September 6

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You'll recall that a few days ago I put this

over this

and with a "color burn" blending mode, I got this.

On the 6th, I cut this leaf out, and put it on the purple/green texturey circley thing.

I added a fairly significant drop shadow under the leaf.

I thought it looked ... unfinished.

What to add.....  How about a word?  I am not a giant fan of words in my visual work.  I didn't want anything directive, and certainly nothing sappy or trite.  I chose something I hoped would be evocative and layered with meaning -- something different for different people......

The word has a bevel, and is 43% opaque.

I'm pleased.



The 6th was the first day that I have felt that I really plumbed the goodness of retirement.

I began with a mini-adventure.  We are three, but have two cars.  As the person who is not working, I have the least need for a car.  I wanted to pick up some things at Target, so my daughter delivered me there on her way to work.  I found the things I needed, and I took the bus home.  I'd never done that from there.  It turned out to be easy as pie, if time consuming.

(Digression:  Thank goodness for public transportation!  Once upon a time, my sister [who was a high-school exchange student in Peru] defined Civilization as a place where you can easily buy tampons.  In addition to the obvious "modern plumbing and modern medicine," I will add public transportation to the list of things that define Civilization!
End of Digression.)

When I got home, I had lunch, and then made the above digital image.

After that, I tackled my classwork.  I have not yet mentioned that I am taking a class through Coursera.  I will talk about that in more detail anon -- for the moment it suffices to say that I haven't taken a college-level class for almost 40 years, and it's strenuous!

I cleaned up the kitchen and made dinner, which I enjoyed with my better half, and then we took a walk before he went off to play bridge.  I walked the dog, and I had a good chat with my daughter.

An excellent day!

Some necessary errands, something I'd never done before, some artful thinking, some solid analytical thinking, some necessary housework, some exercise, some contact with people who are dear to me.

I won't hit all of those "goods" every day, but it's a goal to do a variety of things that matter to me in different ways, every day.

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