Challenge accepted

One of the first things I had to do today was deal with our son’s glasses. The rim of the right frame broke at the point where it connects to the bridge. I took the glasses to two different eyeglass shops, and they both told me the glasses weren’t fixable. So I bought a $20 soldering iron and fixed them myself.

It’s not the strongest repair job, but it’ll last until we can get him an eye appointment and some new glasses. Which is more than the pros said they could do.

Also got my newsletter mailed out! (And added maybe 3 words to Troll Tunnels as I decided on a snippet to include.)

For Inktober, the prompt was “juicy.” This glass sculpture is actually a flower, but the translucent portion reminds me of a citrus juicer, so I decided that counts. At the Chazen Museum of Art. I did not note the artist’s name this time, which is bad of me, I know.

Drawing:
drawing of flower sculpture
Photo:
glass flower sculpture

Playing catchup 

Not a lot to say about the weekend (0 words), so I’ll just give you pictures for both Saturday and Sunday prompts for Inktober: “ferocious” and “trail.” The lion is on a merry-go-round at Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, and the trail was in a woodland garden section of a park we stopped at on our way home from vacation.

Ferocious:


Trail:

Such a headache!

Yesterday, a bit after 4, I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Laid down to nap for a bit, and when my son woke me to ask about dinner (I ordered pizza), the head hurt, I couldn’t handle light — basically, full-on migraine. After eating, went back to bed.

Today, I spent most of the day with sunglasses on, but I managed to get some work done. 

40 words yesterday, 0 today.

Didn’t draw yesterday, so used two prompts today for Inktober: “cloud” and “deep.” Lake is Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Drawing:
ink drawing of Sprague Lake
Photo:
Sprague Lake photo

Gilgamesh was a Sumer king

Of him the tablets proudly sing …

Son wanted to talk about Gilgamesh today. It was fun reading him a summary from online and snarking about it. (Like, if Gilgamesh could survive walking across the bottom of the sea with stones tied around his ankles, how can we be sure he wasn’t already immortal?) And we about the first recorded fanfic, too, “Gilgamesh, Enkidu, and the Netherworld.” That was a fun conversation.

No words today either. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow …

Inktober prompt was “filthy.” I drew E. coli from a glass sculpture by Luke Jerram that was at the Chazen Museum of Art. The sculpture is not filthy; it’s gorgeous. But the bacterium itself tends to be found in less than clean environments, so it seemed appropriate.

Drawing:

Photo:

Dance of life

Still not as much focus as I’d like, but I knocked a few things off my to-do list today, so I’ll take it. Words tomorrow, even if it’s just three sentences.

Today’s Inktober prompt was “graceful.” I considered going with a cliché — we saw a swan our first day on vacation — but instead, I took my inspiration from more art from the Chazen Museum. Think it might be better if I roughed it out in pencil first, but it’s not horrible.

Drawing:
drawing of dancer
Photo:
photo of dancer

Day off

I decided to take the day and go to the library, work on my daughter’s Halloween costume, think about my son’s birthday next summer (there’s a game on Kickstarter that hits his sweet spot and is projected to deliver in July) … it’s safe to say the only writing-related thing I did today was the weekly operations call for SFWA.

The prompt for Inktober was “fat.” I went a step removed and drew a quick (and very rough) picture of scales from the geology museum at the Colorado School of Mines. I might have been better off stylizing it more rather than trying to reproduce what I saw.

Drawing:
ink drawing of scales
Photo:
photo of scales

The Ides of October 

Did you know that the Romans sacrificed horses to Mars on the Ides of October? Fortunately today, I encountered nothing so bloody.

I also encountered no words, but I have a plan for tomorrow’s, so that’s progress. Just hoping I don’t spend most of the day trying to fight off a headache that can’t decide whether it’s a sinus headache or a migraine. In any case, not hide-in-a-dark-room-and-wait-for-it-to-go-away bad, for which I am grateful.

Today’s Inktober prompt was “mysterious.” Picture is from Bear Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo is actually a still from a video clip, trying to catch the water that was dripping off the top of the rock.

Drawing:
drawing of rocks and trees
Photo:
shadowed rocks and trees

Early start

Today, the boy was taking the PSAT, which meant I was up by 7 — practically unheard of on a weekend. It also means I got most of my Saturday tasks done by 9 a.m. and then flaked out for much of the rest of the day. Family time, though, so that’s good. Even when there are no new words.

Today, my Inktober sketch is of a pair of “fierce” English cocker spaniel puppies playing at my in-laws’ house. (I didn’t draw the two who were being good.) I used the 0.3 Multiliner and the Pentel brush pen. It’s hard to tell where the ear ends and the face begins, among other things. Still, puppies!

Sketch:
drawing of English cocker spaniels
Photo:
English cocker spaniels

Superstition 

I’ve never minded Friday the 13th. With one blood relative and one in-law having birthdays on the 13th of different months, if anything, I think it’s a cool day.

On the other hand, it’s the second week in a row my son’s school has been disrupted by the threat of violence, so I’m rapidly becoming less fond of October. Again, no damage done other than expense of bringing in experts to check out the bomb threat (I wouldn’t have guessed there were 5 nearby municipalities with bomb-sniffing dogs) and an interrupted day, but that gets to be a bit wearing.

Got around 50 words today. Need to get back on track.

Today’s Inktober prompt was “teeming.” Sketched some flamingoes from the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison with my Copic Multiliner. (If I’d gotten a better picture of the prairie dogs, I’d probably have used them instead.)

Drawing:
flamingoes drawing
Photo:
flamingoes

Begin the hours of this day slow

Robert Frost’s words pretty much describe the way this month has been going for me. The poem “October” in full:

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

~~

Today went better than the past few. 529 words, and an interesting new character introduced to the series.

~~

The Inktober prompt was “shattered.” A car accident, captured along a highway. The rear and the angles are off. Drawing with nib and brush.

Drawing:
drawing of car accident
Photo:
vehicle accident