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?

WEEK SIX OF JUST WE TWO

Spotted From Our Balcony Porch Just The Other Day

Well, I can't believe it. We're into our sixth week of sheltering here at home together, and we haven't even been tempted to strangle one another yet! In fact, I think we've actually grown closer, despite the fact that he made me get a new computer in the middle of all this. However, I just now noticed that several photos have disappeared from previous posts, for no reason at all, so the jury's still out on that. 

We had a serious scare last week, when I got a message from my best friend saying her hubby woke up convinced he had a fever, even though their two very old thermometers both said he did not. Still, he couldn't risk passing anything to her, since she has a heart condition, so he had isolated himself in the bedroom, and she was leaving food at the door. She mentioned, however, that he had a lot of congestion, and had been doing a lot of work in the yard. Sure enough, it turned out to be really bad allergies, but it got us all to thinkin' -- about what it would be like to lose someone now, not even being able to be there with them as they pass, or to grieve with other loved ones surrounding you, and to have to continue on alone. It gives you a different perspective, doesn't it? Yes, Easter was a bit of a downer, not getting to be with my grandbabies, and with nary a Cadbury egg in site, but we have soooo much else to be grateful for!

For instance, I think one reason we seem to be so content in this unusual situation could be that a lot of outside stressors are removed when everyone is on lockdown, and you have a legitimate excuse not to do all those things you don't actually want to do. Then there's the fact that you become more and more aware of what is really important, and what just isn't, the longer your confinement lasts. I know I have! To still really like the person you've been with for more than 45 years, in such a "That's it, I'm outta here!" era? To have kids and grandkids who are all healthy and happy and actually missing us? That we are all fortunate enough to be doing ok financially, and won't be left destitute, as so many others will, losing not only their loved ones but also their jobs, businesses and health insurance? Yes, I'd say we are very, very fortunate. And, I think I am most grateful for the fact that all my friends and loved ones took this thing seriously, right from the very beginning, so hopefully none of them will get sick either.

Oh yeah, and one other thing I'm grateful for? Online art classes, and art supply stores! I have artist Lucy Brydon to thank for her little mini class on mushrooms, and can't wait to see what she has to offer next month!

SNEAKING OUT OF THE HOUSE

So sorry for the long lag between posts. It was my Hubby's fault. Apparently my computer acted up one time too many, and the next thing I knew, he had ordered me a new one. Some people get excited about things like that. I do not. It's only taken about 40 years for him to catch on, but he's finally glommed on to the fact that I learn differently than he does. He always wanted to be sitting at the helm, typing away at lightening speed, calling instructions out to me over his shoulder. Not only could I not see what he was doing, but anything I heard was going in one ear and straight out the other. Then there was the fact that every time he transferred stuff from one computer to the other, I either lost months worth of recipes I had typed into the computer, or ended up with duplicates, then triplicates, of every photo I had ever imported. So, every time he announced that he had bought me a new phone or computer, I cried. This time it was different. He actually let me sit at the computer, and gave me time to take notes that I can refer back to when I have forgotten how to find or do something. I learn by doing, and by repetition. Give me two or three years and I'll have this down pat! And he'll be shopping for my next one...

Anyhoo, a week or so ago we had a pretty adventurous day, at least by Covid-19 standards. First I had my weekly meet-up with my Muses, via Zoom rather than coffee shop (Aaach, more new technology!). Then I actually got to go for a car ride, which led to a bit of synchronicity. Squeee! It started with daughter Lex sending us a message saying she had sewn some masks for us, and if we'd like to come get them, she could leave them out on the porch for us. Since we had a big box of diapers we needed to give her, we said "Heck yeah, a porch swap would be great!" I knew that Calvin would be pretty sad that we couldn't come in and play with him, and was wishing I had a little surprise I could take to him. So, I went to dig around in Mima's Magic Closet and found a fantastic book full of pre-decorated pages that you pull out and fold into paper airplanes. Perfect!

Lex and Calvin came to the window when we got there, and when I held up that book and pointed to him, you should have seen his face light up. In fact, he started to run to the door to throw it open, and Lex had to grab him fast, and remind him that we can't be together right now. That was hard. Really, really hard. But, on the bright side, as we were driving back home I reached into the sack to pull out a mask, and discovered a new letter from my little pen pal was in there as well!

Shortly after I discovered it, I got a text from Lex saying "Calvin really loves his paper airplane book!", so the two things got me to thinking -- about paper airplanes, and about what I should paint on the next card I send back to Calvin. That's when synchronicity struck. Suddenly a memory floated up, of a class I took online with Danielle Donaldson a while back, called Wild Blue Yonder, where we painted skies full of clouds and suns and birds and paper airplanes! I dug around in my stash when I got home and, sure enough, there was a little painting, just the right size to turn into a post card for my favorite pen pal. How lucky was that?

This week I started another art class online. This is a monthly subscription class, where I get new lessons each month, so it ought to keep me busy for the duration of this pandemic, and beyond. It's being taught by one of my favorite artists, Lucy Brydon, who lives in Scotland. I sometimes wonder which I love more, the way she teaches, or the way she talks! So, I'm off to paint mushrooms now. Catcha later!

KEEPING SPIRITS UP

Well, guess I'm overdue for a blog post, huh? Being confined at home, it takes a bit longer to accumulate enough worth talking about and the photos to go with it! Guess I'll start with the bad news and get that out of the way. Our little town finally has its first confirmed case of Covid-19. I guess we are lucky to have held out this long, huh? Oh, and we finally watched a couple of episodes of Tiger King, just to see what everybody was talking about. A couple was more than enough, since it just reminded us how many crazy-stupid people there actually are in the world. Which is why this plague has spread across the U.S. like a wildfire out of control, even though we had plenty of warning and could have been sooo much better prepared, if only we'd acted quickly and decisively on what we learned from the countries who were hit first.

I let myself wallow over it all for a couple of days, but, being a bit of a Pollyanna by nature, I couldn't stay down for long. Before I knew it, I was thinking about all the positive things that have come out of this, and the way people here jumped right in and started helping one another, just as they did a few years back when we had that tragic flood. And, even though I miss seeing my friends and family in person, it hasn't kept us from staying connected. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, right?

Apparently little Calvin is loving this whole pen pal thing I started. I finally got my first letter from him, accepting my invitation.

I immediately sat down and made this new card for him, inspired by the time he got a head start on his preschool teacher and dived straight into a big muddy puddle on the playground.

A couple of days later I got a video chat from him and daughter Lex. Calvin was super excited about the Peppa card, and wanted to assure me that he was going to send me another letter. He then turned to his mom and said "We should go do that. Right now!" She replied "We're talking to Mimi and Papa right now." But no, it could not wait.

My best friend Paula and I have spent most of our lives in separate cities, but ever since she forced me to learn to text, we've been talking to each other all day every day -- so much so that I often forget how long it's been since we've actually seen each other in person. We especially like talking at dinner time, about what we got from Blue Apron, or new ideas we've come up with, or what we could or couldn't get at the grocery store. She still can't get toilet paper, but the new Cooper's BBQ place that just went in near her house is offering a free TP roll with each food delivery. They are eating lots of BBQ!

As for the Muses, Hubby just added the Zoom program (which I had never even heard of pre-Covid) to both my phone and computer, and we are now able to pick right back up with our Tuesday morning coffee meet-ups, albeit virtually. The first one was a doozy. We had so much to catch up on!

As for that wallowing slump, it reminded me that I'm a person who needs purpose and routine in my days. So, I came up with a loose sort of schedule, just to insure that every day doesn't turn into a jammy day! And, one thing I made certain was on it, was a couple of hours of creative time each afternoon. It can be reading, writing, painting, working in my journal, making cards for Calvin, or anything else I can come up with. But, I must do something. Yesterday, it was an acrylic painting on a gelli print which I had inserted into my mindfulness agenda -- inspired by one of the many hummingbird carvings my dear mother-in-law Theda suddenly got the urge to make in her 60s and 70s, after a lifetime of being a painter.

Just goes to show, it's never too late to try something new!

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.

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT

Two weeks ago our biggest problem was this dang squirrel, who demolished an entire outdoor carpet last year, and a mop this spring. I'm guessing she may be a mama squirrel, building a nest or something? Surely she can't be digesting all this stuff!

Just a little over a week ago our best friends were here visiting, daughter Lex was planning to bring her kids over for a few days while her hubby volunteered at SXSW, and my sister and her hubby were planning to come for a visit right after that, so they could finally meet Miss Rowan.

We actually knew very little about this Novel Coronavirus at that time, so when SXSW decided to cancel everything, we thought they were just erring on the side of caution, and still weren't all that worried. Instead of just Lex and the kids coming over, the whole family came over last weekend. They still took Calvin to the children's play I had bought tickets for, and we went out to eat a couple of times, happy that the restaurants weren't packed for once. But by Sunday my sister had called to cancel their visit, and the morning news was sinking in. Hubby and I decided to stay home with Calvin, instead of going out to breakfast with Lex and Nate. 

Magnetiles Are Awesome!

The kids went home after breakfast, and the next morning we got a message saying Calvin woke up with a scratchy throat and a fever. Needless to say, we just about went nuts. They rushed him to the doctor, who tested him for strep (negative) and said there were absolutely no signs of anything respiratory going on, so he was almost positive it wasn't Corona. Almost.

By the next day his fever was gone, but schools and businesses everywhere were shutting down, and I haven't been out of the house since, except to take a walk in places where there were no people. We are taking it very, VERY seriously now, and I hope you are too.

On the plus side, this calming mindfulness journal I've been working in is turning out to be just what I needed!

Stay well, my friends!

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...