I wish my tripod and monopod would get here!
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Being an occasionarian
We were eating veg 2 days a week. Now we are eating veg 5 days a week. Our son informed us there’s a word for that: “Occasionarian!”
Guess what’s really good? Carrot pizza!
Assembling half and half pizza (the carrot side is vegan, the tomato side is vegetarian):
This recipe was incredible. It’s from the Moosewood cookbook. Their recipes have a lot of prep but are great. This one was topped by cheese. You could leave that off or use vegan cheese. The “meat” is beans.
The hour of soft light
Today’s post, actually, today so far… is inspired by this blogger whose blog title resonates in my mind like music. Check out this amazing photographer and person: The hour of soft light.
I had opened the blinds in my office window and gone back to bed. But I could see the light of the sun rising and the silhouettes of trees reflected in the glass over a piece of art on my wall. Of course Liana’s blog title came to me and I was inspired to get out of bed and photograph the moment.
The moon in daytime
I experimented with my DSLR on our walk the other day.
Here the tree is in focus.
Here the moon is in focus.
Which do you like more? I think I like the moon in focus more.
Here is one where I blurred the tree more:
The stock exchange at Charters Towers Australia
This arcade in Charters Towers is the site of the stock exchange that was created here during the gold rush.
Charters Towers does an amazing job preserving and presenting the historical places in the town. Everything is in pristine condition and the visitor’s office has volunteers there seven days a week.
The Stock Exchange Moves In
“It was a grand moment when the ‘change’ moved into the Arcade. The courtyard was the pulse of “The World’ — the most important place in town.”
Ghost of Joe Millican, Stock Exchange Secretary.
Before the Stock Exchange opened, all wheeling and dealing was done by mining agents scattered throughout the town. By the mid 1880s, agents had combined into an exchange on Mosman Street, where smartly dressed kerbside brokers bustled about drumming up business. Agents peddled shares in dubious mines and secretaries often fled town with the takings. To keep control over what had become a wild and speculative market, a Stock Exchange was formed in May 1890 and shifted into the impressive Royal Arcade.
Scams, rorts and skulduggery
“Some of the mines floated had no hope of success — the promoters could not have expected to strike a reef if they penetrated the earth to its centre.”
Ghost of Warden Selheim, mining official who lobbied for a Stock Exchange to curb growing corruption.
Such a chaotic and speculative market attracted many rogue promoters and opportunists. People eager to share a slice of the Towers’ riches often found they had snapped up shares of worthless claims or ‘wild cats’ as they were called. Money invesed to develop mines frequently lined shareholder pockets rather than flowing into capital improvement. The Stock Exchange floor was a place of high jubilation for many, but also a place of crippling disappointment.
The observer effect
My co-author and I are working on a science fiction novel and yesterday I was pondering the so-called “observer effect” in quantum physics. Puzzling stuff, but then the birds outside my window gave me a lesson.
Dozens of birds come to bathe and drink out of our waterfall every day. They usually come in groups of the same type. I really enjoy watching their antics. Yesterday, when the pools were filled with at least a dozen birds, I decided to try to photograph them for today’s blog post, grabbed my camera and stepped out my office door.
Bye bye birds. I stood still, holding my camera ready, for a long time. But they all had fled to the power lines and trees. The sounds of so many birds in the neighborhood was amazing. It sounded like an aviary out there.
But the birds didn’t come back. Then I moved and one of the little chirps turned to a cry of alarm. Many of the birds took off, not even daring to hang around in the trees. All I could do was capture them sitting far away.
I brutalized the following photo, but I wanted to show you the activity.
To reduce the observer effect, I think I need to go to the next level and get a tripod with a remote shutter cord and put that outside my door. Then I can sit and write all day and take photos of the little creatures for you!
But for now, I am going to try to get my head around another dimension of the observer effect posed by my co-author, who never ceases to surprise and challenge me.
Happy Thursday to my local friends and happy Friday to my Australian friends, including my co-author!
Soft sky
I am amazed how much of the U.S. is under deep freeze right now. Many of the bloggers I follow are doing a great job finding the beauty or just chronicling the phenomenon of the polar vortex. Here are a couple, in case they aren’t in your WordPress Reader:
http://sethsnap.com/2014/01/06/cold-close-up/
http://herladypinkrose.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/a-few-hours-later/
http://herladypinkrose.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/north-pole-vortex/
Meanwhile in California, we’re having a warm, dry winter. Here are shots from my evening walk:
I just had my phone with me. Sorry… the DSLR and even the compact camera are better. But at least I could get these shots. That’s the saving grace of a phone.
I’m blogging every other day this year so I have more time to visit other blogs.
One year blog anniversary and Sisterhood of the World Blog award
Today is my one year anniversary of blogging. I set out on January 5th, 2013, in this very same chair in my library, and began blogging every day, with absolutely no idea what would happen.
Well among the things I didn’t anticipate, because I didn’t know they existed, were blogger awards! I received my first one within a month of blogging. I’m still emotional when I think about it. Each and every award is a beautiful gift and acknowledgment as are each and every “like” and comment.
November and December were award-rich months for me. Must have been the holiday season! I have been saving this treasure for my one year anniversary. Thank you, KidazzleInk for honoring me with this award.
The rules for receiving the Sisterhood of the World bloggers award are as follows.
1. Provide a link and thank the blogger who nominated you for this award.
2. Answer 8-10 questions.
3. Nominate 10-12 blogs that you find a joy to read.
4. Provide links to these nominated blogs and kindly let the recipients know that they have been nominated.
5. Include the award logo within your blog post.
The Questions:
- Your favorite color – Red.
- Your favorite animal – Wolf.
- Facebook or Twitter. Facebook. I like that people care when I do or feel something. People on Facebook are supportive.
- Your favorite pattern – herringbone.
- Do you prefer getting or giving presents? Both.
- Your favorite number? Seven
- Your favorite day of the week? Saturday. Feels like free time stretches before me. I like to get together with friends on Saturday, or go to a writing meeting.
- Your favorite flower? Calla lily. I find them quite stunning and strong. The white ones, with the funnel shape and long yellow stamens. But I also love the hibiscus because it is delicate, very pretty and represents the tropics. Freesia, for its fragrance. Tulips, for their intense color and smooth texture. Roses, if they are fragrant. I think this is a good question for the sisterhood award. Why do women, in general, love flowers so much? I wonder if any nominee will choose just one! Feel free to make lists, for any question.
- What is your passion? Connecting, and writing. I’m not always sure which order. Blogging is a wonderful way to connect.
Because they were fun to answer, I’m continuing KiddazleInk’s questions for my own nominees.
I chose these nominees not only for their blogs, which I love to read, but also for their support:
- The funny, profound, and interesting, Cindy Knoke
- The youthful, full-of-life blogger whose intelligence floods her stream of consciousness posts, and whose support with my writing I deeply appreciate, Renxkyoko.
- The brilliant Paige of The Nice Thing about Strangers, who teaches the bumps and bruises of travel are really opportunities to connect.
- Alli Blair, whose beautiful blog celebrates the joy of travel. And food. And life.
- Leanne Cole, sister extraordinaire. Visual artist. Teacher. Friend. Check out what she does for other bloggers on her Introductions.
- Suz Jones of It Goes On, whose blog is so good and who also distinguishes herself as an example of supporting other bloggers.
- The vibrant and joyful traveler, Janaline’s World
- Lesley Carter of The Bucket List travels, who inspires me constantly with her sense of humor and love of the world. Check out her 30 Tested Adventures for your 2014 Bucket List.
- The brilliant writer and blogger, Susie Lindau. Check out her latest Use me and Abuse me post. They are fun.
- The wonderful photographer, blogger, gardener and person, Gwennie of Gwennie’s Garden.
Capitola, California
Life was conspiring against me completing my one year of daily blogging. (Today is the last day.) I had hoped to take new photos today but had forgotten to take all my cameras including my phone. But today, Capitola looked much like it did in June when I posted this picture (except for the cute seal we saw today, *heart pang*) so I decided to go back and do a painting rendition of that photo.
On that day I also didn’t have my camera so the phone saved the day.
One of these days I’ll get to the beach with my DSLR. Maybe on a stormy day…
I think that long dark streak is seaweed.
A rusty wheel… and thoughts on the new year
Tomorrow is the last day of one full year of blogging every day. And today I was dry! I almost blew my streak!
After my triumph with the Australia, interpreted post yesterday (thank you all for the kudos!), I found it impossible to get something else unique. I tried more putting together different photos using layers and textures, but nothing worked out. I thought I was going to miss a day.
Well, I was just looking through my photos and I spotted this one that I hadn’t shared yet. I like it just as it is, just a plain old snapshot.
I have to check my WordPress Reader to see how people are doing, but I’ll offer a thought before I do that. Do you feel like we ended the year with a big hurrah and high expectations for the new year? And maybe a lot of goals and resolutions?
The start of a new year coincides with the end of the holidays and can feel anti-climactic. After all, we’re faced with the reality of going back to work. The slog of all these resolutions.
Well, here’s what I learned from last year. I was afraid to check my goals because I knew I couldn’t have done what I set out to do, because I completely changed what I was working on. But I checked them and they were good goals. The specifics of writing x number of short stories and y number of novels, no, that didn’t happened, not in that configuration, but I set a goal to write an average of 500 words a day or 150,000 words total and I exceeded that. I had a goal to blog every day and grow my Twitter followers. Those ones I did. I think it works to have somewhat general goals and leave a lot of freedom to allow things we never thought of to happen.
My advice is to set some goals and then set them aside. Check them next year. They can set a direction for you and the process of checking them at the end of the year is a chance to reflect on what you did do. I didn’t do this, but I did that. I was amazed how much I did, both on my goals and otherwise.
The other advice I have, and really all this advice is mostly for myself, is don’t worry about the big events, the successes, the struggles… those things happen. Mostly life is built on doing a little every day and on showing up. If you just do that, you’ll have a great year.
Nicci Carrera 