24 October 2005

Behind the wheel


“The woods road.”






A blueberry factory building. Blue is a popular color for the industry in this neck of the woods.






This is just plain frightening.



I took these while driving to work this morning. My eyes never left the road. I place the camera on top of the wheel or on the window ledge and press the shutter release.

If anyone else in the whole wide world did this while driving I would be burned up about it. I am the exception.

I’m listening to Leo Kottke “Wheels” from: Chewing Pine

This cracks me up...

From the NWS:

FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT
HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING

Tonight...Rain likely this evening...Then rain after midnight. Lows around 40. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent.

Tuesday...Rain. Very windy with highs in the lower 40s. Northeast winds 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 60 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent.

Tuesday Night...Rain. Very windy with temperatures steady in the lower 40s. Northeast winds 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph in the evening...Becoming east and Decreasing to 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent.

Wednesday...Rain in the morning...Then rain likely in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 40s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90 percent.

I’m listening to Jonny LangStill Rainin’” from: Wander This World

Luncheon

I am at work taking my luncheon break. Not a term I use but the whole word from which lunch is derived. Many folks up here where I live call it dinner. Supper is for the evening meal. I like colloquialisms. I think we need them. If we all get washed out like the evening news newscasters we lose sight of the richness of being alive.

Take for instance soda; pop; tonic; softdrink, coke, sodapop, etc. I have lived in places where the locals said pop and where the locals said soda. I have become a soda sayer, myself. The "when in Rome" phenomena, I suppose.

I grew up saying pop. I like it. It describes the sound plucking the cap off the bottle made. POP!

I had a friend in Boston who called pop, tonic. All of it. Not just tonic water.

Here, the people around me call it soda. And I've never heard anyone around me actually order soda water. Not once.


Check this out for more on the POP vs. SODA debate
http://www.popvssoda.com/

23 October 2005

Did I say raining?

I woke up at 3:40AM or so and it was raining. It is now 1:40PM and it is still raining. 1.14" to be exact.

I have been to the town dump. It was raining.

I went to a nearby pond to have a looksee and it was raining.

I made a few cards while it rained.




I am going to go make a chocolate/cherry smoothie as it rains.
Here’s the recipe for the smoothie:

½ cup soymilk
4 teaspoons macadamia nut butter (I find this unbelievably tasty!)
1 oz. Designer Whey Protein powder
1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (I use a non-alcohol based product)
6 drops whole leaf stevia concentrate
1 tablespoon apple fiber powder
1 tablespoon lecithin granules
1/3 ripe, frozen banana
1
½ cups frozen, unsweetened cherries

Add ingredients to blender. Blend. Serve. Enjoy
This recipe was adapted from “The Soy Zone” which I imagine for some, may be as foreign as if they had traveled to the Twilight Zone.

22 October 2005

10/22 5:52 22°

It’s cold out this morning, folks. The water for my tea is just about to boil. I can hear the pitch of the gas change as the glass pot changes temperature.
icon
(When engrossed at my desk I sometimes use Tea Timer, a nifty, freeware program written by Dr. Herwig Henseler, I use the “for Lefties” version!)

The image “http://www.coffeeforless.com/images/uploads/main/bigconstantcomment.gif” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.Constant Comment® again for me this morning. It’s an oats-for-breakfast morning. I am already fully dressed for work today but then I’m covered in a long, bright red fleece robe. SV & NV gave it to me several years ago. I rarely wore it because Willow shed so remarkably that the robe was always covered in white fur. And fleece never lets go. Without Will in the house I can wear the robe. I had thought of giving the robe away but never did. Now I’m glad of that. The 30 year old, State-o-Maine, blue velour robe that SV gave me, officially died this year. The shoulder split open, the loops for the sash belt ripped out, leaving forearm-sized gapes up the side. I cut it up with the idea I might make a pillow out of what’s left of it. So lovely a color, and so soft a fabric. Pure cotton.

I do not want to turn the heater on as the cost of propane is going up and I just don’t feel like starting a wood fire yet. I seem to have some unspoken goal this year to wait until November to use the wood.


Photo taken from a BBC review
After work, MH and I are going to see the Wallace and Gromit “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” movie. Looking forward. I could use the laughs.

More rain coming tomorrow. This from the National Weather Service: Sunday...Rain. Rain may be heavy at times in the morning. Windy with highs in the mid 40s. Northeast winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent. Additionally:
GALE WARNING IN EFFECT SUNDAY MORNING

21 October 2005

38° 29.84 inHg and steady

It has been a fascinating day. So sayeth Spock.

It was only 25° when I got up.

I woke up much later than usual. Around 6:30. Didn't have to go to work and spent much of the day on the computer: Looking at art, emailing some amazing life stories with a new friend. Did a couple of loads of laundry.

I bought a box of Constant Comment® tea last night. Haven't had it in years. I was tired of yerba maté and decaf coffee. I made cinnamon toast and sipped tea.
(Studies are confirming that as little as ¼ teaspoon a day of cinnamon can bring a drop in glucose and cholesterol levels by as much as 30%. It works by promoting insulin sensitivity, which can help prevent type 2 diabetes.)
This is not why I bought the tea or ate the toast. I just wanted them. I already take the cinnamon every day. Usually in my morning smoothie or whole oats.

I eventually made my way out doors. A gorgeous autumn day. Clear blue skies (finally, but only through tomorrow and then we are expecting to get soaked again). Birds were abundant. My pleasure. I would rather stay home and watch the birds and whatever else might happen in my dooryard and the fields beyond than go just about anywhere. I mean sure, I get out and I get stir crazy (like I did last week, had to take a road trip (which I still haven't posted a thing about).

(My back is killing me! I have a couch and one chair in this house. The chair sucks! I really need to invest in getting a chair that I can be comfortable sitting in. This is plain dumb!)

I looked out the window earlier today and saw a small herd of deer, including the albino that LS told me about. Clear as the proverbial bell. If I was a hunter I could have taken aim and shot it right in its pure white flank. Then the herd moved slowly out from behind the trees. It was no herd of deer at all. It was Mr. Havey in his tractor mowing the fields. I would have either killed him or wrecked his tractor! Either way I suspect he would not have been happy. Although little seems to rattle the man.














Mr. Havey


When I got back from my walk across the fields to talk with him about mowing my field I sat in the sun for awhile. I pulled the chair right over to the bird feeder.
















I was holding the camera in my right hand.



Around 5:00 My neighbor PS called to see if I wanted help picking up the hay piled up across the road from some good friends. Several people on the road buy 100 bales or so from a co-op. I use it to bank my house from the c-c-c-old. It takes 27 bales to do the whole house, minus the south facing side. I never need any there.

While I was doing the banking I was temporarily taken down by a huge wave of sorrow. My sweet Toe cat used to love to be with me when I did this job. And when it was done she used the bales as a trail around the house. She would park her little butt on them and soak up the sun.

You can see her doing just that a few days before she died, at the ripe old age of 17. Sweet little Toady.

I gotta get outa this chair. Now.

Narcissus

Narcissus

Narcissus
This is a self portrait I took a week ago today. I am gazing into a tidal pool. I inadvertantly had my camera's light meter set for incandescent light. Dang. All photos from that day were far too blue so I turned this one B & W.

Here is a list of all my tunes with "blue" as part of the name:
A Man and the Blues: Buddy Guy
A Shot of Rhythm and Blues: The Beatles
A Spoonful Blues: Charley Patton
Afro Blue: Candido
Afro Blues: Arthur Lyman
Almost Blue: Diana Krall
Already Gone (Flatfoot Blues): Chris Smither
Am I Blue?: Ethel Waters
Am I Too Blue: Lucinda Williams
Are You Blue: Hiroaki Honshuku
Aunt Hagar’s Blues: The Virginians (under the direction of Ross Gorman)
Bartender’s Blues: Lannie Garrett
Basin Street Blues: Woody Herman and the Swingin’ Herd
Batman Blues: Nelson Riddle & The Original TV Cast
Bean Vine Blues #2: John Fahey
Bean Vine Blues: Featuring Blind Joe Death & Blind Thomas Curtis: John Fahey
Beginning; Wind Journey I; Blue Moon; Dream Lines: Erik Wøllo
Bell Bottom Blues: Derek & The Dominos
Betty’s Blues: Nick Drake
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Los Admiradores
Beyond the Blue Horizon: Hugo Winterhalter’s Orchestra & Chorus
Beyond the Blue Horizon: Morton Gould and His Orchestra
Big City Blues: Morton Gould
Big Red Sun Blues: Lucinda Williams
Birth of the Blues: Los Admiradores
Birth of the Blues: Morton Gould
Birthday Blues: Bert Jansch
Black Mountain Blues: Nick Drake
Blue: Joni Mitchell
Blue: Sarah McLachlan
Blue Angel: Roy Orbison
Blue Ballet: Anne Bourne
Blue Bayou: Roy Orbison
Blue Bell: Albert Benzler & Frederick W. Hager
Blue Boy: Joni Mitchell
Blue Devils: Andy Loore
Blue Dirge: Candido
Blue Dot: Leo Kottke
Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain: Willie Nelson
Blue Hawaii: Annette Funicello
Blue Hawaii: Billy Mure
Blue Haze: Ishq
Blue Heron: Meditation Music
Blue Hotel: Chris Isaak
Blue Jay A: Nature
Blue Jay B: Nature
Blue Jay Way: The Beatles
Blue Jean: David Bowie
Blue Jungle: Les Baxter
Blue Letter: Fleetwood Mac
Blue Lou: Candido
Blue Mass: Cloud Chamber
Blue Moon: Buck Clayton
Blue Moon: Los Admiradores
Blue Moon of Kentucky (Single): Elvis Presley
Blue Motel Room: Joni Mitchell
Blue Mountain: Erik Wøllo
Blue Mountain (Remix): Erik Wøllo
Blue Odyssey: Meadowlark
Blue Orchids: Rene Paulo
Blue Passage (Ceramic Theme): Erik Wøllo
Blue Prelude: Candido
Blue Prelude: Featuring Tom Hobson: Jorma Kaukonen
Blue River: Eric Andersen
Blue Room: Enoch Light
Blue Sax: Bob Mersey
Blue Skies: BT/Tori Amos
Blue Sky: The Allman Brothers Band
Blue Sky: Erik Wøllo
Blue Smoke: Garnet Rogers
Blue Tango: The Three Suns
Blue Topaz: Moodswings
Blue Turns to Grey: The Rolling Stones
Blue Velvet: Bobby Vinton
Blue Velvet: Pete Drake
Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern): Featuring Bob Dorough: Miles Davis
Blue Yodel No. 1: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Blue Yodel No. 1 (T for Texas): Jimmie Rodgers
Blue, Blue, Blue: Russ Garcia
Blueberry Hill: Bruce Cockburn
Blueberry Hill: Fats Domino
Bluebird: Paul McCartney & Wings
Blues: Bert Jansch
Blues for Joe: Fred Karlin
Blues Groove: Woody Herman and the Swingin’ Herd
Blues in the Night: Morton Gould
Blues Palace: John Gorka
Blues Power: Eric Clapton
Blues Run the Game: Nick Drake
Blues Run the Game: Nick Drake
Blues Run the Game: Nick Drake
Blues Serenade: Enoch Light
Blueshift (Excerpt): Redshift
Born to Be Blue: Judy Roberts
Bottleneck Blues: Featuring Blind Joe Death: John Fahey
Brenda’s Blues: John Fahey
Buried in Blue: Harry Connick, Jr.
Busy Being Blue: k.d. lang
Campus Blues: Harvey Mandel
Can’t Shake These Blues: Chris Smither
Car Carrier Blues: Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon
Caribbean Blue: Enya
Catfish Blues: Buddy Guy & Junior Wells
Catfish Blues: Ian & Sylvia
Chase the Blues Away: Tim Buckley
Chicago Blues: Sidney Maiden & K.C. Douglas
Clear Blue: Lanterna
Clear Blue: Lanterna
Cocaine Blues: Nick Drake
Cocaine Blues: Nick Drake
Cocaine Blues: Nick Drake
Cocaine Blues (Live): Johnny Cash
Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire: Joni Mitchell
Confessin’ the Blues: The Rolling Stones
Courting Blues: Nick Drake
Courting Blues: Nick Drake
Courting Blues: Nick Drake
Crescent City Blues: Beverly Mahr
Crystal Blue Persuasion: The Dave Pell Singers
Dark-Eyed Blue Jean Angel: Donovan
Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers
Desperate Man Blues: John Fahey
Dope Head Blues: Victoria Spivey
Dupree Blues: Woody Herman and the Swingin’ Herd
Eastern Bluebird: Nature
Easy Rider Blues: Soileau & Robin
Eskimo Blue Day: Jefferson Airplane
Every Day I Have the Blues: Woody Herman and the Swingin’ Herd
Everybody’s Blues: Lucille Hegamin
Famous Blue Raincoat: Jennifer Warnes
Famous Blue Raincoat: Leonard Cohen
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue: The Phantom
For You Blue: The Beatles
For You Blue: The Beatles
Furry Sings the Blues: Joni Mitchell
Furry Sings the Blues: Joni Mitchell
Furry Sings the Blues: Joni Mitchell
Furry Sings the Blues: Joni Mitchell
Give It Up Daddy Blues: Albinia Jones
Glacier Blue (Excerpt): Erik Wøllo
Goin’ Mad Blues: John Lee Hooker
Golden Serpent Blues: Bruce Cockburn
Good Morning Blues (Take A): Count Basie & His Orchestra
Great Blue Heron: Nature
Happier Blue: Chris Smither
Happy Good Morning Blues: Bruce Cockburn
Here Comes the Blues: Nick Drake
Here Comes the Blues: Nick Drake
Here Comes the Blues: Nick Drake
Hesitation Blues: Hot Tuna
High Pocket Blues: Kenyon Hopkins
Hobo’s Blues: Paul Simon
Hong Kong Blues: Hoagy Carmichael
Honky Tonk Blues: Hank Williams
Honky Tonk Hangover Blues: Jack Hardy
House of Blue Leaves: Moby
How Long Blues: Hot Tuna
Hula Blues (2nd Version): Sol Hoopii
I Can’t Quit the Blues: Buddy Guy
I’m in Love with a Big Blue Frog: Peter, Paul & Mary
I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes: The Carter Family
Incandescent Blue: Bruce Cockburn
Into the Blue (Vocal Remix): Moodswings
Invitation to the Blues: Lannie Garrett
Is the Grass Any Bluer: Rhonda Vincent
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue: Bob Dylan
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue: Joni Mitchell
Joe Kirby Blues: John Fahey
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues: Bob Dylan
Killin’ the Blues: Chris Smither
Killin’ the Blues: Chris Smither
Knoxville Blues: John Fahey
Lewisdale Blues: Featuring Nancy Mclean: John Fahey
Limehouse Blues: Morton Gould
Limehouse Blues Medley: Rudy Rosa
Little Blue Man: Betty Johnson
Lonesome Road Blues: The Blue Ridge Duo (Gene Austin & George Reneau)
Lonesome Yodel Blues: The Delmore Brothers
Lost Lover Blues: Lottie Kimbrough & Winston Hol
Love Is Blue: Enoch Light
Love Is Blue: Enoch Light
Lovesick Blues: Emmett Miller
Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues: The Beatles
Mariachi Blues: Living Brass
Marlborough Street Blues: Ian & Sylvia
Maude’s Blues: Ian & Sylvia
Mean Woman Blues: Roy Orbison
Medley: in the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down); You Nearly Lose Your Mind; Blues Stay Away From Me: k.d. lang
Medley: Rip It Up; Shake, Rattle and Roll; Blue Suede Shoes: The Beatles
Midnight Blue: Melissa Manchester
Minglewood Blues: Cannon’s Jug Stompers
Motel Blues: Loudon Wainwright III
Mule Skinner Blues: Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
My Beautiful Blue Sky: Moby
Old Blue: Ian & Sylvia
On Doing an Evil Deed Blues: John Fahey
Once Blue: Sense
Once in a Very Blue Moon: Mary Black
One-Dime Blues: Etta Baker
Out of the Blue: George Harrison
Outlaw Blues: Bob Dylan
Painting the Town Blue: Russ Garcia
Paranoia Blues: Paul Simon
Phonograph Blues: Robert Johnson
Pinetops Blues: Woody Herman and the Swingin’ Herd
Plains (Eastern Montana Blues): George Winston
Police Dog Blues: Jorma Kaukonen
Poor Boy Blues: Featuring Chet Atkins: Mark Knopfler
Portrait (Out of the Blue): Enya
Portrait in Blue: Tak Shindo
Powder Blue Mercedes Queen: Paul Revere & The Raiders
Red Green Blue (Edit): High Skies (Mat Jarvis)
Roses Blue: Joni Mitchell
Shades of Blue: Hans Christian
Silvertown Blues: Mark Knopfler
Singin’ the Blues: Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra
Skyblue: Ishq
Slave to the Blues: Ma Rainey
Sligo River Blues: John Fahey
Softly,but Blue: Candido
St. Louis Blues: Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
St. Louis Blues: Morton Gould
Stack O Lee Blues: Mississippi John Hurt
Standin’ on the Corner (Blue Y: Jimmie Rogers
Statesboro Blues: Blind Willie McTell
Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again: Bob Dylan
Subterranean Homesick Blues: Bob Dylan
Summertime Blues: Eddie Cochran
Sun Gonna Shine in My Back Door Blues: John Fahey
Sunflower River Blues: John Fahey
Sunflower River Blues: John Fahey
Sunflower River Blues: John Fahey
Tangled Up in Blue: Bob Dylan
Tennessee Homesick Blues (Single): Dolly Parton
The Bluebery Shuffle: Douglas Wood
The Blues Got the World...: Bruce Cockburn
The Grass Is Blue: Dolly Parton
The Lady Is Blue: Les Baxter
The Moon Is Blue: Frank Comstock
The St. Louis Blues: Frank Ferera & John Paaluhi
The Tapioca Pudding Blues (The Duke of Mook) : Uncle Neptune
Tombstone Blues: Bob Dylan
Uncle Sam Blues: Hot Tuna
Ventilator Blues: The Rolling Stones
Viola Lee Blues: Cannon’s Jug Stompers
Walkin’ with My Blues: Jack Hardy
Warning: Live Blueberries: Lalo Schifrin
Way to Blue: Nick Drake
Wayward Girl Blues: Lottie Kimbrough
Whistling the Blues Away: Featuring Whistling by Carson Robison: Wendall Hall
Why Is the Sky Blue?: Marais & Miranda
Winin’ Boy Blues: Hot Tuna
Wolverine Blues: Benny Goodman
Worried Blues: John Fahey
Worried Devil Blues: Tampa Red
Yer Blues: The Beatles
Yodeling Fiddling Blues: Mississippi Sheiks
Young Girl Sunday Blues: Jefferson Airplane
I'm listening to Bertha Lee "Yellow Bee" from: The Public Domain

19 October 2005

Whatzina name?

I bought a car recently. I did my homework. I corresponded with many dealerships. Mere moments ago I got an email from one wondering if I had purchased a car yet.

This is (part of) the email address: swindle@patxxxx.dealerspace.com

Now I ask, would you buy a car from them?

fingerlings
I swear on the eyes of these organic fingerling potatoes this is true.

11 October 2005

maze of the morning


I woke up at 4:00. I love the quiet. I just wish I had echolocation abilities like a bat. I don't like turning on all the lights this time of day. I'd rather let my eyes adjust. I like to watch the light rise on its own without the harshness of electricity. But I am too apt to bump into things in the house. So, on the lights go.

I am enjoying a warm cup of yerba maté (Ilex Paraguariensis). The word "maté" derives from the quichua word "matí" which I understand to mean a glass or cup but has come to name the gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) from which the drink is traditionally slurped. I want to get one and also the bombilla used for slurping. Every time I think of it I talk myself out of spending the bucks as I have a cupboard full of, well, cups. And I have two good lips that slurp from said cups just fine. (I ought to write about slurping vs. lapping sometime. Think giraffe and wolf.)

I find great appeal in the whole idea of the ritualized process. The paraphernalia to go with it probably reminds me of my twenty's when I was using other sorts of paraphernalia.

Great word. I have to go look it up...great word, not so great sexist culture from whence it came! Paraphernalia (para: beyond; pherne: dowry) is that stuff I would have been allowed by law to call my own after being married off to a husband. All the property I came to the marriage with was vested in him. The paraphernalia are the tidbits I get to call my own. Thank you very much.

I may just have to get that maté and bombilla just to assert my right to self determination!

Life is so daedal. No?

As I sit here typing I can hear a rodent chewing or digging away inside the casing to my door. Jeez. They must have all gone "up" to get out of the standing water everywhere.

I have finished my beverage and can now see past what a half hour ago was reflective black glass, out into the field as the sun rises (even if it is not visible due to the heavy cloud cover). Time to sign off.

The image is the collage I made this weekend.

Holy moly! Just this second: 6:43 am I heard two shots. I forgot it was opening day of hunting season. Dangnabbit! Two more shots.

Back to the image. It is the first collage I made purely digitally. It is called "Yen"

10 October 2005

More?

Tonight...Rain this evening...Then rain likely after midnight. Chance of rain 90 percent. Wow!

On the drive to MH's house I passed over or along several rivers and streams. They were positively boiling! Quite lovely and amazing. I wished I had grabbed my camera before I left so I could have taken a few shots.

I keep trying to remember that when I leave the house, no matter where I might be going, I should grab a "leaving the house" kit of sorts. GPS, camera, binoculars, snacks. But I never remember and then I always wish I had at least one of those items.

MH gave me a gift from her trip to Ireland. She asked what I wanted and I got just that: a newspaper and some stamps. For my collages. Next time I'll ask for a magazine not a newspaper. Newspapers rot too fast.

Oh, for the hordes of you tracking this blog, have a look once in awhile over at Maine Nature News. I am a regular contributor there.


I'm listening to More by Arthur Lyman from Polynesia

Holiday off

I have been up since 4:30. I was going to take a nap soon (I was a cat in a previous life, no doubt) but I have just been invited to visit a friend who called me back to say I didn't have to come because two other friends were coming to visit her. I said I'd be there.

Harumpf.

It is still raining. Drizzling, really. Everything in the house is damp. I have finally done up all the dishes. And now I will drive 45 minutes one way to visit a friend for the spite of it!

09 October 2005

Raining


It is pouring!

Flood warnings are out across the county. I totally dig it. Not the flooding, the rain. If it was warmer out I'd be in it. The tree tops are swaying and what was beginning as pretty good autumnal color has been blown away. Still OK with me. I love the drama of the undulating tree limbs.

I am a National Weather Service weather spotter. This means I have a secret number to the NWS and can call them 24/7 to tell them amout localized weather conditions. They already know it's raining. I didn't tell them that. I did tell them the stream behind the house is flooded over its banks and that we have had 6.73 inches of rain since it began on Friday.

This is what Alberta, mother of Jane, would call a toadie strangler! Indeed.

I'm listening to: Why Is It Raining Raindrops? from Ballads for the Age of Science: Experiment Songs sung by Dorothy Collins

08 October 2005

My back hurts and so do radios wave

Have I become one of those pasty computer nerds sitting hunched in my house tap tap tapping out on a keyboard the miscellaneous ramblings in my head?

Oh well.

I think I shall use this space to post the images I make. And to ask your impressions in return.

Who nose. Or is it "whose nos?" They must be mine. Who else is here? So, I am not alone. Who else is here, too.

Like I said. My back hurts.