Guatemala City, May 31st

photo via Flickr

This photo seems so fake, like a Photoshop job...but sadly, it's not. There are deep, dark places under our concrete foundations.

Letting Others Do the Cleaning

Areca palm

English ivy

Dwarf date palm

Boston fern

Janet Craig dracaena

Australian sword fern

Peace lily

Rubber plant

Weeping fig

I've been busy, to say the least. I am hoping these plants will do some of the dirty work and clean up the air in my apartment. I'm much too busy bumbling around and sticking my finger in the wind for a sense of direction. Interesting article here. Thanks, NASA!

Defenders

This rabbit appears to be standing next to the cold I caught. I thought he only chewed up books and fabric, but apparently he can defend himself from evil, wherever it may lurk.

Back to bed.

Fail Blog: "What is Oozing Out of Our Ground?"

I'm enjoying the Fail Blog today while lazing around today. There are so many good FAILS but this one is especially funny. Maybe a good counterbalance to my raves about cotton farming and plastic bags. Do I sound like that?

My favorite part is how pissed she gets...and also how she thinks rainbows are formed - I was unaware that metal is involved in the creation of rainbows.

Mushroom Dyes

(via allfiberarts.com)

(via the Fungi and Fiber Symposium 2008 website)

During Sasha Duerr's lecture at our symposium yesterday, she talked about using mushrooms (and really, a whole bunch of other interesting plants and seeds) to dye fabric. These colors are amazing, and I was thinking about it a lot yesterday - how can I learn more about this, and how can I get these mushrooms? I guess there's some lady in Finland who teaches workshops (the image above came from her class), but there are some locals who seem to know a lot too. I found the Sonoma County Mycological Association's website and it has some great info. Their colors look a little more earthy than the ones Sasha showed, but I guess you have to start with what's locally available.

Kite Season

Today it's sunny and breezy, the perfect kind of day for flying kites. I thought this image matched my feeling of lightness - I'm that little girl on the right being swept away by her kite.

Why We Travel

I'm flipping through the New York Times' online slideshow called "Why We Travel," and it's reminding me just how excited I am to be planning my trip to visit Allison. Here's a quote they pulled from Robert Byron's "First Russia, Then Tibet":

“The supreme moments of travel are born of beauty and strangeness in equal parts: the first panders to the senses, the second to the mind; and it is the rarity of this coincidence which makes the rarity of these moments."

Planet Earth: Birds of Paradise

It's funny - I know there is life beyond my little hovel, but it takes something like a TV show to really make me stop and think about my life in relation to the rest of the world. What the hell am I doing here?

There is something magical about the Planet Earth series, something that gives me an overwhelming feeling of joy - just to see that these rare creatures exist.