Chicklets

Earlier this week, E found a plain little whistle I had made for a public school workshop. He suggested it would be nice to have a similar whistle, but with a hole for a piece of string so he could hang it around his neck. Thus was born the mini-chickarina: four holes, major sixth span (do re mi fa fi sol si la), and so cute, they make their larger counterparts look downright classy by comparison. See http://cuteoverload.com/tag/the-rules-of-cuteness/, Rules of Cuteness #s 3, 6, 7, 9, 14, 21, 28, 37, and 38.

Family portrait

Contemplating the origins of life

The serious artist in me--the one who skillfully crafts forms of elegance and beauty--is a little concerned that all I want to make these days is chicken-shaped ocarinas; but the practical geek in me laughs and says this is the clear confluence of a PhD in music theory, years of practice on the pottery wheel, and a lifetime of cat ownership.

Goodbye, hello

We're having the deck on the back of our house replaced with a screened-in porch. Consequently, we had to bid adieu to a sprawling scuppernong. Whereas S considered the loss of this North Carolina native grape unfortunate, I considered it motivation for promptly submitting paperwork to the city planning department. (Our house is a local historic landmark, so we needed to obtain a Certificate of Appropriateness before altering the exterior.) Farewell, sprawling mosquito-harboring bearer of thick-skinned, seedy fruit!

Our builder, Lee, excavated several pounds of brick-red North Carolina clay while digging the holes for the new pilings. I will slake the clay and sieve out the rocks and twigs, and then I'll see what I can make with it. In the meantime, two newborn birds peer over the porch edge and contemplate the origins of life: