Sidetracked Charley

Magique watching from a safe distance I am in introvert. Always have been though my mother just said I was shy. Dad was the one who told me how to pretend to be the extrovert. And I was enough of an actress to carry it off. For short periods of time. It is exhausting. And quite frankly, contraindicated for artists. My short withdrawal from Facebook made that all very clear. Facebook can be like endless games of solitaire - time wasting and mind numbing. And for reasons discussed in a previous blog I will probably always be there, but like Magique in the opening photo I am going to try and watch from a safe distance. Not easy for an addictive personality. I am too in love with words to ever reduce my expressions to emoji. Get used to it because the blogs are back. And like a recovering alcoholic walking through a bar I am not going to touch the drinks. So don't expect me to click an icon to acknowledge that I have seen your post. I will either consider it worthy of a commen...

As an introvert artist I have the tendency to live a very quiet life on the rural fringes of a small village. I like it that way. I don't even get many visitors to my open studio. Social interactions seem to be limited to talking to pet sit clients and the monthly meetings of a couple organizations I belong to. Oh, and chance meetings at the market or post office. June was looking to be so overloaded with pets to sit and art events I chose to bow out of a part time job I had managed to not quit over the winter. I thought I was making space for me. But it seems it is for more of the above. New tenant bowed out of agreement and so I was thrust into interviewing new possible tenants. And then suddenly a new pet client. And an art student. And then extra meetings with one of those groups I belong to. And new tenant wants to move in tonight. And ran into that tenant who bowed out at the post office and she wants to sue me. Other friend in line acted as a buffer. Then off to mark...

When I was very young I was told repeatedly I was shy. I was always at the edge of play and when given a choice would go to my room and draw or to the fork of the cottonwood in the backyard and read. In school I always got the "does not play well with others" in the notations on the back of the card. My sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Hill, was the first to comprehend I did better on my own. When we had school plays or concerts to prepare for I did the scenery or was sent to the office to redecorate all the bulletin boards in the lobby of the school. In high school I never went to dances or decorated for them. My participation in school electives was designing the cover for the literary magazine. In physical education I liked gymnastics or modern dance. As an adult I hike with a couple friends with our dogs but not the Trekkers. I liked skiing because I competed with myself. Photography was always there in my life because it was something I could do from the edge of a crowd...