Around the Corner Summer Picnic

A week from today is the Around the Corner Summer picnic held at Hovander Homestead Park in Ferndale. Hopefully we will get our favorite spot next to the house under the big tree. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the dry weather continues as well.

Fragrance Garden at Tennet Lake Interpretative Center

Gardens behind Hovander Homestead house

Here are some pictures from visits to the park in the past. This is one thing I really miss about not having the car, is not being able to just head out here for a walk, or to the Maritime Park in Blaine. I love the Fragrance Garden.







I'll never forget coming out one summer evening after the dinner hour, and it was quiet and I kept seeing rabbits everywhere. I nicknamed it bunny central, including the one I saw munching on the leaves of something in the fragrance garden..

Fragrance Garden

Fragrance Garden

Wisteria at the Fragrance Garden

Giant Fossil at the Fragrance Garden

Hydrangea in front of Hovander Homestead house

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is a scary movie every day......

Full Moon in the Morning

We have had great weather for this month's full moon, although yesterday morning was completely foggy after a clear night. I took this picture this morning around 7:15 in between buses at the station downtown.

R.I.P. Dennis Farina - Oh How I Miss You Already

I was very sad to see on the news this afternoon that Dennis Farina had passed away. He was such a pleasure to watch, Get Shorty and Midnight Run are two all time favorites of mine. He left his mark on both, and is one of those actors that he could own a role to the point that you couldn't remotely imagine someone else having done it even half as good.

Looking Up

June 2013

I took the picture of the rainbow above back in mid June, and completely forgot about it until I went to download the picture of the moon I took tonight. I love how big the moon can look when it is low on the horizon. It will be a full moon tomorrow night.

July 21

National Ice Cream Day

I got some half and half at Haggen this morning to make a batch of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, and then when I was online later I saw that today was National Ice Cream Day. And Baskin & Robbins released a Ice Cream Flavor/Personality study to honor it, what timing....

 And it's surprising that I never knew this, but July is National Ice Cream month, and the third Sunday is the National Ice Cream Day. My interest in making homemade ice cream starts with my Uncle Ralph. He passed away when I was still in elementary school, but as it was, I still got to enjoy many summers of his simple, but fantastic vanilla ice cream.

He had the old style wood, hand crank ice cream maker where you used rock salt and ice. Of course, as kids, we didn't really want to help out on the labor part, just eating the end result. And he only ever made vanilla, and sometimes added cherries, but it didn't matter it was delicious! So a few summers back when I got my Cuisinart electric model, I started a quest to replicate his recipe. After a few batches, I think I came as close as I'm going to. Since then I've made, banana, blueberry, peach, lemon cheesecake, chocolate, coffee and coffee-chocolate chip. I want to try some mint chocolate chip next. As far, as the study, I'm not sure where I fall in there - Coffee Chocolate Chip is my favorite ♥

This 'n That

First Sweet Pea bloom of 2013

I had been so excited earlier this spring thinking that I was going to end up with a big beautiful pot of Sweet Peas this year because I started early and my starts were off to well, a good start (pardon the pun).

Then it was such a cold spring again that just when it finally started to warm up and get pretty, I discovered that the squirrels had been digging in the pot. Well, I still didn't give up, and I kept watering them and today was finally rewarded with my first bloom ♥

I saw a feature article on the chalk artist Peter Han on the (new to me) website Colossal, and his work is beautiful, this Vimeo short was embedded with the article. Enjoy!

                               

Woody's Trip to The Vet

Tea Set featured on MemeBase

I had Woody's annual vet visit first thing this morning and oh dear, my poor little buddy was trembling really bad while we were waiting for the bus. I tried to get him to take two of the calming treats before we left, but he wasn't interested.

He didn't end up yowling, but he kept trying to bury his head in the cat bed, and it wasn't much better when the vet started to examine him. He got a blood draw and I have to try and arrange to bring him back in to get a urine sample to test his kidneys. Otherwise everything is A-Okay.

And then when we left I missed the bus by one minute, so he got the walking tour of downtown Bellingham just like Boo did. I even made a quick detour into the post office to get some stamps. The nice thing is, that after all the stress of the travels he wasn't mad at me and relaxes and everything is normal in 5 minutes. Well, back to my Saturday chores

Travels to the Edge

So I get the bus from work and there is this youngish father and his daughter who looks to be around 7 or 8 years old sitting about three seats ahead of me.

I'm on the bus about 5 minutes when she has a complete melt down over her Barbie. Screaming at the top of her lungs multiple times, kicking the back of the seat in front of her, the whole nine yards.

After several minutes of this, a guy across the aisle from me says something. Then within two minutes of that, the bus driver stops and tells the dad he has to get her off the bus, which she of course is resisting, and in effect, holding everyone hostage. I was about 30 seconds away from getting off myself, when she finally budged. OMG

Sharknado Facebook Parody

I saw a clip about this made-for-TV movie on NBC Nightly News last week. It was apparently a totally campy flick in the same vein as "The Blob" and other classics from the 50's and 60's. I can't remember what channel it was on, but the whole thing is pretty funny. This was on FailBlog.

RAID - Salvation in a Can

So when I went to Haggen today for groceries I had wasp - yellow jacket spray on my shopping list. It was obviously on a lot of other people's shopping lists too. I literally had to get down on my hands and knees to grab the last can at the back of the bottom shelf where they keep it. Honestly, for this time of year they should have a prominent display at the front of the store....

But I was bound and determined to bring some home, because after being stung four times last Sunday, I was super paranoid going out the back door.
I waited until dark like they suggest (and had my flashlight in the other hand too). I had to interrupt watching Endeavour on Masterpiece Mystery, because it wasn't dark until around 9:30. So while I was missing watching a little murder and mayhem on PBS, I was committing some of my own outside.

I'm glad I had my Maglite flaslight to see under the eaves of the roof, I found several more nests than I expected, and I soaked them pretty good. I think I used almost half the can.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I  was successful -

Travels To The Edge

Cordata Bus Station in North Bellingham

The other night when I was coming home from work there was this group of two guys and a gal all in their early twenties at the front of the bus deep in conversation. They didn't seem to know each other because part of the conversation was about their futures. One of the guys said "I'm going to become either a lawyer or a drug dealer, who gives a f***".

He apparently thought he was being really funny, but in reality all he did was make himself look like an idiot. It was at that point that I pulled out my MP3 player and cranked it up to drown them out. I know that we are all young once, and can say stupid things, but I truly hope that I never said anything like that.

George Zimmerman Trial

I have to say that I am disappointed in the verdict, but I was glad that at least there was a trial. I read someone's comment online that they weren't surprised given that another Florida jury didn't find Casey Anthony guilty either. The case presented by the prosecution was apparently not strong enough, or the jury was just as racist as Zimmerman.

I said it before and I'll say it again, if George Zimmerman really thought that his life was in danger he should have stayed in his car. If he had done as he was told by the 911 dispatcher and let the police do their job, Trayvon Martin would still be alive today. The moment that he looked at him as suspicious he set a chain of events in motion that ended up with an unarmed teenager dead.

Chinese artist Xu Bing

This is from Colossal.com about at exhibit running through the end of October 2013 in Massachusetts.

Xu Bing Arrives at Mass MoCA With His 12-Ton Birds Made of Construction EquipmentJuly 10

Chinese artist Xu Bing has several works currently on view as part of an exhibition at Mass MoCA in Massachusetts. Among the works are two 12-ton birds titled Phoenix that fill the museum’s football field-sized Building 5. Two years in the making, the birds were constructed from materials collected at various Chinese construction sites including demolition debris, steel beams, tools, and assorted remnants of migrant laborers. The male Phoenix titled Feng measures 90 feet long, and the female, Huang, is nearly 100 feet in length from beak to its steel tail feathers. Both birds are illuminated from within through a network of lights.

Somewhat similar to artists Yao Lu and Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing seems to be commenting on China’s rapid commercial development that is drastically altering the physical and cultural landscape within the country. Phoenix will be on view October 27th. (via junk culture,hyperallergic, my modern met)

Chrome T-Rex

Artist Philippe Pasqua created this Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that is installed near the Seine in Paris France. It is made from 350 chrome molded bones and measures 21 by 12 feet.

I first saw this on I Can Has Cheezburger and then I Google'd it to find out more about it. The perspective makes it look like it is over a 100 feet tall, so it was kind of disappointing to find out it isn't, but it's still pretty cool.

The website that I found this information on is called Colossal and I am so glad I found it! I added it to my links, and plan on visiting it regularly. It makes me realize just how much I miss seeing art in person. I feel lucky to have grown up going to the art center in Kalamazoo. I went all the time with my parents, and Bellingham doesn't have anything comparable to it.

The other thing I found web-surfing last night was the website for the artist who created the kinetic sculpture that is permanently installed downtown at the city transit station. I absolutely love that piece, and embedded a YouTube video of it at the bottom of the blog. I wish that whoever did the video had placed a track of music over the street sounds. Toward the end you can hear some idiot slinging an insult at it. How could anyone not like it?

The Internet; A Love - Hate Relationship

Woody & Boo

So I'm back online. Again.
I swapped out the modem I got from Comcast last Tuesday for another one today and activated it, and so far so good! (Knock on wood).

It's a different model, so I'm hoping that this will be a keeper and I won't have any more trouble.

Hello Boo, my beautiful girl

This 'n That

Just a quick note that my stepmother thinks my email account might have been hacked. She got an email that was in her spam folder that said it was from me and contained a web link. If you see anything like that please delete it.

So my day just kept getting better from there; my internet with Comcast stopped working yesterday evening, and I've only had it since Tuesday. I spent a half hour with a tech support Rep who tried to reset my modem to no avail. Then I uncovered a yellow jacket nest less than a foot from my backdoor and got stung on both hands, my face near my left ear and right on the top of my head. What a day. At least the weather has been beautiful....