Ramblings

This is a always a strangely glorious time of the year, riddled with frustrations and exitement. This is the time in the semester when things begin to heat up to tail out at the college. Projects in full swing, students stressed out, me pulling triple/quadruple office hours to put out all of the fires. Things are changing. Trees are budding and the fish are waking up, not to mention the studio ideas that are mounting on paper and in my head that aren't happening because of the never ending list of things that crucially need to get done, now that spring is here. The chickens are already beginning to get their wing and rump feathers...need to get on that coop building project. The hops are beginning to grow and I can already tell that they are just primed to explode when they reach the top of their climbing poles. I can already taste the end of summer pale ales that will be a reward to the harvest of bitter flowers. My brother in law leaves for Afghanistan in two days for another twelve months in one of the most unstable regions in the world. I can't understand how someone mentally prepares for that type of thing. To be faced with the prospect of leaving a wife and two kids, just to be faced with the idea of what is taking place there...double f...ing whammy if you ask me. I never have agreed with what is going on around the world and our involvement in military conflict, but ask him and it's a job much in the same way I have a job teaching college students how to make things out of clay. Not sure if I agree with him but I will hope every day that he comes home safe. I just hope that my teachings of art teach more people to be peaceful makers instead of angry souls. Soon it will be time to paint the house and roll out the grill and spend more time with the kids and I love that idea. Although I will relish every day of watching new growth popping out of the ground and smile as the landscape slowly grows chartreuse. I will also soon be watching mayflies and caddis being quietly sipped by frisky trout and hopefully I will fool them with my illusions of bugs floated over their noses. All of these things are dancing around in my head making me jump from one thing to another, thinking about the planning of another friday and another weekend of to do's. Tomorrow is not just any Friday though, it is the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of two wonderful craft galleries. One of which is eighteen years old and the other is less than a year, but they are joining spaces as one space and spending the next year or more enjoying what develops. Imagine and Imagine that in Skaneateles NY will have the grand re-opening party which as with any Panzarella/Randall party, it wont disapoint. The usual suspects (the old time band) as well as the usual people suspects will be there, and the art will be in full swing. It will be great to develop the ceramic representation that we are working on into something that will be deeper and richer and excite people with pots as well as other hand craft. Karen Thomas-Lillie will be exhibiting work and the paintings are not to be missed. Thanks for all who read these posts and I hope that your Springs are springing where ever you are and that the energy of growth and change is engaging all of you in whatever way you see fit.

Cheers.