On Little Cat Feet

Alan asked me this morning what the weather was like.  I looked out the window and replied, "Foggy." He meant, of course, what was predicted for the rest of the day, but as it turns out, "foggy" pretty much covers it. It strikes me now how very rare an occurence this actually is. Fog in the morning usually burns off or is blown away quickly by the sea breeze. Fog in the afternoon and evening usually comes before or after a shower. Well, it hasn’t really rained and the fog certainly hasn’t burned off, so the evening falls now with that strange muffled quality that mist has, dampening all the big sounds of traffic on the thruway and the main roads. The cars seem to come from nowhere, roaring as they pass close before the fog swallows up the sound again. Only the little noises are left, until I swear I can hear the rustle of feathers in the lilac bush at the back of the yard.

I felt out of sorts this morning. Perhaps because I did the laundry today instead of waiting until tomorrow. And some other woman who was there used two of the dryers I normally use. Honestly, I don’t like change. Then I did the grocery shopping for the week and had to endure the bagger having to re-bag half my groceries because for some reason he forgot to use the cloth bags I brought with me. ::sigh:: And of course, Alan called as I was trying to negotiatie my cart back to the car… a difficult feat with only one hand. He then cut me off rather abruptly, only to call back as I was hauling the groceries into the house (the one thing I detest about grocery shopping). Then again, it could also be my irritation with New Moon. I won’t give up on it now that I’ve started it, but I doubt I will read the rest of the Twilight Saga.

The fog has done its work, however, and I am feeling much more peaceful now. It could be that I’m only tired — I did wake up at 5:30 this morning out of habit. I like to think that it’s because I actually did some painting today. I swear I’ve hardly touched a brush in months… maybe even a year at this point, though I have drawn occasionally.  Last week I did some watercolor sketches of kittens to try my hand at some new techniques for my children’s book. I did another draft and I’m really very pleased with the changes I’ve made, so I’m going to be starting the illustrations. Today I just scrapped my efforts of last week and did what I do best, which is to draw from a photographic model while simplifying in some areas and exaggerating others. The result is a pretty gray kitten that would be quite at home with any one of my human figures. She fits my style to a T, and I’m really quite proud of her. I’m eager to start on the illustrations. There are 26 areas to illustrate, some of which will be made up of smaller illustrations to fit the text. I know it’ll take me a while, but I’m really pleased with the idea and I hope to pitch it to a publisher someday. Maybe even someday soon. Who knows?

I’ve talked over my job situation with Alan. He knows how unhappy I am there and that I’ll probably leave sooner rather than later. We discussed when we might start looking for a new place (either a starter home or a 2-BR apartment) and he said that we could start as soon as I had a job that I was happy with and that was relatively stable, even if it was only part-time.  I think he’s finally realized how hard it is for me to be in a position like this, and I’m grateful for it. I know how incredibly lucky I am to have him in my life. And tomorrow we’ll actually get to spend some time together. I was supposed to be assisting on a photo shoot for the Milford Little League, but it was postponed because we’re supposed to be getting thunderstorms. Maybe I can convince him to drive to the Danbury Mall for some Mrs. Fields’ cookies. Yummm… ^_^ And honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. The money would be nice and I love Stef, but I don’t particularly care for Patti. I don’t like that she assumes I’m part of some white girl club and that I want to hear all her snide racial comments. When I was in elementary school, two girls took a particular disliking to me and called me all kinds of nasty names based on my skin color and the assumption that because I was the whitest, blondest girl in our grade, I would automatically be a racist myself. So I get all kinds of riled up when someone assumes that I’m as narrow-minded as they are.

Anyway, I’m headed back to my sketchbook and my Monk DVD’s. With the shoot cancelled for tomorrow, and all my housework done this morning, Sunday will actually be a day of rest. Excellent.

~Liz