Milton Levine, inventor of the Ant Farm, passed away on January 26 in Thousand Oaks, Ca at the age of 97. Inspired by the memory of watching a jarful of ants that he had collected as a child, Levine decided at a 1956 Fourth of July picnic that he should make an "antarium."
Advertised in the back of thousands of comic books (along with his other popular relics of the 1950's, like potato guns and shrunken heads), over 20 million Uncle Milton's Ant Farms have been sold to date.
As educational as they are entertaining, Ant Farms have changed the lives of at least one child, although not necessarily as Levine might have envisioned. At least one young, naive kid, in the early 1960's, got an Ant Farm for Christmas (against his parents' instincts) and sent off the enclosed coupon for the livestock (read: ants). When said ants finally arrived (back when Airmail postage cost extra, and ants just didn't travel by air) their plastic shipping tube was horribly crushed, and only two worker ants - one down to his last four legs and the other intact - survived. The maimed one quit moving shortly thereafter, but the Lone Surviving Ant persevered, working day and night to dig his tunnels, just as nature intended, fed only a mild sugar water solution, as directed by Levine's whimsically illustrated instructions.
So impressive were the ant's efforts, that the wowed child wanted to share his joy and amazement at the warren of tunnels that the solitary industrious insect had created. He carefully (as carefully as a kid that age can be, anyway) packed the ant farm and its lone resident's monumental efforts into a paper grocery bag and carried it to his school for that day's "Show and Tell."
"This will show the other kids the rewards of hard work," the kid thought to himself, mightily impressed to think that, if scaled up to human proportions, there were the equivalent of about thirty miles of tunnels. All dug by just one ant!
When he was finally called upon during that day's Show and Tell, the normally quite shy youngster could barely contain his excitement as he stepped up in front of the other 29 students and showily extracted the ant farm from its bag.
Of course, being new at this, he had not taken into account the jostling and vibration that the precious cargo would encounter on the eight block (and two trails) journey to the elementary school, and their devastating seismic effect. All of the tunnels had collapsed, leaving only the singular, indomitable ant to begin anew.
After a loooong pause, he was somewhat shocked to hear a distant voice - his own, as it turned out - telling his puzzled and derisively giggling classmates "Um, this is my pet ant."

Yet Another Legend Passes (Dangit!)

"I can't die, it'd be bad for my image!" Well, he did, and in no way did it diminish his image. Jack Lalanne was tops - no doubt about it.

The first (of waaaay too many) person to open a fitness studio (as opposed to, say, a mere boxing gym) in merry old Oakland in 1936, and the first person to have his own televised fitness show* (KGO-TV San Francisco), Lalanne had a style all his own - over the top and as completely entertaining as it was lovable. I remember seeing his show in the mornings, in gloriously snowy black-and-white, because it came on right after the cartoons, but before the game shows.
"Ok, kids, go get Mom," he would command in his engaging manner.
Workouts took place on an unmistakably affordable set, usually in front of a cheap set of plated drapes, and often engaged the services of an organist (who often sounded like they had been fired from the ball park.)
"Alright ladies, now we're gonna work on the 'back porch'" he would encourage, slapping himself on his muscular behind. Or it might be something to tone up the midriff ('front porch', he would always smilingly indicate.)
At the end of the half hour, exhausted viewers were typically treated to Jack's inimitable, top-of-the-lungs version of "O Sole Mio," while his puzzled German Shepherd 'Happy'(yes, it was a real dog) looked on, panting from the excitement (and the heat of the studio lights.)

Every year, Lalanne's birthday brought some laughable, and lovable, stunt, such as towing a bunch of people in a whaleboat, clutching the tow rope in his teeth while he swam, handcuffed, around Alcatraz Island.

Lalanne is also credited with inventing the first specialized workout machinery.

Jack was known in later years for hawking his "Jack Lalanne's Power Juicer" vegetable and fruit juicing machine, his boundless enthusiasm never flagging.

His famous quote "Would you give your dog a cigarette and a doughnut for breakfast every morning? People think nothing of giving themselves that for breakfast, and they wonder why they don't feel good," has moved me to finally get my dog onto nicotine patches. (We're still in negotiations about the doughnuts, tho.....)

We'll miss ya, Jack, ol' boy! (Now, where did I leave that glass of doughnut juice.....?)

Just in case you think that you have never heard of him, letme assure you - you have! If you happen to be that one person left in the world that hasn't heard his delightful guitar work directly, rest assured that you have definitely experienced his influence on the world's music. (be sure to click on the image above to get a brief taste!)
If you've ever heard the Hot Club of France (or the Hot Club of anywhere, for that matter) you've been awakened to his style.

I think that Dan Hicks (of and His Hot Licks notoreity) should cop a bit of gratitude from all of us for helping to keep the sound alive throughout those Hot Club-free psychedelic years, too! (Extra points for keeping Sid Page busy, too!)

.....our cold isn't exactly Rocky Mountain cold (32 degrees in the morning as opposed to, well, 14). But for us, it's cold. All the Deborah has wanted to do lately is cook cozy things and knit cozy things and snuggle with the Ralph and the dog.
But the Ralph has been busy in the studio, and also teaching at the Crucible, where enthusiastic beginners take off on their journeys to become lampwork artists. It's always exciting to help give someone the tools and skills they need to express themselves and to find their own "little man that lives in the glass."

OK, two recipes, one for knitting, one for dessert(and for Heaven's sake, don't get them confused):

DESSERT

Figs in Port
Serves 2

Walnuts
8 dried black Mission figs, quartered
1 cup port
Piece of vanilla bean
Orange peel (about 1x2 inches)
Thick Greek yogurt (we get ours at Trader Joe's)

Place walnuts in toaster oven and set on Medium. Toast and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the figs, port, vanilla bean and orange peel. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes, or until figs are plump and liquid has reduced and thickened slightly.

Serve over plain thick yogurt, topped with toasted walnuts.

(Notes: You know we like variations. Here are some: Serve over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt - though we admit we find the figs themselves providing all the sweetness we need in a dessert. Add other dried fruit, such as cranberries, to the liquid. Top with almonds, pine nuts or cashews. Change the port to red wine. Add chocolate shavings. But do try it the above way first.)

Meeting new old friends.
Promises to get together before the next round of shows.
End-of-Autumn storms.
Beginning-of-Winter storms.
Falling tree branches,
New windshields.
More teaching.
Final goodbyes.
Last rites.
Cleaning out decades of memories.
Pine needles littering the driveways.
Leaves clogging everything.
Refillling the bird feeders again.
New family members to get to know.
Great-smellling Xmas trees.
More rain on my head.
Whirlwind holiday gatherings.
New old traditions.
Re-re-using beautiful bows.
Uncharacteristically frosty mornings.
Auld Lang Syne with dear friends.
Neighborhood champagne bottle recycling champions January 1st.
Desperate dashes to distant airports.
Tearful goodbyes.
Futile attempts to catch one's breath.
Start it all over again.

So, how was your holiday season.....?

And, if that's not enough, find us at the Richmond Art Center's Holiday Festival, and the Crucible's Nifty Gifty show in the next couple of weeks.

We've been recovering from the BABE show in Oakland, which gave us a chance to make some new friends and to reconnect with old friends as well. BABE is like our homecoming game: close to home, marked presence of wonderful Northern California lampworkers like Sharon Peters, Tom Boylan, Shirley Cook, the Irrepresible Jiley Romney, Toni Lutman and Heather Chapman (and so many more that we've forgotten - sorry dear friends....) And it also draws beadmakers from farther away, including Lisa Kan, Aja Vaz and Gail Crossman Moore. It's always fun to see what they're up to, because it's always something new. And a major highlight of the BABE show is getting together with the wild and wonderful Christi Friesen, who brings such positive energy with her that she never fails to light up a room. She threw a "clay party" after hours, bringing together polymer and precious metal clay folks (their medium, not them themselves) out of which emerged strange new forms and wonderful new relationships (and possibly strange new wonderful relationships). The kind and understanding folks at the Oakland Marriott will probably have forgotten about it by next year, so it'll probably happen again.......

This year, with Sharon recovering from a broken leg, we were asked to lead the traditional closing of the BABE show, a rendition of "Happy Trails," on kazoos and coconut shells. We dragooned a number of mostly willing beadmakers for volume and moral support. One of the benefits of getting older is that you don't mind when people give you funny looks.

And now, the recipe:

After the carb-fest that is Thanksgiving, I wanted to go back to my semi-Paleo ways (eggs, meat, fish, veggies ... though I'm not a purist and also use dairy). This also used up some of the leftover turkey and the cherry tomatoes from the veggie tray.


SOUTHWESTERN TURKEY FRITTATA

Serves 8-10

1 cup shredded Monterey jack or mozarella cheese
About 2 cups leftover turkey, diced
1 can sliced olives, drained
1 can diced green chiles
3 ounces (or so - eyeball it) cherry tomatoes
Chile powder
Cumin
Garlic powder
1 dozen eggs
1/4 cup cream or half-and-half

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-x-12-inch baking dish. Spread shredded cheese over the bottom. Top with olives and chiles and enough cherry tomatoes to look attractive. Season with chile powder, cumin and garlic powder. Distribute turkey over all.

Beat eggs with cream until blended. Pour over other ingredients. Bake until slightly puffed and golden-brown on top (a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean).

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Now all you have to do is figure out how to use up the other 34 lbs. of leftover bird.......

Teaching classes at both The Crucible and the Richmond Art Center, in a ground-breaking event that we hope will lead to more classes there. (Check us out there on December 3rd and 4th for their Holiday Art Fair. The Crucible's Nifty Gifty show is the following weekend - hope to see you there, too!) Also the usual parade of lost cats (not even ours!), crumbling relatives and Fresh Hells served daily.

Here is one thing that makes me like NPR ever more: I just heard a brief interview with the President of the "Indonesian Meatball Soup Association."

Top that, Fox News!

Need a quick Pick-Me-Up?

Try this (and it's a lot better than one would think!)

In a wine glass or Old Fashioned glass:

1 fresh egg yolk
a few grindings of fresh black pepper
1 tablespoon of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce
1-1/2 ounces port wine
a sprinkling of celery seed

Try to knock it back all at once, without breaking the yolk, according to the recipe.
Great for battling the dreaded "11 O'Clock Menace"

predicting threatening weather, and ended up with him delivering it right to our door! While spirits were only literally dampened, they weren't figuratively, and the fun was what actually reigned the most.
(Ok, we'll slow down on the puns until we get thru the rain-slicked story - too dangerous in the curves!)
Not-so-bright, but pretty early on Saturday, we made our way to Piece of Mind Beads,in their new digs in Sacramento (near the Arco Arena, as it turns out)for their annual NorCal ISGB Chapter Trunk Show. (And, no, not a single elephant's proboscis were involved.)
Setting up our traveling beadmaking demonstration gear only partly in the rain, we were able to bring a certain appreciation of the process to the many people that showed up. The Deborah trotted out her horse bead making abilities to dazzle one and all. Many interesting tales were swapped among the folk in attendance, and a good time was had.

Sunday brought us much trepidation (and 'dripidation') as we headed off to Oakland's Park Day School for their soon-to-be-an-annual-event Mini-Maker Faire. Originally slated to be an outdoor affair, plans were quickly adjusted thanks to some all-niters pulled by Sabrina Merlo and her colleagues. (see, you knew that it was good practice back in school!) Extra dry space was acquired at Studio One, which is a terrific facility and was conveniently located right next door, and the Show Went On!
It was nice to see over 2,000 people show up, mostly ready for frolicking in the rain, and ready to see, touch, hear, taste and do all kinds of wild stuff. Oddly enough, the various pop-ups that did remain set up outside evolved into crowd-pleasing "Make A Waterfall" booths when the accumulated water was shoved of of the tops(which I think should be deliberately included in future faires, rain or shine!)

Here are some sources of pix for the day:
Oakland North audio slide show (I'm about 30 secs. in)
Sabrina Merlo's pix (pix 35 & 36, too)
Hadley Dynak photo set (IMG_1386)
The Crucible's pix
John Orton's pix
Karen Manual photo set

Too much fun to not do it again!

(and now it's time to dry off - but not out - and rest up for teaching at The Crucible and the Richmond Art Center)

Geez, what a time! Old friends (in about every sense of the word) getting back in touch, abruptly changing seasons, family health crises, family pet crises, what, it's my turn to cook - again ? - pretty much every kind of thing that real life is made of, all coming atcha at once!

One thing that has broken up the hysteria was a quick trip to the San Francisco Alternative Press Expo ("APE"). This is sort of a smaller, more focused, definitely more alternative version of WonderCon (which, for the uninitiated (like me), is a comic book/graphic novel/print/fantasy/everything else show.)
At APE I ran into Bob Fowler, an author and collector/reseller of a publisher/artist/writer named Jack T. Chick. When I saw Fowler's table at APE, I stopped, stunned, in my tracks and then began to laugh uproariously. At once waaaay out of place and perfectly suited to the show, Fowler has what is likely the largest assortment of Chick publications, including many rare and out-of-print issues.

Now, just what is it that Jack T. Chick is known for? Religious tracts. These aren't your run-of-the-mill, 'Jesus Saves' pamphlets (although, for the most part, this is their message). That would be too commonplace, too ordinary, too acceptable. No, Jack T. Chick has been publishing some of the creepiest cartooning around for many decades. My first (and unforgettable) exposure to a Jack T. Chick tract was waaaay back in Junior High School (yes, that was before the term "Middle School" was coined), when I stumbled upon an odd-sized, black and white little comic book called "Somebody Loves Me."
While the story's message is rather unmistakable (and not bad, in and of itself) the crude artwork is dripping with bathos and pretty much leaves you feeling like you just got caught doing something that you really shouldn't have done. One definition of pornography* is "anything that makes you feel like you need a looooong shower after you read it." Toss in a stiff drink, and I would say the label fits. Chick has since hired at least one very competent artist, and the artwork has decidedly improved. Kinda too bad, in a way.

Fowler was most willing to talk about the mountain of research that he did for the book, and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff that I promised not to specify were both jaw-dropping and mundane.
Chick has managed to alienate himself from much (if not most) of the Christian community, from the Baptists all the way up to the Vatican, with some of his anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and racist publications.** Oddly enough, his anti-gay tracts haven't borne much in the way of scorn, often being held up as hilariously twisted ironic comedy. And, of course, neither have his anti-Evolution tracts, although there is small wonder there.

Now, what was that about Halloween, again? Well, without naming names, I must confess that I have an elderly relative (well into his nineties)*** who, every Halloween, spends a good chunk of his Social Security check on a lot of Chick's tracts and hands them out in a non-ironic fashion to the little goblins that come to his door. Pondering this at length, I have come to regard this (in his mind) well-intended action as horrible and hideous. In short, perfect for Halloween.

Pleasant dreams, my little angels!

* it's worth noting that, according to Fowler, Canada managed to get Chick's publications banned for some time under its obscenity laws, meaning that I'm not the first, or only, to think this way.

** I'm not sure just how much Other-Cheek-Turning has been involved in the entire mess, but it doesn't appear to be a heckuva lot.

*** this is the same guy who performs "God's work" (his term) by standing at the roadside wearing a sandwich board with Scripture quotes and the message that "God Is Love." Sometimes he wears a sign that declares that "Jesus Saves," but I haven't yet seen one that says "But Moses Invests."

Saturday brought to mind how much those of us who make art benefit from an immersion in the works of others -- preferably others who work in completely different media. You never know how you might be inspired by a low-slung car with toy pistols glued all over it.

Seriously. That's one of the pieces we saw, by sculptor David Best. The completely encrusted-with-tchotchkes cars on display make you look at both cars and tchotchkes in a different way. My favorite, of course, had Breyer horses, or at least pieces of them, scattered about. The funny thing is, the cars actually still run!

More sculptures, indoors and out, and paintings, assemblages and other objects are displayed all over the house and grounds of the former home of Rene di Rosa, who collected what he loved, preferably from Bay Area artists. It's the most unusual venue I've ever visited for viewing art. The pieces are displayed with the care of a great museum, but many of them also are all over the old house.

Did they really live with that much art? Like the very tall ladder displaying painted books on every step? Paintings on every available space? By the end of the tour, I was on sensory overload. My fantasy for really being able to appreciate the place would be to stay there for a week ... unfortunately, not an option. But it's kind of a fun thought that you might pitch a tent in the di Rosa sculpture meadow, and be able to see the pieces in every sort of light from the misty dawn to twilight and beyond, maybe during a full moon ... yeah.

* we were once the happy beneficiaries of a pheasant which, once we roasted, picked the shot out of, and mostly finished, became the basis for one of our more memorable pizzas. It even used up the (cooked) bottoms of the artichokes that we allowed to grow a little too long to eat as regular artichokes! Really! Pheasant and artichoke bottom pizza - goes great with champagne (but, then, who doesn't....?)

** this is sort of a poor man's quickie mushroom sauce, which is a nice surprise hidden under the red sauce like that

That's right! Pinole's (sometimes infamous) Fernandez Park will be the site of a gathering of artists, specifically the Pinole Artisans, on this coming Sunday, August 22nd.
Yes, this grisly (ok, actually grizzled) scene will definitely include us, live, in the flesh (and plenty of it; more and more with each passing year....) and literally all fired up. We will be doing demonstrations of how one goes about converting melted sand (and some other stuff) into actual glass beads.

Other participants will be showing their work in various media, including oil and acrylic painting, watercolors, fabric prints, photography, jewelry and robably a few others that we can't remember right now.

The fun begins at 10 am. Your fun begins when you get there (so get there early!)

Ok, I learned a lot during our visit to the San Francisco Gem and Mineral Show a couple of days ago. We thought that it was time to get a professional assessment (since childhood I have been told that I "must have rocks in my head.") It turned out that there are a lot of enthusiastic people out there with rocks on the brain.....
Aurichalcite? A beautiful turquoise mineral, full of copper and zinc.
Chalcanthite? It turns out that this is the amazingly bah-LOO crystals that form at the bottom of my electroforming beaker.
Variscite? Yeah, no problem. That stuff, laden with aluminum and phosphorus, is beautiful, and impressive enough to wind up featured on a US postage stamp.
And I also found out that silica and copper-rich Chrysocolla easily fools me into thinking that it is malachite. No big deal fooling me, though..... I like the way that it resemble mokume gane.
I also got a real eye-opening about how many people attribute so many preternatural qualities and healing abilities to various "rocks." I never considered that laying seven different stones on my body could lead to increased colon health*, or that a quartz crystal could bring lots and lots of energy.**
I think that my favorite item was a "break it yourself" geode. Nothin' like buying something with the intent of immediately smashing it - but that's the only way to let out the geode's inner beauty!
The mineral pictured above is known as Picture Jasper (picture that!) and it and its jasper-ish cousins really caught me eye, all right.
And, as one might expect, I wound up adopting a bunch of jasper beads. (And a slab. Or two. And, well, one more strand surely won't do any harm...) I didn't see any mention of any magnetic properties, but I was sure attracted to them! I still wonder how I will wind up using them, but I'm pretty sure that I will. Of course I will. I will. Really. Someday. ("Hey, put those down! Go get your own; these are Mine !")

and no better group to get together with (finally) than some co-workers (and their dogs, of course)*.
We were privileged to have access to the Southern end of Mare Island, a former Navy shipyard and ordnance-testing area that is slowly reverting to civilian residences and Nature Herself. The south end of the island is home to a graveyard dating to 1858 (that's pre-Civil War, folks!) and several now-crumbling structures reminiscent of Angel Island in its pre-restoration era. Our spot for our BBQ was on the former tennis court, which is being sloooowly overrun by trees and other vegetation, altho its painted court lines still remind us of its former life. Sort of a "The World Without Us" come to life before our eyes.
A short hike past the graveyard led our polyspecied group past the former home and garden of the caretaker (which is in the process of being restored by a hardy group of tireless volunteers) and to the top of the hill. From there, we enjoyed a sweeping 360 degree view of the Northern Bay Area, including San Pablo Bay and the Carquinez Straits. Allegedly a "Seven County View" we could manage to count six of them (San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano and Contra Costa) and a few telltale landmarks (Sutro Tower, Mt. Diablo).
Organizer Myrna Hayes and the Mare Island Heritage Trust are to be congratulated for their efforts towart restoration of this historic area, and particularly for finding a way to get this place open to the public as often as possible (currently the second saturday of each month and by special arrangement.)
The island and shipyard have also been used as locations in films (Sphere, Jack) and television shows (Mythbusters "Duct Tape Bridge"), has a nice golf course, stunning old archetecture and has some of the oldest cultivated trees in the Bay Area. One of these days I will manage to drag myself into the museum there when it is unlocked.
Personal (sort of) Note About Mare Island Shipyard:
A lot of years ago, an older relative (an ex-powder monkey from Czechoslovakia) worked for many years as a machinist at the shipyard. Renowned for his, shall we say, 'frugality', he won an award for inventing a new type of oil filter that he had field tested on his own car. The reusable filter element, apparently one of the most cost-effective ever developed, was made from a pair of his old woolen long underwear. Now that's green! .......(eeeeew!)

** It was interesting and unusual to see my co-workers with their clothes on for a change**, and to meet their significant others, some of them human.

** This is a job at a medical school, which involves spending most of the day wearing a hospital gown and saying "Ahhhhh" a lot.....