05.26.09
The dawning of altruism
Maybe it’s because our family pet is a bunny, or maybe it’s because I’ve steered the kiddos toward all things organic, but the kids are big fans of Annie’s foodstuffs.
The last time I went grocery shopping with A, he chose a boatload of Annie’s mac and cheese and developed quite an attachment to it.
This evening, K. was raiding our cupboards for a school food drive, and she put 2 boxes of Annie’s mac and cheese in the bag–to immediate tears and wailing on A’s part. Nothing I said sunk in; he wasn’t having his beloved lunch food given away.
I told him he didn’t have to give them away, hugged him, and told him why K. was putting food together for Helpline House. He listened, gazing at the boxes for awhile after I stopped talking. Then he said, “Maybe we could give 5 boxes.”
05.24.09
Just Gorgeous
Saturday at the Gorge, Sasquatch Festival:
My favorite band there: DeVotchKa. They’re better in person–on a hot day, with a limited time to play, than they are in their recordings! Nick and Jeanie sang a duet that sent chills down to my fingertips and toes.
Also loved: Shearwater and Doves.
Summer-has-arrived moment: when a cumulous cloud finally drifted over the amphitheater and everyone cheered the moment of shade. Meanwhile, the kids licked ice cream off their mouths, fingers, legs (yep) and ignored their water bottles for the camelback (it kept the coldest water, of course). And yay for spray-on sunblock–no one got sunburned. Well, edges and bits, but that happens no matter what you do, right?
Just a short drive away, the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park is a really interesting place to visit.
Here’s the view from the back of the interpretive center:
And the beautiful ginkgos in memory of the ancient ginkgo forest that once thrived in the Columbia River Valley.
05.16.09
Concrete bowl
Earlier this week I made a small concrete bowl as an outdoor sculpture/birdbath. It’s been curing for several days in the garage, and this morning I put it outside. The idea was a combination of the concrete planter bowls at Bainbridge Gardens and the concrete leaves my friend T.M. makes.
First I lined a mixing bowl with plastic wrap, then laid a rhubarb leaf in the bottom. I covered the leaf with plastic wrap too.
I used leftover cement from a stepping-stone project and poured it in.
I used a smaller bowl (the picture above shows the difference in sizes) to press the bowl shape, then weighted it with stones. I let it set up like that for 5 days.
And here we have it:
05.14.09
Waxing green
I painted an encaustic today:
That’s S. holding it for me on the front porch. I notice that encaustics change color dramatically with different light. I think I’ll hang it in the dining room for now.
Isn’t the texture cool?
05.12.09
Dancing night
I heard Patrick Watson performing in studio on KEXP today, and totally fell in love with his sound. Think Feist and Tom Waits, maybe some Devotchka. Cat Stevens too. Oh, and Sufjan Stevens. Is it possible to go wrong with that sound? He’s playing at Crocodile Cafe right this minute, and since I can’t make it to Seattle, we’re playing him for dance night.
05.11.09
Mother’s Day at the beach
You can see the azalea K. gave me tucked into my bun.
And just because color is lovely, here’s last night’s dinner (the grill’s first use of the summer!) 
05.09.09
Sunday in the Park with George
So the story of the tortured artist is old hat, right? The tale of an obsessive genius who isn’t clever, isn’t witty, isn’t warm is not a compelling one. I bought tickets to the show because I love Georges Seurat, love the delicacy of his pointillist paintings. The irony with this show is that it paints the characters with broad strokes, making everyone–even George–a flat caricature.
Really impressive artistic effects? Yes.
Painfully dreary? Yes.
We left at intermission and I felt so free I skipped and ran and cavorted in the nighttime streets of Seattle, my lovely city.
05.06.09
Too close, tuque-cloche!
Despite my having made it for a smaller child (or at least a smaller head), A. fell in luff with this hat and begged me to let him have it. So I didn’t send it through a dryer cycle (hence the less-felted look) and pulled it on his head to stretch it a bit. That’ll work.
05.03.09
Cycling Spokane
Yesterday morning Auntie M had to run 5 miles for her training regimen (1/2 marathon in Coeur d’Alene this month), so we rented bikes from Spoke N’ Sport on Division Street and had a great Saturday morning ride. There were a lot of people out in the sunshine on the Centennial Trail, some just out for the fun of it like us, and some already in town for Bloomsday.
