Sanguine

December in the Phoenix area is a lot like March is, in Albany, right after the first thaw. Or maybe right after a cold October rain. The sun is still shining, things are still green, but it's all damp and chilly and the wind blows hard and cold.

Because it had finally stopped raining, I took Ro outside to play in her playhouse and run around and get some air. It was storming pretty bad around dawn, the thunder and torrential downpours woke me straight out of my illness induced torpor. Everything was still wet, but Ro hardly minds and it reminds me of home. She ran around collecting rocks to keep inside her house while I straightened up the back yard (THAT'S where my oven mitts and tongs were! Zack forgot to bring them in last time he grilled.)

We have this funny little ledge by our front gate (see photo) that's always sat empty. I didn't really know what to do with it, so I set the pottery woman we have out on it, since she was acting listless in my house and I didn't know where to put her. I added a baby aloe and a long cutting of ivy to a pot full of wet soil with some rooting hormone. Hopefully they'll take- I put them up there with her.

To top it all off, I found a shard of broken roofing tile, grabbed a brown sharpie and lettered on it: "KINDLY No Soliciting". I'm kind of sick of finding my entire front walkway littered with pamphlets for everything from landscaping to yoga. If you solicit and you're reading this, please realize you're contributing to global pollution and you make me mad.

Anyway, I'm glad "potted woman" (as we call her.) Has a new home, since (no offense, lady,) I was sick of looking at her placid face taking up space in my kitchen.

As I sit on the sofa in the office typing this, Ro is completely disassembling my desk drawer that I keep all my paints, brushes and adhesives in. My feet are covered in scraps of chamois cloth, bristle brushes, and canvas brush rolls. She spent the whole morning finishing a couple of paintings for friends and family members. I find she turns out a very charming Pollock-esque canvas that isn't actually ugly, as long as I control which colors she's choosing to use. Some might tell me I'm quelching her burning creative fires, but seriously, guys, these have to hang in someone's living room. I don't want them to make people cry.