It's been a great summer so far.

In June, we stayed a few days in Boise while I was at a conference.  I went to a few rewarding seminars while Kermit walked around downtown.  We stayed at a nice place, ate some good meals, had one fantastic meal at Asiago's in downtown Boise. 

We visited the museum and got to see an artist installing an exhibition.  It's a large, very large, wood piece.  Hard to describe.  I'll see if they have a link to it on their site.  One set of pieces that I just LOVED was a woman that took old handwriting samples from journals and put it into large scale artworks.  Just lovely.  The main exhibit was a shoe show, where artists did pieces around shoes.  Some were brilliant, some silly, and of course, some totally self absorbed and over thought.  Artists, you know.  It is my theory that if you have to explain the piece to your audience, you have FAILED in relaying the thought.  Your goal is that people should be able to look at it and GET IT.  If not, it's just an inside thought, and you shouldn't explain what you did, just let it be.

Then Kermit had a lot of days off.  We went to Dayton and saw a graduate of mine, Heather Stearns.  Look her up, Heather the Bard.  She's good!  We had a nice meal with her and her husband, went and listened to her play.  Stayed at the Weinhard Hotel in Dayton.  The bed was sooooo comfy.  Wonderful service, good latte's and breakfast.  It had an inviting roof top garden.  The hosts were friendly and had some great suggestions for excursions.

We got the local map on a self guided walking tour of Historic Houses.  Kermit and I did the north one, full of Queen Anne, Four Square, and my person favorite, Craftsman.  I have come to the conclusion that our house is "American Mishmash."  It has some Craftsman attributes, but is missing some key ingredients. As with any other style you try to attribute to it.

Dayton has a Grandpa Death House!  You know the type, falling down, but someone mysterious lives there. From what I understand, he's not old though.  But in my mind, he's Grandpa Death.  Donnie Darko fans will understand this.

Now we are home, cooking good meals, enjoying the pond and yard, cuddling with the pooches.  Life is very good.