I think cedar waxwings are my favorite bird to photograph.

( A couple new bird photos for me. )

This is the Pixar short that is shown prior to Wall-E.

I've been seeing lots of these birds at my feeders since last weekend..not sure what they are. I THINK they might be a house finch? What do you think?

Did you know there are some fairies living in Ann Arbor, Michigan of all places? There are photographs here to prove it.

Swainson's hawk (?) with lunch. Poor bunny!

Terribly underexposed photo using an old lens on a new digital SLR. I didn't have time to get the settings right, but I was able to clean it up a bit in Photoshop.

( scruffy looking scrub jay.... )

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557102/2164

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2164

Transformations 1
Lazmarquez.com

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557103/1528

http://www.skineart.com/?p=1528

Eyes
Drawings from http://www.mymoleskine.net

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557105/2124

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2124

Some sketches and the amazing Ron Mueck angel.

Braga
http://diburros.blogspot.com/

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557106/2159

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2159

in the subway of berlin
http://les-calepins-de-lapin.blogspot.com/

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557108/2156

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2156

NERVE

Mixed media on my moleskine.

http://www.chensio.es

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557110/2182

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2182

Beaune, France corner apartment
http://www.kunst-by-rob.blogspot.com

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557112/2171

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2171

Woman in red blouse on the 2, 7-2-08.

http://amiunderground.blogspot.com

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557113/2189

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2189

endangered
http://www.yardapeart.blogspot.com

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557114/2190

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2190

more markers pasted into my moleskine

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/skineart/~3/327557115/2187

http://www.skineart.com/?p=2187

Under the Birch Trees

It started raining last night at the beach, and the forecast for today calls for rain on and off throughout the day. My sister called me and said that it was completely 'socked in' and very grey, so she's packing up and leaving. I plan to spend the rest of the weekend curled up at home, working on a new doll. I've brewed up a pot of cinammon plum tea and I have some fresh blueberries to munch on. It's shaping up to be a very quiet, peaceful day.

Here is a quick fish recipe that is really delicious:

Season a tuna steak with pepper and garlic. Pan sear it to whatever level of doneness that you like.
While it is cooking, heat 1/2 jar of tomatillo salsa over a medium heat. Add in a sliced mango, a sliced peach, and some frozen corn. Heat that until all the liquid is reduced.
Serve the salsa over the fish.
The end!

Total cooking time: about 10 minutes.
This would probably go well with rice and sliced tomatoes, but I was too lazy to cook the rice and I didn't have any tomatoes.

I'd like to say that I invented this recipe, but I actually got it from some lady at Whole Foods who was doing a cooking demonstration the other day.


Totally random link for your amusement: Links to all of the animal cams at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. I just watched a couple of tigers playing around before settling down for a nap, a sleeping cheetah that woke up when a couple of birds started flying around it (chase birds y/n? No! back to sleep for the cheetah!), and a snoozing mother and baby black-footed ferret (most hilarious even when napping, because the baby kept trying to sneak away and the mother would periodically drag it back and curl up around it. As soon as the mother put her head down and went back to sleep, the baby started crawling away again. Knucklehead!). I'm sensing a theme here at the National Zoo, and that theme is, NAP TIME. Alas, Octopus Cam isn't working atm, but I'll bet that the octopus is curled up asleep, too.

Mini Nakamura uses such gorgeous colours in her drawings. They're so bright light and ethereal that they make me think of stained glass. It certainly looks like light is shining through them.

Mr. Cardinal decided to pose:

Well, I survived the Fourth of July with my family. No one in fact was damaged, although it was a narrow thing at some points. I mean, there are normally flying barbs of wit, but we're all used to that. And then there's Sibling #7's son, who jumped over a "fountain" firework on his skateboard. His mother says, "What are you going to do if something shoots out of there and goes up your butt? I ain't taking you to the doctor to explain that." Then a couple of the really big fireworks that shoot multiple Large Pretty Explodey Things went sideways. Naturally, some of them came towards us, and we scattered. thewonderboy was hit on the elbow by a bit of flying something, but was unscathed.

After we determined that no one was actually hurt, Sibling #5, who was sitting up on Sib #7's screened-in second-floor porch, said, "That was pretty funny from up here." I heart my siblings.

~
Addendum: Sibling #7 is now giving my son a sack full of "leftover" sparklers, bottle rockets, and assorted other items. "THAT'S JUST WHAT I NEED, THANKS" I said to my sister as they went by.

"That's what aunts are for," she said.

She has children too. "I'll remember that."

So much to do and avoiding it all...

Firstly, yet another reason to celebrate the 4th of July, which is really all about parades (which I hate, though I am sorry Ito have missed the parade of 65 Basset Hounds from a dog rescue organizationl; that would have been hilarious), BBQing, and fireworks, but now we another excuse for reveling:  ding dong the witch is dead !  Yeah, Jessie Helms...may you rot, you horrid piece of trash.  Any iota of good that you doubtfully may have achieved in this life has been irrevocably eclipsed by your stunningly appalling and reprehensible actions toward humanity.  Though I do pray you come back as a Mother Teresa-type, to reverse your sins.  Unfortunately, I think you are just the top of the stinkpile.

There, I feel much better.

Sooo, now I am off the make chocolate chip cookies and a custard pie with fruit for tomorrow's belated celebrations!  Then cleaning, shower, pop into clean sheets, and settle back  into my book A Rage to Live: a biography of Richard and Isabel Burton, which I am loving.

Post 3 things you've done in your lifetime that you don't think anybody else on your friends list has done.

See if anybody else responds with "I've done that." If they have, you need to add another! (2.b., 2.c., etc...) (*)

Have your friends cut & paste this into their journal to see what unique things they've done in their life.

-----------------------------------------

1) I talk to my grandma nearly everyday over IM.

2) I live in a foreign country and earn foreign currency from where I lived/ worked my adult life.

3) I have plans to eat at a 3 Michelin star French restaurant :D *squee*

Yeah, so these are more "every day" things, but that just goes to show how blah my life was before! XD