The Art & Poetry of Mary Coleman

Today we opened gifts. Yesterday my husband opened his main gift which was an Apple Vision Pro but today I gave him his smaller gifts. I got him a tee shirt with a wire haired dachshund that looks like Margot on it, a small dachshund statue for his desk at work, an ancient Egyptian hippo figurine (hippos are his favorite animal), Moscow mule mugs, and several pairs of of novelty socks.

Here is a video of Margot opening her presents:

I’ve really been enjoying Jane Eyre. She’s grown up now and is living at Thornfield. I’m at the scene where Mr. Rochester is posing as a fortune teller and trying to get out of her whether she likes him or not.

I’m only in the first few chapters of Persuasion. I like that the protagonist is a bit older in that story. Though I love Jane Austen, most of her characters are quite young and being 41, my early 20’s feels a lifetime ago. Anne is a little more mature, still a lot younger than I am, but not a baby. Jane Eyre is only 18 when she arrives at Thornfield, but the tale is told by a much older Jane looking back on her life.

I think after I finish all of Jane Austen’s books I am going to try and pick up some Dickens. That is if I’m still in the mood for classic literature. Could be I feel like a totally different genre by that point. I have read a few of Dickens’ works but it’s been over 20 years. I’ve read Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, Bleak House, and A Tale of Two Cities. This time around I would like to try David Copperfield. That I think I will get from the library because I don’t really see myself reading Dickens’ books repeatedly.

Getting library books right now is a bit of a pain because the local branch is closed for renovations so if I put something on hold I have to go to a branch farther away to pick it up. It’s not that much further, about a mile and a half, but the Belmont branch I usually go to is only a 10 minute walk. It’s going to be closed for about a year because they are completely remodelling the whole building and adding an extra story.

I am an artist so I think that counts as being creative. There are elements to my practice I wish were more creative. For instance, I mostly paint from photos and I wish I were better at composing things out of my head. This year I am going to work on drawing so I can more easily do that. It’s one of my resolutions for News Years; get better at drawing and be prepared to do Inktober when it comes around.