Shaping the void

Rain and rehearsal kept us away from the oven this morning, but by 1:00 or so it had cleared off enough to work. The girls jumped in to build the sand dome while I made a Wilco run for a tarp and more sand.

Then we rolled up our sleeves and our pants legs and danced in the dirt. (did the Trinity dance like this when mixing Adam’s clay?), kneading, squidging, slopping, shaping…not your typical dance moves.

The division of labor sorted itself out, me on the tarp, mixing and picking out rocks; Bryan carefully packing clay around the crumbling sand dome; and the girls shifting between the two of us with occasional detours past the swing set and the water bucket.

I kept hoping the dome would take shape more quickly as we neared the top, but we seemed to slow at about the same rate as it grew. The day ended with cheers, pictures, and foot-washing all around, followed by take-and-bake pizza. (If we couldn’t use the new oven yet, at least we could have pizza!)

Now we wait to discover how long it takes mud to dry…in Oregon…in April.