Musings

I just love dioramas. And I really love dioramas made by one person in their own vision.

Kudos, G!

I remember being spellbound as a kid each time I was taken to the museum at MSU as I examined the detail in their dioramas. I particularly remember one of the square in the Aztec version of downtown Mexico City (that is, Tenochtitlán) and of a small family of deer in a tropical forest somewhere that had leaf-cutter ants traipsing along the spine of a tree’s buttress-root. In fact, when I encountered leaf-cutter ants in the wild, maybe for the first time—and it was many years later—I watched and watched.

A diorama had come to life!

Posted at 10:22 PM | 2 Comments »

I’d call it a killer tiger, but all I observed was toying, although I’m certain the chipmunk didn’t see it that way.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Drama in the weeds

Yeah, I’m still on the coffee.

So, household bills are up, as coffee costs more per cup than even the mildly fancy green tea that I also enjoy.

Posted at 5:40 PM | Comments Off on Grinding along

Somehow I screwed up the seasons for the amaryllis. But, I’m guessing, no bloom is on the way. So, does this mean the bulb is becoming a has-been? Dunno the botany of these bulbs.

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Fumbling in the dark

We’ve left the heat of summer behind, and the basil is still trying to flower (natch)—which reminds me, I gotta get out there and trim the nascent blooms again….

Posted at 10:22 PM | Comments Off on Basil’s still kicking it

Once upon a time we were 10620.

Once upon a time we watched videos.

As in videotapes.

Now, Movies Worth Seeing is history, and my card is an artifact.

Posted at 10:22 PM | 1 Comment »

Night redbud.

Some lumber-jacking in the yard this morning. So, I made pancakes.

It was not a cause-and-effect situation.

Posted at 9:28 PM | Comments Off on Redbud flash

Archaeologists can spend a lot of time with fragments. How they have fractured tells you something about the material they’re composed of and how they broke.

These are Corelle, pieces of the rim of a 2-quart serving bowl in Winter Frost White (the web maintains), although they look a bit blue here.

Corelle is a tempered glass, and I’ve never before seen glass break into elongated shark’s teeth.

Posted at 2:42 PM | Comments Off on Distempered glass

Every once in a while you need to try something creative you’ve never tried before—but it doesn’t have to be a big something.

Today, I made five-spice powder. Actually, I only ground the star anise and fennel seeds. The others were already powder that I could just stir in.

Still, it should be five-space powder, I think, as in five spaces* in your kitchen—or more!—will get powdered in your grinding and mixing activities.

* In my case, two counters (all I have), the floor, the table, and my hands. Plus, a mortar and pestle (also producing one palm blister), the food processor, another bowl, the fine-mesh strainer…see, it mounts up!

Posted at 11:39 AM | Comments Off on Mix and sniff (mmmm)

Muddled around all day, and the household trash recepticals still need to be emptied.

Decided on a menu for tomorrow’s intimate dinner for four. Well, except I’m not sure if I’ll do the key lime pie or not.

Posted at 7:09 PM | Comments Off on Dance for me…