Picture of the week

This time I'm cheating just a little bit and picking 4 pictures for this week. Since seeing a "tilt shift" photography exhibit at the memorial union I've been mildly curious about the art form.

Tilt shift photography uses a special lens to make it look like the pictures you've taken are of miniature models. But recently I ran across a website that produces the same effect from regular pictures.

http://tiltshiftmaker.com/

I tried a few, I think they turned out okay. It's something I'm sure I'll play around with more in the future. I think that the picture you start with goes a long way towards deciding how good the end result will be.

Haiku of the week

Had to get up early for work, so he tried to go to bed early. But his brain was not cooperating. So he drank a little beer, took an herbal sleep aid, and then took an over the counter sleep aid as well. He fell asleep reading Shriek: An Afterward. Though he is not proud, he does not apologize for the Haiku of the day.
fungi mold mushrooms
a door a glass a machine
dreaming Ambergris

Picture of the week.

And the canning continues...
This week was cranberries.

Haiku Thursday

Haiku Thursday (or in a pinch I reserve the right to substitute a kanji of the day)

red leaves scrattle on
sun washed pavement - clean and cold
seeds float on Fall's breath

rain.. rain... rain....

The weather has been insane. Everyone has flooding stories and pictures. Many of them tragic, nearly all of them amazing.

Today after the farmers market we took an excessively meandering route home and looked at some of the flooding. We took some pictures. But I'm afraid that Madison might not be done with the flooding, so I'm going to save those. Once we've dried out a bit, I'll put some of those together for a post.

But here are a few that are a little different.

We walked around Tenney Park, out on the dock, just barely above water, around the half submerged parking lot, along the stream flower over it's banks. When we got back around to the lake, we saw that people were swimming. Sarah said "ick".
I said "what, the lake isn't that bad"
"It is right now, there are raw sewage warnings because of the flooding"
"whaa? really? I didn't know that."
Sarah just tilts her head and gives me that look that signifies I've missed something obvious. I look around - sure enough - there are orange signs stapled everywhere, in both English and spanish, warning of raw sewage in the lake.

Sewage.... that's poop.
People poop.
Not just fish poop... people poop.




Recently, I found the time lapse setting on my digital camera. I've been over-using it a bit. And I've learned that most things filmed in time lapse are still just as boring... only a little faster.

But.... time lapse clouds are cool. I got this segment about 10 minutes before the hail started. The skys darkened, it poured, and the it started to lighten up, and then BAM!
Hail.




And here's a picture of our back patio shortly after the hail. It doesn't do it justive, it melted so fast. At the height the picnic table was mostly white with hail stones.

picture update

I haven't been so good at blogging.  One of my new years resolutions was to write more. 

And I've kept to that part, I'm writing daily.  Most of it just isn't stuff I feel like sharing with the world wife webs.

... 'cause y'all are bastard people.

But here are a few pictures to prove that I still love you... ..even if you are bastard people.

In April, Ashley rescued a bunny.  It was week and cold and we found the nest it came from.  But it was under a pile of brush that the city took away.  The others bunnies in the nest were dead.

We put it in a shoe box and fed and watered it.  It was obviously in shock, and maybe injured. 
.

It made it a couple days, but then died.  Quiet services were held.


We've only missed one Farmers Market since it opened.  This year we're trying to tak ethe whole "buy local" thing seriously.  We're trying to plan meals around what we can get at the market.  Sometimes it works... Sometimes it doesn't.

We got fresh asparagus early in the year.  Sarah found the recipe for asparagus soup. 




Unfortunately the recipe didn't include a reminder to put the lid on the blender.


In early May my bonsai tree bloomed.  Not a huge deal, but every year I get a little burst of joy anyway.





We tried Ian's pizza on state street for the first time.  Oh sweet lord, if you haven't tried it yet...  dooooooo  it!




Starting at the top...  That's a macaroni and cheese pizza alongside a philly cheese steak pizza.  Working clock-wise...   You've got a vegetable and squash alongside a veggie and portabella.  And at the bottom you've got another macaroni and cheese paired up with a chicken fettuccine alfredo pizza.

They were all good, but even a single slice would have been filling.  We over-did it.

My tiny little backyard shade garden is doing well this year.  The ferns are bigger, the jack-in-the pulpits are back...  And the beeding hearts bloomed early.



it's nice to be in love in the spring.




And finally... our most recent trip as a family to the farmers market.  This is just off the sqaure at the Chinese culture exhibit. 

Happy New Year