Sidetracked Charley

It all began with walls and rug   When I began the project of the short term rental I was not even sure it would work. I just knew that for the last ten years of being a land lady it wasn't working for me. Tenants had changed in the years since I bought the duplex. First couple which rented the attached apartment stayed for nine years. They treated the places as theirs and even planted flowers and a couple trees and painted walls. I expected the next tenants to be not as wonderful as Jeff and Susan. But some did not come close. I wound up having to file eviction papers, even defend myself in court. But worst part was spending all my money to put the rental right so it could be rented again. It was not helping with my mortgage payments. I could not even get tenants to contribute to clearing the driveway of snow. In the end it seemed wiser to drain all the pipes and shut of the electricity and keep it empty. Covid-19 pandemic happened and the studio was shut down by the governor. To ...

  After realizing how big a mess my house had fallen into I developed a schedule which totally deleted my days of in favor of furiously establishing order. Then I looked at Thicke dozing in the sun in the studio. He had the right idea. I am sure he was meditating. And given some of his poses obviously practicing cat yoga. I tossed my todo list away. Yesterday afternoon, after having to cut my shopping in Taos short due to power outage, I pulled out my copy of Last Second in Dallas,  on my reading list since Christmas, a paper book. And I settled into the other Santa Fe vintage chair and began reading. I even pulled over one of the chairs purchased to paint, put a pillow on the seat, and raised my feet. I spent three hours reading. Like really reading. Not speed reading which grad school trained me to do, but reading as in exploration of the subject and enjoyment of style and syntax.  When I would take a stretch break to get another cup of tea I would straighten something ...

End of Days 16 x 30 Watercolor on Canvas $1200 One day you are strolling along through your life making plans with your sister for a Maine vacation. Biggest worry is how to find someone to watch your house and your pets while you are away for two weeks. Since I am the house and pet sitter in my neighborhood that is a big enough problem. But then the pandemic hits and trip is cancelled. Problem solved? That problem at least. Studio is closed down by governor but the pet sitting business is booming. Especially Dog Gone Park play days. But the lockdown from the pandemic presents its own problems, but a new business line - masks. But everyday I worry about my sister who is on the front lines at a Texas hospital. We talk almost every day to relieve her stress. I learn things I did not need to know which add to my stress. News media begins to focus on stress from the pandemic. Having once had a very stressful job I know what to do. I dig out the old journal with my list compiled after my fat...

Mug Rugs   I have been putting off buying more fabric. It is something which my sister and I have done together since the pandemic began. She in Texas and me in New Mexico. Both of us on cell phones and our own favorite on line fabric stores. It all began with masks. And scrub caps for her and the nurses she worked with. We quickly found we were addicted to fabric. And addicted to shopping for fabric together. It was like going on four-wheel trips together. So then we had to come up with more things for me to sew up for her and her friends. Then my friends. Before I knew it Wild Goose Witchery was a business. Pandemic six pocket tote I enjoyed mixing fabrics as much as I enjoy mixing paints on canvas. But nothing was as much fun as our shopping trips. The two of us on our computers with our cell phones sending pictures of fabrics we found back and forth on messenger. She filling her shopping cart at Fabric.com and me filling my cart at My Favorite Quilt Store . Or Amazon. One of ...

  Remember when you used to be able to tell what county a person in New Mexico lived in by the first digit on the license plate. Bernalillo was two. Santa Fe one. They stopped that. Needed all possible six digits to have enough number combinations. And the area code of your telephone number also gave you a location. New Mexico was 505 and Colorado 303. Then Albuquerque and Denver got too big. Albuquerque kept 505 and the rest of our state became 575. West Denver kept 303 but east Denver was assigned 720. Northwest Colorado is now 970and Southeast is 719. Now they are considering another number for Denver.   Then came cell phones. And their promise of being able to keep your number forever. Stopped the need to reprint checks just about the time we stopped using checks. My sister, to prevent me from never getting another cell phone EVER after I lost my flip phone put me on her family plan. She lived in Victoria, Texas so my area code on my cell was 361. Texas is a mess. And the ...

  I have not liked this this time of year since my mother chose Thanksgiving as her exit time. For years my sister and I would get together for Thanksgiving and haunt all the empty state and national parks. On the 15th my sister left this earth. There goes Christmas. Mother was always afraid of ruining Christmas.  On the 16th we had a snow squall. Sounds innocent doesn't it? My experience with squalls had been sailing on the outer banks. And fortunately I sailed with a cautious and experienced sailor. They were things we witnessed from safe harbors. I now they happen on land and you can sink there too. Red River, Enchanted Forest Cross County Ski Area, and the Town of Taos have already applied for federal emergency relief funds. In fact the whole County of Taos. A friend in Questa reported the power just came back on. Do not get rid of your wood burning stove. And since solar panels fly it might be wise to stay connected to the grid. Yes, it was down but it is now back up. Tow...

  When more than two years ago I lost my basic flip phone which I loved and stubbornly clung to I declared I was not getting another cell phone. I had the Motorola flip phone only because I never ever wanted to stop at a phone booth in Espanola. But that is a whole other story. My tech smart sister bought me a Samsung Galaxy 50A smart phone and put me on her AT&T service. I saw it as a leash (and that is a whole other story too). I had argued I was not smart enough for a smart phone and for a while just turned it on when I thought my sister might call me. A practice I had employed for a while with the flip phone. Starker and another story. I never wanted to be that reachable again and did not give the number out to anyone. Really. I began learning its features just because of its ability to take photos which are awesome. And then sharing said photos like women my age share pictures of their grandchildren though with me it was Thicke or my latest painting. But to do any of that ...