Kid ceramics

When I made the bulb ornament, the kids each painted a ceramic or two as well. Ganoush made these for Goof and Aunt Equestrian. I can show them, now that the gifts have been given.


Here is the horse for Aunt Equestrian.


The dolphin for Uncle Goof. On the right are the three ornaments made by our tablemates, whose leftover glaze I used for the bulb ornament.


Goof is a Miami Dolphins fan, so Ganoush was deliberate in adding the orange streaks in the water. Goof noticed.


On Thanksgiving Eve Day, Ganoush asked for colored pencils and paper. I later saw her studying our family portrait from 2005 as she completed portraits for her aunt and uncle.

Way-back art

When I was in second grade, every now and then our teacher would select a story for publication. She would discuss with the author where the page breaks should be, then send the story off to a friend, who typed the story on onion paper. Then the author was allowed to *skip* a classroom assignment to do the coloring for each book page. Then the book was sent off again to be bound. The author provided the fabric for the book cover. When it was finished, the author had the option to have the book placed in the school library.

My book was called "My Trip to Marsasip." It started out being to Mars, but that seemed too... ordinary, compared to a fanciful unknown planet.


Here is my book cover. All of the patchwork is factory printed.


Here is the Date Due pocket. It was written in 1975. Many of the reader instances were me or my brother.


Here we see me and Koldy near the end of the book. He has wheels instead of feet and changes his colors and patterns constantly. Not only is that visually interesting, but it tosses continuity out the window. Important stuff to a nine-year-old.


This is towards the beginning of the story, packing in my bedroom.


This is my actual bedroom in 1975. Remember, America's bicentennial was approaching and I fully embraced the red, white, and blue theme.



Going around the room clockwise, there are my bracket shelves of knickknacks, the star-spangled bedspread, the USA curtains. My mom was a straight-line seamstress with her turquoise Viking sewing machine, but she did make these curtains.



Nice big area rug, forty-eight star American flag from my grandmother, antique school desk (my great-grandfather ran an antique shop), Dressy Bessy doll, Waffle Quilt stuffed dogs, fish mobile made from a punch-out fold-together cardstock kit-book.



My antique dresser and vanity set. I still use the dresser. The drawers are quite deep. The vanity is in my parents' basement. It became my computer desk in junior high, holding my TRS-80 Model I, Level 2, with cassette "drive." I still have those lamps, too.


The doll crib was an antique from the shop. The pegboard hold my orange AM radio, some glued-felt-on-masonite art of mine, and two embroidered samplers from my grandma.

Links

Lisa Vollrath has some free downloadables for Mother's Day.

And check out these fancy cakes from Russia.

And check out All Over Coffee for great sketching.

BALOO food

BALOO Training - teaching Cub Scout leaders how to lead a Pack's family campout.

My favorite part of the day was lunch. Outdoors. I forgot my camera, but had more fun making sketches anyway. I share the info with you; click for the big version. I do this to share and to reinforce my own learning. (There I go, homeschooling myself again.)

Notice the notes in the upper left corner. One Scout Leader told of the worst meal made on a campout. A patrol of young Scouts were making Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. (Box meals are allowed on the first few outings.) They somehow skipped over the instruction to drain and made mac & cheese soup.

We made and ate foil packet meals. They recommended starting with a cabbage leaf on the foil. Even if you toss the cabbage, it provides moisture, form, and support to the rest of the packet. Then the frozen patty and any frozen veggies you wish. Pineapple was also suggested for sweetness and moisture.

The instructor made Breakfast in an Orange. Slice an orange in two and scoop out the orange to eat now or later. In one rind hemisphere, crack and add an egg. In the other rind, add muffin mix that's been made in a food storage bag. Place both rinds side by side on a sheet of foil, wrap and cook.

She also made Meatloaf in an Orange. Pretty basic. Put a serving of meatloaf in a hollowed orange half and cap it with the other hollowed half. Wrap in foil, cook on coals.

Our desserts were chocolate cherry cake from a Dutch oven and some muffin/cake that was made in a box lined with foil. It wasn't a true solar oven, as it was raining that day. I missed the particulars, besides that the box was lined with foil (for reflecting) and the cake pan (lined with foil for easy clean-up) was elevated on three soda pop can weighted with water inside.

We also sampled Banana Boats. Peel open one sector of banana peel. Slice the banana lengthwise, but don't cut the bottom peel. Add marshmallows and chocolate chips to the banana cut. Wrap with foil and cook on coals.

Omelet in a Bag: put eggs and chopped veggies in a bag. Squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Label your bag (for all these recipes). Drop bag in pot of boiling water.

One leader brought Pie Irons, which make grilled sandwiches. Our fire drum was full of foil supper, so he placed his pie iron on the coals of the Dutch oven that was making the cake.

Last, we made some Bread on a Stick. The presenter said this was a big hit with her boys' troop. Get some dowels, cut to a good length from boy to fire. Wrap Biscuit In A Tube around the stick, either like a snake, or as a cap to fill with butter and jam. Hold the wrapped dough over the fire until it is cooked.

One other leader from my pack (vroom, vroom) went to training with me, but we were placed in separate groups. "Aha," said I. "So we can learn different stuff in our discussion groups and talk about it all the way back home in the car."
"I'm glad you understand," said the training leader with a smile.

Not that I was alone. As luck would have it (much like Ron's luck), I sat next to a high school acquaintance. Not a chum, but I knew who he was, he knew who I was. He told me that he recognized me at monthly leader meetings but couldn't place my name. Every month, he intended to look me up in the yearbooks but forgot by the time he got back home.

Sketches and art

I've spent all of my computer turn learning about my new scanner and cropping them for the blog. I'll write the text tomorrow. Here are the pictures. Click any to see a larger version.

Sketches from my current journal.










Paint / collage from my 2005 Round Robin Art Journal. The beads were added by Cait. I don't know if she added the sax man or if someone else did.