glow

We had a barbecue at my house for Independence Day, followed by experiments with glow sticks.  Did you know that inside that translucent plastic tube is a very thin glass tube with the chemical inside of it, and that when you bend the glow stick, you’re actually breaking the glass and releasing the chemical?  I only know this because I found little glass shards and bulb ends (like the ends of twinkly lights) floating in the bowl in the sink where the mostly-emptied plastic tubes went.  Alas, our plan to make glowing bubbles failed: not because we couldn’t get the glow stuff out, but because the fluid membrane of the bubble is SO thin that color—or glow—does not readily show up. Le sigh.

Other news: I went on an excellent bike ride and managed to meander into the Farmers Market (fun!!!)  I saw several street musicians, but the one pictured above takes the cake!  His little dog was literally jumping up and licking his chin as he sang, and then it laid down on the guitar and chilled, when I had my video going.  Typical animal filming experience!

Bread from my second ever 5-K, courtesy of Great Harvest, a bakery on the riverfront that gives away a free slice of bread (butter optional) to anyone who wants one (not two, is my impression, but I’ve never tried to push my luck).  Isn’t the cutwork on the top gorgeous?!  I will have to try that next time I make bread (I’ve  made pizza dough into pizza, into breadsticks, and into sweet caramel rolls, but never have I actually made bread, per se.  Nor am I likely to make it before autumn, unless we get some cold weather!

Here’s my half (painting; all of the underlying line art is mine as well) of our sculpture floats, minus the black line, which is oil-based sharpie.

I couldn’t find a legitimate paint pen (they were all fabric paint or sharpie of some ilk, very frustrating).  I went over it with Mod Podge before dad varnished the completed floats, just in case it decided to streak!  Both are now finished, but do I have a picture for you? No  Why? Because I don’t carry my phone with me everywhere, that’s why! Almost everywhere, but not everywhere.  Anyway, you will see plenty of pictures in—YIKES!!!—two weeks, when we race in the Graand Kinetic Challenge at da Vinci Days, Corvallis’s epic science, music, and art festival! Excuse me while I hyperventilate into a paper bag. TWO WEEKS!!! So glad my part of preparation is over: costumes and bribes are ready!

My work (I’m in the business of making waterproof iPod shuffles) asked for a little comic of sorts to post on our Facebook page, and these are what I came up with.  I like the contrast of the tiny faceless shuffle and the larger iPod/iTouch/iPhone with a screen for emoticons, and I may do more of these on my own time, but work never asked for a final version. Le sigh again

I think I talked (wrote?) about growing my hair out, but it got to the point where I was putting it up, taking it down after an hour or so when my head started to ache, and generally feeling dominated by the hair.  I realized how silly this power struggle was (Emily v. Sun, round 27: FIGHT! gee, wonder who’ll win…) and decided to pick my battles.  Short hair means I don’t have to put it up to keep my neck cool (and give myself a hairdo headache).  I still stick my head under the faucet and mist myself as if I were an air plant, but I’m ok with that.  I’m also ok with the fact that my hair will NEVER look like it does in the above photo EVER again.  I love the straight look, but it takes way too long to do, and, in summer, the heat of the straightener is murder!

 

Buddy would like to know what is more interesting than him; Indie would like me to hold still, please, for the next couple of hours.  The brothers are so adorable!  I was trying to come up with a clever pun on the Brothers Grimm, but slim, trim, and prim don’t really fit these two!