Filed under: Fleeting thoughts..., Sewing | Tags: nail art, sewing, vacation
I have made it through spring vacation week with my sanity mostly intact. I took my son to the Ecotarium in Worcester one day. I was trying to be a responsible mom, and not just let him play with his rainbow loom for eight hours straight while I stare at a wall drooling from excessive kindergartener exposure. The Ecotarium is a hands-on science and nature museum for kids. It even boasts a train ride! Unfortunately, the train isn’t working. It has a “tree canopy walkway!” Unfortunately, that’s closed as well. Humph. The vending machines work, though…if you need lunch because there is no cafeteria.
This is an image from the Ecotarium website:
Doesn’t that look lovely and educational??? Do not be fooled…the museum must be closed. A more accurate photo would show a maelstrom of kids and parents swirling around battered islands of educational displays. This is is pretty much the case with all indoor kid destinations: The Children’s Museum, the aquarium, The Museum of Science…etc. etc. They’re all the same. As a result, I typically avoid them like the plague. Bad mommy! I SUPPOSE it’s fun for kids. I’m not really sure. I know it’s not fun for parents…until they get a soundproof room with WiFi and a barista.
At least they had some live animals to look at. We got to see a soft shelled turtle, a spotted turtle, a bald eagle, some owls, a turkey vulture, a porcupine, a skunk, and other stuff. I loved watching a turtle munch on a big piece of lettuce. Adorable. Why are they so cute? Who knows.
I actually managed to get a surprising amount of stuff done this week, in spite of it all. Here’s some of the stuff that I made:
A bag for a friend’s daughter:
A pouch for a friend:
I also reupholstered two chairs. I’ve been meaning to do this for about four years. No joke.
They turned out pretty well, all things considered. I know that they’ll stay nice looking, as I won’t let anyone sit on them.
We also managed to survive Easter. I did such a good job hiding the eggs that we didn’t find one of them until the next day. Luckily, a squirrel had not tried to stuff it into his pouch and run off. (I mean in his mouth…I know that squirrels are not marsupials…)
Our eggs this year turned a little day-glo. I’m never happy with how our eggs turn out. Perhaps because I’ve got this in mind:
Am I setting the bar too high? HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS???? Don’t tell me with some tiny little wax dropper…there’s no way. Have you seen what the side of a candle looks like after it’s been lit for an hour? That’s what I think of when I imagine dripping wax. Seriously…how can I get these egg elves to come to my house??? Maybe the people who make these are the same people who do nail art????
Look at those tiny flowers!!! It gets worse:
Three dimensional flowers…This person clearly does not cook.
Umm…is that real? This person clearly does not eat.
No comment necessary. This is not a person.
If ever my husband ever feels that I am not spending our money wisely, I’ll just show him this pic. Is an electric can opener really the sign of a cultural apocalypse? I think not.
Filed under: Fleeting thoughts... | Tags: art, boston, cabin fever, Ori Gersht, poster art, vacation
For those of you only interested in art…please scroll down…
For the rest of you…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! YES, I made it through what seemed like an endless school vacation. SO EXHAUSTING. I think that what made it more exhausting is that for some odd reason I also decided that it was time to paint the kitchen cabinets:
No joke. Do you realize how many square inches of surface area cabinets have??? BAJILLIONS. All the doors and hinges have to come off…holes patched & sanded…prime EVERYTHING (at least once), and paint everything (at least once). Because this project is such a royal pain in the tush, I decided that there was no way that I could afford to hire someone else to do it. BAH! Merry Christmas to me! (not)
(FYI…blue tape is an a tool of the devil which is only used by non-professionals in the hope that paint won’t get everywhere, but that’s a total lie. Did I mention that I also managed to dip the end of my hair in the paint can? Yeah, I know…that’s not the fault of blue tape, but whatever…)
It also snowed here:
That’s the igloo that my son and husband started. Yes, they were so stir crazy, that they started an igloo. It was four degrees here this week…FOUR DEGREES! (that’s Fahrenheit, FYI) Needless to say, the igloo is unfinished. Also:
Yes, I was so stir crazy that I was willing for my son to play with the science experiment kit that we have. This basically involves making a big mess with things like vegetable oil, baking soda, and food coloring. I’m kind of a high strung person, so giving my kid a large eyedropper filled with ANYTHING makes me nervous. It was okay. Nothing really bad happened, other than me having to clean up a big mess and vowing to mysteriously lose the science kit somehow. At least it gave me a break from our imaginative play with Lego, where I’m always the Lego astronaut who falls to earth, lands in the middle of a dinosaur trapping station, and somehow can’t see anything until one of the dinosaur-trapper Lego guys tells my astronaut Lego guy to take his helmet off.
Yes, I am totally serious…and no, like my cabinet project, that’s not a joke. In fact, I may have to run to the fridge right now to get a second soy ice cream sandwich just to have the strength to finish this post.
It’s been a long eleven days.
My son drew this. Do you think that he wrote my name on it because he was making the drawing FOR me…or do you think that he was making it OF me? I’m assuming that I’d be the large creature in the center with the tiny head and sharp teeth. Thoughts? Comments? Reassuring remarks? Why do I have so many legs and why is steam coming out of my shoulder? And what’s up with that back hair???? Discuss.
Okay, so one of the highlights of the week, besides me eating two, soy ice cream sandwiches in a row (FYI…husband is vegan, and no, that doesn’t explain why I ate more than one…), was going to the MFA to see the Ori Gersht show. If you are in the Boston area and are not in the middle of overindulging, as I am…then RUN to the museum to see this show.
His work…is…stunning.
I mean…SOOOO stunning.
Please take a look at the numerous links for him here, and here, and here, and here, and here.
In the photo above, he has frozen these flowers in liquid nitrogen, then blown them up with dynamite. A-MA-ZING. His work comments on beauty, life, death, destruction, violence, fragility, humanity, history…I could go on. His photos and videos are mesmerizing and painterly. He is thinking of the most heartbreaking subjects (Hiroshima…WWII…) and tapping into the agony of these events through his slow, videos and photography of beauty coming to an end. I wish that I could do his work justice with a poetic description, but I am lacking in both poetry and writing skills (and yet you’re still here!) Seriously, though…his work is breathtaking. The show at the MFA closes on Sunday. GO NOW. WAIT OUTSIDE, IF YOU MUST. DON’T WHINE…IT ISN’T FOUR DEGREES ANYMORE, IT’S THIRTY-TWO. DEAL WITH IT. IT’S WORTH IT.
Okay, enough ranting. Perhaps that faux ice cream is having an odd affect on me? Maybe that’s why vegans are grouchy all the time. (just kidding, honey!!!!)
There was also a postcard exhibit, and a poster exhibit as well:
Ib Andersen
I had to take a picture of this, as it made me reminisce about being an architect. Ah…the sectional perspective…classic. But, naturally, the non-architecture poster of a toothbrush was my favorite:
Niklaus Stoecklin
Isn’t that so fantastic??? I’m not sure which is my favorite part…the change in the toothbrush’s appearance as it exits the glass, or the look of the toothpaste tube through the toothbrush handle, or the pink reflection of light on the toothpaste cap. Either way…this is pretty amazing. It’s like Mario Testino decided to take a picture of his bathroom sink, or something. His toothbrush would look like Giselle Bundchen, while mine typically looks like someone who just ate two ice cream sandwiches. Hmmm. Maybe I should get a third??? Okay, maybe not…
My husband and I went to the Berkshires this weekend…without the kids! Ahhhh…needless to say, we had a great time. We went back to the place where we were married…a rustic lodge with a babbling brook, hammocks, hot coffee, and peace. I keep thinking, “why can’t I be here ALL the time?”. Oh yeah…er…mortgage/kids/bills/reality. The kids are good though…I could happily forget the rest.
slightly wonky 