D Selby Designs

Another great day:

1. Painting, while singing along with Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her new CD? Not a dud song in the bunch.

2. Getting Birthday bouquet from sister

3. More painting: working on canvases started 10 years ago in Wales. Today’s image. At this speed, I may start re-working paintings from the ’70’s.

4. Cards in the mail, funny, moving, and appreciated.

5. The gym, then carry-out from Foliage, eaten while watching a Midsommer Murder. Gotta love that Inspector Barnaby and Troy.

6. Cleaning brushes time. Switched to Winsor Newton brush cleaner but oh, no! It eats away the paint on the brush handles. Back to Lowell Cornell.

Birthdays are no big deals for me anymore. As soon as Greg turns a year older in March, I adopt that age, as well. So mine is a ho-hum note on the calendar. It’s all good.

Saw an interesting movie this evening with Griff’s mom, Gale. It is comprised of many 5 minute films by famous directors, with famously gifted actors. After sitting through the credits, I wanted to see it again.  “Miranda Richardson? Which one was she in? And who played Oscar Wilde? Oh, yeah, that was Rufus Sewell, wasn’t it?” The name of the movie is ‘Paris . . .’ something, in French. My favorites: the mimes (I find mimes annoying, but it was clever) and the one with the woman who plays the neighbor in The Rich’s. At the end of that one, I completely identified with what she said about Paris. It’s how I now think of London, after being there alone for 10 days. So you’ll just have to see it to know what I’m talking about. Sad and happy at the same time.

Had a nice coffee chat after the movie. We thought we’d have dinner, but the popcorn did us both in. What did we talk about? Kids, of course. Like, how lucky our kids were to find each other.

The image is an oil painting (in process, as most of my paintings are) called Piano Man from a picture I took in Montmartre in a restaurant during a rowdy dinner with 15 designers and editors, hosted by DMC.

So, I had one of my good ideas. I mean, really good. Potentially big business growth, careers for my kids and their friends, back on the road again. Plenty of profit so I can build my dream studio. Then a monster raised its head. It’s a big monster, much like a Tyranasaurus Rex, but like the one in “Night in the Museum” who likes to play fetch and crack wise. It suggested that at this time, in this moment, I am happy. Sure, I schlep cartons of samples into people’s homes so they can ponder the millions of possibilities for window treatments, but that pays for painting time. And so what if I’m painting in the dining room? My kids are healthy, my husband’s loving, and my mother is still able to live on her own. If I’ve done the Mom Job right, my kids will find their own ways.

I’d truly like to know: is it age? Is it feelings of insecurity, from being out of the loop? Is it laziness? Or is it contentment? That Patty Griffin line keeps running through my head: “Someone Else is Tomorrow”.

Image: from another dining room, Trerhygyll (pronounced ‘Tringith), Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

Greg is happier than a pig in slop. One of our neighbors just brought an entire kitchen’s worth of cabinets removed from an apartment–and dumped them in our drive. Now Greg can replace all of his garage shelves with rather nice cabinets, simply for the exchange of Carey’s old unfinished doll house. I get to do a happy dance that it’s finally out of my hair, and so is Greg–for a time!

Then it hit me: I am a part of my neighbors’ lives. That’s not been the case for many years as we moved into bigger houses, becoming more and more isolated. Look what down-sizing has done for us! We have community! Fern, next door, just had cataract surgery and is recuperating well from that and recent hip replacement surgery. The 85-year old should be back volunteering at the Veteran’s Home by next week. Next to her is Skip, who is in a local art show this week. His wife June is busy in the garden today. Next to them, and directly across from us on the court are Tom and Lily. Tom won a golf tournament in Versailles yesterday. Lily likes her privacy, and we’re all fine with that. On the other side of us, Woody and Donna are getting Courtney through new braces this summer, and Woody loaned Greg a trailer for hauling gravel and mulch for this weekend’s gardening. Knowing Woody, he’ll help. On the other side of Woody and Donna are Earl and Annette. They travel a lot, as officers in the Salvation Army, but are now home preparing for a big 4th of July event. Kinder, gentler people we’ll never meet. Even their poodle is nice. Skip’s boxer, Molly, tolerates our cat.

The downside? I don’t hang around in my pajamas anymore on ‘home’ days. One never knows who will pop in–and that’s not such a downside, is it?

Happened to glance at Hoffman Media’s website today, and saw that Victoria is coming back. Barbara Cockerham is editing, so it will be in good hands. I am so proud to know them. They started Just Cross Stitch magazine not long before I came up with Hickory Hollow, and I was one of the early designers they featured. It was quite the feather in my cap. Now look at them: Southern Lady, Taste of the South, Cooking With Paula Deen, Tea, Babies. Antique Needlework. And Just Cross Stitch, of course. They’ve certainly spread wings.

And me? I had a great day painting–something I’m calling “Denby Plates” or “Cousins for Dinner”. Haven’t decided. Also dusted off a small canvas begun in Wales, from a snap I took of the Cowbridge Garage, next to one of the pubs. Made good progress there, as well. Mocha The Cat posed today, and there’s a 24 x 36 canvas coming from that. Tomorrow, real ($$$) work will rear its necessary head. Here are the under painting and second day of ‘Denby’ or ‘Cousins’, so you can chart my progress.  Hmm. Just took last shot and it’s a bit fuzzy, but so am I. Sleep well, all.

Greg, Zach, and I joined the girls tonight for Mom’s famous pork chops. I finished the crossword puzzle for them while those crazy octogenarian sisters fought for kitchen control. Jeez Louise, there’s no hope for Jo and I if they are any example. Mom actually carried in the ice bucket AND a hot dish from the oven at the same time to keep Sally from filling the glasses! They took things out of each other’s hands and rolled eyes repeatedly in my direction. All the guys and I needed to beat a retreat after dinner was Mom’s insistence that we could not help with the dishes. No telling if Sally was allowed to dry!

Got a terrific DVD from Netflix today–a BBC docudrama, The Impressionists. It’s done from the viewpoint of a reporter visiting Monet in 1920, which makes sense since old Claude was prolific not only with art but correspondence as well. Can’t wait for Part 2.

I have a new client. She came to the house today. It’s so much easier to go over fabric books, hardware samples, and illustrated inspiration from here rather than from my car. I knocked my tea over only once, and stopped the cat from drinking the client’s tea before she saw him. The fun part of the job is the beginning, before the client and I grow tired of one another! I must say, I’ve had a great run of luck with clients lately. They’ve been so nice and seem genuinely pleased with the results. We installed a job on Monday, and the couple liked it so much that they want more. Yikes! Just when I think I’ve got my jobs safely narrowed to two at a time, another pops up. Please don’t think I’m complaining. Make hay while the sun shines, and drapes while there are plenty of clients on the ground.

Surely I’m hearing this wrong. There is a new diet drug out for which users–and this is the part where I feel like Emily–must pack an extra pair of pants, as messing the pair put on after one’s morning shower is the side effect of the drug? Stop me, Jane. Never mind. Just another reason for the world to hate us. We are so fat and so undisciplined that, in order to save 2 0r 3 hundred calories from leaching into our bloodstreams, we are willing to publicly crap our pants. Check, please!

On a higher note and plane (plain?), Sally Rogers got to leave the hospital today! Yea! Gracie was so excited she couldn’t decide where to settle. She got nose-to-nose with me and stared, as only a Jack Russell can, hoping I’d read her mind. I did. I rubbed her belly and made high squeaking ‘happy’ noises, between her jumps up to Sally’s lap–then let her out to pee. Gracie, not Sally.

This evening, Greg and I took Aunt Sally and Mom to chicken pot pie heaven, dinner at Cheddar’s. We had a really good time chatting with them.  She’s such good company for Mom. Must run–Mocha is ready for his daily tuna.

Wow, at last I can take a breath and add a blog entry. Lots going on around here: a wonderful week’s visit with Carey, then eleven days with my sister Jo Ellen (during which we had a family reunion in Ashland and a gathering at our house of cousins, aunt, uncle, and others), lots of window work for me, a Mt. Sterling tea, coffee shop work at church, and hospital visitation with Sally Rogers. We HOPE she’ll be able to go home tomorrow. I’ve baked some very good brownie cookies to commemorate the event. I have already eaten four, but don’t tell my doctor.

There’s another much-loved Sally on the horizon this week: Mom’s younger sister has come for a visit. She is my favorite aunt, and was so long before she became my last living aunt. Since Mom and Dad both hailed from Ashland, we often went there for Sunday visits. This was before the interstate was completed, so the drive from Lexington was long and curvy. I, as the youngest, had to sit in the middle of the backseat between Roger and Jo Ellen. How come they never figured out how to remove that hump in the floorboard? Anyway, Sally’s house was the best stop because she always had such good cooking, chicken and dumplings being her signature dish. Her dog, Rusty, was my buddy. She is now teaching me to play Dominoes. I stink. Give me Scrabble any day.

Saturday: hot, but Francisco’s Farm Arts Festival was wonderful! I bought a silver bracelet as a pray-for-Sally reminder. It’s not yellow, and it doesn’t say anything, but it’s a personal friendship token. Nobody lives stronger than Sally. Had a nice lunch with friends of Jo Ellen’s, Sid and Glenda Cruise of Midway. I am ready to chill, so put the rooster on ’snooze’.