It's the small things in life

toast tongs!
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

These toast tongs are awesome! I've become hooked on toasted cheesy bagels and boy, oh boy, do they get HOT.

One of my kids (Glenn, I think) made these toast tongs in woodshop class and they've been neglected and fogotten in the mess of the utensil drawer.

After burning the fingertips, I briefly considered using a metal fork -- but yeah, I've seen the same cartoons as you and didn't want to turn into a b/w skeleton.

Wait, don't I have TOAST TONGS? Why yes I do! Nom nom nom.

Aretha Franklin's Hat:

I'm having fun with Aretha Franklin's extra special President Obama Inaguration Day hat.

Birthday greeting for Emmy-winning friend Shannon:

DJ Adam Freeland wears it well:



Hedgehog Ms. Appa Pricklesworth isn't so sure.

Download the hat file here. The psd file has a transparent background for your own Photoshop play. Check out the Flickr gallery Aretha Franklin's Hat for inspiration.

Travel: a feast day for animal blessings

Today is Feast Day of de San Antonio de Abad in Mexico, which explains why there were lots of animals with the christmas trees and nativity scenes. This feast day is a religious holiday during which the Catholic Church allows animals to enter the church for blessing. I wonder how many of the many many dogs are brought into the church for an annual blessing today.

A couple of small towns were setting up carnival kiddie rides in their central town plazas on Thursday. I'm guessing the Feast Day is a community event and marks the end of the holiday season in Mexico.

I loved walking around the ordinary life spaces in the small towns and getting a sense of place and local people. This is sort of travel I value most.

Dear Santa: are you lactose and tolerant?

Dear Santa: are you lactose and tolerant?
Originally uploaded by smastrong

The note my niece left for Santa.
"The cookies are on the dining room table...
p.s. Are you lactose and tolerant?"
Adorable!
photo by my sis: Suzanne Strong Photography.

Check out her online portfolio and pencil in the Feb 5th First Thursday opening at 619 Western, where she'll be in a group show.

Snow dog

Snow dog
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

The snow keeps coming: we had another 6 inches overnight and it started up again about 2 hours ago. Wow.
The dog doesn't mind, though. She was born and raised in MN so she knows all about snow and actually loves it! I run the hair dryer on her when she comes in because the snow clumps like a m-fkr in her fur. As soon as she's warm and dry, she wants out again.

(iPhone photo)

photos: first snow of the season

Went on a little walkabout Saturday night during the snowfall.

Stopit

Parkit

Walkit

Drinkit

cRooKiT

A Big Rabbit not named Harvey

Just to balance out the rant in the previous post, here's a picture of one of the ginormous rabbits I saw at a r-urban (rural, but almost urban) hobby farm in Monroe on Thursday. These bunnies were about 30 lbs each. I am NOT kdding. Almost Night of Lepus big.

Speaking of rabbit movies, The Grand Illusion Cinema on 50th is showing the classic Jimmy Stewart film Harvey through Thursday, Nov 27th.

Google street view Seattle: Hey, I know this girl!

What are the odds? I spotted someone I know on the newly-launched Google street view of Seattle!

Bon Bon, you have been captured forever in Google-land. This was probably taken in June 2008 when you were living at my place for a minute.

Not a bad picture here, particularly when compared to this poor guy (third pic down).

Today's hottest fashion accessory

Today's hottest fashion accessory
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Absentee ballot stub turned cuff +
I Voted sticker =
the hottest fashion accessory
on November 4th.
You know
you want it.

Photo: where's he looking?

This picture I snapped of Crystal Castle's Alice Glass isn't great but it totally cracks me up. Look closely at fella at the bottom middle of the frame. Where's his eye gaze? Yep: right up the dress. You have been MADE, dude!

I'm still laughing about this, and it's been hours. Heh heh heh heh.

(You may need to check out the larger version to see it clearly. Click the pic to do so.)

Seattle Dorkbots Focus on Burning Man Art Tonight

Hand of Man photo by Jeanine Anderson

Seattle's Dorkbot group ("people doing strange things with electricity") is hosting a free gathering tonight on Dorkish Art at Burning Man 2008.

Shelly Farnam of Seattle Dorkbot says, "Tonight's events start with a general overview and report on some of the Dork art seen at Burning Man; then a local artist, Tanjent, will talk about his project Applecore; and we'll screen video interviews of burning man artists, including the creators of Tantalus and The Hand of Man."

What: September 2008 Dorkbot: Reporting on dorkish art at Burning Man 2008
When: Wenesday, Sept 10th, 7:00 - 10:00pm (7:30 start time for slides and movie shorts)
Where: 911 Media, 402 9th Ave N.

Blue Angels are playing at my house

over my place
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

While the rest of Capitol Hill complains of the noise and bother, I am feeling like a kid next to the roller coaster. I wanna ride!
This is my first year living on the hill and I am thrilled to get the rumble in my tummy right from my front door.
Maybe it will get old for me by the end of the weekend and I'll turn into a Capitol HIll Blue Angels grumpster.
But for now, rock and roar on!

hanging out

hanging
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

I had originally intented to shoot some graff Sunday evening in Sodo. However, upon revisiting in daylight hours the site I saw in darkness, it wasn't as compelling as I thought it might be.

So Instead of shooting graff I played around with the tracks and the long shadows and the colors and lighting at pre-sunset. I love this time of day with the warm soft light and long shadows. It's hard to completely mess up a shot when the light so forgiving. Nature's candlelight, yes?

In this picture I was going for a peace sign shadow. Instead, it looks like I've been hung hanged from the neck until dead. Huh. (That's classic spaghetti western lingo, yo.)
Not what I intended, but interesting anyway!

I've been on a streak taking shadow pics when the opportunity arises. Maybe I'll have a series pulled together in a couple of years.
A few other shadow pics here.

Perfect first night of summer

Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

We embraced the start of summer on Saturday with a beach bonfire at Golden Gardens Park on Puget Sound. A night of friends, picnic suppers, wines and whatnots, sand, fire, and s'mores. Perfect!

(more pics here.)

Dodgeball And a Third Place

dodgeball night
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Grownups play pickup games of dodgeball on Friday nights at Cal Anderson Park. Cal Anderson Park is a true third place: a third space after home and work to establish a sense of community and of place. It is one of my favorite spots on the hill because there is always something going on at the park.

Friday night I happened across the weekly dodgeball game. The mix was about 5% girls to 95% boys. They were having some serious fun! I want to play too, but I suck at throwing. I'd be a good blocker though!

What else makes Cal Anderson Park a "third place?" Any day, any time, people gather and sit and talk and eat and drink and read and talk some more. Besides the outdoor-living-room type of park use, all sorts of unofficial, inclusive, and socially engaging activities take place at the park: bicycle polo, a marching band playing at 1 a.m., a big group of folks singing "total eclipse of the heart" on Teletubby Hill during the lunar eclipse, people practicing their hooping and dancing. And, of course, dog walking and playground playing.

Cal Anderson Park is a gem and is our third place for many of us Capitol Hill residents.

New book on Japanese street culture

(Up)Rising Sonz! is a 300+ page pictoral book spotlighting skater and street art culture in urban Japan. It represents the generations which have influenced skate style, fashion, and street attitude, one of the main sources for the creative essence of Japanese city youth. These skaters-turned-artists now boast legions of fans and their influence reaches into fashion, literature, film, and art. I'm curious to know if the authors included anyone associated with The Ghetto, a rad space in Tokyo focused on skating and the street art scene. The Ghetto is located in a former "love hotel" and includes an indoor skate ramp and private-club-like bar on the street level. Upstairs the former guest rooms have been converted to little shops with skate gear, clothing, and art spaces. Here's a few snaps from when I was there in February.
(See more Japanese street art in my Flickr photostream.)







(Up)Rising Sonz!
Scott Kinsey (aka GOODFEAR), Mark Felt
304 pages
7"x10" Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-86154-330-1
US $49.50 (er...a little rich for my purse at the moment.)
first edition published in January 2008 by Booth-Clibborn Edditions

(ht to Heavy Backpack)

Mountain loop, north cascades and peace

another peace sign
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

I headed out of town on Memorial Monday to get a little fresh air and fresh perspective. This friendly fella was walking along Hwy 530, just outside of Rockport.
He was carrying a peace sign, which seemed fitting for a memorial day. We chatted for a minute: he was walking home from the Rockport Pub about 1/2 a mile up the road.

My outing took me to Boulder River trail which winds along the river and has two waterfalls. It's an easy trail and good warm up for harder stuff. There aren't any signs leading you to the trailhead, so if you go, be sure to write down the directions.

Being one of few snow-free hikes in the area, it was pretty busy, altough I had plenty of quiet time, too. I've seen many more people on the much more difficult Mt. Pilchuck hike.

Hwy 530 links up Arlington and Darrington to the scenic North Cascades Hwy (20) for a nice circle drive in spring with mountain vistas and river roads.

In summer, you can alternately take 530 to Darrington then turn south to join up Mountain Loop Hwy through Granite Falls. While Mountain Loop is always closed during the winter, it had been closed for 4 years straight due to storm damage. It re-opened last October before closing for the winter in December. The road will reopen when snow clears - probably sometime in June. Check the Mt Baker - Snoqualmie Forest Road Conditions page for updates.

There's a couple of hikes off Mountain Loop Road that I'd like to do: a 1 mile trail to ice caves which form in the summer (easy-peasy), and a 4 mi hike (or mtn bike ride) to the ghost town of Monte Cristo. I'd also like to do the Mt Pilchuck hike to the fire lookout tower again, but I'd only do that on a weekday, now that I know how friggin busy it is on a clear weekend day. (The views were worth it though.)

What everyone in Seattle was doing Saturday night

casual patio dinner
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

Hanging out with friends somewhere - anywhere - outside.

Our fare:

Grilled salmon (caught on Wednesday), grilled steelhead trout, roasted brussel sprouts, spinach salad, roasted corn salad, saimin noodles with onion, grilled chicken, cake with strawberry cream frosting.

Emerald City Comi-Con in pictures

I know nothing about comic books, so I'm not sure how I ended up going to this event on Saturday. Seemed like a good idea, and I ended up having a fun time!

I was hoping to find some old comics that my older sister and I ate up like candy when we were in the tween years: True Love, First Kiss, Love Story, etc. We would have DIED asking our southern-raised parents to buy these for us. Thank god for our neighborhood girl friend, who would pass along her well-read copies. How else would we have known that true love is all that matters? And that the first kiss is the only one that matters? (Uh, I can't even remember the name of person I first kissed.)

Unfortunately, these love comics must be popular items since the only ones I found were priced more than I was willing to pay for a short trip down nostalgia lane. Oh well.

Since I can't comment intelligently on anything comic-book related, I'll just share some more photos. Very amusing that my most viewed pictures on Flickr from the event are (1) scantily-clad girls in costume, and (2) a picture of the word "poop." Sex and body functions. Of course.

Does it Offend You, Yeah? Not me

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanineanderson/2474168440/
Originally uploaded by JeanineAnderson

They didn't offend me, nor anyone else at Neumos on Tuesday night. This brit group was on my "list" to see at Coachella but when I went to the tent midway through their published timeslot, the tent was quiet. Damn. Yay for DIOYY coming out to the upper left corner to play. Much better and intimate venue than the Gobi Tent. So it all worked out, yeah?

Does It Offend You, Yeah play vibrant rock electronica with strong vocals from both this dude, Morgan Quaintance, and bassist James Rushent.
Although the room was only moderately full (why so?), they put full energy into their performance and were tight. Comparisons have been made to Daft Punk, Justice, and Digitalism. They are definitely on the upswing this year: touring with Bloc Party and NIN.

My favorite song of the night was We Are Rockstars, with its in-your-face, don't-look-away blast of pulsing goodness.

Demographics: 50/50 girls and boys. A few fashionistas at play. Average age was 28. I didn't see many dates: mostly same-gender clusters of 2-3 people.