I know it’s been awhile…….

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.

Home sweet home!

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It was a Hesitant half step into dating and a quick back step out

He doesn’t like dogs! I mean he really doesn’t like dogs, he dislikes them more than he wants to get to know me. Thank goodness I wrote about Charley so We realized this before any more time passed. I hope he finds who he is looking for soon. As for me, I’m sorry for anyone who dislikes dogs, and I’m pretty sure my readers would agree that one has to wonder why, but I don’t think that would be our only problem, he seemed pretty rigid, doubt he’d think my life style acceptable. I gave him this web address and I’m sorry I gave it to him.

Oh well, life goes on here in Caballo

Problem today is that my hose is not working because it’s stuffed full of green slimy algae like stuff…but it’s not the hose, I’ve had this problem before and was able to fix it then, now I’m not too sure.

Fixed it, for now, yup, the filter was full of this stuff, maybe with this super hose it won’t keep happening. I do use a brita for drinking water.

Sunny today, but chilly

I took my plants out to enjoy a few rays and spent some time in the studio with my man Bocelli on amazon , and walked with Charleykins to the dog park. I may take a nap, its unlikly but I wish I could be a nap taker, I could use the extra sleep.

Just got an email from Elite telling me my account was never deleted, which is different from” your account has been deleted” so I guess I have 6 months to find my “soulmate”.

Something to think about, there’s a lot of old men out there, lonely people looking for a companion. Not sure there is room in my life, I would have to be swept off my feet to give up this paradise I’m living! I would have to be treasured and taken care of, not be someone ‘s nurse. Which at this point is what old men are looking for, not to be cynical it can be hard accepting reality.

But a few years with a good man might not be so bad, could I finally become a we instead of just a me?

Hmmmm

Let’s talk about Pot

I’ve reduced medication I take for IC and have done very well but my problem is that my body doesn’t know how to go to sleep on it’s own, it’s used to having help and now isn’t getting enough help because of the much decreased amount of medication taken. So I thought I’d try medical marijuana to help me sleep.

Some people do not respond as expected. I am one of those people. I’ve only had a few experiences, none of them good. Generally I feel nothing at all and wonder if I’m doing it right but everyone takes a deep breath the same so what could I do wrong?

I had One very uncomfortable episode where I could not stop shaking fortunately it only lasted about 30 minutes, but I’d been encouraged to take a third puff and all of a sudden this violent shaking no control, very frightening.

But lately I’ve tried medicated chocolate bar one square with seemingly no effect but later I had bad dreams and heard voices and that’s unusual for me. I’ve tried vaping and drops no effect, I’ve suspected it increases restless leg episodes.

So that’s it for experimenting pot for me, I gave it a good try, besides I’m doing so well, even weight loss and general well being why risk unknown reactions to pot? Want my medicated chocolate?

Who is Kate Othón?

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.

Cheers!

Catching Up

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.

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  This is on a 6×6 canvas

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  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.

and I wonder why no one calls me!

My voice mail is squeaky clean now

call me.

notes

It’s cold outside but cozy in here, thought I’d do some writing .

I haven’t been in the mood to write for a while now, thought to close the blog but looking thru it decided I like it and should keep writing, so here I am.

It’s been a difficult few months, actually many months, terrible things have happened to us as a nation, you know it as I do so I’ll skip past most of it, we need no reminders, we are not out of trouble yet.

My children’s father died during covid19, very sad, travel to Panama was out of the question now, later we can go to celebrate his life together.

Okay no more sad stuff.

I’ve been busy painting. Lately painting outside my RV and now I have just finished (for now) inside.

it looks pretty cool, I painted one side of the RV, I used craft paints and decorative tapes, I got the idea from washi tapes I bought without knowing what I was going to use them for. I painted a table and used the tapes and looked at GG she needs an updating. So far I haven’t had a problem with keeping it together,(the project) we’ll see what happens when it rains but I think it will be okay.

Being it’s winter and cold I’ve spent more time inside. Looking around for a project I spotted a small pot of chalk paint a friend gave me and thought to try it on canvas. It’s a very soft flat look, I liked it and then thought about painting the walls with chalk paint. As it is usually used on furniture there are limited colors. I used celery on the top storage spaces and red on the entry and fridge wall. I added a bit of yellow to the red expecting a red orange color which would look good with my Indian fabric. but got a beautiful rose color and just love it. I still have to touch up under the cabinets as I painted that it was dark outside and nearly dark in here too, I was so excited to get started I didn’t wait for the sun to come up. The color rose is a little off next to my multi-colors fabric so I painted some small 8 x 10 panels with the same paints but added some orange and have them on the front of the cabinets. Looks fine.

I was listening to Jose Feliciano just then, had not thought about him in many years he sounded good.

I updated the bathroom when I remove the tiles and wasn’t sure what to do with the damaged and ugly wall. I bought a piece of very thin plywood to make a new wall and used stick on tiles with a Spanish feeling and that worked just great. I used the tiles to cover my book shelf too.

That is one confusing picture. I have my plants over the cab with lights and humidifier and I’ve used the fabric above on the ceiling to cover some spots, then in the back to hide stuff and again in the front of the plants that is not closed it toward the side and yet again to cover the inside of the cab where I have clothes hanging.

I need to save a few things to write about so I’ll close here for now, next I’ll tell you about my purple hair, don’t think I’ve written about it.

Stay safe

I sat outside in the wind and rain to see if the umbrella would blow over.

Today I got the table for the umbrella and it seems like with the table reinforcing it I should be able to leave it up except when really really windy. It isn’t a big deal for me to take it apart, to lie it on the ground, not easy but I can do it.

I have to put the futon in the studio when it rains too.

I sat outside painting until I dumped the blue paint on myself, I need to rearrange my stuff so I don’t keep doing that.

I’m liking using acrylic inks but something about the bottles they come in, I don’t know but I’ve spilled several colors blue, red and black, bummer.the colors are pure pigment just beautiful. I want to get all the colors and just use them for all my paintings on canvas paper tablet and stop buying other paints, too expensive and they dry up so fast in this NM dry air.

The inks dry quickly too but is manageable because they are ink and won’t dry up in the bottle, paint in a tube does dry up. Ive wondered if I should keep the tubes in the fridge. I need to use them up, need to paint something large.

Stay safe, we are not out of the woods yet.

Charley is Jealous of my Guitar

I thought I’d get an inexpensive learner guitar and hopefully learn a new brain saving technique.

Whenever I start messing around with the guitar Charley begs for attention, attention and a belly rub. He throws himself in my lap, really it’s like he does a back flip bottoms up.

He doesn’t like it when I’m busy on my computer or reading either.

He’s spoiled and has doubled his arrival wight from 12 pounds to 24 pounds! He’s beautiful and generally well behaved.

He is happy to stay home alone because he hates going in the car, he shakes from the time we go til the time we get back. So now I leave him home with a treat.

He knows when I get my keys and put on my shoes I’m going in the car. He does very well home alone now, I don’t need to use that supersonic noise thing to keep him from barking, neighbors report he has not been barking, it’s because he’s happy not to go with me in the car.

Charley and friend.

Learning the guitar is not so easy, not easy at all! It looks easy and cool just strumming and humming but so far I can’t even remember the g string. Memory, that is the challenge I’m working on, it’s a bitch!

It’s been cold in Caballo but the afternoons are briskly pleasant. I am now a resident of New Mexico. I like it here. I should get my new drivers license and plates soon. It’s only taken me 2 visits to the DMV so far needing birth certifcate, marriage license translated insurance info and more but it was in the nicest DMV I’ve ever been in, no waiting efficient and a clean organized process. A far cry from my experience in TX. Small towns are great and almost no traffic!

I planted a few perennials today, hopeful for a splendid ‘Spring. I lost a few plants to frost even though they were in my studio, very sad and sorry my beautiful succulents collection froze.

No bugs,a cool Breeze and I think I am drunk!

I am so happy to be where I am right now in at this instant.

And I’m sure I will feel the same sober.

mentida,  I’m fine just a bit of drinkypoo with my friend Marie

I like where I am so much that I have no plans to leave here, which was not my plan. My plan was to travel all about the country side visiting  parks and public lands.   I could keep traveling finding new places to stay but why? I sometimes feel like I have not acomplished what I set out to do, travel, boondogging here and there, but why should I   if this works for me? And it works for me now.

By the way, My landlady, CJ has a guest house for $25/night so come visit me!

I’m going to buy a storage unit big enough to have windows where I can paint and do my artisty stuff and maybe even see a client or two.  My massage chair arrived today,       (great idea Nancy) My landlady seems to think I’ll be able to see clients here, even if I don’t it will be good to have a small studio right here as my RV is a bit tiny for business or art making.

Today I bought plants and planters, so excited to start seeds for a small garden of flowers,  cucumbers, and lavender,  plants are expensive so I have just a few for now, my space will be so beautiful when the seeds explode.  Wow, everything I want right here in my small space. Could anyone feel richer than me…I?  It’s  good to have few needs,  a simple life, few obligations, friends  and peace of mind every day………..

But my smart car is making worrisome noises.  Now it’s something in the left front area sounds noisy, maybe this wasn’t the best choice for a towed car. To do anything to it I would need to take it to El Paso, the only authorized repair shop close-ish by. I’ll see about it mañana.  It drives okay except for the noise, thoughts?

It would have been a perfect day to do my roof today, sunny but not too hot, no nasty wind and more important, no rain.  Where is Frank?  Where is my roof guy? We really should get this done  before the monsoons arrive.  Does  NM gets monsoones rains? I don’t know but my landlady suggests we get it done before they arrive..  Frank is a good guy I’m told,  also I think  he may be the guy to ask about  pot availability in this area.  Could this be why he hasn’t been around, busy being blissed?

Have  I told you about my experience with pot?  I think it is something an old girl should try at least once.  I’ve tried it a few times with no sensation of anything happening until I smoked with  my friend Robert.  Those walks we took to the lake had the added interest of smoking his pot.  He used a little pipe and it was easy to grab a bit of smoke and hold it without coughing much but I felt nothing at all, while he was there being blissed.  He said try it again several times and I did until WoW I felt it and it was Not Pleasant.  I felt unsteady unable to put one leg in front of another and needed to be guided home.  It didn’t last long, I’d like to give it another try, maybe not outside or somewhere I don’t have to go far to get home, or at home. It was interesting, a feeling of not being in charge of myself or my limbs. What was going on in my brain? Why is this something deemed agreeable and why do I want to keep trying to reach the state of bliss advertised ?

Because I can.