#30Inks30Days 10 April, 2020

Robert Oster “Sheen and Shimmy” Black “n” Blue (the blue shimmer doesn’t show up well in the photo, but it’s there)

 

#30Inks30Days 9 April, 2020

Sailor Manyo Akebi

I spilled some of the next ink I plan to use on the page. Oops!

#30Inks30Days 6 April, 2020

#30Inks30Days
Diamine Shimmertastic Golden Ivy

I’m still stuck on the story. It may be a lost cause.

#30Inks30Days 5 April, 2020

Organics Studio Limited Edition Jazz HandsĀ 

Sorry about the disruption to the story. Maybe tomorrow my brain will come back.

Adventures Outside the House During Our Time of Isolation

Yesterday I ventured forth farther a-field than I have for three weeks. I had an health appointment and my son agreed to take me so I wouldn’t have to take the bus (I don’t drive). I thought I would be excited to leave the house, but in truth I was mostly nervous. I looked up how to make a mask from a bandana and hair bands:

You can find instructions on how to make your own COVID-19 fashion statement here. I had a hard time getting the elastic bands to stay looped over my ears, so when I got home, I strung three together, before slipping the bandana through the end two, to allow the elastic to go around my head. I haven’t tried wearing it outside as I walk around yet, but I have high hopes it will stay in place a little better.

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On the way in, there were some cars, but many stretches of the road were almost empty.

We passed my favourite pond. There were two grey herons on it, a bird I hadn’t seen there before. I hope they’re nesting. Someone pointed out to me that the birds have been loving the quieter days and the cleaner air, and since then I have noticed that there are indeed more birds around than we’ve had for a while.

 

Ā  Ā  Ā  After my appointment, we had a couple errands to run, one on the pedestrian mall. It was stunning to see how empty it was. The homeless folk had gathered primarily in one area, but most were keeping several yards apart from each other and talking about the pandemic.

I was surprised by how many restaurants were not limiting themselves to take out or curbside pick-up. Quite a number were open for business as more-or-less usual. THIS IS WHY WE NEED A NATIONAL SHUT-DOWN, PEOPLE. We can’t count on folks to stay away from each other if it isn’t mandated as a necessity.

There were few shoppers around; many of them were wearing scarves or masks. We looked like a small convention of highway robbers.

Because I’ve been cooped up at home, my son and I took the scenic route home. We saw trees just coming out of dormancy, still all bones, but not for long.*

There were some mountains, too.

Honestly, I feel as if the world has undergone such a cataclysm that I wasn’t sure the Rockies would still be there. It’s like living in one of those SciFi movies in which most of the population has been swept away by a plague and everyone is afraid of everyone else, but it’s not a movie.

Be careful out there, folks.

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* Winter trees remind me of the first and last verses of Theodore Roethke’s poem, “I Knew A Woman”:

I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;Ā Ā Ā 
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:Ā Ā Ā 
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(Iā€™d have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek).
ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦ā€¦
Let seed be grass, and grass turn into hay:Ā Ā Ā 
Iā€™m martyr to a motion not my own;
Whatā€™s freedom for? To know eternity.
I swear she cast a shadow white as stone.Ā Ā Ā 
But who would count eternity in days?
These old bones live to learn her wanton ways:Ā Ā Ā 
(I measure time by how a body sways).
(https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43331/i-knew-a-woman)

 

#30Inks30Days 4 April, 2020

 

This ink is Benitsuchi from Taccia’s Hokusai set. I’m not sure how much I’m choosing inks that suit the unfolding story (I don’t have any of it planned out) and how much I’m suiting the story to the ink. This ink wanted to draw people, so people showed up in the story. What will tomorrow’s ink bring? I don’t know either.

#30Inks30Days 3 April, 2020

Day Three of using 30 Inks in 30 Days to distract me from the tragic, global disaster of COVID-19 and the national political disaster of our Federal Government.

Darkness brought to you by Diamine Shimmertastic Colbalt Jazz. I thought this ink caught the way a sudden darkness would hold some of the shine and gleam of the briefly obscured day light.

The Peach Tree Chronicles

The freezing rain came. It brought frost and snow in its wake. It coated the tree branches,

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the hyacinths,

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the miniature lilies and the crocuses.

 

And it showed no mercy to my beloved peach tree.

My only hope is the string of lights my son helped me wind through the tree.

Ā  Ā  Ā  Ā  The rain and snow have let up. Tomorrow will still be cold, but a warming trend is on the way. However, there is more rain in the mid-range forecast, so stay tuned. More peach drama is sure to follow.

While We Wait

I’m not the Pollyanna type: my approach to life is moreĀ Pessimists are never disappointed. BUT ā€” desperate times, desperate measures. So while we wait for this fearful virus to relent, I have been trying to remind myself that there are still some soul-lifting aspects to life. So I have been out with my camera*, taking photos of sunsets:

 

 

 

 

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I have been tracking the moon:

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and watching for the flowers to add colour to the world:

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AND ā€” I have been chronicling the emergence of blossoms on our peach tree:

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Our temperatures are about to drop into the twenties with rain and snow, so I am worried that after Friday, there will be no more blossoms, and no peaches later (though last time we had peaches, the wasps ate more than we did).

Stay tuned. I’ll update the state of the peach tree later. Stay well.

 

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*All the photos, like all the contents of this blog, are copyrighted to me.