Big Move

 My how things change in such a short amount of time. Once again, I have fallen short on blogging. I give up on promising to do better. It is what it is. And I will try again.

During the time Jesse was working on the mural in downtown WF, she told her professor that she really loved working in the studio. He told her she should go back to school and get her masters and maybe get a job teaching college level ceramics. And the seed was planted. The prof gave her a list of grad schools with great ceramic programs. West Virginia was one of the top schools. So she wrote to several schools. West Virginia called and said they wanted her, had a job for her, and a full ride. She accepted and started preparing to head to WV in August. Then about the first of May, the WV professor called and said he had a summer residency in Red Lodge, Montana, and would Jesse be interested in spending the summer in the mountains working and doing ceramics. She needed to be there around June 1. Of course, she said yes. 

That kicked things up to warp-speed. She decided to sell her house and most of her stuff. She put some things in storage, lots of things at my house, and put her house on the market. We helped her as much as we could, cleaning and hauling things in our truck. Then on Friday of Memorial Weekend, we helped her clean the house and do a few fix-up things. She left the next morning for Montana, stopping to spend the night with my sister in Amarillo and then on to Colorado to stay with my cousin. Then she made it to Red Lodge where she has a very cute little apartment in a neat little western town in the mountains.

I am very excited for her. This will be a great opportunity. But I cried for about a week every time I thought about her moving away. It was difficult to talk about it to anyone without tearing up. This week I am much better. We inherited her little dog, the diva. 

Before Jesse left, we had our opening reception for the mother/daughter show at the Leslie Powell gallery in Lawton. It is a neat little gallery and the opening went well. I have sold a couple of pieces so far. 

Last night we had another reception for the CTAC gallery. For the summer, we do a "Starving Artist" show and sale. Each artist is supposed to take care of hanging his own art and keeping up with it on social media and such. I sold one little watercolor last night. 

Other than that, I have been working on pottery. We have done some local art walks, setting up our table of mugs and making sales. I have done a new painting. And we got new E-Bikes! The bikes are lots of fun. They have five levels of pedal assist. By setting that on level 2, we can cruise along at about 14 MPH as long as we continue to pedal. It also has gears, which helps with the hills around here. I am enjoying bike riding again. 

My little art student, Alayna, is going to be in the Wichita Falls Art Battle on June 23rd. If you get a chance to watch and vote, I think you will like her art.

Retirement is still going great.