Say What?

I struggled in the studio on Thursday, operating on not enough sleep having worked the all-night shift the night before. I couldn't seem to find my rhythm. I'd already thrown in the towel when Tammy suggested I take the remaining 30 minutes of our 3-hour slot and try again.  I'm so thankful for her encouragement. Tired and not thinking clearly, somewhat shaky from not enough to eat, I somehow managed to blow a vase shape I'd never before attempted—a 3 gather vase with shoulders. I hope to have a photo of it next week to post here. I'm excited to go back and try again. I was out on a longish walk the other morning (12 miles). With my Kindle in hand, I occupied my mind reading the book, Mockingjay, the final book in the Hunger Games trilogy. I had no particular route in mind and after 90 minutes I found myself in my old neighborhood. I closed the cover of my Kindle, silenced my music and tried to recall the last time I'd walked these streets 20 years earlier wi

It's not often that I find relaxation in returning to work after my weekend but that's what I'm feeling this afternoon. It's been a busy few days off for Tammy and me. Between us, we've gotten a ton of yard work done and by that, I'm referring to our flower gardens. They're all in! We acted on advice from my sister Jackie and purchased most of the flowers for our gardens this year at the  Minneapolis Farmers Market . She'd recently been there and was impressed with their quality. I trust her judgment. We began our flower buying frenzy there and we weren't disappointed either. In fact, we ended up going back for a second helping after checking out a few other shops including Getens where we typically buy nearly everything we need. Mom came by on Thursday afternoon as I was putting the finishing touches on our work. She'd stopped by to drop off some moonflower sprouts that I'd expressed an interest in. She took my arm and I slowly walked h

Rachel is done with her 2nd year of college as of last week. It's going to be a much quieter summer here for us since she's decided to remain in Rochester working as a camp counselor at YMCA. We'll miss her but no doubt we'll plan a few trips south to see her for lunch and an afternoon together. 597 days. That's how much time remains in my career so says the countdown widget I'm using to track what's left of this phase of my life. I'm sort of looking at these days in groups of 100 as I work my way toward January 2nd, 2014. I'm under 600 and looking forward to my next milestone. I don't post about politics too often here anymore but if this is to be a blog that I want to look back on years from now to see where my head was at, I do need to occasionally make mention of my thoughts. I don't see myself ever again embracing the political beliefs of my past where I was an ardent Republican supporter. There's just nothing there for me anym

Tammy has decided that enough is enough. She's been working to update her resume' in hopes of finding a job she actually looks forward to doing rather than one that causes her mostly stress which would well describe her current position. Up until now she's been working part-time but she's considering full-time employment if that's what it takes.  I'm happy with her decision because for the longest time I've been encouraging her to either learn to not care so much about her current job or find something new. It's not in her nature not to care so this becomes her only option. I'd hoped to do some major yard work this past weekend but continued downpours hampered my efforts. I did get the one most important job done though—wheelbarrowing 3 yards of garden mix dirt to our flower beds around the yard. Friedges in Lakeville has a mix of pulverized dirt, compost and sand that I'm hoping will work well. It was pretty much a full afternoon job and one