This is my dad, and this is my dog.
Almost eight years ago, my dad was not at all excited about getting a dog.
But then they became the fastest friends.
I just think it's funny how that happens.
I guess it's a small reminder to stay open to things--you never know who could walk through the door.

Hey, did you hear about this?
Last week a congresswoman named Donna Edwards (D-Maryland) was testifying before Congress against the proposal for a government shutdown. Instead of uninterestingly going on and on about her views, she quoted the band the White Stripes! When I heard this I burst out laughing, because...well, Congress is kind of old. Exactly how many representatives would even know the reference? Even I as a fan didn't recognize the song she chose to quote, "Effect and Cause," which came off of their 2007 album, and didn't get much air play. But I'm all for shaking people up to get their attention, ya know?

This is "Effect and Cause," from which Congresswoman Edwards quoted.



What's even funnier is that we avoided the government shutdown. Does that mean rock and roll saved the day? Maybe, maybe not, but it makes me smile to think they at least had a small hand in it all :)

Paper Sunflowers

About five years ago someone in my family got a paint-by-number kit for Christmas. Despite all his best intentions, thr recipient never actually used it, and it's been sitting in the basement in its box all these years.
It's a really cool image, too. You'd probably recognize it:



Yeah, Van Gogh's sunflowers! I thought it was too cool to ignore any longer, so I decided to start the painting this morning. I opened the containers of paint all excited...and they were rock solid. Dried up completely. So I was bummed, because then the blank canvas would be wasted. I thought about coloring it with markers, adding some sort of Andy Warhol twist to the image, since I only had blue, red, yellow, black, and red in my color arsenal. I decided against it, though. Crayons? No. Colored pencils? Don't have any. Then I got it: collage.

Let me make this clear: When it comes to the visual arts, I'm all vision, and hardly any implementation. Plus, I'm just not that gifted with it in the first place. I'm going to make a collage of the sunflowers, cut up almost all our magazines and spend a lot of time on it, but the finished product will still look like a 1st grader's. (not dissing you, 1st graders, it's just truth!)
Nevertheless, I can't wait to see how it turns out!