sketching

Sketching, Egg Cups and a Remembrance

March 17, 2023 at 9:46 am by Claudia

Sorry the posts are later this week but I still haven’t adjusted to the time change. I sleep later, because it’s actually an hour earlier to me than the clock says, therefore I get around to writing the post later.

Yesterday’s 3 minute sketch. I haven’t been sketching lately, so I grabbed my book and forced myself to sketch what was right in front of me.

A belated Rest in Peace to Bobby Caldwell, a great singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, who wrote one of my favorites songs back in the late seventies: What You Won’t Do for Love. I used to have the record in my collection and a few years back something jogged my memory and I realized I missed hearing it. So I downloaded it to my play list and I listen to it often. He was only 71 and had a lingering terrible illness due to an antibiotic that had been incorrectly prescribed to him and was toxic. A terrible tragedy that could have been avoided.

Don and I watched several videos of him performing on YouTube last night. Heavens, he was good. His singing voice was unbelievably fine. Don couldn’t get over how good he was.

Rest in Peace, Bobby. You will be missed.

Also, if you have watched the series Luther, starring Idris Elba, there is a new Luther movie out on Netflix. It’s called Luther: The Fallen Sun. We watched it last night and, boy oh boy, it’s great! Completely riveting from start to finish. I recommend it highly.

I’ll occasionally highlight some of my egg cups over the next two weeks. This group sits on top of the egg cup cubby. The large cups are from the Harlequin line by Homer Laughlin, the same company that made Fiesta. In fact, I consider them the sister line to Fiesta. They have the same art deco feel, but they’re more angular than Fiesta. A couple of these were gifts, and a couple were found by me while out and about.

The little cups in front were a gift from my friend Judy. I find them utterly charming. “What came first, the chicken or the egg?” Love, love them.

I’m feeling better today, so I’ll be reading the script for Murder on the Orient Express. And doing laundry, etc.

Yes, I’m a quarter Irish, but St. Patrick’s Day is no big deal for me. I’ve never purposely worn green on this day. But if it is a big deal for you, have fun!

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Saturday Stuff

February 18, 2023 at 9:04 am by Claudia

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your lovely messages yesterday. It’s been a tough time here lately and, given our phone conversation with Adrian yesterday, will continue to be. Many challenges, some losses, lots of worries. But through it all, this blog remains my rock. It grounds me. And all of you are so wonderful! What a lovely group of friends! Your kind words touched me deeply.

On to year 16!

I started a jigsaw puzzle I had on hand. It’s been hard for me to fill my time lately, even though I’m reading a lot, writing Morning Pages, writing gratitude lists, and doing a wee bit of sketching. I sometimes feel listless. So, after a break, I’m back with my puzzles. THIS one was a bear that I abandoned quickly. I was working on the edges and I couldn’t get them to fit. Something was off. I tried to rectify the situation but it didn’t work. I must have had a puzzle on hand because I took what I pieced together apart and stored it in the closet. This time I’m putting together the center first. I’ve done that before when the edge pieces were challenging. Hopefully, after I find my way back to the edges, it will all become clear.

This morning’s 10 minute doodle:

This is the view I see when I look to my right. I left out the porch post and the overhang of the porch roof. Have to say the cars look like something I would have drawn as a kid but since these doodles are moments in time/memory evokers, that’s fine with me.

We’ve (Don and me) moved onto Part 3 of War and Peace. Today will be Day 49 of the readalong.

If you like to visit Don’s music site on YouTube, you might like this one – Blues in Double Time. You might see someone else you know.

Okay, my friends. See you later.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Winter Woes

February 4, 2023 at 9:37 am by Claudia

Yesterday was an insanely windy day. It was relentless all day long with gusts of up to 50 mph. We’ve had that before, but the combination of wind and cold gave us well below zero wind chills. The wind drove me crazy, as well as Don. About 8 pm, I remembered that we hadn’t gone outside to start our cars, which we should have done sometime in the afternoon. So we bundled up, ran outside, and started our cars. Well. Don’s started. My battery was dead. That has never happened before in this type of weather. I tried again about 10 minutes later, but I didn’t want to crank it too much. Crap. Now, we either have to call our insurance company or buy some jumper cables. We used to have them, but darned if we can find them.

It’s below zero now, and 3 hours after Don got up, the house still isn’t fully warmed up. It will reach 20 degrees today, which is warmer than yesterday. Tomorrow, we’ll be back in the forties.

Sigh.

Just letting you know that Spoiler Alert is now streaming on Peacock. I hope you can see it soon. It’s so close to my heart and the unexpected opportunity to act in the movie was one of the most important things to ever happen to me. And the movie itself is beautiful and powerful with brilliant performances by Jim and Ben.