Adventures in aging & rice pudding

"Now look, your grace,” said Sancho, "what you see over there aren't giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails...."

"Obviously,” replied Don Quixote, "you don't know much about adventures."

––Miguel de Cervantes

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I. Setting up my youTube channel, Me, Getting Old(er), is an adventure.

I used to push myself for my blog. I'd venture to unfamiliar places, gather new material (words, pictures, ideas), question people extra, on purpose so I could blog it.
And then, photographing the girlettes also pushed me into the world, to record their play in public.

I've been blogging continuously for seventeen years, as of October 7, and the girlettes have been with me more than seven years. While I still love and enjoy these things (a lot!), I'm so comfortable with them they not agents of adventure for me anymore, or, not often.

So vlogging–– (is that what I'm doing? not even sure yet)––making little videos about me as an old(er) person to post on youTube is welcome:
It makes me uncomfortable!

And it pushes me in a fun way. For instance, yesterday I went into the Welcome Center at the swank Lakewood Cemetery to ask about prices--mostly so I could talk about it online. I wouldn't have bothered taking that extra step just for myself.

I like learning a new site too.
This morning I changed my serious profile photo to one of me laughing--because I'd be more likely to click on such a face--  and I added a banner photo of grass growing on the rocky shore of Lake Superior.
(Hm, this combo--with me wearing what looks like an anorak--makes me appear way more outdoorsy than I am though.)

 
Views of Videos are low (45 is the highest); views of Shorts, which are less than 1 minute, are much higher (528 views). But I've decided I don't want to create sound bytes, I want to hear what I have to say when I ramble.
I think about what I'm going to say, but I don't prepare much because I want to surprise myself. (Also if I prepare, I come across so stiffly I have to delete the video.)
I DO want to get better at keeping the words flowing––and to stop saying "um"!

It's weird to see my face over and over and over...
But that's why I started doing this, because I was SO HAPPY to see a face online that looked like mine---an older woman with gray hair and no concealing makeup. Wanting to see more such, I decided I could be/would try offering what I wanted to see.

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II. Printmaking pushes me too, though in this case I'm returning to an old project---ink paintings of the ingredients for rice pudding. Years ago I sent these to the blogger of The Crow, Martha. The last time she posted, Nov. 2022, she had completed a course of chemo for breast cancer. 
I miss her.

And I've always kinda missed these pieces too--so I am going to reproduce them as prints!

I'm not sure if I should redesign it as one image to fit on a 5" x 7" card, or print each one separately....
Or print the four as one bigger print.

I don't know.
Printmaking is for sharing, and cards are the easiest to send casually, or to frame, if you like.

Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.

I was surprised that two friends-of-friends recently asked if my prints were for sale. One wanted typewriter cards, and the other said he wanted to "collect all your prints"!
He'll be in town soon, and can some look at them--they're not what I'd consider collectable.
(Well, except The Moth Burial, which I consider a work of art, flaws and all. I am really proud of that.)

It would be nice to sell prints to pay for the materials. I'd like to get some more nice paper (like Rives BFK) and at around $5/sheet, that adds up fast. 
At this point, though, I'm learning and playing.
I gave away most of what I've printed, so I don't have a bunch of stuff for sale, and I don't particularly want to do the work to print more of the old stuff (typewriters) to start selling online.
Maybe eventually? I don't know.
I have to figure out rice pudding!