Ta Dah!

As we were walking in the woods the other day, Jim said to me, "I seem to be missing the board next to my car." Now the "board next to his car" refers to a little piece of wood he laid on the ground so that when he steps out of the car, he won't step into mud. Then he said, "I seem to have seen it with colors painted on it." Hmmmmmm. Oh my gosh! When my grandsons were here, the youngest, Braden, wanted some wood to do an art project! He picked up the little square off he ground and used it for his canvas! It was an amazing piece of work. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it before he left! At ten years old, he is doing extremely creative things already. He totally gets the idea that anything can be a canvas! I include a picture of a collage he did while he was here also. He scavenged my "bits and pieces pile" and pulled out cut up pieces of an old leather handbag I had painted a few years ago and glued them on cardboard and then painted the frame and embellished with beach glass! I love it!

Exciting....

As I opened my blog this morning to write a new post, I was so excited to find that I can now upload videos straight to blogger.com! My grandsons were here a week ago, which was just heaven, so I threw together a little video of their visit to try out the new video dealy! Here goes!

Okay, that works! No more uTube! Not that that was bad, it's just nice to have it all in one!

get it.......

I went to pickup my new glasses yesterday, well not new.....the prescription is new, the frames are old favorites of mine. A pair of $400 Carolina Herrera's I bought over six years ago. I never expected to pay that kind of money for frames, but I made the mistake of trying them on first and then everything else was just not right! However, my next favorite pair of frames came off a sale rack for $67. So there you go! I finally came to the conclusion that if you have to wear glasses, they must become an accessory item! Not just a utilitarian helpmate because you can't see without them. So my glasses go in the same category as my shoes, handbags, scarves and jewelry. Anyway, that's not why I'm writing this. When I ordered my new prescription the doctor suggested I add non-reflective something or other to cut down on the glare from computer work and also it would help a little with NIGHT DRIVING! NIGHT DRIVING! When I was directing theatre all over creation in little towns and driving home every night on screaming freeways and little dark country roads, I would think, "Someday I'm not going to be able to do this because my eyes won't take the NIGHT DRIVING! Every year it became more of a challenge. As it turns out, night driving is not the reason I'm not directing right now, but again, that's not why I'm writing this. So anyway, I put the new prescription on and WAMO! It was like going from digital to High Definition! Okay, so the new prescription was part of the reason, but I had never had this much clarity! So I'm going, geez! Wow! Oh, my gosh! and the extremely cool lady who helps adjust glasses says, "oh ya, part of that is the non-reflective stuff. "Are you kidding?" I had always passed on this option because of the cost! Never again! If you have to wear glasses and don't have the non-reflective stuff, GET IT! It's worth every penny. As I sit here typing, I'm still going Wow! Geez! Night driving is the next test! I can hardly wait!

"Freshly Launched"

"Freshly Launched" (I stole those words from Counsel Langley because they are way better then anything I could have come up with...Thanks, Counsel!) Artisans On Taylor Blog! A "current happenings" page that will be fresh every week! Interactive and fun! Be sure to check it out often! The upcoming Outsider show, "Internal Guidance Systems" is going to be knock out! Last night in the dungeon of the gallery, Lisa, Teresa and myself were treated to an unveiling of the work by curator Anne Grgich! It's going to be an amazing show. Check out the write up at AOTblog!

Lucky Me!

I was waiting for the ferry in the Seattle terminal last night. It was jammed packed with regular commuters and tourists, but I was lucky and found a seat, or so I thought! As I was sitting down, mind you, as in the motion of placing my butt in the seat, a woman on my right immediately started a conversation with, "I feel so fat!" Oh, egads! Number one, I don't want to chat and number two, she was a little chubby! so what am I supposed to say? I had just spent the afternoon in the doctor's office staring at a Body Mass Index chart and calculated right away that she had pretty much nailed her BMI in the overweight range. I had several choices at that moment. I could do the polite, "No way!", indicating she was just plain silly and she looked great! I could tell the truth and start a conversation about BMI or I could just pretend I didn't hear her. I choice to pretend. It didn't stop her for a moment. The next 20 minutes was non stop chatter about how she couldn't get to the gym, or the pool, or to the track to run or walk! Her husband was commuting between the city and Alaska and so was she part of the time and on and on and on...............I never uttered a sound and only looked at her a couple of times. I kept praying my cell would ring, but alas. The 20 minute rant was finally ended when the blessed announcement came we could board the ferry! I shot out of my chair and blended into the crowd in a second! but spent the 35 minute crossing checking for anyone in a peach colored shirt that was headed my way!

Final Weekend.....

Next weekend is the final weekend for Key City Players Romeo & Juliet at Chetzamoka Park in Port Townsend. If you haven't already seen it, I highly recommend an evening in the park with family and friends! It is an extremely fine production. Well acted, well directed, wonderful design elements; costumes, set, music and of course Shakespeare's compelling story of first love! I went last Saturday night, which was a little dark and dreary, but still people cuddled together under blankets with hot cups of cocoa and spiced cider and made the most of being outside in the Northwest! It's a very polished production and worth your time! I include a pic, courtesy of Key City Players, of the Nurse and Juliet.

Elvis?

Jim and I were watching the Mariner's baseball game last night. They were playing in Chicago. It was "Elvis Night" at the Chicago field. Elvis Night??!! Elvis Night!?
I turned to Jim and asked, "did I hear that right? Elvis Night?"
He said, "Ya."
"You have to be kidding me!"
Then they panned the audience. Yep! There were a few of the "fat Elvis", the "young Elvis", and then the weird "combination Elvis" that is mostly made up, and they dress up in some sort of glitzy white jumpsuit with scarves, but the men are young and so the combo is all wrong. Especially when the guy is only about 8 years old! I just don't get it. The whole "Elvis" dressing up thing. You never hear of people dressing up like Frank Sinatra or Perry Como or the Kingston Trio! Just Elvis! Okay, so Frank, Perry and the Trio dressed pretty pedestrian, but, Liberache! He's an icon. Glitzy! You could even carry fire if you dressed up like Liberache! You could add the candelabra that always sat on his piano! What does it say about men that are mostly overweight that want to put on skin tight jumpsuits, embellished with sequins & gold, drown themselves in hair product and then top off the whole ensemble with a flowing silk scarf! And, oh, ya, the most hideous part of all! The sunglasses! Hideous! And we think it's "just fine?" I just don't get it!

seemed like a good idea.........

It appears that 30 seconds is too long to warm up a chocolate chip cookie in the microwave. I was dying for a bit of chocolate yesterday and there was one tired ole chocolate chip cookie left. It seemed a good idea to pop it in the microwave and freshen it up a bit. Wrapped in its little paper towel blanket, I put it in the micro, pushed the buttons and strode off to check my email. Ding! Warm melty cookie ready! I opened the micro door and out poured smoke and flames! Egads! I grabbed my cooking tongs, pulled the flaming cookie from the micro, ran it under the cold water faucet and spent the next ten minutes trying to get the smoke cleared from the kitchen. Already late and without my chocolate fix, I left my keys on the kitchen counter, thus locking myself out of the house and car. The next half hour involved a ladder and breaking into my house with a chisel. It seemed like such a good idea...........

Scarier......

I don't know which is scarier, a public Easter Egg Hunt or a Glass Float Hunt! Artisans On Taylor held their third annual "float hunt" at a local beach yesterday morning. I was there to videotape the event for the gallery. Glass artist, Callahan McVay, brings about 50 hand blown glass floats to the park to be hidden for the masses. I got there an hour early and a crowd had already gathered at the park which was taped off in that yellow crime scene tape. I don't know whether the crowd were there for the hunt or if they thought a crime had been committed! A few of the floats were thrown in the water, others were hidden pretty well, and a few set in plain view. I was almost afraid to think what was going to happen when the start was announced. Those that got there early had an hour to fantasize about snatching one of the very "hidden in plain view" glass balls. The crowd grew and the anticipation was palatable. Five! Four! Three! Two! One! And they were away....I knew it was going to be tricky getting a fleeting "mob moment" on video! I was stunned when my camera picked up a man swimming, with his wallet held in one hand, and stroking as fast as he could with the other, to grab one of the floaters in the water! The land mob were almost frantic as they scattered over the Park! Three more swimmers jumped into the water! It was amazing and over in moments! I include a pic of the swimmer with his wallet in the air and one of the mob at the beginning of the trample!