Back From LA!

If you're looking for my OWOH post, it's HERE.

I'm finally rested from my trip to LA.  I was supposed to return last Friday evening, but we were deep into the work session and neither of us wanted to stop.  So we worked until a bit after 9 pm, then again on Saturday.  I flew home late Saturday afternoon just in time to get off the plane, fetch my bag, and head straight to BAGI's Great Glass Auction.  Everyone was dressed to the nines and I was in my office "work duds".  Oh well, I had a great time anyhow.  I had donated one of my vessels to the auction - they put it into the silent auction - and I was really happy to hear that one of my students, Lisa, had the winning bid!  She and her husband sat at the same table as we did, and she caused a bit of excitement.  She got into a "bidding war" over a gorgeous piece made by the artist couple Melissa and Keith Bispo, who were also sitting at our table.  And she won it - Go Lisa!  To see the piece, you can check out the auction catalog HERE.  It's on page 8/20 when you use the arrows to page through the catalog (page 12 of the actual catalog on the left), item L-108.  And if you're curious about my vessel, use the arrows to page to 12/20 (page 20 of the actual catalog on the bottom left), item R-303.

I bid on several items in the silent auctions but was outbid big-time, so I wasn't able to take home any of those items.  However, Rich Small had made glass heart centerpieces for all the tables - yes, there was a banquet dinner during the live auction - and those were also available in their own silent auction.  I bid on two of them and came home with the heart that was on our table.  Yay for me!

After I got home from the auction, I went through my mail that had been delivered while I was in LA.  What a thing to be greeted by...

The last time I had jury duty I was picked for the jury, and the trial/deliberation went on for a month and a half.  Yikes - I just don't have the time for that right now!  But I guess I'll have to do my civic duty.  It was actually quite fascinating, being on a jury.  It was also very frustrating.  We spent a lot of time deliberating, and we came very close to having a hung jury.  But in the end we came to an agreement.  Given what I heard during the trial, I was sure that the defendant was guilty - but the prosecution didn't have enough evidence for us to return a guilty verdict for the greater of the two charges.  There were several times during the trial that the defendant sneered at us, and looked as if he was gloating.  I wanted to go rip that smirk right off his face...  ah well, that was awhile back and I need to just forget about it.  I did learn something very interesting, though.  We all wondered why the police report wasn't part of the evidence.  A few of the jurors assumed that it was because it would show something that the prosecution didn't want seen.  I told them that was crazy - if the prosecutor didn't want it seen, then the defendant's attorney would have put it into evidence.  It turns out that the police report isn't allowed into evidence because it is hearsay.  What WAS in evidence was the tape of the 911 call to the police.

Well, enough about trials and evidence and bad guys... today we were supposed to have a huge storm, with possible thunder showers (rare here in the San Francisco Bay Area).  When I went into the bedroom a bit earlier, I saw that Peanut was digging in - a great way to spend a rainy day, sleeping on dad's sweatshirt!

But now we have sunshine, so perhaps there won't be a storm after all.

"Did someone say sunshine?"

Now I'm going to head out to the glass lab to make some objects that will go into my next big felting project.  I have a deadline - the project must be done and photographed in the next three days.  I'm just about there, thank goodness!  Once it's photographed and submitted to the "proper authorities", I can give you a bit of a hint what it's all about.

So go have yourselves a happy and creative day!