For Real?

Prior to Halloween Ariana would have nothing to do with her costume. But when October 31 rolled around she seemed to calmly, although not enthusiastically, embrace the costume. I am amazed that at six months she seemed to "get" what the holiday was about.

How is it that "Afro Man" can have a smooth hairless chest? Schick, I don't know.

Ah, the beauty of the Wisconsin Dells. We took Kadie to Martin Luther College, in Minnasota, to check out the campus and programs. What a lovely destination New Ulm is. I love it! I think it is a great choice. She has one more place to check out, Tri-State in Angola Indiana. I doubt it is as pretty as MLC, and I doubt that they men with better potential for being a good husband. I might be wrong.

WASP stands for . . .

Wieldy Aggravating Stinging Pest

Sorry Sister I was in the hospital again! &^%$@!!!!
Last week I went honey extracting and at one point I was standing in a swarm of bees, kinda freaky but I never felt threatened.
Ironically, on Sunday I went to an Antique show with Randy and was stung by a wasp. I went to the bathroom, sat down and was immediately stung. Yes, it was a wasp because I killed it.

I had an allergic reaction- no big deal it's usually gone in 24 hours. But no not this time, I got an infection the size of a dessert plate on my thigh. It was hard, hot, and really itchy.

Now I will scream whenever I see a flying insect because I might get stung and that can be really expensive. The cost of medications alone . . . grrrrrr.

I'm kinda sorry I killed it so quickly. I wish I would have suffocated it in a baggie for a little while, fed it just a little poison, then burned it with a match, stretched it on a rack, pulled its parts off one by one, and then finally, stomped on it! (It's Halloween what can I say?)

A Bee-utiful Time

My student Sierra hooked me up with a honey producer. Her grandpa keeps bees and is good friends with a man who holds the equipment to extract honey from the hives.

The experience was sensory overload for me. There was so much to take in. A few loose bees few about. The room was warm, filled with the sounds of the wax shaver (which trims the wax off the closed cells) and the honey extractor. Also, the room was bursting with the sweet smell of bees wax.

Bees wax is just intoxicating for me. Whenever I smell it I am reminded of this cryptic art show I went to. In the far back room of the gallery was this large installation of a large curving wall made from 12 x 12 tiles of bees wax. The scent of the wax filled up the entire gallery. Also, when I smell bees wax I think of the solid perfume I made, and pysanky egg decorating.

There are so many interesting facts concerning bees and honey and I could begin to list them, but the thing that I came away with is how romantic the process is . . . really. Oh sure these men could spouts off facts, but in doing so you could see how smitten they are with these fascinating insects.

Flowers, pollen, dances, sweet, golden, black bees, nectar, extracting, centrifugal force, wax lighter than honey, vats, raw, queen bee, workers, drones, hive, scavengers, casings, cocoons, . . . even the vocabulary is exciting.

It was one of the most thrilling experiences I've ever had.

OH! And they gave me this huge container of honey fresh from the vat, just out of the hive . . . All these creative ways to thank them are going through my mind.

How to manage life as a superhero

Ugg! Managing my life is tough! Now I have added a new blog and I'm having trouble separating my identities. Suddenly I can't be springgirl anymore because I haven't figured out how to create separate personal profiles for each site. I don't want anyone who doesn't know I'm springirl to find out I am springgirl. Suddenly I understand the life of a superhero. Living with two distinct identities, trying to keep them separate from each other.
It seems sometimes that my life requires supernatural powers to get through the freakin day. Often at the end of the day I am feeling like I am in need of some super human strength to get it all done.
All this superhero talk has inspired me to listen to Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips.
"Is it getting heavy?"
"Well, I thought it was already as heavy as can be."
"Tell everybody waiting for Superman that they should try to hold on the best they can.
He hasn't dropped them, forgot them, or anything.
It's just too heavy for Superman to lift."

I'm no hero, but sometimes it feels like I'm expected to do miracles like Superman.
If it weren't for those really fun moments of flying I'd stop, but . . . when I'm not being chased or I'm not chasing the flying is . . . breathtaking.

Another Blog!

Please visit http://artsprouts.blogspot.com/
to see images of my students' art work.
Professionally it is a great tool for sharing what I do with other art teachers.
However, even non-teacher can be inspired by sprouting creativity.

Autumn blossoms

Some years back I wrote a little essay about an October Violet. Over the weekend I will try to find it and reprint it here. In anticipation please notice the sweet little heart and honey vine flower that popped up. These are volunteers from last year's planting. I was sorry I didn't take time to order seeds for this year. But,I'm pleased to say that nature had a little surprise in store for me. These precious flowers are tiny and bright members of the morning glory family. The bonus are the heart shaped leaves. Yay for pretty flowers in October!

Jolly Good Time

On Friday Randy and I made the long trek to A2 for my annual mammogram. I'm not shy to admit that I am keeping up on preventive medical care. Anyway, after the big squeeze, we did a little shopping and went out for dinner.
First stop was Shoe Carnival where I found the funniest Skechers, which will be perfect to wear Oct 31 - Nov 2 during Dia De Los Muertos or The Day of the Dead.
In Mexico the people remember the dead as still enjoying life on the other side. To keep at the front of your mind that your loved one is dead the deceased are represented as skeletons, but they are doing activities that they might have enjoyed while alive. I plan on doing some art like that done by artist Jose Posada. My shoes will be jolly fun to wear during those lessons. Also, I really don't like Halloween but these will get me in the mood.


We passed by the little October fest downtown. Randy said he wasn't eating there if it was just beer and brats. That's all they offered so we went for Indian food and had dinner at Shalimar. The food was sooooo good we came out with busting guts, and we split a meal! I had a mango margarita, hulwa for desert (warm carrots puree with cardamon and honey) and the other foods well . . . I couldn't pronounce the names, but we made excellent choices and we can't wait to go back. In fact I'm sure we'll have one of those craving attacks for Indian food. FYI Shalimar is a girl's name and it means "garden of flowers."
Then we went to the fair trade store and I bought a little beaded ring and then we went to the comic store. I was looking for a comic about Hell, Michigan out of curiosity, but they didn't have any copies (flying off the shelf when they did have it last year) then I started thinking about my English students and asked about a school age appropriate superhero comic. I found Spider Girl, but it wasn't rocking my world. While the clerk and I searched, I found Glister. He said it is new and has received an excellent review. Glister is a young girl who is a magnet for the weird and unusual. One day in the mail she received a haunted teapot!
The vocabulary in the comic is perfect! Recently I have been encouraging my students to watch Word Girl on PBS Kids, to boost the their vocabulary. But Glister is better because you have to read. Reading, now there's a concept. Inside Glister there are words like: nonetheless, wretched, educational facility, exceptional, intention, worst, luxury . . . Also, the illustrations are cute.


Aren't I a fun teacher?

Our Queen

Well, last night was homecoming and Kadie's last year on court.
She didn't win the title of "Queen," but she and Hector got to cruise in the sweetest ride made available. Too bad the owner wore that dorky hat.
Doesn't Kadie (and her dad) look so pretty?
The whole family came out for the event, Aunt Susie, Grandpa, Grandma O, Jeff, Jake and family, and Arianna. I had to take the picture of Jeff and Arianna because it is always remarkable to me to see him holding a baby. She looks pretty serious in the picture, but she loves her uncle. It's all games when he's around. Great-grandpa had some laughs with her too.

Anyway, Kadie was back to being herself today. Her frou frou moment was cleansed away by a gutsy attempt at concrete busting. She's not too girly to try something that requires some umph! and sweat. I like that about her.

Hope your allergies are doing better then mine.