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| Blue train car going by |
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| Metal picnic table, painted blue |
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
Cemeteries and flower power
Here are two photos of me in 4th grade, age 9, at Mystic Seaport CT on our annual field trip. One photo shows 'my group' (we were divided into groups of five). You can guess which one is me, goofy looking with pixie cut in daisy pants. I was heavily into the daisy motif, it was also my bedroom wallpaper. I can't emphasize enough how so much everywhere in the 70s daisy flower power saturated us in fashion and graphic design.
The gal next to me is Susan, COOLEST girl of all right up thru high school. Love her trippin' psychedelic miniskirt. Notice the large buckle shoes so in style then. I called mine 'pilgrim shoes'. Susan with her leather jacket, and macrame leather purse (harbinger of 70s macrame plant hangers that became so popular) carried off her outfit so much better than I did, which was simple and functional. Susan's different colored pigtail ribbons caused a mini-controversy, so cool and stylish then. She was the first to do it, trend setter that she was. We were exiting the 60s with miniskirts and flower power, so in 1970 those fashions were still hanging on. 70's Bohemian hadn't hit us yet.
In the other picture is me with my teacher Miss May. We were all fascinated with her hair, she wore it in a bun for 189 days and there was much discussion as to whether it was even real... and on the last day she wore it long. We were floored. Doesn't take much to fascinate us, eh?
Saturday is supposed to be just about perfect. The heat has broken and the humidity is way down. There is predicted to be much sunshine... and I'm stoked. So thrilled that I may actually GO OUT and do something Saturday morning.
I'll go to the Farmer's market in town and buy a loaf of crusty bread. Then head 1 mile south to the cemetery, I want to take pictures of statues. I only have one or two in my photo bin and I want more. Then I'll head to the old cemetery 4 miles up the road and take some more photos. The old cemetery has lots of carved granite statuary and ornate tombstones, too. These two pictures below are from a trip to the old cemetery I took 7years ago. Time for a picture refresher.
I'll do all this while sipping coffee and grooving to some tunes. It won't take me long, just an hour or so, and then I'll be home. Not too much gas, not taking too much time, not being around too many people ... a field trip just right for me!
The gal next to me is Susan, COOLEST girl of all right up thru high school. Love her trippin' psychedelic miniskirt. Notice the large buckle shoes so in style then. I called mine 'pilgrim shoes'. Susan with her leather jacket, and macrame leather purse (harbinger of 70s macrame plant hangers that became so popular) carried off her outfit so much better than I did, which was simple and functional. Susan's different colored pigtail ribbons caused a mini-controversy, so cool and stylish then. She was the first to do it, trend setter that she was. We were exiting the 60s with miniskirts and flower power, so in 1970 those fashions were still hanging on. 70's Bohemian hadn't hit us yet.
In the other picture is me with my teacher Miss May. We were all fascinated with her hair, she wore it in a bun for 189 days and there was much discussion as to whether it was even real... and on the last day she wore it long. We were floored. Doesn't take much to fascinate us, eh?
Saturday is supposed to be just about perfect. The heat has broken and the humidity is way down. There is predicted to be much sunshine... and I'm stoked. So thrilled that I may actually GO OUT and do something Saturday morning.
I'll go to the Farmer's market in town and buy a loaf of crusty bread. Then head 1 mile south to the cemetery, I want to take pictures of statues. I only have one or two in my photo bin and I want more. Then I'll head to the old cemetery 4 miles up the road and take some more photos. The old cemetery has lots of carved granite statuary and ornate tombstones, too. These two pictures below are from a trip to the old cemetery I took 7years ago. Time for a picture refresher.
I'll do all this while sipping coffee and grooving to some tunes. It won't take me long, just an hour or so, and then I'll be home. Not too much gas, not taking too much time, not being around too many people ... a field trip just right for me!
Monday, September 15, 2014
Machias
Fog rolling up the Machias River...the place I used to vacation. A small cabin with a yard full of lupines and the river just below.
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| EPrata photo |
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Bad kitty, good kitty; northern lights, and cooking
Yay, it's the weekend!
There are lots of reasons to be celebrating. My friends had a baby, and mom & baby are coming home from the hospital today. Their baby is a girl, healthy and all fingers and toes. The pregnancy was difficult and touch and go sometimes, so we are all thanking the Lord for a new soul added to a loving family this morning.
In Mid-September the heat breaks and fall here in Georgia is spectacular. Though today is supposed to be hot and humid, the rest of the week is supposed to reach only the upper 70s and low 80s for high temps. I truly love having the windows open all day and night, feeling the fresh breeze, enjoying my cats at the window smelling and chirping at bugs and birds going by.
There was a moderately severe solar storm this weekend. An X-class (the biggest) coronal mass ejection launched off the sun and hit earth. Though sometimes CMEs can put out radios or interfere with electronics, it usually just sparks auroras. The harder hitting the CME the brighter the northern lights. Get a look at this. It was taken at Casco Maine last night, a town only a few miles from where I lived for many years. I used to know the photographer. The photo was featured on Spaceweather.com
The storm sparked Auroras as far south as Arizona! See the red glow?!
My kitty Murray is coming along. His personality is developing. He is becoming more loving and demonstrative. He still won't let me pick him up from the floor. He runs away like smoke, it's like trying to cuddle a wisp. But when he wants cuddling he jumps on the table next to my laptop and lets me hold him against my shoulder. He throws a paw over my upper arm and nestles his little head in.
Last night he got yelled at three times in three hours. At 3:00 am he started trying to bang the pictures off the wall. There is a very heavy one hanging over the couch, and if I forget to build a pillow barrier, he sits on top of the back of the couch and gets a paw under the picture and whacks it. He actually did knock a picture down once, it broke the frame. It was a first edition, original Fred Thompson hand tinted photograph. Aside from being valuable, I love it. I would be crushed and upset if it had broken. I bought it when I was 8 years old at a church flea market, and my mom had it framed for me.
So I sat up in bed and hollered "No, Murray!"
At 4:00 am I heard him banging something around on the floor. I mumbled "nooo, murray..." and then remembered it was the empty stationery box I'd left on the bureau. That was the sound. I fell back asleep.
At 5:00 am I heard a tinkling like a bell or keys. But they weren't keys, it sounded more like change jingling. I could not figure out what that sound was, so I sat up in bed and hollered "NO MURRAY!"
At 7:00 am I was sitting at the table with my coffee, typing. Murray hopped up and looked at me. When I looked at him, his head bowed a little. If it was possible for a kitten to look abashed this was it. I folded him in my arms, and he threw his head and body into a full hug, tight. Awww.
It reminded me of the children's book, "No David!" by David Shannon, where on every page, David is getting into trouble. His mom is hollering "No, David!" until the last page where there is a big hug, and the mom says "I love you David."
I love my kitty. He really is a good boy.
Ahhh, weekends. I have a lot to do today and I'm happy about it. I already wrote a blog essay at The End Time. I will answer several substantive emails, people asking for help with research. I'll do the dishes, laundry, change the sheets, and vacuum. I want to get my chores done today so tomorrow I have time to read. I've got a lot of good books and somehow days and days go by with no time for me to read them.
The cooking for this week's meals will be: salmon patties, tomato-mushroom soup, banana-oatmeal bars, and quinoa salad. Of course the usual bible reading and prayers are added in, and hopefully a nap.
Oh my, that's a lot. I better get going!
There are lots of reasons to be celebrating. My friends had a baby, and mom & baby are coming home from the hospital today. Their baby is a girl, healthy and all fingers and toes. The pregnancy was difficult and touch and go sometimes, so we are all thanking the Lord for a new soul added to a loving family this morning.
In Mid-September the heat breaks and fall here in Georgia is spectacular. Though today is supposed to be hot and humid, the rest of the week is supposed to reach only the upper 70s and low 80s for high temps. I truly love having the windows open all day and night, feeling the fresh breeze, enjoying my cats at the window smelling and chirping at bugs and birds going by.
There was a moderately severe solar storm this weekend. An X-class (the biggest) coronal mass ejection launched off the sun and hit earth. Though sometimes CMEs can put out radios or interfere with electronics, it usually just sparks auroras. The harder hitting the CME the brighter the northern lights. Get a look at this. It was taken at Casco Maine last night, a town only a few miles from where I lived for many years. I used to know the photographer. The photo was featured on Spaceweather.com
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| "I took the picture from Casco, Maine, facing north towards the Presidential Range in New Hampshire," says photographer John Stetson. "Red, purple, green, blue--all the colors were there!" |
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Aurora viewed in Payson, Arizona (Chris Schur/SpaceWeather.com)
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My kitty Murray is coming along. His personality is developing. He is becoming more loving and demonstrative. He still won't let me pick him up from the floor. He runs away like smoke, it's like trying to cuddle a wisp. But when he wants cuddling he jumps on the table next to my laptop and lets me hold him against my shoulder. He throws a paw over my upper arm and nestles his little head in.
Last night he got yelled at three times in three hours. At 3:00 am he started trying to bang the pictures off the wall. There is a very heavy one hanging over the couch, and if I forget to build a pillow barrier, he sits on top of the back of the couch and gets a paw under the picture and whacks it. He actually did knock a picture down once, it broke the frame. It was a first edition, original Fred Thompson hand tinted photograph. Aside from being valuable, I love it. I would be crushed and upset if it had broken. I bought it when I was 8 years old at a church flea market, and my mom had it framed for me.
So I sat up in bed and hollered "No, Murray!"
At 4:00 am I heard him banging something around on the floor. I mumbled "nooo, murray..." and then remembered it was the empty stationery box I'd left on the bureau. That was the sound. I fell back asleep.
At 5:00 am I heard a tinkling like a bell or keys. But they weren't keys, it sounded more like change jingling. I could not figure out what that sound was, so I sat up in bed and hollered "NO MURRAY!"
At 7:00 am I was sitting at the table with my coffee, typing. Murray hopped up and looked at me. When I looked at him, his head bowed a little. If it was possible for a kitten to look abashed this was it. I folded him in my arms, and he threw his head and body into a full hug, tight. Awww.
It reminded me of the children's book, "No David!" by David Shannon, where on every page, David is getting into trouble. His mom is hollering "No, David!" until the last page where there is a big hug, and the mom says "I love you David."
Ahhh, weekends. I have a lot to do today and I'm happy about it. I already wrote a blog essay at The End Time. I will answer several substantive emails, people asking for help with research. I'll do the dishes, laundry, change the sheets, and vacuum. I want to get my chores done today so tomorrow I have time to read. I've got a lot of good books and somehow days and days go by with no time for me to read them.
The cooking for this week's meals will be: salmon patties, tomato-mushroom soup, banana-oatmeal bars, and quinoa salad. Of course the usual bible reading and prayers are added in, and hopefully a nap.
Oh my, that's a lot. I better get going!
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Blue water thoughts
I was given a new computer at school. Yay! My old, old one froze up, was installed with Microsoft Word 2003, lol, and wouldn't play DVDs. Primitive.
My turn in line came up and a spiffy new computer, complete with MS 8 :( was ready to go. Now for the hard work- finding a desktop theme. You know, the big photo or the slide show in the background. Hey, if I'm going to be looking at the screen during the day, even briefly as I do at school, the scene is all-important.
I was saddened to see that my long-beloved blue Bahamian tiny island with the palm tree was no longer available. Nor was a suitable photo like the one on my laptop at home available- a rocky shore, with just the right proportion of rock-to-beach.
After some searching, failing and then going online to download a theme, I found a blue water photo with a Bahamian boat, a palm tree in the foreground. I got to thinking about beaches, and ocean ... dwelling serenely in my daydream all day, a hammock strung between two palm trees, a white sand beach, and blue water with a pod of porpoises lazing in the shallow waves.
When I got home the beach theme was still on my mind. So of course I queued up The Endless Summer, (1963) THE seminal surfing movie. It is a great documentary- charming, informative, casual, picturesque, and by now, historic.
The Endless Summer
I recently saw Splinters, an interesting 2011 documentary about surfing in Papua New Guinea. Another very good movie.
And though it has nothing to do with surfing, but everything to do with beautiful blue water settings and starring a young Denzel Washington ;), The Mighty Quinn is a good movie to hunker down and watch.
So those are my blue water thoughts of the day.
My turn in line came up and a spiffy new computer, complete with MS 8 :( was ready to go. Now for the hard work- finding a desktop theme. You know, the big photo or the slide show in the background. Hey, if I'm going to be looking at the screen during the day, even briefly as I do at school, the scene is all-important.
I was saddened to see that my long-beloved blue Bahamian tiny island with the palm tree was no longer available. Nor was a suitable photo like the one on my laptop at home available- a rocky shore, with just the right proportion of rock-to-beach.
After some searching, failing and then going online to download a theme, I found a blue water photo with a Bahamian boat, a palm tree in the foreground. I got to thinking about beaches, and ocean ... dwelling serenely in my daydream all day, a hammock strung between two palm trees, a white sand beach, and blue water with a pod of porpoises lazing in the shallow waves.
When I got home the beach theme was still on my mind. So of course I queued up The Endless Summer, (1963) THE seminal surfing movie. It is a great documentary- charming, informative, casual, picturesque, and by now, historic.
The Endless Summer
They call it The Endless Summer the ultimate surfing adventure, crossing the globe in search of the perfect wave. From the uncharted waters of West Africa, to the shark-filled seas of Australia, to the tropical paradise of Tahiti and beyond, these California surfers accomplish in a few months what most people never do in a lifetime...They live their dream. Director Bruce Brown creates a film so powerful it has become a timeless masterpiece that continues to capture the imagination of every new generation. When it first played in theaters, audiences lined up to see it again and again, spellbound by its thrilling excitement and awesome photography. But in fact, what's most compelling about the film is the sport of surfing itself, and once you've seen it, you'll never forget why.The Endless Summer is a great film. Another enjoyable surf movie is Accidental Icon: The Real Gidget Story (2010).
Young female surfers have been nicknamed 'Gidget' for almost 50 years and yet the true story of Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, the real 'Gidget,' and how her account of surfing Malibu in the mid-1950s became the basis for a best-selling novel and spurred a national cultural phenomenon has never been explored until now. This touching look at a unique father/daughter relationship and the connection to so many lives and pop culture stories is as original as it is fun. Capturing both a love for our beaches and a love for surfing Accidental Icon is a real California story that could only come to life at the movies.You could always watch the ORIGINAL Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon surf/beach party movie, in a stroke of originality, called, Beach Party. (1963) And then pair that with their 1987 movie starring both Annette and Frankie, as a spoof of themselves 24 years later. It's called Back to the Beach.
I recently saw Splinters, an interesting 2011 documentary about surfing in Papua New Guinea. Another very good movie.
Splinters is the first feature-length documentary film about the evolution of indigenous surfing in the developing nation of Papua New Guinea. In the 1980s an intrepid Australian pilot left behind a surfboard in the seaside village of Vanimo. Twenty years on, surfing is not only a pillar of village life but also a means to prestige. With no access to economic or educational advancement, let alone running water and power, village life is hermetic. A spot on the Papua New Guinea national surfing team is the way to see the wider world; the only way.If you don't mind Susan Casey's ethics, then her surfer book "The Wave" would be interesting reading.
And though it has nothing to do with surfing, but everything to do with beautiful blue water settings and starring a young Denzel Washington ;), The Mighty Quinn is a good movie to hunker down and watch.
So those are my blue water thoughts of the day.
Saturday, September 06, 2014
The Graphics Fairy, good movie, weekend
I took a half personal day Friday, and after a very quick grocery shopping, I was home by about 12:30. I ate a fabulous turkey and avocado sandwich, with a piece of lemon cake and chilled herb tea, got caught up on the episode of Project Runway from the night before. (It was a very good episode, some of the clothes I actually liked, this time).
By 2:30 I was ZONKED. I took a three hour nap!
So when I found this on Twitter I copied it immediately:
Sometimes it's necessary to go outside my comfort zone. And by "comfort zone" I mean bed.
Yahoo! I know whatcha mean.
For you ladies who do crafts, here is a great site I found, it's called The Graphics Fairy and there are thousands of downloadable free graphic and vintage art pieces. Here are a few of my faves.
From category Botanicals:
From category Architecture:
From category Advertising:
Thousands more! They are in high resolution for good printing.
When I write a blog it often takes me as long or longer to find the right images. So with the Graphic Fairy delivering all these 'public domain,' not copyrighted images, this is definitely worth a bookmark.
I watched a very good movie last night. It is called Monsieur Lazhar. It is a French movie of an Algerian man who fled to Montreal, becoming a substitute teacher when the 6th grade teacher hangs herself in the classroom, with the children never knowing his own grief. It is a touching story of love, caught in the administrative nightmare of over-protective schools and rigid curricula, where hugging a child is a rebellious act of defiance. It is in French with subtitles. I truly enjoyed this movie.
The heat is hanging on here. By mid September the heat usually breaks, and I sure am looking forward to that. Overall it has been a good summer, with only the last two weeks really heating up relentlessly. I've had the AC on for a week straight, and I cannot WAIT to turn it off. I love the birds and the clean air and the quiet. I get none of those with the window AC unit on. Though I do get the cool. So I should stop complaining now
Have a nice rest of the weekend everyone :)
By 2:30 I was ZONKED. I took a three hour nap!
So when I found this on Twitter I copied it immediately:
Sometimes it's necessary to go outside my comfort zone. And by "comfort zone" I mean bed.
Yahoo! I know whatcha mean.
For you ladies who do crafts, here is a great site I found, it's called The Graphics Fairy and there are thousands of downloadable free graphic and vintage art pieces. Here are a few of my faves.
From category Botanicals:
From category Architecture:
From category Advertising:
When I write a blog it often takes me as long or longer to find the right images. So with the Graphic Fairy delivering all these 'public domain,' not copyrighted images, this is definitely worth a bookmark.
I watched a very good movie last night. It is called Monsieur Lazhar. It is a French movie of an Algerian man who fled to Montreal, becoming a substitute teacher when the 6th grade teacher hangs herself in the classroom, with the children never knowing his own grief. It is a touching story of love, caught in the administrative nightmare of over-protective schools and rigid curricula, where hugging a child is a rebellious act of defiance. It is in French with subtitles. I truly enjoyed this movie.
The heat is hanging on here. By mid September the heat usually breaks, and I sure am looking forward to that. Overall it has been a good summer, with only the last two weeks really heating up relentlessly. I've had the AC on for a week straight, and I cannot WAIT to turn it off. I love the birds and the clean air and the quiet. I get none of those with the window AC unit on. Though I do get the cool. So I should stop complaining now
Have a nice rest of the weekend everyone :)
Monday, September 01, 2014
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