Thursday, May 21, 2009

Ice Age

Yesterday I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon in my sunny back yard. First, I made a mojito, refreshing and minty...

And then I began my project, which has been "on ice" for about a week. One Drop Yoyos recently had a photography contest, and I was the judge. In looking at the creative ideas submitted by each contestant, I found a photo of a yoyo encased in a block of ice, and decided to see what I could do with this concept... Here are the best results for your viewing pleasure!


My favorite


Splashing out


Yoyo melon


Red bubble


My new desktop background

Sunday, May 10, 2009

The Bears and the Bees

Let me tell you about the bears and the bees...

Well, once upon a time, there was a bear. He lived in the forest! One day he was walking west, like bears do, and he came to a paved road running through his forest. He was pondering this road when he noticed a sound coming along the road toward him. He looked up the road and saw a quiet electric car gliding along, with a person and a camera hanging out the window!

"Oh bother," the bear thought. "This cannot be good. What shall I do? ... Think, think, think." He decided putting distance between him and this car would be a good idea, so he began rambling along the road away from the car. He was content with this approach until he noticed the car... getting closer... and closer still! "Oh bother!" he thought again, and turned and ran back into the forest!

The bear, still wanting to go west, like bears do, realized he had never crossed the road, and had ran back into the forest the way he had come. "Oh bother," he said to himself. "Think, think, think." The bear decided to walk along the road a ways, hidden from site, and once he had gone far enough he would try the crossing again. Several minutes passed. He poked his tan bear-nose out of the underbrush along the side of the road and looked both ways. Spotted again! The car had parked in the shade and the people were having a picnic! He pulled his bear nose back into the underbrush and ran away like a scaredy-cat (or a scaredy-bear)! Much to his delight, he never saw that car again.

The bees did not have such an exciting day. They saw the people, and the car, and heard the clickclickclick of the camera shutter; but they were much too busy to be bothered. They just bumbled along, visiting every wildflower, without a moment's rest...

   

And that is the story of the bears and the bees. David and I had a lovely day, unexpectedly finding ourselves in the Willamette National Forest with a camera, some chips and salsa, and not a care in the world.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Bubblicious!

I've lately been obsessed with photographing an object that creates an optical illusion, and appears to be a glass bubble. Here is the original photo that got me started on this track...

I found myself unable to stop, and continued to find settings that would make this bubble "pop"...




A trick of the lens, really what we are seeing is the rim of a glass that is perfectly aligned with the camera's viewpoint. I'll probably spend a few more hours (at least) playing with the amazing refractions and reflections that one can find in a glass before I get bored and move on to something else, like bees and flowers and ... bears.

Here is my current desktop background, a distorted image of tulips and poppies through the glass.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

One in, one out

My mailman brought me a package full of yarn yesterday - ten skeins of Rowanspun 4-ply in the Jade colorway from somebody's "trade/sell" stash on Ravelry.

It is lovely stuff, and is destined to become a lace shawl of some kind. I was so happy with this yarn when I made the Faux Russian Stole, I knew I was caught in its tangly, tweedy web...

In other knitting news, David's feet have a pair of new friends. This hand-dyed yarn came from Nestucca Bay Yarns in Lincoln City, Oregon. The pattern is my own. (Ravel it!)