News (not so) Brief

So I'm home from 9 days on MV (we stayed with my generous folks in their cottage, pictured above) and we had a very good time! I'm keeping a visual journal of our trip on my flickr page. I'm still processing and uploading pics. I've gotten to Friday when we went to the Agricultural Fair, so I'm almost done.


I attended a special event on Wednesday, August 22nd at Western Avenue Studios. Nikki Tsongas had a fundraiser and invited her supporters to come view and purchase art, whatever they paid for the art they would then write another check for 20% of the price toward the Tsongas campaign. It was an innovative idea that got some local folks to WAS who didn't know it was there. I made sales to two really nice people (one of them pictured to the left) and ended up having a fun evening. Also I always get a lot accomplished as soon as I sit down at my desk in the studio.

It was my last event in the temp studio! I have mixed feelings as I move into my permanent home on the third floor. I will miss the bright sun, my new space is darker (but less stifling too). And I will certainly miss my fourth floor buddies, but hopefully I will be able to maintain the friendships I made in the past two months. Also I am enjoying the new connections I am making with my Mill A peeps!

Our friend, Scott, watched Chester for us while we were away. He is the husband of my dear friend, Mirja, who runs the best toy shop in the world. We left Chet home and Scott came in daily. It was extra heroic that he did that because Chester has been pretty ill and we were afraid if he didn't improve, we would have to leave our vacation and come home to put him in surgery. So we left Scott with the odious task of giving the cat medicine (chicken flavored liquid, but still!) and reporting to us daily on email.

Well, Scott did a tremendous job of not only fulfilling his duties as cat sitter extraordinaire, but also in sending us reassuring funny emails that allowed us to relax a little and enjoy ourselves. (It was also fantastic that mom has WIFI! Yeah!) As it stands, we believe Chet is on the mend and will not require surgery, but we are still watching closely. As sad as I was to be leaving vacation paradise, I was just as eager to get home to my fur child.

When we walked into the condo we saw the mail stacked neatly on the table but one envelope had been ripped open and was on the floor! We were surprised because although Chet loves to chew on paper, he really only does it while we are watching to let us know we forgot to fill his bowl to the brim with tasty kibble. He's never been a destructive cat when left alone. We thought he must have really gotten to the end of his rope, but then we saw that the envelope was addressed to him! He had found and opened his own mail! The gift was sent special all the way from Alberta, Canada, for no reason other than to be super friendly, by Amy of Button Empire, it was a packet of garden grown catnip! We laughed pretty hard at that. Thanks Amy! You are a delightful human being :)