Remember those summer vacations when your favorite cousin would come to visit for a week and you would pack all sorts of fun things into a short time? Suddenly three or four days felt like several weeks as you would enter the creative zone and do whatever it was you both felt like doing--it was awesome! This summer I had a couple chances to visit my buddy Shawn as he was working in Wisconsin, and our adventures reminded me of those summer vacations with my cousin.
Shawn has been performing at the Festival Theater in St. Croix Falls this summer, playing several characters during their summer repertoire... in fact, Shawn played was given the opportunity to stretch his acting talent when he was cast as seven different characters in only two plays! The first show, Four by Two, was a romantic comedy montage where two actors play eight characters in four short plays; and the second show was Sylvia - another comedy about relationships and the life of a man and his dog. I was fortunate enough to see both of those shows and witness Shawn's amazing talent.
So during my visits I stayed with Shawn out at Loretta & Jerry's farm, a few miles north of St. Croix Falls. Loretta and Jerry were kind enough to house Shawn for the summer (like a host family!), so I was given the official guest treatment each time I would visit. I got to experience all sorts of new things on the farm like meeting the lambs and lamas, and seeing how wool was spun into yarn. Loretta has several looms and creates amazing rugs and tapestries from their own wool. Wow! Their farm is full of animals and artwork - truly an amazing place.
During his days off, Shawn and I did all sorts of fun things like hiking, exploring the fish hatchery, driving up to the Franconia Sculpture Park (totally cool!), eating lots of great food and taking walks around the town visiting with the local folk. When we hang out together it's like we are a couple of ten year-old boys and the world is a new adventure to explore. So much fun! 
We also had a great time playing with my camera--taking snaps of the many places we visited as well as "photo painting" with glow sticks at night. There's so much creativity in photography, and I got to explore all sorts of new creative techniques this summer.All-in-all, I am thankful, once again, for my friends--of which Shawn has become one of my favorite. True friends are those people who take the time to just hang out with you, challenge you to continue being your best, and the ones who know "who you are" (and remind you when you forget). Thanks, Shawn, for making a part of my summer so much fun!
The Ambassador
