What is it?

Is it modern art? Is it trash? It's creative wrapping for a present because . . .
it's Frank's birthday today! Since he thinks birthdays are just like any other day, then he should have no problem with me announcing to the world that he is 43 years old, and posting his picture (this is from last year).

Happy Birthday, Frank!

Bike day

This week has been Boise Bike week. There have been many events planned over the course of the week to promote cycling. Today was the finale.

We left our house this morning on our bikes around 10 a.m. First we headed down to the Warm Springs neighborhood yard sale. There were lots of people walking up and down the avenue. I only found a CD of French songs and a bike tube (which I had just bought three the day before). Frank found some tools. Anna found nothing.

After browsing we rode downtown to get lunch at the very busy Brick Oven Bistro (or The Beanery as some of us still call it). Saturday market was going on so Anna found something after all, a pendant.


After lunch we went to the Green Expo which was right there at the Grove as well. We got several brochures and stickers. The day was heating up. We were getting ready to leave when I saw my front tire was flat. Good thing I had just bought those tubes (I had a flat earlier in the week which is why I knew we needed some. My rim liner was punctured which was causing the flats).

Fortunately, they had bike people there to help with repairs and stuff. They had some electrical tape we could put over the rim spot. Frank changed the tube, but they had a nice pump to use (so much easier than the portable pumps we have on the bikes that take forever to pump up). Once fixed, we headed down the river a ways. . .


so we could put our feet in the freezing water. It felt good but was the kind of cold that makes your feet and legs numb.



Who's that handsome guy?

Since Frank and Anna had split a lunch and Anna was hungry again. We went back downtown to get some croquetas, a local Basque specialty that Anna just loves and we don't get that often.


On her arm, it says "Keep it local. Think Boise First." That was from the Green Expo. We also got a sticker (which you can kind of see on the top of Anna's visor) which says we were carbon neutral because we had ridden our bikes there.

When snack time was over, we headed toward Bogus Basin road where the Pedal Parade was starting, as we were planning to participate. The mention in the papers wasn't specifically clear about times. So when it said Pedal Parade at 4 p.m., we thought that meant the parade started at four. We were there about 3:15 p.m. because you had to sign a waiver and we thought there would be tons of people.

There was nobody there yet. Across the street we went to get a cold drink from the coffee shop (smoothie and italian soda). It was a very hot day today. After a while we started to see other cyclists trickle in. I think they meant start gathering for the parade at 4 p.m.

We were hoping there would be hundreds of cyclists. Frank estimated that there was maybe around 100. We were also a little disappointed because we didn't see many "crazy" or homemade bikes. We did see this guy with his old fashioned bike. Anna and Frank were one of three or four tandem bikes.


I think around 4:30 is when we actually set off for the parade. We all rode down 13th St. into downtown , up 9th street and over to Julia Davis park. I was hoping we would have a police escort so the group could stay all together to make a bigger impression (and the silly motorcycle rallies always get traffic stopped for them). But no, not even the bicycle police. So the group got divided by stop lights. There were kids and adults of all ages riding.


At Julia Davis park, they had free pizza, salad, strawberries and drinks for us. We also received a free t-shirt when we turned in our waiver.
After dinner, they had a drawing for some small items and a drawing for a bike and Bob trailer. The drawing for the bike and trailer included every participant throughout all the events of the week and you didn't have to be present to win those. Of course, we didn't win anything.


I had Anna take a picture of me and Frank, just to show that I was along for the ride, too. Sometimes I remember to do that. Just ignore the helmet head hair!


It was 95 degrees today and we were riding up Shaw Mountain road during the hottest part of the day. We arrived home around 6:30 p.m. A great way to end bike week.

Cool Cats

Yes, more snow pictures. I can't resist. This past weekend we had some wet snow, just right for building snow cats. No, we don't build snowmen around here. We build snow cats.

Frank did the physical labor of getting the snow rolled up into the basic cat shapes.


Anna came to refine the form and add the details with her "sculpturing" stick.



I woke Sunday morning with a sore throat and am trying to fight off the cold. I wasn't up to playing in the snow but I did help Anna with the long cat tail on the left.

I was just thinking to myself last week how healthy I have been this winter so far. Only one short cold (and now two) and no sinus infection, which in the past few years I have gotten. I guess I cursed myself. My throat is still sore and I can tell I'm feeling drained, but it is a busy week (as well as next week) for me and must carry on.

I worked at the art museum yesterday and will today and tomorrow getting a show ready. Thursday, I have to do the school art lesson which always wipes me out even when I'm feeling well. Then after the lesson, I have to meet with the yearbook kids (they wipe me out with frustration). Next week is basically the same. Maybe Friday I will be able to rest (although there is laundry to do, house cleaning to do, bills to be paid and Frank left today for Florida and will be gone until Friday.)

If you need to see more snow-building pictures, Frank put some on our website in the photo gallery under family photos, 2008.

Inverted

Yesterday there was an inversion here in Boise. That is when the cold air sinks into the valley and stays (since we are between two mountain ranges). It holds in the clouds and pollution until enough wind can come and push it out. In the valley it looks gray and is cold. But if you drive up to Bogus Basin, you are high enough to get above the inversion and it is sunny and warmer up top. We went nordic skiing and it was so nice to be outside in the snow and sun. I only got this one picture as my battery was low.


I had dropped my camera in the snow when I was getting it out. Hence there are snow spots. I tried to fix them in Photoshop but it was taking way too long. In the distance you can see the sea of clouds and the mountains popping out.

Two Surprises

Friday morning we had a surprise visitor - a young deer. Anna and I were working in the studio and I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. Looked out the window and saw this guy/gal. It walked around the side of the house and we were able to go downstairs and watch it out the window. It didn't seem to notice us there. So we watched it for quite a while.



This morning we woke up to another winter wonderland. Yea! We went out right after breakfast as we know snow doesn't last too long and will start melting during the day.




We tried sledding on the road and managed to get a few runs in but started hitting bottom. Then the dirt truck came and put dirt on the street. On to snowball fights. You're never too old for snowball fights (I hit Frank several times)...


... or for sledding! Yes, those are my feet and Anna is at the bottom of the street.

Wine and Adventure

Saturday after Thanksgiving we went wine tasting at the "local" wineries (not in Boise but outside Nampa near Marsing). We went to several that we had been too last year while my parents were visiting and one new one we hadn't visited before. This might be a new Thanksgiving tradition.


Anna came along with us although she was not so excited by it. She did manage to munch on cheese and crackers, soup and chocolate. Usually I would taste the white wines and then go outside with Anna to leave Frank to taste the reds and decide what to purchase. It worked out pretty well. But to add a little fun for Anna, we went geocaching in between. What is geocaching you ask? Well, you go on-line and find lots of places where people have left coordinates. You get the information and then you use your GPS to follow the coordinates. Then you search around the final location to find a hidden box, bucket or some kind of container a person has hidden.



Inside the container are things that people have left. You can leave something you brought and take something else from the container. Then there is also a notebook to log in. Afterward, you hide it again for the next person to find.


A couple of years ago, Frank and Anna made up a geocach box to put on Rimrock. They have instructions about what it is in case someone accidentally finds it but doesn't know what it is. But I guess some kids found it and took the whole thing as it disappeared.

Long Weekend

It was nice to have an extra day off this past weekend. Anna and Frank made up some homemade bubble stuff to attempt making huge bubbles. The book said it doesn't work as well if the humidity is less than 70%. Well, in Boise it is usually like 10%. It took some effort but they did manage to get a few. Although they did not last very long.



With the extra time, I managed to finish this quilt. It is part of a group project. When we proposed the idea (maybe nine months ago?), I was very excited to get started on it. But as time went by hashing out the rules, my mind moved onto other things and I lost enthusiasm.

The rules are that if you decided to do the project, you had to have it complete by the deadline (which is next Wednesday). The theme was Idaho rivers or streams, which could be interpreted abstractly (i.e. stream of consciousness). We cut the sides so they would puzzle piece together with each other. We had to do a facing binding so it would not show on the front. Every one got the same river fabric and both sides had to be used. A river line was drawn across all the template pieces and you had to have the center of your river on the line and follow it for a couple of inches near each edge (so you have some consistency with meeting up with the next person's river). However, it could be as wide or as thin as you wanted it and in the middle of the piece you could veer from the line as you wished.

After all that it is no wonder I lost enthusiasm. But it is now finished.


If you don't live in Boise, you probably have no idea what this piece is about. It is called Art near the River and these are abstract representations of public art pieces in Boise that are somewhat near to the river. The top structure is the Anne Frank Memorial. The totems on the left side are sculptures that are in the outside sculpture garden at the Boise Art Museum. The semi-circle pieces are part of an artwork that is on Grove street. The yellow structure on the right is another sculpture at the art museum. The fish that are flying around are modeled after the artwork called Spring Run which is mounted on the side of a building downtown. And the funky flowers are similar to the ones found on the mural on the Hitchcock building. I outlined and shaded them with black thread.

We're Back.

We've been in Europe for the last two weeks. It went by so fast. I have probably taken over a thousand pictures. That doesn't include the pictures Frank took. It will take time to sort them all out. I will put a few of the more "artsy" ones here. Some more can be seen on our website when Frank gets them up.

We spent a couple of days in Amsterdam, then traveled to Belgium. There we had a couple of days in Bruges and a day in Brussels. Afterward, we traveled back to Amsterdam to start our bike and barge tour for southern Holland. The weather for the bike trip was not so great - mostly rainy, cloudy and windy. It was really amusing riding in the pouring rain and wind. We were prepared and had our rain pants and jackets with us, some did not.

We thought it was going to be a self-guided trip, but ended up being a guided tour. We did have the option to do self-guided (where they give you the maps and you go on your own) and we exercised that option for three different days. The other days we went with the group for various reasons. Riding with a large group (19 people) is not my favorite way to go. Still, it was a good trip and we learned a bit about Holland and really enjoyed the area.

I will tell more about the trip as I put some pictures up. The one above is Anna and Frank in Bruges.

Saturday

It was a typical Saturday here today. Except that the annual Lakewood garage sale was going on today. Lakewood is a nice neighborhood area and every year they have a weekend that is for garage sales. Lots of people in the area participate. We rode our bikes, which is much easier to get around than with a car, because there are lots of cars! There were probably 30-40 garage sales or more. Some people would just set out a table with stuff on it because they knew there would be a lot of people coming by. Some people had few items laying out on the lawn. Most had more.

Besides the usual clothes, books, baby items and toys, we noticed lots of printers (many which happen to be just like one of ours), small box t.v.'s (as opposed to the flat t.v.'s that are so popular today or the hand held kind) and microwaves. Frank happened to be looking for one of those small t.v.'s to use in the garage and for real time video at his rocket launches (geek!). He had the bargain of the day finding one color working t.v. which was made in 1990 (not too old) for $3. Despite all the stuff, I didn't buy anything (that's good). Frank had to go back for the t.v. later since we were on our bikes. That's one way to limit shopping, usually.

Here is another "rebel who doesn't follow the instructions" piece I did. I used the same background and same motifs as with the previous one, but with printed paper instead of solids. I call it Crossroads and it has little bits of a cut up map on it.

Sugar High

Nothing I've done today really compares to the experience of going to Powell's Candy Shop. So I won't even tell you about it. We've been wanting to go see this shop for awhile. All Anna's friends had already been and were telling her about it. It is a small candy shop that has every kind of candy under the sun, including some "retro" ones. I thought it might be set up like an old fashioned candy shop, but it wasn't really. They did have a tin ceiling and retro things on the walls. It was kind of small and packed today! I took lots of pictures (quickly since there were so many people).

They had lots of sugary drinks, too.









Here is Frank and Anna outside getting their sugar rush!
Here's what I picked. It was expensive at $4.50, but part of the proceeds go to art education in New York or Washington D.C. And I got a little reproduction art photograph by 6 year old Connor.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am having a nice, relaxing day. I hope all you moms out there are, too. This morning Anna gave me a lovely card she made.


After breakfast and reading the paper, we hopped on our bikes and rode downtown to Julia Davis park. We rented a pedal boat and pedaled around for about an hour. Anna loves these things and we don't do it that often.


We saw other mothers out enjoying the fine weather.


Then, we got back on our bikes and went to the bagel shop downtown for lunch. It used to be called River City Bagel Shop but to our surprise it is now called Alia's. The menu is the same but they added nice spots of hot pink and lime green outside with some flower boxes in the sitting area and added some splashes of color and more funky seating inside. Anna and I both had yummy broccoli cheese soup with a bagel. Frank had a breakfast bagel. Doesn't that blueberry french toast bagel, toasted with butter, look delicious?


After lunch, we rode over to The Record Exchange to exchange some CDs. I don't think they have many records, but mostly CDs and DVDs. Our CDs were so old and dated, they did not take many of them. But we did get a $10 credit. I found an used Putumayo CD combo that had Music from the Coffee Lands and Music from the Chocolate Lands. Too bad it didn't include chocolate! But when I opened it up at home, there was a bonus world samper CD in the box.

I really like the Putumayo series of CDs. They have lots of different ones and I have a few. A couple we have are the "playground" series they make for kids. Anna likes them, too.

I had Frank take a picture of Anna and me outside the store (seeing how it is Mother's day, I thought I should be in one picture). The outside was recently painted by a local artist. It is very cool. They used to have another mural on the walls, but I guess they decided it needed an update and this is what it is now.


Back on the bikes again to head home and up the big hill that always awaits us on our return trip. Yesterday the temperature got up to 90 degrees. The weather has been beautiful today: sunny, clear with a cool wind and only in the 70's. After we arrived home, I just sat outside in the sun and laid down on the hammock for an hour or two. It was so nice, I felt guilty about doing absolutely nothing. But there is a quote from someone that says something like, "The best time to do nothing is when there are lots of things to do." Besides, it is Mother's Day, a good time for a break.