Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #LicenseToChill, funny, Thoughts, winter on November 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Woke to snow. Not much, more of a light dusting that’s already melting off darker surfaces, but rooftops and lawns are white and dog walkers are all wearing toques.
This brings up a critical question: Why don’t we name our snow plows? Scotland does it, and it is awesome.
Which is my favorite? Right now it’s a toss-up between William Wall-ice and License to Chill.
Welcome to winter!
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Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on November 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, cats, creativity, inspiration, making stuff, Thoughts on November 9, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Did we think about building an elevator for our elderly and arthritic cat? Of course we did! Here’s someone who actually pulled it off:
* Note: Our elevator design would have required an indoor vertical lift with weight-sensitive call functionality, so a little different. Still fun to think about though!
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, time travel, writing on November 4, 2021| 4 Comments »
Some of what I do in this blog is about leaving notes to myself, because I want to remember a recipe or an idea or an event.
Don’t have a blog? Continually misplace your diary? Wish Post-It notes were harder to lose? Want to give Future You a pep talk or notes on a brilliant idea or the memory of the most beautiful thing that happened to you today or a reminder of why you should stick with that challenging long-term goal?
You’re in luck.
FutureMe: Write a Letter to your Future Self
Does what it says on the box.
Decide what you want to write, when to send the letter and whether to make it public or keep it private. I sent myself a little NaNoWriMo encouragement for next year. Not sure what to say? Check out some of these public letters.
Is this time travel? No, but it’s the closest thing we have at the moment so I’m making the most of it!
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Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, fun, inspiration, photo compositing, sff, Thoughts on November 2, 2021| Leave a Comment »
It’s Tuesday so busy busy, but I still made time for a little cat-related fun.
You’re welcome:)
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Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Thoughts on October 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Between house stuff and criss-crossing the city for errands I haven’t had time to do anything special today. I did finish up a reread over breakfast, one I knew would satisfy, so I’m feeling pretty good. (I’m one of those people who enjoys rereads. It’s like ordering your favorite meal, knowing that you’ll love it.) The fact that this book is one in a long series is even better.
Isn’t it nice to have something to look forward to?
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Posted in Likes, Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, environment, inspiration, remix on October 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »
You know how sometimes you see a thing and it sets off little creative sparkles in your brain parts? Well, that’s what happened when I spotted this striking piece of art:
Giant “Faucet” Spewing Single-Use Plastic Urges Us To Reconsider Our Plastic Use
When I saw this my first thought (after “Ok, that’s insanely cool”) was “How can I do that?
Lucky me (and you, if you’re so inclined), the artist has not only created this installation* but turned it into an interactive opportunity. Just as I was visualizing the steps needed to trim a tap like that and build a fountain of plastics, I spotted this:
If you are an artist or creative that would like to participate, join us in creating a remix of the Giant Plastic Tap
— This three story tall giant art installation is leaking plastics into different environments – Von Wong Blog
Don’t mind if I do! If you want to join the fun, all files needed to remix your very own giant plastic tap are available here:
Remix the Giant Plastic Tap – Photoshop Challenge! – Dropbox Paper
Check out this post for more details on usage.
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I’m practicing new photo processing techniques and thought this was a good place to start. Lots to learn (ugh, lighting and color balance! I was in a hurry, but still) and this challenge is a great way to do it.
* Von Wong’s mind-bending original project was sponsored by the Embassy of Canada in France. Because Canadians are awesome. Every single one!
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, inspiration, J.R.R. Tolkien, Thoughts, Writers on October 1, 2021| Leave a Comment »
I vote for this as one of the feel-good stories of the year. Because what’s happier than real-life hobbits?
‘What is this if not magic?’ The Italian man living as a hobbit
“I decided that I wanted to live my hobbit life to the fullest… I wanted people to enter my mind, my fantasy. Many make fun of us. Some think I am trying to escape from reality. Far from it. I am living my dream, my adventure.”
— Nicolas Gentile, hobbit
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Good for you, Italian hobbit man, good for you.
Posted in Likes, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, meteor shower, NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day on September 28, 2021| 1 Comment »
Today’s Astronomy Photo of the Day is a video, two and a half minutes of the Perseid meteor shower as seen from the Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, India.
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Watching this takes me back. We would wake up at three in the morning and head to the back yard to watch meteors burn through the atmosphere. I’d anchor myself on Orion, my first and still favorite constellation, then watch the sky for the next magical streak of green.
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Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, creativity, harry potter, patronus, things with wings, yay on September 19, 2021| Leave a Comment »
If you are familiar with Harry Potter then you know what a patronus is. (If not, check out this explainer.) I like the books and the concept, but also the imagery. So I decided to see if I could work out how to do the glowing-semi-translucent-super-cool-flying-animal effect in Affinity Photo.
I used a modified version of this Photoshop tutorial, and while the instructions don’t exactly translate to Affinity it was close enough to get me in the ballpark.
And of course now all I can see are the bits I’d like to change,* but isn’t that always the way? Next time!
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* Seriously, those wings are way too small. It’s so weird that a mythical Greek creature swapped into a magical wizarding world refuses to obey the laws of physics.
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