School Music Group

基隆市100學年度學生音樂比賽瑪陵國小，這是我們20年來再次的參加團體的性的音樂競賽，對一個指有46人的小學校來說，參加一個有節奏有旋律的音樂表演是非常的困難的­。這次競賽我們跟信義國小並列優等雖然沒有拿到代表權到全國比賽，但是這樣的成績讓我們有更進步的空間，也代表我們努力的成果。要感謝蔡、巫兩位老師兩年來的指導，也感謝­各位家長、老師、及工作同仁的協助配合，我們相信明年，我們會有更好的成績，大家加油!

This was the first time in TWENTY YEARS that Maling Elementary School made it to the Jilong Student Music Contest.  Now, their school has only 46 students, so to be even able to put together a music group is quite an achievement.  Even though they didn't make it to the national contest, they are going to work superhard to make it next year!  (Their teachers are from the renowned Ju Percussion Group, and the kids are extremely lucky to have them come to teach them every week.)

In case you can't work out which one is Kyle, he is back left, the little guy with the big big drum.  He was the youngest in the contest.

What a Week!

Sick kid, runaway dog, disorganised business, school pick-ups and classes... it's been quite a week.  I should be pushing ahead with class preparation and organising product descriptions and lists, but I really wanted to update the family about life here.  So, here goes, the power-post.

Dog:  Skippy is a great dog, really. He just has this really really REALLY bad habit of running off when we are not paying attention.  He has found the chicken farm and restaurant down the bottom of the hill, which means at least I know where he goes.  But, having a dog hang around the prep area of the restaurant is not ideal, especially as in Taiwan it is habit to prepare food like raw chickens on the concrete ground outside.  At least Skippy likes his doghouse and will settle down in there for the night.  For a dog with three legs, he sure can run fast!

Hannah:  My little girl has been home for the week, with a throat infection and fever.  She is actually well on the mend today, and will have to come to school with me in the afternoon when I teach.  There is nothing like a child at home to put constant interruption and chaos into a day.  Everything around me is suffering.  But, at least she can stay home and get better.  When I think of all those parents still looking for their children in Japan after the tsunami, I realise how terrible it is to think "I wish I had some time alone."  We are so lucky to have our children by our sides.

Kyle:  This morning, Kyle is off to compete in an inter-school dance contest.  Dad was a bit late getting him to school and his poor teacher called me in a panic.  I reassured her he would be there.  With such small class sizes, your child becomes a very important of every team, group, and community he or she joins.  I think this is a really good thing when the children are so young, to feel needed and not easily replaced.

Kyle is also in the school percussion group, which will perform in April.  He wasn't happy about it as the teacher gave him the cymbals.  This week, the child playing the big drum didn't want to play anymore, so Kyle got his dream of playing the drum fufilled.  Now, he LOVES percussion group.  On Sundays, Kyle goes to table tennis, and that seems to be going well, too.  The biggest challenge of all is for his mum to remember where he needs to go and where.  Again, the positives of a small school come out.  All these activities are free and taught by professional teachers/coaches from outside the school.

Business:  It seems to be picking up a bit, which wouldn't be hard compared to last year.  If only I had hours at a time free to think and arrange and update and promote.  With kids around, you only get a minute or so before someone calls, which makes it hard to sit down and really concentrate on the hard stuff.  With Richard going on a 10-day business trip recently, both kids sick (one after the other) and now Richard having to spend Saturdays at the car repair shop to fix his van (involved in four-car crash), as well as traveling to the inlaws' two days a week, I'm really running on the reserve battery.  I often think of that line that became the slogan for bullying: It only gets better.  Maybe tomorrow, I will get to sleep in after 6am, go to sleep before 1am, sleep all night or at least three hours straight without an interruption, or even go out alone.  If not, at least I have people big and little in my life who need me.  And a dog...

Chinese New Year Cottage Style

It's been quite a week at the cottage.  Today is the last day of the Chinese New Year break.  And the only day we don't have plans for people to come over to the cottage.  Including children, we have had around 100 people come and enjoy a break here over the past five days.  Richard's parents have stayed over, we've been to two dinners, and visited Richard's uncle in hospital.  I think this is the first time I have sat down in a farily relaxed state, and my legs have started to shake.  I enjoy having people over, but I could not be a professional caterer.  My hat goes off to my mum and my sister for the work they have done in that area.

I sat down with great intentions of tales of the week, but now I am here, my mind is blank.  I guess I will put up a few recent photos instead.

Quick Quotes

Just a couple of gems from the past week.

Hannah's weekly school report:
We have been timing Hannah and how long it takes her to unpack her schoolbag.  In the past it has been 20 to 30 minutes.  The last two days, we are down to 15.  Well done!
...contents of a four-year-old's schoolbag?  Three bowls...

Hannah and Lady Gaga - minds alike:
Lady Gaga: He ate my heart and he ate my brain
Hannah (brandishing plastic sword): So I took my sword and cut his head right off!

Kyle on the challenges of science:
I need a sperm donor.
(me):  Whatever for?
So I can put sperm under the microscope and watch them move.  I can't see them in my wee-wee, so I need a man to give me some.
...any takers?

A new year, a new post

I am so happy to report I got what I wanted today.  We had a wonderful day with friends and their children, at our cottage.  The men sat outside cooking on the barbecue and having man-talk, and the women sat inside enjoying good company and drinks.  The eight children ran around the house, through the house, around the garden, and through the garden.  We even got to play some card games, reminding me how much fun it is to play games with children.  It was a very successful start to 2011.

I've also had a few things happen the last month or so that I should write about.  The first one is, I started teaching at Kyle's school, as a volunteer mother.  It's just one class once a week.  It's really a lot of fun.  The children seem to enjoy learning English .  And now, I will be teaching two classes a week, paid, at the school.  I'm really looking forward to it.  It should be a bit of a challenge after so many years away, but it is something I love to do.

Ok, next is, I have been trying my hand at gardening (again).  I was planning on having an organic garden, but after the incident a few days ago, I really don't know if it is possible in this environment.  At 10:30am, I was looking at my beautiful row of brocolli, about break out from the leaf-state it was in. I told myself I should take a picture of it to send to my dad.  I had a shower and did a little work.  When I came out at noon to get the kids from school, I had to rub my eyes and look again.  Every piece of leaf on my broccoli plants were gone.  I imagined a giant praying mantis coming in for the attack.  Gone, all gone.  I had tears in my eyes on the way to school, but on the way home I felt a little anger.  How DARE anything eat my hard work?  I was tempted to make up a spray and wait for the next bug that came along.  After a few days, I am now considering a Net Against Nature.  We have an old mosquito net from the four-poster-bed Richard made us a few years ago that I may well cut up in an attempt to protect my future projects.

Kyle is doing very well in school.  He consistently gets 100% in his tests, and really enjoys all his classes.  He volunteered us for the Christmas show, resulting in the two of us singing a song on stage and then performing four magic tricks.  The teachers constantly tell me how great he is, as if I don't know already.  Kyle is still determined to move to an English-speaking country, as his true love is reading English (although today he told me he loves rollerblading even more - Uncle Neil will not be impressed!)

Hannah is also a star in her preschool.  She loves all her classmates and they all look after each other very well.  Hannah is always preparing things from our house to take to school to share with everyone.  I think the low student numbers in the school really help the children to settle in and make themselves a social group more easily than the larger numbers in other schools.

Seeing as I haven't posted anything for a long time, I have a lot of pictures to choose from. Here are a few:

Kyle with grandparents at Christmas show

Hannah right after her performance

Hannah's letter to Santa

Kyle's letter to Santa



Cousins at our house on Christmas Day



Hannah on the scooter Nana gave her

Kyle with sunglasses that were in his stocking

Storytime, List of Instructions

Kyle is finding his writing skills very useful.  Yesterday, he made sure I would remember that he wants to keep the fork from the can of pineapple.

With no TV, the kids spend more time creating on their own.  To be honest, sometimes I am a bit lazy and don't give them any guidance.  Then, they come up with cartoons like this.  This is one of Kyle's first stories that he has written on his own.  He did this earlier this week.

Kyle has a bit of a cough.  He turned his medicine cup into a cute little monster.  Helps the medicine go down.

School Antics

Since school started, I have neglected writing about the children.  They are still here.  So, I should write a bit about them, and their days at school.  Because, I know that is really why you are here; as interesting as stag beetles in compost is, the children really do rise a little above that topic.

Hannah: Hannah is now four and in kindergarten.  She has homework, twice a week.   Yesterday's homework was a sheet with dotted lines on it that she had to trace with her crayon.  She was all set up at the table, doing her first line, so I left her to it while I did some online sales orders.  When I came back, her homework was completed, almost perfect.  The first line was a bit wobbly, but the rest were spot-on.
"Hannah, you drew that so well.  What a nice job," I said.
"Oh, I didn't do that.  Kyle did." Said Hannah.
"But that's your homework!  Why did Kyle do it?"
"It was too hard for me, so I made Kyle do it.  He could draw on the lines."
As the teacher said today when I relayed this episode to her, we have no fear of Hannah handling herself in the world.

The teacher also had a chance to tell a story about roleplay time to me.  The class read Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.  Then, three girls got to be Snow White and act out eating the apple and dying.  Hannah refused to eat it, leaning over and whispering to a classmate, "I am not eating that!  I KNOW it's poison!"

Now, the final Hannah story for today.  The class takes a nap at noon.  Hannah did not like lying down at all.  After much discussion with her, I discovered she did not like lying down without wearing "sleeping gear".  So, now everyday Hannah changes into a nightdress for her daily nap, and then changes back into her daywear in the afternoon.  Naptime goes much more smoothly since this ritual was added to her daily school routine.

Kyle has overcome his hatred of Chinese and no longer needs to move to New Zealand so he doesn't have to learn Chinese.  Over summer, I decided not to put him into a pronunciation class, but to just enjoy some daytrips instead.  I was a little nervous that I had done the wrong thing.  Kyle has proved me right in my choice, getting 100% in his first two tests and being top of the class in pronunciation and other academics.  Most importantly, Kyle loves going to school and often tells me how much he loves his school.  Tonight, he read part of a Chinese storybook to Hannah.  And, he now corrects my pronunciation constantly.  His dad is taking him to buy a new junior Chinese dictionary very soon, as he has taken an interest in my old one.  The old one is just too outdated to be useful for his study.  Chinese changes constantly, and kids need to stay uptodate to get the high test scores.

Tomorrow, we are attending a cultural performance in Keelung, with the children's school.  I'm charging my camera battery in anticipation.

Kyle Reads, Hannah Listens

We have had a great start to the school year.  We chose to put our children into a small school by our cottage, rather than one of the larger "better" ones by my inlaws'.  The school is public.  There are 65 children in the school, from kindergarten to grade six.  Kyle has five classmates, all girls.  Hannah has 11 classmates.  The school is not pretty and it doesn't have great facilities like a swimming pool or gymnasium, but it has won awards including best kitchen in a Taiwan school and best public preschool in Taiwan.   Kyle and Hannah are happy to walk into the school every morning.  And already, I am accepted into the parent community and have joined  the "group food purchasing" team of mothers.

Kyle and Hannah on their first day of school

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Hannah resting in the library

Roof of the school - garden needs a little work

Back of Kyle's class block

After two weeks in school, Kyle has started reading Chinese storybooks!  He read his first pages today.  From zero to full speed ahead in two weeks.  And Hannah loves her teachers and has learned a lot of good behaviour already.

School Begins & Some Education Links

Today is the last day of the holidays! We have an ordinary weekend and then Monday, the first day of school, is here. I think we all have mixed feelings about this. Kyle doesn’t want to do all the writing related to First Grade but wants friends. Hannah doesn’t want to leave my side but wants to play. I want them to go out and start life at school and have some time away from me, but I want them to stay with me, too. So, today we will spend our last day of the holidays together at Happy Bear gymnastics, the play area, and MacDonald’s.

Kyle is still shining in the area of language and literacy – so far only the English language. His Chinese has some catching up to do. Kyle is reading up to four chapter books a day, and I am ever-thankful for the Taipei City Library for its extensive English-language section. The English area of our Muzha branch library is bigger than my hometown’s library, and we also have access to all the books at the many other branches in the city. Parents have asked me how I taught him to read, and even though he is naturally talented in this area, I would like to share a few good books I found for parents to use.

How To Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons – I followed this book step-by-step, ten minutes a day, over several months. We didn’t use the book everyday but we did every lesson. It covered all the foundations of the mechanics of reading. I am now using it with Hannah, and she is also learning quickly with the book.

Wise-Bauer’s series of books on literacy – Wise-Bauer follows a more classical approach to teaching. Each lesson has clear steps to follow and should be easy for parents even without any teaching experience. Writing With Ease Strong Fundamentals: Children only have to write one or two sentences each day, and through this they gain confidence in their ability. Kyle was unsure of his writing and unwilling to try, but after several lessons he started to write spontaneously without prompting.

Bob Books (Readers) I used these to support lessons in How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. The stories are quirky and appeal to most children.

I was a bit concerned about Kyle’s preparation for his Chinese pronunciation classes. My friend sent me a link to a number of very nice Chinese language sites for children. Here is the link to a woman's blog, that you can click through to find more that your children might like.

I am also using a daily practice series of books to support science and math. The children love these as each day’s lessons are very short and to the point.

Finally, Hannah has been using a set of Kumon books that introduce concepts such as shapes and time, and provide practice cutting, pasting, and coloring. This series encourages children to work independently at their own pace. It’s working for my determined, independent little girl.

I hope some of these books are helpful, or at least start a search in a direction that saves someone time and money!

It's funny where you end up...

When you are looking for a gas station. Or at least, it's funny where the kids and I end up.  This afternoon, I took the kids to buy some supplies for their birthday party to be held this Saturday.  I had tried to get them to nap at noon but they didn't, so of course they fell asleep and slept for over an hour, which meant flagging the trip to the store that sells the party gear.  They woke up as I was diverting to the highway toward the cottage.  I realised we needed gas, so I got back off the highway and drove along to Xijr.  Kyle was hungry so I decided to find somewhere to stop if we couldn't find a gas station.  Of course, I couldn't (I have a GPS but it listed 20 in no particular order or direction, so I gave that up).  We ended up at Cathay Hospital.  It's like a huge community, and behind the hospital is the start of the cycleway along the Keelung River.  Walking along, we found "叮呱呱", the Taiwan Fried Chicken chain.  The kids hadn't been there before, so we ordered our takeout and sat at the park, eating our picnic dinner.  Our family verdict is, Ding Gua Gua is way better than MacDonald's.  Is that getting too local?  We were quietly eating when Hannah yells, "There's a cow!"  (She takes after me, suffering from the odd case of animal misidentification.)  Coming up to us was this giant pig, with a collar on. It had smelt the chicken and came to ask for some.  It was the cutest big pig I had ever seen.  It was talking to us, and put its head on my knee.  The owner of the pig came over and said sorry but he loves the smell of chicken.  It was fine with us.  It was certainly a "first time" moment for me.  Kyle decided he never wants to be a pig farmer as they "have to chop those gorgeous animals up", and Hannah declared pigs "fantastic".  Funnily enough, less than five minutes later, a man walking his cow walked past.  Now, please note that we were not exactly in farmland, but right next to a highway and large hospital. 

(The bikeway itself is currently 12km long, and eventually will connect to Taipei's bikeways.  It's in really good condition and not crowded at all.)

We then walked back to the carpark, stopping at the local community park.  The children there were very friendly, and both kids quickly made new friends.  But, the promise of a daytrip tomorrow convinced the kids to come back to the cottage when I asked them. 

We got back here and painted the paper clay models we had made a few days ago.  At first they were all painted beautifully, but then the kids decided BROWN was the way to go, and now all the animals are one color.   The kids were quite brown themselves so I had them jump in the shower and head off to bed for stories.

Talking of brown, I was saddened to hear Hannah tell me she is not happy that she is too dark, and not white enough.  And to tell me I am too fat to be a mermaid.  Taiwan media has so much to answer for.  Even if I don't let her watch shows like "美人女" (Beautiful mermaid, a superhero story for girls, with 3 beautiful cartoon mermaids doing cool stuff), even Disney channel shows ads for the mother, selling whitening products, slimming products, and anti-aging products.  There is no control over advertising at all.  Hannah is only four years old, and she is already worried about her skin and her waistline!  I'm going to have to restudy my "advertising ethics" paper materials and educate the little girl before she develops issues she shouldn't have at four years of age!

It seems just yesterday that I was dropping Kyle off for his first day of preschool.  Now, we are getting ready for first grade!  And, Hannah will become a preschooler.  It's hard to get my head around some days, that here I am in Taiwan, sending my kids to local school (getting even more "local" in September when we move to the cottage fulltime so they can attend the school out here), where they get a Taiwan education and I have to help them with homework written in Chinese.  Facebook has made it even more strange to me, as many of my Taiwanese friends have moved abroad and their children are being raised to attend English-language-education schools.  The world really is an interesting place these days.

We started our summer vacation early, with Kyle's school closing because two kids in his class had the entereovirus.  It is very contagious, and the more serious strains can be life-threatening, so they are pretty cautious.  This threw my "plans" into turmoil, but we are still having some fun.  I have been driving the two kids around, trying out different places like the Science Museum, Riverside Park Children's Festival in Ilan, Happy Bear's gymnastic classes, and a number of different swimming pools.  Fitting my business around the kids is kind of exhausting and it's hard to focus, but last week I met someone who is going to change my life forever - a drop shipping company!  So, come September I hope to be doing minimal shipping myself, offering a better service, and focusing on developing markets and retail sales.  And of course, spending more time caring for and educating my kids. Exercising. Making exotic coffees... well, one can dream, maybe I will even mop the floors!

We did manage to enjoy Kyle's graduation ceremony.  In Taiwan, graduating students get a fancy book of photos, which you pay about about 30USD for.  Here are a few pictures - two from the book and two from the day:

Hannah is of course her gorgeous, color-coordinated self.  She seems to have my sister's flair for fashion.  A couple of pictures of the girl:

I look at Hannah and ask myself, "What did I do to get such a gorgeous little girl?"

She is seriously funny, creating songs all day long that keep the whole family laughing. 

Hannah and Kyle have been roleplaying lots of boy-girl situations recently.  For example, they "went to a party" where there were a lot of girls.  Hannah sent all the girls home, as nobody could be prettier than her.  Prince Kyle chased them all out to make sure they wouldn't come back and Hannah had the choice of boys at the party!  I guess I read Cinderella to them once too often.

Kyle has bronchitis.  I took him to the doctor today.  I think I have a bit of it myself, tonight.  The kids got up at 6:30 this morning, and Richard had been out, so I did the kid duty for the morning.  I was feeling a bit feverish myself earlier this evening and was almost asleep, but Richard woke me up.  Now, everyone is asleep and it's getting close to midnight.  It seems to be fairly common that the husband gets to sleep and the wife doesn't.  I guess we have a lot of things we have to organise and remember, and it's just harder to shut our brains down.  And, we tend to think of the husband more and let them sleep, keeping the kids quiet.  From discussions with friends, it seems a pretty cross-cultural thing, were the men will wake up the women just to have them help find something or to ask a question, whereas the women will try their best to solve any problems themselves, and keep the kids quiet, too.  Anyway, I won't be surprised if I wake up with a bit of a cough in the morning, having had looked after Kyle through his coughing last night.

On that note, I should try to get to sleep before witching hour!

Dancing, Traveling, Rambling

Sitting here at the computer, listening to "Rave Anthems", put on by DJ Kyle, looking out at the hills, and drinking a nice cup of coffee, with sounds of Hannah and Kyle playing drifting down the stairs, I think this defines "Nice Family Sunday".  Richard is silent, as through all of this, he is trying to pretend he gets to sleep in.  Anyway, I am going to try and sneak in  few minutes' worth of updates before chaos inevitably overtakes the day.

Kyle is still taking dance class.  Recently, he has been reluctant to go to the class, but he still enjoys it during the actual class time.  On Friday, the head teacher had a chat with him and found out that he finds some of the stretching difficult, and that he wants to learn some MANLY dance actions.  So, yesterday, I took him to the school's hip-hop class.  Wow!  I havent' seen Kyle so high since we attended the insanely intense Gymboree exercise class when he was a year old.  (His little friend got so overstimulated that he passed out halfway through the 50-minute class, and my friend and I had ringing ears for a couple of hours after the class.)  He would do the actions, run to the side and do a somersault or some other move he had learned in other dance classes, then come back and continue.  Even during break, he was dancing around.  The poor teacher came out of the class in quite a sweat.  The moms said they had never seen the teacher so excitable.  Kyle was happy all through the day, dancing and laughing right through to bedtime.  Actually, Kyle is too young to attend that class but we wanted to show him that guys dance and guys can teach, and that after  you learn the basics, you don't necessarily have to become a ballet dancer.   He told the teachers he wants to continue with dance class now.

When everyone came out of class, one of the girls told everyone, "好憐憫,清松要去紐西蘭找老婆".  I thought a long time and then realised he meant, "找外婆"
(He said, "I am going to NZ to find a wife."  He meant, "I am going to NZ to see my grandmother.")

You can see some information about Kyle's dance school here:
http://www.wenindance.url.tw/en/about.htm

Hannah is one smart little cookie.  She has an answer for everything, in both Chinese and English.  And, she knows what she wants.  On Friday, we had her gymnastics class.  Half-way through, she wet her pants.  I only had a skirt for her, and a pair of Kyle's underpants.  I knew before I offered them to her that she would not readily accept it.  She flat-out refused to wear them, and I refused to let her do tumbling without pants, so she gave up that and our Friday lunch together, to go back to grandma's and get her own clothes.  Going out yesterday, she had to change her whole outfit because she didn't have a jacket to match her skirt.  At least she can dress and undress herself, so I just let her change, as long as she puts everything else away.  Hannah is ready for school, and I am looking forward to letting her go to daily kindergarten in September.  It will be great for her to have some new friends her age to play with every morning.

We are leaving for New Zealand early May.  We looked at Jetstar but the ordeal of booking over the phone and trying to work out how to get there was too much, and we ended up going with Air New Zealand.  The travel agent I used is the first that has given me great service, and fast, for a long time.  Their information:
http://www.martin.com.tw/ (Zora is the agent that helped me out.)  They are the agent Singapore Airlines recommends to you if you call their Taipei office.

We've been reading some great books lately.  One that has helped get the kids thinking about life balance and other habits is "The Seven Habits of Happy Kids" .  It's fun to refer to the characters and ideas in the book rather than just nagging the kids to do exercise, turn off the computer, and so on.

Well, the CD has finished and dirty laundry is calling!

Easter?

Ok, I admit it, I am really really really REALLY lazy when it comes to holidays like Easter and Halloween.  I just couldn't muster up energy to find chocolate eggs, decorating kits, and so on for my kids.  I gave them a candy and made them papaya milk, and that is the extent of my Easter celebrating.  Maybe it's because it wasn't that big of a deal for us growing up anyway, and then there is the whole WORK side of finding things for the holiday.  We did get a couple of books out from the library to read about Easter.  Hannah had two fillings on Wednesday, so I also figure the less chocolate she has sticking to her teeth, the better.

I have spent the day trying to find out about jetstar and other cheap flight options to New Zealand.  I've read some NASTY reviews of jetstar, so if you have something positive to say, please let me know!  The tickets are a third less than the other airlines, and if you take the view "you get what you pay for", it should be OK, right?

On Friday night, we went to a wedding celebration at gardenmall, which you can read about on my other blog (http://www.kidzone-tw.blogspot.com/).  Here some pics of Kyle and Hannah, dressed in their flowergirl/pageboy clothing from the week before's wedding:

With the changing seasons comes the time of friends moving on.  This week, I have found out three lovely women and their families are moving early/mid June.  It's getting harder to deal with as time goes by.  It takes a year or so to get to know people, and most move on after two years.  Just long enough to form friendships but not long enough to really enjoy that friendship after you form it.  The nature of the expat community in Taiwan is, most expat women stay two or three years then move on.  It's really hard work to stay motivated to meet new people when they move away again so soon. But, with somewhat different philosophies toward child-rearing, and probably life in general, its also difficult to develop meaningful relationships with Taiwanese moms.  I mean, I know some lovely local women, but there is some fundamental difference that forms a barrier in total understanding.  I do  have some great friends who are not going anywhere soon, but I know they feel the same way about our social circle.

I've been updating my http://www.kidzone-tw.blogspot.com/ blog, so if you are in taiwan and looking for child-oriented things to do, take a look. 

How to enjoy life

Kyle doing some reading puzzles in the bath.

Hannah draws herself and her brother walking in a magic park.

Riding a bike together at a friend's house.

Gift basket for Taiwan TV celebrity "Ding Ning", to celebrate birth of her little girl.

http://www.littlewonders.com.tw/

Link to the new-look site for my online business.

More of Kyle's Art

This is a self-indulgent post, sharing more of Kyle's art.