SAME OL' SAME OL'

Not much has changed since I talked to you last -- part of the reason I go so long between posts. We're still staying hunkered down here at home, other than a couple of doctors appointments and a couple of trips to the garden center by Dear Hubby. He's very good about wearing his mask, however. The only problem now is that it's getting a whole lot harder to stay upbeat about doing all this, and not getting to spend real time with our kiddles, when the rest of the world seems to be running amok! But, all the more reason to do it.

I'm still sending pen pal cards to my little grandson.

And though I don't get many in return, I always get an immediate facetime call, with him jumping around and waving the card in the air, to tell me how excited he was to get it.

We're still doing puzzles too, and getting totally obsessed with them. Hard to believe, since we never did them at all prior to quarantine. This has been our favorite so far, since it brought back so many great memories.

Barcelona

This next one was pretty nostalgic as well, since my sister put herself through college working at Kip's Big Boy in Dallas, and we all spent a good bit of time there.

I'm still getting my monthly art lesson subscription from Lucy Brydon. This month we took all those tips we learned about glazing and layering leaves and put them to use making floral wreaths.

Loved this lesson. I am not good at particular and precise, and with these wreaths, it seems that the looser and messier you got, the better they turned out! Next up? Fun, funky little birdies.

The one thing I never tire of, however, while being stuck here at home, is the view from my windows.

Even when the little rascals sneak into my garden and nibble my plants!

WORKING ONE'S WAY OUT OF A SLUMP

I don't know about you, but my journey through this Covid-19 experience has been full of hills and valleys. You can always tell I'm in a slump, feeling like maybe mankind isn't worth saving, if I haven't posted anything here at Seasonality in a while. Fortunately, I'm optimistic by nature, and always manage to crawl out of that valley before too long. Here are some of the things that helped me this time:

1) Sending And Receiving Snail Mail

This is the last card I sent to my pen pal Calvin. Last time my best buddy Paula was here, she brought a whole sackful of Transformers that had belonged to her grandson. Instead of giving them to him all at once, I decided to do two at a time. He got a firetruck and a police car on his last visit, and that's all he's talked about ever since! I set out Optimus Prime and Bumblebee for the next visit, but then along came Covid-19. Although drawing stuff like this is most certainly NOT my forte, I was told this post card made one little boy extremely happy. Bumblebee is in the works.

2) A Great Jigsaw Puzzle

My Hubby is not really a puzzle, cards or board game person, but when I saw an article on line, suggesting great audio book/jigsaw combinations, and one of the books was a Sci-Fi selection, I had to give it a try. Turns out, neither one of us is good at multitasking, and it was either do the puzzle, or listen to the book, so we opted for the puzzle -- and had a blast! We will save the audio book for our next car trip. The only problem with the puzzle was it completely absorbed us for two days, then left us feeling totally bereft. We already had several others on order, but they are taking way too long to get here. If quarantine is over when they arrive, they might never make it out of their boxes.

3) Starting A New Art Journal

Some of my favorite things I've ever painted were a couple of little girls. Unfortunately, they both ended up in other people's journals, when I participated in a "Circle Journal" project where our journals moved from one person to the next around the country, with each person adding something to them, until they finally maid it back home to us. Luckily, I at least thought to snap a photo of them before I sent them off.

Coming across them when doing a purge on my stash-basket reminded me of how much I enjoyed painting them. I also found magazine pages I had torn out and saved, showing the work of some favorite inner-child-artists.

Next thing I knew, I had a new art journal in the works!

4) The Everchanging Menu Of Wildflowers Popping Up In My Yard

So, what keeps you going these days?

SHELTER IN PLACE: FIVE GOOD THINGS

Well, we've been "social distancing" for two weeks now, and just got word that we have been upgraded to "shelter in place." After reading the restrictions, I realized that it was pretty much what we were already doing. The only big difference is that they have closed down all the parks, so we won't be able to take walks on the Blue Hole Park trails. But that's okay. We've got into the habit of taking walks down to the end of our street and back -- mainly because we like checking on what our newest neighbors are up to. They caught our attention when they were first building their new home -- and a fantastic tree house at the same time. They are just about the only people in this neighborhood who have young kids. Next they built and planted an amazing vegetable garden, and now they are building a chicken coop! Kinda remind me of me, when we first moved out here, but with more skills!

The second good thing is that my garden is fixing to burst into bloom, which can't help but brighten one's days. First up every year is this Crossvine, which has spread from its little mannequin shaped base,  onto the porch rails and across the fence!

Third up was a call I got from our little grandson, after I sent him this.

I knew he was probably a bit sad and confused about not being able to be around us right now, and I needed a way to stay connected with him, so I came up with this idea.

A Sketch Of One He Built From Magnetiles Last Time He Was Here

A couple of days after I mailed this handmade postcard to him, his mama facetimed me, and there was Calvin, waving his postcard around, saying "Yes Mimi! I want to be your pen pal!" I can't wait to see what he sends me in return!

Waiting on my nightstand, to be read each night.

Fourth on my Good Things list is that Mandy Rowden -- an Austin singer-songwriter and the leader of all things musical at Lucky Star Art Camp each year -- decided to spend her unexpected downtime reading The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and working through the lessons in it. She invited other Lucky Star gals to join her on this journey, and set up a Facebook page where we could leave comments and have discussions. I jumped at the opportunity since that book was a real life-changer for me when I first read it many years ago, and I'd been longing to get back into the habit of doing those "morning brain-drain pages" that are so crucial to creativity. This was just the kick in the pants I needed!

Waiting for me to scribble my "morning pages" in, first thing when I wake up.

Last, but not least, I did a bit of work in my mindfulness-art-journal-agenda- thingy, based on prompts from  No Excuses Art Journaling, by Gina Rossi Armfield.

A Couple of "Card Peeks"

A Favorite Quote Used For Lettering Practice

And A Couple Of Quotes That Came In My "Mindfulness" Agenda

As my little sketch above says, considering what's going on in the world right now, things here could be a whole lot worse! Hope it's the same for you.

SPRING BEGINNINGS

It started with a sleep-over, when it was finally warm enough to go out on the balcony and blow bubbles with Papa.

Then the first of our spring visitors showed up for a super fun family weekend.

Then there was a meet-up of the Tiny Dinner Club, where we got to sit outside and partake of this amazing charcuterie platter that our hosts' teen-aged daughter prepared for us.

And THEN, I finally had enough free time to sit down at my art table and play!

 

A Spring Color Scheme

A Collage

A Few Butterfly Wing Sketches

My First Card Peek For The Month. (In case you didn't know, those reddish cork-shaped things appearing on the Prickly Pear Cacti right now are called Tunas)

Am I happy about this new virus scare? No, of course not! Do we introverts mind being forced to stay at home and read good books and play with our art supplies all day? Weeellll, not so much...

SEVEN DAYS OF SQUEEDUNK: DAY 5

I knew there was going to be a conflict on Day 5 of Hubby's week-long birthday celebration.

At Gold Dust Boutique

For Christmas, in my further efforts to shop small and local, and to choose experiences over stuff, I gave both my girls a stack-pack of little boxes, each one containing a small gift certificate to one of their favorite shops here in Wimberley, along with a card explaining that my gift to them was a Lady's Day Out, starting with lunch at The Leaning Pear, then going to each of these shops to spend their certificates. Since the day they chose happened to be Day 5 of Hubby's celebration, we secretly arranged for son Austin to accompany his wife down to Wimberley. John's card that day announced that it was Have Fun With Your Son Day, and included a gift card to their favorite local brewery. They also had lunch at Creekside Cookers, then came back to the house to play with the new VR set that John thought our son was just loaning him, but which ended up being a gift! I don't think he missed my participation that day one iota.


We gals had a pretty great day as well!

They both agreed, though for different reasons (Lex is a tea lover, and Areej is a scientist who is very picky about what goes into her face and body products) that The Herb Room was definitely their favorite shop.

But, then we ended up at The Wooden Spoon, our frozen yogurt shop, and that may have changed their minds. One of the flavor options that day was sea salt caramel, to which I added Butterfinger and Reeses bits. I'm still moaning at the thought of it!