(no subject)
Fouth graders have to do a project depicting some part of California history, which can be various different things, but many kids choose a model of a mission, because all the craft stores sell model kits of them. Gareth was no different; he at least picked the Santa Cruz Mission (located north of Monterey), not the one closest to us (the more famous Mission San Juan Capistrano, which the swallows come back to). This caused runsamuck some grumbling of "separation of church and state," but I suppose it is somewhat legit - some of the first European settlers here were Spanish Missionaries (at the time the place belonged to Mexico), and many of the mission settlements formed the basis of present-day towns. They also have a section on Native Americans of the region before this - mostly Chumash and Gabrielinos.
Gareth was frustrated because he left his supplies out on the patio, where he was working. He hadn't put down the green fuzzy stuff (meant to be grass) on the model yet, and during the night, Spot came by and decided to sleep on it, leaving long white cat hairs all over it. You can't see it in the photo, but they're still there; no amount of brushing or tape would get them off, without also removing the fuzzy stuff.
Santa Cruz Mission model
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
25 March 2009