Instagram Fever

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I've only been posting, at the most, once a week. I was thinking about this and wondering why, and it dawned on me; I've joined Instagram! It's my new obsession. Does anyone reading this post on Instagram? I'll tell you, it's addicting. It's like a mini-Facebook only way more fun.
You take a photo with your smartphone and then post it to the Instagram app. You may write a descriptive sentence if you'd like. People who are following you can see your photo, like it, or make a comment. It's just another way to connect with people in cyberspace. I'm only following a handful of people, because I don't want to be consumed with looking at everyone's new posts all day long. Mostly it's friends and friends of friends that I follow, although I am following a few unknown photographers just to see their beautiful photos. They inspire me.
What's your favorite social media on the internet? For now, mine is definitely Instagram.

Dance in the North Sky

Some friends had told me about seeing the Aurora in the early morning hours of March 10th, but unfortunately I was already asleep and missed the activity. The following evening, however, I noticed the telltale green glow in the Northern sky at 9:30 PM. I called a friend of mine and within 15 minutes we were both headed up into the woods to get away from any man-made lights. Just moments after we arrived in my planned shooting area the Aurora intensified and really started to put on a show. By 11:00 PM the sky was bursting with dancing lights. At one point the lights filled about 50% of the entire sky. I would have needed a fisheye lens (which I unfortunately do not own) in order to capture the entire breadth of the lights. We stood in awe at not only the movements but the colors we were seeing. Dominated by green, we also saw shades of red, purple and white. Rarely is the aurora seen this powerfully in Northern Minnesota. I was almost in a trance staring at this amazing show and I kept having to remind myself to keep taking pictures!

Baghead - Review from an Extra

"Baghead - Review from an Extra" was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.



You can't do this until next month, but last weekend we went to see Baghead, the latest indie film from Mark and Jay, the Duplass brothers, who work on a shoestring budget to turn their stories into films. This movie is premiering in Austin - even New York and Los Angeles have to wait!

Philo and I loved the .. Duplass feature, The Puffy Chair, so we'd have wanted to see the latest Duplass movie in any event, but we had a special reason to see Baghead on opening weekend - to find out if either Philo or I could be glimpsed in the final film.

Most of Baghead was filmed at a cabin in the woods near Bastrop, Texas, a town Southeast of Austin. Hilarious, scary and surprising things happen to the two men and two women who are attempting to finish a screenplay for a movie - while also making sure the movie will provide roles for themselves.

Before they leave for the cabin, the story starts at a film festival, and back in October of .., Philo and I were both extras for a scene of an audience watching one of the film festival entries in a theater. I was directed to a seat right behind the four main characters and Philo was on the aisle, so we're both visible on screen for a couple of seconds - the sleeve of my light green blouse gets a few more seconds as background!

Baghead is said to use a comedy form to combine a scary movie with a relationship movie. That's not a bad description, and I'll add that we both liked the characters and story. It's an 'R' movie, which means casual profanity, nudity, and some violence. (These things don't bother me but I'm not sure who's reading this blog and thought you should be warned.)

And it's an indie movie which means some jiggly hand-held camera moments - and also some wonderful closeups. That visual intimacy with the actors' faces is something that's always been essential to the film experience, but recent movies are so stuffed with special effects, explosions, iconic landscapes, distant vehicles and petty details of historical recreation that there seems to be little time for dwelling on the individual landscape of the human face, keeping the audience at a distance from the people in the movie, sometimes leaving an unsatisfied feeling at film's end.

In contrast, the Duplass brothers let the camera linger on the faces of their four main characters, played by Greta Gerwig, Elise Muller, Steve Zissis and Ross Partridge and all of them were very watchable. We'd already seen Greta Gerwig when she starred with Mark Duplass in another indie movie called Hannah Takes the Stairs. Although I wasn't crazy about that movie it was interesting and I wanted to see the quirkily charming Greta Gerwig again - she's a naturally charismatic actor. Seeing Baghead let us know how amazing Steve Zissis can be - we hope to see him in more movies!

When the post about our experience as extras who'd been directed by the Duplass brothers went up in autumn of .., we didn't know whether we'd be in the movie - now I harbor delusions of grandeur and wonder whether a couple of seconds of screen time would qualify me for an entry on the IMDb. Could there be really be some filmmaker looking for a sixtyish, well-upholstered, grandmotherly type who sings songs to the trees?

"Baghead - Review from an Extra" was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.

Christmas Reading

I've decided to make a Christmas reading list.Here are the books on the list:1. Christmas with Rosamunde Pilcher2. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever-Barbara Johnson3. An Irish Country Christmas-Patrick Taylor4. I Saw Three Ships-Elizabeth Goudge5. The Christmas Mouse-Miss Read6. The Sister of the Angels-Elizabeth Goudge
Does anyone have another good Christmas book to recommend? I'm hoping to have lots of time for reading in front of the fire!

A Walk into the Unknown

The sky didn't look promising, the clouds looked as though they could drop some rain at any time, but I decided to just go for it. Normally I just put a lead on Toby and we walk wherever our feet take us, today I wanted to do something different. I put Toby's car harness on him and drove a couple of miles along the lanes, in order to try out a new walk.

For the first ten or fifteen minutes of the walk I skirted around a very large field, enjoying the wider skies and sight of the dancing trees on the horizon. I enjoyed seeing the remarkable variety of grasses and sedges - and became aware of just how ignorant I am of any of their names. Hedges were studded with wild roses in pink and white.

click to enlarge

A few more minutes brought us to this stream.

I had to climb a stile, Toby found his own way through. and we met on the other side, where this pretty scene greeted us.

There was even a beautiful white duck with one lone duckling.

Beautiful yellow irises are in flower along the banks. It was tranquil, refreshing.

Earthshine at Twilight

Earthshine on the Moon, May 2006.

The Alternative View

I was undecided on where to ride this morning, so I decided to inspect something that I saw on a map. I headed to Austinville again, this time to see if I could turn the ride into a circuit. The map wasn't quite right, and I ended up riding directly across the paddocks pictured above. Perhaps not such a good idea in the rain, but I may not get the same chance again.
The original intention had been to follow Tallowood Road, near the top of the hill on which the local hall sits. After a couple of steep gradients, with the road turning to dirt, everything looked to be heading in the right direction. There was even the promise of further places to explore later, such as the Mudgeeraba State Forest. Things got a bit silly when the dirt road appeared to dead end at a farm, but I then saw another "track" through the undergrowth. To say I was riding in faith at this point wouldn't be totally accurate, it was more like wishful thinking.

After some rough bits, the "road" eventually petered out to a dead end. There were signs of human habitation -- maybe someone decided to build a house here at some point, but it was anything but what I was looking for.



It all left me with little option but to turn back. I wasn't so keen on heading for Tallowood Road and back out the way I came, that would have been the sensible thing to do! I chose the option of riding cross-country instead. There were no signs indicated private property, and no fences, so I figured the owner wouldn't be too bothered. As it was I didn't see them, but I did have a minor crash in a mud patch at the bottom. Eventually it brought me out to the start of the rainforest section in Austinville proper. Regular readers of this page will know what that means.

The rest of the ride passed relatively uneventfully. I was a little surprised to end up with just 51km by the end of it. It seemed like a lot to pack into such a short distance -- especially considering that around 20km of it was passing through suburbia. I'm hoping for a century tomorrow, the planned century may be called off, as it includes a dirt road on a mountain that has seen four inches of rain (and counting) in the last 24 hours. I'll just see what I decide in the morning.

Repairs and Shopping at Camping World

Let's back up to Monday night. With the looming trip to Camping World in New Braunfels, Texas (45 minutes away), Bob and I started getting the 5th wheel ready to move. We re-stowed books, loose items, outside folding chairs, and door mat.

Tuesday morning while Bob was at work, I finished putting wall hangings like photos and barometer where they wouldn't get damaged in transit...on our bed. The laptops and air card, loose magazines, pens, and notepads all get put in one of the Costco cardboard boxes. The box is secured where it can't move. The dining room chairs were strapped down, loose items in the shower were stowed either in cupboards or on the floor of the shower...you get the picture. We have two Velcro straps which I use to close up cupboards so items won't break free during transit. [Note to self: Buy more Velcro straps for the other cupboards!]

Before closing the slides this morning, I took a broom and cleared all the spiders/spiderwebs off the outside of the rig. Thankfully, the spiders were all benign; mostly daddy long legs and a little white garden-variety-type spider.

Our appointment at Camping World was at 2:30 p.m. When Bob came home at noon, he did the outside chores--emptied the black tank, put the bicycle on the bike rack on our ladder, closed the awning, partially filled the fresh water tank, hooked up the 5er to the truck, latched and locked the exterior compartments, and removed the chocks. We put up the stairs, folded in the handle and locked the door.

Because the rig had been sitting so long, our first stop was two miles away at Treds (yes, it's spelled like that) where we had the ladies fill our tires to the recommended level. (Side note: It's all women who work at Treds. They replace tires, do wheels, make "house" calls to RV parks to assist RVers with their dilemmas, i.e., come with a large jack to lift someone's car off the end of the tow dolly, etc. See another article and video here.)

Then we were off on a (short) road trip to Camping World to have our refrigerator and badly leaking kitchen faucet looked at.





When your 5th wheel is your home everything travels with you. So when it came time for Camping World to take over possession of our 5th wheel, we had to take the cats with us. I popped them into their carriers with Sunnie sliding right in - no muss, no fuss, and Bowie with his paws extended, claws out and "I'm-not-going-in-there" fuss. Cat, resistance is futile. You're going in. And he did, but unhappily.

We took the two cat carriers and a small, disposable kitty litter box out to my Escape pod. Remember this is around 2:30 p.m. The day was dark and foreboding; it had rained on us during our drive north. While we moved the kitties, no rain. I put both carriers in the back seat and the kitty litter box in the back cargo section of the Escape.

Bob headed back to work. I sat in the car with the kitties. However it was lunch time so we drove off to find food. As soon as I started the car, the skies opened up and the downpour began. I followed Bob out of the Camping World lot. We could barely see the road it was raining so hard. The freeway access road was like a river...luckily there was good drainage. The freeway was crawling along at about 30-35 mph, the same speed as the access road. I'm guessing a couple of inches of rain fell in about 15 minutes' time.

I drove toward New Braunfels looking for a fast food restaurant where I could drive through with the kitties in tow. The downpour was crazy. When I got to an intersection where I could go under the freeway, I went for it. That's where the most water was, but it wasn't very deep so I followed the guy in front of me through. (No problem.) Finally found a Whataburger and bought my lunch. I let the cats out of their carriers to explore the car. They went everywhere, including all over me to get to every inch of the inside. They were much happier after exploring and checking out everything through the windows.

In the past, kitties didn't get to go free in the car, but since they were out of the carriers, I let them be while I drove back to Camping World. As soon as the car starting moving faster, both of them disappeared. When we parked, I saw them both come out of one cat carrier. It's only a medium-sized carrier so they must have been pretty cozy in there. (Sunnie is 16 lb. and Bowie is 10 lb.)

No sooner was I parked than Bob drove back to the Camping World parking lot. What? He had headed off to work. He came over to wait in the car with the cats and me. Said the freeway was crazy, the rain was insane, and it wasn't worth driving back to San Antonio in the downpour. So he is going to work this evening.

Here we are in the car, waiting...

Sunnie loving Bob's attention.

Bowie looking skeptical.

Sunnie: all settled down.

Sunnie says, "Bowie, can't you just relax? Ommm."

With Bob in the car to keep an eye on the kitties, I was able to shop in Camping World. The Camping World flyer that came in the mail showed a vacuum on sale that had what I was looking for. The Dirt Devil® Scorpion™ is what I would call a cross-over vacuum. It's hand-held and small in size with attachments: an upholstery brush, a "Turbo" tool, and a crevice tool. When you have two cats in a 5th wheel, those attachments are much needed to get cat hair off the furniture, valances, window shades, and kitty litter out of edges. I used it last night and LOVE it!

Pros:

• It plugs directly into the wall, no charging stand, so running out of battery power is not an issue


• "Turbo" tool


• Upholstery brush


• Hose with crevice tool


• Shoulder strap to use when you want to reach up high or just an easy way to carry it around while you vacuum

Cons:

• The on/off switch is hard to use


• The attachments are difficult to attach


• It gets hot pretty quickly

The pros outweigh the cons and I am happy with the purchase. Original price was $47.99. Sale price was about $33, but with the Good Sam discount at Camping World, the price was close to $30.

My other purchase was a nice pillow, normally $24.99 which I got for $17.99. Bob liked the pillow so much he asked me to buy one for him Wednesday.

The repairs could not be finished on Tuesday, so we needed to spend the night at Camping World. They put us next to the repair building where there was a plug-in with 50 amp power. Electricity is important for light, A/C, charging our computers and phones, and for me to try out the new vacuum! You can see how wet everything is.

There's Rigamarole on the left before we hooked up shore power.

Today's post is long, so I will end here. Wednesday is another story altogether. Stay tuned for "the rest of the story."

The end.

Travel Bug out.

Betty Collins, Quilter Extraordinaire

That's my mama I'm talking about! She's an amazing quilter with stitches so small they can barely be seen. Recently, one of her quilts called Tomboy Bride was included in an exhibition sent to China. The book shown is from that show and tells about each featured quilt and quilter. She's also been in a few other books and has taught quilting for many, many years at a local college. I own several of her quilts, I'm happy to say, and consider them my most prized possessions.

People ask me if I quilt. I say, "Yes, I can, but why should I?" I have many quilts already and will someday have more. I really don't see the point. I guess because it's not my favorite form of needlework. I like smocking, embroidery, and French handsewing much better.

Mama instilled in me a love of the needlearts, and I thank her heartily for taking the time and effort to fool with a stubborn, left-handed daughter. I love you, Mama!

Illston circular via Burton Overy, Little Stretton, Kings Norton

Led by me, with Maureen and Eddie. Very hot, good underfoot. Same as walk a week ago. About 8 miles.
The same route as last Thursday's walk, but without the unintentional strayings. I won't describe the route in detail here.
If you look at the photo above really really carefully, you may just see the waymarked yellow post among the leaves. This is at grid ref SP691984. To be fair the path is now clear on the ground, as the hay has been harvested. Last Thursday I was distracted by a wide opening in the hedge about 50 yards to the right!



After crossing the minor road close to a cattle grid, we cross a field with cows, and another piece of grassland, then join the minor road again as it goes downhill to Burton Overy. We've cut a corner off by footpath.

These cows had no intention of leaving the shade of the trees - wise beasts.

Burton Overy church lies to the west of the path

We walk through Burton Overy, noting that the Bell is open later. We find the path and take this as far as the footpath to Little Stretton. It's not very clear through the last cornfield.
Little Stretton Church was and is dependent on Kings Norton.
There is a bench in the sun, but in today's heat we decide to shelter in the porch for our break.
Then its through cornfields and pasture to Kings Norton, where we have a peep inside the church.

This is a photograph of an eighteenth century painting of the Fortrey family. William Fortrey was responsible for the rebuilding of Kings Norton Church between 1757 and 1775. For more about the village British History Onlinehas a page with loads of information.This monument was erected by William Fortreyin memory of his parents, William (d. 1722) and Anne (d. 1733).

More tagged cows, with Kings Norton Church on the horizon.

We make our way back past Illston Grange and its horses - who are all thirsty today.We drive by a slightly roundabout route to Burton Overy - a pint of iced lemonade!

Rain and Power Outage

Sunday evening, right on schedule, the rain hit at 9pm. It was a deluge. About 10pm (just as I was settling in to watch the news) the power went out. No lightning strikes that evening.

The power system was trying to clear the line. Power would come back on for a short time, then go off with a "thunk" I could hear in the house. I grabbed the flashlight from the night stand. Saw a orange glow when the power was off.

The glow was emanating from the area of the transformer supplying my house. When the power finally went out, I ventured out on the porch. All power was out in the area.

I called the power company emergency number. All I had the call with was my cell phone. I hate their automated call answering system. It does not allow you to leave any details of what you saw - just report the power is out.

Watched for the line crew - looking for the problem. Missed them as they drove past me. When they cam back down the road, I was out with my flashlight flagging him down. Told him that I believe the problem is right here at my transformer pole. He did a cursory inspection (from the ground) of the pole. Looked like a failed insulater.

While he was back down toward the highway, the power tried to come back on 2-3 times. This was about midnight. That brought the lineman and a neighbor to the driveway. The lineman said he saw the arc 2 miles south on Hwy 92!

A larger line crew truck with 2 more linemen joined the lineman in my driveway. They isolated the stub line to my transformer. Parked in my field road at the transformer and made repairs. Power was restored about 1:20am Monday morning. Of course, I could not then get to sleep.

Photo accompanying this posting (apologies for the quality) was taken with my new GoPro. I wanted to check out what the camera would do in low light, and did not to startle the workmen with any flash on a D-SLR.

Hibiscus Up Close

Fall Colors, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Here's the stamen of a hibiscus flower at Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. The colors on these flowers are incredible...gold pollen against a rich pink stamen and rosy white petals.
Anyone have experience with tropical hibiscus plants?

Climbing Dumfries

Second day in a row, the morning was overcast and "cool" by July standards. I kitted up and grabbed the hybrid bike for a ride. Since there also was a bit of a breeze, I decided to climb Dumfries Hill.
Not sure how the climb would be. I have not been doing much climbing, and I was riding the hybrid (larger wheels than my hardtail). The climb went well - pedaling up at 8-9 mph. A few other riders on this portion of the Trace.
Stopped at Margaritaville for G2 and a granola bar. Margaritaville is looking pretty nice these days. Thanks to Greg and others that keep it cleaned up.
Then, what I was waiting for - the ride back down the 4 mile hill. No effort to cruise down the hill at 16 mph on the 28 mm, slick tires on this bike. Made the round trip in 1:08. Not my fastest trip. but I was pleased.
The heat is coming. Forecast is for heat index in the 105-110 Friday through Tuesday. Any riding will have to be very early in the morning.