An Ultimatum

 

See this pile? This is furniture and assorted things form our deceased mother's (aka "Mommy") house. These items have resided in my Studio Annex- essentially rendering it useless- for how many years now? Three? Four? Five? I started shuffling through this ungodly heap a few weeks back. But it hit me yesterday: the things in this pile have got to go!

Anybody out there want a table? A beat-up desk? An ornately carved chair? All going to the highest bidder! One of my sister's (*1)received an ultimatum yesterday. That "brown rectangle" (as they're referred to in the antiques world) is now officially your problem; do with it what you will! 

I am retiring to the Studio Annex now, when I finish this post, to attempt to deconstruct the heap and start selecting items to photograph. What a Herculean job!! Wish me luck...

And here's one of the busted lamps. I sincerely do wish they were all worth a fortune... or even a couple of hundred bucks! But I must be realistic and say probably not worth much.

As one of my sisters helpfully pointed out, once this room is cleared I'll have so much more space! Uh... yeah, that's the idea!

(*1) I only have two... they know who they are.

C-C-C-limate Ch-Ch-Changes

I'm surprised that we have any horse left! Because the weather has turned warmer (well,  maybe not tonight but it is supposed to up to 60 degreess by Wednesday!) Crispin started to shed his impressive winter coat- with a vengence. I began to casually curry him on Sunday and 45 minutes later, I was still coming up with clumps like the one above. I left wads of horse hair around for birds to use as nest making materials. I am certain that Crispin enjoyed getting a lengthy grooming session as I'll bet all that departing fur is itchy. He was less crabby for a little while.
Has anyone else noticed that there are a great deal of spring birds singing already? We even have ducks on our mini-pond. Last year, they had to be satisfied with swimming on the stream as the pond was frozen solid and under snow. And they're back so early!
On a particularly warm day a few weeks back, I spied a snake on the dirt road. Talk about bad luck! Not only does the snake come out on a 60 degree February day, but then he gets run over by one of the two or three cars that travel down that road on a typical day. I returned the next day, armed with my camera, but the snake was long gone. No doubt someone else's lunch.
I had to go back and read my several previous blog entries as I couldn't remember if I posted about the snake or not. I've told a few friends the snake anecdote and let's face it; the weather this winter has been super or scary depending on which side of the bed you wake up on. A friend reported on blooming crocuses and we've heard stories of all kinds of other anomolous spring appearances. I saw a forsythia bush blooming on the way to my mother's house. I'm glad to embrace an early spring (despite groundhog prognostications) but I'll be the first to admit that it also alarms me that everything is a month or so too soon.
And then a friend reminded me that they're changing the time this weekend. Am I crazy? Didn't that used to happen a month later too???

My studio is undergoing yet another upheaval! With the construction of the chimney to accomodate the woodstove, multiple things (including boxes and the infamous flatfile) had to be shifted again. I am still able to work in the midst of all this chaos; the importance is to keep the table free of flotsam and jetsum. Behind the chair is a new addition to my studio furniture- and a welcome one! It's a plug-ugly chest of drawers in which I can store all of my fabric remnants. Until today, they were crammed into several very inconvienient large cardboard boxes in the corner, stacked tree high. Once the dresser arrived, it took me all of an hour to unload the boxes and completely fill it.

Yes, there's a woodstove under all that bedlam. (And no, it's not hooked up yet so there is no danger of a fire from flammables being placed on top of it...)
I will collapse into a contented mound of productive artistry once the pieces are all in place and I know the permanent layout of the studio land. Bob and I really underestimated how hard it would be to move. We've done pretty well, but we do need to get our studio practices in gear. I don't know what the pilgrims or pioneers did about making art; all that moving around and physical hardship must have been hell on their concentration. (I jest). Wake me up when it's all over...