Good Enough To Eat

Waiting for an Introduction

CLICK ON THE IMAGE on the left, to see more of this archnids charms.

This long-legged beauty greeted me in the bathroom last night, while I was brushing my teeth. She jumped a little when I made a noise and scuttled back into the corner. Then she popped out again to, check me out I guess. Do spiders actually notice us as fellow creatures, or are we simply a big noise to them?

Is she a Callobius in the Amaurobiidae, or Tengellidae family of arachnids? I think she looks most like the photos of Ground Sac Spiders - CorinnidaeAmaurobiidae

Sami and Catnip at Spider identification.org thinks she might be one of those. We're waiting for more input. At this point she's still a bit of mystery.

And, typical of her sisterhood, she's crept off to find a more reclusive habitat. I doubt I'll see her again.

I altered the original photo a good deal. I created the colorful tiles from the colors in this red-legged beauty's body as viewed by the mosaic filter in Photoshop CS4.

On the Fence

I also like to be as many places at once, as possible. I agree with these roses. The fence is often the best place to check out the world.

Jazz Came To America In Chains

Love-In-A-Mist - Nigella damascena

Please CLICK ON THE IMAGE to see the lovely details of this Love-In-A-Mist seed pod that I photographed and altered in Photoshop CS4.

I had no idea the spiky blue clouds of Love-in-a-Mist” were in the buttercup family. I’m pretty partial to most members of Ranunculaceae. There are native buttercups that bloom in early spring, in nearby Mid-Peninsula Open Space lands in the Santa Cruz mountains. But they look like you expect a buttercup to look – round shell-like petals, low-growing and bright yellow.

These are from a seed packet I scattered several years back along my driveway. They flourish in our hard adobe soil and re-seed themselves generously. These particular specimens have spread themselves into my neighbor’s front yard.

God midsommer!

Nigella damascena

Summer: Blackberry Dreams

Please CLICK ON MY CREATION ABOVE to see all the glorious detail.

Ima’s Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

These are very good split, with some fresh, sugared blackberries and whipped cream.

Bake 400 degrees Bake 10 -12 minutes till tops brown (fork test inside to make sure they're totally baked)

In a bowl Mix the dry stuff: 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda,1/8 cup sugar, some cinnamon (½ teaspoon?)

Make a little well in the dry stuff pour in ¼ cup corn oil and 1 cup buttermilk (if using regular milk*, use 1 tablespoon baking powder and no baking soda). Do not beat, just mix softly until combined.

Pam spray/oil muffin pan/ cookie sheet/pan

Additions: Raisins or a few blackberries or blueberries (mix these w/ dry stuff) or A spot of berry jam in the top of each muffin (jammy muffins). You need to bake them a little longer if you do this. Just watch 'em and fork test.

*or make buttermilk substitute: A tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice plus enough milk to make a cup, let stand 5 minutes

I created this collage using Photoshop CS4 and some more of my own blackberry photos I took in the park. I used a filters and the stamp tool generously. I extracted color from the photos for backgrounds and for tinting.

Once I Lived in Open Spaces

Please CLICK ON THIS PICTURE to see the beautiful details.

When I was ten years old, my family moved to a very suburban part of Southern California. Before that we lived in a very rural part of Arizona.

On a recent trip to Flagstaff I pulled the car over to capture this image that reminded me so strongly of the view across the road, when we waited for the school bus each morning.

I've never been back to where I used to live, because I've heard it's been built up. In my mind's eye, it's always like this.

I altered and partially recolored this photograph, using Photoshop CS4.

The Doormouse, inspired by Alice

Please CLICK ON MY CREATION to see all the lovely detail.

I was thinking about Alice in Wonderland when I drew this - though I haven't seen the new movie. We do have lots of blackberries nearby but doormice? No, I think they are just European.

Why are doormice so much more attractive than rats? We HAVE rats. Right now we have a tribe of them living off of the compost bins. My husband braves them when he takes the bowl out. I just drop the scraps into the bin for 'landscaping only' debris. A carrot top is landscaping, after all. I'm not silly enough to put a chicken bone in with vegetable bits. I'm pretty sure that's why they mark them like that.

I'm ok with mice, but the local rats have a way of looking at me and then going on about their business that makes me zip back up my garden path. Squirrels too are so much more appealing than rats, and they aren't scared of me. Pet rats - ok. Wild rats - no.

I created this image in Photoshop CS4. I drew the friendly little doormouse, her branch and berries,with the pencil tool. I created the background from several layers of blackberry photos I took in the park near my house. I altered the photographed blackberries through masking, selecting and the application of several filters. Then I texturized the result to give the image more of a vintage look.

Nasturia-damus: Prophet of the Angiosperms

Please CLICK ON THIS IMAGE to see the lovely detail.

Inspired by the research studies, involving this all-knowing flower, of my facebook friend, Judy Gosnell.

The writings of the mystic Nostradamus have traveled down through the centuries. Yet, how many have heard of the ancient prophecies of the great Nasturia-damus, prophet-queen of the Angiosperms?

Uncovered only recently by a trowel-wielding self-taught historian in a garden bed near you, these fragments of ancient wisdom speak to the ages.

Compare for yourself, only a few of the AMAZING SIMILARITIES between the quatrains of the prophets Nostradamus and Nasturia-damus.

(Nostradamus) Sitting alone at night in secret study; 
it is placed on the brass tripod. 
A slight flame comes out of the void, and 
makes true that which should not be believed in vain.

(Nasturia-damus) Sitting alone at night, beneath the bedroom window; they are planted in the great, sacred urn. A green shoot springs forth from the void, and makes true the belief in the cycle of life.

(Nostradamus) The wand in the hand is placed in the middle of the tripod’s legs. 
With water he sprinkles both the hem of his garment and his foot. 
A voice, fear: he trembles in his robes. 
Divine splendor; the God sits near.

(Nasturia-damus) The hose in the hand is placed in the middle of the urn. With water, she sprinkles both the base of the planter and her feet. A voice, fear: she trembles at the mud about her feet. Divine irritation: how will she get her shoes dry in time for the party?

(Nostradamus) When the litters are overturned by the whirlwind 
and faces are covered by cloaks, 
the new republic will be troubled by its people. 
At this time the reds and the whites will rule wrongly.

(Nasturia-damus) When the compost is overturned, into the middle of the newly seeded garden bed, and seeds are covered by clods, new plants will germinate. At this time the oranges and the greens will rule wisely and well.

(Nostradamus) At night they will think they have seen the sun, when they see the half pig man: Noise, screams, battles seen fought in the skies. The brute beasts will be heard to speak.

(Nasturia-damus) The brute beasts, that sleep beneath the peach and orange blossoms, shall cavort and call beneath the bedroom window of the house of the king and queen pig, in the hour of dawn, until the snoring boars are awakened and forced, bleary eyed, into the kitchen to find a can opener and can of cat food.

Daisy's Duds (Printable Luggage Tag)

The most classic of the compositae flower, daises are a charmingly homey little flower. Not at all particular about their environment, they seem to like lovely, moist, compost-rich areas, but are happy to grow around here even in my heavy, patches of adobe soil. I particularly like finding them in a big stretch of park grass. My husband, a grass-mower from way back, assures me that he does not find them desirable.

I've never had the patience to attempt a daisy-chain, though I admire anyone who can sit for that long and not mind all the stems that slit too far back.

Does everybody know that 'Daisy' is one of the nicknames for 'Margaret'? Of course the french version of Margaret is Marguerite, and 'marguerite' is the french word for daisy. Here are the other nicknames I know- Meg, Meggie, Maggie, Madge, Rita, Gretta. I think I missed one or two. The challenge with using the spanish version of Margaret to name your daughter is that it's 'Margarita'. And that sounds like something I order with a burrito and fritas.

I created this tag to adorn a golden robe I sewed for my daughter. The wonderful vintage luggage tag background I used for this project is a free public download from the HauntingVisionsStock site. Thank you D-O-H!

I used Photoshop CS4 to transform one of my daisy photos.

Nopalitos

Please click on the picture below to see the beautiful details

Time Travel: A Primer, Lesson 2, Goin' for Baroque

~Please CLICK on this image to see the beautiful details~

The reason this gal is sitting down and her fella is standing, is because his clothes are a LOT more comfortable than hers. Breathing must have been really fun in that corset. Not to mention the probable height of her heels. They likely didn't make walking all that easy. Those corsets were so great for women's health :-) My Euro ancestress'ess likely didn't have to worry about that, because they were probably hanging out in the scullery or doing the laundry.

It looks like the well-dressed swell is playing a lute. The piece of music I included in this piece was written for Mozart for a keyboard, I'm sure this musical couple were influenced by it, though. His lady friend is apparently doing the singing, she has a little book on her lap.

I found this old pin at an antique shop yard sale. It's marked "Limoges" on the back, so I guess it is, though the original design is quite naive, not at all like the elegant china that is associated with Limoges. The little picture had a fair amount of missing bits and places where somebody tried to paint over some of the big scratches. When you play around with a piece this much, it takes you back to the first person that owned it. Wouldn't it be dandy to imagine that Rosine gave it to her sister Martha for her birthday? (For more about Martha and Rosine, see my blog entries for May 26 and May 27 ).

It looks like this little token of sisterly affection has been well loved over the years. The catch wasn't working any more. Clearly Martha wore it a lot. Maybe she was an amateur musician, like me and that's why her sister picked out the musical setting. Did she and Rosine play simple, parlor music like I do? Did they laugh at the artfully posed couple's outfits and compare the damsels torturous undergarments to their own modern and up to date health corsets?

It was a lot of fun cleaning up Martha's pin, then taking it from a blotchy little painting into a blurry landscape style, and, finally, securing it's place in time with a collage, using Photoshop CS4.

Fine Fruit:Quilt Block, Contest Entry Silicon Valley fusionwearsv

This entry won FOURTH PLACE in the Silicon Valley fusionwearsv contest!

This garage on Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, is where the story that transformed the agricultural Santa Clara Valley into today’s technological Silicon Valley began. When Bill and Dave built their first oscillator in this garage, my husband's family lived just a few blocks away. My father-in-law remembered the area of that time, as a land of cherry orchards. In 1938, my own family was involved in the information technology of the day, as telegraphers. As Silicon Valley grew my family's information skill set evolved with it. My father, sister and myself were computer programmers.

I enjoyed biking over to photograph the restored HP garage that represents an important foundation of the Silicon Valley. I used Photoshop CS4 to alter that and other digital photos I’ve taken, to create my own 1938 vintage-style fruit crate label, honoring the birth of the Silicon Valley. All images are my own. I loved being able to honor the history of the valley by using the technology that it represents.

Tumbling Chips: Quilt within a Quilt Block , Contest Entry Silicon Valley fusionwearsv

I'm much taken by the spirit of modern day style, versus a vintage design. Here I was inspired by the much-loved 'tumbling blocks' quilt block, to create my own modern-day variation of silicon chips gone wild. These chips dance right out of their tidly-bordered frame. The well-behaved, neatly balanced background checkerboard of chips, is outraged by their bolder colleagues non-standard behavior.

Another one of my original designs for the Silicon Valley fusion wearsv contest.

I used Photoshop CS4 shapes, filters, drawing tools and line art tools, to compose a picture of a silicon chip, inspired by a real-world photograph.

Transformations: Quilt Block , Contest Entry Silicon Valley fusionwearsv

Some of the most beautiful aspects of writing code is the speedy multiplication and transformation of data. The programmer may start with one element, as I did here, with a picture I created representing one silicon chip. From there she goes on to replicate, concatenate and transform that one element into a thing of beauty.

I used Photoshop CS4 to draw one silicon chip. I duplicated that one chip many times to create a quilt background. I filtered that one background many times and then cut windows through each filtered transformation.

Please CLICK ON THIS IMAGE to see the nice detail in the design

Voting in the Silicon Valley Quilt Design Contest is on through June 11'th, 2010

Follow this link to VOTE

Contours: Quilt Block , Contest Entry Silicon Valley fusionwearsv

My Contours' quilt block, represents the beauty and excitement the programmer feels when she realizes her power to duplicate, concatenate and transform.

Sparked by the fusionwearsv contest, I created this piece in Photoshop CS 4, using a combination of contour filters worked against the melding of filtered and conglomerated chips, I created for the Transformations quilt block.

Please CLICK ON THIS IMAGE to see the nice detail in the design

Voting in the Silicon Valley Quilt Design Contest is through June 11'th, 2010

Please follow this link to VOTE

Time Travel: A Primer, Lesson 1

I finally learned how to time-travel, when I started singing in small community music concerts. Somewhere out in the ether where music is a tangible thing, I connect up with all those people who sang these things before me, and will sing them again.



The hard part is I still have to practice down here, outside of the ether.

Also I have to not muff up my entrances.

I photographed this moss and oak on a hike in the Mid-Penninsula Regional Open Space, San Mateo County, California. Please CLICK ON THE PHOTO for more detail.

Summer's on it's way

Yosemite: Time Travel

A sudden warm spell down here set me dreaming about going to Yosemite. I'd like to head back to Yosemite as it was at the time this postcard was printed. Then again I'm partial to being a woman in modern times.

I cleaned up, altered and matted this card using Photoshop CS4.

Long Time

O Jerusalem

Please CLICK ON THIS PICTURE and get a better view.

An altered detail from the original Free Library building, San Luis Oibspo CA.

My own photograph, Extracted and altered with Photoshop CS4.

My Favorite Chicken (Printable Luggage Tag)

This chicken is part of a flock of nine in my neighbor's yard. My little neighbor boy named her after me because we both have reddish hair.

Many days, my chicken namesake flies the coop and comes to spend the day in my yard. I save the tastier bits of my compost bowl for her.

CLICK on this tag to bring it up for printing. It PRINTS NICELY on a piece of postcard stock.

The wonderful vintage luggage tag background I used for this project is a free public download from the HauntingVisionsStock site. Thank you D-O-H!

Image created by altering my own photo in Photoshop CS4 with the "colored pencil" filter.

Poppies

Photoshop couldn't do anything that would improve these CA poppies.

These are blooming beneath my mailbox this morning.