 

Hayden designed his own birthday present - a custom 360 controller - and he shared the joy with me this morning! I can't wait to make this dream come true for him ♥ Another birthday request is a ticket to see his favorite band... today he requests a ticket to a FESTIVAL where they're playing, he can attend with friends and I'm offered the option of not attending, not because I'm personally lame, but because he worries I might not have a good time.  He's Awesome!  

When we are traveling in a few weeks, on our Awesome Adventures to return the Spare Children, we will have a chance to see - AGAIN - an Andy Warhol exhibit ♥ A couple of years ago, we happened to be in town at the same time as a Rodin exhibit, a second chance for us then, too. We're good at being in the same place as Awesome Art!

....so when that voice creeps in again, I'll just pull up this post and remember... 

The Mood Barometer

As I become more Native in my Oregon Home, I am beginning to recognize the signals of atmospheric interference with my summer sun induced mania. Most notably, the absence of sunshine when it should be very sunny. The presence of heavy, grey skies when it's not winter. My awesome wanes toward awful (aweless, more like it) and my proverbial Ass is a-Draggin' and I do not like it, not one bit! The emotional equivalent of Too Much Gravity does not belong in summer; certainly NOT My Summer! 

So I kicked it out. 

I looked at today's once-again-and-never-before-rainy-skies-in-July & acknowledged Today's gonna take a bit more gumption than I'd budgeted, good thing I've got reserves. And I do. Gumption doesn't run out, doesn't wear out, doesn't go anywhere -- I'm the one who takes it for granted on the sunny days with fun lists of sunshiney summery chores to do. Gumption's still right here on the grey days, just tougher to turn towards and utilize; that Too Much Gravity Syndrome. I'd not want to answer for wasting or neglecting such a Valuable Gift as Gumption.  If the mind can think it, the body can move towards it.  

Perhaps in the dark and swirly ways of the Oregon rainy sky; perhaps in the quicker breezy ways of the Oregon blue summer sky. Always in the ways of diana. 

As it should be. 

Awesome!