Today is the first day of summer . . . officially, but we’ve been living the summer life for nearly a month over here! While I’m generally a scheduler – a planner – super duper, extraordinarily Type A, this summer we’ve just been playing it by ear. The past few weeks we’ve taken a guided tour of our downtown fire station (did you know you could do that?!), gone on a 1.2 mile hike (before a ginormous thunderstorm) with friends at McCormick’s Creek State Park (complete with handmade notebook filled with scavenger hunt items!), gone on Sunday swims (and gotten the subsequent sunburns) with family and friends that are like family, started our Sunday Reading Program and the Monroe County Library and so much more!!
Recently though, my little guy finished his first two week stint in Art Camp at the Ivy Tech/John Waldron Art Center (just around the corner from the shop!). It’s been a godsend to be able to send him to art camp while I work the store, and get my own work done! It’s become quite the ritual to eat lunch together, pack our bags, come to mama’s work, wait about 45 minutes (which he generally spends talking to Ali (at O’Child) or Alyssa (at The Green Nursery) and then walk him down the big hill to camp.
My little guy hasn’t always had the best experience with camps or school – he’s a bit of a mama’s boy and transitions can be rough for him. But, man oh man, this art camp has opened up a world of possibilities. Maybe it’s that he’s getting older (definitely part of it, no!?) but also, it’s ART! He goes every day and looks forward to it (of course!). He comes home asking for “needles and fred” so he can SEW! He got excited on his last day of camp because he got to bring his own SHARPIE home!! He knows what watercolors are, and can explain the entire firing/glazing/painting process of ceramics to me! I’m so proud, and so elated with this experience. I mean, I knew he was going to Love it. We do art projects at home ALL the time – but I’ll be honest, it’s usually markers and crayons, occasionally acrylic paints. With camp he’s learning so much more than I could ever teach him! His drawing is evolving – he’s no longer just drawing a square with sticks coming out for arms and legs. He’s trying! And, it’s amazing and Lovely. This last Friday he had his first art show. He was SO excited to show us all the work he’d been working on for the past two weeks, and we were equally excited to finally see it! He made: in ceramics (a rocket ship, a moon, and a robot!), a sun pillow, a weaving, a paper platypus, and many many many superhero drawings on paper. The theme, of course, was Out of this World!
And that’s that. That’s been our week! Well, I spent my week (while the little was in camp) working on these custom guitar inspired leather cuffs for a certain American blues rock guitarist who I will name at some point when they place the final order. Until then, enjoy the musicality in leather;) And hope your week is filled up!
Gather 