Say What?

We were only away not quite two weeks but it feels like we were gone much longer than that. Each of our days was so full that we were exhausted at night before the sun went down. Bryan and Sue went out of their way to show us around the area and points beyond, driving us several hundred miles to visit family, vineyards and the coast. Tammy and I both fell in love with the area. I used to say that if I didn't live in Lakeville, I wouldn't mind living in western South Dakota. I may have to rethink that #2 spot. The Pacific Northwest is appealing to me on many levels, one of those being cycling. I found myself daydreaming about being on my bike and exploring all it had to offer. Some of the roads were a little sketchy from a cycling perspective but there were many other roads that were more than fine, especially the shoulder along the Columbia River Gorge drive. And speaking of the gorge—wow! What an amazing stretch of highway that goes on like that (in the video) for well over...

Our hummingbird feeders are awaiting the return of our tiny friends from their vacation homes well to the south. It's going to be a couple weeks before I can replace the sugary mix they contain because we're leaving town in the morning to visit family and friends in the Pacific Northwest. My brother Bryan and his family left Minnesota nearly 25 years ago and I have yet to make a trip out west to visit them. He's been back here several times as has his wife Sue. We're overdue. Toby and Charlie will be with us so Tammy has reserved rooms at Airbnb's along the way as they seem to be more accommodating for those traveling with pets. We found a cute Airbnb in Sherwood, Oregon to rent where Bryan and Sue live. It turns out that Bryan did the photography for the woman who owns it. How cool! It's been 4 years since our last vacation so we're excited to be hitting the road again. Tammy's Subaru Crosstrek is packed and fueled and waiting. We'll have SiriusXM ...

It's mid-April and I'm sitting by the fireplace with my feet up, feeling like it's the dead of winter. We just dug out from a major snowstorm that blanketed us with between 15-18" (38-46 cm for my metric friends) of snow. We've broken the record for snowfall total for the month so at least we earned bragging rights for that. Our snowbanks are as high as they've been all winter it seems but I'm hopeful that some milder temps in the offing will make quick work of them. The snow is pretty but so are flowers, bone dry single-track trails, and freshly mown fairways. I'm ready for a change. I completed another larger stained glass panel over the weekend. Of all of the pieces I've made since taking up residence down in the glass shop last November, I think this is my favorite. There's something about the flow of the lines and the minimal touches of color that works for me. I listed it on my Etsy site but I'm in no hurry to see it go. I added a ...

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. I was 10 years old and too young to appreciate then what his short time on earth meant for our country, but I knew his murder was a significant tragedy. I have a distinct memory of being with my parents in our front room that night and looking up King's name in our World Book Encyclopedia. I checked with them first before penning in the date of his death. Toby has entered that phase of his life that as a pet owner I dread. His vision is very diminished as is his hearing, and his rear legs appear to be losing some strength—I'm guessing he has arthritis. I have to mix in some easier days on our walks so he doesn't overdo it because he still wants to run when we're out there. I have to be his eyes while we're on our walks but he seems to do well especially if we're on an open road that's free of traffic. A little nudge from the leash works well to correct his course. He strug...

In the spring of 1992, in the middle of having my home built, I began to wonder what I would do with the transom windows I was having installed in several places in the home. Should I just leave them bare? What do other people do with them? That's when I had the idea to fit them with stained glass but I wasn't keen on the idea of paying someone to do the work. A co-worker, Shannon Madery, suggested I check out a stained glass shop in Eagan called Creations in Glass to see what they offered for instruction. I took their beginner's class in the art of stained glass, having no idea if I'd have either the aptitude or the desire to take it beyond the 6 session course. I would be one of their last students before they went out of business. I finished my first project , and like a proud little schoolboy bringing his artwork home, I gave it to my mother. She kindly displayed it in her home for the rest of her life, as she did with my 2nd project as well. I had no way of know...

I was going through the inner workings of my blog this morning and came across this unpublished piece I'd written a couple years ago. It details a conversation I'd had with a former co-worker. It didn't end well, in fact, we haven't spoken since. He left me with this: "I'm afraid Kevin that you have hardened your heart against the Lord so bad that there may be no turning back. You need to repent my friend. I mean that sincerely. I'm afraid the only God you serve is the one you created in your mind. I'll continue to rely on the Bible, the Word of God." Here's the previously unpublished entry. I was going to blog today but I've been involved in a Facebook Messenger discussion and it's sucked up a good deal of the time I was going to use. I got to thinking that maybe my most recent reply to my friend can suffice for an entry because it touches on so many things that are playing out in our world today with the marrying of Christianity...

I've been steadily adding to my stained glass inventory in my Etsy store . I've had a few sales along the way but it's been slow, which I expected. Still, I'm enjoying more than ever this hobby of mine and if I make a few sales along the way, all the better. The photo to the left is a collection of my available pieces. I'm beginning to build a network of other glass artists as well as those who appreciate glass art on an Instagram account where my focus is on my glasswork rather than a mix of that and life in general; I have another account for that. It's interesting to see what others around the globe are doing with their art. I've made quite a few connections with Russian and Chinese artists, which I find interesting. I'm encouraged by the comments I'm receiving there. It's a nice community of people. I've spent the past couple days going through my blog and reconstituting dozens of broken links to videos that were deleted when I lost...