It's kind of mesmerizing

Yes, it's been forever and a day. Here is a fun video of everything I've been up to. Ever. (Well, anything I've taken a picture of since starting my Flickr account. That's close to 'ever') Partly to make up for my blog absence, but mostly because it's a fun video.

You can make your own at Pummelvision. It takes about two minutes to set up, then you just wait for them to put it all together. Good times.

P.S. If Chuck is one of your guilty pleasures, doesn't this make you think of the intersect? No? Just me watching? K.

Summer Sprouts

The cat thermometer tells me that its a bit hot here today.

On the positive side, my poor little balcony-bound tomato plants are loving the warm weather, as long as I keep remembering to water them on those days we aren't blessed with an afternoon rainstorm.  I even have my first wee tomato.



There really is a tomato there!  See?



So far, it's the only one, but I have hopes for those little yellow blossoms.

Other areas of my little urban garden are producing crops, too.  The basil patch seems to have sprouted a giraffe.


This is the Giraffe (rav link) pattern from Itty Bitty Toys by Susan B. Anderson.



He is a cutie.  I think my favourite part are the little horns, complete with pom-pom toppers.


The yarn is Peer Gynt, in giraffe-perfect colours.  Aside from the yarn substtitution, I made no pattern modifications.  This is the second creature I've made from this book.  The first was this little guy.



He was also a lot of fun to knit up, and has since moved to Calgary to be best friends with a new little girl named Kathleen.

Not quite one year later

[Insert standard “Sorry it’s been so long” explanation and apology here]

It’s summer again, and for the first time in about three years, we are getting a true summer, with all of the H’s well-represented.  Hot, hazy, humid galore.  We’re already four days into a heat alert, topped with a smog alert.  Air conditioners are chugging away earnestly, exchanging hot drips of water outside for cool, dry air inside.  This is one time when I truly appreciate the luxuries of artificiality.

As the anniversary of last year’s European cruise approaches, so do I approach only about the mid-point of editing all of the pictures I took on that trip.  I'm hoping to maybe be able to finish the editing before I hit the day we arrived in Venice.  Here are some of the pictures so far, anyway.  Not quite one year later.