I woke up on Sunday and felt happy and ready to face the day again. The gray depression is fading, if not gone. Organizing the house, getting the paper blob back into folders, updating Quicken by closing the quarter, and painting some figures seemed to work. I still get tired in the afternoon and/or the early evening and often nod off for a while, but then I wake and can keep going. I am back to being a morning person, and my energy drives me to write, do housework, and pay bills in the fresh sunlight (or Oregon’s grayish glow that replaces sunlight). I try to remember to get a card done for Mom Wild Monday-Saturday, before the mail person appears around 10, or sooner. I often write them, like I am writing this on Monday morning, while writing the blog, and then put on my robe and slippers and the card in the mailbox. My neighbors see me sometimes, make catcalls, and call back with good humor, “Retired!”
I was time-boxed, and Deborah called. We had a nice chat. Out of time (which was fine as I can complete the blog later), I showered, shaved, dressed, and headed out early to First United Methodist Church in Air VW the Gray. I was speaking on the New Member class I was asked to hold; I quickly sent out a plan for the class to various folks at the church. Z and I were also covering Theology Pub.
It is May 4th, “May the Force (Forth) Be with You” Day, and Pastor Ken wished everyone the Force, but it was clear he is not a true believer. He spoke about the same scripture I preached on, but he went on and focused on the part where Jesus calls Peter out. As you would imagine, I focused instead on the cooking and fishing part and barely mentioned the talking to Peter got. But Ken did concentrate on Jesus’ call to “feed my sheep.” Ken then called various folks to speak about some of our opportunities to help, including our food programs at the church, the Theology Pub, and my class. How our UMC was ‘feeding the sheep.” I went up with Z, who had written a short item and was on her phone. Z quickly discovered it is difficult to hold the tiny screen, read it, and look up. Z then just remembered what to say and soon finished without the phone. Z asked me to add some comments. I just noted the adult beverages in the picture of us in a Theology Meeting at a local place, and that the drinks help discuss complex subjects and keep one’s composure. And sometimes it is best to just sip the beverage rather than to speak. I next quickly covered the details of my class. Ken returned to the pulpit and preached about his difficulty living well while poverty crushed many.
We also had a guest singer and communion, and the service ran over. I helped with the offering and communion. Jack and I put the loose money and the giving stuffed in official envelopes found in the pews into the safe. There is a slot in the safe to put things in, so there is no need to open it. I then headed out and boarded the EV.
I drove home, grabbed my laptop, and returned to Beaverton and the Cedar Mills McMenamins. There, I got a beer, fish and chips, and made the reservation for Theology Pub! Done. I also finished the blog and got it published. The bartender, Rylan, was our waiter at Theology Pub before, and will be working on Thursday, so we might get him again. Excellent!
It was a lovely day, and I walked around my yard and looked at my roses. They are almost blooming. Rust on two bushes is not worse. The pomegranate is still just green buds instead of leaves. It is still more of a $60 stick than a small tree. I’m hopeful!
I started on my rush painting for the board game Unsettled. I don’t like to paint board game parts; the game is unavailable until the work is done. I might play on Tuesday morning, making it a rush. I tried to prime the figures in white but ran out of white. One piece is to be white, and I have to hand-paint the white now instead of using a spray. These are larger, so the brush strokes will show. Ugh!
(The round thing is the robot Luna. I have some of the white and the start on the eyes. The crew is all primed and their bases painted. You can see the M.A.S.H. figures behind them that I have not finished. The more miniature gray figures are the Pandemic figures I am also working on.)
I also resolved to dry the Speed Paints for the crew figures. These paints are a mix of inks and paint, so cover with darker shades in lower spots. I would have preferred white for this process, but I will deal with light gray. You sort of just slop the paint on. A near disaster as the orange shade bottle, they use a tear-drop to put control paint use (no little annoying bottles with caps), when the top blew out and doused my work space. I was not covered, nor were the figures splattered. Just a mess to clean up. Once orange was cleaned up and some was used on one crew figure, the rest was disposed of.
(The Speed Paint is now on the crew, and the helmets are painted. While they look more alive, they still look unrealistic. I will overpaint some of the details with other colors and then shade more with black lines to make the 3D look more realistic.)
I let the figures dry, and Luna, the robot in the game, I managed to make its ‘eyes’ look more real. I printed out other folks’ versions of painting the figures and used their ideas as a model for the colors and techniques I used on the game pieces, making Luna’s eyes look more real. I am not an artist, and layering colors with a brush is not in my skill set. I tried to copy the look. It’s not as good as the original, but it gets the feeling right. Better.
I painted a few details German grey and then added some silver and red to make some details pop. I used the German grey because it will still be shaded by a pure black. If I used black, the shading would not work. This is a scale thing. Black makes things disappear, while white alone makes it look 2D and not 3D on these smaller items. You have to lighten and darken to make it look more realistic.
Dinner was leftover Korean that I reheated. It was better the second time. I fell asleep in my chair in the living room while Star Wars played (it being May 4th). Deborah woke me when she called, and we chatted until she got sleepy. We try to start and end our days together by phone.
I spoke to Joan S, and we will try the new Marvel movie on Monday. I managed to get the gloss coat on the figures at 11:30 when I could not sleep. Earlier, I was reading and nodding off, put on my PJs, and slept. Something, forgotten now, woke me in my first moments of sleep, and I know it takes a while for me to sleep then. I got up and sprayed the figures with gloss. This makes them ready for oil paint shading. I like to do oils for shading after sealing the figures with a light dusting of gloss. I read more, fell back to sleep, and did not wake until 4ish to prove hydration.
Thank you for reading!
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