Everything Broke Down at Once

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 Last week the refrigerator and the vacuum cleaner broke down irrevocably and a leak sprung in the bathtub which will necessitate tearing out all the tiles to investigate and then reseal whatever it is.  I realize this is a first world problem; I'm grateful to have a home with  two bathrooms;  since the children moved out Arthur and I have had the luxury of a private bath each.  So please forget I even said anything. It seems that it's not the whole fridge, just the ice maker, so I was thinking how am I going to get ice?  Those bags they sell are so heavy will I have to lug them home? and Arthur said, we have ice cube trays, you know. Can I really complain about having to make my own ice?  As I said, please forget I said anything.

Sam just reminded me that this bathroom disaster happened about twenty years ago--I had totally forgotten.  Our apartment is a loft; we bought a big room with a kitchen and a bathroom in what was once a warehouse and we put in the interior walls and the second bathroom.  It was kind of the Wild West--there were no rules as to where to put the bathroom so I just did what I wanted and the result is some quixotic plumbing.  As the plumber said to me, "Plumbing works in mysterious ways..."

I'm going to look on this as an opportunity.  I'm thinking about replacing the old tiles, and only the ones that get removed, with blue ones.  It'll look kind of random, and it may look something like the Linda Stillman photograph hanging in the kitchen.


Here's a before picture;


I'll let you know how it turns out.

I like to take a mistake and make it work.  As I used to say to my students, "If you make a wrong line, or one you don't like, don't erase it; use it as a guide line to what you do want."

When I redid the kitchen floor I bought beautiful black tiles--very chic.  But the company--was that Home Depot?  sent one box of black tiles and one box of gray. We didn't discover that until the Tile man (I'm sorry I don't remember his name) was here and if we sent back the gray tiles it would be another week and he'd miss a day's work.  So we thought about it.  Maybe a checkerboard? No.  How about a border of one color and a center of the other?  He described it as the perimeter, but he pronounced it with the accent on the third syllable, so Perry Meter.  I think it's a much cuter word and I say it to myself whenever I look at my beautiful kitchen floor. 


Even amid disasters the work goes on.  I have drawings on display in two on-line exhibits which you can see in the comfort of your own home--no need to go out in this heat.

Here are the links;

https://nyartistscircle.com/curated-shows/i-dreamed-a-garden 

This show about gardens is divided into three sections; Remembered, Observed and Imagined Gardens. My piece, "the Garden at Night" is in the imagined section but you'll enjoy them all.

https://nyartistscircle.com/curated-shows/elsewhere

The theme of this show is "Traversing the dimensions outside of our immediate present." Mine is "House of Green with Walrus."

These two beautiful shows were created by members of the New York Artists Circle that I'm delighted to be part of--and to share with you!


Now here's an update on my current work-House of Blue



I've reached the top floor!  I heard that when you're building a house and you finish the roof you're supposed to throw a party so please join me in celebrating the next step.  Just wait 'til next week!

Location: 3J4C+C8 Rankinville, NS, Canada

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