Today, Alisa and I went to an openhouse at the Chena River Marblers where Regina and Daniel St. John make marbled paper and cloth. We each got to make a piece of paper and see the process in some detail. Basically, you drip an oil-based paint onto the surface of a pan of water, swirl the paint around, and then lay a sheet of paper onto the water surface, capturing the paint. Alisa went first, dripping orange, purple and green paint onto the water, the artist helped her use a comb to create a pattern and then capture the paint onto paper. When I got my chance, having watched and learned from Alisa's experience, I had a clearer strategy and a better idea how to approach the combing. I created concentric drips with burgandy, green, purple, gold, and orange paint. I created about 7 regions with two sets of drips with most of the colors. I combed the paint twice forwards and backwards and then swirled two areas together. The artist and the other observers praised the striking pattern. The artist asked if I had an artistic bent. I happened to be wearing an 
Istvan Bierfaristo t-shirt so I showed those off and mentioned CafePress. Alisa also purchased a giant piece of marbled paper that has an incredible design, and shows the difference between a first-timer and someone who has explored the medium seriously. Here is a snippet from the piece I made:
http://revo.bierfaristo.com/images/full_marble.jpg
On the way home, we picked up our solstice tree. This year we got a fir. Last year, Alisa picked out a spruce as the tree she had to have, in spite of my comments about how prickly it would be to manipulate. This year, she said I could pick out the tree. For the past couple of years, we have gotten a tree from a local Boy Scout troop, that sells trees as a fundraiser. I have mixed feelings about it, because the Boy Scouts are so intolerant. Unless the Boy Scouts changes their policies of intolerance, I will not participate in their activities. But maybe I can consider buying a tree as a form of 'constructive engagement'. We began decorating the tree, but the boys were having so much fun with the lights (which required turning off all the other lights, you understand), that I gave up and came upstairs and played a little StarCraft.