Labor Day Weekend

Saturday I drove Madeline and her boyfriend Joe up to the "Lifelight" festival up in South Dakota.  If you're unfamiliar with Lifelight they put on free Christian Concerts around the nation but they are headquartered out of South Dakota and their biggest concert each year is out in the country just a bit south of Sioux Falls.

It was interesting as always but I'll admit the music is mostly for younger folks.  I spent most of my time just reading and sort of listening.  Though there was one group that played a blend of folk and rock music, they had the lead singer playing a dobro guitar, a fellow with an electric banjo and a young woman playing an accordion (as well as a bassist and keyboard player).  Some of their songs were pretty cool and I went to their booth to get a cd only to find that they only had t-shirts for sale in their booth.  So I went and picked up a cd and another t-shirt from a group that I saw there last year and really liked.  They're a Native American group called "Broken Walls".  Much of their music reminds me of going to the Pow-Wows when I was younger.

When we got back to Omaha we met up with Gail and Creath and we all had dinner at Pizza Hut.  It was getting late and the restaurant was pretty empty which was fine as Joe, Maddie and Creath were having a good time poking fun at each other.  Of course Gail with her bone dry humor threw in a few good jabs herself.

Sunday Maddie went to Church with Joe's family so after our time at worship Gail and I ran to the Farmers Market and bought a bushel of roma tomatoes among other things.  So part of the afternoon was spent making up and canning salsa.  We must have about 30 or more quarts of salsa now, which should get us through the year until tomatoes are back next summer.  I also spent part of the afternoon working on the large painting for the Street of Dreams.

Monday morning bright and early Creath left and went back to school.  He had hoped to be back on campus earlier in the week but the college was doing some work in the dorm and wouldn't let him move in early even though they do let seniors come on campus early.  I spent much of my time working on the large painting and I made great progress with it and honestly I'm pretty much happy with it.  I just need to now break it back down and texture the two back pieces and paint them black.  Then I'll varnish the whole thing (tons of varnish there) and partially re-assemble the painting.  The finally assembly won't happen until I've got it onsite.  The install date for the art is the 10th and that shouldn't be a problem barring any unforeseen difficulties.

In the afternoon I took a break from painting and ran to the gym to get in a quick workout.  I decided to mix it up a bit and did mostly movements that I haven't done for a while.  On one I decided to try and hit a weight that at my best on the movement I've hit 5 reps.  I was shooting for 2 maybe 3 reps but I was shocked when I ripped off 5 reps with it, I was pleased.  It was a good workout even though I did have to move pretty fast in order to get back and work on the painting.

As soon as I have the painting installed I'll get a photo and put it online.  I just hope I still like the painting when I go down and look at it tonight.  It's happened before where I'm either happy or unhappy with something and then walk away and come back the next day and I either now hate or love it.

Yesterday we learned that in the afternoon the husband of one of Gail's high school friends passed away.  He apparently sat down to take a quick nap and simply never woke up.  We all need to bear in mind that we never know what will become of our loved ones or ourselves from day to day and we need to remember to tell others that we love them every chance we get.  Prayers for her and her family as I'm sure they were not expecting anything like this to happen at this stage of life.

Please be the Blessing!
Roy