Old but colorful news

We went to the butterfly exhibit the 2nd day it was open. Most of my pictures are just like everyone else's, so I spared us all the cropping and posting. But I will share a few.

I did get this pretty cool closeup of a Buckeye that perched on Eminoodle's hat:

click on it if you want to see it even closer up at flickr ...

Buzz liked them - except when they landed on him:

And, while this isn't a dazzling photo, it was exciting ~ one landed on me, way down here by my thigh, and worked its way all the way up to my shoulder, over my back where I couldn't see it.

on the way out, the girls and I - who were walking home - jumped off the ledge for awhile. I really wanted to do this on LeapDay, but was a bit late.

I should jump more often, I like mid-jump hair. And do you like my new "girly" coat? And how it matches my boots? I'm quite pleased with them. :-)

Last colorful news doesn't fit with the rest, it's the old "hack it into the same blog entry or it'll never get posted" routine.

WAaaaaay back in 4th grade we had a chalk drawing assignment. It went to tour somewhere, as Elementary school Art is known to do. There wasn't a mall in town way back then, so maybe it was the Big City Mall a half hour away, or maybe it was one of those cool Mezzanine Library Art Shows I always loved. But anyway. After it was gone, my art teacher said someone contacted her because they wanted to buy it. As a budding artist, I was thrilled. She helped me set a fair price, and I never saw the picture again. I didn't forget about it, though, once in awhile something reminded me of those old days when I thought of myself as an artist, and that I had actually SOLD a work of art.

So anyway. Back in the dead of winter '08, on some bitterly cold day, I got a phone call. Some lady said she had just talked to my parents, and had been at an antique show / flea market. Well, if you know my parents you would have hung up right there. We all know they weren't at a flea market or antique sale. But I didn't hang up. Turns out SHE was at a show, with her friend, and her friend saw this framed chalk drawing. And looked on the back. Where it still had the original school art display sticker, with my former name, address, and phone number. So the lady bought it, took it home, and sought to reunite it with the 4th grader who made it. Fortunately for me, my parents still live at that phone number, and gave her mine. She gave me the drawing for free, happy to reunite it with it's owner.

So here it is! Are you so curious?!?!

I'm sure some of you are struck by the smudgy nature of chalk, some of which was at the advice of the art teacher, as I recall, and you are thinking, "messy."

Others of you, surely, are struck by the delicate artistic balance and signs of budding genius (like the clever signature, complete with exclamation point!) Uh huh.

And the rest of you are stuck thinking, "What IS that?!" because you want to understand and it looks a little abstract, which bothers you. Right?

It's skunk cabbage!

Skunk Cabbage!

nifty, eh?

So now you know a famous artist.

Er. An accomplished artist.

Yeah.

As a result of the return of this work of fine art, I will in the future need your decorating advice. But not today, all this typing is too much for my poor weakened state.