Shrink Yourself!

Aha! Look what I found in my Apophysis folders. It looks kind of like one of those ink blot tests, don't you think? What do you see when you look at it? First I saw a butterfly but the longer I looked at it, the more it started to look like a tick to me. Yuck. Now it looks more like a waterfall. Yes, definitely a waterfall. Maybe that's because I have waterfalls on my mind because I'm going on a trip (tomorrow) where I get to see a waterfall I've been wanting to see again for a while. Yay!

I will be gone for about 9 days on my yay trip. So I'm leaving you some homework. :-P Look at the "ink blot" and tell me what you see & why you think you see it. "Shrink" yourself!

Waterfall, here I come!

tagged

I got tagged by auntsissyfaye so here are the rules:

"Each player must post these rules first
Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves
People tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules
At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to tag and list their names
Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they are tagged and to read your blog"

So here goes, eight random facts.

1. I collect rocks.
2. I love landscaping...digging in the earth, smelling the earth, sculpting it and getting earth all over me, then washing it off--the whole experience. I LOVE that. Dirt is cool. I guess you could say I like getting dirty! Ha! First thing I'm going to do when I get well is play in the dirt. Yeah!
3. I like to peel lemons and eat them, just like that. Yummy. (Hmm...Note to self: buy lemons)
4. When I was a kid, the boy next door feed me some really good cookies that he said were loaded with calcium. He was right about the calcium. But the cookies were...dog biscuits. :\
5. I was known as "the Bird Lady" because I was a breeder and had so many aviaries. So whenever someone found a baby that fell out of the nest or injured birds, they took them straight to me. Not all of them were wild birds. People buy exotic birds and get fed up with the noise, the mess, the demands and responsibility of owning a bird and just open the cage and let them go, indifferent to the fact that most of these birds will not survive for reasons I won't list. If they made it to my house, they struck gold. I love, love, love birds.
6. I like shiny objects. Heh. Seriously, I do. :-)
7. When I was 14, I broke my arm showing off for the football team doing a series of cartwheels. Am I cool or what? Don't answer that question. :-P
8. I like fractals. Bet that was a big surprise.

Whew! I thought I'd never come up with eight things. I'm so glad it was only eight, how cool is that? :-)

Now I'm supposed to pick eight people and tag them but I am not that assertive, so...how 'bout somebody surprise me and write a list of eight facts about themselves? I'd love to read them. But nobody is obligated.

Smooches!

Oops, almost forgot. The above fractal was made with Fractal Explorer.

one man's trash, another man's treasure

One of the neighbors had done some yard work and left this at the street for maintenence to pick up. I thought, what an very interesting pile of old vines and I was thoroughly enjoying the colors and textures and every little twist and turn of them when it occurred to me how strange I must look standing there in the road just staring like that. But I wasn't nearly done looking at them! Yeah, I'm funny like that. So I went home and got the camera. Ha!

Wouldn't it be fun to make a sculpture with those vines? They already were a work of art, just as nature made them. Sigh. I really miss having a camera. Good times, good times. :-p

a taste of Mississippi weather

This picture was taken about 20 years ago on the drive back from a visit to Vicksburg, MS. I was used to severe weather but this cloud made me a bit nervous. A vivid memory. The picture doesn't do it justice but it can still give you a taste of how threatening and ominous this cloud was. The side of the road we were on was blue skies and sunshine but the left...wow...I don't think I'd ever seen such an intimidating cloud before. We snapped a picture out of the car window and prayed that a tornado wouldn't drop out of it. It looked so heavy, it was hanging so low to the ground--I didn't know it was possible for a cloud to hang that low, especially as full of water as this one was. When it did finally break there was a heavy downpour so we had to pull over to the side of the road because you couldn't see to drive. Then it ended abruptly and gave birth to a beautiful rainbow rather than the tornado we expected. What a great storm!

yesterdays

But I won't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive

Duran Duran, Ordinary World
The fractal was created with Apophysis and Fractal Explorer

happiness is the sound of bubbles popping in your ears

Sorry this is not a perfect image, the scanner turned the bubbles a blue tint and made the colors odd so use that wonderful imagination that you have and see this with white, crisp bubbles and smooth baby skin.....but mainly, I hope you feel the delight and the thrill of a new thing. Life through the eyes of a child is priceless and I must confess, I never outgrew that. I hope I never do. She was wiggling her fingers unconciously to the sounds of the bubbles popping in her ears and so excited.

I know I have been posting things other than my usual fractals but I am in a different space right now. Just enjoying many memories and sharing them with you. I hope you enjoy them.

becoming

Never judge a book by it's cover.....Nessun Dorma performed by a mobile phone salesman from Wales.

This brought me to tears almost immediately, it moved me beyond words. A complete unexpected...not only because of the genuinely humble nature of the man singing...but certainly not something I expected to see on one of these "Simon" shows. The video is not long, yet long enough to tell the story of this man and his dream beyond selling mobile phones...and one of the greatest songs I love performed in such a powerful way.

Ah, enough words. I do hope you listen to this. There is beauty unexpected all over the earth just waiting to be recognized. Sometimes that beauty is hidden right before your eyes. Perhaps in the mirror. Have I told you lately you are beautiful?

P.S. Thank you Serena Joy for showing me how to post a video.

life is like a banyan tree, root and branches are one

So was I once a swinger of birches;
And so I dream of going back to be.
It's when I'm weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig's having lashed it open.
I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.

Robert Frost, Birches

i remember when

...happiness was a bowl of fresh grapes

a rerun?

Made with Fractal Explorer. Once again, I don't know if I have already posted this one. But I like it. It's like a psycho-psychedelic tiger scream. Appropriate for the day.

...............................................

I'm losing ground
Well, you know how this world can get you down
And I'm made of clay
I feel I'm the only one who thinks this way

I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this

(NIN, I Do Not Want This)

playing with bubbles

yolk

Fractal Explorer with Texture, Upside down

Am I rightside up or upside down?
Is this real or am I dreaming?

Dave Matthews, (I can't remember the name of the song...)

Fractal Explorer with Texture

Fractal Explorer

an invasion of teeny tiny space ships!

click on the image

I've been meaning to see what a grand julian looked like made into a bubble. I like it.

wood, paper or fabric

This is not exactly the prettiest of fractals but it is one that has always made me pause and wonder. The first thing I wonder is why on earth I have kept it. Then I find myself wondering things like, what is it that this reminds me of? And, does this image look like weakness or strength? Like something that is beginning to tear or something torn that is almost healed? What do you think?

In Memory of Brian

Thank you for all that you have done for me and taught me since I met you. The wisdom have shared with me will continue to guide me throughout the rest of my life.
You will be missed by many. In loving memory, W. H.
1954-2007

Fractal Explorer

I had fun making this.

belated update: fun with lumbar punctures!

I think I will name this fractal, The Ribbon of Life and put it's shadow on my Shocking Oliviah blog.

Oh yes, the update on my neurological adventures. I think I will write about it in the comments since Blogger eats my posts like candy. But first, I better post it's shadow on the other blog before I forget.

Smooches