Experimentation

Setting up to work in the workshop/studio. I'm wondering if the shop lights that I have will work for photography.  I started with hardware

Then moved on to a live model

Who determined when the session was over

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Working in the Workshop

The walk to work:

Creating, exploring, retreating, and never forgetting...

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Studio Cat

I'm not always alone, once in a rare while she keeps me company in the studio/shop. We listen to baseball while I work around her.

In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

Safe Harbor

A good place, right now, is v's shop/studio which I'm arranging for my own use.  Our carpenter friend, Hans, will be here next week to help me inventory all of v's tools.  I will then decide what to do with so many of them.  The tools he felt were most precious will be cleaned, oiled, and stored in the loft.  Right now I find it comforting to sit with my coffee and watch out the window as the birds come to feed.  On a chilly morning I can light a fire in the wood stove, as I did this morning.

The space is a safe harbor and a good place to work.  It is so well lit I can come out in the middle of the night to work if I wished.  Or, like this morning, I can sit comfortably in the old rocker and listen to music or an audiobook.

I can make plans for the garden while I watch the birds, sip my coffee, stoke the fire, listen to a story being read to me, and miss v with all of my heart.

















In bocca al lupo.  m (no v)

A New Endeavor

Step 1: going to print tomorrow.  One of several designs we're trying out. So, does anyone know what this is?  Comments in any language are more than welcome. v is multilingual.

We are embarking on the unknown here, we're excited and having fun regardless. We are probably moving incredibly slowly...if only we knew more.  Good thing we are very fast learners! And that we have so much support from our friends.  Courage, you know?

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

Musings on Time and Energy

This is one of those years that just flies by without giving one the chance to catch a breath! Here we are in July already!  v has endured ten months of weekly, at times daily, chemotherapy and despite being mightily beat up in the process he has only shown improvement in his condition.  He is gaining weight and has ever-increasing energy.  He rarely lets his enthusiasm and happy experience of life wane.  I have never known anyone who has gone through this experience without frequent bouts of depression and fear. He is fearless.  Again, I doubt we'd come through all of this without such loving and devoted friends.  Our energies are focused on his well-being.  Sometimes trying to focus outside of that takes more energy than we can spare.  Our garden is an example of what has been neglected during this process.  We are relying on our local farmers' markets to supply us with the sweet, fresh vegetables that we normally have coming from just outside the kitchen door.  I'm sad about that, but just can't push myself out there to dig and pull...as much as those activities have been such a joyful escape in the past for me.

It isn't all v's cancer that is pulling at our energies.  I've returned to school, albeit part time.  We also have a design project that we spend many hours on and are hoping to soon have in production.  Until that time, we aren't leaking any more info on that subject.

July! Summer!  How did that happen so soon?

In bocca al lupo.  m & v

The Workshop in the Garden

At the back of our garden there is a workshop that was built by v.  He built it out of materials salvaged from our little Victorian during its renovation several years ago.  Except for the roof and the central beam he did all of the work himself.  Our wonderful carpenter and friend, Hans, put the beam in place as a surprise birthday gift to v.   I am still amazed that one man could heft into place a 23 foot, 4 by 10 inch beam, 15 feet off the ground without any help. Amazed.  

Under Construction

His workshop is full of natural light. Six of the seven windows came out of the old house. The seventh window is a portion of a broken stained glass window he found.  Every skill v uses in his carpentry or woodworking is self taught.  His adoptive parents had different plans for him and the school he attended didn't have "shop" classes.  He feels he is slow and that there may be easier ways of accomplishing some of the things he does.  What he does is beautiful work for the benefit of our home, our lives, and our friends.

In bocca al lupo. m & v