Fidget

We are utilizing the Craft Center on campus and doing some dabbling in pottery. It’s tons of fun. Last Sunday night was our first class and already BN has been unable to resist the temptation to return several times during the week during open studio hours. (Since he’s right there on campus every day.) I went with him on Wednesday, and we were there for 4 hours! I’m not making very much headway, but BN is a natural sculptor. I already knew that, because of all the neat stuff he has created using wood, wire, etc. But he’s already made 2 beautiful pieces in the first week! They look stunning even pre-glazed/fired.

Tonight we learned to throw pots on the wheel. I knew it would be difficult but it was downright impossible, for me, before I realized that I should break a new piece of clay off of my stock rather than using the harder, dryer stuff I’d been working with during the week. Then I was able to get a start.

Our instructor must have an interest in art therapy because he is so positive and supportive. (And full of helpful information about all things ceramics.) He said, during the demo on the potter’s wheel, that we would all certainly pick it up quickly, more quickly than he himself did, because he really had a hard time starting out, etc. He tried out my clay, and instead of chiding me for being so stingy and not breaking off a fresh chunk, said no wonder I’d been having a hard time and helpfully mushed all my hard clay and failed attempts into a big rope for me that I could later work at to knead back into usefulness.

I’m really excited at the prospect that we will be able to make all kinds of functional and beautiful things like mugs, bowls, plant pots and such. And even if we don’t take more classes, it’s only $10 for students (and spouses) to get a term studio pass for unlimited use of the studios during non-class time…

Hey, readers - my dear family and friends - you need to go out and take a studio art class. It is the best thing ever. I’ve done lots of drawing classes, but there are so many choices. Drawing, painting, ceramics, print-making, sculpture, photography - It is so great to get focused instruction in creativity, aesthetics, and technique, making images and/or objects completely from scratch! I’m creative for a living but I’m totally loving this clay thing because it’s something I’ve never done. A new skill, a new way to think - a new way to use your hands, a new way to use your eyes and your brain. You should try it, each and every one of you. And it’s more fun to go with a friend.

Yes, the pool did freeze over - the night after it snowed last week, Thursday, and it’s been frozen ever since. It did snow a little bit more yesterday, but it was such a damp snow and intermixed with periods of rain or sleet, that I didn’t get a clean white sheet like I wanted. It still looks cool, though - the surface is “frosted” and we’ve been throwing snowballs over the fence and they’re still there, sitting on the ice. It’s thick, too, apparently, because - I kid you not - an animal crossed the ice last night!!!

I woke up this morning and looked outside first thing, taking note of the weather. In spite of yesterday’s slush-fest, white patches still remain and this morning we have fog. I looked down at the pool and noticed where the snowballs mostly landed - in the middle near the deep end. Then I noticed some sort of track crossing the shallow end. I thought, it almost looks like an animal crossed the pool…

Then I looked at the steps leading up to the pool enclosure, which still have white snow on them, and there were clear, crisp paw-prints leading up to the fence and over to the edge of the pool. I think it was a raccoon or something. I wonder if the little feller did it on a dare or if he had some other motive? (No food in the pool area, that’s one of the rules.)

Hey, last night we tried making sushi… it came out great! I wanted to take a picture but my camera batteries were dead…

I had given BN a sushi mat in his Christmas stocking as a sort of “gift certificate” that we’d try it soon. It was actually so easy. I think the key was getting special sushi rice… The sushi rice cooked perfectly in our rice cooker, and I mixed in sushi vinegar as instructed by my Japanese cookbook. For fillings we used carrots, julienned using a gadget I got from Pampered Chef; cucumbers, marinated dried shitake mushrooms, and an egg cooked in a thin pancake. We had the essential garnishes: pickled ginger, soy sauce and wasabi for authentic flavors. And toasted sesame seeds - sesame seeds are totally useless unless you toast them. It’s really easy to do that, in a dry skillet on the stove. Just have to watch them, they burn quick.

Next time I will stock up on Krab and avocados to make California rolls! Maybe someday will we try raw fish. I’m just cautious about purchasing, storing and preparing it correctly. But I do love sashimi, especially tuna and salmon.

As you can see from the All-Knowing Apple Weather Widget, yesterday was the start of a major cold snap here in Eugene. It snowed some during the day, and during the late evening it really started snowing in earnest and we already had more than an inch by the time we went to bed. Today woke up to a winter wonderland! Wow! It was a real snow day, the schools were closed and snowmen were in abundance. The bus routes were disrupted (we are near a significant stop, meaning one with a shelter, at the top of a hill, and that’s trouble when the roads are icy.)

Our apartment complex roofs are flat on top with steeply slanted orange metal … what’s the word I want… eaves? Well, anyway… The snow collects on them and then slowly slides down in sheets. It’s pretty cool. [A side note: this image is sponsored by our collection of unusual and foreign coke bottles: I have one from Germany, one from India with real hindi script lettering, plus no short term missions experience would be complete without the sweet tastes of Fanta and Thums Up sodas. Cheers!] I was disappointed that the pool didn’t freeze over. For some reason the management doesn’t use the pool cover (we heard rumors from a past neighbor that there was a wasps nest inside of it. ooo, scary.) and so it collects lots of leaves and other crud. It makes our living room window view much less attractive. So I thought that if the pool would freeze and then snow covered it, that would look smooth and white and pretty as long as the snow lasted because nobody is going to step on a thinly frozen pool. And the gate is padlocked. Maybe it will freeze tonight during the low, low temp of 18� !!!

We were actually kind of snowed in by our 3 or 4 inches - our parking lot is at the bottom of a fairly steep incline (or at least it seems steep when it’s snowed over) and so I decided I would try taking the bus down to my usual Thursday Ladies Luncheon bible study and prayer group. Partway through the morning my friend GP called to say that fortunately her car was fixed and she wouldn’t need rides from me anymore; but unfortunately she’d tired herself out clearing snow at her apartment complex (she’s the manager) and wouldn’t be coming to the lunch. While I was conversing with her, I watched one of my neighbors attempting to drive up out of the complex… the wheels were spinning but the car was not moving and I was dreading to see it start to roll back. But thankfully they made it out OK. My bus plans confirmed as the right plan, I gathered my small change and off I went. It started to snow pretty heavily, and as I rode down the hill with snow blowing by I felt like I suddenly lived in a different town.

… has to be one of the most bizarre movies I’ve ever seen. It’s just such a hodge-podge of culturally loaded concepts. For example:

- the King of Persia (Ahasueras/Xerxes) has smooth brown hair and blue eyes.

- Esther’s childhood keepsake necklace that has significance throughout the whole plot is a “magic” crystal which, when the light hits it just right, projects Stars of David around the room.

- Hamman’s vendetta against the Jews (for massacre-ing his ancestors the Agagites) is represented in his keepsake talisman which incorporates the shape of a swastika.

- The term Israel is not mentioned except in the very last scene when Esther tells of Jacob’s name being changed.

- Esther romances the King using Bible stories, specifically Jacob, Leah, and Rachel.

- Vashti’s crime, in addition to the Biblically accurate bad-example-as-rebellious-wife, is being a pacifist, opposed to her husband’s plan to attack Greece…

- … which is a threat to the greatness of Persia because of its dangerous doctrine of Democracy! I have to say I cringed every time Hamman opened his mouth because he was such a scary/cheesy fascist hater of “Democracy/the Jews and their God.” It started to feel like God and Democracy were TOO lumped together … the weirdest moment was when Hamman refers to the Jewish prophecy about Jesus, who would be the King of Kings and “set all men free.” Earlier he had quoted the Declaration of Independence’s sentiment that “all men are created equal.” But he’s quoting it to a rabble mob in attempts to turn them against their neighbors the Jews. Huh? There’s one other small Christian reference that caught my attention - Esther and the King are discussing Love and she says, “Love is the greatest commandment… no matter what god you worship.” How sweet, and vague…

As a movie, it was certainly pretty to look at, with very nice sets and costumes. The scenes didn’t flow together very smoothly, and for that reason the plot was confusing at times, and the ending seemed abrupt. One good result of watching the movie was it made us want to rush home and read the Book of Esther to get clear what’s in the original story. That’s the one I recommend…

We had some fireworks left over from two Forths of July ago. It was very cold outside - probably below freezing, and I’m supposing it was the cold (and possibly moist?) air that caused the fireworks to produce these amazing smoke rings… Gandalf would have loved it! There were single big ones that would hang in the air. And tiny ones, in lacy trails coming out of the firecracker’s glow. It was so cool that we ran back inside to get the camera, but we didn’t really get any good images of the smoke rings.