Thank you, bikehikebabe and Lydia (her daughter) for the link.

 
I cheerfully admit I’m not tuned into April Fool’s Day. Last night my husband brought me this Economist article and said, “Be sure to read the last line.” The title of the article was Just Press “Print”—It will soon be possible to design and build household animals to order. The article said a company in California was going to announce Sunday (today) that it was going to start using the developing 3D printing technology to produce made-to-order household pets. What? Even though the article carefully described the process in technical terms, and I know advances have been made in tissue engineering, this was way beyond present capabilities. So I Googled the name of the company to see if anyone else was writing about it.

Then my husband came in, saw that I wasn’t laughing and said, “You didn’t read the last line, did you?” Well, yes. He said, “You skimmed it instead of read it, didn’t you?” Well, yes.

So I carefully reread the last paragraph and line (italics mine):

There are still a few technical difficulties to overcome, of course, but Dr Fril plans to start taking orders soon. And he is already looking forward to the firm’s next product, custom-printed boyfriends and girlfriends for those who cannot find the right partner by conventional means—a surprisingly large proportion of the population. If all goes well, these will be available by St Valentine’s day. If not, customers will probably have to wait until April 1st of next year.

Are you tuned into April Fool’s jokes? Do you know anyone else as clueless as I am?

 
And it helps to have a guide:
 

 
I bought Drawing for the Artistically Undiscovered years ago, and just looking through it always tickled my funny bone and lifted my spirits. Someday I too wanted to learn to sketch whimsical figures. But until this week I had only done a couple of pages of the exercises. Then I made the commitment and finished every single assignment.

I took the authors’ words to heart:

…you will find yourself frequently unsatisfied with your efforts. Our recommendation? So what. Take a fearless experimental approach. Wield your pen or pencil with spirit and take bold chances. Your successes will shine all the brighter and the rest—nothing but necessary steps to greatness….

Around here we honor mistakes and botched details. Please make many.

Well, yeah. I can do that. So I did.

Two of my favorite exercises were The 3-Headed Red Spotted Gorff and the pigs:
 

 
(The authors provided the legs and body, we filled in the necks and heads.)

The pigs:

 
Not worrying about polishing the finished product was liberating–just go for the general spirit of the subject and move on. I’m hoping to do some quick sketches regularly, and to keep me motivated I’ve gotten more books by Quentin Blake, the illustrator of Drawing for…. Again the idea is to draw boldly and quickly rather than looking for a polished product. I will let you know how it turns out. This week, at least, was a great adventure.

What was your week like? Have you had any adventures lately?

Have you ever had to jump through hoops in order to do something?

I’ll spare you the details, but it turns out that idea was too good to be true. Someone has to go up to do one more inspection. Besides the fact it’s a long trip that no one wants to make, the county doesn’t have a key to the Forest Service lock, and it’s almost Christmas and more snow is expected. What do you think the chances are that this will be resolved before Spring?

It pays to have patience and a sense of humor.

Thursday morning we talked to the fellow who will probably install our solar cells, if we can afford him. He was very knowledgeable so we’re keeping our fingers crossed. But talking about the grounding system brought up the subject of lightning protection. We only had two instances of damage in the past. In both cases the lightning struck a tree and in one case it fried some of our electrical wires and our generator. In the other case it split a tree and bounced over to the support for one of our beams and knocked off a piece of concrete. We were glad in both cases we weren’t there when it happened.

Now, of course, there are no trees to be struck. The house will be the tallest thing around. Do you think we’re tempting fate? When we decided to rebuild we joked that maybe the gods were trying to tell us something by wiping everything out. If that was true what would be the next message? A big bolt of lightning? It might not be such a joke.

икониПравославни икони

 
One reason dogs are my role models is because they know how to enjoy themselves. They don’t worry about wasting time. They also like to explore, sniff around and follow their noses. I do too, albeit in my own way.

A simple example…. this past week I read the following quote on one of my favorite blogs:

Enjoy the little things for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

I’ve pretty much always believed that, but the quote had no attribution and it sounded vaguely familiar. So I Googled it and discovered it was written by Robert Brault 25 years ago and, as he says in a blog post,

[It] is one of the most quoted lines of the past 25 years. In several slight variations, it appears over a million times on the internet. It is quoted on more internet sites than any of the Ten Commandments and almost as many times as The Golden Rule. It has been used on calendars, greeting cards, stationery, t-shirts and novelty items of every sort. It has been the motto of at least two high school graduating classes.

I didn’t know that! Anyway, I’ve now added Brault to the list of blogs I read and also went to a site that has 294 of his quotes. I will only include one of them here:

As to the Seven Deadly Sins, I deplore Pride, Wrath, Lust, Envy and Greed. Gluttony and Sloth I pretty much plan my day around.

I’m not a big one for gluttony, mostly I choose foods that will keep me healthy and feeling good. But the bit about Sloth resonated. Yes! That’s me. I plan my life around Sloth. In fact, the Sloth is another of my role models and I think of him whenever there’s social pressure to do more than I’m doing.

Mr. Sardonicus. Used with permission. Owner reserves all rights.

 
What about you? Do you have any role models? Do you ever just “sniff around” and explore?

I’m afraid I’m not much better now. We’re planning a train trip to see Kaitlin, Torben and the granddogs and grandcats. We want to travel as light as possible, and I decided it was time to replace my 20-year-old hard-sided, sturdy but heavy, Samsonite suitcases with some lighter soft-sided ones. The old ones and I have been through a lot together, but it didn’t make sense to keep them. So I summoned up my courage, kissed one of them goodbye and gave it away. The other one will follow in the fullness of time, but I didn’t have the heart to do it yet. Mourning takes time.

Are any of you cursed with the same misguided sense of loyalty and love? Do you know anyone else who is?икони

I was tickled last week by an article in the Wall Street Journal: Stylish Guys Steal Short Sleeves From Nerds.

When I showed it to my husband, he said. “So, after all these years I’m back in style! Maybe it will happen again in another 30 years.” Ever since we were married he’s worn white short-sleeved shirts and navy slacks. If people want him to be stylish they have to make that outfit the fashion.

What about you? How stylish are you? Do you care one way or another?