The Calendar and Unicorns

This year, 2016, is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar. That means an extra day, the leap day of February 29, is added to make sure the calendar stays in sync with the rotations of our planet around the sun.

Cultures that mark their own years, such as in the Chinese and Jewish calendars, have a variety of different ways of making up for lost time. Very interesting stuff.
Add a day here, add a month there....

You can take a leap of faith.

Or...

And there's this cute saying.

That's a very keen observation, don't you think?

You can play leap frog (just stay away from the unicorns!)

Or Leap Frog

You can make decisions with a Leap or Jump Mat--kind of like a Magic 8 Ball for your feet

Or you can take one small step and it becomes a giant leap for all mankind.

What kind of art will you leap into?

Send us your TwobyTwos, your twinchies to:
1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Arizona time, Tuesday, February 23, 2016. Include links to your blog post or what-have-you. We'll post all the accumulated goodies later the same day.

Week 24--Sweater

What a difference a week makes! Last week we couldn't wear enough layers, this week we're back to t-shirts, shorts and sandals. We try to enjoy the cooler weather because soon enough it'll be the inferno that makes an Arizona summer. Which is why the twinchie of the week is, "sweater."

Freebird channeled her inner Olivia Newton-John, putting on a varsity sweater from "Grease," as you'll see on her blog.

Letterman Sweater
by Freebird

Our official response was a little off-center, composed of elements for instructions from 2003 for a granny-square poncho. We have no delusions that granny squares or ponchos are or have EVER been hip, just so you know. Square, definitely.

Square
by Cheryl

Have a brilliant week! Until next time....

Warm and Fuzzy

There's nothing quite like a cozy sweater n a cold winter's day, except perhaps hot chocolate with marshmallows.
But that's something altogether different. Let's get back to the sweaters. (And we're not talking people who perspire, that would be really different. Ah, the English language! How easy it is to mutilate!)

There are Fair Isle sweaters:

And there are Aran sweaters:

And we learned that there are meanings behind the various patterns. We just thought these things were impossibly difficult to knit.

And we're not quite sure about the Ugly Christmas Sweater craze, other than it's an excuse for a party.

All we can say about THAT is WOW! Full disclosure: we have our share of outrageous sweaters from the 80's that can now claim honors at that kind of party.

Whatever your fancy, let's see some pretty sweaters in miniature! Send your twinchies to:
1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Arizona time, Tuesday, February 9, 2016 along with blog linkies or notes on your inspiration. We'll post them later that day for all the world to see!

Week 23---Money

Money may not buy happiness, but it could make life more interesting, surely? We can't imagine we'd have much luck running computers and the internet without it. With it we can meet interesting people all over the planet!

Thus, we welcome Tina, from Germany! She sent this adorable piece of a little girl breaking into her piggy bank:

You, too, can meet Tina on her blog!

Freebird wants to grow a money tree with real dollars:

Our official response is a collage of elements from mostly bills and solicitations the mailman brought this past week:

We'll be getting to our blog post for the week soon. And we'll be back here next Tuesday.
Until then....

Show Me the Money!

Dollars or Dinero, we have a hankering for Yen. Without money, we have no commerce.

Indeed, long before currency was created, there was battering. If you had cows, you needed corn; You could trade milk and cheese for grain instead of having to do it all by your lonesome. You could focus on your herd and someone else could perfect their vegetables. It's a win-win situation!

Now, you don't have to do any of that-- if you have the pesos, you have the power to procure whatever your little ol' heart desires (with apologies to the Refreshments). Especially when it comes to those shoes you just have to have. Or chocolate.

We've also been trying to figure out who besides Pink Floyd and Barrett Strong (and the Refreshments) have sung about "Money." Add your thoughts in the comments section!
Our current gig includes cheap coffee for a dollar. (Plus tax; have to make sure the tax man gets his share, right?)

I can get
Five cups of Coffee!

Break the bank and show us your "Money" twinchies!
Send your image files to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Tuesday, January 26, 2016 and we'll post them later the same day.

Week 22--Goldfish

We can't tell you why we've had a hankering for Campbell's Tomato Soup with Pepperidge Farm Goldfish crackers, but it was on our mind all week. And we finally had it for lunch!

No childhood is complete without it!

Freebird followed a childhood theme for the first challenge of the year, a cartoon of a cat fishing in a fishbowl:

Also on her blog. Reminds us of Cleo and Figaro in Disney's Pinocchio, how about you?

Our official response can be found here and here:

Thanks for stopping by and seeing where the themes take the artists. We appreciate your time and wish you could join in the fun!
Until next time...

It's a Little Fishy

Welcome to the 2016 edition of the Two by Two by Tuesday art challenge! Truly, we don't want to think of this as challenging at all, just get the grey matter flowing so the creative powers can take over. The only REAL challenge is to squeeze all of that into a two by two inch space (or roughly 25 square centimeters if the memory of metric conversion serves us properly).

Any medium will do.

We try to do a little research first and are always amazed at what we find and where the artists take the themes.

The first creative word of the new year is "goldfish." Goldfish are associated with the Persian New Year, a celebration called, "Nowruz." Nowruz falls at the spring equinox, so it's still two months away. The traditional table would be set with a glass fish bowl to symbolize "life within life."

A plain bowl of water is considered unhealthy, so some plants for oxygen and snails for doing some cleaning up would make a good environment for a goldfish. Goldfish come in many varieties and can survive outside in ponds, too. Not too hot, not too cold.

From Wikipedia

Related to goldfish are koi, which you may have seen, if only in a painting.

Then, there are these:

YUM!

And who could forget this:

Or this:

Arabian Dance
Fantasia
Walt Disney, 1940

But there always has to be something new and different, so we found a band out of South Africa:

Won't you join us for some twinchie fun? Grab some art goodies and show us your "goldfish."
Send images of your work to:
1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Tuesday, January 12, 2016 along with blog links or notes and we'll post them later that day.