Blood Moon

I heard about the blood moon lunar eclipse the night that it was going to happen, and instead of sleeping through such an interesting occasion I set my alarm for 2 AM and lurked around the house for an hour while the eclipse crept over the moon.

Because I needed to take a long exposure (about 1.5 seconds), I found my tripod and set it up outside the back door so I could go out, snap the picture, and then retreat inside for the next 15 minutes (because it was COLD out, all right? My fingers were freezing!). The result is some pretty darned cool pictures, if I may say so myself.

This was a little after 2 AM. The eclipse was almost complete at that point, and where there had been moonlight everywhere a few hours before it was getting to be very dark. (Stating the obvious, perhaps, but when you're the only one up, and the moon is doing weird things, it still feels a bit creepy. XD)

 

This was about 2:30-ish...getting brighter!

 

And here we have it in all its coppery glory at around 2:45 AM. The little blue dot, according to my reading up in between outdoor ventures, is Mars. I think it's kinda cute how he's trying to get in on the action.

*just realized that I'm anthropomorphizing planets* 

Anyway.

So I read that the reason that the moon turns red is because of the sun's light behind the earth reflecting off of the atmospheric particles and onto the moon; the color wavelengths that don't get diffused are red, and there you have it! (Tumblr was very handy in providing this information last night.) 

Enjoy the pictures!

Also, friendly reminder that in 2 weeks and 2 days I'm leaving for Colorado. AAAAHHHHHH. 8D

Thorin Oakenshield

After I drew the picture of Claire weeks ago, I had promised myself that I could finally start the picture of Thorin Oakenshield. I had it printed off and waiting in my sketchbook for the perfect time to start drawing...

...but that time kinda never came. So last Thursday I said to myself, "Self, you need to draw more!"

My self replied, "Then let's draw!"

To make a long story short, that was the beginning of the Thorin drawing. (I bet I could have saved you a lot of time by just showing you the picture. Meh.)

Please excuse the crappy cell-phone-camera quality of this picture:

Thus it began. :D

And tonight I finally finished it!

After staring at it for hours there are parts that really annoy me. (Like one eye turning out bigger than the other one. *twitches*) I AM very happy with the hair, the metal handle thing, and his armor, though, so I guess those make up for the perceived 'iffy' bits.

I also think that this is the darkest drawing I've ever done. The page was curling like crazy towards the end what with all the pencil lead and pressure...hopefully some time pressed down in the book will be good for it.

Un Monstre a Paris

Can I geek out for a few moments? Yes? Thank you.

So there's this movie that I heard about a few years ago, and desperately wanted to see: A Monster in Paris. It had a Phantom of the Opera feel to it according to the previews, and since I was in the depths of a PotO obsession at the time of course I wanted to see it. Unfortunately the film was only available in France at the time, and after being unable to find it online I forgot about it.

Earlier this week I found it on Netflix, freaked out, and have since seen it 4 times (3 times in English, once in French) because I CAN'T GET OVER IT.

First, look at this picture. It's one of the most common images of the film that I've found on Google:

That kinda sums up the feel of the film...light and airy and dreamy and delightful and all those other evocative synonyms. For the animation alone (it's kind of like Pixar in its early days) I could watch it over and over. 

But wait! There's more! The music has proven itself to be a thorough earworm. Just try to listen to this without getting it stuck in your head:

GUYS. Please forgive the all-caps, but I CAN'T GET OVER THE MUSIC. GAAAAHH.

And this one! (The visuals are confusing if you haven't seen the film in context, so just listen to the music)

The English songs are just as good, but I fell in love with the French versions first. :3

The thing is, it has a Phantom-esque feel to it, but just a touch. The rest is mad scientists, adorable characters (THEY'RE ALL SO CUTE DANGIT), a fun/silly storyline, catchy music, and gorgeous animation, all wrapped up in a leisurely stroll through the CGI streets of Paris. What's not to love?

....I haven't felt this way about music/a movie since the first time I saw Phantom or heard Les Mis. I simply cannot get over it, and I don't know why. Just....you should just go and see it. Now. It's on Netflix and Youtube in its entirety. 

I NEED SOMEONE TO GEEK OUT WITH. GAAAAAHH.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (review)

  

Well. After a year of squealing, watching production videos, watching trailers, and working myself into a lather of fangirling, I finally saw The Desolation of Smaug. Because I'm a nit-picker, this review will mostly be concerned with details and rabbit trails of ranting.

And let me tell you, the ranting will be something to behold. But on with the review!

Thorse and Other Things of Importance

By 'important' I mean 'important enough to mention'. So here goes.

First in the order of importance, the Thorse! This is almost finished...

 
And this is completed. For some explanation: a few years ago I went through a phase where I was drawing Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera characters as horses...laugh all you like, but dangit, I had fun with it. This is just a hearkening back to those times, if you will. I have a very rough sketch of what might be horsey!Hawkeye. Maybe. Depends on if I can get his silly leg to look right. O.e

I bought this book last week after briefly glancing through it at a friend's house and liking what I saw. It goes through traditions of the church and traces them back to their original roots, pointing out that the majority of time-honored traditions (everything from having a paid pastor to sitting in pews to having a 'church building' to worship teams to dressing up for church) were things that weren't done during the first century of Christianity and, more often than not, were taken from pagan culture. (By 'pagan' they mean principles that aren't Christian or biblical in origin but taken from the surrounding culture, not necessarily something that is evil or wrong.)

I personally have found it to be a very interesting read. I'm not about to jump ship from traditional church or anything like that, but I'm going to work through the New Testament with an emphasis on seeing how the church operated back then. And by 'church' I mean the body of believers, not a building. XD

Colorado is approaching in 13 days. O.o I have a ride to the ranch, my train ticket is ready to be printed...this is really happening. Phew.

School is coming along...sort of. My last assignment has been sent back twice with a big fat 0 and no explanation/corrections as to why...hopefully my teacher will answer my email because I'm getting a little nervous.

In other news, it's very late and tomorrow is going to be a big day of cleaning. My room is a disaster area--since I haven't had to work or keep to much of a schedule lately I've kind of let it go loose. I'm typing this in a little space on my desk between piles of school books, sketchpads, piles of small pocket items, embroidery floss, and some cosmetics. I've heard it said that a messy desk is a sign of creativity...but this is a bit over the top.

More Snow and My New Baby

A week ago the skies were rolling in, foretelling the snow they were bringing with them. I love the look of a snow sky, because the air is very still and expectant--almost like a storm, but without the violence. It moves in softly and quietly, makes itself at home, and then unleashes the white stuff.

7 inches the first day--and from then on we've gotten a couple inches (or six) a day. For the past three days it's snowed all day every day....it's weird in a way, but kinda cool too. It'll snow, the temperature rises slightly above freezing, compacts the existing snow, and then snows again. So overall we've gotten something more than a foot, but it looks like less due to compaction. *deep breath* It's cozy in a way...I like it (when I'm not getting stuck XD).

After the first wave I built a little fort and got Javert to pose.

And after the 2nd or 3rd wave I made this little guy. (Don't make too much fun of him--I know that he's pretty shoddy. XD)

 Funny story: Javert was outside when I made this, and watched me do it. Later on around dusk we put him out, and he spent ten minutes barking his head off at the snowman thinking it was an intruder. *facepalm* He puts the Inspector to shame, I tell you.

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In other news, this is my new baby! Isn't she purty?

I've had a lengthy love affair with manual typewriters--from when I could first set up the typewriter at Papa and Grammie's and peck out horse stories, I've been fascinated with them. Since Grammie passed away on the 12th we've been going through the things in her house and divvying them up amongst the family members, and I've had dibs on the typewriters for years. One is a normal one with normal type, and this little beauty writes in script.

AND it has a red/black split ribbon. I needed something to copy, and grabbed my trusty Lord of the Rings omnibus for that purpose.

This is double-spaced. The ink is a little dark in places from the ribbon being old, and mistakes being typed over.

And this is single-spaced. I think the double-space looks better, but I can fit more on the single-space...my impulse to conserve space has been clashing with aesthetics. XD

It's surprisingly little and light (even though the manual mode has dropped my typing speed from 85ish to 28 :P), comes in a case, and there's an extra ribbon somewhere. I just wish I had a permanent place to set it up. My room is too small...sigh. 

Eventually I'll get pictures of the other typewriter, but this should be enough for now. I've got pictures from Grammie's funeral that I'll put up over the weekend, if I can get my act together. *hangs head*

Root Beer: Round 2

I attempted to make some 'root beer' a couple of weeks ago using my kefir water (long story there, but I'll try to explain along the way). It sorta worked, and sorta didn't...hopefully this time will be more successful.

For those who are unaware, kefir water is made from kefir granules. Basically, one puts water, sugar, and kefir granules in a jar, lets it sit on the counter for 48 hours, and voila, you have fizzy sugar water. (The link explains it much better than I just did)

Actually, kefir is a lacto-fermented drink. The granules are bacteria and yeast (the good kind) that 'eat' sugar and infuse the water with probiotics and fizzies. I've had this particular jar for about 2 weeks, and the kefir grains are VERY happy.

Every time I walk past I poke the jar to watch them do their happy dance (bubbles rise from the grains and a few rise and fall in the water. It's pretty entertaining). They really like well water (it's filtered, of course) because of the minerals in said water. That said, these are getting a little out of hand. They've tripled in quantity since I got them, and it was time to divide them up.

Last week (or the week before? I lose track of time) I looked up a recipe for making kefir root beer, found that I only had three ingredients and ordered the rest, got impatient and made a modified version...you get the idea. The first batch only had sassafras bark, a cinnamon stick, and a few cloves in it; those were simmered in two quarts of water to make a tea, strained, had some sugar added, and divided into jars. I took one jar, filled it with some of the kefir water and the tea, and set it on the counter. The second jar was the same, but with a couple spoonfuls of kefir grains. The jar with the grains did much better as far as getting a carbonated taste to it; thus, that's what I'm doing this time.

The rest of my ingredients came on Saturday, and I did not take my time getting another batch going this morning. My only mistake was following the recipe where the ginger root was concerned, and it really, REALLY tastes like ginger. My brother didn't like it, but I think it's pretty good. 

I had to modify the recipe a bit, with taking out the juniper berries and hops flowers, but I figured they wouldn't be missed that much.

Yum, boiled bark.

The tea had to sit until it came to room temperature because the grains will die (or something) if they're exposed to heat. So it sat on the counter until we got home from church, and I put them in their jars to ferment for 4-6 days.

Another mistake was using a metal spoon to scoop the grains out. Apparently they don't like metal either, and it's not been fizzing at all. *wrings hands* Hopefully they'll snap out of it though...

I will be back with an update on my attempt in a few days! In other news, my new macro lens came on Saturday too. I haven't had much time to play with it, but it's so cool. Observe:

 

Eyes in focus...

 

 

...nose in focus!

I may or may not be having way too much fun with this. Ahem.

In other other news, tomorrow is the beginning of the 90-day Cross-fit Challenge. *whimpers* I'm going to be so dead...but on the other hand, I took 'before' pictures today and I feel like a tub of lard. Man. I have no definition, no stamina, AND no strength! Great way to start! XD In 90 days I expect to be ripped. If not, I'm lodging an official complaint with...somebody. I don't know who yet. 

I'll probably not be putting my workouts on here, but I'm keeping track at the gym in a notebook. Yes, we've been going back to the gym...but I've worked out  more consistently these past two weeks than I have in almost a year. Time to be back in shape, yo.

Les Miserables: A Review

Finally, FINALLY got to see this. It was so amazing and incredible and tear-jerking and *splodes*

But before I continue, a disclaimer: what follows is my own personal opinion drawn from one viewing of this particular version and countless viewings/readings/listenings of other movies, the Brick, and cast recordings. I don't claim to be an expert critic, nor should this be taken as an expert's view. Thank you, and more after the break.

The Hobbit: A Review

GUYS. HAY U GAIZ.

I finally got to see The Hobbit tonight! I'm now sleep-deprived and exhausted but I HAVE to write something of a review because, well, that's what I do. However, being the sensitive person that I am I'll save the review for after the break, and if you haven't seen it yet and don't want to be disappointed in any way by 'spoilers' then don't read any further. Please and thank you.

Now, on to the review!

A Medical Find

A medical book find, that is.

But first, the latest owl image!

Good thing I have a really nice lens, because this was at least a few hundred feet away and the moment I took two steps in his direction he took off again. Sigh. 

He was fluffing himself right there -- owls are so adorable. (As long as you don't look at their fearsome talons.)

But on to the book! 

Today Mom and I were setting up Grammie's Christmas tree, and after it was all decorated and pretty-looking I started digging at a stack of old books on the heater next to the wall. One was filled with home kits and stuff from the early 1900s (that was cool in itself), and the other was this massive tome called 'Medicology'.

It's 10 books in one, and freakishly huge -- I'd hazard a guess at the thickness being at LEAST 6 inches. And it's filled with quaint words and phrasings, medical terminologies, house building (!), sanitation, herbal/natural remedies (which include belladonna, hemlock, and nightshade in small doses so take it with a grain of salt--not literally, of course), marriage guidelines, exercise, EVERYTHING. It's weirdly thorough, and used to belong to my great-grandma (my grandpa's mom, I think). Apparently she relied on it all the time for the kid's ailments and such.

I love old books like these. They're so serious and quaint and fantastic.

Oh! Storytime! I was innocently flipping through and came across a series of plates with bodybuilders! Totally not what I was expecting. All I gotta say is that the guys back then took their exercise quite seriously. Man.

Lovely illustrations of arteries and muscles and veins and nerves...I'd rather read this book than my modern medical dictionary. That thing has pictures of freaky afflictions on every other page. I can't read it without bracing a little beforehand.

Oh! Before I continue: the next bit is the very first page I flipped to when I picked the book up for the first time. It cracked me up.

I mean--this--where do I even begin?? And then it goes off on a tangent about the terrible state of privies and 'closets' and the reason women are constipated is because of the deplorable state of said privies.

Maybe I just have a weird sense of humor...but I find this freaking hilarious. It kinda set the pace for the rest of the book for me.

I'm going to enjoy reading the rest of this book, that's all there is to it.

Autumn Sunset

Got the resident great horned owl as he made his escape -- I saw him sitting in a tree next to the pasture, hooting away, and while running across said pasture to get a better picture he took off flying. So this was the only picture I got of him...oh well. There's always a next time.

The sunset was crazy a few nights ago. Just saying.

Don't believe me? This is without any tweaking at all:

And this is with a 75% layer of Soft Light in Photoshop, nothing else:

Just bumped the contrast a bit. It was pretty awesome to see. 

In other news, I finally got my sassafras. I may or may not have mentioned a deal I worked out with someone I know to trade cookies for sassafras...6 weeks later, he made good on his end of the deal. I'm currently sucking down sassafras and marshmallow tea in an attempt to soothe my sore throat. I don't know how well it's working, but it can't hurt and it tastes pretty good.

In regards to The Hobbit premiere, I pooped out at 10:15. There wasn't much going on and I can always get a recap later of the best bits (Andy Serkis running down the red carpet and high-fiving people was pretty funny). I'm thinking it's time to watch the extended Lord of the Rings in anticipation for The Hobbit. Maybe even toss in the commentaries? Yisssss....that sounds fantastic. I'll crochet dwarf beards and watch movies now that I don't have to do NaNo anymore.

Don't mock me. Crocheted dwarf beards are pretty cool.

 Mwahaha.

What I'm doing tonight....

I'm watching the world premiere for The Hobbit.

Live. 

Excuse me for a moment..... *screams into a pillow*

Would you believe me if I told you that I seriously considered spending all my life savings to fly to NZ specifically to go to the world premiere?

Then stuff happened, and I rethought the moment of insanity, and realizing that I could livestream the whole thing in the comfort of my home made me very glad that I didn't go.

Well....very glad that I didn't spend all that money and stuff. I'd still love to have gone, but it's crazy packed and there's security guards all along that red carpet. I think I even saw some mounted police on the back streets. O.o

And in 8 minutes they start the red carpet walk and interviews and such! Gah! Right now they're 22 minutes into some kind of a concert by Neil Finn, who did pop-sounding version of 'Far Away Over the Misty Mountains Cold'. Not too crazy about his version, but meh.

They're almost ready to start the red carpet walk! I may or may not check in later with my crazy bits of coverage. Mwahaha. :3

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

In other news my throat is killing me. Last week I was rather sick with a sore throat and it's reared its ugly head again.

Holy crap, there's 100,000 people at the premiere. O.o Red carpet walk is about to start! There's Peter Jackson! Gah!

I be back laters. :3

November 1st and Costumes and Foxes and Stuff

I'm going to try to update all the things, hokay? Hokay. Just don't worry if all the convolutedness makes you confused.

Today is November 1st! It's also NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)! I started doing it in 2008, and have done it every year except last year. I'm a bit more organized about it this year, at least...

For the uninformed, NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I always try to hit 2,000 words a day, just to build up a buffer of sorts (and once I get going that's a really easy goal). There's no prizes aside from the pride of knowing that one has done it--I mean, yeah, one could take 50,000 words and enter it in the word counter thing, but what's the fun in that?

What am I writing a novel about, you ask? Well....it's a story idea that's been percolating for a very long time, let's just put it that way. And I hate talking about my writing stuff because other people might find it silly. But I still enjoy doing it--I just don't show it to anyone. XD

Just know that it's a horse story. But there's lab experiments and stuff, so it's an updated horse story. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yesterday I got to dress up all day--I don't like Halloween as far as the 'scary' stuff (I don't mess with stuff like the undead/dead/demonic/whatever. That's just something one shouldn't mess with, imho.), but I do enjoy cosplaying and it meant that I got to go to work dressed like Katniss Everdeen. Mwahaha.

(This was after being in costume for well over 10 hours. I think it held up fairly well.) (I would also like to point out that those shoes are slicker than snot on tile and I almost fell several times at work and walking into the house.)

Like the mockingjay pin? Ah made eet mahself. :3

I followed this tutorial on DA, painted it gold, and then sprayed it with shiny sealant. It's not exactly original, but it was fun (and better than the original idea of cutting out a picture and pinning that). Don't mind the flecks, they're just bits of ice cream from work...

There was a party at church for little kids (*cough* and the big kids too...), so my friend and I painted faces and hands and such.

I can paint a mean taco, apparently.

That was all fun in itself...and I got to go in later to dig through the leftover candy and pull the stuff that I wanted out. I have a bag full of Junior Minds and Whoppers and peanut butter M&M's hanging on my door to dole out over the next month. Ees gonna be awesome.

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This morning we saw the fox. Outside. In broad daylight. 

This happens VERY rarely. But it was still pretty cool.

As soon as I heard Mom yelling about it in the kitchen I ran to get my camera, and got exactly 3 pictures before he saw me. But again, it was pretty cool.

He (she?) was chasing some birds here or something, because he looked up in the pine trees after stopping.

This is my favorite--I was crouched behind a block of wood off the porch and keeping very quiet, but somehow he knew I was there. This was the expression he made for about 5 seconds before taking off into the tall grass.

I was able to get such a close picture because the zoom on my camera is awesome that way. ;)

We used to have battles over the chickens with the resident fox...but since we got rid of said chickens I guess we don't have to go after him anymore. He's way too pretty (and wily) to trap anyway. ;)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Oh! Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles--I got my Kangen water filter hooked up today! I've been so excited for this--you have no. idea. 

So basically Kangen was is ionized water, and the filter allows one to chance the PH balance of the water. The more alkaline the water, the better it is for you (with 8.0-9.5 being the best range, alkalinity-wise). The idea is that people eat and drink things that create so much acidity in the body that they need to balance it out with alkaline foods and drink. I've known people who have been on Prilosec and acidity medication for years get off of it with this water, and it's helped my brother with canker sores in the mouth (they're triggered by acidic food). I've wanted this filter for ages, and finally bought one last month. 

I'm also excited because the various PH balances can also be used for cleaning anything from mirrors (6.0 PH) to sinks and tubs (2.5 PH--high acid), to taking stains and oils out of clothing (11.5--high alkaline), to mixing with essential oils (11.5 again), etc. It's just an awesome filter. These have been used in Japan for about 40 years in hospitals and such, and are starting to catch on in the US. I'll probably be spazzing about this water for a while and doing experiments and such...chronicling them here, of course. :D

But now...it's not even 9, and I'm ready for bed. All this getting up early and writing nonsense has put me back a bit. Sigh. I'll be back, hopefully before another week passes.

Autumn

We've had a fire in the stove at night for the past few weeks...the leaves are starting to turn and fall off one by one...the yard has a crisp brown-ness creeping across the soft green grass...summer is fading, and autumn is on its way.

On Sunday I had the sudden urge to go outside and lie under a tree in the yard to take pictures. It's not a very big tree, but from this angle it looks huge. 

The little buckeye tree is a brilliant shade of orange-red--usually it turns brown, so this was a pleasant surprise.

For some reason fall puts within me a desire to get more artsy, to shut up indoors more often and get creative in one form or another. I've got the 'shut up indoors' part down...the 'creativity' part is lacking though. I get distracted easily. >.< The following comic typifies the process pretty well:

Every day. 

But back to pictures!

This is about 1/4 of our woodpile. We need more, but for now it's very nice and neat and has much potential. *nods*

Friday I'm leaving for Florida to see Ben and Wade! Oh, y'know, and my brother and his wife. I guess they count too. ;) I can't wait. So many pictures to take and babies to squeal over! Ees gonna be awesome.

And Wednesday I'm going trail riding with a group of people. So far we have 5 people committed--I've insisted on bringing Colletta, because (a) I hate riding strange horses in an uncontrolled environment and (b) I just prefer her, durnit. Everyone else can just stuff it. XD I can't guarantee a plethora of pictures from that outing, but I'll try to get some before and after ones.

For the past couple of weeks I've been somewhat sick. Well, not like bedridden sick--my only symptom is a dry, persistent cough, and that's been hanging around for almost 3 weeks. I was put on an antibiotic on Saturday, and have been achy/sleeping fitfully ever since, so I'm not sure if the antibiotics made it worse or if my body just decided to take a turn for the worse anyway. Meh. I'm just hoping that it's reduced by Wednesday and gone by Friday. I really don't want to take this down to Florida. *crosses fingers*

And...that's about it. I get introspective and then my mind bounces around to five different topics like a demented grasshopper. You're welcome. 

(I blame Tumblr.)

Hobbit Appreciation Day

Other known as Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. In honor of this day I tried to eat 6 meals (hobbits usually eat 6 square meals a day), but failed on meal #4. Oh well.

Traditionally hobbits eat:

Breakfast
Second breakfast

Elevensies

Luncheon

Afternoon tea

Dinner
Supper

And I took pictures of each meal in its turn.(Well...for the most part. I forgot to take pictures of first breakfast, but got some of second breakfast. And I have to leave at 10:30 AM for work, hence some of the meals got off schedule.)

First breakfast (sans picture) was eggs and bacon. Pretty simple.

Second breakfast was toast with nutritional yeast:

Don't judge the nutritional yeast.

Elevensies was half of a cinnamon-sugar pie crust (sort of like a homemade elephant ear):

Luncheon was apple/cheese/bacon pie (something I've wanted to make for ages):

The crust was rolled out rather thin, so the warm pie pieces were mangled something terrible while getting cut out of the pan. (On a side note, the pie was very....ah....salty. The recipe called for 1/4 cup of chicken bullion, and that was way too much. I'll halve it next time. Otherwise it was pretty delicious.)

And afternoon tea was marshmallow/mint tea with molasses cookies:

Now I don't eat much on a good day, and by this point I was stuffed. It didn't help that I've been sick with something for the past few days (coughing a lung up tends to dull one's appetite), so I eliminated dinner and supper. But it was a decent shot.

Can you all tell that I'm freakishly excited about and obsessed with Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and suchness? :3

Next post: the apple/cheese/bacon pie experiment!