GinohnNews

G: Well it's been a busy week. Last Thursday Kory got into town after driving across the country and needed a shower, so he needed a shower curtain for his new apartment. He was going to go out and buy one, but I said I had our old one hanging around and it turned out to not be in bad shape. I'm trying to remember why I replaced it. I loved the pattern so. I think I decided I needed an anti-mildew shower curtain because it was really hard to clean and the first one I tried to clean in the washing machine came out all wrinkled.

I've since found out that these vinyl shower curtains last forever and ever (in the ol' landfill) and one should get a fabric one; I'm talking about the liner. So I was glad to keep Kory from buying a new one, and even my anti-mildew shower curtain that I sprayed with anti-mildew coating before using it grows gunk on it and so I guess it won't last forever and I will be sure to buy a cotton or hemp one next time. Those CAN be laundered.

So, after I saw Kory for a little while I went to the studio and met up with the studio manager Diana. There is going to be a gallery show later this year in the Community Center showing work from artists in residence that is inspired by other artists in residence. So I wanted her to teach me to throw these large platters she makes. I did four and I think they will come out alright but I still need to work on the techniques.

Chris came in for a visit that night and stayed the weekend.  Friday I think I just goofed off all day. That night I met up with Renee and Alex in Silver Spring at ZPizza. They'd told me about it before - that they had a soy cheese pizza. Even though I normally try to eat healthier than that, I'm pleased that there is something like this sort of close by! I built my own pizza and it was delicious - regular crust, tomato sauce, soy cheese, basil, avocado, eggplant, and carmelized onions. Wow. They have an amazing array of yummy looking stuff you can put on your pizza. It will be a nice treat every once in a while.

Then we went to the Majestic and saw Shrek 3. Cute.

The next day Diana came over and she and Chris and I went to Artomatic. When we finally got there (long metro ride) and entered, we hit the bathrooms but then could hear Floating Stone playing in a nearby room. Jeff Aug is the brother of Meg's (John's sister) best friend Suzy, so we'd seen them before and I wanted to say Hello. There were two people in the room, one guy who was really digging it and one guy asleep on a couch. They only had a few more songs and were finished, but by then a few more people had come in and enjoyed it. I bought a cd and so did one other person.

Then we ran around and tried to see most of Artomatic. I've never been able to see it all, but this time I got close. It was neat, but not quite as enjoyable as years past for me. We all got museum exhaustion. When we couldn't take any more we went across the street to a Thai restaurant and had good food. Long ride back on the metro, then I had to drop Chris off at the Best Western in College Park for an open mic comedy thing. I had to walk Katy so I went home, and by the time I could have gone back to watch Chris he was done.

So he and Jake, Ingrid, and Kory met me at TVTom's for George's Sensorium party. A bunch of us sat in a room with blindfolds on and were handed strange objects to fondle, and occasionally cups of food to eat, while strange noises were played and sometimes scents were sprayed or waved. The most interesting sensation was of someone leaning over you and just quietly hovering there. Everyone enjoyed it.

On Sunday LAndrew came over and hung around for a while waiting for Chris to go back to Artomatic. Diana came over and we went to the Maryland Fairie Festival. I asked her to drive because she wanted to come home early and I thought I might want to stay later and catch a ride home with someone else. As we left the house a Code Enforcement officer was parked near my spot. I hypothesized to Diana that someone had called him because LAndrew had parked in someone's spot for over 1/2 hour. I didn't know he had done that until he and Chris were leaving, or I would have said something.

It was a lovely day and we enjoyed the festival. Diana made us both flowery head wreaths. She also bought a cute shirt. Dorian bought me a fairy crown. Some of the details were nicer this year than the last two. But with everything I had been doing all weekend, I was pretty tired and came home with Diana just a few hours later. I rested a while and walked Katy then I went to toK's where folks were playing games. I played with Dave's Wii for a while, then watched a game testing session, then played one. I had fun.

On Monday I taught a clay workshop to kids half the day, then picked up my first delivery of veggies at the New Deal from Calvert Farms CSA. Yay! There was a big bunch of mint in there, so when I went grocery shopping the next day I bought a bag of limes so I could make mojitos, or virgin mojitos. In fact, I made a virgin mojito that night before going off to teach.

And since then I've made an interesting, refreshing drink. I took chunks of watermelon, a little cucumber, the juice of two limes, and some mint and blended it all together. It was really good, and I had it "chunk style," but it might even be a real nice sipping drink if you strained it, maybe mixed in a little seltzer.

J: I have it on high authority (i.e. my brother Frank) that the whales that are being herded down the  Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta are actually a rare, endangered species of Salmon Whale (Odontoceti Oncorhynchus) that need to swim upstream to spawn. Unfortunately their efforts have been thwarted, and they will quite likely be driven out of the delta and into extinction.