Say What?

Don't lean in too close on this post. I'm coming down with a head-cold and body aches and feeling more and more miserable by the hour. I don't want you to catch it. We had such a good day at Foci Wednesday afternoon. We came in behind Jan who was just finishing up at the bench we'd reserved. She said she'd like to hang out and see how we're doing. We had no idea that she was about to spend the next 3 hours working with us on our technique. She was so helpful! Jan has a background in pottery but left it behind a couple years ago when she changed her focus to glassblowing. She has advanced so quickly under the tutelage of some of the areas more notable glass artists. We're so grateful for her desire to 'send the elevator back down' and help us raise our abilities. We left Foci feeling so excited about how the afternoon went that we returned the next morning to reinforce what Jan had worked with us on. Rachel called while we were in the studio to s...

We're having more fun than ever with our weekly glassblowing sessions at Foci. Now that we're getting there more regularly I can see where we're both beginning to show some steady improvement. We know we've got so much more to learn but we're occasionally getting some nicer pieces to show for our time at the bench and that's rewarding. I'm still playing around with my tealight candle holders in various colors, trying to make them of similar shape and size. They're fun. I have an idea for a more cylindrically shaped style with thick sides and bottom but I'm not sure I have the skills to pull off the look I have in my mind's eye. I'll play around with the design this coming week. We took a class at Foci last Wednesday night instructing us in the art of making punties. Punties are what we use to transfer a glass piece from the blowpipe to another metal rod for working the piece from the other end. They serve more functions than that but that...

I got a little too ambitious on the elliptical machine Tuesday night while going for a PR (personal record) and seriously aggravated my right knee, so much so that I had to abort a ride on my indoor trainer a couple days later. Saturday was the first day that I could push it on my CompuTrainer but still, I had to hold back some because I didn't want to risk developing any sort of recurring injury. Moderation has never been something I've been very good at. The metal men still got the best of me on my ride Saturday but I'll be back! Tammy took her paints out last week and got busy making cards for my mom for a Valentine's Day gift. They're smallish 3" x 5" cards that she can use to send "thank you" notes to friends. She made at least 15 of them, each unique. I think she did a great job. I cropped a few and stitched them together to show an example of her work (photo to the right) on my blog. It's clickable for a more detailed look. I had ...

Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a drug overdose a few days ago. I must be one of the few people on the planet who had absolutely zero name or face recognition of this actor. Movies obviously aren't my thing. Toby is doing much better and appears to be back to his normal self, chillin' on the ottoman in the sunporch or curled up by my feet when he's not nestled in my lap. It's nice to have my friend back to his normal self again. Charlie and Toby don't play together but neither do they fight as they once did. Toby has accepted the little mischief-maker who can often be found pulling up a spot next to his big brother. Allie and Charlie will play together but that's usually a result of me giving Allie the high-sign to go after Charlie and "give him a beating he won't soon forget!" She loves that and so does he. He can't get enough of being chased through the house. That little guy brings a lot of fun to our home. Tammy spent much of the last f...