On pause

 oh, goodness, the rain hasn't really given us respite but for two days in the last two weeks. good thing our friends anthon, ann and liv drove up from christchurch earlier to chase the last days of sun so they could go to the beach. we had a wonderful time: liv only needed her salbabida to join me in water too deep for her to stand, while her parents had time to rest on the sand. ann even had the courage to brave NZ waters and take a short dip (we had pics to prove it!). conditions were slightly wavy but i also got to paddleboard and was proud to discover that i could commandeer the board pretty well.

all the rain that came down meant that we had to put our lives on pause. while our friends were staying with us, we could only cook and watch movies and talk to entertain ourselves, with a few brave trips into a wet town as attempts to make it worth their travel. ann and anthon made filipino comfort food (chicken adobo, munggo, sinigang with gabi, espada with red hotdog breakfast) so we ate heaps throughout the week. when it wasn't pouring, i took liv out for short walks to codgers hub or the horse paddock nearby to try to alleviate her boredom, but it was hard to keep her completely occupied. we did try a drawing session one afternoon, which awoke my desire to do visual art.

even if we couldn't do everything we had planned for the week they were here, ann and anthon assured me they had a nice time catching up and having a change of sceney, and liv told her mum that she didn't really want to leave, which i took to mean she had fun. i'm so glad because we do love having them here and any opportunity to spend time with them is a blessing.

the following week, we had just enough days to do the mountain of washing before the rain came again. i was only able to walk once up the grampians and had to come down from the saddle right away because my body felt weird (basta!). my trailift hike was cancelled. since my walk the only exercise i've had was african dance workout via youtube and a 7-minute workout yesterday, but i'm glad i was able to jumpstart that again as i need it to supplement my hikes so i can start feeling better about moving again.

all signs point to me making the most of this pause in activity by turning to art again. i've been psyching myself up to start painting again, and this time i feel i should be less dear about using up my paints and go for the opaque gouache style, since that's what will be most forgiving when i make mistakes. what are paints for anyway? i must feel more free about using them and think of it as making a commitment to my artistic self.

i also rediscovered my love for sketching when i drew with liv, so i've decided to cultivate that, too. yesterday, while on errands, russ and i dropped by the supply store to get a good eraser and i also picked up a small sketchbook, sharpener and a thin paintbrush for fine details (to paint faces more easily). it felt like another step in renewing my commitment.

during my session with liv, i finally finished my morty tribute on one of my recycled gouache exercises. i have another sheet and decided today to start on a project of pencil sketches of NZ friends' faces. i've done one so far, and maybe no one will be able to tell who it is, but i think the key is not to ovethink things. i can't erase mistakes because the gouache layer underneath gets smudged, so the lesson is to attack the paper quickly and master how to work my pencil, whether it's shading or crosshatching or just layering strokes.

later today, i plan to make lots of french fries with the air fryer i borrowed from lisa. friends from the PH have been hyping thir air fryers so i've been wanting to try them for a while, and lisa offered to lend me hers so i could finally do it. we were at her house for dinner with dan, and when it was finally time to go home she brought out this gigantic box and a whole assortment of "accessories" that made me think, "NOPE". this was about a month ago and i've only just opened the box up again now. i don't think i want to get an air fryer anymore (nina was suggesting i get a turbo broiler instead), but the least i can do is cook something in the air fryer that you can't do well (supposedly) anywhere else before i return it.

another thing to do while on pause: foam-roller the shit out of my legs and butt!