The Change of Seasons a/k/a The BIG Purge

With the change of the seasons comes an inherent change of self. When the cold winter months turn to spring – one tends to look to the out of doors. A primal force emerges: to plant, grow, shedding the layers of dust (and clothing), all in preparation to receive the warmth of the spring sun. The windows fly open to welcome the fresh air, the comforting smell of the thawing earth and the celebration of its rebirth.

Conversely, as the summer rounds the bend and the wheel turns once more, there seems to be another mystical force at work. One that leads me to the purging of, well, let us just call them "collected items". An idealistic fantasy, that I can somehow achieve the Scandinavian mentality of minimalism (and maintain this lifestyle for an extended period of time) in an attempt to markedly match the sparseness of the impending months. Autumn is a time to give thanks for the bounties yielded and cast off encumbrances. The shifting of energies and priorities; chopping wood and stacking into piles, blowing leaves, fluffing blankets and pulling sweaters from storage, and the complete and total renovation of the studio.

Wait. What?? Yup. The complete renovation of the studio. Necessary? Maybe. Crazy? Absolutely. Planned – well, no. Anyone that knows me well knows that I am no stranger to over whelming flat out ball-busting manual labor- most of which is self-inflicted. (Which means I come up with these hair-brained projects) Head on. That's how I like to handle them. This one kind of snuck in there on me, side-ways. To make a long story short – it all started with one mouse, 8 rolls of paper towels, a bottle Windex, Lysol, some steel wool and a shop vac and ended with the entire contents of the studio outside, in a tent, a bit left of center. Now that doesn't seem so bad, except that, I am now faced with a "blank canvas" – and with it all being out of the way anyway… hmmm, how bout that new carpeting I have been waiting to put in, those lights need to be re-wired over there, a few new shelves, how bout a window for some more natural light? Upgrade the ventilation system…(how long until the snow flies?) While I am at it – I have the surround sound I wanted to put in –SOMEBODY STOP ME! My next deadline isn't until October – so there is still time. Thank goodness! My driving force at this point is completion and sleep. I think I can pencil in the latter a week from next Tuesday. How is Congress coming along with that Bill to add a couple of extra hours in the day? Any word?

Before::: UGH!