Tue 25 Jan 2022
Day 15, 16, 17 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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Day 15
Day16
Day 17
craft
Archived Posts from this Category
Sat 22 Jan 2022
Day 12, 13, 14 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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Warning: if you send me a card there’s always a possibility it will end up as a part of a box. If there’s correspondence associated with it I’ll scan it and save it, but there’s often a certain ruthlessness involved with arts and crafts projects.
(I welcome all cards. ;-D)
Day12
Day13
Day 14
Wed 19 Jan 2022
Day 10 and 11 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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Day 10
Day 11
Mon 17 Jan 2022
Day 8 and 9 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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Day 8
Day 9
Sun 16 Jan 2022
Day 5, 6, 7 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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Day 5
Day6
Day 7
Wed 12 Jan 2022
Day 3 and 4 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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Day 3
Day 4
Mon 10 Jan 2022
Day 1 and 2 of 365
Posted by PJ under art, boxes, craft, projects
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What I posted to Twitter and Instagram: “Madness. Some years back when I was still caregiving I folded a box a day for a year to give myself something that was just for myself. One of the rules I set myself was that I could only use paper that came readily to hand–nothing that I’d bought: product boxes, Xmas cards, calendars, junk mail. I’ve punked the corner of this box, but product boxes are just slightly too thick for easy folding so I often seem to punk at least one corner. I plan to turn these into a textile mixed media piece. We’ll see how that goes.”
Since posting that, all the way back to yesterday, I’ve discovered that I’m a total liar. Or, at least, that my memory has holes in it. In fact, my mother had already passed away when I last did this project, but I was still working at a job that was busy and half-killing me and still a ways away from retirement. So it just felt like I was still a caregiver. I guess, in a way, I was. I was taking care of myself, putting one foot in front of the other, trying to stay alive and viable until I could make an exit.
It’s funny how memory plays tricks on you, which is why I generally try to verify my own recall before posting anything publicly. But, you know, the computer which had the information on it was a whole fifteen feet away from where I was sitting last night and I didn’t want to cover such an arduous distance. Hoist on my own faulty petard. Boom boom.
I suspect no one cares, but at least my conscience is clear.
Day 1
Day 2
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Mon 28 Jun 2021
Old friends are a blessing
Posted by PJ under art, COVID, craft, friends
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This weekend my lifelong friend, L., came over and it was so great to see her. (We met when we were 12. We are considerably older than 12 now.) We talked and piffled around with crafty things. Didn’t get a helluva lot done, but that was largely beside the point. She did a little stitchery and, after abortive attempts to do some knotwork, I wound up working on a WIP, a piece of bone I’ve been carving for literally years. I call her Schnausicaa. I work on her for a while, put her down again (usually for a long while), then pick her up when she calls to me. I do think we’re getting close to the end, but she tells me she isn’t finished yet, so I’ll have to go with her instincts.
Mostly L. and I talked, watched stupid TV shows and made sarcastic remarks about them, ordered in Mediterranean (kebabs and falafel) for dinner, and just were…friends. It was the first time I had hugged another human being since February 2020 (the last time L. came over for a craft day), just weeks before the shutdown. I (we) may have cried a little. But mostly we had fun, the kind of comfortable fun old friends have, no need for heavy duty entertainment, unafraid of silences, unafraid of expressing whatever needs expressing.
(We also lived together for almost five years in our late 20s so neither of us has any illusions about our respective housekeeping abilities. L. is the only person I would dare allow in this house in the pandemic-careless state it currently is in.)
I’ve had other friends come over and we’ve sat outside separated by 10, 15, 20 feet on the lawn to talk, but L. and her husband ,C. (more like my family than my family), are both immunocompromised so they’ve had to be especially cautious. C.’s mom died of COVID in December. I wasn’t especially close to her, but she was someone I knew and liked, and the mother of one of my closest friends so it really hit home. It put a human face—if I needed one—on all those stats and numbers. Because, really, each of those numbers was a human being, precious to someone.
But now we’ve all had our vaccines, all my friends, and if we aren’t living wild and carefree, we are at least able to venture out now and again. I am a creative introvert so being on my own is not a burden for me, not like it is for some. Except, of course, when it lasts a year and a half.
I may have hermit-like ways, but I’m not truly a hermit. And old friends are a blessing one really can’t have too much of.
Schnausicaa (WIP) with snake goddess
Wed 9 Jun 2021
Energy
Posted by PJ under ancestors, attention, calling, craft, energy, gifts, gods, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:
“Sometimes a god shows up or a deity or a spirit or even an energy. I think that this doesn’t get any play, but it happens. A craft can come and initiate you. Suddenly, you start seeing books about knitting everywhere and you’re like, “Whoa, I am dreaming about knitting,†and sure, that can be backed up by weaving deities and the lineage of grandmother spirits…Energy, whether it be deity or ancestral energy or even a gift can absolutely move into our life in a shocking and overwhelming way, demanding our attention, demanding that we bring our attention to it and that can be very harrowing.â€
—Chiron Armand, The Hermit’s Lamp, Episode 102, December 14, 2019
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Desus and Mero, Beyoncé, or the Marine Corps Marching Band. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Mon 7 May 2018
Craftsman
Posted by PJ under art, books, craft, quote of the day, writing
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Random quote of the day:
“Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.â€
—Jean de La Bruyère, Characters
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Orville and Wilbur, Katy Perry, or the Avengers. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
