Bobkittens

Sig and I just witnessed the late-night stroll of a bobcat and her two kittens!

We were coming back from In-N-Out Burger when he shushed me and pointed ahead at slinking momma going down the path by our apartment. I'd seen her once before and thought, "That is one wild looking cat. Oh, no, that's a bobcat." About five seconds after Sig saw mom, the following string of words issued uncontrollably from my mouth, "Kitten! Kitten, kitten! Look it's a kitten!"

We stalked them around the side of the building, and sure enough along came the cat with not one, but two, kits. The first kitten spotted us and came slinking curiously over. (At which point we retreated, not wanting to incite the ire of a wild 20-pounds of muscle and claw.)

They headed on quietly, mom with somewhere to go, babies rather intent on exploring, wandering, eating grass - occasionally jumping in surprise just like our kitten does.

I love these tenuous threads. I feel like I just brushed another world.

Julia Margaret Cameron

An early female photographer, Ms. Cameron was fond of posing romantic scenes of cherubic children and renaissancian young women.

I've always loved the ephermeral, elegiac quality of her images. In part, this is a direct result of the era she photographed in - silver nitrate on glass etc. But strangely the subjects of her images are perfectly matched to the emotions they evoke now.

And the Blind Can See

Here is a bit of trivia that is blowing my mind...

These things called Tactile Visual Substitution Systems (or TVSSes) were invented (in, like, the 60s) that essentially allow blind users to have visual experiences completely mediated by touch. Here is a quote from Andy Clark's Supersizing the Mind (a thumping good read, by the way, but rather technical) -

"...the earliest such systems were grids of blunt "nails" fitted to the backs of blind subjects and taking input from a head-mounted camera. In response to camera input, specific regions of the grid became active, gently stimulating the skin under the grid. At first, subjects report only a vague tingling sensation. But after wearing the grid while engaged in various kinds of goal-driven activity (walking, eating etc), the reports change dramatically. Subjects stop feeling the tingling on the back and start to report rough, quasi-visual experiences of looming objects and so forth. After awhile, a ball thrown at the head causes instinctive and appropriate ducking." (35)

!!!

!!!

Ugh, the brain is so awesome.

Snails

Growing up in Syracuse, NY we didn't have any land snails. My mother lamented this lack - apparently in the swamps of Michigan where she used to tramp about there were snails aplenty.

Upon moving to Irvine about a year ago, I went through a phase of complete obsession with the snails here. Job-less and directionless, I wandered the empty lots (overgrown with sagebrush and grasses) and stalked through Irvine's many green (brown) spaces looking at the big snails and skittery little lizards.

It's funny how I never notice these phases ending. As a child they were much more compelling - there was a year when I was completely riveted by belly buttons. It ended in a similarly subtle way. I remember thinking, at 8 or so, why don't I ever think about belly buttons anymore?

Anyway, here is a picture of one of these fellows. Sig tells me they're edible. We were planning on catching a bunch and letting them detox on organic lettuce before eating them, but the plan never really went through. (Personally, I think escargot tastes of dirt, though Sig tells me I'm nuts.)

This entry is a bit wandering, no?

Kahlil in the Desert

I recently sent a copy of Kahlil Gibran's 'The Prophet' to one of the dedicated readers of 'So Large Against the Sky' - my dear cousin A. I first read the book on a holy mountain in India, right outside the city of Pushkar. The mountain is actually one of a pair that bookend the city, each with a temple at the top. One temple is dedicated to Brahma's wife, Savriti. The other to Brahma's brief mistress, Gayatri, of whom Savriti did *not* approve.



I'm not sure which mountain it was, actually, but I had gone past the temple to sit on some isolated rocks in Rajastan's lovely, desert-scape. I pulled out 'The Prophet' and slowly, worshipfully read each passage. Each word feels so right.

Here is one sample, from the section on eating and drinking:

And in the autumn, when you gather the grapes of your vineyards for the winepress,
say in your heart,
"I too am a vineyard, and my fruit shall be gathered for the winepress,
And like new wine I shall be kept in eternal vessels."
And in winter, when you draw the wine, let there be in your heart a song for each cup;
And let there be in the song a remembrance for the autumn days, and for the vineyard, and for the winepress.


I too am a vineyard.

A Peck of Pickled Peppers

Tonight I'm going to try and pickle peppers. Our serrano plant has gone nearly as mad as the zucchinis. For the last year or so I've been making good old dill pickles with this amazing recipe. Or something rather like it depending on my current supplies of the various ingredients.

There are certain things that everybody has an opinion about, and that they'll make you feel very wrong for doing differently. For example, raising kittens. I see lots of websites with things like - never, EVER, let the kitten have human food!!! If you let the kitten have ANY human food EVER, it will DIE!!!!!

I read this while watching Cat-erine the Great sneak licks of oil out of my cooling frying pan.

Ugh.

Pickling seems to be the same way. I do it by boiling old jars from grocery store products, stuffing in the veggies, pouring boiling brine over, and tightening the lid. So far, no problems whatsoever. To look at various pickling instructions you'd think you need an industrial kitchen for it. Or else you'd DIE!!!!!

Old Photos

I miss 35 mm so, so much. And yes, I could shoot in film if I wanted, but it's a real pain to get it developed and to print it. The cost is especially prohibitive. Grr.

I think what I love about film cameras are 1 - the click of the shutter 2 - the way pictures look like what I was looking at. No, they don't look *exactly* like what I was looking at, obviously there are constraints (in color reproduction especially), constructions when you print (how dark is it, how white, should I lighten that corner?), but for the most part the chemical process of molecules absorbing reflected protons gets you something very like the picture in your head.

And furthermore, it's easy to understand exactly what is happening at each step of the process (light bounces off object, light hits photo-absorbing film, chemicals slough off the parts of the film where photons were absorbed, light passes through variably dense film and hits photo absorbing paper, chemicals darken paper accordingly). My understanding of a digital camera is something like the following - I own a magic box with an evil demon inside, light goes in and the demon puts a picture out that looks kinda like the light that goes in.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I recently scanned a number of old photos, some in color some in black and white. The quality is terrible, but at least they are, in a way, safe from cats and flooding. Here are a few of my favorites -

Under a banyon tree.
Family in an Adirondack river.
Rain in Harvard Square.
A game of solitaire in a cabin.
Little birds!
Little green things.