Project 365 Update

You may have noticed that I've changed the way I'm updating this blog.  Honestly, I've been considering just closing down the whole thing and asking anyone interested to follow along on Flickr (or Ravelry, or one of the two blogs I still actually update), since I never write anything here, any more, but... I guess I'll leave it alone for now. 

I'm still trying to take photos for Project 365, though I've missed another day here and there and just taken "make-up photos" to fill in the gaps.  Now that I'm a month behind posting the photos, though, I'm going to take an easy route to catching up. To save time and trouble, I'll just share the photos through Flickr's built-in sharing function.  The result isn't as pretty as if I took the trouble to post them as I had been doing, but it sure is a lot easier.  If you want to see the photos larger, I recommend just heading over to Flickr to do so.  (These latest photos should have links, and there's always the link in the sidebar, of course.) 

...That's all.  Back to our regularly scheduled never-posting-anything-but-photos. 

Amusements du Jour

Via an "anonymous" designer:  Clients from Hell
Enjoy the weirdness, rudeness, and/or cluelessness of a certain percentage of the public, as witnessed by those who design for a living.  (Anyone who knows the joy of explaining computery, techy things to decidedly non-techy people might also get a kick out of it.)  Admittedly, some of the snippets deserve a response along the lines of "um, okay... I think you were the odd one in that situation".  But then you have classics like...

• "Isn’t it as simple as putting in a button to select different languages? Just look at Facebook."
• "We want to know for sure who we are dealing with here. After registration, users need to send a copy of their passport or identification to us by mail."
• “How do you spell HTML?”
• "I’m afraid of Facebook, people can find you through it. They could have complaints and I don’t want to be hunted down by the Facebook people."
• "We are on a bit of a rush for this one, I’m going into jail on Tuesday."
• ...and many, many more!  ;o)

Via being alive and on Flickr circa 2008:  What's in Your Bag?
There's no single link for this one.  If you're interested, just go to Flickr and do a "groups" search for "what's in your bag".  You'll find quite a few variations on the theme.  Basically, a person pours out everything in his/her bag/purse, arranges it (neatly or not so neatly, according to taste), and gets it all into a single photograph, which is then put online for the whole world to admire.  I'm not sure when this actually became a "thing"/meme, but I know it's been a few years, at least, since I first heard of it. 

Though looking at such similar photos from so many strangers can get boring after a while, the idea itself is interesting, and you can sometimes get a real sense of a person's life-- or at least his or her sense of style-- based on the little things s/he carries around on a daily basis.  (Also, it's like snooping, but with no guilt. (g))  Of course, then you have people like me who probably don't have anything interesting in their bags at all-- not much to provide a clue to the person's interests in life.  I don't usually carry "fun" things in my purse-- just the basics I need (or think I may need) when I leave the house.  ...Which reminds me that I've never done this myself.  Maybe I will, today.

Snow, Vicariously

While we were snubbed by the Snow Fairy (or whatever it is that brings snow ;o)), Donald's family in Sweden have been dealing with lots of it.

Check out the snow in Ingela's photos on her blog and at Flickr. 

...Wow.  Can you just imagine all the snowmen you could make... all the snowball fights you could have?  (Not to mention the headache of traveling from Point A to Point B!)

When Donald spoke with Jocke a few days ago, he said that on the road from town to Donald's parents' place-- not just their private driveway-road, as I first thought, but the main road-- the snow was piled up five feet high on both sides.  Probably not a good time or place to have car problems.

Project 365, Here I Come!

After a while of watching some of my contacts on Flickr participate in "Project 365", I've decided to start my own project. The plan is to take (at least) one photo a day for a year!

I'll be posting the photos on my Flickr photostream (in this set) as well as in a blog devoted specifically to the project. (There's a link to the blog over in the sidebar, too, to make it easy to locate in the future.)

Doppelgänger, Trixie & AARP

Mein Flickr Doppelgänger
The other day, I came across someone (on Flickr) who does polymer clay, takes lots of macro nature photos, apparently has some connection to Scandinavia (Denmark, though, not Sweden), and even has a blog with a background almost identical to the color mine is (at the moment, though I think I'll be changing it soon). It's kind of weird when little similarities keep piling up like that, one right after the other. Of course, the dissimilarities piled up even higher (and faster), but they're less interesting to note.

- - - - - - -

Trixie's Fame Increases
Earlier this week, we were surprised to be contacted about the recent "Loldog" featuring a photo of Trixie. It seems the people behind the "I Has a Hotdog" site selected our photo for inclusion in their upcoming book! What fun!

- - - - - - -

AARP Lied, Michael Sighed
My political question of the day is this: If the AARP isn't "behind" ObamaCare (and they supposedly are not), how come I just saw an Internet ad for health care reform, sponsored by the AARP? It referred to one of those pesky "myths" and ended with a link to a nifty little health care reform web page. Maybe it's just me, but it sure sounds like the AARP supports ObamaCare. . . They even have a petition, a call for "your powerful stories", and cool "TAKE ACTION" and "DONATE" buttons. I'm sure the people in charge would say that they're not advocating a particular plan-- just reform in general. Why am I not convinced?

I'm feeling up to a challenge...

Of course, I may regret it later, but let's not get ahead of ourselves! ;o)

Getting out the camera and taking some pictures around the yard, last week, put me in the mood for setting myself some type of challenge, photographically speaking. Despite good intentions, I've never really gotten into taking self-portraits, and I think that would be a good exercise for me.

However I feel about most photos of myself, these days, I imagine that someday, someone (myself, my family) will probably wish that there were a few more of them in existence. Besides, it's the fact that this isn't my usual "style" of photography that makes it more of challenging. Also, it hasn't escaped me that if I'm the one taking them, I can also more easily destroy the bad ones so that they never see the light of day. (g) So, I've decided to challenge myself to take (at least) thirty self-portraits in thirty days.

Thirty in thirty sounds like a lot (to me, at least), but I'm cutting myself some slack. They don't all have to be full shots of my face. Some can be shadows, reflections, intentionally blurry, or focused on parts of my body other than my face. (Um, by that I mean headless shots, hands-only, maybe feet. Nothing too weird. ;o) You know me better than that, right?) Also, I may take several in one day and let the extras count for the next few days. None of this "you must take one photo every day" nonsense. It's just not practical-- neither is it important-- and if I make that one of my "rules", I'll only be tempted to cheat.

I hope/think/hope this will turn out to be fun. I'll try to learn a few new tricks along the way. Maybe I'll get a few good photos to add to the one or two fairly recent (as in taken within the past ten years) photos I'm currently willing to share online. ;o) (Joking. Kind of...)

Of course, anyone who wants to join in is welcome! (I'm not expecting anyone to, but you never know!) I'm planning to post my photos in their own set (album) at Flickr, but I may also cross-post some of them here. If you want to see all of them in one spot, visit my Self-Portrait Challenge set.

Here's my first effort:

Taking that photo, it all started coming back to me, why I never really got into self-portraiture before. (g) I have a feeling this really is going to be a challenge!

Chopped the top of my head off, there, but oh well! Oh, and the bottom is one of those intentionally blurry shots I hinted at earlier. (So convenient for days when you're not feeling especially presentable!) This photo was my inspiration. Think I kind of missed the mark, though. I may have to give this one another try, but that's the point-- practicing until I (maybe) get better at this kind of photography.

"There are no words to describe it."

No words to describe how cold it was here last night, that is. That's according to one local TV news reporter-- a woman they'd stuck outside just so there would be someone to personally testify to the inexpressible cold. (Why would they put someone outside to demonstrate cold when there's not even ice, snow, or frost to show? It's not like it was a tropical storm where she count point to a few flying leaves and twigs and enthusiastically label them as "debris".)

Those of you not living in a subtropical climate may wonder at what point the cold becomes so severe that there are no words to describe it. Well, we were predicted to drop down to as low as 21 degrees (F) overnight, but at that point, it wasn't even 10 p.m., so it was probably still in the 30s.

Yes, the low 20s is cold and even the 30s aren't much fun to stand around in for no good reason (no arguments here!), but "no words to describe it". . .? I wonder what happens when you go up where it gets really cold-- like -40 F. I guess then there are no words to describe how indescribably indescribable the cold is. Or maybe you freeze instantly, forever encapsulated in your own personal ice cube. ;o)

-- -- -- -- --

And on a totally unrelated note:

I was looking back through my photos at Flickr, when I came across the pictures I took of yarn, back when I joined Ravelry and wanted "stash" photos. (I mainly joined so that I could see people's finished projects, when they mentioned them on their blogs and at Twitter. I need to get back into crochet, though. I was enjoying it, even if I hadn't even managed to produce consistently sized granny squares. (g))

Anyway, these are pretty boring photos, unless you're really interested in yarn-- and those who are really interested in yarn wouldn't be likely to want to sit and stare at the yarn in my stash, because it's all relatively cheap stuff bought on sale or clearance at Hobby Lobby. (I like it, but most fiber art aficionados would look down their noses at it, I imagine.) So it's no surprise that most of these photos have had very few views. A couple have 12 or 15 views, and that strikes me as an impressive number, considering the subject matter.

Then there's Yarn Bee's Luscious "Peanut Butter & Jelly", which has been viewed 157 times! And the focus isn't even quite on spot! There are no comments, but 157 separate times, somebody just had to see that single skein of yarn up close. Funny, huh?

Sweden, circa 1890

Flickr Blog has a bit today about "Norway, Sweden, and Denmark-- then and now". The main purpose of the entry is to announce that the Library of Congress has added 169 photochroms of (you guessed it) Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to their collection at Flickr.

I'll definitely be giving them a good look-through. They're very crisp, colorful images, considering they were made around 1890!

Edited to add:
Hm. Not many of them were of Sweden, and the few that were seemed to focus on Stockholm. Well, not too surprising, I guess. Fjords, mountains, waterfalls and glaciers are hard to beat, from a photographer's perspective.

Video of Mandy

Ok, the embedded video from Flickr seems to be working now! :o)

Here's another quick one of Mandy. Donald filmed this on Christmas Eve at my parents' place. I snipped it and added some music ("Lassie" by the Ainbusk Singers, a Swedish group). The bit of Kolby and the frisbee at the very end wasn't there the last time I previewed (before rendering). I must've accidentally moved it there.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Actually, the tree's been up a while, now, but it wasn't until last week that I felt like photographing it-- and then I had to get around to uploading the photos. . .



There are a few more photos (close-ups of ornaments, mostly) on my Flickr page, if you're interested. I know how exciting it is to look at photos of someone else's Christmas tree. ;o)

Only a month late for Halloween. ;o)

This morning, I happened upon a Flickr group for "Vintage Spirit Photography". I didn't know such a thing existed. A few of these photos seem meant more for fun than anything else. Some feel like they were used as "dramatizations"/illustrations of spiritualism. But others. . . Having recently read To Say Nothing of the Dog, I wondered if these types of things were ever used to trick people who were seeking comfort after losing loved ones, and it appears that they were. (The ones with the "ectoplasm" coming out of people's noses, mouths, and ears are disgusting. So weird!)

Photos & Flattery

I was flattered the other day when someone wrote me wanting to purchase one of my photos on Flickr. (I decided that the compliment was payment enough, particularly since I wasn't sure that the original would really be large enough to print on the scale he wanted.)

In the usual way of things, it wasn't a photo I'd have expected anyone to take special notice of. I'd supposed the world had already had its fill of "birds perched on dilapidated pier remnants" photos. ;o) However, the photo apparently struck a chord with this particular person, who has fond memories of growing up on the shores of Mobile Bay.

I don't know if he'll ever actually have it printed or not, but I like to think that he will. Imagining my photo resting calmly in the background of another person's life makes me smile. It's not all that often, lately, that I feel so connected to random strangers around the world. . .

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Speaking of photography. . .

Now that I know (most of) the secrets behind the dreamy photography technique I finally identified as "the Orton Effect"-- and have since moved on to fiddling with layers and textures-- I'm now looking into night-time photography. I don't really know much about it beyond the most basic basics, but I know that the possibilities intrigue me. It's wonderful, how many things there are to try with hobbies you love. You can really never run completely out of new avenues to explore, can you?

"Entertainment-Related" Stuff

(Think I have a shot at next year's Blogger's Choice Award for "Blog with the Most Boring Blog-Post Titles"?)

I've put off writing this entry, and written it in such bits and pieces, that now I no longer really care whether it gets written or not. But since I'm this far along, I might as well finish it. (Now I know you're filled with anticipation. (g))

** ** ** ** **

Engrish on Flickr--

I could've sworn I'd already written about this (in this entry), but I can't find it, now. It must've been accidentally deleted. . .

If you're a fan of Engrish.com, you really ought to take a look at the Engrish "group" on Flickr. Some of the photos are things you'll already have seen on the other site (if you're a regular visitor), but most of them are worth another look, anyway. There are nearly 7,500 photos in the pool-- enough to keep you busy for hours.

Of course, there are other Engrish groups on Flickr, too, some of which claim to be better than the one I've linked to above. (I leave it to you to look and decide. Myself, it'll take me weeks to look through all the photos in just that one group.)

As a matter of fact, there are so many groups on Flickr that maybe I'll share just a few more that I find amusing and/or interesting:

• Strange and Funny Signs-- Photos of strange and funny signs. (Never would've guessed, huh?)
• Grocer's Apostrophe-- Signs illustrating the sad decline of the apostrophe. (Warning: This may cause irritation and high blood pressure in "Grammar/Punctuation Police" types.)
• Pyrex Love & Calling All Corning Ware Lovers-- Did you know that vintage Pyrex and Corning Ware are hot items for collecting, these days? I saw several pieces (and patterns) in these groups that brought back memories of meals at my mother's and grandmothers' tables. . . :o) (And I'm guessing this is a large part of why they're collectible. People in my general age range want a set just like Grandma or Mom had.)
  
• Foodie Craft!-- Food-themed crafts. I don't know why, exactly, but these things are just fun to look at, I think.
  
• Dogs Eating Potato Chips-- You may be asking, "Why? Why a group devoted to dogs eating potato chips?" The answer, obviously, is because they can.
• The Candy Shop & Candy Blog-- Photos of candy. I wonder why I'm suddenly so hungry. . .
• Garden Junk vs Garden Art & Bowling Ball Art & Weird Yards and Gardens-- I think you've got the point, right?
  
• Vintage Advertising-- And if you scroll down that first page, you'll find links to lots of other related Flickr groups. Truly, Flickr has more vintage ads and "stuff" than you ever wanted to see in one place!
  
• Here's one for Halloween: ***Looks HAUNTED to ME!!!***
  

And before I move along (finally) to the next topic, here are a few specific photos that made me laugh:

• "Hot Diggity Dogger" -- It's a toaster-esque machine that heats two buns and hot dogs at a time. Donald had heard of this before, but it was all new to me. This seems like the quintessential "buy it and use it exactly twice before it goes into storage/is given away or sold" kitchen gadget. I'd have to eat a whole lot of hot dogs to justify the counter space one these babies would take. . . (That said, we have our toaster out all the time, and yet we eat toast maybe once a year. Maybe that often. We're not big toast-eaters, even though I do like it on chilly days like today.)
  
• "Tell Me Truth!!!"-- Maybe you'll think I'm a weirdo, but I find this absolutely hilarious. The "put your paws up, or else" pose-- the crazy juxtaposition of a kitten and a gun-- the caption. It's so bizarre!
  
• "Cell World" & "Cell World 2"-- I've seen some hideous figurines in my time. I guess anyone who's wandered through a dollar store has seen some strange things. These particular uglies transcend the ordinary. They are exquisitely tacky.
  

** ** ** ** **

Songs most likely to be stuck in my head, lately:

• Brandi Carlile's "Have You Ever"-- (A couple of the photos in that video are. . . odd, if you ask me, but the song's beautiful.)
  
• Patrick O'Hearn's "Adagio from 'Fantasy for a Gentleman'"-- (Sorry about the tiny clip. It was the best I could find.) My brain has had this on repeat for a day, now. This song has such an eerie atmosphere to it. For me, it conjures images of a rain-wet cobblestone street in an oceanside town about a hundred years ago. Each stone has a little curve of golden light, reflecting from a partially clearing sunset sky. The "gentleman" from the title is seen from behind, closed umbrella in hand as he walks towards the ocean. That picture may not seem to "go" with the spooky feeling of the music, but it's what I see when I hear it.
• Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights"-- What a weird voice! But it's a weird story, so it fits, somehow. . . Oh, and I can only endure this particular version of her singing this song. The other (more common?) one grates on my nerves, because she sounds (even more) like a witch. (shudder) (Help! I'm addicted to parentheses!!)
  
• "Arioso" (a.k.a. Concerto for harpsichord, strings & continuo No. 5 in F minor, BWV 1056 Arioso, by J.S. Bach), as played by Tracy Silverman and Thea Suits Silverman-- Not much to say. It's just a nice, soothing melody.
  
• A handful from The Alan Parsons Project that you can listen to here, including "Sirius", "Eye in the Sky", and "Mammagamma". Also, from the same group, "Time" (which I linked to not too long ago) and "Don't Answer Me". (Incidentally, I just saw the video for that song for the first time and. . . yuck. I just don't get the appeal of the comic book format, and I don't have much sympathy for the girl. Why is she dating the mean guy?)
  
• Ray Lynch's "The Oh of Pleasure" and "Falling in the Garden"-- Two more that I linked to recently, but here they are again, because they're still "new favorites".
  

** ** ** ** **

Berkeley Square--
I've finished watching the first (and only) season. It was entertaining, but it did seem to get more and more soap opera-ish as the story progressed.

SPOILER ALERT!!
Serious spoilage to happen immediately.
Read at your own risk.

Ok, it was kind of soapy before-- especially with the baby switch-- but then there was the "oops, I accidentally shot my father" bit, the "oops, I buried the dead baby right where the city needs to come through and dig" thing ('scuse me while I roll my eyes), and so many similarly soapy incidents that before I knew what was happening, I was up to my nose in bubbles.

Still, it was enjoyable enough that I was disappointed to see it come to an end-- particularly since that end left so many things unsettled-- or very conveniently "temporarily" settled. It's obvious that they were planning/hoping to take the show into another season. Too bad that didn't happen! (So I guess it wasn't much better than a typical soap, in that regard, either! At least there were no children who went away for a month and came back seven years older. Also, no sickening incidences of every male in a family having a romantic relationship-- ok, at different times, but still-- with the same nasty woman. And of course the clothes, sets, writing, and acting were still about a thousand times better than a regular soap opera.)

A few tidbits to just get off my chest before I put this series aside:

• Mrs. Simmons, apart from being a horrid, horrid woman, looks like a goose. No, I mean it! I know she can't help what she looks like, but-- a goose!
• Hannah's baby switch was such a stupid idea! Sure, she didn't want her baby to live so near a typhoid outbreak, but how did she think the baby switch was ever going to work out? Worst case scenario-- She's dismissed for some reason and has to abandon her child, confess (and likely go to jail or be executed), or "kidnap" the child and go on the run. Best case scenario-- She gets to keep her position well into old age, but she may never be able to tell her son his true identity, and she'll have to stand by helplessly when her emotionally-distant employers return and make all the important decisions in her child's life.
• Pringle seems so familiar to me, but it must just be my imagination, because I didn't recognize anything else she's done (according to IMDB).
• The cheating wife (and frankly, her husband, for the most part), the cheating officer/whatever-he-is, Pringle, Mrs. Simmons, the parents who go away and leave their two children for months, "Lord Hugh", and I'm probably forgetting someone else-- oh, yes, the spoiled debutante girl. As far as they're all concerned, I'm glad to leave them behind. They can remain stuck in their unfinished storylines for all eternity, as far as I'm concerned.
• The whole Matty/Ned thing was nice, but I think Lydia and the butler (what was his name, though?) made a sweeter story (even if Lydia is a little bit too clueless and eyes-bulging-in-shock sometimes).

** ** ** ** **

I finally finished reading To Say Nothing of the Dog. I paused lengthily before reading the last fifteen or so pages. I guess I felt that the story was pretty much finished at that point, so I wasn't compelled to pick it up again. That doesn't sound very flattering, but I did enjoy the book. If you're a fan of stories involving time travel-- or humorous references to Victorian-era literature-- this might be for you. The romance part was just ok. Not at all bad, but it definitely isn't primarily a romance. Also, I suspect that the fact that it's all told from a male point of view-- crammed in amongst so much other stuff-- had something to do with my dissatisfaction. As far as the mystery component of the book goes, I was able to guess the solution to at least one "puzzle" almost immediately. Still, all in all it was a pleasant read.

** ** ** ** **

(Older) Movies:

Halloween--
Donald and I watched Halloween for the first time ever, a few weeks ago. We watched it with the RiffTrax commentary, which was probably an improvement on the original. I don't know what I was expecting, but not what it turned out to be. I think I thought it would be quite a bit more frightening-- and gory-- than it actually was, though listening as the RiffTrax guys poked fun at everything obviously ruined the atmosfear. (Get it? Atmosfear? Ha ha ha. . .)

Actually, I found all the partial nudity more surprising than the scary parts of the film. (Yes, I'm an American prude. Sorry, but I can do without all the shots of bare-chested women. Thanks anyway.) I wondered if this was just a 70s thing, that they "couldn't" include much gruesome horror, so they chose to include the nudity instead for some extra shock value. Then again, considering some of the other movies made in the 70s, probably not. . . Not that I'm really complaining about the lack of show-it-all horror. I don't enjoy excessive blood and gore in movies (or in real life, for that matter!).

Watching it these days, at first it's hard to see what all the fuss was about this movie. But I suspect that seeing it back when it was new (and when I didn't keep thinking "seen that gimmick before. . . and that"), in a darkened theater. . . or later on, on TV in an otherwise empty house would be a different experience. . . And now I've decided that, no, I wouldn't want to watch this (RiffTrax or not) in an empty house at night.

Side note: I hadn't realized that saying "totally" was a "thing" in the 70s. I'd totally assumed that was a totally 80s thing. Totally.

Troll 2--
This is another we saw with RiffTrax commentary. With the commentary, it was agonizingly bad, in a "please let this end soon" way. Without it, I know for 100% certain I would never have sat through the whole thing. Wow, it was bad.

I can't believe what gets made into movies. How did anyone look at this script and think it was a good idea? Stupid, stupid movie, with some amazingly bad acting. Seriously. When I watched this, I kept thinking, "How dared that #@^& acting teacher to give me such trouble when these people have actually been paid to act, despite the fact that they should never be in proximity to a defenseless audience?!" And yes, I'm referring to that oft-mentioned college acting class yet again. Why, no, I don't have the least little bit of trouble letting things go. Why do you ask? I know I'm not destined for fame on stage or screen, but I think I should win awards, compared to some of these poor actors.

Or in other words, only watch this if you're a glutton for punishment and/or actually like incredibly awful movies. :o) On a more positive note, there were a few things that reminded me strongly of my youth in the late 80s/early 90s.

The Fifth Element--
I wasn't impressed. At all.

I like to check out the IMDB.com page for movies after viewing them for the first (and often only) time, just to finally find out the name of that actor/actress who looked so familiar, etc.-- and also to see what people have written about the movie. (Kind of silly, considering that so many of those commenting seem to be mind-bogglingly stupid. I'm sorry if that sounds "ugly", but it is so, so true.) Anyway, I saw that there are apparently many people who absolutely adore this film and say that the problem with the rest of us is that we're trying to take it too seriously. Of course, those were probably the same people who thought that the irritating-beyond-words, please-someone-make-him-shut-up cross-dresser-guy was hilarious, so. . .

** ** ** ** **

Donald and I have been watching John Adams through NetFlix. It's an interesting show, but I'm ashamed to admit that my memory of history class isn't good enough for me to judge its accuracy. Besides, there's no way historians could know some of the particulars included in the show, anyway, so there must be a fair bit of artistic license taken.

A few comments on the program (and yes, there will be **SPOILERS**):

• How could they both have left their children behind for so many years, while they lived an ocean away? I can't imagine how I would have felt if my parents had done that to me and my sisters. . . No wonder one of their sons was resentful. I would've resented that, too!
  
• The smallpox vaccination scene? Disgusting, horrific, yuck yuck yuck.
  
• John is supposed to be somewhat annoying at times (I think), but what about Abigail? Because the fact that everyone has to comment on how important she is-- the wise woman behind the man, etc., etc.-- is also irritating after a while.
  

** ** ** ** **

Donald asked what I was writing about and I was answering. . . blah blah blah. . . He asked if I'd mentioned To Say Nothing of the Dog, because he's now reading that novel. I answered that I didn't think I'd spoiled anything in what I'd written. "But," I added, "you might want to skip"-- and I almost said "that chapter".

Ah-ha-ha-ha!
"You might want to skip that chapter!"
It's so funny-- because this entry is going on forever and ever-- and. . .

Yeah, I tend to ramble. Sorry about that. But, you know, you don't really have to read all this stuff. Even you loyal readers. ;o) Please don't feel bad about skipping paragraphs or whole entries. Otherwise, I'll feel obliged to make this stuff interesting for other people, which would put a huge crimp in my style.

** ** ** ** **

And with that, I think I'll let that be the final "chapter" for this entry. And, believe it or not, I'm leaving some things out that I'd planned to include. (I don't blame you if you doubt my honesty, even though it's absolutely true.)

Hometown Photos

Over at Flickr, I searched for the name of my hometown and found a surprising number of photos. Surprising for me, at least, considering that the town is small. Some of the photos featured instantly-recognizable landmarks. Others could have been taken anywhere.

Anyway, here's a little collage of some of the photos (though not many of the "instantly recognizable" ones). For no reason in particular, except that I wanted something mindless to do with my hands, this weekend, while I listened to a book on tape.


I know these photos make you want to visit my hometown, right? ;o)

Honestly, these aren't very representative of the area as a whole. They give it more of a carnival/junk yard appearance than it deserves, I think. (g)

Your Name in Print

There was a time-- starting back around seventh or eighth grade, I guess-- when I thought that seeing my name in print (in something more than a school-level publication) would be the pinnacle of success. I didn't expect to ever write anything that would make me world-famous, but even the humbler hope of simply being published and seeing my name in print gave me thrills.

Though other interests have since taken hold of me and I'm now much less given to literary daydream, the thought still has its appeal. However, if someone has serious hopes of publication, she probably ought to write more than the occasional slap-dash blog post or polymer clay tutorial, and as of yet, I haven't devoted the required time or effort to those old ambitions.

But--
Despite my lack of "stick-to-itiveness" (can you believe that's an actual word in the dictionary?) in the writing department, I have been granted the pleasure of seeing my name in print in a real, "live" book! It's not quite the same as being The Author, of course, but it's still plenty thrilling to be mentioned at all!

Here I am credited as one of the "participating artists", in the back of the book:


This opportunity pretty much fell into my lap one day when one of the authors, Ruth Rae, wrote to ask if I'd be interested in contributing some polymer clay mini food charms for inclusion in the book. She'd seen my photos on Flickr and thought they'd work nicely in a charm bracelet or two. (Thank you, Flickr! (g))

It's been a while since that happened (this book-making business seems to take a lot longer than you might think), but earlier this month my complimentary copy arrived-- A Charming Exchange: 25 Jewelry Projects to Create & Share, by Kelly Snelling & Ruth Rae.


In amongst so many lovely jewelry-making projects and glossy photos, you'll see my miniature cupcakes, Pop-Tarts, and cookies. And my name (in a few different places)! (g) It really is a neat thing to have happen just when you're least expecting it. :o)

Photo Mosaic Meme

Seen on Rachel's website.

Instructions:

* Answer each of the questions below.
* Surf over to Flickr (set up an account if you don’t have one — it's quick and easy) and type your answers (one at a time) into the search bar.
* From the choice of pictures shown only on the front page, click on the one that moves you.
* Once the page with your picture opens, copy the URL.
* Surf over to the Mosaic Maker, set up your mosaic, and paste your URLs.
* Click “Create!”

Here are the questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you attend?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. Where would you go on your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. Choose one word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name?

Here's my mosaic:



Photo credits:
1. Michael in the morning light, 2. Shakey's Pizza, 3. Spring @ Eden_Z13512, 4. Mallorca 2007 -- Waiting for summer (Part 2), 5. T R A G E D Y, 6. Offering to the Gods (who must be crazy!), 7. G´day.., 8. HAPPY BIRTHDAY (found at a thrift store), 9. Mom at the enlarger, 1949, 10. Andalusia Landscapes 2, 11. Shadow Dance, 12. peace, hope, love magnets

Flickr milestone.

I posted my 800th photo at Flickr today.

I haven't been keeping track; I just happened to notice.

So. . . Nothing more to say about that. Only, just 200 more to reach 1000! ;o)

Fotografi

"Fotografi" is Swedish for-- well, I think you can figure that one out for yourself. ;o) (I think they also call it "fotografering", but I'm not sure why they need two words for it or how they may differ slightly in meaning.)

Warning: If you aren't interested in photography, this won't be of much use to you. Sorry. . . I'm writing about it partly just to remind myself of what I've done, what I've read and some links I've found.

I've been playing around with a different style of photography, lately. (Or maybe that's the wrong way to put it. It's really more a different style of post-processing photos than of actually taking the photos.) Donald gave me some pointers on how to use Photoshop to get a "dreamy" effect I've admired on Flickr, and I've been experimenting with that for a few weeks. Then today I discovered that there's a special name for this style/technique. It's called "Orton" imagery / effect / photography. Wow! It has a name!! (g)

The Orton effect (or whatever you call it-- seems like there are several variations) is named after its creator, photographer Michael Orton. He started using the technique back in the days when you needed film for your camera. (Thank goodness for digital! I don't have to feel guilty for taking a hundred photos at a time!) Back then, you had to take two slide photos to achieve the Orton effect. One was purposely blurred and the other one sharp, but both were overexposed. Once the slides were developed, you took them out of their slide mounts and sandwiched them together. The result was a dreamy photograph with rich colors.

Of course, these days most of us prefer digital to slide photography. (It's a whole lot cheaper, for one thing!) Turning a regular digital photo into an Orton image is pretty easy, if you have a good photo editing program. You can take two photos, as in the slide process, but the way I've been doing it (and I'm happy with the results, so far) requires only one photo.

Here's how I've been doing things, so far:

I start by playing around with the color on the photo-- usually lightening it, because the process tends to darken and saturate the image. Experimentation is key. Once I'm satisfied, I copy the image onto another layer. (This is Photoshop talk. Ctrl-j is the shortcut I use.) Next, go up to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

At this point, you have some choices to make. I sometimes go back to this step a few times until I get things set the way I like them. In the Gaussian Blue box, pull the slider to determine the degree of blurriness in the photo. I sometimes find that the less blur I put on a photo in this step, the more blurry it seems in the end. (shrug) Try a couple of different settings on the same photo-- and go through the remaining steps to see the final result-- to get a feel for it, then fine tune to get it just right. Once I've selected the degree of blur I want (and clicked "OK"), I look at the Layers palette. It's automatically set to "Normal", but there's a drop down menu. You can play around with these settings to get different looks. Usually I end up choosing "Overlay".

Ta-da! ;o) Now the blurry image is sitting on top of your original (color-adjusted) photo. Sometimes I like it just like this and move on to the saving process. However, it may profit from a little tweaking. You can lessen the effect by adjusting the opacity and fill settings (also in the Layers palette).

And that's pretty much it. You may want to readjust the colors, brightness, etc., but sometimes it's not necessary. Just be sure to "Save As" (or "Save for Web") and not "Save". Otherwise, you won't have access to your original, unblurred photo.

This page I found today has different instructions. I may try those, next time, to see how much difference it makes. (Honestly, I think "my" version looks faster and easier, but maybe the results are worth the trouble.) Here's another version (and I imagine there are still more out there). Flickr has at least two groups devoted to Orton, and on one of them I found this-- a link to a tutorial for a 3-layer Orton effect.

I have a feeling this may be the sort of thing-- well, hey, maybe everything in life is!-- that people either love or hate. Obviously I'm a fan (g), but there may be people who wonder why anyone would want to ruin a perfectly focused photo by blurring it. ;o)

Lawn mowing and other fascinating stuff

I started mowing the lawn last week. It had really needed it for a week or so before that, but for one reason or another I kept putting it off. We have a lot of lawn to keep mown (especially considering that it's all done with a smallish walk-behind mower)! I'd convert more of it to flower beds, but I think that keeping flower beds mulched and weeded is at least as much work as mowing. . . At least you see instant results with mowing, even if it is one of those pesky chores that need to be done every time you turn around (for a few months of the year, at least).

After mowing, I remembered something that I'd forgotten over the winter-- my hands get really itchy right after mowing. Is that normal? I wonder if it has something to do with my gloves. I think I may at one point have washed a bunch of gloves together with a pair that had come into contact with itchy insulation. I wonder if I might have "contaminated" the whole bunch. On the other hand, I used the gloves over the weekend when I was digging a patch for our tomatoes, and I don't remember feeling itchy after that. . . Maybe it's triggered by all the vibration from the mower-- or some strange hands-only allergy? I guess it'll just remain one of life's great mysteries. ;o)

-- -- -- -- --

We heard last week that our visitor made it home to Sweden safely, so I thought I'd pass that along to any of you who might be interested.

-- -- -- -- --

I've noticed that when I'm framing a photo, I tend to prefer the strongest "line" in the photo (if there are lines-- such as stems or branches) to arc from the lower left-hand corner toward the upper right-hand corner. I wonder if there's a "norm" in this matter. Do more people agree with me in this preference? There's certainly no right or wrong-- and sometimes you don't have much choice-- but one way or the other is generally more aesthetically pleasing to me, and usually that happens to be the diagonal I've described.

Hm! I just found this forum thread where people were discussing this very subject. They wondered if culture could have something to do with preference (depending on the way you read the language-- left to right, right to left, etc.)-- or if it might be linked to which hand or eye is dominant in the individual. I think I've mentioned before that I'm right-handed but left-eyed. (I look through the camera's viewfinder with my left eye, aim a gun with my left eye, and so on.)

-- -- -- -- --

This morning, I began digging up plants that are growing in the area where we're planning to put our patio. Fortunately (?), most of the plants there are just some wild yellow iris that seem to never bloom, so I'm not too worried about whether they survive the move. I'll probably stick them somewhere, just because I feel guilty for throwing them out in the woods to shrivel away to nothing. . . and the foliage is nice, even if they don't bloom.

The handle of our old, inherited "sharpshooter" shovel, which has been acting up for a while, finally snapped while I was digging up those irises. We have a regular shovel, too, but I would like to replace the sharpshooter, also. I like it better than the regular shovel. I don't know if it's worth trying to repair the old one, because it's worn down so much. The "blade" (whatever it's called) is even dented in a spot or two. Of course, assuming we could refit it with a new handle, I guess we could file down and resharpen the. . . whatever the technical word for the metal part is (g). . . I'm not sure how hard that would be to do. I'll have to ask some more experienced gardeners for advice. ;o)

-- -- -- -- --

Still on the subject of the patio, we're still in the planning stage. There are so many options-- so many things to consider. Privacy and shade vs. views of the yard. . . "Sheltered and cosy" vs. "open and airy". . . How much "clearance" does a porch swing need? How much smaller will a given area feel when we partially enclose it? What will look better-- a lattice roof or an "open slat" roof? And which will give better shade? This is the sort of thing that you can get stuck planning for months, to the point that it seems you'll never move past the planning stage at all-- but we want to look at it from every angle and do our best to make it "right"-- well, "right for us".

-- -- -- -- --

Friday, we went down to the beach for the first time in a long time. Spent a little time on the actual, "real" beach, then drove further over into Florida to visit Big Lagoon State Recreation Area and Tarklin Bayou Preserve State Park. (Family, if you haven't been to Tarklin before, it's an interesting stop. Very near Big Lagoon. Free admission, nice concrete/boardwalk combo path. It's meant to be a place to see pitcher plants, especially, but it's a nice little walk, even if they aren't "blooming". The path takes you through a wooded area and right out to the bayou.)

We took over 300 photos (g), and I've put some of them up on my Flickr account. (There's a link in the column to the right. . .)

Going to the beach makes me nostalgic. . . And coming home again, I felt like I'd been gone much longer than half a day. Strange. I guess I really don't spend much time away from here, so even just a brief change of scenery is enough to give me that "home after a long vacation" feeling.

-- -- -- -- --

Speaking of Flickr-- I decided to "geotag" some of my photos, over the weekend.

For those who are unfamiliar with that term, it means that I marked on an interactive map the general location of where I took some of my photos. Kind of like putting a push pin in a map to indicate where I took a photograph. Other people can look at the map and see photos taken at any given spot.

However, I am unable to find my photos on the map, without searching specifically for photos from my own photostream. Weird, and kind of annoying, too. Why did I go to all that trouble if no-one else can even see them on the map? Maybe it's just taking a while for them to show up. . .

Well, that's enough for a post. I've been adding to this one for days, now. Time to actually post it!

Moonlit clouds

Last night, I happened to notice that the world was well lit with a nearly full moon. Better yet, it was a blustery night, and the wild wind was sending wave after wave of fleecy cloud scudding swiftly across the sky. There are very few things in the world that I find more soul-stirring than a sky full of moonlit clouds with the occasional star peeking through the rifts; paired with wind, it's even more magical.

Sometimes a calm sky is too big and empty, filling me with an almost painful sense of smallness and futility. It's easy to feel lost, alone and frightened, adrift in an infinite sea of stars. I know I ought instead to feel thrilled that in such an immense universe, God still thought to make me and the life I know and love. Sometimes I can feel that. . . But at other times I just feel sad, somehow.

A night like last night, on the other hand, seems to have a life and personality of its own. The awing enormity of space is gently veiled by silvered cloud, and the wind calls you back to earth. Roaring in the trees, caressing your skin (albeit with a chill hand), ruffling your hair-- it fills your senses to the brim. It's impossible to feel alone, because the world around you is alive with motion and sound. Instead of feeling dwarfed and forgotten, I am more than ever a part of things. I'm not sure why. Maybe just because it seems almost as though this moment, so full of things I love, was made just for me to experience it. (What? Not humble enough? Go back and read about how the stars make me feel insignificant and puny. (g))

It felt as though the sky had turned into an ocean-- not a terribly original comparison, but all the same, true. (I think it was the wind that did it.) All the elements were temporarily melded together, indistinguishable, and even though I was miles from the sea, I could hear the crashing waves.

It was beautiful-- one of those moments I'd like to capture so that I could relive it at will. I tried to capture it on film (or whatever the digital equivalent of film is-- pixels?), but I had very limited success.


This is something more like it-- or this-- or this (but without the glowing ember of a volcano on the horizon. ;o)

What a beautiful world. . .