Treat. Luxury.

This afternoon, in another attempt to not forget to enjoy the use of Summer I took time off from bears and such to read ten pages of a Wendell Berry book. 

While in our lovely patio hammock.

Classical music helped joy up the air.
Hot tea was nearby.

This should not be a rare deal.
It is.

Luxury would be deciding to do a thing until not wanting to do it anymore.

I know of few pals who can do this.

It is an odd goal now.

But today is not a day for such doings.
Back to production work on greeting card designs.

I am blessed/lucky to be able to do what I choose to do for a living.
But Time is a tricky beast, and I need to learn more of its ways.

Best of Luck with your minutes. And on to the hours that we still count as ours.

Perhaps an hour spent with a bunny?

Friend Laura R-S is kindly allowing me to play with her images.
Now to find the time.....

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

Motivation - Sigh

In 2017 I had a goal of blogging at least two hundred times. And so I did this - plus one. This year I have made no such goals, and so posting has suffered.

This also happened in my SuperBetter/Planning/Bullet Journal this week. I forgot to write down goals/things that needed attention, and thus, the week went by nearly unheeded. Yes, certain things got done, but the feeling of Accomplishment somehow went missing.

I guess I am a person who requires at least some structure to how I spend my day/time. I need a reason to be doing. Goals - even if tiny ones. Visual "baby steps."

It didn't take long to find this out! So back to the ruler and markers and such. Seven spaces for days of the week, one space for Goals, and another for Notes is almost all the prompting needed. I am a sucker for filling in little boxs of "time." Or boxes of "completed." Whatever works, right?

Saturday I will start filling out the page. The form stays the same, though the tasks and possibilites flex with the situation. Then to Stay Aware and do the deeds.

Ever onward. So it goes. (Quoting famous people who knew how to get thing done.)

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

Desk - Part the Second

No, I haven't been spending any/much "serious" art-making time in the studios. Why? Because of The DESK.

It was with serious intent that I planned this week around Cleaning The Desk. So far.... so not too bad.
This is how it looked at start of week. I am not Proud of this, and a 2008 photo found of same desk showed it in much the same condition, though with different "clutter." But... some, uh, of the same...

Yes, I put every single object seen here here. For a reason. There are always reasons. But now there are reasons to move on, and so it began...

Time periods were broken down to twenty minutes sections. No great reason - "twenty minutes" works best for me. So far, thirteen chunks of twenty minutes have been put to use on this project.

After forty minutes on Monday the desk looked like this:

There are a few visible clues to what's been improved, but they are hard to spot. However, I know the parts that are "better" here, and why. Not too many things have been tossed away, but lots have been moved to places where they are better off. The Box has even been addressed - I understand if you cannot tell.

Image Three is yet another evidence photo. My brain doesn't well remember how things WERE; therefore, it is best to shoot photos as proof that progress is being made. It's kind of like a "Spot the Differences" game.

More hours of cleaning have gone on since these first images, but there are still many to go. And other parts of life have to be lived as well. I am often an "all or nothing" sort - so doling out hours to particular deeds can be tough. And, odd is sounds, I am FOCUSED on this Desk Project. However, it is time to make some art now. Or do more bookkeeping, or make supper.

Tomorrow brings proof that I am being Serious about this Desk Thing. 

Perhaps it's time for tea and contemplation. And maybe a piece of toast. 

Here's a toast to Organizers/Cleaners everywhere! 

Fare-thee-well,

Sue the finder of a few lost things!

Backstretch - But Reversed

This is where it gets "hard." Not in hard labor. Just in O.K., Brain, put some words into your friends the Fingers. Fingers would happily go it alone, but results might be be readable. you know how independent fingers can be. poking in to places they shouldn't be. Pointing at things not to be pointed out. Grabbing stuff that isn't theirs. We have to keep our eyes on our fingers.

A guy and I were just showing our long-ago injured bent fingers to each other - haha!


It is quarter to eleven in the morning. You  know - that quaint concept. Quarter past, half past, quarter to. Round clocks with numbers in a circle. Grandmas taught Time differently.

Oops - now it is 10:52 A.M. Digital time. Central Daylight Time.
I no longer wear a watch. I used to wear a watch ALL the Time. Except when dealing with deep water. I hearted knowing the time.
Now time both excites and haunts me. I live for the few hours and days when "flow" is achieved, and Time means nothing. A whole day when time is measured by occasional glance at sun and shadows is a marvelous, rare, and wonderful day.

Most of my days are tethered to twenty minutes blocks of time. My iPhone timer is my pal. It makes me enjoy focusing. And twenty minutes is a nice bunch of minutes - not too many. Just enough. And often I just click the timer to another twenty. Today "time" is not being a factor. The doing of the blog posts is the focus. Getting there. Getting there. Feeling a tad guilty about taking up coffee shop space, but also not guilty. The sitting here is getting deeds done.

What do you do to get the deeds done?

Two to go! I am almost shallowly excited.
(Insert Inspirational Quote of your choice here.)
(Can you tell that I have had a half-inch of Real Coffee?)

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

State Fair!

The application deadline has been met! Tara, Todd, and I have entered the very tough Art competition at the Minnesota State Fair. Me in Pastels, Todd in Sculpture, and Tara in Photography. None of us has made it in yet, but ya gotta give 'er the go.

I will be demonstrating pastel techniques there, too, but as yet I have no plans. A lovely calm bruin couple at the lake? A cranky close up of a Hal or a Bert? We'll have to see who is hiding in the paper...

Just finished framing a waltzing bear pair. Title: "Another Time." Got to try out the new Terry Ludwig pastels won at the Lake country Pastel Society's meeting Tuesday night. We piranas around the free stuff at Wet Paint's two tables..... Lucked into a nice assortment of dinged sanded papers and some perfectly fine pastel boards. I do not need more art supplies. I need more time. And more space? Time is more important than space right now.

On to the next mission. A cool front is pushing through.

Tootle-loo,
Sue