Weekly Recap

My week was uneventful.  My high school art class at the Edge gets crazier and crazier as the year goes on.  Kids are graduating early. They work through computer programs to finish school - so depending on how hard they work, they can get out when they finish.  Then students come into the program, because they have been problems elsewhere and have fallen behind. Class consistency is wild. We have been painting on canvas and next we are going to do printmaking. It is difficult to teach when kids come and go like they do. So, we just have fun.

Friday I went to Wichita Falls and had lunch with Jesse. She took me to some odd place in a downtown building. We had pumpkin/jalapeno soup, which was really good. Then I went to Hobby Lobby and bought some mat boards to do some matting. Boy! That stuff is getting expensive. I need to find a new source to buy from. Amazon is my friend! I also went by Michael's to use my coupon and get a bit of watercolor paper.  My other errand was to go by Best Buy where I bought my third Kindle Fire at the end of December.  I love my Kindle, but lately it has not been holding a charge or charging up very well. The Geeks at Best Buy said it was the Kindle and not the charger. So I went to Jesse's house and used her wifi and called Amazon. With very little questioning, they said they would be sending me a new Kindle and to send the old one back when I got the new one. Yeah! I love those folks.  The Amazon guy was from some other country. I had him on speaker phone. He was doing pretty well, but I wondered about his mastery of the English language. At one point he said lots of stuff and I had no idea what he said. I looked at Jesse and she burst out laughing. Later, we met Jesse's friend, Lex, for supper. They chose Indian food, which was good, but after the jalapeno/pumpkin soup, I was overdone on hot stuff.

Saturday morning I got up early to judge the high school VASE competition. It went really well. I love seeing the high school art and talking to the kids - the judging has lots to do with an interview.  We finished up at noon and went to the judges room for lunch.  After lunch we had to decide which students went on to state competition. But some parent came in and threw a fit that their child had been disqualified. Apparently one of the rules is that the work must be original.  If you draw/paint from a photo, it has to be a photo you took yourself. If you use some other photo (heirloom), you must "significantly" change the drawing - not copy it.  The art work in question was a pencil sketch of a photo that her grandfather took. They did an excellent job - the photo and the art work were exact. Unfortunately that was not the rule and the piece did not make the cut - you can't copy someone else's photo. The parents insisted! Arguing went on for a while causing us to have to wait until a decision was made on the art work. Finally the VASE folk gave in and said they would include the art work.  sigh. You know, it was going to be disqualified at the state level.  It was very irritating. It was really good art, but they so obviously did not follow the rules of originality. I'm glad I could judge and go home and not have to deal with parents.

Sunday we had kids and grandkids and Shay and Lindz with baby Theo over for lunch. It was a pretty nice day, so we took the kids to climb on a large pecan tree that fell over several years ago. It is huge and lots of fun. If I was a kid, I'd be all over that tree. But at my age, I stayed pretty much on the ground and was a safety net for the kids. It was a good time.  By the way, with Theo's blue eyes and lack of hair he reminds me of Gene.