To remind myself

This heat wave seems to be having some unfortunate side effects, one of which is that it seems to have increased the specific gravity in the field around the couch, so that whenever I pass nearby I seem to need to sit on it, and once seated, it is definitely more difficult than usual to get up again. Another is that from a practical perspective, I can’t run the air conditioner and the sewing machine at the same time as they use the same power outlet, and from an ethical perspective, I can’t run the oven and the air conditioner simultaneously because that is simply too absurd to contemplate, so access to two of my usual creative outlets is restricted. A third is that boy is not sleeping so well, and his naps have slipped from a glorious 3 -3.5 hours a day, to 2 if I’m lucky, which has eaten into my free time (not to mention my sanity) significantly. So activities in the Little House have been either minimal or essential, and in an attempt to reinspire myself I have been sorting through some old photos.

Two particular images have stayed with me over the years. They were from the period when we lived in the city, on the fringes of the parklands, within earshot of the howler monkeys and gibbons whooping it up at the zoo every morning, and occasionally the lions too on balmy evenings. The first is watercolour crayon and a collage of Japanese papers, and 90 x 60cm or thereabouts.

The second is a work in progress shot. I never took a finished photo, and though I’d been meaning to take it out of the gallery as it had sat there for months and I’d decided I wanted to keep it, it sold the day before I rang. Perhaps someday I will do another along these lines. At the very least I should dig out my pencils and get drawing – at least it doesn’t use any power. Except willpower that is, I’ll just have to dig that out from between the cushions of the couch.