Be All That You Can, Bee

You're wise not to be too rigid in your expectations when downloading a camera in our house. You should expect the unexpected. This time it seems we've gotten a bee's-eye view of the world...

♪  ♫  "I like bee's butts and I cannot lie..."  ♫  ♪  

In post-download questioning L says she found a bee that was acting a little lethargic and she tried to "help" it.  Photographic evidence suggests she poked and prodded it for about an hour before offering it a flower, which seemed much to its liking.

There were also about 70 pictures N's nostrils. I'll spare you those.

That Doesn't Look Normal...

N decided to take it to the next level at gymnastics today...

This could be a set-back for Rio in 2016.

Lesson of the Day:  Bad things happen when you sneak over to swing on bars you weren't given permission to use.

NOW he's smiling...   He won't be once he's recovered enough for Daddy to deal with him.  

Surviving A Mild Art Attack

Over the fall I had been trying to expand the kid's horizons in the world of art. Risking a technicolor backyard, I set them up on the patio, bedecked them in plastic wrap, and let the kids go to town with my some of my oil paints. Both kids were really jazzed to play with my supplies, but I made L take it seriously. I had her come up with a source picture - a study for what she wanted to paint. True to form, she came up with a sketch of her favorite topic - mermaid life. (She has notebooks and notebooks devoted to her hand sketches of mermaids from every tribe and nation.)

Once she had the source drawing laid out the way she wanted it, she transferred the sketch to a canvas I provided and we began the dirty work of applying pigment.

N found it an interesting diversion for a half an hour or so, and he got reasonably far along on the little paint-a-truck kit he had before he wandered off to smear something valuable with burnt sienna. But L really took to it. She was locked in and did a great job of mixing and blending and deciding the color layout of her piece.

We talked about how the light would fall and whether you'd expect ocean water to be brighter at the top or bottom. We discussed whether it would be better to start with lighter colors and then add the dark or the other way around.

And finally we got an opportunity to practice patience once everything on the canvas was wet and wouldn't allow any further working without getting a large, smeary mess. We packed up for the day with a good mermaid start, and a week or so later set up again for a second working. (N found some other form of self-expression to occupy him this time.)

Over the Christmas break we got out the almost-finished masterpiece one last time, and Daddy gave her the sacred signature brush. With a deft blobbing of the hand the work was signed and dated and L took on the title "accomplished artist," having actually completed a full work.

When I was sorting out my painting supplies earlier in the fall I came across a frame I'd bought a year or so ago when I bought in bulk all the suppies of a lady who was giving up painting. It was just the right size and complemented the painting perfectly. I gave her the frame this evening and we mounted it. Someone was quite proud of the finished product.

L insisted that it be hung in Stacy and my bedroom that we might admire it perpetually.

Hot Wheels

L's favorite Christmas gift this year arrived in a small package.

But there was more to it than initially met the eye...

Today we made good on the Christmas promissory note. L and I piled into the minivan and headed to our local bike shop to get L a much needed upgrade. Once we got inside the guy who assisted us took one look at L and groaned.

"She's right between sizes," he warned. She can fit on a 20", but not for long, but she might have trouble with a 24". We looked around a bit, not seeing much in the way of options, then he called us over to one section and showed us a more BMXy bike than I was originally looking for.

"This is a 24", but you'll notice the seat can be lowered a lot further than those cruisers and standard bikes we've been looking at." We plopped L on it. She looked swallowed up, but she would reach the pedal, and (more importantly), her fingers could reach the brakes. A few minutes and several dollars later L was sporting her own hot set of new wheels.

A new bike has to be shared, so we did a few practice runs in the parking lot across the street before venturing out to visit friends in the neighborhood. Things were a little shaky at first, but once she got the hang of using her hands instead of her feet to stop things went pretty smoothly and soon L was zipping up and down the parking lot like she'd been bossing her ride for years.  Inspired, N got out his bike too and the parking lot was ablaze with zig-zagging that occasionally zagged when they should have zigged.

Post pile-up pout.

Soon we were practiced enough for the big time, so off we went to visit some friends a few blocks away to show off our digs.

Among our ports of call, we stopped at the Acuestas.  They have a new puppy, Frankie, which is always more exciting than riding a bike.

 Frankie seemed to take well to N.

Then home again when our legs got tired.

New Still Life

I didn't paint much this last year. In fact last week I wrapped up the only two paintings I worked on all year. I think it was a combination of a really busy year at work that kept me from going to class as often as I wanted, and just a natural downturn in my enthusiasm. I think, having finished some long-lingering work I'll be more motivated to take up some new stuff this spring when classes resume again.

This one is an original for a picture I took of some roses Stacy cut and brought in from the front yard. I liked the texture and the coziness of corner of our newly remodeled kitchen, so I decided to paint it.

The second was a portrait, but I gave it way before I had a chance to get a final picture. I'll have to "borrow" it again and get my final shot.

Kiss and Tell (at least the Camera Does)

Found this when we downloaded Stacy's camera after Christmas.

My first paranoid-Daddy thought:  "Who's she pretending to kiss?!?"

"Live From the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Beautiful Downtown Los Angeles..."

L had a big night last night. Her choir, the South Bay Children's Choir, was invited to perform at the LA County Holiday Celebration, broadcast live on KCET from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center downtown. The LA County Holiday Celebration has been a free three-hour Christmas concert put on for 53 years bringing together countless bands, choirs and dance troupes from every cultural niche and enclave. Parking and admission are free and it is quite a big deal in town. L's choir had been rehearsing and rehearsing for weeks and emotions were high; she was a spastic bundle of nerves and we drove up the 110 to the Music Center.

The SBCC was slated to perform at 3:15pm, so we got to the Dorothy Chandler in good time to make our 2:00pm call. As the fateful hour approached L lost more and more color and it quickly became apparent she was terrified. She and I took a quick walk around the Music Center courtyard while we waited, hoping to burn off some anxious energy, but it didn't help too much. By 2:00 when the directors were waving everyone over she was clinging to her mother insisting she didn't want to do it. Thankfully she was swept up by the choir staff who evidently know how to do these things and once she got away from her family and was in the mass of other over-adrenalized kids she visibly calmed and even seems to be getting excited.

Having an hour to kill before the concert, Stacy, N and I wandered the courtyard among the throng lined up to get it. (We had reserved "parent" seats and were spared dealing with the great unwashed masses.)  The day was just emerging from an overcast cloudy mess and slim glimmers of a nice afternoon were poking their heads out.

Her adoring public.

Soon the doors were opened and we were ushered in.  The place was lit up like the Oscars.  Guys in headsets were running all over the stage; cameras on cranes were everywhere.  It was quite cool.

At 3:00 on the dot the stage director counted us in and we took air, the screens flashing and cameras swirling around for dramatic over-the-crowd shots. Then the stage lights came up on Judy Collins center stage with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Children’s Choir and "Silver Bells." It was a very brief opening act because as soon as they were done the cheesy hosts (Tia Carrere and Kent Faulcon) yucked it up for about 30 seconds while the South Bay Children's Choir filed in and took formation.

L was on the front row and soon the cameras were swooping and the massive digital backdrop was festively flickering to "Joyful, Joyful," "White Christmas," and "Pine-cones and Holly Berries." Mommy and Daddy were sad, slobbery messes every time the cameras would swoop by the choir and L's face would be 100 feet high on the jumbotron. ("That's my baby! On national TV!!!") My hand hurt from Stacy's powerful pianist grip every time L would be on camera.

The way I recon it, she still has 9 minutes of fame left her, as the performance couldn't have topped 5 minutes, but it was about all the concentrated Daddy angst I could handle. Afterwards Stacy navigated the cavernous halls of Dorothy Chandler and found our performing prodigy and brought her back up to our seats. We watched another 45 minutes or so of the show and then slipped out to head back to the South Bay. The stage-struck, deer-in-the-headlights, "don't make me do it" girl of an hour ago was long gone, replaced by a chatterbox who couldn't get the words out fast enough. The car fairly bounced down the 110 with L and N's personal rendition of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" on auto-repeat for the 45 minute drive.