Busy Saturday! Fun Cartooning Class!

I missed my entry opportunity yesterday. I felt like a "soccer mom" except instead of soccer I was driving Melody to violin lessons, then to a sleep over. Then, because she wanted also to do a special activity, I took Emily out for an icecream cone before coming home to get ready for my cartooning class today.

Notice the computer (above) mentioned in this post is the first version of the iMac. Although this photo was taken three years later it's a good reprentation of my cartooning class room.

I took my computer to class with me this morning so that my more advanced pupils could scan their work into the computer and learn how to colorize it. I teach two cartooning classes; one in the morning and then in the afternoon. 4th and 5th graders comprise my morning class (6 students). Jr Hi and Hi school students make up my afternoon roster(5 students). Developmentally, my older students in the afternoon class have better skills in lettering and using straight edge triangles to make borders, etc. But the younger students seem to have the most zeal. All my students this session are dedicated and enjoyable to teach. One of the older students, Alex B. made good use of the computer today and had a lot of fun colorizing his art. You'll be able to see all their work in a month or so at the Tigrikorn site linked on the right of this screen. The current edition of Tigrikorn features student work from last Spring.

Jerome and his twin toddlers came for a visit today. It was so fun to see them. Graham and Morgan are a boy and girl respectively, ie: fraternal twins. Graham was uncharacteristically unsettled and clingy when they arrived at our place. They haven't been here since they were wee babes and had no memory of us nor our house. But after Jerome gave Graham and sis, Morgan, a tootsie roll pop, they settled down and allowed Emily and Melody to entertain them with a inflated ball.

Today was a perfect day for such a visit. As I barbequed, Emily, Jerome, Morgan and Graham sat in the grass near the pond out back and enjoyed the scenery, sun and breezes. I got a few good pictures of the happy group as well as a quicktime video. I should post some photos of our outing. We ate outside and had grilled burgers, salad, melon and iced tea. At around 7pm Jerome packed the kids in the Land Rover and made his way back home to put them to bed. Jenny was away at a race in Northern Wisconsin. Both Jerome and Jenny compete semi professionally in triathalons around the country.

Watching Graham and Morgan play outside today with my own kids was mesmerizing. The two red-headed (Graham is more blondish) twins seemed to express such ecstatic joy at the simplest play. Graham found a feather and was transfixed by its qualities. Morgan loved the wind chime that hangs from one of our small young maple trees in the back yard. Chacha took them for a walk around circumference of the house and it seemed to give them as much pleasure as if they had gone to the zoo. Such innocent, simple, visceral existence.

I teach a Sunday School Lesson on the Apostle John's 3rd letter in the New Testament tomorrow. I'm going to have to get up early to finish my preparation. In the afternoon we will be going to visit Chacha's brother Alex and his family in Kenosha. I had better get a good night's sleep for my full day tomorrow.