An Interactive Entry

Today while I was joining frames at work, my boss walked in. This does not always happen on Mondays, as the gallery is technically closed. Anyway, I said hello to Nick, he asked me a few questions about some orders from last week, and then he said, "So, since I'm going to be out of town later this week I'm thinking maybe I'll just have you work Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

Basically, this means that instead of working my normal 25ish hours strung out over five days, I'll work my normal 25ish hours in three. Most importantly, I'll get Tuesday and Wednesday entirely off.

What am I going to do with this unbroken time on my hands? At first, I didn't know, but as I mulled over my options, it came to me. I'm going to finish my novel. And since I feel an utterly absurd but undeniably strong urge to add a little poll widget thingie to my blog, I'm asking you, dear reader, if you believe I can do it or not.

So, can I write 17,355 words in two days? Leave your opinion over to the upper right.

Testing

I'm trying out the new blogger fancy template thing. While there are some changes I do like quite a bit, there are others that drive me positively crazy. I knew the old template very well and could do pretty much whatever I wanted with it... but the new capabilities entice me with sleek additions like widgets. Besides, I strive to continue to learn, always.

Anynow, the jury's still out.

Sometimes I Just Can't Find a Title

Life continues - the big changes camouflaged in a myriad of little ones. Today I had news of something that makes me sad, and while it not the sort of thing that can accurately be said to have changed my day to day life, I can't help but feel (as nonsensical as it may sound) that it has changed my future.

I spend a lot of time thinking lately about the future, and the route I want to take while getting there. While thinking, I drift along smoothly, because the future comes to us, whether we pursue it or not. There are a few hopeful glimmers on the horizon, but I'm too far out to determine whether they will amount to anything. So, while I wait to see, today I invested a sizable amount of time in scrubbing at the discolorations at the bottom of the bathtub. I know perfectly well these are permanent stains from before we moved in, which I cannot get out. But I still try. And while trying I wonder if it's strange that I worry more about exposing myself to the toxicity of the cleaning chemicals than the bathroom germs.

On Friday we rode our bikes to North Liberty with the Eppens for Mexican food. That was very fun. It's nice to develop some new friendships, and long bike rides bookending food and drink are extremely fun. Last night we had a sleepover with Molly, Oliver, and Isabelle because their parents, Adele and Peter, are out of town. They are a very well behaved dog and couple of cats, but even after one night away it felt good to come home.

Oh, and I accidentally redesigned vitzy's and the gallery website again. Oops.

Of Potters, French Matts and Doping

Lately, I've spent a great deal of time doing three things - working, watching le Tour de France and reading the latest Harry Potter. Of these pursuits, oddly, work has proven the most satisfying.

Le Tour has been exciting this year, but has been rather drastically dampened by the steady stream of expulsions and firings due to the racers getting caught doping. I know this is a complicated issue, and I don't necessarily condemn the men who've been proven guilty, even though I certainly don't support the use of drugs. Currently, I am both feeling disappointed that the final time-trail is not going to prove nearly as interesting now that Rasmussen's out, and somewhat uncomfortably aware that it is the desire of the fans to watch exciting performances that pushes such athletes to dope... and yet if it weren't for the fans, the racers would have no sponsors and without sponsors the races would not go on. The answer? I don't know.

At work I've been learning all sorts of new things - from custom paper bevels to French Matting, (which doesn't involve anything that Brian might be jealous about but does require loose ink, a ruling pen and very steady hand). I love learning new things, and Nick is a good teacher. I've become, finally, very relaxed in my workspace and my only dissatisfaction with the job remains that sometimes I wish there were more hours for me to work.

Finally: Harry Potter. I started reading the 7th and final book yesterday. As odd as it may sound, I do not read Harry Potter because I want to. I give Rowling full marks for creativity, but I find her books poorly written and a little overfond of convenient coincidences and random killings and/or drastic shifts in fundamental character traits. Yet, I was admittedly too interested in the outcome of her saga to be satisfied with reading about the book. What I really wished was that someone else could put in the time for me - read the whole staggering number of pages and then just pour the knowledge of what happened, blow by blow, conveniently into my brain. Of course, such solutions only exist in Potter's world, so I had to do the grunt work. I read the book as fast as I possibly could, and now after many hours of solid reading, although I can't say I'm disappointed because my expectations were too low to allow for that, I can say I'm glad there will be no more Harry Potter books to take up my time in this manner.

On the upside, Brian's currently serenading me with 80's music, (maybe because I rescued him today) so my life is certainly pretty darn good.

A Visitor

Jesse came in for the weekend. It was good to spend some quality time with my brother. He flew in Friday morning and left Sunday evening. We managed to fill up that small chunk of time quite well.

We spent a fair amount of time watching le Tour. We also drove to Grinnell - the town my mother, aunt and uncle grew up in. We connected with an old friend of the family, visited the halls of the university in which my grandfather taught, the streets where my mom and her siblings played, and finally found my grandmother's grave in a cemetery on the side of a hill. I'd never visited a grave before. We had quite a search to find it and weren't sure at first we were looking in the right place. When Brian finally found her name on a tombstone and my brother and I walked over to look, I found the experience unexpectedly moving. I wondered how long it had been since someone stood in that spot and mourned her death. As I looked at her name carved on that stone, delineating the short years of her life, I wondered how my heart could stir for a woman who died over a decade before my birth. I thought of my mother, a young girl, standing in that same spot looking at that same stone and struggling with the new state of her reality.

I believe I don't want to be buried in a graveyard, but nonetheless it felt meaningful to make that little gesture - to sit on the side of a grass-covered hill overlooking a creek, take a moment to regret the loss of an acquaintance I never made, and feel thankful for whatever force lined up the variables to bring me that place.

Reconsideration

I think I am justified in calling myself a consistent person. I rarely make black and white declarations, but when I do, I stick to them. I think an important part of forging and maintaining my identity is standing by the decisions I've made.

So, it is not without ample consideration that I venture to retract a statement I made in no uncertain terms, in this very blog, not long ago. It was a statement I made while still green on the subject matter - a statement that has proven too extreme now that I am better acquainted with the facts of the case.

The truth is, I'm not sure museum glass is actually my nemesis...

I know, I know. What about those things I said? How do I know I'm not falling prey to a ploy on the part of the glass to get my guard down so that it can strike back when I least expect it? Don't think I haven't considered these things. However, I've learned a lot since I first met museum glass back in February. Chiefly, this finicky material is not so bad to work with, as long as it's handled properly.

Lately, I more view museum glass as that eccentric genius - you know, the guy who drives everyone crazy in most spy films because he's completely inept dealing with people, but the other characters put up with him and even rely on him, because he has the skills to get everyone through tight spots. Simultaneously, they all know his quirks and take great pains to avoid ruffing his feathers, because when he's pissed he'll put the whole mission in jeopardy.

I have to admit, in a few cases, museum glass has been there for me when no other kind of glass would do. It's uv protection coupled with the non-glare and also non-foggy coating is truly a wonder. Museum glass, once installed, literally dissolves into the shadows and disappears - just like those really cool guys in spy movies. Also like those really cool guys in spy movies, incorrect handling will make it make your life a living hell.

Still, having now used museum glass with very little difficulty quite a number of times, I hereby retract the title of nemesis I once bestowed upon my sometime adversary. Instead I extend my hand (wearing a lint free cotton glove, of course) in a tentative gesture of friendship and forgiveness.

Respite

To follow a very long week+ of traveling with a very long week of work is, I'm discovering, tiring. But tonight marks the beginning of the weekend, and I'm very glad for it.

This morning Brian and I instituted our plan to start jogging or swimming four mornings a week. I ran around the old neighborhoods up the hill from us, and it felt good. I think we'll stick with it. I do think the run is part of the reason I'm so utterly worn out now, though.

Another thing we've enjoyed doing in the mornings lately is watching the Tour de France. See Brian's blog if you want to know how we're viewing it online.

Also, I wanted to say to my friends in Flagstaff, I'm very sorry we didn't stop off to say hi to anyone while we were in Northern Az. Believe me, it wasn't because we didn't want to but because we genuinely had no extra time.

In more exciting news, my vagabond brother will arrive for a short visit a week from today, and in early August, the rest of my family is likely to drop in. Good times ahead, to be sure.

Good Times at the Wedding

After spending a few days with the family and the animals, we drove to Williams to participate in Autumn and Efrain's wedding. We ended up with the bride, Liz, Brian and I sharing a hotel room the night before (so she'd be away from Efrain for the wedding day), and we had a grand old time drinking port out of 10 oz kiddie tumblers. The next day we went to the ceremony and reception. It was one of the most sincere weddings I've ever seen.

Here we have Autumn, trying to stay calm as the morning of her wedding day crawls by.

Here's the carriage that took the bridal party (yep, that included me!) to the ceremony. The horse's name is Winchester, and he weighs 2300 lbs.


Autumn and Efrain, walking back down the aisle with rings on their fingers.


Liz and Autumn. It was great to spend some time with them again.


Since I had some leftover scraps from the dress, I made a matching tie for Brian. Here we are after the ceremony.

El Rancho Stepheno

There's never a shortage of critters around the family home.

On top of the puppy, my parents have a new kitten. Currently, he goes by Diablo.


Here we have all three horses, standing getting ready to go out on a ride. Mom, Meryl and I all went out together. This had never happened before, and likely will never happen again as Tommy will be off to his new home soon.


Here I am, on my last ride ever on Tommy. I rode him every day while I was home, and as much as I agree he'd not the right horse for my mom, I'll miss the little guy.


This is Jak, my sister's horse, who Brian is growing rather fond of.


Finally, here's the new horse Rojo. He's a Missouri Foxtrotter, which means he has five gaits instead of the usual four. He's 15.1 hands tall, and very friendly. I plan to get to know him better my next trip home.

Home

Well, we're finally back in Iowa City. It was a pretty fun trip, although the end was hectic and exhausting. The wedding was great though. I've rarely seen two people I feel are so perfect for each other.

So, here I sit typing with henna'd hands and a sore back. We battled jet lag to get out of bed in Chicago this morning, drove 3+ hours to Iowa City and then Brian and I were each at work until 8 pm. We are now both very, very tired.

It rained lightly this afternoon. The corn is tall and tasseled in the fields. The large trees in our backyard shade the house with their leaves. The landscape here is so different from the one in Tucson it seems impossible we can travel so quickly between them. Also, it's odd that returning to Iowa is starting to feel like coming home, too. I guess that's something to be grateful for - to have home on both ends of my trip.

I'll post photos of the wedding and the new horse and the new kitten soon.