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| :) (c) 2012 |
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| (c) 2012 |
On my list of favorite things, right up there with "art" and "coffee" is "cute animals." I went to the Central Park Zoo this past week for the first time! I feel a little conflicted about zoos, but have decided that if a creature were not in the zoo, the alternative would not necessarily be roaming happily (that binary opposition ignores other possibilities, like being part of the digestive system of another creature, becoming a fur coat, etc.) Thinking that animals wish to be somewhere they are not may be projecting-humaness. I think zoo animal thoughts may go more like:"this bamboo is tasty and nice to eat - oooo there's a bird - that rock looks sunny and nice to nap on." (but that might be me "kitty-morphizng" their thoughts). It was lots of fun, and I got lots of photos.
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| (c) 2012 |
To mark the occasion, and show appreciation for my very patient friend (did I mention that I took lots of photos?) I made cute cat and elephant gingerbread cookies with the new cookie molds (thank you Mary Anne!) I was traveling, so I tried a new technique for decorating by inscribing the lines before baking with the tip of a knife instead of using icing. It wasn't as colorful, but the faces came out well and the transportation process was much neater (and they were yummy, if I do say so myself), but I forgot to take a picture (in my defense, it was 5 am when they came out of the oven). It's high cookie season, so I suspect I will be baking again very soon, and next time, I'll photograph.
I had some home projects in my kitchen, moving the fridge so it wasn't in the middle of the room and in front of the window. It involved taking out some cabinets, and I had help from a house whisperer :). I never could have done it myself. It made me realize that I should direct energy toward the things I can do, even if that's a limited list. One of the things I did was fixing this door. In terms of accepting limitations, whenever I hear someone say: "oh, it's easy, just (complex explanation follows)," my thought tends to be along the lines of "hmmm, well I think a lot of things are easy if one knows what one is doing, but otherwise...ummm." I fixed this door by in painting (just filling in the damaged part). For me, it was straightforward to match the color and then just paint the missing area. It used skills I have (color matching and painting) and tools I feel comfortable with (sand paper, wood filler, tiny brush). It's probably not the solution most people would have gone with (painting the whole door would have worked too). I wish I could do more, but this is what I was able to do (it took about 20 minutes and didn't require me to lift anything heavy or use scary power tools.)
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| I practiced limiting myself to 5 neon colors in the background, white, and gold |
I didn't go to figure drawing - limitations, choosing this or that. I would have preferred to go, but instead I did some school work that has been needing attention. I was disappointed, but I put the energy I would have put toward the figure drawing into finishing the piece I started last week - ta da! I think the sense of touch on this is very nice. Making it reminds me that I wake up every day wanting to draw and paint and sculpt things. In terms of limitations, that isn't always a good thing, because there are also other things that require attention, and I have limited time/space/energy. I've been thinking that maybe for the next phase of tempus fugit, I can work on systematizing some of those other things as a form of recognizing limitations - I can't do or be good at everything, so I want to be really really good at this one thing and make sure I have the time/space/energy to do it as well as I can.
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| Fireworks are also on the "things I like" list |
I also went to "Winter Walk" - a winter festival in Hudson. It was so much fun! It was like Carnival. Lots of art and music and good food, and general cheeriness. I didn't mind shoveling snow for the first time this week because I heart Hudson.
Going back to the theme of doors... I continued to cheery the house for Christmas (maybe I really was an elf in a past life?) I "orchestrated" this. The best part - cost: less than one fancy cup of coffee - the bow was a hair bow on clearance (can't imagine why - who doesn't want a little more neon in their life?) The ornaments were from the tree - I learned that if the ornaments come in a pack, and one is broken, the rest of the pack is deeply discounted (like seriously, seriously discounted - so, while I would never break one on purpose, yay for someone else being clumsy too!)
I had some home projects in my kitchen, moving the fridge so it wasn't in the middle of the room and in front of the window. It involved taking out some cabinets, and I had help from a house whisperer :). I never could have done it myself. It made me realize that I should direct energy toward the things I can do, even if that's a limited list. One of the things I did was fixing this door. In terms of accepting limitations, whenever I hear someone say: "oh, it's easy, just (complex explanation follows)," my thought tends to be along the lines of "hmmm, well I think a lot of things are easy if one knows what one is doing, but otherwise...ummm." I fixed this door by in painting (just filling in the damaged part). For me, it was straightforward to match the color and then just paint the missing area. It used skills I have (color matching and painting) and tools I feel comfortable with (sand paper, wood filler, tiny brush). It's probably not the solution most people would have gone with (painting the whole door would have worked too). I wish I could do more, but this is what I was able to do (it took about 20 minutes and didn't require me to lift anything heavy or use scary power tools.)
Going back to the theme of doors... I continued to cheery the house for Christmas (maybe I really was an elf in a past life?) I "orchestrated" this. The best part - cost: less than one fancy cup of coffee - the bow was a hair bow on clearance (can't imagine why - who doesn't want a little more neon in their life?) The ornaments were from the tree - I learned that if the ornaments come in a pack, and one is broken, the rest of the pack is deeply discounted (like seriously, seriously discounted - so, while I would never break one on purpose, yay for someone else being clumsy too!)