I went to the farmers' market this morning for the first time in two weeks and bought swiss chard (the red-stem kind), some heirloom tomatoes, edamame-on-the-stalk, a French baguette, purple plums, yellow-red Methley plums, green-speckled Clapp pears, and blackberries (those purple-night poetry-worthy globules: I ate them all ( Read more... )

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Last weekend I passed by the old canal and looked down to see the temporary art installation Untitled (it used to be my playground) by Matej Andraz Vogrincic (the photo doesn't quite do it justice). Or at least I was in a mood to be enraptured by it. I still would like to go a photograph it. Maybe ( Read more... )

I have just returned from my one and only sojourn into Midnight Madness. Madness intend, though rather on the tame end of the spectrum. I am infinitely grateful I do not have to work in a bookshop tonight.

Must not open book. Must try to sleep. Good morning.

As I was walking home, a little whitish fluff caught my attention: a tussock moth caterpillar, I thought. I bent down to inspect the underside of a leaf of a small mulberry sapling growing on the side on the pavement. What I thought were the distinctive "tussocks" of hair were actually about six cocoons of a parasitoid, probably of the braconid ( Read more... )

I went out this afternoon and took a whole bunch of photos, some of which are below. I haven't had the patience to stick around for much of the filming, so if you want to see amateur pics of Harrison Ford I suggest you go here.

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A block of shops is having its windows altered in accord with the 1950s era Indian Jones movie to be filmed here in part. A few clothing boutiques have managed to keep this identity, with period mannequins and fashions of bygone days. Woolworth's toys take up the window of a print and copy center (and a few others), Ten Thousand Villages is well ( Read more... )

I was just reading this article about the "new" weight loss drug and how it isn't a magic bullet and its side effects and how they're exacerbated by eating a high fat diet, et cetera..., and I came across this sentence ( Read more... )

When my lab had significantly more people in it, on of the conversations which came up was how irked a few of the members get when they hold the door open for someone else (especially with some delay), and don't receive a "thank you" in return. I find it mildly annoying, but on the whole I'm not fussed about it ( Read more... )

( random photos from earlier today )