Precious

I work with glass almost every day. I have made and or seen many pieces that I love. This little gem is now my very most favorite and treasured item. After the shootings in Parkland Bullseye Glass sent some molds and glass to Parkland. This lovely was made by the kids in Parkland. I can't tell you how honored I am to have it.

Trying again

Well, I have continued to prove that without the discipline of a day job I am pathetic at maintaining a blog. It seemed so easy a few years ago, but now, with all of the time in the world I can't carve out a few minutes a week to talk about what occupies my mind about life and glass. I am going to make another effort, wish me luck. Today I had a training session to attend to learn more about a great opportunity the Oregon Glass Guild has over the next year. We have been granted an Encore Fellow, a seasoned professional with a long career at Intel who has recently taken an early retirement opportunity. Intel has partnered with a couple of organizations to provide this class of 200+ early retirees this summer with funding to work for not-for-profit organizations to learn about this sector which is very different from Intel in which they might craft an"encore" career. OGG has a member who is in this class of retirees from Intel who was interested in using his fellowship to help OGG. Long story short, with help from the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers this has been crafted and he starts at the end of October. While this is great news for OGG, the gist of today's post is about what happened while I was at the meeting learning more about the journey involved in this.

We live in a neighborhood with twisted streets. Just around the corner from us is a house on a street with a different name but the same house numbers. I left for the meeting about 8:30, Dan continued his morning routine, breakfast, Oregonian, a puzzle or two, check email and then head for a leisurely shower. As he was finishing this he toweled off and was leaving the shower when he looked up and saw two young women at the door to our bathroom. After a bit of back and forth where Dan was clothed in his towel it seemed these women were a new house cleaning team, headed for 6121, but on the other street. They'd been told the front door would be unlocked so all seemed according to plan. All were shocked, perhaps Dan least of all. He heard them gathering their supplies and heading out as he dressed, later wondering if it had just been a dream.

Transitions...

With the start of a new year there are changes to be dealt with.  Remembering the right year to write on those checks that I seldom write these days used to be a big one.  This time there are a couple that stand out for me.

First and foremost, Sandy who has taken amazing care of us for more than 20 years has decided to retire.  This something I have dreaded for more than a decade.  Sandy has been rock-solid and incredibly consistent in her work, We will miss her greatly, but wish her the very best in this new phase of her life.

Finally, for the past 35 years when I have had a glass need (if you do glass you know what this is!) I have headed to Cline Glass in SE Portland, in the past 10+ years perhaps weekly.  Sadly, after many lean years Cline's is closing.  I will miss the experience, the access to just the right product and the friends I have made there.  Kathy will use the new-found time to increase creation of her very fine art.  Donna will take some time to chill.  Jim has moved on to a new career at Home Depot.  I am not sure what Terry's future includes, and I still remember Izzy, Tony and John.

And we are off!

Here is what it looked like as we were loading up to leave Portland on Sunday.  Our timing was good and we made it to Eugene without incident.  We have been in Coburg since then having some service done on our motorhome, spending nights in the service center's parking lot alongside the others who are having work done.  Since the weather hasn't been the best we have done a lot of store browsing, chilled at the library and found a couple of great restaurants and some that are not good.  Today, thinking that we would be there for an hour or less we decided to hang out in their waiting room.  On our past RV trips I have felt a bit out of place at some of the places we stayed.  I chalked it up to our travels being in red states.  After four hours sitting there today I am thinking that we are engaged in a lifestyle choice to which I am not politically aligned.  The TV in the lounge appears to be hardwired to FOX News.  I am proud to say that I refrained from participating in the conversations that went on.  Next stop- Medford.