A migraine you could photograph

is what I've been down with most of the last two weeks. I hate 'em.

Never had them before I moved to New York City in 1982, and they've been fewer and further between in the last six or so years -- having a happy home life helps, a lot.

But the weather here has alternated between great warmth and the revenge of winter here lately, and wild swings in weather are a known trigger of migraines, particularly sinus ones.

It was so bad last Wednesday that I thought a DIY lobotomy with a chain saw would be less painful, and that doesn't leave much cognitive space for "creativity."

Luckily, my entry for CREATURE, a project of Elephant Artist Relief that I was working on (a knitted "canvas" to be used as the background for a three-dimensional sculpture) was pretty mindless, and I've now got that done.

The rest of the piece is a little more mindful on the knitting front, but I've also now got the canvas stretchers I will use to mount it -- they need to be constructed and stained -- and it's progressing well.

Deadline for it is two days before I leave for the eastern U.S., which is perfect timing.

Speaking of which, my passport showed up on Thursday, which is less than two weeks from the time I took the picture-from-hell (less than subtly tweaked above), my application form, and the money, into the office here. I'm truly impressed with how quickly it was done.

And I've finished booking everything I can do in advance (hotels, rental car, etc.), and have an itinerary that's now sitting at two pages. Still need to add the driving instructions for the rental car, which will be another couple of sheets, but other than that, it's coming together.

The funny thing is, I really only have to schedule (and rather tightly, at that) the first and last weekends -- the rest of the time, I'll be in class, with my nose to the bonefolder, and developing a fine case of ink-stained hands.