Air&sugar

45/F. I write about making stuff, mental health, married life, and other things that start with M. Professional maker-of-things. This is the home of Baby Muppet and Spicy Meatball, my Airedale Terriers/adventure buddies. We go on a lot of walks, when we’re not making things. Occasional NSFW stuff so please be over 21.

[holespoles]

Botanical Applique Quilt by Chinami Terai (Japan)

寺井ちなみ「緑のヴァリエ」

[aireandsugar]

If your Pilates instructor says, “today’s class is a real ab burner!”

… just leave 😂🤣 I think you left the oven on. Didn’t you say you had a dentist’s appointment? Oh! You forgot to feed your goldfish this morning!

Whatever you do, get the heck out of there before it’s too late. Trust me on this one.

[nattousan]

ok so, I approached my local library with a proposal to donate a mural as a way to A: build portfolio/gain practical experience and B: give back to a beloved public institution. The director was very enthusiastic about it and i've been working on it since the beginning of March. Come with me as I endeavor to paint what is in all honesty an excessive amount of birds

I wanted the birds to look like they were actually in the space so first thing after doing the draft was to do a lighting study

after that I covered the walls in letters in lieu of a projector/vr headset bc i have neither of those :) Then i take a picture of the section of wall and superimpose the lineart over top of it so I can pencil in the lines

et voila

and that was a whole week on it's own so next comes the paintin' >:)

[nattousan]

and now, the birds

Birds 1 and 2/14: Red Winged Blackbird, Male and female, Agelaius phoeniceus

[nattousan]

Bird 3/14, American Robin, Turdus migratorius

[nattousan]

hoo boy, ok *out of breath*

GIVE IT UP FOR BIRD NUMBUH 5, THE CANADIAN GOOSE, Branta canadensis!!!!

this guy took me about 4 days to completely finish, all of those freakingk coverts were a bear to render

[nattousan]

speaking of obnoxious coverts:

bird 5/14, Bluejay, Cyanocitta cristata

the friggin stripes almost got me chat, i may not make it

[nattousan]

Madam....

[nattousan]

birds 6 and 7: American Goldfinch, Spinus tristis, male and female

pleasantly simple to paint! next is the flickerrrrr

[nattousan]

*melts into goo*

BIRD NUMBER 8, (yellow shafted) NORTHERN FLICKERRRRR, Colaptes auratus

genuinely made me start questioning my sanity around day 3, it's half the size the of the goose, WHY did it take me 4 days to finish??

nothing but pain and suffering, i'm sure hope the next bird will be much easier and with FAR less barring :)

[nattousan]

in other news, I am losing my mind hairline

[nattousan]

SHE'S DONE!!

Bird number 9: Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

my chains are broken i am FREE. although i did have a great deal of fun with this, the barring on the wings itself took me like four days and i am READY to move on

this was a week and a half of continuous work so please excuse me for getting a little emotional in the bg 🙏

[nattousan]

*does a little jig*

BIRD NUMBER 10!!! The Male Mallard Duck, Anas platyrhynchos

the male and female ones are gonna be posted separately bc they're taking a lot longer lol but yea! super happy i was able to capture the iridescent green of the head, i found metallic green and blue paint at a craft store that really made his head POP. it looks better in person i promise

ALSO!! As this is the 10th one, BIG announcement. The end is in sight!!!!! I plan to finish within the next 3 weeks and there will be a small dedication ceremony/ unveiling happening at the library to commemorate its completion on the 16th of May. If you live in the Western New York region and want to check it out for yourself shoot me a dm!

Also thank you everyone for your kind words and support throughout this whole process, it's been a genuine treat thinking there are potentially thousands of you out there cheering me on while I paint this 🥹

[nattousan]

aaaand another one bites the duck,

we're movin right along with bird numero 11!! The lady Mallard!! Anas platyrhyncos

the 16th is looming in the distance so i'm trying to get thru these as quickly as i can so i can have as much time for the GBH as possible. i still need to do the names next to all of them so i've got about a week and a half to finish everything which is GREAT because i have adhd and nothing gets my ass in gear like a fuckin deadline, let me tell you

[nattousan]

power couple that they are, here's bird number 12 and 13,

the Northern Cardinals, Cardinalis cardinalis

and NOW that they are complete, ITS GO TIME, in the next five days (library's closed for mother's day 😭😭) i need to have the GBH fully rendered, the names of the birds vectored, weeded, masked, applied to the wall, and then painted, plus additional cattails throughout. I may be able to get away with just getting the GBH done in time for the unveiling and then just have the names and cattails added later, but i'm gonna really try to get it all done in time. BUT, i have a plan. Part of why i take so long on these is because i really am just figuring it out as I do it lmao. there have been many a time where i am sitting on top of the ladder googling "how to paint birds" but I think if i take the time tomorro to do all that figuring out how to approach it beforehand, this will go a lot faster. I may also recruit some of my artist friends to help with the placing of the names... hrmm we'll see.

Anyways, shout out to the librarian who tracked down exactly the thing i needed so i could figure out where to place the highlights in my birds eyes, ur the real mvp

[nattousan]

thanks for the reminder, kid

[nattousan]

at long last, we've reached the end...

Bird number 14 out of 14,

The Great blue heron, Ardea herodius

thank you to everyone who reached out or got excited about this project, it genuinely gave me the fuel i needed to keep going. In total, the 480+ total hrs it took me to cover this wall pales in comparison to how long its expected to spend on there, hopefully imparting a sense of beauty and love for the natural world to the next generation and here's hoping i'm only getting started with these.

i'll see y'all soon :')

[unsubconscious]

Elena Wuest (German, b. 1977) ‘Beyond’, 2025 Oil on canvas, 80 x 60cm

[aireandsugar]

The difference between an eldest daughter (me) and a younger son (my brother):

When I went to Japan, I started studying Japanese about 18 months ahead of time, mostly so I would not accidentally be a rude American. I found it fascinating so I am still studying Japanese with no plans to stop any time soon. Also, the next time I have a chance to go, I will be ready. You know, just in case. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My brother is literally sitting on an ANA airplane right now (hasn’t taken off yet) texting me to ask how to say “thank you” to the Japanese flight attendant. He is ON the plane about to leave for his first trip to Japan.

(I have responded with a screenshot of the romaji and the hiragana, as well as phonetic pronunciation in case he gets confused.)

[aireandsugar]

During our trip, I posted more or less daily. Each post contained photos from sights we’d seen that day as well as some things we learned and experienced. I found it to be a fun way to remember what we had experienced (just over 3 weeks in Japan = a glorious blur in my memory otherwise). Many of my friends had expressed interest in traveling to Japan and they enjoyed the posts and asked questions about our trip to help plan their own.

My brother is also sharing his trip: every day he posts a huge number of photos (in one batch, normally between 50-80 pictures) with no captions or explanation of any kind. Some of the photos are blurry; some don’t include enough of whatever he was looking at to actually decipher what it is.

Even my husband, who notoriously does not give a single shit about anything anyone does, ever, is enjoying this chaotic and nonsensical approach to social media. We have a daily “did you see <brother’s> post today?” chat where we try to figure out what is even in the photos.

He did caption one post enough to write, “I don’t read Japanese and I barely speak it” but based on the fact that we reviewed how to say “thank you” before his flight took off…. I’m not sure our criteria for ‘speaking a language’ is the same at all. 😂🤣

So far, no international incidents and only a few panicky texts (got on the wrong train, sent photos of train station signage, all was resolved) so that’s going pretty well I guess.

[whoreocookiesnmilk]

God you’re so polite to service workers it’s sooo hot 🥵

[whisk3yteacup]

I find the strangest things SO sexy. This is one of them. When Master speaks to a service worker using their name. When he holds the door for a random stranger. When he speaks to anyone really like they're human. It's kindness. Kindness is so sexy. Don't ever let anyone tell you that nice guys finish last. They do not. Maybe they finish after their partner, but that's intentional kindness, too :)

[aireandsugar]

The difference between an eldest daughter (me) and a younger son (my brother):

When I went to Japan, I started studying Japanese about 18 months ahead of time, mostly so I would not accidentally be a rude American. I found it fascinating so I am still studying Japanese with no plans to stop any time soon. Also, the next time I have a chance to go, I will be ready. You know, just in case. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My brother is literally sitting on an ANA airplane right now (hasn’t taken off yet) texting me to ask how to say “thank you” to the Japanese flight attendant. He is ON the plane about to leave for his first trip to Japan.

(I have responded with a screenshot of the romaji and the hiragana, as well as phonetic pronunciation in case he gets confused.)

[nobrashfestivity]

Paul Klee, Horizon, Zenith and Atmosphere.

 Paul Klee/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Estate of Karl Nierendorf

[liberalsarecool]

AI data centers are the surveillance state trojan horse. #BuildingYourOwnCages

[fourohfourlifenotfound]

If you ask the AI Bros, their answer is that if they build more data centers, it will get better and then solve all those problems later. The logic that OpenAI and ChatGPT is built upon is simply "throw more processing power at the problem."

And once you understand that that's the pipe dream they're betting all of our futures on, it certainly disenchants the whole thing, yeah?

[diehellasrache]

I think I'm going to remember this phrase every time I cook for the next five years

[monamoni]

For a few minutes each year, sunlight makes this Yosemite waterfall look like a river of fire.

[aireandsugar]

[fidelcostco]

WAIT HOLD ON I cannot fucking believe when I was like four years old my parents were cajoling me to walk with the family and trying to get me to keep up even though I kept insisting that I was "tired" until they took me to a doctor and found out my LUNGS DIDN'T WORK. how insane that we live in a world where reasonably loving parents think their FOUR YEAR OLD is trying to be LAZY. like they were mortified to be clear. adults are just so trained to ignore children's complaints as untrustworthy, kids just need discipline, they can't possibly speak for themselves. what the fuuuuck.

[fidelcostco]

YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE BTW you should always be trying to take children seriously, especially very little ones but definitely all of them. the most disempowered class basically legally defined as property and most people are like "yeah that's good actually I hate when they Loiter lol they're stupid and loud and i actually think children should stop existing. restrict their personhood more actually"

[serpentinesheldonserpentine]

Went out for a few errands and took my coffee with because it’s delicious. And as I drove I realized that some folks employ large, insulated “travel mugs” to accompany them on their rounds.

Huh?

Friend, if you can’t navigate the cheery roads of metropolitan Boston with a regular ol’ ceramic mug in the free hand you don’t use for flipping off other drivers, you should probably go back home and drink more coffee.

[aireandsugar]

Today we went to a retriever training session. A friend of mine wanted to check it out but was too nervous to bring her dog (who is, to be fair, insane). So we took Baby Muppet instead.

Baby Muppet, the Airedale Terrier. Terrier. The trainer we worked with today said, “this is a first for us.” But she was very kind and helpful and after she saw what he could do, she loved Baby Mup.

He tried a ‘marking drill’ (bumpers thrown from a blind in different directions, he goes out to get them and brings them back), some various fetching/retrieving on different terrain, AND some water retrieves.

His biggest issue was with the marking drill. Once he picked up a bumper, he tried to go back to the helper in the blind to return it to her 😂🤣 after two or three tries, he realized I wanted him to bring it back to ME. And then he did just that, every time.

The trainer said that’s pretty common and most dogs get a little confused about it; so no harm there. When she was asking if he had any experience, I said, “no… but if we can show him what we’d like, he’ll do his best to get it done.”

And he did. Because he’s the single greatest dog in the universe.

We weren’t sure what he’d think of the pond for water retrieves. He swims in a pool at a dedicated dog swim facility every week, but that’s pretty far from a muddy pond with sandy banks and reeds and stumps and all.

After a few beautiful retrieves (he figured out the duck call meant pay attention, and that we would cheer if he brought the bumper back to us) in the pond, we realized he might actually like ponds better than he likes the pool! He had the time of his life.

We are invited back to retriever training. One of the other ladies even looked up eligibility on her phone, so we know Airedales are allowed to do AKC Retriever Hunt Tests. I don’t know that we’ll take it that far, but it sure was fun to see Baby Muppet enjoying himself and doing so well.

I love him more than anything.

[aireandsugar]

When I shared some videos from our day with another dog-sports friend, she said, “I love what a big life y’all are giving each other.”

I keep coming back to that; partly because it’s true and partly because I am so pleased and proud to be able to say it’s true.

My life is bigger, and exponentially richer, because of him. I hope he would say the same thing about me. Being his person is the honor of my life.

If I survive his departure from this life (someday far, far in the future, I pray), I hope I will learn to love other dogs. But it will never be like this again.

[aireandsugar]

Today we went to a retriever training session. A friend of mine wanted to check it out but was too nervous to bring her dog (who is, to be fair, insane). So we took Baby Muppet instead.

Baby Muppet, the Airedale Terrier. Terrier. The trainer we worked with today said, “this is a first for us.” But she was very kind and helpful and after she saw what he could do, she loved Baby Mup.

He tried a ‘marking drill’ (bumpers thrown from a blind in different directions, he goes out to get them and brings them back), some various fetching/retrieving on different terrain, AND some water retrieves.

His biggest issue was with the marking drill. Once he picked up a bumper, he tried to go back to the helper in the blind to return it to her 😂🤣 after two or three tries, he realized I wanted him to bring it back to ME. And then he did just that, every time.

The trainer said that’s pretty common and most dogs get a little confused about it; so no harm there. When she was asking if he had any experience, I said, “no… but if we can show him what we’d like, he’ll do his best to get it done.”

And he did. Because he’s the single greatest dog in the universe.

We weren’t sure what he’d think of the pond for water retrieves. He swims in a pool at a dedicated dog swim facility every week, but that’s pretty far from a muddy pond with sandy banks and reeds and stumps and all.

After a few beautiful retrieves (he figured out the duck call meant pay attention, and that we would cheer if he brought the bumper back to us) in the pond, we realized he might actually like ponds better than he likes the pool! He had the time of his life.

We are invited back to retriever training. One of the other ladies even looked up eligibility on her phone, so we know Airedales are allowed to do AKC Retriever Hunt Tests. I don’t know that we’ll take it that far, but it sure was fun to see Baby Muppet enjoying himself and doing so well.

I love him more than anything.

[electricraccoonincident-deactiv]

– Stephen Gill, from The Pillar (2016-2019)