Covidities - or My Covid Activities

 As we move through our 8th month of restrictions due to Covid, I have looked for additional ways to fill my time. I have made many jars of jam, sewn more than my fair share of masks, baked new types of bread, worked on my photography, pickleball and kayaking skills, and hiked many mountains in the area. But last week I tried something totally new and out of my comfort zone - a watercolor class.

fall leaves

We have many talented people in our community, many of them artists. While I do feel that I have an artistic side, it comes out in my photography, writing and quilting. I have never been confident with drawing or painting, and so I hesitated to sign up for the beginner watercolor class offered by one of the art teachers here. But Jim really wanted to take it so I thought, what the heck, this might be something we could enjoy together.

Due to Covid, the class size is small and it was only Jim and me at our table in the meeting room. We were to bring a leaf to class for our first project. Thankfully, we only had to trace it on the paper instead of drawing it freehand. But first we learned about wet versus dry painting, and how to blend our paints to get the color we want. It was fun, and I didn't think my leaf turned out too bad!

leaf watercolor

Eager to try something else while the class was fresh in my mind, I looked for inspiration online. I found a beautiful tree that I decided to use as a starting point. This one I had to create on my own as I had nothing to trace, so that was more of a challenge for me. I made a couple of mistakes, and found our how unforgiving watercolor paints can be. But overall, I am very happy with the end result. A cousin said that she sees the world's family tree in the painting. As a genealogist, no comment could have pleased me more.

I also created a painter's mark for myself, which appears on the bottom corner of the tree painting, as I didn't really think the KW I used on my leaf looked very cool. I absolutely love what I came up with, and will use it on all my future works. We have three more classes (one per month) so I know I'll have at least three more paintings - ha!

watercolor tree

More Skin Cancer

skin cancer removal

To add to the list of medical procedures I'm having done this week, yesterday I went to my plastic surgeon to have yet another suspicious spot removed from my forehead. It's one we have been watching for a bit, but as it has not responded to liquid nitrogen (it should blister and then peel, but it does nothing), the dermatologist said to was time to have it removed.

In checking my records I realized that I had not been to the plastic surgeon since September of 2016, so that actually is not too bad for me. Unfortunately this is my 14th skin cancer, if indeed the biopsy comes back positive. I have resigned myself to the fact that this is my life from now on, but I have been taking extra precautions with my skin so hopefully I won't have too many more that will need to be surgically removed.

I did not sleep well last night as the doctor told me to keep my head elevated to lesson the risk of bleeding. It hurts today, but not as much as yesterday. It should feel much better by tomorrow, which is good because I am volunteering at the Michelob Ultra Pickleball Tournament in the morning. It was supposed to be outside at Forest Park, but because rain from the hurricane is headed our way, it has been moved indoors. Unfortunately that means a 45 minute drive for me in the morning, and I have to be there by 7:00 a.m. It is the first sanctioned tournament to be held in St. Louis, so I am eager to see the 4.0 and 5.0 players in action once my volunteer work is finished.

On a more fun note, last weekend was Paint Louis 2018. This was an organized event allowing graffiti artists to legally spray paint the flood wall that runs along the Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis. Hundreds of artists came from mostly around the Midwest, with live hip hop music adding to the party atmosphere. By the time we got down there Monday morning, most of the artists had packed up and left. But there were a few remaining, and it was interesting to talk to them about their work and the process they use in creating art to cover such a large space. Sadly, it won't last for long as other graffiti artists will come along and paint over what is already there. It is a constantly evolving work of art.

Paint Louis 2018

Painting the Painted Lady

painted lady

The last time that we had our entire house painted was eleven years ago. Unbelievable! We hired a company that specializes in old houses, and they know how to prep an aging lady for her face lift. The paint held up great, but around a year ago the handrails began to rot. We purchased all the wood pieces for the 2003 remodel of the front porch from Vintage Woodworks, a company that caters to the Victorian era house market. When we contacted them, they blamed the painter. And of course the painter felt that the wood failed. The proverbial he said, they said. We ended up having a local contractor rebuild the railings, so it seemed timely to paint the house once those were installed. We hired the same painting company as last time, and hope we get the same long-term results.

porch detail

When the house was painted in 2004, we selected eight different paint colors. Because that was suchan arduous process, we are keeping the same color palette. We loved it, so why mess with a good thing? We are now in week three of the process. The first six days were sanding and scraping, followed by power washing the house. I was so relieved when that was done! The work is coming along, and the entire house has been primed and the base coat applied to the siding. The trim colors are complete, with the exception of the front of the house. That will be more time consuming as there are many spindles to paint, with multiple colors going on each one.

We had some big excitement on Tuesday morning. Around 11:30 the truck of one of the painters was stolen from right out in front of our house. Three of the painters were parked in a row, and his was the middle vehicle. Now, I have to admit that he had left his window down and the keys in the ignition, but how ballsy to steal the truck in broad daylight with so many men around! Plus the neighbor across the street had a contractor parked in front of his house, and he was in and out carrying items from his vehicle to the house. An eye witness caught a glimpse of the perp, and the police were called immediately. I was somewhat optimistic that the police would catch him on Interstate 44, but unfortunately that did not happen. Instead, they caught two of them with the stolen truck last night in the City of St. Louis while they were in the process of robbing someone. The truck was impounded, and from what the painter was told the back window had been smashed, and his tool boxes were missing. He doesn't know how much other damage was done to it. I feel so bad for him as he just had one last payment to make on the truck. All I know is that these criminals are getting more and more bold. And our painter now gets to play the adult version of Hot Wheels.

The Nursery

The small bedroom is vacant of all furniture now, awaiting re-decorating. I was thinking back to the last time we did much of anything with that room. It was 1991 and I was pregnant with Katie. We painted the walls a very soft green and set up a crib, antique dresser that doubled as a changing table, and added the rocking chair that Jim gave me for Mother's Day that year. Four sheets of antique paper dolls were matted and framed and hung on the wall. A lot of rocking, story telling and singing of lullabies took place in that room. Eventually the crib came down and Katie graduated to the "big girl" bed, which remained in that room until we carried it upstairs.

We purchased a new full size bed last week, and it is ready to be picked up. We decided against trying to hassle with the antique wrought iron bed again. The painter is coming on Thursday, and I need to select a wall color. Today I picked out a quilt for the bed, and that will help me determine what color of yellow paint I want to go with for the walls. Fearful of the bed bug invasion, I immediately threw the quilt and matching pillow shams into the dryer. Supposedly putting any newly purchased garment in the dryer for 20 minutes will kill any bedbugs and their eggs. Ewwwww!

As for the roll top desk in the entry foyer? It went on craigslist last week, and we sold it for asking price last night. That was easy. Anyone need a wrought iron bed frame?