Labor Day Weekend

Well, what am I doing for labor day weekend? You're looking at it. I have three shows this weekend, which isn't so bad really. This particular moment however is a little dull. Usually there are people who hang out after the show but not this weekend. The bridge that connects the east bay to San Francisco is closed all three days so everybody is riding public transit and leaving early because of how long it takes to get home. My assistant is sick and went home earlier... so here I am waiting on laundry, alone. Sigh.

Monday; I get the whole day off! I can't wait!

Riddle me this;

Wouldn't it be easier to make eight button holes than eight hook& bar sets and five snaps?



... just a thought.

Patient must not be allowed to lick wounds.

Poor Dewalt got a foxtail gouged all the way through his foot. We were sure that it was a wire or glass, but it turns out it was just a wicked terrible weed. Now the dog has had a foxtail in every possible orafice except (knock on wood) his eye, and now he has his foot to add to the collection. The vet said that sometimes dogs can get foxtails so far up their noses that they can puncture the brain. What a horrid plant! Dewalt had it removed surgically and now has to wear a cone for the next two weeks. Originally he Hated the cone but now he is determined to not let it get in the way of leading a normal life. The advantage of the cone is that now the neighbor dogs, who usually bully him around, are now scared of him in his big darth vader like helmet.
The foot two days ago;

The foot today;




Ok, I'll do my best to find better things to post about than the dog. I'm just trying to keep these posts positive and other aspects of life are too frustrating to post about right now.... Until the next...

Dirt and stress

What a day! I spent the morning working for the Aurora Theater, and then snuck out at 2pm. I washed and vacuumed my car for the first time in over a month (ick!) and then I set to work on my "garden". I did not take a "before" picture because I hadn't initially set out to accomplish quite as much as I did.
It began with the lavendar bush. The shrub had taken over half the sidewalk so I initially set out to reduce it. I started cutting and found that the branches were all full of leaves and weeds. I ripped out dead sweet peas and an errant blackberry sprig. I raked out dead lavendar and grass. Then I began clearing away the grasses along the base of the bush, which lead to ripping out clumps of grass from what once was a flower bed. Then I decided that the rose bush right next to the lavendar had become too unrully. I trimmed it away from the hose spigot and then I trimmed the branches that had taken to growing along the ground.

Meanwhile the ants began to swarm and spiders tried escaping up the front wall of my house, I almost felt a bit squeamish thinking about them all retreating to the inside of my house. I treated the wall with some Chinese "death chalk" and continued.

I trimmed back the mint that had grown to weed status where it all bears thick stems and rough unuseable leaves. I continued to clear almost all the way to the place where you can see in the picture what looks like a hot mess of weeds. Then I planted the sweet basil plant that had been gifted to me over three weeks ago. It should be much happier in its big oak barrell than it was sitting in a small pot in the midst of our weeds.
The physical labor that did not resemble theater work and the final product that came from it actually improved my mood threefold. Which is a good thing because despite the fact that this was my "day off" even CalShakes insisted on sending me emails that had to be answered "immediatley"... eye twitching here... back spasiming just a bit... I think I have to go back outside and spend some time staring at the front of my house again. When I get a little more time off I'm going to plant something new in there and finish the job.

Backstage

ooh pretty...


Sorry, still working too hard to be a good blogger, but here's a backstage shot that I love.

What were you doing at 3am?

I was surfacing from a trance where in I sculpted this Dali mask. I got off of work at 1am, and had done about half of this work, but then spurned on by frustration and a touch of anger I was motivated to be productive and finish it all in one sitting... mind you I took on this project against my better judgement... I'm not getting paid enough to do fine craft work and I didn't run the manner of execution by the designer... I was just struck that this was a project I wanted to do because it looked like fun... basically even if it doesn't make it on stage I'll still be fine with that, but I love the result. Now we wait for it to dry and pray that it doesn't all fall apart...

Here is the original Salvador Dali photograph the mask is based on.

Here is the mask (drying and in progress)

a couple of detail shots...

So sleepy

Nothin' much to report... just wanted to put up a new post... the dog and I are spending our down time relaxing.