Freeze... Thaw, Freeze... Thaw

The weather outside is frightful, but the pattern of the weather is even more frightful when one considers the impact, long term anyway, of global warming. How can anyone deny that global warming is happening? In any case, it really shouldn't be about the effect, but about the cause, and it will behoove us as a planet to reduce carbon emissions, but can we really do that with China and India emerging as industrial nations with huge populations? Too many questions, so here are a couple of photos that for me demonstrate the freeze thaw cycle we seem to be going through lately.

Quilt Making

It's odd funny how priorities develop in one's life. I always thought that I had complete control over the sequence in which things, all things, get done in my life, assuming that control was the "organizing" factor. But I've begun to discover that the tasks (I'll call them tasks here, and yet feel that word is too harsh) order themselves in many ways, all I have to do is just find the right time or the "extra" time to accomplish them. It's all about time, isn't it?
So, anyway, here we go again, I'm running out of time to put this post up, I need to fetch Jen a cup of coffee as the 6 o'clock alarm just went off, and I need to shower and get ready for school.
Last weekend was spent doing quilts for the grandchildren (and grandchildren-soon-to-be), so without revealing the finished work and spoiling a surprise, I'll post some pictures here. I need to start taking more photos and getting back to this site, I really enjoy it!
Interestingly, this is my 100th post for this year, half as much as in the previous two years. That says a lot to me about "new things", lifelong learning, and losing interest...

Night Time Related

These two shots... the first was taken in my basement after bringing in the solar lights that line the walkways around the shore and patio all summer. They were thrown randomly into a box and then put in the dark basement. The light came from within.

The second shot is from my kayak last night as I got home before dark (hard to do now) and decided that a "paddle" was in order, so I made my way around the bay and got a few shots before the night had closed. It was beautiful and this picture just gives a sense of how amazing it was on the water!

School Activities...

So Liz had some "ladies" laying ceramic tile this week, and were doing a super job of it when I took the first shot. What fun and it really makes the wall look cool!

Also, we did a "Tie Dye Tuesday" after school workshop, and got several teachers and a bunch of students preparing clothing for the weekly "tie_dye Friday" that the Art Department does at MDI. George and I even did dress shirts in tie dye.

And, finally, we've been doing tessellations in Fiber Arts and I shot one of a student on my iPad. Yes, it does tessellate!

Tall Chairs

These two photos were taken at USM and I thought the tall chairs sculpture was an amazing piece. Just got around to posting these photos. It's about the shadows after all, n'est ce pas?

Fall Is Definitely Here...

The Hostas (used a slow shutter speed and the zoom lens on that one) are folding up and turning brown as is about everything... those colors that exist between the bright reds and yellows we so often associate with fall and the November browns that presage winter are beautiful in all their subtleties! Here are three shots from this weekend.

It's a "Wild Thing"!

For the last two days the weather has been "blustery", as the meteorologists are so fond of saying, but it looks to me like it's just windy, very windy! The westerly wind has been blowing right at the front of the house, so it has been more obvious than usual with all the whistling and rattling. Usually we don't hear the wind as the house is pretty tight, but when it's "wild" out, we do! Here's a photo of the "Wild Thing" in all the wave action...

Grasshopper

Is a grasshopper in the grass redundant?

Apples, Mushrooms & Weathered Wood

I did a "photo walk", picked a half bushel of apples, and tasted a little piece of mushroom this afternoon before finishing the cutting of the grass. I also got a cool picture of a little grasshopper hanging onto a blade of grass but that's for another post. Here are the photos without much comment, sorry!

Ok, so I liked the "old" look of the apples and the boarding on the playhouse, the roughness of texture and visual quality... with the mushroom it was just about the camera angle and "getting under" the cap.

Surreal Banana

We were having a discussion wrapped around surrealism and humor in my Digital Media class this morning, and one of the students found a site where bananas were used in numerous and humorous ways. What a chance for a "teaching moment" and discussing the juxtaposition of reality and what one might call illogical fantasy! Where are the concepts of the Surrealistic movement connected to this sort of "setup" of imagery? Dali's "paranormal critical" method of observation took the "shape" of finding the "real" within negative space of objects, but this seems much more direct. Here's my banana.