Category: Photography
A light exists in spring
April 22, 2006
Some of the trees are starting to get a faint tinge of pale, pale green, and the redbuds are close to bursting into bloom. The brambles behind my house have little bud swellings on them. All of this means that my allergies are awful. I love spring, but it does not love me.
Thawing Out
Pandora basking by the space heater
The new furnace was installed today, and it is working beautifully. I’m looking forward to actually sleeping tonight, instead of listening to Mr. Upstairs, who is–even as I type–dropping free weights on the floor above my head. Really, I can’t think of a single nice thing to say about the guy right now, so I’ll just leave it at that.
Speaking of Toys
Harriet has her very own toy box. When I still had Elliott, he would pick up all their toys and put them away, whenever I got out the vacuum cleaner. As soon as I finished vacuuming, Harriet would drag them all back out again.
Guess What?
Chicken Butt!
I stopped on my way home to pick up dog food, and decided Miss Brown should have a treat. I got her a “Hard Core” Fire Hose (obscene sounding, isn’t it?) and a rubber chicken. The fire hose lasted all of two minutes before she had the end chewed off it. I doubt Mr. Chicken will last much longer, what with his delectable little drumsticks an’ all. Still, it was worth it for the cute factor.
Pupkis
As I was taking a photo of the pupkis on the window, Harriet wandered into the shot to demonstrate its application. The patio door is like a gigantor television for Harriet. She can sit and watch for hours.
In other dog-related news, as I came back from walking Miss Brown this morning, we met my across-the-hall neighbor, who was on her way to work. She stopped to pet Harriet, and complimented her on her excellent deportment. Ms. Neighbor said she never hears a peep out of Harriet, even when I’m not home. I’m not surprised, because Harriet is a very quiet dog. It’s nice to know that others have noted how quiet she is, though, especially since there are mildly barky dogs around, and we kind of live in a fishbowl.
In heating news, things are not looking quite so good. The real repairmen were here this morning, and their diagnosis was, “It’s dead, Jim.” They’re ordering a whole new furnace, but it will take at least 24 hours for it to get here, then it’ll take pretty much a whole day to install it. So I’m without heat for a couple more days. Well, not entirely without heat. I have a little oil radiator, but that really isn’t sufficient for the task. Luckily, it’s supposed to be fairly mild this week.
New Journal
5 x 3 1/2 inches, 16 signatures (32 pages)
140lb Cotman cold press watercolor paper Coptic bound with cotton thread
The covers were recycled from the back panel of a notebook. At first, I was going to cut off the holes from the spiral binding, but they reminded me of sprocket holes in film, so I kept them. I haven’t done anything to decorate the covers yet. They’re just bare davey board.
The pages are made from watercolor paper. I bought a few sheets of it, to try it out, and didn’t end up liking it for painting. I held onto it, though, because I thought it might work in a book. We’ll see.
I was taught never to cut art paper, so I almost always tear my book paper. This time, though, I cut the fore edges with a pair of crafting scissors. The blades are supposed to mimic torn paper, which I think they do reasonably well. Since this book isn’t going to be used for watercolor, cutting with scissors won’t hurt anything.
(You can see by the orange flecks in the detail to the right that Miss Brown’s hair tends to get into everything.)
Sunrise Over Wright Quad
I’m supposed to be going to a party tonight, but the weather is still behaving badly, so I doubt I’ll make it. I’ve had enough of this freezing rain, sleet, and snow crap, thankyouverymuch.
February Sunrise
The one thing I hate about winter is the lack of light. The long nights and grey days really start to bother me after awhile. About this time of year, because I’m up early in the mornings, I start to see the days begin to lengthen. It’s not much, yet, but every little bit helps.
I no longer have a long drive east in the early mornings, which is probably just as well. I miss the sunrises, but with daylight saving time, I wouldn’t have gotten to see them anyway. And, guess what? DST will be starting even earlier this spring! On March 11, I believe. I guess I’ll just add that to the long list of things that I’m cranky about. It could be worse. At least I work on the one floor that has lots of windows.
Miss GrumpyPants
I’m grumpy today. Not for any reason in particular, but because of a million little things. Or maybe I just got up on the wrong side of the bed. The irony is that the number one thing on my It’s Making Me Grumpy list is that The Grumpy is not wearing off. I said “Hrmf!” to my boss, who asked me, “I that a one-hrmf or two-hrmf?” So, which even-toed ungulate is it, the dromedary or bactrian?
Okaythen! I’ll leave y’all with the the full-size, unrotated version of yesterday’s photo.
red paper boat 