January 3

Back to work today.  Pretty quiet with just a few panicked students who still need a seat in our big course.  Thankfully there are still a few seats left.  At this point you can tell the students who really want the class because they are happy to take the two hour lab at 3:30 on Fridays.

The feather is from a blue bird.  Many years ago my best friend, JK (pron. Jake), and I did a self directed art retreat at Holy Wisdom Monastery on the north side of Lake Mendota across from the Capitol.  We went for a whole week.  We each brought our art and had our own rooms in the Monastery.  We met for meals and watching the sunset on the balcony.  This little downy feather floated down to us one evening as we watched the colors change in the sky.  I've kept it all these years as a good luck charm or a talisman or something.  The little bead box it lives in is only about an inch across....  Mary