The Wayfaring Wordhack

I have been sketching everyday, just letting whatever I see and feel like capturing be my model for the day.  Most things aren't worth sharing, but sharing is not the point.  Doing is, and I am happy to be doing and learning.  Every stroke teaches something.

Here is my latest sketch, from our trip to Lake Chouwen:







I got the bones in yesterday (with the wrong pencil.  Note to self:  Prefer a pencil with a wide lead/nib instead of a mechanical pencil) and tried to remember the shadows and dark values to put in today.  I could have done more, I see, but alas.  Not for today.

 After a lovely--but strangely surreal*--trip to our home in France, we are back in Lebanon.

Before leaving France, Farmer Boy asked, "Is it going to stink in Lebanon?"**
"Probably," I replied.

And yes, before we even landed, I caught the distinctive stench of sewage that festers in the Beirut air next to airport, mainly, I have been told, because there is a slaughterhouse over there.  But everything went smoothly at the airport, and our taxi was waiting for us as planned.  We had him drop us off at J's work so that we could pick up our car and scooter, so we had to reload the baggage into our vehicle and drive the rest of the way home with our less-than-stellar headlights (<--this applies to both car and scooter).  Despite the heat, the roads were wet going up the hill to our village.  A bad sign.  Sure enough, our first day back, we learned that all of our village was out of water and had to ration dishwashing, food-prep, showers, and toilet flushing accordingly.  (Situation was fixed today, appaprently, after 4 days of no water.   For the "no water" to have lasted 4 days means there was no incoming water for longer because our building is equipped with a 20,000L cistern.)

( Only click if you don't mind a good ranting whinge )

In more upbeat news, I am going to do Artober, having been reminded of the challenge by green_knight 's entry on that subject.  I will draw something or someone from life every day for the month of October.  This entry is already long, so I won't share any sketches now.  Maybe I'll do a daily post, or if life gets away from me, a weekly one.  Anyone else joining the fun?


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* In all our overseas living, we've never gone back to our own place for holidays.  It was a very bittersweet experience, finding home and garden, getting everything back into shape, all the while knowing we would have to leave it only two weeks later.  But it was excellent to potter around my garden again and tend my plants. :) I might do a post with some pics of our place so that I can revisit it in memory.

** When we got off the plane in Lyon, the kids inhaled and simultaneously exclaimed, "It smells like France."

*** There seems to be a new schedule for the power-cuts, which we have yet to pin down.