Blog

Just finished instructing an outdoor painting class.  We moved to three distinctly different locations each day of the three day workshop.  It only makes sense that my mood was influenced by the location and weather.  The last day we painted near the downtown lakes and being in that area, I felt a particular excitement and possibility.  The contrast of painting locations out of your normal everyday world seems to elevate the senses.  Minneapolis's chain of lakes is a gathering place for the masses here.  The pathways surrounding the lakes are populated by  the fit, showing their fitness, and then the rest of us trying to catch up.  Envisioning firmness and mentally picturing what can be ours as they pass by.

Oh, but wait.  Tucked along the northeast shore of Lake Calhoun is the boathouse.  And in the boathouse is a restaurant, The Tin Fish.  A watering hole of sorts.  A place to drop anchor and well,... eat...but still picture.  Yep, a veritable swarm of activity to be sure but instead of whole bodily exercise, we concentrate  activity to the hand, ...and mouth.  A perpetual line to order our food ensures us that at least we are not entirely sedentary.  But now at last we can remove our gaze from others and see the beauty of nature.  The sailboats bobbing in the water, canoes, paddle boats.....we feel good.  We make peace with ourselves.  We get our order, every things great!  There's tomorrow, another day after that... to harden like rock our body.  And there are other lakes in the chain, without a Tin Fish to distract us from our goal.

Here's the view from the Tin Fish.  Life is good!  Tomorrow another lake.