Foundry Class Pour

Parents were invited to go to school today to watch the metal pour in the Art building. Here is Greta, to the left of the red hot metal bucket, pouring liquid bronze into her sculpture mold. Just before this, the students poured the aluminum sculptures in the cans in the foreground. It's quite a procedure to watch, and they all handled it very professionally.

It was about 32 degrees on this patio today. Mom froze while photographing it, but the students were all bundled up in heavy leather chaps, jackets, and gloves. I'm anxious to see the sculpture once it's released from it's cage.

Baptism Class

'twas 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning -- a very early time for me during any day of the week, especially Saturday morning, and I started a class session for those training to be officers in our church and other staff members and volunteers. The topic this morning was the Lord's Supper and Baptism. I had the lesson plan all ready, but did what I often like to do, I asked what questions the class had rather than start with my prepared plan. The next two hours went quickly as we discussed the various historical views of the Lord's Supper and the one we think the Bible teaches, and then baptism. I told them of my background, that I was a thoroughgoing "credo baptist" but became a convinced paedobaptist (holding to the place of infant baptism). I had fun because there was at least one who was skeptical to the paedobaptist position and I got to walk through a thread of reasoning to develop the topic.

I will conduct a baptism series on my blog, MetaSchema, on the topic, basically going over what I taught in the class this morning.

Big Brother Luke

We are expecting the arrival of another Leonard baby in mid June! Big brother Luke (aka "Peep") will be 18 months old when he gets to meet his little brother or sister (for now, "Pumpkin").

New Fall Plantings

I ripped the tomato plants out last week and the bare back hill needed some dressing. Even though we're still in a bad drought, we planted three blueberry bushes......hoping to be able to harvest yummy fresh blueberries in a few years.

In the far corner of the backyard, a Razzleberri loropetalum (Chinese fringe). Suddenly it's urgent to fill in with tall shrubs along the back fence line because last week the neighbors behind us began a three story addition to their house. We're dreading the finished product. And, as a side note, we're wondering why they want to overbuild their neighborhood. It would be better to sell and move to one of the many McMansions for sale around here. Just a suggestion. And it would spare us the annoyance of a large house looming over us.We hope the new little guy will grow quickly to become as tall and wide as this brother next to the grass.

Three Wheeler's Dwarf pittosporum (mock orange): Two join their big brothers in front of the house, and this one will grow to fill the bed next to the fireplace.

Homecoming Princess?

I just found out I am a finalist for homecoming princess at KSU! This means I am one of five Junior girls on the court. At KSU, we don't just pick a king and a queen, we have representation from each class. And I, being a junior, would win the title of Princess if I won.

I had to go through an short interview after turning in my application. The questions seemed like beauty pageant questions, ranging from "Why did you choose to come to this school?" to "I see you are very involved on campus. What motivates you?" And my favorite, "Why would you best represent the school?"

I tried very hard to be calm and poised, knowing I would be judged on that, though I was nervously shaking before they called my name. But as soon as I started talking about God and my faith in Christ, I thought It's over. They're never going to pick me. However, I now get to campaign, and I am really excited to have this new experience!

Mom's note: David was nominated from Student Govt too, but he declined the nomination. I thought it would be funny if brother and sister were on the court together!

Glass Etching

A customer came into the bookstore one day, looking for some nice mugs to give as groomsmen gifts. We did not have what she wanted, so my co-workers and I started suggesting some alternatives. She really wanted them personalized, too. I started naming some ways that she could do it herself, when she looked at me and asked, "Would you do it if I paid you?"