Up!

Hey, remember that movie "Up"?

Well it looks like someone may have watched it a few too many times:

This totally made my day!  It's only a few blocks from my work, I think I'll check tomorrow and see if it's still there...

Summer Reading

Few things make me happier than a big ol' pile of books to read, so naturally I signed up for Powell's Books "Indiespensible" program; a new book shipped to me every 6 weeks plus assorted other goodies.  Info to be found here.  When I got back from camping this weekend I had these waiting for me:

Love love love!  Two books and a magazine, plus an author interview.  The fact that these are reading materials that I most likely wouldn't have picked for myself make them particularly exciting.  If you need me, you'll find my nose in a book.  Whee!

Homemade conditioner

I really like the idea of making my own everyday stuff, but lack of time/energy often prevents it.  However today I made my second batch of homemade hair conditioner.  It's ridiculously easy to do; all in all it takes less than 10 minutes.  I was inspired by this article.  I've made a few changes, namely I'm only using xantham gum as I couldn't find guar gum at my co-op.  Here's my recipe:

2/3 cup of water
1 tsp xantham gum
1 tsp olive oil
a few drops of tea tree oil
a few drops of "sacred altar" essential oil

Add all ingredients to a blender and mix for about a minute.  Ta-da!

This seems to be about the perfect sized batch to last me about a month.  I wouldn't want any more than that as I don't want it to go rancid.  Next time I'll try using an herbal tea instead of plain water, or I'll pick up a new essential oil from the store.  Now I need to try making my own shampoo!

Chilean sky

So my dad is off in Chile installing a cloud/sky camera he designed and built, in the Andes at CTIO alongside the telescope there.  He sent me a link of some pictures that his partner has uploaded, and they are amazing!  Here they are: http://pandalewis.smugmug.com/Other/Chile-2011/17510066_Q43VcW#1332682037_2MM3Sgm-A-LB

I have to say I'm both envious and extremely proud of my dad for having the opportunity and skills to do such a thing.  And he gets to see the night sky in a way that probably very few of us will have the chance too, due to atmospheric conditions, light pollution, never ending clouds, etc. etc.  I've been fortunate enough to be on the Big Island of Hawaii where it's also possible to see the night sky so clearly that it seems fake, or just alien; it weighs down on you, you're conscious of breathing it in, and you have a hard time looking away.  Living in a city makes it easy to forget how powerful and beautiful nature is.  I don't know how many more years I can live in Portland.  Perhaps the grass is just greener... or maybe I'm just an Earth-mother hippy at heart.

Star light, star bright

One thing about living in a city that is overcast for around 9 months a year is that I've pretty much forgotten what the stars look like.  I miss the stripe of the Milky Way, hunting for constellations, and feeling humbled by the magnitude of the heavens.  When I was in third grade I briefly entertained the idea of becoming an astronomer, until I realized that it was probably too solitary of an occupation for my liking, not to mention the heavy math.  So since I can't have the real stars, I hunted around on Etsy for things that reminded me of them.

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4de861df94d16d913040df97/starry-starry-night

It's inspiring looking at the things others have crafted.  Perhaps I'll find some additional inspiration while camping this weekend, provided the weather cooperates.

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

The Hobbit movie news!  Jackson announced his first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released December 2012, with The Hobbit: There and Back Again out in December 2013.  Woot!  Here's a fun behind the scenes video:



I will be there opening night!