Origami and kites

Yesterday I went with Queue to the opening of the origami art show "Into the Fold" at the Duxbury Art Complex (a little museum); one of the authors his company publishes had some origami in the show.

Wow. Impressive stuff, along a whole range, from geometric to represenational.

Lots of highlights:

• unit origami, including a huge polyhedron, and another shape made of interlocking 3-D triangles (I think it was triangles, anyway)
  
• cool shapes made of paper folded into steps (I don't have a better way to describe it than that, unfortunately)
  
• lots of birds with astonishing amounts of detail (the crow at the link with the shiny gold origami box in its mouth made me laugh, though others were technically more impressive)
  
• little dollar bill people
  
• a Yoda
  
• red happy good-luck bats
  
• an amazing crocodile, the skin impressively leathery (I can't imagine folding all that texture into it)
  
• all different masks (well, faces), each made from a single sheet of paper (though it did make me think about whether sculpting wet paper is quite the same as folding dry paper)
  
• really neat things done with styrofoam cups (no, not origami, but related, and surprisingly interesting to look at)

I'm sure I've forgotten some cool stuff.

At the same time, there was the opening reception for another show, "Flights of Fancy," about kites. Some of them were aerodymic and able to fly, others weren't designed to be airborne at all (the mosaic'd bench was firmly earth-bound). Again, a lot of really wonderful things:

• little balsa-and-paper kites that were light enough to fly even if just pulled through the mostly-still air of the gallery (the artist was there demonstrating)
  
• a leaping (paper mache?) cow-with-halo suspended from the ceiling, titled "Holy Cow"
  
• a large balsa and paper box-style kite... in the shape of an anvil
  
• a bunch of rescued top parts of umbrellas sewn together, with lots of string/rope leading down to a giant-sized white 'umbrella handle'
  
• a picture of a kite, made of tea bags, the tags fluttering behind
  
• (possibly my favorite piece) a tall, tall wall hanging, a black circle at the top, a girl 'falling' down it, and below it descending ever-smaller colored silk rectangles, each with something Alice-y on it, and playing cards fluttering down alongside as well. If only I had a wall tall enough (and however much money; it wasn't stated that pieces were for sale, though, even if I had pots of money)

The museum itself is small, but pretty, the roof an undulating wave of wood. Inside, there are two galleries and a library, in addition to whatever offices and such are around. Outside, there are sculptures dotting the lawn, not huge pieces as at the DeCordova, smaller things, like a little metal 'envelope' lying on a rock, or a small wooden hand reaching up from the edge of the pond, or blue mesh garments on trees (similar to ones at Forest Hills for a while). The pond is in the back, a little one that yesterday had around half a dozen frogs sunning themselves while what seemed like dozens of red dragonflies mated nearby (one pair actually bopping a frog on the nose; they're lucky it wasn't hungry).

Note to self: check back next summer: they have tea ceremonies on the last Sunday of summer months in their Wind in the Pines tea hut.

Noted on the drive down: eight banners hung from overpasses welcoming soldiers home, and two skunks killed in the middle of the road.

Other

weather
Yesterday was fall. Yeah, I know, the calendar. But I started thinking about wearing slippers inside, and closing windows or the french doors, and hotter showers, plus cocooning in the covers so recently unneeded. I'm glad. And yet, Sukkot isn't for another month yet... I'll need to make lots of thick, hot foods to keep us warm. (Or perhaps there'll be a short warm period for the holiday?)

crocheting
Yesterday I finished a beaded choker, the first one with dangling beads (triangular wooden ones that made me think of teeth, for no good reason). Last week I was playing with color in making a blue and green one, very simple. Next up I'm experimenting with small dark red wooden loops, to see if I can make them dangle at two lengths.

upcoming
For all the knitters and yarn-obsessed, this Sunday on Boston Common is the 2005 Knit Out.
For those not in Boston, there are events around the country, listed here.

For locals not working Columbus Day (Monday, October 10), there's Opening Our Doors day in the Fenway, from 10 to 4. Free admission and/or tours of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the National Braille Press, Symphony Hall, etc. Art shows, walking tours, and lots of kid-friendly stuff.

holidays
They're coming... I'm starting to plan meals (one definite invitation out for R"H, hosting at least three on Sukkot, possibly more), and realizing that I have to reconfigure the porch to have enough room for people in the sukkah. Of course, now that it's chillier, some annuals will die, so there'll be some room. I should also consider more substantial walls (what, though? I don't know yet.). Oh, and likely going apple-picking this Sunday.

food
Last night I tried using Infinitehotel's description to make potlikker (and greens and such, of course). The short answer: needs more work (in my kosherizing it; I'm sure the regular stuff is most excellent). Part of it's my own fault; I went against my instincts and listened to the guy at the Butcherie, who was sure he knew what I said I wanted. Or at least, using his suggested slices of smoked turkey pastrami, I should've added other oil, not just the slices of beef fry that for some reason I thought I should include. Everything else worked fine, and I ended up with some yummy liquid, but not anything to write home about, either. The third meat I'd gotten as a possibility was a bone-in turkey thigh that had been shwarma-fied, somehow. I tried it last night, and it's bizarre, somehow like turkey roll still on the bone, though saltier than the cold cut.

I keep seeing bags of tiny spherical Key limes, and thinking about what I would do with them. I finally realized I could make a Shaker lime pie, which wouldn't waste all the peel. (Or marmalade, I suppose. But marmalade generally needs pectin, and I am generally unsuccessful with powdered pectins.)

I've been browsing through A Blessing of Bread, which is mostly challah recipes, plus some other breads, background and diagrams for braiding, and stories (plus a couple of typos, alas). Sometimes she's a bit too detailed, but I'd rather that than the other way 'round. I'm starting to think about using some of the fancy shapes she shows (the hand challah for the end of Sukkot; must make). Plus, some interesting possibilities for sourdough. I need to (a) get more flour, and (b) get more bread-eaters; there's no excuse to experiment with so many breads otherwise.