Hmm. Not much to write about today. But I feel like writing anyway. So I'll write about work. I know, not that exciting to read about, but like I said, I just feel like writing. Decided on a definite date to make the first foray; looks like around the 20th-22nd for setting traps and hand collecting with a visit a week later to run light traps. I was busy with maps and directions, figuring out the best way to get to and from and circle back to collecting sites. Created a calendar with the moon phases, it is important to try to make trips with the light traps that coincide with the new moons. More moths and beetles are out flying and likely to come to a black light when there is no moon light in the sky to distract them. Finished the Lepidoptera library and I hear the donated flea library which I meticulously sorted through months ago has finally been catalogued and is ready to return to our shelves. All and all, it was a fairly productive day. I met my mom for lunch we went to the Craig Street coffee shop. It is a good spot for lunch. The inexpensive menu is full of sandwiches, soup, wraps and hot entrees. Vegetarian-friendly, which is a plus, lots of places have vegetarian sandwiches, but this place has over a dozen neat creations most of them are served warm, super plus plus. I ordered the 'southwest sizzler' a grilled sandwich with salsa, jalapeno cream cheese, yummy black bean concoction and cheddar on tomato focaccia. My mother is taking another pottery class. I am jealous. My time over the coming months doesn't really permit me to take a class, to make a weekly commitment like that. I'm glad she's taking another class on her own. For those of you who do not know this. I got into pottery at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts a while ago. I enjoyed and talked about the experience so much that my sister-in-law joined me for a semester. Then my mom wanted to join in so the three of us took a semester together. Mom and I made a ritual of going to a different place for dinner after work and taking a walk before the class; that was as enjoyable as the class itself. I discovered I had a talent for pottery, but I enjoyed it more for the act itself. Throwing the clay on the wheel, my hands and body pushing and working its mass into a form, creating, destroying; it is therapeutic, an outlet for catharsis. The concentration and creative process in this venue is rather meditative for me. I would enter a state of awareness of my personal space, energy and condition similar to where I find myself when practicing yoga. After this project in the field comes to an end I hope to take another pottery class. There is still much to learn, technique to practice, mud to press and squeeze through my fingers.