ffyrebird

Farewell to a faithful friend

I had to say goodbye to my faithful electric kettle after it gave me a rather nasty shock.  I've had the kettle for over 15 years and used it daily to support my infamous tea addiction.  I even took it on vacations to have 'real' tea in hotels (boiling water in the hotel coffee pots just makes tea that tastes like coffee, yuck!!.) It worked overtime when the children borrowed it to make instant oatmeal and noodles. I ordered a replacement from The Imperial Tea Court in San Fransisco and it just arrived.  It is a little different than the old version but all the important things are the same- stainless steel, quick boil, true pour spout, and most important I can gauge what type of boil the water is at by the sound of the lid jiggling.  Easy to get water that is barely fisheyeing for green teas or full boil for black teas.

 

I can't figure out how to get a good scan of this entry from my Handbook journal.  I have an old flatbed Microtek Scanmaker 6000.  I've tried playing with the settings but I can't get light greys to show up very well.  I've had this problem over and over with trying to scan pencil drawings.  Any suggestions??

I finally gave up and took a photo of the drawing...

Zoo "Animals"

When I took the kiddos to the zoo recently, I thought the biggest obstacle to my getting in a few quick sketches would be them getting bored waiting on me.  Instead of them getting impatient, they were a dream to be with and it was the other patrons that ended up frustrating me.

The day wasn't a total loss, we got to get out of the house, get some exercise, see some cool animals, and enjoy each others company.  Plus with everyone carrying a camera, I have lost of photos to draw from.  I hooked my laptop up to the TV and tried to do a quick sketch of the poor gorilla.  It was really easy to see on the big screen and the colors seemed truer.  Now if I could only figure out how to keep my laptop resolution from changing and rearranging my desktop icons each time I hook up to the TV, I'd be set.

Volunteer echinacea

A few years back I planted a little corner garden full of plants that would attract butterflies and birds.  A birdfeeder was nearby and some millet and other seeds got loose in the patch and grew into monsters so eventually we mowed the patch down.  This year a few hardy volunteer echinacea plants and sunflowers are  reminders of where the garden was.