megan's blog
Hair Flowers
Made these! Just a little sneak preview of what I'll be making for my upcoming zine that's well into production!
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Grumble - A Short Story
I can barely poke my toes to the edge of the covers without being attacked in the night by the little red monster. I grumble at his first swipe, which lands on my foot but does not break the barrier of blanket, and so does he. When, mostly asleep, I stretch the toes toward the edge and wiggle, the monster can no longer hold his excitement, and drives his pointy claws and teeth deeper into my flesh.
With a muffled and exaggerated "nooo" I kick a little, but my efforts to shoo away razors and daggars comes to no avail. If anything, the monster deepens his chase, diving into the covers for a bite of pink foot flesh.
"That's it!" I cry out, sitting straight up but barely awake. I reach down to my feet and grab a fistful of fur, dragging the little red monster up into my arms. "Come here," I say, tucking a ball of fur and flesh under the covers with me. "It's time for sleeping still." A muffled cry is followed by a low meow, and I stroke behind the ears of my kitten-in-a-cat's-body.
With a grumble, then a soft purr, Cheddar gives in, and snuggles up for nap. After all, monsters need rest too.
Open University Creative Writing Course - Dec 30, 2009
I'm starting a self-study creative writing course today to help me refresh my writing skills while I have a little time over winter break. I am using a course found here at Open Learn, Open University UK. Feel free to follow along and to comment below if you have discussion points.
Today I'm working on sections 1 and 2, and here are the results of my activities:
Activity 1: Write what you know
Writing what you know means pulling snippets of your daily life and using those words in your writing. it means taking details from around you and making them create a realistic environment for your reader.
Activity 2: Listening activity
Activity 3: Building a believable world
From memory-
Two tall dressers with a chocolate-brown papered-on finish stand on either side of a honey-toned half dresser, topped with a clunky square TV. The California-king has a regal wrought-iron headboard that always pokes me in the back of the head while i'm trying to read, and the mattress is somehow always topped with my least-favorite comforter in the house. Twin nightstands are at the head of the bed, mine topped with library-borrowed craft books and often crafts themselves; Mark's with his alarm clock and the remains of yesterday's pocket contents that did not get transferred to today's pocket.
From observation-
The flat-paint finish of cheaply-maintained apartment walls is beginning to look more scuffed than clean around the edges, and the standard beige short-pile Berber carpet has a distinct walking path, plus a few spots from craft accidents, cats, or messes otherwise. Matrix promo cards, cat toys, and laundry litter the edges of the floor, and on the day before New Year's Eve, the calendar is still pinned up as November. If I change it right now, at least December will see one full day.
Our Second Anniversary San Francisco Trip - September 15 and 16, 2009
It's been an incredibly busy week, but I wanted to share the photos from our nice two day mid-week getaway for our second anniversary. We spent two days in Golden Gate Park, and there is so much beautiful vegetation there that we took tons of pictures.
Our anniversary was on a Tuesday, so we took Tuesday and Wednesday off to spend the day leisurely going through the park and visiting both the deYoung Museum and the Conservatory of Flowers.
We had a picnic on our anniversary near the Conservatory of Flowers on Tuesday afternoon. Here's the bench where we shared some fruit, cheese, veggies, hummus, and naan. It was bright and warm out, and we enjoyed sitting in the sun.
Outside the Conservatory of Flowers, we came across a drum circle, which is pretty common for the park. Usually we find them across the street at Hippie Hill, but this time they were gathered near the flower beds. It's nice to see that we keep some culture in the park.
After lunch we headed to the Dahlia Garden behind the Conservatory of Flowers. The dahlias were all in bloom, so I took tons of pictures! Here's a few of my favorite varieties.
This red and yellow flower is so vibrant and rich! I love the delicate inner petals, and the way the yellow tips fade into the red.
I really love these little round varieties of dahlias. Mark made a comment that it looks like they've been trimmed into their perfect shape, but they just naturally grow into little petal puffballs. Aren't they neat? They had several colors of this type as well.
This big beautiful bloom reminds me of a watercolor painting. The purple is so delicate on the white background of each petal that it looks like each petal had been hand-painted. So pretty. I also love the hint of yellow at the center.
Hey, who's that handsome fella down there taking photos anyway? I wonder if he'd like to come to dinner with me ;)
Another fun and BRIGHT variety of dahlias to photograph. We spent about a half an hour snapping photos around these beds, but we could have easily spent another hour or two out here with the amount of varieties planted.
I can't wait to have a yard so I can plant some dahlias myself. They grow really well and don't require all that much maintenance, and look how gorgeous they are!
Just past the dahlia beds there were a whole bunch of lilies growing up the hill. I love how thin and papery their petals are, and I love the color variations on the internal petals.
I'm always intrigued by the size of these big trumpet vine blooms. The coast must be the perfect climate for them, because I've seen them predominantly in San Francisco and Santa Cruz. The vine itself gets huge, and these flowers are at least twice the length of my hand. I couldn't get close enough to get a better shot of the inside of the flower without disturbing the bed below them, so I can't show you their little pinkish centers. Very cool flowers though!
To the left of the lilies and hanging vines there's a tribute to the Painted Desert. Different cactus and succulents live in this area, and collected red rocks and petrified wood line the bed. Mark and I really enjoyed the nubby little cactus at the bottom of the big striped plant. They look like they don't have thorns, but rather just little studs all over the leaf of the plant. I'm sure the little studs are a bit thorny though!
This succulent plant had taken over the entire hillside just up the way. I love this kind because it looks like little green rubber roses to me. Succulents are neat because you get all the interesting parts of the cactus without the weaponry. I used to have a small collection of my own, and someday I hope to have some scattered about my garden.
As we were coming up onto Fuchsia Dell, we heard some rustling in the bushes. We came across this little guy! He was hanging out and looking for some snacks, so we caught a couple pictures of him while he dug around for bugs and worms. Cheery little buddy!
Fuchsia is one of my favorite flowers! I love hanging flowers, and these are cheery and delicate and bring a lot of color to the spectrum. This purple and pink variety is one of the most commonly found, and there are a range of other colors as well. We were losing light fast when we got to the dell, so I snapped a few quick photos and managed to catch a couple good ones. Whew!
The fog began to roll back in, and we were tired and hungry from hiking and such, so we decided to head down to the coast for some dinner. We drove down to Ocean Beach and took a few minutes to relax looking at the coast before we went in for dinner.
Aww, anniversary smooches! <3
Ocean Beach is at the opposite end of Golden Gate Park than where we started, but you can still see some of it as you're walking up to the restaurant. Here you can see the windmill that's near the Tulip Gardens. Mark and I plan to hit up the Japanese Tea Gardens and the Tulip Gardens next time we head up there.
We ate at the Beach Chalet, which is a restaurant upstairs in a historic building. It's got a great view, fantastic food, and very nice servers. We've been there once before for lunch, and I was really excited to be back for dinner.
We started with a couple tall beers and some nice seafood appetizers. We split a cup of clam chowder and some calamari. I'm pretty sure the beer was brewed either in-house or locally, too. Very tasty.
By the time we got our appetizers, a live jazz band was set up and started to play. It was so perfect! They were mellow but upbeat and it was neat watching the guy play the bells. Later in the evening there was also a flute and a saxophone. It gave the place a great atmosphere.
We had a great view of the ocean from the window at which we were seated. As the sun began to go down, it started peaking through the fog. By the time it was nearing the horizon, this is what you could see.
Mmmmmmmmmm.
Mark got chicken carbonara and I got seared scallops on a corn and bacon hash with some fancy sauce that was delicious. Everything was perfectly prepared.
It sure was a nice evening! We were watching the sunset out the window as we waited for our dessert, and I had the waiter snap this picture for us.
Here's our oh-so-yummy dessert. We had a mango gelatin with a berry center that was both sweet and a little tart, and was light enough to not be too much after that big dinner. I was skeptical at first, but it was quite delicate and tasty. Plus it was pretty!
Here's a short timelapse of the sun as it finally broke through the fog all the way at the last minute. The glass and the camera flare the sun's glare out quite a bit, but it's a nice little snippet of video.
We had such a lovely dinner, and such a nice day! After dessert, we headed back down the coast a bit through the fog, and caught the freeway back home for the night. I just redecorated our bedroom, so it was nice to come home to a bed full of fresh new linens. We slept in a bit in the morning, and then headed back up to Golden Gate park.
Wednesday we started our day by visiting the Conservatory of Flowers. This is the main room, a big building with lots of glass painted white to protect delicate blooms and maintain a rather swampy atmosphere. I was thankful that it was warm, though, since Wednesday I managed to leave the bag with our coats, my sweater, and my scarf all sitting on the kitchen table. I was running around San Francisco in a tank top, and it was a little chilly! I was thankful to spend a little time warming up in the greenhouse.
Visiting the Conservatory was worth the wait. I've been wanting to go for a while, but they're closed on my day off, so it never worked out. However, once we got inside, I was overwhelmed with beauty. Everywhere you look, a beautiful and exotic plant was thriving and blooming. In the first room I got more photos on my way out than in because I was a bit overwhelmed at first, but here are some lilies that were so translucent that I could barely get the pink at the tips in the photo.
Here's the first of the carnivorous flowers in the conservatory. This vine grows flowers that resemble something fleshy that insects are attracted to thinking it'll be a meaty snack. They follow a fragrance emitted from the center of the flower, and get trapped in the belly of the beast! Flowers that eat bugs... now that's a way to do it! I should get a few of these to keep growing around my herbs in my balcony garden to help prevent infestations of little flies.
The next room was filled with tens of thousands of orchids, some big, some minuscule, all delicate and amazing. These were small and precise, and I loved the patterns on their petals.
This orchid was not only one of the smallest I've ever seen, with the center being smaller than my pinky, but the most unique that I've ever come across. I've never seen such an interesting shape, which looks to me like a plant in the act of dancing. Each orchid was slightly differently posed, making it look choreographed. I am in love with this flower.
I can be honest when I say that these orchids are the smallest I've ever seen. While the last ones I showed you were small, these are itty bitty. The entire flower, which is eerily translucent, is only the size of a nickel. I had to stop and stare at these for a few minutes.
The following room in the conservatory was the Aquatic Room, which opens up to a big central pond. Around the room are various hanging plants and the pond surface was covered by lily pads. This room was certainly the most humid of them, but it had some of the most exotic varieties of flowers, and had several types of ginger.
The following room in the conservatory was the Aquatic Room, which opens up to a big central pond. Around the room are various hanging plants and the pond surface was covered by lily pads. This room was certainly the most humid of them, but it had some of the most exotic varieties of flowers, and had several types of ginger.
One more carnivorous plant, another which resembles meaty flesh. This one was the most fragrant of the bunch, and was also my favorite.
Here the cute huz and I are standing in front of the pond in the aquatic room before we headed into the next room.
The next room was decorated to model after a victorian floral display house, where gardeners would keep flowers in large pottery in order to change out the display often, both to care for the flowers and to keep the display fresh for returning visitors. The center of the room featured an ornate planter, and all over the room there were displays such as this multi-orchid collection.
After viewing the Conservatory, Mark and I spent the rest of our Wednesday visiting the deYoung museum, seeing the Tutankhamen exhibit and viewing their permanent collection of African cultural art, Impressionist paintings, Americana art, and American Sculptural and Decorative Art.
We really enjoyed our nice two-day anniversary semi-getaway, and finished our evening by catching frozen yogurt with a few friends. So nice!
McCloud Trip, August 28, 2009
We had a very nice trip to the McCloud house a few weekends ago for Lilli's birthday. Met my parents up there, and Madison and Catie joined us on Saturday morming.
Saturday afternoon we did a little driving tour of the falls. We started at the Lower Falls, which you can see here. The water is mostly Mt. Shasta run off, so it's really cold even in the summer. Even so, there's usually someone brave enough to jump off the lower falls into the deep pool below. That day was just us and a few fishermen, so nobody jumping this time.
We met this little buddy at the Lower Falls scavenging for snacks. He hung out long enough to allow me to take this photo, then scurried away.
Mark is, as always, taking some beautiful nature photography as well. He got some great shots of the falls here, and some really neat panoramic shots later on in the trip.
The area around Mt. Shasta has traditionally been supported by logging. McCloud itself had its own mill. Occasionally you see downed trees, though it's not nearly as often as before.
Here's a pretty view of Mt. Shasta from the Middle Falls trail. Almost everywhere we go up here we can see the mountain. It's peaceful and majestic, and looks so vibrant in the fall. There's very little snow up there right now though, so it will be even more stunning in a few months.
Here's the gang, hiking the short trail in to Middle falls. We brought Lilli's dog Sweetie with us, and she was having the best day ever!
Here's middle falls, which we've visited before from a different angle. Last spring we hiked the half mile from lower falls to middle falls along the river, and we got some pictures of middle falls from the river level below it. Here we're above at the observation trail, and we got some great photos this time as well! Mark got the coolest of them with the nice camera though.
The bro and his lovely girlfriend Catie, who are absolutely 2 of my favorite people to spend time with. Cute as always.
Mom, Dad, Catie, and Madison getting a better look at the river along the trail.
We're not far from the area where I fell into a fire pit that was not completely extinguished and burned my hand when I was a child. The guy only covered his fire over with gravel, which is obviously very dangerous. You're required to fully extinguish camp fires in the mountains. The worst part was the guy was no more than 10 yards from the river, so getting water to pour on the fire was not a difficult task. Luckily, my parents thought fast and dunked my hand in the icy waters of the river, and wrapped my hand in fabric they kept soaked with cold water while they took me to the emergency room. If it weren't for this, my hand would have been badly scarred, but I've got almost none. There's just one tiny scar in the middle of my palm from this incident.
Here's mark snapping a shot at Upper Falls. It's so vivid and green out here that I always go home feeling filled up and refreshed. Plus, the air smells great up in the mountains, and especially near the moving water.
The majestic size of the pine trees reminds me of how small I am. The trees reach straight up and stand so firm and still. Nothing like going to the woods for a little perspective.
Nature is good. <3 The Upper falls aren't as drastic a jump as the others, but there are several areas of movement and action. This area has quite a few little patches of falling water, like this one. The water almost looks pretend in the camera lens, but in person it encompasses the entire area. The sound is vibrant, bright, and crisp, but still soothing and relaxing. Droplets of water are caught on the breeze created by the force of movement and mist onto your skin. The sun reflects off a million facets of the river. It's breathtaking.
Sweetie was definitely having the best day ever! She loves to walk outside, and was so caught up in her surroundings that she kept running into our feet. Look at that big grin on such a little sausage.
A little further up river is Lakin Dam, which has a completely different feel than just a few miles downhill. The water is still and smooth, which creates a feeling of calm along the back end of the dam.
I took this photo from off the top of the cement pathway along the edge of the dam. Let me tell you how focused I was on keeping my balance! I love the feeling of being close to the edge, but also don't enjoy the thought of falling several feet onto jagged rocks, then being soaking wet when I finally pull myself from the river. Being above the moving dam also makes you feel like the wall is constantly moving, so I only spent a few minutes up there. It was certainly worth it though!
My dad and brother were also atop the dam with me. Isn't the view great? They're looking off to the smooth side, but I also love the rushing water falling behind them.
Sweetie had a good hike, and so did we! But it was hot out. and we were all pretty tired. Time to go home!
Madison and I made dinner for everybody, Madison and Catie made dessert, we had a few drinks, and we all watched Benjamin Button. Such a nice mellow evening. :)
Here we are (except Mom and Dad) in front of the house on Sunday before starting our drives home. Thanks McCloud, we'll see you next time!