Monday, April 28, 2008

Daily Exercise

Except, not quite. Let me explain.

A couple weeks ago, as I was driving home, I came upon a man on his bike. First off, I should explain that there are pretty much three roads that come into Burlington, and if you happen to work outside of town, as I do, you don't have much choice but to tackle the traffic on these bottlenecks. This man on his bike, however, was sailing past us all, peddling away as I practiced the arts of coasting slowly and keeping calm. The light changed and I passed the man by. Ha, thought I, your bike leaves you in the dust. But soon I was stuck at another red light and the biker man was in the lead again. It went on like this until we got to the last intersection into town. While I sat at the stop sign, the man on his bike peddled freely past, winning by a breath. But winning. This got me thinking.


I drive about 15 miles to work. Not something I am happy about, but for a short time the learning process of the job is worth it to me. I did have to think about this quite a bit; for the last few years I have walked wherever I needed to go, and none of my jobs were over 5 blocks away.

15 miles is a bit far for me to bike, right off that is. I am very out of shape and have not been on my bike for a good year. But I was determined.


So last week I pumped up my tires and stuffed the bike in the trunk of my car. I drove out to the country and biked the last 5-6 miles. And it was amazing. And fairly excruciating. Except the ride home was so much better I could see how things could look up. So I did it again the next day. Much easier. But then I decided sleep was necessary too, so the next day I slept in. And then it was the weekend, and now it looks like rain. Do you think I will have the nerve to try again?


I certainly intend to.

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Sunday, April 27, 2008

Busy Days!

It seems that in the Spring things just get busy. I don't even really have that much to do, but if I am not outside enjoying the days somehow, I feel that I am missing out.

That said, I spent quite a lot of Sunday asleep on the sofa. Day of rest and so forth...


One inside (mainly) thing I was able to accomplish in the last few days was finishing up a couple little needle felted dolls for listing in the shop. They are very sweet, I am especially fond of the green polka-dotted jumpsuit.

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Monday, April 21, 2008

Another little lady in the Shop!



She's about 3.5 inches tall, spunky and pretty and ready to venture forth! Visit her at amandamay.etsy.com!

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

New Dolls and Old

My little shop is back in business. It was never actually closed, but it was sadly neglected for a while there while other things took precedence. Things will do that.

Some are new and some have been around a while. This gentleman was introduced quite some time ago, but he was waiting for his wife to return from her hair procedure before he ventured into real public life. As it turns out, the hair problem was somewhat more complicated than expected and I am afraid our friend got a bit fed up. He actually hardly knew the woman, it was more a marriage of convenience, so don't feel bad for them. Someday perhaps she will get some hair and then she too will wander out into the world. As it is, the dear man is waiting a smidgen impatiently for someone to offer him some new adventure...

My dear dancing lady has also been listed. She has been a regular around the studio for a while now, just gadding about. But I am afraid she has become a tad bored with me. I don't blame her, I'm hardly here these days what with work and the dog and the nice Spring weather, and she's getting restless. So off she goes!



And then there are some simple Waldorfian-ish finger puppets. These little princesses were a means of mental relief for me from the lengthy process of the needle felted dolls. Where those are time consuming and detail oriented, these are relatively basic and wip up in a very satisfactory instant-gratification sort of way. And they have such sweet character in their simplicity. These sweethearts just plain make me happy!

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

This Little Piggy


These little piggy salt and pepper shakers came home with me today from my new favorite local antique shop. The "Shed" is run by an elderly man, who, I have a suspicion, doesn't really want to part with the hundreds upon hundreds of items in his care. And I do not exaggerate the extent of his inventory; Christmas ornaments, Tiffany-style lamps, and kettles hang from the ceilings; old library card catalog chests hold corks in many sizes, old power cords, hundreds of decks of playing cards, drawer pulls, and knitting needles; There are buckets of door handles and spigots and an entire aisle of salt and pepper shakers. There really is very little room to walk and the prices are a tad high (as I said, I don't think the owner really wants to sell), but if you are in need of an antique cane, or a Hall escargot server, this place is tops!

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

For your Visiting Pleasure



TouchStone Writers is a new site recently built for Leslie Freeman, a writer/poet/educator here in Burlington. The site has a very simple and clean design, relying mainly on a flower motif I first used for a poster Leslie commissioned last year. I am quite pleased with the result - I hope it serves her well!

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Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The wee little ones


Baby mint poking its way up through the dead leaves.

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Aaaah, summer sun



We aren't quite at this point yet, but I do believe we're on our way!

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Sunday, April 6, 2008

Can it be true?


This picture means two things. First, that it seems Spring has finally made an honest appearance. And second, that my poor root-bound all winter plant has finally been granted another chance. Will either make it? Hard to say, though I do feel that Spring has a good chance of complete victory at some point.

Here's to warm weather and renewed life!

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Saturday, April 5, 2008

So cool

My friend Kathryn is ambitiously knitting her own wedding dress. Yes, I said knitting. And yes, it is amazing. Have a look here and also check out the great article written about on the Here Comes the Guide bridal blog.

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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Cactus


Wouldn't these textures and patterns be interesting in ink?

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Tuesday, April 1, 2008

In search of small metal objects

Or ones made of wood. For the very heavy new toy, um I mean tool, that is still unfortunately residing in the trunk of my car. The suspense is killing me.

Today the sun came out after a sudden and brief downpour, and I think I began to thaw out along with the inches-deep ice that still covers much of my neighborhood. Hooray for Spring!

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