Two things, I keep forgetting where things are, and  I forget how to do something I have done before but the secret is to do less, and do the same thing more often adding new things very slowly.  This is the absolute most challenging software I have ever tackled.

Hey Grace and Glenn, too bad you didn't think of doing this at your wedding in May!

Ben enjoyed a bone last night.  I took many shots but could not get even one in focus because he was working on it so diligently.  It was just a rawhide bone; he eats them so we took it away from him after he had eaten half of it...too much gives him gas!  Too much information, hmm?

I have been playing with this doll in Photoshop all evening.  Not really satisfied with the results but at least it is something.  My eyes are sore and my neck hurts!  It must be time to stop. ;)

This blonde groundhog lives on the east side of our building at work.  Lilliana called me to her office when she appeared the other day.  The quality of this video is not so great because of the extreme zoom, dirty windows and rain outside.  I have never seen a blonde groundhog, but perhaps she is not really blonde...after all, only her hairdresser knows for sure!

Those darn birds just WON'T stay still, they are too fast.  Here is today's best shot, I will keep trying until I get it just right.

Posted via email from Heather's posterous

We see lots of animals outside the office window in the green space between our building and Highway 401.  A ravine runs along one side of the property so I am sure this is where they all live.  We have sighted deer, rabbits, foxes and even a wolf a few years ago!  We also share the parking lot with a new family of geese every spring. 

When any animal is seen, people usually announce it and we all quickly run to have a look.  This groundhog lives right on the lawn, his hole is under a tree right outside my boss's window.  We see him fairly often.  I took this shot through the window, 

Posted via email from Heather's posterous

My aunt used to quote this poem to us often.  She was a storehouse of this kind of verse and I loved it. She is with the Lord now and I wonder if she ever knew what an impact she had on me. 

 I came across a blog with a title to the effect that the writer had been gone for a week and no one had noticed.  Not to be unkind to this lady, but the statement did bring my aunt's poem to mind instantly and I had forgotten it for many years.

The Indispensible Man
by Saxon White Kessinger

Sometimes when you're feeling important
Sometimes when your ego's in bloom
Sometimes when you think that you are
The best qualified man in the room

Sometimes when you think that your absense
Would leave an unfillable hole
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul

Take a bucket and fill it with water
Put your hand in it up to your wrist
Then take it back out and the hole that remains
Is the measure of how you'll be missed

Now you can splash as much as you want to
You can stir up the water for sure
Then stop and you see in a moment
That the water's the same as before

Now the moral to this is quite simple
You must do the best that you can
But you'll always be wise to remember
There is no indispensible man

Posted via email from Heather's posterous

This was taken last night at Queen and Yonge.  We are in day 25 of a garbage strike in Toronto so this pile of garbage will be picked up by private contractors.  Citizens are getting fed up and today demonstrated in Nathan Philips Square outside City Hall; they carried signs and taunted city workers who were also picketing there, telling them to get back to work, they should be thankful they have jobs in this economy. 

I used to bring my sons a gift, something unique to the area, when I returned from being away; tonight Craig brought me one.  He brought me this ceramic windchime when he was at a conference in Phoenix recently.  These bells are designed by Paolo Soleri, embellished by artisans at  Arcosanti, which is an experimental town in the desert of Arizona, built to embody Paolo Soleri's concept of arcology - the fusion of architecture with ecology.  This is a new concept to me!

 

The clay is excavated from hills nearby and cast in silt molds (molds of fine riverbed sediment).  This method of casting was developed from Soleri's original approach of simply digging holes in the desert and casting the slip.  Clay mixed with water (slip) is poured into molds that slowly absorb the water as the bell dries. 

 

Silt cast bells take with them a little of the silt, which adds uique colour and texture.  The bells are hand carved with a design while still damp.  When completely dry they are fired in a kiln. 

 

Proceeds from the worldwide sales of these bells are a major source of funding for the construction efforts at Arcosanti. 

 

It has a pretty sound when the wind hits the windcatcher.  I have to pick up a hook and some additional chain to hang it on my patio tomorrow.   I am delighted with it.

 

 

The Drudge Report has satirically labeled the picture a “second stimulus package.”

 

I showed Craig a mysterious hole in the earth in one of my patio plants, it looked like a small animal had dug it.  Actually, there was a little mess around two of my pots this morning.  He looked for info on the internet and we decided it must be squirrels and I can spray the pots with apple cider vinegar.  I will try this.

 

While he had my laptop open, Craig showed me this video, and a few others, about the Madelbrot set, (definition here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandelbrot_set ) I can hardly get my head around it but it is nevertheless, visually fascinating...like an endless universe expanding inwards rather than outwards.  There are many videos on Mandlebrot set, the following is a pretty good introduction, part 1 of a series of six.  As one presenter of this video series said, "Hope this rocks your world like it did mine.
Enjoy the mysteries of defined infinity!"

 

He loves the car--can you see how happy he is to be in the back seat?  Craig and Ben arrived a few minutes ago.  I am going to find us some dinner, hope there is something quick in the freezer!

He is like a human camera; autistic, Stephen Wiltshire never spoke a word until he was five years old.  Given one ride in a helicopter over Rome, he then proceeds to sketch the city from memory!  Watch and be amazed. 

 http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=0k4lsi1dql

 

Deep brain stimulation therapy, this video is a fascinating look at new directions in brain disorders.  Is it good?  Really?  Can you see any problems with it?