Hunger

It's really difficult to gather my focus for drawing and writing when there's men walking on my roof. I'm not minding the lack of focus all that much; I'm hungry for fiber! I can process fleece and spin all day long! I wonder what would happen if I did just that?

You can't force hunger. Right now, these days, I'm not hungry for working on the graphic novels. Sometimes I can entice the appetite by spending only five minutes on the work, catching a spark that sends me on a jag. But sometimes, just devouring what I'm actually having a hankering for eventually leaves room for other tastes.

Roof and Rodeo

I'm quite distracted. We're getting a new roof put on our house, and I can't seem to do anything but spin wool. As a nice break, Susan and I went to the Socorro County Fair Rodeo. Great fun, although I ate way too many curly fries.

Sketch

Finished a thumbnail of the page to come. I'm excited about this page; it'll be fun to execute!

First Day

Today was the first day of school in Berkeley, and now I know I'm retired! I didn't have to spend an extra week setting up my room without extra pay. I didn't have to fret over my new class list. I didn't have to GEAR UP at all!

Instead, I carded fleece, making several batts, watched "Damages", fiddled with my sauerkraut, and played banjo--in particular "Night Rider's Lament". I like both Jerry Jeff Walker's and Nanci Griffith's  version. Of course, I do wonder who Black Jim is...

Banjo

Today was a busy day. Went to get fingerprinted and a background check and played music with a nice group of men. I enjoyed playing my newest banjo. I'd needed a mountain banjo that stayed relatively in tune, so found this one for $125 at a piano store! I forgot to take a picture of it to include in this  post. Maybe tomorrow.

Excitement

I'm ready to begin the blue pencil drawing for the next page of the teaching book. I'm very excited because I know that this section should be the last, and then I'll be FINISHED! Wow! The section is gonna be an actual account of how I made a relevant connection with one of my most difficult students.

Here's one of the pages I finished inking:

Since I draw from memory, almost all my drawings take place in real settings. This one is what I remember of a field trip to Black Diamond Mines in Antioch, California. There was a huge mound of sand that the kids were just drawn to.

Near

Very productive day, today. I almost finished inking the latest page of the teaching comic book. It's amazing how music helps me in this process. I can tell that the end is near, and I already have the next couple pages mapped out in blue pencil in my head. I wonder how this book will end? 

Urban Farmer

Yesterday, I put my worm compost bin together. Spent a lot of time shredding cardboard boxes used in our move for the bedding for my red wigglers that traveled happily from California. I spent this morning getting our rain barrels together. Got my second batch of sauerkraut fermenting (the first batch didn't work), and finally settled down to carding and spinning alpaca fleece. Sometimes I think my real vocation is to be an urban farmer.

Obsessed in a Good Way

I've been obsessively spinning alpaca fleece for the past three days. Working with fiber is the most relaxing of activities for me. I'm so present with every aspect of it, from feeling and smelling the dirty wool, to carding and cleaning it, to spinning it, and finally to knitting it! Fleece for me is joy and meditation. Besides, it's a kind of job right now: I'm spinning for a woman who owns alpacas, and I get to keep half of what I spin. I'm in heaven!

And to top it off, I actually finished inking the teaching graphic novel page I was working on! 

Getting There

After little over a month in our new home, I'm attempting to return to some kind of normalcy. We have our furniture. We have our wireless. We went to the DMV and got new temporary drivers' licenses and registrations. So, today I began inking again. How weird it was to feel trepidation at putting wet ink to safe, dry blue pencil. 

Work

Finally, I finished pencilling in the text for both the new pages of the teaching graphic novel. My live-in editor gave me feedback on one of the pages; she hasn't read the second one. It was painstaking work, took me forever. Fortunately, I was soothed by "Rawhide" and "Rifleman" in the background.

Under

Our moving van finally arrived this week, and now our house and garage are chock full of bins and boxes. We're having monsoon rains (a good thing), and I'm not eating much (a bad thing--it's a stress response). Working on graphic novels is out of the question right now. I'm watching "Six Feet Under".

Yes!

Today was the day! I finished blue-pencilling the new drawing for the teaching book. I just have to write the text. I couldn't keep on without watching "The Leftovers" simultaneously. Riveting but creepy!

Mulling

A new fascination for me is fermenting. Pickling things. Susan ordered this book for me, and I've been making good use of it.

So far, I've successfully made fermented eggplant. Delicious! The jury's still out on the sauerkraut, didn't-have-any-dill pickles, and the pear chutney. At some point I will draw again. I saw a coyote crossing Highway 60 right in front of me today.

Time

It's hard for me to figure out where the hours go! Time has been very slippery for me lately. Now that my actions are not so tethered to a clock, 19 years of living from bell to bell at school, time is becoming this amorphous and mischievous entity with very blurred edges. As a result, new and resurrected activities crowd out the usual (including drawing). For example, I had to play banjo, and I  just had to watch the bats at dusk fly out from the barn across the street. A new book to read has even made it into my days: Bendíceme, Ultima (Bless Me, Ultima), by Rudolfo Anaya.

Shot

It's been a while since my last entry. We finally got wi-fi today! But lack of wireless was not my reason for not blogging for the past few days. No. I got a much-needed and years overdue tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis shot during my first doctor's appointment in our new location. For about 48 hours now, I've been suffering the mild side effects of soreness at the site, joint pain, fever, weakness, slight nausea. Looking forward to these symptoms letting up.