Results tagged “photo” from Debi's Journal

One of Melody's troop's service projects for the year was another round of replacing dead trees that were destroyed in the 2007 and 2003 wildfires in the San Bernardino National Forest. This time around we would be planting trees near Lake Arrowhead. We hit the road early in the morning, and during the drive on Highway 18 we were greeted with this sight:We were very lucky with the weather, because the days before and after were unseasonably cold and yet this Sunday was just perfect.

The organizations that were managing the large group of volunteers that day were Tree People and Forest Aid. Somewhere around fifty volunteers met at Lake Arrowhead Elementary School, where most of us received a free blue plastic water bottle before being shuttled to the planting site off a forest service road nearby. Each group picked up their hard hats, a bag of 32 Ponderosa and Jeffrey Pine seedlings, and digging tools, and were then escorted up a hillside to watch a planting demonstration. Then off we went.We carried two types of planting tools: a scraping tool to clear off a spot for planting, and a blade tool to make a hole. Since Mel's troop split into two groups, we planted a total of 64 trees by lunchtime.Melody, of course, had to make some time to catch ladybugs and butterflies.(David, what kind of butterfly is this?)

Afterward, the troop drove to Lake Arrowhead Village to eat lunch and then called it a day. Melody and I lingered near the lakeside before deciding to head to last year's planting site on our own. Back on Highway 18, we passed several stretches of dead trees.It was a short drive to Heap's Peak Arboretum and the Sequoia Trail nearby. The area where we planted last year's trees was near the halfway point of the trail loop, where it bends in a small switchback. Both Melody and I were sad to see that none of the trees we planted on the barren slope above the switchback nor on the slope below survived the year. However, in the area within the switchback was a nice row of two-year-old Ponderosa Pines, plus one Sugar Pine (second from the front, which is a slightly bluer color).We had been told that each year-old seedling that we planted had less than a 50% chance of thriving, but from what Mel and I could see, only 10-20% of what we planted last year was still growing. It was worth the effort nonetheless.

Over the years, Canon has been the brand of choice for cameras in my family. I've owned two SD PowerShots, my dad had two or three A series, and my sister has her own PowerShot.

2004 was the year that the number of photographs I took exploded. In June of that year I bought a pocket-sized Canon PowerShot SD100, which made it so easy to take candid shots anywhere, anytime. That camera lasted until June of 2007, a decent three years, before something failed and my photos started coming out like this:I decided it was time for a new camera with more megapixels and cool functions, and I wanted to stay with Canon because I didn't want to have to figure out a whole new interface with a different brand. And thus, I became the new owner of a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (IS = image stabilization! Woo hoo! No more incredibly shakey movies!) in July 2007. I even knitted a camera cozy for it, which really came in handy the day I lost the camera at Disneyland—I had my entrance ticket receipt inside with my name on it and everything, which made it easy for me to reclaim it at Lost & Found.This camera has been with me through many adventures. It was a great camera for my purposes.

Nine days ago, when I was ready to take some photos of a knitting project, I pulled the camera from the cozy. I pressed the ON/OFF button. The camera powered up, made a "click" sound, went "beep beep beep beep beep," and then an error message appeared on the screen: "Lens error, restart camera." The camera shut itself off.

Wah.

I repeated the above about a dozen more times, except the "click" sound was no longer happening.

My next step was to go online and Google "Canon SD850 IS lens error." Whoo boy. I was not happy to see that this is pretty much a common problem with Canon cameras, and that Canon has failed to address or admit to a lens design defect, and has continued with the same lens design for at least the past four years. A lens repair would be in the neighborhood of $150-$200. Not gonna happen. I decided this camera was a total loss.

Fast forward to last night. I Googled some more, and found a blurb on the My Biggest Complaint website that advocated "smacking the crap out of your camera" to fix the lens problem. I had nothing to lose, so I took the camera over to the kitchen counter and whacked it face down eight times in a row. I pressed the ON/OFF button.

Lens error, restart camera

I gave the camera another eight whacks. I pressed the ON/OFF button.

Click. The lens extended, and the camera powered up the same as before the lens problem. I took a few photos this morning, and the camera seems to be in normal working condition.

This experience is going to make me rethink ever buying a camera from Canon again.

In our neighborhood we went through the 1990s thinking ice cream trucks had gone the way of the passenger pigeon (that means extinct, Melody). Back in the 80s there would maybe be one or two a week, and then the following decade, nothing.

Then the city built a community center/YMCA, then a baseball park with playground and multi-use field, and finally an environmental library. Nowadays you can't throw a rock without hitting at least one ice cream truck. Who would imagine ten years ago that I'd bemusedly watch three different trucks swerving around each other trying to get the most business during a busy sporting event? I've seen at least five or six different trucks at various times of the day or week. Apparently the city doesn't strictly regulate them, so it's like the Wild Wild West of ice cream trucks. It's pretty cool.

One day last year, I noticed one truck going around with the music volume turned down unusually low. When I mentioned it to Melody, she said one of our neighbors, Tom, had accosted the driver (a Hispanic woman) and screamed at and threatened her (probably with something stupid like deportation) because the music disturbed him or something. Tom can be a real jerk so this didn't surprise me.

On two occasions, when I stepped out to see the latest idiot blasting rap music at full bass and volume, it turned out to be a freaking brightly-colored (purple maybe?) ice cream truck/van thing. Thank goodness this doesn't seem to be the guy's regular route since I've only seen him the two times, wishing his stereo would blow up. Plus the second time, he pretty much sped down the street, which I didn't think would help him sell anything.

Mel's favorite ice cream truck driver is some kind of eastern European dude who gives her a discount. She usually gets the Neapolitan sandwiches, while my nephew likes Sponge Bob with the freaky black gumball eyes.

We have our least favorites as well, typically those who charge more for ice cream than the others.

The Santa Ana Winds have been howling for the past three or so days. Yesterday, I took the dog for her daily walk—which was Mel's job, but she had some important teen-angsty drama or something going on—and spotted this little guy. Mel said it was some sort of jumping spider, but I don't know. It posed for the camera and didn't jump on me.
The walk around the park was a little unusual for me, as I was simultaneously roasted by the sun thanks to my black sweater, and chilled by the blowing wind. After Molly and I finished our circuit, Mel and I pulled a couple of kites out of the garage.

I flew the kite above. It liked to lean to the left and then divebomb into the ground. It was fun (not) having my right hand yanked by the kite string while snapping photos with my left hand. Most of my shots came out blurry.

Mel had the much cooler dragon kite.

At the beginning of the day, Melody had around 50 boxes of cookies she still needed to sell. Today also happened to be Flag Football day, with the first games of the season going on in the park all morning and early afternoon. Melody got to work with the help of two of her cousins.
She sold almost 30 boxes, which means we still have another 20+ we need to sell by the end of the month. We have lots of Caramel deLites, if you happen to be craving any...

Later that afternoon, the two older girls and yet another cousin poked around the backyard and dug up a few live treasures. Now, this is what the back wall normally looks like towards the end of the day:
Boring, gray/brown lizards sunning themselves on the wall, scuttling away if you approach too closely. But when you (or a fearless teenager) flip one over, it becomes much more interesting.
Cool. Mel observed that this particular lizard had previously lost its tail; its current one was smaller than usual and appeared to be in the process of growing back. The kids eventually put the lizard back in its hiding place, but it wasn't long until Mel shouted, "I caught a frog!"
Rawr.

I don't see the point of eating minestrone soup if you're going to avoid the vegetables. I hate carrots and peas but I still eat them if they're part of a larger dish. The "starving kids in third-world countries" argument doesn't work with her. The way she acts, you'd think she'd die if she ate something that wasn't hot cheetos.

Cookie sales and deliveries for Girl Scouts - San Gorgonio Council began February 28 and will run until the end of March. I went and put Mel's troop's cookie booth info on Twitter as a sales experiment:
Several troop parents have this sign taped inside their car windows. We'll see if this improves sales from last year. I'll send reminder tweets on the day before and morning of each cookie booth, assuming anyone starts to follow us.

Still sick and dealing with a runny nose and possibly bronchitis.
On Saturday I was in Palm Springs for Mel's haircut appointment, and it happened to be perfectly timed with the city's annual Black History Parade down Palm Canyon Drive, just outside the salon's front door. I'll admit that I enjoy watching parades! This one was pretty typical of small-town parades, with high school bands, various drill team clubs, children's clubs, local churches, local law enforcement, and at least one celebrity, Super Model [sic] Beverly Johnson.
Melody was very happy with her haircut.

On Friday I left the keys in the ignition while getting gas at Costco, and the car locked itself as I was messing with the gas pump. I had left the window open about 1", enough to fit most of my hand through, but only at the top. Of course I left my phone in the car as well. I spent about a minute trying to figure out how I was going to deal with the situation; my initial thought was to go searching for my mom, who was buying pizza at the snack bar, because she had an extra car key. Then I decided that leaving would piss off everyone who was behind me waiting for a pump. With great determination I shoved my hand in the window opening, forced my wrist down the side of the window where the opening was barely more than a half inch wide (pretty much nearly crushing my poor wristy), and flipped the lock with my fingertips. My mom later said, "You should always keep your keys in your pocket," but nooo, I'm just going to make sure I keep the window all the way down from now on. I spent the rest of the day with a bright red line across my wrist. NO I'M NOT A CUTTER!
The tree is still loaded with grapefruit, even though we picked a couple of bags full and my sister gave them away to her coworkers. We even had a stranger come to the door today asking if she could pick a few. If you're in the local area and want a bag of grapefruit, let me know. They are around 99 cents each at the grocery store, or so I heard, so you're getting a nice deal here.

This hat was purchased at Disneyland, the land of sunshine and happy children. I was wearing a shirt with a big white peace sign, but I don't think anyone other than my sister noticed the contradiction with the hat. It was my mom's 75th birthday last Thursday so my sister and I took her for a day of fun. For 2009 you can get in Disneyland for free on your birthday, unless you're already an annual passholder in which case they give you a $60 gift card that can only be spent on merchandise (like, pirate-themed hats) in the park only on that day. It can't be spent on food, which was a real bummer because we would have splurged at the Blue Bayou restaurant (the one inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride).

~*~

Tonight was the night before my latest jury service was to begin. Normally I would need to call the jury confirmation number after 7:00pm, but I also had the option to check my status online. Cool.

Participant Number: 5XXXXXXXX
Zip Code: 9XXXX

You do not have to report on Tuesday, January 27. Be reminded however that you are on-call for two weeks. Please go to work and check this message again, after 7:00pm, on Monday, February 2 for the next day's reporting schedule.

Melody asked me, "Wouldn't it be so cool to be on a jury for a murder case?" I would have to think on that for a bit. The last two times I was in jury selection were for an auto theft case and a burglary by a housekeeper, which for a 13-year-old are not all that exciting. Both times the jury was selected before I was interviewed, so maybe the third time's the charm?

Mexican candy is popular among Latino kids in southern California, and it's widely available here. Teens (kids) being teens (kids) will eat all sorts of unusual junk, and so these candies have spread among the local non-Latinos as well.

So, around a year or so ago Mel started eating this candy called Lucas that is made up of chili powder and tamarind (and until recently, LEAD). It's an acquired taste if you're not used to your sweets being spicy hot. Lately, however, this has been her (and her friends') poison of choice: Limon 7!
Ingredients: Salt, citric acid, sugar, natural dehydrated lemon, calcium stearate, calcium silicate, arabic gum.

I tried some, and it left my mouth with a wonderful burning sensation from all the salt and citric acid. Oh my gourd, this stuff hurt to eat.

Another candy Melody tried was this, but she didn't like it so much. Acirrico, with Vitamin C!
Ingredients: Salt, guajillo chili, citric acid, nature (natural?) lemon, silicon dioxide, and tricalcium phosphate.

Funny how kids will complain about eating vegetables, but they'll eat this crap by the gallon.

I have to mention, however, that the absolute nastiest candy I've ever eaten wasn't Mexican, but British. I was traveling in England back in 1994 and bought a bar of Cadbury's Turkish Delight from a vending machine in the London Underground. I figured that since it was a chocolate bar, how bad could it possibly be? I took a bite, peered oddly at the pink gel filling, and gagged at the flavor of rosewater. Again, I guess it's an acquired taste (this coming from a person who likes Vegemite).

I wish I could spend Christmas in Hawaii, like the Obamas. That's my favorite place to visit in the world.

My Grow-A-Heads are thriving. I think they're going to need to be mowed soon.

I thought I was off the hook for a year. BZZZTTT! WRONG!
This came in the mail yesterday. My little pink "you are excused from jury service for one year" slip from the county Superior Court doesn't mean jack to U.S. District Court since I didn't actually sit on a jury.

Three summonses in a year! I'm freaking special!

At least Federal Court pays you more -- $40 per day as opposed to Superior Court which is only $5 per day beginning the second day of service.

You have been randomly selected as a prospective juror for the United States District Court, Central District of California. This Federal Court has jurisdiction over people who live in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

I don't live too far from Riverside, the location of the courthouse where I have to report. I feel sorry for those who have to report all the way from San Luis Obispo, over 200 miles away.

When you were little, or even last week, you probably sat and wondered how your life would be different if you had a different name. I remember going through a few years of school thinking Debbie was the stupidest name ever, and how it sucked that every class in school always had another Debbie in it. At one point I figured I could turn my middle name into a nickname, like Carrie or Carey or whatever, and go by that. Given that I rarely follow through with anything, that idea went *poof* quickly. However, I did manage to stick with changing the spelling of my nickname to Debi when I got my first personalized university email address (debi@...).

I was rather bemused when my own daughter began toying with the idea of changing her name back in 2nd grade. I think she has a pretty cool and unusual name, and most of the time she is in agreement with me, so when she announced that she needed a nickname that wasn't "Mel" or "Milopilo" or "Pilo" (and yes, she still answers to that last one), I asked her what other names she had in mind. "I want my nickname to be Caitlyn." "Huh? That's not even a nickname!" We squashed that idea that night. And by "we," I mean "I."

Fast forward to the 8th grade, where the name change spectre has raised its ugly head again. She wants to be called Dani now, which is a shortened version of her middle name, Danielle.

It's not unusual for people in our family to go by their middle names; I have two uncles and an aunt, plus Melody has a second cousin, who all go by their middle names. But I have to point out that every single one of them went by those names their entire lives. They didn't just decide in 8th grade that they would start doing so. Walter Eugene was always Gene. Delbert David was always Dave. Lauren Ashleigh was Ashleigh since before her actual birth. They didn't just change all of a sudden and expect everyone to respect their new identity.

I have faith that Mel has inherited my lack of follow-through and will abandon this idea by the time she returns from New York in January.

Dec. 23 Update: Gaaah. This appeared on Tiny Midget's Mel's MySpace page today:
 *TinY_MIdGEt<3 IM IN THE VERY SNOWY {1 foot} NEWYORK!!! I will post pics wen I get home they are very pretty X] well I AM SO BORED SO TEXT MEEEE!! [call me Danielle ;) <3 u

Melody's Girl Scout troop (7 out of 9 girls, 4 adults) met up at a picnic area called Thurman Flats in the San Bernardino National Forest for a little wilderness education. It rained a bit that day, but we hiked anyway for about an hour and crossed several creeks by stepping on rocks and logs. Our goal was to spot some wildlife and identify animals by the footprints and scat they left behind; the troop leader had a laminated chart with a variety of pictures to help with the identification. We saw no animals other than a few birds, but we didn't have any trouble finding plenty of scat.

Melody is in the center of the group of people in the background of the photo above, in the green raincoat. At first I was ticked that the camera focused on the leaves in the foreground, but then I thought it looked kind of cool after all. After the hike, we paused for a picnic lunch.

The actual time for the full moon today in California is 8:37 a.m., just a couple of hours after sunrise. It is the closest and largest full moon in 15 years.

Dad died under the previous full moon, and I mean that literally. The Frosty Moon is November's full moon, and the temperature dropped to 42F degrees that night. It shined upon him from midnight 'til dawn, when Mom found him as she stepped out to get the newspaper.

So it's been a month already.

His official cause of death was natural causes. He had been out to a dance earlier that evening. Several people in attendance said that he had been suffering from a bad headache and didn't feel like eating. As a diabetic, it was important for him to maintain his blood sugar level, made all the more difficult because he hadn't felt an appetite for food in several years. Over the past few months he went into diabetic shock multiple times, which for him is basically a completely helpless state, but he was always around people who would feed him chocolate or orange juice or whatever to get his blood sugar level up.

The dance ended around 9:30 p.m., but he didn't come straight home. He went over to a friend's house, I believe in Yucaipa, and didn't leave there until around 11:30 p.m. He was able to drive the entire way home without incident, park his pickup truck, close the gate (by remote), and gather up his file box and camera case--the two accessories he nearly always had with him when he left in the early evening, and when he returned home late at night. He was wearing a dress shirt and a nice pair of black slacks, but no jacket.

He almost made it across the driveway before he carefully set down both the file box and his camera case next to the rose bed and collapsed.

This little arthropod decided to crash-land on my arm while I was eating a picnic lunch at Los Rios Rancho in Oak Glen last week. Nearby were three 1st grade classes (including my sister's) getting ready for their field trip to the nearby Riley's Frontier Events. The kids learned how to make candles, made apple juice, learned about and viewed a variety of farm animals, and rode in a horse-drawn wagon.

Update: As soon as Obama was declared the President-Elect, my mom got a call from... Japan! Instantaneous world news. Mom and her sister, Kyoko, chatted about the election for a minute, then went on to talk about my cousin Yuki's cancer treatment. We lost our uncle Nobuyuki just last year to leukemia, which was incredibly sad because he was such a cool guy, and the only one of my mom's five siblings who knew enough English to converse with us when we traveled to Japan back when I was in junior high.

This is Mel's second year in her middle school marching band. This past October 19 they marched in the Loma Linda Community Parade. Loma Linda used to be populated by mostly Seventh-Day Adventists, who observe the Sabbath on Saturday (thus many shops are closed Saturdays). Their post office is open on Sunday, and they hold their big parade on a Sunday. The Grand Marshall this year was Brigadier General Loree K Sutton, MD, U.S. Army; her connection to the town was the fact that she received her graduate degree from Loma Linda University some two decades ago.

October 29 was Jury Duty Day for me. I took an antihistamine before I left home as a precaution. I dutifully arrived at the courthouse a few minutes shy of 8:00AM and zipped through the metal detector with a small bag I borrowed from Melody containing just my ID, car keys, jury duty paperwork, and a novel (at least, that's all that I thought I had at the time). I remember during my previous stint that camera phones were banned from the courthouse, but this time around everyone had their Blackberries/Tilts/whatever and phones were constantly ringing in the jury assembly room.

The room. It was packed full of people, and it stank. The antihistamine didn't seem to have any affect on my sinuses, and within the first half hour I was no longer able to breathe through my nose. The room reeked of smokers, heavy perfume, and body wash. Ugh.

The check-in staff didn't even finish processing everyone until around 9:20AM. I could have shown up an hour late to the courthouse and nobody would have cared. Once the last person was checked in, we all had to sit through a movie featuring jurors who had such a wonderful experience serving on a jury. Maybe 15 minutes after that, the assembly room staff posted four lists, and we all had to check to see which group we were in. I was in Group C. The staff announced that each judge would eventually call in and give instructions for their particular group. I assumed that this meant there were four cases and four judges for today.

About 9:50AM, the staff announced that one of the judges has called in! The defendant has plead guilty! Group C has been excused!

I was relieved, not because I didn't want to be on a jury, but because Mel had two appointments the next day, plus it was a minimum day at school, and I didn't want to be stuck in a courtroom for two days like the last two times I had jury duty. So it all worked out and I won't have to expect another summons for at least a year.

Oh yeah, about that bag I took with me... After I returned home and emptied it out, I noticed that the side pocket had a hole in the bottom. I found several items underneath the bag lining including lip gloss and a swiss army knife. Great job you're doing there, courthouse security. I'm glad I've never taken that bag to the airport. I fear what TSA would do to me.

Mel goes to school out of district, and so she gets her own family chauffeur service because there is no bus service between districts. When Mel and I arrived home yesterday after school, she stepped out of the car and let out a whiny "EEEWWWWWW!!!!! There's something dead here and I think I stepped on it!"
Not sure what it was--a ground squirrel or gopher, maybe? We have hawks in the area, so maybe one of them decided to bestow its leftovers upon our driveway, leaving it up to the ants to get busy with the headless carcass. I mentioned it to my dad, who promised to dispose of it. It was still there this morning. It finally went in the trash bin, but I was wondering, are dead animals like hazardous waste or anything like that? But then again it's not all that different from tossing your leftover hamburger or chicken wings, eh?

First, the pretty:
I don't know what kind of flowers those are (I probably blogged about them in the past, too) but they unexpectedly sprouted around the roses one day a few years ago. I don't know what kind of butterfly this is, but it's fairly common around here. Update: Jessie was kind enough to let me know that this is a Fiery Skipper.

I wasn't chosen for the jury pool for the federal court case I mentioned back in July, which made me still available for jury duty. Not surprisingly, I received a new jury service summons, for the local superior court this time. Mel bought a few interesting books at her school's book fair last week, including a novel that her dad and stepmother forbade her to read (they might as well tell her PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!, duh). I'll probably take that book with me for what will likely be an astoundingly boring two days.

This is what can happen if you trip on a metal cast-on comb (an object used in machine knitting), and one of the teeth decides to embed itself next to a toenail, and you don't really notice for about 10 seconds. "Arrr, why is this metal object hanging off my foot?"
It didn't even begin to bleed until a couple of minutes after I pulled the comb prong out of my toe. Hmm, looks like my toenails need clipping. There used to be a large freckle on the big toe when I was a kid, but it faded away sometime after high school. Oh yeah, when I was around 8 or 9 years old, I nearly severed that pinky toe after stepping on a piece of broken glass at the beach.

Late afternoon on Labor Day (Sept. 1), my sister, The Nephew, and Mel were lounging around in the yard when Mel spotted a second orange globe high in the grapefruit tree. She insisted we pick them both, brought over some sort of fruit picking implement that her grandmother uses, and couldn't reach either one of them. Oh boy, I get to do the dirty work. So I bring them down, and we notice that these grapefruit are much bigger than the green guys still growing all over the tree.
After this photo, they were tossed in a plastic bag (the grapefruit, not the kids) and sat in the kitchen for a couple of days. Today, I decided to slice one of them up. Well, the grapefruit looked kind of dry and funky inside. It had almost no flavor.

That's when my mom explained the problem: These two grapefruit were leftovers from last season that managed to hide from getting picked from the tree last spring. A-ha! I'll just wait until the greenies ripen up.

During the Beijing 2008 Olympics, a popular knitting/crochet community called Ravelry held an event called the Ravelympics which basically gave people more of an excuse to knit or crochet stuff. A slew of events were organized, people formed teams, and then participants would cast on during the Olympics opening ceremonies and try to finish their project(s) before the closing ceremonies. People weren't necessarily racing each other, and the medals were for finishing the project in the 17-day window (no first place or second place or whatever). Everyone who finished something was awarded a "medal" and had their day on their event's podium.

I joined Team Japanese, tried to enter (via ravelympics tags) five projects because I was feeling optimistic, and like a good girl started the first project during the opening ceremonies. Well, I discovered I mis-tagged one project so only four were a go, but that didn't deter me. By the closing ceremonies, I had three projects finished and a fourth that I got so bored with I put it aside.

The Tomato Hat was actually the second project I started, but I was able to knit this in just a couple of hours. The event was Gift Knits Pentathlon. I used superwash wool. I made it for my nephew because he loves tomatoes. I don't think his mom likes the hat very much, though.
My medal:
I started the Fat-Bottom Bag for the Bag-n-Tote Backstroke first, and even though it's crochet (which is generally faster than knitting), it took me a few days to finish the stitching part, and then I had to buy handles and dig up some lining fabric for it. I'm quite happy with the way this turned out.My medal:
My final completed project was another hat, made with alpaca yarn, for the Hat Dash event. I made an identical purple hat earlier this year and I really like the rib pattern. I'm going to wear this one often once the weather chills out.
My medal:
The one project I didn't finish? It's an Everlasting Bagstopper (an open mesh shopping bag) made of hemp, and when I get around to finishing it I'll probably post a photo.

Late afternoon, as the sun was sinking towards the west and the outdoor temperature was beginning to cool down, I sat on the front lawn with my sister as we watched The Nephew mow the lawn with his bubble-less Bubble Mower. We also did some people watching -- speed walkers, dog walkers, ice cream trucks, cars that parked on the opposite curb while the solitary driver never stepped out and then drove off 20 minutes later -- which is something I was able to do once again since I had bought a pair of prescription sunglasses earlier this morning. I had been glass-less for a week but I won't go into that bit of stupidity right now.

So I sat in a fold-up chair in the shade, surveyed my surroundings, and at some point looked up at the grapefruit tree. Yes, this was my exact point of view from my chair. Something distinctly orange in the center of the tree caught my eye.
The tree, which I'm told produces Ruby Reds, is currently chock-full of green spheres larger than my fist. Usually when they ripen they turn into various shades of pale yellow and pink.
I think this one is a freak. It might stand out even more if you click on "grapefruit" in the tag cloud on the upper left column.

School started for Mel this past Wednesday. How'd she get to 8th grade so fast? Her first day of Kindergarten was like yesterday, and she was the smallest kid in class. Well, thanks to the different rates of growth between adolescent boys and girls, at 4'11" she's taller than a few boys in her grade, for now (but nearly all the 8th grade girls tower over her).

Today, she chose this shirt to wear to school, which she bought just last week:

She had worn similar "hug" shirts to elementary school before, and the predictable result was that she would often receive a hug or few from classmates.

But also today, her middle school had a "special" assembly. No hugs or expressions of affection are allowed in school! Apparently, the school had some sexual harrassment issues in the previous school year. Melody was so embarrassed because she was seated near the Principal and Vice Principal, and tried her best to cover her (now "subversive"?) shirt. After school, we were able to see the humor in the whole thing. Leave it to Mel to pick that day to wear that shirt!

When it comes to advertising and product packaging, most children will grow up into jaded, skeptical adults. Take this swimming pool, for example. The kid in you would like to believe in the honesty of others, including those trying to sell you something, but then if you're smart you tell that kid to go sit in the corner for a time-out.

Last Sunday I took my mom to Marukai again, this time the one in West Covina. In the "dried soups" section I grabbed this off the shelf. It looked like it could be worth a try.

I took out one of the soup packets.
"Stir in 2/3 cup of boiling water" made me think, "That's not a lot of water."

But I ventured on, with some trepidation.
It looked to me like there were at least a dozen wontons in the package photo. Wow. My stomach grumbled in disappointment.

I added a full cup of hot water. 2/3 wasn't going to cut it today.

The soup tasted okay. It was fun, really, okay, not really, trying to stretch out those two lonely wontons during the consumption of the soup.

No, I'm not following a new fad diet, but I'll share this fun little distraction with you: Lifetime Movie Title Generator

Here are some gems it came up with for me:

• God, Don't Leave Me Adulterous
• My Husband Won't Stop Seducing Me: The Untold Story of Bobbie Jo
• Bobbie: Not Without My Malignant Son
• The Bobbie Jo Story: It's My Cancer, Damn It
• I Loved My Purging Too Much: The Life of Bobbie Jo
• Love Me, Love My Deflowerer: Bobbie's Journey
• Wheelchair in the Night
• Bobbie's Story: Leave My Addicted Baby Alone

While I was playing around with the generator, I also poked around Google a bit and discovered Google Maps for mobile. More fun, on the same night, even! Ever since I got this phone reel cheep (with a 2-year contract), I'm always discovering new functions with it. Since the phone is GPS-enabled, I had contemplated subscribing to TeleNav -- but the $99/year bit sort of put me off. But Google is free!^* It's not quite the nifty guidance system that is TeleNav, but it has maps ("DO NOT USE WHILE DRIVING!") and that's the important thing. I love maps.
I love satellite maps on my phone! In this shot you can see an aerial view of the local Indian casino. If I press "0" the map centers on my current location. There's even an option to show traffic flow on the local freeways. Awesome! I will probably subscribe to TeleNav eventually...

* Of course, nothing is ever completely free. I do pay for internet access.

Today is my nephew's 2nd birthday. My sister threw him a nice party yesterday, and many of his cousins and extended family and friends were there (except Melody, who is still in New York). Today was a day to relax and enjoy the post-party peace and quiet.

I called this morning to sing Happy Birthday to him again. My sister mentioned that her husband had taken their cat, Budgers, to the vet, so she and the Nephew were just lounging around.

Late in the morning my sister sent me a text message. I didn't read it until a few minutes ago. Budgers was put to sleep.

I was going through some more of my photos from last Spring, and here is one that was meaningful to me. The destruction in the background is making way for hope and renewal in the foreground. That is Miss M on the left.

This past April, my daughter's girl scout troop did a service project up in the San Bernardino Mountains. Under the supervision of the local forest rangers, the girls planted 41 Sugar and Ponderosa pines in an area that was devastated by fire back in September 2007. One ranger mentioned that they had a boy scout troop up there the week before, and they only managed to plant around five trees. What can I say, our troop of eight girls truly dominated, and received a heap of praise from the rangers.


Below is a photo of part of the fire taken by my brother on his cell phone on September 16, 2007. I guess he was on the job at the time, working with emergency crews from the Big Bear area.

I forgot to renew my domain name, and didn't even notice for over a week that it had expired! Goes to show how well I keep up with things.

Since I'm here, I might as well share some photos of stuff I made recently.

First is "Chanson en Crochet," which is French for Song in Crochet. It doesn't make me think of "song" as much as "creeping floral vines," however. It's a capelet pattern published in 2005 by Interweave Press. It's pink. It was a birthday present for my niece Pinky, who turned 6 yesterday.
I had purchased some cotton yarn online for another project, expecting an extremely pale pink. This yarn turned out to be too pink for that project, so it found a new purpose in this project instead. It turned out okay.

Next up is another hat. I had gone over a month without knitting a hat, so I had to. Did you know I have many hats? Sometimes I give them away, too. I once made a hat by request, for a teacher who was about to vacation in Colorado and wanted something in purple. Here is that hat, modeled by the lovely Miss M, who will officially reach teen status next month.
I used variegated alpaca yarn. Alpaca is supposed to be a gazillion times warmer than wool. Or five times warmer. Okay, it is thermostatically superior to wool. There ya go. The teacher expressed much appreciation.

Here is the hat I was originally talking about before I went and sidetracked myself. It's more of a tam, actually. It's called "Sand and Sea Tam." Supposedly tams will be all the rage next winter. I don't know. That's me modeling it, though. I have bangs again! I think I went bangless for about a decade up until this past spring.
That's it for now. I'll report if my dog runs away again after the 4th of July, like she did last year. She hates fireworks -- the noise makes her go absolutely nuts. It doesn't help that illegal fireworks are a big thing in this part of town.

Melody is out in New York wishing she was back in California, so Mel, this one is for you.

A month ago we had just returned to our car after shopping at Kohl's. I was about to turn the key in the ignition when Mel started laughing and told me to look at the truck parked across from us. I glanced at it and didn't notice anything special about it.

Then Mel simply stated, "F*@$."

I looked at her. "Excuse me?!?"

"Um, that's what it says on the truck. Do you have your camera?"


I find it interesting that her reaction five years ago probably would have been, "Eww. Why would someone do that?" Now it's more like, "How stupid. Let's take a picture of it."

I shouldn't be blogging right now because my brain is in a quiet panic. But here I am. This is a little something from last month:

I found this on the bathroom door when I came home from a day of student teaching. Melody left for school about a half hour later than I did, so she probably put up the note right after I drove off that morning.

Melody had been doing well this quarter with getting her assignments turned in on time, up to this one. The stained-glass window assignment for her Social Studies class was listed as "missing" in her online grades. I love the fact that I can check her grades online. Ain't technology wonderful? She was sooo busted.

Since I'm playing around with this blog after yet another upgrade, trying to get this and that to work, I'll share another photo with you.

I love double rainbows. This shot was taken on January 21, 2008 during a break in a rainstorm. I drove to my sister's house not long afterwards; on the way, I noticed many people standing in front of their houses, or pulled over to the side of the road, to admire this colorful sight on an otherwise bleary day.

Did you know that in a double rainbow, the colors in the fainter outer rainbow are reversed?

After two months of not blogging, I guess it's only fair to show you the finished hat.

Cotton is okay, but wool is a treat to knit. The Teenlet, however, can't wear even the softest, most buttery merino wool. "It itches." So, the blue cotton/acrylic Koolhaas was made for her. She loves it so much, she's worn it to school. I'm glad I have a higher tolerance for wool hats.

I started a second Koolhaas hat. I love the look of heathered yarns, and this one is no exception. “Amber Heather.” Sounds like a girl’s name.

Mom and I were passing through Cabazon when she mysteriously uttered, “Fish.”

For some reason, I was amused by the offerings of lip balm and candy among the feminine products. No, they don’t let me out of my cave very often. This was in the restroom of a multiplex movie theater where the Teenlet and I had just seen The Golden Compass. The movie was okay.

What? I’m already behind! I think I should rename this Project 250-ish, because I’m realizing there’s no way I’ll be able to get one photo for every day of the year.

Yesterday we had our first storm of the year. Some areas in southern California had to deal with flooding and mudslides, but my area had no such drama. The mountain ski resorts are happier than they were last week. However, the Teenlet has shown no interest in joining her school’s Ski Club. This particular snowy peak is San Bernardino Peak, elevation 10,649 ft (3,246 m). I want to climb to the top some day, preferably before I turn 45.