Pablo is Not Happy

25 May

The past few days, the crustacean in the house is definitely not happy. Every time when I walk pass the little aquarium, the sullen fella is hiding beneath the driftwood from clear sight. Hubby’s also not happy that we cannot see Pablo, so he removed the wood and put back the pot cave, hoping with a less crowded aquarium, we can see him and vice versa.

And what does Pablo do? He digs a little trench beneath the pot and hides there from clear sight as well. Yesterday morning, I saw him inside the pot but head facing inside. We don’t know what he is sulking about, probably thinking of his freedom that time when he escaped.

He is not happy.

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Citizens of Gigglesville

23 May

Lately I resurrected the carving hobby because I ran out of canvases to paint. Although I enjoy painting, in truth, I find the sweeping motion of the palette knife across a two feet canvas to be quite an arduous task. And I paint only once a week. It looks like the tennis elbow right arm is never recovering anytime soon and taking a long time to get well. Sigh…

But carving is okay. The arm doesn’t move that much and the balsa wood is not that hard to tackle.

The last batch of creatures created was back in July last year and recently, I labelled them ‘Citizens of Gigglesville’ and painted them all up. I must say proudly these creations of mine, all about an inch tall or thereabouts are rather cute little critters that bring a smile or giggle to whoever looks at them, hence aptly named citizens of this imaginary township.

Each and every character has a serial number instead of a name. With this, I see an interesting story developing.
Citizens-1

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Pablo is Sulking

19 May

After his ‘capture’ and return to the little aquarium, we think Pablo is angry at us to the point of sulking because we have reinforced all points of escape.

Every now and then when I look at him, he would turn his back at me! Aww… can a crayfish have feelings?
Pablo4

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“Could You Be a Darling…”

18 May

It’s obvious we have one sassy child at home when she says this to me, “Could you be a darling and bring me a glass of water from the kitchen when you go there?”

I have never, in my life, said such things to Mom when I was studying. Then again, I have never sat at the dining table and studied like how M2 is studying now for her mid-terms.

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Pablo’s Great Escape

16 May

We thought we lost him for good – Pablo, our pet crayfish. I dreaded coming home from office to find a dried up crustacean under the sofa or a spot we missed looking yesterday morning when we discovered the escape. But work at the office beckoned and we couldn’t spend the whole morning at home looking for a runaway crayfish.

He did pull off a great escape and Houdini act, scaling the little aquarium’s glass wall and disappeared for many hours.

That evening we came home and looked again. This time peering closely at the pond in the middle of the house, the most logical place. And lo and behold! Pablo Sanchez Rodriguez was chilling in there.

The great escape artist had a great escape from a dried-up death!

I simply cannot fathom how he did it. The night before he was in the aquarium but didn’t look happy after a water change. What happened thereafter was quite incredible when we charted his likely path.

He fell out from the aquarium that was sitting on a three feet high cupboard, and crawled that floor space towards the eight steps of stairs, most likely tumbling down in the process. Then, crawled along the living room floor towards the middle of the house to dive into the pond. Quite an amazing feat!

Hubby said the fall could have resulted in a concussion (if hard headed crustaceans can get one!) and left him for dead behind the cupboard but no, he survived. And in fact, got smarter to find water to stay alive! This could almost be a script from Disney or a twist to a Finding Nemo plot: Finding Pablo!

We actually measured the distance from aquarium to pond and it was about 33 feet. And for a feisty little bugger, the distance I must say is quite overwhelming in relation to his two and a half inch size! But he persevered.

Thank goodness, he’s okay. All the Bobs (aka fishes) in the pond did not bully him or eat him (horrors of all horrors!) and he’s back safely in his abode now. This time, we have secured all loopholes. One fake plant has been removed and the driftwood repositioned to prevent another great escape.

This morning, he looks hyper and a tad angry that he’s back in the aquarium. What a character! Perhaps we will let him out to the pond every now and then to join the community.

Pablo1

Where it all began…

Pablo2

Where it ended.

Pablo3

Back home and sulking!

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Pablo Escaped!

15 May

What can I say? Boo hoo hoo…

We don’t know how, we don’t know when but this morning when we walked passed the aquarium and wanted to take a look a him, the aquarium was missing its tenant!

Searching high and low, we just cannot find Pablo. Feisty little bugger, perhaps too feisty for its own good, scaling the walls of the aquarium and pulling this Houdini act.

I seriously think we will not be able to find him. Boo hoo hoo…

Can you see him cos we sure can’t. 😭

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I Think She’s Good

12 May

These are not my drawings, they are M2’s. Yes, you read that right, they are M2’s efforts, my second child. What can I say? She draws better than me!

The subject matter may be copied but that’s how one gets started to learn, fine tune and hone the skill. The strokes, the effort and the confidence in executing the style just amazes me!

  

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Ready to Pass Them On

11 May

Last year,  M2 had shown an interest in art. I have bought a few mini canvases for her and she has done an excellent job with some creations, using pen and ink on the canvas. Although she lamented they are copied pieces, I feel it’s a good start to hone her interest and develop her skills.

I think at this point, I am ready to pass her my set of Faber Castell technical pens, heirlooms of sort if you can call them that. These pens have served me well during my college years but sadly, have not since any action for the last two decades.

Maybe it’s time for them to be of use again. I bought a new bottle of Rotring ink and cleaned out the pens again for her. Looking forward to new art pieces by M2.

 

My prized possession

  

This 3″x4″ hangs in the living room proudly

 

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New Cave

9 May

Pablo, our new pet crayfish is quite an interesting feisty little crustacean. He doesn’t like the pot cave in the little aquarium and doesn’t reverse into it like Luna and Tuna. Instead he digs a little pit at the side of the pot and chills out there.

It’s fine but the only problem is we can’t see him much at that hidden angle. So we decided to remove the pot and placed a recently purchased drift wood. This changes the setup in the aquarium but it looks much better.

The new cave is hardly a cave when it’s open ended but I think with the roof over the head structure, Pablo will be more visible to us wherever he digs to make his comfort pad.

  

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