Road Trip!

Thursday afternoon I got a text from grandson Logan - “Hi Grandma, just wanted to let you know my race starts at 3:30 tomorrow at Drake Park.  It would be great if you could make it.”



And here he comes!



And there he goes!  It was not just a race but the Oxford Classic which pulls in high schools from the Valley as well as Central Oregon.  The weather was perfect.  It’s the first time I’ve been invited to one of his events by himself rather than his mom, so it was extra special to me.



And here he comes again!  The course goes through Drake Park twice and across the footbridge over Mirror Pond.  I’ve seen a lot of crosscounty races but none has a setting as gorgeous as this one.



Because it’s here in Bend, Bend High is the host team and as such, make all the awards by glueing together crazy things and spraying them gold.  The winners pick which one they want in a random fashion.  Bend Varsity won first place so this is the trophy they chose, and no, that’s not Logan.



I got a call from Denise at the frame shop that my frames were ready.  I get a discount if I assemble them myself so there are two firsts here - my first artwork hung outside of our house and my first time to put frames together.  Matt chose these pieces and was really happy with them.  Ego boost :-)



I finished weaving my dish towels this morning so turned my attention to some loose printmaking ends.  This print ended up with too much white so I took it to Pat Clark during open studio and she suggested I used watercolors to fill it in.  I just finished the green netting.



And then I sampled for a relative blue.  The theme for my weave study group this time is color theory and I can’t help notice how much I used this information in both weaving and printmaking.  For instance Tone and Shade.  I brought that bright blue into shape with a little bit of black.



And that’s all it took to finish this piece.  Mentally turn it counter-clockwise for the proper orientation.



That fix was so quick that I was able to spend some time on my next copper plate, but not too much.



Autumn is upon us with the beautiful turning of the leaves.  I pulled off the road and walked back to get this but all around us the trees are displaying spectacular colors.  It’s my favorite time of the year and I feel so lucky to have a birthday in October.



I spent the last of the afternoon reading on the deck.  It’s too cool and breezy to be comfortable in the yard but with the heat trapped by the house it was perfect.

My suitcase is packed and we’ll be on the road by 8:00 tomorrow morning, on our way to Tacoma.  This will be my first time to Tacoma even though my mother and brother were born and raised there.  I was born in Seattle and lived in Fairbanks until my parents moved to San Diego when I was three.  This will be my first birthday in Washington and I’m hoping to celebrate with fresh oysters.