World Bicycle domination! or at least lots of blogs

Okay, it's summer, so that's why lots of bicycle posts lately. That and my studio is undergoing a major renovation to allow me to work/sew standing up. But, I find this report from Grist.org exciting - lots of bike enthusiasts sharing and networking and getting attention from their local governments. Read about the coming world bicycle domination here.

Local energy production means local jobs

Great news on the going green front today from grist.org: there's a rural community movement to produce their energy locally from sustainable sources and a village in Germany has hit 100% local energy production. It took them 8 years, given the government support for renewable energy in Germany, and there are rural communities in the US doing the same. Read more here. I think this is great - reduces carbon production, reduces dependence on foreign oil, and produces more jobs for local people. What's not to like?

An example of permaculture gardening

Today's email brought an interesting page about how to grow an apple tree in a permaculture way, providing nutrients & water without external fertilizer and watering. Here's where to read it in detail. It's part of a new wiki aimed at helping build resiliency so there are lots of interesting pages available and more all the time. I love low effort gardening myself, especially as my joints are wearing out. And this sort of effort is possible to do now, in experimentation.

More fabulous biking news! More space on the street, oh yea!

This just in via Grist.org, bike corrals are the big new thing in Nevada City, CA. Apparently, they're gaining in popularity nationwide and what's not to like about having actual decent parking space for bikes? Read all about it here.

Electric folding bike to be made in Portland

As you all may remember, we bought an electric folding bike a couple of years ago. We're still using it, and it works well for short errands and coordinating with bus transit, but it was manufactured in China. And the manufacturer had problems so the bike shop we bought it from no longer carries it. This could cause problems if there's ever a major maintenance/repair issue so I am pleased to report a project to produce an electric folding bike in Portland, Oregon. They're doing it via Kickstart so you can be an investor if you like. Read all about it here.

Edible landscaping that won't offend your neighbors

In July, Oak Park, Michigan, got on the map by prosecuting Julie Bass for putting food gardens in her front yard. After a bit of internet uproar, and people pointing out that the town rules had many exceptions written in to them, they backed down. Since lots of people are facing economic difficulties, along with those who just don't always trust the agribusiness created food, there are more and more people interested in putting in some kind of garden. Front yards often get the best light so here is an article about how to do it and minimize the problems with neighbors. Some interesting design issues pointed out along with the mention of permaculture which is a step beyond just putting in a food garden.

Bike Sharing takes off

It's been a long hiatus for me due to knee surgery, and some problems with rehab, but I'm back and planning to post again regularly.

This article about bike sharing caught my eye this morning. There's a 4 minute video which is not only pretty to watch but informative. See it here. I'm sure this system works best in areas where there are compact business districts, but I can also see it working where there are large companies with say 35,000 employees (says the woman living 2 miles from Microsoft). Have a few of these racks, and reasonable transit connections, and voila, your employees don't have to commute by car and still be able to run errands or go out for lunch. Fewer parking garages, less traffic congestion, sounds like an overall win to me. The video is about the system in Minneapolis. There are currently systems in Washington, D.C., Madison, Wisc., and Denver. Boston is planning one. Notice how they all have winter?

Marymoor birding expedition

My knee continues its slow healing journey and is now capable of short walks unaided. Since both my doctor and my PT said I needed to be sure and continue my exercises this month, I decided to reward myself with a bird walk. I went to Marymoor Park with the hopes of seeing some swallows, one of my favorite seasonal birds. Alas, that was not to be but I did get some great shots of other birds.

I stopped first at the rowing club pond where I was greeted by a Steller's Jay intent on posing for as many pictures as I wanted to take. Another favorite bird and one I needed a picture of for an art piece I'm doing about my son's joining the Air Force and leaving the nest. So I was pleased to get such great shots. Here's one of them.


Then I got to the pond where I was dismayed at the number of trees that have been cut down for the construction they are doing. I had hoped for wood ducks here but had to settle for this lovely couple. And I am once again reminded that I have to relearn my ducks every year. *sigh*


After taking some pictures of the turtles, I proceeded to the main area of the park, and the marshy part of the slough which is often an excellent spot to see swallows. Alas, no swallows, but I did get over a hundred shots of two different herons hunting in the marshy area. One caught something while I was watching but I only got shots before and after the strike, so nothing dramatic there.

It was about 3:30pm so the light was angled and I think the heron shots came out well.


I plan to reward myself for doing my 3x a day exercises by taking short local bird walks and carrying my camera along. So expect to see more pictures in the future on a regular basis.

Electric cars and their benefits

This should be interesting as my iPad won't bring up the composer that I normally use for blogging, so I'm typing in the HTML editor without any reference material for formatting commands. I apologize in advance for whatever visual Mess results.

here's a link from today's email that discusses exactly how much benefit an electric car will be and in which ways that can be increased. I must admit, I'm impressed by the numbers: 80% of gasoline burned in a car engine is waste heat, while 80% of electrical power goes to moving the vehicle. I still prefer the idea of a hybrid at least until the electrical cars can go further before charging but we're a one car family. (and I promise to go look up asap the commands for hotlinks. That or figure out how to get the composer working...)

http://www.mercurynews.com/cars/ci_17767977?source=rss&nclick_check=1

Surgery prep and snowy chickadees

I go in for knee joint replacement surgery tomorrow so today is the final day to pick up all the rugs in the house, and pack my suitcase and whatever other prep I haven't gotten done yet. It's not a bad day to be stuck in the house considering the several inches of snow we got last night. And considering how cute the birds are in the backyard as they land on the branches en route to the feeder scattering snow as they land and launch. I got several nice pictures, and I wanted to share this one of a chickadee. Usually, I see the chestnut-backed chickadees predominate but today it's the black-capped ones. Their coloring is less dramatic, more subtle and I always enjoy watching them play in the trees.

"Hummer's Comfort" at Phinney Center Gallery show in March

The Northwest Collage Society Members' Spring Exhibit is at the Phinney Center Gallery, located at 6532 Phinney Ave N, Seattle WA 98103. The show runs March 2 - April 1, with the Artist Reception on March 11, from 7 - 9pm. The Gallery hours: Monday – Friday, 9am to 9pm; Saturday 9am to 2pm, closed Sunday. More details about the gallery can be found at www.phinneycenter.org/arts.shtm



I've recently joined the NWCS, and I'm looking forward to my first show with them. One of my favorite pieces, Hummer's Comfort (shown above), was juried into the show and I'm curious to see how it shows next to the mostly paper collage most of the members do. I'm not sure I'll be able to attend the reception on March 11 because I'll still be in the recovery/rehab phase of my knee joint replacement but I will try to be there. I'd love to get feedback from anyone who is able to see the show so please, if you go, post a comment or email me directly. Thanks!

New yard, new yard birds

Well, we're finally moved in and mostly settled in our new place. This has meant a new yard, and surprisingly, new birds in that yard. The first bird I saw in the yard was a Sharp-shinned Hawk who sat in the tree over the empty seed feeder for a few minutes, giving me an evil eye, and wondering why there were no birds. I started filling the feeder later that week, but he has not returned. And I didn't yet have my camera sitting by the back window, so no picture of him.

The second most surprising bird, or actually birds, are the pair of varied thrush who have been in my yard every day since I put seed in the feeder. I saw these birds at our previous house infrequently, at best. Here, I'm seeing them daily, and have only seen a robin once in the six weeks I've been feeding the birds here.



Most surprising is the pileated woodpecker who has been here 3 days in the last week. Pileateds are big, and flashy, and usually like the deep woods so seeing one in my yard a half mile south of the local shopping center is surprising.



I'm also getting some good shots of favorites, like the Northern Flicker who argued with the Pileated about who had priority at the feeder. (The Pileated won, unsurprisingly. )




I'm getting some great pictures, and once I have the knee replacement surgery the end of February, and my back heals, I'm hoping to make some fabulous art based on the photos.

Exploring Collage - check out Collagista!

I sometimes describe my art as fabric collage, and I've recently joined the NW Collage Society as I started working with paper & fabric in a smaller format while unable to sew this last few months. So, I've been exploring collage communities and opportunities on the web. I recently found Collagista!, a blog publication dedicated to collage. The blog gives the pdf link to download so there are lots of pretty pictures of collage work, and some explanatory text, all done in a more pleasing layout than a blog would normally allow. If you're interested in collage as an art form, I'd recommend checking it out.

Hummer in the snow, or why I'm thankful for warmth and light

It's a little bit early for a Thanksgiving post, but I'm going to take the day off from my computer tomorrow, and I just uploaded the pictures I've taken of Bob, the backyard hummingbird, over the past couple of days. We don't often get much snow here in the Seattle area, and the hummingbirds who winter over will get very protective of "their" feeders when we do. Bob decided to move even closer to the feeder than usual, and didn't move from his post even when I went out on the deck to take his picture. So I got some nice pictures and I also kept a close eye on the feeder so I could warm the solution back up when it started getting slushy.

Here's Bob, perched on a nearby maple tree, about 6 feet away from his feeder. You can see the white stuff below, and earlier, the evergreen in the background was covered with a very pretty layer of accumulated snow.



And here's a closeup of Bob, showing how fluffed up his feathers are to help him keep warm.



I suspect I'll be seeing Bob again tomorrow morning at 7 am. I've been bringing the feeder in at night so the sugar solution is nice and warm in the morning. And since the weather page I use said that sunrise was 7:30, I went out at 7 on Tuesday to put the feeder back. Bob was sitting on the metal hook that the feeder is usually suspended from, and he was not a happy camper that I was late bringing him his breakfast. This morning, he was there waiting again, and let me almost touch him before he backed off a bit while I put the feeder out. I'm going to miss living so close to the wildlife. It's been one of the things I've liked the best about this house. But I'm leaving the new owner some written guidelines for the hummingbird feeder so I hope she'll get as much enjoyment from the hummers as I have.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Bicycle made of wood, beauty and speed combined

I've always loved bicycling, and I'm really pleased at the new things happening in this field, such as electric bikes. Okay, my knees wearing out are the reason for that one. But, reading this article made me want to spend big bucks on a truly beautiful and powerful bike. There's a custom bike builder in Portland making bikes from hardwood. See the pictures and read the article here.

Achieving Excellence

In my earlier post about my show entry system, there's a sheet on the wall next to the box with the file folders about "Achieving Excellence". I've gotten a request to share it. I did a google search using the phrase in the first sentence, and found the Harvard Business Review blog article I got it from. See the full article here. I just took out the six keys and printed that out for myself, but the full article has some interesting things in it about becoming what we practice. I find this relevant in all areas of my life, not just the studio.

Shows - entry tracking system

I'm being swamped with all the details of selling my house, and moving us to a new place, so my plans to blog about my perfect studio which will have to be dismantled are being chopped into smaller bits. Today, I'm going to talk about how I track shows I want to enter and make sure I don't miss the deadlines. My daughter, who has worked as a business manager/accountant for some artists in the Bellingham area, helped me set up the system and I have to say, it is working wonderfully for me. This year, one of my goals is to apply to at least one show a month, and with this system, I am doing well at organizing the show info, the dates and tracking how I'm doing with them.


Here's my little box, next to my computer, surrounded by the clutter on my desk. I have a three bin wall holder that I will put up in the new place, but this works for now. So, what's the magic? I use erasable labels on the file folders, that's the first step. When I hear about a show I'm interested in, I print out the prospectus, write the name of the show and the date I have to do something by on the label. Note: if the deadline is a receive by date, the date I write down is a week earlier so I'm taking action in time for it to get there. Then I put it in the box in chronological order. Usually, I'll write a little note on the first page of the prospectus saying which pieces I'm thinking of submitting. If I'm going to do a piece just for the show, I put a to-do item in my studio grasscatcher notebook (visible in the foreground on the desk). Then, once a week or so, I look at the next couple of weeks to see what deadlines are coming up, and I mentally plan out what I'm submitting. Once I hear back from the show, assuming I've been accepted, I erase the date on the file folder and put the ship date on it, then refile it in the box in the right place for the new date.

I'm not yet entered in so many things that I need a system to track which pieces are going where, but that's the next step. Right now, I use my inventory sheet, the long printed pages sticking up from the file folder box. It's a word document with a table, done as 8.5 x 14 size paper in landscape mode, with columns for Title, Date finished, ID#, Type of work, medium (I'm doing both paper and fabric nowadays), Height, Width, Price, Shows, Date photographed, and date posted to my webpage. For now, scanning down the Shows column is sufficient to make sure I don't double enter something. I pencil in a name on my hard copy when I submit it and do it in ink when a piece is accepted.

This seems so simple now that I'm explaining it, but it's such a delight to feel completely on top of all of this. And it takes only a couple of minutes of my time to add a show to my entry list. I share this because it's made such a difference for me and I hope it can help some others get on top of the whole show submission cycle.

Bicycles and infrastructure

I'm not surprised to hear that there's finally been a pedestrian killed in a bicycle/pedestrian accident. Multi-use trails, while fine when there aren't a lot of bicyclists, don't work well if there's heavy traffic. I found this out when living in Venice, CA in the 80's when rollerblading was so popular. (Small digression: I would try to ride my bike on the bike path, and fantasize about ways to get the attention of the headphone-wearing rollerbladers kicking their legs out and blocking the whole path and completely oblivious to all others around them. Grrr! ) Here's an interesting article about some options for increasing bicycle use and decreasing congestion and accidents.

Radioactive rabbit poop - too funny not to share

I suppose it's not really funny, but the mental image I get from reading this story - the people with detectors going around searching for the radioactive rabbit poop... Well, alright, I have a twisted sense of humor. Read the full story here.

I'll return to my more serious posts next time with pictures of my perfect studio that will have to be dismantled when we move.

Solar power & politics

I've taken a small break from the virtual vacation while I deal with negotiating the sale of our house. But this crossed my email desk today, and I thought it worth sharing as we head into voting time.

US Solar boom requires policy and money, not sunshine is the headline of the article. It discusses the climate needed to quickly grow alternative energy, and the role of government in accelerating the development of a new industry.

I particularly like this quote from the article:

Exhibit A for such a phenomenon is Germany. With about as much sunshine as Maine, the European nation became the world's solar stronghold through policies that rewarded homeowners, businesses, and farmers for generating their own electricity.

Click on the link above to read the whole thing.