Made for my friend Sheryl’s bday (size is 6″ x 6″):

Once again my fellow Minnesotans did not disappoint in their creative and artistic endeavors. Saw lots of great stuff. These are just a few (chosen mainly for their humor).

In the Fine Arts Building: “Rama Llama Ding Dong”

In the Creative Activities Building: The Hula Hamster Band with guest DJ M.C. Hamster

In the Horticulture/Agriculture Building: a tree house carved from beeswax

Seed art diarama

…and a closeup

More seed art…

…and another closeup

Awesome entry in the scarecrow contest!

Fun was had, mini donuts and fried cheese curds were eaten, and I’m plum worn out.  Can’t wait to do it again next year!

My newest website went live a couple of weeks ago.

Check it out at therapyforme.net!

I’ve become addicted to the Chinese drama Palace.  Here’s a rather general synopsis:

Qingchuan (Yang Mi) is a 21st century girl who’s in love with Chinese history. In a bizarre stroke of luck(?), this history buff is magically transported to the time of the fabled Qing Dynasty (early 1700s AD). Qingchuan quickly finds herself in the throes of palatial politics, including a love triangle (or maybe a rhombus) among not one, not two, but three princes: Yinreng (Zong Fengyan), the foolish crown prince, Yinzhen (Mickey He), the ambitious fourth prince, and Yinsi (Feng Shao Feng), the eighth prince. Qingchuan has got all the textbook facts straight, but in the midst of darkness and turmoil, she quickly realizes that history is not at all the fairy tale she imagined it to be.

Along with offering a glimpse into the history, society, and culture of the period, Palace also provides a lot of humor.  Add in a wonderful cast (particularly the heroine Yang Mi) and I give it a definite thumbs up.

The 35 episodes (each about 40 minutes long) can be watched for free online on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/palace). They are in Mandarin with English subtitles.

The below trailer is cheesy and quite a bit less cerebral than the series, but its the best I could find with English translation:

Dad’s been working on his new train layout. Unfortunately he no longer has one of these to help: