may 17, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

looped.

may 16, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Alice turns 14 - a massively strawberry cake: cake, strawberry frosting, strawberries in one layer, strawberry sauce soaked into two layers, and fresh strawberries on the side. Oh, and whipped cream

practiced my test during a lesson today, we'll be ok and I have to remember a) don't pull, and b) it is supposed to be fun

awesome dinner w/ AYM and all the Vs, 8 of us for sushi (and tempura and hibachi) walking there and back, talking all the way, all making eachother laugh and fabulous food... we are so lucky

and now there is a tremendous lightning show - no rain, although the air is lovely and cool, but lightning from cloud to cloud, flashing upwards, and distant thunder

may 15, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

the thing about experiments is that some don't work. However, the other thing about experiments is that they open new avenues of research, if messing about with art materials is research, which sometimes it is. In this case, freezer paper does, in fact, stabilize leaves and fabric for leaf rubbings, however the paint stick kind of melts when the organza is ironed to the circle.

In a huge win of discretion over valor, Bob and I both dismounted voluntarily and gracefully and lunged both deranged and tightly wound horses. I think there were several problems in play. The worst was the utility company workers in the woods under the power lines just out of sight but within hearing. That wasn't so bad until they fired up not one but two chainsaws and things started falling randomly in the woods. Ruby left on Sunday, and she is the one who instigates things, so they'd been lazy for a couple days. The combination meant they both were looped. Eventually they settled enough to pay attention, and then we stopped on a good note. PLUS!! no one fell off, no one got hurt. Discretion, valor: we won that one.

And another plus - the rain didn't start until we'd gotten off and untacked.

may 14, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

odd, off balance day.

Thought I was rained out of a lesson, so we cancelled it, but the rain stopped. Was trying to work on a larger piece for the gallery, but I'm overthinking it. Went to pilates and gronked my lower back trying to prove nothing in particular. Nice lunch with J&E, commiseration on ill and dying fathers with a complete stranger at pilates. That was nice, but weird. We knew details of eachother's fathers' status before we remembered we didn't know each other's names....

Pilates is not as good as an aerobic machine and some weights, in terms of decreasing agitation. Which is unexpected.

It looks like I'll be riding in the first XF show on Sunday, first level test one. On Kaboose. Yay us. I think.

may 13, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

This felt like cheating - iron on transfer always feels like cheating, but I really like the way it looks.

Arrived home to have to cook supper, which i don't mind on Mother's Day grounds because I despise mother's day and we don't do any high stakes holidays, but I mind because they had a couple hours and a fridge full of choices and still failed.

I'm going to be gone for two weeks at the end of June. I'm going to come home to a fridge full of dead, uncooked real food, multiple takeout boxes wedged in to the interstices, and seven kinds of baked goods all over the counters. Oh well. Trial by fire.

Stopped to see dearest oldest friend, and we walked. I think I was overcaffienated and under-talked; I babbled. shamelessly. (as a side note, Al knew where I was because my phone told him, which we agreed was funny and not creepy. because that could go either way) Probably also a result of listening to my dad talking about his life, not that it isn't interesting, and sometimes funny, but there are times I have a hard time getting a word in.

Aaaand I'm babbling now. Pleased to be home. Pleased to have comfy chairs, and nice food, and pretty places to walk. pleased to have awesome bandwidth.

may 12, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

dad better, mum visiting brother, watching mysterious and oddly emotional BBC things on Maine public TV.

I kind of like this. hand stitched wool, walmart paint, oak leaf.

may 11, originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Back in Maine, and oh you guys! My dad is SO MUCH better - it is a giant relief. He still can't sit up, is still in a back brace, but he knows what day of the week it is, wanted to make the CD player go and told long tales of books he'd read. AND he was interested in the idea of a nook, because it is small and light. so.

I also exercised, rode Kaboose and drove here. Long day.