Author: Shelly

Photography

Perseids

Shelly

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Mammatus clouds

The annual Perseid meteor shower will be at its peak this weekend. Because of the full moon, it’s not expected to be as stunning as it could be, but it’s still worth checking out. The moon rises at about 10pm, so the time between sunset and 10:00 is probably your best shot. I recommend slathering on some bug repellant and heading out to the back yard with either a reclining beach chair or a pool floaty. Being horizontal is definitely best, so you won’t strain your neck.

The weather here has been the pits for sky watching. It stormed on and off all day yesterday, and is supposed to do the same today. It ought to clear up tomorrow, though, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to see some meteors.

For more information on the Perseid shower, check out SpaceWeather.com.

Crankypantsing, Meta

Bouncy-bouncy E-mail

Shelly

Also! If you e-mailed me near the end of July, and did not get an answer, it’s likely that your message went bouncy-bouncy or was sucked into a black hole. I might never have noticed there was a problem, except that I belong to several Yahoo groups and mail from them stopped. After a few days of no Yahoo mail, it occurred to me that there might be a bounce problem. Duh. I don’t know what the problem was, but it seems to have cured itself.

So, if I didn’t respond, it wasn’t because I was ignoring you. At least, not on purpose. If it was something important, please to be resending advTHANKSance!1!!!

That is all.

Art, Bookarts

I’m Not Dead Yet

Shelly

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Coffee Book
5 3/4 x 5 1/2 inches, 12 sheets/24 pages
90lb cream Stonehenge paper stained with instant coffee, stab bound with ribbon and accented with aged brass brads
7 August 2006

I haven’t been either terribly busy or a total lazy-ass. I just haven’t had much to say lately. I’ve transcribed a few more letters (they’re uploaded, but not linked yet) and bound another little book, and I finally found the itty bitty ABC book I made last year, and got some better photos of that.

Instant review: How Art Made the World

I’ve watched the first disc (episodes 1-3) and am impressed with it. It’s very well put together. Art programs that appeal to both people who are in the art world and those who have no knowledge of it are rare. I think this is one of them, though. Even my neighbor, who swears she’s not artistic (ha!), enjoyed it and found it fascinating.

I got a kick out of the underlying premise that art is created by humans, and that humans were created by art. An ouroboros of sorts. I wrote something similar a few years ago:

However hard we may try, we cannot separate ourselves from the social structures that make us human. Art is the re-presentation of human experience. Art is dependant upon culture and culture is dependant upon art; man creates art and art creates man. Art is a dialogue between ourselves and our fellow humans concerning the world around us. Even if the “subject” of art is not linked to the human experience, the fact that it is created by persons with uniquely subjective outlooks on life makes it about the human experience.

I know the idea is not original, and that it has been around for a long, long time, but it’s not one that was ever discussed in my art history classes. It wasn’t until I got into the study of anthropology and history that the broader cultural aspects of art were addressed, in terms of why it exists and how it came to be.

Crankypantsing

It’s the Heat *and* the Humidity

Shelly

It’s supposed to be the hottest day yet, with temps in the mid-90s. At 5am it was already 75F and 90% humidity. Of course, that meant I got to work to find that chilled water will be rationed today and that they’re asking everyone to conserve electricity. As soon as the e-mail arrived, folks turned on their fans! Hello!!! Electricity conservation does not involve turning on power-sucking fans. It especially does not mean turning on power-sucking fans when the AC is still on. *boggle*

I have a feeling that this afternoon will be a lot of No Fun.

Crankypantsing, Ladybusiness

Patriarchy Blaming at the Grocery Store

Shelly

I went into town this morning to run some errands. Stopping at the grocery store was at the top of the list. It’s Babbs’ 75th anniversary, and the place was packed. It was worth dealing with the wall-to-wall crowd, though, because their produce is really nice (e.g. beautiful green peppers that were grown locally for 50¢ each–mmmmmm).

There were long lines at each of the check-outs, so I had a bit of a wait. The old guy in front of me was chatting with a friend about how it sucked to be 80 years old. He just can’t do the things he could when he was 70. They commiserated for awhile, then, when the old guy’s turn came, he started bantering with the cashier, who must’ve been 16 but looked more like 13. The old guy hassled her about this and that, but she didn’t take any shit from him. Good for her! As he was loading up his things and she began checking my items, she told me to feel free to run over him with my cart. I said I was seriously considering it. He turned around and said, “God gave women such beautiful bodies, with pretty hair and eyes and all those curves. And then he had to go and ruin it by putting a mouth on you.” Hivemindy! I was thinking just the same thing about offensive, dirty old men!

Yaknow, I don’t know which is worse, men who think they have a God-given right to leer at women (or, worse, under-age girls!) or men who exert their white male privilege in order to put uppity girls in their places. Lucky me, I didn’t have to choose, because this asshole was a two-fer!

Photography

Panorama

Shelly

It wouldn’t be Friday without some photoblogging. It rained all morning, but the sky cleared up and a whole army of puffy white clouds popped up. This was created from four photos I took on my way home from work. I love the greeness of the soybeans against the blue of the sky and the play of shadows along the rolling field.

Panorama
Corner of Starnes Road and Ratliff Road, Monroe County Indiana, looking northeast

Crankypantsing, Photography

It’s Non-sequitur Friday!

Shelly
  • Seen at the gas station this ayem: old Pontiac Sunbird with a large steel hasp and padlock securing the hood. It was not entirely unlike this. The car’s back end was plastered with surfer-tattoo-heavy metal type bumper stickers. Duuuude!
  • You’ve heard the ridiculous “The internet is a series of tubes” story? Well, now you can get the shirt! I really want one. They’re hand screened and numbered, and well worth the $20. Proceeds go to benefit community radio, so it’s for a very good cause.
  • I’ve seen three red foxes this week–one on my road and two in Bloomington. I think, to see foxes, you need to be out and about at about a half hour before sunrise. They seem to be heading home at about that time.
  • There was a Watchtower tucked inside my storm door when I came home the other day. So now I’m on the look-out for Jehovah’s Witnesses. I didn’t know we had them in our neck of the woods!
  • Misogynistic t-shirt sighting, on frat boy: [University of Chicago:] If it were easy, it’d be your mom.
  • It’s always allergy season for me, but ragweed is fixin’ to bloom soon, and that’s when the real fun starts. My eyes are getting itchy, my head’s congested, and I’ve got a sore throat. I suppose it could be a cold, but I don’t think it is.
  • I saw the BoD’s Eeevil-ganger again yesterday, pulling into Casey’s convenience store. I kinda feel like Mr. Bean hunting down the little blue car Reliant. Only with more self-restraint.

    Perhaps the, um, liberal application of more bumper stickers is called for?

  • I have to mow this weekend. There’s no way I can avoid it. The grass is so long that it’s hiding bunnies right under Miss Brown’s nose. You have not seen a pissed off Boxer until you’ve seen Harriet realize that she let one get away. I think her ears melted a little bit from the steam shooting out of them.
  • Metallica has finally sold out completely. And I thought they already had!

And, now, some happy sunshine reflecting on water, courtesy of my neighbor’s pond. Petsitting has its perks, you see. I’m going to be doing more of the same this weekend, so I’m likely to take more pictures. I’m hoping to get some close-ups of the bitty eraser-sized toadlets that occasionally hop across the driveway. They are ridiculously small and cute and precious. Of course, I only ever see them when I do not have my camera with me.

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Crankypantsing, Pets, Photography

Server Not Found

Shelly

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It’s hot in here (or maybe it’s that I just chugged a huge cup of coffee?), the server is down system-wide, I overslept, and I’m tired and cranky.

I put $20 worth of gas in my car this morning, and the tank wasn’t even half full. There was a long line at the gas station because some jackass was buying lotto tickets–one of each kind, no less. Why, oh why, do people need to buy dozens of scratch-off tickets at 5am? I think maybe there should be separate gas stations for people who–wait for it!–actually want to purchase gas. And, if lotto tickets weren’t enough of an aggravation, they’ve installed a hot food kiosk in the center of the main aisle for breakfast sandwiches, hot dogs, and some sort of hamburger-y monstrosity. With “fix-ins” bar. O ick. Who in their right mind buys shriveled up hot dogs from a gas station? I suspect, whoever they are, they’ve got a death wish.

On the other hand, gas in Spencer was 17¢ cheaper than in E-ville or B-ton, so it could’ve been worse. And, at the Spencer Bigfoot, you aren’t subjected to hipster music. I win!

Speaking of cars, I looked at my pay stub yesterday, to see how much my pitiful raise actually amounts to in take-home dollars. I’m still being charged for an A tag, even though I down-graded to a C. An A tag is about 3x as much as a C, so the difference is substantial.

Photo: Harriet Brown blowing drooly spit bubbles while staring at french fries