Staged Fight

They aren't really fighting. It only looks that way because I saw the two carcasses lying in the sand close to one another and thought they looked like two creatures from a B horror movie.  So I staged a mock fight between them.

BTW, the picture above was taken at Limantour Beach, part of Point Reyes National Seashore.  From the beach, I also saw puffins fishing offshore.  I had to use binoculars to see that the black birds were, indeed, puffins with bright blue heads and yellow beaks.

We spent a lovely two days at a friend's cabin.  Here's the view from the deck where we sat reading side by side.

We crossed CA Hwy 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, on our way between the cabin and Pt Reyes.  I mentioned that it's possible to follow PCH all the way home.  The cabin and our house are both about a mile east of PCH, but hundreds of miles of coastline apart.

On our way up to the cabin, we were able to stop and meet Shams for lunch.  While I was in the restroom, TFN* confessed to Shams that she was nervous about spending two days in a small cabin alone with me without wi-fi.

I am happy to report that we got along very well.  If she wanted to eat chocolate cake for dinner, I let her.  I wasn't going to let an argument ruin my relaxation.  I suspect (hope?) she played up the tension for comic effect.  Or to manipulate me into letting her eat junk food.  Whatever.

BTW, on the beach, she showed me how to stage fight.  Only she said I did it wrong.

* Shams renamed her TFN.  We are not sure what that means but, some days, the Urban Dictionary's TFN definition #2 rings true.

Bribing teachers, yeah or nay?

Today's blurb from the good people* at Proctor and Gamble via their Home Made Simple website and email.

Get the school year off to a good start and surprise teachers with one of our 16 simple handmade gift ideas.

Honestly, I never thought of giving anything at the start of the school year with the exception of one or two items from the teacher's wishlist sent home with the student early in the school year.  The district is chronically short on funds and I don't think teachers should shoulder the cost of equipping a classroom.  We buy Costco-sized quantities of some of the items on the list so it is no problem to send a subset of it to school with my child.

But personal gifts at the .beginning. of the school year just seem too blatant for my taste.

I really do want to know what you think.  I am especially interested in customs and social norms outside of the United States.  So what do you think?

• Is it appropriate to give a gift at the start of school? 
• Or would you wait until the  end of school** (as I do)?  
• Or skip it altogether? 
• Or would you stick to the teacher's published "wishlist" of office & classroom supplies? 

* I don't mean that facetiously. I think that P&G is one of the better companies out there. At least, they publish their ingredient lists--though you have to do some digging around in their website to find them. Did you know that, since the 1980s, manufacturers of household chemicals are .not. required to tell you what is in your formulations? If your household cleaners contained toxins, carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) or endocrine disruptors (synthetic hormone-like chemicals), wouldn't you want to know?

** I've blogged about making teachers' gifts many times previously.  Most recently, I transformed some boxy math meet t-shirts into a more fitted and feminine style for several of the math teachers who volunteered their time to mentor the team.  When the Pattern Magic book came out in English, I purchased them again and gave the Japanese language edition to the teacher that teaches both Geometry  .and. Japanese.

Museum Gems

Our family went to see the completely uninspired ... Is James Bond exhibit at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art).  Do you really need to devote a gallery to screens showing the James Bond opening sequences without curation?  One can learn more by staying at home to view them and read the DVD inserts.

However, if you really want to learn about the gems on view, ask the security guards for their favorite shows.  I asked one lady at the top of the stairs in the Ahmanson building what I should see if I was particularly interested in textiles.  She didn't skip a beat before enthusiastically recommending that I see the molas in the back back corner of the Art of the Americas section.

Wow.  I've never seen molas like this before.  Even though the exhibit is confined to one small gallery in the back corner, it packs quite a punch.  Molas are small, so there are many of them on view.  Additionally, many of them were loaned by a collector with exceptional taste and access to some of the finest mola art I have seen anywhere.

Most of the molas you see for sale and bought by travelers are necessarily quickly made to keep the prices low enough to easily sell.  You don't see such detailed (and expensive) molas very often.  All of the pieces were exceptional in craftsmanship and the curation is first-rate.  The show gives a broad view of the history, meaning and purpose of molas--from the spiritual to the political to the economic--and it includes a broad cross-section of the themes found in molas.

The show closes on October 13, 2012 so visit it soon.  The lighting is dim and I don't think that photography is allowed, so bring your notebook to take down notes and ideas.  This is a show I need to go back and revisit.  It's that good.

Stitching Worlds: Mola Art of the Kuna

The next time I go, I want to check out the newly-opened Ohie Toshio and the Perfection of the Japanese Book, in the Japanese pavilion.  Check out the beauty of that inlaid leather and the asymmetric, yet pleasingly balanced composition. It's on view through October 21, 2012.

Anyone want to make a museum and lunch date? Little Ethiopia with it's plethora of dining options is very close to LACMA.  Museum admission is always free for children 17 and under.  Each child can bring in one adult companion for free.