151: Science Fun

I stumbled upon a fascinating material today. On a whim and based on a partial memory of toddler crafts, I mixed some cornstarch and water to entertain my daughter. But I couldn't seem to get the mixture right. One moment it was solid cement, the next it was thin as water. Did I need to add more cornstarch, or more water?

I turned to the internet for the answer and realized I had mixed up a batch of Oobleck, a non-newtonian liquid that can be poured but acts as a solid when force is applied. What an exciting discovery! The kids and I had a blast playing with this cool gooey substance, mixing up batch after batch until the box of cornstarch was empty. 

150: Point of Rocks

 

Today the kids and I met up with some friends at Point of Rocks Park on the Appamatox River. Not only does this park have one of the coolest names I've ever heard applied to a county park, there is a gigantic playground area and, as if that weren't enough, a nature trail that includes a boardwalk through a marsh.

 

 

I don't normally include nature-y photos here, especially ones that include absolutely no blue to speak of. But the exotic beauty of this marsh as a tremendous thunderstorm blew in was breathtaking beyond the normal nature-y stuff and worthy of breaking one my rules.

149: Binding

 

My talented sister made this for me as a gift one year for Christmas. She knew that I liked to keep track of important events and milestones in my son's life, then the only child, in a journal that was almost full.

I've gone in the opposite direction since that time, from noting every cute saying and escapade to jotting quick notes on the calendar. Life is much busier with two little ones than I ever could have predicted when we were a family of three.

148: Morning Stroll

A few of the sights from our celebratory 4th of July neighborhood family walkabout/ bike ride.

147: Crowds

This was my husband's response to the cicada casings he discovered lined up on the kitchen windowsill the other day. He painted the figurines many years ago, but this is their first glimpse of daylight in quite some time.

Some out-of-town family visited over the weekend, and we headed to Cobblestones water park to beat the heat.

The people watching in this 25,000 square foot pool is fantastic. I hope I wasn't too obvious, swiveling my neck to check out all the different people splashing in the water.

One of the benefits of the huge crowd is that I felt totally anonymous with my camera, which freed me up to get my fill of candid portraits.

146: First Day at Phoenix!

Today is a big day. Last week I quit my job, and today I started working part-time as the mosaicist for Phoenix Handcraft, the company my husband and I started just over a year ago. As of today, our family is entirely self-employed. Hoo boy.

 

After organizing my studio that has been deserted and unused since last summer, I began researching material to use on my current project, a kitchen backsplash. I noticed this window next door to one of my stops in search of the perfect tesserae for this project.

 

I spent most of the afternoon working on the layout.

At the end of the day, I took a break and wandered out into the metal studio. This is my husband's newest tool, a flypress. He calls it Smooshy.

145: Let Loose