Date bars, funny customers, and Parachutes

 Working backwards, Parachutes is my latest reading from Kelly Yang, a wonderful and difficult story about Asian students sent to study alone in the US, with flying visits from parents. Some are wealthy, set up in their own mansion homes, some scholarship students earning what they can to scrape by. 

Like all Yang's work, marketed to young adults but good for any adult, particularly westerners, it's based on today's reality for young Asians and AAPI. 

Her characters have their own divisions within the community, girls mostly with the least power, even wealthy ones. This one is about rape culture and how it invades the lives and work of some brilliant young girls. No happy ending but a good bit of courage and satisfaction.

Meanwhile date and nut bars happened, and, like the giant oatmeal cookies recipe, turned out to be enough date bars for the foreseeable future, including a couple that went next door.

The recipe warned that the dough would be stiff. They weren't kidding. I literally needed to sit and rest after I'd got the flour incorporated. 

I used Medjool dates, very sticky but I like them, and cut them up with scissors, easy way to chop. These here bars are sweet, what with the dates and added sugar, so I refrained from dousing them with confectioner's sugar per the recipe.

Too much stickiness to get the phone involved for step by step pictures.

More about the petcare business: it also involves people, whose pets run rings round them.

A golden retriever client lived in the same development as I at that time, but on a third floor. 

One day I got a frantic call, so glad you're home,save me! The human had a cellphone, not common then, just as well, since what happened was the dog had thrown himself against the the inside of the  front door, human outside getting leash ready, slammed the door shut, the lock engaged. 

Dog is now locked in, human without key locked out.  But phone in pocket. No other means to get in, impossible to access third floor balcony. Lucky for him I was home and came over with my key. I did ask him what it was worth not to tell his wife what he'd done!

Other clients were seriously interested in my art, an unexpected bonus. One helped get me my first corporate solo show. 

I never used to mention my artwork to possible petcare clients for a couple of reasons. One was that I needed them to know their pets were my focus when I was working with them. The other is that a lot of people assume artists are dreamy flaky people, not reliable and organized.

Eventually they'd find out, but I was established with them by then and one client did acknowledge she might have been less interested in hiring me if she'd known. But she went on to say, are you typical? So meticulous, tuned in, speaking fluent cat? 

She concluded that if you want a job done, get a serious artist! I explained that the people going around in torn black clothes and berets were more likely posers, playing a role, having fun, not the real thing.  

I always find serious artists fine to work with, always show up, ready, do what they agreed to, no shenanigans. Also fun. Spontaneous but not flaky! My experience anyway.

One client was so happy she ended up with three generations of her family as clients. It was hectic for me back at home, when there was a family wedding out of state and they all went at once to attend it.

Then there were clients with somewhat unrealistic ideas, who saw how I enjoyed my life, made a living, and thought they'd like to try it. 

They were jaded with corporate politics and not surprisingly,  wondered if self employment was the answer. I didn't mind giving them just a few minutes expo. 

I did,  at that time, also consult, at an hourly rate, to people wanting to embark on my kind of business. Plenty of work to go around.

But a few gratis mominutes' insight into the hours, conditions -- all weathers including heatwaves, thunderstorms, snowstorms, the local police knew me, waved me past the plows, miles walked per day with dogs, time off scheduled months ahead, days starting at dawn, possibly ending 11pm, emergency runs to vets, their enthusiasm waned a little.

And I think if you've always worked in an organization it's hard to grasp how many moving parts there are to even a simple one person business venture like mine. How everything is for you to decide and do. 

For a person like moi, that's the best part.  You have to have a good fit of temperament to job. If you're not a total self starter, which incidentally is part of the artist's life, too, you might feel better in a structured job.

One of my college art teachers told me he could always tell who in his classes was a potential artist and who was just taking class. He said real artists were already working when he came in, on whatever they were interested in making right now, the others just waiting for him to start them. 

I've noticed this myself teaching all ages. Nothing right or wrong about either, just different approaches to life. And I think each can learn a bit from the other.

Art has been happening too. I restarted the latest figure, which is now hooped on a backing of fleece, and will be using trapunto to emphasize the features. 

The fleece is cut off the hem of a robe I need to shorten for safety on the stairs. It has a hood, too, which might end on this figure.

The stuffing here is roving, much finer than the usual batting, works better here. And  you can see the hair is started.

I removed the field of daisies, too busy, and I simplified the idea. That's a toothpick lying on there, useful for stuffing in the roving. It pushes it in but doesn't snag it on the way out, a Good Thing.

Since the silk is transparent, the roving can introduce muted color as I go. As always, we'll see.

October dinner, ginger and friend, new figure, and the gummint

Yes I know it's not October yet, but Handsome Son has a lot of evening shifts lately, so we're seizing the day and calling it October. Like celebrating Thanksgiving on whatever day he's free 

Table laid, last few daisies picked. 

Menu set: pumpkin, carrot, lentil soup with hot biscuits, ham with steamed carrots, couscous, Dijon mustard or horseradish, banana bread with hot tea. 

I like the table organized ahead, makes me feel I'll get there.

This morning  seemed to be a good day to bring in the ginger plant and the moringa plant, of which another seedling broke ground here, so all is not lost with the moringa.

And I have embarked on the next Figure. This is a piece of silk organza with one of my woven works printed on it, hooped over a piece of sari silk.

Here's the original work I photographed and printed out

Monotype background, woven wire, beads, roving mounted on it. I painted the frame to suit, echoing the metallics.

And here's the back of the hoop showing you how this works if you're not familiar.

The design is going to be executed trapunto style. That's where you stitch shapes, through two layers of fabric, sculpting them, then insert stuffing, here very fine cotton roving, into the sections, entering the back via tiny cuts you make,  to render the three dimensional shapes you want.  

It's a way to get more complex shapes going than you get by sculpting into the complete head. This section will be appliqued to a head to form the top of the figure.

And the outside edges I think I'll do as stumpwork, the edges tightly stitched in buttonhole stitch, then cut around to stand free. That way there'll be an impression of wild hair.

If little of this means much, just watch this space and you'll see it unfold. I know we have some experienced embroiderers reading here, to whom trapunto and stumpwork are not foreign terms. We also have quite a few interested, but a bit less conversant,  readers, too. 

So, as the French say in their gummint forms, rayez ce qui est inutile. Delete that which is not applicable. 

Speaking of gummint forms, my Homestead Benefit form came today. This is an annual nod to our proud claim of First in the Nation in high real estate taxes. 

You can get a bit back if you can figure out how to apply. Unless the state Treasury says oh sorry, we can't afford it this year. More likely to happen with a Republican governor, Christie, I'm looking at you. 

But even they manage to find a bit for the downtrodden in an election year, which this is.  Current governor is a Dem, though, and has come through for seniors and other homeowners nicely each year. 

You'll notice they're not in a mad rush to part with your money. See the three year interval during which they've had the use of it..

This refund only applies if you owned and continue to own, your residence. Not if you rent it out nor if you're a tenant. 

And despite the old timey name, mules and plows and such don't enter into it, just a refund of some of the exorbitant rates we've paid. I'll take it, despite all my moaning.