buried treasure

August was like a strange time warp...has it really been a month since I posted? Well, I'm still here, I assure you...wondering where I've been just as much as you are.  While we're on the subject of time warps I found these old disposable cameras.  At least one is from our wedding 6 years ago...I can't wait to see what comes out of them.  It was a bit of a challenge figuring out how to get film developed (I could have gone to the place the pros go, but figured it would be cheaper and less embarrassing to go elsewhere). I ended up mailing them out in pre-paid envelopes from the drugstore...We'll see what happens.

book report [the commodore]

Book 17 in the series.  This was a good one.  You'll have to take my word. I won't give you a synopsis because, let's face it, you probably won't read this.  I'm a weirdo. The Aubrey-Maturin series (you probably know the movie Master & Commander, based on this book series) is a true series where you would be a bit lost if you didn't start from the beginning...and a lot of people don't make it past the first book because it's full of naval mumbo-jumbo.  But you don't really need to know which sheet is the mizzen topgallant staysail to enjoy the stories (but there is a diagram in the front of each book, ha ha). I only have 4 books left...I'm excited and sad at the same time. I have gotten to know the characters over the last five years (read Book #1 in May 2006...thanks reading journal!) and the quality has stayed true thru the entire series...I just want to keep reading! But...I pace myself, because there are a lot of other books out there...Number 18 is in hand and will probably be read next month.

off the wall

I'm working on a little California themed wall art switch...sort of a cleaner version of the hodge-podge mix-match of funky frames & art you see in the decorating world these days.  Maybe this neat and tidy look is out of date (?), but for now I like it...I'm having the husband print up a glorious California poppy print and a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge to fill the other two larger frames, then it will all go up on our terra cotta colored wall behind our bed.

book report [the weed that strings the hangman's bag]

This book is the second installment of the Flavia de Luce mysteries...Flavia  is a precocious 11 year old girl living in 1950's England.  She loves  chemistry and poking her nose into strange goings on in her village. Her  dad and her sisters sometimes get in the way...but she still manages to  get in the way and figure out the mystery.  This mystery involves the  death of a famous tv puppeteer who is traveling the countryside. At  first the crime seems random, but as clues unfold it seems the puppeteer  may have old ties to the neighborhood. The suspects? The vicar, his  wife, the puppeteers assistant, a german WWII prisoner of war and others  all must be investigated all while avoiding older sisters and dreaded  Aunt Felicity. These mysteries are fun reads...I definitely recommend  them, and I think you could get away with not reading the first book  (although I think it was slightly better than this one).  The third is out in hardback now..I'm sure I'll read it in a few months!

book report [the war of art]

I borrowed this book (thanks K!) during a creative crisis last year and it slowly got buried under other books and magazines by my bed.  I dug it out yesterday to try to read it and found it just wasn't my style...or maybe I'm just not in my crisis anymore.  I skimmed through it. It's quick, snappy, and opinionated; it's designed to push & pull you out of un-productivity. I caught a few good motivational passages while I was skimming through and I see how it could be useful to others, but in general it wasn't my cup of tea. Flip through it at the bookstore and see what you think.

Meanwhile, I somehow read 4 or 5 books in July...so I'll be reporting on those books soon. I have a lot of catching up to do in my reading journal [not putting this one in] As always, you can check my sidebar --> to see what I'm currently reading.  I'm pretty excited about this one and have been wanting to read it since it came out (thanks J for lending it to me and reminding me of it again last weekend!)

California ♥

Last night I went to a mini installment of the Bazaar Bizarre at Nightlife at the California Academy of Sciences (every Thursday evening...if you ever want to go, let me know!).  After gazing at 3 kinds of cuttlefish in the aquarium, I bought this print from 3 Fish Studios: 

I've got some other California themed prints I think it will look great with...hmm...probably going to have to rearrange the artwork in the whole house to make it happen...I have a plan, we'll see what the Mr. says.

Anyway it was delightful to meet Eric and Annie from 3 Fish Studios.  I became a fan of the art of 3 Fish Studios from their beginning, and would from time to time pop over to their website to see what they're up to, or notice their work on some blog or another.  Truth be told I had forgotten about them lately...but it turns out I know someone who knows them! Love that. And I love my new print.  And I love California.

headed for something

If you're a blogger you know the feeling that your blog has to look just right.  Bloggers are always giving their blog little makeovers, and regularly changing their blog headers...but of course headers have been around far longer than blogs. I enjoyed seeing this post on the fab BibliOdyssey blog of some Art Nouveau woodcut illustrated page headers...

I love them all, especially these two: 

Which are your favorites? Is it time for a header makeover?

parcel post

Sending out a little care package...hope it's well received ♥

bicicleta 2

Check out my rims, man! The bicicleta is all stripped and clean (well, 90%...I'm calling it good).  Next? Prime & paint, shop for a few new parts, then see if I can put it all back together. Progress is being made!

P.S. I'm sort of addicted to the Instagram app...I resisted for a while because I didn't want ANOTHER social media account...but it's pretty much awesome.  I do still love Hipstamatic, too...but the sharing & viewing qualities of Instagram make it fun fun fun. Are you on there? Let me know, I'd love to see your pics!

book report [the other wes moore]

Did you have a good holiday weekend? Good! We were busy busy busy. But this post is about reading, not projects. This was a quick read, so maybe this will be a quick post...This book is getting passed around the In-Law side of the family, starting from Oregon...the public library in Portland has a program called Everybody Reads where they name a book for the year, you read it, then pass it along to whomever else you think ought to read it...with no late book fees.  There are discussion groups and talks you can attend too.  Portland folks can tell you more about it I'm sure.  It's a neat idea...similar to San Francisco's One City One Book program. 

The Other Wes Moore is a non-fiction account of two boys with the same name who started life just a few streets away from each other but as a product of the choices they made & the support systems they had went down very different paths in life (life in prison vs. Rhodes Scholar). The story is a good reminder to reach out and offer guidance or direction to someone who is straying, or to tell anyone, hey, you can do better.  There is a huge list of youth advocacy groups and resources in the back of the book. I'll add one to the list: A Home Within.  They help foster kids get someone (a professional) to talk to...a little mental and emotional stability for a potentially chaotic life. Seems like a good idea, right? As forThe Other Wes Moore, I actually wouldn't be surprised if it gets made into a movie...the story is like a split screen of The Wire and The Blind Side (sort of).

book report [heyday]

I can't remember if I heard about Heyday on Studio 360 (Kurt Anderson, the author, is the host...it's a great podcast/show from WNYC) or if I saw it at the bookstore first.  In any case the cover photos and the synopsis sucked me in.  Heyday is a story of a group of people who are making their way in a world in transition...the telegraph is now in use, photography is developing (ha!), the people of France are having a revolution, the USA is at war with Mexico, gold is discovered in California...the list goes on.  A lot of significant events happened at this time, and the book's characters seem to be witnessing it all.  This book was pretty good...the plot itself is pretty standard...elements of romance, revenge, rebellion, adventure, etc. Otherwise the story is borderline non-fiction with it's carefully researched notes on popular culture (slang, theater, shopping, politics, communication) and the dramatic irony of all the historical things yet to come. It took awhile (100 pages?) to get used to absorbing all the information presented. And it took me a loooong time to read the book. I predicted some things in the story, but others I was wrong about. I think that the characters were a little TOO involved in major events and with major people...it got a little annoying and a little fantastical. But it was interesting to compare the changes that were happening then and now (telegraph=twitter?)...and there are great scenes to imagine in detail. I might check out Kurt Anderson's other books sometime, too.

My recommendation is that if you like historical fiction or are interested in what pop culture was like 160 years ago, you should go to the library or bookstore and read 5 pages of the book before you decide to take it home. 

tipi

Hello to new and old blog friends ♥ Welcome officially to summertime...are you enjoying it? I had a ridiculously perfect weekend in Northern California...hiking, eating freshly harvested abalone on the beach, eating eating eating, spending time with friends, horseback riding, sleeping in a meadow...I mostly left my blogging self at home to relax and enjoy myself (in other words, I didn't have my camera with me [sigh, i didn't know all the wonderful things that were going to happen])...but I did want to share some quick iPhone pics from last Friday evening when we helped our friend build his new tipi, ordered from Nomadic Tipi Makers in Bend, Oregon.

now what?

tripod is up!

putting on the cover

tipi!

Isn't it amazing?? The last pic is of the tipi 95% complete...Saturday it got staked out and fine tuned so it really looked sharp and was so sturdy. After seeing this tipi [an 18-footer] I'm seriously considering getting a plain 8-foot 'kids' tipi.  Although I've always thought making Rachel's simple TeePee would be fun too...

Thanks for visiting...have a lovely day!

doo do doo do doo doo do doo doo

I was a big fan/addict of Tetris back in the original Nintendo days, and was pretty good at it, too. I liked the music, the color schemes, and of course the satisfaction of organizing all those shapes and cleaning up the board.  I never quite transitioned my habit to the versions available on other electronic devices (I did have the Nintendo for a loooong time) but I still think fondly on the game...here's some Tetris related fun: 

Tetris quilt made by craftyMSP

Tetris sticky notes found via Design Milk

Tetris necklace by UrbanFusions

bicicleta 1

Inside this unassuming paper grocery sack is 85% of my bike. The plan (ha ha) is to clean her up, sand her down, repaint her, and put her back together as a nifty set of city wheels (previously she roamed the dusty Burning Man playa). A biking friend told me it would be best to take her apart, and handed me the tools... but I'm having some regrets about that part.  Ah well...wish me luck!

planking

Have you seen the buzz about "planking"? It's a silly activity where you have your picture taken while lying facedown wherever you are.  It's actually been a 'thing' for a few years, but only went viral recently because one person died (he fell while trying to plank on a balcony railing) and another was injured. I'll let you do your own google searches about it...and you'll probably see it on the news or on some other blogs.  Which reminds me, when I was on a trip in the Trinity Alps with friends a year ago, I was trying to describe the phenomenon (being the most internet-ish of the group), and Scott captured the moment:

I was ahead of the curve...guess you really should follow my forecast then, eh? Ha ha! Have a good weekend everyone ♥

forecasting

Using a complicated algorithm based on past and current trends (shown below), I've predicted three new motifs that will come into the design community this year...

Fish, circles, & spirals.

[squares and clouds may also make a short appearance, but it isn't really their time yet]

You can thank me later ;)

buttoned up

I bought a black button-down shirt to look respectable at a conference, but it came with big bright white buttons...so I tried out the button foot on the sewing machine and switched all the buttons to purple.

mission blue butterfly

Last week Scott and I did a quick hunt in the Marin Headlands for the rare (endangered!) Mission Blue Butterfly. He had gotten the scoop on this little insect a few days earlier on a ranger led walk and I wanted to see one, too! 

The Mission Blue Butterfly only lives in a few places in the Bay Area, and was one of the first insects included on the Endangered Species List, largely due to loss of habitat.  While the adult butterflies munch on nectar from many flowers, this butterfly species relies on lupine plants & flowers as food for the caterpillars and a place to lay eggs...no lupine, no Mission Blue Butterfly.

It was pretty windy the day we went out.  We saw a few other species of butterflies, lots of wildflowers, and even some bluebirds, but had just about given up on the Mission Blue when we had a possible sighting on the side of the trail...You must be careful though, because the Mission Blue Butterfly has a few look-a-likes.  To be sure you've spotted a Mission Blue Butterfly you must check the underside of the wings...if you see TWO rows of black spots, and the black spots have a white ring around them, THAT is a Mission Blue Butterfly.

To learn more about the Mission Blue Butterfly start HERE!

origami

If your boss asks if you can do origami, consider your answer carefully.

friday five [strange fruit]

Friday the 13th can be a strange day, so...

Five strangely named fruits that I think are delicious:

1. lilikoi

2. feijoa

3. kumquat

4. lychee

5. guanabana (this one i've only eaten in a greek yogurt topping mixed w/ mango...)