I might follow along with Roxane Gay’s reading list for the year. One book a month. I ordered the first one, which is getting a lot of buzz and I really wanted anyway. If this effort is like others, I’ll last until April.
I’ve finally attended to the minutiae involved in being able to borrow kindle books from my library. What a gift! Using the Libby app, I can reserve books and then they show up in my kindle reader without having to go anywhere! Black Futures looks like a beautiful coffee table book, though, so I ordered a copy. Here’s the full list in case you’re interested.
In other news, “we” are installing a gas fireplace. This old house’s current fireplace is very inefficient and sucks warm air out of the entire first floor. Plus, you know, because of the mess and effort, we just don’t have fires all that much. We already have gas in the house. I can’t wait to be able to start a fire with a click of a button. Don’t judge me!
By “we,” I mean my husband, of course. We save almost two grand this way.
I just discovered an Instagram group — @pariscollagecollective — that posts weekly image prompts. I may take part (again — will I last until late spring?) Here’s the first prompt for 2021.
I’ve put together one of my digital-collage slideshows (one minute, below), but I intend to work with paper this week. And then maybe, using a photo of the paper collage, create more layered exposures with the Diana app — my preferred method.
Some of my faves follow. Some of you will recognize collage images embedded from the Collage Challenge with Acey a year ago.
Snow to begin before sunset.
* tattooed torso is a dancer from recent remake of West Side Story and featured in the New York Times. Cloaked Egyptian and other smaller white cloaked figure from National Geographic. Cloth is my own. Virgin from photo I took in cathedral in Assisi. Black woman looking at lens, I don’t remember — but very possibly Vanity Fair.
Gas fireplace. Divine. It’s a true pleasure. Enjoy it
There you are Martha!
we have an enormous gas fireplace in our living room. Sucker has its own wall. I considered it excessive in size and heating range until the first time we lost power but still had a comfortable range of heat in four of the downstairs rooms plus our bedroom and the upstairs bathroom.
My house in Michigan had a gas fireplace when I bought it. I pooh-poohed it after having a wood fireplace I loved in my NY house.
Well……l have come to LOVE my gas fireplace. Used it so much during quarantine. It’s so easy and clean. The only thing I miss is the crackling of logs, and it is a very small price to pay.
Enjoy! (And nice job Ken!)
the gas fireplace took me back to a late 1990s Christmas when an ice storm left us power-less … I baked foil-wrapped potatoes in the fireplace while Don sliced the roast into steaks and cooked them on the grill … never did a Christmas meal taste better
We planned for a “real” fireplace in our new house until it was revealed that the construction of such a thing would take three times as much space in our living room. Also, the hole in the roof would play havoc with our in-floor heating. We switched to a gas fire and have never regretted it. Just push the button! No ash or soot! We use it much more frequently that we did our fireplaces in our old house, when we had to drag in wood (always wet) and fiddle with keeping the fire going. Good luck and much warmth to you with your fireplace re-do.
a good distraction from the news coming out of the US this week, bring on January 20th when hopefully the orange travesty will be relegated to the dustbin of history!