M at Solo & Ensemble: Before and After

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M performed at his first Solo & Ensemble this morning. He played two short pieces by Robert Vandall on piano.

He did a great job, playing in a small room with three strangers watching him: the judge, a person helping the judge, and a woman who, right before we entered the room, announced that she was also going to watch. The unidentified woman, who I am guessing is a piano teacher, sat at a chair literally an arm's length from M while he played. I was also in the room - I asked M if he wanted me there or not, and he told me it didn't matter. Cool as a cucumber, he.

Here are some before and after pictures of M at the venue, Livonia's Franklin High School:


Before, his shirt devoid of decoration.


After, with his blue medal!

Congratulations, M! Well done, sir!

P.S. Did I mention yesterday was M's 13th birthday?

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Drawing Class

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I took a drawing class during the fall session of Adult Ed last year. I posted a few of my prior drawings in this post.

During the last few weeks of the class, the teacher showed us how to copy and enlarge a photo by using the "grid" method. You draw 1" boxes on a photo, then draw larger boxes on a larger piece of paper (in my case, 2" boxes), and draw the outline of the objects in the photo so the figures and shapes are proportional to the lines/boxes of the original.

I started with this photo of M playing his Grandpa's banjo:




I printed a black-and-white copy of the photo, and drew boxes with 1" sides.



I don't have a picture of the boxes I drew for the larger version, but I do have a picture of the complete drawing, which I finished this morning.

Meet the New Year, Same as the Old Year

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Make Way for the Olympians

I’ve been busy with Science Olympiad lately – pretty much every night the last few weeks I’ve had something or other to do. That should end pretty soon for several weeks, and I’m looking forward to a little break.

K is starting indoor soccer (aka “futsal”). It’s soccer played in a gym with a half-size soccer ball. If it sounds like a loud sport, that’s because it is.

M is now sporting braces on his top and bottom teeth, and the orthodontist says he’ll be done this year. We’ll be paying until he’s out of high school, but can you put a price on straight teeth? Yes, you can. It's rather high.

Mesko and Rigby are doing fine. Why wouldn’t they be doing fine?

Links, Pictures, Neat Stuff
A lot of miscellaneous items today...

Some old owners manuals. I had higher hopes for this gallery than I should have, but they’re fun to look at.

I’ll take one of these.

Great picture of a red-tailed hawk.

I love this tiny house built on a rock in the middle of a river.

Owl!

I like looking at these boats. I don’t have a good reason, I just like them.

M and I are going to do this for his locker. The problem is the LED light strips the person suggests are really expensive. I’m sure we can modify this plan to make something bright enough to help him see his books, but that will still run on a battery.

Looking for a project? Try this site.