Tag: spring break

Thursday Morning

This has been quite a week or so.  I am so glad I get the next ten days off from work, starting at 5 p.m. tonight.  I am just about done in!

You could say it began two weeks ago.  A pipe broke under the shower pan in the master bathroom.  Three days later, half the carpet in the bedroom is gone, the shower stall is destroyed, and the leak is fixed.  Now all that remains is arguing with the insurance company, choosing tile for the bathroom, ordering tile for the bathroom, ordering flooring for bathroom and back third of the house, painting the bathrooms and bedroom, and installing new vanities, possibly one or two new toilets, new mirrors, and new lighting in the bathrooms.  Maybe it will be done by the end of April.  The other half is going bonkers with all the estimates and people coming and going.  Besides that, I had a 3-day painting workshop (yay!), a nasty cold and flu, and now Josh has the cold.

So, what is going to happen during the break?  A few appointments.  Lots of art if I am lucky.  Lots of photography, too.  Choices being made for tile and paint – the flooring is already chosen – and writing big checks for all this stuff.  And researching what “contiguous” means in context of California insurance law – but that is another story!

And, of course, organizing all the bits and pieces of my life that have fallen apart over the last few weeks.  I never realized how disorganization is like a perpetual motion machine – it is entropy at its worst!

First Day of Spring Break

Well, probably officially the second day of Spring Break!  I spent Friday doing all the things I usually do on Friday mornings – cleaning, organizing, grocery shopping, and so on.

Today, I got up early, determined to finish up a couple of rolls of film.  When I ran out of film, I was sort of cursing the fact I hadn’t another roll with me, or a decent digital camera.  All I had was my phone, but it did an okay job.  In general, I don’t really like the pictures from cell phones – mine is a Galaxy S5 – but you can get a decent shot or two.  I think they tend to overdo the sharpening or whatever they do.

I headed out around 7:00 to a local open space, Wildwood.  I took the Moonrise Trail, but veered to the right rather than the left as the path was crazy muddy.  It was definitely a delight!  Sunflowers, lupine, morning glory, mustard, allium, and others I recognize but don’t know the names.  In particular, the image “Tiny Pink Flowers” was a bit of a favorite – these flowers are about 1/4 inch across – less than .5 cm, I am sure.

Spring Break: Morning of Day 2

The list is still listed.  It also lies in front of me with a few additions.

Up at 5:30 to the tune of the coffee pot, and get Josh up so he can go shoot rockets in the middle of the desert.  Did you know that you need to file some kind of flight plan with the FAA to do this??  He took a camera, so maybe we will have something new and different to post in the near future.  Also, watching the eagle webcam, and those little eaglets are now at a gawky stage – big feet, big beaks, and clumsy-looking.  Pretty funny!  And a fish for breakfast, probably a trout.

My studio is on the eastern side of the house, so the morning light comes streaming in through my cruddy windows.  The redbud tree is right outside, and the light passing through the deep wine-colored leaves makes for wonderful shadows.  The leaves look like little hanging hearts.

Fuchsia Redbud

A few planned items for the day – besides the daily chores – are to photograph a cute little Phalaenopsis orchid which just bloomed for the first time in a couple of years, and to get outdoors.  There is a native plant sale happening nearby, so that might be a fun thing to look at.  I also want to get some sewing done and pull out some paints or ink and take a brush for a twirl.  And call up some people I haven’t spoken to in ages.  Meanwhile, Lightroom is importing all my pictures.  Maybe I should read a bit in my book, too?

Spring Break: The Dawning

Our spring break at school begins today.  In not any particular order, these are what is on the list I drew up yesterday:

  • build photography reflectors and stands out of PVC pipe
  • sewing
  • work on CE course
  • enquire about use of eJunkie for PayPal and other account payments
  • work on HIPAA PowerPoint
  • Read and learn about Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5
  • Take some course at Lynda.com
  • exercise
  • walk Wicket (the dog) more
  • design a shawl out of the sock yarn I have
  • work on the Man Sweater and redesign it
  • Pay a bill or two, and plan out the budget
  • hike
  • mending
  • polish my shoes
  • clean out closets and drawers
  • get a haircut
  • clean out the garage (ha!  I need a year for that, or more!)
  • sumi-e (yeah!)
  • get together with some friends!