Pizza Commentary

We ordered a Pizza last night...one of which was an "Americaine" Pizza. An American pizza is apparently comprised of: cheese, ground beef, peppers, and olives. Sounded fine, and even turned out to be quite tasty. However, it seems an "Americaine"pizza, is not complete without some "spicy piz"...

I'm not quite sure what that says about us :-)

Tour de France

Yesterday we went and watched the Tour de France fly by... Yes we are now in France. It's quite an experience watching the tour. You have to pack a picnic, find a spot to enjoy, find some shade!!! Bake in the sun & heat all afternoon, waiting for the parade to start. Usually there is a car parade of advertisers before the tour arrives. They have silly dressed up cars, and throw candy, hats, small toys, sausages (yup you read that right). After the parade... you get to see about 30 seconds of fast bike riders. Then you have to find some way home :-)

It's good fun, a day out. You get to chat it up with other spectators, everyone has their own speculations. Cheer on your favorite team.. see the yellow jersey. And the polka dots... (personal favorite, it's for the best rider in the mountains).. I think only the french could make red polka dots an honor to wear.

We didn't get to see the parrade yesterday, much to the kiddo's disapointment... The crowds as well. As this is the part you only get to enjoy on the road, & can't see on TV. It apparently had a hang up, and as a result had to detour around us :-( Hopefully next time.

Arte y Pico Award

Wow! I have been awarded an "Arte y Pico Award".

Apparently this is what it's all about:
“The “Arte y Pico” award was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and their talents, whether it be writing, artwork in all media. When you receive this award it is considered a special honor. Once you have received this award, you are to pass it on to at least 5 others.” ... and originated here:
http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

I'm really honored,

First to have been given it by such a wonderful artist & blogger, not to mention friend Judith Heartsong.

Second, because blogging is really quite a new form of expression for me... I'm horribly dyslexic, and have always hated writing as a result, but I find this blogging thing quite wonderful. Not only putting thoughts & ideas out there... but enjoying all of the wonderful knowledge & energy other bloggers put forward.

And finally, because it hasn't been until recently that I have actually allowed myself the title "artist". And truth be told, it was the little one, who introduced me that way first. I'm still getting used to it. And frequently fall back on "web designer", "flash animator/programmer", and "teacher"... sigh, I'll get there.

Ok now to pass it forward.
My 5 picks:

sethepotter The charachter & fun of his pottery & ideas keep my head spinning & laughing. This is wonderful work.

Keri Smith's Wish Jar her books and blogs have been been an inspiration and a catalyst for me in many ways.

The SteamPunkWorkShop... I think all I can say here is wow...and I wan to make myself a bus! Only mine will be an art bus.

Skull-A-Day not that I'm particularly in to sculls, but this guy had tenacity, and some wonderful ideas. Images of sculls made from everything imaginable, and plenty unimaginable. Wonderful imagry. And the boys absolutly loved it...

Nanibird This satisfies my need for paper art. I love the idea that a piece of paper, can be turned in to so much more, folding, cutting, printing, playing :-) Nani bird's are free to download & build.

Flying Flowers

In case you hadn't noticed I have a profound love for butterflies. So when my mother suggested a trip to a butterfly garden I was more than gun ho. Camera in hand, I went hoping to catch an image or two. But this garden surprised me. Located in the Netherlands, is a small tropical paradise with exotic butterflies and flowers. I was amazed... oh no, not one of my images does it justice. The flowers were absolutely breathtaking... but even more amazing, was that some of them would just get up & fly. When the clouds broke and the sun shone, and all of a sudden in this small sanctuary, all kinds of flowers would take flight. Flowers attached to stems, flowers hanging from vines overhead, and now flowers fluttering past in the air. 50 of them, a 100 of them, butterflies everywhere. There wings beating to their own rythm, silenly. You could folow one for a moment.. but only a moment, becuase the next one would flutter past catching your eye, new paterns, new designs.

It made me think of the paintings my friend Judith Heartsong makes, of flowers... i was imaging what it would look like if they all suddenly took flight in her studio. Something like this place I think.

It was a wonderful sactuary. I think I will keep this place in my mind. I cannot build another for myself, but I'm sure I will visit this one many times in my mind, when I need to visit a quiet chearful place.

Note to Self

Today's life lesson is sponsored by: how to not take on a freelance job before you go on vacation!! I have finally finished a flash piece for a client. A piece that was only supposed to take a couple of weeks (my estimate)... and have all of the information up front (clients promise). Ha Ha . Three weeks in to my vacation I have finally sent it off. ughhh. Does that mean I can now write part of my trip off for the tax man? tee hee.

Lesson's learned:

• Portable work drives my mother up the wall.
• Projects always take longer than you can think them.
• In order for my links to continue to work in an AS3 scollPane component, I need to cash the incoming xml text as bitmap:
  
  content_textfield.cacheAsBitmap = true;
  
  
• NEVER take on work right before your vacation... No matter how desperate the client sounds.
  
• My ego can occasionally lead me astray.
• It's more important to me to hang out with my family & enjoy them, than my clients are.
  

Lessons I will probably have to continue to learn & relearn the rest of my life:

• projects always take longer than you can think them !
• My ego can occasionally lead me astray.

Anyone else have words to live by?