Downsizing – slowly she turned

I can’t think of anything much I did this week that was very interesting, but Sandy and I have gotten some stuff out of here to various thrift stores and charities and sold some of our American Revolution reenactment stuff. This was the weekend of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse reenactment, and as it often happens, the second day was canceled because of weather. Sandy packed up a woven basket backpack and trooped out there yesterday afternoon hawking his wares, but everybody was taking down their camps at that point and getting on the road. He did sell a few items and then one person from in town came to our house this morning and bought some items.

I threw out a LOT of food and found some in the freezer that I would have eaten had it not gotten buried. I need to keep on top of this from now on. My anxiety tells me that I may need something one day. I need to tell my anxiety to relax and shut up.

It was too warm for the snow to stick this morning. I slept through it anyway. In my dreams I was back in classes, searching for the right art class for me. I also failed college algebra twice and finally passed it with a D. I shouted to a friend, “I never made a D in my life!” The funny thing was that I was rather proud of failing that class. It was like an opposite school anxiety dream.

We socialized this week. I went with a friend to Oden mid-week and had a couple of brews and food from a great taco truck. Then Sandy and I met some friends from way back at Potent Potables in Jamestown – I’m talking early 80s – and then ate seafood for the first time since the pandemic shutdown at our favorite oyster bar across the street.

I’ve been feeling very weird about all this back to the past stuff – “like a pigeon from hell” as the Pretenders put it. I was a very fucked up person at that time with substance abuse and undiagnosed mental illness, and I haven’t remained friends with hardly anyone from high school or college because of embarrassment. But friends from that time keep getting in touch so obviously it isn’t an issue for them. I keep reminding myself that if we are still alive and in touch, then we all have moved on and become better people. But the memories plague me.

Now I’m heading out for my monthly massage. When I get back, I’ll cook and probably watch some TV, since we just canceled Hulu and Peacock and substituted HBO Max and Paramount Plus for a while. I watched “Women Talking” the other night and was blown away. There are many good movies I have missed because of my difficulty in paying attention to videos. I’m looking forward to catching up on the Picard series and the whole Yellowstone thing as well.

Books: I finished “When Christ and His Saints Slept” and “Rules of Civility.” I shot through “Rules” like a bullet and then found “A Gentleman in Moscow” at the used bookstore. I also found “Here Be Dragons” by Sharon Penman, which is a Welsh saga and so I’m pretty happy about my reading future. Currently I am over halfway through “Lessons in Chemistry.” At first it was seriously upsetting me and I wondered if I was in the mood to read it right now. But the dog and the kid saved it for me and now that I’m past some of the most infuriating and sad parts I am enjoying it very much.

There are used tenor saxophones at the used book store that I am so tempted by but so far I have resisted. I used to play baritone sax in our high school jazz band. I wouldn’t even know how to play any more. We have a house full of unplayed, lonely musical instruments and I’m not inclined to add another. I’m not musically talented (believe me, I tried) and choices had to be made. I can’t do (or try) to do all the things I want to do. However, I have heard “Pick Up the Pieces” by the Average White Band in my head ever since I noticed the saxes for sale and my fingers itch. “Baker Street” was taunting me the other day.

Next weekend I’m heading to Asheville with my sister and a friend to see the tapestry exhibit at the Folk Art Center. There are lots of photos on the Tapestry Weavers South Facebook page.

Here’s the stitching from this week. It’s fun to do this with no deadline and the faintest idea of a “plan.” I’m especially fond of the yellow lines I added on the left, with silk thread I dyed with broom sedge. Most of the rest of the thread is embroidery floss. The project is from a class with Gwen Hedley on Stitch Camp. It’s howlingly funny that I once thought I might finish it in two weeks. Maybe by the end of the year, but that’s the fun and beauty of it – it doesn’t matter. I’m much more pleased with it with the yellow and gold threads and I’ve been finding people in it. Who knows what else might appear? I like the flow that is starting to come together.

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Meant to write a blog post yesterday morning, and then this morning, but I had a late Friday night hanging out with my buddy Beck yakking and laughing, woke up without a hangover, and then gallery sat at the CVA Gallery again for the great fiber arts show there. I met a couple of artists who just moved here from Buffalo, and reinforcing that, ran into them after I closed the gallery at Deep Roots Market. I’m getting back out in the world, gang.

Also, on Friday, we had a dryer delivered so hopefully my near future will have less wrinkled clothes with less cat hair on them. I went to bed really early on Saturday night and slept twelve hours, so today I’ve been knocking out the laundry that’s been piling up.

Sandy cleaned out a couple of closets because a guy came to our house that was just starting to do American Revolution reenactments and was interested in buying gear and clothes. We have a ton of it, and were hoping he’d buy more, but it was a good start in getting rid of stuff we don’t use anymore. We might have to set up a trade blanket at the Guilford Courthouse reenactment, but man, that will take some energy and I don’t want to camp.

I continued to concentrate on cleaning out cabinets and drawers in the kitchen, including cleaning the insides, and purging and moving our stashed pantry food into the kitchen. Now I hope that Sandy will have room in these closets for some of the boxes he has stacked up. Unfortunately it kicked my allergies into high gear and I’m struggling with a persistent headache. But mentally I feel great that I’m making headway on all this mess.

I found the perfect solution for my stashed fabric scrap collection. Bryant Holsenbeck is teaching her recycled mixed media textile animal sculpture class at John C. Campbell Folk School in July when my work isn’t heavy. I’ve wanted to take this particular class for a while. I admire her work and her ethics, and I’m really excited about it!

This means I’ve pretty much booked out my vacation days and money for the year, but you know me, I’ll probably find something else near the end of the year because I won’t be able to resist it.