What monster attacked King Hrothgar's mead hall for twelve years?

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was the first person to hold what title of office?

What Italian physicist won a Nobel in 1938 and created the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor?

What name is missing from this list:  Miller, Moceanu, Dawes, Chow, Phelps, Borden, _____?

Pots to the People - Check! Fun and we raised just over $1000

Big Ink printmaking -  Check! 3 large prints are now drying in my office and I'm trying to figure out how best to get them framed. I am so very very proud of myself!

DRAGON - THE LAST PROJECT TO RULE THEM ALL. (or at least last project standing) Working in it! If JoAnns was still in business, or if I could find my sewing supplies, I'd be much further along in making the dragon body. Instead I wait for amazon to drop off a new rolly cutter, and piece together scrap fabric for the body as I wait. And also designed some 3D printed feet for the dragon which will take forever to print and will not fit the first time. But that's how I roll.

No photos yet of Dragon, but soon, Soooon my pretties, sooon.

14 days ago I went glamping/camping/crafting at an event called Figment Alpha. There I ran the first test of my lifesized Tsuro "Game of Dragons" game. And started making 2 more papercrafted/paper mache dragon heads. The game test informed some improvements. The heads are still a work in progress. (also while there I finally learned how to progress from a chain to the next step in crochet. That step took both 20 minutes and 50 years to learn.)

TOMORROW I have a fundraiser at the local beer garden. It's called Pots to the People, where we offer $35 handmade pottery items that come with a complementary drink ticket. We have 67 "pots" of various shapes & sizes. Funds raised support my non-profit Dover art league. I'm anxious but we're ready to rock it. I have 4 volunteers to help man the station! Also, the league is so fortunate to have on staff someone who translates my sketches/ideas to fabulous fliers. Check out this fab "power to the people" riff

The DAY AFTER TOMORROW I will be at the Delaware Contemporary Museum to print my first woodcarved block. Before then I need to sand and brush the board, but everytime I go to do that I start carving a bit more. I'm pretty sure the border isn't carved deep enough, but we shall find out Sunday! My ex is looking after my kid as I spend the day printing. I can't think of a better way to spend mother's day!

Loaner cat for scale. Also, shag carpet is great for hiding wood carving curls & scraps.

12 Days(ish) from now I go camping with 1200 of my best hippie friends. This is where we will play Human Sized Tsuro for real - I have it on the schedule for 1 or 2 hours every day. For that I am making a 10+ foot long dragon as decoration. It is SO NOT DONE. I so want to be spending all my time working on it but (see above) this weekend is already spoken for. Next Tuesday I'm working an election from 6AM-9PM. Today, and next Friday and Saturday I work my museum job. Arrrrgh, I just want to focus on Dragon! It is so not done that I don't even have photos. Le sigh, art life is stressful. But also wonderful and it keeps me busy,

Our first win at EWF...

What German chess term refers to a position where any move is worse than the disallowed option of passing one's turn?

What royal residence in the Highlands of Scotland was built in the 1850s for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert?

What labor leader and 5-time presidential candidate had campaign pins in 1920 with the text "For President: Convict No. 9653" ?

What Hawaiian volcano is the traditional home of Pele, the goddess of fire?

What American president subsequently served in the House of Representatives for nearly 17 years before suffering a cerebral hemorrhage during a vote?

Bun Bars made of chocolate, caramel, and peanuts were renamed for what baseball player in 1978?

Joopiter is an auction platform that was launched in 2022 by what American musician, record producer and fashion designer ?

The first U.S. $2 bill, issued in 1862 as a Legal Tender Note, featured a portrait of what Founding Father?

In 21 days I print my first woodblock hand carved print at Big Ink at the Delaware Contemporary Museum in Wilmington. If it was tomorrow I would have something to print. It's done enough. But when is enough enough? I still want to crisp up some lines, clean out some chatter, and make Dante's coat better. (that's the character's name, Dante. With head on fire.)

I'm forcing myself to put that on hold for a week or two -- but not 3, because yo: 21 days til printing! Got other things to do: today is get the grant application to rebuild my Dover Art League's pottery studio submitted, and work on that Tsuro dragon game project that due in 5 days (see last post)

Anyway, some photos of the carved block, then I'm off the write my grant request.

April 23 - 6 days from now! I am bringing human sized Tsuro to Alpha. And apparently dragon crafting, because I told the coordinator that I would have crafting. I have a minimum viable version 90% complete! Minimum viable means:

1. rules (done. Printed and laminated)

2. 36 handheld tiles - done. Wood with lines burnt into each. Past Ursula made these on the laser cutter years ago for no particular reason. Yay past me!

3. 36 matching 2'x2' tiles - done. Cloroplast with vinyl lines

4. Mark the sets to match up the handheld & the large tiles -done as of tonight! 

5. Capes of various colors to mark the players - aquired from Amazon

6. Frame with start points marked - not started. Will be made from furring strips. I'm shooting for getting that done Sunday. 

Oh yeah, I also made a paper mache dragon head, but that's not really part of minimum viable. Still needs painting. I'll probably make that, and decorating the back of the tiles as the craft.

Photos:

I love working from what I call ‘blorbs’. I am a huge fan of the artist BriksLovesYou (www.instagram.com/br...) and all of their work. Watching them work has been really inspirational, and lead directly to me enjoying creating images like this!

Is itself a response.

Mom asked us to come ASAP to see dad at the end of February.  We flew down on Tue Feb 24, saw him in the hospital (where he'd ended up due to pneumonia) on Wednesday, saw him come home on Thursday (and we took care of some legal paperwork), and said goodbye to him on Friday before heading to the airport.

Kim and i were scheduled to leave to Europe on Monday, but she'd been dragging healthwise due to what we suspect was human metapneumovirus, and we waffled on whether we should cancel the trip. We decided on Sunday to go for it, but neither of us being at our best meant that we managed to forget our CPAPs, which we then had our dogsitter express to Basel.  Then they got stuck in customs for two days, by which time our river cruise had begun, which required a courier to bring the boxes to the first stop.  All told, that brain fart cost us over $1k.  But it was quite a relief to sleep well after three days of almost no sleep.  The river cruise was eight days and extremely enjoyable, and i managed to see two childhood friends and a cousin along the way.  We then spent another eight days in Amsterdam with our niece and her family.

Dad died twelve days after we left Ecuador (the day before the cruise ended).  In addition to the stomach cancer, they'd also found an aortic aneurysm.  He died at home in the best possible conditions.  His suffering was minimal.  Mom's now in the process of moving to the new house, and my aunt Martha will join her there.