Back to School After Labor Day

Here's Jon with the two agave stalks. We've discovered a third one in the back. I took a photo of it, but it's really too short to show up yet. It's interesting that the two are almost the same height. I suppose they will continue that way.

It was terribly hot today, like yesterday. This is the time of year when we may have a Santa Ana, a wind that blows from the dessert and brings hot air with it. Usually we get a nice breeze off the ocean that keeps us comfortable. While we're having this hot weather, there's no breeze and the ocean temperature is higher than normal which adds to the hot weather.

Today was my day off, but I came back to the Village late this afternoon, thinking I might have time to make another piece of jewelry, but I wound up talking instead. By the time I finish writing, it will be time to go home for dinner. But I now have the chain I need after going to the bead supplier, and it would be nice to make another necklace.

This morning I came over to the Village to get three of my etchings that I planned to enter in a juried art show in another part of town. I took them out to the venue and had just enough time to get back to my printmaking class. It's so nice to be back. The students are all different, but of course the instructor is the same. And my drawer of paper and old etching plates was still there. So the first thing I did was clean it out, taking out all the plates that aren't worth fooling with, throwing away the trash, separating the used and unused plates, and taking a look at the paper I still have.

I found some blank copper plates which is nice. I can use those. And I found two small zinc plates that I don't remember making or printing. The interesting thing is that they look a great deal like what I've been making out of copper in the last few months. I really thought my style had changed, but an artist's style doesn't really ever totally change. There's always an element of their "voice" in everything they do.

Now it's really too late to stay and work on creating something. I'm leaving so I'll be ready for work tomorrow. When I was growing up, we always went back to school right after Labor Day. I always hated it, because I loved summer so much. But now I'm at the age where I enjoy school, because I can study what I want, and I go by choice. Amazing how that makes a difference.