Sam's Daily Grind: Holding Down the Floor

Sam's Daily Grind: Holding Down the Floor
Originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

Update on Sam's foot surgerY: we just heard from our vet, who told us the test results show the growth on Sam's foot was benign. So now he just has to stop licking that foot and let it heal. It was an "Adnexal Dysplasia" -- a cyst that had begun to get icky. Anyway, I'm glad he's okay and doesn't have to have anything else done to his poor foot! It's been hard to keep Sam from licking that foot.

Here he is doing his job: Tim say's it's "holding down the floor" whether it's the house floor, the shop floor, the porch or the ground outside. Sam does a really good job. So far, the floors are all still there where they are supposed to be.

Labor Day Labor of Love

My husband, the owner and proprietor of Timothy's Fine Woodworking --- is taking a brief break from his labors ... on Labor Day. He spent today building the baptismal font for St. Paul's Church. In the past week, Tim has finished the other furniture for the new sanctuary: two large arm chairs, a smaller armless chair, the pulpit and a lectern, an altar and a long bench. These are all made of highly figured cherry, fiddleback maple and birch.


My handsome, kind-hearted husband ...


Tim calls me a shutterbug but he knows I occasionally come up with good photos in my poking around. I played with my camera in Tim's shop for awhile, shooting mostly macros and odd angles. I hope to be able to take some photos of the finished furniture when it is in place, in the new church about mid-September. The huge altar has graceful curves:



Earlier this year, I put together a set of photos showing the building and installation of an amazing 7 - 8 ft high circular stained glass window made by Tim Carney (my Tim!) and a Helena glass artist, Barry Hood. You can see those photos here.

Hurricane Katrina - a few thoughts

The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is heavy on my mind and heart. If you haven't seen some of the unbelievable photos and video footage from the disaster, The Sun Herald has many photos listed by city and neighborhood there.

Some dear friends of ours lost both of their elderly parents as well as several houses in their family. Two others in their family are missing and we pray they will be found. At least the rest of their family members managed to get out - but not before they had to float out on pieces of their houses. I am so sad and worried, thinking about the huge, indescribably awful task it will be to clean up, to bury the dead (people as well as all the animals, pets ...) and to mourn the incredible losses of lives, homes, jobs, beauty, everyday-ness. It will be a long, long time before life in Louisiana and Mississippi gets back to normal if it ever can.

It makes me angry that the mainstream news in other parts of the US are focusing almost more on the effects of Katrina on things like gas prices, rather than reminding everyone of the loss of life, home and jobs. And that our federal government (and the state governments as well) were so ill-prepared for this disaster. That they sat on their asses while the hurricane was blowing through and immediately afterwards -- without sending help in right away. I watched 60-minutes interview with Ray Nagin, the mayor of New Orleans, last night and was stupefied! Listen to Ray Nagin's angry and frustrated stance on a radio talk show broadcast from his darkened city offices -- and try to remain unmoved!

Here's a quote from Mr Nagin's broadcast:

"We authorised $8 billion to go to Iraq, lickety split. After 9/11 we gave the president unprecedented powers, lickety split, to take care of New York and other places," he said.

"Now you mean to tell me that a place where most of your oil is coming through, a place that is so unique... that you can't figure out a way to authorise the resources that we need?"

He went on: "I'm not some drug addict. I'm thinking and talking clearly here now. I don't know whose problem it is, I don't know whether it's the governor's problem, I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their asses on the plane and sit down the two of them and figure this out, right now."

"This is ridiculous. I don't want to see anyone doing any more goddamn press conferences. Put a moratorium on press conferences. Don't do another press conference until the resources are in this city and they come down to this city and stand with us when there are military trucks and troops which we can't even count." -- Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans.

Before the interview was over Mr. Nagin and the radio show host broke down in tears and were unable to continue talking.

Now we all must help with the work at hand -- not just rebuilding homes -- but providing schools, hospitals, jobs, mental health services and other basic needs ... can there ever be normalcy in these places again?

We are keeping everyone who has been affected by the hurricanes, in our prayers and trying to help with donations as much as we can.

Garden Quilt of Colors

Another rescue (maybe) of some horribly blurred (on purpose) photos of our garden late in the day.

flickr

Last winter I opened an account at Flickr, a photosharing site. Anyone who registers (it's free) can upload up to 100 photos each month. If you want to upload more photos, or larger (higher resolution) photos, you pay a small fee to get a Pro account then, your photo uploads are unlimited. With Flickr's easy-to-use uploading software (which you can download for free) it takes me just a few minutes to post photos online - even if I'm uploading 20 or more at one time.
For me, the Flickr Pro account has been a good investment - it has paid off already just in the amount of improvement I've made in my photography skills. With the feedback from others on the photos I post, plus being able to see professional photographers' work and discuss their techniques with them, I have learned so much. Other artists and people involved in photography, design and visual media would benefit from the inspiration and publicity Flickr provides. Anyone can view your pics and write comments. You can also send the photos to your blog with one click, so Flickr makes blogging really easy and fast.

I've also found great inspiration by sharing my photos with other artists and photographers. There are some amazing photos on flickr and it's database is searchable by "tags" -- keywords people attach to their photos. So I can, for instance, search for "decorative metalwork from Indonesia" and come up with dozens of photos on that subject. Or "textures" or "peeling paint" or "dog noses." The possibilities are almost endless. Gardens are really popular on Flickr, so that gives me a huge number of photos to browse for ideas, inspiration and just fun.

I've met some interesting people from my own country as well as foreign countries. Some of these people I have gotten to know a little better through their photos and personal emails between us. I feel like when/if Tim and I ever travel outside of the US, we will have friends to stay with - friends who have something in common with us - photography - at the very least.

If you're reading this and you don't have a Flickr account, maybe you will consider opening your own account. It's easy to register and set up your own Flickr page. Try it free for as long as you want, and if it's something you find helpful and interesting, go for it! (I'm not being paid to say this, either!)

Crawling around on the ground with my camera ...

Ajuga from the Ground
Originally uploaded by MontanaRaven.

A few days ago I spent some time either lying on the ground looking through the viewfinder, or just setting my camera on the ground and shooting randomly. I know ... I know this isn't what a professional photographer would do ... but then, I'm not a pro with my digital camera. So I get to do anything I want with it. Here's one of the resulting photos, Ajuga in our shade garden... I imagine this is what the Purple Brocade Ajuga groundcover (which is in reality only about 1/2 inch high) would look like to an ant or other insect.

Information on many Ajuga cultivars, commonly know as "Bugleweed" is easy to find on the internet or in perennial/groundcover books. There are the usual Ajugas, and recently several cultivars have been developed with more colorful foliage, longer bloom times, or smaller leaves. One of my favorite Ajugas, for pathways, around stepping stones and other places you might walk, is the miniature Chocolate Chip Ajuga. The leaves of Chocolate Chip are truly tiny -- a combination of chocolate brown, dark bronze and green with tiny spikes of dark blue/purple flowers in late spring, early summer. The foliage and flower colors are perfect with shade-tolerant gold and chartreuse plants and other plants with blue parts. I'm thinking of the gold Hakone grass, sedges, blue fescue and other grasses; cushion spurge; Polemonium, Brunnera (forget-me-nots) and Hosta. Use Ajuga to fill in around stepping stones or in semi-shaded rock gardens. Try planting any of the ajugas under tree canopies or where you have spring or summer bulbs. They like some shade and moist, rich soil, but will also grow in less-than-ideal conditions.