Remembering

Today, at 10:45 a.m. I finished 59 years of living. As I head into my 60th year, I remember a conversation I had with my dad as he approached his 60th birthday. I was 27, it was the late 70's and I was still in the "don't trust anyone over 30" frame of mind, and was quickly becoming irrelevant, by that standard.

"Dad, what's it feel like, being sixty?, I asked. "I mean, are you scared?" He thought a moment and smiled, "Not when I consider the alternative."

While I've heard similar sentiments since then, I thought, at the time, that my father was so pragmatic and so profound at the same time. Still do.

Faces

Started a new class yesterday called making faces. Recently, I have started sculpting figures and was having trouble with the faces, in particular. I started a couple of heads, but then had trouble with the eyes, in particular. Let's be clear, I need instruction on the whole body and face but these, with the hands, are particularly difficult for me as evidenced by the photos.

Oh, I almost forgot the ears, wow. I really need this class.

Anyway, I have a lot to learn, but I do love the process.

Studio cleaning today. I have a large half kiln to fill mid February, and I am way behind. So, off to the studio.

New Year Gregorian

If one is Jewish, there are several New Year celebrations each year. The actual beginning of the lunar Hebrew calendar is the month of Nissan, the month in which Passover occurs. The time of beginnings, Spring. Then there is Rosh Hashanah, which means, "Head of the Year", which occurs in the fall, on the new moon of Tishre, the 7th month. This Holy Day celebrates the "Genesis" of the earth, which, according to calculations made from the Torah (however inaccurate), was 5770 years ago. We also celebrate the Anniversary of the Treesor First Fruits.

It is only in the Diaspora that the Gregorian New Year is recognized. It is one of those things that we accept as "strangers" in another culture. Pope Gregory moved the New Year to January ( a relatively new month to the calendar at the time)from March after about 1,000 years of dispute about whether the birth (set in December instead of July/August which is probably more accurate) or the resurrection of Jesus should start the year.

I write these things to discuss the illusion of time and the individual importance of the way it passes.