canopic_no_9

06:20 pm: Vashon Photography Show & Performance by Splitfoot's Mystery School
Head on over to Vashon Island for First Friday Artwalk.
July 3rd 6-9PM. See you there!

08:48 am: magic is in the air!
Montage from Sunday's Musequality Event.

01:18 pm: Magician Acep Hale to Participate in World Busk Event
Sunday, June 14th at noon Acep will be participating in Musequality's "World Busk" event. Musequality uses the money to start music programs for children in the third world. He has also set up a justgiving page in case you can't physically attend but would still like to donate. (Also, please spread this around if you can)

http://worldbusk.org/

http://www.musequality.org/

http://www.justgiving.com/acephale


Photos of Acep Here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canopic/sets/72157601585853176/

07:56 am: birds of all colors
Feeling a bit 'birdy' of late. I even found myself wanting a better telephoto lens to photograph SEAGULLS(!) last night. My disdain prompted Stuart to ask if we need to adopt a seagull so that I could learn to appreciate them too. To which uh no, no I don't need to do that. I'll learn that one without inviting one in. I also went to see a dress rehearsal of Swan Lake this week. I had never been to the ballet before so it was really fun and even got the shivers a few times. Nothing like a good tragedy to brighten the middle of the work week.

So anyways, came into work early to sell a snowboard bag that I had posted to Craigslist. Lunch money - whee! I figured I'd make a post since I had a few minutes.

Things have been incredibly busy. I'm guessing this is the change from living on Vashon to living downtown. Every weekend there is something I want to do it seems. I'd like to drive up and see the tulips, but no this weekend is our first quiet weekend in several months so I'm resisting the urge and staying home.

But first an advertisement! A few weeks ago I went to the Green Festival. There was a woman there hawking products for Good Clean Love. Not only was she hysterical and awesome, but these products rock! This is seriously the best lube ever. Serious. Get it. And no, I don't subscribe to the "if it takes more than spit it's not love" school of thought.

Also coming up!Distant Worlds: Music from FINAL FANTASY, at Benaroya Hall and led by Grammy Award-winning conductor Arnie Roth and featuring the music of Japanese video game composer Nobuo Uematsu. We have tickets. Woot!

OK the day is officially beginning - time for coffee and to start work.

04:23 pm: Please Vote!


Click here to vote. I think I could do this, and do it well.



The Atrophy of the New England Farm

The New England landscape contains the remains of many family farms, orchards are found in the woods and cellar holes and dilapidated sugar houses lay under the brush.

Evidence of what was once a prevalent farming lifestyle is slowly being destroyed by encroaching urban sprawl and housing communities. The New England country side is dotted with the remains of many family farms: cellar holes, 'wild' orchards, stone walls that corral nothing, seemingly random remnants of farming equipment found deep in the woods, family cemeteries, millponds without their damns, flooded quarries and more.

I would like to travel around New England examining what is left of the New England farm before these signs are forever destroyed by a changing landscape. Barns are collapsing everyday, walls are dismantled and bulldozed. At one time the state of Vermont was 80% farmland, now it is 20% or less. Bedroom communities are springing up and families are selling off farmland.

I would like to document at least several different seasons, spring and fall and maybe in some winter. There is sorrow and glory to be found with what remains and I wish to make photographs that amplify these scenes. Travel, interviews and surveyor's records will help me find the best plots. With permission I might even have to spend a few nights in a tent and camp while waiting for the light and the weather to agree.

12:12 pm: keeping track of business
Woot! This mouse photo has turned out to be one of my popular photos. Just proves you never know what people are looking for.

11:34 am: Sybil Nightingale
It is flu season. Thankfully it is hitting just prior to PMA this year and I'm almost over it. Poor Acep is a bit worse for wear however. Sybil has been super sweet - unbelievably so for a bird. I had no idea. I know I keep saying this but you know - she's basically a min-raptor, a dinosaur with wings. I guess I just never thought they could 'emote' ..or whatever. I think the couch is the new nest away from the nest. She likes to sit there with us when we read or watch tv. She likes jumping on and attacking books and magazines while we read them just like a cat.

CHECK IT OUT!!!

The Mountain Insider Advantage for High Maintenance Skincare Salon

of course I'm going to push it...not only are those my photos but Naomi and the girls are excellent at what they do. Magnifique!

06:59 pm: before I forget
Living in Chinatown has been relatively quiet, except for 7he other night when a police car pulled up along the sidewalk across the street -

Officer with bullhorn: Crackheads! You are not welcome in this neighborhood. Move along.

A Crackhead: I'm not a Crackhead.

Officer with bullhorn: Yes. Yes... you are. You, are a Crackhead. Move it, Crackhead.

At this point I was laughing so hard I was completely awake.

In other news I have been accepted by istockphoto.com as a stock photographer. Time for mama to make some lunch money. *fingers crossed*

Also Eartha Kitt recently passed. A few of my photos of her got picked up for a news story:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/canopic/sets/72157601333135024/

Also in other news my bird is a klutz. I just let her out of her cage. She flew over to the couch with obvious intent to drop gently down on the back of it only to overshoot it and fop down behind the couch. Acep and I 1hurriedly pulled the couch away from the wall to find her t7hankfully unharmed. Rescued she is now sitting on the d-esk and uh 7 biting the keys! I think she's pissed I'm ratting on her to the world.

12:24 pm: my elephant, mine
On Christmas eve we let Sybil fly around the living room and kitchen. Her first explorations other than controlled exercise in the bathroom. She did very well and appears to love sitting on the elephant and following us back and forth between the kitchen and living room. Flocking!

Also on Christmas eve we tried spiced sake - which was basically a tea bag contraption with Mandarin peel, cinnamon, Chinese pepper, and clove that you steep in hot sake. Tasty!

For Christmas dinner we tried the Honey Court Seafood Restaurant. We had to know what it was like - even with the snowfall in Seattle this place was doing a slamming business - and the verdict? While the interior is unassuming the food is fantastic and comes out of the kitchen at lightning speed. The menu is vast. It is going to take a while for me just try out those things that looked appealing at first impression.

05:52 pm: for Banshee!
Acep has been sharpening his cooking skills. Next to one of Seattle's best marketplaces who wouldn't. We've been trying lots of new stuff and finding that sake is very versatile.

Tonight's menu:

Trout and Orange Peel Simmered in Caramel Sauce
Ca Kho Cam

Serves 4 to 6 along with 2 or 3 other dishes

1 (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pound) whole gutted trout, trimmed of fins and cut into 1-inch steaks (keep or discard the head)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
Peel of 1/2 orange or tangelo, cut into 1/4-inch-wide, 2-inch-long strips
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1. In a saucepan, combine the fish with the peppercorns, salt, caramel sauce and fish sauce, coating the fish well. Set aside for 15 minutes to marinate.

2. Add the peel, oil, and onion to the saucepan. Gently stir thing so that these seasonings are well distributed.

3. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to simmer gently, and cook for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine. Uncover, add water to just cover the fish. Replace the lid and simmer for 30 minutes. Uncover and adjust the heat, as necessary, to maintain a gentle simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid level has reduced by half.

4. Turn off the heat, taste, and make any flavor adjustments before serving. When making in advance, partially cover with the lid, and allow to cool completely before refrigerating. Reheat over medium or medium-low heat, adding a little water to facilitate things, as necessary. Enjoy with lots of rice.



Stir-fried Baby Bok Choy with Ginger and Garlic

1 1/2 pounds very baby (dwarf) bok choy, each one halved lengthwise

Flavoring sauce:
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
11/2 teaspoons canola oil or sesame oil
2 teaspoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
11/2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 2 teaspoons water

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the bok choy. When the water returns to a boil, let the vegetables cook for another minute, until just tender. Drain, flush with cold water and set aside.

2. Combine the flavoring sauce ingredients. Taste and make any adjustments needed. You want a savory-briny-sweet taste. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, ginger and garlic. Cook for about 30 to 45 seconds until aromatic. Add the bok choy, give things a stir and cook for about 2 minutes, until heated through. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the flavoring sauce and keep cooking for another minute or so, stirring, to coat the vegetables well. The bok choy will weep a bit of water.

4. Give the cornstarch a stir before adding it to the vegetables. Cook for another 30 seconds, or until thickened, and glossy. Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.

These great recipes come from this site Viet World Kitchen

04:26 pm: Hing Hay Park



A snow day! - sort of. Worked until 1:00 today. At that point I was one of three people in the office. Gave a co-worker a push out of the driveway only to have him spin out trying to leave our street. He ditched his car and I walked him to his bus stop (since he'd never taken the 36 before poor baby). So I skedaddled and met Acep to slurp noodles in the snow at Samurai Noodle. Japanese boys, amazing Ramen and Primus on the kitchen stereo. Not bad. We did some shopping and then stopped by A Piece of Cake to buy a walnut filled Napoleon and a giant chocolate dipped butter cookie which we then ate at tea time still watching the snow fall. Yum. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow will be like. Thinking I'll probably be the only one at work.

10:15 am: Dreambooks - hot off the brain!
Japanese researchers develop brain analysis technology that reconstructs images in mind

Researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct images inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor, reports tech site SlipperyBrick.com. According to the article, this technology is a step to sharing thoughts and dreams with others the way photos are currently shared. Researchers have successfully displayed simple images produced in the human brain on a computer screen.

The device converts electrical signals sent to the visual cortex into images that can be viewed on a computer screen. In an experiment, researchers showed test subjects the six letters in the word neuron and successfully reconstructed the word on screen by measuring brain activity.

10:11 am: a bird on the head is worth two - (fill it in)
- Chinese coin swords.

pic from Acep's phone



Last night I started working with her on throws. We did three then she landed in the food dish feet first and spilled it all over the bathroom floor. Grrrr. I mean...Coo!

04:16 pm: portrait of a dove as a young bird



One of the best things about moving is sorting through the book pile and re-discovering things to re-read. This time it was an issue of Talisman with poems by Yugoslavian poet Milos Crnjanki.

Etherism
(for my friend Ivo Andric)

I have a fairy tale.
While asleep, we should do good deeds
and nothing should
become reality.
We did not know it but we had
a child far in the distance

I told you a fragile flower
would invade your thoughts,
that all those smiles that died of pain
would be resurrected in a light's ray
far in the distance

Oh, that nothing should make you sorry.
I gave you this thought
as you were sad, naked, white,
full of worry.

Look at Autumn without strife
and watch how one loses
and loves a day in life.
Tenderly, as a bell
sounds in the distance
I touched you with this thought.

08:30 am: making the rounds
While Sybil has been extraordinarily vocal this past week she has been so easy to hold and playtime is so much fun! Upon her second trip to the new bathroom she was busy exploring all levels from floor to ceiling whereas before in the old house she stayed only on the highest perches she could find. She will now perch on my hand while I feed her. I can pet her and even snuck in a little kiss on the back of her head last night. Don't get me wrong we still have a ways to go and training isn't totally structured yet - hell my life isn't even structured yet after the move - still many more boxes to go before complete.

Meanwhile more stuff goes to Goodwill everyday. I bought a coffee table - my very first! Makes the living room look so inviting. This weekend is rehearsal, if the snow holds off, and Sunday I hope to hang more of the artwork.

03:01 pm: winter persimmons



I have a plot to tame the crows. It involves bread. It involves the crows taming me.

Seagulls are apparently the world's greatest followers.

I finally photographed the persimmons before they fell off the tree. I had never seen persimmons on a tree au natural before. To think persimmons borne every year for the last eight years by the same tree and somehow I had never seen them before. Perhaps in years past whoever owned the tree exercised diligent picking and there where never any left to see, at least once the leaves fell. Do persimmons give fruit every year, or like some apples take a year off between?

10:52 am: liquid datum




We are slowly getting settled. Hung a few pieces of art and took even more stuff to Goodwill. We are shaving a lot of the 'fat' out of our lives to the point I might actually look into reporting the Goodwill donations on my taxes next year. We are still going to have to buy some more bookshelves though and looking at a gravity stand for our bikes. A new futon cover is coming in the mail any day. Can't wait. I just so absolutely love this new apartment that I want it to looks as nice as possible. People watching (and bird watching) from the 3rd floor is awesome. Right now the seagulls are better than any alarm clock. They start in at about 5:30am. Ugh. But that's ok. We can hear the train whistles at night and flocks of pigeons shoal and waver around our block between us and our view of the PacMed building. Sybil is extremely vocal. I don't know if it is in response to all the birds outside that she can see and hear or not. She may just be, as we suspect, cantankerous and trying out all the new words she is learning, like a kid going to elementary school for the first time.

Enjoying shopping at the Red Apple and at Uwajimaya. The grocery prices on Vashon Island were absurd! Nice to be back in a land of realistic prices on food. New things to try also. Found a bottle of pomegranate wine at Uwaji's that I just had to try. Not bad and 16% alcohol.

02:13 pm: Moving Day.
flickr was giving me grief yesterday. Hope it works better with lj today. Ah and so it is! Yeah!

11:57 am: Moving Day.
We made it.

No longer citizens of Vashon, we are free to roam the streets of the International District. Yesterday we manuvered the boxes into a maze-like formation so at least we can move around the apartment, albeit obliquely.

It is now WAR on all moths. It seems the moths were far worse in the Vashon house than we thought and we had to perform some packing triage on his wardrobe. Took him to Target to buy some new duds to hold him over for now. I hate the smell of mothballs so I bought some of those cedar rings you place over the top of the clothes hangers. I hope they work. We have a walk-in closet in the new place so I already feel ahead of the game when it comes to ventilation.

Making progress. Sybil made the move safely and is settling in.

02:55 pm: For Violalee