Snowy

 We got snow overnight, about 3 or 4 inches of fluffy, powdery snow.  It was easy to clear off the driveway and it wasn't too windy so the snow didn't blow back into my face when I drove the snowblower.  I liked that part a lot.  You see that all the feeders acquired a snowy topknot but it got sunny in the afternoon and melted the top couple inches of snow.  I can see the leaves and grass poking through the snow on the hill under the retaining wall.

Our current art assignment made me confused and frustrated.  I didn't understand the point.  We were to take a picture of something we see every day, stare at it for 3 minutes, and notice what catches your attention.  An exercise in observation, I guess.  So after I cleared the driveway, I took this picture up the street which is the way I drive away from home whenever I go most places.  Then I called it up on the laptop, made it bigger, and stared at it--and learned something.  With the fresh snow it's really a black and white world but I came to notice that there were a few spots of color--a fire hydrant, a bird feeder, and some leaves left on branches.  I reread the assignment and realized that that's the point, to be more observant.  At least I think that's it.  We'll see what Lala comes up with.  She's better at this stuff than I am.

In the afternoon I finished the February Doll Sweater, well, except for the snaps which I need to go downstairs and dig around for.  Again I had to turn off my audiobook so that I could focus on the lace stitches, but it's done and it fits the doll.  That's a good thing.  I'm very glad that I knitted a doll sweater and not a baby or adult sweater, because there's a February Baby Sweater and a February Lady Sweater too.  That lace was frustrating enough in the smallest dose.  I'd be chewing the yarn into bits otherwise.  Oh, and I had to dig out another skein of yarn because I needed enough for two rounds of the sleeve, so maybe five yards of yarn.  Grr.

24 January--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

We set up a long table in the sitting room for Marie to use as a base of operations.  Marie was in charge of designing and setting up my website, and designing ads and brochures.  I ordered satellite internet and phone service as soon as I had arrived on the island and it was installed the week before.  It had taken a bit of creative carpentry but the installer and Silas worked together so that the satellite dish was not quite as much of an eyesore hanging off the building as it might have been. 

Marie put her super duper laptop on the table, plugged it in, and purred with delight when it booted up quickly.  “Oh, Mom, this is going to be just great,” she said looking up at me with shining eyes. 

“Good, I’m looking forward to see what you come up with.” 

I went back to unloading the container and deciding safe places to put things.  The back room off the kitchen was in danger of becoming a catch-all mess, so Elizabeth volunteered to organize it.  Silas had her stack all of those boards that I had painstakingly taken the nails out of off to one side saying that he had come up with an idea for them. 

Once we had the container emptied he commandeered Will to help him and they started work building little bedside tables from the painted boards.  The tables were very simple, looking like upended crates, but Silas and Will used the boards with the most paint on them, sanding some areas to reveal more color.  By the end of the day they had built eight of them, putting small shelves in them so that they could hold a few books or a basket of stationery. 

“These are great, guys,” I said when they dragged me over to admire their work as they prepared to put the tools away for the day. 

Marie called me into the lobby then to look at what she had been doing.  I was pleased and amazed that she had established a website with my very own domain name, www.rosesseaview.com, and was well along on the job of populating my home page with pictures and enticing descriptions.  “Tomorrow I want to roam around the neighborhood taking pictures and we need to get at least the front of the hotel ready so I can take pictures of it to post.”  She looked around as if I might have carpenters hidden in the corners.  “Didn’t you say you were going to hang bright colored shutters?” 

I nodded.  “Yes, they’re leaning against the side of the container.  I had Luke and Stanley repaint them last week while they waited for the primer to dry.” 

“Do you think I can borrow Luke and Stanley on Monday to mock up some scenes to take pictures of?” 

“Sure, but that means we paint tomorrow and I was hoping that I could show you around the island a bit and maybe we could go diving.” 

Just then Will walked into the room. “I wouldn’t mind a dive tomorrow,” he looked at the two of us, neither one of us spoke.  “Well, I am invited, aren’t I?” 

Marie laughed.  “Of course you are, you goof.  Catch me and Mom going diving and leaving you and Elizabeth here.  Yeah, like that would ever happen.”

            We spent the rest of the evening brainstorming ideas for the website and things to say in the literature.  I had talked to several friends in the States and in Europe, women of about my age and situation in life and I decided to focus my advertising on my own age group.  I wanted to present the Seaview as a retreat for women needing a break from hectic careers or a place for them to use as a base for a journey of self-discovery on a peaceful and serene island with a few amenities, only a ferryboat ride away from more cosmopolitan pursuits.  As I was telling them that, Marie said, "Talk slower, Mom.  That's the sort of things I can put on the website and in the brochures you're going to have printed."

Today's toss was a flannel shirt that I bought for a bag project that isn't going to happen.  Ever.

The writing prompt today called for some actual creativity.  It said to write down the next 5 words you hear and think what else they could mean.  I can do that.

--Barbara