Maya, her Mom, and the two grandmothers!
Great Grandmother!
Maya through the condiments!
Maya's dad was there too of course!
Great grandpa too!
We got the Baobab tree installed in time, and it was "veiled". Later there was a real un - veiling, and the picture below shows the tree in the window, and one of several student Slam poets who performed as part of the program. These kids were amazing, and give me great hope for the future!
A real Baobab tree - above 
The Baobab tree is considered sacred in the tropical belt of Africa. People gather under its branches for social and political dialogue and for building social capital. It is also a place for celebrating important events. It commands honor and respect for the ancestors. It models resilience and humility to humankind.
We will be installing the piece later this morning, and will post a picture later in the day, or tomorrow? There is a big celebration of spring today, and a dialog with Dr. Al Simone – Past President, RIT, and Donna Turner – Director, HR- City of Rochester. $15 for non-members. This will be our first piece ever that is actually getting an official unveiling! Event starts at 3:30 - unveiling at 5:30!
Another view of one of our neighbors! This picture is very crisp, and I love the shadow! This is a very good one to click on for a bigger view!
There really wasn't any way out for this bee, flying around between our window and the storm window - no way for me to let it out, but I did get a couple of amazing pictures. Sorry the window wasn't very clean, but what a chance to see what this creature looks like when we aren't running away!
Last spring it was snails climbing the thistle in our yard, and this spring these snails have climbed higher, but did not have to figure their way around hundreds of thorns!
One of my favorite things in the world - I seem to have several -- is doing my spinning top show for kids of all ages. Last week at the Cobblestone School, I had someone to take pictures, and she caught a moment I've never had a picture of before. We used to make tops that could be spun on top of each other. Above I try to spin a top on top of another. Below - success, and below that, a close-up!
After we ran a couple of errands, Mom and Dad and I rode up to Cobbs Hill ..... high over our neighborhood, and enjoyed the view! A great park with a wonderful history, including the site of a sort of "rest area" on the Erie Canal - a "wide water" - place to pull over and rest, etc out of the flow of traffic on the canal. Also the site of a POW camp during WWII - seems there were Italians there first --- About 60 Italian prisoners worked on area farms, and in local food processing plants. (10 hour/6 day @ $.80 per day wages) When Italy declared war on Germany the Italians were allowed to work unguarded, out of the camp, and local citizens brought food and organized weekend dances. They were replaced with about 100 Germans in the summer of 1944 - Area folks tried to bring food, etc, and gather outside the camp to listen to the POW's nightly choir practice, but conflicts arose between the guards and the locals because the Army was worried about the prisoners causing troubles, and wanted the locals banned from the area. Additional German prisoners were housed at Edgerton Park. The prisoners were used in snow removal in the winter of 1945 when several large storms paralyzed the whole area, further improving the local feelings of sympathy and friendship with the prisoners. Only the American Legion was opposed to having the POWs around! V-E Day, May 8, 1945 ended the need for the prisoners to be in the area. The barracks became housing for returning GI's, and the area of the camp is currently a senior housing complex located inside the park!
If you can ignore the glitz and lights of Las Vegas for a while, and look down instead of up, and of course manage to find your way outside, there are a lot of pretty cool flora and fauna to be seen. My apologies for not knowing what these things are, but here are some pictures. The pigeon if course is identifiable, and the ants are ants, but who knows what species? 
Just for the record, I once read that there are more pounds of ants in the world, than there are pounds of all other animals combined? Might be an urban myth, but considering that the area covered by the 4 ants in the picture is probably about 1 inch, I would guess that the section of curbing along the side of the parking lot had more ants than there were cars in all of Las Vegas. The small section in the picture was rather sparsely populated compared to other sections ..... I searched several photos for a section not blurry from the scurrying of the ants. Like cars, there where thousands going north, and equal thousands going south! On the highway, I often wonder what would happen if we just all stayed where we were instead of hurrying off to where the others are coming from?
Just in case there are any rogue handicapped folks out there stealing wheel chairs, the ones in the convention center last weekend were stored at the top of a flight of stairs - probably a lot cheaper than locking them in a room? And below, if you are not actually handicapped, but you get tired in Las Vegas, do not sit on the steps for a brief rest..... this is evidently illegal... see picture below.
Wow! How does one describe Las Vegas? An amazing place with pretty much nothing of interest to either Cheryl or myself! A place with a carbon footprint larger than all outdoors! A place where smoking is allowed pretty much everywhere ---- not in restaurants, but the restaurants are attached to smoke filled casinos! A place where the sign in front of the Hilton that we stayed at was bigger than many complete hotels! Tonight's theme is The King, so I'll leave the picture of the sign to another day.
The King of Beasts (actually two of them) grace a huge glassed in lion "habitat" at the MGM Grand. A glass corridor through their cage allows easy access to the lion accessory gift shop! If you look closely in the picture you can see them asleep on the roof of the people tunnel! The nearest outdoor air or light is at least 500 feet away! There are signs directing the public to anything and everything inside the walls, but not a clue as to how to leave the place! After a long, long walk, a friendly staff person directed us to the outside. I will not identify her as I'm sure her pay would be docked for such a transgression! Perhaps the two men inside the habitat were there as punishment for similar behavior????
And among the many landmarks is The Excalibur (below), named for King Arthur's famed sword! The fire breathing dragon under the moat seems to have incinerated himself since my last visit for the Juggler's Convention (1995 or so?), so I was disappointed to not be able to show Cheryl. We were far to tired to make it to Treasure Island where I trust the pirates are still beaten and their ship sunk every half hour!
All in all, we are very glad to be home, a bit poorer - because of our addiction to making stuff ........ not from gambling, and ready to settle in for 3 weeks or so before the next show!
A local robin has her nest over the light on our garage! Taking advantage of a nest that has been there for some time seems like a smart plan? Not sure she will be too happy with the light going on when somebody moves nearby, or the cars coming and going, but we will think a happy thought for the young ones!
New figures created for a fund raiser in Detroit! A simple combination of our more complex Maya figure, with a new hairdo! They just looked so cool rolling down the hall to our shipping room!
Nothing Gold Can Stay
I had to hunt quickly for a place to pull over to get this shot. Fortunately a passenger drop off area was open, and this was the result. Early morning sunlight sneaking by the Xerox building in downtown Rochester - reflecting off the glass atrium of the Baucsh and Lomb building - and making a great pattern on the upper right side of the tall part of the B&L building! Another in my "patterns of light and shadow" series. Click picture for larger view.
Three of the most important people in my life. Maya, Maeve, and Wyatt! Got to spend most of the weekend with the neice and the nephew, and the granddaughter! Does it get any better than that! And Maya is crawling! The easy days of finding her where you left her are over! ;-)
A small pile of sawdust in the hall outside my office, originally designed to absorb errant rainwater, has recently become the site of an ongoing saga. An epic struggle between classic plastic cowboy and indian pieces, has evolved into a study in cooperation, with the arrival of a giant rat. Tiny army guys joined the fray, and the cowboys and indians quickly signed a treaty, and began to work together against the common enemy. I'm not sure which of our neighbors is rearranging the figures every few days in sort of a very slow "claymation" movie, but I look forward to future developments.
Anne thought maybe others would miss the moon last nite, but it was wonderful here too. Bert, Beth, and Kathy - along with Cheryl - probably thought I was crazy running around the back yard trying to get the right angle between the trees, (while they were relaxing with a glass of wine and some cheese) but here is the result. I guess the thing that amazes me most is the rapid change in shape within four days! Tomorrow night is the full moon.
Not sure I agree. Depending on the location of course. This is another case of somebody making creative use of the fresh grey paint used by the "authorities" to paint over the previous graffiti. Definitely not as artistically creative as some I've seen, but I love the message especially when presented in this medium! This is about 50 feet across by the way!
I was trying to get a good shot of this spider on the van next to me in a parking lot ... not very successfully. But I love this shot even if the spider is a bit out of focus. I need to learn more about getting a better depth of field on close-ups. It didn't help that this spider seemed to have no interest in having his picture taken, but did have lots of interest in hopping a ride on the camera. 
Well, my first 2008 bike ride went pretty well! A bit chilly, and I was not sure what my seat would feel like afterwards (regular readers will know about my extra concerns beyond the usual first bike ride of the season). Everything seems to have gone well, and I can't believe the pictures I got! I just love my new Sony DSC-H9! Detail below! I guess I'll use the NITBY tag - Natue in the back yard...... with back yard defined very broadly!
Happy Spring everyone!
The above picture is from my Dad...... sunlight reflected on the ceiling from a bright red shiny valentine heart we got Mom and Dad.
And in another sense of seing the light, a customer in Pliladelphia reveals his voting choice. If you would like, go to our Etsy site to get your own handcrafted Obama pins, and help us send him more $ for the campaign.
It isn't often that the image isn't from my eye and camera, but a friend sent the above image of her work, incorporating one of our tiny ladies. While our tiny ladies (and angels) are one of the least signifcant things we make, they are the source of many great stories. Pat, and a few other people, use them in their own artwork. Many have been given to friends with cancer, or other personal stories the warrented a helping touch. We left several scattered around our old house when we sold it. The new owner would call periodically to say she had found another! One woman, while wandering around our booth at a show, exclaimed - "Now I know where my angel came from!" She opened her purse and showed us one our our angels, securly wedged in a pocket of her wallet. Many are handed out to kids visiting the booth. A nun used to buy hundreds of them that she gave to street folks that she worked with, and one of our good customers hands them out to his customers by the hundreds. I guess maybe the tiny ladies and angels are not so insignificant after all!
Yep --- I'm still working all the great stories and pictures from last weekend's show in Philly! The folks who run the Paradise City shows love to challenge us to create pieces on a theme. We really wanted to get a wooden teapot made for the Teapot theme, but just didn't get around to it. The above was my favorite - not sure where the green light reflections were coming from, but I love the effect! (As usual, click on the image for a bigger view)
Borrowed some time on Carolyn Bennett's computer this past weekend to check e-mail. Not sure how long the "cup o joe" had been there on the side of the desk, but the "image" on the surface was just perfect! It took some juggling to block out the reflection of the ceiling light, and still save that smiley face, but I hope this brings a smile to you! It sure made my day!
When the wrapping paper came out, we let ourselves breath again, and quietly celebrated. A fellow artist going home with some money, and a good customer going home with some great plates, etc. to serve her friends on a warm spring evening!
More to share from the weekend later, but for now, we celebrate these two people coming together to enhance each other's lives.
