Cold Midweek

 Cold Midweek

 Aerodyne

 I didn't bother with getting a post up last week.

Mundane stuff kept me from getting any work done. Many small deterrents in the path. Lots of time fiddled away, and just a couple hours here and there spent on the stone. Not much accomplished. And the last stage in the project is a slow one anyway. It's all about getting measurements just right, lines squared where they need to be squared, getting one side no higher than the other. It's tedious, exacting stuff, and it doesn't produce anything dramatic to show for the effort. Bit by bit, I pushed closer to finishing day. 

And yesterday I got there:

Aerodyne:

Something seems to have come over me in these last few days. Suddenly I've just lost interest in the internet. Somehow, I just can't get focused on anything having to do with politics, or current events. It's altogether too easy to get caught up in the news. It's easier yet, to unlock the keyboard, and throw a comment at a news story just like you'd throw a rock at an enemy. But the rock never strikes the enemy, and the throwing is a wasted effort. I have yet to see any comment on the internet change anything in the real world. And it takes vigilance to avoid the temptation. So I'm being vigilant in ignoring the news.

 It was a week ago last Saturday that we had the monthly So Cal RatRod Ride. It was just Troy, Penny, Dave, and me. Jim was under the weather, and didn't make it. We haven't had guests for a while now, and our monthly cruise has become more of a family gathering than an event. And we're OK with that. Most of the group rides are centered on bar hopping, and the group spends as much, or more time  hanging out as they do riding. We don't do bar hopping. We gather to smoke a little weed, and ride. Most of the group rides have several people with portable stereo systems sharing their music with everyone within a half mile radius. Most people spend their entire day enveloped in fields of distraction. Cell phone. Blue tooth. Always a text message, always a call waiting, always and always music in the background, because silence is solitude. Solitude is looking within. Looking within is scary if there's nothing in there to see. We ride quiet. Time on the bicycle is time away from the dealings of everyday life. I don't want heavy metal, rap, reggae, or any obscene ghetto noise while I'm riding. I don't even want the worn out oldies I've been hearing since high school. Bike time is for the wind, and maybe some casual chat while we're rolling. Mostly it's for quiet. We saw sting rays in the water at the wetlands jetty bridge. That was the event. (photo Penny Stocker)

So this week it's Thanksgiving. We're going small this year instead of doing a big gathering. I'll take a day or two to work out little finishing details on the stone, and then start taking a look at the next project.

 Cold Wet Monday

So it's Monday, and it's cold and rainy. Not much of a post this week, because not much has happened. I've been stalled for progress, beset by relatively small annoyances that have kept me miserable in small to moderate ways. Last week it was a tooth infection. It got painful on Monday, and Tuesday I got in for a check up. Dentist gave me amoxicillin, but it took until Thursday before the pain cleared up. I don't know how much work I'll be able to do today.

 

  Last two days I've been dealing with the allergy fit which is the worst. I get this runny nose, that just will not stop. I wanted to go to Cyclone Coaster Sunday, but I couldn't get across the room without a snot rag in hand. (I know- gross) Can't do anything because the nose just drips like a leaky faucet. The only thing that stops it is to take both benadryl and sudafed, but that combination leaves me feeling like total shit.

Even so, I did get some work done on the stone. I'm getting close to the home stretch, and the burn to finish is heating up. I could easily get into a run of all day hard work sessions until it's on the shelf, but today and tomorrow we have rain.  The pictures up today are from a couple days ago. Now, I'm working on the base. The last thing will be rounding out the inside of the big ring. The work gets slower, as the end gets close. I may hold off posting any new photos until the whole thing is complete.

Catching Up With Stuff

 Catching Up With Stuff

 

Now how's that for a catchy title? No doubt it foreshadows all kinds of action and suspense. But sorry, no chase scene, no near death experience, no sudden fame or fortune. No disasters either, except for a toothache. That's bad enough.  It's Monday night, the 31st. Halloween. Mary is in the living room handing out candy to the Trick or Treaters. She tossed both cats and me back here, and closed the hallway door, so the cats wouldn't run out  when she opened the front door to hand out candy. Buddy the Cat is sitting under the monitor, and I have to pick up his tail, and hind leg to use the keyboard. It's awkward. 

Tue. Early am:

 Sunday I brought my stones, and the graphic home from the Art Gallery. It was quite an honor to be picked for the show, and I got a lot of good feedback on my work. It's hard to see our own work objectively, because we're too close to it to get any perspective. Seeing all my stuff on display in a real gallery setting was refreshing. Now I'm eager to get back to work. And I will. As soon as I get this toothache taken care of. Which will happen some six hours from now, as I sit here. I'm counting. 

Sunday afternoon we had our friends over for a small party and BBQ.  The party was pretty tame. I didn't get buzzed, and nobody drank too much, barfed in the street, or anything. Show's over, back on your head, and all that. 

I got back to work on the pearlstone project, and made decent progress. I'll have pictures down below in just a bit. I got an email "Call For Artists" from a gallery not far from here. I got one from them last year, and it ended up costing me sixty bucks in entry fees. I emailed back, and said, "Don't bother me again."

I waited to post these pics. I'll make no comment.

Rejected.

Won a prize.

Rejected

Won a prize.

Rejected.

Won a prize. 

And so it goes. 'Tis a fickle business, this art stuff.
Anyway, Here's where we are with the new project.

 I had enough clearance around the torpedo that I could begin shaping it. 

 

It's slow work, as always. Every stroke on one side needs to be matched with one on the other. Ultimately I want a dull point on either end.

I'll get there...

JWM