Bee balm & bumble bee

I've done nary a thing, garden-wise, in a year. But the bee balm I moved to the front yard is in full blaze!

Through more doors

I just got back from a week of training in OKC. The weather was beautiful while I was there, and I got to meet scissor tailed flycatchers and burr oaks and great tailed grackles (who whistled magnificently at me each morning as I walked to my car.) I took a nice walk in a park last night, and a complete stranger gave me a flower. I've been reading The Overstory by Richard Powers (and it's hard to put down). class went well.

The last year has been the worst year of my life. But that year is now over (maybe it's ending right this second. Maybe it ended yesterday, or last week. I'm not sure. But I'm saying it's over.)  Today I got to come back home to the two people who matter more to me than anyone else in the world. They met me at the airport, and they are the solid bottom of all that is good in my life. Even if everything else good in my life melted away, everything about them would be enough.  But I do have plenty more than that.  The past couple of months have felt pretty good. I came back to my house to find the bee balm blooming vigorously by the porch and my friends and family are the best anyone could hope for.

Sketching by the Oklahoma River last night

I drew until it was too dark to see what I was doing. Also this week I saw scissor tailed flycatchers and great tailed grackles.

Martin Park

Martin Park

Hawk on the fence

From yesterday. It sat there in the rain looking pensive until a pair of bluejays  came by. The jays took turns hitting it in the back, ruffling its  feathers, until it flew off with the bluejays in pursuit. 

Dogsitting

Dogsitting

Shadowrun

Tonight I worked at a ritual for magical initiation. During the ritual, my two friends and I suddenly found ourselves in a town consisting solely of doghouses and dogs. They needed our help.

Deer

Snail on my porch step

House Portrait, Pen & Ink

Pen & ink tree

Sumi ink on  Bristol  paper

One Night Ultimate Werewolf

Preserving for posterity:

Last weekend, my teen daughters E & J and I introduced ONUW to some friends (T, and her teens B and G). We were in a restaurant and it was too noisy to use the app on my phone, so I narrated the game for most of the rounds. On one of the rounds, though, J wanted to be the Narrator. I was dealt Insomniac. During the night phase, when the Robber was activated, J forgot to say that the Robber could look at the new card to see which role was stolen.

[Day phase, after some discussion]:

T: Well, I was the Robber, and I took your card. [pointing at me]

Me: Then I believe you aren't a Werewolf.

B: Why? What were you?

Me: I was [slight pause, while I decide for sure whether to reveal what I started as, and also while I try to remember the word "insomniac"]… the Insomniac.

E: That was a long pause while you thought about it! That sounds like you were making it up!

B: Yeah! What, you couldn't remember? You really had to think about it.

Me: [sputtering] It was only a second—I was thinking--

E: Obviously a Werewolf.

Me: [Realizing with complete certainty that E would be hedging her accusation if she weren't trying to hide something herself] Wait a minute, you sure are acting certain about that… *you* are a Werewolf!

G: Yep, he's a Werewolf. I believe E.

Me: [Sensing their eager collaboration, dismayed that no one else notices how readily E and G and ganging up on me] Oh my gosh, you two are completely in on it together! You two are both Werewolves!

[A minute passes with me trying and failing to convince everyone that E and G are the Werewolves and I am falsely accused]

[Vote: I'm the only one pointing at E, everyone else points at me.]

[I reveal I did indeed have the Robber card, E and G revel in their Werewolf rampage. I was 100% right and 100% dead.]

SelSeSelfifie

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