January 2

Wednesday January 2, 2008 5:30 am Lethbridge, Alberta

It is -3 C with a high forecast of +6 C. Sunrise 8:29 Sunset 16:42 Hours of daylight: 8:13

A. Morning Musings

A chinook wind is forecast for the next few days as we hit melting temperatures. The roads will likely be a bit messy for a couple of days but it is always nice to get back to dry pavement.

I have 5 items in my Planning Table for today. I think I will use this early morning period to work on my Literature web site.

Learning Category	Planned Activities for Today	Time
Drawing	Complete Jan 1 calendar watercolor activity	1 hr
Model Trains	Clean mainline track; inspect for trouble spots,; program 6700	1 hr
Literature	Continue reading "The Tender Bar" by Moehringer	1 hr
Technology	Begin "Wikinomics" by Tapscott	1 hr
Technology	Design structure for Literature web site	1 hr
Technology	Update Skype software	1 hr
History	Organize History books	2 hr

B. Actual Learning Activities

7:10 am

I am delighted with the progress I made this morning on my Literature web site. I began by trying to create a table of some of the non-fiction books that I have on the shelf beside me. This quickly became unmanageable. But the idea of creating a structure that would assist me in monitoring my reading remained. I then hit on the idea of a separate web page for each of the major categories on non-fiction that I am interested in. This appears to be working. I created a list of about 20 History books. Even this simple activity reminded me of the many excellent books that I have purchased over the last few years. Once I have this list completed I will try to create a couple of additional lists that organize the books into read, soon to read, and read later. Maybe.

11:00 am

I'm just back from my first cup at The Ugly Mug for 2008.

4:30 PM

I finally took brush in hand and tried the first exercise from the Watercolor Lesson-A-Day Calendar. I was surprised at the small size of the brush but quickly realized that it is all one needs for the small drawings that are provided. At first I thought the exercise would be boring - just painting within the lines but after about a minute I began to realize that blending the colors to obtain various new colors was going to be a challenge. It was not long before I came across the technique of using a dry brush to soak up excess water on the paper. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity but was actually quite tired by the time I was done. For my first effort, I am pleased, even though it is a long way from the image I was trying to copy. But I can see a hint of how one might do this while sketching while touring. I like the general approach of not giving a lot of instruction but letting the painter discover what is necessary to obtain a particular result.

watercolor

6:00 PM

I am back from my hour-long walk. The wind was up, but so was the temperature (+3 C), so it was not too bad. I'm enjoying these walks - I like the fresh air.

10:00 PM

We have just finished watching a DVD "Amazing Grace". Wow! Tremendous story and superb acting.