crayon robots
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I love looking at the Spoonflower site – it is for small scale fabric designers; those of us who want to design a half yard or a yard of Our Own Stuff to use in something. Or just to have.

They have a challenge a week. I misunderstood the challenge, and conflated two weeks into “make a design for kid’s fabric using crayons” when in fact “use crayons” was this week (deadline: before noon today) and “children’s design” is next week (deadline: Monday before noon). Anyhow, I sat down with a box of crayons and made these guys, and they make me happy.

If you want, you can check out Spoonflower and vote for fabrics. There are always a lot (a LOT) of really nice ones.

We live in tobacco country. In fact, I remember a piece on All Things Considered several years ago (probably several decades ago) where someone was saying that Cuba was not actually prime tobacco growing land, the tobacco companies had modified it with chemicals and fertilizer until it most resembled the Connecticut Valley. Tobacco is mostly gone as a crop around here; anti-smoking laws and general opinion have turned against it. Instead we have a mad proliferation of organic farms, working to make healthier use of the amazing fertility of the valley to feed the locals. Which is all to the good. I like seeing rows of potatoes and squash and corn around the feet of these old barns.

It seems churlish to complain about no snow when I know areas all around us have been pasted over the last week or so. We seem to be getting our snow inch by inch, one per storm, if that. I am looking forward to a pile of snow sometime soon, so long as it doesn’t come while I am driving to or from Brattleboro.

Alice is also looking forward to a lot of snow because she she just talked me into a set of cross country skis that fit her properly. They are completely adorable, and she loves them. She was out on them twice (twice!!) yesterday, and again this morning. We also splurged for climbing harnesses for us both, so we could have things that fit and were comfy for climbing. We tried them out before supper, and they are a huge improvement over the rental gear at the gym. Now for shoes, and climbing will be a completely spur of the moment activity. Which will be cool.

I feel like I should rush to say that I don’t climb much. My purpose seems to be to belay offspring and their friends and attempt to avoid a crick in my neck. I would like to climb, and once I get Al and Aerin belay-certified I might have a chance, but Alice lacks mass and age to keep me from plummeting if I fall off the wall.

I am still mourning Bully, I imagine I will be for a while yet. I think I will just let things go for a week, and then maybe think about looking for another horse. I need to take a break and regroup.

IMG_5564_2
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The gallant and talented Thoroughbred I had the care of died in his pasture yesterday afternoon. It was quick – we suspect a heart attack or aneurysm. I am distressed, and extremely sad. Things will be better in a while, but right now everything feels pretty grim.

what we did this week in family circus
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

long evening, very brave kids, dong amazing things

morning moon
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Taking Alice to school this morning – she’s better, but still sniffly – and this moon spoke to me, so I dashed back and grabbed the camera. Mornings have been clear, and the moon keeps talking to me.

I have to write a paragraph or two about my art, and pick two pictures to send to the gallery manager so she can get publicity started for us. I like the forethought, but I have no clue what to say. I figure I’ll start blabbing about tools and passion, and what I am attempting to show people and then pare it down to the point where it makes sense. And is grammatical.

cocoa in the morning
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Still noodling with the new cute netbook.

If (when) Aerin misses the bus, Alice and I take her to school, and then we have enough time for cocoa at the Cup and Top. It is a nice way to ease into the morning.

Well – this post is coming to you from the cutest machine ever, courtesy of Al who thought Someone in the family needed one, and since Aerin fell hard for a Macbook, he towed me past a handful of them until he found one I didn't hate. To be completely truthful I am almost smitten. I don't generally cope well with new technology. I stared at the Kitchen Aid Mixer balefully for nearly a year, and didn't touch it until the handheld mixer emitted a high thin and a whisp of smoke and died. But here I am addressing you from a machine that looks a lot like this, pretty keyboard and elegant screen and all. I insisted on one that is pretty and this completely fills the bill. It is adorable. Of course, Al had a minor fit when he tried to pronounce Toord Boontje (you can hardly blame him) but it is pretty much all good, at the moment.

The theory is that a tiny portable machine will allow me to do some computing in Brattleboro while waiting for circus things to finish, and you might get more reliable posting to the blog. As we all know the giant gap between theory and practice, we'll see how that actually plays out.

I have to go play more. This is fun!