Trading the Trades

Those of you who know my family, know that, in a lot of ways, my brother and I married people who are wonderful, yet INCREDIBLY different from each other.  (understatement)


Meet Leni and Claire:

First pic ever taken of them, at our wedding

Hanging around the two of them is usually particularly hysterical.  Their differences can be basically boiled down to the following: Claire is a student of the arts, and Leni is a student of science.  This is the basis for any interaction that ends in disagreement of any degree.


I remember back in March listening to a discussion where Claire thought it was ridiculous that Leni didn't know the color wheel.  Leni, probably having heard the words color and wheel in the same sentence (and not in relation to cars) for the very first time that day, shot back something about Claire needing to learn the Periodic Table of Elements.  As with most discussions of this nature between these two, it ended quickly before elbows and fists were thrown.


Back in early July, a new version of this came to life.  Standing by a crappy piece of art that we got at a yard sale for pennies, Leni started talking about what he would do to it if he had the talent.  Claire jumped into action and before I could take another breath, there was an easel set up complete with the necessary paints - and Leni standing around watching like a lost puppy.

The original

Considering the plethora of options

Learning some basics from Claire

It became a collaborative effort

As it stands now.  There is talk of more work later perhaps.

The fun doesn't stop there, folks!  Over Thanksgiving, Claire was up at our house and, in holding up her end of the bargain, spent some time assisting Leni in his craft: car stuff in the garage.  


Here's Claire cutting a long piece of metal for some fabrication work:

And here she is doing some actual welding:

In the art project and the garage project, the apprentices were both good sports and very patient and it was quite entertaining for me to be an observer.  Many props go out to both Leni and Claire for being open to new things!


Keep It Real!


P.S. Los Alamos Trails Goal Update:  25.6 of 29.5 miles completed.....3.9 miles to go!