Wild Wood Wanderer

I forgot that Mr. Davenport had posted the Christmas Pageant from last year on youtube.  Though the kids get older and the costumes a big more bedraggled, this is pretty much how it’s been for years:

Also, make sure to check out Tom’s folkstreams.net website for a lot of great cultural films from many talented directors.

Great hike, great camera, great photo editing software…

 I’m still getting used to saturation and hue.  I have a feeling they are in the same category as chili powder, red lipstick, and songs by the B52’s…a little goes a long way.

Photo editing is a huge time hog.

New Years Resolutions are bubbling out into January.

Last year, a guy named David decided to whittle down his personal possessions to only 100 items.  Among other things, he gave up his hiking boots, yoga mat, and nose hair trimmer.  He kept underwear, a mechanical pencil, and a camera.  In 2009, he will chronicle his adaptivity to the new, simplistic lifestyle.

Simplicity.  A sigh of relief.  The more distractions we have around us, the less apt we are to see the things that matter.  Resolutions take this into account.  Losing weight, spending less, seeing anew, caring more…all signs the ethereal trumps the tangible.

It is a paradigm that the more things we have, the less life we experience.  The interactions with others and ourselves in the absence of such things creates life beyond the inane.  The act of being from the synergy of the world and our own minds.

Danielle and I had a great day in D.C.  Seeing the first snow of the year fall over the old buildings was a treat.  We went to the Hirshorn, where I saw one of my favorite pieces, Big Man, by Ron Mueck.  Then we explored the exhibit above …two panels that allowed you to look through them, at yourself, and at others all at the same time.

We went to the National Museum of American History.  Though busy, it was worth the trip alone to see Obama’s presidency already recognized on the wall of presidents!

The Botanical Garden had an exhibit on D.C. momuments made entirely of organic material which was rather amazing.  The highlight for me though, was seeing the Capital Christmas tree, with its homemade ornaments, standing humbly in the snow.  In just a few short weeks, the quiet of this night will be replaced with the exciting buzz of millions of people, hopeful for the years to come.

The instructor of a course I am taking handed out copies of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.  Can’t say that I paid it much attention in high school, but I am now delighted by their snooty, often correct judgment of language.  Here are a few gems:

“Enthuse.  An annoying verb growing out of the noun enthusiasm.  Not recommended.

Facility.  Why must jails, hospitals, and schools suddenly become ‘facilities’?

Finalize.  A pompous, ambiguous verb.

Thanking you in advance.  This sounds as if the writer meant, ‘It will not be worth my while to write to you again.’

Thrust.  This showy noun, suggestive of power, hinting of sex, is the darling of executives, politicos, and speechwriters.  Use it sparingly.“

The last example reminds me of a word I am very tired of hearing people use to describe something that grabs your attention.  That word is ’sexy’.  No. Maps are not sexy.  Graphics are not sexy.  Topics such as nuclear proliferation are also, not sexy.

Many people take for granted the night-sky, but tonight the cosmos demanded our attention.  Venus and Jupiter are brightly aligned with the crescent moon in what my favorite description so far described as a smiley face to people in Australia or a frowny face to us northern hemisphere dwellers.

I went out armed with tripod and camera to take some pics for my dad.

For long weekends.  For warm blankets.  For cheap plane tickets from Florida and Rota, Spain.  For 6 year olds, for puzzles (except when they are missing a piece).  For dogs with cold noses who warm up my feet at night.  For vegetarian stuffing and fathers who wash dishes.  For friends in town and chilly nights outside by a fire.  For big families, and lots of love.

I downloaded the trial version of Photoshop Elements today.  I wanted to see how it compared with the CS3 version we have at work.  So far, I’m pretty impressed.  Since I won’t be doing any crazy editing and really just like playing with the artistic tools, I think it will suit my purposes.  Check out this liquefied leaf I did earlier today -

And…

Here are a few things that are OKAY with me:

1.  Letting my dog jump on my bed, even if her paws are dirty.

 2. Using frozen pie crust (for instant gratification).

 3.  Waking up early on my day off.

Name:  Dragon Donkey (Latin:  Donkus Dragonia)

Habitat:  A fascinating creature, the dragon donkey prefers to hide in the cavernous hollows under sofas or on high shelves far off the floor.

Predators:  The dragon donkey’s only known predator is the ever-happy house dog, who upon capturing the beast, tortures it to death, seeming to delight in watching its innards rain around them in torrents of cotton.

Note:  This picture of the dragon donkey out in the wild captures him in a rare moment of bravery and spontaneity.  Unfortunately, his boldness was rewarded only by the keen-eyed house dog, who captured him and immediately began the horrific torture rituals.  We have not, at this time, been able to recover the dragon donkey and fear that he may be resting on that final shelf up in the sky.

Fun weekend.  Friday night we went to Hunter’s Head Tavern in Upperville, which I think is my new favorite place.  We ate upstairs in a room with wooden floors and a fireplace, at an old farm table.  I had the vegetarian shephard’s pie, and it was a perfect meat-substitute for the hearty stews of winter I miss already.  I also had two pints of cider, so the entire meal sent me back to the streets of Scotland.

Annie and I went thrift store shopping on Saturday morning, starting in Upperville.  Our greatest find was a Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress, bought for a mere $5.   We also left with a shimmery white dress and orange scarf (see pics above).  Feeling fortune was with us, we went on to Middleburg to the White Elephant and the Humane Society’s shops, but our luck left us right about the same time it started pouring.  Though we didn’t find any other great deals that morning, we tramped up and down the wet streets, bought a couple of snicker doodles at Upper Crust Bakery and a few other treats at Wylie Wagg for the pups waiting back home.  We warmed up later that night with tomato basil soup, bread, cheese, and wine.  Delicious!

This morning, Dad cooked cream of wheat while I fed Maggie’s heifer (soon to be cow), Ginny.  Maggie has a radio that plays music 24/7 so Ginny will get used to excess noise when she goes to shows.  Evidently, Ginny prefers rap.  So I danced my way over to her trough and fed her.  I think she was impressed.