Change of Scenery and Thirty Degrees Cooler!

I am not a huge fan of camping. I am not against it, but let's just say my childhood experiences put a bad taste in my mouth. But that's what happens when you're forced to camp from days on end away from any other living human with shotty camping equipment with a pathological narcissist that has no concept of compromise or the feelings of others. 

However, I've come to realize that the way my dad did camping was not the way to be a "happy camper" and it is possible to do it differently.

 

How to Camp Right:

Have good equipment. Modern Conveniences are okay! (especially when you are not allowed to have any fires due to extreme fire danger. Sure, it was a bummer not being able to roast marshmallows over a fire, but such is life when Arizona and Colorado have been on fire the last two summers)

Bring a lot of changes of clothes. You'll need them. And even if you don't, it's a good idea to have them.

Bring a camping shower or use pay showers just down the road (The Mormon Lake Village, for example, has pay showers. Just hope they fixed the ones where quarters are jammed).

Camp with friends or go on a ward/church/group campout. It's okay to be "away from it all" but also still with other humans!

If it's challenging with a fighting 8 and 11 year old plus the 18 month old (especially in the middle of the night and you can't find his bottle in the dark and he's flipping out), it's okay to cut the trip short a bit. I originally wanted to stay an extra day, due to being out of the heat, but Christian and Mikelle may not have lived to see the next day.

Instead, drive into Flagstaff, swim at their Aquaplex and do some rock climbing. Have dinner at a recommended New Orleans BBQ dive, and then drive home. The Aquaplex sounds expensive, but it's not. Even for non-Flagstaff residents, it's VERY affordable, fun and worth it! And they have toilets and showers there!

Beautiful area. Forest with nice meadow and open spaces.

Zombie's in the forest? Oh wait, it's just Mikelle.

Just like his big brother, Alexander climbing into the drivers seat to mess around.

Stop being cute when you get in trouble, kid.

Mom's heart attack of the day. Christian really wanted to ride a friend's quad.

Christian getting assistance after hitting a tree. You can't see it, but Mom is having a stroke.

Later at the Aquaplex...

Mikelle and Alexander

Fun at the Aquaplex!

Christian rock climbing.

Two peas in a pod: Christian and Alexander and the smart phone.

Mikelle rock climbing.

The other "kid" rock climbing.

I tried to take a cute picture of them sleeping on the ride home. But Mikelle woke up with the flash and got mad.

The downside of being home? It's going to be 113 today. It was so beautiful up there. I wish we could live in Flagstaff.

The upside to being home? Showers, bed, toilets, and the dirt is outside.

But even when we do camp again, I have the comfort in knowing that it will NEVER be like it was when I was growing up!

A Great Wave Shout-Out and Independence Day 2012

Tomorrow is the first day of the last summer art sessions! We're doing a pen and ink wave project inspired by Hokusai's 1830 woodcut masterpiece The Great Wave of Kanagawa. It's technically a mixed media project with watercolor for the sky.  Above is my spin on the project. I'm expecting some amazing results from my students, because all of them were in my second session and I was blown away by their work and artistic abilities!

"The Great Wave of Kanagawa" Artist: Katsushika Hokusai

I posted my pen and ink and watercolor shout out to The Great Wave of Kanagawa on my Circle Motifs page and I hope to submit this to Threadless or other prospects.

So far, I've been most touched by a comment from Charlie Carey.  He's a Facebook friend that I first met on an LDS-left Yahoo! e-mail group that has since evolved over to a Facebook page.

Keep in mind, I loved everything he had to say, even though the middle part of his comments had my head spinning a bit! (like the picture to the right - lol) However, where I got lost, I was back on track pretty quick!

I showed Charlie's comment to Chris and he laughed because he knows how my ADD mind works when it comes to mathematical concepts.

Charlie said:

OK, I seriously love this. The Great Wave is favorite anyway but this new treatment is at once both old and new.

And, from the math guy, this is a circle mapped to another domain. The equation of the golden spiral which The Great Wave uses as its wave shape is r=a exp(bθ), the logarithmic spiral or Archimedes Spiral. If you set b=0, the equation becomes r=a exp(0) =a(1) = a, a spiral which doesn't grow in radius, otherwise known as a circle. So the spiral is just a circle with the suppressed constant mapped to a monotonic exponential. Think of a circle as the shape a laser pointer makes as it rotates around the axis of a cylinder. If the pointer also moves down the axis as it rotates we get the helix. If the point moves axially and rotates while moving away from the vertex of a cone the shape traced on the cone is a linear spiral. If it does the same in a logarithmic come (like a trumpet bell) you get the Golden Spiral. Somehow you've moved in your explorations of space from a cylindrical space to a logarithmic space.

It's an amazing thing when I see the mathematically untrained mind make these associations. There's an underlying truth to the math that can be accessed by the mind without the formal tools that makes me think the truths are either an artifact of our minds or of reality itself. This is the quest that Escher spent his later life in exploring in profound ways.

Independence Day 2012
I should have updated with the 4th of July a few days ago. Oh well. It didn't happen, so this is kind of a "super-post".  We also went camping and back to Flagstaff over the weekend. If I don't get to that in this entry, I will follow up with that tomorrow!

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a fan of Independence Day. It has nothing to do with America, patriotism, American History, hot dogs or fireworks. Nope. It has to do with it being JULY. 

July here in hell. 

Well, this year was a gift. 

We came close to setting a record. Usually when we talk about "records" in the summer, it usually means record high hot temperatures. For example, in 1989 the July 4th high was 118F. At the time, that was a record all-time high. It didn't last very long. We hit the 122F high the following year on June 26th. Oh yeah. This is where I live, people. And I'm still here.

But nope - this was the best kind of record "high". I'm not sure what the all time record is, but this year's 4th of July we had a record low temperature as that day's high temperature. Those are my favorites! (as a side-note, I especially love when it happens in the winter and we have crazy cold temperatures. It upsets all the transplants who moved here to escape the cold. Haha on them!)

One article said: Strange weather, Phoenix records the coolest fourth of July in 100 years and flooding south of the city.  One of the comments on that article took the words out of my mouth: "It was so nice yesterday, I don't ever remember a July fourth having rain and being this pleasant." The official record is in 1912 by one degree. You know what, I'll consider this year's Independence Day a record! Close enough for me!

Usually on the 4th, I don't want to see fireworks. I'll be okay going out to dinner, but that's it. However, we headed to the Crosby's and sitting outside wasn't something to dread. 

Dad and X-man!

Mom and crazy X-man!

Alexander doesn't like being held still for anything. But he was happy being squirmy.

When Christian first saw me with the camera, he did a backflip thing.

Re-surfaced!

Mikelle and Ryann Kreps

Ryann, Katie Crosby and Mikelle

Bruce's way to be patriotic. A Charlton Heston Planet of the Apres Centerpiece. God Bless America.

Alexander - waiting for fireworks. He was running all over the place. This was a rare second of stationary activity.

Ryann, Mikelle and Katie

Joshua Kreps, Ryann Kreps and Mikelle

Christian and Alexander (note Alexander is in a different chair. I think he hit them all)

Ryann, Katie, Mikelle and Alexander

Christian

Alexander being held by some weirdo. (Tev Kreps)

Even though tomorrow marks the first day of the last summer session, I have to continue what was going to be a continuation of this entry and cover that before I get back into the art creations!

We went to the ward campout and then hit Flagstaff for the second weekend in a row. The cool 4th was gone as quick as it came and it was time to get out of here again! But sadly, we got back late last night. And tomorrow's high? 112. At least we had that gift on Independence Day!

Getting Our Kicks...

Chris's company had a softball tournament in Flagstaff last weekend. Chris wasn't able to get on any of the teams because they had enough guys already, but they did need some women. Therefore, I played.  If you want to call it that. Man, I was rusty. It's been years. I remembered how much I loved playing, however. I just wish I played much better. Now I want to go to batting cages and join a softball league. I mean, not now as it's summer time. But when it cools off I'd love to do that.

Speaking of "cooling off", it was a little disappointing in Flagstaff because they had above normal temps. It got up to 88 on Saturday. However, compared to the 110+ down there, the 88 was still the better option. Also, it was gorgeous in the mornings and evenings. Unfortunately, I got pretty sunburned too, and my muscles ached. The worst of the "pain hangover" was the day after we returned, so at least I saved that for after the tournament.  Now today I'm peeling. My back, above the T-shirt and the part of my neck that wasn't covered by hair, were scorched bad.

Sunday, the day we drove back, was a few degrees cooler and more cloudy. It certainly would have been a better day to play softball, but you take what you can get! Plus, from the ball fields, we saw a bald eagle. This is the second bald eagle I've seen in Flagstaff. The first one was 11 years ago! Who knows, maybe it was the same eagle. He (or she) hung around in the air around the same place for a long time. He was definitely scouting something. When he flew off eventually, we knew when he was really gone because there were other birds in the air. When the eagle was in the air, there wasn't another bird in the air to be seen. It was like when Air Force One is flying by. You can't see a single plane anywhere else.

 

Another issue besides warm temps and my "I'm getting old" physical injuries? Mikelle and Christian's fighting. Seriously, it was ridiculous.   One of their punishments was they couldn't have their own shake at lunch (if we weren't on a mini-vacation, they wouldn't have had a shake period). 

We made them share one.  Then of course, I wanted to get a picture of them drinking from the same shake with two straws like a lovy-dovy-couple. Mikelle did NOT like that. It took a few attempts to get the picture.

This is the best one!

We got the shot!

Of course that only made her more upset. However, even before the "shake" situation, she didn't want me to take a normal picture of her. Oh, how fun having a "tween"!

Of course others were there as well. Here is Christian, Chris and Alexander. Note these pictures don't show how badly our X-man wanted to escape the high chair and run free. Being that a busy road was just "right there", this behavior gives me a heart attack.

On the way home, it was sad seeing the pine trees turn to shrubs, and then the shrubs turn to brown desert. The saguaros sure make the desert pretty though. I just appreciate them more in the winter.

Red, White, Blue and Circular....

Here is my Patriotic USA Motif. I'm not sure about it. Like I said on my "Circle Motifs by Jill Henrichsen" Facebook page, I'm not saying that as a "PVM" (Please Validate Me) to fish for compliments. I am really not sure about it (scratching head) I have gotten some positive comments, however. 

Most of the red stripes are left alone with a couple of exceptions. I mean, I had to add my own spin to Americana, and while I meant to also draw a traditional American Eagle (it just ended up not happening - nothing against eagles), I added Sam the American Eagle from the Muppets to one of the red stripes. I love how anal retentive and cranky he is - you know, like a lot of Republicans with no sense of humor. Okay, I'm kidding. Well, I'm mostly kidding. 

My Patriotic USA Motif when it was still "in process".

THREADLESS

I have submitted my signature "Sun Motif" to Threadless. It is now up for scoring. I'm new to the whole process, but if anyone and everyone could go in and score it and comment it, it boosts my chances to be accepted by them for product design. I would love to be able to make more of an income on my art!  I you love my work, please pass it on. Also please go "like" my facebook page (link above and on the right-hand side of the screen). The link is on the righthand side on the top.  When you submit to them, you have to show them what your design would look like on a product. The below submission is on a notebook cover.

And lastly, this affordable 12x12 black framed "Moon Motif" is now at Sundust! Since it's just a print (not the original) and only a 12x12, it's in the basement outlet.