May I? 10 on the 10th

Answering 10 questions! This is a fun monthly thing instigated by Marsha In the Middle.
Link to Marsha's answers for this month.

1. Can you whistle?

Yes! One of those ear-piercing NYC Taxi hailing whistles!
My pal Shawn (a native of NYC) taught me in 9th grade.

2. Can you touch your toes flat to the ground?

Yes, I just tried. I had to bend my knees a teeny tiny bit.

[Ha! can't post the video because Blogger thinks it's obscene!]

3. Can you remember all of your teachers from Kindergarten to graduation?

No. 1st through 4th grade are lost to the mists of time.
I only remember my Kindergarten teacher because there's a photo:

4. Can you ride a motorcycle?

Conceivably yes, as a passenger, but I'd rather not.
My cousins were very much into motorbikes as young teens. I only rode with them a couple of times.

5. Can you groom a dog?

Maybe, again, I'd rather not. I can groom a cat!

6. Can you remember the first vacation you ever went on?

Do family trips to summer lodgings count? The first house I remember (I was five?) I later randomly revisited when I was fourteen with friends that lived on the farm. It was an eerie experience!

7. Can you create things from scratch (knit, paint, weld, etc.)?

Oh, yes! Perhaps my most ambitious thing is the shoes I made!

8. Can you wire an outlet?

Maybe? There's a YouTube for that!

9. Can you remember your first job?

Unforgettable! I delivered pizza for Skip Perry's Pizza in Goleta, CA. I got to know the greater Santa Barbara area really well. Delivering to UCSB students was the worst.

"Ham, Pepperoni, Bell Pepper Pizza" Lithograph, 1975

10. Can you upholster a chair?
I upholstered a chair and an ottoman once with canvas that I silkscreened.
[Can't find photos]

Lately, I've been visibly mending the couch. Some parts are surviving Mr Lou the Antimender better than others
(that is carpeting on arm on left which Lou has turned into a yeti).

Linking up with...

Marsha's 10 by 10

Shelbee's On the Edge
Rena's Fine Whatever

10 on the 10th: Would I Rather...

Answering 10 questions! This is a fun monthly thing instigated by Marsha In the Middle.
Marsha's answers for this month here.

1. Would you rather wear clothes made of feathers or clothes made of flower petals?

Both!

That time I sketched outfits inspired by flowers, 2011
This is Saint John's Wort, not Clematis.

2. Would you rather listen to birds chirping or frogs croaking?

Birds!

3. Would you rather vacation on a remote yet tropical beach or near a thriving city?

Both? Nah, I'll go remote.

Big Island, Hawaii, 2005

4. Would you rather have Peeps in your Easter/holiday basket or jellybeans?

Jordan Almonds, please. Or Reese's. I'll always say "yes" to Reese's.

artwork made from Reese's bags

5. Would you rather spend a day planting seeds or a day at the beach?

Seeds! Check out my back yard super bloom!

6. Would you rather grow green grass or grass of a color of your choosing?

Forget the grass. Lawns are a waste of water in SoCal.

I choose native plants to attract butterflies, birds, and bees.

7. Would you rather wear sandals with socks or sandals with hosiery?

Sandals with socks!

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A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray)

8. Would you rather have flowers for fingers or flowers for toes?

I'm a Sunday's child: "Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes..."

9. Would you rather do the chicken dance or the bunny hop?

I have good memories of chicken dancing at family weddings, I'll go with that.

Or maybe the hora:

10. Would you rather be a caterpillar or a tadpole?

This caterpillar matches my crazy hat sketch:

photo by Ryszard on Flickr

Linking up with... 

Marsha
Shelbee's On the Edge

Pockets, Pockets, Pockets

 Shelbee and Nancy had a Good Buy/ Goodbye theme of "Combat Pants" this past month and I totally missed the boat.

Because she said COMBAT PANTS! There are CARGO pants and there are Safari tops with lots of Cargo Pockets and Cargo Pockets on Combat Pants, and, well, it's all about the pockets! Is it just Fashion copy writers rebranding Cargo things Combat things? Because everything old becomes "new" with a different name? OK, OK, I'll stop being BOMBastic (haha).

A print that I made in 1999 of our group that went on safari in Tanzania, Fall 1998

I DO have a safari shirt, with very cool details:

(which can't be seen in this photo)

The brand is Saint Germain, it's made of washed silk, has velcro for shoulder pads, and all that screams 1988 to me.

I bought this secondhand in Providence, RI.

It's cool, but not my thing.

It's now on Poshmark and can be yours!

Linking up with...

Shelbee on the Edge