Greetings Earthlings, it is I your friend and recently retired 62 y.o. middle-aged mammal. Here with some scribbles in my sketchbook. I am weaving my way back into my art practice ever so slowly. It did not come roaring back to life once I was released from my decades-long sentence as a working stiff. But as with many things in life we wish to flourish, takes perseverance and patience.
I present you with some beacons of light for my art practice. Pam is coming up to spend a few days with me here at Moss Cottage and I think I will copy one or both of these into the pages of my sketchbook. We’ll also set up some still lifes out back and make some quirky masterpieces. I will certainly show all I create in an upcoming installment from my dispatches from the village of retirement.
Which by the way, is very very good and seeded throughout with bliss bombs as I remember that I will not be returning to the classroom in 12 days as I would in any other year since 1996. Also my run-on sentences should earn a prize or at least a smattering of gold stars. I will imagine them glittering up at me from the walkway when I leave the house later and climb into my chariot. Be generous. I like gold stars as much as the silver ones in the night sky and oh by the way Orion is coming into view now in the pre-dawn morning.
Both painted in the mid-century by artist Gyrth Russell (1892-1970)
As for the jackassery that continues to play out on our American soil,
Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. We will find a way to make a way out of no way.
-John Lewis
Also I have a good deed to report. After I returned home from the Superman matinee earlier this week I noticed that someone had nailed back into place 3-4 missing fence posts. I had gaps in the fence and had been collecting the old posts as they fell and meant to call a handyman to put new ones up. My neighbor swears it wasn’t him. In spite of our uncertain times people are still quietly doing very good work in the world.
Also I got a new roof. On top of the original wood shingles were many layers of asphalt roofing. This was a noisy operation, but one that is now, thankfully, over.
And here is a photo of my sister and I sitting on Moss Cottage circa 2003. I was a little 39-year-old!
Okay let me hurry and click publish so I can at least run the vacuum and clean the bathroom and put a fresh wig on before Pamela Marie arrives for our long slumber partay set to begin in 90 minutes or so!