Pinata time at the Austin Public Library!

When I stop and think about it, I am pretty surprised I got through an entire school year as an elementary school art instructor in a 60% Hispanic school and never thought to make a pinata. Well, with some trepidation about busting out copious amounts of watery glue to mache in a library, I took it out with those great kids at the Oak Springs Library. It has been a month in the making - with 4 layers of mache on an inflated punching bag, a couple of poster boards mached on for horns, as well as lots of colored tissue and crepe paper for decorations. And I have to say, that I am totally impressed with how they turned out.

One of our Oak Springs pre-teens was hard at work in making a tissue paper longhorn. Everyone that saw his contributions marveled at the creativity and precision of his work. He started taking it very seriously after that. So much so that when I asked him if I could get a picture of him smiling, he got a little stiff and said "I'm sort of...um... concentrating on this." It was a great moment.

Here's Gabby hard at work on her pinata.

We finished decorating and filling them last night, only a few minutes before the Oak Springs Christmas party started. All three were filled to the brim with bookmarks, stickers, chicklet gum (that busted up all of the concrete when they fell), weird foreign candy that came from the dollar store, and plastic animals. I can't describe the excitement of the evening. So so many kids chose pinata breaking over Santa pictures, an elf folding balloons, and listening to school choirs. Yep. It was quite the "hit". Terrible pun. Sorry...

Still, can you see the excitement on Daniel's face and the way he is standing in this pic?

When it got down to the last shreds holding onto the rope, I was consumed with anticipation. It would just kill me every time! Then when it broke, OUT OF THE WAY EVERYONE!

Usually the way it went was some disoriented kid with a bat would still be swinging while Lee, the security guard helping me, would try desparately to get the a hold of that swinging bat and take the blind fold off before any of the candy rushers got smacked in the face. Whew! There were some close ones too and I was just thanking my lucky stars that Lee was there. Here he is trying to explain the rules to an anxious girl who now has the bat, while wearing a blindfold.

Well, fun was had by all. I just love these Austin kiddos. Heck. Last night was so fun - I can't imagine anyone who attended would argue that it wasn't so bad to support your public library! Promoting literacy and community understanding can actually be lots of fun.

What Makes You Hard Core?

Today I went for a swim in that pool I love on Amherst Avenue. I thought twice before getting into my swim suit as the weather forecast called for snow. Which here in Austin the forecast of any kind of snow creates somewhat of an apocolyptic frenzy in everybody. People prepare for snow in much of the same manner that they do for hurricane - making sure they have food storage in case they get "snowed in", calling into work to make sure they can come in late in case the roads are dangerous, etc. The only difference is that when there is a hurricane, it is actually kind of scary and destructive whereas the snow we get is more comparable to a romantic flury you would see setting a mood in some cheesy chick flick scene on an ice skating pond or a carriage ride. It is more like that kind of snow than "The Shinning" but you wouldn't know it if you talked to anybody. Nope, any snow in Austin is as threatening to daily routine as a whiteout blizzard or golf ball sized hail, which is something that is actually known to frequent this region.

Back to my swim. Well, there isn't much to say except that it turns out that there is nothing more thrilling to me than swimming the backstroke with flurries of snow hitting my goggles and face. That pool is just magical in the winter.* The colder the day the better. Once temps drop below 50 degrees you are guaranteed a lane to yourself if not the whole pool. On those days, steam swirls up from the water so thick at night that you can't even see the other side of the pool clearly. Of course the transition from towel to pool is brisk and you learn how to put your cap and googles on in few short motions but once you get your stroke into a rhythm...well...it's a good time. Like running, I don't think outdoor winter swimming is for everyone but if it is for you then there is nothing that could make you happier than this pool was today.

When I got out and started heading to the car in my towel and flip flops a girl in a parka and scarf called to her dog through the tall collar of her coat. Then she took one look at me and said, "Did you just go swimming?!" I told her "yeah, the pool's heated though". I could tell she was thinking about whether or not that made seeing me in a parking lot with wet hair, a swimming suit, towel and flip flops normal. "Oh. Huh. Really?" I don't think she was "really" surprised by the fact that the pool was heated so much as the idea that somehow this would make up the difference enough in 35 degree weather for a person to jump half naked into a pool of water and swim around for an hour. That's fair enough though. I felt like telling her though that this is the only remotely "hard core" thing I ever do with myself. I will never be the type of person who will parachute out from a plane for the thrill of it. I don't jump off cliffs into deep water. I brake down every hill, no matter how small, when I am on a bike. But I swim when it's cold obligingly and even in cold water when there isn't a pool around. Yep. Maybe that's not that cool but I still think I fit Jack Black's definition of being hard core because outdoor winter swimming is living hard core.

*As long as it is heated of course. This experience wasn't nearly as enchanting on Tuesday when they decided not to turn the heater on that day even though it was only 45 degrees outside.