channeled my inner librarian.

I have realized that when I leave things all topsy my brain gets confused.  Honest, things go fuzzy and I can't focus, either visually or mentally. So I tackled the "backgrounds" file in My Pictures and sorted them all, into Astronomy, Meteorology, Geology, Landscapes, Living Things, Merely Cool and Simple Walls (a newly discovered website called simple desktops,  http://simpledesktops.com/.  I swear I have breathed a little easier ever since.  

Here are a few of my favorites.  At least half if not more of my desktop collection comes from the National Geographic website:

One of my perennials.  My default choice since 2005.

Sedimentary rock and weathering, anyone?

I don't remember where this scene is located, but I appreciate how
it represents all three geosciences. 
As well as being stunningly gorgous.

Although it' wasn't taken in Tennessee, this photo reminds me of the
lush Smoky Mountain forest where my dad and step-mom live.

Bathing parrot.  I like to use this one during summer school.

I use this when it's state test time and the kids & I could use to lighten up a little.

Surfing Hippo

Northern Owl at home in her forest.

Endangered Hyacinth Macaw from Amazon Rain Forest.

Newly discovered little octopus.

My sister in law Cassie took this exquisite photo at a
downtown dim sum restaurant and sent it to me.  I have a thing for koi.

My current background, from simple walls.  LOVE it!

... smell like dirt.

Which means I got off my keister this beautiful spring day -- AND the first official day of our Spring Break! -- and joined my beautiful Babygirl in returning our back patch of weeds into a vegetable garden.  We had two thriving tomato plants which survived the winter, and I trimmed them and reset their cages on them, and we should have real live tomatoes in a couple short weeks!  Heavens, there's even flowers with a couple of tiny green tomatoes on one of 'em.

Last week I also finished the turquoise octopus for my student, and will figure out how to sew strings of beads onto its little head for hair.  I will also post a pic of the finished critter.

Two weekends ago I was on the East Coast in DC for a science education conference - thank you UCLA for sending me! - and as a surprise Hubby gave me a beautiful new point-n-shoot camera to share with our daughter.  Daughter graciously allowed me to bring it on the trip, and I took some photos I'm very happy with... and it's so easy to actually get them from the camera to the computer I may just actually start to post my own shots here! 

These next few pics are from the "Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef" project, showing at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Created and curated by Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring.  http://crochetcoralreef.org/about/index.php

Here is the bleached coral reef, what happens when the tiny organisms which create
the coral structures die.  This is happening now all over the world.

I fell in love with this little guy, and want to crochet some more of his ilk to hang in my classroom.

Is this just too much fun or what????

I forgot to pack my crochet hook and yarn, darn it, or I would have spent the whole flight back making my first hyperbolic coral creature.

I spent my pre-conference Friday afternoon walking the National Mall, from Capitol Building to Lincoln's Memorial and back.  Ever since the Vietnam Vet War memorial was completed I've wanted to visit.  I finally did, and it is even more moving and ennobling of its Veterans than any picture can justifiably do.

Trees about to bud.  That isn't trash at the base of the Memorial - those are print-outs from the Memorial database, with info on each deceased soldier.  School children bring the bios to the scene, find their soldiers, and lay the bios down in front of the names with a flower.

A close-up of one of the blocks.  That's me in the reflection.  I don't know any of these men
or their families, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't honor them.

I didn't realize that one of the Memorial's arms was aligned with the
Washington Monument until I looked up and saw this.

Camelot for all geeks - the Smithsonian Castle!

And finally - the only cherry tree in bloom two weeks ago, although I'm certain the city is awash in pink petals right now.  This was taken outside the National Air and Space Museum.

have been discovering my inner nerdly fashionista.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs in ScienceBlogs  http://scienceblogs.com/ - which of course I don't remember which blog, and since I am posting this during my prep period in school I don't have time to hunt down, but whatever - I'll get to it, I'll get to it - and followed one of the author's tags to "Fashion for Nerds," http://geekthreads.blogspot.com/, and fell into a WHOLE NEW WORLD of intelligent, gorgeous women who don't look like fashion models and are not mind-boggling young, but love clothes and fashion.  I am so happy.  Recently I also read over in Slate.com that fashion for women is like sports for men, and my whole world just went crackalicious!  I've been trying to put my outfits together with a different attitude and eye these past few weeks, especially with a great-yet-untouched stash of scarves I collected in the 80s and inherited from my dear departed mother when she passed in 2006.  Along with Geekthreads is http://www.alreadypretty.com/.  And seemingly scores of others, but these two are the blogs I currently get most of my courage and ideas from.

Oh, and I am about half-way done with a turquoise octopus I am crocheting for a student of mine who is also a facebook friend.  I posted that "first five people get something handcrafted by me in 2011," and she was the only one to take me up on it!  I am also planning to make her table-mate and friend - and another FB friend of mine - a pair of earrings, just because she asked me so nicely if I would.

got tired of feeling guilty for not posting.

I know I've gone almost two months without posting, and feel more guilty with each passing day. 
So here's a partial listing of what I've done.  And I will be honest with you - I have been quite non-creative most days.  Self-forgiveness is necessary and then I step back into it.

1.  I sorted through my surprisingly small fabric stash, gave some of it away to my HS's  drama department, and have a much better idea of what I have left.
2.  I discovered this website:  http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/   This organization gives instructions for making little dresses out of pillow cases for young girls in Africa.  Easy as it can be.  Now, it just so happens that one of the very few items I regularly sewed over the past 15 or so years has been  pillow cases.  It's a great way to make a unique yet inexpensive gift - buy a yard of cool fabric and sew it into a pillow case.  I made them for my son and daughter all the time.  My daughter and I went through our stash of pillow cases and sorted them out.  Now she has her favorite pillow cases in the linen closet and I have a small pile of  pillow cases to turn into dresses.

This photo is from the Little Dresses for Africa website. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did a whole bunch of  baking for the holidays, what with gingerbread and all.

Right now, though, it's after midnight, my son is home from college, and I'm going to sign off and go to bed.  With any luck and planning - more tomorrow!

... went to Fabric Planet and bought some wonderful trim.

It's been making me NUTS that I don't have my sewing machine in order - my tension wasn't working anyways, so I thought I'd take it apart, clean it and put it back together again, right?  Not right.  Oh, SO not right.  I had it almost working at one point, but ruined it by showing it off and the machine just put its stubborn peddle down and refused to cooperate. So I went to Fabric Planet on Lincoln Blvd in Venice to indulge in looking/touching at gorgeous fabrics while suffering that I can't do anything with them.

Or can I?  Please, it sometimes takes me a while to figure out how to prep for the future. (It sometimes takes me a while to figure out anything, but I digress.) I realized that even though I probably won't get my machine fixed until Thanksgiving week, I can pin, cut & baste things.  Oh yeah.

I didn't end up purchasing any fabric, but I did indulge in some wonderful trim.  My latest Fire Mountain bead catalog showed up a couple of days ago, and I saw some necklace fittings that inspired me to look for cord, braid, ribbon,  etc. for potential ornament-holders.  I will post pics as soon as I can...

Here, though is a photo I took last week of my students.  My kids were id'ing different types of galaxies in a Deep Space Hubble Photo, and I became enchanted with how the galaxies danced across their backs as they stood at the board.  I grabbed my phone, which had been thrown in with my (cold) lunch and was fogged up.  I took some pics anyway, and loved the way they came out.

Josh has dancing galaxies on his back.

Rick has galactic mist drifting off his.
We are all made of stardust.

...Took a Well Day off from work.

... and it was lovely.  I slept in a little, read a little - "The Last Knight" by Norman F. Cantor.  I've read his "In the Wake of the Plague," and really enjoyed it, even if it was about how 40 or so percent of Europe died horrible deaths in the 14th century.  What can I say?  He's a fun history writer.  And I am such a sucker for a fun history writer.

John of Gaunt - the last True Knight of medieval England and the subject of Cantor's book.
I am SUCH a geek.

Thomas Cahill is another great history writer.  I used his "Hinges of History" concept to talk about Copernicus with my astronomy kids last week.  We medieval Europeans were happily following Ptolemy's logical - and insanely incorrect - lead on a geocentric solar system until Copernicus went, "Hey, wait a minute..." and science turned to another path.

Ptolemy's Approved Geocentric Solar System:  WRONG

Copernicus' Heliocentric System:  Not quite there yet, but at least it's mostly RIGHT.

At any rate, Cahill wrote one of my favorite books, "How the Irish Saved Civilization."  If you haven't read it quite yet, pick it up and give it a shot.  Entertaining as all get out, too.  Honest, you won't be sorry.

Right now I have such a yearning to paint my nails, something I don't undertake lightly.  My hands must be still for way too long to let the polish dry, and I can't stand chipping.  since we have no spare nickels to rub together and buy me a manicure I must do it myself, and keeping my hands still for more than five minutes is not one of my strengths.


AND>>>> LAST BUT NOT LEAST>>>>>
My friend and summer school student Carmen knitted me the most gorgeous scarf, with all my favorite colors.  She gave it to me last week, and I absolutely LOVELOVELOVE it!  Thank you, Carmen!  You are one of the best humans I know.

.. thought about what creativity is.

When my son was a HS freshman I took him and a friend to a retrospective of Frank Gehry's work at MOCA in downtown Los Angeles.  I was in awe especially of the initial building models - they were built of balsa wood, paper cups, Styrofoam plates, corrugated cardboard cut from storage boxes, Saran Wrap, pencils -- anything and everything.  AND they were everywhere, pouring off the walls, flowing down the tables, practically dancing in the halls.  And it struck me while I stood there, dizzy from  it all - creativity is generous. And joyful.  And unselfconscious.

One of Gehry's models.

This is Disney Concert Hall - I think that it was just underway
when we went to the retrospective.