wow. a busy day. checked out a couple of preschools for chloe. i have a lot of emotions around the whole thing. we'll see how it goes for her and for me...! and gil, chloe and i stopped by the new school (http://www.tnsk.org/comcourses.html) to talk about the classes he's teaching there. very cool. one amazing thing is we got a killer organ from the kennebunk montessori school!! she didn't want it and couldn't believe how into it i was. so we went this evening and brought it home...heavy and awkward to move, for sure. i don't know if it's just getting older and loosing strength or a center of balance thing, but i could NOT get out of it's way while gil and i were carrying it...my shins and knees will be all black and blue for sure. but it is WILD. all these pedals and buttons and keys.

the corn is just getting better and better. chloe is so psyched to eat it which is adorable, as i've already said. and she's totally gotten the hang of how to eat around the cob, not just right through it. when we were first picking it, it was a little too early so it was crazy tender. and she could just chomp down the whole way. oh, here's a photo she took of me. she loves the tripod and digital camera and snapping pix. she took a whole series...it was hard to pick a favorite from this one. but she kept telling me "smile, sweetie." she was having a blast and i was just melting in bliss.

oh, so gil's teaching at the new school as well as biddeford ed, and then i think i'm hooked up for teaching metalsmithing in portland as well as thru biddeford ed! which is outstanding. the unsung designers page looks amazing. thanks to grace -- i guess i'll have a bio and all that fancy stuff up after a conversion that's happening in september. i didn't do anything with the etsy competition, which is fine. there turned out to be quite a few cool entries so that's fabulous.

so ...the day we end up running errands in kbt, are illustrious prez arrives for a vaca. yeeeeeeeesh. we were going to grab lunch in a deli there...couldn't figure out why we kept passing parked cops at all the intersections...and then sat in traffic for WAY too long. finally put it together and decided to flee the scene. remembered that tin tin buffet just opened here in biddeford. it totally rocked. one of the most surreal places i've ever walked into. chloe had a BLAST, picking out food and escorting gil and i around the restaurant...checking out the trippy blue lights and chatting with the waiters. it was really fun.

a good day.

i am LIVE on unsung designers TODAY!! already selling, too!! i am so pround of that and LOVE what grace and all the folks that way are doing. and now, i get the designer discount so i'm psyched since i've had my eye on more than a few things....

www.unsungdesigners.com

whew.

chloe's finally asleep and gil's watching brazil. i do really like that movie, but it also seriously gives me the eebie jeebies, and i just don't feel like putting myself thru it right now. so. so i won't. i posted a few things to etsy. kind of thinking about the etsycraft competition they have going on. but i don't know how well my style fits in with what's been submitted so far. i guess that's no reason not to do it...but i'd have a hard time not being at least a little tongue in cheek about it. we'll see.

MANOMAN, corn. we are growing the yummiest corn! and it's so beautiful. from the huge deep green with white veined leaves. and the green-to-maroon cornsilks...and they layers and layers of husks...and the bamboo-like stalks. and all of this doesn't compare to the incredibly fresh tasting treat of offthestalk corn. i had NO idea. i've never been a real fan of eating corn...but this is a totally different experience. and then chloe is so painfully beautiful and sweet eating the corn...pulling of the husk and the "hair" and just chomping away totally content. it's the most amazing thing i've ever seen. she loves the whole concept of eating ANYTHING that comes out of the garden since she was such an integral part of starting the seedlings and transplanting them, and planting seeds directly in the ground and feeding and watering and she even did a LOT of weeding. figuring out really quick what should stay and what should go. and looking at the progress every morning. it's just beyond amazing.

ok. the garden pic is from a few weeks ago...i didn't take one today. but you get the idea. everything is just taller and greener and vegetable-ier.

oxo

our friends bought this old building dtown biddeford and are remodeling it. these are two very cool cats doing very cool things. they painted it a fabulous orange color a few days ago...i think it was a somewhat stressful day for them, not knowing how the community would respond. it worked out really well, and gil and i think it totally rocks.

raja still smells like skunk. actually, the skunk might be living under our barn...or it died there. i think the odor is just starting to fade from the yard. what a fiasco! the area under raja's nose is all raw -- he's had a hard go of it. he's lucky he's so damn cute.

posted a few new things on etsy, and really enjoyed taking the snappies of the work with chloe's help. today gil and chloe are going to the park while i work in the studio. right now she's got him playing "dora house." i should go down and take a photo but i don't want to interrupt their groove. my pa came over for dinner last night and that was really nice. it was fun hanging out. ok. i should shake a tail feather.

oxo

pinche raja. he just got skunked. goddamn it.

it happened so fast, already it's cooler in the mornings and evenings...is summer over? it's still the first week of august...i can wear my glasses in the studio again, tho. so i guess that's a plus. just about ready to send off some things to unsung designers -- thanks SO much for your patience, grace. damn.
listening to son volt right now. pretty perfect with my cup of coffee...well, that just ended and now it's the standard. moody. reminds me of portland. oregon. i put on steve malkamus (sp?) and the jicks last night in the studio and it sounded awesome. i've also been listening to a lot of lupillo rivera lately. gil says the tuba player rocks out all iron maiden-esque. totally cracked me up. i just went on a little etsy shopping spree...the coolest kanzashi from marissajoannaroja.etsy.com , a matchbook size notepad for gil from covetablecuriocities.etsy.com and a frida shirt for chloe, (rekon.etsy.com).

ok. my sister and my nephew are coming over today so i can watch the pipsqueeks while ness goes to a meeting.

it's supposed to be really really hot today. maybe i'll take chloe to the beach. it is really humid -- where you can't find any fresh air to breathe in. i was working in the studio last night, POURING sweat. i don't think i've ever just dripped like that. it was weird...i couldn't wear my glasses because when i looked down, they would fill with little pools of perspiration. so... i couldn't see anything i was doing last night. hope it turned out ok. and the resin on the knock on wood pieces are havng a hard time drying.

got a special order from etsy - thanks sue! very cool ring and it was fun to make...even tho i couldn't wear my glasses while i was working on it. ahem. oh, and my thumb isn't has horrible as i was imagining it was under the dora bandaids. i hit the left...third...? so not all of the area underneath the nail is purple and it seems like two of the three sides are hanging on. and it doesn't really hurt to put pressure on it anymore. so you know. ...

gil and i will be involved in another group show this october...!! at the union house and associated with the twin cities creative council. and gil will start teaching painting and drawing classes soon, thru the new school in kennebunk, and biddeford school system. it's good and exciting and hard to keep up with everything.

my motherinlaw, rose, sent chloe one of those crazy blue pools, which has actually been really fun to have. even got papi in it once. chloe LOVED to see us both in there for some reason. thought that was pretty funny, maybe? but it's perfect to just sit in if the beach seems like too much hassle. ok -- chloe's trying to entice me to play ponies (as in mylittleponies) so i should do that.