VSC Day 14
President’s Day
I made a big mistake and tried to write a blog posting directly from Blogger’s site. Bad idea. It ate my post twice! Bad Blogger.
I don’t feel like writing very much the third time, but here’s a short version.
Very productive yesterday. I wrote from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. – about 7,500 words. Makes me very happy.
Today I took a much-needed break from self-contemplation and worked in the Development Office on the NEA grant I am writing for VSC. They aren’t open, but my co-worker here, Rebecca, decided to work, so the two of us spent a pleasant day accomplishing things.
I am going to fiddle around for a while, then eat dinner, then go back to my studio to write some more.
The food here is just stupendous. So good. A different, luscious dessert every evening – bad for the waistline, good for the soul.
Already 14 days here, leaving is beginning to weigh on people and come up in conversation. We all envy the Residents who are here for two or three months. And the staff who work 30 hours a week in exchange for a stipend, studio, and meals. Did I mention the food is excellent?
I wrote this on Word and saved it before publishing to Blogger, so if it screws up again, my post will not be dead again. I hope this works.
Ciao.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
VSC Day 12
VSC Day 12
February 17, 2006
Today is my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, Janet!
Very strange day. I woke up and went to breakfast, then to the quilt shop (Quilted Lily) for coaching on my quilting project. When I left my room, it was mild and overcast. When I left the dining room, it was raining. After the very helpful and pleasant coaching session, I worked up in the development office for a couple of hours, and then went to lunch. While working upstairs, the wind began to blow ferociously and the whole building shook. That definitely got my attention.
At lunchtime, I went downstairs to eat. Suddenly there was an exclamation from someone over by the windows. Huge chunks of ice from the river were breaking up and sweeping by the dining room. The water, which is usually so clear that you can see the rocks on the bottom, was roiled and brown with mud. Spring had swept down while we weren’t looking.
Except, what’s this? As we watched the ice break up, the sun came out and the rain turned in to snow! When I returned to my room after inner, the ground was green, with all the grass exposed. When I went out to dinner later, the ground was white with snow again and the air temperature had dropped very sharply. I heard that it would be 5 degrees tonight. It is lucky that the snow was light, because with our stiff winds, it would have surely been a blizzard if it had snowed at all hard.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring. I will have to re-photograph the river now that the ice broke up. I can get pictures of it reforming over the next few days.
Today is a transition day. All the two-week Residents left – or will leave tomorrow – and a few new faces appeared at dinner, new two-week residents coming in. that reminds me that I am half way through my stay at VSC. I have accomplished a great deal on the book project, not as much on the quilting project. Well, the book I most important to me.
I want to keep my momentum going these next two weeks. I want to leave here feeling I have wrung every last drop out of the experience. I want to be proud of myself.
February 17, 2006
Today is my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, Janet!
Very strange day. I woke up and went to breakfast, then to the quilt shop (Quilted Lily) for coaching on my quilting project. When I left my room, it was mild and overcast. When I left the dining room, it was raining. After the very helpful and pleasant coaching session, I worked up in the development office for a couple of hours, and then went to lunch. While working upstairs, the wind began to blow ferociously and the whole building shook. That definitely got my attention.
At lunchtime, I went downstairs to eat. Suddenly there was an exclamation from someone over by the windows. Huge chunks of ice from the river were breaking up and sweeping by the dining room. The water, which is usually so clear that you can see the rocks on the bottom, was roiled and brown with mud. Spring had swept down while we weren’t looking.
Except, what’s this? As we watched the ice break up, the sun came out and the rain turned in to snow! When I returned to my room after inner, the ground was green, with all the grass exposed. When I went out to dinner later, the ground was white with snow again and the air temperature had dropped very sharply. I heard that it would be 5 degrees tonight. It is lucky that the snow was light, because with our stiff winds, it would have surely been a blizzard if it had snowed at all hard.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring. I will have to re-photograph the river now that the ice broke up. I can get pictures of it reforming over the next few days.
Today is a transition day. All the two-week Residents left – or will leave tomorrow – and a few new faces appeared at dinner, new two-week residents coming in. that reminds me that I am half way through my stay at VSC. I have accomplished a great deal on the book project, not as much on the quilting project. Well, the book I most important to me.
I want to keep my momentum going these next two weeks. I want to leave here feeling I have wrung every last drop out of the experience. I want to be proud of myself.
VSC Day 11
VSC Day 11
February 16, 2006
It’s late and I’m tired, but I haven’t been able to get a posting done for a couple of days – mostly technical issues and lack of opportunity to get on the internet – so I am going to pound out a few sentences to get caught up and then post it on Friday.
Tonight the artists held open studio. Most of the artists allowed to visitors to walk through their studios; all of the studio buildings were unlocked for the evening. It just fascinated me. People here are so talented and they are doing such original work. On Wednesday night, we had residents’ slides and about eight artists showed their work. On Tuesday night – yes, Valentine’s Day – we had a reading and four Resident writers read work, including yours truly. The writing impressed me as much as the art, maybe more because I know what it takes to write well and art is somewhat of a mystery to me. Leslie McGrath (poet), Shirley Ama Ainoo (poet from Ghana), Holly Hughes (poet & essayist), and I (memoirist & playwright) read this week.
Many other activities happened, but I can’t think of all of them now. I am working in the development office 10 hours a week for my work exchange, writing an NEA grant proposal for VSC. Other than meals and the VSC activities, I am mostly writing, writing, writing – over thirty thousand new words to date!!!
I had coffee at the Bad Girls Coffee House today and I am going to take a quilting lesson tomorrow morning. My weekend promises more writing. Wish my brilliant thoughts and strong fingers.
Ciao.
February 16, 2006
It’s late and I’m tired, but I haven’t been able to get a posting done for a couple of days – mostly technical issues and lack of opportunity to get on the internet – so I am going to pound out a few sentences to get caught up and then post it on Friday.
Tonight the artists held open studio. Most of the artists allowed to visitors to walk through their studios; all of the studio buildings were unlocked for the evening. It just fascinated me. People here are so talented and they are doing such original work. On Wednesday night, we had residents’ slides and about eight artists showed their work. On Tuesday night – yes, Valentine’s Day – we had a reading and four Resident writers read work, including yours truly. The writing impressed me as much as the art, maybe more because I know what it takes to write well and art is somewhat of a mystery to me. Leslie McGrath (poet), Shirley Ama Ainoo (poet from Ghana), Holly Hughes (poet & essayist), and I (memoirist & playwright) read this week.
Many other activities happened, but I can’t think of all of them now. I am working in the development office 10 hours a week for my work exchange, writing an NEA grant proposal for VSC. Other than meals and the VSC activities, I am mostly writing, writing, writing – over thirty thousand new words to date!!!
I had coffee at the Bad Girls Coffee House today and I am going to take a quilting lesson tomorrow morning. My weekend promises more writing. Wish my brilliant thoughts and strong fingers.
Ciao.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)