Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Joyous Kwanzaa! Forgive me if I have missed some celebrated holidays of this season but I just don't know all of them to mention. I hope you enjoy this time of the year and get to participate in a gathering of people that are important to you; particularly around a warm kitchen table with lots of food and laughter. I hope you are as lucky as I.

It is a combination of preparation and luck that puts any of us in the place we find ourselves at any time. At this time of the year our good nature and charity needs to focus on the fact that "less-fortunate" means exactly that: not as lucky as we. Please remember that and hold it close to you as you help others.

Christmas Is Upon Us

Christmas is only a week away and there is much hustle around our house. Family begins to arrive on Wednesday for my daughter's birthday and then a long weekend of holiday fun. Looking forward to seeing them all and enjoying extended breakfast over multiple coffees followed by brief bursts of energetic play followed by afternoon naps and ball games. Smells of feasts from the kitchen mingled with fireplace and every ones perfumes and after-shaves.

Good wine and relaxed conversation with clinking of plates and silverware going into the dishwasher as we all pitch in to clean up after a long dinner. Family is a wonderful thing. I'm grateful to have such a fine one!

Planning

Today is all about planning. I am developing a fitness and training plan for the next three months as well as a studio work schedule. I have two projects to complete before the end of the year and then I must finish the three prototype gates that I have standing against the steel racks. Finally, I want to begin work on the combining of the steel cable and the stem of my flower. (I still don't know what I want to do about the fact that the bronzes don't fit the steel cutouts as well as I want.)

There is a 90% chance of rain this afternoon so I'll stay at my table and work on lure designs until I get a couple that I really like. Tomorrow is all about running errands but hopefully Thursday and Friday will be mine.

Henry Moore On Ovation

I watched an hour long program narrated with the words of Henry Moore talking about his sculpture. I learned several things. One is that like any human, being highly regarded in one area doesn't necessarily make you the best person to talk about it. I also confess that I'm at a loss to identify with the adoption of a constraint, such as the reclining figure, to your life's work. He felt that constraint allowed a further exploration of the form each time he did one. I can only see the constraint at the moment.

Big Fish

Preparations are now underway for the Hooked on the Alabama River Festival of Fishing Lures to be held Fall of 2007. The Festival of Fishing Lures will consist of 6-foot fishing lures similar to the cows in Chicago , peanuts in Dothan , and pelicans in Pensacola . The Lures will be displayed throughout Montgomery and Prattville in the Fall of 2007. The project is sponsored by the Alabama River Clean Water Partnership(CWP) and will call attention to our need to work together as a community to protect our Alabama River. The lures will be auctioned off and the proceeds will support the work of the CWP.

For some reason I think this will be a fun project so I'm working on some designs to submit. The design have to be submitted by Jan 15, 2007. If a design of mine is choosen, I'll get one of the 6' fiberglass blanks and $250 for materials to execute the design. The project must be completed by September of 2007. This will be alot of fun!