Philosophy and Photography

Can't I just sew without playing with the computer?

Apparently not.

Holly and I have been talking about the future of "unretouched photos." What does that mean, even now? This photo is an original. It was a PREtouched photo, though--not a plain photo but a heat-sensitive thing. There was a lamp by the sewing machine. But it is, by itself, as it is, an unretouched photo.

I've been talking with Holly about things to use as examples at the Thinking Sticks blog and so that might be coming in a few days. Please think of photos you have, too, maybe that are not what is traditionally considered "unretouched" and if anyone here knows the current term for just-plain-light no-tricky-filters photography, please let me know.

Me and my hyperactivity

I have nervous energy and yet I need to sit and sew. Yesterday I fixed up a couple of Marty's outfits (wait... Bardolf's tunics) for the Estrella War he's going to with his dad in a few days (big interkingdom SCA event near Phoenix), I cut out a pair of black wool pants for him, fixed the wool pants Keith's had for years, and when I went to buy the right color of grey thread, ended up buying some striped wool for a new pair of pants for Keith (well, for Gunwaldt, his SCA self). Very nice wool.

So I'm sewing and watching Brother Sun, Sister Moon, a movie I will love for life despite that criticism of those who can't appreciate religious-art in the form of a movie. Had it been a painting with discrepancies from the historical record, or a sculpture, or a medal, no one would care. But make it HUGE, with real scenery and real medieval buildings and costumes and music, and people say "the armor is crap" and "Clare wasn't that age," and blah blah. ART. Art.

Oh right. I need to get back to sewing. But I needed to pause the movie anyway and remembered that the computer sits here looking at me. My new DVD player for the sewing room, which is also a camera and a computer. See the wool?

Crazy. Fantasies.

"I was running fantasy, and then I thought 'That's not crazy!'," I said to Holly.

And she said, "That's what crazy people say about their fantasies."

Contentment, Abundance and Joy

I left this comment on a blog and then I thought it's bigger than one blog and one comment:

It's easy to go blog to blog sometimes and find more and more cynicism and hateful criticism of music, art, neighbors, the weather, politics, history, and of hope itself.

But unschoolers blogs!? NO, they're about joy and smiles and peace. I love that.

These were right next to each other when I went to catch up on blogs:

The Bharadwaj Knights
Abundance and what it means to me

AND The Kitchen Sink!
Contentment

And here's a sweet link to baby Trevor's first attempt at locomotion, in a video with sound:
He Moves

Alex Polikowsky shared images and memories and this:
A Happy Childhood does last forever....make the most of it for your kids!

Crystal Miller told wonderful stories of her relationships with older neighbors, of gates in the fences and walls between their houses, and connections in their lives.
Have you heard the BUZZ......
That is definitely worth the few moments it will take you to read it. It would be worth an hour.

All over the world (real world and internet both) there are noisy folks feeling virtuous and clever about working themselves into a froth and a frenzy about what's stupid and what they hate and what's wrong. Without changing my location, I can look in another direction and see the unschooling network of blogs, e-mail lists, forums and (yes, I'm still excited) my new chat, and all the things those hook into, and the places the people go when they leave there. We're onto something big. We are creating and maintaining an international co-op for helping to see the beauty and the power in everyday, peaceful, happy learning.

Friday Functionality

Good day! I'm having a nice week, though I realized last night that some sewing I've been promising to do isn't finished, so that's what I'm doing tonight and tomorrow, for sure. I hope.


Holly has done another piece of changing-photo-gif art and she's letting me share it with those who come by here, even though it's VERY cool as her MySpace profile picture.

It started with a new photo of our cat, Tiger. The poster is in her room. The tattoos are temps from a little Dover book. The haircut she did herself. The photo manipulation tool was Photoshop Elements 2.0 (an old one). She took all the photos. I think it's just amazing.


1. Please don't tell me that you're smart and wonderful. It cancels itself out.

2. Can you wake up and stand up, walk and talk immediately in the morning? (It has made my life better that that's one of my abilities. I don't need to stretch or wake up slowly or have coffee or anything; I wake up fully functional.)

3. The color green makes me want to sing! And it makes me want to start gathering up yard-working stuff and buy some peat pots and seeds!

4. I have a craving for ... nothing. I'm just happy as things are..

5. If my life had a pause button, I'd pause it occasionally, for a minute, to imprint a memory or take a photo, but there's no one moment I would love more than I love the everydayness of my life.

6. Eyes are the thing that made me cry when I saw Slumdog Millionaire. (NO SPOILERS in the comments here, please. Let people watch their own movies, but that one was rough for me as a mom.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to seeing Marty's friend Ashlee, tomorrow my plans include sewingand Sunday, I want to watch Desperate Housewives with Holly (and sort and fold lots of laundry)!

GroundhogDAYcious

Poor little guys. People should leave them alone. It's not like the good old days of free-range groundhog possibly doing local weather charms if they felt like it, no... they have some state-enslaved groundhog and they bid him arise on national TV. Free the groundhogs!



Cold, in my office this morning, and warm in the glow of Holly's fiber optics lamp the other day.

Super Bowl Sunday (I don't really care, but...)

So I don't watch football, but a lot of my friends do. Yesterday I was in the grocery store about 5:30, Saturday, to get just a few things. Few carts were available, lines were long, and the aisles were packed, as if it were the the day before Thanksgiving, or July 3 or something. I hadn't thought about "super bowl shopping," but there I was in a sea of same. I wonder if there are similar not-really-holiday shopping days in other places and parts of the world...

I'm getting excited about a conference in Tempe, Arizona on March 7. I started taking notes for my talk and making a list of things to take. Kirby will be there, and Holly, Holly's boyfriend Brett, and possibly but not as for-sure Marty. Pam and Rosie Sorooshian will be there. In the morning, I'm speaking first at 9:00, then Pam, then Kirby in another room right after. Lunch. Keynote (Grace Llewellyn), teen/young adult panel, then me and Pam and our kids after that. VERY full day. It was originally to have been a two-day conference, but scheduling conflicts lost them the Sunday meeting space, so it will be a super-filled one-day marathon.

Brett and Holly

Today I've made a pair of pants for Marty to wear over his leg armor at an SCA war (Estrella) he's going to with his dad in a week and a half. I'm going to make him two or three other things before then too. I cleaned the hot tub; no one's using it tonight, but tomorrow night it will be all sparkly. And I'll clean it again during those days Keith's in Arizona (the kingdom of Atenveldt, I mean) with Marty.

Laundry's running, Holly's watching The Simpsons upstairs and working on Shrinky Dinks, Keith is in the library working a jigsaw puzzle and watching the game. Marty is at Sadie's house, I think; maybe Jeff's. He's somewhere watching the super bowl. Brett is... quiet. Maybe he's playing WoW, or napping. He hasn't had a day off for a long time, and I bet he's very tired.

Tomorrow morning there's a chat on music, 9:00 my time, link in the left column.