More images for Song ov Elmallah

For the next image in Bouk 3 Dumuzee, the shepherd/king, has fled from invaders who want to plunder his treasure. They begin bartering with his chief servant. These are the verses for which the image is being created:

Then up thay roze tu hiz hows and tu hiz serven
And with the cheef ov hiz men thay barterd in sienz:
    “We wil giv yu a wel in its wotter....”
    He ternd awway.
    “We wil giv yu a kow in its burden....”
    He ternd awway.
    “And we wil giv yu a feeld in its grane....”

Then the cheef serven, he pointed with hiz hand.
With the rite hand, the hand with 5 ringz,
He pointed tu the eest.
With the left hand, the hand ov 4 ringz,
He pointed tu the west.
With wun, he pointed tu the ruwenz,
    The abandond sittee.
With the uther he pointed tu the dwelling
    Ware the serven huddeld.
Fienlee he pointed tu the gulleez
    In the fouthilz north.
Then the jakkel hedded wunz
Tor him appart and devowerd him.
~~~~~~~~~
 
In the image, we see the chief servant (a Sumerian carving of Enki) pointing, while he is surrounded by dogs (taken from a Nineven wall carving). Here are 2 sets of the dogs, 2 versions of each:

Image for Song ov Elmallah, complete

The follow-up to my post of Nov, 25, 2014, http://shivvetee.blogspot.com/2014/11/image-for-song-ov-elmallahz-kumming.html .
Well, of course, I don't think of any of my work as ever really complete or finished, but here's the state of the art during my current state of mind:

Giv us Dumuzee!

Image for Song ov Elmallahz Kumming, Bouk 3

I'm creating the images for the third ebook in the Song ov Elmallah series. The 2 alternative (but still incomplete) images below are meant to accompany the following verses:

Then Dumuzee fled tu the dichez ov Arrollee
Tu the baren kuntree ware the winter fludz gowj,
Az the liyon-hedded areyanz dessended on thaer rafts.
Frum the rivver thay roze tu hiz hows and hiz wife,
Tu hiz sister-wife hu waz hottee and prowd.
In thaer jawz thay touk her [Innonna]
And tosst thaer hedz,
Then dragd her thru the street
And roerd:
     “Giv us Dumuzee!”
     “Giv us the wun hu haz 1 lofe,
     “Hu haz 2 loevz, giv us him!”

These 2 images differ only in the shading of Innonna's face. I'm wondering which you prefer. Email me, or use the comment function at the bottom of this post. Thanx.

Some recent building projects, 2

After Sukkot we decided to renovate the living room. We guessed that it was once a stand-alone garage. I suppose it was a nice enough room on the inside. The gas fireplace made it a great place to write on cold winter days. But from outside, the flat roof was ugly, and it had a couple of places where water pooled. That's nothing but trouble. 

Exterior view of living room entrance. Note the planter with 3 boxwoods, and the lovely metal door. Feh!

The flat roof and sloppy gutter.

So I sketched out a design that would have minimal impact. Note in the photoshopped picture below how the peak of the sloped roof just comes up to the bedroom window, which we didn't want to replace.

Design rough-out. Ultimately, I dispensed with the hipped roof, as you'll see.

 

I hired Josue Benitez to remove the old roof and frame out the new one. His 2 guys made short work of it!

Out with the old! Oh oh. Rain forecast for the next day. And rain it did, but tarps saved the day.

The new roof framed in, and the drywall nearly complete.

New front door, another treasure from Community Forklift.

 

Now it's time for me to get to work. First ugly job: 2 layers of 2" thick R-Max, cut precisely, to fit super tight between the rafters. Insulation value: about R30-34, with no deterioration over time (unlike fiberglass).

Insulation done. It was a back-breaker.

Now, on to the ceiling paneling. I found a guy selling 10' lengths of t&g beaded poplar. Perfect! The room is 9'6" wide. 52 boards for $240. I finished the poplar with Flood CWF, cedar tone.

The finished ceiling. Pictures and curtains hung, & light fixture installed.

New entrance to a new living room, with Zoey inside.

Some recent building projects, 1

Been busy for the last 6 months with house renovations. There was the shed project in early summer, that looked like this:

The old plastic shed behind the maple, dark and cramped.

Tore that plastic thang down, and framed out a level floor....

Framed out the walls. Aaah, the weather was sooo nice.

Stuck a roof on it -- clear polycarb. Let the sunshine pour down!

Sheathed it, popped on a $45 recycled door, and wrapped it in my favorite stuff, Tyvek.

Found some used cedar siding and $20 windows at Community Forklift (same place I got the door).

New shed, for about the same price as a pre-fab piece-a-junk. And a nice place to work, it is.

Well, Memphis go and Memphis come back.... Fall ushers in the Days of Awe, and then Sukkot. Decided to build my first sukkah since moving to DC. About time, eh? I started off by cutting down about 30 saplings that a neighbor was glad to get rid of. Hmmm, how to make this thang stand up? Well, why not start like this -- one 2x4 with a couple of holes drilled in it:

I didn't plan to frame the door with it, but I needed to stand it up to figure out how to proceed.

No nails required. I drilled out a hole in the post, stuck a cutoff branch in it, and leveled the 2x4 that way.

Oh right! I forgot. Sundry simple tools and materials, especially a drill, razor, and jute.

Instead of nails or screws, jute does a nice job of binding posts...

or binding posts and "beams".

Cut to the chase. Here's the finished sukkah. A great place to hang out, eat a meal, or chat with ushpizin.

Side view. It's very stable and still happily standing, having stood up to a couple of good storms. Only storm that will bring it down is Nancy. "Time to take that thang down, boy!" "Ah shoot, Nan. Ah like it."