Month: November 2009

Karen go *bonk*

I have this nasty little problem.

I fall down.

I’m a faller.

‘Tis true. I don’t know why this is, I just seem to have a propensity for one moment standing, next moment I’m a tornado of arms and legs and I’m startled to be laying on the ground.

I’ve had times in my life when it was really, really bad. Especially right after I’d first moved to California.

I am a sensitive kid, and I do tend to get a little sensory overloaded. Moving to California all by my little lonesome could quite handily be filed under “a skosh overwhelming”.

In the first six months I lived here, almost daily I either locked my keys in the car or fell down, or both.

It usually happens when I’m a little too much up in my head, not feeling grounded, not paying attention.

The last big fall I took was last December. So see, I’m doing pretty good! I mean, I hardly ever fall down anymore.

I had a really smokin’ No Fall streak going…until Saturday.

There I was at the day field trip for my photography class. I was feeling *so* great because I was getting some amazing shots, feeling all artistic, and yes, I’ll say it, a little smug and self-satisfied with myself.

And so as I was leaving the Rodin Sculpture garden to scale the concrete steps leading into the Cantor Arts Center, I was smiling to myself, feeling happy, folding up my tripod, bopping along and then, as fate will do, I missed the top step, bobbled, and fell.

My tripod went clattering. My knee hit first, then my elbow, then my chin (oooh, took it on the chin!).

Then, somehow, gravity took over from its old friend momentum, and my legs were then flung askew and above me.

As The Good Man says, “When you can see the sky between your shoes, it’s not going to be a good day.”

I had the definite sensation that I was going to go clank-clanking down all the stairs. And I knew that would be a bad thing.

So I’m not sure what I did, but I was able to clench, or grab or lean or something, but I stopped my downward thunking progression.

*sigh*

I got myself upright again, and sat on that step, midway down the approximately fifteen-stair set of steps, and just…stopped.

I gazed out on the Rodin Sculpture Garden and shook my head.

And sighed.

My tripod was several feet away, my backpack was laying in the opposite direction, and the camera around my neck was still there, but the telephoto part of my very nice lens was stuck at an odd angle.

If I were skiing, they refer to that as a “yard sale.”

Thankfully, only my pride was seriously hurt.

Sorry for the angle up the ol’ double cannons there. At least I don’t have crazy nose hair!

As Promised

A couple days ago, I alluded to a scouting trip to the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford University.

I am taking a photography class and Saturday morning, we had a day field trip that included the Cactus Garden, the mausoleum where Leland Stanford, his wife and child are laid, the Rodin Sculpture Garden at the Cantor Arts Center (I *love* Rodin scupltures!), and the New Guinea Sculpture Garden.

It was an unbelievable day of shooting, getting one-on-one instruction from my wonderful teacher, Marty Springer, and trading ideas and stories with fellow classmates.

For the photography buffs, we were working on both depth of field and exposure compensation all day. For some of the subjects, I took photo after photo trying to find an f-stop that suited me. Oh and the exposure compensation too! A whole new world of better photos has hit me square on!

Next weekend, we do a night shoot where we’ll learn about working with light.

Anyhow, below are a couple shots. I took about 350 photos that day. Whew! I put up an online gallery of about 48 of the better shots so my mom, mom-in-law and husband could see what I was up to. You are welcome to take a look as well.

Enjoy!

(click image to view full size)

I took the plunge

Yup. I waited and waited and finally the persimmon I’d picked and brought inside became ripe. “Like a soft tomato” I’d read was the desired state.

I sliced it open, and gave ‘er a shot.

It tastes something like a creamy melon. Normally, “melon” wouldn’t be a flavor I like.

But in this case, I found it to be delicious! Still a bit of tannin, but not uncomfortably so.

Nice!

And *then* I read that eating too much persimmon can cause something really fun called a bezoar! Hooray!

Life is like that sometimes

Well now, isn’t she a pretty little flower, blushing in the sun?

(click to see full size)

Who would have figured she would be hanging around with a prickly fellow like this?

(click to see full size)

Life is just like that, I suppose! :)

Photos taken by Karen Fayeth (with my iPhone) at the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford University.

This was a scouting trip. Stay tuned, there may be more photos taken with a better camera on the way!

Biscuit Monster

So, now that we’ve gone and cancelled our cable, we live at the whims of what’s available on the public airwaves.

This means that I’ve been watching a lot more PBS lately. There’s some really fascinating stuff on there!

So I watched, with moist salivary glands, a show called “Everyday Baking.”

Host John Barricelli makes some naughty baked things on that show, and the recipes seem pretty easy.

I told The Good Man that I’d watched the show and was going to try my hand at making homemade biscuits.

That grown man, in a full Cookie Monster voice, said “biscuits?”

This morning, I printed out the recipe and placed it on the counter. I will make them later today to be ready for weekend breakfasts.

Every time The Good Man walked by the counter while getting ready for work and spotted the recipe, I heard “biscuits?!?”

He opened the fridge, “hon, why is there a bunch of cut up butter in here?”

“That’s for the biscuits, they said the butter needs to be cold and in small chunks.”

“Biscuits!?!?”

As he kissed me goodbye for the day, he bounced on the balls of his feet and uttered one last, “biscuits!?!?”

Oh man, with such Cookie Monster passion about these biscuits, now I’m sort of scared. What if they turn out like flour-y hockey pucks?

GAH THE PRESSURE!

Then again, I bought sausage to make sausage gravy. Just about anything tastes ok covered in sausage gravy.