It's springtime here in greater DC, and we've been celebrating! I grumble all winter long about the lack of snow and seasonal winter weather around here, and then spring comes along and more than makes up for it. I've never lived in a place with a prettier spring (or a longer blooming season—something new from February to August!) The flowering trees in and around our neighborhood are so pretty I have to really concentrate on driving, and the daffodils along the parkways and random berms are so pretty I have to talk myself out of taking scissors on late-night drives to cut giant bouquets of flowers for every room of my house.
So far this spring: no car crashes, no poaching Ladybird Johnson's flowers. Good job to me.
Lately we've been concentrating our energies on cherry blossoms. It's hard not to—they're everywhere, and they're as beautiful as advertised. To get in the spirit: Cherry Blossom Art Friday. I revived Art Friday a few months ago with K and Laurel, and we've really been enjoying it. Bridget is the little sister now who must be occupied with an easier version of whatever project we're working on, and Gracie is the competent artist. Time does fly, doesn't it?
January 2006
First up: modified sumi-e painting. Sumi-e is a Japanese painting
style, always done with black ink. Thanks to the internets, I found a
great modified-for-children version of sumi-e where you blow watered
down black paint through a straw to create branches. Gracie and I
tested it out ourselves first, and learned that you don't need very
much paint to make it work. We worked out our formula by the time last
Friday rolled around. Before we started, there was a quick tutorial
about blowing THROUGH the straws and not sucking air from them. K
demonstrates...
Gracie's half-completed masterpiece...
And Laurel demonstrates adding tissue paper blossoms to a dry page.
Very fun.
We also made faux cherry blossom branches (thanks Martha!) and they will become part of our permanent spring decor collection. Maddie and I made some more over the weekend so we could fill this cool vase my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas a long time ago, which mostly sits empty until gerbera daisy season each year. No longer.
So when we got down to the Tidal Basin yesterday to see the real thing, we were definitely in the spirit.
I'm working on a photo album for the rest of the photos—there were many, and it was an adventure! It will pop up on the left... soon.
