I’ve mentioned Griffin’s interest in musical composition in a previous post, but I haven’t shared many examples of his other creative outlet: art. He spends much of his free time creating pixel art and composing music for various video game projects. (Indeed, he has just confirmed his first paid commission!) Here’s a sampling of some things he has been working on recently.
And here are a few of his recent compositions:
To round out this trio of cabin posts, I took a few other random pictures of the sorts of things we did at the cabin this weekend: deflating and stowing the dock, touching up some trim paint, adding some non-stick strips to the wooden dock, role-playing games, other dice games, and a marvelous jigsaw puzzle (a gift from Grummy who passed along her love of puzzles to Andrew). We also prepped the well and pump for winter and put the snow shovels up on the covered porch lest they be irretrievable if anyone visits after the place is buried in snow. (We’ve learned that the hard way.)
Lest one think that we live an irredeemably charmed life, I should also mention that we did face a few challenges. For example, although the cool weather meant that there were few bugs outside, the black flies love to hibernate under the cabin roof. When the place warms up, they emerge in droves. Herds of droves. Hordes of herds of droves. We swatted and cursed at them, but our only moderately effective solution was to vacuum them up multiple times per day.
The kids got very excited to build a “tree-ish house.” They started by extending a small treehouse that the built last year. This was cool, but took up a lot of prime real estate and interfered with the view from the cabin. After some discussion, they chose a new plot in heretofore unexplored territory. (It’s only about 30 feet west of the prior spot, but it’s screened by trees.) They enlisted Sarah’s professional help, removed the old structure and built a new, improved one. The sounds of hammers and saws filled the woods today.
The first picture below shows them beginning to deconstruct the first draft house. The rest show the new one. (And Piper, of course!)
We made it up to the cabin for a long weekend. The weather is perfect: highs near 70 and lows just below 50. It’s dog heaven for Piper. The kids are engaged in a construction project. We saw the comet from the dock last night. A jigsaw puzzle is underway and we played a shockingly close game of Farkle. Not a bad way to recharge in the midst of a very busy autumn.
Note that while “GO MOM HQ” sounds like a worthy homage to Sarah, it actually stands for “Griffin, Oliver, Maggie, Olive, and Murray.” (Olive and Murray are two of the kids’ best friends who regularly come up to the cabin with us.)
Maggie is taking her first computer science class this year. The seventh grade course meets every other day for half a block (45 minutes) during the first trimester. This isn’t a lot of time for learning and practice, but students usually dive in with gusto and Maggie is no exception. Although I do teach a section of the class, I don’t have Maggie. She’s with my brilliant colleague, Chris Collins.
At the mid point of the first trimester, we ask students to create a short project using the code that they’ve learned thus far. They are using the Python programming language. Here’s what Maggie created:
To create this scene, Maggie wrote 170 lines of code using Python’s default text editor (known as IDLE). If you’re curious, the code is appended below.
#project1
import turtle
t = turtle.Pen()
t.speed(0)
t.screen.bgcolor("midnight blue")
#ground
t.width(10)
t.color("brown")
t.pu()
t.goto(-200, -161)
t.pd()
t.goto(200, -161)
#tree 1
t.pu()
t.width(7)
t.color("maroon")
t.goto(-190, -160)
t.pd()
t.goto(-190, -60)
t.color("forest green")
t.goto(-210, -90)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -60)
t.pd()
t.goto(-170, -90)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -80)
t.pd()
t.goto(-210, -110)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -80)
t.pd()
t.goto(-170, -110)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -100)
t.pd()
t.goto(-210, -130)
t.pu()
t.goto(-190, -100)
t.pd()
t.goto(-170, -130)
t.pu()
#tree 2
t.setheading(270)
t.pu()
t.fillcolor("green")
t.pencolor("darkgreen")
t.goto(100, -90)
t.pd()
t.begin_fill()
t.circle(30)
t.end_fill()
t.pu()
t.goto(120, -120)
t.pd()
t.pencolor("chocolate1")
t.fillcolor("burlywood1")
t.begin_fill()
t.forward(40)
t.left(90)
t.forward(20)
t.left(90)
t.forward(40)
t.end_fill()
#tent
t.fillcolor("purple1")
t.pu()
t.goto(-50, -160)
t.pd()
t.begin_fill()
t.color("purple1")
t.goto(40, -160)
t.goto(20, -110)
t.goto(-30, -110)
t.goto(-10, -160)
t.end_fill()
t.pu()
t.fillcolor("purple3")
t.begin_fill()
t.goto(-30, -110)
t.goto(-50, -160)
t.end_fill()
t.pu()
t.color("purple1")
t.goto(-33, -110)
t.pd()
t.goto(-53, -160)
#moon
t.pu()
t.goto(110, 50)
t.pd()
t.begin_fill()
t.color("old lace")
t.circle(50)
t.end_fill()
#stars
t.pu()
t.goto(220, 40)
t.pd()
t.color("lemon chiffon")
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(220, 90)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(160, 90)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(40, 20)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(20, 20)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(0, 20)
t.pd()
t.circle(3)
t.pu()
t.goto(-130, 30)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-40, 30)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(-40, 150)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(0, 150)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(0, 190)
t.pd()
t.circle(3)
t.pu()
t.goto(140, 190)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-160, 130)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.pu()
t.goto(220, 164)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-220, 100)
t.pd()
t.circle(2)
t.pu()
t.goto(-80, -70)
t.pd()
t.circle(1)
t.hideturtle()