Speaking of the snow, the latest art assignment is about color, white on white to be exact. With the fresh snow and bright sunshine there's a lot of white available outside for comparison. We were asked to take two white objects, put them side by side in different lights, and see how the color changed. I found a coffee cup, a seashell, and a knitted hat. I took them all out into the sunshine and put them into the snow, one by one. The color of the cup didn't really change, the color of the seashell turned pinkish, and the color of the hat turned beige. Then I took them all out the back door into the shade and they all turned blue in the shadow. Once again an exercise in observation.
I decided to redraft the mask pattern I used first to see if I could make it fit better, so I got some paper, drew and measured, cut and sewed, and ended up with two new masks that don't fit as well as the first ones. Dang it. Oh, I'll wear them or maybe do a little alteration on them to make them fit better. What else do I have to do with my day?
There are hooks for plants hanging from the eaves troughs and I noticed today that there is an icicle hanging from one of them. It would have been prettier if there was blue sky and sunshine to make it sparkle but I like the shape of it anyway. And isn't it too cold for the roof snow to be melting?
09 February--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview.
Chapter 42
“I cannot begin to thank all of you,” I said as we stood around in the big kitchen. Elizabeth was washing the last few dishes from her marathon muffin baking of the day and the rest of us were thinking longingly of showers and food. My eyes traveled around the room seeing new friends I could not imagine not having in my life and my children who I loved more than life itself. “How about we all have tomorrow off?”
Tired smiles lit all the faces. “I suggest that we go diving in the morning,” I said to Will, Elizabeth, and Marie, who nodded enthusiastically, “and then all of us meet back here around six in the evening for a cookout. Nothing too fancy, but I want to feed us all before the kids go back home and the rest of you leave for other jobs. Okay?”
A chorus of “Okays” greeted my words, and most of them turned to leave.
Iggy didn’t. He stood there looking at me as if I were a tender morsel he was yearning to devour.
“Oh, Iggy,” I said, “please call ‘Nando Gomez and invite him, will you? I think he is sweet on Marie.” I walked over to him and nestled into his chest. I leaned up and kissed him. “Just think. The day after tomorrow my children will go home and you and I can go back to living.”
His deep laugh warmed me all the way to my toes, his strong arm held me tight. “You had better hope that Marie can resist ‘Nando’s charms, otherwise she will be living on Anguilla and in your business all the time.”
I chuckled. “Actually I was thinking that maybe Mr. Gomez would emigrate to the States and then we could import things without having him touch it all as if it were his and we were stealing it.”
Iggy was chuckling in that warm and sexy way that he has, making it sound like what I am saying is the most amusing and delightful thing he has ever heard.
I flung myself at him. “Oh, don’t laugh at me; I’m so excited." I danced down the hall, through the kitchen, and into my little apartment.
He followed me, his eyes caressing me as I led him into the bedroom. As I unbuttoned his shirt and smoothed my hands over his shoulders to remove it, he said, “Rosie, I have been working all day. I have been sweating…”
My fingers dropped to unbutton his jeans and he stopped talking. Then I heard voices coming from the beach. I had left all the doors and windows open and unlocked.
The thought that a person might walk in looking for a room was like an electric shock, and not in a good way. “Oh my god, Iggy, what are we doing?” I pushed him away.
“I thought we were…”
I handed him his shirt. “Anyone could just walk in here. Anyone could be walking by and just pop in to see the new hotel. I wouldn’t want to get the reputation as a, well, I don’t know what but, no, we need to stop.”
He looked at me. “You will figure out a way we can have some privacy, won’t you? I am too old for the abrupt change in blood pressure.” He buttoned his shirt and tucked it in, then picked up his tool belt. “I will go home and shower. See you tomorrow evening…” He walked toward the door, “unless you would like to have supper with me tonight, or a moonlight swim?”
I could hear the hopeful longing in his voice. I shook my head. “I have to think about how this is going to work.”
He kissed me goodbye and left. I went back into the lobby and closed and locked the front door. I needed an “Open” sign of some sort. I had had keys made for the front and back doors for each room so that I didn’t have to leave the place open until all of my guests were back, but I hadn’t thought of how having guests and being open to the neighborhood would intrude on my private life. This would take some planning and thought.
Today's toss was a box of my mother-in-law's old sewing odds and ends. The only thing I kept was a little magnifying glass that will come in handy when it's time to thread a needle.
The prompt today asked for the greatest medical advance in your lifetime and why. Huh. I picked heart transplant first but then the new vaccines against COVID-19 because it has the capacity to help life get back to normal. What kind of writing prompts are these? This isn't creative writing, it's a survey. Sheesh.
--Barbara
1 comment:
Your photos are so good. The shell on the snow, the icicle on the hook -- to me those are professional quality. You've definitely got an "eye" for composition. Even if the new masks don't fit as well as you wish, they're very cute!
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