Bits

It is that time of year again, vacation and reflection.  Thinking about how to do things, how to complete things.. what can be done, should be done etc etc.  A time for some cleaning, organizing.. lots of taking down thoughts... some drawing and reading and writing.  I've been drawing a bit more here and there, and scanning/photographing some of the work, even the 'not really good, but I'm doing something 'work.. because, for me, that is as important as the 'greatest thing I ever did' work.  Doing more after you've done something mediocre is a stickler point with me.. I want to 'take time off' and nearly quit.. and I have to get back on that horse.

Fox Hollow

little folk painting done after Esme and I argued mightily about her hair

trying to get my head back straight and not be angry when I explained to her exactly why she needs to brush it and wash it adequately.. for her future with other people outside this household as well as with me.. She is so stubborn - I know she gets it from both sides.. but stubborn!

I now have three 'books' going... the time traveller/dimensional traveller saga I've been working on for years.. a light hearted and snarky one about a witch and her animated house, and a collection of deep short stories that are based on dreams.  I was adding to and editing the short stories one this morning.  These are dream images so they both tell a LOT about me deep down, but also very little about anything anyone really knows about me.. so it will seem, in the end, like someone else wrote them or like I was having a very bad time with depression or existentialism... anyway... They are such powerful stories and images I cannot NOT write them down.. and they flow like water until each story arrives nearly fully-formed, 1500 to 2000 words.. and it is like a parable or mythology.  I know the two stories I have are connected and will need to be together in a book.  I haven't gotten any others that say 'we go with those guys' yet.. but there is the budding of another one - from a dream I woke up from too soon.. but had some interesting imagery and text inside a book inside the dream that my 'character' in the dream responded to.

Going through yarns, sewing materials, books.
Going through Esme's room - which since she is a teenager, is filthy and disorganized and she shrieks when I touch or change things.  But - it has to be done.  Shrieking included.  She is going to camp next week.

We also had a head-to-head about her hair.  And then, grasping the nettle firmly I took her to the salon to have it thinned out, and they confirmed she has been letting shampoo or something goop up in her hair.  We have fought over that - tooth and nail almost.. you obviously haven't washed it well or at least rinsed it well.  Yes, I have!  No, you haven't.  *sigh*  My ears are ringing, so she is probably reading this at some point in the future saying something under her breath about it.  We've talked about that, too... its not nice and not something that is going to win her influence or friends - the opposite, actually.

So, rant over.. maybe  I can turn my mind towards some more of the things I need to do now.
It's definitely vacation when you have time enough to think about cleaning up everything and sorting.. at least, it is for me.

I turn forty in two days.
I don't  feel bad about that.
I know I'll do my normal morning routine - weather permitting... we'll see if it does.