Endings ... Beginnings ...

The semester's over. Grades are in. Graduation is tonight. Another year finished at last.

How endlessly it looms in August. How quickly it disappears come March.

There'll be no thoughts of school this summer until I have to start planning for the fall. Creative writing on campus (not online) for the first time in several years. Technical writing for the first time in over a decade. It should be fun.

But it's not time to think of it yet.

This summer's for traveling and writing and arting. What? You didn't know art was a verb? Why sure ... to art ... as in to draw, paint, collage, and digitize.

Speaking of which ... here's another teaser of the pieces (there are 4 now) I'm working on for a magazine. The earlier idea got thrown out as the collection of thematic articles shifted and grew. It's been a trial--combining ink-jet prints of their photos with the wet, messy techniques I usually use. New skills learned. Old skills developed.

Still, I prefer the real thing, especially old and faded. Is it any surprise they hold up better to scraping and stamping, too?

What's that camp song ... make new friends but keep the old ... one is silver, the other gold.

So true.