Two-headed dog?
Luca and Gida, Play 08, originally uploaded by Bgrax
No, this is not a two-headed dog, but it certainly looks like one at first glance. What a great optical illusion! More than that, it just begs for a story. This is the comment I left:
I love this! To me, the lighting looks like the soft glow of TV and makes me see a story. Luca and Gida were playing tug, but something on the TV caught their attention. They paused, mid-tug, and their jaws dropped in amazement.
What did they see?
Feel free to chime in below in the comments. 
I really enjoy Bgrax’s photos and in seeing them wish I’d learned how to shoot on a film camera first. A friend loaned me a Yashica 35mm camera and a bunch of lenses while I was in high school, and that’s what really got me hooked. My great uncle and aunt bought me a Minolta X-370 as a high school graduation gift. Finally, in about 1997, Howie and I bought a Canon Rebel G.
Still, though I have always had a good eye, I never had the technical expertise to get the images out of the camera that I saw in my head. Not only that, I never knew why some of my shots came out well and why others were duds.
I have no formal training. It wasn’t until I started shooting digital and having that instant feedback that I learned how, for instance, the use of aperture can take an okay shot and make it sing.
So, when I see someone who has mastered film like this, it makes me feel both wowed and wistful.
New goodness to read: Homemade Grits
I found a new (to me) blog yesterday, Homemade Grits. Lesley and her husband Sam are expecting a baby girl, Matilda. Soon! :) I stumbled upon her blog while doing a search for something I’d seen on CBS Sunday Morning. She has a whole entry about the show and I was drawn right in. I really enjoy reading her observations about things. I don’t even know her, but I’m excited for her and Sam!
I wish her and her growing family all good things. When you visit, please click on some of her ads, okay? Let’s just call it a virtual baby shower from me and my merry little band of well-wishers.
Anyway…Something she wrote about really piqued my interest tonight. In talking about redecorating their home office, she showed a photo of bookshelves arranged in color blocks and linked to the original article about the idea. Wow, did it catch my eye!
Now, it might make it a little hard to find anything, but it would look fabulous, so who cares?
It’s rare that I read the majority of my fiction titles more than once unless I really loved them. And my beautiful assortment of gardening reference books collect dust since it is so much easier to go online for the latest information about any given subject or project. But there they sit, survivors of good-intentioned office purgings.
Maybe if I arranged them by color, I could justify my unwillingness to give them away: “But they’re part of a theme, honey…They’re, uh, they ARE the decor in here!”
Either that or dedicate the worst day of PMS each month to the task of downsizing.
Go, Shelly-Ann, go!
Howie and I have been watching the 2008 Summer Olympics about every night since Friday. Tonight it was with pure pleasure that we watched Shelly-Ann Fraser burn up the women’s 100M race, winning by a whole body’s length.
What made it so utterly enjoyable was the unbridled excitement and joy in her face when she realized she had it!
We laughed as we saw her leaping and dancing on the track, alternately embracing or waving the Jamaican flag, photographers trying to keep up with her as they snapped shots. It was just that fun.
At one point, she lay down flat on her back, kicking her feet in the air with glee. It just tickled us to see her so excited.
This wasn’t the cocky grandstanding seen so often in pro football after a touchdown. This was pure, childlike jubilation, totally refreshing. It just made my day!
Way to go, Shelly-Ann! Don’t ever lose that…Keep having fun and loving what you do!
Dave’s Garden people are the best!
Dave’s Garden people are the best! Howie and I have known this for a long time, since 2001 as a matter of fact. When Howie had his life-changing back surgery at Johns Hopkins in 2006, it was DG people who buoyed our spirits in the forums during the months leading up to his surgery and for months afterward. It was DG friends who took us into their Maryland home like family while he recovered. It was DG people who watched a continuing thread I updated right from the waiting room while he had his surgery. It’s a stellar group of people there. It’s family.
Today, I learned of another member, Tracy Pruitt, aka aggiegrl, who witnessed this kind of community support this month. In response to her post regarding her family having to vacate their rental home, she witnessed gardeners arriving at her home from all around Texas, all to help her move her beloved garden. The story was picked up by NPR and All Things Considered aired a story about it. Go give it a listen. It’ll do your heart good.
It makes sense that the people at a gardening website would be nurturing, giving people. A true gardener loves to share!
Googly eyes gardener
As both a gardener and a fan of Christopher Walken, this Saturday Night Live skit makes me laugh. Though it was pretty obvious during the whole episode that he was reading from teleprompters, it’s still pretty funny.
“Ferns don’t have pricklers like cactuses, but what if they all ganged up on you, tried to choke you, in your sleep…”
*Snicker*
The whole idea is so ridiculous…Plants attacking us? Why would anyone think that?
Then again, I don’t grow any indoor ferns, so maybe I shouldn’t laugh. It could happen.
Christopher Walken reads the Three Little Pigs
I am resolved to posting more often, even if it’s brief posts with links to other content. I had it in my head that I had to write the great American novel for each post; okay, maybe not the great American novel, but at least posts that mean something. Well, forget that! I will post the odd links I’ve found thought-provoking or funny. This one obviously falls into the funny category.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better rendition of The Three Little Pigs. Ever.
I heart Midwest Gloves & Gear
Sometimes companies go far beyond the call of duty when it comes to customer service. I’m talking about that “Oh, wow!” things that make you stop in your tracks. I’ve experienced such a reaction with Midwest Gloves & Gear. Let me back up a bit.
A couple weeks ago, I bought a pair of gripper type, rubberized gardening gloves at Wal-Mart. I thought I’d see how well they work on the myriad of thistles we have growing on The Plot. They worked great! The textured rubber coating is durable enough that all except the most robust of the thistles’ spines didn’t penetrate the gloves and bite my fingers. On the few occasions a point did start poking my finger, I just put my hand in a different part of the stem and was good to go.
I was so happy to have found these inexpensive, but effective gloves, I e-mailed the company’s customer service department A couple days later, I received a reply from a rep named Rhonda, who apologized for the time it took her to reply and thanked me for the positive comments. She said she was happy to hear the gloves worked well for me and would send my comments on to their CEO.
By the time I read her e-mail, I’d worn these gripper gloves a total of four times, but some of the rubber coating on the right glove’s fingertips had split out and the fabric was probably not far from tearing. I wrote back, saying I hated to write with bad news, but the gloves were already giving out. I acknowledged that they were probably not designed for the workout I gave them.
Rhonda came back with an empathetic note:
Oh Kimberly!
I was just heartbroken to hear about the early wear your experiencing with those grippers. I suspect that either they were defective from the factory or you are just a really hard worker! I am going to send you a little “care package” to replace your 64A7’s and I’ve also included 2 other gripper type gloves - style 65-M, you’ll notice the texture is just a little different and they are on a knit glove.
The other one, my personal favorite is a style 67A7 (these are really light weight lightly coated nylon gloves - they will be untagged in the box) I’ve found them to be great for all types of gardening and light landscaping. I’ve also thrown in a few others (plus a couple of fun items just for you!) to keep you in gloves until the fall.
I hope your replacement grippers perform better!
Have a wonderful summer!
This so touched me. When I wrote, I truly never expected to receive such a kind response and replacement gloves. Not just replacement, but extras. How cool is that?
Well, it gets better. Today, a box arrived via UPS. It is probably an 18″ square box, loaded with gloves! There are 30 pair of gloves in there, plus hats! There are gloves of almost every kind: leather, rubber-coated, canvas, cotton, nylon, and even a pair made for mucking about in the pond; the latter are waterproof rubber gloves with plastic sleeves that come almost all the way up my arms. There are also two knit camouflage pair which have a rubber coating on their fingertips and palms…I am afraid I will lose them. LOL
Aside from the incredible customer service, these gloves do look like they’re well-made. The company certainly manufactures a wide variety of gardening and work gloves.
I used to work in customer service, including a 3-year stint in the customer service support group with the company which owns Jackson & Perkins, so I have high expectations of companies and really watch these things. That’s one more reason Rhonda and Midwest Gloves & Gear is getting a shout out from me today. I know people will tell all sorts of friends and family about bad experiences, but seldom tell about a good experience. This is definitely one great experience and I appreciate it!
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