Daily Art - Goldenrod Photos

I think this is soon-to-bloom goldenrod, but I'm not positive. Taken along Ackerly Creek in Clarks Summit, PA on April 28, 2010. In the bottom one I included some man-made objects as well.

Daily Art - "Headdress"

Maybe this Native American color scheme had something to do with the fact that my boyfriend and his sister were playing Kachina, a game inspired by Hopi mythology (and illustrated by our friend Andy Hopp). Here's a link to the game: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/30024/kachina

Psyche's Abcess

My kitty, Psyche, recently had a puncture wound on her hip. It was most likely a bite wound from one of our other cats. It was nothing when we noticed it, but then it started oozing pus and we saw just how deep it went. We called the vet and got some medicine to take care of the infection and some more to clean the wound. The next day, however, the wound had opened up to the size of a quarter. Needless to say, my mom, my boyfriend, and I took her to the vet.

Luckily for everyone involved, the wound was healing well and all was as it should be. The wound was probably a week old when we discovered it, and it had gotten infected below the skin. The abcess then burst, tearing open the skin, but releasing all that pus. The nurses at the vet's office said the wound was very clean and looked much worse than it really was. We're still giving her the medicine for the infection, but we were told not to clean the wound, because it would only draw attention to her inury and make her lick at it and tear it apart.

It's healing up now, but it looks just terrible. At least she's just fine. It seems like all discomfort has gone. :)

Going for a Walk

It's been sunny recently, so I've been dragging my boyfriend out on walks with me. Today we stopped so I could take some photos. I'll be posting them as Daily Art for a while. Here's a few to get started. :)

Daily Art - "Chocolate Covered Strawberries"

I was originally going to color this like a latte swirled with cream, but I changed my mind while digging through my gradients and made it into more of a cheesecake-like fractal. :D

Daily Art - "Lotus"

Daily Art - "Petri Dish"

Fractal bacteria swimming around in a petri dish. :P

Daily Art - "Sea Orb"

Really pointless and not all that great, but maybe I'll have a use for this in the future. :P

Daily Art - "Heartbreak"

Daily Art - "Holes in the Story"

Potato Rolls

Around Easter, I made some potato rolls. I followed a recipe from allrecipes, but somehow screwed it up a lot. XD The rolls were great, anyway, though. I'll post my version here, and you can check out the original here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Colleens-Potato-Crescent-Rolls/Detail.aspx

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1.Place potatoes in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, and mash.
2.In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
3.When yeast is ready, mix in 1 cup mashed potatoes, sugar, butter, eggs, salt, and 3 cups flour. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough has become stiff but still pliable. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, and up to 5 days.
4.Deflate the dough, and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it a little, then make balls of dough about 2 1/2 inches across. Cover, and let rise for 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
5.Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

I totally know that the original recipe is for crescents, but that seemed like too much work at the time. Also, I made these a second time with different yeast, which happened to have expired 2 years ago. Don't do that. You get balls of dough that are crispy on the outside and really hard to digest, according to my boyfriend.

Daily Art - "Synapse II"

I really thought my original Synapse fractal was too empty, so I added to it a bit and rendered it again. :)

Back to the Fractals

You may have noticed the recent return of my daily artowork. I'm getting back into doing fractals, and I have my eye on a drawing tablet that hooks up to the computer so I can explore new areas in digital art. I really enjoy lots of different art styles, so any new venture is usually fun and worth the effort. In a couple days I'll post a tutorial on how to make fun ornaments and decorations using styrofoam and spackling paste, so look forward to that, too. :)

Daily Art - "Chemical Spill"

Daily Art - "Fractured Vortex"

Daily Art - "Synapse"

Daily Art - "Slumber"

Loving With All Your Heart

I don't think it's possible. The very concept of your heart doing the loving is little more than an expression. In ancient Greece, it was believed that the heart was the center of thought rather than the brain, but we know now that all emotions and thoughts are in the brain. I guess we kept the heart notion because that's where we physically feel the most pain and joy, but that's still not what we use to love.

Our "heart" is how we figuratively refer to our ability love. I've heard a lot of people say "I love her with all my heart" and things similar. If we take heart figuratively as our ability to love, then does that mean you love nothing else in life? The truth is, love isn't something that can be divided up, and niether is that figurative heart. Love is an emotional attatchment that we hold for people, pets, items, places, and so forth; it is not like we have only so much love to give, but rather we grow to love more things as life progresses.

When we look at the figurative heart like that, it is impossible to love someone will all of your heart. Love just doesn't work like that.

Taking the Feelings Out of Love

I watched my first ever episode of Dr. Phil yesterday. Don't ask why. I guess my aunt just didn't feel like changing the channel to the news, even though we NEVER watch Dr. Phil. I have a lot of things against him, but I won't go into that.

This episode I happened to watch was about marriange. A big chunk of this was women who, while looking for someone to marry, have a list of traits they want in their partner. A list? Seriously? If someone asked me what I look for in a guy, I don't know what I'd say. I like funny, yes, but everyone likes to laugh. I like attractiveness, but looks matter to everyone, at least to some degree. I like blondes, but if you're a cute dark haired guy, I'm not going to be picky.

Then there are things like "no tattoos" and "no piercings." I dated a guy who had a cross tattooed on his arm with his father's initials because his father had died. I know a girl who has the symbol of her Bhuddism tattoed near her shoulder. They aren't the same as a naked mermaid and a spider web. Is it really fair to judge all people with tattooes the same way? Same with piercings. I dated a guy with pierced ears once. It's not like he wore 3 inch guages or gigantic hoops every day. I have another male friend who has a stud or two in his ear. I didn't even notice for the first few months I knew the guy. It certainly didn't change my opinion of him in the least bit.

Even if your list is a reasonable one, why throw someone out because they can't cook? Who says they can't learn? Maybe they'd be perfect if you really got to know them, but you won't give them that chance because you're hung up on the tattoo or lack of a college degree. I guess I just really don't understand how people can look for love using a piece of paper. Love is an emotion. It's not like you can go to the Build-A-Husband Workshop and pick out your favorite traits. Those traits aren't everything. If that's how women pick their husbands, I can see why so many couples get divorced.

When we approach love like buying a used car, we get satisfaction on the surface, yes, but no real depth. We get a good partner, but we don't truly get the perfect husband or wife.

Daily Art - "Violet Storm"

This took an eternity to render. I'll probably render it again at an even larger size, though.

As Easy as Riding a Bicycle

We've all heard things like "it's as easy as riding a bicycle" and "it's like riding a bike; once you learn, you never forget." What if you don't know how to ride a bicycle?

Riding a bike is a simple part of childhood for most people. I grew up in a trailer that was one of two apartments attached to a little deli and general store. There was traffic and a parking lot - not a very good area to ride a bike. I had one, sure...but I could never ride it far. It was just up and down the yard for me, which never gave me the practice I needed to ride without my training wheels. I tried, but I just wasn't able to grasp it.

Eventually all of my friends were grown out of training wheels, and I didn't want them to make fun of me, so I stopped riding my bike almost entirely. I haven't been on a bike in years, and I don't hold much confidence that I'd be able to teach myself now, either. Balance is not my forte, and I'm too skittish and jumpy to be able to correct myself if I started to tip over.

It seems like everyone is expected to know how to ride a bicycle, though. My boyfriend is out with his family today. His parents wanted to do something nice, and they had all kinds of ideas like going to a museum or New York City for the day. What did they pick? A bike trail a few miles long. Needless to say I was forced to decline this otherwise fun trip on a day with perfect weather. If it was even a hiking trail, not far off from biking, I would have gone.

Can it seriously be that easy that almost everyone can do it? My knees ache going up a short flight of stairs, I'm so imbalanced that I can't walk on level ground without almost falling over, and if my back isn't straight, I hurt all day. I'm sure someone would still tell me I could do it, though. I'm terrified to even get on one. I don't know if I'd ever trust myself to go down even a slight incline on a bike. I was always like that. As an only child surrounded by adults that were constantly afraid they'd break a bone due to a fall, I was raised to have a lot of caution when it came to physical activity. Too much, probably, but no one's perfect.