September 14, 2013

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation: Part 3, Art All Around



A really great side effect of not going too far from home - but still being committed to go to totally new places every day for a week - is that you will uncover the awesomeness that will always keep being nearby, and will become your go-to places in the future.



Case in point: Grounds for Sculpture, a gorgeous sculpture garden only about 45 minutes from our house!



Until now, my reference point for what this kind of place might be like is Storm King in upstate New York. We've been there a couple of times (like last year, for instance), and it is ginormous and fun, but the actual artwork there really - REALLY - over-represents 2-3 artists. So there's a certain... sameness to everything as you walk around.



Grounds for Sculpture, though is so varied - and because it's smaller, so much more manageable to actually walk all the way around!



Also fun? Each sculpture is marked by the artist as either totally hands-off, or available for "gentle and respectful" touching. Because sometimes you just want to dance...



I can't wait to go back.



Next and last part of our trip? Forests, waterfalls, and boulders - oh my!

September 11, 2013

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation: Part 2, Adventures Underground

Honestly? Caves are unlike any environment I have ever been in before. The chill, the super tactile quality of the rockface and the formations (no worries, no one gave in to the desire to touch anything), the low light, the brief experience of absolute pitch blackness... I'm just so happy I got to see that even a little bit.

Anyway. We completely accidentally hit the motherlode on our very first cave... a fact that we didn't realize until the second cave turned out to be a) way, way more commercialized, and, more importantly b) way, way more recent, which meant that it did not have very much in the way of meaningful stalactite and stalagmite growth.

So, for your viewing please, I will now reverse the cave order - and it will seem as though you are traveling through some kind of magical time vortex, as you see what will happen to the newer cave in a million or so years. Give or take.

What do I mean when I say one of the caves was commercialized? Well, for one thing, they had a huge gift shop that sold anything that could even remotely be associated with... rocks? the ground? I'm not sure. Suffice it to say, they had a whole bunch of posed dinosaurs. You know, since they lived in paleo-caves back in the day. Jake does his best dino:



The most fancy formation in the cave was this wall of deposits. I know it looks impressive, but just wait till I show you the pictures from the other place. One cool thing though - see the hints of green? That's algae.



Bonus points if you can spot Jakey ghosting this shot. I'm thinking it's the magic of long exposure times:



And now, for the piece de resistance! Imagine if you will, time passing, water dripping and then drying, tiny amounts of sediment depositing over and over again... (Oh, and, if you are ever anywhere near Crystal Grottoes Caverns, seriously - just go. It's awesome, and the tour guide is pretty amazing - and no one will try to sell you plastic kiddie head-lamp hardhats.)



One of the views up when walking through this cave.



And now I'll just let this sink in: this cave drapery took 1 million years to form. Drop by drop by evaporating drop of water.



Next piece of our trip? Art!

September 9, 2013

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation: Part 1, The Middle Ages

This year, we stay-cationed it, taking a bunch of awesome daylong trips all around our area - and then still getting to enjoy the comfort of sleeping in our own beds every night.

The first bit of the week was super medieval-themed, and we really got into the swing of things at Ye Olde Renaissance Faire and Reenactorium. It was pirate weekend, and of course we threw on some hastily-assembled gaaaarrrb for the occasion (although since we were a crew of good guys, we decided that we were Her Royal Majesty's privateers and not just some scurvy pirate scum). Here are Little Roundee, Flowerita, and the mysterious Navigatrix. Taking the picture? Captain Brown Beard:





Most of the day's highlights revolved around some kind of sword-fighting because obviously. First up? The duel to end all duels, the epic combat that lasted almost 7 minutes - ladies and gentlemen, I give you myself and Mr. Forty-Two Roads all leather-armored up and actually hitting each other with giant and heavy (though blunted) honest-to-goodness swords! It was super fun and completely and utterly exhausting. How on earth did anyone do this wearing actual armor?



The next bout of blade battling was more a melee free-for-all, and let me tell you - those plastic swords are worth their weight in digital Amazon money.





Oh, and did I mention there was a falconry show? Check out this beautiful bird!



Our festival of anachronistic Dark Ages celebration next ventured to Medieval Times, which is that awesome place where dudes perform all sorts of acrobatic stunts on horseback and then stage-fight for your amusement while you eat chicken with your fingers. You know, just like everyone used to six hundred year ago. And yet, it was sort of a magical night because totally out of nowhere, Lara was picked to be the Queen of the Tournament! Here is the green knight giving her a sash:



She was pretty stoked.

Stay tuned for the next part of our vacay - cave diving!

September 6, 2013

Floating Desk Nook



What do you do with an odd little bumpout in the corner of a room? Well, if you are me, you at first daydream about the possibilities of a quaint and charming window seat. But then you quickly come to your senses and realize there are already quite a few various reading spots all over the house and this one would not be nearly as comfy as the plop-worthy couch. And also? A second grader could really use a desk - a real desk, one that isn't primarily an art table.



After a bunch of research, you add some cleats to the wall to support the floating desk, making sure to anchor them deeply in studs on one side and masonry on the other (because your house is old and so is a mixed bag when it comes to wall materials).



Then you measure the walls and realize that not only are there no right angles, but there aren't even straight flat spaces... and so you cut your tabletop and shelves with curved sides. Then you fill the remaining gaps with some paintable caulk, which is only ever your friend.



Three coats of paint, two coats of poly, a chair, and a lamp later? You've got yourself some very happy kids all excited about their new desk nook! Here it is again: