Saturday November 8th

It is good to be here in Oakland with everyone. There has been a real sense of optimism in the air, it is almost palpable. I got to spend a few hours with my friend Pam Engebretson during breakfast and it was like the absence of the last 2 years had never happened. Then when the show doors opened up it was like old home week. There were old friends and old students that came by to say hello and to see the new work; Nancy Cecil was a vision in chartreuse as usual and my pal Anne Zelver took time out of a birthday weekend with her family in SF to come chat for a bit. I could not have asked for a better morning. I really could not.

I got to do a fun demo on ear wires for a nice large crowd and I’ll do a bail demo first thing tomorrow morning. I did a guest appearance in Gail’s class on Thursday and afterwards we did some brainstorming and thought up a really awesome 1-day workshop that we are going to fine-tune over the next few weeks to offer up at a few shows next year. I really think that it is gonna be kind of exciting and can offer our students a really excellent 2 for 1, more bang for your buck kind of thing. And hell… who would not want to share a class with Gail Crosman Moore. We ran the idea past a few students that were in the class and the response was overwhelmingly in favor of the idea.

This morning was excellent, there were bridges located and the start of some fences being mended. The interference that is run by friends can be a really excellent thing and it is the kind of thing that friends actually do for one another.

Dinner was a treat with Heidi, Jody, Susan Gail & me. Susan is a bit under the weather and cut out after dinner and the 4 of us went out for a lovely shared desert.

I am rather tired and with that tired I can seeing a few things with open eyes. The losses that have been faced and looked at full on in the last year have been quite a few. In the end I guess I would not have traded these months for anything, I have found a voice that I did not know that I had. I re-discovered the friends that have always been there and I know that life is not a solitary journey.

I am looking forward to the last day of the show. It has been a really nice week so far.

Ovid: Fortune and love favor the brave !