Yes, I’m bored… still “trapped” at the airport trying to get home!
But this made me laugh… and at this point, any little smirk helps.

The sign says “wet floor”… so I did.

You know how I love a great art installation… and the whimsy of a good yarn-bombing! A nice sunrise surprise this morning to find this purple crocheted installation. Sadly, it turned out to be a memorial piece… obviously made by a bunch of loving & talented friends of Ainsley. Thanks for sharing your talents, creativity & caring thoughts with the world.

Let the search begin… twenty-four fortune cookies for 2024!!!

So here’s my very favorite installation at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s LIGHTSCAPE holiday display. It’s towards the end of the holiday “journey”… but well worth the wait! It’s a huge “structure” of a Christmas tree wrapped with hundreds of wires that catch the light as the colors change & move. STUNNING!!! And oh, but wait there’s more… the wires also emanate from the surrounding deciduous trees streaming to the Christmas Tree! Wires tethered everywhere. Catching light. Glistening in holiday colors!!!

But here’s the crazy part… the very next day, I was at a site-visit for a new project, and I met a couple of new designers, one of them a lighting designer. I mentioned that we had just gone to LIGHTSCAPE the night before and that I loved it… and that this “wire-wrapped tree” was my favorite. Imagine my surprise when the lighting designer guy I just met says… “That one is mine.” Yep, strange coincidence to meet the designer of my favorite tree the very next day!!! Thank you for sharing your talents Chris Wren!!!

After dinner last night… THIS HAPPENED!!!

And yes, it was so exciting to finally be “in the room where it happened.” Such an amazing show!!! So well-crafted, such amazing wordplay, incredible choreography & talented performances!!! Such an amazing way to continue celebrating BIRTHDAY WEEK with my co-birthday buddy Nancy!!!

A lakefront morning chuckle!

This little graffiti guy made me smile this afternoon!

So I just got an email from Jacob… friend & former pottery student… who was published in the New York Times yesterday!!! Who knew that my little “pottery games” would inspire such wordplay in the Times?!!!

From Jacob…
“I’ve been writing crosswords as a hobby and just had one of my puzzles published
in the New York Times! Better yet, I was able to include a clue based one of your
challenge class challenges (see the highlighted clue in the snippet below.)
TULIPIERES just went mainstream! Just thought I’d share
as I thought you’d get a kick out of it.”

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SPOLIER ALERT !!!

Don’t go any further if you don’t want to see the answers!!!

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The final “Big Build Project” for the GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN was to build a clock! Yes, remember when they chose different classic cartoons to base their clocks on??? Well, it’s been several weeks and they’ve all been working hard. Some made to the finish line and showed up with a complete glazed piece. Others didn’t quite pace themselves well enough and only had a bisqued clock. Either way… they were BRILLIANT!!!

Now I will admit that I know absolutely NOTHING about Pokemon… but we were all blown away by Autum’s Pokemon Clock!!! It was amazingly crafted on the outside. And then I was BLOWN AWAY when she opened it up to reveal another character inside… and figured out away for the lid to stand up on its own base!!! Needless to say… Autum won “first place” in the big clock challenge!!! And now I know that Pokemon Balls can open up…. who knew?!