Love Your TaTas

Happy October! It is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Both of my grandmothers survived breast cancer. It was long ago so they both had radical mastectomies, but at least they survived. For all my female friends, please be sure to hit those self-exams and mammograms. For my male friends, offer to help with your lady's exam. For everyone, please be sure to click on the Breast Cancer Site daily to help give free mammograms to under-privileged women. It takes 2 seconds and is a great way for us to help take care of each other. Thanks

The Big Read

The National Endowment for the Arts has a program called the Big Read that is "designed to restore reading to the center of American culture." They have chosen 12 books to be read, discussed and celebrated in communities around the US: Bless Me, Ultima, The Great Gatsby, The Maltese Falcon, Their Eyes were Watching God, Fahrenheit 451, A Farewell to Arms To Kill A Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, My Antonia, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Joy Luck Club, The Age of Innocence An interesting group, to be sure. (look Kaaren - more Hemingway made the list) Of the 12 I have at least heard of 11 of them (sorry Bless Me, Ultima), but have only actually read 3 of them (don't ask how many i have been assigned to read at some point or another cause that is a totally different number). 5 of them are on my "to be read" lists and 2 of them are physically sitting on the "to be read" shelf as we speak. I have decided that I am going to have all 12 of them read in the next 12 months. I was at a library that had a display about the Big Read, which is how i heard about the initiative. There were snazzy bookmarks with all of the books listed on it, and there was a display for Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (one of my favorite books, BTW), which was the book being highlighted. Along with multiple copies of the book, there was a booklet with discussion questions, commentary and an interview with Bradbury. It seemed well put together. In researching the event in Maryland, I just found out that Baltimore County Libraries have chosen this as the book they are going to focus on. Yippee! (LIGHTBULB MOMENT: i was at a BCPL facility when i saw the display on Wed cause i was returning books! it all comes together...) Anybody want to go see the movie on October 15th with me? I really liked one of the questions posed to Bradbury in his interview: If you had to memorize one book for posterity, what would it be? His reply was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I think mine would be A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle; i can read it over and over again dreaming of tesseracts and meeting Aunt Beast. However, The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis would each run a close second. All three books are deceptively simple (considered juvenile fiction- 2 out of 3 are even Newberry winners- and less than 200 pages), but carry an important theme about being a better person through love and self-less action. That is a message I would want to carry for posterity. What book would you choose?

How Are You Feeling Today?

Rachel of Red Velvet Art had a really cool post on her personal blog on Sunday. Her church started a photo project where you have to demonstrate how you're feeling at a given moment using photography and text. She invited people to share. I did it last night when I finally had a few moments not previously booked. After about 10 bajillion takes, this is the one i decided to use. I really tried to get a lighter background to show the contrast between my dark hair and light skin, but alas, it looked like crap. I am happy with the blue eyes/ blue paper link (Sharpie written on hand-dyed papertowel, in case you were wondering) and I decided to go with one where I am not looking at the camera, but rather looking toward the future, cause that's how i feel.

Camel-tastic

What did YOU do on lunch today?

Monkey Mania!

There is no place more interesting than the elementary school stage. Unfortunately, many places have converted them into music classrooms due to an alarming lack of space, but many still utilize the stage as a stage. You find the craziest, weirdest, funniest, most disturbing objects in the wings. There are often props from long ago productions. Holiday and/or carnival storage is also popular. And paper mache, lots of paper mache. We like to play "Identify What This Object is Supposed to Be" and "What Does This Object Look Like to You." At today's school there was a fake Christmas tree in pieces in a giant trash can. It wasn't being thrown away; that was just the way this school has chosen to store it. Around the bottom of the trash can and mixed in with the tree pieces there were pieces of rumpled, painted paper. As i tried to get closer it seemed to me that they were... monkeys?!? Oh yes, monkeys on headbands! Here the lovely Laura (my adult-safety-partner-of-the-day, on loan from the Kids Room) models the "girl" version, while displaying the "boy" version: Two questions: what elementary school play needed multiple googley-eyed monkeys and where can i get a copy of that play on DVD?

Like a Squirrel

Many, many, many years ago Rickki starting calling me Squirrel, for reasons that don't really need examined here. I've always loved her personal nickname for me and even had a collection of squirrels for a while. However, i've never really thought of myself as particularly squirrrelly or squirrel-like. Until this weekend. It's no state secret that autumn is my favorite season. Over the weekend I noticed a particular autumnal behavior in myself : i am much busier and more productive than other times of the year. On Thursday i did 2 weeks worth of dishes, made breakfast, made lunch, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned the kitchen, mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned the bathroom, mopped the bathroom floor and washed the bathroom mat by hand - all before i went to work. On Saturday i made paper for the first time since i moved into the apartment. I pulped and screened a celebration of fall called "punkin" and then i pulped 6 more batches, forming them into cakes to dry and be screened later. On Sunday i unpacked 2 boxes, rearranged my kitchen cabinets and started a new art piece about music. On Monday i mailed 8 cards that i made and/or wrote late Sunday night. I am cleaning, organizing, nesting and making lists like nuts - actually like squirrels. Have you ever watched the crazy little furballs in the autumn? They have 2 speeds - frantic and nap. It turns out i also go way faster in the autumn, but nap -or at least chill- more often as well. Sunday around 5:00 I decided it was too glorious of a day for me to stay inside any longer so i decided to write new "to do" lists and redesign the displays in my china cabinets out on the front porch. It was so lovely i brought out music and then decided it was a good time for a margarita. I went from 120mph to about 12mph in 2 minutes and was able to enjoy the juxtaposition of a perfectly round spiderweb behind the square porch trim and the way the sunlight made sparkley, colored shadows through my glass It's good to be a squirrel. (now if i can just get work to allow me to nap for 10-12 days at a time in the winter)

Best Meeting EVER

I just love where i work. Today's education department meeting took place in a SciZone (that's a classroom to you, monkey boy) that was still set up from this morning's program Ziplock Chemistry. As we waited for everyone to arrive my boss walked me through the reaction so that i could play with it as the meeting got underway. Bubbling, gassy, color changing, exothermic goodness ensued as we went through program reports. Nothing makes program reports fly by quite like scientific discovery. Just as the meeting was starting to wind down, in walked Erin with our CEO in tow. He was holding a plastic cup and asked for our opinion on what type of beetle was in it and he shook out this HUGE 3 inch bug. Most of us agreed that it was the body of some sort of rhinoceros beetle. As we passed it around, it started to move. Apparently it had just been cold, not dead. How did this big guy get to my department meeting? A balloon delivery guy was over on the other side of the harbor by the Fish Prison and he saw a woman trying to whack this big bug with a broom. He saved it and brought it to us. When our CEO saw it, his first reaction was "let's take it to the education department" and it didn't matter that we were in a meeting. Science waits for no man! And yes, i did say "balloon delivery guy." I couldn't make that story up. Turns out that our new friend, Carl, is an Eastern Hercules beetle. He is a tiny bit south of his normal range - probably looking for some warmer weather. You know, if I ever got lost I would want to be brought here because in the span of 45 minutes Carl went from corpse-like in a plastic cup to fawned over by the education department to shown to guests on the floor to a photo shoot to a lovely home with the proper dinner identified and laid out for him. I told my boss that not only was this the best meeting ever, from now on I am going to expect experiments, toys or surprises every week!

In the Shadow of the Moon

Last night Jason and I went to see a press preview of In the Shadow of the Moon at the Senator. It is a Ron Howard produced documentary of the quest for the moon as told by the astronauts. There is new archive footage that had been lost and recently found. Nothing in the story was particularly new, but the telling of it was different. As someone who did not live through the space race I know more about it from movies than history class. The astronauts have always seemed sorta mythical to me: men' s men with bluster and courage. The interviews with these 70 year old men show them as real human beings who had a cool job; it doesn't downplay their place in history, but it certainly made me see them as people. Also, i don't think i realized how smart they are or that the original astronauts actually helped to design the Apollo vehicles. Plus, some of these guys - especially Michael Collins- were hilarious in their interviews. There was no Neil Armstrong, but that isn't a big surprise. I really enjoyed the movie. I'm not a big documentary person, but it was cool to see all of these iconic images on the big screen. If you like documentaries or have interest in the space race, I would recommend this movie. It will be playing at the Senator for ONE WEEK starting on Friday.

Celebrations

Here we are in mid-September and there are sooo many happy shout-outs, we'll put them in one place. Kate P (Sep 6) and Douglas (Sep 10) started out the month, but here is the Hectic Week of Happiness: Sept 15: Happy Anniversary, David and Kaaren Sept 16: Happy Birthday, Cricket Sept 16: Happy Birthday, Skip Sept 17: Happy Birthday, George Sept 18: Happy Birthday, Christopher Sept 18: Happy Anniversary, Jonah and Kristie Sept 21: Happy Anniversary, Greg and Deanna That's a whole lotta happiness. Of course, Sept 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day as well. Now we need to find something for Sept 20th (better than National Punch Day - WTF is that?) to finish off a whole week of joy. If you need more reasons to celebrate here are are some bizarre holidays.

Apt, not ironic

We have all despaired at how Alanis Morrisette's song "Isn't it Ironic" contains almost no irony at all. Just get Rob started on the subject - it's funny. Anyhoo, today i had a moment that would have appeared in Alanis' song though it shouldn't. We had a cold snap this weekend that has made it almost autumnal - blue skies with puffy clouds, temps in the mid 60s to mid 70s and a clearness in the air which makes it so much easier to breathe. Autumn is my favorite season and this first little piece of it put me in a great, hyper-productive mood. This morning i did laundry, balanced my checkbook, got some things ready to be shipped, worked on unpacking some boxes of glassware and started on the bajillion cards i need to make today (there are 6 birthdays in 3 days this week). While working out in the sun room i looked at my hide-a-key for the first time in months and thought, I really need to put a key in that and put it out by the front steps, but took no action. I went inside, checking that the back door was locked. A few hours later i was leaving the house to run to PA to pick up a gift card (ordered it 2 weeks ago, but somehow it didn't get processed - don't get me started), then to work for awhile (interview tomorrow, work on schedules, pick up recycling and get the book out of the van that i accidentally left there on Friday) and then to the store, all the while thinking about how beautiful it was and how i wanted to take some pictures to blog about the beginnings of fall in Maryland. At the car i realized that the keys in my hand were not for my car, but for the vans at work. DOH! Okay, i'm locked out for the first time in years right after i thought about what would happen if i got locked out. That is not ironic, Alanis; it is APT and it sucks. But no worries - Rachel has a key, i'll just drive over to her house and get it... wait, i don't have car keys. Okay, I call Rachel and as pathetically as possibly I entreat her to bring my key to me. Rachel - I don't have a key to your apartment, Nik. I gave it back. ????????????????????????????????? Several moments pass as she looks in every place she can think of, but no, she does not have my key. She remembers giving it back and i don't doubt her; i just don't remember it and have thought for the last year that she had a key just in case i got locked out. Okay, my brother has a key. He's in VA or PA or some other state that is definitely MD. Great. Okay, the kitchen door is closed, but unlocked. I just locked the sun room door, but it is sketchy and falling apart. I was still on the phone with Rachel as i walked around the house and kicked in my own backdoor. Technically, i used my shoulder and hip instead of my foot (cause it would be really hard to kick in a door while standing on steps and talking on the phone). Apparently joining a gym is having positive benefits for me. I was able to fix the door without too much work, got everything relocked, grabbed my keys and drove directly over to the Palmateer's. Now there is a key to my apartment safely on a Hong Kong Phooey keyring (apt cause Kate got it at the last Open House and ironic cause now i don't have to hong kong phooey my way into my own house) in their living room. Phew. Anyone else want one? I'm making about 5 copies and am going to blanket the greater metro area cause i really don't want to break in again. Now to find a place for that hide-a-key.