Under the bird feeder

Sick

This is a picture from last Friday. She came home, threw up twice, then fell asleep on my lap. She was better after a few days; it seemed very flu-like. Somehow the rest of us have stayed feeling pretty good, which I never would have bet money on.

Siege engines

Black walnut ink house portrait

I finished this one yesterday. It's 11 x 15 inches.

Art of the Loom at the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft

Ms. Liz, whom I had previously met while carving pumpkins down at Iroquois Park for the Great Pumpkin Spectacular, gave some weaving instructions and then acted as our guide through the gallery

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to drive on a field trip to the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.  The 2nd and 3rd graders were there to see a weaving exhibit: "The New Art of the Loom."

I expected to enjoy the show, but I more than enjoyed it: I was very impressed.  The first floor was regional weaving artists, and the second floor showed international works of the loom, and all of them were beautiful.  Some were intriguing and abstract, some were strikingly representational; some were brilliant and shimmering, some were hauntingly toned-down.  All of them were fun to look at.

Unfortunately, the show ends this Saturday, but we are going to try to get down there as a family before it closes for a final visit.

First birthday

ballpoint

Peanut brittle for squirrels

At some friends’ white elephant gift exchange the day after Christmas I ended up with a giant block of Texas-shaped peanuts and corn syrup.  I was warned against trying to eat it, and got the wrong idea that is was old (it turns out it was given fairly recently as a gift to the person I got it from, and the person who originally gave it hinted that he was a little hurt by where this block of candy eventually ended up, but anyway…)

So, not having an inclination to eat it myself, I thought maybe the squirrels would enjoy it on cold January days.  To that end, I strung it up with jute on the maple tree out front.

It was there for a week before there were any signs of someone nibbling it.  The eastern edge was gnawed on.  The next day, when I got home from work, it was on the ground, with significant bites in the panhandle region.

I tied it back up, and the next evening I found it again on the ground.

The next morning, it was gone, so I guess it became a winter snack for a possum.

Driving through downtown Louisville, evening

X-wing miniatures painting

Just before Christmas I won a random prize drawing in a contest on the Board Game Geek forums.  The guy who ran the contest, Phil Lewis, sent me a large Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures ship, the new YT-2400.  A very generous giveaway that I was thrilled to win!

Phil's screen name there is Red Herring, so in his honor I added a fish to the ship and rechristened it The Red Herring.  I also added the bright red stripe.

Arm bruise

Going with the theory that Everything is Bloggable, here is a photo of a very pretty bruise on my upper arm.  I got it when I tripped playing soccer in our backyard, and fell into a cinder block. It looks like tie dye!

It did not look as bad at first, but has looked worse (but felt better) each day. I think it is now starting to fade a bit.

Memoir '44: Moyland Wood Overlord

Canadians vs. Germans in the German countryside

I was happy to have a little time to spare for playing some games during the Holidays, including a large game of Memoir '44 Overlord (Moyland Wood scenario).  It looks so nice and BIG.

Christmas wrap-up, part 4: Saturday with the family

Christmas wrap-up part 3

We all have been enjoying the new soccer goals:

At a white elephant gift exchange, my friend Cindy got a Mt. Rushmore bottle provided by Chris. Chris then demonstrated how tasty was the berry wine he had put inside it:

 ...But shortly after that, Mt. Rushmore was stolen away by our friend Jim.

White elephant gift exchange

Christmas wrap-up part 2

Len shows off his smart red shoes:

 ...and the girls show off their cool new bikes:

Christmas wrap-up

At 2:30 a.m. on Christmas I told my wife to strike a pose that demonstrated how she felt, wrapping gifts until the wee hours:

Here are the girls shortly after they awakened, reading a response to the note left for Santa:

After company arrived, everyone eating and swapping presents:

6 x 9 inch house portrait, finished yesterday

House portrait in pen and ink

Here's another I finished yesterday.  It's the last one that had a pressing due date of Christmas; now I have one to work one that is an immediate priority because it was paid for long ago, plus a couple of commissions due after the holidays.

Another pen and ink house portrait

I finished this a couple of days ago. It's 11 x 15 inches.  I did not have a chance to get a good scan of it, so this is just a mobile phone photo, so the quality isn't the best--but the details are sharp, which is good, so don't think I'm complaining about my smart phone's camera.

I found this drawing to be challenging in that the values of the grass, bricks, and roof were all very similar, so distinguishing them was difficult.

Baking

 This dates from 11/26.

My daughters were inspired to do some baking—on their own. Early on Thanksgiving week I helped the younger girl make cream puffs for a school party, and the next day she really wanted to bake some cookies all on her own.  The only things adults did were to get the heavy mixer down for her, and help her get the hot tray out of the oven (and also remind her to clean up after herself).  The cookies did not come out in the shape they were supposed to, but they tasted great.

Immediately after that her older sister wanted to bake some brownies.  She did that all on her own, too, except for occasional requests for advice.  The brownies came out oddly low in quantity, as if there was not enough to cover the pan, even though after review neither my daughter nor I could figure out where there may have been an error.  It seems to me that the recipe was simply wrong.  At any rate, I helped her keep an eye on the brownies in the over, and they actually came out great.  Thin and cookie-like (prompting her to label them “crownies”), but delicious.

I am proud of my bakers!