Artist's Date II

It couldn't have been a better birthday gift! My second outing was with my friend Jeneane at Battery Park. She gave me a one on one lesson in the art of painting with pastel. She is a master and of course it was a total blast!! Here we are working hard!

Language Development

We were camping last weekend, and after a long morning at the beach Anna was walking Kuba back to our campsite for his nap. He of course wanted to nurse and kept on asking for "other sidey," his way of asking to nurse. Anna kept telling him yes, but he had to wait until they were back at camp. This frustrated him so much and his insistence continued to escalate. He finally went up to a road sign which said "One Way" and deliberately pointed to each word one at a time and pretend read "Other - Sidey!" in a commanding tone.
It was brilliant!!!

New Friends!

Anders and Kuba have made new friends!!!! (And so have we!)
Sylvia, Dani, and Josie are just about the best news of the summer.
Three litte girls ages 7, 5 and 18 months who have brought so much joy to our very busy summer lives. They are from South Dakota, here while their dad does his medical residency at the hospital. Because Residents work such long hours, we have been lucky enough to see them a lot. Sarah, the mom is amazing in so many ways and has been our favorite new friend!! Parenting with her is easy and makes life feel so full and truly good. Here is a photo of all 5 of the kids!

Artist's Date

Okay, so as you may or may not know, parenting sort of hijacks one's ability to see friends, make art, have adult conversations that last more than a minute or two...

Which is why my birthday present this year from Anna was about the best thing in the whole wide world. Anna contacted 8 of my most artistic friends and family and arranged 8 weeks of artists dates. One person at a time crafts an artful experience and I get art, conversation, and connection all at once. FABULOUS!

My first artists date was with my friend Robin, the theater arts teacher at my school. She is one of the most delightful people I know! Positive, honest, insightful, and wicked fun. Here are some photo's from our first artist's date.

The evening started off by us walking to the waterfron and checking out a spontaneous eruption of found object art along Lake Champlain, then we walked the nearby railroad tracks collecting rusty junk of our own. We then created a mini-sculpture and ended the night with a great meal. We even found a gigantic collection of free antique ball jars on the way home.

I loved every single tiny minute of the whole evening!