I made a new friend...

If you know me, you know I love old houses. If you don't know me... Hey, I LOVE old houses... especially abandoned ones I can sneak inside and photograph. Yesterday, I drove to a small town two hours north of here to judge an art competition at a new gallery and on my way, I saw this gem of a place.

I've seen and photographed it before, but yesterday was so overcast and foggy, I had to stop. The light was perfect! Here are a few shots from the encounter:

In every room, the floor was like this.

The walls and ceilings were very dramatic. Gravity, light, and weather taking their toll on the wallpaper and ceiling boards... Light pouring in through every crack possible.

This is my favorite shot. It's almost cozy. Weird, right?

That's all for me and my new friend... for now, at least.

Shoulder Holes...

This week was my first week back at work (grown-up work) after the holidays. While there's been PLENTY to do, I, myself, have not been very motivated. Those creative juices just aren't flowing (possibly why it's been so tough to start this blog)! So. I decided to give myself a little boost with a much needed solution to a hole in my favorite new cardigan.
First off, WHO gets holes near their shoulders in sweaters??? WHO!? I do.















I have no idea how this happened, but when I saw this little monster of a hole, I was quite upset. I've been trying to think of how to fix it without it looking like it's been sewn shut or patched, and a button was the only answer I could come up with. A button all the way over to the edge near the shoulder seems weird, though, RIGHT????
I started with a large grey button and then found this great little rose button that would look awesome in the middle of the grey one. So, i hollowed out the center of the grey button and sewed the rose button over the hole in the sweater through the middle of the grey one.
Then I added some smaller ones to make it look almost like a balloon floating away... or something.
So. There you have it. I now want to cover everything I own in clusters of buttons and still don't want to organize faculty files or expense reports. So it goes.

I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time now, but I'm spending too much time trying to formulate exactly what it will contain.... Posts about my work, home, art, etc.
I think it will be a mix.
For now, though, I'm going to just log gasps. Here's the deal:
For eight years now, I've had these random, hiccup-like occurrences that are quite disturbing. I suddenly feel my chest get tight, and gasp, uncontrollably, just ONCE. The gasps vary in volume, pitch, etc. but always leave me a bit short of breath. I quickly return to normal and it's like the gasp never occurred. This happens several times a day with no rhyme or reason! So. I'm logging it.
Today:
11:17 a.m., loud and sudden--- drinking water
1:00 p.m., mild--- chest tight, short of breath
1:28 p.m., high pitch, very tight chest, feeling of food in throat

To be continued!