out with the old, in with the new

2015 was an easy year, a year of transition, a year when I started to think of myself as semi-retired as opposed to just not having any work. We've had plenty of slow years work-wise in the 40 or so years that we have been doing the architectural glass but last year was the first year that I haven't worried about it, mostly because with the sale of the old homestead in the city in 2014, we didn't have to worry about not being able to pay our bills. Other changes came as well. In the spring, I failed my eye test to get my driver's license renewed and for the first time in my life, I had to get real wear-all-the-time glasses as opposed to the drugstore magnifiers I've been relying on for years for reading and close up work. They took a good deal of getting used to and even now, I still don't wear them sometimes. Also in the spring, with my 65^th birthday, I became eligible for Medicare and so for the first time in my adult life, I had medical insurance.

What else...I finished all the Botanicas, got them cast, finished, and framed for mounting. Well, all but one which cracked and upon re-firing, cracked again. I think about doing a new one so that I will have the full 20 pieces but I'm really sort of done with them. The last, cracked Botanica will just become part of my personal collection, I guess, along with all the other pieces that have cracks in them. And while I haven't started on a new body of work yet, I have made a few miscellaneous pate de verre pieces.

I found a yoga class in the next little town over and have been going twice a week in addition to my 'five a day' sun salutations I'd been doing all year. Summer was full of the visits from the grandkids, all teens now and three out of the four have full-time summer jobs so I love that they still want to come out. A little puppy came into our lives, dumped, abandoned, who found her way to our yard and wouldn't leave and who has made a huge space for herself here. I spent a week in Calgary, Canada with my girlfriends. All in all, it was a pretty laid back year and we ended it with loud pops, bangs, and sparkles with the Girl and her family.

the bone pile

And celebrated the new one the next day.

The grandgirls are here and I take them back on Sunday. 

We've been doing our usual end of year of sleeping late, snuggling on the couch watching movies and, new this year, giving the twins practice time driving. Later today we head for our favorite shops and there is a key lime pie in our immediate future.

Happy New Year! May it be filled with wonder and prosperity.