Armadillo Annals

I love sushi. If I could afford it, I would eat sushi at least once a week. Well, we made sushi for the first time tonight. It took awhile to prepare, and we bought way more fish than needed. I like raw fish, go figure. Overall, it was a very successful meal and I am looking forward to practicing the art of sushi making again.

Preparing the vegetables. (The rice is already done at this point).

Must have wasabi!!

Making a roll… the nori was not sticking well.

Yummmmmm.

Perfect.

Went to go see Android Lust last night at Elysium. Apparently she also stopped in Ithaca on her tour. Kinda miss home occasionally, especially now that my mom is back there and not here. Anyway, it was a cool show. And she is so tiny!

A completely unrelated aside: I need to write more! Gah. My kids get to, even though they fight. it. every. step. of. the. process. *pout* Ehn, I was like that in high school, too. ‘ceptin I liked to write. Must go write now.

Ollie and I went to Middlefaire a few weekends ago. And TRF started this weekend. It was cool. Yeah, it was a good experience and we saw some friends, explored fun stuff. No, I mean it was cool. Literally. It was not freaking boiling like it usually is opening weekend. I didn’t pass out from heat exhaustion. Back to faire! Huzzah…

The picture was taken by a Scott type person at Middlefaire. I look like mean, or angry, or unhappy or something. But I really wasn’t. It was a good time.

And this was taken by Paul. I really do smile sometimes, honest!

I think I’ve got my list narrowed down. I’m taking the Martha Baer book off the list. I’ll take Fitzgerald along, but doubt if I can focus on it, as I am also wrapped up in what novels I’m going to offer as reading choices in my classroom next year. Lord of the Flies is a candidate… I am also going to be studying for my next test. I’ll keep Sagan, simply because I know it will take me forever to get through it. The “for fun” reads, only one of which I actually own at this point (sigh):

Stephenie Meyer. Twilight,New Moon, Eclipse, and - in August - Breaking Dawn

Sergei Lukyanenko. Night Watch, Day Watch, Twilight Watch and - in July - Last Watch

Weird. These are about vampires. Must be I like vampires. *fangs*

J.R.R. Tokien. The Silmarillion, which is like a Lord of the Rings mythos handbook.

I am beginning to assemble my summer reading list. I probably should add a new paperback to this list, but I haven’t been to the bookstore yet to look for what has just been released. I am currently reading Amy Tan’s Saving Fish From Drowning. BF gave it to me as a birthday gift, but I wasn’t able to start reading it until about two weeks ago.

Here are the books I anticipate spending time with this summer:

• The Demon-Haunted World, Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. I am still trodding my way through this one.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Basil and Josephine Stories and I hope to reread The Great Gatsby.
• As Francesca by Martha Baer. I have no idea what this is about.
• I have been toying with reading Stephenie Meyer. I am still deciding. I should also pick up Brisignir when it releases.

I am anxious to go home for awhile. Even with gas at nearly $4.00 a gallon! I need to be back in the northeast. We are planning a trip to New York, New England, see family, old friends and a few new things. I can hardly wait.

The past month plus has been extremely busy. The kiddos are getting antsy because the end of the year is coming soon, and we have many end of year tasks that need to be done.

Ollie and I did spend one Saturday at Scarborough, which was nice. I do hope to go again before fair is over…we shall see.

I am *trying* to learn how to bellydance. This is going to be a huge challenge for me. I went to the first class with Marlene on Monday. My legs hurt, my back hurts, my I’mnotsurewhatyoucallitmuscle hurts. I have been diligently trying to do the at home drills, but I feel all cockeyed. I’m sure my technique is completely wrong and I will be corrected all over again next time. I am being taught the Suhaila way (though it’s not an official Suhaila class). At any rate, I think I will enjoy this experience. I used to dance (many many moons ago) and it is something I have been interested in getting back into. I’d like to incorporate yoga and maybe some gothic/industrial style dancing into it. *shrugs*

Ollie and I spent part of his break exploring Austin. Although there never seems to be enough time to do anything (and this week was Mobile Film School for some of my kiddos and I had to be at work) we did manage to escape for a walk along the Colorado River one evening. While we were there, we decided to return to go to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, which was closed at that time. Friday, we drove to Umlauf (pronounce this guy’s name ‘Oom-laoof’) and spent a warm, relaxing afternoon being art critics.

My favorites were:

Eve. She’s all nestled in the woods like she has been banished from socialization with the other sculptures, “shielding her eyes from the wrath of God.” Bad girl.

The neon trees. These are actually NOT Umlaufs, but of an artist called Hank Waddell. Ollie thinks it is similar to Martin Puryear’s work.

Ollie’s favorite:

The kiss. He says he likes it because it is emotional and organic.

I put the final touches on my tree. I like my tree. I am very proud of my tree. I’ve never made a tree before. I am using Woodland Scenics, um, stuff. (I have no clue what this stuff is called. It’s green. It’s flaky. You apply it with glue.)

I also added the final touches to the scene. I glued sand ballast to the base. Then I added the grass yin-yang symbol. I added bits of grass stuffs to the stone piece. And I glued it all down with my trusty hot glue gun.

I still need to paint the dragon mini.

Tuke: Do you wanna play “I Spy”?
Rutt: Yeah.
Tuke: Okay, I spy something… green.
Rutt: Tree?
Tuke: Ohh!
Rutt: Okay, my turn. I spy something… tall.
Tuke: Tree.
Rutt: Ohh!
Tuke: My turn. I spy something… with bark.
Rutt: Tree.
Tuke: Ohh!
~ From Brother Bear.

I made a tree. I tried to make it kind of like a bonsai tree. The first thing I did was make a foam base. Then I made a wire frame - armature, it’s called. I don’t think I made this part right, but oh well.

The next thing I did was use some plaster cloth strips stuff. It was slightly messy, but I managed to make a tree trunk, limbs and a base for the “leaves” to live on. I let it all dry overnight. It’s a little wobbly.

The next step was to paint the tree. I used raw umber mixed with black… yes, I’m still trying to get rid of the Liquitex Basics. Then I added green to the greenish parts. After that dried, I dry brushed - yeah me, dry brushing again! - some tree bark detail to the wood parts and some lighter greenish parts to the leaf areas with a mixture of green and white or something thereof.

I also added some greenish stuff to the stone base, because I wanted to get a feel of erosion and moss like growth on the stones. Not entirely sure it will work out as I planned. Last thing was to add the paint base for my yin-yang symbol which will be grassy.

After awhile of staring at the blue foam, it finally turned into something…at the gifted hands of bf. I can take no credit for shaping my diorama base.

He started with the sheets of blue foam and, following my guidance on what I thought it should look like, used a wonder cutter to shape the foam. I glued the pieces as we went, and the foam took form.

Afterwards, I added some detailing of my own. I carved out the stonework along the bridge, added mat board fieldstones and roughed up the big outcrop.

Then came the paint.

I used the Liquitex Basics nastiness that I detest. Eh, it’s just a base coat and I want to get rid of this stuff. I primed the foam with Neutral Grey. I also primed the wood base with a mix of Raw Umber and White, to make a sandy color. That will be, um, sand.

Then I added some Black undertones to the rocks and stones. I learned how to drybrush and filled in some detail with greys and black. The painting isn’t done yet; but here’s the work in progress.

I still need to paint the dragon mini.