Greetings and welcome to another bit of Friday fluff. This week’s diary from your fuzzy-headed friend is a fairly short one. To kick off this little open thread I’ve got just a few photos and a bit of blither.
A couple weekends ago I was out in the country getting some work done on the garage floor, cutting firewood and getting the garden ready for winter. Mrs. the Werelynx and I will be heading out there again in the morning. Supposed to be cold this weekend, frost, perhaps a bit of snow. Sounds like a good time to be using a bit of that firewood chopped by #1 Son and stacked by yours truly. Sounds like a good time to be tucked under a pile of blankets, reading a good book and sipping a warm beverage. In reality there will probably be some sand to be brushed over the garage floor and if I will be doing my duty dutifully I’ll be pruning trees. Maybe if there were some cookies to go with that book and beverage…
Speaking of good books, I’m about 6 chapters from the end of Pride and Prejudice and I find myself wishing I could ask someone about certain choices Jane Austen made. Like, why is Jane often referred to as Miss Bennet— when she is, for most of the book, merely one of five Miss Bennets. Is only the eldest sister worthy of that title? And why, oh why, does Jane, when talking with her own sister Elizabeth about any of their relatives they have in common, use the personal possessive “my”? My mother, my father, my aunt… dozens of times I stop to blink and stare at the page before stumbling on. I’ve never noticed this odd quirk in the language of any other character in any other book I’ve read. How about “our”, Jane? Or just simply “mother” or “father”— surely you share all these relatives with Lizzy.
Or is this a horribly out-of-character, disparaging hint that Elizabeth was a foundling left on the Bennet doorstep?
When I was talking with Mrs. the Werelynx about the book she took a minute to reach up and find a book on one of our shelves to add to my reading list. Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James. I love the idea of a murder mystery sequel to Pride and Prejudice. And I can’t say I’ll miss the victim…
Last weekend we had our annual Halloween party for our friends and their children. The youngest of the younger generation are well into their teens so we don’t bother to set up a haunted house for them in the basement. I do still carve a couple of pumpkins for decorations though.
It only took me about 50 years to learn how great the sharp little gouging tools, used for making linocuts, are for carving pumpkins. I can add it to my little list of things it’s taken me 50 years to figure out, like how tags in shirts when they’re not found in the back of the neck are usually found on the left side or that boiling legumes in water with a bit of added baking soda supposedly makes the beans more digestible. Haven’t put that last one to the test yet.
Today I got a quick drawing done for an invitation to our Thanksgiving Day party.
I took the photo of the picture and added a bit of digital text to it and voila! an invite.
I had been expecting a phone call to arrange a meeting with a client, but that didn’t happen. We’re stuck with each other at this point, so some other day. To brighten the week I had a disarmingly charming email conversation with an old client who wants me to draw another picture for him.
These days it seems I’m more of an English tutor than an artist. I do enjoy spending time talking with the kids. I’m learning a lot about popular trends and toys. Although, I think my artistic projects are starting to get jealous. Perhaps more drawings for next week’s diary.
Thanks for stopping by.
This is an open thread.