Making Soap

Genevieve wanted to learn how to make lye soap, so I had to look it up to refresh my memory. We used an online lye calculator to figure out the proportions, but there are many pre-calculated recipes out there. This one has rosemary infused oil and coconut milk. We didn't have proper molds, but it turned out well anyway. Remember to treat lye with respect.

This book was free for kindle yesterday. Lots of wonderful recipes

More California Science Center- aquariums

Amazing Day

Yesterday we went to the California Science Museum in L.A. to see the space shuttle Endeavour. It was a profoundly moving experience (read: I cried like a baby). I'm just going to post pics and let them tell the story.

Thursday Tab on Wednesday- Jane Russell, Saalfield 1955

I'm heading to SoCal early tomorrow morning for a couple of weeks (for some serious Grandchildren Time). I'll post here and there, but there will likely be no paper dolls until I get back. So to tide you over, here's a gorgeous set. It looks to me like two of the dolls have the same pose- so they can both wear the same clothes.

Patience, Grasshopper. Patience.

The Backstory: In '96, we spent a week on Orcas Island (up in the San Juans in Washington State) with good friends. Though I'm often fuzzy on long-ago dates, I know it was '96 because Sex and Salmonella had just come out (my first national publication), and I did book signings everywhere, including on Orcas. I had also just had several teeth pulled, and I was pretty miserable for much of the trip (great timing, eh?).

During that week, we toured many galleries on Orcas. At one market, The Hub and I spotted a rustic Earthquake Detector. The price was steep and we did not buy it. But we never forgot about it. A long time ago I did a search and found the artist, Pozzi Franzetti. Unfortunately Ms. Franzetti died awhile back and her artworks have scattered to the wind. I had already entered a permanent search on eBay so that I would be notified whenever one of her pieces came up for auction. 

I waited for 5 years. 

Last week it popped up, and this week, it's ours.

The smile says it all. The Hub has a sixth sense when it comes to gifts- he always *knows* what's inside. This time... this time I surprised him. 

It's called an Earthquake Detector, and the figures rock when the ground shakes, which means it's an excellent Train Detector. It's every bit as wonderful as we remembered, and well worth the wait.

My Photo Challenge group had a prompt called Forced Perspective this week- I came up with this one, which I call *Saint and Sinner*...

... and this one, *Put a Ring on It*.

Ms. Franzetti produced this piece in two sizes, this is the smaller. If I ever run across the larger one...

Thursday Tab- Merrill 6 and Sweet 16

I believe the date on this marvelous set is 1955