Red 7 with friends

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Daffodils in front

Yayyyyy!!!

One Night Ultimate Werewolf

Today I played about 5 games of this with the girls and Judy. Everyone jumped into it right away and I had a great time. It was fun playing with enthusiastic players.

Stalks

Red 7, Azul

I got to play both of these with some friends tonight. I enjoy edit them both quite a bit.

Tree sketch, 4 x 6 inches

Sumi ink and dip pen 

View from Shippingport Island

Just a little sketch in graphite.

Shutdown

Being out of work on the Trump Shutdown means I at least have time to properly hook up our television and still have time to do the dishes, vacuum, and bake a loaf of bread. It sucks, but it's not like I just have to sit and wait. 

Dutch Blitz with the Gilberts

It's like Nurps with cute cards.

First post of the year

Garden: I can see daffodils poking out of the ground in my yard. It seems very early--but I have that same thought every year. Anyway, it has been fairly warm and wet for a few weeks so I'm not really surprised. On New Year's Day it occurred to me that they might be up, so I looked, and there they were. I did a bit of weeding in my pajamas, and repotted the tiny scrap of aloe that was still living from the much larger plant that I left outside too long in the cold.

Games: I played X-Wing with Aaron and his older son last week (his son and I won). Then Aaron and I played Memoir '44. (I lost). We got Azul for Christmas, and the girls got some escape room games. 

Reading: After months, I finished reading Aces Falling by Peter Hart. It was excellent. The book had belonged to a co-worker who died in a plane crash last July. Not only did I enjoy the book, but being able to read it felt special because of its connection to my co-worker, who was a wonderful person. Then I read The 2020 Commission Report by Jeffrey Lewis, which was pretty good (a fast read and rather horrifying in its believability.) My friend Cindy gave me a book of her poems that was just published, and I just love it. Each poem feels like a strange dark room and I have a flashlight, and I can shine it around and see details and can't ever see the full room, though maybe I can sense it if I keep looking and looking. I am also starting Early Riser by Jasper Fforde.

Art: I am due to start a house portrait ASAP. There is a government shutdown right now, so my only excuse is needing to put away Christmas decorations.

Life in general: Tolerable. 2018 was the worst year of my life. My heart hurt in ways that I was only able to imagine abstractly before. Hardly an hour has gone by in the past half-year that hasn't been colored by grief or sadness in some way. However, there have hardly been any hours that haven't given my a reason to feel grateful. I'm so fortunate I have so very many reasons to be happy. More than that--I am just a happy person at my base. Thank god.

Yesterday, Parklands at Floyds Fork

I've done an awful job this year of updating my blog. 65 hour work weeks and grief does that, I guess. Multiple things had to give way, and blogging was one of them. Who looks at blogs nowadays, anyway? I guess for me it's a little bit like an impersonal journal.

I took a little time for "woods therapy" yesterday after four hours of operations shutdown to begin our Trump furlough (I fear this could be a long one) and before going into work for four hours at the grocery. Things were a little confused in the morning at the government office, with lots of questions about time & attendance. And things were busy at the grocery, not because of lots of shoppers, but because there was a ton to do as soon as I got there and it was a struggle to get caught up.

Today, I'll work on some paperwork, do some reading, and go to my daughter's birthday pizza dinner.

Icy

Mr. Rogers Pumpkin

My favorite pumpkin from this year.

Stephen Hawking pumpkin

Carved a few weeks ago

Cat Pumpk

Great Horned Owl Pumpkin

Here's a pumpkin I drew and carved this weekend at Bernheim Forest's ColorFest. 

Carl Sagan Pumpkin

I finished carving this one a couple of days ago, but haven't seen it illuminated yet. 

House portrait in progress

Bolts

Sometimes I'm struck by lightning while I'm just sitting there in my own damn computer chair trying to process travel authorizations or whatever.
 

Recent dampness on pumpkin places

Stephen Hawking pumpkin

This won't be cut for another two or three weeks.

D&D

I played for a little while tonight with Aaron and his sons. Tons of fun.

Ribbit

This past Sunday I caught a frog at Kroger. I'm just making sure I post that here because it seems like something I should record. I think it was a gray  tree frog. 

I also talked to a lady about her parrots. She was very nice and showed my pictures of them. 

When I got to work, a co-worker was dressed as Eyore. It was a strange day. 

Yesterday, Labor Day, I was off work all day. I was still busy, but it was a home at least.  

Pumpkin vine

This summer, pumpkin vines started growing along our porch, presumably from seeds that fell from last year's jack-o'-lanterns. This one is large enough that I have had to fold it back on itself so it didn't block access to our garage, and I have to keep budging it back from the sidewalk. It has two healthy-looking pumpkins on it, and overall it looks much healthier and pest-free than any pumpkin vine I ever grew in my back yard.