§ This and That...

1- This week, I'm sharing a 'tutorial - step by step guide' for adding photos from the soon to be defunct Picasa Web Photo Albums, if you need some ideas. Your photos for blogger will NEVER cease to exist [from Picasa], but as of March 15, all images uploaded to your blogger blog will go and be stored in Google Photos. Here's the link for a bit of help if you wish to use/reuse some of your 'old' photos stored in Picasa. 

2- I watched online at a free site the other day, the Oscar's Movie of the Year....SPOTLIGHT!!  Oh my goodness, what an outstanding movie.  Very worthy of the award in my opinion.  Base on a true story...with edge of your seat documentary form....from the eye opener subject, to the corrupt Catholic Church, the young children's abuse and rapes by priests [according to the Boston Globe....the youngest victim was 4 years old!!!]  Well done, tasteful, unbelievably sad.  I personally doubt that too much is being done to commit to those that were and STILL ARE victims in this....but it continues to astound me that such a thing exists.  Applauding the newspaper and the deceived [and their families] from the past and the research and reporters who opened up the conflict of church and parishioner children of all ages being physically and mentally tortured at the get go to adulthood of those lucky enough to survive and live to tell their story....living with this secret and being 'bought off' to keep quiet with the hierarchy and fortune of the church.  IT HAUNTS ME days after I watched the movie....one that will always be etched in my mind; unforgettable.

3- Weather changes... a rainy gray day. Went to the Post Office to ship to my sister her gift for our Sister's Day celebration coming up on the 18th of this month. Drove to Walmart [ugh, no other choice for what I was after], stopped at the used bookstore to peruse the shelves and trade in some books. Came home and made a batch of walnut brownies for Bud...it makes the house smell so good!! Then, after lunch I did some more coloring in my color books. Oh, I purchased another book a few weeks ago, all about coloring BIRDS. Each page has a color guide to help make them realistic. Lovin' that one!!

Left to right: Cedar Waxwing and Common Kingfisher [Old World, not found in the Americas]

4- Keeping an eye on the Spring Training Games!! Both the Cactus League and the Grapefruit League. There is always a bit of excitement and anticipation of the first 'crack' of the bat and baseball soaring to a home run status in April!! And, looking forward to it all. Speaking of sports, Peyton Manning [of the Denver Broncos] announced his retirement this week. Who, now, will be the starting quarterback for the 'home team'?

5- TODAY'S FLOWERS are on my tutorial, and I will share a bird on a fence this week!!

Pyrrhuloxia

§ Cats...

From my newest coloring book of cats and kittens, I tried to make this cat face look like the Oaxacan Art that is seen throughout the Southwest and Old Mexico!! I oftentimes just stood and looked at one of these pieces of sculptures/wood carvings at art galleries all over the villages and cities in the Sonoran Desert when we lived there, and marveled at the talent in carving/painting them!! Beautiful, colorful, works!! 

The Culture & History of Oaxaca...




Several of you [and that includes ME! ] have expressed in comments left for me  your opinion on the prices of the adult coloring books....as expensive. Yes, I agree. They ARE costly.


But....

§ Wordy...

In our local news, there is to be a new structure going up. The groundbreaking held Sunday, January 31st.

... claims it will be one of the tallest in the world. -It's gonna be the second largest  in the world.  The largest  in the world is in Madrid, Spain. It will be the largest in the western hemisphere. ...sitting on a foundation that's 38 feet octagon,  three feet deep with steel and concrete, has 24 piers that go 48 feet into the ground. So if it were to blow over, it would pull up about three acres of land with it.-

Okay, so I need to get a few things off my chest. First, why? Is it to 'outdo' everyone? For prestige, for egos...what? And then, why in this gawd-awful area?  Will it be beautified with landscaping or just out in the field? Why this particular design? Being that the city is Corpus Christi [the body of Christ]...then, why not a crucifix instead of just the simple construction? The new, proposed structure is a cross. It's touted to become the 2nd tallest cross in the world... It will stand at the height of 210 feet [64 meters]!! But I tend to remain in a quandary...why not a well designed crucifix to depict the city's moniker? Why build this across the interstate from all the beastly looking oil refineries instead of a more pristine area on the bluff, downtown, near the bay and parks? And, why go to the expense [estimated over 1 Million dollars]...when so many are homeless and needy in our country? It boggles my mind. But, what is my opinion worth? Zip, zilch, nada. The only thing I like is the concept, and I do hope in some way it will be lighted in the nighttime landscape.  The last thought would be the impact on religious beliefs and the reaction of the populace around the area/country...that remains to be seen/heard.

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Mentioning the adult coloring books in a previous post, I finished another with the colored pencils. Yes, I did not use the typical color of flesh -by that I mean the name 'flesh' is usually associated with the Caucasian persuasion- a Black Fairy? You betcha!! Why not? The flowers on this particular page reminded me of Foxglove blossoms...




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I changed my profile image, did you notice? An owl, for my blog title.


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The other day with the lyrics association with my photos and researching about what the psychological terminology is...if you missed it....when a song keeps running through your mind all day, the term is EARWORM. Again, researching this, the origin is from German, Ohrwurm. The word consists of 2 parts… das Ohr means the ear and der Wurm means the worm. The worm, an earwig, is an insect that crawls into your ear and in most cases has to be extracted. In modern English, a loose translation is a song, that you hear and once inside your mind, it is kind of hard to 'get it out again'… and this is exactly what these songs do to you. While reading about it and the science involved, I read about a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory [a popular American sit-com] and Sheldon was driving his roommates 'bananas' with humming a song that wouldn't leave his head. Watch it here: Sheldon's Earworm

In popular cultures, authors have used earworms in their writings...a slogan, repetitive words, things that get stuck in your head...or Mark Twain writing about jingles in The Literary Nightmare. So many times catch phrases are used and they oftentimes become earworms.   One time in history a catch phrase was used distract the Nazis. Interesting reading...

We've all struggled with it from time to time and most often wish we'd never listened in the first place. But now that I'm done sharing, allow me run a test:----------

--------- "Hootin' Anni's Hootin' Anni's Hootin' Anni's!!

§ Kits, Cats, Tales, and True....

It's been a while since last I blogged. The term is busy. Most days it's been filled with wonderful weather that I just do not want to be indoors. Altho, after our outings, I tend to sit down in the sun streaked dining room, at the dining room table, and color while winding down from our birding adventures. [one shown I tried to make it like the old Dutch 'delft' color shades] Today, clear skies tell me we're going to go to a birding hot spot [with reported 'excellent' birding opportunities on American Birding Association Texas' site] up north of Corpus about an hour from home. We plan to spend the entire morning there, walking along the river banks and the park. It will be a new area to explore. And the birds seen the last week or two include a lot of 'new' species I haven't had the chance to photograph. Wish me luck. A couple of days since I blogged, Bud and I have been trimming bushes/trees/plants in the yard!!

There have been several articles online that I have read as I wait for Bud to get up and get ready to 'face the day'. Some very interesting ones at that.

One: about the climate change. Now, I tend to disbelieve a lot of the hype about the actions of us humans creating the extremes, and this piece of work kinda explains just what I have thought/felt about it all. The very last paragraph, quoted by scientists who have studied the effects of the change....all summed up to what I've been thinking all along!

The Earth naturally cycles between cool glacial periods and warmer interglacial periods because of variations in its orbit around the sun. We currently are in an interglacial period, called the Holocene epoch, which began nearly 12,000 years ago.

For some thought... the highrise buildings within large cities do cause extreme heat to rise and create the extreme temps. It is the glass windows on the mufti-storied buildings around the world that reflect the sunlight and in turn the heat rays go back into the atmosphere...think:  Sunlight through a magnifying glass...what happens?. With, the natural climate change of earth revolving around the sun 'as the world turns'...this is probably not helping, but it's NOT the main reason. In other words, tho human-created in only PART, this 'heating up' is a natural occurrence, we are just living/witnessing the time of the interglacial period.

Two: Remember back in 'my day' learning meant to go to the school library or if your family was lucky enough to have them at home, we'd use encyclopedias? Like Britanica or other complete sets? With the internet, the learning processes now take us to Wikipedia....which is 15 years old this year!! The fun reading is a question asked "What does Wikipedia Mean to You?". So many have responded....and so many reflect our very own thoughts. Read some here.

Three: So I won't get carried away, the planets are lined up in the dawn sky this month! I woke up at dark-o-thirty on purpose this morning  And as I stated above, in hopes of having a clear sky... It was perfect.  So I traipsed outdoors in the dark just now and the planets are lined up east to west in the pre-dawn hour!  Amazing!! [note: this is not my photo! No copyright infringement intended]

image courtesy of Google Image search

Four: Latest news about my favorite TV program, NCIS....Tony [Michael Weatherly] is not going to return next season!!  After 13 years as Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, he chose to leave us.  How will they write his character out, y'wonder?  My mind is racing.  lol   A sad day in bedrock, tho.

Five:  Some photo shares for memes this latter part of the week....fences, critters and photo hunt [cat].





My pretty kitti....tahoe, while sleeping. But pay attention to the LAST photo. She, was becoming a bit disturbed at my interfering with her naptime, and tried to flip me off!!!!

§ Care to Color?

GOOD FENCES

I'm sure, unless you live under a rock, you've been seeing or reading about the newest craze for adults. Psychologically, they're supposed to be a healthy outlet of relieving stressors that interfere with the over-all health. I, on the other hand, think it's just something fun. Heck, I see crayons or colored pencils and like a force that draws me near...I doodle. I've always enjoyed the pastime. Coloring. So, for several months now, I've been wanting to get me one of those new 'popular' coloring books for adults....I bought two yesterday [one of fairies and the other an eclectic 'calming' one filled with different types of images to color in]. I'm now in the debate mode of what to buy...."fine tipped felt tipped markers" or "colored pencils". I'm leaning toward the latter since there are probably more variety of colors...after my appointment with my heart surgeon [the one who performed the stent placement last March], I will head to Hobby Lobby and/or Michaels. I've skimmed through the two books I purchased once I got back home and see there is quite a bit of detail and fine coloring to be done. At this point then, I'm leaning toward colored pencils for a second reason. If it becomes something enjoyable, in the future I may go back and buy a couple more books...I almost bought three since another one I really liked  was filled with all the Victorian, impressionist classics in art. Another that caught my interest was butterflies and birds. I look forward to the 'new' adventure on a wet rainy day that keeps me indoors!!

Speaking of "wet and rainy"...I started receiving hurricane alerts yesterday on my app! In January? Yes indeed!!! There is quite a large storm out there in the Atlantic. An 'out of season' storm.  I really don't think, by the path graphics, that he'll make landfall...but so unusual.   He's been named Alex.

Oh ya....I wanted to mention.....I'm a winner of the Powerball Lottery.  Really, you say?  Yep.  I got the PB #.  That's $4.00 I think, isn't it?  I'd much rather it stay in the pot to build it up to the billion mark again in a few months.  They can keep my winnings.  lol