Lots of Activity, Followed by a Slow Day

The Panets: Nigel, Gavi, Ben, Yuri, Emily, and

Shawn kneeling.

Yesterday was a very active day, but today I’m paying for it. My IBS is acting up, not badly, but it’s making itself known. I’m sure it’s a temporary situation, at least Dr. V. thinks so, but it’s making my life a little less pleasant. I’m eating cautiously and that’s helping. At least I’ve had no replay of the intense cramping that sent me to the ER.

Yesterday I went to a clay workshop at Project Quest. The idea was to make a bust of a character and then write a story about it. We made the bust yesterday. I hadn’t really worked in clay before and it turned out to be a lot of fun. All the figures were very different. One of the women there was rolling her clay around, feeling uninspired, made a few attempts to form something, then rolled it into a ball again. Finally she started sticking holes in it. I felt sort of sorry for her since I was having such a good time and she seemed so frustrated. Then I looked up and she had made this very wonderful otherworldly creature that far outclassed anything any of the rest of us were doing. The workshop was only two hours. The figures will be fired in a few weeks, then we’ll glaze them and write our stories.

Last night Gavi’s band played their gig at the Pirate’s Tavern, a vegan bar. It’s deep in the heart of the industrial sanctuary in the northwest of Portland, an unlikely spot. Glen took me there and I had herbal ice tea while he had a Dark and Stormy. We shared some appetizers and waited for the band. The stage was on a loft high above the bar, accessed by a 10 foot step ladder. It was tiny and when all six band members were finally ensconced upon it, I kept worrying that one of them would fall off. (I must be a mom.) Ben, the drummer, was well supported by his fraternity brothers, about least twelve of them, who filed in wearing paper pirate hats, provided by the establishment. Andrine, Tasche, Diane, and David filled our table and there was another large table of young people next to us who were not wearing hats.

The band played well. The set was short, over all too soon. It was great to see Gavi up there. He looked comfortable on stage and sang well. The lighting was such that I was unable to get a photo of them playing, but I made them pose for a photo afterward.

I got home by 10:30, but it had been a big day for someone in the midst of chemo. I slept in until 9 am and have been moving slowly ever since, trying to get up the energy for a walk.