ATC: Monkey Fez with Rings

The monkey in a fez is a bead I got at Archie McPhee's, and the rings are pasta rings painted black. Archie's has a lot of good monkey items, the latest of which is Cap'n Danger, Stunt Monkey.

ATC: Zoik!

This is a fabric ATC I made for a new ATC group that meets at a quilting store. I made up the word Zoik to go with this fabric, I thought it sounded retro. Plus that's the best I could spell with the wooden letters I had left. :)

Get the Burglar, Fozzie!

Here's Fozz with one of his toys, a stuffed burglar. He likes to pull on it but really he doesn't damage it much. He just loves to throw it around and leap on it. So cute!!

Fozzie Bear and Woo

It's W. and her little silly doggie, Fozzie Bear! Isn't he cute? He's a labradoodle and just a funny little ball of energy and love. Very wiggly. He likes to leap on his toys.

Reading

I just finished reading a children's book called The City of Ember, and it was really good but now I have to rush to the library and get the next one in the series. I didn't know it was a series when I started reading it, and you know how when you're reading your mind can wander and you look at the cover of the book, or the back...and when I looked at the back, I discovered a blurb that said "The cliffhanger ending will leave readers clamoring for the next installment." Doh! And it was a cliffhanger. Annoying. Still, it was a good story. It's sort of a dystopia for kids. I've always loved those kinds of stories (Z for Zachariah was one of my favorites growing up), because they make you the reader realize everything in your world that you take for granted, like trees and a breeze of fresh air. Those are two things they don't have in this story. The other good thing is that the kids are the ones to solve problems, through their ingenuity.

Part II: Max Speed 8 mph

After about an hour and a half we get to the Mill City Museum on the other side of the river and take a break in the coffee shop there. Then for the second part of the tour, we got to use our yellow keys to start our Segways, which gave us the ability to go a maximum of 8 miles an hour!

It was a really fun thing to do. Learning how to ride the Segway made me feel like a kid again, learning to ride a bike or something. It's fun to be motoring along, but you do get tired of standing on the thing. If anyone comes to visit us I'd probably take them on this tour. It's a unique experience to ride this Jetsens technology machine, and you also get to ride through some really pretty historical parts of Minneapolis.

Single File please

Here's me and J. on the Stone Arch Bridge during a history stop. The guide was good on the machine but not so great with the history--she was describing some event and she said it was "hundreds--or was it thousands?--of years ago..." Yeah, that's kind of a big difference.

They made us go single file on the tour, which wasn't as fun as if we'd been allowed to zig zag all over the place, but then the other people out walking and biking probably would have been annoyed.

10 years of fun together

Look, it's me as a dork! Haha, I'm on a Segway. This is what we did for our 10-yr wedding anniversary in September. There's a local company, Human On a Stick, that will train you and let you ride one on a tour for a couple hours down by the Mississippi River. J. got discount tix through work. So here we are in a parking lot practicing before we start the tour.

Sock Monkey Couture

These lovelies were on display at the MN State Fair, and it was fun just to watch the expressions and exclamations from people as they walked up and saw the dresses. I think the flowing dress was hand knit and the evening gown with backpack was machine knit. Some people were saying it was too much work for a joke, but I thought it was great. The fact is, to me it's not a joke, but a statement that knitty can be goofy, it doesn't have to be boring (and plus, I would probably wear one of these if given the chance). And look how much joy it brought to the thousands of people who saw it! Most knitting magazines are so God-awful boring it's a crime. Personally I want to knit something fun. Knitty mag online is a good antidote to the Vogue snoozefest when you want fun patterns. I mean, look at this afghan--have you ever seen a knit blanky this gorgeous?? There's a little piece I want to make--a watchband--and the photo is particularly funny and has a dog in it, so they get big points for both humor and dogs. I have to go knit something now.

Mom's Marigold Shawl

Mom posing in her new shawl that I knit her. I started this back in April for Mother's Day but it took a wee bit longer than I expected. I think she likes it.

40 and 50 Birthday cake

Mom lighting the candles for our big party: Me 40 years old, K. 50, and Mom ?.

Chloe and her Puppies

Look at the tiny little tail! They all have white-tipped tails like their mommy.

2-day-old Beagle Puppy

Aw! Chloe, a beagle doggie I know in Seattle, had 5 puppies this week. W.'s hand is petting one baby. They are so tiny, like little sausages with feet. Chloe is watching W very closely, being the protective mommy.

State Fair Baby Pigs feeding

So tiny and wobbly and cute!

State Fair Baby Pig!

Here's a piggie from the new more spacious Miracle of Birth Center. Evidently they have sharp little toothies, just like puppies! Isn't he cute?

Largest Potato

Well, yes, it's big. Not very pretty, though. Looks like it's trying to get up. To escape. This reminds me, I'm hungry, I have to go now. More Fair pictures latuh.

Bead Lampshade

Holy crackers! This looks like a lot of work. I like the color combinations and the waves on the bottom, those are cool.

Bead Bib?

I don't know that this is really a wearable as they've displayed it (it looks like a bib) but it's really neato, all made of beads and a lovely landscape with forced perspective.

Dairy Princess posing

Here's one of the princesses posing. Notice she's wearing mittens? It's cold in there! Otherwise the butter would melt, duh.

Butter Head being carved

Here we are, back at the Fair, with the butter sculpture. This time I caught the sculptor and the model in action. J. says this one looks like she's picking her nose--"Here, you got some noogie on your nose, let me get that."

Weinermobile!

Isn't it cool?? This was at the MN State Fair and you could get a Weinie Whistle if you stood in front of a bunch of people and sang the Oscar Meyer Weiner song into a microphone. Um, no, I didn't do it. I wanted a whistle, but I wasn't really into the whole public humiliation thing. I don't do karoke either...

I Voted

Sheesh, I just went and voted, at 2 in the afternoon, and I was ballot #133. Puh-thetic. It was like a ghost town.

Butter Sculpture!

You've been waiting for it, I know, my photos from the Minnesota State Fair. Let's start with the butter sculptures. Isn't this amazing? Here we have one of the dairy princesses, in butter. At the end of the Fair, she'll get to take home her head and eat it. I love it.

Marnie Nixon - Bet You Know Her Voice

I just listened to one of my fave podcasts, NPR Pop Culture, and heard about this woman Marnie Nixon. She was the voice behind Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and the list goes on. Aw, I thought that really was Deborah Kerr. More illusions shattered. Like the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. But not as bad as Santa Claus.

Mystery novels and stuff

I just finished reading this mystery novel called The Lake of Dead Languages and although I liked the setting and the treatment of water and frozen lake ice as a sort of character in itself, the book as a whole wasn't that great. I hate that. I really wanted to find a new (to me) mystery writer that I like as much as Deborah Crombie but it's tough. The pace was too slow and ponderous in this book, and I guessed the villian not even a quarter of the way through the book. Not that that is the only satisfaction of a mystery, but it just wasn't worth the long wait for the reveal. Mysteries are tricky that way, you want to feel that the author has neither underestimated nor overestimated you as a reader.

I'm going to try another new author now, of a book called Dead Sit Round in A Ring. I think I found these particular books by looking at this great database called NoveList that I have access to through the library. I can't seem to find a general link to it, otherwise I'd put it in here, because it's quite useful. It's really designed more for librarians than general readers, but if you're a bibliphile, you probably would like it. It's just for fiction books, hence the name, and it's kind of like that feature on Amazon.com that says "Customers who bought items like this also bought..." only it's actually based on critical reading instead of sales.

Maybe I should try writing a mystery. I've considered it before. It seems to hard, though, to get everything just right, enough clues but not too many, something deeper than just whodunit...

My essay on working at the library just got published this week in the Minneapolis Observer, but you can't read it online, you have to buy the paper version. I've shared it with a few people at work so far and they liked it very much. S. said she felt exactly how I do when she first started, thrilled to be at work every day. Now she's not as giddy, but she still really likes it. One of the librarians read my essay and said having 26 books out at once is nothing, that she has piles all over her house. So now I'm thinking it's only people who don't work at the library who think 26 is a lot. There is an actual limit of how many items you can have out at one time--100.

Dia de los Muertos postcards

These are some postcards I made that I'm entering in a contest at MCBA. I love drawing the skulls, they are fun. My favorite is the one with bowls of ice cream.

Tattoo day 4

Here's how it looks today: a bit darker, shows up nicely. The only thing I don't like is that this is the only way I can see it right side up--if I take a photo of it! Next time I'd get it the other direction.

Here's my tattoo on day 2, what it looks like after the henna ink and sealer comes off. Now I'm supposed to put some natural oil on it to keep my skin moisturized so the tat will last longer. So J. goes and gets a bottle of olive oil and a basting brush! Hey, I'm not a turkey. Anyway, it should last for about 2 weeks. After that I might decide to get a permanent one. Ha! Henna tats don't hurt, it's just like someone painting on your arm. I don't know if I could do the painful kind. So here's a plug for my body artist: Check them out at SoleShine. They do parties, which I think sounds like a lot of fun, a tattoo/art party!

I Got a Tattoo!

Okay, it's only in Henna, but it's pretty cool, no? I got it today at the Minnesota State Fair, one of my favorite events of the whole year. More pics to come...

Homeless or Shameless?

So I'm sitting in my car this morning at the Hennepin/Lyndale exit stoplight off I-94 West, and I notice a 20- or 30-something guy (I'm not so great at guessing ages) crossing the street. He's got a folded up piece of something under one arm and a dirty yellow canvas bag slung over his shoulder that looks like it was meant for laundry but he doesn't strike me as being on his way to a laundromat. The clothes he's wearing look they could use a good wash. One of Minneapolis' finest rolls by in the lane next where he's walking, and the cop in the passenger seat starts talking to the guy out his open window. The guy is walking fast like he's got somewhere to go, or at least that's how he's acting. Acting. When the cop leans out the window with a smile and says something to the guy, he first looks surprised the cops are talking to him, then his body language changes and it's like they've caught him at something, the game is up. But the cops don't stop, it's no biggie, they've had a chat and they pull away to go stop more serious evildoers. The guy stops and stands there a minute, then unfolds his thingie, which I now recognize as one of those ubiquitous homeless signs. I can't see it but it probably says something like "Homeless Please Help God Bless." He turns around and walks back the way he came, like it doesn't matter anymore where he was going. He walks under the overpass and stops, reaches down between some electrical boxes, and pulls out a black rectangle, which I recognize as another ubiquitous cultural object. It's a laptop bag. And it's not empty. He opens up his dirty yellow bag and carefully slips the black laptop inside, pulls the dirty yellow bag closed, then continues on his way.

Artist Trading Cards entered in Art Show

These are the ATC's I entered into the House of Cards II ATC exhibit in Columbus, Ohio. I just wish I could attend the show. It's kind of a far drive, darnit. But I do get a show poster for being a participant, that should be fun.

The top one is one of a series I made last Christmas called "You Know Why." I carved the James Dean rubber stamp. The doggie one is a drawing I made based on a fun children's picture book. It's called "Gigi" and along the side are the words "Flowers always made Gigi feel like dancing. And the flower one is from the recent State Flower swap that I did. It's a Showy Ladyslipper, the MN State Flower.

About Writing and Puzzles

I've been thinking about myself as a writer lately, and noticing I have no desire to hook up with my alumni at Hamline, and don't really feel a need to find a writing group for feedback on my work. I know what I want to write. I don't need any input from anyone else anymore, and I like that feeling. I'm not saying I have a huge ego now, at least I don't think that's what I'm saying. I just know myself as a writer and don't feel the need to be shaped by someone else's vision, maybe that's it. I did recently get a subscription to The Writer's Chronicle, as I've always liked their thoughtful articles and interviews, and in the current May/Summer issue I found this:

"Community is the happy affirmation of the young writer; but solitude is the mature writer's dearest mate." --D.W. Frenza

It's in an essay for MFA Students (that's what I have, an MFA in Writing) who are just graduating and wondering about life beyond the classroom. He compares students to bees in a hive, which gets kind of annoying, but he makes some very salient points. I used to feel guilty that once I'd graduated I just wanted to get away from school and most of the people there, even though they were good writers and nice people...but now I think I get it. I'm finding my place in the world. They were good for me, those people, while I was there in the program. Now it's okay to let them go. They don't need me, I don't need them. End of story.

Or, beginning of new story. I wrote a young adult novel for my thesis that was very marketable, but I have no desire to go back to it and send it out to publishers and invest my energy in it. I want to write something else now. And I should not feel guilty that I'm not focusing on that saleable piece. I'm not in this for the money, I never was. That's mainly why I quit the Writer's Union, because I realized that was their agenda, money. And it wasn't mine. I love writing for writing's sake. So there.

People find out I'm writer and they get all excited when they read my writing and like it, and then they have this agenda for me: I need to talk to so-and-so because he's had books published and he could help you and blah-blah-blah bestseller, money money money. Why can't they just say, hey I really enjoyed that piece. And let that be enough? Is that an American thing, always going for the big money? It's like watching those dolts on Wheel of Fortune spin the dork wheel and chant "C'mon, big money! Big money!" I've always found that embarrassing to watch. Why don't they just call it "Wheel of Ugly Americans"? It's not like they're doing anything real hard to win, either, jeeez.

Which reminds me, I like doing crossword puzzles, which do take brain power, but I've recently gotten more interested in the British version of the crossword puzzle, which is the cryptic crossword. It has more wordplay and I like that, and when you get the answer, you know you got it right, there's no ambiguity. So I'm reading this old book I found called Beyond Crossword Puzzles, which is teaching me how to do cryptic crosswords. Fun!! We did go see the film Wordplay, about the 28th annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, run by Will Shortz, the NYTimes crossword puzzle editor and puzzlemaster of NPR, and that made me want to do more puzzles. But I don't want to just amass obscure knowledge, like all those geography clues require (port city in Kansas--shut up, it's a joke, my geography is not quite that bad). It's much more satisfying to solve a cryptic clue and know immediately that you got the answer right.

The Da Vinci Code was boring but...

This was my favorite line of dialogue:

"I've got to get to a library... Fast!"

ha.

Sanitary Pads Upgrade?

Warning: this is another woman-centered entry, so if you are squeamish about menstrual periods, READ NO FURTHER.

So my sister sent me this rant she had passed on to her from a woman who's pissed off at Kotex for printing "Tips for Life" on the peel-off strip on their pantiliners. Evidently they say helpful things like "Staying active during your period can relieve cramps" and "Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day to keep you hydrated and feeling fresh." Yeah, shut it, Kotex. You aren't my doctor. It is pretty bossy, you gotta admit. Like the recent helpful list of money-saving tips Northwest handed out to their screwed-over employees, with tips like "Don't be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash."

See, the problem is, Kotex and Northwest are not in a position of trust for the things they are trying to offer advice on. In fact, they have a vested interest in our behavior, therefore, they need to shut it. And I now have to add Always to the list, because right before I got this email from my sister about Kotex, I noticed that Always also has messages on their peel-off strips...not as bossy as Kotex, but still weird. The message is "Have a Happy Period," and also in French because I live near Canada, "Bonne et heureuse semaine." This is a handy phrase that should be in any traveler's notes--French phrases for everyday use...yeah, not so much. The thing is, what the frack is a "happy" period? It's like saying "Have a good time in surgery." Um, no. A happy time is not really the goal of surgery. Or a period. It's a necessary evil. Period. Pun intended.

Buddies

Cocoa and J. swimming in the Mississippi River, with stick.

Splish Splash

Cocoa leaps into action after the stick, which you can see in the air just above and to the left of her.

It's a Good Stick

Cocoa likes big sticks. They get smaller the longer she plays with them, as parts get gnawed off.

Sparkle Sparkle

Sparkly sun on the creek water (non-muddy part of creek). I love how the shadows fall on the rocks under the water. I have this photo on my desktop right now.

Mud Lover

Here's Cocoa enjoying the muddy creek at the doggie park.

Fetch in the Mississippi

Cocoa brings the stick to J.

New Book Review!

I just put up a link to it on my sidebar, but in case you didn't notice, I have a new book review up at Twin Cities Daily Planet, for the book Mommy Knows Worst, by James Lileks, one of my favorite nutballs. He's funny without being mean, and I like that a lot. Lileks has a great website full of goofy stuff like old signs, matchbook covers, scary food, etc.

I also put up a few more links to more of my book reviews. They aren't new, but if you just can't get enough of my writing and haven't read these yet, then you can go get more. Whoo.

Blue Meanies

I was in line at the post office yesteday to mail some artwork to a show, when I overheard this guy behind me talking to whoever would listen...

Talker: Looks like it's going to be a nice day out there, huh?
Trapped Person next to him in line: Mmm-hmm.
Talker: As long as the Blue Meanies don't drop down on us, huh? (snickers at private joke)
Trapped Person: (says nothing, looks baffled but smiles)
Talker: The Blue Meanies, haha. That's what I call the Homeland Security--boy, those guys are ruining everybody's party, huh?
Trapped Person: (nods silently)
Talker: Pretty soon you won't be able to buy a pack of cigarettes...
Trapped Person: (looks at talker questioningly)
Talker: --without being afraid they'll spontaneously combust...
Trapped Person: (looks more baffled)
Talker: --because some Turk put pyrotechnics in it!

There was more after that, about the government in the fifties and commies under the toilet seat, but I thought the Blue Meanies was brilliant. And if you don't know who the Blue Meanies are, good Lord! Go watch Yellow Submarine.

Things You See From a Moving Car

While driving to work in rush hour traffic, I saw the guy in the car behind me pull his red t-shirt over his head and toss it on the seat next to him. He looked quite pleased with himself, hanging his arm out the open window and settling back into his seat. I bet he didn't have air conditioning in his car. Too bad more people without A/C in their car don't just remove their clothing. I think there would be less road rage.

So I watched this guy for a while, since traffic wasn't moving much. He was funny, he yawned and looked at himself in his rear-view mirror while he was yawning. Then he stuck his finger in his eye and checked his finger for eye goo. Ew. So I looked at the guy in the car in front of me, and he was cleaning out his ear with his finger. And looking at it. Ecch. You know, men make fun of women who put on make-up in the car (actually, I do that, too--mock them, not do as they do), but really, I thought this was much worse. Driving in traffic is not the place for personal hygeine rituals, guys.

I was in the lane that had merging traffic coming into it, you know, the one where people pretend nothing exists on the right side of their car, even though there are all these cars with their blinky blinkers on begging you to let them into their lane? Lucky me, I had a Haagen Dazs truck come alongside my car. You know I let him in.

Puppets!

They never had these in the library when I was an ankle-biter. The kids love them. You can actually check them out like books, how cool is that?

Big Place

The lights are still off but you can see how much natural light there is. There are lotsa windows.

Purty View

In the morning before opening: Study tables next to windows with a great view. Stacks reflected in the window.

My Happy Place

This is the library where I work. This view is of the front of the building. The library is actually on the left half of the building, at least the public part is.

These are some ATC's I recently made for a swap on State Flowers. The state flower for MN is the Showy Ladslipper. I looked at some botanical drawings and made my own, then painted them. I was really pleased with how they came out, and each one is different.

High Tech Underwear

Can we talk? About underwear? I mean, don't panic, this isn't going to be racy or anything. I just am so annoyed lately about something...Okay, so I had to go the doctor for a female problem recently, and he suggested I wear only cotton underwear. OH! Thank you soooo much for pointing that out, doctor, I've certainly never been given that panacea solution before! Praise God, you've saved me with your magic voodoo medicine! Oh--no, wait, actually that's crap. Because, excuse me, I've only been told that 98 hundred bazillion times before!!

If you're a woman, you know exactly what I'm talkin' about. And if you aren't, well, let me elucidate...For some reason, doctors are required to give women this cure-all line of crap--Wear Only Cotton Underwear--no matter what the problem is. And the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. I think the original idea, back in cave-dweller days, was that polyester or satin undies don't breathe, that is, they make you sweat, like that evil invention, the Pantyhose (the only good use of which is to wear over your head when you're robbing a convenience store, and really that's not so good because, you know, it's illegal to rob and stuff), and sweating creates a tropical jungle sanctuary for germies to blossom in your pants. So. Western medicine decreed that to save women from themselves, they should not wear those naughty- pretty-stretchy panties, but instead should go for the industrial-strength cotton briefs.

Okay, so maybe cotton was the best option back in cave-dweller days. But excuse me, cotton is not so great, either. Everyone raise their hand who's had to endure sweaty cotton undies during this latest heat wave...Oooh, that's a lot of you! Shocking! And the thing about cotton is, once it gets wet, it doesn't dry out while you're still wearing it. It stays wet. I'll never forget this river guide we had on a white water trip in Colorado. He was very concerned that J. was wearing jeans for the ride. When J. said he didn't have any other pants along, the guide shook his head and looked away, saying in a low voice, "Cotton kills, man. Cotton kills."

Why is it that Western medicine is so freakin' slow to catch up with the times when it comes to women's health concerns? Wah. This is what they should be telling us: Wicking Undies. Yes, you've heard of wicking socks and wicking shirts that wick away moisture (read: sweat) and dry quickly. Well, now there are wicking undies. REI, that mecca of techno clothing, has them in several different styles and brands, no less. I went and bought several today. Spendy little suckers: like we're talking $12 and up, each. But, to misquote Scarlet, "As God is my witness, I will never wear sweaty panties again!"

Utter Geek

Am I hopelessly geeky? I have this new library job and I've been doing it for a month now and I love it so much I could marry it. Okay, just kidding. But today when my shift was over someone said to me "You're all done, go have a fun evening now," and I thought, well, wait, I want to stay here. Perhaps this feeling will wear off a little in a couple months, like when the honeymoon phase is over (there's that marraige metaphor again) but I don't know. I've wanted to work in a library forever, and now that I'm here I find out I'm in one of the top 10 public libraries in the country and I'm ever so proud. I feel kind of embarrassed about how much I like this job, like I shouldn't admit it publicly (oops, too late). I mean, I have a Masters Degree in writing and I'm all smart and stuff. How come I get so much enjoyment out of shelving books? I guess it's just being around the books, having access to them and seeing what's new and interesting in writing every day. Books are like chocolate to me, they're just so scrumptious. Really, I'm not psychologically disturbed. I know there are others like me out there, they just aren't admitting out loud how much they adore books and reading. We need a support group meeting..."Hi, my name is Merc...and I'm a readaholic. I have 26 books checked out right now. But I'm bringing two back tomorrow. Really."

yet more doggie ATC's

The background on the "good dog" card is from a stamp I carved myself.

more doggie ATC's

The one on the bottom has a brown tile that says "dirt" that's hard to read in the picture. So the whole phrase reads "she loves dirt." I only have to make 6 cards for this swap, but I'm making a whole bunch so I can choose a few to keep for trading locally. And I might have to keep one or two for myself. I already used one to make a magnet of and stuck it on my locker at work at the library. I actually like having a locker there, it's like having a big art board to display my personality on.

ATC's: Doggie!!

I'm in a swap that is all about pets, so I'm having fun making cards with pics of my doggie on them.

Summer

It's summer. Already the middle of it, really. Remember when you were a kid and summer meant you could do nothing? NOTHING all day long. Okay, not really nothing, but you didn't have an agenda. Or at least I didn't. There were summer day camps sometimes, but there was no schedule. Maybe it's different for kids today, I don't know. But when I was a kid and it was summer, that meant I could read all day long. Book after book after book. That was the life, boy, sitting in a swing outside or curled up in a chair, reading my library books. We'd go the library once a week and gets stacks and stacks of books, as many as I could carry. And really, when I think about it, I still have stacks like that in my house now, of books I want to read. I just don't have the uninterrupted time to read like I did then. And it's hard for me to sit and read during the day, I feel like I have to be up and moving around, doing something productive. I think this is the American disease, feeling like every moment has to be productive. I was talking to M. at work yesterday, and he's from New Zealand. He's lived here three years and wants to go back, says he doesn't like pace of life here, everyone is in a hurry all the time. I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere that isn't like that. I don't know if I could stand it. I like to think I would relax, but sometimes I do like the fast pace of our culture. And other times I don't. Like when I want to sit and read in the middle of the day without feeling like a lazy bum.

Back to summer memories: swimming. We always had a pool when I was growing up, in California and then Arizona. I think it's kind of required if you live in those states. I loved swimming. Swimming in a public pool just isn't the same. And don't get me started on swimming in lakes. Blech, slime! We would play Marco Polo for hours in the pool with our friends in the summer. But even more than that, I remember swimming by myself, and how I loved being underwater, the quiet blue world. And how graceful my body felt moving through the water. I miss having my own pool. But I don't know if you can have an outdoor pool in Minnesota. What happens in the winter when it's freezing? Yeah, that would be a problem. We even had diving boards on our pools when I was little. Jumping into the water over and over again was so much fun. Maybe that's why I loved jumping off that rock so much up in the BWCA this year.

More paper dolls

And here's my second robot. He's a Forestry Robot. Both of these robots are modeled on Robby the Robot, but I'd like to do some others. Maybe the Dahlik from Doctor Who? Or maybe the electric grandmother from Ray Bradbury's "I Sing the Body Electric" (classic Twilight Zone).