Big Blue Marble

Ever watch Seinfeld? There's one episode where George gets to pretend to be a marine biologist and saves a whale. You know the one? Go here for his closing monologue. Hilarious.

This time of year is focused on saving whales and saving the planet. We learned in the primary grades that Earth is three-quarters water, which means we need to take care of all that water for the health of everything and everyone on the planet.

Earth Day Flag
Created from image by Apollo 17 Space Mission

A friend of ours, Ron Watkins, is an underwater photographer and through his images brings that message home.

He just won an award for this image he calls, "One in a Million:"

One in a Million
Jellyfish in Alaska
Photograph by Ron E. Watkins

Isn't that cool? It's worth the while to see all the award-winning photographs for The Atlantic's 2017 Underwater Photography of the Year, so check it out!

These are Ron's own words on his craft, from a 2012 interview:

Life is short so make the most of it. I have been fortunate to pursue my passions and experience some wonderful places in my life. Another one of my passions is preserving the ocean and all of its inhabitants. I use my art to increase awareness of the reefs and marine life. The oceans support a diverse and important marine ecosystem which humans depend on. 

I hope that by people seeing my images, they will take more of an interest in the conservation of this fragile natural resource. 

If you're more of a tangly person, check out Laura Harms' art blog challenge this week and see why she calls Earth, "Amanda." Perhaps, combine these two challenges? 

There's plenty of inspiration available for this week's twinchie. Oh, yeah, the word is, "ocean."

Send your "ocean" via email to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Arizona Time, Tuesday, May 2, 2017 along with blog links and/or notes and we'll post them later the same day. Please join the fun and share the word!

Week 55--Key

The word this week was, "key." Are you like us and have a can of keys to cars and houses that you haven't owned in a lifetime? NO? We thought everybody did!

Freebird sent this beaded artwork of filigree keys, isn't it delightful? What wondrous doors they must open!

Our official response is a collage:

I guess you'll just have to visit the artists' blogs to see what they had in mind in creating these mini artworks! Be sure to do that or even better, try your hand at this twinchie challenge!

Until next time....

Key Words

You can have the keys to the city or the keys to success, You can have the key to someone's heart or tap your heartfelt thoughts on a keyboard. You need keys to open a house or start a car and you probably carry around a set on a key chain full of little gadgets or toys.
What do you have keys to? What can you open with your keys? What do you think of with this week's word of "key?"
Show us your key twinchies and we'll show them to the world! Send images of your artwork to:
1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Arizona Time, Tuesday, April 18, 2017.

Week 54--Coin

Alas, nothing is moving quickly nor smoothly in twinchie-land. But here we are with this week's contribution to the cause using the prompt of "coin."

Freebird sent in the pattern she will be using for her project, a big pot of gold!

That's a LOT of coins!

Our official response is a photograph with a phrase that was coined over 2,000 years ago! It still rings true, doesn't it?

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out the blogs of the participating artists to see what all they've been up to and perhaps? Try your hand at the TwobyTwo!
Until next time....

To Coin a Phrase

Just as there are two sides to every coin, there are more than just one way to work with "coin." You can toss a coin in a fountain (and if you do it right at the right place, you'll return to Italy, though we've never been. How can you re-turn to someplace you've never been before?), have a coin in your pocket (and a song written about it by Chrissie Hyne) or you can coin a phrase, which really means to invent a new one rather than using an old cliche, which is how the saying is more often used.

Coins used to be made of precious metals and really worth something. Even penny candy now costs a dime (or more)! Hard to do a load of wash at the laundermat without a pocket full of quarters. Coins come in all shapes, sizes and materials. I have an ancient Roman coin about the size of a shirt button made of glass; hard to tell if it's really worth anything other than being really cool.

But most of all, if you hand over a pair of pennies or some really great ideas, then you've given your two cents-worth. And we just love anything to do with two!

So send in your best ideas for "coin" twinchies! Deliver your images to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Arizona Time/Pacific Daylight, April 4, 2017 and we'll post them later the same day!

Week 53--Alphabet

Welcome to year three of the TwobyTwobyTuesday twinchie challenge! Woohoo!

This week the word is "alphabet." The contributions were made utilizing the English characters and we have to wonder what they might look like in a different language.

Freebird sent this in with this explanation:

One of my favorite hockey players is called "Soup"  since his last name is Campbell.  Not only is it a great take on the theme, but I thought this was fitting lol (me and my hockey!)!

And so do we!

Ours was a simple design, the "a" is for "alphabet"

Thanks for checking out the twinchies! Be sure to visit the artists' blogs to see what they're up to. 
Until next time....

Easy as A-B-C!

If it weren't for letters, we wouldn't have words and without words, well how would you put a blog together?! Words are shortcuts to identification and communication, made up of letters of the alphabet. And alphabet is the word of the day!
Depending on where you live your alphabet will have different characters than the 26 English characters. Did you notice that there are 26 bi-weekly twinchie challenges and they're all start with a different letter? We have to wonder how different they are in a different language!
Show us your alphabets!
Send your contributions to: 1xeritas@gmail.com!