The Monkey And The Plywood Violin

A few days ago, we found a walnut tree on a walk through the park. However, it was growing on the bank, so the walnuts had all fallen to the path below. Today, I went down there and gathered an ammo bag full. I'll probably go back again. Brown will now be an optional fabric color, as well. I still have last year's bottle of ink, because I haven't been using it much.

I also found out where the lower bike path goes, or at least part of the way. You can climb a stairway back up the bank at Ogden and Farwell. People seem to run up and down it a bit. I am not so good - just going up once at a steady walk had me panting and miserable at the top. This is a sign that I need to do it again, ideally daily, until I no longer want to die. The prospect of gathering walnut hulls on the way may help me manage. There's also a huge amount of catnip planted alongside the road. It makes me wish I had a kitty to drug.

In other news, I am going to enact Mandatory Drawing time. I realized the other day that I've come to spend more time sewing than I do working on art. Some of this is because sewing requires very little brainpower when I do it by hand. However, some of it is because I've developed a series of art related neuroses that prevent me from just sitting down and do it. To the point that right before I was going to draw today, I felt an unbelievably strong urge to scour the apartment top to bottom. The cat waxeth.

The combination of thinking anything I make has to be good and increased standards for "good" mean that I have art paralysis. Today: one Blind Guardian album, two pages of sketches, including one picture of my hand, one poorly drawn sparrow, a rat, and a conventionally attractive black guy. I seriously need to work on my anatomy, though. I really don't know how men's upper bodies go together, and I'm pretty sketchy on the legs, too.

Err...I'm not sure where I was going. Ah, well. Once I've recovered from walkies, we shall have dinner, and then perhaps sewing and comics again.

Today I walked a touch over six miles in total, including a trip to the last farmer's market of the year, to the library to get my card and some delicious looking new books, to Asia Mart (yes, it's really called that), and to the local Ethiopian restaurant, where I got to have sambussa. They're like samosa, but full of sagey lentils.

Eating in season is cheap, especially when you aren't buying particularly romantic vegetables. For twelve bucks, I got two bunches each of carrots, beets and turnips, a pumpkin for Samhain night soup, three large colored peppers and a carton of pretty colored eggs. Here is a very blurry picture: ( Read more... )