Hope and Gratitude

In this depressing time - and it's not just the gray cold weather - I'm trying to find and share hopeful, thoughtful things.  

From today's email, this thought from national treasure Dolly Parton:

"I make a point to appreciate all the little things in my life, because I learned early that if you don't, you get disappointed a lot. If you do, you might be pleasantly surprised quite often.

I go out and smell the air after a good, hard rain. I re-read passages from my favorite books. I hold the little treasures that somebody special gave me. By keeping my eyes open for unexpected joys, I find the world gives back more than we sometimes think."

          Source: Author James Clear's newsletter and originally from Dream More (paraphrased)

What "little things" am I grateful for today?

Well, the sun is shining.  My heat is working great.  My tropical plants, pining inside by the window during our cold snap, can go play outside again tomorrow.  And in the news... well, hum right on past most of the news... but one January 6th insurrectionist has refused her pardon because she now realizes she was wrong.

There are rays of hope. 

I'm grateful.

Crunch-Time

You know that mad rush to meet the deadline...

The last few days have been long, tiring ones, trying to get the set for Uptown Players' production of Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike ready in time for photos last night.

I've been popping up and down in the lift like a demented Jack-in-the Box, painting stone walls, then the carpenters popped up and down in the same lift (plus ladders) raising a faux slate roof over an (also faux) breezeway and plopping my weather-vane in place (an even more faux thing, there being neither breeze nor weather inside the theater... and that's just great, thank you, because we've had plenty of freezing weather outside it lately).

Designer, set dresser, TD, carpenters... The whole gang has been really sweating it (despite the cold), racing against the deadline.  This show has a lot of dressing what with its interior furnishings and decoration and its exterior lawn etc.

So.  Busy.

Then yesterday, just as we were starting to see the end of our labors in sight, just as we were starting to think, "We're gonna make it, we're gonna make it, almoooost made it..." a nervous management came to tell us that icy weather meant that photos had to be postponed until today.

He expected us to be mad - instead we immediately and gratefully sat down to rest.

Now, after an evening with my feet up and a good night's sleep, I'll just saunter back into the theater today to add little details, some wood grain on the stairs, a few orange flowers to balance out stage right, that kind of thing.  As far as I'm concerned, the perfect project is one where, once you think you're done, you get the gift of a little extra time to sit and to stare, to evaluate, then to make those few small tweaks that really finish the design.

This time it's orange flowers.

Image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net

White Christmas!

Believed public domain photo

Theater may not pause long for the Christmas holiday, but in Dallas (where we're not much used to freezing weather) it may sometimes reschedule for snow.  This a.m.'s meeting - 50 miles away - was postponed until tomorrow when the roads should be clearer.

Wahoo!  Snow day today!

Yesterday... 

The snow started in the afternoon.  And it gave us a Perfect Christmas Moment: all the gathered friends looking out over our table - laden with wine glasses, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, Southern greens - as outside the dining room window we watched dusk gently settling and fat, white Christmas snowflakes fluttering... turning the everyday world glowingly, sparklingly, Magical.

A Merry Holiday Season to you too, Gentle Reader!

Designer's Life - the External Factors

One important factor in the design process is the condition under which the designer works.  It shouldn't have any real effect on the quality of the product - how good a design it is - but it sure effects the designer's life.

A well designed studio makes working more efficient.  Good lighting, a proper chair, design tools within reach...  Improve your work space, wherever it is, and the more pleasant it is, the easier you'll find it to sit down to work.   I wrote on this topic in February, but I'm thinking of it again because, well, you can only control so much of your environment...

Unlike last time, the External Factor effecting my converted-porch studio is not snow outside, but heat: 100-110 degrees F lately.

I'm melting!  Drawing early in the morning is my only hope - drawing fast!