She Makes a Great Egg Salad!
I’m bagged. I stepped into the house and dropped my school bag and laptop. I went down to my bedroom, traded my work shirt for a plaid pyjama top. I went to the fridge and pulled out the bowl of egg salad that my daughter had made at 1:00 a.m. When I shuffled upstairs in the dark and stepped into the BRIGHT kitchen at 1:00 a.m., I asked her if she would please cut out the noise. She said, “Sorry, Mom.” And added, “You’ll be glad when you have this egg salad tomorrow!” At the time, I doubted it.
I toasted the two pieces of frozen bread and then slathered it in egg salad. (I am glad.) I plunked down on the red sofa…oh, wow, did that feel good! A glass of cold milk. Mmmmm. I went over, in my mind, what the week had been all about. I thought, “Finally, I finished Moby Dick! An accomplishment….yippee, a new book tonight!” I was relieved that the art work had all been delivered to the church gathering-area, but sad that I had to cancel my date with sister-friends, to attend tomorrow’s Asparagus Festival in Innisfail. Yes! There really IS an Asparagus Festival! I will have to go to the Church hall instead and actually display the art work tomorrow morning. I just didn’t have the energy after teaching all week, grading, recording, managing, and then transporting art.
It has been raining steadily for four days here in Calgary. It’s grey and wet and still, I face that hour-long play time in the wet, in my gum boots, with Max. I avoid. It’s so warm in here.
As a way of avoiding, I turn on the computer. Little beeps…lights come up on the screen. I don’t know why, but I decide to explore some random sites of interest on WordPress. I come to Gillian Holding of Leeds. I know nothing about Gillian Holding. Do you? But, a short time later, I’m wandering about from one page to another and falling madly in love with her work. My shoulders sit back in place…I no longer slouch. Max, nudges me from behind and brings me several toys, in hopes that I will ‘catch on’.
I log into Skype. Mom and I have a five o’clock date. Hmmm….she’s forgotten. I decide to leave Skype UP and continue to view Gillian’s blog. I find a common spirit. I find encouragement. I feel a spark of motivation to complete a sketch tonight. This is good.
Thank you for these words, Gillian. I don’t know you, but your insights are real and generous. Thank you…and I hope you don’t mind, that before I take Max for his time at the off-leash, I should share your words.
About Gillian Holding
“I am a contemporary visual artist living and working in Leeds trying to juggle family, work and dog walking and often not really getting it right anywhere. Add to this mix the absurdity of the world I live in and observe around me, and it all leaves me with a burning desire to document my experiences and insights (such as they are) by every means possible. Then maybe, just maybe, I can make some sense of it.”
Thanks also, Gillian, for the survey of favourite reds….mine is Cadmium Red Medium…some would call it Bright Red!
Amused, touched, and humbled by your kind comments, Painter Lady! I clicked on a referral link and found your wonderful introductory paragraph which could have been about my daughters in my kitchen any night of any week.
Delighted to have ‘met’ you!