Happy Earth Day

I like the idea of Earth Day. It makes me focus a bit of time out of the hectic day to reflect on how to treat our planet with more respect. This year Vince is leading our family in a major environmentally friendly effort -- riding his bike to work. When we moved, just over a year ago, we got rid of my little old Civic (the one that used to be Gran's) and went down to just one car -- our "blue car" as Eleanor calls it, otherwise known as the minivan. It has somewhat less desirable gas mileage than a Civic, however the thing can hold 8 people so we often stuff it full and take one car instead of two. So, Vince has been diligently taking the bus and riding the Metro to work instead of driving. This, in and of itself, is an environmentally friendly action, but the past couple of weeks he has stepped it up a notch and started riding his bike to work. I'm so glad that he enjoys riding and is willing to go the (somewhat long) distance in to his office. It is good for the earth, good for his health, and a good example in our family. Thanks Honey!

A Little Bit of "Real" Work

I went in to the National Museum of the American Indian yesterday (where I used to work before becoming a full time momma) to help with a bit of translation for a Visiting Artist. The program that I used to work with is called the Native Arts Program and it brings Native American artists from all over the hemisphere to do research in museum collections in various cities on the east coast. There are also a couple of other opportunities including a mural project and a symposium, but the core component is the Visiting Artist opportunity. It is such an amazing program, run by a great staff, and the artists that participate are always interesting and very creative.

This group of three was no exception. The woman I was translating for, Guillermina Ortega was from Veracruz, Mexico. Her installation work was based on feminine imagery and ideas related to ritual, fertility/infertility and healing. It was a lovely body of work and really fun to translate for her presentation.

The other two artists that presented were equally as fun to listen to. Cody Sanderson is a metalsmith who crafts amazing contemporary pieces in silver, gold and precious stones. I particularly liked his Rubik's Cube, which you can see here.

Angel Nevarez does works that are collaborative and very interactive. Many of his works are radio based projects, including the FM station that he and his collaborator, Valerie Tevere, set up on the Staten Island Ferry. My favorite from his presentation, was the Low Drone --as he described it, a transnational low-rider drone. Here is the website if you want to take the Low Drone for a spin.

There are many other fabulous past participants in the program, if you are interested to see a few more, there is a web publication containing information about many participants from the first ten years of the Native Arts Program, which can be found here.

Singin' (and Dancin') in the Rain

It rained here today. No, it poured. Cats and dogs. And, Eleanor loved every minute of it. A couple of weeks ago when it was raining, I pulled up Singin' in the Rain on YouTube for Eleanor and today while she was outside in the downpour I could hear, in her sweet little singing voice, "I'm singing in the rain, gloriou...singing...in the rain..."

The Dishwasher

I opened the dishwasher the other day to load it up (ugh) and I found the most delightful surprise:

Pillows and Burp Rags

I made some pillows for Eleanor's room and some burp rags for a friend who just had a baby. (Hmm, there must be a nicer sounding word than burp rag...)



The pillow inserts I have had since Eleanor was about three months old and I am just now finally getting around to making covers! I do like how they turned out though. It really has more to do with the cute Alexander Henry fabric than with my sewing but no need to dwell on that. I was going to put zippers in but got impatient and just stitched them up by hand so we could start using them. Plus, I don't really know how to put a zipper in. I don't think the hand stitching is too terribly conspicuous.



The three little burp rags are blue polka dot fabric and different colors of blue terry cloth on back. I re-purposed one of the little bags from Eleanor's birthday party (which never happened due to ear infections) as the wrapping. The colors are perfect together. Now to get to the post office and get it in the mail.



The weather is beautiful, cool and sunny, here today. We were all really sick with a 24 hour bug over the weekend so it is nice to feel good and have the weather nice too.