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Life & Walks #041Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Almost a Year Full of Tuesdays

I finished the puppet house today. I started in February, took several weeks off this summer when my mom started her decline, then every week again until now.

It turned out nice. I've looked at it so much from a detail perspective it's still hard to see it whole, that will take some time away from it for awhile.

My friend and head of the children's dept., Andrew, was a great cheerleader who kept me going, and it was nice to walk up to the library and do it every week. It got me out of the studio, doing something I hadn't done in a long time, work with acrylic paint.

The children really liked seeing the progress. And I'd hear antics of how they would interact with it, pretending to unlock to doors, looking at the details, one three-year-old pointing to the tall pink flower and saying, "foxglove!" Indeed it was : )

I added a lot of tiny details, Andrew wanted it to have the life cycle of a butterfly so the caterpillar, cocoon, and final butterfly were all there as were tiny lady bugs, dragon and damsel flies, spider and web. All the flowers were ones from history grown for different purposes, mostly medicinal. And the architecture itself is reminiscent of the Globe Theatre. He wanted to infuse as much teaching material as he could, while at the same time keeping it very fun and "storybook" in feeling. I think we succeeded.

The making of it was a gift to me in many ways, and I hope it inspires the wee ones there for years to come : )