The Third Act

Wednesday

In the morning...I take my meds...have my tea...eat some food.  I feed Avery (well, before all that other stuff).  Today I built a fire in the wood stove.  Pulled cards.  Wrote in journal.  Showered.  Dressed.  And so on and so forth.  And you know what?  I'm grateful for all of that.  

As I age I see more of my mother in me...of my ancestors perhaps.  The wheel turns over and over.  It's weird, no?

I'm going to be signing up for Medicare.  I'm officially going to be a senior citizen.  It feels strange...and not.  My intellect hasn't quite fully matured, but my body...oy.  But that's okay too.  I try to do what I can to keep it plugging on.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday

It started sunny but the clouds have moved in.  It has gotten rather chilly too.  The downstairs was cold so after a walk with Avery and then lunch, I made a fire for us downstairs.

This morning the first thing I did was run an order from Etsy to the post office.  I'm so grateful for anyone who is finding my shop and checking things out!  Which reminds me...need to list more items.  So, after I got the fire going, I pulled my cards and wrote in my journal (because I put those things off this morning).  Then...fatigue started to set in.  Rather annoying but it happens.  After sitting in my chair for many minutes I tapped into my dynamic will to pull myself up and changed out the altar cloth.  Looking around it seemed like a good idea to put up some colored lights down here.  And when I did that I ended up looking through all the old journals I have stashed on an upper shelf.

Now, my journal writing has come and gone through the years.  Lately, I've been fairly consistent.  Years past it's been hit or miss.  I pulled out one journal that I realized was from 2009.  For whatever reason, I didn't note the year on the dates.  I know it was from 2009, though, because the whole purpose of the journal was to write in it as I took a daily pinhole self portrait for my 50th year.  I didn't even remember I'd done that.  And from what I read, that was a pretty lousy year for me.  Seems like all I wrote about for the first few months was the pain I had from frozen shoulder and how I got shingles!  I mean, I know the frozen shoulder sucked, but it's so far behind me now that I've forgotten just how much it affected my emotional health.  As much as I feel like this older body is no great shakes, I'm rather content in it as it is now, as opposed to that year!

 

 

 

Avery on the Rappahanock river

Busy day!  Glad I had a photo in reserve to share.  From the same set of negatives as the previous post.  Expired and a little mishandled in getting it on the reel (it was super curly).  Still...I kind like this.  Pinhole using the Zeroimage69.

 

 

lessons

Okay...yes, the exposures are too short...that's one.  A faster film would help.  But a big take away for me on this kind of pinhole, on monochrome film...wear light colored clothes!  I need to find a light colored coat (thrift store) and use a lighter colored scarf (I think I have a Polish one...in fact, I know I do).  I'm very out of practice.  As I said yesterday, glad to be using old, expired film for this...of which I have more.

Only in the vertical image is the figure really discernible.

 

 

 

 

the imagined life of an ancestor

A little project/series that's percolating.  This seems a good use of the monochrome Instax film.  I also have a few pinholes.  The Zero was set to 6x9, which gives that wider landscape as a background.  Unfortunately the exposures were a bit off.  Still there will be a couple to scan and share once the negatives are dry. Working this out is a good use for way expired film, by the way.

Just a note...  I didn't know either of my grandmothers.  One died when I was six months old (it's her mother that graces the "mask" I use for these photos).  The other grandmother died when I was three, but she had lived on the other side of the country so I never even met her..  There are only so many stories I heard about my grandparents and none about anyone before their time.  It continues to feel like this little puzzle piece in me that's missing.  So I fill it in in my own way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday...

Accomplished a big thing today.  Well, this was a big thing for me...maybe for most people it'd be a yawn.  Anyway, it was one of those older adult boring necessities.  Had an appointment on the phone, then had to run over to the social security office for them to copy some documents.  It was actually quite easy and the people were very kind.  When it was all done I kinda sorta felt like I wanted to cry...with relief?  Who knows.

But I'm back home and will continue reading my book and let my nervous system settle.  

These are more morning pics with Instax wide monochrome film...

 

 

 

home in the morning...

I bought a pack of monochrome Instax film, that was on discount because of expiration.  I liked it so much I went back to get more, but the discounted ones were all sold out...boo hoo.  That being said, I found a cheaper price for fresh packs on Amazon (go figure) than any place else...so yeah, I got more.  So far I have no intention in particular for this black and white film, but thoughts around some kind of interesting self portraiture are percolating (back to the beginning?).  If I really had an idea for a long term project or series, I might invest in one of these.  But as it is, it feels too soon.  I think I've been saying this for a couple years now!  Thankfully, so far anyway, I haven't seen the price go up.

Cold this morning...around 19F!  I like it!  Of course, I haven't ventured out yet.  It's supposed to climb into the mid to upper 40s.  With sunshine and no wind, that's actually rather pleasant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

a whole lotta glass

It took a while but I managed to list all the vintage Fostoria glass in Baba Yaga's Hermitage Etsy shop.  It was fun to photograph all the pieces.  The texture of this pattern is super pleasing.  I think I priced them fairly...I try to do that anyway.  Hopefully Christmas shoppers will find the shop!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

back at it

I spent a good deal of time photographing and editing glassware today.  By this time in the evening, I don't feel my brain is sharp enough to actually write interesting, witty, descriptions for the items...so I'll save that for tomorrow.  Seven more listings to post soon.  I'll also share some of those photographs here as well.  Glass is so fun!

The Japanese maple is still flashy.  By tomorrow though, with temps going into the 20s overnight, it's a given that the leaves will shrivel and become dull (before they fall).  This tree has had a good run this year.

While I didn't make a fire today, I did bring in more wood in anticipation of the morning.  That little wood stove downstairs was a wonderful investment!

 

 

 

 

wrapping up November

It feels like winter is descending.  The upcoming mornings are predicted to be going down to the 20s (for a few days).  A good two thirds of the leaves have been shed from the trees.  Although, the Japanese maple continues to put on a lovely show.

Today is drizzly and cool.  It's a fire in the wood stove kind of day.  Avery and I did get out for a rather damp walk, which we both needed regardless of the weather.  I also pulled out the next series of items to list on Etsy.  These will be sets of Fostoria glassware in the "American" pattern.  There were quite a lot of these that I purchased at auction and I'm excited to be listing them either Monday or Tuesday.