Spring Break

First, for a not-very-springlike picture:

This is Mount Shasta. It is 14,179 feet in elevation, and it stands alone. We get to see various perspectives on it during our travels to and from California – this shot was taken on our way back to Oregon. During winter it’s almost always got its head in the clouds, but this is a pretty clear view of the top. Shasta really has a presence to it – you have to keep staring at it and convincing yourself that it’s real, and it’s really that big. Wow.

We had a nice long spring break. BN didn’t have to take any finals this quarter, so after he got done giving his trig students their final, we were free to go. I had planned on taking the 2 weeks off from work completely, and I’m so glad I did. I did 6 loads of laundry on Tuesday… We drove down on Wednesday, March 21. We had lots of good family visits, and caught up with quite a few friends. I think this might have been our busiest visit yet – we had at least one event scheduled practically every day. I got to meet baby SI for the first time – he was born 2 months early and, since we didn’t come at Christmas, I was 3 months late meeting him! I got to go with TS and her kids to the park. They rode bikes almost the whole way – those kids are troopers! Lots of good sister time: Yarn shopping with MA, breakfast with SW, coffee with SS. The little sis’s had a little more free time – we painted with watercolors all afternoon one day and went to the San Jose art museum another.

When we first arrived in San Jose the weather was really nice. We figured we’d better head to the beach and take advantage.

Hey – there’s a stone with a hole in it. Oh, there’s another one!… Hm… What would Andy Goldsworthy do?

(Probably something much cooler than string them on a strand of seaweed. Oh, well.)

Here are the watercolor paintings we did:

I thought they looked cool all tiled together like this… They were actually done using my special trick: Make-your-own “Paint with Water” pictures. I have these watercolor markers, with a brush-style tip on one end and fine-point tip on the other. You draw a picture, as detailed or as random as you want, preferably using multiple colors of pen, and then you use a wet brush to blend the lines and “color in” your image. Two keys to success: use a bamboo brush; those things practically paint on their own – they can produce anything from a fine, sensitive line to broad strokes, and even both in one movement, since they hold water really well. (It’s no coincidence that those Asian brush paintings and calligraphy look so great!) The other easy trick to achieve watercolor excellence is leave strategic areas of white paper exposed. This creates a sparkling or glowing effect that’s a pleasure to the eye.