New Computer...

And it's about time! I bet all the philistines among you thought I had simply abandoned blogging as so many before me. But no! I am not that easy to get rid of. Almost a month ago now, our computer gave up the ghost. Bob went to turn it on and was greeted by a stony faced black screen. The timing was, of course, the absolute worst in history. I was just finishing installing my work "Better Guns and Gardens" at Artspace and there were images to send and artists statements to email for that show and my upcoming inclusion at Odetta Gallery. I was frantically uploading and sending off requested info from friend's computers during dinner parties and from work. A nightmare!(I am not even going to hint at how much unbacked up stuff we have sealed in that hard drive; we are going to have to pay for date transfer...) The good news is that we have a delightful new computer that has oodles of giga everything and we don't even seem to be upset with Windows 8. Yes, there are swirly, squirrely screens that flicker past at light speed and all manner of needless shopping apps but it's not THAT bad! I was worried.
And above, testimony to all the hard work I've been doing in preparation for that NEXT show at Odetta Gallery in Brooklyn. The studio is warm, wonderful and workable thanks to:

Remember "Yodel"? Yes, Yodel the Woodstove is now installed, thanks to Bob and our good friend Joe. They Saws-alled a hole in the studio roof and put in the new pipe. It works great and just in time; as I was finishing my book project, the weather started to get cold and I had begun to work in the living room (old studio) for a time. The studio heats up in no time and I couldn't be happier- or toastier!
But here's the pain side of all this work:

Kind of gross, all the splits and needle stabs I'm enduring. I jabbed a needle like 1/2" into this awful open bleeding thumb crevasse and then danced a mighty jig to stop from screaming. That really hurt. I guess that the down side to having a show in which all the pieces are sewn. But the work looks great and I plunge on wards, fighting through that old agony and ecstasy...
One more picture for good measure as I'm pleased as proverbial punch to be up and blogging again:

Dead flowers! A fitting last bouquet, plucked just before the cold weather began in earnest. Lovely perennial chrysanthemums from friend Bob. Well, they were lovely before they dried out, but they persist in our bathroom as a remembrance of this recently departed last gardening season. Only funny thing here is that I didn't take  picture of the new computer. Maybe next posting.