Raoul Dufy, continued. Thursday, Jul 2 2009

I just realized I forgot to finish my blog post about my trip to Jackson to see the Raoul Dufy exhibit.  My mom and sister were supposed to meet me in Jackson on Sunday and we were going to go together to the exhibit.  That morning, I think, I got another call, saying that my nephew had advanced another level in his Little League tournament.  Therefore, he had another game that morning, at 9:30.  That meant that not only were my companions going to be leaving later, but they would be leaving from Carencro, LA – which is even farther away than Covington.

No problem.  I had already slept in, and made the decision to get up and go ahead of them.  That way, I would make sure I saw everything I wanted to, and then I could just follow them around when (or if) they got there.

I got my stuff together and drove to downtown Jackson and located the museum.  Since it didn’t open until noon, I went out to find a place to eat.  There’s not much in the way of restaurants in downtown Jackson, especially on a Sunday morning.  I drove around the HUGE Mississippi State Fairgrounds, and through a picturesque gentrifying neighborhood (Belhaven Heights) before finding a Waffle House and deciding to eat there.

Before my trip to Jackson, I had asked my father if he had any advice – he lived south of Jackson in a little town called Osyka.  So I figured he’d been to Jackson.  His advice was to approach the city with an armed contingent.  Apparently, my father thinks that Jackson is dangerous.  This from a man who has traveled all around New Orleans and Houston and Atlanta – all three cities much bigger than Jackson.  He just said to stay away from the bad parts of town after dark.

This Waffle House was on the periphery of the Downtown area, and I was joking around with my waitress (a college student) about my father’s pronouncement.  She said, “Oh, this area is fine in the daytime…”  Okay.  Not long after that, suddenly two men started yelling at each other – cursing and challenging each other to a fight.  The management got them settled down and send the angrier man outside, where he waited, furious, gesturing the other guy to come out and join him for a fight.  We really don’t know the cause of the disagreement, but my waitress said, “Well, now you have something to tell you dad about!”

From there, I returned to the peace and quiet of the Mississippi Museum of Art.  I paid my entry fee, and the kind people told me that I could leave and return if I wanted to without paying again for that day.  I really took my time – there are two ongoing exhibits at the museum as well as the Dufy exhibit.  I really enjoyed the Mississippi Story exhibit, which included works by Mississippi artists, as well as art about Mississippi.

I learned a lot about some artists that I had never heard of – I especially liked the work of Walter Anderson.  Apparently, there is a museum in Ocean Springs, MS, with his work and an entire room of his house with painted walls.  I will have to go there next time I’m in that area.  His work is fabulous, and he apparently worked in many media, including watercolor, linocut, and clay (?).

In addition to Walter Anderson’s work, I was flabbergasted at the larger-than-life representational works of Glenray Tutor.  It says on his site that he is a photorealist.  His still life works are filled with all sorts of beautiful ordinary things like firecracker wrappers, marbles, candy, toys, bottles, Mason Jars – you just have to go to his website to see it for yourself.

There was one work by Lea Barton called Yellow Dog – it was a mixed media collage and had a picture of Jesus on it, so of course it caught my attention.  It was inspirational to see because it was a large work, and I am trying to envision larger pieces for my own artwork.  I went to her website, where there is a YouTube interview with the artist.

By the time my mother and sister arrived, I had spent about 2 1/2 hours in the museum and was going through the gift shop.  I loved the Dufy exhibit – his body of work is so vast and colorful!  I especially loved his woodcuts from Bestiaire, by Guillaume Apollinaire.  I am definitely going to buy a copy!  He was also the illustrator for an Alphonse Daudet book called Les Aventures Prodigieuses de Tartarin de Tarascon (I think).  Here is a copy of an English translation of the book.  Here is where you can buy a French version.  Neither seem to have Dufy’s illustrations.  Apparently a copy of that would cost a LOT.

It’s 11:00 and time to get up and do stuff!

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Raoul Dufy Exhibit in Jackson, Mississippi Thursday, Jun 25 2009

Last weekend, I went to Jackson, Mississippi to see the Raoul Dufy exhibit at the Mississippi Museum of Art.  I also invited my mom and my sister to come – kind of a girls’ weekend.  As usual, nothing could be that simple.  First of all, Mom decided to take advantage of some days off to precede the rendez-vous with a visit to my sister’s family in Covington, Louisiana.  That, in itself, is not a problem:  Covington is about 2 1/2 hours south of Jackson, so Mom and Sis could drive up and meet me, then I would take Mom back to Atlanta.

My husband, in the meantime, had an opportunity to go to NearFest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that same weekend.  That meant coordinating dog boarding not only for my dog, Lupita, but also for my mother’s dog, Poppy, because we were also taking care of her while Mom was in Louisiana.  I keep Lupita at Man’s Best Friend up here in Norcross, so I just had to make sure her shots were up to date and drop her off.  Poppy was a bit more tricky.  She’s only about 7 months old and has never been boarded.  I had already made reservations at the Hilton Garden Inn in Madison, Mississippi and they do not accept pets.

I hesitated to also board Mom’s baby at MBF because they have a bit of paperwork to fill out.   Also, Poppy is only a 10 pound puppy (and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel – princess…) and she could not just stay anywhere.  So, after a brief websearch, I found the Chateau La Pooch just down the road from the hotel in Madison.  Perfect solution!  So, Poppy was going to ride with me to Madison on Saturday and stay at the CLP for two nights, then ride home with Mom and me on Monday.

The drive over was 6 1/2 hours – I had my trusty Garmin GPS to guide me.  I really only stopped a few times – picked up a book on CD at Cracker Barrel, and did drive-thru for lunch.  I didn’t want to leave Poppy in the car – even in the shade – for long because it was HOT!  This wasn’t a problem until I got to the Mississippi Tourist rest stop and decided I wanted to look at a map – one thing about the GPS is that it doesn’t give you the big picture.  Surely we were almost to Jackson!  So, after walking the dog, I picked her up and walked into the Welcome Center to find a Mississippi map.  After I did that, I walked back out.  Her feet never touched the ground, although I did try to get her to drink from the water fountain (which she declined to do…)

As I walked out, the kindly security guy came up to me and said, “Ma’am, we try to keep the dogs out on the grass…”  So, I looked at him pleasantly and explained my dilemma:  Leave a puppy in the car and have someone report me for animal cruelty, tie her outside (where someone might snatch her – I didn’t say that), or carry her in just for a moment to look at the map.  He told me that Jackson was not far away – I knew that already… and we said our good-byes.

After I dropped her off at the “chateau”, I went to the hotel.  Mom and Sis were not coming until Sunday, so I had the evening by myself.  I used my laptop to search for shopping options (if there’s a Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, TJMaxx, or Tuesday Morning in the area, I like to check it out.), and drove out to shop.  I didn’t find too much, but stopped at a Stein Mart and bought a dress and a new top.  Then, after searching up and down the frontage road of I-55, I decided to try Raising Cane’s, a chicken finger restaurant.  Then, I went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Part Two later!

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Cordel Art of Brazil Tuesday, May 12 2009

I have recently gone on a Brazilian kick.  I almost bought a ticket to visit there, even.  On Travelocity.com last Friday, I was doing a random check on airfare and found out it was only $525 RT to Sao Paolo!  I have friends who have relatives there, and was waiting to find out if anyone would be home.  (Interestingly enough, that was more important than waiting for the “go ahead” signal from my hubby…).  Alas, by the time I got an answer, the airfare had shot up to $760.  Dang!  You snooze, you lose.

So I have had to satisfy my urges by visiting my local Brazilian grocery.  There, I bought two savory pastries, one called coxinha and the other was a Brazilian kibbeh concoction called quibe.  I loved the former – a lovely chicken croquette with crispy bread crumbs on the outside (Here is a recipe link).  The kibbeh was too salty.  I also bought a square of orange colored cake with a cocoa icing.  I gave that to my Brazilian co-worker because I am supposed to be on a diet.

The main cultural aspect of Brazil that I have been researching is called cordel literature, or literatura de cordel. (from Maria-Brazil.org): “Literatura de cordel” (string literature) are pamphlets or booklets that hang from a piece of string (cordel) in the places where they are sold. These are long, narrative poems with woodcut illustrations on the cover, often done by the poet himself. There are traditional themes (romances, fantastic stories, animal fables, religious traditions) and themes based on current events, famous people, life in the cities, etc.  Cordel literature can be hilarious and very racy, too.”

Links:
Here is an article on electronic cordel literature.

Here are photos of cordel displays in Brazil.

The poetry of d.s. levy, which follows the cordel form.

Article on literature de cordel on Tobetupi.com.

Another piece on cordel literature.

Brazilian Collection and information site on Cordel Literature (in Portuguese).
Acrobat file on native poetry forms of the Americas – first page is on cordel literature.
Arizona State University professor’s article on his cordel collection.

Lesson Plan:  Stories on a String from Saxarts.com

Article on a family day at a San Angelo Texas museum focusing on Brazilian culture.

Another Event: the Green Cordel Festival May 2009

Galleries with Brazilian Woodcuts:
Indigo Arts
A Hopeful Madness
Mariposa Arts
Tesoros Trading Company – You can even buy Cordel Literature by J. Borges

Books about Cordel Literature:
Lampion and his Bandits – English Version of Cordel literature legend, Lampion – a sort of Brazilian Robin Hood.
Stories on a String - by Candace Slater – very important resource.

Jorge Amado: New Critical Essays
Article in Callaloo Journal
The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature by Roberto González Echevarría, Enrique Pupo-Walker

That’s just the beginning.  One of the reasons I am going to the John C. Campbell School is to learn a bit about woodcut printing!

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I’m into bookmaking! Monday, Dec 15 2008

I have to thank The Crafty Chica (Kathy Cano-Murillo)  for her awesome tutorial video on Making An Easy Gift Card Book!  I have been getting her Diary of a Crafty Chica e-mail updates, and this one really inspired me.  The first one I made was covered in fabric – I know, I can’t seem to just follow the directions before improvising!  Mom complains that I do the same thing with recipes.  But, I had all of these red gift envelopes saved and this new brocade with dragons, and, well…

Let me back up a bit.  If you are not interested in watching the tutorial – it’s only 7 minutes long – here’s a short explanation of the project.  You buy gift cards from various stores, but instead of just presenting them to the recipient in an envelope or one of those gift tins they now sell, you make a little 3 1/2 inch by 5 1/2 inch book with envelopes inside to put the gift cards in.  You stick the gift cards on little cut out tags that you make to match the book and envelopes.  I really loved the idea, and decided to make one each for my niece and nephews.  That’s 3 books.

Of course, Kathy does hers with 3 gift cards each, so on Saturday I spent some time going around to stores and buying gift cards.  I started out at Kroger, because they advertise that they have the best selection – over 200 gift cards!  Here’s the problem:  I did not find one that was under $25.  I did buy a 3 pack of $10 I-Tunes gift cards, so that was good.  My mother warned me about some news report she saw claiming that gift cards are risky because some stores may go out of business before the card can be used.  Scary!  But, I went to Target, Sports Authority, and TJMaxx – I think I’m safe.

So, as I was saying, I tried an Asian theme first.  I bound the bookcovers in red brocade with medallions and dragons on it.  Then, I made my first mistake – I covered the inside of the covers before gluing the accordion envelope holders onto the ends.  So I had to prize up the holographic cardstock – hot glue is NOT forgiving.  At that point, I decided to finish it, but to make it a “practic” book.  The second mistake I made was in my accordion folding.  I was about to go into a big detailed explanation (snooze) but let’s just say that I figured out an easier way to fold without measuring out the accordion fold lines.  Lastly, although I love my little Chinese red envelopes, they are quite a bit smaller than the book is – although the gift cards DO fit in them.  I finished off the outside binding with some floral foil I had.  So, it was a bit insubstantial, but it was good practice!

From there, I went on to make a really stunning book with an angel theme.  I used heavy scrapbook paper and some Punch Studio angel Christmas cards I had been hoarding.  It looks awesome!  Although it was not part of the tutorial, I had some gorgeous silk ribbon saved from my (OMG!) wedding shower 10 years ago.  I attached it to the front and back, covering the glued-on places with angel cut outs.  I will have my husband take a picture of it and post it.  I honestly don’t want to give it away…

So, now I want to give gift cards to everyone on my list!  I am working on a Loteria-themed booklet (natch!), and am going to do more…  First, I have to put a coat of varnish on my Blue Dog Shrine orders and mail them out!  I am really bad about that – I get my best ideas when I am supposed to be doing something else!

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Cajeta Cupcakes with Membrillo Surprise Saturday, Nov 10 2007

I finally made my cupcakes with cajeta. I had this recipe for cajeta poundcake that I found years ago and decided to try and use it for a base for cupcakes. I filled the cupcake cups almost half full, then put a slice of membrillo (quince paste) on top of that.  I then topped that with a little bit more of the dough.

The recipe made much more than a regular cupcake recipe – about 40 cupcakes in all.  Note:  the recipe calls for 2 cups of cajeta – that is actually one 23 oz bottle.  I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to get the last 1/2 cup out.  Beware – the bottle WILL melt.

I decided in the end not to ice the cupcakes.  They were dense and chewy enough with the 3 cups of sugar and 2 cups of cajeta caramel.  I brought most of them to school – I still have leftover bread pudding that I am eating.  People really liked them – I had some of my Mexican students and one teacher from Nicaragua rave about them.  I personally thought them too heavy.  I may experiment with a regular Cake Mix Doctor Pound Cake recipe or just adding some cajeta to a cake mix.

Not now, though.  I think I have to stop with the cupcake making or my family may plan an intervention.

Last night, my husband had passes to go to the Jonathan Coulton show with Paul and Storm at the Five Spot in Little Five Points.  We got down there in time to eat a dinner of falafel before the show.  Both acts were awesome and funny.  The Jonathan Coulton phenomenon just shows the power of the internet and blogging.  He actually came to Atlanta just because enough fans promised to buy tickets to see him if he came! How can you not love a guy who writes a song about IKEA?

This has been a pretty tame day.  I woke up at 10:30 and took the dog to the polo fields over on the other side of town where I used to live.  It’s the only place I know of where I can let her off leash with no worries.  Then, I found a shady place to park so that she could wait for me in the car while I ate sushi at RuSan.  When I got home, I took a nap until it was time for my massage.

While I was napping, we had a phone call from my dad.  He called to tell us that, in case we were looking for him this weekend, he would be at the hospital.  What?!!!  My dad lives in a small town in Mississippi, about one hour north of my sister’s home in Covington, Louisiana.  He had a urinary tract infection last month, and it has gotten worse.  He got out of the hospital for an hour to make arrangements to have his dog taken care of, but he is staying in the hospital on an IV drip of antibiotics for a couple of days.  I hope he’s going to be okay.  My sister is going to check on him and pick up his dog tomorrow.

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Retablos and Tres Leches Sunday, Aug 12 2007

I think that I have been on my new diet for almost a month.  I have not been perfect, but this morning I weighed in at 6 pounds lighter!  Let’s see if we can make it last!  Of course, I have been obsessively going to websites that offer nutritional information for frozen entrees (that’s what the diet revolves around – sort of a home-made Jenny Craig thing).  Anyone who has read my blog knows that I love to cook, but I am trying to refrain from too much food obsession.  I know that all of the frozen entree info collection seems like obsession, but at least it’s diet related! 

My birthday is coming up on Tuesday, and I am wondering about doing a little celebration at school with my students.  I have been thinking of doing this ever since our school system started choosing earlier and earlier start dates – my birthday used to only run into pre-planning!  We have advisement for the next week every morning for half an hour and I am thinking of doing something then.  I have 14 of my (current number of) 20 students in my advisement, and I would just have to send for the 6 others.  I don’t know yet.

One thing it may give me a chance to do is to make cupcakes!  I don’t think any enabling family member will get me the Cupcake Courier mentioned in this blog entry, but I may try the chongos zamoranos experiment – I have the chongos… (I provided the link again, in case anyone thought that was a euphemism.)  I also found a great looking recipe for tres leches cupcakes – I would omit the rum, of course.  Check the recipe out – it looks yummy!

Today, I ran errands, then came home and decided to try and finish some of the story boxes I started a year or so ago.  They are all done with Teresa Villegas’ new loteria, and I just needed to add some trinkets and found objects to the insides and decorate and sign the outsides.   I also have two new boxes that I made before my trip to Mexico – I used the traditional loteria with those, and need to do the same with them.  I spent a lot of time last week or the weekend before last organizing all of my trinkets.  I hope that makes them easier to use!

Tonight I have been surfing E-Bay, collecting more Ex Votos.  There is one E-Bay seller (Madreselva’s Mexican Folk Art) that sells “faux” ex votos – “thanks” paintings featuring amusing or bizarre scenarios.  I think they are all done by the same artist.  They are awesome and very colorful.   I just bought one with some of my grant money.  It was not too easy to find ex-votos this time in country – I bought two small ones, but I wanted a large one, too.

I love the stories – this one is about a circus fire.  The one I just bought was a thank you to San Antonio for finding someone a husband.  San Antonio seems to be a big theme with me right now – no, I’m not looking for another husband!  He’s also supposed to help people find things… (No, I still haven’t found my passport.).  We also were in Morelia during the Fiesta de San Antonio, and we went to the Rincon de los Solteronas, where there are many, MANY statues and images of San Antonio.

I also just love the city of San Antonio.  If it weren’t for global warming, I might have moved there!  I can barely stand the heat wave we’re having in Georgia right now.  I don’t know how I lived in Louisiana all that time!

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The lost entry… Wednesday, Jun 13 2007

I knew that I had done this entry, but almost couldn’t locate it!

By the way – my husband is also keeping a blog on this trip. You can read it by going to www.myspace.com/wheatwilliams and accessing the blog.
Day Two of Classes: I think I have everything worked out as far as payment and class schedule. Yesterday, after I took my pre-test at 9AM, I went to all four of my classes, and ended the morning at 2PM. I thought this was an exception because my husband’s schedule went from 9AM to 1PM. But no, they have me scheduled from 10AM to 2PM, so our schedule is staggered.

Here is my schedule – from 10 to 10:50, I take gramatica (grammar) with Rosy. Then I have practica (practice, right?) with Alejandro from 11:00 to 11:50, where I go over sentences using the grammar point taught in lesson one. We get a 20 minute break. At 12:10 I go to a class called “no verbo” taught by Lupita (yes, I told her that was my dog’s name). Finally, at 1:10, I go to conversation with Paloma.

Then the school Spanish director realized that I was signed up for 4 hours of classes, but only scheduled to pay for 3 hours. I figured that out last night, and was planning on going with it. That was before I found out that classes would last until 2PM. After going back and forth, I figured that either conversation would be dropped if I had 3 hours, or I would have a different conversation teacher at 9AM. I really like Paloma a lot – she knows all about arts in the area and has even inquired about opening a Distroller franchise, so she knew what I was talking about there. Therefore, I decided to let things stay the way they are.

Not that I will be sleeping late or anything. I am having some trouble sleeping because there is no air conditioning. Last time I stayed in Morelia this was no problem because the weather is very mild and comparatively cool at night. The problem is that I am now staying on an upper floor, and the air circulation to our bedroom is not ideal. So it is a little stuffy. I will get used to it – maybe I will buy a fan.

Although there are no early morning crowing roosters (thank God), at 7AM sharp the church bell begins ringing on the quarter hour. I don’t know what the system is – it will ring about 17 or more times each quarter hour. There is no way to tell time by the church bell – you have to have a point of reference first. Our alarm clock is set for 7:30, but I am pretty much just lying around before that. Pretty soon after the church bell rings, the boys come by to pick up the trash. They ring a bell constantly as they go along to let us know they are coming. Sometimes one boy follows another (or the same boy comes around again?) about 10 minutes later, then they come pretty often in the morning and in the evening.

Yesterday, we didn’t do much since we were tired from lessons. After a pretty bland dinner (Wheat was having a nausea problem), my husband and I went back to the school to use their internet connection. We were able to use Skype to call both my Dad and my Mother at about 2 cents a minute. It was pretty cool. Then, we did a little web surfing until the school closed at 9:00.

Today, after classes, we went out to eat at La Picola Italia. It was a neat little place. I ordered a mushroom bruschetta appetizer, a Mediterranean salad, and pasta with eggplant and swordfish. I was going to share this with my husband, so I told the waiter. He ended up separating all of our food (except the bruschetta) into little individual plates. That was so awesome.

We then started our research by going to the government palace, where there are great murals. They were painted by Alfredo Zalce, one of the last great muralists in the tradition of Rivera, Orozco, and Siquieros. We spent long time photographing the murals, and we may do a videotape. One of the murals documents the history of Morelia (which used to be called Valladolid), with neatly lettered explanations of important events. I have some ideas for using murals in conjunction with teaching history and time sequence. The other mural is a tribute of the many types of people who make up the culture of Michoacan.

Finally, we located and visited the Mercado de Dulces and did a quick lap. I have been keeping my eye out for Loteria decks and games and I finally found my first on the trip. I bought two for 30 pesos and have already opened one of them. To my surprise and delight, it had a silvery backing. Apparently it was printed on unused Downy clothes washing detergent cartons! Obviously, it’s pirated. It has borrowed images from Don Clemente, as well as other pirated Loteria decks, but it has some unique images, like the “elk” and the “squirrel.”

I just got an e-mail from my mother with a report on the dog. We just spoke to her last night, and things were fine. Unfortunately, after she spoke to me, the neighbors petitioned her with a complaint. Apparently Lupita barks non-stop when Mom is out of the house and the neighbors can’t take it. So it’s off to doggie camp for her.

I may have to skip my paleta tonight. I plan on starting a “paleta of the day” commentary. Last night I had a cajeta paleta – it was good, but the stick was short. I am working on my scoring and will get back to you tomorrow

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Last Day! Friday, May 25 2007

I have been doing a lot of research pre-trip on art topics, and have found some really interesting things. Yesterday, I found out about paño art, which is art done on handkerchiefs and other fabrics by Chicano prison inmates. An interesting connection I made was with one of my entries from the Hispanic Heritage Month Poster Contest I had last year. One of the entries was turned in on t-shirt fabric. It looks strangely similar to paño art. I wonder if it was really done by a boyfriend or relative…hopefully, not in prison. Although it will probably interest some of my students, I doubt that the administration will be into prison art…

That will be the challenge with preparing these lesson plans and projects. So many people are intolerant – you get flack for talking about the Virgin of Guadalupe and a lot of customs because it’s too religious. Then, other aspects, like gang stuff, are too controversial and most of my students are too immature to discuss them rationally.

I found a really cool website that exhibits children’s art called Artsonia. A lot of teachers have done retablos and other projects that are based on Mexican culture – it’s really neat. The retablos and ex-votos seemed really popular. I just typed in “Mexican” in the Search and all of these great examples of student project work came up!

Hubcap art has fascinated me since I found some assemblages using hubcaps on E-Bay a couple of years ago. I am always looking for “masculine” art projects to interest my students. Here is a site with hubcaps decorated by children for a garden project. And I found an awesome series called Hubcap Milagros by an artist named David Avalos. I am including an image of one of his creations here. I don’t think that the school will let us work with sawblades!

Today is the last day of school – yay. I still have a lot to do: I get to pack up my classroom, mainly. In theory, I didn’t really have to move last year – I was supposed to, and had already started, but that room sprung a leak and flooded. It is a challenge, finding enough boxes.

This week is also very busy socially. I went to a retirement party for a colleague last night, I am going to the graduation of one of my former students tonight, and tomorrow I am making a cake and taking it to a birthday party. The only complication to all of these things is that they are all the way on the opposite side of town from my home. Sunday, I will sleep. All day.

I have made some plans and reservations for the trip to Mexico. I should have been a travel agent. We will be staying in Morelia, but visiting a different place every weekend. The first weekend, we will stay in Patzcuaro, at the Mansion Iturbe. I’ve stayed there before, and it’s beautiful. There is also breakfast included. We will be visiting other towns, either by rental car or by paying a taxi driver. The second weekend we will go to Guanajuato and staying at the Posada Santa Fe. I plan to visit Dolores Hidalgo and try the weird ice cream flavors. The third weekend, we will be staying at the Hotel Morales in downtown Guadalajara. I want to go to Tlaquepaque to shop for crafts, and definitely check out the Distroller store there.

The week after classes, my mom will meet us in Puebla, and we will visit old friends in Atlixco. They are the ones who live in the really awesome ex-hacienda. I plan to visit another Distroller store in Puebla. I also have other ideas of crafts areas to visit. They make amate paper in one of the towns, I know.

Now, I have a little problem. In my proposal, I stated that I planned to do a profile of Amparin Serrano, of Distroller fame. I don’t necessarily have to meet with her face to face, but my husband says that it sounds like I am definitely doing that in my grant proposal and in the press release. What I said is that I HOPE to interview her. I have tried sending an e-mail to the information contact at the Distroller website, but of course I have heard nothing back. It’s really funny, too, because there is a whole discussion thread on one of my blog entries about the company. Some of those people sound like they think I have some sort of inside information, but I am just as clueless as everyone else.

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Morning in Decatur Square Sunday, May 13 2007

This morning I got up uncharacteristically early for a Saturday. I had made an appointment to have my Toyota Echo serviced. Since we were already up, my husband and I decided to go to Mingei World Arts and see the Oaxacan wood carvers there. Their name was Santiago, and they are from San Martin in Oaxaca. If I had thought ahead, I might have asked to videotape them at work. We won’t be going to Oaxaca this summer – there’s just no time.

We decided to bring Lupita, our dog. We loaded up in my husband’s car and drove down to Decatur, which is about 30 minutes from where we live. We found a parking place on the square and went to beg quarters to pay the meter. We put the Gentle Leader on the dog so that she would walk nicely with us. We found Mingei, and I tied the pooch to a low pipe near the wall of the store. She immediately started barking, but I hoped she would calm down eventually if we ignored her.

I went in, spoke to the owner and went back to meet the carvers. My husband hovered at the door, wishing the dog would stop barking. I stepped out for a second and said “Hush!” Lupita replied with four loud sharp barks. Great. I went back in while my husband hovered inside near the doorway, trying to keep her quiet. A few minutes later, I heard my husband call my name. It is never good when he uses my first name – usually, it’s “honeee…” or “dee-arrr” – if he says “Celeste” then I know that I am in trouble.

He told me to come outside right now. Then, he showed me where Lupita had wrapped around a big concrete planter and knocked it down, cracking it in the process. Great. Luckily, the owner was super nice, and pointed out that there were no plants in the pot – it was actually being used as an ashtray by passers-by. We disposed of the two broken pieces, dumped the dirt in an adjoining wooden planter nearby, and hid the big piece in the alley. Wheat stayed outside with the dog. I went back in and bought earrings, four heart milagros, and two small carvings: a frog and a turtle. Then we left.

We walked around a bit – I wanted to go to the Little Shop of Stories, an awesome children’s bookstore on the outside of the square. It also harbors the last vestiges of the famous Jake’s Ice Cream. I found some cool books I want to get for my niece and nephews – maybe later for Christmas.

We decided to eat at Raging Burrito, and they were nice enough to sneak us (NOT thru the restaurant) to the back patio. I ordered a veggie quesadilla and an Orangina, and my husband had a HUGE burrito. We opted not to go to Jakes, only because our meter was running down. I may have to go back tomorrow, because of Jakes AND because I espied some lovely old rusty embossed tin on the side of the old wood planters. The design was embossed fleur de lis and I am itching to swipe some (maybe from the back!). In my defense, the tin is practically gone from the planter anyway.

After my nap, I went to pick up my car, and then stopped by JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby in search of baseball card collection pages. I am taking part in this ATC Mega-Swap on Swap-Bot.com, and I need a place to keep track of them – there will be 20 in all. I also have decided to arrange my Loteria games in some order. I am happy to say that I received a brand new My Loteria game from Texas. It is designed by Christina Sosa Noriega and is really awesome. It is being sold at the H.E.B. stores in Texas.
Since we have now decided NOT to drive to Mexico, so I don’t know when I will get to a real store.

I am still waiting for some sign of Zarela products in my local WalMart. They cleaned the shelves off completely – even the shower curtains – so I thought that was the end of things. But recently I saw some candles on E-Bay, so I went to the Zarela site. According to the site, they are actually expanding the region. I don’t understand it… I will keep checking. I cannot believe that they would stop selling those shower curtains – they were really hot on E-Bay. I have one more left in the package, but I don’t want to sell it just yet.

That makes me wonder about my Loterias – I have the Quilt Loteria and the Loteria Celeste. One day, I may have a complete set of cards. For now, I am going to work on designing enough to come out with a second calendar.

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The Sampler! Tuesday, Sep 12 2006

For the past two months, I have contributed to something called The Sampler. I heard about it on a great podcast: CraftyPod (moderator, Sister Diane). The Sampler is an artist’s exchange – artists send samples of their product to Marie Kare, the founder and operator. She then divides them up into boxes and auctions them off to the first 450 or so bidders. She also puts Samplers on E-Bay. They go for as much as $60. I know because that is how much I paid for mine (hey, I had to see what I was getting into – now I get them for free for contributing).

The past two months, I contributed 50 buttons that I had ordered on Cafe Press – part of my Loteria Celeste collection. I included a card with the URLs of my two current websites. We’ll see… Right now, it’s just fun to contribute and to see what I get each month.

Today was the first day of ITBS testing. And, for the first time in a year or two, I overslept. I usually wake up at 5:30 AM and hit snooze a couple of times – getting up around 5:48. I leave for school (a 35 minute drive) at between 6:12 and 6:18. This weekend, I set my alarm for 7:00 AM to make an appointment to get my car assessed by Geico. I forgot to reset it. Lucky for me, I woke up in time. I looked at the clock, and it was 6:12!!! Yikes!

I tell you what: I put in my contacts, threw on clothes, went downstairs and grabbed my lunch. Got in the car and the gas icon was flashing – no time for a refill then! I made it to school before 7:00 – looking ravishing, of course. I got my testing materials, went to my classroom, and the day zoomed by after that. Oh, I forgot my frozen entree for lunch, but at least I had salad and breakfast!

Exam weeks are always very surreal. Administrators are always experimenting with different test schedules – this week, I get to keep my little darlings (16 students, when my usual max is 9 in a classroom… I know – you’re jealous, but it’s not as easy as it seems!) from 8:20 to 11:00. That is, IF testing ends then. The students also are not allowed to leave the room during that time. That means no bathroom breaks, at all – except for me: I can call an aide to watch my classroom. Today, we finished up at around 10:15. Tomorrow, we are testing Math. The very best part is that, because my seventh grade students only have to take the Reading and Math tests, I have to find some way to entertain 9 of my students (my fifth period class) for 2 hours and 40 minutes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Can you say, “video”?

Today, I decided to treat my students like adults – colleagues, if you will, and show them my plans for Hispanic Heritage Month. I am the head of the Cultural Diversity committee at my school. Last year’s Hispanic Heritage Month was a good starting place for what I want it to be, but this year, I have bigger plans! Last year, I had a poster contest, and put the winning designs on Cafe Press. This year, I am designing the t-shirt and have put it up already. Since the theme this year is the Loteria (I know, big surprise!) and our school mascot is the Blue Devil, I have created a diablito azul card, and I really like it. I am getting better and better at PhotoShop, but I still had glitches. I hope to upload this design, with its papel picado logo, on another CafePress site. The trouble with last years’ designs was that they didn’t go up until November, and there never was a satisfactory way to collect money.

So, I showed my students the cute calendar I made in Microsoft Publisher – each day has a Loteria card assigned to it. There will be a different topic each day on the announcements: everything from Pancho Villa to Lucha Libre. I hope to get my students to help with setting up displays. Tomorrow, I am going to go around and take pictures of the different display cases and bulletin boards around the school to see what my options are.

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