Once Upon a Time This Week

I had kind of a busy week, but now it seems that I can't remember hardly any of it. Here are some pictures though, and maybe some words.



That is one little corner of my life, the freezer. On the left is a package of chopped hot green chile. On the right is a package of natto, the infamous Japanese fermented soybeans. These are going to be made into sushi.



These are senbei, a ubiquitous Japanese rice cracker. A bag of these, even in a city as expensive as Tokyo, was about 100 to 200 yen (about $1 or 2 dollars), and there was almost always a bag on the breakroom table at The Kaisha. They're just little munchable things, tasty and bland and crunchy and irresistible, like potato chips almost. These are very, very plain senbei, but you can find them in an array of flavors, too, sugary or spicy or seaweed-y or shrimp-y.



This is a picture of some crazy toy at Target. The colorful strangeness of these caught my eye.

As we were walking around Target's toy department, Dave and I, we passed three cops who were there to catch a little group of shoplifters, two men I think, and a woman with a very large bag that had a dog in it (among other things).

And Halloween.



Is coming.

I like the idea of Halloween more than I like Halloween. I like that plate, too, and may try to recreate it at the studio.



This is one thing you have to be reminded of when you are working around 1000-watt light bulbs. CAUTION DO NOT GET THE LIGHT BULBS WET!!! (It could cause them to explode) 

You buried the lede, son.

These signs are posted in the greenhouse. This is the quality of light in the greenhouse:



Those are two of my botany classmates, Emily and Tom. They were looking over another group's tobacco seedlings. Ours look better. Tom says I'm just being competitive (Welcome to science, Tom!) but in fact I am correct; the other group has taken a very lackadaisical approach to watering.



I've been making bento-ish breakfasts for Dave when I make my lunch to take to school. This is brown rice, vegetable gyoza with a dipping sauce, broccoli, sweet potato, kabocha, and plum.

So those are the pictures.

These events have no pictures:

I've returned to mask making for a moment, to cast a young man who works at the studio. People are naturally interested in the process, so there are always one or two who will want it done. Once upon a time I enjoyed it, now I am proficient at it.

One of the artists who used to work at the studio died this week. She was a very skillful artist who gave up her own art when she began to teach art to high school students a few years ago. She had cancer, a particularly nasty kind. She fought it for a time. Her name was Annie Rodgers.