( Many more, and larger, under the cut... )

Click through any of the pictures to see way too many more... I kind of got carried away (luckily not literally) with this, especially the close up shots of the turbulence. In that way, it's very much like the shots I did of the firepit a while back...

Cross-posted to naturesbeauty and me own journal...

The book arrived today. I got the hardcover with dust jacket, mostly because I wanted to verify the inside flaps of the jacket, and they only exist if you get the dust jacket... =)

In any case, it's beautiful and appears well made. The book is available in a softcover, hardcover with jacket, and hardcover with image wrap. You can see a preview of the first fifteen pages at Blurb.com:

What's a Little Fungus Among Us?
Photography by Everett A Warren
Book Preview

Stomach ich. I think it was just one plate too many of rice pilaf, at least I hope that's all it is.

Ate a slice of ginger, so we'll see if that calms things down.

~ ~ ~

In other news, I took some pictures (big surprise!) of leaves (big surprise!) but this time they were all in one huge-mungous pile, and then Rachel and Mr. B jumped into them and swam around for a while before I ground them a second time with the mower and then aequitaslevitas ground them a third time by picking them up with the lawn vac.

A couple cubic yards of finely ground leaf mulch now sits on the back bank, so it almost looks like it was planted on purpose!

I jest, partially - the area was destined for some bark mulch a couple years ago, but never high enough on the priority list to do. At first it was just a scattering of heaths and heathers, with bamboo sticks to mark their locations. After they got run over repeatedly (luckily not injuring anyone on the sticks!), we created a border out of locally available timber (i.e. fallen branches and small trees). Eventually, the area will be stone bordered and might someday see some of that bark mulch - at least until the heaths, heathers, and, now, native bearberries, have taken over and the yearly leavings of natural leaf fall proves enough.

In any case, I surrounded all the bearberries on the right side of the rock stairs with collars of leaf mulch in our first round of leaf pick-up; this time, I was able to surround the bearberries, the heath and heather, and the lavender on the left side and start filling in a bit more of the space on the right. One more leaf pick-up after the oaks finally let go should provide nicely to fill both those beds and provide some much-needed re-mulching around the foundation.

Anywho, I might get around to posting those shots later tonight or this weekend. =)

One of my photos from the LGNC was used in an article on NowPublic.

( Largish photo under the cut... )

The photo appears in an article about grasslands: Earth facing mass extinction; researchers determine which species to save

Following up on some advice about composition, your opinions please:


New crop...

( Vs... )

(In other, related news... this bird is ID-less... any ideas? (I haven't tried to ID it... so it might be real obvious...))

The Elysian Fields Gallery is now fully loaded!

At least for the moment... =)

Most of the images are only available in prints at this time. There's one mousepad, a mug, a tie (hey, that design almost works! =), a postcard, and a couple of postcard stamps.

I'm going to pull together a calendar or two or three eventually.

Ideas for other products/images always welcome. Might do something with poetry and/or an image eventually...

Only thing left is for everyone to go out and buy 'em. =)

... I wrote this:

And, lo, we do sow our seeds upon the fields;
And, lo, we do raise a mighty army;
And, lo, our army does meet our enemy in battle;
And, lo, we do plant our children once more beneath the fields.

A bit late, but here's the summary:

In an effort to support local business - and get some damn good expert opinions - I went to a local shop to get a digital SLR for Top Sekrity purposes (NOTE: this is not one o' them Top Sekrity Posts, so please refrain from discussing Top Sekrity Stuff in the comments; the time is not yet right for the Grand Revelation! =) It turns out that the shop uses a service to verify checks. The service didn't like my low check number (although it was not a "starter check", which is what it was referred to) and the shop didn't like the lack of information printed on it (it contained all the information required on a legal check). The salesman, who had been extremely helpful, and also knew I didn't get everything and could be expected to spend more money at the shop in the future, discussed with the owner, and the method of payment I had at my disposal was refused. I told them quite plainly that I would prefer supporting local businesses, and that if I didn't get it here, today - coming back with a cashiers check from the bank was not an option, as it spent more of my time & money to do so - than I would have to order it from somewhere online. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do, so we walked out empty-handed.

Sad thing is, this is the place where I've taken all my film to be developed. I've literally spent hundreds of dollars there on that alone; I also purchased Deb's telescope there. They are currently celebrating 30 years in business; apparently they never had low numbered checks when they started out.

~ ~ ~

After that, we went to the Guitar Center, so Justin could get some hands-on time with various keyboards. He gravitated away from the digital pianos, and tried some Yamaha, Korg, and Roland workstations. He wasn't as impressed with the $3200 Yamaha as I was, but he really liked the feel and sounds of another Yamaha, which was about a grand cheaper. The Korgs just didn't do it for him, the feel wasn't right. He did like the new Roland, which went for about $2200, a comparable price with the Yamaha he liked.

Mr. B gave me a workout, going back and forth between the keys and the sound reinforcement room - and wanting to do so on his own. They had a lightshow set up in the sound room, so he liked watching that. Finally, I took the advice of one of the sales guys and took him over to the percussion department. One of the guys there gave him a set of sticks, and I sat him at a drum kit.

He tried the drums in turn: snare, hi-tom, low-tom, floor tom and did the same for the cymbals. I showed him the center of the snare and said to hit there, and he did. Then he tried the other areas of the drum head, hitting it in four quarters and listening to the sound. He played steady rhythms the whole time, steadier than what I've played on a drum set. He had both the snare and floor tom going together. I showed him the bell on the ride cymbal, and he tried it, and then went for the bell on the high hat to see how that sounded. The drum guy asked how long he'd been taking lessons; he had started about that age. A couple of customers expressed surprise at his ability - he was actually playing, and not thrashing around.

After we moved away from that, the drum guy lowered a snare and after a few tentative hits, he played a little roll using both sticks, and that further surprised everyone. We're thinking a practice pad and sticks for Christmas for him, and maybe a snare.

~ ~ ~

After that, and a few quick stops at some places to see if they had the camera I was looking for, we stopped off at a Yamaha piano place. Justin had a deer-in-headlights look; when we left he said he wasn't sure if he was allowed to play them. He did play a baby grand for a little bit, and I got to talking with the salesman about the Clavanova, which is their high end digital piano, with models running from $2000 to $15,000.

Justin came over and tried a couple, finally settling on one that listed at $7000 or so. After a while, he began to adjust to the dynamics possible on a quality instrument. Although all the ones he had tried at Guitar Center had touch sensitivity and a full 88-keys, there was a huge difference in the feel and even the sounds. The Clavanovas are built in wooden enclosures; the workstations are all much more portable, but you also have to purchase a PA system to be able to hear them, where the Clavanovas have that built in.

Nature's Chaos photographs by Eliot Porter and text by James Gleick

I'm on my second copy of this book: I had loaned the first to a friend back in Massachusetts, and moved away without it. I only hope he continues to enjoy his copy, or pass it on to those who will, and I bear no regrets about it.

The photographs in this book are not clear, cut, and dried representations of fractals. Instead, they are realistic, actual, examples that show how deeply accurate it is to describe anything natural in terms of a fractal equation.

From flows of lava to flows of tides to dried leaves and branching twigs to ferns arching over the forest floor, the pictures are of simple things and show the patterns that people try to order and arrange. It becomes quickly apparent that the only things with such a natural order are those which have been set into that order by the machinations of mankind; the natural order is a chaos that includes patterns deeper - simpler and complex - than anything with neat, trim edges.

The text in this - although short, scattered amongst the photographs - has also been highly influential to me, nearly as much an inspiration as the photographs it was written to accompany.