Easter Island Mug

Since Frederick and I started taking ceramics classes at the FIA together, we started working on additional projects at home.  We started working on this mug a while ago, and only just got to the stage of glazing it.  Frederick insisted on the eyes being yellow, with no pupils.  I asked, "Do you want to add black pupils?"  He said, "No."  I wondered if he didn't know what I meant, so added, "Do you want black dots in the eyes?"  "NO!!" he shouted.  Fine!  No pupils!  Simon insists that Frederick made the right choice.

Pretzel wants to know where his mug is.

Frederick is famous!

Right in the middle of the last clay class, a woman from Grand Blanc Times (or whatever it is called) showed up to interview parents.  She asked Frederick to pick his favorite art piece and model it--a task he clearly enjoyed doing.  Here is the full write up of Frederick's clay class.  (If you click on the photo of Frederick you will get a larger version.  He is holding the blue and yellow spotted frog he made in a previous class.)

The writer took liberties when quoting me but she got the gist right.  (I remember saying that it is important for him to see the teacher work through the process with him so that he can fully understand the purpose of each step but I don't remember mentioning any of that existential angst she described.)  Emma, his class mate, is about as opposite of Frederick as a child can be: she is miniature and talks (though completely unintelligibly as her enunciation is very muddy) whereas Frederick rarely says ANYTHING, but when he does, it is enunciated with great care.  He can also get onto a stool by himself and manage to not fall off whereas she goes flying every single class.  (One day she regaled us with the story of how she fell into the toilet the night before and couldn't get out by herself--at least that is what her mom said she said.  I did make out the phrase "potty seat" but not much else.)  And, as mentioned in the article, Frederick is beside himself with excitement about the musical instruments course that is set to happen in June.

Thomas's penultimate Showcase

I can't remember when Thomas started being included in FIM's Showcase Concert. I do remember that his first chance to participate was when he was asked by his then percussion teacher Alyssa Smith to help fill out the percussion section for the Pirates of the Caribbean tune and he excitedly reported that he "got to drop the chain!" at the start. Now he is rather blase about it all---despite finding out minutes (!) before the start that he would not be playing bassoon as planned for the wind ensemble piece (the first tune here) but instead was moved to the marimba. He claims he was sight reading while performing and while I am sure that is a slight exaggeration he is noticeable more nervous for this (rather easy) number than he is for the later pieces, which he had the opportunity to practice (and perform) MANY times this past year.

This is the same toe-tapper that we uploaded last month though now Thomas is positioned at the side of the stage so you have the benefit of seeing his fancy hand movements.

According to Thomas he begged to play the cymbals as a welcome break from the stress of drumming.

Thomas is done with wind ensemble for the year. He has one more FYSO concert (in 2 days at Davison HS) and then next weekend (5/7-5/9) he will be on tour in Toronto. THEN he is done with the groups (though a parade of end of year recitals will follow....).

Frederick's Claycraft

For the past 11 months or so Frederick and I have been taking a ceramics class together. We did a wheel throwing class (translation: throwing pots on a pottery wheel; no wheels are thrown) last summer (which Frederick LOVED), then in Fall we worked on hand building animals and then Christmas stuff (ornaments featured a few months ago, the miniature Christmas tree has been packed away so I'll have to get a photo of that next year).  Here is a little "log cabin" that was part of our January "winter" theme.

Here is a butterfly (decorated with fused glass bits on the wings) that was part of the Spring time theme a few weeks ago.

This was supposed to be a Christmas bell (apparently in Spain people ring bells on Christmas Eve) but this ended up looking more like a Buddhist temple bell. Still, Frederick loves it and had it right next to him to ring while sitting at the dining room table and drawing.

This was made in January as part of an "ice fishing" theme.  Not sure why one would fish for bones, but it is a great wind chime--which Frederick won't allow us to hang outside as it is too precious.

Here is a bird and nest of eggs (spring time class).

Here is a rather sinister looking caterpillar.

Here is a turtle.  This was part of the "reptiles" class, early Fall.

A Gila Monster (also part of reptiles).

Horny Toad.  This guy was supposed to look fierce, but all of Frederick's creations end up looking rather cheerful.

Another reptile, this time an alligator.  (Frederick REALLY loved the reptile class.)

Here is a black bear (from the woodland creatures course).

Here are just a very small number of the bowls, pots and saucers that he has made (not the big blue one--that one is an old one of mine).  He has three more still at the FIM that I have to pick up.  On the last day of class he made a plate, soup bowl and another coffee mug.

Here is a frog, which was part of the spring time class.

The FIM closes up for May, but then there will be more kids classes in June and July: one course will feature making (wait for it)---musical instruments!

Farm frolics

As mentioned above, Frederick's ceramics class ended last week and his ceramics teacher, Karyn, invited the kids out to her neighbor's sheep farm. Lambs were born two weeks ago.

The name of the farm is Ugly Dog's Farm (don't know why).  I also don't know why they have 15 peacocks which, apparently, spent all winter outdoors in a tree.

Frederick wants to know when the fun will begin.  (Actually, he is having fun.  He's just very sniffly from the sudden explosion of pollen that is everywhere.)

Three donkeys that were appropriately shy of small children.

HERE they are!  Millions and millions of lambs!

I have no idea who that woman is, but the guy is the owner of the farm, and he is holding one of a triplet of black and white which are, according to him, the friendliest of all the lambs.

A blur of little hands all reaching out to pet the lamb.

Aside from the lambs, this little shed was Frederick's favorite part of the trip. I think he'd like a little house of his very own in our backyard.

I can't believe these little guys are only two weeks old.

Here is a 360 degree view of the farm, though this is just the entrance.  The property is 10 acres and goes back quite some ways--we couldn't see the horses or the barn where he has his wool processing space.  Since many of the sheep are merinos, I very much want to go back and see how his wool spins up.

McOdyssey

So: every so often Thomas demands to be driven to as many McDonalds as humanly possible.  This is not because he has a love of the smell of grease (although he did remark that he loved the smell of these places, which is a bit worrying for a lifelong vegetarian - although he also loved the smell of Family Video, so maybe he's just perverse) or a hankerin' for those inimitable chemical-drenched fries, but because Nintendo occasionally runs some kind of thing where if you go to a McDonalds and connect to their WiFi (I know - what an age we live in) you connect with somebody somewhere in the world (usually Austria, according to Thomas) who will let you access their Pokemon.  I know, I don't understand it either, but it's the only thing that gets Thomas out of his room these days.  Here I depict our odyssey.  We went to 4 on Friday night but only three of them got repeat business on Saturday, because the one with the creepy Ronald McDonald sitting on the bench outside (not pictured for your peace of mind) didn't seem to be in on the deal.  Yes, Thomas is almost 17.  I'm sure I shall cherish these memories when he moves out in a couple of years...

Thomas saw that I was taking pictures to document our adventures and insisted on taking the camera to get footage of the place he hides to log on.  Believe it or not he feels guilty about not buying anything.  I'm sure if I offered my money he would, but I draw the line at ferrying him around.

Spring in Flint

And then there was one

It's been a dangerous year for small animals in this household: first, Pumpkin, then too many fish to count and most recently one of Thomas's turtles died. I don't remember her name (though I remember Thomas giving all three of them names), but she always was a bit of a drag: scaredy and boring. Here is the last remaining turtle (the only male Thomas got), the littlest one:

He sure is happy to have the entire aquarium to himself.