Maiden Voyage

Presentation Is Everything

2009-01-03T22:59:29Z

Remember this? It's a restaurant that was the object of a misguided contest I had here about a year ago.

Today, for the first time, I went inside. Cecille was working, so Donnie and Jim took me to lunch there. I'm pretty sure the food was very good, but I was so busy looking around that I'm not 100% sure.

This was a view directly across from where I sat.

A boy and his jungle Jim.

This is in the ceiling. It's a complete circle...I just couldn't get low enough to photograph the whole thing. The flowers go all the way around. You can't tell, because the part where they are is recessed from the trim. Yummy looking!

He loved this bell. It must be wonderful to be almost-three-years-old and to find such joy in everything.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T11:50:59Z

For me, it just doesn't get much better than this. If Scott and Paulette were here instead of in Florida (lucky them!), then it would be perfect.

I'm still pretty much snowed in here, although the snowfall hasn't been more than about 6" total in 10 days. But no plows = compacted snow and ice on the roads. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I got out with the family last night...to their church, then to a fantastic restaurant for dinner. But Jim drove, and more power to him!

Temps are supposed to rise, as high as 40 degrees by the weekend, so maybe things will go back to normal. Eventually.

Still Buried under (4" of) Snow

2008-12-23T13:57:18Z

This bowl (my Christmas gift to Scott) has the Buffalo Sabres logo, cut from copper foil, in the center. I wanted copper "confetti," too, so I snipped pieces of copper foil while I watched some mindless TV shows. The copper turns color when it's heated in the kiln for fusing and slumping. There are no guarantees on what color it will become.

OK, Western New Yorkers...get ready to laugh...or cry...or both.

In my corner of town, we've had, at most, 5" of snow. Then we had rain, and then it froze. There hasn't been a plow in sight, so all that lovely snow and frozen rain is compacted on the streets. I have a hard time wrapping my brain about the "no snow plowing" concept. But there are no plows. This is the most snow this area has received in FIFTY EIGHT years.

Yesterday I drove to Safeway, the supermarket that's just a few blocks from here. I drove on roads that were ridiculously slippery for the little bit of snow that has fallen. About 2 or 3 inches of compacted snow and ice cover the road, except for the trenches where the utility companies have shoveled out access to manhole covers.

Schools are closed for the holidays, but they were closed for several days last week. Libraries are closed. No garbage collection this week. AT ALL. Churches were all closed on Sunday. Highways are closed. Many are still closed to cars without chains. I've gotten around on better maintained roads when there was a foot of snow.

On the other hand, I now realize why my property taxes are so much lower here than in Tonawanda. Can you imagine what it costs for a city to own plows, buy road salt, hire plow drivers, and maintain insurance (for all the property damage the plows do)???

Fritz and I are snug. Most of my Christmas gifts are bought (but the elves haven't gotten here to wrap them yet). I have plenty of food, my house is warm, and I have the internet to keep me amused. I'd be happier if I had some novels to read, but I've finished off my supply of new ones this past week. The biggest crisis for me is that McAfee (virus protection) has decided that all the Big Fish games are infected with Trojans, and it deleted all the games and won't let me reinstall them. The upside to this is that I've better organized all my kitchen cupboards.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!

2008-12-20T22:40:41Z

Finally! At last! (And about darn time!)

They're engaged!

It's such a good feeling to know that all (2) of your children are settled with wonderful women.

Congratulations, Scott. Welcome to the family, Paulette.

...and the schools are closed!

2008-12-18T11:47:15Z

I can only guess that other parts of the city either got more snow or have steeper hills. There was less snow than this yesterday, but the shelves in the super market were pretty bare.

This dog is NOT Fritz. Sure makes me look twice whenever I see him, though! He's a border collie, so his face is very different from Fritz's. However, in the distance...it's close, very close.

Newest Glass

2008-12-06T14:01:29Z

I'm definitely going through my "Confetti Period."

Scott, Aquila's Kilnmeister, said this looks like a 1950s tile floor after the New Year's Eve Party. So I call it, "January 1, 1950." (What I was really doing was trying to use up some scrap glass!)

I think of the two just above as my "ink blot studies." I pour a little crushed confetti onto the glass, and see what the pile resembles. Then I push the confetti around to make it a little more formed...

Just playing around with some red and green confetti.

Young Leaders

2008-11-10T23:20:43Z

Today was my monthly D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution) meeting. The program today was a demonstration by the Jr. ROTC of Prairie High School, Brush Prairie, WA.

This was one of those times when I wished I had a hugely expensive camera so I could have done a better job shooting into a not-so-bright room.

The kids usually toss their rifles into the air as part of their demonstration, but obviously they had to leave that out today. Something about ceilings and light fixtures...

Something exciting happened for me before the meeting. <Sounds of me clearing my throat.> I'm the chair of the Good Citizens Committee. The high schools are invited to have seniors who have demonstrated good citizenship to participate in a contest to become our chapter's good citizen of the year. The local award is only $100. As a fund raiser, to try to get a little more money for the kid, I donated my three red, white and blue glass bowls, and we'll have them for sale at the January meeting. In the meantime, though, our meetings are held at the American Legion hall. The hall has a lunch for veterans tomorrow, and our waitress wanted to buy one to use at the lunch! So....I've made my first glass sale!!! Here's the bowl that sold:

Does this mean I'm now an official glass artist?

How Cute is This?

2008-11-07T08:03:58Z

This little leaf attached itself to the hood of my car. I didn't have the heart to just discard it.

First Wednesdays

2008-11-06T11:36:30Z

Once a month, Cecille has an extended work day, so I get to pick Donnie up from school and bring him here for a few hours. Sometimes we stop (Wal-Mart, Borders, the library), but I really like it best when we come back here to hang out. Yesterday morning I was in Tuesday Morning, and I grabbed one of these bird feeders. It comes with four colors. Oddly, instead of the three primary colors, there's green instead of blue. (This may be why it was in Tuesday Morning instead of a regular retail store.)

Donnie focused a lot on the inside of the feeder. I asked him if he didn't want to do the outside, but he said that he was painting the inside for the birds to see while they ate. He kept saying, "I'm using all the colors in the world!" We'll have to work on that.

While he was painting, the DVD "Shark Tales" was playing. At the end, there's some real happening music playing, so Donnie started to dance.

I wish I could have videoed this, so you could see the fanny action he had going!

Lots of arm action going on, too.

He's not angry here...he's "into" the dance action.

"Smile for the camera, Donnie!" So he did.

I love first Wednesdays! I woke up yesterday morning to the realization that it was "our day," and I was happy all day, watching the clock until I could get him.

Vote yet?

2008-11-04T06:58:43Z

No polls for me this year...but I've still done my civic duty. I mailed my ballot last week.

The opportunity to vote by mail, as opposed to going to the polls, started me thinking about all the contrasts between my old life (western NY) and my new life (Pacific Northwest).

Today's weather forecast

Tonawanda, NY: Party sunny, high of 64 degrees.
Portland, OR: Showers, high of 51 degrees.

Library

There: Last I looked, 10 cents per day late fee for returned books.
Here: NO LATE FEE!

Mexican restaurants

There: Two take-out restaurants, and I dare you to find one worker there that can speak Spanish.
Here: Many, many, many, from take-out to sit-down, authentic Mexican food. YUM!

Snow

I no longer need to pay for a contract to plow my driveway. I don't own a snow shovel, nor do I intend to buy one. Ever. Never again.

*****

Tonight I'm invited to the kids' house to watch the election returns. If Donnie lets us. I don't think they have election results on Sprout or Noggin TV.

Art on Parade

2008-11-03T08:13:50Z

Leah recently posted an entry on her blog about the art hanging on her walls. She invited others to do the same.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you've already seen most of what's on my walls. But the above painting was just recently hung, so you haven't seen it.

The title of this blog should help you guess the artist. There's a song about something on parade.

Let me give you another hint...my friend Rae's son used to work at the Buffalo Zoo. This painting is a gift from her.

Got it yet?

Oh, OK... This work of art was painted by one of the elephants at the Buffalo Zoo! The keepers didn't want the elephant to get bored during the winter months, so they taught him/her to paint.

I wouldn't have thought that boredom would be a problem for elephants. On the other hand, if it is a problem, it could easily become an elephant sized problem! (No booing or hissing, please.)

Fall. Finally.

2008-11-02T10:49:06Z

It's in the high 50s, rainy, but beautiful. This gorgeous shade of orange is what I see when I look out the front of my house.

And by the way...this is pretty much what the weather will be until spring. Not a lot colder, not a lot sunnier. I don't feel that there's a real winter here. There's just a very long, very wet fall. I don't even own a snow shovel, and I have no intention of buying one.

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

2008-11-01T10:16:18Z

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! is his favorite cartoon character, so Mommy and Daddy pooled their creative talents for this year's costume. He was one happy trick or treater.

The biggest problem was that, because the carton came to his arm pits on each side of his body, his hands couldn't meet in the middle. That meant that he needed help to get candy from his right hand into his pumpkin candy holder in his left hand. Not a huge deal, since he now talks non stop, and he doesn't hesitate to ask for help. He also doesn't hesitate to tell people absolutely everything, which is making for fun times for those of us who now know far more than we'd ever hoped to about his life.

Wind Gusts

2008-10-27T11:20:56Z

Donnie and Jim were here yesterday. Fortunately, they went out with Fritz...because they discovered that a gust of wind (of which there were many) had blown so hard against the fence that the support post snapped and one entire section fell down.

The next section to it was flapping in the breeze, since it was a shared post that snapped. Jim removed that one, too, so that it wouldn't get damaged or fall on someone walking past it. That was a good thing, because it's salvageable.

Jim called the man who put up his fencing. He came this morning to give me an estimate...under $200!!!...and he'll be here tomorrow morning. Fritz and I will both be very happy. He wants to get out there and run around, but there are too many loose dogs and cats around here for me to allow it. Instead, I take him out on the leash.

Last night he led me around and around and around one of the trees in the yard. I'll be VERY happy when the fence is fixed!

Ribbit!!

2008-10-23T22:58:32Z

A while ago, I mentioned something new that I was learning, something I wanted to keep secret until I'd done some of it. That "something" is colour de verre, also known as frit casting. One primes an intricate mold, then adds enough frit to fill it and (after completing the proper paper work properly) hands it over to the kilnmeister to do his magic.

I was talking with Aquila's kilnmeister, Scott, about it, and I told him I wasn't sure it was for me, since it looked quite froo-froo, and I'm not a froo-froo person. He asked me what I thought would happen if I used clear frit and added my confetti. And at that point, I lusted after it. (Hey....at my age, we take our lusting where we can!)

Little Kermit, pictured above on one of the leaves from my morning glories, is my first attempt. I think he came out quite well for a first attempt.

On another note, you'll see that I've added, to the menu at the left, a link to the blog for the Aquila Glass School. It's new, but already there are several entries about the fun things going on at Aquila. Wednesday morning, as a matter of fact, Good Morning Portland came out and did an interview and a demo. The personality from Good Morning Portland did most of what has to be done to get something ready for the kiln...except to fill out the paper work. I feel superior...because I fill out paper work. Scroll down to Wednesday's entry, and you can view the segment on Aquila. (I know about things like "segments" because my son is in TV.)

On Thursday, Leah added a video walk-through of Aquila. It was fun for me to watch...hope you feel the same.

Poinsettias and Confetti Don't Mix

2008-10-24T21:19:34Z

Any questions?

And Then There's Tom

2008-10-23T10:38:17Z

If you came into Aquila while folks were working, you might conclude that fusers are talkative people, while torchers are quiet people. This is not necessarily so. It's simply that torchers need to really focus...hot glass sags and bags if not constantly turned. Fusers, on the other hand, can look up or walk away from their work at any point, and nothing happens to it.

Most torchers are making beads or critters or some such. But Tom....Tom is something else! He uses glass rods to create his...er...creations. In the time that I've known him, he's made a bridge, a bi-plane (with a prop that spins), a ferris wheel (that actually turns), and now this box that opens and closes.

Tom really IS quiet. He's soft-spoken and a total gentleman. But we still like him.

Do Not Adjust Your Set!

2008-10-22T22:58:49Z

If you'll remember, I told you that the "Greek Key" I was trying to do with adhesive-backed copper strips was ruined by large bubbles and black spots. Some of the glass bubbles were stretched so large that Scott, Aquila's Kilnmeister, was afraid to let me take it home, for fear they'd explode on me.

Scott's suggestion was that I experiment with something small (so I wasn't spending as much on glass and kiln time), but to leave gaps for gas to escape. What you see is my attempt to do that. Still bubbles, still black spots.

Let me get a little technical for a moment. Copper has about the same coefficient of expansion of glass. That means that it expands and contracts at about the same rate. That's important when working with glass, since if some of it contracts faster than the other, the glass will shatter.

However, when the adhesive burns off, it releases a gas...and that gas has to have someplace to go. The glass apparently fuses more quickly than the gas can escape, hence the bubbles.

Don, Aquila's Kilnothermeister, suggested small pieces of clear glass between the larger pieces, to give the gas more time to escape. I haven't been back to try that yet.

Sometimes life interferes with glass. Go figure. In the last 1-1/2 months, I have seen my internist, my GYN, my eye doctor, my dentist, had two mammograms, gotten my flu shot, had a colonoscopy, went to two D.A.R. meetings, and gotten my hair cut. I'm healthy, everything was fine, and my hair looks great. But all this has seriously cut into my glass time. Fortunately, I'm done with a lot of this stuff for another year, in one case for five years, so I can get serious about my fun time again.

My Most Recent Glass

2008-10-18T13:07:58Z

The above is the third of the bowls I want to donate to the D.A.R. for a fund raiser. I presented them at the meeting this past week, and the Board has to approve the fund raiser. The neat thing is, I left them on the table so people could see them. The meetings are held at the American Legion, and the waitress wanted to buy them! They have a lunch for all the veterans on Veterans' Day, and she thinks they'd be great for serving chips or whatever. We'll see. I didn't give her a price; she may change her mind when she hears what we're asking for them....but at least it's a little approval.

This one was a lot of fun to make. You wrap a piece of glass in a cloth, then hit the center with a hammer. Then to lay the broken pieces onto another, slightly larger piece of glass. It's a good project to do when one needs to vent.

I can't say I'm in love with this one, but it was also fun to make.

I like the colors on this one, but I hate the way the sides bulge at the middle. I must have done something wrong...I'm just not sure what it was. Want it? It's 5" x 8".

OK, this one I loathe. It's abstract and random and it bulges at one end. It's about to be trash, unless someone wants it. Also 5" x 8".

I'm almost out of glass, except for very small scraps...which is why this abstract one got itself made. Just using up scrap. Aquila is also almost out of glass...but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. They had a glass sale, and as soon as Bullseye Glass has it ready, they'll pick up the glass and we'll be cooking again. I ordered about $300 worth of glass for myself. Eeeeeeeeeeeeee-yikes!

Happy Birthday, Jim!

2008-10-13T13:17:16Z

Your parents' pride and joy.

Your brother's rock and buddy and mentor.

You started school....I blinked...and you were getting your M.D.

You're a loving husband.

You're Donnie's playmate, teacher, protector and role model.

I hope your birthday is as special as every day of your life has been to me.