Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass.
~Rupert Brooke
Here’s hoping that your May Day is full of beauty.
Last night we got the rare change to hear hip-hop violinist Emily Wells playing in an OC venue (at Muldoon’s in Fashion Island, following the NB Film Festival). Even as much as I ridicule living in Orange County, the opportunities that result from living so close to LA are unrivaled–from art galleries, to musicians, to the gorgeous beaches.
Though Emily’s cover of B.I.G’s “Juicy” is probably her most popular piece, my favorite of the evening was “Mercy”:
Note: if you want, skip to about 1.5 mins in where she starts singing. Haunting, IMO…
Occasionally and when I think no one’s looking, I’ll take a roll down a hill. There’s such a thrill in letting momentum take over. And then when I’m done, I just lie around for awhile, enjoying the way the world keeps on spinning even when I’m not.
What about you, what do you do when no one’s looking?
PS: Any guesses as to what item is hanging out of my hoodie pocket in the bottom pic?? You can see a larger version here.
Sitting in seat 4 in this picture as we’re bringing the boat into shore, just an hour or so after the first time I steered the boat on the open ocean. The swells were gentle and it was far easier than I thought it would be (a bit of irony in the picture: see my crutches lying in the blue boat cover to the left of the pic?)
It’s actually a bit tough sometimes to paddle one-legged, simply because I can’t push with my right leg to get the trunk twist when I paddle on the left. But I’m holding my own and there’s something pretty exciting about doing a sport where what’s above the waist means more than what’s below.
:)
Pic by John, my own personal paparazzi
I’m realizing today how much I love travel, how enticing it is now that airfares are low. To just go. To walk away from the familiar again. For awhile. (Boston & environs, you are calling my name)
Pic taken just after touring the Alcott’s home in Concord with Sara and Sandra
If our cats had names like those of Snow White’s seven companions, they would be:
Silky
Sleepy
and
Skittish
(or maybe one of them might be “Saggy”)
What about your cats?
PS: If you ever receive bizarre emails from me, you can be sure that they were sent by EllyCat’s nether regions…
PPS: This pic has two kitties: Elly & NekoNeko (a.k.a. the ASUS laptop)
Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
~Rainer Maria Rilke
Note: pic above taken in my garden. The colors are really truly this bright right now–no photoshop adjustment necessary. Isn’t it lovely?
Or so says the note on my teabag this afternoon (love Yogi Tea for Meditation and their thought-provoking teatag quotations). It came at a good time, at a moment when I’m feeling rather finite and hampered by so so so much that need to get done.
This rose is blooming in my garden right now and has a delicious grapefruit-rosy scent. Unlimited, indeed.
Back in 1990 or so I wore this dress when I was a bridesmaid in a friend’s wedding. I liked the dress and thought the fit was flattering. I’ve also always been a sucker for plaid taffeta (my fav dress as a young girl was red plaid taffeta).
Well this pic was taken in 2000, when I was still wearing this dress at least once/yr. Recently I put together some FaceBook pics of numerous formal dates on which I wore this same dress. I was pretty surprised–I hadn’t realized just how much I’d liked it until I thumbed through all those old pictures!
With Ryan
With Todd
With Aaron
At Steph’s wedding
So now I wonder how weird it is that I’ve worn this same dress for so many events? I tend to have a fairly small wardrobe of clothes that I really love. I’m not the kind of gal that gets a new dress for every occasion.
How about you? Do you have some favorite clothes that you’ve worn repeatedly through the years?
I’m a fan of Creative Commons. I share my photos, my web content and my podcasts with CC licensing, which means that you’re free to use my stuff, but you’ve got to give me credit if you do so. Sure I know that people ‘steal’ my pics sometimes–it happens most often with pics of me that are reposted by these folks (which, btw, I find fairly disturbing but I try not to think about it too often).
Recently I discovered that a picture of me was lifted from John’s flickr feed and was used to illustrate a misogynistic blog article. I learned this because a friend had seen the article and recognized me in the photo. This made me feel incredibly uncomfortable–primarily because I felt that my picture being affiliated with the post implied that I had endorsed the writing or was somehow involved with it (FWIW, because the article detailed the sexual exploits of the author, I felt it was possible some people might assume that I’d had a relationship with him). Now in this case the blog author didn’t use appropriate CC attribution, so I dropped a comment on his post suggesting that he review the rules for the Commons and also made it clear that I had no connection to the author’s words despite my image being on display. Within 48 hours my pic was gone, replaced by that of another nameless woman.
I tend to assume when I license something for Creative Commons, that my generosity will be mirrored with responsibility on the part of those who use my work. Surely I am naive. And there’s little that I can do when my images are connected with content that’s antithetical to my values, especially if the user has followed the rules of the Commons by giving appropriate attribution (which, in some cases might be even more discomfiting than if the image was used anonymously because my flickr identity links directly to my various websites).
I’m not going to stop sharing via Creative Commons and if anything I think I’ve got a bit thicker skin now–so when this happens again (and I’m just assuming it will) I won’t take it so personally. However, I’d like to know if any of you are wary of the Commons or have been burned by the unattributed use of your work? Many of my friends add a copyright watermark to their photos to discourage theft, and while I’ve considered this, I figured it not worth the time investment on my part. Perhaps I should reconsider?