Barack-O-Rama

Adromischus cristatus

Here's one of the ones I couldn't find earlier this morning:

Adromischus cristatus

i really like succulents

It seems like only a short while ago Babetron and I bought our very first succulent plants.
We now have at least thirteen varieties in the house. They are so small and weird looking, I can't help but want to collect and grow all the new varieties as we find them. So today I am going to dig around online and find photos of each of the plants I have been able to procure so far.

Crassula ovata
We have two varieties of this species:
Jade Plant













and Hobgoblin Fingers (also called Gollum Fingers)


















Anacampseros telephiastrum
















Two varieties of the Haworthia family:
Haworthia Cooper














And Haworthia Reinwardtii also known as "Zebra Pillar"


















Pachyphytum Bracteosum














We have a couple of Sempervivum plants as well.
Sempervivum arachnoideum














And also Sempervivum montanum Although it's hard to say for sure. There are so many Sempervivum plants out there. We have the generic kind purchased at Home Depot and Ikea. These are usually referred to as "Chicks and Hens"












Sedum dasyphyllum
Maybe. I know it looks like something from the Sedum family. To be honest, it is pretty hard to pin point something exactly. There are so many varieties of plants...













Crassula arborescens














There are at least three more. I know one is commonly referred to as a "Pie Plant" and I have no idea what the other two are called. But I have spent way too long on this post as it is. Also, if I made any mistakes or labeled anything incorrectly please feel free to correct me. Most of my information was just pulled from the internet doing image searches, and digging around various sites for clues.

new process

I just started building a new set of stretcher bars for my next painting last night. I've never used this process before. Actually lately I've grown pretty complacent, and have just been using 2x2" beams. they are often a little warped, or twisted so it makes the whole process less than ideal and even downright mediocre. So I've decided to buy 1x3" poplar planks and then glue a strip of 1" molding to edges. this will provide a nice lift for the canvas, and any warping in the beams themselves is almost nonexistent. My only fear at this point is the see how the frame holds up, or possibly warps once I wrap the canvas taught around the stretcher bars. Hopefully I can nullify this as much as possible using cross beams and metal joint supports.
Anyway, here is a photo of me gluing the molding to one of the poplar beams.

Two types of people in the world...

There are two types of people in the world.
1) The first type of person thinks that any cover song is "way better than the original."
2) The second type of person just had ravioli for dinner.

Actually, the post was going to originally say that the first type of person can't admit when their favorite band puts out a mediocre album. But then I was thinking about this Rage Against the Machine cover of "Straight Edge" I was listening to in the car and I just thought to myself, "Minor Threat had those fat guitar sounds! Rage sounds all flat in comparison." And I think that was one of the first times in recent memory where I didn't like the cover better than the original.

Also, how come I never update this blog anymore?

the space between two dots

Tybot drove me to work this morning, and i started waxing philosophical about direction -- a mild version of the "why am i here? where am i going?" questions you ask during life's crossroads.

it spawned from listening to the New Pornographers' Twin Cinema album this morning while getting ready. this is a band that was introduced to me via what i would later recognize as a very ugly situation, but i would never have suspected it then. at the time, i thought the band was ok -- but ironically, now years later i love the band, even with the awareness of the context. the bigger picture, if you will.

as one example of a larger point i was trying to make, i said it struck me as ironic how big twists can sometimes start in places or things you would never suspect.

anyway -- i was deep in thought, thinking about starting points and middle points and what comes next and said, "i feel like i'm at a line between the dots and don't quite know where the next dot is -- or what the big picture will end up being."

to be expected, Tybot had the answer and responded perfectly:

"yeah, like connect the dots. a lot of times it's a giraffe."







so there you have it.

i'm a girl of simple tastes

as for today, i like...

• waking up to sunshine on a Friday morning and knowing i don't have to go to work
• being out the door by 9:30 a.m., with Nikes on my feet, sunglasses on my head and a book in tote
• reading by Lake Michigan until lunchtime (or in this case until i finish the book -- about three hours later)
• walking back home with Grant Park, the Museum Campus, Soldier Field and Chicago's spectacular skyline as the backdrop (this is my neighborhood? seriously? a year and a half living in the city and it still feels new)
• coming home to our airy loft
• tossing some fresh pasta with avocado then rummaging through Tybot's studio for a bit
• finding the perfect painting for our west wall
• flipping through a design/architecture magazine (while admiring our view of the Sears Tower from the living room couch)
• taking a two-hour nap
• waking up just in time to walk back down Michigan and catch the last hour of Radiohead at Grant Park (yeeeeah- i got in!)

Tybot gets home from camping tomorrow -- i'm pretty excited about that too.

that also probably explains why i'm blogging on a friday night.

k,byeeee.