A Simple Twist of Fate

Hi Folks,
Well, Another month has passed, and it's a cold bleak day in New England. A simple twist of fate (circumstance, karma) has me stranded in my favorite home in the "wilds of Worthington" with 3 dogs and a yard full of birds.

 

The twist was that after staying in all day on Saturday watching it snow, I decided to drive to the Old Creamery and pick up some food, including a nice hot container of clam chowder. After driving a few miles, I regretted my plan, but carefully continued on. Coming back, I slid into a tree and smashed in the front of my car. Luckily I wasn't hurt! I gathered my wallet, my groceries and walked to the nearest house. Some very nice people took me in and called 911 to get help.

Their house was warm and cozy. I was invited to eat with them, but decided to eat my clam chowder, which had popped open and squirted most of the groceries with goo. I cleaned up the tote bag and the groceries and ate the remaining soup.

Meanwhile, the fire dept. came and checked me all over, then the State Police came and asked me questions and called the ambulance. They checked me all over too and advised me to go to the hospital, which I refused, as I didn't feel any pain. Eventually, the tow truck came and towed my little Subaru away and these kind people drove me "home" to the dogs. I ended up with bruises on my shin and my breast (from the seatbelt).

My insurance doesn't cover rentals, and I really can't afford to rent a 4WD car.  Plenty of people have offered help, but with 6 miles of dirt roads and winter conditions, I haven't taken them up on it yet.  My office sent me work to do, and I have a couple of consulting jobs on the computer too, so here I am!

Please excuse the poor indoor photography!

Another twist--Since I moved in with Mom in October, I haven't had any place to play with art. The room that will be my studio was all full of tools, wood, sawdust and cobwebs. Big stuff like Dad's old workbench and Richard's grand piano (for sale cheap) littered the room, not to mention tons of nails, screws, washers bolts, hammers, screwdrivers, etc!

So a few weeks ago I started condensing and cleaning the room. If I couldn't get rid of the workbench, I could use it for my own work table. I found a couple of pieces of plywood to cover the holes and dirt and put it in a corner of the room. I cleaned and de-cobwebbed till I was sneezing and coughing. Then I stapled up some sheets over the bare 2x6's and hung a couple of corkboards. I brought in a cubicle cabinet with red containers in each cube. I laid a couple of old rugs on the cement floor and set up a couple of card tables to work on. (Everything else is pushed to the other side of the room for the moment.) I dug out lots of supplies and bought a few more.

On Jan 11, I invited Emily to come and do some art, thinking company would help me get creative. Em didn't make it, so I did a piece of art anyway. She didn't show up the next day either, so I did another one.  I determined to create one piece of art every day. Not only to expand my artistic mind, but to help me be in happy mode during this difficult time of the year.  I can easily become depressed when it is cold and gloomy, so I need to keep myself creative.  It is so uplifting to be playing with my art supplies!

Collage is my main genre, but I want to get more and more original. I also want my new art to be affirmative and to encourage people. I like to use recycled materials when I can. Eventually, I will get some painting lessons and mix things up.

I packed a pile of art supplies and brought them here to the "dog house" and kept working (playing). Today is day 11 and I'm still doing it!  For now I can say that being stranded with the dogs is, in a strange way, my own art retreat!

 You can see my daily artwork and follow me on Facebook.

Meanwhile I hope your twists of fate are all good ones!

Hugs,

Sherry