Yesterday was what I call and Artist Date Day (borrowed from Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way)

After going to the dentist, and realizing that my feet were up for it, I poked around in thrift shops for book making elements.  I bought a denim blouse to wear for a while, but its ultimate destination is a book cover.  Also a necklace to cut up for book closures and some rag paper. Then took myself out to lunch where I watched the first class in this year's Gel Printing Summit.

By 3:00, my feet were saying it's time to go home--where I did all but the stitching on a new animal-print-covered buttonhole stitch book!

One of the things I've learned in the past few years--what with the cloud hanging over us until Trump gets on one of Elon's spaceships and goes far far away (an image I'm stealing from Jane Goodall's interview)--is that we have to grab what brings us joy, whatever it is, and go for it!  Maybe we can't do it as long as we could in years past, but we can eke out whatever time we can find to play and get paint on our fingers.

My go-to-bed activities including snuggling with Luci and watching some good murder mysteries on Acorn--my favorite being The Crow Girl.  But mostly watching classes and making lists of things to do the next day.

I hope you're all finding time for some solo artist dates to distract you from the horrors of the Trump people (Jan thinks Karoline Leavitt is an AI construction, not a real person)  and to keep the magic of yourself alive until this is all over. 

I find myself humming, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" when things happen that delight me.  

My day started with an extraordinary email from a longtime friend I rarely see, and it literally made me tear up with gratitude and happiness.

Then I cut out and laminated (paper to paper) two beautiful book covers that are now drying in my messy house.

I went over to Sunset Ridge to CVS and saw a crowd of people outside the Boss Bagel shop I've never gotten around to trying.  Half of them, inside and outside, had dogs and kids; some were alone reading books and papers.  I haven't actually eaten there yet, but according to a few people enjoying them, they just might be the best bagels in town. 

So then I came home and made a spinach quiche, and it's so delicious I wish I were having a dinner party.  I'm having my second piece while watching "Famous Last Words" on Netflix, a wonderful interview with Jane Goodall filmed before her death.

Jan said, "This is who flags should fly half-mast to!" She was a remarkable human being and conservationist and lover of animals.  For her ninetieth birthday, she got what she asked for--a party of ninety dogs!