Dangerous

This concludes the August Photo Challenge.

Cluttered #2 or The Value of Summer Boredom

The creative process for my daughter:

1. Get bored.

2. Complain a lot about being bored.

3. Read books.

4. Attempt to re-create something seen in a book.

5. Usually, she's completely happy with the result, no matter how messed up it appears to an adult.



Afterwards, I don't know what to do with all of this stuff! [If you receive some of it in the mail, it's because I have too much.] But I think there is great value to summer boredom. You can almost see her brain growing as she tries to figure out the best way to create something beautiful.

Lucky

Cluttered

I wonder where that Vitamin B2 came from?

Corridor

At Mary's house.

Looking through the window in the door, you can see the Fortune Teller with her crystal ball. The Fortune Teller is a toy lady who came from Dig N' Save, Madison's cheapest, dirtiest thrift store, which sells toys by the pound. I believe Mary said she paid 30 cents for the fortune teller, who began speaking to a shocked Mary on the car ride home. The Fortune Teller answers yes or no questions about the future, but she has many, many ways of saying yes or no. Little Z asked Fortune Teller if I was beautiful, and Fortune Teller said,

"I wouldn't count on it."

"Clearly, she lies," I said. (Parenting advice: Always call yourself beautiful in front of your daughter.)

Then we asked Fortune Teller if my friend Heather was coming to the party. Fortune Teller said,

"Don't hold your breath." [Heather never showed.]

We asked if Fortune Teller liked Mary's house, and she said,

"I cannot be certain."

I'll forgive the Fortune Teller for her poor taste... this time.

Ten Minutes From Home

Drive for ten minutes in any direction from my home, and you will find a red barn. Along the way, you may also see some red barns. I like to admire red barns. *This one is quite tidy, with good details- what do you call that little house on top of the roof? I love those things.


Our own barn is white. That's okay. I've always been a nonconformist.


* I have a feeling I may have photographed this barn before, from a different angle.

Entrance

Bob the Cat waits for Yappy Little Dog to leave the party.

Culture

At the town picnic.

In the Background

Yellow

A Room

Guests of this blog stay in the Prestigious Virtual Bedroom:

Slow

These little roosters are slow growers.



This is the inside of the coop made of trash.

Stairs

Lost

When we moved from Colorado to Wisconsin, I put my favorite ring in a special place, so I wouldn't lose it during the move. Then I forgot where the special place was.

Three years later, I was looking through some old photos, and I found a little wooden box. Inside the little wooden box was something wrapped in a tissue. Inside the tissue was my favorite ring, still in its special place where I had carefully hidden it three years earlier.

Someone I Spoke to Today

If you need someone to talk to, he's always there in the bathroom.

Exercise

*This is me, doing my first 50K.

*This is not actually me, doing my first 50K. This is just one of the 57,843 people who rode their bikes through our winding, treacherous neighborhood today, bless all of their dear hearts.

Cooking

I learned on Facebook that if you put a wooden spoon over the top of a pot like this, it won't boil over:



That was supposed to be the end of this post, but then the pot boiled over! Of course, I didn't expect it, so I didn't get a picture. Curse you, Facebook, you've fooled me for the last time!

Excuse me; I have to go clean my stove.

The Best

Lick-a-color popsicles at the zoo are the best.

Trash

The animal pen on the right (orange netting), which is full of tiny roosters, was made almost entirely out of trash. I only bought the screws to put it together. (I apologize for the poor angle. It's impossible to take a decent picture of it.)

Fast

A fast meal: