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Wall of Ice

I appreciate the texture on this wall - the number of divots of various sizes and shapes created by the wind melting the ice.  I can see weaving a number of random shapes to create these.  I love the veins that remind me of stone. 

a day of change

Today was my last day of employment at a great company.  It’s a day filled with all sorts of emotions with a few goodbyes, but a number of see-you-laters.  I was grateful for the day.  There is something therapeutic about cleaning out one’s office and looking back through all sorts of memories.  There is also something precious about finally telling people exactly how much you appreciate them.  I am glad for the opportunity and I think I’ve learned that one should never wait until the day of change to do and say these things.

This was my choice.  I have been offered an opportunity I just did not think I could pass up.  I look forward to seeing how far I can take me and I really hope this new position is something that I was meant to do.  You know – something that comes naturally and is really not work.  I told one today that it’s my hope that it will be something that is an extension of who I am.  I could be dreaming up a fantasy, but dreaming is what I do best!

And with the change comes moving.  Yes moving!  We may get to enjoy the kitchen for a whole summer.  Of course, I would only be at the house on the weekends!  It’s a whirlwind and all I can do is take it one day at a time. 

As for today – it is one I will always cherish.

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Uncharted Path

I love the layers of ice almost like a mountain range.  I like the smooth areas on the surface of the ice, but then there are areas full of divots where the ice has melted and the wind has swirled in eddies.  I like the more occasional splotches of black dirt that remind me of the definition but don’t scream it at me.

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View from Glacier

looking back from our hike, it seems like forever to the bottom – and his is not even 1/2 into it.  I love the U – shaped valley glaciers form.  I love the gray bottom with the river of water meandering through it.  I love the sudden green up the sides.  I also love the small black line of people about 1/3 of the way up towards the left.  I love the layers of mountains in the distance and also remember that all of this was formed by this glacier as well.  It’s humbling to consider the scale and age.

April Showers? No April Flowers!

Here in SC we have finally seen spring – see in March we had a wave of heat that made one think that we went straight from winter to summer.  That also means the pollen count went through the roof since everything opened at once.  It’s been a beautiful month – and can be appreciated if one can handle the pollen without sneezing!

Start with the wisteria in tree form and the Carolina jasmine in the back… Petunias Sedum Marigolds Coral Bark Japanese Maple and the azalea that was planted to remind us of our Shih Tzu, Kahnie While we only started the April showers this week, we’re already enjoying May’s flowers!

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Glacial Flow

It was summer so the glacier certainly had areas that were melting. This was one of my favorite formations.  I love the soft scooping of the left side of the channel and the curves of the final stream at the foot.  I also found it interesting how the blues became so intense when it was hidden from the the direct light – like a treasure.

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Climbing through the Glacier

Again, I love the definition of the dirt on the ice to show the details.  I love the values of the ice blue.  I love showing the scale of the guide ahead on the “trail” as two from our group enter a hole to follow him.

Walled In

So here’s where things ended last week.  That much hated orange red is almost gone!More sheet rock up this week, mudding sheet rock, nail holes and gaps caulked in the ceiling, mudding sheetrock, sheet rock primed and even most of it has a coat of paint!  Then the corner will be mudded!It’s called Gateway Grey from Sherwin Williams, but we bought Valspar from Lowe’s.  It covered so well, we just kept going down the wall to the other corner into what will be the den. It’s amazing what sheetrock and paint will do – we are so motivated at this point feeling like we’re almost there (even though we aren’t!)

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Franz Joseph Glacier

Prepare for an icy week of pictures….

This crevasse is easily 30 feet deep.  The drama is lost without the reference of scale.  Still I love the “flow” of the walls to the bottom.  I love the deep colors of the stone ground into the surface that highlights that flow and each little divot, hole and bump.  I love the purity of the pale blue even if the air entrapped in the ice doesn’t allow it to be transparent.  It gives a softness.   I see in the background the fog lying low on the black stone mountain.  I wonder what this would be like in the sunshine.  Would it glisten?

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What???

After so many seals just lying around, it was great to catch some action in the morning.  I like the basically monochromatic scene.  The seals are sometimes hard to find among the rocks and logs.  I’m sure that’s the point!  I like the call going out and the little one coming to attention.  There’s a children’s story somewhere in there.  I like the hard white of the whiskers and the dark of the ends of the flippers.  I appreciate the white dot on the flipper, but don’t know what it is…

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Shell on Beach
I like the texture of the sand and the grains of yellow granite that pop out.  I like the yellow of the shell that coordinates with it, but love the deep purple that contrasts it.

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Mount Ruapehu

What I liked best about this landscape was the desert road in the foreground and the snowcapped peak in the background.  Of the many that I took, I enjoyed finding the pronounced yellow flower in the lower left.  It was everywhere, but not easily captured.  I like the clouds forming a ring about the mountain.  I think it would be better with a little less to give distinction to the peak.

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Tidal Currents in Abel Tazman

I love the random patterns in the sand and the shadows of the ridges that give great definition to the ridges.  I like the color changes and I love how the water defines the value of some of those colors.  I also like the occasional shell that brings a pop of white and the occasional debris that adds the pop of black.  Like Tommye brought out on the Pancake Rocks, this could be eccentric weavings, but I might need to look into some 3D techniques as well.

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Split Apple Rock

The day I’m focusing on this week was the day at Bonz and Stonz where we spent the whole day carving jade.  The pictures are fun, but not visually appealing.  So I’m going back through other days.  Split Apple Rock was from our day at Abel Tazman sailing out to the kayaking sites.

I love the long reflection of the rock in the water.  I love the softness of the clouds in the sky.  I also like the left to right diagonal of the cloud versus the right to left diagonal in the water.  There’s a silence in the picture.

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Scrap

Today was the day of carving in the the studio of Bonz and Stonz.  Jade, paua shell and bones were available for creations.  One station housed all the scrap that could eventually be moved into jewelry or worry rocks.  The pile was as random as the colors and shapes.

I like the hard lines of the jade against the curve of the shell.  I like the various colors and blending of colors.  I like the various directions of the straight lines.  I like the 3rd dimension portrayed in the smallest piece.

It's finally gone...

Here’s where we left the kitchen in the last entry two weeks ago – The cabinets were out, the side wall taken down to the studs.

Since then there’s new insulation and electrical in that wall. And the sink cabinet was taken out. We did keep the sink by propping up the countertop with 2x4s…

In the ripping out, we found a vintage bottle cap…

The cabinet had to go so we could take the flooring down to the subfloor. I may have mentioned it before – so excuse the repeat if so – but that was a layer of linoleum on 1/4” plywood, then three layers of linoleum that had been tarred to the heart of pine flooring. All was unusable, so out it goes.

And in goes 3/4” plywood. Here’s a tip for all your DH. This furniture grade plywood was $5 a sheet. It came from the dunnage pile at the local distributor. These sheets made it there by being dropped to bumped by the forktruck. I honestly couldn’t find what was wrong with them. In any case, the new subfloor will be cherry, mahagony, birch, and figured maple…. Raven is pleased with the first two sheets of cherry…

During the week, James was able to put up the sheetrock. The next Friday all the flooring was taken up and plywood was down. Saturday was time for the ceiling. Here’s my father and James putting up 4 x 4 foot sheets of beadboard in an alternating pattern to cover up the blown ceiling. Oh and no more dishwasher…

Then Sunday was the removal of the sink. I’m therefore declaring the kitchen gone! We rebuilt the back wall and put in a new window. You may be able to see that the left window is partially blocked by an exterior wall. Why? I have no idea, but it’s fixed now!

The puppies are still being great troopers – especially when they have to spend the day in the backyard away from pneumatic tools. Here they were able to get a moment inside and chose it to admire the flowers I’ve been planting in the front…

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Jade

There are many colors to jade or greenstone.  This one shows not only what one would expect, but now expect.

I like the swirling veins of white among the blueish green.  I like how the swirls are independent of the shape and direction the stone lies.  I like the dark background to not distract.  And then I also like the bit of red in the corner.

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Truman Track Beach

This view shows some of the erosion the sea has made on the sandstone and the pebbles below the rock.  This may seem confusing since I’ve skewed and rotated the picture.

I like the colors of the sandstone – some dry, some wet.  I like the graceful curves the lines take and the chunky shapes of the rocks at the top right.  I also like the streaks of drops that are falling from the rock.  I also like the smooth of the rock against the texture of the pebbles.

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Pebbles at Truman Track Beach

This is just a handful of likely a half acre bed of pebbles created from the sandstone at Truman Beach.

I love all the various sizes, shapes, transparency and colors of the pebbles.  The only thing is common is they are all smooth.  I love the shadows and the pinpoint highlights to show how wet and polished these are.

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Fern Frond

There are many parts of this one that I love – the furry brown stems, the different angles of the two stems, the spiral of the frond, the background of much taller fern leaves that are blurry, but distinguishable – like distant family surrounding the toddler.  I dislike the broken stem in the foreground – and yes if I had better software, I’d see if I could remove it.  Still, it’s a real part of the forest floor.

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Truman Track Beach

This picture is taken while standing below sea level.  Our eyes are looking straight on at the bottom of the crashing wave.  It was spectacular to behold and frightening to consider where we were relative to it.

I love the excitement of the wave crashing on the rock sending streams flying in all sorts of directions.  I like the chaos of the wave in contrast with the stability of the rock.  I like the layers of rock and the shapes the water has carved in it’s faces.  I like the foreground of foamy water showing this view is not beneath me.

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Pancakes at Pancake Rocks

We couldn’t pass these up at lunch.

I love the texture of the whipped butter and the powdered sugar.  There is even a bit of texture on the pancake.  I like the simple, neutral colors – butter, browned edges, pure white.  My eye does look around a bit, likely not as much as other images, but I like this one because it makes me smile.

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Tree Fern

I love the asymmetry of the view from right and left.  The right allows the sky to peek through, but the left likely has another branch in the background adding more green.  I like how the smaller leaves overlap giving areas of darker value.  I like how the main stem is not perfectly straight, but seems to wind back and forth.

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Pancake Rocks

It is unknown how these formations came to be.  What is known is the rock is limestone and miles of the west coast of the South Island are made of it.

I love the strong stacking the the horizontal, but the building in the vertical.  I love diagonals worn within the rock, but then the opposite diagonal from one formation that fell.  I also love the occasional curve and hole.

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Cliffs at Tauranga Bay

It must have been the lighting at the end of the day that caused me to choose so many landscapes from Tauranga Bay!  We did see many other sites the rest of the day, but these were the better photos for me.

I like the shadows cast on the side of the cliffs from the prior cliff.  I like the texture of the cliffs in the foreground and the number of layers of color.  I like the trees popping up occasionally, but particularly the one bend into the wind on the edge of the cliff.  I also like the worn stone the near foreground reminding me that these cliffs will not stay this way forever.

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Tauranga Bay Nearing the Sunset

I like the contrast of the strong bright light against the dark sand and stones.  Yet there is some blue still seen in the sky.  I like the texture of all the clouds still being there as well.  I love the haze that allows me to see the rays of light from the sun and that one space on the sea that reflects this light back upward.  The sun is very strong, but there are other elements supporting it without losing themselves.

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Tauranga Bay near Sunset

Somehow I’m fascinated with taking some pictures directly into the sun.  I love the shadows and the washout of color it creates.  I love the shine of the water from the setting sun.  In this one, I like the texture of the channel and on the beach in the foreground – the rocks, the side of the channel.  I like how is meanders out to the sea.  My eye follows it from right to left and back again between the rocks to the right.  If I am slow enough in this meandering, I’ll see the people on the beach and realize the scale.

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Bleeding Hearts?

Not quite, but these flowers reminded me of them with the colors and the drooping downward.

I like the brilliant red and greens with the splash of white.  I like how the deep background is black to not distract from anything.  I like the details of the leaves and the unopened flowers.  I like the curves in so many places that end in hard points.

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Rainbow over Tauranga Bay

The rainbow was quite magnificent.  I love the fact that it shows the entire spectrum.  I also love the number of colors and textures within the sky even without the rainbow.  There is also the landscape itself.  I like all the cliffs on the beach in the middle ground, but also the mountains in the background.  There is much to look for in the details if one can get past the rainbow.

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Seals at Tauranga Bay

This picture is near sunset on the most blustery day I’ve ever experienced.  The waves were violent along with the gust of wind.  I could not imagine how one could rest in such.  But here she is with her pup.

I love all the colors on the rocks – yellow, red, blue, green and gray.  I love the number of rocks and the number of directions the edges create in the piece.  I also love the seals are different colors such that one can define the pup against the mother.  That allowed for an intimate photo moment to be recognized.

Down to the Essentials

A few have asked how Raven and Shadow are getting along.  And my answer would be. “Quite well considering the amount of changes that they are being put through.”  We’re about to hit week four since Raven came to live with us.  She learning all sorts of things and so are we.  I couldn’t pass up this one of them “holding hands”.  They really do have some sweet moments – and then there are others, but overall they both seem happy with the deal.

So what have we been putting them through?  A kitchen renovation – might I say a complete kitchen renovation.  I mean complete in the terms of take it all out and start all over.  I’m afraid I don’t have a photo from the very beginning – but you can at least see how we’ve started today.  You can see a hole on the end.  There was a set of top cabinets there above the range and freezer.I can tell you I’m so ready to get rid of that burnt orange.  I was cleaning out the attic and found pictures from my high school home with this same color.  I figured I must have lived over 20 years with a kitchen this color – it must something from the 70s or 80s. One layer of linoleum has been taken up with plywood on the back.  We found there are another 3 layers before one gets to the pine wood flooring.  Above is layer number 2 from the top.Back to today’s work – first we took out the bottom cabinets.  These had been built in place, so the only recourse was to take them out piece by piece – see the pile of wood waiting for me to remove the nails????Then we took out the top cabinets on the wall and around the sink.  I just loved the parallelograms James was making as he worked them off the wall.  Then sheetrock was removed and the blown insulation bagged up to be placed in the attic.  We’ll replace these with pretty pink rolls – you can see how the blown insulation sinks leaving gaps.  Oh and there used to be a window in that wall!Here’s how we ended the day – leaving one grouping of bottom cabinets so we can have a sink and dishwasher as long as possible. Shadow is inspecting the work, but Raven is satisfied and let’s us know with an enthusiastic tail wagging.

Shadow comes to give his report that it has been a productive day – but where’s dinner???  (I love the perspective in this one – his feet look so tiny compared to real life!)

Tomorrow James builds the cabinets and takes them over to a refinisher who will paint them for us in his spray booth.  Hopefully we’ll be ready for them when he delivers them.  We’ve got to get the floor and the remaining walls down to studs, then rebuild back up to start putting in cabinets.  If not, every room may be graced with a cabinet awaiting their turn to be installed!

There you have it – I feel like I’m living in that campervan in New Zealand again – trying to figure out how to live on very little!