Enormous Bee!

The other day my mom heard this loud buzzing sound and traced it to our kitty house...she thought it was a group of bees but it turned out to be one enormous bee trapped in the window! We trapped it in a jar, then let it go. It was HUGE!! These pictures make it look small, if anything! It was a big bumblebee, easily two inches long and an inch wide. You can see my mom's fingers for comparison. The jar is 2" in diameter! It vibrated the whole jar. Apparently Pennsylvania grows big things!

Update

Just a little update...the car is still in the shop after the whole deer incident, it looks like they will fix it instead of "totalling" it. It's taking forever, though- the insurance man has to re-do some stuff and I don't even know if they've actually started fixing it yet. I am enjoying being a bum- I have been out of school for a couple of weeks and I can't remember what I do but my days are usually full! There's always something mundane to do. We're preparing for my aunt to come from San Francisco to visit us- she comes soon! It will be the first guest in PA and we're excited. It's really nice to have a place where we can have people over- we couldn't really do that in Enumclaw.

We had a nice memorial day weekend- had hamburgers and potato salad (isn't there a law or something?) and saw Indiana Jones- it was pretty good, it met my expectations. It's been cool and rainy lately, but it was warm and sunny on Memorial Day- and we saw the first fireflies of the season! I love them.

Domestic

Lately I have been feeling "June Cleaver-ish"....I baked two pineapple upside down cakes in a week! My dad loves them and put in a request for the first, then later that week we didn't know what to bring for the branch dinner and so I made another one. While the second one was baking, I sewed a (small) quilt top for the RS humanitarian project! So funny. I usually don't bake a whole lot of "pretty" things, so I thought I'd show it off.

Young Women's

I have recently been called to serve as the First Councilor in Young Women's! Last Sunday was my first Sunday with the girls. I'm actually really excited about this calling-I felt it in my bones that I would be in YW here and it feels good to finally be involved. My president's name is Beth, she's been doing YW all by herself up until now (It's a small branch!) so it's nice to be able to help out. I enjoy her a lot. They also needed to fill a spot for a councilor in Relief Society, I was so relieved I didn't get asked to do that!

If I were still in Washington, I would have hated serving in YW- it was always my worst nightmare that I would be asked to. I was in that ward for over 20 years-I would have just felt really self concious about myself, especially since everyone far younger than me was off and married and there I was still in Enumclaw.

I haven't been in YW for 10 years- not since I graduated! Most stuff is pretty much the same, but some things have changed. I guess I flunked YW since I'm still not married, I have to go back and get a refresher course!

I have a lot in common with the YW- I'm in school, looking for Mr. Right, preparing to have a family of my own. I think the things we talk about here will help me. I'm excited about my lesson next Sunday- I get to talk about what missionaries do!

The real issue here is that our one active YW is graduating, there are a couple of others that come now and then and that's our real struggle. Wish us luck!

Final Project

Here's the two pieces I did for my final project in art. I did a pendant and a ring using wax butterflies that I molded from a plastic butterfly. I had plans to do a bracelet as well, but that proved to be too difficult for the short time allotted. I received a B, better than what I thought I'd get. I like butterflies, what can I say?

Frazzled

Things were going great yesterday- we helped make quilts at church for the humanitarian effort, Laura and I had a fun time at FHE with the other YSA. Then coming home, we hit a deer. It ran out right in front of us and I braked quickly but it still struck the driver's side. We were fine. The deer was not. It did a good amount of damage- we were able to drive home but the car may be "totaled" by the insurance agengy.

My dad had to leave very early this morning at last minute's notice for Kentucky, he'll be back in a couple of days. He always has good timing for business trips!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, everyone. I have to say that Mother's Day went a lot better this year than I thought it would, considering that I hate Mother's Day. Mother's Day has grown tiresome the last few years since 1) you should be nice to your mother all year long 2) My mom and I don't always have the greatest realtionship (I hate those "angel mother" talks) and 3) I don't have children and get tired of recieving geraniums. My mom spoke in sacrament meeting about temples (we were spared from the typical talk) and the primary children sang so cute and gave everyone a handmade card. I didn't want my violet, but was kindof forced to have one.

Later at home we had pancakes and mom opened her cards and present- a wringer from an old wringer washer. We collect antiques and it will look good with her other antiques above the cabinets. She also got a fuchia basket and big wrought iron hook for it- it replaces the ugly white pvc pipe hanger that the previous owner's left. Considering all, it wasn't a bad day. I even got a nap.

LDS Art Competition

The Museum of Church History and Art is having another worldwide competition (You often see art from these competitions in the Ensign) which they hold every three years. This year's theme is "Remembering the Great Things of God." I've never entered this competition, though I've been impressed with the pieces I've seen in the past. I'd love to enter, but nothing is jumping in my mind of what to do. I'd probably try to paint something, though all types of media are accepted. The other challenge is to think of something that won't be done to death.

Here is a quote from the Church News regarding the theme: "The artwork will represent a theme, idea, story, people, or place related to (1) Latter-day Saint doctrines, beliefs, and teachings, including stories from the scriptures and teachings of the prophets; (2) events, sites, and individuals pertinent to the history of the Church and its people; or (3) the application of religious values in Latter-day Saint life, including Church, family, and individual activities. "

The deadline is on October, so I have time to figure something out. Any suggestions? What do you think of when you think of that theme?

Artist's Reception

Last Saturday, April 26th, was the Artist's Reception for the 85th Annual Spring Show at the Erie Art Museum. I had a photograph accepted into the show, which was jurored by art critic Dave Hickey. It's been awhile since I've submitted pieces or gotten into shows, so it felt nice. I drug my sister Laura along since my parents were out of town but will see the show soon. At other artist's receptions, I had to wear a nametag but this time no nametag so no one had any idea who I was or why I was there. I didn't really talk to anyone except my jewelry teacher. It was nice to see her there. There were some interesting items, it's a pretty good mix of everything. The two men (pictured) in the orange hats were funny and talking to everyone- they tried to enter themselves in the show but I don't know if that worked out. They looked like they belonged in Seattle!

There's a gallery around the corner from the museum that is fun to wander through...I bought myself a small handmade glass butterfly as congratulations. I didn't win anything at the show, but we'll see if someone buys my photo. It's fun having a lot more opportunities for these kind of things.

I Love Lighthouses

We had FHE at a different place the last couple of weeks...at Kate's house who lives on Lake Chatauqua in New York State. I was pleasantly surprised to find this little lighthouse on the lake by the ferry dock and had to get my picture with it. I liked lighthouses before I went to Connecticut, but now I really love them. For my birthday last July I got to see two of the three Erie lighthouses.

Common Sight

Yup, we live in Amish Country. This is a common sight every time you get in the car. It took some getting used to sharing the road, I had to learn to watch for buggies while driving! They're hard to see at night, too, even though they have lights on. I often see Amish children walking to school in the morning during my commute. And you see these road signs everywhere. Definfitely different than Washington!

Birdhouse in Your Soul

For this assignment, you had to find "visual" song lyrics and use them to create a piece. You had to create ambiguous space using several methods and you had to have several color schemes. After all that, you had to write an analysis of your work. We were being graded quite a bit on the actual analysis. I used "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants. I posted the entire lyrics awhile ago, but the lines I used were:

• "Let me be the bee in your bonnet"
• "Leave the nightlight on inside the birdhouse in your soul"
• "Blue canary in the outlet by the lightswitch who watches over you"

I spent a lot of time on this piece and on my analysis (I did the analysis in Photoshop, printed it in color- made it look professional and my teacher was impressed) and got a bit frazzled. I'm glad to report that my critique today went well- my teacher was very pleased with my piece and my analysis. I expect a good grade. I think this is my favorite piece that I made all semester.

I couldn't believe how many other students blew this off- there were a lot of poor pieces and several half finished ones and some didn't have one done at all. A lot made poor analysis', too. This is the final! There were only 4 pieces at the most that I thought were good. It's scary when we've been talking design and color all semester and many students still just don't get it- they still don't know their color schemes or elements of design...and they expect to get jobs in the art world!