Sunday in Ithaca

I found these at Sweet Sweet Life. She found them at Woolicious. I have to take more walks in the woods! Today we drove down to Ithaca to help a friend install a wonderful exhibit in the 4th floor of the Econ building at Cornell. It is a rainy, foggy day and I did not even bring the camera. No cerulean or cycan or any variation of blue is to be seen today. But here are other visitors pics of the falls in the gorge that we viewed at the pedestrian bridge. I'm typing this post from a grad student center near the space that Heather's work is being installed as we speak. The econ department is in Uris Hall. Uris Hall is famous for being constructed of Cor-ten Steal, so it has exposed rusty beans.

cyan or cerulean

It is fire drill season in schools. We have sometimes two a day. But the best one yet was yesterday, 9th (last) period. I don't usually talk about specifics of my work on this blog, but I really want to document this story. This story is why I became a Special Education teacher. This story just doesn't happen enough in the position I have now. I am (for) now the special education testing room monitor at a high school. Students who require additional assistance or extra time on tests come to this room.

So, 9th period Friday, the announcement comes across the P.A. that there will be a planned fire drill momentarily, "please exit the building in an orderly fashion etc...." I have two students in the room, one of which is a pretty normal kid, the other is not. I am walking out with this odd 10th grader and I said to him, "Are you looking forward to the weekend?"

He says, "Who are you?"

I tell him who I am and again ask him if he is looking forward to the weekend.

He says with a hands fisted gesture, "Yeah! No more teacher's dirty looks!"

I said next, "It is such a beautiful day, look at that blue sky. I have never seen the sky so blue."

He says something I can't quite hear.

But I figure out that he mumbled, "It's cyan."

So I said to him, "Cyan? Oh... I always think of cerulean as being sky blue.

I think of Cyan as being the color of water, with a little bit of green in the blue."

He says, "Well, it depends on the body of water of course, you certainly wouldn't describe the Black Sea as cyan."

More Mad Men

It was a bloody good show! The latest episode of Mad Men is full of the things that have made the series one of the most acclaimed in television history: Awkward authority, freaked out females and lawnmower carnage. It was the Fourth of July, 1963. And there was sort of a battle, which led to independence from the British for Sterling Cooper.

After Betty 's totally horrifying childbirth experience last week, I was thrilled to have some tragic silliness. I never laughed harder than when that little girl woke up screaming. There are no pics of the episode so I am am allowing myself some eye candy. Some how I missed the Emmy's on Sunday. Mad Men won Outstanding Drama Series for the second consecutive year, while30 Rock received its third straight win for Outstanding Comedy (I would marry Tina Fey if she would have me).

Sunday Sunday

This is a picture of our beautiful kitchen. I was so happy to come home to it today after a long but wonderful Artist Row - dinner ready and waiting (with 12 other people waiting too). I had the most amazing weekend!Here are the chinese lanterns from my garden in my vase from More Fire's discount table at their sale on my kitchen table in the kitchen with the tangerine wall.

Latest beads, Lucinda gave me some marshmallow! Isn't it wonderful? And I guess by now you know how I love the spot light effect in Photoshop filters.

Fiber Festival

Sunday is the Public Market Artist Row! I am taking a short break from all the work I still have yet to complete. But I know it is going to be the best Artist Row ever!

Today we went to the Hemlock Fiber Festival and it was wonderful as always. It was a beautiful blue sky day. I bought some beautiful roving and some yarn and of course we watched the dog herding. Aster took this picture of the frozen bananas (we did not actually eat one).Here I am with my angora rabbit...
No, I did not buy a rabbit. Here is a picture of the actual owner of the rabbit, she was kind enough to let me hold it. It weighed less than a new born baby.

rough around the edges

by Corid

I have been called abrasive. I know this was not meant to be complimentary, but I feel it is. I would rather be abrasive than soft. I grew up with heated discussions at the dinner table that often led to someone going to the living room and getting the encyclopedia to either prove or disprove a point. Of course, these days, my family goes on the intranets for such validation.

I am continually bothered by the softness of conversations. I enjoy learning what others think as well as sharing my own ideas, but I find that many people are so worried about offending, or afraid to be characterized, or concerned about proprietress, that they will not engage in opinionated discourse.

That is one reason I love my journal and my blog. I can say whatever I please. Although, discussions with myself do not often reveal new truths, and definitely do not teach me how to properly engage in conversation.

Coming up...

Coming up:

Artist Row is this Sunday! I am so very excited.
But before then, I have such a busy, fun filled weekend coming up.
I am going to Buffalo on Friday to see the Art in Craft show at the Burchfield Penney MuseumMahine Rattonsey
Delirium 2007
Glass, High Fire Enamel, Found Window
14.75” x 39.5” x 6”

and also the Bad Habits exhibit at the Albright Knox (Bad Habits invokes a motley selection of the more deliciously naughty art in the Gallery’s collection), I will go to the Hemlock Fiber Festival on Saturday, but most exciting of all is the Public Market's Artist Row on Sunday! My favorite thing at the fiber festival (other than yarn and roving) is watching the sheep dogs at work. The dogs are always so serious and the sheep are always so ridiculous. I will have a lot of fiber work for sale at the Public Market on Sunday including felted bags and purses, hand knit fingerless gloves and mittens, felt jewelry and animals. Everything I make is a one-of-a-kind, you don't want to miss it!

Flash!

I sold these vintage flash bulbs on Etsy and I received the most wonderful response. The buyer actually wants to use them on a vintage camera! I thought that they would be objects d'amour, but they are actually going to be utilized, who could ask for more. Only one of the bulbs actually fits the camera in need, I can't imagine how special the picture will be that will be taken by that one time flash.

Pockets for the teeth

I found Heather Layton's Blog by accident, thanks a lot Heather! But now everyone knows about it. She also has a wonderful website. We are lucky enough to own the original of the one pictured below. Her work cannot (literally, it cannot) be described in words.

I was wrong

Mad men did not jump ahead to November. It is still June and we had an upsetting depiction of hospital child birth. Loved the dream sequences though. What is the meaning of that inch worm?

wild guess

I am going to take a wild guess that the Mad Men episode airing tonight is going to be based around John F. Kennedy's assassination. I have been waiting for this.

Cotton, the fabric of our lives

I am trying to post a few new items on Etsy today. These cotton gloves are really wonderful. I purchased the yarn at the Knitting Guild Auction last spring and it is hell to knit with but the end result is worth it. The yarn had little pieces of plant material in it and although it hurt my fingers like the devil I pulled every little piece out of the gloves as I knit them.

Isn't the cotton plant just the most wonderful thing in the world?

rainy morning

We had a busy morning in some on going soft rain, first to the Public Market and then to Clothesline Arts Festival. I got these tiny fingerling potatoes and some beets at the market and at the Arts Festival I ordered an custom designed belt to go with a boring black shift dress that I need to wear to a wedding and a Bat Mitzvah this fall.  I love the way beets look and often keep them for ages before I decide to eat them and then they are inedible, so they went into a pot of boiling water for a spinach and beet salad for dinner tonight. I may try to draw them from the photo. This leaf was waiting for us in the driveway when we returned home.

The picture below is of water droplets on a spider web. The picture makes it look so weird, when really it is so beautiful.

The Autumn Garden

The colors right now in the garden are sparse but stupendous. The yellow flowers are the ligularia as I have never seen it before and the orange you probably know as Chinese Lanterns. I am waiting for the asters to bloom soon as they wil be the star of the show. And below is Nemo in his favorite spot.

First Day of School

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever." - Mohandas Gandhi

Water dripping on a stone

I used to have this quote in my old office:

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You have to set yourself on fire (Arnold H. Glasow).

In the latest episode of Mad Men, we saw a televised image of the buddhist monk on fire in Saigon, proposing the idea that you have to be an active participant of the change you want to see in the world.

The latest episode of Mad Men was a difficult one to pin down. I watched it three times and feel like anything I write sounds so stupid. The "daddy" issues, the generational gap and the concept of change were all clearly presented. But the undertones suggested something quite different, something I can't explain.

What I really liked about this episode is that the idea of being magnanimous is complicated and not always easy, but essential to change. It is not just about being confident. I am still working out many of these ideas in my head (and that is what I really like about this show). I wanted to post the image that we saw at the end of the show, the image of Don folding up Gene's bed in the same room as the crib. I couldn't find it on the web, I may have to take a picture of it on my own TV. Also, I really want to know more about Joan. Who is her father? What was her upbringing?

John F. Kennedy said, "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
I miss the future. I wish it were here.

The Summer of Uncertainty

The summer of uncertainty. Well, the summer is officially over, but the uncertainty remains. I have been invited to interview at the private school. I have not quit my current position yet.(Yet being a key word). This taking life one day at a time is becoming upsetting for me. I am a planner. But I do have lots of arts festivals for which to prepare, and I really love that part of this season. The first of which is the Public Market Artists Row on Sunday, September 20th. I have all my items consuming the living room as I try to create new displays. 

Above is a purse I hand knit and fulled (felted) in the wash.

Below is a picture of my daughter on the sauna. I am permitted to post it because she has it on her face book.

Beads

Thursday evening I went to More fire for 2 1/2 hours. I made that huge hollow bead with Laura lee's help. The crusty one broke when I took it off the mandrel. I was really excited to make something crusty. Lucinda showed Aster and I how she makes those beautiful birds of hers. I tried one myself and am pretty happy with it. I can't imagine how she can get two the same for earrings. 

Below are more of a set I have been building.

Market Day

We went to the public market this morning. I tend to purchase vegetables based on beauty instead of need. Perhaps I need beauty.

And last Tuesday was Gage's 15th birthday. We celebrated with shooting balloons as high as the moon. There was a full moon out, but we just couldn't get a photograph of a balloon flying by it.

Angora Rabbits

A dear friend recommended searching angora rabbits in google images to lift my spirits. It worked! I can't wait to go to the Hemlock Fiber Festival on September 19th. The animals there are more wonderful than the ones at the State Fair. Maybe I will get some spinning in today.

Beach Pebbles

I finally completed the glass beach pebbles necklace. You are all probably sick of looking at these beads, so I promise this will be the last time you see them. Unless you purchase it, I guess. I really want to keep it, but in lieu of having no job I am instead going to put it up for sale in my etsy shop. I am very pleased with the way it turned out. I used a lovely silk cord that is a sandy tan and lots of thin pure silver wire (the kind with which I knit). This necklace has two of Lucinda's beads in it and a number of Aster's too. There are also pearls, abalone, turquoise chips, and white coral beads all through out. I really like the way the etching worked on the glass beads.

New York State Fair

Monday we went to the New York State Fair.

It was a wonderful distraction for the trials and tribulations of my job situation. Which is, by the way, still unresolved. But, as Peggy Olson said in the most recent episode of Mad Men,

"You don't have to worry about me... I will be fine."

I just love that scene, when Peggy (high as a kite) speaks to her lonely stuffy secretary, Olive
(who is the alternative universe Peggy - if Peggy didn't break into copywriting). Peggy says to Olive, "you are scared, aren't you?" I think Peggy and Olive are touching on that universal female fear (which I am facing lately) of screwing up everything and letting everyone down. But Peggy is "in a very good place right now." Which is what it is all about, isn't it?

Living in the moment.

Taking what you have and making something of it.

So that is what I am going to do too (after I stop crying).

(You can go here to read about other feminist subtexts in Mad Men).

I wonder what feminists would say about these

State Fair ice cream breasts?

The Starship 2000 was broken down, some metaphor, huh?

A Long Necked Rooster

A sheep in wolf's clothing.

I think I took over thirty pictures of pigs at the State Fair- I won't bore you but with this one.

A weird pigeon, he was able to move his neck and head even though it looks like he is all convoluted.

Prize winning Ball Dahlia

Prize winning Ball Daisy - Ooops no, that is an Angora Rabbit (I really want one!)

Not sure what kind of bird this is. That is my only criticism of the fair, that signage and information was very much lacking.