"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." Anais Nin

This was a gift to me from the Universe today. Hawks are very powerful symbols, and this beautiful being sat quietly within 20 feet of me while I took many pictures of him (as if sitting for a portrait !!?!) Magnificent. I am still moved by the encounter.

Posted by: brutallycurious at November 30, 2006 18:25 | link | comments (4)

the post of many ellipses

I've been doing this thing. This thing that seems silly and a little narcissistic....until it doesn't.  My mac came with a built-in camera and this software that mimics the old fashioned photo booths...called Photo Booth. Since I am always behind the camera and no one has yet offered to take portraits of me, I began taking my picture  for fun (and on good hair days!).

What I discovered is that I can play with lighting and composition using myself...and I make a patient and willing subject. I will admit even a laptop gets heavy when holding it up...but think about it. It's a  built in monitor pointing at the subject. I can take digital shots with the lens and the display pointing at the subject. How cool is that? A tool is only as humble as you make it....or as large as you allow it to be.

My first reaction is disdain at the quality of the picture...bad lighting, lack of color balance...but the creative answer is to embrace the flaws and find out what I can do with and around them.

But the next idea is this... I am creating this library of my face kinda like Chuck Close uses his own face as a subject in amazing ways. Self-portraits are nothing new....but this medium is. And there was this guy on the internet taking pictures of himself every day for six years...I don't think I want to do that.  I don't usually get inspired to create art as a cultural/technological statement...and yet that is what I am doing. I think I'll hang on to these pictures. Who knows...this software is probably spawning a whole generation of self-portraits. 

There are track lights in my kitchen and I walked around till I was getting this circular glare from them....

Posted by: brutallycurious at November 29, 2006 20:21 | link | comments (1)
art , photo booth

The mini-gallery in the living room. There are 3 more in the hallway, and 5 going up in the bedroom in addition to the pieces scattered here and there.

Posted by: brutallycurious at November 29, 2006 19:42 | link | comments (2)

okay, so the new coffee method..the Chemex "pourover" is cool. Yes, it takes time, but I find I'm able to do other things while it drips, unless I choose to stir it while it brews....this morning I did dishes and fixed breakfast between pours.
I have a method for keeping it warm, but honestly we drink it all before it cools and i will admit to nuking a cup if it gets cold. It is beautiful on my countertop, and isn't that what's it all about?

The last two months we've been adjusting to working from home together and I noticed something very palpable this week. We have put much time and thought into how our furniture looks and functions and how the rooms flow. The changes haven't been very big, but the effect has been tremendous. I don't have the desire to study feng shui, but I think we're pretty close to these principals. We both also are much more diligent with keeping things neat. I'm still a clutter-bug, but I confine it to certain parts of the house. I am amazed that we have created a serene and beatiful atmosphere...it wasn't hard, it just required some thought.

Over thanksgiving, we began to hang my work on the walls. We had a few pieces up, but now we have created whole walls of pictures. They look great and give the walls vitality. It also helps me get used to seeing my work on public display.

Posted by: brutallycurious at November 29, 2006 10:00 | link | comments (1)
art , coffee, space

Back in the Saddle again...

I closed the laptop and put the desktop to sleep last week and it was a wonderful break. I peeked a couple of times to browse toy sites for cool christmas presents, but that was it.

I shopped and cooked and lazed and slept and played games and yesterday allowed the christmas music to come alive again. Every year I choose one new christmas album.  This year, it's Bette Midler's COOL YULE.  It's very mellow and light.

My holidays are now more challenging with my food allergies.  No milk, butter, no wheat, no msg, no artificial ingredients, no liquid mono- and di- glycerides, no soy...you get the idea.  I am very grateful that gluten-free cooking has come as far as it has.  Just five years ago, there would have been only a few cookbooks to refer to, and little or no prepared foods on the store shelves.  For me now, I have bread mixes that turn out great, and I can either make a great piecrust or buy the mix at the store or online.  The caveat is that every item is two or three times as expensive as "normal" items.

But thanksgiving was yummy.  I made a turkey breast, white wine gravy (with cornstarch of course), pecan and apple pies, green beans (no casserole here).  Singing arrow made the sweet potato casserole from scratch, mashed potatoes and the cranberry sauce.  No mac and cheese or casseroles made with soup mix. But i have adjusted to these things. Miss Drama Queen, my 9 yr old, keeps feeling sorry for me that I can't have ice cream or pizza....each time I explain, but it's difficult for her to understand, that I  am grateful for all the things I can eat and don't dwell on the restrictions.

The highlight of the weekend was the coffee maker.  My auto-drip cheap imitation of a decent Krups has pretty much died, and in reading online reviews, the reviews on this model just blew the competition out of the water.  I have some experience with manual coffe makers, so I was familiar with the work involved.  It only took a few hours of contemplation and discussion with Singing Arrow to pull out the plastic and order one. It arrived Saturday morning.  So.....I have committed myself to a manual coffeemaker, and it's a committment. I married a glass carafe called a Chemex (awful name, but it does look like a lab beaker), to have and to hold until I'm tired or it's broken. It is a committment of time and presence and effort.  The manual coffee process takes about ten minutes of attention...can't just push the button on this one.  But the reward is amazing coffee, even when using substandard grocery store coffee. I'm not the type to roast my own beans, but I do think I will begin buying fair-trade roasted beans.  It seems like I find better prices online than in the local shops...although I would support the locals exclusively if I could afford.

So, for breakfast today I had orange juice, pecan pie and chemex coffee.  I got at least 3 food groups in there and a great sugar high.  Life is good.

Posted by: brutallycurious at November 27, 2006 11:29 | link | comments
coffee