Nature at Home

I love when animals stay still long enough to have their picture taken.

This one was so still I was sure it was dead.  This picture is not zoomed in at all.  I just bent over and got super close and took the picture.  Then I picked it up and it wiggled like mad.  I put it back down!

I was doing some long-overdue trimming and as I was cleaning up I saw the hummingbird nest.  I'm hoping it was from last year.

In other nature news, a scrub jay was trying to rob the birdhouse with the house finch.  I yelled at it and chased it away (somehow it didn't bother me when the house finch killed the insects it was feeding to its young), but it has been awfully quiet this evening.  I hope they are okay because I have been looking forward to seeing the baby birds emerge.

IFF Workshop

Over three months ago I wrote about visiting The Institute for Figuring and how I hoped they would move to Claremont.  They still haven't done that, but we did make our second trip there because I was invited to lead a workshop.  It felt like Mark Spitz asking me to teach people to swim.  I overcame my fear (and sense of awe) and said yes.

The director had acquired the amazing book by Knud Vaegter, chosen paper, and photocopied a few templates.

The sample hearts I brought were set up in the room with samples from previous workshops.

Workshops participants started by being given properly cut paper and being shown a basic heart.  They were given as much time as they wanted to get figure it out.  I was impressed by their willingness to work at it and their ability to figure it out once they were given the first step.  I was also impressed with their willingness to try very challenging patterns, but I realized they didn't know they were very challenging.  I loved seeing the participants joy and satisfaction after they completed a heart.

Even though traditionally hearts are red and white (like the Danish flag), fluorescent orange, pink, and green were offered along with black and white.  The contrast was fabulous!

I didn't think to take pictures during the event, but here are a few hearts 

(the ones with black were made by other people).

The director loved to look at the inside, which did look fascinating.  The traditional shiny paper is colored on one side and white on the other so it doesn't show the same inner life.

Some Claremont friends weren't able to join me so I will host a local workshop.  Maybe one of them will host one on a different topic, like making our own crocheted coral reef.

Art in the Neighborhood

A block from our house is the central city park, which incudes an historic house that has office space  for a few organizations.  Currently the former art museum is hosting the work of a local cartoonist, Paul Darrow, in the small exhibition and conference center.

This looks like a book I would enjoy.

I am not sure I want to work with these characters.

There were several collages, which is the kind of art the 91-year-old creates now.

In the 1950's a local ceramicist, Harrison Macintosh, 

created these plates using the mishima technique.

The local elementary school art teacher has been taking a few a children at a time to visit and create their own art.  Lucky kids!

Future project

Years of ignoring the broken sprinklers and the constant falling of oak leaves has left the backyard looking very natural.

I love the stone benches and I love not worrying that the kids will do any damage to any plants, but I am starting to dream of a change.

I don't want a pool, but I would like the rock steps to be safer.  Maybe I just want someone to rake leaves more often than I do?

Until I decide I will be happy with our new little table.  I am headed out to enjoy it right now.

Wildlife

It isn't very wild, but has been exciting to have some baby birds in the birdhouse built and decorated by A. years and years ago.

 If you click on the image below you can see that there is something in the house, but you can't see the birds.  Sorry.

After watching the parent go off and come back with bits of worms and bugs, A. and his friend took some worms from the compost and got them into the birdhouse.  I wish I could have been able to understand the reaction from the babies and parents.

I looked through our book and think maybe it is a bushtit, but I am not sure.  You are welcome to come visit and take a look and no one will make you dig worms.

Rain

R. goes to school very early on Mondays and that is the only time she gets a ride, which means on Monday mornings I must cycle to the pool.  I almost always ride so it isn't a challenge, except two of the last three Mondays it has rained.  The first time I texted my coach and got a ride to and from the pool, but today I reminded myself that I lived without a car in a place with rain, snow, and ice.  I can handle it, I told myself.  I did handle it, but the ride home with the water from the road coming off the tires and onto me was not my favorite part.  I suppose the bragging rights were the best part.

I've started hiking with a small group once a week and today we we set off in dry weather.  Unfortunately right at the turn around (where the Johnson's Pasture trail meets the Wilderness Park Loop) a few drops fell and pretty soon it was a steady rain.  We tried to say nice things (at least there are no wildfires in Claremont today, this will fill my rain barrel, isn't it nice that the trail isn't crowded), but it is a 50 minute (+/-) hike down and we fell into the silence of trudging before too long.  I started imagining sitting in a hot tub, but when I got home all I wanted to do was put on a flannel nightgown and fleece robe.

Too bad I had to get dressed.  A meeting at the high school meant cycling (tried that one already), driving (I would have been happy to have done this if I didn't have to park it anywhere), or walking (which always seems to take so long).  And then a stroke of brilliance.  I remembered my neighbor worked at the school and got off when my meeting ended.  She said would be happy to give me a ride, but the meeting ended early and the sun was almost shining.  The walk didn't seem so long anymore!

How different my life has become.  I write about the unusual rain and a friend in Denmark writes about the sun.

Return of the Screen

During screen-free week I learned that one way I waste time is to check the weather forecast, not just for Claremont but also for Ithaca, Boulder, Cleveland, Singapore, and Roskilde.  I also like to read the headlines and check the webcams for those places.  When I am online I check a lot of sports scores, too.

Another way I waste time is to read useless etiquette columns, like how to deal with divorced parents at a wedding (my parents are married to each other and I am not getting married).  Maybe it is like reading recipes for dishes I'll never make and travel articles about places I'll never visit?

I did not take a single picture this week!  Now I can't remember if not much happened or if I knew I wasn't blogging so I didn't look for any catchy material.

During the week I went to bed earlier, completed a Tuesday NY Times crossword puzzle (I can't remember the last time I even attempted a Tuesday puzzle), completed a jigsaw puzzle I started ages ago, read the whole newspaper, worked in the yard, and went to the park after dinner to help my son practice the unicycle.  The best part was going to bed earlier each night.

I don't think anything will change, but I have no regrets about taking part in the challenge.  Up next, I'll take some pictures and do some posting, but I have to hang out on Facebook first.