No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on July 15, 2020

Wednesday July 15, 2020

I honestly thought it was Friday when I woke up. Then I realized it was Wednesday and I had to get the paper to the curb for recycling. That got me out of bed fast.

Today is going to be chores around the house day.

My space bar is sticking right now so I have to pound on it to get it to space. After I finish this entry, I am going to clean it out again.

Caroline’s cat Fig is playing heating pad for her which Caroline loves since she is experiencing cramps right now. 

I woke up this morning with Phoebe asleep on top of me. I have no idea how she got it to the room, but it was comforting.

I got my first bug bites of the season. The one on the side of my foot is a small welt and very itchy.

Our cats are in a rhombus formation. Adding a fourth cat to the mix made their geometric shapes more interesting.

I found some missing books that I have been looking for to figure out some projects.

I think I am looking at a lot of experimentation to see what I can do. I like expanding my toolbox. And the more things I can make, the better off I am.

I am grateful for the skills I have learned over the years.

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Posted By Kathleen David on July 14, 2020

One of the many skills I have picked up over the years is mask making.

I had the good luck to learn leather mask making from an artist who learned in Italy to make leather comedia del arte masks. He did the masks for Hecuba at Theatre Emory. It was quite the education.

Since then I have learned a number of methods for making masks. My favorite is papier-mâché off of a clay sculpt.

I have done a number of these over the years for various projects.

The first example is a little smushed. It was a cat mask for a show I did a show I did off off off Broadway.

(For the VI: This is a pink cat mask with wire whiskers.)

Caroline fell in love with the character Cheshire from Young Justice after meeting Kelly Hu at a recording session of the show. She wanted to do the character for Halloween.

(For the VI: This is the Cheshire Mask on the wall. It has a black wig attached to it. It is a white mask done in a Japanese mask style with a large grin and red accents on the forehead and cheeks)

(For the VI: This is Caroline wearing the mask. She has on black body suit and a green pseudo kimono with a green sash.)

It was fun to make and she got a lot of compliments from everyone.

Another Halloween costume we did was one of the weird sisters from Kubo and the Two Strings.

(For the VI: This is the Weird Sister mask. It is white with red lips, black eyeliner and eye brows)

The mask was easy. The cape is made of paper feathers and that was a pain.

(For the VI: This is Caroline in her Weird Sister costume. She is wearing a stove pipe hat with a bronze symbol at the top, the mask, a chest plate which is purple with the same bronze symbol as the hat, a black paper feathered cape, and black boots)

I am thinking of getting back into mask making as I have some stylist ideas for interesting masks.

I am grateful for all the people who taught me how to make masks

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Posted By Kathleen David on July 13, 2020

Day 6 of the Cautionary Tale aka July 13, 2020

There is good tired and bad tired and this past week I have encountered both.

I am tired of people thinking if they wear their mask below their nose, they are following the rules. 

I am tired of people on the Internet asking why they should wear a mask and if they are given a reason they believe in, they will. But they won’t because they know better even given a mountain of scientific evidence because they just know. All they are looking for is some fun getting another people angry. 

I have hit the point where I want people to wear their dámņ masks and No, I am not going to give you an explanation of why you must wear one or why I wear one.

We have been working on the next big cleaning project. There is progress and there is more progress than it looks because we are in that funny sorting phase where everything is everywhere before it gets put back in order. I have it worked out in my head. Now to execute.

Doing this project is a good tired to me. Moving things around is physically tiring but I know this is positive movement. Plus, it is an arm work out.

Mentally I have be feeling tired about the world around me. I have been keeping up with the news which may be my mistake. I am very frustrated with selfish people who think their comfort is more important than someone’s life. This is not normal and we cannot think of this as normal.

I am doing things to give me that good tired feeling like exercising rather than dwelling on the bad tired feeling of what I cannot control.

I am grateful for the good tired.

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Posted By Kathleen David on July 12, 2020

Since we have entered Phase four, we have entered new territory and I am changed the name and the count again.

Yesterday was productive and I hope today will be too. 

We should be at Shoreleave right now but we are not. So I am going to continue to show off some past costumes we have done.

Today’s Entry is Pilates of the Caribbean or Pirates vs. Ninjas.

Shoreleave has a tradition that at the Masquerade we have the Shoreleave Ninjas. They are the onstage crew that place and picks up props and stuff on stage along with helping the contestants.

They are also game to be part of the action. We came up with the idea of Pilates of the Caribbean where Tia Dama was controlling the pirates through a voodoo doll and making them do Pilates. The Ninjas came out to laugh at the pirates. The pirates tell the Ninjas to run. Tia Dama then pulls out a Ninja voodoo doll and makes the Ninjas join in. This was all done to the Scissor Sisters song “Voodoo Child”. 

(For the VI: This is the Pirate half of the sketch. From left to right. Me wearing a red bandana and a black beard. I have on a grey pirate coat with a white shirt, red pattern vest and green sash. I am bend to my right with my hands over my head. Ariel is in the back middle wearing a poufy white shirt and grey vest. Maria is on the right holding the voodoo dolls with a very stylized costume based on the Character Tia Dama from Pirates of the Caribbean. She has a brown shawl, white skirt and a beaded corset.)

This is probably one of my favorite photos of Caroline ever. I love how she is looking towards the Pirate doll.

(For the VI Caroline is wearing a white shirt and a blue jacket with a red vest with pirate flags on it. She has a Ninja doll in her right hand and a Pirate doll in her left hand.)

It was a fun evening. We won most humorous.

We did have one for this year, but we will table it until next year unless we come up with something better.

I am grateful for all the Masquerades I have entered.

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Posted By Kathleen David on July 11, 2020

Today is the last day of the estate sale at my former childhood home. You can find more information at https://www.estatesales.net/GA/Atlanta/30307/2583510 . There is a lot of good solid furniture for sale along with artwork and a number of Palisade Muppet figures still in the boxes. 

Today Bad Úš Moms is on sale. Peter and I have stories in it along with a lot of other splendid authors. More information can be found https://books2read.com/badassmoms. There are physical copies as well available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

This weekend should have been Shoreleave. There is a virtual version this weekend which can be found https://www.shore-leave.com/info/rabbit-tracks.htm

And in honor of Shoreleave, I give you Caroline as Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon from the 2010 Shoreleave Masquerade. 

(For the VI: This is 7-year old Caroline as Astrid. In her right hand she is holding a large double-bladed ax with a leather wrapped handle and in her left a shield with a dragon on it. She is wearing boots with furry tops, black pants, a brown leather skirt with grey spikes on it, a belt with skulls along it, a blue tunic and hand wraps, armor should pads with spikes and skulls on them and a brown leather headband with spikes.)

We revamped the outfit to the newer version that she wore at the Renfair four years later.

(For the VI: This is 11 year old Caroline in her revised Astrid outfit. She has her ax in her right hand. The changes from the previous outfit are a red rather than blue tunic, a grey furry hood, leather wrist guards, and revised furry boots.)

Yesterday’s storm moved to the west and we got hit with the bands of the storm rather than the full-on storm. We had some serious wind and rain but it was in waves with sunshine in between which allowed the previous water to drain before the next one. We did walk down to the local park before the next wave of the storm.

(For the VI: We are looking south towards Fire Island. The water is very choppy with white caps created by the strong wind. The boats docked at the local dock to the right are being buffeted by the waves.)

Today I have my projects planned out. I just need to start and keep going.

The cats are chilling after a serious pecking order challenge. Fig won of course. 

I am grateful for Shoreleave and all the adventures I had there and will have there in the future.

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