Summer Quarter

Five weeks down, three to go. With only eight weeks, rather than the usual ten (eleven if you count finals week), it's been kind of intense.

Last week, the first three assignments in my 3-D Design (Strata) class were due.

The first two (the letters and the wine carafe and glasses) use material that the instructor provided to us. He also provided templates for the third (alien flowers), if we wanted to use them, but I decided to try creating my own.

I'm pretty pleased with all of them.

Lots of Green and Growing Things

This afternoon, after being gone for a couple of days, Tim and I went out to check the status of the garden.

The main change that I saw was that the two poppy buds had bloomed.

They're a little out of focus, because my camera kept wanting to focus on the lavender in the background.

I also saw that some lilies near the side deck were also blooming.

The daisies are still going crazy . . .

. . . and the bees are still busy in the lavender.

Elsewhere, the basil is looking good . . .

. . . and the zucchini is coming along.

My First Animation

Today in my 3D Design class, the instructor showed us how to create simple (very simple!) animations.

This three-second video took me 20 to 30 minutes to create (including my first attempt which I finally just chucked and started over), and then about six minutes for the computer to render.

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Ever since it became clear that the tree in the front yard was pushing up the driveway, we've been talking about getting it removed. About a month ago, we finally had an arborist come out and take a look at it. We finally found out what kind of tree it was (Atlas spruce) and that it would only get bigger. So, today it finally came down.

Before (this morning) 

 

After (this afternoon) 

It was a three-man team, one in the tree and two on the ground. The fellow in the tree worked his way up, and then worked his way down.

 

 

I must say — the kitchen and the front room are a heck of a lot brighter now!

Garden Update

Earlier this month, I wrote about all the different vegetables we planted this year.

The things we started from seed are doing pretty well. The starts I bought from Lowe's, not so much.

The spinach is hanging in there, but only one of the four butter lettuces is still alive.

As for the broccoli, well. . . .

Of the four plants, two produced a few rather sparse-looking florets. But nothing even remotely resembling the thickly packed heads you see in the supermarket.

A few days ago, I noticed a hint of yellow, and I knew what was coming.

Broccoli blooms.

Butterfly

A number of years ago, my sister gave me a poster she had designed and made from construction paper and posterboard. I've displayed it on my wall at various residences, but for quite awhile now it has been stored away with other old wall art. But I've kept it all this time because I treasure the things that were handmade especially for me.

The colors have faded over time, but the graphic appeal remains.

A few months ago, I was casting about for ideas for a new Craftsy pattern, and this poster came to mind. I called up my sister and asked her if she minded if I turned it into a quilting pattern. (I recently took a course on copyright law; it was very eye-opening. Apparently, any original work that is "created and fixed in a tangible form" enjoys automatic copyright protection.) I would have been surprised if my sister had declined, but asking still seemed like the right thing to do.


It has taken me a fair bit of time to make the project and complete the instructions (this past quarter of school was particularly challenging and time-consuming), but it's finally done. 

Some Eastern Washington Wildlife

My husband and I left last Friday for a long weekend in eastern Washington. Friday night and Saturday night we camped at Lake Wanapum. Sunday night and Monday night we stayed at the Well Made B&B in Chelan. Along the way, I took some photographs of some of the critters we saw. (Not pictured are the bunnies we saw near the campsite; I didn't happen to have my camera with me.)

First, I saw this striking black and white bird near our tent. I snapped some pictures and later found out from a ranger that it was a magpie.

I've included these two because each shows the bird and its coloring from a slightly different angle, providing a fairly complete image.

On two different occasions at two different locations, we saw a little sandpiper.

We also saw some little lizards. They blended in so well with the gravel, they were difficult to see.

But of all the fauna we saw, my favorite was the brood of merganser chicks we saw at Lake Chelan. I couldn't decide which of these photos was my favorite, so I'm including all three. I especially like how some of the chicks are riding piggyback on Mama.