Corona Crisis Crafting II: There be Dragons

Another cheat post, because I started those last week as well.

I want to redecorate the front yard and therefore ordered some very cool latex moulds. I still have plenty of pouring concrete left from the renovations, so I can probably breed a lot of them.

Here’s the first, not so good attempts:

©Giliell, all rights reserved

My attempts in supporting the moulds weren’t as successful as I thought they would be. The wings on this were supposed to be upright, which isn’t a big issue, but I also made my concrete too wet*, so when I tried to demould it after the recommended 5 days, it was still too wet and the tips of the wings broke off.

Next one:

©Giliell, all rights reserved

I left that one for a few more days to dry, which worked out well, but… the weight of the concrete pushed the head down.

For my next attempts I buried the moulds in damp earth. I’ll have to get myself some regular sand for the next ones, but I hope that this time they wont be flat.

Last one is a cute little croc, only that I broke off its tail, but that was easily fixed with some glue.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

 

*As my dad said: It’s too dry, too dry, too dry right until it’s too wet.

Wild Hyacinths

From Nightjar,

After last week’s wild daffodils I bring you more spring bulbs… wild hyacinths! Well, kind of, I think these are actually squills (Scilla sp.) but they belong to the same family and I’ve always called them that. They’re everywhere right now. Two of these photos have a bonus little spider.

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

The rest of the pictures are below the fold in case any of you don’t want to see the spider. I happen to think the spider is adorable, and the rest of the photos are gorgeous. The light in the second to last photo is breathtaking.

[Read more…]

Corona Crisis Crafting I

Ok, this is cheating a bit, because I made the pieces over the last two weeks or so, but it’s still something pretty that you can make indoors.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

The necklace turned out very elegant and beautiful and I’m wondering what to wear it to, once we can go out again and support our local restaurants. It’s ten individual resin pieces with Bohemian glass beads to separate them. here are some of my favourite ones:

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

 

Spring is Coming

And it doesn’t give a single fuck about out human woes.

It is still beautiful.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

The weather is brilliant here after weeks of rain and we used it for a walk in the woods and some gardening.

The Art of Book Design: The Rabbit Witch

Katherine Pyle. The Rabbit Witch and Other Stories. Illustrated by the author. New York, E.P. Dutton and Company, 1895.

I found this book while I was looking for something else, and it charmed me, so I decided to feature it on a Fairy Tale Saturday. It’s a small book of children’s rhymes, each with its own title page plus a separate page with a simple drawing related to the story. The verses are told in panels, two to a page, and I think the layout almost has a comic book feel to it. The drawings are in simple black and red, and they include a kitten, a dog, a stork and a rabbit in a polka-dotted kerchief. I’ve included my favourite illustrations below the fold, but if you’d like to see more, the entire book is available at The Library of Congress. [Read more…]

Teacher’s Corner: School’s out for Corona

Sing to “School’s out for Summer”.

The ministry of education has finally acted and from Monday on, all schools and daycares are closed. Which is good and necessary. You want to know why schools need to be closed? Here’s an easy example: the primary school next to our school has two suspected cases. They share a schoolyard. One kid is the younger sibling of one of our 7th graders, the other one is the kid of one of our colleagues. Which means that if they are confirmed I may have to go into quarantine. That means no leaving the house. At all. No, not even taking out the trash. It has to be stored inside until we’re declared clear. You aren’t even allowed to put out money for the delivery service, that is considered contagious. Friends and family would have to put food on our doorstep. Oh, and no outdoor crafting.

Not closing schools would mean the kids could spread it, even undetected. I could pass it to my kids, who go to school in a different county. The cycle starts again. Of course this also brings a hell lot of problems for parents of younger kids. I already offered to take in a friend’s kids (should I be declared clear).

What I’m really salty about is how all this happened. Closing schools has been discussed for weeks. We could have had weeks to prepare. But last night the government still said that schools will stay open in order to “ensure quality education”. This morning, the news already reported that we’re being closed down, but until 10 o’clock or so we had no official information. Then we were told to prepare material for the kids, with 40-50% of them already missing. We do have an online platform, but it hasn’t been introduced properly and not all kids have the access codes now. We can only hope that they share the code among each other. I expect phone lines running hot.

On Monday we’ll have a meeting where we hopefully get some instructions. These are not holidays and of course we’re expected to do something for our money. What we can do will be seen.

Those news brought on another run on the supermarkets. Thankfully I only needed food for the weekend. OK, I admit, I stocked up on fish fingers, chocolate and coffee. Well, and crafting supplies have been ordered…

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

I love the blue collection pails that our favourite local maple syrup producer uses. They’re cheerful, and add a nice bit of colour to the muddy grey landscape of early spring. They also mean that it’s time for the 4H pancake breakfasts that they host each weekend in March. It’s a good time for a good cause. Each of the local 4H clubs is assigned a Saturday or Sunday to host and serve breakfast and all of the funds that are raised that day go to their club. They serve bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and all the maple syrup you want. It’s held in a small space attached to their storefront, and it’s always busy and somewhat chaotic, and half the fun is watching the young boys and girls (aged 10 – 18) in stiff white aprons acting as wait staff. They have a difficult job. The tables are crowded together, and there isn’t much room to move around. Seating is at a premium, and there’s generally a line of people waiting, making the configuration of people at tables quite fluid. It’s a lot to keep track of and the kids work hard to make it all work. Sometimes your order takes a while, or it isn’t correct, but people seldom complain. Most everyone leaves happy, well sated and sticky. We’ll be going this weekend, but dogs aren’t allowed so Jack will have to stay home. He isn’t pleased and tells me that I’d better bring him back a sausage. You betcha, Bubba.

Welcome to Pandemia

As we’re all fretting and worrying, here’s the thread to do so.

I’m currently somewhere between annoyed and worried about other people. The neighbouring region in France was declared an outbreak area yesterday. Of course the kids have come to school in Germany all the time including today and we have quite a couple of kids who live in France (it’s 500m from school, many people take advantage of the lower French taxes until they notice that they also get lower French social pay…). As of tomorrow kids and teacher who live in France can no longer come to school for two weeks.

Actually we’re all just waiting for schools to be closed down completely, but we’re also asking ourselves what our politicians have been doing. Because it’s not like these scenarios  were unpredictable. Any somewhat competent administration should have discussed “what if”, decided on triggers and measures and therefore have their plans ready. Instead what we get are reactions which take precious time. Not to mention that we tend to get our information from the media, not the ministry of education.

Well, at least you should get some resin project pictures.

Personally I just told both my parents and my in laws that we’ll keep our distance. I’m not worried about me, Mr. or the kids, as we’re not risk groups, but very much worried about my mum and my father in law who probably check all the boxes on people with high fatality rates. Of course my mum thought I was overreacting…

So, share your woes, fret and complain, be annoyed with the powers that be.