I’ve been very busy in my new life in Adkins Texas.
A quick recap of the last 6 months
Awhile back I decided to do something about my single status and joined a dating site for silver singles, I met a very nice guy, you remember Colorado man, it didn’t work out for us fortunately, because after that discouraging episode I got back on another site and met Richard in June. We wrote and talked on the phone until SEPTEMBER WHEN I DECIDED TO BITE THE BULLET, and move to Texas while keeping GG close by just in case I needed to skidaddle. No skidaddling happening here. I now live in a lovely home a bit larger than GG, she could easily fit into my dining room! This is a photo of a bit of my living room.
I’ve had fun rearranging everything, rearranging Richards life, his furniture, his Knick knacks, and trying to make it feel like home for us….adding lots of plants has helped me feel less homesick for my friends in Caballo.
Charley fits right in, hasn’t worn a leash since we got here. But the best part of the move is not the large beautiful home, the best part is definitely the man. Generous, gracious, kind, loving, all describe my Richard. I am very fortunate and do my best to deserve my good luck and am happy to say that he feels the good luck is his.
To let a new (possible) friend read here. What do you think? Could scare a good man away before I even get to know him.
Im not a complicated woman but I am very frank and open about a lot of things many would criticize me for….and do, it’s not their way but it’s my way to deal with my life, this is my story and I have lto tell it, it’s not an exciting story there are no deep secrets in the life of this lady, no shockers, that I loved and lost is not shocking that I tell about it here should not shock anyone, it’s what saves me. I’ll talk it until it’s a dead boring subject and then I’ll be left with only the good memorias.
Besides it’s a quick way to tell if I would be compatible with someone and they with me before a lot of time passes, I’m not for just anyone, we know that! Wish me safe travels it’s a bumpy road.
Last night I was cleaning my paint palette scraping off the old paint and thought what a reference that is to my life shedding the old constraints looking forward to the future and where it takes me.
We have to batten down the hatches as they say, because stuff is going to blow around today and for the next three days, but it’s warm and sunny and I’m so glad it’s not cold. In Chinese medicine it’s referred to as pernicious wind because of everything in the unhealthy air we breath, a mask would not be a bad idea. Today driving into town with the car window cracked I past some work being finished up on the highway and they’ve put something green on the ground that smells strong enough that it bothered my throat passing by it. I wonder what it is,Weed kill I suspect I wonder if the workers were protected applying it. The roads look great.
Colorado man should be here next week, he hasn’t been dismayed by my suspicions and has valid explanations for my concerns so I’ll be glad to see him. I’m not enthusiastic about continuing this search for the perfect man, maybe he’ll find me, I’m still on the site but distances are long and I’m busy living right now right here, one possibility has quit looking which is too bad as I enjoyed his writing and another says to let him know if Colorado man turns out to be an ass hole. Sweet!
This problem I have with Charley is really my problem I admit that I am sometimes a little lazy about keeping him on his leash for his morning dash across the street to pee. Usually he will run out pee and run back because he wants to share our morning ensure, chocolate regular not extra protein cuz we don’t like it, and go back to bed in my bed under the blankets to sleep a bit longer. But today he bolted out before I could get out to monitor the activity and didn’t come back for 10-15 minutes. I wasn’t going to get dressed and go looking for him he always comes home when he’s done something where he shouldn’t and CJ will have spotted him, Not good! So he finally appears all happy ready for sharing our ensure but surprise no ensure for Charley today! I don’t suppose he can relate that as consequences to his disappearance. I let his sleep in my bed and he was still up there when I got back from town asleep at noon.
Update Colorado man arrives late tomorrow night hungry.
I just invited some facebook RV groups to stop by to check out GG’s new look.
I need to say that my photos do not do her justice, but we are very happy with whats happening on the outside as well as on the inside. I’ve removed and replaced all her inserts(don’t know what they are called) but she looks much cleaner and well cared for and it wasn’t too difficult for me as I could change many of them from the roof, which by the way the repair done a few weeks ago look great. It was a simple job that if I’d had the product they used I could have done it myself. The fact that I had not electric on one side of the RV was almost too simple and was restored with the touch of a button, most embarrassing, you know what I mean? And when she had enough gas applied the generator worked fine too.
I’m waiting on Amazon for a few more items to complete her look, did you notice her new poster on the side, a new carpet for the step, new painting on the side that I’m not real happy about but it’s okay for a hippy person like me.Inside it really just new fabrics because we are in New Mexico and plan to stay here for a long time. And i love color. I miss my Indian fabrics a bit but can change back any time and probably will cuz they look so exotic and make me feel like I’m in a harem of one.
I’m adding a couple photos now that I’ve added before for any new readers interested just in GG
I should probably explain. I am Kate Othon in New Mexico, Kathy Othon everywhere else, silly I suppose but I’ve gotten used to being called Kate here in the park it just grew to the post office and beyond! So now on my business cards I’m Kate Othón. I like it. Officially I’m Kathleen and my sig is just kothon
I painted a colorful painting that I thought would look really nice in the little cafe near here but the owner wasn’t interested, she had just painted her walls and she didn’t want anything on them. Her loss. We talked about a mural on the store wall but now one of the friends that would help do the painting is leaving and now I have less enthusiasm plus it’s very hot still, maybe when she comes back we can do it.
I’ve been busy getting ready for a “Makers Market” next weekend. It will be the first one in T or C, hopefully there will be a good turnout but a storm is in the forecast. I’ll take all these oval pour paintings that I covered with resin but don’t like much. Not doing any more resin work, it seems to trigger my IC, and now even spray varnish does the same. I’ve ordered a better respirator but probably shouldn’t use these chemicals any more, I’ve hypersensitive to them now.
I’m wondering about a web site for Kate. I want to be able to direct people to the art and not this more personal blog. Something to put on my cards to show work that I’ve done and where prints can be bought.I don’t want to spend much, keep it simple and stylish. Maybe my daughter will help me get it set up though I do like to do things for myself it takes me so long and I forget what I’ve done and what needs to be done. yeah, the forgetting thing, always a problem. that and procrastination, my major faults these days.
We’ve had some noisy weather here in Caballo, wind, thunder and lightening but not a lot of rain, the other night it got so loud poor Charley was scared and wanted to come sleep with me. As I now sleep in my chamber above the cab he hasn’t been interested in sleeping up there but now he was scared and wanted up. His sad little face I saw when I looked over the edge made me smile and I grabbed for him but it was a hit or miss situation , could I just lean over and lift him up or would I drop him? If he’d weighed another pound he would have been dropped but he made it up, we were both relieved and although he was closer to the noise now he fell asleep.
The next morning I went up to check my roof to see if my shower liner was still intact. It need some fixing but was in good shape. I felt so powerful being able to do this myself. You’ll note that I am wearing a skinny little top that no 78 year old woman should be seen in but it was hot and no one here cares but I won’t wear it again, unless I do. I’ve been working on strengthening, see those arms!
This morning I woke up too early but thought I should do laundry now and so I got it together and drove 15 miles to a modern laundromat in Hatch, the chili capital of the world, they also have a nice hardware store I’d rather go to than Walmart and I needed some stakes to hold done the tent I was borrowing for the market so I got to do laundry and get the stakes and was home again before 9. Sometimes I use my little washing machine but sometimes I need to do sheets and towels and then I go to a laundromat.
My glasses disappeared which was no great loss and made me stop procrastinating about getting glasses. Since loosing them I’d been wearing Walmart readers 3+ which I could walk around in but not read, they were just not powerful enough to read. A friend told me she ordered some readers on amazon and I should check there for stronger readers.I did and ordered two pairs of 4+ and they sent me 5+ which is okay because now I can REALLY read well with them.
But I saw where you could get progressives to wear all the time for $30 and thought wow if they work I’d save a bunch instead of getting new rx glasses. So I ordered them and I love them and will not bother to spend $300+ on new glasses again. they are perfect and came with a blue light tester and repair kit. I’m happy with them even though I look a little silly in these big glasses.
Haven’t written for awhile, don’t know why, just busy living I suppose.
I have a leak in my RV roof, haven’t been able to find anyone to help me fix it so I did the next best thing and did it myself.
I didn’t think I could get up to the roof but found I could climb that ladder and it wasn’t as hard as I thought, or scary. Wish I’d gotten a picture to scare my kids with but no-one was around. I used a shower liner and some special tape to hold it down, so far so good, no leak. More permanent fix is needed and the ceiling inside the rv one area should be replaced but now is covered with fabric I am a make-do champion.
My garden has had a really rough time this year, too much heat and wind, I lost everything I had in pots but the garden may recover if we stop having 100 +degree days. I have them shaded with a plastic tablecloth in hopes of survival. last year my flowers did better but the garden worse harvesting only a couple small vegetable………….things, Tomorrow it will be 100.
I’ve been painting using the pour style, what a mess.
I thought I’d quit doing it because you waste so much paint. You must make multiple cups of paint that must be about the same viscosity, then dump them into another cup layering the paint and then use one of several different methods of adding it to a canvas or your choice of substrates and spin it until you like the effect, while the paint splashes everywhere.
I thought to quit making this mess but I had lunch with some friends at a small cafe near here and noticed a large empty wall. I thought that maybe they would like some art for their walls This is a very small community cafe that did well during the pandemic with take out and has been able to freshen up their cafe. I went to find out and found it closed for a short vacation but the store next door, which I though was owned by the same family was open and I asked the owner about it. He is not the owner of the cafe but said I could paint a mural on his outside wall. Hmmm why not? Maybe when it cools down a bit might be fun.
Anyway I had these paintings in my car and was headed into town for groceries and thought I’d stop at the gallery to see what she thought of these poured paintings, though I said I didn’t think they were gallery material.
She loved them! She wanted to buy one of them immediately ! So I left her with 7 oval paintings. Personally I don’t like them so much but other people seem to so I guess I’ll make some more. They don’t photograph well to add here, they are actually pretty cool, you can see what you want to see, the earth, the seas, creation, if you don’t like it one way you can just turn it. I could only find photos of these ,I made 8 and today made 4 more, she wants to sell them for $70, I said okay because they are sold in a gallery, but I would ask for just 35 myself! They are a lot of work, messy messy work!
End of story now I don’t have anything to offer the cafe……yet.
This is on a 6×6 canvas
I kept this one, I like it but will probably modify the black a bit with acrylic pens.
My voice mail was full,
I didn’t know how to empty it until a friend said she called herself to empty it and so I called myself
40 messages waiting to be heard.
I listened to messages sent a year ago. Sorry!
What does one do to apologize after all this time?
There were no junk messages just family and friends trying to say Hello.
Yesterday was Sunday, about 5:30 I was setting up my next weeks medications for my weekly meds container and set aside my nights meds that I usually take at about 8pm. Without thinking I took those medications and vitamins right then and by 5:30 I had that sleepy feeling that feels so good. I’m a longtime insomniac and sometimes don’t feel that sensation all night so when I do I take advantage of it to go to sleep. I woke up about midnight feeling wide awake but it’s cold and dark so instead of writing here I day dream a great post which now I can’ t remember to put it on paper. You would have liked it!.
It’s 34 degrees outside and cold in here I turned on my space heater but it’s having a hard time,spreading some heat, glad my electric blanket warms us while under the covers, I say us because Charley is sleeping with me while its so cold, it will be hard to get him to sleep in his own bed when it warms up in Spring. When I bought this RV I tore out the furnish coils because the huge coils took out so much room and I wanted a space for cabinets and books. I thought that this small space could be heated with a space heater. I have the afgan my daughter made me hanging as a curtain to keep out the cold by the window and that helps and looks nice…….plus Charley doesn’t get it full of dog hair,my only regret in getting Charley is the fact that he sheds like crazy!
Today ‘s high is a delightful 68 and sunny. I may wash some clothes. I have to wash in small groups, because its a small machine, last week underwear, next day socks…I have many of both so I wash in groups when I run out of socks or underwear. Sometimes I hand wash clothes inside and then take them out to the washing machine to spin and then hang outside. I wait for a sunny day, last time my socks didn’t get really dry and when I put them on they feel cold so when the sun shines I’ll take them out to finish drying. Wet socks are the pits. I don’t do any scrubbing but rather refreshing my clothes, today I’ll refresh some of my warm clothes that I’ll need for cold mornings then by afternoon I change to something lighter.
washing machine
I’ve been painting the same thing over and over lately, not exactly the same but the same style and I think I’m over it and can start painting something different, something recognizable rather than abstract shapes and colors. I wanted to make some xmas cards for friends here in the park but my wifi was so bad I couldn’t get a signal for my printer. So I painted some little 5 x 7 panel paintings, abstract and colorful but weird because they were nothing about xmas or new years either. I haven’t gotten a lot of feed back for them, not too surprising! I used some chalk paint on them, very bright.
Christmas cards!!
Charley is waking up, he likes to sleep in actually he just likes to sleep, that’s just about all he does, I guess life is boring for him with this old lady who takes him out a few times a day when she is restless.. He’s pretty good about running out to pee and running back inside for a treat. I tell him in an excited voice to run fast fast fast come back for a treat. He is not supposed to be without a leash, but damn it’s cold outside and he usually comes right back though at night it’s a little tempting for him to wander but I have a powerful flashlight that I train on him so he knows I’m watching him. We go to the dog park for him to do his poops. He has this process before going that I have been tempted to video it is so funny how he dances in circles before the actual event. On that note I’ll close for now and wish you a good day.
This is what happens when I try to use my ipad to work, the ipad and the computer don’t seem to catch up with each other or it lets me add a photo but no way for me to add a post.
So this pic got here all by itself and I like the pic so I’ll add a note here, it was published just like that. WordPress updates often and I’m sure most bloggers are pleased with changes and how things are done. I can’t keep up I am getting behind trying to understand how all this works it’s like double hard for me lately so I’ll just go about to do my best while knowing I could do better if I really tried, or really cared or felt the need to learn something new, again.
But I am doing something new. I’ve removed all my tiles in the bathroom of my RV, Remember that I covered the whole wall with tiles covered with photos of paintings. I have them everywhere, in the kitchen, hah yes my space to cook in is hardly worthy of being called a kitchen but I have them around and over the bathroom door and at the entry.
I’ve taken them all down the tiles and scrubbed the photos off and I’m going to use alcohol inks on the tiles. The colors of the inks are vibrant and gorgeous, I’m excited. I’ve been playing with the different brands of inks and haven’t settled on one, watching utube videos for advice and ideas.
I’ll take some photos to show you, this is really fun, I sat in the studio today playing in ink for hours despite the heat with the AC running on fan next to me because if I close the door it’s too dark inside and the fan is pretty effective until it isn’t, then we go inside to blast the AC until its time to take Charley for his afternoon date in the dog park where he takes care of business, by the way, Charley has a friend he doesn’t quite know how to play with but at least they don’t mind being together and I can sit and talk with my fine neighbor while they sniff around discovering new smells, I guess that’s what they do anyway.
Well this has already been published so I guess I’ll add new tile photos tomorrow, I don’t have adhesive to put them up right now, need to remember what worked best because some of the tiles fell off the wall and I’m not sure what I used, one thing I do remember is to start from the bottom and work up carefully!
Not too sure about this but I ‘m going to try something new and exciting and scary!
TailGateArt- Tears and Laughter-Othon.com 