Saturday, July 10, 2010
Posted at 8:13:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Fish of the Week! Actually, I drew a whole bunch of butterflyfish, kind of slackily, trying out different shapes and patterns, but Tinker's is going to be the official fish, since 1) It's the least slackily drawn, and B) Tinker's Butterflyfish is the coolest butterflyfish. The rest of my drawings are pretty cute/interesting, though, so here's the whole thing. As you can see, I was too lazy to color in most of them.
I don't really like butterflyfish that much, other than Tinker's (and Pyramid Butterflies are pretty cool, too... and Longnose...). I'm not sure why, exactly. It's not that I hate them or anything; I'm just not very interested in them. I don't like the shape or something. Ha, the book says, "If there were a typical coral reef fish, it would probably be a butterflyfish." I guess that answers the question!
There are approximately 130 butterflyfish species, and 23 occur regularly in the Hawaiian islands. There's quite a bit of variation in the patterns (far more than I've drawn here... I just fixated on these few species because that's the way I am). We see threadfin butterflyfish a lot (I am not fond of them, but the way their pattern fits together is interesting), and raccoon butterflyfish. The book says the milletseed butterflyfish is Hawaii's most abundant butterflyfish. I don't notice them too much, but they are pretty cute. I like the pattern on the side, which is what drew me to try to draw it. [Edit: Here's a large version of my milletseed so you can see the details better. Not the official FOTW, though!]
I also like longnose butterflyfish (lauwiliwili nukunuku `oi`oi), because they have those great noses. The best ones are the rare black version of the big longnose butterflyfish (big longnose and regular longnose look pretty similar, but one is slightly bigger and has a longer snout). It's always exciting to see one of those. They look like a 2-D shadow fish! Pyramid butterflyfish are also nice looking, but my attempts at drawing one turned out goofy!
Almost all butterflyfish have a dark bar through their eye, disguising it. Some even have a false eyespot on the tail. (That makes it hard to draw a fish picture, since the eye is key to the fish's personality!) One of the exceptions is my favorite butterfly, Tinker's Butterflyfish. The book says, "Beautiful and rarely seen, Tinker's Butterflies are a treasured find in Hawaii." On one of our very first dives, right after we got certified, the divemaster (crazy fish tattoo guy) herded a Tinker's Butterflyfish from the depths so we could see it at 130 feet; I saw it but Dean didn't, because he had to go up to equalize. They prefer depths of 150 feet or more, and 130 feet is the max depth allowed for recreational divers. (I didn't realise it at the time, but plenty of divers who have been diving for years and years have never gone to 130 feet, but I did it on one of my first dives, and we do it quite often on our shore dives since we never thought it was a big deal.) Anyway, I always remembered how the divemaster stressed that seeing a Tinker's Butterflyfish was super-cool and special, so clearly the FOTW butterflyfish has to be a Tinker's. You can tell by the look on his face that he's cool and he knows it.
Okay, next time, we are on to the Cs!
Friday, July 09, 2010
Yummm! The Chaplin blueberries are tart!! Current fav blueberries in refrigerator!
Posted at 8:41:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
"Oh, we'll kill the old red rooster when she comes!"
Posted at 12:16:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm at the North End Farmers' Market in Middletown (1st time I've ever been to one on the mainland!) and the band is playing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" and "76 Trombones"! I clapped really loud at the end of the song and got other people to clap, too! (They can't even see me, since I'm sitting around the corner.) Got produce from 4 dif farms. Ha!! The tuba guy just started and all the kids exclaimed "Tuba!" and went running!
This is SO awesome! It's pretty tiny (just stretches along the wide sidewalk in front of ION Market), but still great! There are six different local farms (all from different towns), plus a baked goods table by O'Rourke's, guest restaurant and guest vendor (handmade hoola hoops!) of the week, and the band. I got tomatoes, peaches, pattypan squash, and blueberries (from Chaplin Farms), plus a Jamaican beef patty and Ting to consume now. Beckett Farm was on the far end, and I told them that I already had their blueberries from Draghi, and asked if their farm was next to the Old Cider Mill. They were all surprised that I knew about that, and especially surprised when I commented about their huge rhubarb patch. (I explained that I used their driveway to turn around one time, and marvelled at the fantastic grove of rhubarb. You can't really see it from the road.) Also, they said those small, extra-tart berries at the beginning of the season are a different breed (from different blueberry bushes). Wow! I didn't know that. The only farms I didn't buy anything from were Rose's and Beckett.
This band totally reminds me of The Band! Now they're doing "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"! I LOVE it!!! They also did a great rendition of "This Old Man." I put a dollar in their tip basket when I was leaving, and said, "You guys are great! You remind me of The Band!" but only one guy nodded like he knew what I was talking about and the others were all like, "The Band??" One guy joked that maybe they'd steal that name!!! Wow, they really need a musical education!
While I was eating my JBP and drinking my Ting at a table in the shade in front of ION Market, the North End Action Team woman in charge of organizing the market came over and talked to me! She was young and was really nice. She wanted to know how I found out about the market, and I told her O'Rourke's posted about it on Facebook, then added that she should have a Facebook page for the market. She said NEAT does have a FB page, but that maybe they should add one for the market specifically.
Also, when I visited the O'Rourke's table, the O'Rourke's guy knew who I was from FB and said that Tina (the person who does O'Rourke's FB posts) had said to look for me since I said I would be coming to the market. She was away from the table, but I went back again later and she was all happy to meet me in person, since I post comments on her posts and photos all the time. She was really nice, too! It was great to see the real person behind all those O'Rourke's posts. [Ha, this entry is so anti-linear...]
Here's the photo I took of the market when I first arrived. The woman in the center of the picture with the camera slung around her neck is the market's organizer. You can see my car parked at the end of the line of cars in the street. :-) It was such a beautiful day. Hot, but so so pretty. I kept staring and staring at the beautiful sky. I almost didn't want to go home because once I got inside I wouldn't be able to see that sky anymore.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Good grief, the next Fish of the Week chapter is on butterflyfish, and there are 21 different species in the book! Too many!
Posted at 11:10:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
First corn on the cob of the year, from Cold Spring Brook Farm! It was very very tender. Yum. I also got another 1/2 pint raspberries, and a cuke. It's cucumber weather. Suder's raspberries are tons better than the seeds-like-rocks ones from SoGlas. This morning I had a big bowl of blueberries, apricot slices, and banana slices, and tonight I had a big bowl of blueberries, raspberries and Simmons Family Farm vanilla yogurt. This is the best time of the year. I wore my new skirt, and it's extremely cool and comfortable. It's a little wrinkle-prone, but not too bad. I love looking down and seeing all those fish with deranged expressions on their faces. I am behind on my Fish of the Week again, however.
Posted at 10:10:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Oh yes, when I was at Cold Spring Brook Farm, I noticed a sign on the wall that says it was preserved by a conservation easement funded by Connecticut Farmland Trust & USDA-NRCS Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, December 30, 2004. That made me so happy that I'd donated to American Farmland Trust. Next time my donation will go straight to Connecticut Farmland Trust, though! Way to go, CFT!
I have to get up early tomorrow because I want to check out the North End Farmers' Market in front of It's Only Natural market. It's from 10-2 and the good stuff probably goes early. Eeek!
[Edit: Here's the fish skirt in action. Sorry these photos are a little grainy; it was the best I could do on the Berlin Turnpike. It's kind of strange that you can't even see the fish pattern from a distance/in less than optimal lighting and the skirt just looks like it's orange and green stripey. Sneaky.]
I sewed an entire skirt while Dean was taking a nap! I think it took me around 2 hours. I already had the muslin cut out that I was going to use to line the previous skirt, but didn't, so I used that as the pattern and it was tons quicker than having to make up the pattern from scratch (obviously). I used this batik fish sarong that I bought at the old ION Market (before it moved and turned into the new horrible ION Market) because I loved the colors and design. I always intended to use it to make a skirt, but never was quite what kind. It's really great fabric, with a pale orange background and oranger orange fish transforming to green fish. Pretty similar colors to the This I painted at Paint This!, actually. Anyway, I will take a picture. Since it's kind of thin/non-opaque fabric, and I had a large piece, I used two layers of the same thing. I also used the finished edge of the fabric as the bottom edge of the skirt, like I did with my ruffle on my previous skirt. Heh heh. I love that technique, since I haaaate finishing off edges. I was good and finished all the inside edges, though, so nothing's unravelly.
Posted at 12:51:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Posted at 2:31:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Time is going so slowly today, and I looooove it. I feel like I'm on vacation. It's like an endless summer afternoon. I'm so relaxed, and I love the heat. It's not humid at all, so it's not like a yucky Maryland ugly-sky heat. It's bakey and soaky-inny. The sky is a soft soft dreamy blue and filled with gentle white fluffy clouds and there's a nice little breeze. I love walking outside from the air conditioning and feeling it embrace me. I love love love the feeling of not being cold, so much. It's so deeply relaxing and happy-making. If I had a Twitter account (no fear of that happening), I'd be writing a million posts with the hash tag #ilovesummer to cancel out all those #ihatesummer ones. Mmmmmm. Summersummersummer. It's so the best time of the year. I wouldn't like this super-hot weather (near 100 yesterday and today) if I had to work outside in it and get a huge brain boil, but I don't.
Yesterday I went to Draghi (I just couldn't wait, after my blueberry farm dream) and got So. Glas blueberries and apricots and this beautiful Swiss chard. I picked out the bunch in the front (I put it in front for the photo) because it's ALB-colored! And then last night I made a blueberry clafoutis (half from Draghi--I assume Beckett's--and half Rose's from Berruti's) and it was goooooooood, both hot out of the oven and cold this morning. Dean helped me devour some last night. I used milk this time and it formed yummy layers. Mmmmmm. The best part of the whole year is Blueberry Time through Tomato Time.
I had the most amazing dream ever last night. I can't really remember it, but it was so beautiful and full of wonder. In it, I was kneeling on my bed looking out my bedroom window (but it wasn't my real bedroom window) into the night and seeing all this endless indescribably fantastical stuff passing by down below. It went on and on and on. And the night was such a deep soft black...
Posted at 12:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, July 05, 2010
I had an endless dream this morning (okay, afternoon) about a blueberry farm.
Posted at 5:01:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
We figured out what to do in between checking out of the hotel and arriving at David's: Toy Story 3 at the little Arlington Courthouse courtyard theatre! It was so great, I was hiding behind my hands during the scary parts (peeking out, of course) and shaking during the sad parts, of which there were lots. So emotional! Love LOVE. First we walked to breakfast at Cosi, which was also great (not on a Toy Story 3 level of greatness, but just regular old great) because I really like Cosi but we rarely go to the one in West Hartford since it's sort of a pain. I had my fav Cosi signature salad and smoked turkey-brie-mustard Cosibread sandwich.
Traffic wasn't bad at all driving to Greenbelt from Arlington. We saw lots of people already camped out picnicking in the grassy parts along the road that had a good view of the Mall downtown, even though it was only about 3:15 and the fireworks weren't going to be for another six hours! Wow, that takes commitment. I also thought it was pretty cool to see the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial out the window on Independence Day. :-)
Even though we were sort of late since the trailers for Toy Story 3 started when the movie was supposed to start, we were the first ones to get to David's, other than some neighbors who were hanging out. David introduced me to one guy in the kitchen and he asked, "Is this your niece?" Heh. (Well, David had probably told him that his nieces were coming.) David said, "No, this is my sister who looks like me." :-) Then he told the guy about how people always assume my high school graduation photo (which he has framed in a room somewhere) is a picture of him. There was lots of highly delicious food at the picnic and I was amazed by how laid-back June's dog Locksley was, with all those tempting smells around! He just chilled out with his bowl of water near Dean and didn't try to steal or beg or anything. (And no, Dean didn't have his nose buried in his laptop for the whole party... he just snuck in a little work in the beginning before the food came out.) I ate two hot dogs and three (or was it four?) strips of Korean barbecued ribs. It was like a month's worth of meat for me! Hunter was inside most of the time playing with his new Wii because he had his friend over (plus he hurt his knee at camp so he was sort of out of commission) but he did try to make people go on a very bizarre Easter egg hunt on the lawn (?!). Only Jan and I agreed to do it. The eggs were all in plain sight except for the "golden egg," a softball that was worth 20 regular eggs. Jan slacked like crazy and only collected one egg (ha! so great!), but she found the golden egg. However, I was industrious and picked up 46 eggs or something like that, so I still won. The prize was a very strange tiny doll that Hunter had made at camp. Isn't it fantastic? I got to keep it! David pointed out that it's kind of like a miniature Buggy Girl. Very true.
The fireworks were so great! I suggested that Hunter bring his Apple To Apples, Jr. so we could play it while hanging around waiting for them to start, and Jan, Joe, Hunter, his friend (a girl), Dean, and I played. We all had fun, although it wasn't as good as the non-Jr. version! (Kids probably don't know most of those famous people, etc., in the regular version, though.) The sour tongues and Yeahs that I brought to share all disappeared quite quickly, and of course I made everyone ask for and accept the Yeahs the proper way. :-) Jan also brought delicious caramels! ♥ The twilight sky was red (well, pink) and blue striped. June and Sam wimped out and didn't go to the fireworks, and Jan and Joe were going to abandon ship, too (I couldn't believe everyone was trying to bail on fireworks!!) but I sensed they were wavering and begged them to come, and they were glad they did (Jan even said so!). They were definitely the best fireworks we can remember seeing. So many had long trails that fell so slowly out of the sky, like a hundred slow-motion shooting stars raining down. We were sitting close to Greenbelt Lake, and they were right overhead, filling our entire field of vision. We could feel falling ash tickling our arms. Marilou was was hit on the head by a small firework shell but agreed it was the best display. They weren't overly loud, but there were enough where you could feel the explosion deep in your chest. ♥ I really love fireworks. I was relaxed and happy and kept just looking up up up and involuntarily grinning.
Afterwards, back at David's, Jan and Joe left for home but the rest of us ate watermelon and made s'mores (on SkyFlakes instead of graham crackers, of course!). We left at our pre-planned time, 11:00, to drive to Tipton and fly home in the cool of the night. Shortly after we took off, we could see what looked like a big misshapen orange fire just above the horizon. We both asked,
"What IS that?!" It turned out to be the moon, which was slowly rising, and partly obscured by a cloud.
There was an American Top 40 special on XM about the Top 40 recording acts of the 70s, and we got to listen to it all the way home! Good old Casey Kasem! ♥ It was a very mellow show. We tried to guess who some of the top acts would be, and did pretty well (although I was sure the Bee Gees would be #1, and they turned out to be #2... Elton John was #1). We got back at 2:43 AM and I think the show ended at 2:30. So perfect! There were so many cool lights below as we flew away from the D.C. area, and we even saw some fireworks in Queens at 1:50 AM (???!!). What the heck, New York! That's pretty crazy. Great 4th of July, all around.
