The countdown begins

Did you know we are spending a month in East Africa this summer? Yikes, me neither. We leave three weeks from the day after tomorrow (three weeks!) and yikes. Still a lot of work to do, both work work and life work, to get ready for being gone for that long and for the logistics of multiple countries. Last Friday I had 4 needles stuck in my arm and 4 bottles of pills sent home with me. This is just the beginning! Check out this google map I made of our trip. You may have to use the hand tool to scroll down a bit to see the whole thing (just like in a pdf), I can't get it to center. It's basic, but we'll be doing some good postings hopefully while we're gone and definitely when we get back.

Above is Mt. Meru in Tanzania, where we will be trekking. For more reading, go here. Below is the topo.

Spring Projects

I made these lemon custard cakes a few days ago- very light and lemony and super easy. The recipe came from this great cookbook my sister sent me for my birthday- I didn't even know it existed though I've been getting the magazine religiously for a couple years now. Beautiful photographs which I like because then I know what it's supposed to look like.

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In other news, I've been busy with small birthday and mother's day gifts. After ordering and returning a small coin purse from an unnamed company, I got a little obsessed with trying to create them myself. The zipper on the one I returned was put in with very little thought, did not line up at the end and didn't even close all the way. So thanks to the Denyse Schmidt book, I've made about 6 of these. I also saw these tape measure purses in Ballard- blatantly stole the design. . .








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In garden news: take a look at how things are growing! We have a bit of an aphid problem, but they don't seem to actually be killing anything. Scott told me (in so many words) that I probably traumatized the plants a little in their migration across from the island. But they still look edible don't they? I love those peas- probably my favorite. Those are the today's photos on top and the lettuce about a month ago.

A rebuttal

Well, now I feel compelled to point out the other side of Bike to Work day, if nothing else than to separate myself from my co-blogger's well-intentioned, but incomplete theories. On one hand he has a point, but I think he neglects a very important aspect that I witnessed many times this week. Biking to work in the scheme of the whole world can be very scary for some people; it's just too big a scale in their minds. Having May 18= Bike to Work Day gives people something to shoot for, puts in on their radar, and makes it less scary. Having one day designated specially gets the word out and gives people an opportunity to put their butt on the line by trying something new, in a semi-supportive environment. While it may not sway the non-believers, it will give those of us who are a little more timid that push we need.

Also, I heard complaining today from other regular cyclists. Yes, it can be slightly annoying to have more people on the road, riding slowly and taking up space. I think, though, that this has more to do with the fact that our transportation infrastructure isn't built for it. Don't blame the riders.

So there.

Springtime: when a young man's fancy turns to robots

After my last two posts, which consisted entirely of words, a certain unnamed co-contributor to this blog informed me that I am to be seen and not heard. In that spirit, I'll go back to my usual role of providing pretty pictures. However, in my own form of civil disobedience I'm going to show only the most saccharine, nauseatingly cute pictures this post. Take that.

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First on the block is a young robot, Gordian "Gordie" Knot. He looks sinister but don't let that fool you, he has a heart of gold (That's not strictly true. His heart is actually a muon-catalyzed cold-fusion reactor, but his emotion simulation unit has gold plated leads).


Gordie and Earl are basically inseparable now, as evidenced by this soft-focus, vomit-inducingly cuddly bit of portraiture.


Ok, I have to stop posting photos of Gordie and Earl now. It's as bad as, possibly worse than, girls who blog about their cats.

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My big development in the last couple of months is my shiny (actually matte) new Pentax K10D. After a hiatus, I'm getting back into the world of SLRs. This isn't a total switch from my trusty FZ-50. The FZ-50 is still my camera of choice for kayaking photography, given its small size and the versatility of its lens. However, the Pentax provides absolutely wonderful picture quality if you're willing to do the legwork. Unfortunately, I haven't had a whole lot of subject matter recently, but here's a good example of what the K10d can do with a 43mm F1.9 prime.

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Finally, I'd like to end this incoherent rambling with yet more incoherent rambling. Today was "Bike to Work Day." This meant that on my morning ride I probably saw about 5x as many people as normal on the trails and streets. This is good. However, I'd like to ask the question, "Where are these people every other day of the year?" I suspect it boils down to one of two possibilities:

1. All of these people normally bike to work with some regularity. They just made a concerted effort to bike to work today, creating the illusion that many more people than usual are biking to work.


2. "Bike to Work Day" creates a false dichotomy in peoples' minds. May 18th = Bike to Work Day. Every day that's not May 18th = Drive to Work Day (I bet I can think of some corporate sponsors for that).

My general cynicism tells me that the latter is more likely the case. Biking to work one day a year is good. Biking to work more than one day a year is better.

Tokyo International Quilt Festival

I stumbled across someone else's flickr set of photos from the Tokyo International Quilt Festival a few days ago. There are some absolutely amazing quilts that I would never have thought of there. Check out this one above called “Sky Diving” by Tomoyo Hosokawa.

This is another favorite of mine.


Here is an article featuring the 2007 Festival, with more photos.

I don't buy it

I saw a post linked to notmartha.org for something called the Little Brown Dress project. A Seattle woman wore the same brown dress that she made, everyday for a year, as both performance art and a statement about consumerism. She was especially speaking to that which women are encouraged to participate in, mainly in buying clothes that "express" who we are. I was very intrigued- she did add sweaters and even jeans in cold weather, but she actually pulled it off.

While I think what she did was interesting and pretty great, I think the most impactful part was the blog/journal she kept- that is really the daunting part to me. But it renewed my interest in something I read about in the paper, about a group of people who made a commitment to not buy anything new for a year.

So Hillary and I, over beers, of course, decided that we would challenge ourselves, starting Thursday May 10, to not buy anything new that we absolutely cannot get used.

Kennet and Chris were encouraged to join us, but politely declined. Neither of them are big shoppers anyway, so they instead will be part of the tribunal (more on that in a moment).

So there are a couple of rules, some things that are exempt, and a process for deciding the unclear purchases. First, consumables are exempt: this includes food, toothpaste, lightbulbs, but also safety items like brake pads for our bikes. Second, we talked long and hard about materials for the craft/art works in progress- we will make a best effort to reuse or buy second hand supplies (like fabric), but somethings are impossible to get used, like ink, or thread.

Hillary is allowed to buy rechargeable batteries at some point, as well as a new battery for her phone, because those require either buying a new phone or presenting a hardship that would be unrealistic. Other things, like book club books, can be bought new if they are required but cannot be found at the libary or used. We could also plan to share one copy. Music was hard too, we decided that Itunes are ok, because they don't require the purchasing of a physical object. Classes, services, transportation, all ok.

Magazines were hard, because I especially love magazines. Kennet says they count as a consumable, though Hillary and I decided we would try to share a couple of subscriptions.

Why? you might ask. The main reason is to cut down on the amount of stuff I buy that I do not need. Kennet pointed out that you can count anything as a consumable as long as you use it until it is no longer usable. For him, this would include clothes, which he generally wears until they can be worn no longer. I do not follow this rule and so clothes are out for me. However, buying clothes at Buffalo Exchange lets me aquire new, fun things, without spending armloads of money.
It's also an impact issue, cutting down on how tied to "things" I am, lowering my ecological footprint, contributing less waste.


Generally the things I spend money on, besides necessities, are clothes, music, and craft supplies. So I suspect I'll save a lot of money on clothes this year. Which is a good thing.

And if something does not fit neatly into the above categories, or if we feel we have a justified reason for buying something, Kennet and Chris will round out The Tribunal, the group of 3 that will be consulted and will vote on whether a purchase should be made. Shotguns are optional.