1 8 18 or 8 J 18

Monday morning, the sun rises on the first full week and the new year takes another step to rev up. A bit of chill early but it should warm enough to get one out of the cave.

Local students were out ALL of last week as well come to find out. No wonder the nextgens are falling below the standards set by earlier children.

I could dedicate an entire essay to this topic but my thoughts & opinions on education, the process & system are in the minority, dropping and with no children directly involved, it is difficult to sustain thought to even form and opinion.

It being a Monday I am thinking this MAY be it for the week so I can highlight the weekend just past and forecast plan(s) for the up & coming week.

The numbers today indicated going with the current. Ate & ate-teen as you know are powerful (read ‘lucky’) numbers so the decision was a no brainer.

The weekend or the last two (2) days were absolutely delightful. The weekend starting Friday afternoon was spent with my student giving a painting lesson. We went to lunch at the little Mexican place and it being Friday had the maricada por dos. A HUGE plate of fish with tortillas to make fajitas I guess. There was SO MUCH that I not only brought the leftover box home for supper but finished fish fajitas for supper Saturday. (!).

Saturday AND Sunday was spent going between painting projects. I disappointed myself with time spent and progress on the beach commission. It is getting close to completion and colors applied as well as the brushes used are getting smaller & smaller. This is a strong indication the end is near.

I knocked out two (2) of the smaller 8 x 10 canvases purchased at the sale in a ten pack. I really don’t like either one and as of this moment in time am uncertain if I will rework each slightly OR simply retool naming naming the next attempt St Michaels.3.1 & St Michaels.4.1, respectively. Each are mini-faux Mondrians and just FYI to inquiring minds the black framing lines are too thick for my liking.

Also the colors are way too stark. The border color which would be the wall needs some white wash(es) and the ‘glass’ needs to be more representative of glass so white washing here as well.

Friday also included a stop at the McK library. The best program of the lot so far was a PBS documentary by Ken Burns on Mark Twain. As you well know having explored this site (a-hem) Sam C is one of those that I follow. Or if it is more proper & better stated I am a fan OR favorite.

There were naturally loads of quotes & the quips he was famous for. I did not know that Clements was a travel writer. Something else we have in common.

Reporting on a trip to the Holy Land & Palestine when finding out that a ferry boat ride to cross a river was $8.00 one-way, he remarked that it was no wonder Jesus walked.

Eight dollars was a lot more money back then. In fact, back then I can’t imagine what that might be in today's dollars.

Anyway, it was nice enough outside to make a fire inside and feed said controlled blaze all afternoon slowly destroying the bits of wood scraps that had accumulated over the past year.

WHAT’S THE LATEST ON SILVER ? WHEN WILL YOU BE GETTING YOUR CAR BACK ?

Holly, Ginger & Maryann, you care and indeed ARE paying attention. I am impressed.

Short answer, BEST answer I have at this hour is maybe this week. Perhaps I am being optimistic but without hope what do you have ? I think M. Obama said that sometime during the shadowy reign of the first dude.

Seriously I expect to hear something today, hopefully this morning and get intel enough to make some kind of decision.

So with the warming weather, I hope to be able to get outdoors for walks, some yard work and other ‘free’ time will be spent painting, carving and I would like to finish Tristram Shandy but that may be a stretch. It is difficult to read and hats off to Thomas Jefferson for UNDERSTANDING or getting the satire found in this old book. I mean it was OLD when Jefferson read it.

Perhaps I will just save it for those (rare) times when I feel superior and smarter than the rest of the herd then pull it out to be slapped back to reality.

All said & done, this could be it for the week as alluded to earlier.

Until next time, send in those subscriptions and renew for the coming year. You are not going to want to miss ANY of this … por favor.