Don't Make the Bees Angry.

Drawing from my Bee class notes. Don't hit the hive with a hammer.

My Beekeeping class has ended, and today I went out to my teacher's farm for a second time to have some more interaction with real, live bees. It was nice, and a BEAUTIFUL day to be a bee. I dug around in my garden a bit too....I'm mostly waiting on seedlings to get bigger, and for it to be done snowing. It's supposed to be warm this week, but I'm not sure I can trust the weather.

Some great drawings have happened in my beekeeping notebook, as well as some classically absurd conversations with my brother, my best friend Jenni, and 'best fwend' Susie, who is three years old. I'm pretty sure a children's book, or picture book of sorts is taking shape in my mind.

My Kickstarter project is creeping along...I added little journals into the mix as a reward. Take a look and tell your friends!

As always, thank you for reading!

...Bees?

My pretend boyfriend, the garden docent at historical Williamsburg.
My parents and I went there a year ago.

Today I planted snow-pea seeds, carrot seeds around the snow-peas, and more radish seeds around the carrots. I never tire of radishes, and hope to have enough at one time to pickle some this year.

I also started seeds for six kinds of tomatoes in a make-shift greenhouse situation (a clear rubbermaid tub, upside-down) and zinnias, and marigolds.

In Murray, Kentucky last weekend I divided and dug up some lemon-balm that I planted there a decade ago. I had forgotten how very heavy clay the soil is there.

Anyway, even though it may very well snow again this coming Tuesday, I am gardening, damnit. My garlic and onions look good, and I have lots of radish, kale, and lettuces on their way.

Not much to look at yet...

I'm living on a dreamy piece of property, where my landlord has a great deal of garden space, apple trees, and four rowdy hens running around. I can't even get into all the sunflowers I'm planning on planting.

A long-time daydream, (like the huge garden, and chickens in my future) is happening this spring. I think I really got decisive about it when I was in Bakersfield in January. Honeybees. Where I'm living would be such a great place for a hive of bees, and I knew my landlord would be excited about it, and she totally is.

And so am I. Like anything I get excited about, in January I began ferociously, obsessively learning all I could about bees. This includes reading four books (so far), taking a continuing ed. class at Mayland Community College, and joining the Toe Cane Beekeepers Association.

And I feel prepared. I am starting with a 'nuc' (nucleus hive...) of bees sometime around the end of April or beginning of May, and I have most of my equipment at the ready, including the hive body, which (I know the bees won't care) is painted a lovely shade of robins egg blue.

I am also planning some of my planting for the bees...lemon balm, bergamot, pollen & nectar-plenty flowers, herbs, and clover seeds wherever I can toss them in blank patches in the garden.

I look forward to sharing how this adventure progresses!

So let it out and let it in.

Look, I'm blogging again.

Summer has gone quickly and has been full, busy, wet, and difficult. And suddenly it is almost over. Wasn't I just saying how spring was almost turning into summer?

Remember how in the winter during my residency I said how I'd never seen so much  snow in my life? Well, this summer in the mountains of North Carolina I have seen the most RAIN in all my life. It rained all of July. Days, weeks of rain. Moldy shoes. Moldy everything.

Boring. Here, let's look at pictures:

Bad picture of really interesting little things.

Same again.

Tiny bundles.

My god-daughter met her first cat friend,
and Alfred met his first little girl friend.

And by the end of the week they were best buddies. 

There were heart-shaped puddles.

Against all odds, I did grow tomatoes this year.

Several kinds of tomato. (and squash, too.) 

I went to California for like 10 minutes. And I ate all the fish.

And I took photos of things I've always known by heart.

And then I came home and I ate all these peas.

The best day of summer was a sunny one, August 3. I went tubing with friends, ate a cheeseburger and chocolate shake from Bonnie and Clyde's, took a two hour nap with Star Trek: the Motion Picture on (a GREAT movie to nap to) and then went up for delayed fourth-of-july fireworks and astronomy at Penland. I saw Saturn through a telescope and the international space station swing by. It was lovely.

Mostly there's been work and numbers and spiders and rain. But things are better now, and getting better and better. The Benefit Auction is past, and I'm gladly taking a class the last week of summer. I am moving into a better place soon, (BETTER!) and yes, that's three moves in two years for those keeping count at home.

'Til next time.

"Frühjahrsmüdigkeit."

This time of year I experience much fatigue, as well as a sort of anxious restlessness. We've finally had a couple of astoundingly bright, blue-skied, DRY days, and rather than joyfully playing outside all day, I have just felt very tired and blah.

Yesterday I learned there is a german word for such a form of spring fever, and my friend Christina Boy tells me it translates as "springtimesleepiness."

Perfect.

I haven't posted on my blog in a bloody long time. Spring was a long time coming, and here it is almost Summer. It is almost time to keep an eye out for fireflies.

No really. We had lots of snow through March, and gross rain and cold...it even sleeted a week or so ago, in the middle of an otherwise mild spring day.

March 26 at the Penland Gallery.

I had thought I would not be able to try out my new boots
'til next winter. Ah, Well.

Spring concentration at Penland came and went. It's a pretty blur. 

I have a new job. Well, I'm working at the Penland Gallery still, but now in the capacity of "bookkeeper" since my friend Bekah left for a new opportunity. I miss Bek, but the job is good and busy, and I am still settling in and learning.

So much learning.

When I'm not book-keeping I'm still book-binding.

Books Books Books.

And still doing other weird things that tiptoe amongst sculpture, installation, magic, and hoarding... 

Creepy things inside other things, inside.

 Speaking of creepy, Alfred is still complicated...

Creeper.

Oh, Alfred.

Fatigue aside, I am having a delightful week of house, dog, and chicken sitting for some friends. I love chickens, and I like to think these chicks have taken a liking to me as well. Particularly the big fluffy grey one, and a yellow-y one that I have taken to calling "Lemon-head."

Of course I hope to have some of my own chickens someday. Yes, yes, I'm one of those. I really don't know where it will be, but I like the day-dreamy big garden (but not-quite-a-farm) in my head with the chickens and the bees, and the perennials  and bulbs that can stay put and not have to be dug up with every move.

Today in North Carolina.

I have my real 2013 garden in progress, but have not taken many photos yet. I don't think things will be quite as dreamy this year, because I am dealing with a very shady back yard. I have garlic and onions planted in the ground, but almost everything else will be in containers on my huge deck. But I have suspicions that there may not be enough sun on the deck to pull off the rockin' tomato situation that I rejoiced in last year.

Ah, well. I have greens and kale and strawberries and radishes doing pretty well, and damnit, I have a bunch of types of tomatoes started, and more daydreams of making tomato jam and pickled radishes and pickled pickles, and the rest. I gotta try, right?

Speaking of preserves, I've made my way through most of a jar of strawberry-rhubarb jam since Saturday. That's okay, right?

"Frühjahrsmüdigkeit."

Summer looked like this.

My little books in the window of John & Lisa's studio,
during the TRAC tour in June.

A few books. I'm not talking about it as much,
 but I'm still making the hell outta some books. 

Summer is over, folks. Here in Spruce Pine we have had some cold nights and mornings, and more than a few trees are hinting at autumn. At Penland we have just over a week of summer classes remaining, and yesterday was my first day teaching at Appalachian State University in Boone.

Summer gardening was splendid, and my tomatoes did better than I could have hoped. I went swimming on the 4th of July. I found more than a few four-leaf clovers. I watched a meteor shower with Courtney Martin and John Geci. I laughed uncontrollably in the meadow at Penland with Yvonne Cavannah. At the Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain, I ate kettle-corn under a leaky easy-up tent in a 45 minute downpour with Kate Boyd. I had some sweet visitors. I walked a lot. I can't complain about summer.....well, maybe I can a bit. This was the first summer ever where I didn't have a big far-away adventure planned...and although in some ways that was wonderful, (the tomatoes!) I also have felt very restless, a little crazy, and at times very sick of ol' Spruce Pine. I had a few little adventures, (including a very short trip to Baltimore!?) and having visitors made summer much much better. 

Summer is the busiest time of year at Penland, and it is exhausting. Mostly good exhausting, but it is a bit of a bummer when you are not participating in a class. It is indeed a bit like working at Disneyland.

Mmm, let's go to Disneyland!

Anyway, books have been made and sold. Drawings have been drawn. I just keep going.

Just a few strawberries. 

Sometimes the sky at Penland looks like this.

Ginger Ale & Bourbon.

Luna Moth & Intern Reflection.

Oh gosh, I shall miss Victoria Fabulous, our gallery intern. 

MYSTERIES.

Mystery Hill near Blowing Rock, NC.

Garden garlic, chilies, tomatoes, basil.

Have I mentioned the tomatoes?

How could I get sick of Spruce Pine? Come on.

I BOUGHT A BICYCLE!

Going to Baltimore for about 30 hours? Folly. 

Piles of words.

hmm.

Taking things apart, and putting them back together.

Radish harvest.

I pickled a bunch of them. It was good.

Bread-baking, also.

The TRAC tour is this weekend! I really don't know what to expect. I'm working on getting everything ready today, and we're setting up at Lisa's this evening. I've been working a lot in my studio the past couple of weeks. It is good. Confusing, but mostly good. More photos soon.

THIS is almost something! Again, photos sooner or later.

Hope all is well, all over the place!

May.

O, poor neglected blog.

Here's the news in brief.....

1. The Toe River Arts Council studio tour is sneaking up, and I'll be exhibiting at Lisa Blackburn's studio. I am excited about this weekend-long event, and as always, feel like there's no way I have enough work finished. I'm starting to think I will always feel that way, forever. That could be a motivating factor if it doesn't paralyse me with fear.

2. The same weekend as the TRAC tour, my friend Yvonne will arrive from California! She'll be staying with me and will be participating in a two-week ceramics class at Penland. I am super excited for her. (and have a lot of cleaning to do!)

3. I AM WORKING ON A WEBSITE. I know I've said that before, but really. I am in the midst of a trial membership with "squarespace" and I'm planning on committing in the next few days. It will be pretty simple. ...What would you like to see on my website?

4. In related business news, my pal Beth Schaible is making me business cards! I'm so glad. Last night I ran down to Asheville to attend the grand opening of 7 Ton Letterpress Collective, of which Beth is a member. Way cool.

5. In the Fall I will be teaching Intro to Drawing and Lithography at Appalachian State University, in Boone, NC. That's about an hour north of here. Really, Michelle? Yes, really. It is two days a week, and I'll still be working in the Penland Gallery three days a week. I am already bracing myself. (BTW, you should check out that "gallery" link...we recently did a major revision on the gallery's website.)

6. Gardening. A lot. Maybe I'll take some pictures today. For now, here's a picture of a million radish seeds. A while ago I accidentally left a few partial-packets of seeds out in the rain.....and since they got soaked, I went ahead and planted all of them at once. I have radishes aplenty for a while...

Okay. There's art to finish, a house to clean, a lawn to mow, and tomatoes to stake. Happy Sunday!

Heads Up Seven Up.

Rainy day schedule here in Spruce Pine, meaning I'm not working outside as I have been the past four days. This is springy rain, mind you. I have been listening to records, the windows are open, and I plan on doing lots of internet business this afternoon.

In my last post I visually gushed about crocuses and spring flowers. Later that day I noticed that while I was busy being enchanted by Penland's well-kept grounds, my own crocuses were struggling against all the weeds and leaves that I never cleared out from the fall.

Try harder, Michelle.

So I spent an afternoon clearing out dead weeds, ivy, and leaves while tip-toeing amongst the crocuses and on-the-way tulips.

I found this little guy while clearing out weeds. 

I wandered lonely, as a cloud...

The well-established daffodils in my back yard are fully blooming, and the ones that I planted in the fall are on their way. But good gracious, what about all that jagged brown stuff?

Japanese Knotweed is ruining everything.

I have been clearing and cutting up tons of huge, dry sticks, the remainder of the wall of Japanese Knotweed that has overtaken two edges of my backyard. I have given up hopes of clearing it completely. I do plan on keeping it under control this year, particularly in the part of the yard I am planning for a veggie garden.

...I can see it out there now, being blown over in all directions by the wind. Mocking me.

Although it was starting to rain a bit...I planted seeds today! What!? In February? I talked myself out of it yesterday, but my friend Courtney Martin said she planted some, so...

kale, lettuces, spinach, arugula, radishes

Henry and Alfred aren't sure about my spending so much time outside...

Learning.

I've been in Spruce Pine, North Carolina just over a month, and everything is going well.

I am suspicious of how well things are going. But that's just my distrustful nature.

I haven't been blogging because I have no idea where to begin. There are things I want to share from the month before I left Los Angeles. Heck, I never really reported on Unique LA or Austin Renegade, huh?

Or my super-cool former students and the conclusion to my time at CSUN.

Or my spontaneous adventure to Visalia and Sequoia with a van full of teenagers.

Right now I am at the sweet little Spruce Pine Library. the calico library-cat, Valentine, is curled up on my red backpack, purring quite loudly. Yeah, yeah: cute. But my heart belongs to my roommate, (the one who is not human) Henry, who doesn't pay rent, sleeps all day, stays up late, and doesn't clean up his messes.


Actually, Henry is one of the most mellow, easy-going cats I have ever known.

I have spent the past month unpacking, organizing, arranging, rearranging, cleaning, moving, and looking. I'm bored with it and wish it could be an automatic adjustment into feeling "at home."




I have also been digging in the yard which has been wonderful, satisfying work. I arrived a bit late in summer to get a garden going, but about a week ago I did start some pumpkins. They were growing quite happily until yesterday I discovered that some spiteful cutworms had put an end to them. Boo. So that's enough about gardening for the moment...

My "studio" is still the area of the house where I haven't unpacked everything, and I don't know where things belong....so I haven't been working. But soon. Oh, and I have a little table-top etching press staying with me now, as the fourth roommate. She's still settling in too. I'd post a picture, but my camera seems to be broken.

This past weekend was Penland's Annual Benefit Auction, the tenth that I have been involved in. And that deserves its own post.