How much do I love the film Out of Africa?

     10:45 last night, my husband was channel surfing and saw that Out of Africa was on.  This is my favorite film - truly Sidney Pollack's masterpiece. Gorgeous cinematography, great locations, and the acting -Klaus Maria Brandauer,  Robert Redford - both turning in wonderful performances, and Michael Kitchen - superb. Then, there is Meryl Streep in what I believe to be her finest role.  As the film progressed, I felt myself drifting towards sleep and my quotable quote was, "If I fall asleep, pinch me. I love this movie more than sleep."  Twice he did have to prod me awake, but since I can quote most of the movie along with the actors, I wasn't too put out with myself.
     Did I mention how gorgeous the costumes are?  And the animal work? Sheer beauty.

Enough. I still have costumes for the opera to finish. Good night.

Starting another project

         Oh boy, here I am starting another project.  I am a perpetual project starter and only an occasional project completer. Living with autism in your family means that time is never a sure thing.  The three hours you set by to work on something may disintegrate as you calm down a child having a melt down - or time may disappear as you appreciate the fact that today is a "good day" and your son wants to be around his siblings, and you, and there is laughter, smiling, and no hitting.  I think days like that are worth a few unfinished projects, don't you?

Current list of projects:

• *Costume design for the opera Street Scene - we open in two weeks and I suppose I should be madly working on that, but I needed a sanity break. There are forty actors in this show.
• *Designing costumes for BATBOY:The Musical
• * knitting a sweater for myself with bulky weight wool  - not a fashion statement sweater, more of a "I feel crappy and want comfort food and chocolate" kind of sweater
• *must make a matching hat for the bright red wool scarf my youngest son wanted.  Why it HAD to be red I do not know -  his coat is orange and grey.
• * sweater for the hubby
• * Finishing a woolen patchwork memory quilt for my sister.  This was her 2009 Christmas present which I hope to complete before the winter ends and it needs to be put away for the summer. I am not a quilter - there are people who are true quilting artists, I do not think I am one of them. I am not sure I have the patience for that - I am certain I do not have the time.  I started using woolen pants and skirts bought from the thrift store.  The cost of new woolen fabric was running about 24.99 per yard, so I used fabric I had in my stash at home, and for a lot less than new, got woolen fabric from skirts and pants.  Really lovely cloth for accents. The overall colour scheme is grey, navy, dark green,, black and tan. There are a few accents pieces of bright red and cream. On several squares I have felted images or word from my sister's life - her wedding date, her children's names, silhouettes of her dogs and cats, and other things which make up her daily life.
• Teaching myself to spin using a drop spindle.
• keeping bees - which I will grant you, doesn't require a lot of effort during the winter, just  some prep for the coming spring and some worry about whether they will make it through the  frigid upstate NY weather.
• Two project for which I got grant money through the SUNY Creative Activities grant. Faces of the Goddess is a series of masks representing women in the three classical stages - young maiden, fertile mother, and wise crone. I am using various mediums as well as some characters from theatre. The following are some shots of the creation of a Juliet mask made with felt and paper.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Juliet's mother  - friendly plastic

         So rather than prolonging the procrastination, I leave you with this thought: Do not forget the need in Haiti, even as it slips from the headline. Help if you can.