Meanwhile

A diversion from reality with some of my still life and fun...

I'm sorry, but I have to announce that we have 
cancelled all tours to Earth.

How many times do I have to tell you
....

you are my droids!
None of that Star Wars fantasy stuff!

Beware?
Looks like they are looking for a lost

Dragon!!!

Here I am!!!!

Searching for Intel

This is not what I envisioned when you said
we'd climb Cinnamon Mountains!

Always be amazed...

The reason we write fiction is because it is so much easier to spend part of each day
in an imaginary world. 

~~

Kurt Vonnegut

The magic of a child...

This was originally published in 2008. 

I was curious as to when exactly I started messing around with Toy Photography. This may have been the first time I picked up my Point and Shoot camera to take my dog's toys and create a story for my Grandchildren.

It eventually morphed into 5 books that I wrote and photographed for the kids. When Morris died I  put his story away and looked for other things.

If there is a toy....it can have a story in it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My father always impressed upon me the fact that having an imagination was a very important thing...he said, *Don't ever lose your imagination.*
Of course at the time I had no idea what he was talking about. I was a kid, of course I had an imagination.
Probably one that was a bit large anyway.

I recall laying in bed at night and wondering what my collection of stuffed animals did during the day while I was at school.
Of course any adult in their right minds would tell you that stuffed animals didn't do anything, after all they were stuffed right?
Well not in my imagination.
Stuffed animals could talk, walk, and have adventures.
I mean I knew that for a fact because sometimes I'd come home from school and go change into my 'everyday' clothes and notice that the six foot long orange snake on my bed wasn't in the exact place I'd left it.
Kanga and Roo were a bit lopsided.
I swear Winnie the Pooh had a smirk on his face.
My sister's stuffed horse looked wind blown, as if it had been running.
Sure, I knew it.
Stuffed animals led an adventurous life while I was at school or sleeping.
I tried often to pretend to be asleep and catch them in the act.
No such luck.

So then I began to *imagine* what they were doing while I was unaware. That was fun. The animals [stuffed] could go on grand adventures and never leave my bedroom. And I could go with them.

Now I am a grown up.
When my husband caught me outside with a camera and my dog's stuffed animals, he raised a brow.
I said, *Gosh, wouldn't it be such fun to create some books with a story for our grandkids?*
He guessed so.
I held the stuffed animals and tried to explain how they could go on 'farm adventures' and that I could write about it and make it into a little story book the grandkids could relate to~~~ using things they were familiar with to make it fun.
He guessed so.

So I put a photo-story book together and read it out loud to him.
He gave me a huge smile and said the grandkids would love it.

See, I'm not so crazy after all.

I recall one more thing Dad told me about writing and his characters he used. He said sometimes they took on a life of their own. Yeah, I see that.
Crazy Squirrel and Happy HedgeHog take on a life of their own while I'm writing about them.
Sometimes their story takes an unexpected turn when I'm not expecting it.

I guess that is the Magic. I still have the magic of a child, an imagination.
Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Puddles

Me to Hubby: I'm going outside to play in the mud.

Him: Oh. Um isn't it too cold?

Me: Sort of, but the puddle is getting smaller in the driveway.

Him: Isn't it mostly mud?

Me: Yes. I am going to play in the mud.

Him: Ok. Well I knew you weren't ever going to grow up.

My driveway has a low spot that needs to be fixed. In the spring it is like a small pond at first. It holds water at every rain and at every snow melt. In the evening the light is just right for some play time.

Yep, I was that kid that played with my cousins and made mud pies. 

I grew up in a time when dirt was okay to play with. We could use it as a compliment to our little plastic soldiers or move it with one of the Tonka trucks we had. We could toss it, wet it, mold it, shape it.

I put my coveralls on. It was cold outside, but I had a plan and a story line running in my head. 

The Misadventures of Frank and His Troopers.

Frank is always trying to find a way out of marching with his troopers....

the horse threw him so he decided to try...well....a

dinosaur?

I see one of his other 

troopers did a face plant in the water.

and then...

it was Frank's turn...

That dinosaur was not a good choice, it wouldn't even behave for me and I was supposed to be in control!

My fingers got full of mud from throwing chunks of dirt into the puddle behind the figures. I also swept up the cold water to splash behind them. 

My hands were numb by the time I finished. 

I abused my camera by getting the strap dirty and some of the buttons on the back dirty.

But.

I also experienced the power of imagination and concentration to 'make' something. And it distracted my brain from dealing with the everyday stresses of being a Caregiver.

So, in my book. Puddles can be great things.

International Lego Day

The Birth of the Lego Brick happened on January 28th, 1958. The red Lego brick was born.

We all are fairly familiar with those first red bricks...or maybe not! 

As kids we had red and white bricks that we used to create forts for our little soldiers. We had epic battles in and around our forts.

Legos has come a long way since then.

In 1978 they started producing Minifigures with faces. They soon moved onto expressions and different outfits. Of course there are so many licensed minifigs that are popular like Star Wars and Disney for example.

Lego has created sets just for adults.
I got this from my CrossFit Coach. Finally, an orchid I won't kill!

There is even a VIP lounge on the Lego site. I guess there is a TV show called Lego Masters. I've never seen it, but I might just do a search for it on one of these cold nights.

What can I say? I've found Legos again in my adulthood, or perhaps second childhood. I carry some Legos minifigs around with me in a pocket or my camera bag because you never know when some opportunity will show up. 

So Happy Lego International Day one day late.

Enjoy imagination because it sure can make the world a little bit kinder.

Meanwhile back in Lego land....

MOC

...it stands for Make your Own Creation. 

I'm not good at this. But I keep looking at the bricks and pieces and after making the last build of the Elf Clubhouse...

I thought, wouldn't it be fun to make my own thing?

I'm not brave enough quite yet to start a big tear down and rebuild. However...

I am not adverse to changing things up with my Lego minifigs [minifigures lingo!]

I mix sets and minifigs without sticking to the sets. I trade heads to get expression that I want.

Back in the Christmas Village some things started to happen....

First was a Baby Blue Velociraptor showing up for breakfast at the Elves house! What do you do? Offer it tea of course!

This woman showed up at the Elf place with a box of...OH No! It looks like she brought a case of...wine??? And a Christmas Office Party ensued at the workshop.

She may be a bad influence on Santa and the Elves? 
or....
is she taking over at the North Pole?

Maybe Santa needed a new CEO. She certainly looks like she is taking charge.

Perhaps she is saving Christmas? 
Looks like she sure is organizing things.

It even looks like she will be refitting the sleigh with afterburners....

I built this workshop from other bricks I had on hand just for using in photography. I had fun figuring out how to 'shoot' through doorways and windows. 
What did I want to appear behind the characters? 

Some of the items are from other sets, I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to Legos. I'll mix and match to make a story fit to where my 

imagination

takes me....

Oh wait. Hubby says the guys in the white coats are coming....

yeah....

Lego Adult Build brings a Surprise

Something very different happened this weekend.

As some of you all know, I dig Legos. It all started when a neighbor boy gave me an old Lego minifigure.

When the neighbor this summer chucked all of her childhood Legos into the dumpster we shared...well, I did some dumpster diving and it took off from there.

Over the summer I decided to add a skid steer, a 4 wheeler, a motorcycle, and a truck for my Lego folks to get around on. 
I had so much fun with the toys this summer....

Remember Squatch? He and Hobby have searched all summer to find relatives. And Big Foot and Yeti have been too shy to step forward...
Well eventually that story will be told. I've got a lot of catching up to do...

So, I knew fall would bring cold weather and that I'd be spending time indoors. I decided to break down and order a Christmas Lego Build. I ordered Santa's Visit from Lego. It comes with nearly 1,500 pieces and is considered a Lego Adult Expert Build. 
What more fun could that be? 
I'd have a Christmas Lego Set to display!

Here is the view of the box:

When I unpacked the box and showed it to Rich, he was fascinated. Thankfully he didn't ask me how much it cost. [$99.00 😲]
He wanted to know what it was all about. When I pulled out 9 bags of Legos out of the box and set them on the table, he was even more curious.

In fact, so curious, that he started to separate the pieces as I called them out for the first build of the Christmas Tree and the fence for the yard of the house.

 He even started to play with it.

In fact...
He is so engaged in searching for pieces and seeing how it is done [he can spot where the pieces go rather quickly], that I don't do any building unless he is there too.

There are those who consider something like this a waste of money. After all, what are toys? Right?

Something very wonderful happened. For 3 days now, we have been engaged together between the times he has to rest... building a Lego Set.

He actually sort of engages in laughter and play. Like when I wanted a photo of him helping, he set his inhaler on the chimney and his nasal spray on the doorway. Huh. Funny Guy!

To engage in more play. I made him his own personal Lego Person.

Here is Rich and I:

Funny. Rich decided that the Dove should go in the tiny Lego Frying Pan and he'd stir it with an egg beater.

So what can I conclude?

Rich doesn't do puzzles as they don't interest him. But this is a puzzle in 3D. 

Lucky for us I have another build waiting in the wings.

I hope this engaging fun continues. 

We even had some more fun last night when I put some other Lego figures in the set and had one Lego gal chasing another Lego person with a frying pan.

It makes me wonder if Nursing Homes and Senior Centers would ever consider something like Duplo Builds for Seniors as engaging for those who just want to do something with their hands even though they have arthritic hands?

Just a thought.

Play time

My tomatoes are simmering, and all the outdoor work is done. Thank goodness I found some movies for the other half to enjoy while I have some time making things up and learning about this A.I. Stuff.

In my opinion, A.I art is interesting and I am curious as to where it will go. I really love the experience of going out and creating a mood with a photograph. So I am not saying it can take over the feeling of actually going out with a camera and creating a scene.

However, with the AI art, it is fun to type something up and insert it into the "Neural Engine" and see what appears.

Pennywise the Clown as an Octopus:

What love looks like:

[This reminds me of the profile of The Little Prince in the movie made in 1974, not the new movie.]

I swapped over to another program called Nightcafe. It uses 3 different methods of AI all of text based.

Knowing art styles is pretty helpful. I think I used 

Indigenous Native, full moon, clouds, epic sky the last one

as my prompt. This result was a surprise. I liked it in an abstract way. 

With all AI, there is a very steep learning curve and a lot of Geek Talk that I will never ever figure out. People discuss using 'servers' and what not.

I just stick with the basics and learn the language for making things up.

I'm not even sure what I used here, but it included futuristic, horror, moon and stones.

Talking of horrors! The sprayer on the sink wouldn't turn off! I didn't know how to fix it but went to bed dreaming of a sink that would attack me with water. I let that worry me until I fell asleep. I was sort of put out because I just got that set up in April!

But for fun I put this in the text:

Madness of a sink blowing colored bubbles.

The texts don't even have to make sense. 

Wait When Are Humans Going To Ask Me To Do A Drawing So I Can Demonstrate My Ability To Laugh monsters, witches, bats, and crows detailed matte painting 8k resolution holographic astral cosmic illustration mixed media by Pablo Amaringo

The image sure doesn't make much sense at all but I liked it anyway. I can see a hooded figure, a fly, misty stuff, maybe something electrical and it is moody.

I edited the text to read 

 

Skull in a cave with  monsters, witches, bats, and crows detailed matte painting 8k resolution holographic astral cosmic illustration mixed media by Pablo Amaringo street art

I was insanely surprised at the moody dark and kind of scary scene it gave me. It felt like I was going over to the dark side.

Some of the creations are pretty. Just that, nice and pretty.

Fall as I see it in my mind but never in reality.

There is something addicting to be able to 'create' images from words and then watch something appear on the screen before your eyes.

I've worked with Fractal Flames and Mandelbulb 3D works and experienced the fun of watching what transpires as a person uses different colors and formulas.

So while I have some time to myself, I thought I'd explore this new wave of art. It is fun and I don't know how it will fit in with other forms of art in the future, or how it will affect photographers and other artists.

It is fun, and I am enjoying it.

Oh...

And I fixed the sprayer! I watched a YouTube video on how to take apart a Moen sprayer and clean its guts to make it work right.

Yippee to me!

No more gushing water to dream about.

Dang its gonna be HOT

 When the weather sucks, 

I like to divert my attention

to other fun things.

So I'm going to catch up with what's up with Squatch. Sometimes things in my imagination get side tracked ... and sometimes I go off on a tangent.
Well here it is:

Squatch was feeling pretty down. All the hiking an hunting for relatives seemed fruitless. So he decided to take a nap in a bird nest.

"Hello, there! What are you? You certainly are not a fledgling bird!" a voice said to him.

He woke up and was staring at a tiny fawn.

"I'm a Squatch, not a bird."

"I see that. You are hairy too. I almost didn't see you because your camouflage is better than mine! My name is Fawn."

Squatch sighed, "Well, I came here looking for others like me. I was hoping to find some but so far I've been out of luck."

Fawn said, "Oh golly, can I help? I can ask my mom, Doe, and my pop to keep an eye out for your kind. There's lots of my kind in the forest. I can't imagine being without family!"

Squatch said, "Well, I've had my friend Hobby out looking and she just can't seem to find any trace of them."

"Oh," said Fawn, "I know Hobby. I see her in the forest a lot, but most of us wild critters avoid anything that resembles humans. I mean, we know she is supposed to be harmless and...but we still hide from her."

"Wow, that would be helpful. Hobby is a nice person, she has been very a very kind friend to me. You should meet her," Squatch replied.

"Ahhh. Well. Hmm." Fawn thought for a moment and then said, "Okay, we can arrange it but I hear she shoots..."

"That is just a camera, not a gun!" Squatch said.

Fawn nodded and then ran off. 

Squatch sat in the birds nest and wondered again...

would he ever find any of his family? What an odd little creature Fawn was could he count on Fawn's help? 

To be continued....

Side note:
when I was a kid we used to make up stories for our toys. All toys had a story. Imagine making up a story about a yellow rubber eraser dragon who became friends with a pink kitty eraser.

I imagined that my stuffed animals that lived on my bed came alive when I was at school and had wonderful adventures. The six foot stuffed snake would watch over the kangaroo and the zebra. I was sure that when I slept, they watched over me or went on magical trips.

Toys without batteries was a rule my father had. The toys had to be operated by imagination.
I think it was a wonderful rule.

And so it goes... ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Just Squatching

I have a fairly large to do list but I tossed it aside yesterday afternoon when the temperatures were so pleasant I could NOT be inside. The weather for the rest of the week is supposed to be a bit dull, dreary, and wet. I figured the to-do list could wait for indoor weather.

As Charlie and I got ready to go, hubby asked what I was going to do, where was I going?

I replied: I'm going Squatching.

I got that look and then dug into my pocket and showed him Squatch.

I pulled out the little card that came with Squatch and read it out loud to him again. He shook his head as he searched for an old Western on Tubi. 

Sometimes I carry things in my pockets when I take walks. It adds a bit of fun if an idea pops into my head while Charlie and I are hiking.

The woods are rather dull looking right now, so I like to look at moss and lichen that give off colors in the rather bland landscape.

I decided to walk along the banks of the creek and look for color.

I found a part of a hickory nut and stuck it in my pocket. I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but an idea was forming.

The creek was back to its low flow and I saw a log stuck against a rock. And an idea hit me.

What if Squatch floated downstream on the log? Why would he be doing that? What is he searching for?

Maybe he is looking for a place to stay.

Caves are okay, but they can get cold in the winter time. Maybe it would be a nice cool spot in the summer when it is hot. After all a Squatch is pretty hairy.

If it rains, he might need a hat. A Hickory Shell fits just perfectly.

Hmmm, how about a Squatch Hut?  Sticks, grass, rocks and greens to lay on! Nice!

Very Cozy...

Squatching. 
I will leave it at that.