Ha Ha Ha Ha...Stayin' Alive...Stayin' Alive
I spent the early part of my week researching the Olympus PEN. My dream camera is one that will take both high-quality photos and video and the Olympus PEN seems to do all that and more but in the end, I couldn't bring myself to take one home without more comparisons. My older and wiser brother who knows a good deal about cameras will be in town in a couple of weeks and together we're going to spend some time at National Camera Exchange kicking some tires.
We rented three hours of bench time at Foci Friday morning. Rather than blown glass pieces to show for our efforts we have knowledge instead which is even better. Danielle started glassblowing 15 years ago and she stopped by our bench to give us some helpful advice. We'd like to work with her in the future and pay her to mentor us when we can sync up our schedules. She has a passion for the medium that is contagious and we both like her style of instruction.
I'm getting to know every inch of property along the side of our home like never before as I spent another weekend out there picking up where I'd left off with our landscape project. I made an early morning run to the compost site east of Rosemount Saturday morning and noticed more cyclists on the road than I think I've ever seen along that stretch of county road 46. Funnily enough, I was able to maintain my composure and not sink into a mild depression because I wasn't out there with them. I was getting a monkey off my back and not riding at all during my weekend would be a small price to pay for that to happen.
Ripping out and replacing distorted lawn edging was easily the most tedious and frustrating part of the job because of the number of roots that had grown under the existing edging pushing it up. The roots needed to be ripped out and it would put the whole project on a slower track than I wanted.
I knew there was a reason I dreaded taking this job on and why I kept kicking it further down the road but I'm happy to have finally tackled it. With the exception of a few stepping stones placed among the plants and mulch the job is finished and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out...so is Tammy.
Before and after and a short before and after video.
Speaking of Tammy...she spent much of the day touching up the paint inside our house in preparation for Rachel's graduation party. Another item off our to-do list.
We watched The Stoning of Soraya M last night. It's the true story of an Iranian woman living under Sharia Law in a remote mountain village who was stoned to death for (in her words) being "an inconvenient wife". In Sharia Law, if a man accuses his wife of infidelity she must prove her innocence but if a woman makes a similar charge against her husband, the burden of proof is still on her—a man's world in every regard. It's hypocritical to sit back while watching the movie and criticize the nation of Iran for being grotesquely unfair toward women (and they are) while at the same time glossing over entire sections of the Old Testament scripture—the foundation of my faith. Yes, I understand that we now have the New Testament but that doesn't erase what once was.
I woke up this morning with the thought of how truly extraordinary it was for Jesus and his followers to go against the grain of a society not much different than the one depicted in the story and how radical they were for doing so. Rent it and maybe ponder that thought as you do.
Rachel's (and my) dance recital is only a two weeks away. We dads have our last practice this Tuesday night. We're ready but another practice is welcome to keep it fresh for us. We'll also get a chance to run through it a couple of times during dress rehearsal a few days before the recital.
Speaking of dress rehearsal—check out the one-piece disco outfit (including the belt) Tammy made for me. I need to find some aviator glasses before our dance to complete the look.
I'd watched for years from the safety of my seat in the auditorium the dads doing their dance on stage and while I always enjoyed it I never considered joining them until Rachel's teacher asked me one night four years ago. I was waiting outside Brenda's School of Dance in Farmington for Rachel when Dana poked her head in the window to tell me that they were in need of dads for the dads' dance and she was counting on me to be a part of it. Everything inside me was saying 'no' but by the time Rachel and I got home she'd worked her magic on me and I agreed to do it.
The things we parents do for our kids.
The Judge Judy thing? That was her too.
We rented three hours of bench time at Foci Friday morning. Rather than blown glass pieces to show for our efforts we have knowledge instead which is even better. Danielle started glassblowing 15 years ago and she stopped by our bench to give us some helpful advice. We'd like to work with her in the future and pay her to mentor us when we can sync up our schedules. She has a passion for the medium that is contagious and we both like her style of instruction.
I'm getting to know every inch of property along the side of our home like never before as I spent another weekend out there picking up where I'd left off with our landscape project. I made an early morning run to the compost site east of Rosemount Saturday morning and noticed more cyclists on the road than I think I've ever seen along that stretch of county road 46. Funnily enough, I was able to maintain my composure and not sink into a mild depression because I wasn't out there with them. I was getting a monkey off my back and not riding at all during my weekend would be a small price to pay for that to happen.Ripping out and replacing distorted lawn edging was easily the most tedious and frustrating part of the job because of the number of roots that had grown under the existing edging pushing it up. The roots needed to be ripped out and it would put the whole project on a slower track than I wanted.
I knew there was a reason I dreaded taking this job on and why I kept kicking it further down the road but I'm happy to have finally tackled it. With the exception of a few stepping stones placed among the plants and mulch the job is finished and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out...so is Tammy.
Before and after and a short before and after video.
Speaking of Tammy...she spent much of the day touching up the paint inside our house in preparation for Rachel's graduation party. Another item off our to-do list.
We watched The Stoning of Soraya M last night. It's the true story of an Iranian woman living under Sharia Law in a remote mountain village who was stoned to death for (in her words) being "an inconvenient wife". In Sharia Law, if a man accuses his wife of infidelity she must prove her innocence but if a woman makes a similar charge against her husband, the burden of proof is still on her—a man's world in every regard. It's hypocritical to sit back while watching the movie and criticize the nation of Iran for being grotesquely unfair toward women (and they are) while at the same time glossing over entire sections of the Old Testament scripture—the foundation of my faith. Yes, I understand that we now have the New Testament but that doesn't erase what once was.
I woke up this morning with the thought of how truly extraordinary it was for Jesus and his followers to go against the grain of a society not much different than the one depicted in the story and how radical they were for doing so. Rent it and maybe ponder that thought as you do.
Rachel's (and my) dance recital is only a two weeks away. We dads have our last practice this Tuesday night. We're ready but another practice is welcome to keep it fresh for us. We'll also get a chance to run through it a couple of times during dress rehearsal a few days before the recital.
Speaking of dress rehearsal—check out the one-piece disco outfit (including the belt) Tammy made for me. I need to find some aviator glasses before our dance to complete the look.
I'd watched for years from the safety of my seat in the auditorium the dads doing their dance on stage and while I always enjoyed it I never considered joining them until Rachel's teacher asked me one night four years ago. I was waiting outside Brenda's School of Dance in Farmington for Rachel when Dana poked her head in the window to tell me that they were in need of dads for the dads' dance and she was counting on me to be a part of it. Everything inside me was saying 'no' but by the time Rachel and I got home she'd worked her magic on me and I agreed to do it.
The things we parents do for our kids.
The Judge Judy thing? That was her too.
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