self portait

here's another self portrait i did awhile back. the colors disturb now, looking back. what was i thinking? green? i'm okay with the red and oranges. that blue ground in the back is rather nice... but *green*?!? yikes. my chin is looking a bit nubular, wouldn't you say? and what is that thing on my eye? speaking of eyes, i love how these turned out.

i was wearing overalls, lying on my belly in front of my floor length mirror--what a happy composition! i like the set up. also love how the necklace is kind of the secondary focal spot, after the eyes.

done in pastels

fall

it's sideways. i know. i'm desperate, you see.

i managed to delete my entire file of pictures that i've been sharing. bum. mer. so i've been scrounging around for stuff to upload. i think this is why i've been so lax lately about posting. no picture, no post, right? grrrrrr....

so it's definitely fall up here in the great north. birds flying in formation. turncoats. rain. leaves turning. people asking us at farmers market when's the last day we'll be open. wearing long johns to market! long johns, i tell you. it's ridiculous. where did my lovely summer go?

i've been crocheting up a storm. i've got like five projects in the works and so many plans! i'm afraid i won't be able to do much with it after classes start. my favorite project is a granny square skirt--i need sixty squares. i've got 25 done so far. i'm not yet sick of the whole thing, which is a good thing.

the other life

i'm an australian in some deep way. the other life i could've had.

the thing is this; my parents were given a choice. alaska or australia. these opportunities were available to them after we lived in california. i was going into fourth grade, so becca and i weren't really told about the options at the time. i found out later i could've been an australian. mom was more inclined to go to australia, but we all would've had to give up our american citizenship and she wasn't too hip on that, so off to alaska we lumbered. and here i am. alaskan to the core.

but australia... it certainly is a tempting thought. who would i be if we had moved there? surely more active... skinnier? tanner? i understand that there is a bit more sexism there, as in women haven't got the same opportunities as they do in america. maybe that's false info. i don't know. i've never been, so i really can't say. i'm not even sure *where* in australia we would've gone... considering dad was a botanist/forester we probably would've lived in the bush. so we would've moved to a rather insular community that maybe didn't like newcomers. not much different than the tiny eskimo community we moved to here in alaska. maybe i would've turned out exactly the same... nature v.s. nurture, right?

the romance of another life... with no mistakes in it. *that's* what's tempting about it, really.

mnemosyne (pronounced nee-moss-y-nee)

here is my beautiful nene. she weighs six pounds and is afraid of *everything*. she's nine years old, but acts like a kitten. i absolutely adore her. i've had four other kitties but none have been *mine* the way she is.

this is my one hundreth post! yay! so pleased with myself for keeping at it.

i got my loan notice in the mail yesterday; got it! so i'm definitely going to school! yay!!!!!! i'm so excited. totally looking forward to metalsmithing, painting, ceramics. not quite as siced about history of art, and totally dreading interrelations of music, art, and theatre. that one's a core class i've tried to take four times. sooooooo bad at doing things i dislike. naughty bethiboo.

off with you, then

they've gone and left us.

well, only for three days.

becca, jake, and the girls have driven to denali for a camp out. i'm so jealous... but they'll be freezing their arses off while i'm in my nice cozy warm bed.

the one time i camped at denali, it rained all night. the ground was so cold i kept having to turn over to let that side of my body warm up in the air. i was not prepared for the cold. so. they go prepared with the knowledge that it's freaking cold down there.

they also have to drive through the fire; it's not actually near the road, but it *is* near nenena, which they have to drive through to get to the park. i'm gonna pray really hard that they get to see animals while they're there. the girls have seen moose, reindeer, musk ox, but no bears or caribou. keeping my fingers crossed.

i already miss them.

my pretty little flower scarf

i crocheted this little scarf/necklace yesterday and today. first i made the flowers using nicki epsteins 'crochet flowers'. the leaves came from the same book. i'd publish the pattern here, but i think i'd get in trouble with the publishers. i put the pieces together four times before i got it just right. i'm really pleased with how this came out. it only took a couple hours to make, so i'm thinking about making a couple more to see if they'd sell. i'd make one for becca, but i don't think she'd wear it. not really her style.

i'm really enjoying crochet and am glad i went ahead and taught myself.

three days ago i made this giant snowflake shrug. the pattern is on crochetme.com. great site, by the way. i got to row 12 and couldn't figure out the directions--it's an advanced pattern and i'm really still just a beginner. i've only been crocheting for about five months. so i kind of made up the last few rows. stupid, i know. anyway, it came out looking good until i put it on. oops. not so good. so i'm going to make another one and take the directions to my local yarn shop and see if they can help me out. if not, i'm betting they'll know someone who can.

my mama is home! yay! the girls keep making her little presents and giving her long hugs. they refused to go to sleep last night until becca promised them grammy would go in and wake them when she got here, which wasn't until two in the morning. they've really, really missed her these few weeks she's been gone. actually, i think it's been a whole month. wow. at the end of june, she'll fly down to anchorage to get the battery replaced in her pacemaker. but she'll only be gone for two or three days. hopefully valette will be able to swing by the hospital to see her. ooooh, that makes me jealous. lot of that going around.

mama had so many stories to tell us that becca and she and i stayed up till after three talking. and boy, did i sleep in this morning. naughty me. mostly it was about the memorial service and renee and denise and andrea and aunt cary and all their kids. sooooo jealous. mama got to go to a dollar store in portland, so she came home bearing sweet little gifts. butterfly stickers and cards, a turquoise fish windchime for me, coloring books for the girls, spices, and silly snacks we can't get up here. fun stuff.

family

i like how this one turned out, except for the lines next to her mouth. to dark.

mama comes home tonight! i'm so excited. she's been in oregon for her sister's memorial service. she got to spend a couple weeks with her brother. they are the last two of the five. and then she spent a day in portland with one of my cousins. i'm so jealous! i'm sooo miss these cousins, and i haven't seen them in about twelve years. their family is dear to me, and mama got to see andrea, denise, and renee at the memorial service for aunt corine, plus their mom, aunt cary, who is my mama's cousin. we just call her aunt cary because it's easier and more fitting to designate her as our aunt. mama got to meet most of their kids, too. sooooo jealous.