Brina Bat

A Cavers Christmas

2011-12-04T01:19:00.001-06:00

A Cavers Christmas
Originally uploaded by Realms(Nathan Williams)

Merry Christmas Everyone! If youre in the area to see the TR tree it will be up all the way through new years. We had a great set of folks come out and decorate this year. Thank you to all that helped. And may your season be merry and bright.

Foggy Work Morning

2011-11-01T23:31:00.003-05:00

So I have a new job! I am working for a great company doing archaeology and graphic design... pretty much a meld of two of my most favorite things (besides caving - which i even got to do a bit of that too to check a cave on a sight). So far my time has been about equally split between lab and field. I got to spend all last week up in TN helping with a phase 1. On morning when we all went out into the field we were greeted with really thick beautiful but very cold fog. Walking out through it people would disappear and appear in front of you so ghost-like.... like the grand tree that kept us company.

Doggy Cave Trip

2011-09-11T21:29:00.003-05:00

Just a little photo to play catch up with some of my photos. This is from the beginning of the this summer in May when i got to take my 11-year old pup on her very first caving trip!

More from what was Panoply

2011-09-07T10:48:00.002-05:00

Just a few more photos of some work i did for the Panoply that wasn't. I have an opportunity coming up to try the Polly Crockett Festival in a couple weeks - hoping to try it out!

Did You Know Cave Photographer

2011-08-29T21:03:00.000-05:00

Did You Know Cave Photographer

Panoply Tailings

2011-08-19T22:43:00.005-05:00

So i have a few little photos of some of my artwork... my Panoply leftovers that I never got to show. I tended toward several different styles over the course of working. These are some of the more abstract pieces i did. Collage background, nice bright fabric colors and ceramic detailing.

For the world's more full of weeping...

2011-08-16T22:57:00.001-05:00

Such a beautiful poem Mr. Yeats.
Thank you for writing it! Enjoy everyone!

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he's going,
The solemn-eyed:
He'll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than he can understand.

~William Butler Yeats

Back But Not Back.

2011-08-07T23:19:00.002-05:00

So I'm back. Back in the land of shopping malls, cable TV, air-conditioning, hot showers, bath tubs, wall to wall carpeting, washers, dryers, phones, grocery stores, running water, paved roads, yards with grass, trash pick up, firefighters, computers, internet, cell service, closets full of clothes, shelves full of books and odds and ends and stuff.... so so so much stuff.

But... i'm not back. I can still close my eyes and exist in that other world. - still enjoy the Milky Way, the sounds of the birds and frogs and crickets and Mot-mots as i fall asleep and wake and all through the day, bike rides to the pyramids, sketching and mapping caves simply oozing with history, walks to the tienda for a strawberry soda, fixing everyone pancakes on the weekend, hiking out thru the monte, stretching out in my hammock after a hard days work, lessons for words in Spanish and Maya, people and kids that smile and wave and invite you into their homes for no other reason than to be friendly.

Yaxcaba Bull Fight

2011-05-28T23:43:00.001-05:00

Yaxcaba Bull Fight
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Donny

2011-05-28T23:17:00.001-05:00

Donny
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Donald Slater pauses for a moment per my request in the midst of a monte fire (Monte basically being the forest). This fire cleared pretty much all of the Yaxuna archeological site and came close to our little camp. A couple hours after this the whole camp became firefighters - hauling buckets of water out into the forest to keep the fire from spreading to the village and our camp.

Hanging out to Dry

2011-04-09T00:29:00.001-05:00

Hanging out to Dry
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Dutchman's Breeches have to be one of the coolest/oddest looking wildflowers I have seen thus far. Tiny little white pants hanging out to dry... They are so fun! These were photographed last Sunday when i was lucky enought to go on a tour (given by a most awesome cave owner) of an old RR bed that had been turned into a road in Bon Air, (Sparta) TN.

Shelob's Lair

2011-04-07T22:18:00.001-05:00

Shelob's Lair
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

A nifty macro from the 16 hour cave trip last Saturday. Its a combo of gypsum hair, crystals and needles.

Motion Picture

2011-03-24T22:10:00.001-05:00

Motion Picture
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Everything moving, everything flowing, everything and everyone working together is what you hope for in a cave rescue. Because every effort, every thought, every action should be focused towards the greater goal - to help a fellow caver who is injured - hurt - in need. Caving comes both with great reward and risk. Sometimes even the most prepared and safe are caught off guard by accidental odds and in need of help. A true rescuer chooses to place knowledge before egos and knows their limits - pushing themselves only so hard as not to become a liability themselves.

This is one of my favorite photos because it feels just like the rescue - constant motion - constant effort - like you're right there - a motion picture - everything happening - surrounding the quiet calm of the patient - who is in perfect focus with the light of the Lumedyne being bounced from the ceiling - falling quietly from above.

-Sabrina

So this is but one photo of over 200 that were taken during the Tumbling Rock Mock on February 26th, 2011. This mock was a joint effort by the HCRU and several other rescue squads in the area. We hope to do more like this - with even more rescue teams. For more photos see Realms' Tumbling Rock Mock Set

Collaborative efforts of photography by Nathan Williams (Realms) and Sabrina Simón (Brina Bat).

The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

2011-03-08T22:49:00.000-06:00

To Market To Market!

2011-03-08T00:42:00.006-06:00

Er...Well off to the American Cancer Society's Casino Night this Saturday in Lakeland!
Here's all the finished goodies that were all packed up today and tucked neatly in the mail - 1/2 letterpress - 1/2 sewn...

The reversible Owl bag... outside...

And the inside... or... is it out side and inside? hmm...

The super fun pencil roll-up...
Easy as 1...

2...

3!

The Amy Butler Fabric purse with matching key ring!

Detail of the funky flower on the front

And my favorite - the little blue and cream horse wondering how it can snack on its apple treat..

Shoed a Blue Horse Today!

2011-03-04T22:07:00.006-06:00

So I'm putting together a nifty package to be auctioned at the American Cancer Society Casino Night in Lakeland, FL next Friday. I'll have hand made goodies and a nice stash full of letterpress cards and such which should be a nice variety i think. They'll be a big Amy Butler fabric bag, an owl tote, a colored pencil roll-up case and then a plush toy horse - which I made today! He's blue and cream and as cute as his little button eyes! I took a series of pictures planning out the pattern and cutting and sewing and stuffing - seeing as how I'd never made a toy horse before. All the parts and pieces were planned out in my head, just had to take some time to plan and figure out how to get him just the way i pictured him. Am hoping he will make a child very happy!

Here's my paper pattern that I cut two of, ears, shoes are sewn on, button eyes and tail. The mane is beneath the rotary cutter. and started with fabric and a sheet of paper to draw the pattern.

Ears, shoes, mane and tail stitched to one side so they wont slip when the two main sides are sewn...

Sewn, but flat...

Stuffed and hand stitching the belly...

Sewing on the button eyes...

All done!

Oldest Domestic Dog Found

2011-01-19T23:29:00.001-06:00

This is a really interesting article in the realm of Archaeology/Anthropology

9,400-year-old dog found, earliest found in Americas

Figgy Cookies!

2011-01-17T21:28:00.002-06:00

The finished cookies! All pretty and cooling

Rolling up the figgy goo in the sweet dough.

Popping them in the oven!

My Huge mixer that my Dad fixed up for me. It was my Grandmothers - and he christened it "The White Bat."

Figs, honey and spices ready to be blended in the Cuisinart.

Mornings, Evening and Miles apart

2011-01-11T23:49:00.002-06:00

I've admired these blogs for years now after having stumbled upon them rather happily. Now they have two books!

A Year of Mornings
and
A Year of Evenings

And their new project: 3191 Miles Apart.

Snow Angels on the Parkway

2011-01-10T22:09:00.010-06:00

So we had snow here... lots of snow. All of the parkway overpasses were barricaded and closed. The whole town was closed. So Paul Darien and I went for a walk down and out of the neighborhood, up and over the southern-most overpass of the parkway. We were the first to lay tracks on all that fresh snow... and also... um... the first to do a snow angel in the middle of the parkway!!

This would be me - on the parkway... doing the snow angle thing...

And Darien... she's got the natural camouflage thing going on.

Some of the snazzy snowmen in our neighborhood.

And the funniest one we saw today - over in the 5 Points area - a Dalek Snowman!! AWESOME!!

On the Line

2010-12-02T00:28:00.002-06:00

One of the many little goodies I've been working on for Christmas....

Voting Day

2010-11-02T21:31:00.008-05:00

Everyone has an opinion. Blogs, and social networking sights like MySpace and Facebook just accentuate them - giving anyone a step up onto their very own soapbox. My good friend Gary once told me that he never talks about politics or religion because that's the easiest way to lose a friend. I think it was sound advice when he gave it to me. Tolerance varies from person to person. And its disheartening to see friends butt-heads over differences of opinion that are as unique and interesting as the people themselves. Opinions should be heard in full and celebrated. Barring scientific and mathematical facts that aren't questionable - As long as there is thought out reasoning behind the opinion - devoid of hate - I don't believe anyone is wrong.

As a conscious decision - I decided not to vote today. I have voted in the past. Several people have already reminded me that by not voting -I do not have a right to complain about who is in office - I can live with that - and I never have. My own personal opinions do not fit neatly into any political party - nor do I believe my opinions are whats best for the country as a whole. If anyone truly put the best interests of the people first - not just our country but the everyone - the people of the world as a whole - and was not swayed by the pockets and influences of those who support them they'd get my vote. Perhaps there are politicians who really are in it for the good of the whole - not just for the power - but I've been looking - and bigotry is all that I see advertised - not only in the candidates themselves but the people with the loudest voices and biggest signs.

Pins and Needles

2010-10-30T00:52:00.004-05:00

I got all inspired about a month ago over a good green tea latte. I found myself sitting on the scratchy carpet at the Bridge Street Barnes and Noble in the crafty section pouring over and through all the sewing books I could yank from the shelves. After 3 1/2 hours or so I had enough ideas to charge my engines and launched straight into deciding that I was going to hand make all of my Christmas presents this year (with a few exceptions of already purchased gifts) - be it sewn or otherwise crafted... painted... snipped...snapped... printed, etc.

I have quite a few folks already crossed off my list - which is pretty wild for October. Feels as thought I'm a bit ahead of the game. But I'm glad I started early... (I kinda have a tendency to go overboard when I enjoy/like how the project turns out -and I did, so i am)...eventually doubling the size of the original list...hehehee. The kitchen table seems to now have the permanent fixture of a giant green cutting mat, sewing machine, pin cushions, iron and at any given time fabric themes appear and disappear over the course of several days - from cowboys, to owls, to pirates, to silken pinks and purples,to trains, to wild animals, butterflies, tie-dye, strawberries, teal & chocolate, dinosaurs and even bats. Every theme an idea crafted for a single person - completely different - completely original - completely theirs. And each gift as special and as differnet and original as the person who receives it.

Creative "Brain Dump" Inspirations

2010-10-27T14:52:00.012-05:00

So there are some things that I come accross that inspire me so much I have to take note of them - beit music - or a design - or art - or movie - or a picture or even an online article. I usually collect them in a list of sorts - or tear out the page from the magazine - or just remember them but its rare that I share the inspirations with others - especially in a "brain dump" kinda of way... but today is different. So here goes nuthin!...

1. Vacu Vin's Party People Glass Markers. A creative crafty clever product. (and much more fun than just a simple old wine charm - and i dont even drink!) I ran accross these little guys on the shelf at TJ Max and was like.. wow! Hopefully going to put these to good use during my next get together. They also have some for football season, Christmas and Halloween!

3. Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros An incredible, happy-go-lucky song with an awesome message and sound like something from the hippie past. You'll listen over and over!

2. Preserve Toothbrush Subscription An environment saving - cavity fighting combo pack! So the Preserve company makes the coolest best designed stuff I've seen out of #5 plastic (typically yogurt cups and other food-safe plastic items) But this... is pretty darn brilliant. 4 toothbrushes - mailed to you every 3 months - just what the dentist recommends AND once used - you can recycle it yet again by sending it back - postage paid!

4. The Spirit - Modern film noir with plenty of action and enough cheesyness to make you chuckle combined with scenes so artistic they will make your jaw drop. This neat little jaunt into a comic-booked world comes complete with handsome hero in a mask, black overcoat, hat, and a signature red tie. And for you boys - plenty of hot dames.

5. This photo "Eos" by Dennis Calvert's A feast for the eyes - some beautiful light painting indeed! ... super dreamy!!

6. Sewing Green - A nifty crafty book by Betz White with some brilliant idea on how to repurpose and recycle items you might have or can find at your local Goodwill and sew-a-new. I am currently working on the awesome leaf scarf on the front of the book - and with a bit more juice drinking... I'll have a Capri sun Pouch car shade for the FJ!

Daylight

2010-09-28T23:24:00.003-05:00

Talk about catchy... I'm really digging this...

Daylight

In Flux

2010-09-27T23:06:00.001-05:00

In Flux
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

18 Billion!

2010-09-15T16:16:00.001-05:00

Originally uploaded by Dennis Calvert

So this is from a friend of mine who does some awesome light painting photos. Just think this is really really snazzy... Enjoy!!

How it Should Have Ended...

2010-09-09T00:14:00.006-05:00

Just discovered this funny sight, How It Should Have Ended with made up clips of how movies should have ended. (Totally reminds me of 30 Seconds with Bunnies) These three were just too much to not pass on...

On the Rail

2010-09-06T14:13:00.004-05:00

Been wanting to shoot this for a long time and was always reminded of it on the way out. Finally got it a few days ago at the tail end of a Legacy Class that I got to help with. We had an awesome group of teachers - got to visit three caves - and some great speakers - Vicky from A-Z Animals and Jim Lacefield, author of Lost Worlds in Alabama Rocks.

Whisker Whiz

2010-09-04T14:05:00.000-05:00

So Cliff really does need some new travel sized shaving cream here. After the project in the Yucatan, a few of us went down to the Rio Bec region to do some sight seeing ... and sillyness did ensue. (There are a few times you can hear me squeeking in the background)

How To Be Alone

2010-08-08T23:38:00.002-05:00

Came across this really neat little video tonight and would like to share....

Food Porn

2010-08-06T00:09:00.002-05:00

Just a pretty dinner plate from the other night....

Strawberries and vanilla yogurt, Horseradish chicken wrapped in a cresecent roll and topped with cheddar, Peas from the garden, and a veggie medley of mushrooms, tomatoes (from garden) squash and zucchini! Yum!

Play this!

2010-08-03T01:37:00.005-05:00

Enough is enough - right folks? I need to catch up to my poor neglected blog here. How about some niflty letterpress updates....

So one of the items that I'm working on for Triple S Letterpress is playing card coasters and gift tags. The tags will be sold separately and there will also be one attached to the letterpress coasters. Tonight I decided to make a batch. Little did the deck of cards know what they'd turn out to be! And these will be available on my Etsy page when I take all the pretty photos of everything and write my little descriptions and such.

The cards with the sticky-backed craft label paper.

Sticking them down, and then putting the peal-off backing back on.

Trimming them down so they will all line up when I put them on the press.

Here you can see the card held by the gauge clips and the circular die cut in the letterpress chase

After the impression

The die cut neatly slices through the playing card and backing

The finished product! All hole-punched, stamped with "to" and "from," and ribboned!

Great Duo!

2010-07-20T00:57:00.001-05:00

Laurel and Hardy in a little bub for your Tuesday morning pleasure!

Clouds

2010-04-30T23:59:00.003-05:00

Here I am... neglecting my poor blog again. And I have a backlog of cool photos and stuff Ive done all waiting to post. Been super busy and it seems like the summer is going to be no different.

Found a pretty cool sight this evening thought it would be fun to share it: Clouds 365

MOOOOO!!!!

2010-03-25T13:04:00.000-05:00

The Hushed Epoch

2010-03-18T11:28:00.001-05:00

The Hushed Epoch
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

After the last piece of breakdown falls all is quiet. The celestial partners of the day and night perform their dance across the sky. And the world above speeds by with the noisy chatter of life. The epoch below is untroubled, equable - years slip by with the steady rhythmic count of drips and drops and tiny soft splashes.

Keith Cave

2010-03-15T00:05:00.000-05:00

Got to help with a small group of photographers from North Alabama Photographers Guild this past Saturday. Had a great time with everyone. Its fun to help folks who want to dabble in cave photography... they get to experience the underground - and then try and take photos there... which is where Nathan's lighting arsenal came into play. On Saturday we were using flash bulbs, a Compact Fluorescent, a Lumedyne, and an LED Scout. Dennis and his buddy Nathan also did a bit of light painting and gel/flash work too.

Left to right: Nathan, Dennis, Ben, Cecil and Nathan.

Here are a couple of the shots that they took away from the trip:

the decent
Originally uploaded by EchoBoomer

Brina Bat
Originally uploaded by Dennis Calvert

Keith Cave multiple exposure
Originally uploaded by Ben_D

Be at Peace Eileen

2010-03-11T22:35:00.004-06:00

Eileen Mary Meyer, 62, of Trenton, Ill., born Oct. 17, 1947, in St. Charles,
Mo.,died March 10, 2010, at her residence.

Eileen was a homemaker while raising her four children and later joined
Jim's Formal Wear in Trenton, Ill., as a team member in the shoe
department.

She was a member of St. Mary Catholic Church in Trenton, Ill., and a past
Eucharistic minister.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Vincent and Bernadine,
nee Kramer, Gruenloh Sr.; and sister, Betty Gruenloh.

Surviving are her husband, James A. Meyer of Trenton, Ill., whom she
married on Sept. 29, 1972, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Florissant,
Mo.; children, Patricia (Christopher) Sterling of Oswego, Ill., Sharon
(William) Kuhn of Columbia, Ill., Douglas Meyer of Trenton, Ill., and
Sara (Jeremy) Wildhaber of Edwardsville, Ill.; two grandchildren, Alec
and Madison Sterling; brothers, Vincent (Diane) Gruenloh Jr., of Florissant,
Mo., Robert (Sue) Gruenloh of Marion, Iowa and Gladys (Hugh)Farnen
of Salisbury, Mo.; father and mother-in-law, Albert and Josephine Meyer
of Florissant, Mo.; brothers and sisters-in-law, Louise (Mark) Sawyer of
St. Peters, Mo., Theodore (Marilyn) Meyer of Sunset Hills, Mo., David
(Kathy) Meyer of Grapevine, Texas, Claire (Melvin) Hegger of Columbia,
Mo., Janice (Duane) Bruce of St. Charles, Mo., Glennon (Karen) Meyer
of Creve Coeur, Mo., and Paul (Sabrina) Meyer of Huntsville, Ala.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggest memorials to St. Mary Church or
American Cancer Society and will be received through Moss Funeral
home in Trenton, Ill. Expressions of sympathy can be sent to Moss
Funeral Home.

Visitation: Friends may call from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 20, 2010,
at St. Mary Catholic Church in Trenton, Ill.

Funeral: Memorial Mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday March 20, 2010
at St. Mary Catholic Church in Trenton, Ill., with Father Gene Kreher
officiating. Keeping with her wishes her body was donated to St. Louis
University School of Medicine.

Kat's Good Mail Day

2010-03-01T22:00:00.007-06:00

Kat is a good friend from college that I still keep up with. Both of us appreciate artsy mail. We kinda send each other fun postcards and letters rather randomly. And everytime something arrives from her (and others friends too of course... I'm a sucker for real mail.. letters and such) its a "Good Mail Day" for me! I've been collecting fun random items for a while now to send her something extra-special for totally no reason at all. The light streaming through the kitchen window last Friday afternoon was screaming at me to take some photos to document Kat's artsy binder, so I did. Then I carefully boxed it up, wrapping it in brown paper and sending it on its way across the united states. I dropped it in the mail on Saturday...so hopefully any day now she'll have a "good mail day!"

I started with a short three ring binder which I re-covered in vintage old maps. The pretty satin and grosgrain ribbons are recycled from presents and packages of old.

This is a Florida orange bag that I'd stashed for future use. I stuffed it with the random goodies and tied it up with a recycled ribbon.

The random goodies: Cardboard "KAT", a little Memo pad, some fun fruity paper from a cool recycled paper bag, one of my letterpress bookmarks, some carboard postcards & some funky gauzy ribbons in brown and fluorescent yellow.

This is part of a neato bag a friend gave me 2 years ago. I kept it because I liked the interesting cartoons and writing on it. I added a little cardboard heart business card that I'd letterpressed. Inside the bag is an oversized postcard with black and white flower stickers.

There are two other "pages" with various goodies - stationary, writing, some cool old silly stickers that I thought were fun and another decorated blank postcard.

The last "page" is a little stash of goodies I brought back from the Yucatan last summer. A hand embroidered bag from Yaxuna and two woven bracelets from Merida.

Outdoor Alabama

2010-02-18T22:14:00.004-06:00

So this is pretty cool - Jeff Rease, a friend and amazing photographer who's a fellow member of the NAPG (North Alabama Photographers Guild), entered a photo taken at Stephen's Gap on an NAPG cave photo trip that I got to help with last year. The photo won first place in Outdoor Alabama's "Nature-based Recreation" category and is now on the cover of this months magazine. I'm the silhouette at the top of the pit. Nathan Williams is the second silhouette with the pack dangling below him. Big congrats to Jeff on winning!!

Windows to the Soul

2010-02-14T17:15:00.007-06:00

I've always said green. That's what my license says too. But you know - its funny - when I wear certain colors folks think they're blue or gray and when I wear others they look green. And then if I look in the mirror I can see little gold/hazel flecks too. Even the lighting makes a difference. So the other evening I thought it'd be fun to try and do a macro of my eyeball to get a closer look at the color...

I did a little wiki eye color search and found some pretty interesting information. Eye color is actually based on more than just one gene and apparently is a phenotypic trait. And the color itself comes from different ratios of eumelanin produced in the melanocytes in the iris.

Everyone has heard that "Eyes are the windows to the soul" How about these?

The eye is the window of the soul, the mouth the door. The intellect, the will, are seen in the eye; the emotions, sensibilities, and affections, in the mouth. The animals look for man's intentions right into his eyes. Even a rat, when you hunt him and bring him to bay, looks you in the eye.
- Hiram Powers, American sculptor (1805 - 1873)

I need no dictionary of quotations to remind me that the eyes are the windows of the soul.
- Max Beerbohm

The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
- Matthew 6:22-23 (King James)

Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul.
- Milton.

They say that the eye is the window to the soul. But it is the soul that is the window.
- Andrew Hamilton

The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The eyes of our souls only then begin to see, when our bodily eyes are closing.
- Law.

Cave Archeaology

2010-02-13T20:51:00.001-06:00

Where I'm gonna be for part of this summer.....and where I was for 3 weeks last summer.

Phillips Academy - PA Archaeologist Awarded National Geographic Society Grant

Tree Rise

2010-02-04T00:05:00.002-06:00

Tree Rise
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

So I've recently been going to Yoga classes. And out of all the various poses I'm adjusting to I think the tree pose is one of the most graceful especially when you're really in tune with the balance aspect of it. The other evening I took a trip to Tumbling Rock to take some photos and cave a bit. The night before I thought it'd be cool to try a yoga pose. So Danielle humored me with practicing her yoga tree pose while Nathan humored me with a couple strobes so I could take some shots. Am happy with the results - Danielle's silhouette in her tree pose is very graceful and calm. I like how the lights and darks play between the smooth shape of Danielle and the rough formations to the smooth - almost concrete-like ceiling and packed mud floor.

Fish Eye Style Friday Night

2010-02-03T12:20:00.000-06:00

So these are the kind of photos you get when you combine a fisheye lense with a Friday night and friends and some Chinese takeout and way too much hot tea and purple rice crispy treats with sprinkles and 3 different board games...

Danielle and Casey enjoying the first bite of my crazy purple rice crispy treat experiment.

The first board game - Settlers of Catan - and yes that is a giant camel - he's hanging out in the desert. After a bit of a crash course in the game given by a very patient Danielle and Casey - Paul and I both decided it was pretty fun.

This would be Danielle and Casey making faces at a blooming tea - white tea that blooms when you add hot water - its super fun - and from Teaposy. I think this was pot #3 (we had 5 pots of tea by the way... One just regular jasmine green tea, one falling water, one butterfly, one lady fairy and one heart of love).

My hand and the items I had to trade - lumber wheat and 4 sheep at some point in the game. The goal of Settlers of Catan is to be the first to collect 10 points by building roads and settlements and cities.

Casey Paul and Danielle checking out pot of blooming tea #4...

A round of Chinese Checkers... hadn't played it in forever!

This would be somewhere around 2:30 AM or so... a quick game of Apples to Apples just to show Casey and Danielle how to play...

Peaceful Remembrance

2010-01-30T02:31:00.001-06:00

Peaceful Remembrance
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Explored on Flickr! #369 for January 28th 2010!

Noccalula Falls & Anniston Museum of Natural History

2010-01-26T14:34:00.000-06:00

So this past Friday Paul Michelle and I took a little road trip down to Anniston. On the way down, in Gadsden, we saw a little sign for Noccalula Falls. Michelle said it was pretty nice and Paul and I had never seen it before. We were in no hurry so we made a little side trip and man I'm so glad we did! We were greeted with a gorgeous 100ft waterfall just roaring away! The top photo's my fav - and I posted it to my flickr - the one below gives you a sense of scale...with Michelle and Paul...waaay tiny on the other side. I can't wait to go back and hike down to the bottom of the falls!

Noccalula Falls is named after an Indian Maiden that threw herself from the falls rather than marry someone she did not love. You can read about her story here or on the placard photo below.

All three of us were super pleasantly surprised at the Anniston Museum of Natural History. They not only have a pretty groovy 1960's-ish modern style logo that I really like (see below) but they have an amazing collection of goodies on display - minerals, fossils, all sorts of Alabama flora and fauna, birds, animals of Africa that are just amazingly cool and HUGE - they even have a cave exhibit!! All three of us at some point in time asked the others..um.. how big is this place? Cause it kept going...finally ending with two Egyptian mummies.

W&S in 3D!

2010-01-22T22:32:00.000-06:00

No it isn't your eyes... Go grab your nearest pair of red-cyan glasses 3D glass and check out Jay Clark in the Totem Gallery of Tumbling Rock Cave! You can check out some more of our 3D works on flickr HERE!

photo by Nathan Williams and Sabrina Simón

So I've been doing a lot of photo super fun 3D photography lately with a good caving buddy of mine - Nathan Williams (of Realms of Reality). We decided we needed a logo for our joint efforts - since the 3D photos are taken with both our Pentax cameras side by side. So it was discussed... sketched... looked over...talked about some more... resketched and then finally drawn up over the past couple days time by me in Adobe Illustrator....and Voila! Here's the logo!

Ashes and Snow

2010-01-20T23:52:00.007-06:00

Came across this photographers site as a post on FB from a friend. And I have to say - this exhibit is absolutely beautiful. I'm utterly stunned at the idea and beauty and impact you can feel from these photos. Ashes and Snow is an exhibit by Gregory Colbert - and I'm SO going to have to look into more of his work. Go to the "Explore" section on the link - its flipping amazing - combines short video clips, tons of photos an hauntingly beautiful soundtrack and selections from the book. I just played around with it for two hours and I still don't think I saw all the photos! At first I thought that some of these had been photoshopped... but apparently not. I highly recommend watching the short little video clips on the website - shot while the photos were taken - they're amazing!!

Four friends

2010-01-19T00:33:00.003-06:00

I have four friends. Four pieces that have been and are a part of my life's grand puzzle. Four wonderful souls that all are in some stage of the toughest fight of their lives right now. Up against a sinister and sneaky foe that no one ever asks for - that no one ever welcomes or needs. That corners them all in their very own skin - on their own ground.

None of them will probably ever meet or see each other which makes me kinda sad. They will not learn how to rig a pit from one, or learn how to dress up in medieval costume from the second, or stay up all night in the rotunda from the third, or make a new sister-in-law feel welcome in the family from the forth. But I know. I know each of them in turn and in different ways. I have these memories tucked away - a gift from each of them. And their common fight unites them.

I am worried for all of them but I grip tight to hope for all four - as bright as a torch my hope burns - no matter how hard the battle ahead. And I want to tell them that they've made a difference in my life and I feel very lucky and privileged to call these four souls my friends.

My lists have lists!

2010-01-15T21:25:00.004-06:00

Its funny I've wanted to blog all day long... and I had 20 different ideas of what I was going to write about...but my time ran short and the pretty light that I had this afternoon to take photos in disappeared too fast while I did the things I had to do - instead of the things that would have been more fun to do. So I'll save my idea for a later post. And now I'm staring at my desk ... looking at all the lists and sticky notes I've got stuck on the lists and papers. I'm a big list person. If I can get it out of my head and on paper I feel better and more organized about what I have to do. But when my lists have their own lists... I have to work through everything yet again... cross off what I've done, figure out what I need to do first and then reorder and rewrite my lists. I need to do that pretty soon because my lists are overrunning my desk right now...and the to-do's in my head are all fershcmekled (aka mixed up).

So for now I'll leave you with the beginning... the lists I've got going right now:
1. Letterpress Projects
2. Photography To-Do's
3. Design Projects
4. Events to look up and to write on the new 2010 calendar
5. Two lists of people to contact for a two different caving-related projects
6. My New Years Resolutions
7. Programs scheduled and folks to contact for a program for the grotto
8. Business stuff I need to do for Triple S Letterpress
9. several lists of random items I want/need to do - all in various stages of completion...(some of which include things like - order volume II of a type book...clean out some boxes of stuff...get the back issues of the grotto newsletter out... make macarons....write letters to a couple folks...

Driving Home

2010-01-13T00:01:00.000-06:00

Tried something a little odd on the way back from the NAPG (North Alabama Photographers Guild) meeting this evening.... a bit of driving photography - straight from the dash board. Had kinda mixed results but at least I can say I've tried it! I know some of you are probably cringing at the thought of driving and photography - but I set a timer - my camera just rested on the dash board - punched the button and left the shutter open for about 15 to 20 seconds. So don't panic - it was probably even less distracting then say changing the radio station on my stereo.

I took several more... but I really liked this one the best of the straight driving.

This one was a double exposure of my speedometer and me sitting at a red light and then finally turning.

Trite

2010-01-12T23:18:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone had a great holiday! I spent Christmas in Florida and had a lovely time! Its been a while and I've been an utter slacker... although what with being away for two weeks and then promptly getting the flu/food poisoning.... um.... yeah... neither really helped my motivation to blog. One of my resolutions is to try and fix that! And anyway... I've kinda been missing my blog and comments and posting. I like the flow of writing my thoughts and sending them out into the world... even if they are rather trite.

Stretching West

2009-12-12T22:15:00.001-06:00

Stretching West
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Spent Thanksgiving in St. Louis with Paul's family. We took a side trip to the arch and the art museum... both of which are just fantastic!! Check out the rest of the photos on my Flickr!

Slipjig Strings

2009-11-21T22:45:00.001-06:00

Slipjig Strings
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

A perfomance last weekend at the Lowe Mill

Down from the Bridge

2009-11-13T10:44:00.001-06:00

Down from the Bridge
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

A pretty nice little waterfall down from the Easley Covered Bridge in Rosa, Alabama - happily discovered after finding a geocache with Paul!

Lakeshore

2009-11-07T00:20:00.001-06:00

Lakeshore
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Triple S Letterpress

2009-11-06T23:29:00.006-06:00

Triple S Letterpress is Official!!
I got my Business license and EIN number today!!

The Colors of Autumn

2009-10-29T00:25:00.001-05:00

The Colors of Autumn
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

Sunday Afternoon

2009-10-26T20:05:00.001-05:00

Sunday Afternoon
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

From the Falls

2009-10-16T00:41:00.001-05:00

From the Falls
Originally uploaded by Brina Bat (Sabrina Simon)

A nice shot I took of Factory Creek at Falls Mill. If you haven't been there before - its a perfect trip to take for a lazy afternoon!!
http://www.fallsmill.com

The Soft Glow of the Past

2009-10-12T23:58:00.002-05:00

The Soft Glow of the Past
Originally uploaded by Realms(Nathan Williams)

Through rain and storms and tornadoes we came.... hauling tons of gear and ropes and bulbs and lights and dresses and rigged and checked and double checked and sorted and set up and tested.....and then all was dark and still. A countdown began, and at the last word - the light came on from above and the soft glow of some forgotten dreamed of past was captured - ever so beautifully.

Some really bad Silliness

2009-09-23T23:38:00.002-05:00

Lashisse from Molly Sims

The Stephens Gap Experience

2009-09-13T00:51:00.005-05:00

A short preview of something I got to be a part of a few months ago.
I can't wait to help again!!

The Stephens Gap Experience
Originally uploaded by Realms(Nathan Williams)

Home

2009-09-07T00:49:00.004-05:00

I'm home. Home from the Yucatan a few months ago, home from Lechuguilla last month, and home from St. George Island in Florida. All the experiences have left delightful little thoughts and snippets of life lived - brilliant memories - all jumbled up and rolling around in my head. Hope to share a few bits here and there (very soon). I do have new photos up on flickr if you want a little preview...

Feels like I've been going going going for several months. And for once...oddly enough...its kinda nice to stop and watch the world pass by for a few days. I have done nothing of importance this weekend at all. And plan on doing nothing of importance for just one more.

Enjoy your Labor Day everyone!!

Busy Busy Busy!

2009-08-04T23:47:00.004-05:00

Too many things to get done and not enough time to post. So I'm off on another adventure this Thursday. I've so neglected my poor blog!! Sorry everyone. Will post photos from my Yucatan Trip and photos that I take from somewhere under the New Mexican desert! Wish me luck - I'm gonna need it!!

Going to leave you with two photos I took last weekend and the weekend before that - both in Tumbling Rock Cave - the ElephantS Feet and the Great Hall of Mysteries.

I'm Back!

2009-07-12T23:57:00.003-05:00

Here's my first round of photos from my trip to Central Yucatan: Black and White, Fisheye & Infrared...mmmm...mmmm...mmmm...enjoy! There's lots more where that came from. Will post more soon!

Off the Map

2009-06-12T10:30:00.003-05:00

I'm an absolute mix and muddle of nerves and excitement right now. I'm wondering what it'll be like, and if I'll do ok and what the caves will be like, and how much I'll miss home and family and friends. Saturday will be the beginning of my first cave trip outside the US and its going to be quite an adventure!! For the next three weeks I will be calling a hammock strung up somewhere in a little house in the village of Yaxuna my home. Yaxuna sits smack dab in the middle of the Yucatan, just down from Chichen Itza.

I'm off to go pull out the last of my gear for the trip...expect a full report when I come home!

I have 3 Scars

2009-06-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

I've had this post in my saved box for probably a year now to work on - adjust and modify - and I thought perhaps I should finally post it...

I have 3 scars.

The first of which right in the middle of my forehead; A good testament to the solidity of bookshelves and the slipperiness of Golden Books from my childhood. 11 stitches later, it is one of my earliest memories. My Dad taking corners in the Mustang like mad and my Mom holding a towel to my forehead as something warm and coppery smelling dripped down into my eyes - obscuring the ominous hospital ahead.

The second is on the inside of my right heal. Small and perfectly round - a memory of my first attempt at surfing. Either rock or surfboard fin or some flotsam of the sea dealt it as I was shoved onto land in the froth and tumble of the waves. More of an aggravation than any pain, I couldn't get it to stop bleeding. I decided not to attract more sharks than I already had. Rejected by the sea for moment, I sat on my surfboard as the amber sunset arrived and watched the others for a while, bleeding into the sand.

My third scar is from two years ago and sits just above and off to the right of the knee on my right leg. You can still see the scratches on the surface but I can feel the scar beneath - a large divot with a lump of scar tissue in the muscle where a rock -and the Morgue of Fern Cave decided to make a permanent impression on me. I'd just squatted down to step off of it when the decided to tumble down. Next thing I knew there was a rock in my lap and I couldn't push it off. Jimmy had to roll the rock off me. The smell of broken limestone still makes me cringe a bit. I was super lucky not to have broken anything and you really kinda have to wonder how long that rock was perched there for me to come find it? I had a great hobble and some spectacular colors (check out the pic below) going on for about a month - but the thought of stopping caving never crossed my mind for a second.

First Harvest

2009-06-07T21:12:00.005-05:00

Straight from the garden to the table - Our first harvest from the garden

Some beautiful little peas and some really nice leaf lettuce.

Tennessee Renaissance Festival

2009-06-05T00:06:00.009-05:00

Michelle, Tommy, Paul all had a great time when we went to the Tennessee Renaissance Festival on May 17th. I brought my new camera and had quite a bit of fun with the long lens - especially with the falconry & jousting.

The lady falconer that I've seen for several years and some of the birds.

They had to spear a small cork heart in one of the competitions - which is what you see here

And then there's my favorite bit - full tilt jousting. I know its a show but its really quite impressive and its full contact. There's nothing quite like horses and men in full armor rushing past you at a gallop.

Paul in his dashing and debonair hat -

Michelle all smiles -

Tommy -

Goodbye Nana

2009-05-30T23:08:00.000-05:00

Said goodbye to my grandmother last week. She had a long and full life but I wish I could have seen her just one more time. Nana is grandmother in Italian by the way.

Angelina Testasecca Simõn

ANGELINA
TESTASECCA
SIMÓN, 92

LAKELAND - Mrs. Angelina Testasecca Simõn, age 92 died of natural causes, May 22, 2009.
Mrs. Simõn was born in Ybor City, Florida on January 5, 1917. After graduating in 1935, she married Julian Simõn and moved to Lakeland, Fl. They owned and operated Garcia's Restaurant in downtown Lakeland for 32 years. They also established and operated Simõn's Nursery, along with family members, for over 60 years. She was a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church for many years. Mrs. Simõn's greatest pleasure was preparing extraordinary meals for family, friends and casual drop-ins. Mrs. Simõn was predeceased by parents, Carmelo and Nila Testasecca; sister Carmalina Testasecca Caruso; brothers, Amedeo Testasecca, Joe Testasecca and Jack Testasecca. She is survived by her daughter, Catherine Simõn Crowson; son Julian Raymond Simõn and wife Sondra Sumner Simõn; grandchildren Angelique Crowson Ward, John W. Crowson III and wife Nancy Stanley Crowson, all of Lakeland, Fl. and Sabrina Simõn and husband, Paul John Meyer of Huntsville, AL; great grandchildren, Paul Ward, Hagen Ward and Daniel Thornton, all of Lakeland, Fl. Funeral services will be held at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM. Burial to follow at Oak Hill Burial Park.
The Family asks in lieu of flowers, donations be made in her memory to Good Shepherd Hospice, 115 South Missouri Avenue, Lakeland, FL. 33815.
Heath Funeral Chapel.

A Caving We Will Go!

2009-05-03T21:38:00.014-05:00

So I think I just set my personal record for caving in a one month time span - measured from grotto meeting to grotto meeting. Been so busy printing and caving haven't had time to tell you all about it until now. So when the question is asked tomorrow night at out grotto meeting - "Who's been caving?" I'm going to have to bust out a flippin list to remember all of them!!

1. Crossings with Stephanie and Nathan on 4.2.09

photo by Nathan Williams

We went during a serious storm - while we were there - water stared pouring from all sorts of wild places... this shot is cool because you can see all the little water streams...CF-SIT.

photo by Nathan Williams

Another great shot by Nathan - Steph and the haystack were lie with 3 firings of a Lumedyne strobe as an in-camera mutli-exposure

2. Buggy Top with the Huntsville grotto on 4.4.09 (first time trying out my new Pentax in cave!)

3. Blevin's Gap with Nathan on 4.8.09

This is Nathan looking through the squeeze to get down to the lower level. Yeah - that'd be an 8-1/2 inch gap there.

photo by Nathan Williams

And I don't normally post photos of me - but I actually really like this one - and anyway this is part of the gorgeous pool of water on the lower level.

4. Jess Elliot with Angela, Andy, Al, and a bunch of other nice folks from the Dogwood City Grotto 4.11.09

Angela hanging out in a cool portion of Jess. I used two CF-SIT lights for this shot - one on the side and then the other next to me.

5. Hooper's Well with Nathan and Stephanie on 4.14.09 (Steph's 1st pit)

So this is most definitely the wackiest shot I've taken so far, I climbed up the rope about 20 feet, Nathan set up a slaved flash to sidelight Stephanie and himself and then got on the opposite rope. I had my camera set to bulb in one hand, a manual flash in the other, lens cap dangling out of my mouth.... and then I started spinning and twirling...bleaugh. Steph even sat on the rope to keep me from spinning but I still did..ended up attaching my QAS to the other rope and standing in my foot loops to stop spinning for a few moments... finally got one with enough light and without my boots or kneepads in the frame... really like the angle down the rope on this one.

6. Limrock Blowing with Danielle, Stephanie and Nathan on 4.16.09

A bit of Dynamic CF-SIT on the downstream side.

7. Limrock Blowing with Peri, Michelle and Tommy on 4.18.09

Multiple photo composition of Michelle here - because I was working with only flashes - but I like the way it ended up.

Someone made the comment on Flickr that this looked like the caving mafia.... I'm going to go with it - the caving mafia -Don Michelle, Don Tommy and Don Peri

8. Blevin's Gap with Stephanie and Nathan on 4.23.09

Nathan and Steph after 30 different alignments of flashes and "a little to the lefts"... "no, an inch to your rights"

9. Iron Hoop with Michelle, Tommy, Nathan, Angela, Andy, Stephanie, Josh, Colin and Randy on 4.26.09 (topped out at 11-1/2 hours on this one!)

A very happy Stephanie in Iron Hoop. (And by the way instant mashed potatoes are incredibly yummy as a hot in-cave food..... mmmmm....taters! But do watch out - they can be rather hot.)

Check out Colin's photos of the trip.

And then go to the Realms Flickr for all the cool 3-D photos that Nathan took with both of our cameras - bring your red/cyan glasses with ya!! And be seriously prepared to be AMAZED!!!

10. Neversink with Nathan and Stephanie on 4.28.09

This would be the dead rat we found at the bottom of the pit... ewww.

11. Blevin's Gap (yes, again) with Buddy, Joe (their first pit), Don and Nathan for the premiere of SIT 2.0 in-cave (which was very cool and a great success!) on 4.30.09

Here's Joe - man he was so cool - had no problems at all!

12. Stephen's Gap with Stephanie, Danielle, Casey and Nathan (and Fred + 1 later on) on 5.2.09 for Paul and I's first anniversary. (Paul was sick which totally sucked - so he didn't get to go - he let me go anyway) He is feeling MUCH better now and on the road to recovery - albeit a bit spacey from the codine laced cough syrup.

Nathan, Steph, Danielle and Casey ready to hike up to SG.

Man oh man was there a lot of water - and it was simply gorgeous. Here's a little behind the scenes shot I took per Nathan's request. I think this was a 6 second exposure using all natural light.
And then here's a 3 photo panorama of the main waterfalls.

I took some other photos on some hikes and out and about and such - be sure and check them out on my flickr.

Go to Flickr!

2009-04-28T13:15:00.001-05:00

Hello hello - long time, no post. I've been pressed for time what with the paid letterpress jobs I've gotten and the massive amounts of after-work caving I've been doing. But I've got lots of pretty photos over on my flickr site. Go check them out: TAKE ME TO THE PHOTOS!

Maple Hill

2009-04-12T19:51:00.006-05:00

So this morning Paul and I headed to Maple Hill Cemetery (I learned something - its the largest and continually used cemetery in the south apparently) to pick up two geocaches and let me play with some photography (especially the infrared filter option and some black and whites). Its a bit of an odd thing to say - but its a beautiful cemetery. The dogwoods are in bloom and you can wander in and around the marble stones and grand trees and lichen covered monuments for hours. And we did just that.

Pentax Play

2009-04-02T01:03:00.005-05:00

I decided to shoot Preston (my 1924 Chandler and Price Letterpress) Tuesday night in the garage with Nathan's SIT method. A bunch of trial and error with f-stops and speed and such ensued and a bit of frustrated consultation with the manual for a certain setting until I finally got it just right. And then I was tempted to make a 1am run to Wal-Mart for some cool-toned compact florescent bulbs (instead of the warmer-toned ones I had)...but I didn't think Paul would really want me making a late night run to the store for bulbs and all. So I used a flash unit in combination with the fluorescent. And then stole my fluorescent lamp off of my desk as a last resort. As it was my head didn't hit the pillow till 3am anyway. I was WAY too excited and had to post the photos to Flickr.

And then this afternoon I played around with some daytime photography and a setting or two.

The tulips in the front yard are up and showing off their colors

Some of the settings on the Pentax are way crazy as I found out - crazy - but kinda cool!

The cheapest model there is - paid in treats!

Pentax K20D

2009-03-31T19:28:00.003-05:00

Well folks had to introduce my new camera in a spiffy sort of way!!
Have a laugh on me.

Spring Hike

2009-03-30T10:08:00.014-05:00

So yesterday Paul, Jennifer, Steve and Roger and I all went for a hike at the Walls of Jericho. It had been a rainy week and Jennifer thought we'd see some good water there - and man was she right!!! We also saw the very beginning of the spring wild flowers. Had a bit of a cold front so the hike out wasn't too bad either - just had to loose the hat and a few layers with the 1000 foot elevation gain.

These little beauties are Blue Bells. They were just on the other side of the first footbridge.

Steve on the trail... I think he's almost smiling here.

Some chrinoinds on a rock that had a geocache under it. Paul played with the super macro mode on his new little Olympus camera for this one.

Some interesting flowers we still can't identify that were by the campground near the second footbridge crossing the river.

Jennifer setting up to shoot some of the great little rapids on the river. The wild thing is this is the first time I've ever even seen water in the riverbed.

A bit of the river before the first splash pool with Paul starting to cross.

The first splash pool.

Up past the first splash pool - Paul and I by the water that exists a short cave - man was this beautiful!

Me with last waterfall with the sump - where the water eventually spills out of the cave below.

Paul shot this one of me and the water spill in between the last fall and the cave as we were carefully making our way back down. The water was just incredible!!

Tried to find it in the Audubon book - but no luck - so I guess this is one of the other unidentifiable wild flowers. At least being unidentified - takes nothing away from its beauty.

Kicking for.... wait a sec....WHO?

2009-03-28T21:26:00.006-05:00

So it seems as though this week has been something of an odd signage week. Paul and I were out geocaching today when I spotted this sign opposite the Sam's club parking lot off of University Drive:

Adam's Academy of Martial Arts... "Kicking for Jesus"

Oh really now. Uh.... my dear Adam, if Jesus walked into this place today - what exactly do you think he'd say? From what I remember... he was kinda against the whole violence thing... or did I miss something?

Sheep and LEDs

2009-03-27T11:08:00.001-05:00

Who knew LEDs and sheep could be so cool?

Used Tire World

2009-03-24T11:58:00.005-05:00

So Paul and I were out picking up some paper I had cut, and we're driving out of the parking lot and Paul says "Mechanic on Duty at All Times, please don't spit on concrete." I laughed and then I looked over at Used Tire World's sign... sure enough...

click on picture to read the fine print...

Apparently these folks have customers with some serious expectorant problems if they actually had to put up an actual sign that says please don't spit on the concrete.

Silly Cavers

2009-03-19T23:28:00.002-05:00

I know, I know - major blog neglect. I'm going to be better about it. Still have a lot to catch up on - and I will. But tonight several of us did a little ropework - some for the first time.

Geoffrey on rappel with Nathan belaying him.

Nathan coming up over the lip.

Nathan, Stephanie and Geoffrey. (with some daisy-chaining 101)

And then there was some major silliness during dinner...

The Rotunda

2009-03-09T16:43:00.008-05:00

The Beauty of the Rotunda by Nathan Williams

Scenic drive, tents, sleeping bags, Fall Creek Falls State Park, campfire talk, "Craft night," restless sleep with cave dreams, coffee, cheese and pickle breakfast, drive, hike, riverbed, thermocline cave cool, silly Polaroid picture, friends, Camps Gulf entrance, tripod balance, pelican case clunking, breakdown climbing, gear passing, mud sliding, slipping, water, heaving, sweating, laughing, clambering, descending, Rotunda echo, water break, organizing, gear check, planning, pointing, directing, breakdown climb, umbrella twirl, duct tape, battery, careful with the compact fluorescent, double - triple check, walkie talkie, nervous, excited, lights out, 3....2....1.... And then there was light in the very darkest of places.

p.s. - Definitely click on the photo to see it larger!... its simply phenomenal... oh and I'm the tiny yellow- shirter on the left... it was a great trip and I had a blast helping with this shoot on Saturday!

Super Cupcake!!

2009-03-06T01:44:00.004-06:00

I'm falling behind again - aren't I? I'll have to do another couple of catch-up-super posts pretty soon here. I have hiking pictures, and caving pictures and just cool stuff to report, but its pretty late and should totally be in bed already - so for now I'll leave you with a tantalizing treat! A Super Cupcake!

I bought this great cake pan a while back from William Sonoma and finally had a chance to use it for a joint birthday/anniversary on Thursday for the folks at BakerWoodard. The recipe included with it made a fantastic pound-cake type yellow cake. I decorated it with 1 - 1/2 cans of vanilla frosting - some of it tinted and some oversized sprinkles (thanks Laura!) Oh and - it tasted as good as it looked!

Meyer Cave Trip

2009-02-21T18:37:00.008-06:00

Just wanted to post a quick photo of Paul with his brothers and a nephew on their first caving trip today to Tumbling Rock. We spent about 5 hours in the cave - went back to admire the 396' Topless Dome. A good time was had by all!

Be sure and click on the photo above to see an enlargement.
Left to right: Glenn, Jim, Dave, Paul, Ted and Doug in the Totem Gallery

Photo courtesy of Nathan Williams. (thanks!!)

More on Trains (from Christmas still)

2009-02-17T12:19:00.008-06:00

I still have a backlog of great things Paul and I did over Christmas. And since we just went to a train show this past weekend I thought I'd continue along the same lines. Plant City, FL has a model train club with some really impressive layouts, and I really need to stress - impressive! For one thing they have 3 rooms - one that shares a train museum and two large scale layouts of G and O, one that holds a modular N scale (so that club members can build a four foot section and add it anywhere - the tracks are all in the same place), and the last rooms holds an up-to-date digitrax HO model that's fantastic! (Here's a good link if you want to learn more about model RR scales.) We ended up visiting it twice so Paul could talk with the guys in the club some more, and I could take more photos....

One of the RR Modelers showing me the G-Scale (Garden scale) layout with various RR museum paraphernalia hanging on the wall behind him

Part of the N-scale layout

An N-scale detail

My Dad and Mom in front of the HO trestle

My Dad taking a closer look at the Plant City model circa early 1900's -HO-scale

An orange grove
The orange grove is one of my favorite details in the HO-scale model! We're planning on having a small grove and a citrus packing plant in our model.

Paul and Mom talk with one of the club members that helped build this HO model

Here's a view of the entire length of the model. The hills with the fall foliage are in the middle of the model - Mom and Paul are actually behind them.

Another set of nice details

Paul talking with one of the fellows about the digitrax control panel.

Trains, Medieval Art, REI & The LOVE Project

2009-02-14T21:06:00.009-06:00

Today Paul and I went to Nashville to the Model Train Show, then we swung by the FRIST to see the Medieval Treasures Exhibit and finally ended up at one of out favorite Nashville stops - REI! Paul was a bit disappointed with the train show since they only had 2 vendors - lots of booths - but no one selling the fancy DCC engines and cars. They only had catalogs - which was lousy - because the whole reason we'd waited to go to the show was so we could see the items in person and not pay shipping fees. So, no DCC engine for the HO scale model we're planning on building. We did find several nice building kits for the industrial switching layout - and a cool gas station - a mobile home, an airstream and a citrus packing plant (I'm going to do an orange grove somewhere on the layout) one box car and a few small tools to help us in the building.

The DCC engine Paul in planning on buying.

The really snazzy Lionel booth.

Paul on Broadway Street in Nashville.

The FRIST Medieval Exhibit was phenomenal. I've seen my fair share of reliquaries for a while - which I'm really surprised aren't still in churches somewhere. There were wooden carvings, and ivory boxes and oil lamps, jewelry, several iconic images, an altar section depecting several stations of the cross. My favorite part was being able to stare long and hard at the Illuminated pages and several whole books of the most gorgeously gilt texts and pictures. It made my jaw drop - literally. They had a Book of Hours from Charles the Noble King of Navarre, ca. 1404 that was just... wow... words literally fail me in trying to describe it. And all I saw was the two pages upon which it was opened. I think my brain would combust if I had the chance to turn each page.

We stopped by REI and Paul got me a new left handed QAS, (for my new frog) and a few other supplies for caving and camping then we toodled on home. All-in-all - quite a LOVEly day indeed.

So this being the day of commercial LOVE (Buy a card! Send her flowers! Stuff your face with chocolate!!) I thought I'd do a little gentle reminding. Love without a price tag or any expectations. I had letterpress printed LOVE cards and bookmarks several days ago from a design my dad and I drew. I felt like I need to share so I did a little covert art installation at 7 locations in Hunstville and Nashville, posting them up in prominent places. Here are a few that I managed to snap photos of before I left them to the fates:

At the train show.

In a parking garage elevator.

At the post office.

Headed out the door of McAlisters.

A Happy Valentine's Day to You!

Giraffe in Quicksand

2009-02-08T20:48:00.001-06:00

The Ghost of Christmas Past #6 (But wait - there's more!)

2009-02-06T22:23:00.013-06:00

Ah yes - I know what you're thinking. Its February, right? But I've got a lot more fun pics from Christmas to post!

Christmas day wouldn't be complete without a visit with Nana (my Dad's Mom).

And then we ate lunch at the only place that was open on Christmas day - Peking Palace - and some silliness ensued when the fried noodles came out.

What's Christmas without being able to juggle oranges picked right off the tree in your own back yard - right?

Ah yes - and goofy parent pictures. Very important indeed. These photos make me laugh and feel every mile between Huntsville and Lakeland. They are the most wonderful parents ever.

Paul and I got to go to several Christmas parties. It was cool to catch up with friends after a year....

I got to see Elizabeth and her (as of New Year) sweet fiance Stephen (sp? Steven?). Hadn't seen her in years! That was way cool. And Kristen came too - hadn't seen her in years too. Again - very cool. She's liking it out in California.

We visited and ate and visited some more, Joys brother, and her mom and pop stopped in, some folks left, then we moved on to play Apples to Apples and finally spit up into teams to play Cranium.

Lea and Kristen were the Twilight fans...

Joy, Jennie and I were Team "Rope Jet" That would be a joke from a couple years ago....

Then we have the brother and sister combo - Chris and Kelli

And yes that does say "Team Sexy Mahatma Ghandi" - that would be from the Apples to Apples game when someone had a synonym of sexy - and the Ghandi card was slapped down.

Deep in discussion over one of the answers....

So Paul and I had our first taste of American Idol Karaoke Revolution on the Wii at Nick and Rebecca's house. The whole thing was pretty hysterical. I busted out a pretty good version of "Imagine" which happens to be one of my favs. But then bombed out on a Coldplay song. I now know never to ask Adam or Nick to sing. Ever. EVER. All the gals held their own pretty well. And then Paul - ha! - well he totally cleaned up on "Pinball Wizard" by The Who and won the game!

Rebecca has of a recording of this on her new camera. I was testing out the movie mode for her. Believe me - its a beaut!

For New Years we did dinner at Jennie's and then went to Adam and Roxy's to watch the count down. We played with fire for a while and toasted marshmallows.

I tried my hand at poker (with everyone's help)- on Adam's snazzy table with the nice speed cloth and cushy seats - and Nick's brand new poker chips. Ended up coming in third.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Still not done. There's more to come!!

The Ghost of Christmas Past #5 (The Final Ode to Chopsticks)

2009-02-02T20:39:00.004-06:00

Fourth time's the charm!

The Ghost of Christmas Past #4 (And More Ode to Chopsticks)

2009-02-02T20:25:00.003-06:00

We were thinking third time's the charm here...

Didn't quite make it...

The Ghost of Christmas Past #3 (More Ode to Chopsticks)

2009-02-02T20:15:00.002-06:00

This would be round 2:

The Ghost of Christmas Past #2 (Ode to Chopsticks)

2009-02-02T19:15:00.006-06:00

So my Mom can actually play the piano by ear - she can just feel the notes out. Its really amazing. I, on the other hand, took lessons when I was young - but only retained very limited skills - and don't really remember how to read music anymore. We tried our hands at a chopstick duet one evening and fits of silliness ensued.

Round 1:

The Ghost of Christmas Past #1

2009-02-02T18:14:00.001-06:00

Oh wow do I have a lot to tell about Paul and I's trip to FL for Christmas. In the two weeks we were there we did a lot, drove a lot, saw a lot, laughed a lot, ate too much, hung out with friends and family and as usual it was all over way too quickly.

We went to a little dinner theatre that my cousins - Virginia and Dennis - put on for their church congregation.

I swear these were THE coolest Christmas trees ever. I have to make one of these tree costumes for Halloween!!

Some of my family on my Mom's side.

Paul and My Dad and I headed to Webster - the Monday flea market town. I love looking, haggling, and finding treasures. Flea markets are always so full of life and color and interesting people. Much better than a mall. You'll see the latest rage next to fantastic pieces of history. Webster is the only place I know of where you can you go to see ancient dinosaur fossils and "Jingle Jugs" (yes - this is a relative of "billy bass" - the singing fish - the items in question jiggled while music played - I couldn't believe my eyes! - I had Paul cover me while I took the photo but I think my hysterical laughter kinda gave me away) all in one place.

These bottles were just gorgeous - had to snap a pic.

Granola Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2009-01-28T21:49:00.003-06:00

Yes, I'm still stalling on the Christmas pics. But I wanted to share a great recipe that I modified into something pretty delicious. The original recipe I pulled from Martha's Baking Handbook. But since I completely didn't have a few ingredients and didn't have enough of some and different types of others - I winged it by adding and changing some thins and came up with something pretty tasty. So here's a new recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Cookies! Click on the recipe below and you can print an 8.5x11 page. Enjoy!

Star Wars... sorta

2009-01-22T22:51:00.001-06:00

I know - I'm stalling. I've been working on the Christmas post for a few days now - but I still have more to do... so have some fluff for your Thursday evening....

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.

Look Up

2009-01-20T18:42:00.000-06:00

túrána hott kurdís by hasta la otra méxico! from Till Credner on Vimeo.

Balance to you too!

2009-01-16T14:04:00.002-06:00

Well here it is! My first attempt with the new unicycle. Needless to say the first run was a bit... uh... rough. They say it takes about a month to master it and actually stay vertical on one of these things. And there's a lot of practice rocking back and forth while holding on to something so you can find the sweet spot that won't throw you forward or careen you backward. Its a might bit cold out otherwise I'd be practicing right now. (I'd practice inside - but I don't think Paul wants to find me laying mangled on the kitchen floor when he comes home. Grass is a bit softer than linoleum padded concrete!)

Balance

2009-01-13T14:09:00.003-06:00

I ordered a unicycle on Friday.

(Pictures and stories from Christmas coming soon!)

MC & HNY!

2008-12-30T09:36:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happiest of New Years to you all!!

Paul and I are enjoying our time in Florida. We're having an awesome time and I have tons of great photos to post, but have to wait till I get them on my computer. So for now I'll paint a lovely Lakeland picture: short sleeve shirts - oranges straight off the tree in the back yard - spanish moss - massive oaks full of bright green leaves - lizards - AOE art supply - Cuban Sandwiches - a Webster flea Market romp - walks around the neighborhood - Hancock Printing equipment - long drives on back roads - clay-covered hands - piles of tissue, wrapping paper and bows - turkey and dressing - purple and yellow orchids - Strawberries - Aunt and Uncles - cousins - Guava empanadas - and laughing with old friends.