Cherry Blossoms in My Paint & Brooklyn Sundries

Janae wants to try plein air painting so I went to Brooklyn and we went over to Green Wood Cemetery.

I decided to paint her painting.

The cherry blossom petals were everywhere!

And.... we had unexpected rain AGAIN but this time we were almost done.

9x12 oil

 

That's the World Trade Center peeking out behind the hill.

*************

Can you find the kitty cat in the pantry?

Woof!

Janae's mom gave her this Baggalini and she gave it to me.

It is the PERFECT Baggallini.

I have been wanting one for a while now, but it had to be the right one.

This is the right one.

Black on black leopard print, and the front flippy pocket... I love it and it's perfect.

Very rarely does the perfect everyday bag come into one's life.

My Kindle fits in it too.

Tacos and wine!

I repaired a lamp with dental floss.

This is what happens when you grow up watching McGuyver.

Your lamp pull chain breaks and you know you can figure it out.

Dental floss and tweezers is an extremely useful combination.

It did take a little trial and error and one re-do but it's a win.

The lamp actually works better with the dental floss fix than it did with the chain, which kept sticking.

PRO TIP: you have to use old-school string floss, at least double-twisted up, not the tape stuff as shown below. That will work but not for long.

In the end I used mint string floss but cinnamon would have worked just as well.

Cat-and Guinea Pig- Sitting

It's Spring Break for the public schools and my friend is going on vacation.

I'm watching the cats and guinea pig from Apr 20-Apr 30.

The reason I don't mind is because my friend is a wonderful friend, and they live very close and the travel back and forth is very convenient. So it's a matter of the logistics working out, plus I'm friends with the cats.  They know me.

I go over there in the evening, feed the cats, check on the guinea pig, sleep, then wake up early to make a guinea pig salad, feed the cats, then commute home to go to work!

Yes I know it's a really valuable thing that I will watch the cats and make sure everything is ok, and they can go away and not worry. But I also think this is what society should be- friends being there for each other.  Just like babysitting, pet-sitting has turned into a freakishly expensive thing.

I am old enough to remember when society just wasn't like that.

The cats are pretty fantastic.

They are absolutely bonkers, but they are fantastic.

Keyholder

Those crazy people at the boathouse gave me a key to the place.

And it actually works!

I pretty much do most of the stuff a keyholder does anyhow except unlock the door, and now I never have to wait on someone.

We also had our annual CPR class.

Through the years I have taken many CPR classes but this one is the best.

My certification from last year is still good but it's nice to be at the boathouse and get a refresher.

Isis the Terrible Part 2

Isis has been mad and carrying on since we got home on Tuesday.

She attacks Pebbles.

She hisses at me.

She's grumpy and mean to everyone.

She knew the Vet Ordeal wasn't over yet.

This morning she was still a poopy cat and I had to shave her butt, which fixed the issue thank goodness.

The normal sedative dose for her is 2 gabas, 100mg.  The vet gave me 4 pills.

I called in the morning asking if I should maybe give her three?

They said no, 2 should be fine.

I said ok, drugged the cat, and brought her back.

We did get through the exam but Isis was still spitting-mad about it.

At the end of the exam the vet said "Next time let's give her three gabas."

When we got home Isis must have known it was all over and she has been ridiculously friendly and happy- a total mood shift! I'm happy to have my fluffy rumble-purry snuggler back!

Isis the Terrible

Isis had her annual vet appointment today.

It went horribly. Awful.

And it's my faut, it really is.

So, Isis has to be sedated when she goes to the vet because she gets feral-aggressive there.

And I forgot to get the gabapentin yesterday because I was busy at work, and I just forgot.

So I realized this morning I don't have the gaba except for the backup I keep for situations such as this.  Except it was from 2022.

I called the vet and asked if it was still good.  They said no.

Because I have work stuff later this week, I decided to go ahead and keep our appointment this afternoon.

Isis got into the carrier ok.
She was ok in the waiting room.

But when we went into the exam room to wait for the vet, she started getting REALLY mad.

We could not continue.

Isis hid and screamed and yelled and literally pooped all over the exam room.

The staff didnt care but I was pretty embarrassed.

I went home with gabapentin and an angry poopy cat, and we'll try again on Thursday.

I'll have to shift some work stuff around.

Very Retro Tech Actually Still Works

I have been wanting to read more, and so I decided to get a new kindle, the new paperwhite of course in agave green.  

I got my very first Kindle, the 2nd generation, all the way back in 2010.

Oh I was so excited, and I read so many books on this device. 

Carey and I read books together.

It still works when plugged in!

But the text to speech doesn't work and it cannot connect to the internet anymore.

This Kindle had the best lock screen wallpapers.

 According to Amazon I have had three Kindles through the years but I can only find 2 of them.

My old Paperwhite (the one I can find) doesn't work at all.

I really want to start reading more again, like I used to, and there is a book club at work!
So it is, once again, time for a new kindle.

I have also checked my NYPL account, which was deleted because I stopped using it during Covid, but they reinstated it with my old barcode!

Since I have memorized my very long NYPL barcode, I am very happy about this.

__PRESENT

Unexpected Rain Bombs Plein Air

Zoe from my egg tempera class wanted to go out plein airing, and I said I'd take her.

So we planned the date and I took her to my favorite tree in The Ramble.

Weather check was consistently good, even if a little chilly.

Central Park was just gorgeous and all the birds were out singing.

So off we went to paint.

And the unexpected rain started, and it was a lot.

My palette got soaked, it was bad.

Water does interfere with oil paint.

Still, we painted through it.

I changed my palette when the rain finally stopped......

Until.......

Zoe checked the weather again and more rain was expected in 20 minutes.

I speed-painted to a sort-of reasonable finish.

It's not where I wanted to go with the painting, I feel like it's about halfway there.

But this is the adventure of plein air and why we do it- for those unexpected challenges and hardships.

So, on Zoe's first outing she got onlookers, unexpected rain, and her painting face-planted paint-side down.  All the good firsts for plein air, now everything will be easier for her.

8x10 oil

I also missed the eclipse

I'm ok with missing the eclipse... honestly I'm just too paranoid about eye damage.

Daya did see it at school, and she thought it was overrated.