Past Animation

Son A's Bald Eagle project for science plus bonus project inside

The clay penguin complete with the snow slide and different balls of clay used for filming its movement frame by frame.

See the rolled up black and white ball representing penguin as rolled off the ice?

The Penguin - the Star!

While making an attempt to "fall clean" my junk/treasures I came across a shoe box that had been used by my son A, for his bald eagle science project. It had information pasted on the side along with a drawing of the bald eagle. It weighed a little heavy so I open it. Lo and behold, it held another glimpse of the past. This time of daughter L. We tend to re purpose stuff a lot in our house.

Inside the box was the penguin that L and her project partner Kimberly made for the Clay Animation class they took in 2003. I know I am great like that! Ha, ha, actually don't know where I saw this name today while rummaging/ cleaning but there was a reference to the class and who L worked with. I searched everywhere but I cannot locate the CD containing the clay animation clips she did in 2003. I have the one from her Video editing class of that year and even the one from brother's clay animation class in 2005. Now the missing animation clip is going to haunt me. I did find a picture in my archive that now has me hunting for another missing item- a clay seal!! Yes, it was story about the seal and the penguin. The seal was not in the box!!! Thank God I had the good sense to take a photograph way back when.

The missing seal! Where could he be hiding or did I already decluttered him away?????

I just want to photograph the projects my children made before they disintegrate or are lost forever, which I hope is not the case here. Plus it is a great way to free up space and declutter. I better get to work then before all I have of those artistic endeavours are my failing memories.

PS. No, it is not all about daughter L. When I figure out how to take son's animation clips off the CD which contained the whole class's project I will blog about it. Regretfully, he does not have his clay animation figurine ( and NO I did not throw it away- he repurpose it almost immediately!)

Too literal and too practical

The Silhouette SD and the box of supplies had been sitting in the guest room since it arrived sometime after 8/15. A little something for me to play with once daughter L was settled in college. Noticed the the theme here....? I have a BC and a AC going on here: Before College and At College. One day there will be AC will stand for after college. This reconfirms what I said earlier about the number of things on hold in my life while we were getting our girl off to college.

I was in my initial Amigurumi flush when I spied the Silhouette SD being offered as a one time value of $120 versus $200 to $260 depending on what came with it. Mine came fully loaded with 50 free designs, 25 gift card for more designs, 2 rolls of vinyl sheets, etching creme and some cardstock. I thought I might be able to cut sticky backed felt to decorate with Amigurumi with. Needless to say, I found it could not do that... but it could do a lot of other cool stuff. I can design graphic or text on the PC and the Shiloutte will cut it out.

Today, I installed and set up the machine. I load the paper as instructed and the LCD kept saying unload media. I tried different paper alignment, reinstalling the blade, you name it. Read online manuals. Tried and retried with same error message"unload media." READY TO RETURN IT. Finally, it dawns on me. Nothing is wrong. Duh!! The LCD was merely stating the option available to me"unload media" after I had cut out my design!!

I am thinking now it is kind of cool. Do I absolutelt need it? No. I had already printed out return label before testing it.... Hmm, it would make cool school project and gift ideas. And greeting cards and......

I think I have to stop being too literal (thus problem with *error message) and stop being so practical. I just have to say I want it and I am keeping it. So there

eWee and Tramacula the Dracula

I have not made any Amigurumi since daughter L went to college. No, it is not because I am depressed. It is because I am catching up on those parts of my life that was on hold while we prepared to send her off to college. It is amazing how many things I stopped doing.... Plus, I did make a ton of those Warrior Amigurumi - Ninja, Knights, Spartan and Trojan, before she left. My sister C in New York has been hassling me to make some for her. She borrowed the Creepy Cute Crochet book from the Library and was rattling off what she wanted, as though she was ordering from a mail order company!!

The weather has been a scorcher of late. All I wanted to do was watch a movie in a cool air-conditioned room. Did I get to do that? No! Actually I did get to watch or was forced to watch a movie past my bedtime by my beloved nephew alias eWee - How to lose a guy in 10 days :) Okay I admit is was fun to hang out with eWee and his antics.

I do not know how but she did it. In the second weekend in college, daughter L manages to get herself painted the letter O and be part of the Rally Committee for Berkeley, positioned at the 50 yard line, televised live on ESPN during the Football game between Cal and the Maryland Terrapins! She sure knows how to get into the heart of activities. Needless to say, we just had to stay back and watch the game, So eWee stayed another day and night. Sigh.......thus began the torture.

eWee spied the Amigurumi on my computer desk. At first all he wanted was for me to make him some for Christmas. Next, he decided he wanted to make them himself. When he discovered the ready made bodies I had in my stash, he was on a roll to make himself the most fresh Amigurumi in the world. We looked up bleach characters. He wanted red hair and great coat that flared out......so there he was, draping felt over the body trying to get a good feel for his character. Thank God, I made him cut out paper templates before actually cutting the felt or I would be in the craft shopping right now, replenishing my supply. I have to admit he made (he came up the idea and"Aunt H can you sew this for me") a really fresh red undercoat. 3 hour, a white and a black overcoats later.... it was not right. Looks like Dracula not Bleach,he says. Back to square one or rather down to the red undercoat. I take off the top layers but think the red coat is a keeper. I am tired. eWee tries on other head/ body combination. He is still not happy. Break for lunch.

I tried. I tell you, I tried not to be dragged back to the project, telling him I will send him something for Christmas to no avail. He was relentless- eWee. A few more version later and he gives in. The red. white and black combination just spelled Dracula. So he set out to make a very respectable Dracula. It is late at night and my eyes are getting blurry. eWee says" You know what Aunt H, it would be really fresh if he had a top hat." Off he goes for a shower and the sucker that I am, I make a top hat. Ha, ha.... it does make the Amigurumi or as eWee like to say, " It's fresh." Take a look at Tramacula..... name for Temecula!!



You know how it is. Once you make one, you make another. So I decided to make sister C one of the Amigurumi she wanted - the Grim Reaper. He is cute don't you think so??? So C, get Grim Reaper from eWee or his mom. Don't let him keep it. I warned eWee you will do him bodily harm if he tries to keep Grim Reaper.

August in the garden

It never fails to amaze what I discover in my garden. All summer long I had be on the lookout for fruits forming on my fruit trees. The dragon fruit forming ( or so I thought) was exciting and now.... an embarrassment. Dear friends and family, in my excitement on seeing the `fruit', I totally missed the biological process of fruit formation!! What I took to be the dragon fruit was actually the formation of the flower bud. No wonder, it was elongating and not plumping out! Needless to say, my dear husband had a good laugh and did not let my faux pas go un-reminded each time he is in the garden.


Upset that my "fruit" was not plumping out!

Ops- looks like they are flower buds



Definitely - flower buds and not the fruit



Spent flower and hopefully fertilized so that I have fruit!

After a few days of my disgust and worrying that maybe I planted a regular cactus and not a Dragon fruit cactus, it dawned on me that it was starting to look like a flower. Look how how gorgeous were those flowers. Like large Christmas cactus flowers. I quickly took the pictures before dashing off on our long drive to Berkeley to settle in daughter L. Now, I worry that those flowers might not have been pollinated and I will not get any dragon fruit....Had I been home, being the Asian gardener I am, I would have assisted in pollinating the flowers, paintbrush and all. Now, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Around the time that I had the eureka moment about the dragon fruit, I found another pleasant surprise. A bunch of bananas forming on the banana plant! This was so amazing and unexpected, as I swear not more than 3 days before the discovery, I made a concerted effort to look at the banana clump to look for banana flowers. It has been a few years since we had any banana as we had been trimming out the clump. Hopefully the bananas will ripen before the weather cools down. Looking forward to eating "Ice-Cream" banana.

The other plant that had me worried was the passion fruit vine "Frederick". It did not form fruit all of last year although it flowered. We were beginning to wonder if it was actually self fertile as advised. This year fruits formed. Early in the summer I had broken open a fruit and it was empty. Again, worried that it was the wrong plant or not pollinated. This week the fruits started turning purple. Now, they have started falling off the vines as they ripen. The fruits are small so I am thinking it needed more water than I was giving it and maybe more fertilizer. Nevertheless, I am enjoying delicious refreshing passionfruit.

All is good in the garden. Look at picture updates of the other fruit trees and vegetable garden.


Mango and Strawberry Guava




Gorgeous crimson flowers and healthy fruits


Cousins! - Beet and Swiss Chards




Onions, shallots and onion flower heads



Sprouting potatoes for the fall crop

I pinch you and you pinch me

"I pinch you and you pinch me, okay?" Such were the words I uttered to my daughter L as we prepared to leave her at college. No tears seem to have moistured our eyes, the cold hearted women that we are. "Maybe then we will cry?" Does that mean I love you less? We watched as her roommate and her mom teared up at dinner even before they parted. No tears for us then. Outside her dorm building when we said goodbye, our friends cried again. Still no tears. Maybe, at that point we knew we still had breakfast the next morning.....

The next day, final Au revior. Finally some moisture in daughter's eyes! She regrets lining her eyes before we said Au revior. Did the eyeliner irritate her eyes or was it emotions? Me... dry as a desert. I know, I know.....Her brother- did not want a goodbye hug. She hugs him anyway and he is sad....she is sad. The Father hugs his daughter long and tight. Finally, we hug and kiss each other and tell the other," I love you". Goodbye/ Au revoir.

On the long drive back, brother does a L - sleeps to shutdown unpleasant thoughts. Husband and I talk about the whole experience and wonder how she is doing. We text her and she us. Suddenly, a pebble hits in windshield! A ping and a tiny deep dent. As we try to get a closer view of it, the crack lengthens in front of our eyes! Called insurance company and arrange for replacement windshield. Trip is costing an additional $250 for the deductible! Hidden cost of college!

Even now at home, it is surreal. I guess it will hit me when it it hits me. My baby is gone. The one who would not go to away camp is now far away. Okay, not that far. I guess it is because I am confident my girl will be able to handle most things that come her way. She will know when to ask for help. It is reassuring that she is rooming with her bestfriend and they will take care of each other. It helped that we were able to move her into her dorm and set her up. Her floormates seem nice. I am so happy she has a nice room and an even nicer view! Her dorm overlooks the sports field. While we were there , all day long there were one sport team or another practising. Such healthy living and eye candy for sure!! ha, ha- that can only be a bonus.

Daughter, if you are reading this. I love you even though there are no tears. I am excited for you. I am here for you. I am crying somewhere inside.... really I have to be.

My Love Books!

Ha, ha. GOT YOU !!!

Aren't these books darling ??? On a quick little trip ( you know how a little trip becomes a huge one) to Costco the other day, I discovered amazing little books/ journal and fell in love immediately.They are so whimsy and full of possibilities. Beautifully illustrated, they have lined pages, graph pages and just plain pretty ones. I immediately thought of what I can record in them- once my creative juices get going. I can write on one page and when then graph my design on another. Perfect. Despite my best intentions with the blog, I still fail to record my cooking experiments until too late.......and I still continue to lose recipe I collect. I am thinking I could be writing these down in these darling love books. Ha, ha- do you know what has been happening? I think about writing in the book, then I don't!! What if I mess it up? Right - what if there is mess up - that is what I would tell daughter L? Just cannot take my own advice it seems..... So decided I will USE THE BOOKS and write and draw in them. Hmm- then I need to go buy more. Help!! More doing and less buying. Hopefully, I will follow through with my good intention and then be able to blog better. Here's to my Love(ly) Books.

Warrior Army

Been busy making my warrior army. A little something to go out into the world, to college with daughter L and some of her friends. I really had a great time making them. Making the heads and bodies took no time at all. It is joining of the head to the body- I am never satisfied with how it looks. In particular when I am joining a head to a different colored body. Most of the instructions on the blogs say a good join involved visible stitches that will blend into the stitches. Not when they are two different colors! I have yet to perfect it ( to my standard) ... I like strong invisible stitches in joining.

The most work is in the clothing and accessories. That seems to take forever to perfect. I have to work a better system or get better scissors to cut those felt weapons. So in the past week I have in my spare time i.e. while watching telly made 6 completed warriors and 7 naked bodies wanting to be transformed!


I think they turned out quite nicely. Don't you?? :)



Morning roll call with Captain Frasier
The Line up:-

Trojan and the Blue Knight

Spartan and Ninja

Cleric and the Brown Knight

Garden Duty