While I were out

 So a lot has happened since I posted last. In particular, we took a week off to fly back to the midwest and play connect-the-relatives. Then there was the return, ambushed by cats. Days on the computer doing all the non-fun stuff--triaging email, coping with ad design for two different pottery shows. Sorting and boxing pots, doing some remedial firing. Two Saturday Markets. Oh, and a broken window on the van that needed attending to.

I've just edited a bunch of photos from the trip and since, and will be posting recaps and updates a few at a time over the next week. Hopefully, I can be caught up by my birthday, Friday.

Minneapolis

We've gotten in the habit of point-to-point, linear travel when we go back to the midwest; no loops, no returning to origin point. This time, we flew into Minneapolis, rented a car, drove across Minnesota and Wisconsin, and flew back from Milwaukee. Spent the first couple of days visiting my sister and what of her family were around--one kid is away to college in Winona, another dancing in a ballet of Dracula in Las Vegas, a third in residential treatment. Plus her wife has picked up new responsibilities in her job as an Episcopalian priest, so we hardly saw her before oh-so-late.

But it was lovely spending time with Maggie again, just talking and cooking together. Gabrielle was as attentive as any high school junior--ie totally distracted, but we did get to meet one of her friends, over to study. And Sarah and their husband Mark joined us for breakfast at a little Vietnamese place on our last day in the cities, where we discussed the proper term for the non-binary child of one's sibling. I nominate "nerf", because they're squishy and huggable, but bounce back from everything.

Because of Maggie's busy work schedule, we had an afternoon to ourselves, so we looked up longtime friend lydamorehouse who lives over in St. Paul. She offered to take us to the newly reopened Uncle Hugo's Bookstore, but shopping would require making decisions, and I had maybe one left in my poor brain (besides which, our house is so full of books already, we're mostly borrowing or buying digital anymore). So we hung out in her back yard, talked sci fi and new Star Trek and all kinds of geeky pleasures--she's a published author of SF and paranormal romance. Then went out to dinner at a nearby Ethiopian restaurant that had outdoor seating. Where they put us at the perfect table.

Yup, 42. The ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything. We think this should be her new author photo.

Also went for a morning walk around the neighborhood. There's always something interesting to see in Nordeast Minneapolis, including these lovely berries...

New-laid sidewalk, grafitti'd by squirrels and what looks like a very tiny kitten...

And this intersection, which seems like it ought to be a back road to Hogwarts.

Unlocked

Discovered just before our trip that the deadbolt on my studio door was broken. Knob turned, but the bolt didn't. Took it apart to find what was wrong. See that little round hole with what looks like half of a plus sign? That should be a whole plus sign, that a bar from the lock goes through. It's a little cam, held in place by a spring. Should be an easy fix, right?

The first locksmith I went to--highly rated online, been in business 40 years!--kinda sniffed at it. It's an Ultra, a bargain brand that I installed because a) our homeowners insurance would be cheaper if I had deadbolts on all the doors, and b) Keith Brown's Bargain Shed had 'em in four-packs, two doorknobs and two deadbolts, all on the same key. Well, he said, I can only fix it if it's [major brand] or [other major brand]. Could you re-key a new lock to my existing key? Sure, that's easy. I said I'd think about it.

I actually was going to swing by Bring Recycling over the weekend, see if they had any used locks I could scavenge for parts, but Friday I had to drive out to west Eugene to pick up a bale of grocery bags, and Emerald City Locksmith was only two blocks off my route, so I threw the locks in the car and stopped in. Put the bolt on the counter, said, It's broke. He agreed it was; I told him previous locksmith couldn't fix it because wrong brand. He took it in back, and two minutes later, brought out an identical, unbroken bolt, set them both on the counter. Delighted, I took out my card to pay, and he wouldn't accept it. Said it was free.

So I gave him an Off Center Ceramics business card, told him if he was ever at Saturday Market, he should stop by my booth and pick out a piece of pottery. Says he just might.