There are days/weeks/months when the "artist" in me dries up and disappears. Or perhaps the muse shifts to another aspect of my life and becomes somewhat active there.
Right now, we are between buying/selling; moving/arriving; undoing/making new; tossing out/retaining what is good. The "in betweens" are strange places - they are neither here nor there, but somewhere in between.
The time/space contiuum is an interesting concept to rifle through when I'm in the "in betweens." There is a "place," for lack of appropriate language, that exists outside time and space. That, too, is "in between." It's the place I go in deep contemplative meditation or the place I am when I am creating art.
As of late, I've only been creating lists! Lists of insurance agents with auto and household rates; lists of moving companies with their wildly assorted estimates; lists of things to complete with regard to our flood claim; lists of people to contact with our new address; and many more lists you don't even want to know about - lists ad infinitum! Or so it seems to me this evening. I'm tired of collecting estimates, speaking to lawyers and realtors; but the worst is packing books and art supplies instead of using them!
I've steadfastly refused to pack my fabrics & threads, sewing machines and batting - but I haven't used any of those items since last September! All my creativity is being drained away by the task of creating a new life in a new town in a new state. And that is a GOOD thing, of course. But I'm starving for a colorful palette, needle and thread, tactile fabrics, and textures... I'm thirsting for pen, ink and paper or watercolors and d'Arches papers... I'm drying up without the nourishments of the art media.
However, as I write this it seems obvious to me that I can change my situation. I can choose to paint, draw, cut, paste, sew and more. I needn't set up my entire studio - I need only pick up something and start!
Happy Spirng! Happy Easter! May blooming be in your heart, mind, and spirit.
PAT's ART JOURNAL - Inner musings with a focus on art, family, nature, and spirituality...
Pat Dolan's Website
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
SOLD!
Our house was sold to the first couple who came to see it! They came on day 3, brought both sets of parents to see it on day 5, and made their offer on day 6. As you might imagine, we are both delighted and a tad overwhelmed... Things are happening much faster than we had imagined - and we really ARE happy about that.
Already, we have over 40 boxes packed and ready to go. We'll be delivering some of those boxes to our daughter's house this week when we go to State College for the house inspection. All my paint and dyeing supplies are going out now - no moving company will transport such things. We'll also open a bank account there so our retirement benefits have a place to be automatically deposited.
Now we get to file for social security benefits, medicare and it's attendant choices, plus decide which benefit package to select from Frank's place of employment. And we're still not done with our flood insurance claims and we haven't even begun to look at our tax forms. We do have moving estimates, but haven't had time to compare them. By the time we actually move, we'll be ready to retire, just from all this getting ready for retirement!
Until we got this close to retiring, we had no idea how complicated it is just filling out the required forms so that we can quit working and actually begin retirement! Of course, I've packed the genealogy stuff - including birth certificates & the marriage license. Now we'll file those ID documents somewhere else - perhaps in a bank vault???
Re: my camera
It was mailed to a NJ repair servicing center - and they mailed it off to Panasonic. That means I'll have no clue when to expect it back. So I splured and bought a Fuji Fine Pix S5200 at the local Ritz Camera shop - on major sale of course. It cost about a quarter of it's original sale price and is working out very nicely. The zoom is shorter and the pixels are less, but for under $100.00, I won't complain. It's a great camera and you'll soon be seeing evidence thereof.
Daylight Savings Time begins shortly - oh, my. Spring is coming on the wild winds of March. The peepers are peeping en masse in the swamp behind the house. I love the sound of their song and know that in another month, all the romancing will be over and the new peepers will be developing. Spring is here... almost. Except for all those places that are having snow...
Already, we have over 40 boxes packed and ready to go. We'll be delivering some of those boxes to our daughter's house this week when we go to State College for the house inspection. All my paint and dyeing supplies are going out now - no moving company will transport such things. We'll also open a bank account there so our retirement benefits have a place to be automatically deposited.
Now we get to file for social security benefits, medicare and it's attendant choices, plus decide which benefit package to select from Frank's place of employment. And we're still not done with our flood insurance claims and we haven't even begun to look at our tax forms. We do have moving estimates, but haven't had time to compare them. By the time we actually move, we'll be ready to retire, just from all this getting ready for retirement!
Until we got this close to retiring, we had no idea how complicated it is just filling out the required forms so that we can quit working and actually begin retirement! Of course, I've packed the genealogy stuff - including birth certificates & the marriage license. Now we'll file those ID documents somewhere else - perhaps in a bank vault???
Re: my camera
It was mailed to a NJ repair servicing center - and they mailed it off to Panasonic. That means I'll have no clue when to expect it back. So I splured and bought a Fuji Fine Pix S5200 at the local Ritz Camera shop - on major sale of course. It cost about a quarter of it's original sale price and is working out very nicely. The zoom is shorter and the pixels are less, but for under $100.00, I won't complain. It's a great camera and you'll soon be seeing evidence thereof.
Daylight Savings Time begins shortly - oh, my. Spring is coming on the wild winds of March. The peepers are peeping en masse in the swamp behind the house. I love the sound of their song and know that in another month, all the romancing will be over and the new peepers will be developing. Spring is here... almost. Except for all those places that are having snow...