I knew this would happen: I would commit to writing once a month and then find I have nothing I want to write about.
Dear Diary, nothing much happened today. Love, Me.
Of course many things are happening; my father has been in and out of the hospital, my day job has been very busy, I moved The Tiger's Whisker from one exhibit to another and went to both receptions, I accepted the position to direct the 2015 Focus on Book Arts conference, I have been helping put together the Washington County Open Studios tour, I got my hair cut.
So, let's go down the list.
Dad. Major bladder infection which stressed out his heart, and he was in the hospital for 5 days. Once home, the antibiotics gave him the runs. Today for my weekly visit he wanted to go out, which was encouraging, but then he was too weak to get into the car safely. This concerns me on many levels.
On the flip side, there was a beautiful patio garden on the cardio floor of the hospital which I needed to visit several times, and it inspired my husband to start fixing our arbor on our deck and inspired me to go get a plant I saw there. We have a unpleasant view of our neighbor's house on one side, and I have been trying to find a plant that would be tall, but not too tall, very narrow, and have multi season interest. Answer: columnar barberry. The birds can feast on the blueberries in the summer and the barberries in the winter.
There is not a lot I can say about my day job other than my feet hurt.
Peace: The Tiger's Whisker received the "People's Choice" award in the Portland Society for Calligraphy Spring Show, which did not make my feet feel better, but sure made me happy. It now lives at The Focus on Book Arts exhibit is at the Washington County Museum, and it is rubbing elbows with quite a number of beautiful handmade books. It is an exciting exhibit. Here is a spread from Vivacious Versals, another book I have in the show:
Laurie Weiss has directed the last five Book Arts Conferences, and she will be a tough act to follow. Actually, her leadership has inspired me a lot in putting together the Open Studio tours. She and the whole team will be supportive, so I am only very anxious indeed instead of extremely anxious.
Oh, my, this is sounding too much like a diary.
And then I got my hair cut.
Why is a haircut in this list? Because the last time I got it cut, and it looked like the same old haircut I always get, I vowed I would not cut it again until I decided on what to do that would be different. That was over two years ago. I also quit coloring it then, because my mom had just died, and I found many things pointless. So I had gray hag hair.
Lucky me, I have a daughter who said, "let's go get our hair cut at the beauty school together" and any date with her is fun, so I said yes. Again lucky me, asymmetrical cuts and extreme A-lines are "in", so that is where I am at with my hair.
And it makes me look a bit like my mom.
