So, I've neglected the blog again. I'm sure you've all noticed that there is a real ebb and flow to my writing here. I'm learning that my whole life is kind of this way. I go through periods where I'm brimming with creativity and am really excited about doing things, and then I hit a period where I just feel like a boring, limp fish and don't do much at all. So I'm coming out of one of those periods, and thought I should show my face around here again.
So, what's been going on? You may recall that we went to New York back in July, and I'm not certain that I told you about this, but one day, we walked from 125th St. through Central Park to the Met, which is at 83rd St. Which is roughly 40 blocks. Or two miles. Not that big of a deal but then we spent the rest of the afternoon in The Met, which is so big it defies imagination, really. I looked at a map of it in my guidebook and thought, no big deal - it looks totally manageable. It's not, trust me. It takes up nearly a square mile of real estate and by the end of the day, it had completely beaten me. My left foot hurt so bad I literally could not put weight on it any more. By the next morning it felt pretty fine again and I thought maybe I had, in reality, been the winner. But, three months and a trip to the doctor's office later, it turns out that The Met did in fact prevail: I have plantar fasciitis, which is an inflammation of the big, important ligament in your foot. It's tiny little tears in your plantar fascia and it can be caused by, you guessed it, walking, running or standing for long periods of time. Check. The treatment is pretty simple, really - icing, taking ibuprofin and doing some simple foot excercises. Unfortunately, I'm not the most disciplined person when it comes to simple regimens. I forget to take the ibuprofin, forget to pull out the ice pack and completely forget to do excercises. So, this may not be as easy to kick as it sounds. Ah well.
I just got home from a trip back to Portland last weekend and had a wonderful, restorative vacation. I felt the rain on my face (and the bottom of my pants-legs) and also the warm autumn sun. I saw brilliant reds, yellows, oranges and purples. Purples, you say? Yes indeed - my parent's hydrangea leaves turned deep, glorious purple this year. It was strange and beautiful. I carved pumpkins, watched my nephew trick-or-treat and my dad taunt small children with doughnuts. (No, he's not a cruel man, it was part of a Halloween carnival game.) I went to a Harvest Festival and ate chili and watched apple cider being made and people of all ages enjoying a hay ride. I took a hike out to the edge of Yale Lake and saw the reflection of the beautiful yellows, reds and orange trees in the glassy water of the Lake. And I spent time enjoying the company of my beloved family. The morning that I left, I saw my breath in large, fluffy clouds in the 39 degree sunshine. If it sounds idyllic, it really was. Just what I needed when the trees in San Francisco merely turn brown and fall off. It was little bit hard to come back.
I started a jewelry class last Monday at The Crucible in Oakland, which is a super-cool non-profit arts center that offers a huge array of classes - everything from glass-blowing to Blacksmithing to neon. It's really awesome. So I signed up for the Intro to Jewelry 101, even though I already know most of the stuff being taught because a) I thought it would be a good refresher course and b) it is a pre-requisite to the rest of the jewelry courses and I probably could have skipped it, but refer back to reason a). Our first class was last week, and we covered texturing. Which means, basically, hitting a piece of copper with a hammer, running it through a rolling mill or punching it with a steel stamp. I've never been a huge fan of texture, usually preferring nice, shiny smooth polished surfaces, but since it was the lesson of the day, I textured away with the rest of the students. Then the instructor brought out a disc-cutter, which cuts little circles of metal out in seconds flat, and a dapper, which forms those flat discs into half-domes. I don't own either of these tools because they are just too expensive, and I love both of these tools with all my heart. Without the disc cutter, the only other way to cut a circle of metal out is to saw it out, with a teeny-tiny jewelers saw. Not fun. Besides the dapping tool, I know of no other way to make half-domes. So I took some of my textured metal, stamped some "S"'s on it, cut it into circles in the disc-cutter, and then domed them, just to keep busy. When I got them home after the class, I thought - "hey, these would actually make kind of fun earrings and a necklace, so I sawed out some silver backings and soldered the copper domes down onto them. Then I looked at the schedule for the class and noticed - this week's lesson was sawing and soldering. Oops. Already mastered that. So I took the "practice" sawing time in class to saw out a really fun little pendant in brass and copper, and so now I have another project in the works. So, even though the class is a total basic review of things I already know, it's been great fun and has already generated 3 new pieces of jewelry. And, of course, most instructors have their own way of doing things, so I've learned a few new techniques and tricks. I'm loving it.
And finally, I got so sick of cleaning up the doggies pee when I got home from work, because they just can't hold it for 10 hours, that we got a litter box to train them to use. The first day that I brought home the litter and filled up the box, Swarley used it right away, and, turns out, no training was necessary. He just needed a little toilet spot. So we're all a lot happier now - Swarley doesn't have to hold it and I don't have to clean it up. Except to clean out the litter box and whoever invented clumping litter should be given a medal - it's the coolest thing EVER! I'm not sure if Lola has actually used it yet, but she's always been able to hold it way longer than Swarley. I'm not sure why - maybe females have better bladder control.
That's all for now - we'll see how long I can keep this blog flowing before we hit another ebb...
