Cosplay cause we can.

OK, my daughter L. turned out all weird (in a good way) and artsy like me..no surprise there. So now I know what cosplay is; do you? Let me try to explain. It's kinda like a huge rock concert was for my generation...like Woodstock for nerds. (Hey, I declare 2010 the year of the nerd!!) L. is counting down the days to the next big event; Anime Boston. Should be about 18,000 kids and adults attending. Some will be there just to gawk, but most will be dressed as their favorite game or anime characters (anime is a an animated cartoon version of manga, popular illustrated novels originating in Japan.) For instance, you might dress up as Link from the Legend of Zelda..or, for the serious attendees, something more obscure. My daughter actually started a club at her college and got some serious funding towards costumes and hotel rooms!! Cosplay has been a good thing for her. She's now extremely talented at sewing costumes and building props. She got some costume commissions and earned a little cash. Last summer we silk-screened some tees together. We're working up more designs and she's going to try and sell them at one of the events this summer. And to top it all off, it led to her current major of East Asian studies. She can now speak and write Japanese. You never know where a hobby will lead you.

Clowns and Cleaining

Well, I has a 4 day weekend. Unfortunately, I could no longer ignore the fact that I hadn't really cleaned my house since I don't remember when. So I went into a frenzy for 2 days and was exhausted when it was all over. The woodstove is sooo cozy in winter but it sure creates a lot of dust and dirt. Living in an old house, I don't have much storage space, so I have many "antique" cupboards. My husband and I are big fans of thrift shops, tag sales etc and I've picked up more than my share of "chochtkes". I finally faced the fact that I would have to dust on top of the cupboards and around all the stuff on the shelves. If only it would stay clean for a long, long time I wouldn't mind it, but in a few weeks it will be like it never happened. One of these days I'll do a painting of my favorite little thrift shop and yard sale finds, some of which are pictured here, newly dusted!!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Ok, it's not actually raining. We had THE SNOW DAY today! Yeah!! For some reason, I kept thinking of one of my cute little students singing "it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is boring." (Apologies to my "old man") The 5 and 6 year olds in my classroom come up with the funniest stuff..Who's Santa's other reindeer (besides Rudolph) asked the teacher last December. The only girl in the class answers "Ashley?".I had to take the job assisting a special ed student cause my husband and I were both self-employed and the health insurance payments were more than our mortgage. So you can understand why I eagerly anticipate snow days and faithfully wear my pajamas backwards the night before a storm.(It really works) After school, I come home to my other job hand- painting first day covers for stamp collectors. You would think we live an extravagant lifestyle, but no, we live quite simply and are just trying to survive the recession! So finding time to produce all these paintings and craft projects I have in my head will take precious time. I've sure learned not to procrastinate like I used to. Anyway, I had to have a little fun today, so my husband and I went cross country skiing in the woods near our house. My daughter, who is a downhill skier, can't understand the attraction of it, but for us it's cheap, peaceful, uncrowded and right outside our door. Here's a little picture to illustrate SNOW DAY!!!!!

The Three Little Pigs Got a New House

OK, I'm gonna talk about creativity...it's one thing us individualistic Americans are really good at..rah rah USA. Just read an article about an artist/inventor who built a structure entirely out of mushrooms. Actually, he used the rootlike mass that forms underneath the 'shrooom. It's called a mycelium and the spongy matter is grown in brick shaped molds and used for something called mycotecture! It's nontoxic, fireproof and mold and water resistant..maybe I should be investing in the stuff, if I had any money to invest...It will soon be used as "eco-friendly" packing material. Just when you thought the world was a hopelessly used up dirty mess, you see that people care and there is once again hope for the future!!

I was primarily a childrens book illustrator for many years, with a few years of waitressing thrown in, but I recently had to take a second job working with young kids in order to have health insurance. Having illustrated a series of Mother Goose rhymes as posters, I noticed most of my 5 and 6 year old students had no knowledge of the sweet old lady. I had mindlessly recited many of the poems in my childhood, never questioning their meaning or origin. Some of them were really weird and didn't make much sense, so I recently did a bit of asking around and some online research. Turns out that the "sweet" old lady is thought to have many features attributed to the witches which were hunted in the 1600s. While some of the poem categories feature harmless lullabys, riddles, and educational elements, others contain references to more serious political incidents. For instance, "Ring Around the Rosy" is believed to refer to the bubonic plague. I was shocked to find out that "Mary Mary, Quite Contrary" with her beautiful garden growing is associated with the English Queen Mary the 1st's torture of Protestants!! I hope this information will be filed away somewhere in the back of your mind for use when home on the couch watching Jeopardy,but please don't let it ruin your enjoyment of the poems. One site I visited also mentioned how this "emergent literature" also helps young children develop their language skills and show them the rich possibilities of the literary experience(in simple talk, it encourages reading!!) For anyone interested here's the link to my shop.... http://www.etsy.com/shop/hoddleypoddley

Zumba Madness

Viva Zumba...it's the bestest most fun workout I've had in forever...I find that most artists are good in at least one other area creatively, and dance was my other area. I used to love to dance and took jazz and ballet for years, but kinda gave it up as I got older. I tried all sorts of stuff to stay in shape over the years. Steps, pilates, aerobics, yoga...they were OK but you were kinda counting the minutes til you finished. With Zumba I'm just grinning and shakin and not looking at the clock. Yolanda, my wonderful instructor, calls herself a NewRican...a Puerto Rican American from New York! I sure sleep well at night after one of her classes. Her husband is the only man in class and they move beautifully together. My husband CK used to take jazz dance classes with me when we were young and crazy. Haven't dragged him to Zumba yet...he's got a good sense of rhythm which he expresses better on guitar.