Some might accuse me of being a Pollyanna, but after sitting in the rain while my team lost a game that never should have been close, what I was left with was this:
I had a great time with friends and family. We can replace the collapsed canopies, but we can’t replace our time together.
PS Go Ducks!
Here are the things I learned to make this Spring and Summer. Bear in mind that some of these are just learning exercises. And yes, that is a Sea Monkey. It was an exercise in using a jeweler’s saw. I think he is very fetching.
Techniques? Simple soldering/braze welding, bezel setting, making jump rings and chains, sawing metal, basic finishing/filing/sanding/polishing, very simple metal forming.
Last week, I started a new class that is very technique driven. We had a demo about etching, selected a design and cut out a hunk of metal to put it on. This week, we did the actual etching and learned how to form a simple metal bead. That involved cutting circles out of copper, beating it with a hammer into a hollow form, sanding until the two sides of the bead are totally level and then soldering them together.
The two pieces came out like this:
I am not the most confident woman with a torch for obvious reasons. Having a history of having been on fire makes me a little nervous about it, but it is kind of magical to use fire to stick pieces of metal together! Plus, if I want to make more beads then I have to get over it.
Current status: unreasonably giddy about making a silly little copper bead. And an etching. And a chain. And bracelets. And a ring. And a Sea Monkey.
Have YOU ever made a copper Sea Monkey? Have you? No. I thought not.
Some days I just really wonder.
Wonder? About what?
Everything.
Everything? That is a lot to wonder about!
It is!
Why do you feel like that’s your job?
My job? I don’t. I just do it recreationally.
For fun.
More of a calling, I suppose.
Like the priesthood.
But with sex.
Of course. There would have to be sex.
I am not giving that up–not even to wonder!
Do you have some sort of point to this wondering?
Do I need to?
Not necessarily.
You don’t sound convinced.
It seems a little pointless to spend your time worrying.
Wondering.
Not worrying?
Worrying is different. That tends to have a point.
I see…
You don’t, but that’s OK.
So what were you wondering about today?
Gray skies. Or really, clouds.
Like what they are made up of?
No…but I could wonder about that!
What then?
You know how sometimes you see a cloud formation that looks like something?
Like a dragon?
Or a castle, or a naked lady, or whatever..
Sure. We all see things in the clouds.
How far away do you think two people can be and still see the same cloud?
Mentally or physically?
Exactly!
Huh. I wonder. So if we stand together and look up..
We’d see the same clump of clouds in the same shape and stuff.
But we wouldn’t necessarily see the same cherub or train or whatever in the sky.
No. But if we were standing a mile apart, would we even see the same clump of clouds, or different ones?
At some point they would be different, because they are moving.
It would depend on which way the air currents were going. And where each of us was standing.
That is a lot of thought to give to clouds passing.
And perspective. It’s interesting. I got a kink in my neck.
From perspective.
No, from looking up at the sky.
I can work that out for you!
I was hoping you’d say that!
