Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Two years ago this day we visited a friend who was in the process of making some alterations to his “new” house before the family arrived. I’m embarrassed to report that I have yet to revisit and see how things turned out!
Reminder to self: this is what it looks like when you plan to remodel rather than do a forced remodel!
Oh, and, have I mentioned how very glad I am that our kitchen survived the tree-fall?
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Archive photo.
Apparently those memorable footprint fireworks we saw as part of NBC’s coverage of the Opening Ceremonies were fake. There were fireworks, but we were seeing a computer-generated fantasy. I had it wrong.
UPDATE: cute little girl singing was miming; less-cute not-quite-so-little girl was singing in the wings.
Monday, 11 August 2008
Image from medal-olympics-2008-1.jpg.
Not surprisingly, the Chinese designers have incorporated considerable symbolism into myriad aspects of the Olympic 2008 experience.
I was tickled to hear that one side of the medals has a flat ring of jade built into it, also representing escalating values, just like the metal component (whiter jade is “richer”, and darker is of lesser value). The discs mimic a form called bi that has been used in what is now China since the Neolithic. In later periods, the bi is associated with heaven, but the early meanings remain a mystery. Jade is often a symbol of elevated social rank, and of elevated moral quality.
Speaking of which, do you think those female Chinese gymnasts are all sixteen years old? Some look rather young to me, but then hours spent honing gymnastic skills seem to promote pedomorphism (neoteny) in youngsters.
Sunday, 10 August 2008
I know we “did” thistles the other day, but I ran into this picture from a year ago today when a select group of us went to Seney on a picnic and photography excursion.
The Botanist, if I remember right, said this was an introduced species, and he called it a Russian thistle. When I google that phrase, the search is dominated by tumbleweed entries—apparently that’s another common name. But that doesn’t mean The Botanist wasn’t right!
Friday, 8 August 2008
In August 2004, our Bot Garden was overrun with people wanting to see a huge indoor and outdoor exhibit of Chihuly glass. I thought on this auspicious day (depending on how you count days and what you find auspicious), I’d make a positive, upbeat, artsy entry to balance this morning’s rant.
So, here’s a night-time shot of a huge Chihuly handkerchief vase (or shape made with that technique).
* Lucky because today I made two posts, if nothing else!
Friday, 8 August 2008
The NBC deciders are utter idiots. The Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics are not being carried RIGHT NOW. As. They. Happen. So much for LIVE. And NEWS.
Furthermore, NBC is running a recording of their morning anchors made some other time to be broadcast now. So their current programming is not live either.
In the meantime, CNN and other international media are sure reporting. I mean geeze most anybody in Beijing can go find a huge TV screen and watch. Free. Live. But here, nope.
End of tirade.
Oh, and, PS, no, I won’t be watching the delayed “show” tonight, because it’ll be old news to me by then. You had me, and you lost me. So all you advertisers who paid big bux, too bad.
Thursday, 7 August 2008
When I was a kid I thought a teasel* was probably a kind of thistle**, because they were both prickly, which is a good defense against wandering herbivores. It turns out that botanically they’re in the same class (Magnoliopsida—more or less), but that’s the closest they’re related.
I snapped this at the Bot Garden the other month, so this is probably a non-native and it may not even be a thistle, although it resembles one (sorry, I neglected to take notes while I was photographing). Love the bumbler….
* Apparently teasels are favored by some weavers for brushing new fabric to raise the nap, and they were cultivated to assure a proper supply. Who knew?
** In Celtic symbolism, thistles and burrs apparently refer to nobility of character and of birth, a lovely thought for what I think of as annoying weeds that typically grow in poor soils.
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
I had my first digital still camera during the summer of 2002, and I that was when I really began to learn about photography—what little I do know, anyway.
So this picture is from six years ago today, and I believe was the first one I took that looked through the lakewater. I loved how the light and water made the refraction* patterns (if that’s what they are), and still do….
* Okay, I couldn’t help myself; the Wikipedia entry for refraction mentions a special kind of refraction that’s a special kind of a mirage called a fata morgana. No lie. I guess the name refers to the ephemeral nature of the mirage. But this is no fata morgana.
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
A year ago today, I walked along Gitche Gumee‘s south shore to the Au Sable Point Lighthouse. Apparently the road to the lighthouse was not cut through the woods until 1905. Bonus: a picture of the lighthouse complex in 1935.
I guess I’m convinced that I was the victim of misinformation: turns out coffee at normal levels of consumption is not a diuretic.
In other dietary data: the NYTimes says beets (Beta vulgaris) are the new spinach. BTW, chard is botanically a leafy beet or a small-rooted beet (depending on how you look at it), and they’re both in the amaranth/chenopodium family, which has lots of species people have harvested and cultivated, including quinoa, huazontle, and epazote, all of which I find quite tasty….
Hmm, dinner tonight: soup, but maybe without any type of Amaranthaceae….
