This is MY Body, slab-build, hand-made, ceramic wall sculpture by Tammy Vitale, hanging at Britishink.

We got loaded into Britishink yesterday easily – the 2nd pair of hands make everything so much less frantic.  Husband was wonderful.  Despite it’s being his day off, down to DC (up to DC?  over to DC? Northwest to DC….) he drove with me almost all the way to where he works.  Up and down stairs to load in.  Nails in place. Pictures taken.  So of course I took him out to lunch as a thank you.  Little enough!

More pictures at the bottom, but first I must catch you up with the tale of the turtles in the home pond.  As I mentioned, we were on the watch for snapper II as we saw him but missed him.

Well, Husband netted him yesterday morning just before we were leaving to load in at Britishink.  Husband placed him in the box I used for Snapper I and we were going to drop him off close to his sibling for a new wild and woolly home.  I went downstairs to load up the car.  Dog started much barking.  Husband said "Quite down!" thinking she was hearing my opening and closing the car doors.  Up I came to get turtle, only to find the box empty.  Not turned  over, just empty.  Now someone please tell me how that turtle got out of that box!  "What’s that Lassie, um, Doggie?  You saw the turtle fly out of the box and you were trying to warn us?!"  Search all over for turtle who managed to get out of the box, off the picnic bench, off the deck and not be anywhere we could find.  Look hard in the pond again.  Nothing.

Off to DC, load in, eat lunch, come home.  Husband decides oh well, clean out the pond some more and with first scoop nabs turtle again!  Back into the box and immediately down to the wild ponds across from us where we let snapper II go hopefully to the wide open spaces and a fine new home.  If anyone knows about snapping turtles and if changing their abode is cruelly traumatic, please do not tell me.  Thank you.

Here are more pictures from Britishink.  You can kind of piece things together.  The room is 12′ x 4′ with a back brick wall, so we hung all on one side.  The piece at the beginning is on the outside wall and you can see it as you come in.  The mask, torso, turtle tile are what you see as you go through the door to the room.  The long wall is to the left and the back wall in front of you as you turn toward the left with the red brick wall on the side.  Enjoy!

thought for the day:  …strength of personality – even thought you know very well that it is a big act – is always taken for an ‘ego-trip’…Many of us, certainly most from the middle and lower classes, were taught to downplay ourselves and our strengths.  Those of us who do project ourselves in a strong and dynamic way risk being labeled ego-maniacs or worse.  Part of the reaction comes from the violation of the norm itself, a kind of ‘shame on you.’  Part of it is jealousy.  After all, it is easy to see that those who project themselves well are having fun doing it.  Those who feel constrained by the norm from getting in on the fun often resent those who enjoy expressing themselves.   The more repressed project an attitude of "Who do you thin you are?" onto the less inhibited.  The implication is that is you were someone else – say someone rich, famous, or powerful, this behavior would b acceptable….Projecting a strong personality – essential to marketing success in any arena – is no more or less egotistical than projecting a weak one.  Whatever the image portrayed on it, a mask is a mask.  Laurence G Boldt, Zen and the Art of Making  a Living