Spring is Here!( And an update)

For once, it's starting to feel like Spring here on the West Coast.  It's sunny outside and everything is turning green.  A few weeks ago, while testing out our new camera, I snapped a couple of pictures of these buds...

 

 

And not of nature, but of henna:

I've always wondered what getting henna would feel like.  Recently, at a school's diversity day, I got the chance to try it out.  When the henna is first applied, it is cool and in a paste-like consistency.  It smells kind of medicinal and herbal at first, but I gradually got used to it.  Over a period of a few hours to a day, it dries into a dark crust.  After the first hour, it felt itchy, but after leaving it on for a night, I barely noticed it.  I washed it off the next morning, and it left a medium red-brown stain left, which darkened over the next few days.  It lasted about 7 days for me, and started fading around the 4th or 5th day.  My artist was quite talented, and drew a lovely paisley leaf design on my hand.  Overall, I thought it was an interesting experience and a beautiful cultural tradition that I got to participate in.

And an update on the Sally Hansen Nail Polish Strips:  Well, they didn't quite last for the ten days they claim on the package.  I took it off the 6th night, because I am quite rough on my nails and it was beginning to chip, though it looked good from a distance.  However, I have been typing and painting all week, so someone who doesn't abuse their nails as much might have better results.  Also, I found that if you have leftover strips, even if you duct-tape the container, they will still dry out.  I found the dried out strips to be less flexible and not as adhesive, so I couldn't use them.  That would allow you only 2 manicure with one package of the nail polish strips.  $5 a manicure might be less of a deal for you, however, I found the product unique enough to make it worth it, especially as I can never have a nail polish look excellent for 6 days.

What do you think?  Is it worth the money, or is regular nail polish a better deal?

Death of a Whale

A blue whale was recently killed, running into a ship, and the mother whale's body washed up on shore.  We went to go see it yesterday.

(This post contains sad, slightly gruesome imagery)
Actually, I was going to post pictures, but decided that most people would be horrified by the sight of a picked-at, broken carcass of a huge whale with the baby calf torn out of its mother's womb.  So I decided not to.

Even now, I can smell the stench of rotting fish, hear the caws of the gulls and feel the chill in the air, even now I still think about the sadness of the death.

The scene was rather...disturbing to me at first.

When I came across it, I saw the sea gulls first, loud and flocking around the rocks.  The coarse sand was strewn with seaweed, and as I observed it carefully, I realized that there were...organs, scattered and picked at around the shore.  There was a form, similar to a whale, pale and almost complete.  I recognized one part as a tail, and now I believe it was the fetus of the pregnant whale.  I had to climb on top of the rocks to get a better view, and soon the smell drifted up to me.  Covering my nose with my jacket, I scrabbled across the other side of the rocks, avoiding entrails and baleen, hissing at the sea gulls to get a better view.

The whale was large, but somehow I expected it to be bigger.  It was lying in an odd position, stomach out, head hidden (we couldn't see the head, and maybe it was lost), tail almost severed from the rest of the body, chunks of fat and flesh showing.  Almost all of the skin was gone, and it looked almost as it had never been alive.  It made me rather queasy to see such a destroyed corpse, once a magnificent, living animal.


How quickly life can be destroyed, rendered subject to the waves and beak of the birds, the wind and decaying of flesh.

How almost...surreal, unbelievable something can be once a silent tragedy has been occurred.

I am still sad, almost uncomprehending still, of what happened.  Maybe in time I will realize this, but even as I try to wrap my head around the evanescence, the fragility of life, the stark and indifferent world, I will only remember a lonely feeling inside, and the images that remain.

Everything Green

St. Patrick's Day is you know...tomorrow.  SO!, in honor of the hiding-behind-me-omg-its-close holiday, I made a collection of stuff I had that was green.  Beginning:

Clockwise: Sparkly nail polish from a quarter vending machine, two necklaces; the beaded one handmade, green gel pen, and Glitterati mint.

 Green apple candle from a friend, Weleda Skin Food cream, shell key chain from China, paper crane, paintbrush (and mint).

Green can stand for hope and harmony (I think so anyway), and is a color that the eye is attracted to but not overwhelmed by.  It is the color found most plentifully in nature, usually in the form of chlorophyll in plants.

Shamrocks!  They always grow in our yard in the spring.  These ones are at the front gate-sort of.

So bright and cheery.

We have a cross-country tomorrow, so I hope even normal clovers will bring me a bit of luck!

Spring! *boing*

For a while now, I've been obsessed with cherry blossoms and plum blossoms.  I don't know why.  They aren't particularly large or showy, and they don't have very bright colors or a superb scent.  However, there is just something about the delicate shapes of the blossoms and the way they completely blanket  the trees with white, or the way they fill the air with a subtle sense of spring that gets to me.  The trees have been in bloom for a while now, but the past week has been rainy and cloudy, so I wasn't able to get decent pictures until now.

We usually have a Cherry Blossom Festival every year...maybe this year I missed it?  But for me, this truly means the arrival of spring...along with daffodils!

 Unfortunately for me, I'm leaving next week for a week-long school trip to a cold, wet, and snowy place...right when Jean Paul Gaultier for Target launches.  Oh well.

On a different note, all the Fashion Weeks seem to be against my schedule!  Just when I'm getting over a bout of SAD, the fall/winter collections come out!  However, this piece from Iodice's RTW collection is certainly ready for spring:

Wear this to somewhere warm...

Photo taken by John Aquino, image from wwd.com
Have a nice week!

Update

I have an update on the sewing machine scenario.My dad fixed it on Monday, yay! Now I don't have to spend $100 on a new one. On another note, I finally updated pictures from early November. It was still warm here then, but it has been getting chilly!

An iris blooming on the side of a small road, an artistic arrangement of a leaf, an interesting acorn, and a flower that looks to be one from the stylized design of a manga. (xxxHolic)


Our camera sucks like heck, and Blogger is being stupid, causing me to waste my storage because I needed to upload it five times when I accidentally deleted the picture. I don't even know where the storage went, since the pictures are not stored on my blog.

The Rain

Language is really such a variable subject. Sometimes, gym class is physical education, "pro" and "skills", trousers are pants( but there are still trousers here), fashionista and reccesionista are mainstream now(my Language Arts teacher wouldn't probably approve, and who says that in real life?!), but I digress. My chosen word of the day is nascent.

Today, the weather forecast said it was to be rainy. I hoped that it would rain during physical education, because, really, who wants to run on a Friday? P.E. class came, and it was sunny here and warm. I remember thinking with vengeance, "The weather forecast lied!" Of course, we had to run a mile (not ameliorated by the nice name the teacher gave it). About two thirds of the way through, it started sprinkling. Then the wind picked up. After P.E., it started alternating between raining and drizzling throughout out classes. What a glorious day.

It might be nice to take photos of the rain, but our camera is severely lacking the thing known as quality. Here are things that remind me of today's rain:

Spring Rain. Aventurine and Freshwater Pearl Bracelet by DesignByMagriet

Sun Moon Stars Rain - embellished mixed media print on chipboard by mizkatie

Cloudy Day - hand painted silk crepe de chine luxury scarf by MuseSilkPaintings

Pretty, but the bracelet and the scarf are unaffordable. I need a silk scarf, too. However, this is why you go to flea markets.

We are popular with the birds here

Yesterday, because of the heat I was eating dinner outside, on the porch. We have a sapote tree in front, so as I was eating, I saw a bird landing on a branch. At first I thought it was a seagull, but as it turned to stare at me, I realized it was a hawk ( or falcon. but it was pretty big) It flew to a telephone line close by and perched o it a while, then flew off. My thoughts went like this:

1. Oh wow, a seagull
2. Why is a seagull here? (We don't live very close to the coast)
3. Wait, it's tan-coloured...
   
4. OMslktgpweflgkG, it's a hawk!!!1
5. Is it going to eat my dinner?
6. Dang, it flew away...

It had red-orange eyes and yellow talons, and the chest area was a light speckled tan. The back and wings were a mostly medium brown, and was 12-16inches long(?) After researching, I still don't know. We have a lot of crows and some scrub jays here(they visit our trees) , and many other small birds. Does anyone know what kind of hawk/falcon that was?

It's still cold...

I haven't really posted for a long time, more like a month. It has been sunny, and a definite end to winter. Today, though, the sunlight outside seems to be fluctuating. It was supposed to rain( which we definitely need!), but it was sunny for a few minutes, and really seemed like spring. Then, the clouds started covering up the sun. However, just when it was starting to sprinkle this morning, the sun came out again. If something is controlling the weather, they're either bipolar or having a seizure. However, the nature does not seem to mind.
Tulips in our yard
We also have a freesia plant, and it smells sooo good. If Brambleberry comes up with a freesia scent, I want it. Freesias are not obnoxious or heavy, like gardenias, they just smell floral and fresh. Perfect for spring.
Closeup:
Also, our lemon tree is bearing fruit! Only a few lemons are yellow, though. The rest are still greenish.
Happy spring!