wretched excess, and other things
Oct. 13th, 2015 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_crowI am now the proud owner of three (THREE) circa 1996 Bernina sewing machines. I take it back, FOUR, but one is on semipermanent loan so I don't have to count it. The one I owned longest was, I thought, having mother board problems but now it looks like it was thermal issues (with which I can certainly commiserate) and it is fine again. I have a useful and charming one on my table at the moment, working perfectly. But when Aerin asked to use my sewing machine, I bought another one off ebay, because ... I am not entirely sure? I think I am worried about sending my children into the world without a sewing machine, since that was the first thing I bought when I no longer had access to my mother's. More correctly, it is the first thing I bought when I needed to do actual button holes and needed zig-zag capability. The seller was unsure the most recent machine worked, but it does. It needs a little polishing and oiling and love, and it'll be perfect too. So there are two spare sewing machines in the living room hanging out on the couch with me. Sometimes they just need a rest.
I delivered Margaret to her sister, that was Saturday, traveling the rest of Rt 2 to the east, having driven on it to the west, in the rain and the mist, right out to North Adams and through the parking lot at MassMOCA admiring the upside down trees hanging from their frame in the gathering gloom. And then we went back again, because I still needed thread. I rather like Rt 2, particularly when I am in no hurry and have no deadline. It is desperately scenic, even in spooky weather. After dropping Margaret off I went to see my mother, and got there before she expected me so I took her aging and arthritic dog for an amble. I think he has some form of alzheimers as well as going deaf - he doesn't hear, he is not as smart as he once was, and he's unsteady on his pins, but he remains a charming and friendly presence for my mom.
Mostly my mother seems fine. she talks about selling her house on the marsh, but she doesn't actually want to yet. I am trying to convince her to just think a little, and make a plan, but she makes three plans and then modifies them all and then forgets all of them. that part can be frustrating, but I think it boils down to one part inertia and one part having made the house wonderful she kind of wants to stay in it. also the views are gobsmackingly gorgeous, out across the marshes to the north and east, across plum Island sound and out to sea. I helped her shift some stuff around, and into her car to take elsewhere, and I took some things away.
I had the most unexpected moment in the nice coffee shop in Ipswich on the way home. I was waiting for my large sweet caffeinated thing to be ready and these three women were visiting and laughing so hard, I think I fell in love on the spot. I read somewhere that you don't find friends, you recognize them? I wanted to hang out with them. I collected my coffee and went out the door and then I just stood paralyzed on the sidewalk and then walked back in and interrupted them and asked if I could join them and they said yes, so I hung out with them for an hour, talking kids and colleges and how lovely Northampton is and how some of us want to live in a yurt in the deep woods... it was lovely, and now I am checking my email like a lovesick pup waiting to hear from them again.
Aerin and Alice and I worked on armor for her (Aerin's) Suki costume. It is composed of the heavy-duty interfacing I use for my artwork, plus fake leather. Since I didn't think I could use the iron to make the fusible part work, we used spray-mount instead, and wound up stuck to eachother and the project and parts of the sidewalk. We decided a halloween project was not firmly underway until someone had glued themselve to it. Like one of Al's construction projects isn't actually happening until someone has abused a screwdriver.
I am so pleased to have my house empty again. I love when everyone leaves for work and school and etc, and I am ALL ALONE. I am generally pleased enough to see them again at the end of the day, but that first rush of solitude is GOLDEN.
I delivered Margaret to her sister, that was Saturday, traveling the rest of Rt 2 to the east, having driven on it to the west, in the rain and the mist, right out to North Adams and through the parking lot at MassMOCA admiring the upside down trees hanging from their frame in the gathering gloom. And then we went back again, because I still needed thread. I rather like Rt 2, particularly when I am in no hurry and have no deadline. It is desperately scenic, even in spooky weather. After dropping Margaret off I went to see my mother, and got there before she expected me so I took her aging and arthritic dog for an amble. I think he has some form of alzheimers as well as going deaf - he doesn't hear, he is not as smart as he once was, and he's unsteady on his pins, but he remains a charming and friendly presence for my mom.
Mostly my mother seems fine. she talks about selling her house on the marsh, but she doesn't actually want to yet. I am trying to convince her to just think a little, and make a plan, but she makes three plans and then modifies them all and then forgets all of them. that part can be frustrating, but I think it boils down to one part inertia and one part having made the house wonderful she kind of wants to stay in it. also the views are gobsmackingly gorgeous, out across the marshes to the north and east, across plum Island sound and out to sea. I helped her shift some stuff around, and into her car to take elsewhere, and I took some things away.
I had the most unexpected moment in the nice coffee shop in Ipswich on the way home. I was waiting for my large sweet caffeinated thing to be ready and these three women were visiting and laughing so hard, I think I fell in love on the spot. I read somewhere that you don't find friends, you recognize them? I wanted to hang out with them. I collected my coffee and went out the door and then I just stood paralyzed on the sidewalk and then walked back in and interrupted them and asked if I could join them and they said yes, so I hung out with them for an hour, talking kids and colleges and how lovely Northampton is and how some of us want to live in a yurt in the deep woods... it was lovely, and now I am checking my email like a lovesick pup waiting to hear from them again.
Aerin and Alice and I worked on armor for her (Aerin's) Suki costume. It is composed of the heavy-duty interfacing I use for my artwork, plus fake leather. Since I didn't think I could use the iron to make the fusible part work, we used spray-mount instead, and wound up stuck to eachother and the project and parts of the sidewalk. We decided a halloween project was not firmly underway until someone had glued themselve to it. Like one of Al's construction projects isn't actually happening until someone has abused a screwdriver.
I am so pleased to have my house empty again. I love when everyone leaves for work and school and etc, and I am ALL ALONE. I am generally pleased enough to see them again at the end of the day, but that first rush of solitude is GOLDEN.