chronicled & illustrated

three pitchers and a feather,
originally uploaded by nuanc.

Some days chickens, some days feathers.

I have no memory of where or when I first learned that expression. But when I repeat it, I say with a Texas accent so I must have heard it growing up there.

It came up today, because I am feeling that I might have only “feathers” to offer. Inspiration seems to be in short supply. Pesky outside (non-creative) issues peck at my consciousness even while I try to focus on my day’s goals. Shoo, chickens!!!

The thing is, I’m more than a little fond of feathers. I began a collection of eggs when I was in my teens and that collection led to collections of bird’s nests and feathers. I have several ‘bouquets’ of feathers in my home.

Feathers are extraordinary. The words that come to mind show just how extraordinary.

Functional. Beautiful. Detailed. Soft. Strong. Flexible. Useful.

The thought that they were once used as pens draws me to them even more. Quill. What a wonderful word!

I once used a large feather to do a faux marble surface technique on an old bathroom countertop. It turned out great but you’ll have to take my word on it because unfortunately, that was before I had a digital camera. If there’s a photo, it’s in one of the dozens of boxes that have accumulated over the years.

This post seems to have led me to the poultry equivalent of when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Whether it’s chicken today or feathers today, finding the extraordinary in life is what makes the difference between a life of full good days or not so great ones.

I leave this post with my favourite feather image.

One single feather laying on the beach, left undisturbed except for a stolen shot. I treasure this one for my own personal inspiration:

Reading: Tales of Protection by Eric Fosnes Hansen
Writing: Words of Paradise - a novel set in Canada, the US and the island of Tobago in the 60’s
Working on: EPIC’s website
Upcoming: a trip to Maine for Cadi’s 2nd birthday and to see Ty and Carson
Mood: distracted
Progress since yesterday: Got a new page done on the EPIC site

Eyes cracked open at 5:27 am today to see a thin layer of snow on every little branch outside our window. By the time I got up several hours later, it had begun to rain and wasn’t as pretty. But—as a relative newcomer to Nova Scotia—this is my record for the latest snowfall of the year.

My husband tells a story about his first summer here in Cape Breton, back in the early 70’s. He was, for a short time, living by himself in the country and because he’d come here to farm, was putting in his first vegetable garden. He woke up on the morning of JUNE 17th to find a layer of snow breaking the will-to-live of his fledgling plantlets. The short-term ending of the story is that he—having absolutely nothing else to do with his time—propped up each and everyone of the bent seedlings and about 80% of them survived the snow!

The long-term ending is yet to be written but over thirty years on, the weather in Nova Scotia has changed. Whether for better or worse, is a matter of personal opinion, but few can argue that it’s rapid and scary.

A week ago this was the view outside our window. Those are firetrucks in our driveway at 3am. It’s a tradition locally for kids to set fire to the grass and woods in the middle of which our old house happens to sit. The spring has been very dry and these fires literally made the national news because of the sheer number and the toll it was taking on the island’s volunteer firefighters. Yay for volunteer firefighers! Come to think of it, Yay for paid firefighters!

This is the second time the fires have come close to our house but the first time that I seriously considered packing up those things that are most valuable to me. I found that a worthy exercise.

One surprising thing to me was that my journals (there are dozens of them!) are more important to me than my paintings. I’d hate to lose either but found that the journals represent my history, the art represents momentary self-expression. I guess for me “chronicling” beats out “illustrating.”

What I learned:
• Keep all stored photographs in one place.
• Have a box with the VIPs (Very Important Papers): wills, birth certificates, insurance policies
• Mark files in the filing cabinet that are irreplaceable. How about a gold star?
• It takes longer than you might think to get THE most important things together.
• Better safe than sorry.

Reading: Tales of Protection by Eric Fosnes Hansen
Writing: Words of Paradise - a novel set in Canada, the US and the island of Tobago in the 60’s
Working on: EPIC’s website and this one
Upcoming: a trip to Maine for Cadi’s 2nd birthday and to see Ty and Carson
Mood: calm
Physically: achy
Progress since yesterday: this website—do you like my new beaded curtain?; the book for Book Club on the 26th

relic,
originally uploaded by nuanc.

For a person who’s always kept a journal of one sort or another, I’ve found it surprisingly difficult to maintain interest in personal blogging. However, my written journals have, in the last five years or so, fallen out of favor as well so I’m back online again with a new website, new format and new ideas about how this kind of journaling can be useful and fun for me.

This photo is an old train depot in Beaumont, Texas. The photograph was taken in 2005 with a LOMO LC-A. I then did quite a bit of digital doctoring to get the effect I wanted.

• Reading: Tales of Protection by Eric Fosnes Hansen
• Writing: Words of Paradise - a novel set in Canada, the US and the island of Tobago in the 60’s
• Working on: EPIC’s website — and this one
• Need to: learn how to tear myself away from the computer
• Want to: plan the construction of our front porch, plant a vegetable garden, paint, use our waste water to reheat our home
• Upcoming: a trip to Maine for Cadi’s 2nd birthday and to see Ty and Carson
• Mood: pensive, self-reproaching