I can't believe it's the last day of November already.  I know Thanksgiving was last week but it still seems too soon to me.  Tomorrow is December.  What am I supposed to make of that?

I took an order from an old family friend about two weeks ago to do three Christmas stockings for her.  She called Sunday and wanted to know if it would be okay for her daughter to pick them up on Tuesday.  I had to tell her that all three weren't finished yet.  I didn't feel the need to let her know that none  of them were even drawn up yet, much less painted.  I'll have one or two by Tuesday and it's not like she can actually work on more than one at a time. 

This morning I painted the one I told her was ready and it turned out great.  I may be able to get a second one done before she comes by tomorrow.

I was on fire this morning.  Not actually, but I got that stocking drawn up and painted in under two hours and then I did another one for another customer I promised to have ready by tomorrow.   That one took slightly over an hour.  It used to take me all day just to paint a large Christmas stocking.  Now I can draw up a whole new design and get it painted in no time. 

I still charge a lot for them.  Like Picasso allegedly said "It took me fifty years to learn how to do that in three minutes."

My ax has been razor sharp this week.  In addition to the two large stockings I did today, I got a stack of Christmas ornaments, a couple of "welcome"s, a portrait of an ostrich and a 17'X14' table centerpiece painted.  I also watched a few movies with Josie, worked a lot on the needlepoint I'm doing for myself and walked a couple of miles every day.  And I'm halfway through the book I'm reading.  It's taking longer than it should because I can't read and do needlepoint at the same time.  I may have to start getting books on cd to clear that hurdle.

One of these days I'll have to start Christmas shopping.  Katie makes that very easy for me, she shops online for herself and just emails me the cart.  Zack said he'd try that too, since mostly he just wants movies and cds.  Josie wants a few little things.  Ty said he wants a big ass painting.  I'm not sure if I can come up with one by Christmas.  He may have to settle for a big painting now and wait for the "big ass wall sized painting" til next spring.  After all, Billy waited eleven months for his.  Margy waited two years. 

On the other hand, if inspiration strikes....we'll just see.

I also got a call from my yule tide customer for some custom calligraphy.  This will be the third or fourth year I've done their Christmas cards for them.  The first few years they sent out hundreds of cards.  It was a tidy chunk of Christmas money for me.  The last two years, since the economy went squishy, the list has gotten shorter, but I'm just happy they still can spend a bit on hand lettering.

I'm profoundly grateful that there are still people out there who are willing to spend some of their discretionary income on something as useless as what I do.

One of the many normal life experiences I've never had is a job interview. 

I've also never been dumped or had a cavity or been in a car accident (What about that time you backed your van into a parked car, you ask?  Maybe I did that on purpose. Maybe that stupid parked car was singing "Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel" and I just couldn't help myself did that ever occur to you??) I've never had to get a restraining order against a stalker.  Not really one of life's normal experiences, you say?  Ha.  You don't know the women in my family.

 I really don't feel at all deprived for never having done those things.

After I had gotten so much work done in so little time, I took off an hour and walked around the lake.  It was gorgeous.  The sun was setting but it was one of those strangely atmospheric days where everything looks really close.  The sun was striking the north end of the lake and the water was that brilliant blue that looks lit from beneath.  Since I'd only been working on larger gauge canvas today, my eyes weren't tired so my vision wasn't blurry.  It was beautiful.

The bald eagle was back at the band stand, perched up on a light post, glaring down at us all as if he were the king of the lake.

No one was arguing with him.

 

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