Day 243 – Dance of the Miller Moth

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Forty ThreeEvery spring in Colorado we experience a few weeks of the flying fury of the Miller moth.

For a couple of weeks in late May we are inundated with these dusty crazy creatures before they head off to higher elevations for most of the summer. I wouldn’t mind so much if they stayed outside but they are drawn to light so many find their way inside no matter what we do to keep them out.

Moths are guided to instinctually hide in dark safe crevices by day and remain so elusive and secretive that ridding them by our schedule, simply does not work. By night they are looking for the the distant point of light and bearings of the moon to guide their travels (most nights I think they are on this earth solely to creep me out) but apparently the artificial lights in our homes draws them but confuses them because of the proximity – causing their spiral dance and seeming insanity.

For these few weeks every Spring our night time rituals are drastically changed. Right before bed, the entire family (Doug, Ella the dog, Tagger & Bittie the cats, and I) all partake in The Dance of the Miller Moth…

Once our bedtime preparations are done, we set to work to clear the room of our unwanted guests. Many of the moths can be caught by hand if you just wait for them patiently to settle on or near a light but patience is not often handy. Ella’s great joy is watching us throw a sock ball hard against the vaulted part of the walls where the Millers land out of reach – this simple act causes such elation in Ella that she cannot contain her excitement; her jubilant barks and prancing add to the complex choreography. Tagger & Bittie are great scouts – catching them with their eyes and chirping when they’ve got one in their sights. I, of course, cannot catch one without screaming and dancing about in disgust at the slight pop of the crunch when they give way between your fingers and when the situation is especially dire – we get out the vacuum cleaner and suck them to their sad fate. Mostly we all watch Doug, our knight in shining armor, dance around the room clearing the beasts as the rest of us enjoy the show.

The instinctual migration of the Miller moth causes a ritual experience in our home – their frenzy becomes our frenzy until the dance comes to an end for another year.

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 243 was created in ink and watercolor.

*** Today was a good day. I had my Remicade infusion that will hopefully pull me out of this flare, my husband brought me flowers reminding me that we met 14 years ago today, and Lowe’s called to tell us our new dishwasher had arrived and my sweet husband drove the 15 miles to pick it up and spent all evening installing it. I’d call that a good day any way you look at it!

 

 

Day 241 – Checkerboard

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Forty One

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

Thank you to all the men and women in our Armed Forces and a special thank you to those who gave their lives to protect our country in the name of freedom!

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 241 was created with scraps from my 1966 Webster Dictionary (purchased at an antique shop for the soul purpose of making art), acrylics, watercolors, and graphite.

Day 240 – A Bosch and an Apple

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Forty

The dishwasher saga continues!

To catch you up – dishwasher stopped working, called Al from Al’s Appliance Repair, Al spent an hour ripping the thing apart as I stood by horrified by the knowledge that we were headed for a hefty repair bill for no repair. And yes $100 later it was officially pronounced – “dead.” So we weighed our options, Best Buy had a midnight sale happening but all of the great deals meant waiting 7-14 days for delivery which would equal a very unhappy me. We could go cheap and just match the other 10 year old black appliances, or we could buy what we wanted.

Having lived through a crazy few years as have most people – I am quite averse to spending money. I’ve become a hoarder extraordinaire – I hoard cash (you’ll never find it) – I hoard canned food (not really, I just like my pantry stocked) – I hoard household items – maybe hoard is the wrong word when it comes to my household items. I make do. I don’t need new sheets for the bed – they would simply be nice. I don’t need a new TV – I could actually care less about the quality of the picture, it seems fine to me. I don’t need new appliances save a dishwasher, but we were so close to a whole new set this afternoon! They are all going to bust anytime – right?

Our excitement was elevated as we looked over the shiny stainless – and I swear it had nothing to do with the $1 sushi and $1 beers that went with our lunch – so when John in the appliance department at Lowe’s showed us the dishwashers – well, we got a bit carried away. I cannot wait for that new Bosch dishwasher to be delivered next Sunday – I will happily hand wash for another week for that beauty! I never knew I could get so excited about super quite, adjustable racks, stainless steel interior – dishwasher? – oh my!

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 240 was created in mixed media and with a couple of apple shaped potato stamps I made and then I used a technique I learned last week where you put gel medium over the painting you’ve done, let it dry and then cover the entire piece with a thick layer of acrylic paint to then uncover the painting below. I chickened out – it looked like I had ruined the entire piece and I’d never “uncover” the apples which would be a huge bummer because we’re leaving to have some drinks with our neighbors in a half hour – hence the panic! But… I’ve become very good at hand washing lately – so I was able to scrub away to reveal the beauty below!

*** I’m going to get the strangest hits to my site by putting Bosch and Apple in the title of this post! Ha! Take a look at the Bosch Apple App 🙂

Day 239 – Everything’s Coming Up – weeds?

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Thirty NineThe rain has done its glory – things are greening up!

Unfortunately a lot of the green is weeds! Oh my goodness – they appeared out of nowhere and when you live on 6 acres of basically developed farmland – the weeds win.

Doug does a fantastic job every year keeping the noxious weeds knocked down – it’s a battle of wills and Doug sort or wins – it just takes a lot of time and a lot of very expensive round up 🙂 For all my garden friends – he isn’t allowed within 20′ of my veggie garden with that stuff but it keeps the bind weed and – oh goodness – what are those other horrible beast weeds? – Doug? Look for Doug’s comments – I’m sure he will love to tell us!

We’ll finally spend a weekend in the garden – mostly attacking the things that make our landscape beautiful from a distance and annoying close up. Well, that is except for the time we have to spend finding and installing a new dishwasher – there is always something isn’t there?

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 239 was created in mixed media – loved creating this one!

Day 238 – The Flip Side

There are very few absolutes in this world. Most things come with many ways to look at them – at least two sides and multiple angles.

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Thirty EightPositive – Negative. Up – Down. Right – Wrong. All stories have renditions – opinions and views based on personal experience, knowledge and – bias.

We tend to see sharp contrasts more easily and when it comes to dealing with chronic illness and disease our human desire and inclination to be positive creatures is challenged. If we aren’t being positive then geez – we must be being negative.

Maybe so, but if you look to find the flip side to your situation you can – laugh at yourself, scream at the insanity of the pain, walk on coals! Do what seems unnatural when it seems hopeless – the opposite of the negative, the down, the wrong. Find a way to turn it around – to find the flip side. Live positively positive. Every time you do – you win and the pain loses.

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 238 was created in mixed media

*** I watched paint dry for what seemed like forever tonight!

 

Day 237 – Formal Apple

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Thirty SevenThis time of year makes me so happy – proms, weddings and celebrations!

When Doug and I were planning our wedding we decided to buy him a tuxedo instead of renting one and his best man, Bob and one of the grooms men did the same. They were so cute trying those tuxes on – I remember it so clearly. A simple, elegant, classic tux actually did come in handy a few times after our wedding which seems amazing but we also looked for a few occasions. Doug went to a halloween party as James Bond – martini glass and accent in {hand?} – and a few interesting parties. Maybe he’ll remember more where else he wore that tux but when we moved to California – the wardrobe box with his suits and …. his tux were nowhere to be found and ofcourse I waived the trouble of marking off each box, piece of furniture, and item as it came in the door. The driver convinced me it was a huge waste of time since we had been the only client on the truck. Well, my attempts at getting the moving company (named after a ship that landed at Plymouth Rock) to reimburse us for thousands of dollars worth of Doug’s business clothes – was met with steely silence and “so sorry, you waived the right” – if only there had been twitter 12 years ago! So we went on, replaced some of the clothes and just wondered who was wearing Doug’s tux! And, one day out of the blue – a phone call.

“Hi, I’m a renter in the house you sold in Denver, and there is a moving box full of suits here – I was wondering if they were yours?”

Bless that lady for her efforts but we had no way to recover them and we were worried that the home owners claim we had just been paid on would cause trouble if we picked the clothes back up – it can be annoying at times to be honest. So we told her to donate them to Goodwill!

Can you imagine – a 42L classic tux at Goodwill for $20 maybe? I love Goodwill – remind me someday to tell you some of my finds there!

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 237 was created in pen & ink and watercolor.

Day 236 – Storms, Storms Go Away

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Thirty SixThese storms need to stop.

I cannot think much about apples or my back hurting or awareness efforts today.

My little world, my little troubles – are so very, very tiny in comparison to the destruction and lives lost and affected.

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 236 was created in pastels on watercolor paper – it’s what I had 🙂

Day 235 – Apple in a Bottle

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Thirty Five“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” — Herman Hesse

Letting go can be so liberating and can take you in so many new and interesting directions. Put that message in a bottle – that wish you’d like to send out to the world and toss it in the sea! Once you’ve done it you’ll know you’ve given it over to the tide – it may come washing back in but it may end up in some distant exotic land!

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 235 was created in brown, blue, and gold ink!

Day 234 – Hold Your Head Up High

Art Apple - Day Two Hundred Thirty FourI will keep going.

Some days – heck, lots of days we all want to quit. We want to just throw in the towel and say, “That’s it – I give up!”

Life with a chronic illness makes these times seem like they are our existence more than they are a passing emotion. I struggle with trying to talk about my disease and the topics that surround it. I have an enormous desire to not let AS become my identity. I refuse to let that happen actually.

That might seem odd to people since I have made it a personal crusade to tell the world about spondyloarthritis in all its forms but health activism is what I do – it isn’t who I am. Some days I know that I will feel exposed, naked, vulnerable because what I do demands that I show you my life. And when I feel like giving up I’ll remember that who I am is a wife, a step-mom, an artist, a friend, a gardener, a lover of color and laughter – a human being – so I will make decisions the best way I can. I promise to keep going … to hold my head up high.

Until tomorrow.

Jenna

Day 234 was created in mixed media.

I thank goodness for the outlet I have with my art – it allows me to express in a personally powerful way.