Tues. Feb. 17, 2026: Welcoming the Fire Horse
image courtesy of Erkut2 from Pixabay Tuesday, February 17, 2026
New Moon
Jupiter Retrograde
Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras
Chinese Lunar New Year
Solar Eclipse
Cloudy and cold
All the things going on in the heavens today! Whew!
Happy Mardi Gras, and Year of the Fire Horse! Let’s hope we’re racing to some positive, collective change.
You can read the Community Tarot Reading for the Week here. Still on the Enchanted Tarot.
I put in the Instacart order first thing on Friday morning. It shouldn’t be as stressful as I find it. I’m making a list and trusting someone else to go down the list and get the stuff. There’s no reason for me to worry so much. It was fine last week.
The cats are starting to shed their winter coats. That means the worst of the cold is over, and that I need to vacuum multiple times a week.
I’ve been frustrated with the 45-day art journaling workshop for awhile now. The prompts have been too much psychobabble and not enough creative expansion. They also seem somewhat familiar in the wrong way, but I can’t put my finger on why. Plus, one never knows when they will show up, so it’s been difficult to plan time to do it. Nothing came through at all on Thursday, and then, on Friday, there was suddenly an email that the workshop leader decided to take a vacation for her son’s school break and “pause.” No idea if/when it starts up again. Maybe Monday, but who knows? So, you ask people to commit for 45 days, and then you haven’t planned everything out ahead of time? Why would you start it if you knew you were going on vacation? It’s not like one doesn’t know about school breaks ahead of time. Why not either schedule posts or wait to start the 45-day stretch until you get back? If it was impromptu, as she claimed, she could still schedule things to post. This is not someone who can be trusted. I planned to grit my teeth and stick it out, because I believe in honoring my commitments, but no. I am done. That’s not creating a safe and creative space for people. Safe space means one can count on it and trust it. This behavior does not do it. It wasn’t an unexpected emergency. It’s being untrustworthy and not being honest with people who committed time and energy toward your event when you asked them to do so, after weeks of intense promotion.
A new prompt came through on Monday morning, and I considered starting up again, but my instinct was not to. It’s not the right atmosphere for me. So I unsubscribed, and it was like a weight off.
Buh-bye.
And I will avoid this person and her work in the future.
There are still plenty of pages in that journal that can be dedicated to other things. I will find a different way to work on the art/text stuff.
I bundled up, packed up the books, and headed out mid-morning. The temperature was higher than it’s been and the sun was out, but the wind made it feel colder. I trudged up to the library, dropped off books and picked up the 12 that waited for me. Good thing I had the rolly cart! I rolled down the hill and mailed the cards and bills that needed to go out. The post office is only about a block from the library, and downhill. I ran another errand. I got everything home and up the stairs.
I managed it all in 45 minutes, which was pretty darn good.
I basked in the sun with the cats for a bit, and finished reading a literary novel that wanted to be AS Byatt’s POSSESSION, but was not. There were some good portions of it, but it added an additional POV in the last quarter of the book in a way that didn’t work for me, structurally.
I had to be available during the shopping, and had to change a couple of things, but it was no big deal. The order was there by 1:30 again, although it was a different shopper who was more interested in being on her phone than paying attention to the two minutes for customer drop-off, which annoyed me.
If the weather is at all amenable at the end of this week, I’m taking the cart and going my damn self. While I’m grateful the service exists, I’d rather be in the store myself seeing what looks good and adjusting as needed. I like to have a basic idea of what I want/need (and my list), but then see what looks good and is on sale and adjust. That means moving a bunch of ingredients around in a way that doesn’t really work if someone else uses a pre-written list. It’s totally a me problem, not at all anything wrong with the service itself.
I did some community-based work in the afternoon, and also read the February pick for the Agatha Christie book club, MRS. MCGINTY’S DEAD. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I was intrigued, it carried me along. I paged through the research books for the two different projects that came in, trying to decide which one to spend time with first.
I re-read what I have of the play LAUGHTER AND TURPENTINE (the Playland Painters one) so I can figure out what needs to happen next. I sorted through some possibilities in Saturday morning’s free write.
We had a late lunch of pizza, and then I didn’t feel like dinner. I made sure my mom ate something, but I wound up having a sandwich around 9:30 at night. I read the first book of a new-to-me series (it came out in 2011), that I liked on character and setting arcs. The plot was a little shaky, but interesting enough so I’ll read the second book in the series, at the very least, and see.
Slept well. It was supposed to snow overnight and be done by 7, but didn’t start until nearly 8 on Saturday morning. I had a good morning routine. I forgot to mention that Thursday was Day 175 of the free write sessions.
I tried making omlettes again for breakfast. I’m not good at them, but I keep trying. My favorite Elizabeth David book is AN OMLETTE AND A GLASS OF WINE. I went back and re-read her instructions on making an omlette and tried again. I still don’t have the foldy thing down, and the bottom is too brown, but the inside was fluffy with just a little runny for the cheese and herbs. It tasted good, even if the look of it wouldn’t win any awards. I keep trying. The pan I used was too small, probably, too.
After breakfast, I got the crockpot meal going. Instead of the usual Tuesday crockpot, we decided to do it on Saturday. Since Tuesday (today) is Chinese Lunar New Year, I’m making a special meal for the holiday, and moved the crockpot meal to the weekend.
Then some housework, because there is always housework.
I love following decorating and thrifting and cooking and sewing and gardening accounts on IG. (I mean, cats, too, but that’s something different). Even when something isn’t my style (like neutrals) or something that I would do, I enjoy seeing what other people are up to, and how happy it makes them. And I do learn stuff. But, I mean, sourcing at thrift stores has always been my first choice. It started way back when I was a teenager prop shopping for shows. Things with stories and histories have always been my preference. I love that more people are discovering the fun of it, although when I see a 20-something act like they are the first person to ever figure it out, I do roll my eyes. But that’s also part of being 20-something. I have no doubt I was just as annoying.
It snowed all morning, and I didn’t feel like trotting around in it, so I stayed home. I went through an exhibition catalogue built around May Morris’s work as background research for the play I want to write inspired by Mary Annie Sloane’s sketch of the women working in May’s embroidery workshop. I found names, so I can actually research them. One of the women who worked with May for years was Lily Yeats, the poet’s sister, although to hear tell, there was tension between Lily and May. Another embroidery worker was the actress Florence Farr. It took me a bit to figure out why the name was familiar. She was friendly with Annie Besant (who is mentioned in my play FALL FOREVER) and with Pamela Coleman Smith (who illustrated the Rider Waite tarot), and they were all involved in the occult society The Golden Dawn together. I hadn’t put together the concurrent timelines in my brain. The more I dig, the more interesting connections I find with other interests and projects. Quite the web!
So glad that May kept detailed records of the workroom. I’m hoping I can find a digitized version online, a little later in the research, and flip through it.
There isn’t a lot of material easily available on Mary Annie Sloane and her work, but I will keep digging. As much as May’s designs and exquisite work captured me, it was Mary Annie’s sketch that lit the fire under the idea.
I have at least six months’ to a year’s worth of research to do before I even start writing, but having names and women to research is a terrific starting point, much like with my Playland Painters. The grant proposal for this project is out. If I get the grant, the project moves into a priority position in the queue. If not, I can leisurely research until the project’s turn. Knowing something about the women who worked in the embroidery workshop and what a range of interests they all had changes the original character arcs I played with quite a bit. These are far richer and more interesting. May was known for paying her workers well, and encouraging financial literacy and independence.
Gabriel Dante Rosetti was William Morris’s business partner (he was May’s father, yes, that William Morris), and Rosetti had an affair with her mother, Jane. May and Jane often sat for Rosetti. The big Rosetti volume I have from my time working at Abbeville Press is in storage, but I’m eager to get my hands on it again.
May and George Bernard Shaw were in love, although they each married others, and remained good friends all their lives. So now I have to re-read that massive, multi-volume Shaw biography by Michael Holyrod. My copy of that is also in storage, but I will get them from the library at some point. I have other books coming in on that circle already ordered from the library that I will read first. I will head over to the college library in the next few days and see what they have, too. Once the car is fixed, I’ll do some digging in the Clark’s library, too.
It was a lovely way to spend a dreary, snowy morning, inspired by the beauty of the work these women created.
I started to do some research for the article, re-reading material I originally read in my twenties, but the contrast between May and her socialist, progressive circle and the self-involved material for the article was in too much conflict for me to deal with one right after the other.
I read the next book in the mystery series by the acquaintances from way back. The setting and background were great, but the character relationships were left so undeveloped, and the love interest didn’t even show up in the book until 7/8th of the way through it, so when they declared their love for each other at the end, it felt false. Over the three books in the series I’ve read, the relationship has been underwritten and underdeveloped (and they certainly haven’t spent much time with each other), so the declaration doesn’t land properly. I can’t source the final book in the series through the library even as an e-book, so I don’t know how it all played out. (The series has been out of print for a good long time). If the relationship had been more in balance with the plot (and it could have, without taking away from the plot), I think the series would have worked better (and probably lasted more than four books).
It didn’t live up to the promise of the premise, which is something I find a lot in script analysis work, but here it came up in a series of novels.
The crockpot dinner was good – potato, ham, cheese casserole-type thing. Sort of like a croque monsieur, but with potato rather than bread, and done in a crockpot.
Slept well, up at the normal time on Sunday, good morning routine. Switched out a bunch of winter/Valentine’s stuff with springier, Ostara/Easter stuff. And switched out the heart on the front door with shamrocks.
The neighbors have started decorating their doors, too, and using fun mats. Now that the building is painted, everyone is inspired.
Did the Community Tarot Reading for the Week, which you can read here. I wasn’t happy to see the Tower as central, but the other cards are very positive, so I’m intrigued by the week’s potential.
Sunday was day before the dark moon, always my least energetic day of the month.
Around noon, I wrapped up and went down to Brewster’s Thrift, the new thrift store that opened across from MASSMoCA a few months back. I’ve been hearing good things about it. The assortment is very eclectic and interesting. I found a lovely, silver-plated candleholder with intricate grapes and other summery/harvest raised detail. I posted a photo on Instagram.
Ran another errand on the way home. It was sunny and much warmer than I expected. I had too many layers on, which I guess is a good thing.
I had a quiet afternoon, and cooked a tuna/vegetable/pasta/pesto dish in the evening.
Read a charming and fun first book in a series that understood typical conventions and chose to break them in interesting ways that served the story, characters, and genre. I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series.
Up at the normal time, the morning routine was fine. Did the rounds with the week’s intent and the tarot post. Got through some email. No matter how much email I slog through, there’s always more. I’m unsubscribing from a bunch of lists, including authors who do not support my work as a colleague, but are always marketing at me. Read the two scripts for the evening’s Read ‘n Rant and made notes for the evening’s discussion.
We had our monthly Honor Roll! Session from noon to two. It was a nice turnout, and we all got a lot done on our various projects. We felt so good by the end of the two hours!
I got the opening of I WILL BE DIFFERENT, and the next scene. I’ve been playing with ideas in the morning free write, and decided to start with Josephine in the midst of handling five children and her husband and everything, and Alice at age 10. The same actor can play Amanda as a child a few sections later. I’ve been debating whether the first mother should be named Josephine or Margaret. In the free write, I’ve been calling her Margaret, but in these pages, she came out as Josephine, with “Maggie” being Alice’s older sister. I’m pretty sure I will double cast Josephine and Milly. It’s pretty clear in the later sections that Josephine died before Milly was born.
I had planned to finish the Alice section first, but because I’m struggling to get the timeline right with years/historical events, I was stuck. I did set the Josephine section/Alice’s childhood in my hometown of Rye, before Playland was built. I have to figure out one or two more Josephine/Alice scenes, and that will give me a better idea of the when with Alice/Archie, and then I’ll know how to complete the Alice section. If I just cut where Alice and Archie talk about him going to war, I can fix a lot. Yes, that scene is good, but it doesn’t fit the timeline, unless it’s Word War I, and then it sets everything else out of whack. So I basically have somewhere between three and five more scenes to write, and then I’ll have a rough assembly of way too much material that I can then hone down.
Stage plays often have a much longer development process than other types of work, but this one is even longer. I’d hoped to have it ready for a particular submission call to which I’ve been invited at the end of this August, but I can’t see how it will be done, and through enough drafts to make it viable. I may have to finish a different full-length between now and then that’s less complicated to submit this year, and then submit I WILL BE DIFFERENT next year.
I also have to fact check some of my hometown’s history pre-Playland. I sort of remember it, from some research years ago, but I have to recheck it. And it’s not like anything worthwhile comes up in Google anymore, so I’ll dig into the Westchester Archives online information, or into the Rye Historical Society’s information.
I also got the list of dates to paint the gallery for the upcoming GLOW show in March, so I have to figure out which times and dates I can help out.
I did some housework in the afternoon, in preparation for today’s Lunar New Year, and took out the garbage, etc. The dumpster is emptied Tuesday and Friday mornings, so I had to squish the bags into a very full dumpster, but I got them in.
I did some work relevant to the dark moon.
Assets for Artists sent a two -year follow-up from my time in the cohort, so I filled that out for them.
Leftovers for dinner. In the evening, I joined the Athena Project’s Read ‘n Rant discussion. I had been sent one of the wrong plays, so I kept quiet in the discussion for one of them. There’s no reason for me to make things about me instead of the play. I mean, in every group, there’s always someone who hasn’t read the play, or hasn’t finished the play (or book or whatever in the relevant group), but has to take up time and space in the discussion anyway, making it about them. There was that last night, too, but I was not that person! I was able to join the discussion for the other play, which I’d read, so that was fun. Charlotte slept through the whole thing. Bea and Tessa were there at the beginning, and then settled down.
I’m looking forward to my play, THE WOMEN ON THE BRIDGE, being part of next month’s discussion!
It was 10:30 by the time the discussion was over (Athena is based in Colorado, on mountain time). Then, of course, I needed transition time before bed, so I read for a bit.
Dreamed about working shows all night, so woke up feeling like I’d already put in a full week.
The morning routine was fine, the free write was sorting out stuff for I WILL BE DIFFERENT.
We are having pancakes for breakfast, because it’s Fat Tuesday.
On today’s agenda: writing, ghostwriting, an errand, packing up some things that need to be mailed tomorrow, celebrating Lunar New Year. We are wearing lots of red today in honor of it, but no black or white.
Have a good one!
#astrology #books #playwrighting #reading #shopping #theatre #thriftStore #writing
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