The next leg of the trip

The second leg of our was from the Redwood forests to the Gulf stream waters (name that tune) consisted of driving down the California coast. No real hardship here.

A friend of ours told us that if we planned to go down the coast we absolutely must see Ferndale, California. He said that it was this little town south of Eureka that was full of Victorian houses and buildings. We thought; "what the hell, we've got time." Having driven pretty much all over the United States (with the exception of the Northeast and by god I plan to get there as soon as possible) we had seen our share of Victorian houses but he insisted that we must see the "old" houses. In the West nothing is really that old. A hundred years is old to them. I guess it is all relative. If you are born and raised in the western states old is anything between 1870 to 1920. The further east you go old can be any time before 1870.

Anyway we decided to take the little detour off Highway 101 to see the "old" houses. Notice the lack of "old" house photos. We weren't really impressed. It was sort of touristy and to tell you the truth we see Victorian houses every time we drive to our friend's house in Galveston. What really caught our eye was their cemetery. Most of you know what a freak I am for a cemetery and the older the better. This one was interesting because it was built/dug/arranged (not sure what to call it) on the side of a very steep slope. It was impressive.

 

This photo seriously does not do it justice.  It was a terraced masterpiece. JR and I wandered about taking photos, reading headstones, weeping inside for the tiniest of them and learning what we could about the cemetery. Turns out that this 5 acre piece of land was considered un-buildable back in the day so whoever owned it gave it to the town for a cemetery. Now days this would be considered prime real estate. The views of the valley below are extraordinary.

After leaving the cemetery we could have back tracked to the highway or we could take this little loop road, emphasis on little. We chose the loop road. Instead of taking 35 minutes to get back to Hwy 101 it took 3 1/2 hours. Turns out the little loop road is mostly one lane that goes to the top of the mountains (instead of a through pass) down to about the sea then back through the mountains again. Worth every minute!!!

Even the part where we had to cross a one lane bridge in the little town of Honeydew, where the locals seem to think that this is some sort of sport. It seems that in the evenings they entertain themselves by sitting on the sides of the bridge drinking beer and watching vehicles cross the bridge. We were surprised by the number of cars and trucks that actually cross this bridge so maybe there is something worth watching. The whole thing had a sort of "Deliverance" feel to it. Still, worth it!

We finally made it back to the highway and headed further south. We crossed back over the mountains, again, that run along the California coast to Highway 1 and ran right into this:

 Still, worth it!
After an over night, lots of stops for photos and food we eventually we got to here:

And all was right with the world.

Next stop Reno, Nevada.

Love,
M

Way back when - Spin Cycle

You know if I get a free Spin I have to use it to talk about old crap I've got around my house right?

Like I really need an excuse but 

Thanks Jen!

Way back before VCR, DVD players or all the cool audio/video toys we have now this was cool.

A View Master

It was very cool. 

And, we all had them. 

Though I have to admit I was as 'uptown' as JR because I didn't have the battery powered thingy to provide light on a rainy day or nighttime.

For those of you that are not acquainted with this device let me give instruction on it's usage, so you slip the disk of film into the slot at the top. Hold it up to your eyes, face some sort of light source and magically (or not) you saw the image. To change the picture you pressed down on the lever on the side. Sometimes the lever didn't advance the slide so you would have to keep pressing down on it. Get a roomful of kids pressing down levers and you can bet a migraine was in the making. No wonder parents felt fine leaving their children alone with these things. 

This is wasn't a new concept. It was really a high tech form of the old magic lantern from the 19th century. 

And, just like the magic lantern of the past this toy could take you to places and events that you wouldn't be able to go to before.

There were stories on these disks of film.

And, everyone got into the act. 

It was cool for it's day.

Isn't it amazing how technology has evolved? 

For good or for bad.

Thanks for letting me share my old stuff and go visit Jen and the gang. 

Also, go see what I brought home from New Orleans for my friend Sher.

Peace,

M

And now for something completely different

So yesterday was really dramatic and a lot of work. That whole 2 day post took over a month to write, rewrite and rewrite again.

Personally, for someone as lazy as I am this was exhausting. 

Way too exhausting for me to continue for any length of time. 

That means that today you get pictures of flowers. 

And porches. 

And rocking chairs.

While I recover. 

Talk among yourselves.

Love,

M

Hey Buddy, ya got an extra 100 for souvenirs?

Have I confessed my love of buying souvenirs? 

No? 

Uh Yeah, well, I have one. 

Every trip I go on I bring home a little something for my family and my staff.

Let's see, when I was at the Library of Congress I brought home T-shirts for the boys, ink pens for my FTE staff and pencils for the student workers.

The Raleigh trip I brought home T-shirts for the boys and little tiny baseball bat keyrings for my staff. 

The list goes on.

Here is some of the loot that I brought home from Ottawa. 

I brought home lots of maple syrup. The little 3 pack I gave to my staff. The big maple leaf shaped one is for the family. Maybe pancakes for dinner tonight? JR and Candace are big sweet eaters so the maple candy is just for them. JR is a big salmon fan. So the pate is for him. 

I added some things to our various collections. Remember the artist I flirted with chatted it up with? The two big pieces are his. The skaters on the canal is an original watercolour, the other is a limited print. Good thing the new place has a lot of wall space.

I collect postcards. I justify my postcard collection by saying that it takes up very little space and I'm honoring a tradition that JR's grandparents started in the early 1900s. That's my story anyway. 

The blue native looking thing is a ceramic tile. JR and I collect these together. We have tiles from all over the United States so it is fun to pick up something from outside of the U.S. I think this makes about 15 or so.

The pin and the earrings are for me. I have what some would call an unhealthy attraction to earrings. I'm not even sure how many pairs I have. 

Not shown is the beaver dressed like a Mounty. I could resist. Sher said I had to get at least one beaver dressed like a Mounty and I did. 


I'm leaving for New Orleans tomorrow morning. Who knows what I'll pick up there.


Love,
M

How-to: canvas photo prints

Earlier this week I mentioned that I was planning a post about how to make your own canvas prints. So I've put it all together. 

Supplies 

Canvas printer paper

stretcher bars or unfinished frames

Staple gun

Staples

Image sized for printing

Image: This is one of my favorite photos of JR. We had gone hiking in Tuscon, Arizona in early spring. I think it was February or March. We had had a large snowfall in the mountains that year and the run off was high. Usually, this river (yes, I know it looks like a creek but it is a river) is dry. It is only during the run off season that it has water.

Resize: You will want to print the image to fit the whole paper size. I had 8.5 X 11 canvas paper. 

 

Paper: You can buy several sizes of paper. I found mine at Michael's but when I went to there the other day they didn't have it. After a quick check online I found that this paper can be picked up at Amazon. Not only does Amazon carry it in a larger size but they have it in rolls. So if you have access to a roll/plotter printer you can do much larger sizes.

Print your image: This probably doesn't need an explanation. You know how to use your own printer but here's what mine looked like printed out. I'm not sure you can see it but is has that canvas grain texture going.

 
Unfinished frames or stretcher bars: I couldn't find stretcher bars small enough at my Michaels craft store and I didn't want to drive to the art supply store. What I did find was these small unfinished frames. With some careful measuring I figured out that the 8.5 x 11 paper was going to wrap around them just perfectly. Best of all they only cost $1 each. 

Stapler: You will want to use a heavy duty stapler but it doesn't have to be a construction one. Let's say more than your desk stapler but less than a pneumatic nailer. In my case the stapler was easy to find. It was the staples that were hard. You would think that they would be found with the stapler but I guess in our house you would be wrong. Thank heavens the stapler had some staples in it already.

 

Now, to put it together: Place on the printed canvas. Making sure that the focus of the image is positioned the way you want it. 

Fold up the middle of the canvas on one end; staple. Fold up the middle of the canvas on the opposite side; pull as tight as you can; staple. Continue until all four sides are pulled tight and stapled.

Now, tackle the corners. Pull and fold until you get as even a fold as possible. Don't freak if it's not perfect. Really, no one will see it.

Finish folding and stapling all four corners before you pull and staple the rest of the canvas. 

Turn the photo up one it's sides the press against a hard surface. You are trying to crease the canvas over the frame. 

Then you are done.

See? That wasn't so hard. I plan to make three more of my family including the dogs to hang in my new office. 

Love,
M

4th exciting episode of "Student Writer at Work"

If you haven't followed the hilarious saga of my student worker writing titles and descriptions for some of our materials you really must check them out. 

1st episode

2nd episode

3rd episode

Background Info:

I put a twenty-something intern in charge of writing titles and descriptions for some images that we were going to put up online at the end of this month. I give him the same instructions and training that I give everyone that will be writing "metadata" for us. These instructions usually include the words: "describe and title the item as you see it and be creative. Just not too creative because we don't want to offend anyone that might be still alive or make the university look bad."
No one to date has had a problem with these instructions.

Until now:

Title: Looking Good

Description: Picture of a famous man.

Really? Do any of you recognize this man? Seriously? I've never seen him before. To me he looks more important and less famous but what do I know.

Title: First ID Slides

Description: One of the first (and worst) ID slides on first ETV station included dim view of Ezekiel Cullen Building, lower left, where KHUT studio was located in former radio studios in attic.

There is so much wrong with this I can't even begin. The worst? In who's opinion? In 1953 television wasn't very sophisticated so it is little wonder that the slides were basic. The station wasn't really in the attic, it was more on the top floor. He got one thing right...that is the E. Cullen Building.

 Title: Mr. Rogers

Description: A mathematician (supposedly Mr Rogers) demonstrating his knowledge to the audience.

Uh..Yeah.  Number one; I don't think this is Fred Rogers. This man's name could be Mr. Rogers but he doesn't look like THE Mr. Rogers. Number two; this was an educational television station. This gentleman could very possibly taping a segment for a math course. But nice try.

Title: Taking it back
Description: KUHT filming a in a old western cowboy setting.

The description is not half bad but how does the title relate?

 Title: The Sailor
Description: A Sailor and his partner posing for the camera.
This one could have been much worse.

 Title: Snack Time
Description: The KUHT staff enjoying a nice snack.
There is nothing like a nice snack with the crew.

That's all the time we have folks. See you around for another exciting episode of "Student Writer at Work". Same Bat time, same Bat station.

Love,

M

PS: I'm heading to Portland, Oregon later today and I'm not taking my computer *horror*. I am taking my camera so be afraid, be very afraid. I'll be around to visit sometime next week. 

Another exciting episode of "student writer at work"

Remember a few weeks ago I posted the titles and descriptions of images that our clever and interesting student worker wrote? 

Remember how funny they were? 

I only was able to post a fraction of his work. 

He was amazingly prolific.

At the time I just didn't think that you would want to read through all 263 titles and descriptions all at once. 

One can only take so much funny sarcastic in one sitting.

Or maybe not.

Title: Tele-Auction

Description: Auctioning off bullet pullers, wigs, cassettes, dancing lessons, etc. with Paul Boesch. And proving that PJN will do almost anything for Channel 8.
I'm pretty sure the PJN and Paul Boesch didn't consider their work as whoring for the TV station like this description implies.

Title: Take  #...

Description: A photograph shot pre-emptively before the filming of a show.

Pre-emptively? Really? Is that the correct word for what he saw in this photograph?

Let's look at the definition of that word.

pre·emp·tive or pre-emp·tive  (pr-mptv)

adj.

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of preemption.

2. Having or granted by the right of preemption.

3.

a. Relating to or constituting a military strike made so as to gain the advantage when an enemy strike is believed to be imminent: a preemptive nuclear attack.

b. Undertaken or initiated to deter or prevent an anticipated, usually unpleasant situation or occurrence: The two companies organized a preemptive alliance against a possible takeover by another firm.

4. Having or marked by the power to preempt or take precedence: a preemptive business offer; preemptive authority.

5. Games Relating to or being a bid in bridge at a high level that is intended to interfere with the opponents' bidding.

Can he really tell from this photo that this was a 'military strike made so as to gain the advantage'? Or a 'something that was undertaken to prevent something unpleasant'? It looks more like 'a woman sitting on the set' or 'cameramen filming a woman on set' to me

 

Title: Starting early

Description: A photograph showing a child maning one of the television recording camera.

This one could have been a whole lot worse. 

Title: Mud shot

Description: Picture of a young woman in the middle of filming.

 Mud shot? Is that an industry term I'm not familiar with?

Title: Working hard or hardly working?

Description: 1st Video tape recorder Arriving.

The title kills me. 

One last title and description by our crackerjack student

Title: Age has nothing to do with it.

Description: A photograph of Dr. Hubertus Strughold, Paige Keetan, and Dr. John Meaney.

How he thought this title was going to work is beyond me.

Stay tuned for more mocking titles and descriptions with "student writer at work".

Love,

M

RTT - New Years Resolutions

I was never really big on New Years resolutions and as I get older I'm even less so. Evidenced by the lack of post from last year one comes to that conclusion very quickly. With all that said (and not very well I might add. Hey, it's 5:34 am. The old synapses just aren't firing yet) I'll give you a random few that even I think I can keep. So while, this post is not completely random, so shouldn't really qualify as a Random Tuesday Thoughts post, I'm going to call it one because that in and of itself is random. (There! justification for the day is done. I'm feeling so much better)

1. Random Tuesday Thoughts. Keely hosts this weekly gather all your thoughts up, toss them into the internet, mix well and voila you are done fun fest. This I can do or at least attempt to do. I think my success rate is about 90%. That is almost as good as my shower rate. TMI, sorry.

2. Eat fruit. Yeah, I know.....this one is going to be a hard one. I like to challenge myself every once in awhile. I'm nothing if not challenging. Oh wait, that didn't come out right.

These luscious raspberries were sitting out in the cold at the Seattle Pike Place market. Somehow, I doubt that they were locally grown. Maybe it was the 30 degree temperatures, or the snow on the ground, or the years of experience picking berries as a child laborer in the summer (money for those cool I've-got-to-have-them-or-I'm-going-to-die bell-bottoms when I was 13 didn't just grow on trees. At least according to my mother) but even I know that raspberries don't grow locally in the dead of winter. I'm thinking someone cheated.

3. Speak to my mom about decorating principles. While I'm rather an eclectic decorator (which just means I see something I like then stick it on a wall someplace in my house where it sort of matches) I'm not even sure I could pull off this stunning display. My mother's guest bath is decked out in Southwestern/Native American/Mexican folkart meets English rose garden. It is truly amazing.

I have a couple of choices here:
a. buy her a new shower curtain, rug and some towels that match the Southwest theme she's got going then shame her into switching them out by telling her that she is offending my delicate aesthetic sensibilities. Or....
b. or telling her that her theme is a little on the whacking side. Then letting her pick something that goes better.
I'd better stick with plan a. Look what she came up with on her own.

4. Never let JR do this again. enough said.

5. Enjoy more sunsets. I feel that I need to take the time to enjoy more sunsets. Though preferable not at 35,000 feet. Sunsets are nice. They are soothing slow down, have a drink on the patio kind of nice. They are toss the toy for the dog while chatting about your day kind of nice. They just are never going to happen in that lovely bucolic way at my house kind of nice but I like to think that if I just strive a little harder I'd get to have a few of those kind of nice sunsets.

I think I'll try to stay clear of sunrises. While they are undeniably lovely they do come, well, at sunrise. Which seems like an excessively early hour in the morning. So says the woman that gets up to fix JR breakfast at 5am. Just because I do it doesn't mean I like it. Not the fixing breakfast part, I like that. It's the 5am part that kind of sucks.  

So there is my random new years resolutions that I probably will fail at achieving no matter how generic they are. Now, please leave a comment so I know you've visited (and if you've left an email address I'll probably even respond. Should that be another resolution? Nah, too much pressure) then go visit all the other randomers. (Shut up, Blogger! It is too a word.)

Love,
M