Lately, I am going through a dry spell on carving despite having comfortable cool weather. I don’t know why. There shouldn’t be any excuses.
The last Citizen carved was 24th October followed by the Halloween Owl a week later. I’ve gone almost two weeks without any new additions, a rather unusual stretch. Maybe if not more Citizens, at least some gnomes, another monument or two, superheroes or even the big pieces. OR… maybe something totally new.
We shall see…
Recently I have taken a sudden liking to the cartoon character, Gudetama, a depressed little egg yolk with a butt crack and bought two little keychain plushies of this popular Japanese character.
It was M2 who introduced me to it when she showed me her Holika Holika Gudetama Edition Lazy & Joy Dessert hand cream, a gift from her friend. The character tickles me so much so that I have the sad little fella sitting like one fried egg on top of the dashboard in my car and one hanging behind the driver’s seat.
While I do have other favourite characters and collect them, I don’t put any of their plushies in my car. This time, I find myself having two Gudetama in the car! And my sheer driving pleasure increases every time I look at it whenever I have to stop at the traffic light. It’s certainly one appealing cute little sad egg.
Suddenly the weather changed. The real monsoon is here and it looks like golfing days will be reduced. In fact, last Saturday when we had our usual morning game, we couldn’t complete 18 holes when the rain came down. My flight did 12 holes while hubby’s flight managed 11 holes only.
I am not complaining though. Rainy days may mean less golf but with the air being cooler, it’s more comfortable; definitely a welcome from the hot and high humid conditions that we’ve been having the past few weeks.
On a brighter note, it means more comfortable days ahead to carve up more Citizens of Gigglesville!
Last week, the internet at the office was down for a good half of the work week. It was most aggravating as we could not work at all. Nowadays work is so dependent upon connectivity and when the connection is down, we find ourselves on edge.
Important emails could not be sent out or received was the bane of the situation. Forget social media updates or glancing at headline news which could not be accessed from the desktop computer anyway. The stress was most unbearable especially with deadlines looming over the head.
To make matters worse, WhatsApp was also hit apparently and for a couple of hours, we were totally disconnected! I felt as if a limb was cut off.
The internet was finally fixed on Saturday and yesterday morning everything was okay until after two o’clock. The connectivity was down again! Aarrghhh.…
So I find myself unable to work again and there’s nothing we could do except to report the breakdown and wait it out. Aggravation indeed. Aarrghhh.
I think I deserve a pat on the shoulder for carving up a four inch Citizen of Gigglesville. The Halloween Owl is a pretty good effort for a first attempt on a bigger and harder piece. And suddenly I find my other citizens so minuscule!
How did I ever managed to carve up 111 pieces of one inch tall or thereabouts of the Citizens and a band of Superheroes too? Just as amazing.
Now that this is completed, onwards to color it!
This year for Halloween, I did not have time to buy whole watermelons to carve like I did in 2013 when M1 was still around. And not only pumpkins have gotten too expensive, they are unavailable at our regular grocer! So I opted for something very different this time.
I carved a Halloween Owl.
Several weeks ago, my only sibling bought a pack of wood with different size blocks for me to vary my carving pieces. It was very thoughtful of him to push me beyond my comfort zone, which I think is a good thing.
The basswood pieces are so much bigger and harder in density than my usual one inch wide soft balsa. I feel very pumped about the challenge. I had to plan thoroughly because now, the size and shape of the character are somewhat different. The block is four inches tall, four times taller than what I am used to work with.
So on 31st October, I started on a Citizen of Gigglesville wearing a witch’s hat and a big cape. I must say even the carving process has been different with more strength applied, being a harder wood, and all the tools were utilized.
Work is still in progress but it’s coming along good. I hope to finish it by next week and have it painted up!
Like many people, we enjoy fruits, all kinds of fruits except grapes. Whole grapes are considered a jinx for us because to us, it is a fruit that is eaten only by the sick, not the healthy ones. If everyone at home are well and healthy, we do not eat grapes to avoid falling sick.
You don’t see people bringing grapes when visiting other healthy people, do you? But grapes are something people usually bring when visiting the sick, whether at the hospital or homes. I’m not trying to be mean but that’s the reality of grapes.
I simply would not buy grapes no matter how nice and enticing they can be on the shelves.
So I don’t know what got into me last week when I bought two containers of grapes. Not just one but two. Unbelievable! And guess what? Whether one chooses to believe or not, the jinx struck. M2 fell sick the very next day!
Not just sick but so sick to the core (two containers remember?) with a viral infection that caused vomiting and diarrhoea; it has been terrible beyond words causing M2 to miss school for three days.
This incident just reaffirmed my belief that we always get jinxed by grapes. Sigh… I should have known better than to make that purchase.
We better finish the two containers quickly before another person succumbs to an illness the next few days. Coincidentally, we spoke to M1 yesterday and she said she’s sick too. I asked her if she bought grapes? She said she did!
Told you, grapes are a jinx. At least for us. Sigh… hope both girls recover soon.
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