Mercifully, today was a far better day than yesterday – but that’s not surprising really. True, I still haven’t heard the results of my mammogram redo, but I was able to concentrate on my writing for much of the day and keep away most of the anxiety demons trying to occupy prime real estate in my psyche. Mercifully, because school’s out again for a long Labor Day weekend, our son Theo came home from school with no homework today. So the whole day today has been relatively mellow.

For most of the day, I was somehow able to fill my mind with thoughts about one of my favorite origami artists and what makes his work so unique and special. How can I best sum up the artist and his thirty or so years of work in just over 1,000 words? What adjectives best describe his sculptures? What was it about his work that pushed the boundaries of the art form? What images best illustrate his contribution to the modern origami world? Though it’s sometimes hard to answer all these questions, this is the kind of challenges I enjoy tackling. These are what help me to grow professionally and keep me believing that I actually know something about art and have some value in the world. Spending the day pushing myself through this kind of challenge leaves me feeling very fulfilled and better prepared for the next challenge.

Out of gratitude for the rare mellow mood of the day, I decided to give away a CD by an extremely mellow recording artist, the jazz musician and vocalist Cassandra Wilson. I first learned about her music some 15 years ago from a work colleague whose taste and opinions I respected, and though I love her deep, smooth vocals and avant-grade rhythms, I don’t need to own three of her CDs. So, I strolled down to the Chandelier Tree in our neighborhood and rested a single CD at the base of the tree as an offering and a wish for more mellow, please…