Congratulations and Welcome, Madden

I have to apologize to my brother Tim. He posted a link on Facebook to a song by the Kings of Leon a few months back and I commented that I didn't understand the hype surrounding these guys. I was wrong: Closer

Congratulations to my niece Lindsay and her husband Joe on the birth of their son, Madden. Also, congratulations to Keith for reaching grandparent status! I can't help but wonder how the world will change in this little guy's lifetime?

Friday was a total rain-out and I loved it. They even canceled the Twins game at their new open-air stadium and I loved that too but that's for another discussion. The rain gave me a good excuse to head downstairs to the shop and begin work on the next panel for our entertainment center. I can't remember the last time I worked on a stained glass project this late into the spring.

Tammy had to work yesterday morning while I went into north Minneapolis to watch a friend blow glass for a couple hours. I first met Bill maybe 15 years ago when we'd both frequent a now-defunct stained glass shop in south Minneapolis. Bill's passion was making lamps as was mine but he eventually moved on to glassblowing. I forget when the desire to blow glass first struck me but I have to wonder if it was maybe Bill who planted that seed.

Bill has been a regular where Tammy and I took our glassblowing lessons. I last saw him when we toured the studios in October 2005. Here's a collection of photos from that day. He makes the art look so easy and I know just enough to understand that it's much harder. After watching him I couldn't wait to tell Tammy about the techniques I observed him using and how I want to try some of them when we next rent studio time. Talk about inspiring. We're inspired!

I finally gave in and bought an inexpensive sonic cleaner for degreasing my bike parts. I had a chance to use it last week and it works every bit as good as I was hoping it would. It's not big enough to hold my chainrings (front sprockets) but it does a nice job on the chain and rear cassette. I'm not obsessed with a clean drive-train but for those times when I'm trying to achieve one this sure helps. I use a citrus degreaser in a plastic bag that holds whatever it is I'm cleaning and then submerge the bag in the sonic cleaner's tank which is filled with water. It uses surprisingly little degreaser this way.

I'd written earlier about plans my siblings and I had for buying our mom a trike for Mother's Day and how that maybe wasn't such a good idea. I was disappointed for her when the trike didn't work out but we regrouped and decided to buy her a refrigerator instead. I think she'll get more use from a new fridge anyway so all is well.

The photo on the left was taken earlier today on my way into work. Mom will be 82 in November.

Happy Mother's Day to all who are.



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