All Lu, All Week

One of the ladies in my book group is German and grew up in a German community in Washington.  She is a mosaic artist and asked me if I'd like to see the handwoven linen that her mother had left her, woven in Hanover Germany around 1830.  The tatting is gorgeous.  We all just gawked.  She asked me what I thought she should do and I said - take it to a conservator.  This is priceless - don't wash it!

Alexia went with me to book club and entertained herself in the library for a while, then spent the last half hour with our book club.  She loves to be with adults.  I was left trying to facilitate a book club and keep them from being talked to death by my granddaughter.  I think we managed a successful finesse.  
She has cookie dough from her school fundraiser that she has been chomping at the bit to bake.  She sent this note to my email from my iPad and I'm not even sure how she did it.  She's eight!

It's been a very full week.  After I posted that I was licensed to substitute teach, I got an email from a long-time friend who admitted to me that she's a lurker on my blog. She emailed me asked me to sub for her in December and offered to let me shadow her in the classroom.  I did that Thursday and it was absolutely awesome.  I came home knowing for a fact that teachers are underpaid.   Oh, and she had lurk as a vocabulary word so tried to explain how she lurked on my blog.  I am in awe of her.  I cannot possibly replace her in the classroom but now I'm confident that I can conduct a class with her lesson plans.  She had 22 students and she is like the leader of an orchestra. 

I also learned that day, chatting with my friend and her principle, that there's a sub list for librarians.  I got myself on that list today and I'm oscillating with excitement for the opportunity to be back in a library environment. 

We did get to the cookies.  There's a small craft fair in our valley tomorrow and the price of admission for vendors is a tray of cookies. 

Meanwhile, Alexia took to Kumihimo like a duck takes to water. She whipped out four projects and wants to move on to satin and beads.  She can't set up yet so isn't able to work independently, but she's not far off. 
These are the projects she whipped out.  They're all from cotton cord and so are destined to be friendship bracelets, but I didn't expect her to be so prolific and didn't purchase findings.  Meanwhile she's already to move on from friendship bracelets anyway.  Holy moley.

This is the project I'm working on now and Lu is drooling.  She wants to make one too.  Kumihimo looks hard, is easy and the results are fabulous.  I can see Kumihimo items in my craft  booth next year.  Rae nudged me during the class and asked if I thought next year at the McQueen craft fair that she, Loreen and I would have braided items for sale.  At that moment I couldn't imagine it - seemed way too labor intensive.  Now I'm hoping to find buyers.  It's another addiction, like I need one. 

Meanwhile, Lu and I have discovered the fun of art programs on the iPad.  They are insanely fun and this was one that Lu tried to explain to me.  My dad and grandmother worked in charcoal, oil or watercolor.  I've adopted acrylics but David Hockney's move to painting on the iPad gave me permission to play in that sandbox too.  Alexia didn't think twice.  She explained her process to me for this image. She's eight!!