Rochester trip (part 3)

It's my sister's birthday today! Ruth's newest book is now available in bookstores. Visit her Web page for Me And My Brother to see sample pages and sketches.

Speaking of kids' books, one of the highlights of our Strong National Museum Of Play visit was seeing sample pages of the original manuscript for Charlotte's Web in Reading Adventureland:



From a writer's perspective, it was fascinating to examine some of E.B. White's edits. Digital word processing is a godsend for writers, but one of the downsides is the disappearance of historical documents like this one. Very few people correspond by paper mail compared to in the past, and while I suppose it's possible to publish an electronic correspondence, it just isn't the same.

But I digress. Back to our Rochester trip...

Do check out Allison's reports and photos in Livejournal, including some great shots that she took in the Dancing Wings Butterfly Garden. The garden is the largest indoor butterfly garden in New York. You have to pay a small extra fee to be admitted, but it's well worth it.

I'd love to go back to the museum someday. I'd like more time to check out check out the 900-gallon coral reef tank as well as the National Toy Hall Of Fame. We were all amused to see that the inductee in 2005 was the Cardboard Box. Interesting to read that the first cardboard box was developed in 1879 by American Robert Gair.

Walter has posted photos from the trip in Flickr. David Wheeler has posted an LJ report about our concert as well as photos in Flickr.



Above: part of a dragon lamp in the Halls' living room. John and Joanne have a wonderful house full of all kinds of interesting things to see, corners to explore. And BOOKS...lots and lots of books.

If I could expand my basement office into a bigger place, it would look like John's and Joanne's house. :-) I felt immediately comfortable and at home.

And they had a very cool Heather Bruton painting on the wall of their downstairs bathroom:



In fact, I'm inspired to work on my own office some more. There are still so many blank wall spaces I could be filling up with pictures and paintings! Here's my office tree painting (my first time using acrylics) before I added anything else:




Again...many thanks to John and Joanne for the invite!



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Rochester trip (part 2)

Photo by Walter.

Above: our concert in Rochester. Many thanks to those who came out to hear us, and the generosity of those who put money in the hat that went around. We also sold a bunch of CDs and even a couple of songbooks. In the end, we went home with more money than we expected...a nice surprise.



Photo by Walter.

Most of today's Blatherphotos were taken by my friend Walter. The photo above was taken in the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester. With just our shadows, we could push around those blocks on the screen; the effect was pretty mesmerizing.

Thanks SO much to John for taking us to this amazing place! It was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend. I envy Joanne for having a job there. If I lived in the area, I'd probably be getting a membership and spending way too much time playing with the toys.



Photo by Walter.

Quotes about play were all over the museum's walls, and I especially loved the one above. This is SO true, isn't it? I've met many grown-ups who don't know how to play anymore, which is sad. Or young people who are too busy trying to be cool that they forget how to play, at least until they're older and finally quit worrying so much about how they look to others.



Some people would wander through the Museum of Play and think of it only as a place for children. Not my friends. :-) (see photo above!)


Photo by Walter.

Speaking of kids, how many of you out there recognize the setting below?



Photo by Walter.

Allison has some great photos from the museum in Rochester Flickr set including this one from a perspective illusion exhibit where Walter is so small compared to me that it looks as if I could probably lift that little guy up and twirl him around my head a few times.



More tomorrow...



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Rochester trip (part 1)

Allison, Jodi and I had a wonderful time in Rochester! I have to catch up on e-mail and work so may not be able to post properly about the trip until later this week but Allison is posting photos and will probably also be posting in her LJ later on.



Many thanks to John (above) and Joanne (below) for inviting and hosting us.




Our friend Walter kindly offered to drive us:




Walter will likely be uploading some Flickr pics to his Flickr account later this week.

It was great to see David Wheeler, who came to our concert. He says he may be uploading some of our concert pics to Flickr.

Also wonderful to see old friends like Grant:



and Blade:



On the way home from Rochester, timing and circumstances worked out that we were even able to have lunch with our friend Rand, yay! (Unfortunately Erin wasn't around.)

And as you can tell, I had fun with my camera. The pics on this page were all taken with my Rebel XTi using the Sigma 30mm/f1.4 lens. I did bring the Canon 17-85 lens as well, but ended up with the Sigma as my walkaround lens (again).

Walter also brought his new camera (a Rebel XTi as well), as did Allison! John Hall, of course, is a longtime photographer so always had his Pentax with him.

Not surprisingly, the trip was well-documented. :-)

As I said before, I'll be posting more about the trip in a day or two, and you can see my Rochester pics online. You may also eventually find pics/info at:

Allison photos | Allison LJ
Blade's LJ (locked entry)
Walter photos
FroggeHall.com | John's LJ
David Wheeler LJ | David photos





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Ergonomic Keyboard for Pirates

Thanks to Jeff for pointing me to this entry by Leo Laporte entitled "Arrr Me Mateys", posted yesterday in honour of Talk Like A Pirate Day. I especially like the "Avast" button.

Speaking of funny things, thanks to my friend Ray for sending me a link to "Yum Dom Cha." A food rap video! In Chinese, no less! The last half of the video is a mini-documentary about hip-hop rapper Jin.



You can find the translation at the bottom of this entry by Jennifer Louie.

Looks like the squirrels are stepping up their attempts to take over the world, or at least Toronto.

Leaving tomorrow for Rochester; Walter kindly offered transportation for Allison, Jodi, me and our gear, and we've promised not to abuse him too much along the way. Looking forward to doing our house concert as well as seeing John and Joanne again!

Have a great weekend, everyone.





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Schoolhouse Rock and Facebook apps

One of my favourite Schoolhouse Rock videos when I was little was "Figure Eight." Out of curiosity, I went searching for it on YouTube.

And of course it was there:




The singer, I discovered, was Blossom Dearie: a New York jazz singer who sang on several other Schoolhouse Rock videos (Unpack Your Adjectives, Mother Necessity) and has also been heard on many soundtracks including Kissing Jessica Stein, The Squid and the Whale and The Adventures of Felix.

Curious about other Schoolhouse Rock singers? Check out Where Are They Now - The Schoolhouse Rock Singers. So what was YOUR favourite Schoolhouse Rock song? My all-time favourite Schoolhouse Rock song remains "Interjections":



The singer: Ezra Mohawk, who has performed with Frank Zappa and Jerry Garcia, among others.

Wow. Amazing how looking for ONE tiny bit of info can suck you right into The Black Hole That Is The Internet Timesink.

Must..stop...following...links...

Hey, but speaking of links, I have a review of Hashimoto up on blogTO. Hashimoto is one of our favourite restaurants; it's a Japanese restaurant that specializes in the kaiseki tradition: a multi-course tasting menu, chosen by the chef.

And here's some exciting news:

Inkygirl: Daily Diversions For Writers now has a mobile version available, for those dying to read it on their cell phones! Interesting to note that Google has also officially announced Adsense for mobile devices.

You can also get a mobile version of Blatherings:



If you're interested in getting a mobile version of your own blog, click here.

To you tech-types out there: Facebook backers have created a $10 million fund for start-up grants, particularly for those with ideas for innovative Facebook applications. Projects don't need to be profit-focused.

So here's my question: what Facebook app would YOU like to see? Serious AND non-serious ideas welcome. Here are some of my suggestions:

FACEBOOK APPLICATIONS I'D LIKE TO SEE:

Preemptive Strike: Enables a user to block invites to specific applications, with a polite (or not, if desired) user-specified message to those sending the invite. For example, I have no desire to join the Facebook-wide Ninja/Pirate/Zombie battle going on but constantly get invites which I have to deal with individually. And while I'd love to play online Scrabble, I lack the time.

Timekeeper Wrist Slap: A user can enter the maximum amount of time he or she wants to spend on Facebook each day (or week, whatever). Once you exceed that time limit, you get a warning. Options of increasing levels of warning obnoxiousness. Somehow I doubt that Facebook would approve of this app, though.



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