Home on a Snow Day

Hi everyone.  It is snowing pretty good right now and looks like it might snow a good part of the day. We went from bare ground to white again- guessing it looks like we have about 10 inches (around 25 cm). Who knows when this snow stops how much we will have.

But to quote everyone around here, this is what we say about March snow. "At least it doesn't last long." Seeing the sun is higher and the days are longer. But of course long is rather a vague term and so as you can guess it could be here for a week or 2. Just not months. I hope. :)

I just went out and dumped a whole bunch of bird see on the top of the snow for the birds-poor things-I have a bunch of ground feeders out there looking sad and hungry, and 5 minutes later the husband comes along and snow blows all the seeds away. Guess I need to redo that all over again! (And I thought he was leaving for work.)

 Today I just have some random photos for you. With all this Gelli printing showing up online I spent a morning of my vacation last week making a stack of prints.

 I made marks and used stencils when I Gelli printed, as well as over printing a lot. I like to add several layers to may prints.

 I Gelli printed on deli wrap. I Gelli printed on the backs of old printed scrapbooking paper. I Gelli printed on the front of scrapbooking paper. I even Gelli printed on some sheets of watercolor paper.

You'll see some of these background soon I am sure.

And since I am sitting with no place I have to go, let me do a little book chatter too. I have been reading and listening up a storm as usual.

If you're not into books you might want to skip out here.

Here's a book that I picked up and read in short spurts. It's the stories of some of the colors we artsy folk are probably familiar with. It's more of reference style book, but the stories are interesting and fascinating to read, not completely technical. A little art, a little history, a little chemistry...

And I mentioned last book post that I was into mysteries and was reading book 1 of an Anasazi/archeology mystery, The Visitant. I enjoyed it so much I am onto book 2.

 I am really enjoying these authors and how they jump back and forth between the present and the past to connect the 2 stories of modern day archeologists and a past native American culture. I am learning a lot too because they have researched their topic (and even list sources in the back). 

 And I am listening to one of my favorite books ever, the Poisonwood Bible. Barbara Kingsolver is  really magical with her prose in this story, set in the early 1960's with an American Family who move to the Congo. It's our book club book for March, and I have wanted to reread it for quite some time. The woman who narrates this book from Audible has the most mesmerizing quality to her voice, which is really sucking me in even more than when I read it from a book the first time. I can say it is still one of my favorite books.

And back in early February I read this travel book by a Canadian author. He was teaching English in Japan and decided to hitchhike the length of the nation. This book is a comical story of this trip.  I wanted some light reading to get a little  familiar with Japan for when I travel there. I enjoyed this book although in some ways I kept waiting for him to get to the most northern island.

 And back in January I spent an afternoon next to the woodstove reading this drawing/travel style book. Vivian Swift has written 2 other books I really loved, "When travellers Cease to Roam" and  '"Le Road Trip" and even though this book was on my shelf for awhile I finally got around to reading it. 

I should have read it sooner.

 Usually in the winter I get such a craving for green. This book took care of that for a bit. I keep waiting for her to publish another book.

And finally, back in January I got back to and finished this book.

I started it last year before the kidney transplant surgery, and I put it aside because it was too big to bring to the hospital with me. Then for some reason I never picked it back up. Anyhow, it was a really enjoyable read and a very clever story. If you haven't read it and want something to sink into, this might be a good choice.

OK, I have taken up enough your time, and mine too. I should move onto to something like going into the studio. :) That sounds like an excellent idea.

Hope your day is sunny and bright, and CJ, I hope you have less snow than wee do.