Jack-o-lanterns, pink poodles, and Ricky Ricardo...
My adventure to Lake Orienta went well. It was rainy so we ditched the 80 kids at the picnic tables idea and taught a much more manageable classroom of about 20 lovely fifth graders.
Yesterday I sorted out my bottles, not counting the truckload that is still in my car. I think I'll be in good shape for the tree, but realized we were light on red and purple. I say 'were' because I went to visit my friends at Edgewater High School who have been cutting water bottles for me for a week. One of the helpers strung them on a piece of yarn and they looked so pretty. It reminded me of Oren showing me how the children in Haiti hang strings of flowers in their classrooms. They worked tirelessly for an hour and a half, cranked out an amazing quantity and array of purple and red blossoms as well as cut a big old bag full of painted bottles I had left from another school. 
There is a predominance of pink in my collection, but I think that will fit in nicely with the 50's theme of the festival this year. I keep thinking of these crazy poodles at the American Visionary Art Museum where our Danielle is getting married. I decided to paint the tree skirt to match and it's almost finished. Tomorrow and Wednesday I'm off to meet with a home school group and then I leave for the International Street Painters Festival in Sarasota. My friend Susan and I are going to attempt a Chuck Close painting. My kids have done two of his pieces at chalk festivals and have about gone cross-eyed, but the images turned out really cool and are different from what you usually see at street painting festivals. I couldn't find the painting we are going to do on-line, but I did find a CBS Sunday morning segment that references Close and last year's ArtPrize where an artist made incredible portraits using primary colored pushpins. I also found
I'll close with this picture of the 50s-ish sequins I am using to channel my inner Lucille Ball. "RICKYYYYYYY!"