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Is etsy fabulous or evil, I can't decide. If I browse I inevitably buy. I've been wanting a mirror for my studio. I just found one. It's "hollywood regency" style apparently and the frame was made by syroco. Looks lovely I think and I can't wait to hang it and then admire my felt hair stuffs in it.
I tagged along as a chaperone on Max's school field trip to Chinatown today. We took the number one california bus to Grant Street. We had a quick snack and play at Portsmouth Square Park which is where we met up with our tour guide Linda Lee. Linda was awesome. She was quick witted, straight forward and curtly humorous. She didn't allow comments, only questions. As the tour went on she limited the questions from as many as the group wished, to three, to two, then finally to only one. Is that a question or comment you just said, she would ask? Of course the kids had many more comments than questions. I appreciated her kindergarten explanation of Buddhism which was that Siddhartha travelled around the world until he understood everything about human existence. Then he shared what he knew and the people said he was the wisest person ever. They renamed him Buddha. Buddihsm is popluar throughout Asia. Oranges are a homonym for luck in Chinese which is why they are an offering to Buddha (in English they are a fruit and a color — hmm isn't that strange). I also liked her lesson on eating the whole animal who gave it's life for your dinner. She stressed how the Chinese eat the whole animal, the head, the feet etc. (use your imagination) leaving no part untouched or wasted —including the "butt" and yes saying duck butt got a huge laugh. I think it's a good lesson for kids to think about the animals they eat. We visited a fortune cookie factory, heard the man above play the erhu and lastly visited a buddhist temple. All in all it was a good day!
I don't normally take pictures of food, whether I cooked it or someone else did it, but I'm making an exception this time. While Mr. C was in NYC for days I was the "chef" of my house. I don't do any cooking so this was a big deal. I managed to pull off decent school lunches and a few delicious dinners. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.
The kindergarteners are working on a new learning segment about behavior. They thought about answers to the questions: What is an ally? Who can be an ally? What does an ally do? What does an ally NOT do? What are some situations that happen at school where being an ally would be helpful? What are some situations where it is hard to be an ally? How does it feel when someone is an ally to you? How does it feel to be an ally to others? How can we help each other to be allies? From their answers they created the poster above. They all signed it at the bottom — nice work!
Loving felt. Avoiding work so I can felt a bird, not a good equation for the long haul. Oh dear. I'm feeling a bit addicted at present and needing another fix. I've started bringing my roving home. Uh oh. This is getting unavoidably serious. Max and I felted our first rocks today which was wonderfully fun. I've just wrapped my second headband — this one is a deep black. I'm dreaming of embroidered felt production and a world full of warm fuzzies.
footnote: wow these rocks kick my rocks ass! I feel like such a beginner.
Chow is only blocks away but it takes us ages to walk there because there are so many things to do along the way. Like jump off Patrick and Laura's cement retaining wall or run up and down the ramp leading to the children's center, we must put in a game of red light green light, there's also all those plum trees with their dark trunks to discuss that they only blossom in February and there are leaves to step on, the dog poo to avoid and then of course, naturally, the stinky potty talk that follows, oh and on and on it goes, plus there is this unexplainable house with the wildlife paintings all over it. Vivi asks me so succinctly in her unique way, "why is this here?"
Vivienne asks me everyday if today is friday. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I could say yes? It feels disappointing each day when I say sorry it's only tuesday. As you've guessed Friday is ballet class. Vivienne has been so excited to take class it's been adorably sweet to experience. She's had slippers and a tutu for months now. It was a long wait but we finally got her and her friend Esme into a class at Noe Valley Dance Space with teacher Ms. Laura. Vivienne is thrilled as you can imagine and she dances for us each night at home. In fact last night Max found a little music box player that when you turn the handle it plucks a verse from "Take me out to the ball park.' Vivienne did jumps and arabesques for us while Max played it. It was hilarious! I am looking forward to our second class tomorrow afternoon. In the movie above Vivienne is the super jumpy dancer waving a ribbon.
I'm deep into my love of roving these days. While enjoying a visit to my happy place I decided to buy this cute book called wool pets. Max is crazy about penguins, his beloved pillow pet is a penguin and he loves to read 365 penguins. He'd read it nightly if we'd let him, but as you can imagine I go a little batty with the repetition. He's also been jealous that I come home from my studio with new felt barrettes for Vivienne and none for him. Of course he doesn't want a barrette but he wants something. So that's the why and the how of my undertaking the needle felting of the above little penguin. Stabbing felt for two hours was cathartic and I found myself enjoying the sculptural experience as well. More to come perhaps? The little chickens, bunny and lamb are whispering my name.
I've been having lots of fun making my own small pieces of felt and then fashioning them into decorative barrettes and headbands. I've only made a few since it's quite time consuming to make the felt as well as sew each piece, but I like the end result! I recently bought some prefelt, so I'll see if I can dye it myself and then felt it and if that feels satisfying and any quicker? Not that speed is my only goal! But you know I do like admiring a finished piece. I'm hoping to whip out some to sell at the preschool auction.
She's got her hands folded under chin like a little angle princess. She does have moments! Vivienne loves school and adores her friends. It's a pleasure to take her to school each day and watch her engage and enjoy.