Pet Parade

Happy Fourth of July everyone! I hope you are enjoying your afternoon and evening. I am sitting down taking a rest from cooking, cleaning and carting kids around, but it is all worth it.

Our house is ready and decorated.

There are yummy things to eat.

And various kid drawings.

And grown up drawings. The White House is mine. The presidents are Peirce's. I must say, I think we did pretty good for being so old.

This morning, I took the boys to the Annual Pet Parade at the American Visionary Arts Museum. This has become a ritual every year. This quirky museum is one of my favorites because it has art from all sorts of people: those afflicted with mental illness, those who are jobless, those in prison, those who are children or elderly, but those in general who are often overlooked by the mainstream or lost in the shuffle. For example, some of my favorite pieces of art are the art of prisoners. One is the most minute stitching you have ever seen done by a needle and thread on something the size of a postage stamp. The other are peach pits which have been carved so delicately that faces and surroundings were created. This is the building. Wish I could show you the cool artwork. Have I mentioned I love this museum?

Hence my need for this self portrait.

I mean look at this sculpture of bird and nest. It is huge!

And here is her pretty egg.

If you can click on this picture (not sure if you can), but there are two little boys you might recognize.

Ode to Francis Scott Key and Baltimore

Now onto the pet parade....Basically, people get a number and walk around the museum. Then they get back to the podium and their pet performs a trick or lack thereof. The dogs were dressed cutely.

But we all admit, this was our favorite. Happy Fourth of July!