Pentel pocket brush pen and M. Graham and Schmincke gouache on Canson 140 lb cold press watercolor paper
Month: October 2015
Pioneer Girl
If you’re in the U.S. and have access to CSPAN 3, I strongly recommend looking for a re-run of Pamela Smith Hill’s talk on Pioneer Girl.
I have the book, which is quite good. It contains the text of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s first, previously unpublished autobiography which she used as an outline for the Little House books, along with a ton of photos and scholarly research by Pamela Smith Hill about Laura and her writing.
ETA: You can watch the video online, here. I couldn’t find an embed code, alas, and I don’t know if it’s region locked to the U.S. only.
Fruit Bat
Frances has been not-so-subtley hinting to me that she wants her cookie ball filled with sliced carrots. I finally couldn’t stand it, and gave in.
It is a beautiful 60F outside and 68F indoors. The sky is blue, and the flame-leaf sumac is brilliant red. I love this time of year but havent enjoyed the cooler temperatures the last few years. Anything under 72F was just too cold. Turns out, I’m hypothroid. I suspected as much years ago and asked to have my thryroid tested. I dont think they did the more complete test, because it was normal. It pisses me off that my doctor at the time didn’t listen to me. My new doctor listened, re-tested, and put me on thyroid meds. And now, I am sitting in my chilly (to my former self) house, without socks or shoes, and am perfectly comfortable.
Also, if you were around last fall when the temperature at work was hovering around 58F, you can maybe understand why I was absolutely miserable. There werent ebough hoodies and long underwear in the world to make that comfortable.
Caturday Lovefest
Henry likes to lounge on the couch and pet her dog.
Science Sunday
Here’s a song about the constellations. You’re welcome.
ETA: I was sure I typed Saturday. Oops. LET’S DO THE TIME WARP, AGAIIIIIIN!
Almonds and Edamame
Healthy snack. I think Frances is more excited about it than I am.
Goodwill Haul
I had another round of fasting bloodwork this morning. Ugh. I decided I needed some retail therapy afterward, so I went to Goodwill.
The store on my side of town moved and had their grand opening on Tuesday, so this was my first visit to the new location. It’s huge! Things are still a little jumbled, in the book section, but that’s okay. That didn’t slow me down much.
The big books on the bottom are full of illustrations that I’ll use for collage.
The little Laura Ingalls Wilder book is her journal of her and Almanzo’s move from De Smet, south Dakota, to Mansfield, Missouri, where they settled permanantly. I dont think it’s the entire journal (I’ve read it but don’t own it). It’s packaged for young readers, with a foreword by Rose Wilder, so I’m betting it’s pretty heavily edited. It has quite a few pictures I’ve bever seen, though, so I grabbed it up.
I also found a pair of Yaktrax for $5. Now I can walk Frances when there’s ice, withought killing myself.
The Blue Skies of Pluto
The first color images of Pluto’s atmospheric hazes, returned by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft last week, reveal that the hazes are blue.
Source: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto | NASA
They’ve also found water ice. And if you read the article (and you should!), there is a link toward the bottom to a high spectacular high resolution, color image of Pluto.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood
Rain tonight, they say, but today is about as pretty as it gets.
Throwback Thursday
Grandma Jeanne
My grandpa took that photo. I absolutely love it.
Grandma Jeanne was a great letter writer. If you wanted something fun in to show up in the mailbox, you wrote her a letter and she’d write back. And she’d put fun stuff in the letter, too. Or maybe send a small care package. Those always had a little can of Three Diamonds almonds in them. Usually smoked flavored.
I’m supposed to be working on getting my HDL cholesterol level up. Almonds are one of the things that can (hopefully) help with that, so I’m eating a lot of them lately, and every time I do, I think of my Grandma Jeanne.
Grandma Jeanne with her Cocker Spaniel
red paper boat 