why is it when you are looking for a stamp, it is always in the last drawer. On the way to it, you've spent 4 hours reorganizing all your stamps. The color is a bit off on this, but this is for Adriane. Happy Birthday.
Better late than never.
So this was how I spent my day. Making some pretty bad cards until I finally let it go. She's getting this one. It would have been nice to drop it in her mailbox today, but tomorrows another day..........

First Class

We started the first class with a simple collage/shape recognition project. Fun to watch how they decide or randomly put pieces. Some are so deliberate. Others are layering pieces randomly.
This is the older group. With the exception of one child, I forgot to take pictures. I did remember with the younger ones though.
It looks as if I will be having two seperate groups. The 4's then the 3's which works out really well. I cannot imagine working with 30 children at once and still have fun.
One little girl is camera shy, so the teacher held up her work. In April, we will have an exhibit.. The Week of the Young Child will be our reception.
The exhibit includes their art, photos and quotes.

Gyotaku at Kie's home

thank you Kie for the picture :-)

Day 16 - Diversity

It is the diversity we bring to each other. Where I live is culturally diverse and I am all the better for it. I love to travel and would hope to do much more of it, but I am grateful for the exchange of culture when I have the opportunity. We experienced Goytaku, which means fish rubbing at a friends house. Her father who is visiting showed us this art. I love the brush!
First you prepare the fish by cleaning off the slime. Wine gets rid of the smell :-)
The fish is carefully painted with sumi ink. The eye is usually left unpainted.
Carefully place thin paper, rice paper here on top and begin to gently press the paper, making sure to get all the details of the fin, mouth. We used a sponge.
Gently pull the paper up and....
tada!!! Fish print.
Keeping with the theme we ate a Japanese restaurant in town (a gift from 2 yoga students). Delicious.
Thank you to Kei and her mom and dad.
Arigato.

Gyotaku

We had a wonderful time at Kei's house, sharing this experience of fish printing. Kei's father, visiting from Japan, demonstrated it for us and so generously carved a stamp for each of us - a character of our name or the sound closest to our name. My character is (sounds like) Doe or Door meaning Earth or Grow. We carved the character on another block in the reverse, cutting it in the negative to his positive. Kei's mom cooked some dumplings and it was such a wonderful and fun evening with such generous and gracious hosts.


Gyotaku (pronounced ghee-oh-tah-koo), the Japanese art of fish rubbing, is believed to have originated in the mid-1800s (though other forms of nature printing date back to at least the time of Leonardo DaVinci).
In brief, a fish is caught, then meticulously cleaned of all mucus, blood, dirt, etc., and dried thoroughly. The fish is then positioned as it would appear in life; that is, each fin is propped open in the swimming position. Next, the fish is brushed with ink (with the exception of the eye, which may or may not be removed prior to inking) and a sheet of paper is carefully pressed or rubbed over it. When the paper is lifted from the fish, a highly detailed image is left on the paper, in much the same way you might leave a fingerprint. In traditional gyotaku, only the fish's eye may be painted by hand. Although Japanese anglers originally created the rubbings to record precise data of specific catches, they soon recognized the aesthetic quality of the works. Gyotaku has been practiced in the United States only since the 1950s--but never widely.
The first gyotaku were created using sumi ink (a natural carbon-based ink) on handmade paper (washi). Today, various media are used. Many practitioners use water-based block printing inks, but prints are also made using oil-based inks, acrylic paints, and watercolors. (Printing with nontoxic inks or paints allows the fish to be eaten afterwards.) Although fine papers are still widely used in the fish-printing process, fabrics such as muslin and silk are also employed.

Zoo Day :-)

Went to the Bronx Zoo today. Next time we leave earlier... and I bring a camera with a bigger zoom lens. Missed the butterfly house and the gorilla house. What we did see: Jungle World (always a must) and the Bird house which always seems to be the last on the list. This is probably good, because you want it to be quiet in there - no screaming kids. We saw a very entertaining polar bear, and very active tigers. Monkeys on the other blog with the tiger...

Blue Light magic

Last night we went to Annie's Cafe and of course I brought my camera. I bring it every where. I was taken by the blue glow of the candle and started taking some shots.
Thinking this one of John is good for Halloween. One of our discussions was about getting a new camera... oh yeah, I am loving that conversation!

Penis Envy

Last night some relatives brought by the zuccha longo but of course we had to play with it first before it got cooked.

Me at Play

"We are the ocean - vast, deep, powerful and rich.
Nourishing and nurturing.
Dive down into the dark stillness of being.
Sense the rising and falling of surface thoughts and emotions... sometimes gentle, sometimes violent.
Always shifting.
Always in motion.
Draw back and watch the waves of your life at play.
Know you are the unfathomable depths -- surface agitations can't disturb you. Know that you are bigger than the little things that aggravate you."

The above came in my mailbox... Daily Guru maybe.

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.(Lao Tzu)

John took these and scanned them. Oh yeah. I am thinking of giving him my digital camera and buying a new one!

Backyard beauties

took a break from all the errands today to check on the fish. Before that though, I had to take pictures of the sunflowers.
Surprise! The lily was in bloom.
So, here ya go Johnny.... your baby in bloom!
6 healthy fish as well.

I love rocks

I am trying to be in my heart more often.

I analyze things. I'm thinking it is my rising Virgo as well as being an Aquarian.

When I think too much, I realize how many possibilities there are, too many choices and I get over whelmed and immobilized.

I run from my heart if I see I cannot deal with certain situations. I don't like the feeling of having a broken heart. No one does. I know I can get cold and close off my emotions, but I don't really want that. I want to be compassionate, but with that come bravery, courage.

I don't see myself that brave, unless I am spontaneous. When I am spontaneous, I feel I am making decisions from the heart - doing it because I love it. Because I am excited and passionate. Joy-filled. If I start to think, more often than not, I will find a reason NOT to do it.

I am seeking a more joyful heart - too crabby lately. Too irritable. Thinking too much.

I am realizing more and more that I need to be connected more to nature. I am so impatient with large SUV's crowding the roads, impatient drivers weaving in and out of traffic. WTF!!!!

I want to be back in the mountains................

Is it done yet???

When to say ok, it's done. I could go on and on. John says leave it. I don't want to clutter it up too much, but I am tempted to put something in the distance - just don't know what. I thought of a playground or a rainbow. Maybe it's best to leave to the kids imagination... not sure yet, so I left. I have to paint the trim and seal the door because I did not prime it first.
I added a little faerie and some shelter for her.
Soon I'll be doing the trim around the bulletin boards and the nap room.
I love painting. I love the process of painting mostly.
Sometimes I start out just not knowing, move into the doubtful stage of wondering if this was the right decision, but quickly move into the zone of creating. Enjoying the process and intrigued by the whole idea of creating something from nothing.
Then I get finicky and want to go into detailitis.
I could go on forever, but then I get tired. I have to stop.
We had a discussion on a new diet called, the "workaholic", because I don't eat when I am painting. If I do, it's junk food. I found an open package of Ritz crackers. It was the only thing I ate all day.
Maybe I should bring the path all the way down to the bottom of the door.

In this House - house swap

This is for a swap in the yahoo group, In This House which started from the book that Angela Cartwright and Sarah Fishburn wrote of the same name.
I had the most fun doing the pen and H2o's.
I work at collage. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't.

They are created from my old business cards of which I have a box of. I made a few extras.

I used a door that I photographed while in Peru (pink roof, wooden door surround by flowers) They all have addresses on the back of which I am not going to put here. I need to get these out of here!
Queen of last minute -sheeeeesh.

Ready for change

We are back from vacation.
Time to get serious about the new year. What changes will come about?
I spent the day cleaning and decluttering. Putting away supplies from the summer. It seems to grow, all this stuff. I released a lot of books to free up some room.
When you let things go, it's a good indication that you have grown.
Sometimes I hold on too tightly, always thinking I could recycle it in some way, turn it into an art project :-)
I thought I would alter a set of encyclopedias. Oh yeah, right. I did rip out some interesting pictures though. I must be in a certain mood to do this. "I don't give a shit" mood. Let it go. It is usually when I have had enough. It's also coming back from vacation where there is more space, so when we come home, I am ready to clean house. It's also a preparation for my new year. New classes, new opportunities, new projects. I want to be ready.
January being the beginning of a new year is so wrong. Ideally it should be Spring, but other than that it should be in September when the new school year begins.
I'm ready for some change.

Oh Happy Day.........

Tomorrow we leave for a vacation, so I leave you with RED for Saturday.

I'm bringing my camera............

Orange you glad....

Camp is done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh yeah.

I did the tiles except the first one I did in the wrong direction. I was supposed to do it as a diamond... so now it becomes a trivet and I need to do one more. oh well.
No matter. I'm off.
Next week we have the mountain vacation and the week after that the ocean.
The best of both worlds.
Amen.
Life is good :-)

Brown, Black, White for Thursday

Green Fairy

Blue tuesday

Is it Bordom?
As I am working with the group, I look over to see some councilors, CIT's, writing all over themselves with blue chalk. I am a little stunned, but then realized, hey, it's blue!
So, of course I need to take pictures.
And of course, shiney footwear.

Not so Yellow Monday

oops, put the yellow photo on the other blog, so I'll add some yellow fish beads.