So. What do I do all day? That's a question I have been asking myself, made more relevant as the other day the man who has been putting copper siding on our house asked me if I was teaching this year. Two years ago I taught my daughter's 4th grade art class, but that was once a week and not even every week. In order to reorient myself to make recorded music again, I needed to clear the decks and free my schedule.
But 14 months later, I am still working on what grew from 1 full length cd to 2 separate projects of 2-3 eps each. However, the pace is not consistent and I guess you would say there is some down time.
So, it's 10:25am. After getting the kids off to school, I went for a run and listened to the VM recordings I made yesterday of a song I started. Yeah, I thought, (hoped?) maybe I was done generating new songs for a while, but no. No. There's always something new to sing about, and I've been listening to some Kate Bush (and Laurie Anderson) lately, so whatever. So, in the privacy of my run, I can sing along and try out different melodies (I run neither fast nor far). I saw a baby snapping turtle, so I took a picture and posted to my instagram account, as.....this is what "artists" are supposed to-generate content, right? haha. But the turtle was cool. And tiny! And chilling and honestly, it seemed to have a LONG way to go to get to a pond. Earlier in the summer I had moved a turtle close to a pond that I thought it would like, then later regretted it. What do I know about where turtles want to go? So, I left the baby turtle there.
I stopped in to just tag up to the tree I sometimes go to. I guess it's a confessional. Ok, now it's 10:30am and I've set a recurring alarm just for the hell of it. It's sort of like the "call to prayer" but I just go, "Oh, it's 10:30." I stopped wearing a watch a few weeks ago-much happier, though hard decision/choice as I've worn one since the 2nd grade.
Then, I texted the woman who is getting married in two weeks at our barn. I am actually marrying them! So now we are meeting tomorrow. This will be only my second time officiating and even though I don't "know" them, they told me enough about themselves-well, next to nothing! haha but I have a stake in their success, so to speak, so I'm in.
Came home, sauna, bath, mulled over what I want to say during their ceremony-think I have it, don't really want to write it down, but might make some notes. I do have a robe that I made to wear when I married my friends Mark and LeAnn. These people getting married are into camo and they have apparently gotten me a camo-print sashy thing that officiants sometimes wear. I think her dress is even white camo. Phone call with the caterer they no longer need since they are making their own food.
Then, ok. I did sort of loaf for a bit and read an article in the NYTimes about women/friendship/misconstruing. The author states what she wants/expects that. Her friend thinks people don't say what they mean. Both learned from their mothers. I almost always say exactly what I mean, so this was good for me to read, because if your styles are different, you need to figure that out. Then I reread a bit of the David Brooks column about love/happiness because (it's a little bit nutty) I sometimes clip out bits of all kinds of articles that seem to give me the bit of information that I need and then tape them in a notebook. Do I reread these? Yes. But not all the time. I guess when I've incorporated this new information into my psyche, I no longer need the quote. But by actually clipping it out and taping it, I usually have read it at least 3 times, which helps.
Then, I took a photo for some kind of art series. I have 3 photos so far of this art piece. This is a first for me, I've never used photography in this way before. But I think I should have a few more before I do anything with them. I'm not really in any rush, because there is something about the spontaneity of this assemblage that is at the heart of the piece. That's all I want to say about it at the moment, but I made this 3rd assemblage last night while I was talking to one of Harry's caregivers while I was altering a ball gown that she is wearing tonight to a Fundraiser for the Homeless, for whom she works at her day job. She is so pure and kind and good. It's shocking.
So, here we are at 10:47. I wanted to Marie Kondo my closet and the fastest way to do that was to say I am only going to wear clothes that I make/design. i have on a skirt that I made during a collaboration with my friend Bari when we were working on starting a line of accessories/clothing called Orlander. She makes these incredible silkscreens and I'm lucky enough to have some of the fabric still.
I'm a complete luddite but I think I will try to use my smart phone-it is smart, right? to give me a prompt to write a new blog post. How often should I do one? Once a week?
Instagram: leslienuss1 has photos
Twitter: leslienuss1 has my reactionary tweets
Soundcloud: leslienuss has demos/new songs
FB: leslienussmusic has mostly archival photos and announcements maybe fb live at some point
YouTube: has some videos, some audio of my passion for playgrounds with adaptive equipment.
Keep on Keeping on,
Leslie
ps. I'm not sure I have found the right font/text size, etc. will keep trying.