accidental art

Accidental Art

After all the rains, the fallen leaves from a Liquid Amber tree at my sister's complex stained their forms into the top layer of concrete in this beautiful pattern.

All the Accidental Art, over the years, can be sorted out by searching for it in Labels.  I've just put them back into the side bar.    Enjoy!

Thankful Thursday and some Accidental Art: approx #29 in a series..

Earlier, while texting a friend in Texas, I snapped this picture down thataway,*points*, and sent it to her.

We both said, "Accidental Art!"

It's been a better day than most.  There was good news from up North, encouraging and so, so sweet! God Bless my Gritty DDs and DD's doctors and her partner!

And thank you to all who are praying for her.  (((BIG HUGS!!)))

And please remember to pray for Colt in Texas.  He needs those prayers, too!

When sorting and tossing, I found this amazing hank of rough spun rug yarn in a tangle.  After teasing and flipping it around for awhile, a single knotted place appeared.  So, having run out of time to deal with it, I hung it on the same nail as the unpainted birdhouse gourd from our niece, who is also artsy/crafty.  And there it was, Accidental Art!

I think it will be a shawl

((((More big HUGS!))))

♥ Take Ye Thine Hearts Wherever Ye May Find Them ♥

Accidental Art- #20 something

An Occasional Series...  actually, it's #28.

Peels and Flowers- Pre compost study?

Thankful Thursday.. Knitting, Surf, and Accidental Art!

I'm so very thankful that I was around when fran was still alive, and that she gave such good advice to all the readers at Knitter's Review (Somewhere in the side bar is another link to this wonderful place).

Knowing her rule- Fran's 10 Minute Rule - and taking it seriously, I've now got four whole rows (38 stitches, down to 36) on the left front pattern part) just in the last two little ten minute sessions.  It's inching along but it's Moooooving!

Surf.  I could watch surf for hours and hours, and it would be bliss!

Source

And the happy accident of Accidental Art.  This happened two days ago when I was attempting to take a picture with the hail stones through the slider glass.  This is a small portion of a phone cam shot.  I think it's very lovely, soft and "painterly".

Make this big to see how two layers of glass effected the focus.

Take your joy where you can.  The world, meaning that which is created by Man, if fairly stingy about supplying "Joy".  We who are trying to heal from the damage caused by all the malfeasance of humans, can find our tiny joys where we may.  Let's keep sharing them, too.

A funny little Accidental Art project we'll just call "Amphora"

Make the piccie bigger.

I'm getting better but this was a cold built to drop, well, a Rhino... get it?

 hehehehehehehe

I'll chat more soon.  

Friday trying to catch up..Accidental Art, about 25 in the series; Wolfie Report; Knitting report, and Shrooms!

It was wonderful to visit with the DDs for the second time in a year.  That part is always the best part of going north.  But I get very behind in the blogging!

Knitting report:

Yes, that's my knitting buddy on the right, curled up and sleeping.

I've finished the Noro Sweater, and Gee tried it on.  I brought it home again to block it on the sweater blocker as the final step.  Wish me luck on this as it's a cardi!   I've only seen pullovers on this blocker.  The sweater is very beautiful, on, though we need to find a suitable pair of buttons for it.  Maybe I'll make some by drilling some shells or hardwood.  Also, I might decide to block the sweater out on the pads but "Oh, Doctor", what a job that would be.

Wolfie report:
Wolfie had a grand old time digging holes and trying to eat whatever he smelled through the sand before Mr. Z. pulled his head back up out of that hole!  Wolfie is completely undeterred by the sand in his eyes or on his tongue - he is so thoroughly engrossed in his "sport".  He has just finished digging three little holes and being jerked up from them.  You can see the trail of "industry" along his right side.  Mr. Z., ever diligent, usually keeps him running along the beach until Wolfie comes to a dead stop and starts to dig.  The battle then ensures!

In the distance, there was a huge raft of
California Pelicans feeding.

Yum!  Crableg Scented Sand!

Wolfie's dancing little feet, my shoe marks and Mr. Z.s
I had to bend around to take this snap before a wave came and ate the prints!

Shrooms!

Only part of the Crowd

Major Excitement was caused by these Mushrooms, popping up right behind our spot at New Brighton.  Jimmie IDd them, using her dad's smart aleck phone, and declared them inedible for the most part although they did have psychedelic properties, at least in the Eastern States varieties.  We did not collect them, only took photos, but it was all very exciting!  One of them was huge, I mean it was 8 inches across, probably the Mamma, but someone had tried to pick it and broke it before we got to make snaps.  What were they thinking?

DH said, "Did you get down on your belly to take that?"
Yes, almost!

It was great!

And the final pictures are....

part of my obsessive interest in taking photos of cracked cement and what it collects from seeds that sprout to tiny pebbles.  This, to my eye, is one of the happiest forms of Accidental Art.

Sorry about all the changes I make after Publishing.  I'm just wired wrong...

Tuesday Tails, Baby tort report, bits of knitting blah blah, Accidental Art, Drawing blah blah

Next week I want to share a story about three animals friends that Pina sent me, but I can't figure out, in my slightly addled and timid (meaning not bold) state, how to capture and present the story in a blog format.  It's a gorgeous story of what happens when babies grow up together.

Tort Report:  Milagro and Dusty discovered the "Hand of Human" had thrown something Yummy into their path.  This is the first time they've ever had watermelon rind and they tucked right in!  The older torts got more but it was given them farther away so that they wouldn't come and horn in to the little ones' feast.


Some very teensy "fish" provided this Fisheye view of South America, or maybe it's Africa.  That must be it.  Anyway, I think of this process, too, as feeding the wildlife but they better stay out of my books!:

This has been Lomished, Cross Processed
and to think the artists were actually fish.
Silver Fish. hehe

Optometrists, avert your eyes.. the pupil is oblate!

I'm working on the pink Stardust sweater today.   I'm determined to have it finished by November. It's for Elle, and she's waiting not quite as long as Gee but long enough.  The Manly/Beastly sweater is awaiting sleeves so maybe I'll just chicken out and knit them before finishing the body front and back on straights.  I know there are instructions somewhere for this maneuver but where????

And I'm reading the last of Gail Tsukiyama's book, The Samurai's Garden.  This beautifully paced book about everyday life while recovering from tuberculosis in a small village in Japan is just what I need right now.  I'm recovering, too.  There's just enough intrigue going on to make it interesting.  There is some sort of surprise coming and I hope it's not a bad thing.

Enjoy the Week!

Accidental Art, Number Whatever, in a series.

I can't remember where we were in this Series!  Somewhere around 28 I think....

Water did this.  I decided it should be blue....

Saturday Komeekz - So long to the Mouse virus in CFS_ME, and Accidental Art # 40? - 27?- 32?

San Diego's Cowles Mountain, for those who live near Henry Cowles State Park
This mountain is bedrock, from a mountain range that was in the 30,000 foot range. 
It's the highest point within the city of San Diego.  I love Cowles Mountain!

 After a few days of watching the puffy clouds blowing about, I was reminded of the News angst that wasn't even on the radar, or maybe it was used as a distraction by the media as they built their Faux News War on the Affordable Healthcare Act.

Anyway, I thought this news from the "Other Coast" was very appropriate for the times.   Imagine!  What if that comet - some months ago - had hit the earth.  I guess the chatter would have been silenced for maybe a century?  It certainly would have made whole armies of people sit up and take notice as it came even closer.   The survivors, if there were any, would be pretty hard pressed to make any sense of their lives after such a large message from the Heavens.  We are after all, a "Tiny ball of rotting rock", according to Robert Frost, and Astronomers.

Aren't his sandals cute?

Let me know if you like this icy looking Accidental Art.  There is so little Accidental Art coming my way now but every once in awhile it arrives!  It's what is left of a box of tea lights that melted in an overhead storage during the two incredibly hot parts of two summers.  It's like a tiny glass sculpture but very hard to photograph.  Hope you like it.

It looks like a tiny Frosted Glass art sculpture, to be honest.

Morning light shining through.  I just can't do this justice .. 
  It's beautiful

Sideways look into the structure. 

I hope this next article stays up as a permalink: 

This is the story of Jennifer Brea, who is trying to make a documentary on CFS-ME, which she now has a diagnosis of, and which is VERY REAL but not caused, apparently by a mouse virus.   I crossed out CFS because it's just another name for  myalgic encephalomyelitis, and a derogatory one at that.

God, apparently, is the only Being in the entire Universe who knows what DOES cause it.  It's certainly NO fun at all for those of us with it!

And, just for reading this far,  here is one of the last roses of Fall from my sister's complex:

This might be Bride's Delight. 
I found the names for them Once Upon a Time.

Friday, Thank you God, Accidental Art at the Beach, and Day Nine of the Happiness Challenge

Accidental Art:

Seaweed, looking like a beaded necklace.  Carlsbad Beach

Now, The Ninth Day of the August Happiness challenge....
Here's the knitting hamster.....

And my Ninth day little Happiness....the California Ground Squirrel.

This little fellow is of a species considered to be a pest.
But they are not pests to me; I love seeing them play and sun themselves.  I hope that they aren't to be poisoned.

I remember posting a picture of a baby CG Squirrel, eating apple peelings on our paver one year, as well as the even smaller baby  squirrel that got into the house!  We had to build a racing wall to the back slider to get him to leave peacefully.   So Sweet!


I'm really glad that it's Friday, as this has been a big week for  having my feet swell up.  With CFS and Fibro (if you have either you know what it does) getting my feet up is the best thing!  My spoon jar is E. M. T.!

I'm looking forward to sitting around the rest of the weekend and working in spaits (yes, that is the Scottish spelling of it) of five or ten minutes of intense activity followed by good old fashioned, hippie-style "chilling out", with my knitting.  We are getting rid of one big thing this weekend and intend to follow it with more next week.  Some things must go out of our lives.  We don't have time for them anymore, and frankly, I'm looking forward to using the space for something else.   I want to make curtains and draperies for our home.

Today, at fitness, the hands behaved perfectly.  I'm very pleased at the mods that my trainer made for me.  This is my last session with a trainer, so I'll miss him but he's trained me very well.  I feel very strong and a lot more fit than when I first started.   I'm blessed to have had such a good trainer and what is that saying, "When the student is ready, the Master appears."  Well, that is what happened.

Yesterday we went to visit my sister.  She is doing as well as can be expected, and keeping busy with her crafts.  She is just an amazing Crafter.  We both love to have gardens, grow plants from seed or cutting, and make things with out hands.  So we can share these loves with each other.  I'm so blessed to have a sister I am close to and share hobbies with.    

The day before that, Wednesday, we went to see DH's mom, and have lunch with her, and then we reminisced about the old days.   She and DH went for a walk around the block.   When we got home, my ankles were swollen, so I put the darn things up!   I think I've lost height, and I look like a fire plug.  

We watched a documentary called, "I AM", and it was amazing.  You can watch it on line, but not at that site.  Anyway, it really Cheered me up!  I hope you can see it and feel the same.  When Quantum Physics gets on the same Band Width as the Vedas and Rumi, well, it doesn't get any better than that!
I'm hoping to catch up on all your blogs this weekend, in between spaits of work, and knitting.  

Have a great weekend!  Love to you all, and all who sail with you!

PS to k, I want to read "Moby Dick" again.  I think it's time to do it before the feeling wears off. teehee

Friday, a totally random Thoughts day from morning to night....Accidental art

Good morning.  I'm trying something... random thoughts

I'm getting so much better at the crosswords.

I like the rocks that are going together for my friend's Power necklace.

"Ortish" Native Sycamore tree roots from Briercrest Park

"Ortish" Non-native Coral Tree roots from Lake Murray Sports Complex

Part of the beautiful playground structure at Lake Murray

OY, the Bobcat!  Everyone who reads here knows that I am obsessed with Heavy Equipment, from fire engines to bulldozers to itty bitty things like the Bobcat.  Well, actually, I like the little guys best.  Years ago, we almost bought one from a place that was going out of business.  Wish we had!

What will be next?  Hmmm...  I am going to go knit a bit and watch a "Campion".

Good night and God Love ya, may you have a great weekend and have some mysteries solved, like why are we alive and, and conversely, why do some of us die way before our times?

Wordless Wednesday, Accidental art, Winter Leaves on Walkway

We got snow in the Mountains, and in the Plain, we got rain.

The weather on the way home, Friday, from Jo Ann's:

 And then it started raining again.

Californians are wild about rain.  We just almost never get enough of "Nature's Fecund Blessing".  Millions of us now sport rocks and cactus in our front yards, having heeded the pleas from our desperate water districts to change our ways.

Thursday, late, the rain started coming down in buckets.  By morning on Friday it was showing us, and poor little Wolfie, not much mercy.  Mr. Z got very wet on the morning walk, as he and Wolfie, short legged though Wolfie is, had made it through half their loop before the proverbial cats and dogs started falling from the sky.  Then Wolfie put on the gas and pulled for all he was worth on the leash because Wolfie does NOT like to get wet AT ALL!  Wild Dog though he may be, he will take cover asap if it rains, even if it only clizzles! 

We went to fitness, and it was "spitting" but still sunny enough at our house that I looked around for a rainbow.  No luck. 

By the time we got to fitness it was sprinkling.  Mr. Z let me off close to the building and parked.  By the time he got out of the car, the heavens had opened wide but he had put on his rain fly jacket.  Ancient Mariner that he is, he can read the signs of the weather's wicked ways.  We carry rain fly jackets because summer is the only time, except when it rains in July, the weather doesn't turn on a whim.  Or, that a storm in February ( but this is March you say, and well you should..) I repeat, that a storm in February can turn into a gully washing Freak!

After Fitness we went down into the Beautiful Santee Valley to take care of some errands.  Near our house it was sunny with floating clouds.

Perfectly lovely blue skies and puff clouds

In Santee, well, Mr. Z got another drenching because he asked me to put his rain fly in it's stuff bag, and didn't want to have me yank it back out again.

An ubiquitous Palm tree, symbol of the SoCalian sunshiney lifestyle
Through the jeep window

I'd sort of like to HDRish that, or Lomo-ish it, or even Cross process it.  It's lovely in those "schools", enough to be called Accidental Art.  Hmmm...  Gorgeous thing!

Is this enough Joy, Happiness and "Hello Kitty"ness all rolled into one for you?

Ya, me too. hehe

Onward to Sunday!  Yesterday I went to JoAnn's (in the rain) and spent 11 (count them) 50% off coupons and got a serious Retail High!  I think I was UP all day!

Friday Fill-ins

1. Ahhhh , the delicious scent of Christmas cookies, baking in the oven.
2. I'm preparing four kinds!
3. Creating a set of baskets for family members is on the list for this weekend.
4. After this marathon, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy some relaxation.
5. {There will be a} Kick start of tree trimming for a long Solstice Celebration lasting into February.
6.  I don't believe the end of the world is at hand anymore than it's ever been; I'm not afraid of it anyway, even if it does come as suggested by the Mayan Calendar; I mean, what can be done about it?  We will just help each other endure to the end, right?
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and watching the fireplace video on Netflix, tomorrow my plans include more cookie baking, and Sunday, I want to start sewing together a sweater for Gee!

AND/OR

1. IDOAWCJLTOIUTK: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas, Just like the ones I used to know
2. CROAOFJFNAYN: Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose.
3. IBTLALLC: no clue
4. OLTOBHSWSTL: Oh Little Town of Bethlehem How Still We See Thee Lie
5. SBRAYLITLSIG: this either
6. IBHFC:  I'll Be Home for Christmas
7. WWYAMCWWYAMC: We wish you a Merry Christmas, We wish you a Merry Christmas...
8. IHTBOCD:  I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
9. FTSIAJHS: nope!

One of my favorite Christmas songs is, "Feliz Navidad".  Recently DH and I attended a concert of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar.  There came a point when the Trio giving the concert asked us, the whole audience, to sing along.  We joined in to sing not only "Feliz Navidad" but also were asked to stand up and join hands and sing a beautiful old Hawaiian song.

The church is old fashioned, with a high clerestory of beams and stained glass windows, and  this architecture makes great acoustics, and made our soft unsure voices sound hushed and reverent in the parts where we responded.  It was wonderful and absolutely MAGICAL!.   When humans sing, en mass, something just happens to all their hearts.   I like to hear it, if it's Peaceful singing.  I love to join in.  How about you?

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart.

Tomorrow, Saturday, I will have made it to 70, barring a meltdown of our whole existence.  If that does happen, then I pray that God will be merciful to all the sentient beings, and this is because He knows of what we are made.

Peace and Love!

Music Monday, Accidental Art # 28

I love this artist, and I love this song.

Ben E. King.... at the 1987 Montreax Jazz Festival



Where would we be, as human beings, if we didn't sing, and didn't play instruments?  Harsh world, eh? 

Accidental Art:

"Re-entry,From Mars"

Once upon a Blue Moon, last night, over San Diego Bay.. cell phone. Accidental Art, and Shrooms in the Grass

Like an idiot, or an overladen beast of burden in Full Militant Rebellion, I left the big camera home last night.  But, it still was a spectacular sight to watch the second full moon of August rise up over the San Diego Smog.

I also found another amazing couple of things going on on the Island.

Accidental Art, in the form of an amazing water pattern on the cement at Friendship Circle in the Pacific Rim Park.

This was larger and even more beautiful,  and it was most certainly accidental

 And Shrooms!  They may be edible, since many that grow in lawns are.  I'll absolutely have to ask an expert on this though.  DD has books and books about shrooms though she only picks a few very safe kinds.

Sadly some wanton, big footed Donkey stepped on most of them.. next picture.

Evidence of the passage of a Yeti.

You can see the "tire tread" of a size 12 there...

I'm off to make some earrings with my sister, who is doing as well as possible with a sore little spine and her other issues.  I have to do something to cheer her up.  It can't involve calories, as we are both on a Diet - the dread word!  Spark People here I come!

Friday full-ins, and some knitting, and Accidental Art

The Friday Fill- in:
1. Well, ok, maybe four course dinners are out of the question.
2. Even three, now that's a stretch!
3. When I'm making dinners, I need them to be pretty close to one pan affairs.
4. Stir fries meals fit into one pan, and are a bit healthier.
5. And frankly, they are less of a mess to clean up after.
6. And now for something completely different: Love of Money is the root of all evil. But having enough is as good as a feast!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having dinner with my hubster and daughters, tomorrow my plans include planting some succulents and other tiny foundlings, and Sunday, I want to make some earrings and/or sock monkeys!

DD making her beautiful beaded bracelets:

Knitting report:
The back of Stardust is finished, and I tried it on Ele and it fits nicely.  I'm glad I made a small!  The one sleeve for the Noro cardy - aka "Manhattan", is almost finished and I'm going to try to make both sleeves match - that should be more fun than a barrel full of sock monkeys!

I did find that the spine of a leaf makes an excellent, pliant row marker if a knitter finds themselves in a forest without the proper gear.

 

Wolfie report:
He gets his stitches out this coming Tuesday.  They look fine but he needs to wear his yellow T just a little longer.

Accidental Art:

This bit of spilled paint, run over bt a car tire can become spectacular, with the addition of....

This:

That's all for now.  Have a happy weekend!

Galapagos Islands Post Office Barrel. Knitting jabber,Accidental Art #23

There is a "Post Office" barrel on one of the islands that's been in place since the mid 1700's.  'Tis a very cool tradition.  A friend of ours sent us a postcard from there when he went one year.  It was very exciting and a big surprise, since we had never expected to receive so sacred a card.

http://captainandclark.com/2011/09/05/post-office-bay-galapagos-a-dream-to-reality/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/28/AR2010012803677.html 

If I ever get to those Islands I will send a card to absolutely every one I know!

Knitting:  I'm having a terrible time with my knitting.  I think that I need a witch doctor to remove what must be a curse!  Then I will need a good Irish priest to bless it again, and all the work of my hands.  Making gauge while knitting in the pattern and IN the round is a tedious, and odious task!  Who every makes a gauge swatch that way?  Anyway, I've come down two needle sizes and just may have made the right gauge for Bon Bon mitts.  The JHR sock's no problem, it showed up for rehearsals and got it's lines right the very first time!

The newer cardi pattern came today, and when I first looked at it, I thought, OML that is crochet, and broke out in a sweat!  But it isn't.  It's Knit, lovely knit!  I really haven't got anything against crochet and actually like to make things in that needle art tradition, but not sweaters.  When I try them they can get out of hand pretty darn fast if I don't pay strict attention to EVERY freaking detail.

This cover sweater is for the purple linen yarn, for Elle. 
She saw it and said, "Like it? I'm in Love."

Accidental Art,  A rock portrait of sorts.  Very pretty lips and big eyes but a thin little nose, pressed to an apple vine rose.

Created by Mother Nature

She made it out of Mud, shells, and 500 million years of pressure and water sculpting.