A corner landmark is gone now – sledgehammered into oblivion. There used to be a fireplace business on the corner that had the pizza oven and a couple of outdoor fireplaces on the corner. They went out of business shortly after I moved into the neighborhood.

The property sat empty for almost ten years. I don’t know if the owners retired or died but the oven remained. The property was bought a couple of years ago, but nothing was done with it until recently. It’s all cleaned up except for the remains of the oven. I’m not certain if the new owners even knew that was a wood-fired pizza oven. As far as I know it was only a display in front of the shop.

Life goes on and I get older. The youngest granddaughter is in college and moving into her first apartment. The parental units are concerned because she’s a full-time student who also works full time. I’m not worried because she’s had a plan since she was 13. She started working at 14 and unlike her parents, I know she has savings. She’s worked as many hours as she legally could and saved more that she spent. She’ll make it.

I signed up for a program of “chair yoga.” It’s okay, but I picked a bad time to start with my sore neck and shoulder. The weird thing is that in spite of the pain and stiffness, I have full range of motion. I guess I’m just peculiar.

The Boomerang Child is back at work after almost three weeks. The company must really like him or they have trouble hiring people. He likes it, so I’m not going to complain. Well, not too much.

I’m about 5 paintings behind on my painting project. I’ve been working on some new inventory for a sale that occurs in a couple of weeks. I always do well at the occasional sale event we put on. Part of the reason is I have my logo on the bags I use.

They’re small brown paper shopping bags with handles that I attach logo stickers too. Even if a customer only buys a $3 zine, they get a bag. It acts as a signal to others. I’ve had so many customers come up and tell me they saw my bags and had to find out what I was selling.

I am at the pricing stage for my newer items. I usually stick a tiny price sticker on each item unless a label won’t fit or stick. Those items get added to my price list.