RECORD SCRATCH - UPDATE!
I was *this close* to publishing the post below, until I went out gallivanting and now I have new things to say. And because I am a mean mama, I’m going to make you go all the way to the end of this blog to find out what they are. As you were..
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Can you believe we are more than halfway through August already? In some ways I feel like I'm still waiting for summer to start - while too much of the country has been baking under extreme temperatures, here in northeast Ohio it's often been on the cool side and frequently rainy.
While this is lovely for the petunias I planted in my mother's patio garden boxes, the weather hasn't much lent itself to fun in the sun activities.
Add to that my car developing a ridiculously expensive ailment as the month began - seriously, I probably could've replaced it outright for what I spent - and I've become very much a homebody in recent weeks. This meant I completely missed the big Greek festival at work, though I was at least gifted some yummy leftovers.
One good outcome of being stuck with no money and nowhere to go is that I've had
time to do some more work on my website. Well, to be fair, I've mostly been working on my Etsy page - quite happy with the updated banner there. I’ve also started working with a print on demand (POD) service to make my designs available on a wide variety of products. I’m finding it somewhat less than 100% intuitive, but I’ve managed to post the one I really wanted to get out there soon:
That’s certainly cool, but the BEST part is - I made my first Etsy sale! Naturally, this
happened literally the *day* after my car decided nope, it wasn’t going anywhere without an infusion of several thousand dollars (oh ouch)(but otoh, #bless that I was able to make that happen without selling an organ). And also naturally, the item I sold was in my storage locker - which, while less than five miles from my house, is not exactly walking distance. Especially if you have a collectible glass dish to transport!
Fortunately, the lady who bought it was very understanding when I let her know what was going on. And as it happened, this item along with two other dishes, had somehow been moved to a box where they had no business being whatsoever. Meaning I couldn’t find it on my first trip, thought maybe it was at home after all, and then had to pull out and reorganize fully a third of my locker space before I tracked it down. Eek!
And lesson learned - I’m only posting items that I absolutely FOR SURE know where they are, right now. To be fair, I thought this item fell into that category, but I must have moved it ‘for safety’ when I was loading or unloading my Starwood gear. I honestly don’t remember relocating it at all, and never would have guessed it’d be in the box where I ultimately found it.
Of course, I already kind of knew the other lesson, which is that I really, truly, desperately need a functional studio space again, so I can sort and store this stuff properly. The car sucking up so much of my discretionary spending for months to come put a bit of the kibosh on that search alas. Which means I’m going to have to go into the autumn months with an intent of working smarter when it comes to storage and organization. Maybe my library should get packed away so I can use those shelves? Hm! (MAYBE I should spend an afternoon before the weather turns going thru my studio locker and getting rid of old craft supplies and bits and bobs I just don’t need anymore. Just saying, self).
I am involved with the Ingenuity Festival again this year, but primarily as a performer. So much has gone on since last year’s event, I just couldn’t take on being an art lead, so I’m only helping folks out where and as I can. The event falls this year, as every year, on the weekend of the autumn equinox; followed in short order by a Milestone Birthday for my eldest. And after that point we’ll be fully into Spooky Season.
Ooh, sPo0kY! I’m not a horror film buff (at ALL) but I was very goth-adjacent in the 90s; and of course grew up on the Addams Family and the Munsters. My personal aesthetic doesn’t lend itself well to the style, but I do still enjoy the general milieu of the month of Samhain (yes it lasts a whole month, you know it’s true). Perhaps due to the influence of this *fabulous* influencer I ran across on YouTube and followed to her equally entertaining shared podcast, I’ve been feeling darkly inspired of late. I’ve got some gothy craft ideas I’ve started working on, so hopefully by next month, there will be a few sneak peeks to share.
And at last, about those updates - props to you if you’ve read this far, and didn’t just scroll to the bottom for the good stuff laugh emoji. I keep a FB account mostly because of several groups I belong to that still primarily post there. And somehow in the course of checking in not long ago, I ran across mention of the Brownhoist Building. Now, I had no idea the name of the place, but when I googled the address, I realized it’s this extremely cool old Craftsman/castle type building that I’ve been driving past and wondering about for DECADES (not a joke; I used to live just a mile or so down the road in the 80s). And seeing they had an Open House scheduled that weekend? You better believe I marked my calendar.
And my oh my, was it ever worth heading out - even before brunch. This place has everything: classic woodwork, coved ceilings, a ballroom, a secret basement game room, a *cidery*.. !! And some pretty amazing history, given that it was originally built a block north and moved to it’s present location on rollers. I couldn’t stay long but I absolutely intend to be back. Here’s a couple pics I took while wandering around:
After brunch I was off to the 14th (I think?) Pagan Pride event out in Bedford. The turnout was great, even though I didn’t run into anyone I know except the ADF/Starwood crew. They had a nice little corner set up, and no rain issues like we were dealing with last year. I made the rounds of the vendors, and was on my way out when I ran into three representatives of our local chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I was greatly pleased to see them and had a nice chat before heading back to my side of the county.
With all that said.. We’re still in midst of the Everything Retrograde period: Venus, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are either actively appearing to travel backwards through the sky or will be before the month is out (Mercury and Uranus are late to the party). Meaning things could get Shook by the next time I sit down to write. A quick astro-google to check my memory warns me September 4th might be especially active - duly noted. But assuming nothing too untowards happens in the next four weeks, I’ll see you back here next month for another installment.
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