crunchy's Xanga

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Tue, 06 May 2008 05:06:38 GMT

Bending Over Backwards for Gymnastics!

Warm-up at the kids' "Pajama Jammin'" gymnastics meet on Saturday......

taking the leap..

Friday, May 02, 2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 11:33:07 GMT

Spiritual books for kids

Do you have your favorites? Every now and then, I look for new books to share and read with my kids. I'll list our favorites here, and if you have some, please leave a comment, and we can all benefit from each other!

Whatever your family , or you yourself enjoys- no matter the religion or philosophy.....please share!

Here's the books we enjoy:

Most recently, the Sara books by Esther and Jerry Hicks (Abraham)
Sara, Book 1: The Foreverness of Friends of a Feather

Sara, Book 2: Solomon's Fine Featherless Friends

Sara, Book 3: A Talking Owl Is Worth a Thousand Words!

I think adults get as much from these as kids do. All about the Law Of Attraction and the Art Of Allowing, as described in the Abraham-Hicks teachings. Very gentle, loving ways of expressing changing negative thoughts to positive, listening to emotions, and directing energy towards what you want, instead of what you don't want, to live happier, more open lives. All this cast in great stories/adventures about friends, (The continual development of Sara, and then 2 friends, as they get introduced into the stories- one new friend in each book) tree houses, rivers, and a spirit guide in the form of a talking owl. They are novel-length stories. Great read-aloud for about 5 and up, read-alone for older kids. We take turns reading these aloud to each other.

The Stillwater books
Zen Shorts
Zen Ties

Marvelous, beautiful picture books about Stillwater the panda, with three young friends. The stories tell Zen parables about compassion, and transforming anger and other uncomfortable feelings. Very simple, mind-bending books that illustrate the "eye-for-an-eye" frame of mind, and transforming that into love and compassion instead. (lovingly embracing these books to my chest!)

A Pebble For your Pocket- Thich Nhat Hanh

Through stories from his childhood, Zen Buddhist bodhisattva, monk, poet, human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh offers children ways of handling anger, finding compassion (for self and others) and living in the present moment. Very still, gentle and comforting, as the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh are. Beautiful.

What are your favorites? Please share them by leaving a comment, so we can all learn from each other!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:19:10 GMT

It's a photo plant-a-long with Uncskainch!

It's been a long time since my pal Uncskainch and I have collaborated on a blog-a-long, so this is very exciting!

We, and our children, each made a carton garden with see-through panels to watch seeds sprout and root and grow! Uncskainch started hers first, and then shared her idea with us. Here's our version here:

We used a soymilk carton- cut off the top, and the main bulk of each side. Then, we reinforced the corners with chopsticks, so it would stay upright with all of that water and dirt. We also poked some drainage holes in the bottom, too.

Then we stretched plastic wrap all around the outside to make the viewing window. (secured with duct tape- something we have plenty of around here...) Then added moistened soil. Then we carefully added seeds right next to the plastic. Then we misted the seeds with water daily, and covered the top with plastic wrap to maintain the moisture.

About 5 days later, things started happening......

Hello, Sunflower!

What I really liked (and hadn't expected) was the neatness of feeling the seedlings and their roots through the plastic- what a whole new way of experiencing the germinating of a seed! When the sunflower seeds looked like they were swelling, we could feel that. (like a pregnant belly) then we could feel the roots.......

More sunflowers growing........

Here is the carton garden just a few days ago. We planted 4 different types of seeds: (one on each carton side) Velvet Queen sunflowers, Lemon Queen sunflowers, carrots, and Foxglove. In this photo, there are sunflowers in front, carrots to the left, and Foxglove to the right.

Hooray for carton gardening!! Thank you, Uncskainch, for sharing your fun and exciting project with us!

Please go on over to Uncskainch's blog to see her carton garden! And plant-a-long with us, and share your carton garden gardens, if you are inclined!

It's a new photo widget!

Did you happen to see the National Geographic photo of the day widget on the Xanga front page? Here it is! Try it out...

I put it in my sidebar. Looking forward to the great photos every day! The widget has a link to the National Geographic's Photo Of The Day page, where you can view the photo archive, and download enlarged or wallpaper versions of the photos. Enjoy!!

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:38:34 GMT

Shrunken Pumpkins...

They grew in last Summer's garden.

The were carved and treasured jack-o-lanterns last Fall...

They were put out to pasture to decompose in the garden all winter......

And here are their weathered faces.........

Grumpy-looking, aren't they? Vincent Price could never contort his face like these two.....
(remember when he advertised for Shrunken Heads in the '70s?)

Boo!!!!!

They are very light and tougher than leather.....

Grumpy Punkie here could be a great Shrunken Head this Halloween.....

Till then, I think we'll keep them in the garden under the tree, and enjoy their transformation....

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:59:30 GMT

Pottery Class.....

(taken with the 10-20mm wide angle lens)

The kids had a pottery art class last Saturday, where they had the opportunity to throw clay pots on a real, professional pottery wheel! This is one class in a series of art classes for children sponsored by our local Army post's Morale, Welfare, and Recreation department. Hooray for the arts, and this program!

We all had a great time! Each of my kids made 2 pots, and we will go back in a week or so to glaze them after they have been fired.

I took a pottery class several years ago over the summer, and really loved it! I think the interest came from watching Demi Moore in "Ghost" years ago, and from my own experience with a battery-operated pottery wheel for kids that I got for Christmas one year long, long before that. (That toy wheel didn't work very well, thus sparking an interest to use a real "grown up" wheel someday)

Because I took that class, I am eligible to go to the pottery studio any time and throw pots whenever I like, and I can bring the kids to work with me, too!! Woo hoo! Now we just need to get friends to accept the overflowing creations we could potentially make...any takers?

Friday, April 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:48:49 GMT

What do you want to say?

This is a post excitedly dedicated to photography hardware, namely different types of lenses. I won't get into technicalities, don't worry. Hopefully, the photos will speak for themselves.

What I do want to say is that I love having a choice of lenses - to greatly help in capturing what I notice in any given moment. Photography has the element of capturing an instant, and holding it in suspended animation. Have you ever had the experience of being moved to take a photo for one reason or another, and be disappointed that the resulting image didn't seem to capture what you wanted?

That's where different lenses can help. For example:

Here are two images taken from the exact spot on the ground, but with two different lenses:

This was taken with a 10-20mm wide angle lens. It's a booth at the carnival last weekend- you can see the whole booth there, with crates of coke bottles in the center. (it was a ring toss game) Wide angle lenses capture a whole scene very well.

This photo was taken from the same spot, but I changed to my 75-300mm telephoto lens. What a huge difference! With a telephoto or macro lens, you can get good detail of a much smaller area.

So in the above example, what would you want to say? Would you want to convey a story about the whole booth and the goings on there, or focus on the cool geometries of the bottles? If you were moved by either scenario, you could pick the lens that can accentuate that for you.

One more example:

If you came upon a little cluster of wild daisies, would you be moved by the beauty of the colors, textures, and geometry of these little flowers? Would you want that beauty that completely fills your present moment be conveyed in a photograph?

(taken with 300mm telephoto lens)

Or, maybe you want to accentuate that these little beauties are like little gems that you discovered in the enormity of the world?

(taken with 10-20mm wide angle)

What do you want to say? that they are beautiful little flowers, or that they are beautiful little flowers in the park?

There are lenses for conveying other things too, of course. I'm just wanting to share this example that I have been playing with lately.

You all have a great weekend!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:39:55 GMT

Carnival in motion....

10-20 mm fisheye lens, long exposure (up to 1 sec) , with second curtain flash, then a poster edges filter added to define the edges more......

I felt like a cowgirl in the western movies atop my merry-go-round horse, squeezing my legs tight to keep me up there, while using both hands to steady the camera.....

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:28:53 GMT

Where am I/what am I doing?
(more wide angle fun)

Can you guess?

The first 10 people get the rubber chicken award. No prestige, rights, or privileges, or even a prize. Sorry.

But can you guess?

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:49:10 GMT

Music fun...

Have you seen those musical percussion tubes called BoomWhackers? We made a birthday video for a special friend (who moved far away recently) with these these things. Here is the video below:

So here we are: Me, Son and Daughter, the BoomWhacker Bell Choir:

Check out these guys- PlasticMusik- a percussion group in the "Stomp" style- they use the BoomWhackers. Be sure to see their videos- they are incredible!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:58:07 GMT

Strike!!!!????!!????

We went bowling with some friends a few days ago.

Have you taken your kids bowling before? Bowling alleys do a good job in making it a fun time for them- with bumper pads (to fill in the gutters- no gutter balls!) , bowling ball launchers/ramps for the really little ones (who can't throw the ball, but can easily push it down a ramp) and lighter balls (our bowling alley has 6 pound balls)

These inventions really add new variation to the game. For example, when the bumper pads and ball launcher is used, the game is less of getting the ball straight down the lane to the pins, and more of ricocheting the ball off the pads in the right angle to have it eventually be in the middle of the lane when it reaches the pins.

This photo was taken with the new fisheye lens again- it hasn't been off my camera, and I just love it!!!!

I'm not really listening to this album, but the title is intriguing....