Discovery

Mr. Eleven is away on a fishing trip for the entire weekend. My plan was to spend every possible second working on THDP. Things didn't exactly work out as I had planed.

Each morning the first thing Frankenstein and I do is walk the grounds. We go out in the yard and make sure everything is OK, well I do, he marks his territory. This morn I noticed that in one of our 4 bird baths was a little chipping sparrow. It was 45 degrees out and this little guy was huddled in the bath. This is strange enough, but the day before I found a scarlet finch sleeping in another birdbath?! The finch flew away when I woke him up. But the little chipping sparrow just sat there. He finally took a leap out of it and hopped under a bush to hide. He seems to be too young to fly. Odd for this time of year. Then Frankenstein saw him. I had to lay down the law with my assertive voice, NO! The little bird looked too much like a dog toy. But Frankenstein listened to me and stayed clear. The bird found a safe place to hide and I can't locate him now. I am hoping he is OK. This all seems rather odd, why are the birds sleeping in cold water?

Our next chore of the day is to poop the Lizard. Truman just needs a ride to the shower and she does the rest. Frankenstein likes to watch. She did her biz and we were on our way.

It is time for our walk. We gathered our things and set out. The moment I shut the back door I knew what I had done!..We were locked out!.. Panic! Mr.Eleven won't be back till Sunday evening. My first thought was well Frankenstein and I can sleep in the studio, a day and a half with out food or heat is doable. Wait...no it is not! So I decided to break in. But first we went on our walk. I didn't want to freak out the dog so I acted like everything was fine. All the while planing how I would break in to our house. By time we got home I had a plan. Lucky for me there is a ladder in my studio. Also I remembered that I had to open the Kitchen window to let a fly out just the day before. For some reason had not locked it, but remembered that I didn't. It wasn't easy, but I was able to climb in!...YIPPY! Frankenstein hardly noticed what I was doing. He was busy hunting for chipmunks all the while.

I was still feeling the stress of having to meet some Artist Grant deadlines last week. The mere thought of filling out those applications and submitting slides makes my guts rot with pain. The little bird was on my mind, was he OK? Then I locked myself out of the house! What next? I just didn't have it in me to paint. I know these aren't the worst things in the world, but my stomach hurt. My to do list was calling, so today would be the day I rip out the disgusting carpet in our family room and hall. Fun!..mindless fun! Well, it is hard but requires no thought, so, perfect.

As I was pulling up carpet in the closet I noticed a box jammed in a corner. It was old and dusty and could be easily missed.. I opened it. It was full of records! 45's from the 60's!..Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Rascals, Sony and Cher and much more. All in mint condition. So cool! If my life was a movie this little box could be sold for a fortune and all my materilistic dreams could come true! I wished I had a record player so I could play the records. It made me think of The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. A box of memories, but not my memories. But still it triggered my own. Under the carpet were old linoleum tiles the same ones I had grown up playing on as a kid. This house was built 2 years after I was born so it's bones and my own are made of the same layer of star stuff. Connection!

By avoiding the studio, I became closer to my work. What I thought was a diversion became a discovery. I feel more connected to my home and memory. Tomorrow may be a great studio day! There is no place like home! Not to mention there is one less thing on my to do list!