Thursday February 7

Happy birthday to my mama!

Dad headed to the department doc this morning after he got of shift.

His finger has been getting worse, last night he couldn't put it in the glove....so he went to get xray.

Turns out it is fractured :(

Dang it!

The doc says he needs to take some time off and tape the fingers and let them heal.

We will see what he decides to do.

He thinks it is pretty silly to take time for a finger to heal......but if he can't use his hands in gloves…..that is a problem.

He can still do hard work.

In fact this afternoon he went over to help Bubble and Eldon tear down walls for their kitchen remodel.

Of course he had his fingers taped together, which he can't do with gloves....

While he was doing that, I was at the school doing Art Smart.

We had a super fun art lesson.....the artist was James Castle.

He was a local Boise artist that died in 1977.

He was fascinating to learn about.

He was deaf and mute, never learned to read or write and was later diagnosed with Autism.

He used art to communicate.

He would use scraps of paper and cardboard to make constructions.

He would make 'soot and spit' paintings using soot from the stove and his own spit to make ink.

He was a self-taught artist, and at first when you look at his work you might think it looks like a child's art.

But he really had some fascinating techniques and understood so much about art for someone who never had a formal education.

I brought scraps of cardboard, rubber bands, paper clips, metal wire, metal brads and other stuff from around for them to make their own 'construction's.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of what they made, because they were amazing!!!!!

We also had the kids stay silent for 5 minutes while they worked, since James Castle was mute, we thought it would be a fun exercise for them to experience that.

They were all so focused and did a great job.

Port made a little mad.

We did have glue available, but James didn't use glue, so Porter was determined to not use any for his either.

Turned out pretty cool.

Then with his extra time and supplies he made a really cool state of Idaho shape.

This is Porter's wheelhouse...he loves this kind of hands on art.

It was a fun time.

Tonight is STEM night at Mary Mac.

Dad took Port and they also took Koy and Titan along with them.

I am sure they are having fun.

That is also Porter's wheelhouse!