truckin'

our family has been on a journey across the country to visit the california crew. we took our time driving and stopping along the way. 

we explored at a favorite spot, and a place i have been excited to visit for a long time. 

we are now in san francisco. it feels good to be out of the car, and with family at last.

p.s. nevada is weird. 

BIG SHOWDOWN

hello friends in the michigan area!

this is an announcement...

there will be art, fresh tempeh, and books to see and have at calvin's center art gallery

thursday evening, 7pm.

work by adam wolpa, jo-ann van reeuwyk, and more!

hope to see you there!

PS look for the !!!!!! while you're there

printmaker

suki is now attending preschool two days a week. she is having the best time so far. every other week they have a color day. the kids all dress in the chosen color for the day, and today was red day. last night we realized that we do not have a lot of red in her wardrobe, and needed to come up with a fun solution quickly.

we decided to make an apple shirt! since this was suki's first printmaking project i took a lot of pictures. 

suki turned out to be a natural, of course.

she was very pleased with how her shirt turned out as you can see.

this morning we enjoyed apple muffins for breakfast, and found a few more red things to wear with her new shirt. red tights, a red hair bow, and her rebe sweater that has a few red flowers. perfectly prepared for the day.

hmmmmm.....

today i have been thinking of how i regret not buying tickets to see this show. i love jens l! although, there is a mystery with his new record. i was very happy when adam brought it home for me as a gift, so i opened it, and put it right on. after a couple songs, i started to wonder if our speakers were blewn. a few minutes went by, and adam came into the room and asked if our speakers were broken. we started researching the best deal on speakers, and were very bummed. meanwhile, we listened to the download of this album, and it sounded great! still believing that we needed new speakers, we started asking around, and found out it was the record! two of our friends had the same experience. the vinyl is unlistenable! do all of the pressings sound this way? do you have this album? if so, have you experienced this? 

my boys

aarteita

1. studio mug 

2. misha and puff

3. collegien slippers

4. birnir top beanie 

5. francis cardigan 

getting cosy!

photo by john hanson

suki spent the day with friends, john and marlee, while adam and i were celebrating our anniversary in chicago last month. john took this photo that day. such a big kid now. 

new process

we have improved our almond milk, by using a blender rather than the soyabella. we first sprout the almonds, then add six cups of water and blend a good while. the cheesecloth is the real secret to success. thank you johanna! you can use the almond pulp to make a yummy cheese, or cracker toast.

to make almond toast:

mix equal parts almond pulp and veggie pulp

diced garlic

1/3 cup flax meal

a few pinches of salt

1/2 cup chopped sprouted almonds

mix and shape dough

if it seems dry add a little veggie juice

cut cracker dough in to 1/2 inch slices.

dehydrate until crisp!

double bubble

we recently painted suki's bathroom - pink, by her request. it had been left unfinished since we moved in, and i liked the way it looked, but the new paint makes the space feel so clean! this is the only before picture i could find, showing only a small bit of the space. you will just have to believe that it is an improvement. 

a few years ago adam made a bathtub tray- so great! suki used it for the first time last night. she enjoyed bubble water with her bubble bath. fun!

haha! such a weirdo! video found here via adam.

welcoming autumn

hello again! i have had many blogging intentions, but our busier than usual schedule has kept me away. it was a good break. so many great things! we are now embracing the cool weather. knitting projects have begun, and our summer house projects are coming to an end. 

this past week we have had fun visiting the autumn farms. we had a lovely walk through the chestnut farm this past weekend; although, we had hoped to gather more chestnuts. we only came home with six! the lack of rain this summer season has not been good for the crops in these parts, and i think we were a little too ambitious - the trees seemed to be holding on to quite a few pods. next week we plan to try again with better luck.  we have been twice to wells orchard, where we first gathered apples, and then pumpkins. suki tried out a tire swing for the first time, and loved it - of course. 

this afternoon our neighbor girls came over to drink hot cider and decorate pumpkins. 

so fun!

specks and keepings

hillery added more lovely things to her store's page. 

look here!

sculpture vs. drawing

a lot of suki's indoor play looks something like this. she will spend up to an hour working on arranging things, and making mounds of the most carefully layered blankets and objects. is this strange? every night i fold up and put away these piles. i feel a little bad about taking it down- i wonder what our space would be if i let them be. would they multiply? she is usually very disappointed to wake up and find her creation gone, but she starts over again building a new structure that means so much to her. she has actually taken a few days off of this of style making, and i really can not believe it!

she actually spent a long time working on this drawing she started with her friend sara. when she finished, almost no white remained. she filled it with tape, paint, marker, pen, and even crayon! she almost never uses crayon- her least favorite tool.

this summer she has been spending saturday mornings at an art camp, and i think it has helped open her mind to the idea of image making. 

iowa

earlier this week, we took a quick road trip to iowa city to visit our dear friends josh, keri, and darla. plus, we were able to see a few other friends while we were there, but we missed DD.

the highlight of our trip was visiting the project josh made while in grad school. i had the honor of working for josh at the hot glue factory in grand rapids. the time i spent learning from/with him during that time has largely influenced the way i live today. he is one of the best artists i know. 

his project started most likely because he wanted to make tea in his studio, and it kept growing from there; it could continue to evolve for a very long time if his program weren't ending. this is the way josh makes art. for this project, he filters water from a distant sink and uses garage door mechanics to raise a boom, which dumps the grey water into a prohibited theater department sink. with his filtered water, he cares for his garden, and mushrooms, and makes a variety of fermented beverages, and sauerkraut.  

i am sure suki thought it was fun to be able to touch the art, and eat it! in this photo she is moving josh's pea sprout garden up to their grow lights. 

an in progress cob oven. 

a picnic table sits next to this window. 

after the tour of josh's studio, we went for a drive to a near by town called mt. vernon. we ate some raw candy bars, chocolate, and soda from the general store. then we went to the most amazing antique store called polly ann's antiques. we found some cute things for suki, some doll clothes, and two of the best post cards ever made. 

suki got a little trim. thanks keri!

even though david was out of the country we still paid his walnut farm a visit. 

inks are low, they need more rain. 

there were many new additions to the farm including a cob oven made by josh, and this little hut that suki wished to play in all day. 

after all the fun we had with our friends, we headed back to michigan, and had a mostly great car ride together. suki can now play the "i spy" game- fun!