Tuesday, July 6

Oh, there was another glitch at the photography workshop yesterday. Hubbie took the eight kids and the assistant outdoors to do sunprints, which should have taken no more than five minutes. But they stayed gone for over twenty minutes. Just as I was about to go check on them, they trooped in. Seems the museum back door had locked behind them, and they couldn't get back in. Hubbie had to hunt a security person to unlock the door.



Today, Tuesday, we all got up at just a little after 6 a.m., because we wanted to get ready to go to the Farmer's Market, which opened at 7 a.m. Sis, who had stayed overnight, went with us. We had a really good time at the market, which features not only local produce, but also jewelry and other handmade items. Musicians also play for donations. Today a guitarist was performing. Another man performed on an Indian flute at a booth, where he was selling such instruments.



At one end of the market, several tables were set up with various crafts made by a children's organization. The kids were selling the items to raise money for a charity. The crafts were all clever and appealing, particularly a variety of colorful clay Raku pendants with pleasing designs impressed in them. They are so attractive that I bought one for myself, and Sis bought about ten.The pendants were made by fifth grade level kids.



Hubbie bought me a pendant necklace and earrings from a vendor. There were only two such sets left in the lady's stock, both of which originated in Africa, and she said she is unable to obtain any more. The pendant, of blown glass, is golden colored, with an embedded brown swirl design. At another booth, I bought a blown glass pendant in a star shape with brown swirls.



Besides those items, I also bought peaches, blackberries, a couple of carbon heirloom tomatoes, and a loaf of tomato/herb/cheese bread.



While we were at the market, we walked down to the park area, where there are large bronze statues, a mosaic wall, and a large entertainment pavilion...a good place for picture-taking. Sis and I took several shots.



Back at camp, I made a big pan of macaroni and cheese to have for supper, and then we enjoyed a lunch of sandwiches made from toasted tomato/herb/cheeese bread and slices of heirloom tomatoes, followed by a dessert of ice cream and blackberries, and sliced peaches. Sis, who is lactose intolerant, had vanilla yogurt with her berries.



At noon, Hubbie and I went to the museum for the second day of the workshop. Today, we finished Monday's darkroom project, watched a video about how to take better pictures, and then went on a photo safari to the park, where the kids used black and white film to take portrait pictures. The film can be developed one-hour, like color film.



It was sunny and hot outdoors, and we were glad for a break in the air conditioned museum. Since we didn't have a lot more planned for the afternoon, I gave the kids a longer break, which they used to play around the museum.



Hubbie and I took advantage of the longer break, too, to tour the museum. Currently, the facility is featuring an "Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" exhibit, which is interesting. We learned about the book's writer, Lewis Carroll (whose real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), and about the girl that he based the Alice character on. I'm used to Alice (whose real name was Alice Liddell) being a blonde little girl, but the real Alice in fact had dark hair. Carroll was a friend of Liddell's family. Sadly, after Alice grew up and married, she and her husband lost two sons in World War I. She died at age 82, in 1934.

We also meandered through various other exhibits, including one that displayed a frontier "odometer" which was a large wheel that attached to the wagon. A certain number of revolutions equaled a mile. There was also a "wheel of fate" in the exhibit. Visitors spin the wheel to see what they're fate might be on a long an arduous trip across country in a covered wagon. Hubbie landed on "a bear attacked your friend," and I landed on "you found honey in the forest."

Following the break, we provided black or white poster board, cut 8x10, for the kids to mount their sunprints on. Once they were mounted, the kids used markers and crayons to decorate their "frames." The kids were very creative with their projects.


At the end of the workshop, one tall boy, who is only eleven years old, took me aside to complain that one of the younger boys was clicking his tongue, or something, and I needed to address the issue, because it was interfering with his ability to learn. I promised I'd take care of the situation. This boy is the son of alternate lifestyle parents...he has two mothers.

Back at camp, Sis had heated the macaroni and cheese, and leftover cranberry beans from the freezer, which we had with coleslaw, sliced carbon heirloom tomatoes, and sliced herb/cheese/tomato bread.

After supper, Sis waited for the traffic to ease, around 6 p.m., and then she headed home. Hubbie, Mother and I played a couple of games of Skipbo...Hubbie won one game, and I won the other. By this time, it was 10:30 p.m., and we were plenty ready for bed.