Think I need a lot more practice.  Like a lot of my pictures, it's better if you look at it from a distance with your eyes half closed.

I wasn't very happy with it while I was doing it.  I'd forgotten how wet watercolours are, which sounds really daft, I was getting really annoyed that bits weren't drying fast enough before putting more colour on.  I also had the problem that my bench didn't fit on the page, which it always a problem that I have.  I have a tendency to draw big, no matter what size the paper is, so things always fall off the edge.  I think I started off working wetter than I used to.  Looking back at watercolours that I did 10 years ago they don't look so splodgy.  Think I managed to rescue it slightly, but it definitely didn't turn out as I hoped.  Again I'd love to receive any comments on it.

I think I might concentrate on getting my drawing skills back up to scratch, and then try a bit more pastels.  I found I did have another box of pastels on top of the wardrobe - a brand new set with the wrapper still on!  I might even have a go at acrylics, which is something I could never get the hang of, but you never know I may have get the knack while I've been doing nothing.   I shall keep you posted of anything I do.

]]> http://yesbuts.wordpress.com/?p=1696 Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:46:33 +0000 yesbuts http://yesbuts.wordpress.com/?p=1696

Come on lets be serious, you must be kidding. This is Wales - it doesn't stop raining. Who in his right mind would buy a wateringcan?

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion Church in Santa MAria, Ilocos Sur is perched up on a hill overlooking the town. The church was also used as a fortress during the revolution. The stairs leading to the church is also paved of piedra china. San Esteban was once a vista of Santa Maria, the stone carvers in San Esteban are probably the descendants of the those who worked on the construction of the church. (read more)

The stones can also be found in ancestral houses. An example of this would be Sitio Remedios in Ilocos Norte, where they re-create vintage Ilocano style houses and structures. (link)
These stone tiles and crafts last more than just a lifetime. Even you can leave a heritage that your descendants will enjoy and cherish.

Friday will be a big day for Boston, as they expect to get Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell and Sean Casey back. Let's hope they are all healthy down the stretch, so that we can go get that AL East title.

The Sox already have a third catcher in Dave Ross, and Jonathan Van Every is already up for outfield depth, so there are no truly glaring needs at this point. One factor is likely that Mike Lowell, out since August 13 with a strained oblique, had a "great" BP session and thinks he can return to the field really soon.

The Portland Sea Dogs have announced their 2008 team awards. OF Zach Daeges took the MVP award, Michael Bowden was the team's Pitcher of the Year, Mickey Hall was the 10th Man, and Iggy Suarez won the Citizen of the Year. I actually wasn't aware that that was an award. Well, I guess you learn something new every day.

Taken with a Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Digital, Shutter Speed 1/170s, a Focal Length of 66.7mm and an F-stop set at F/4.9, on ISO400.

there is a Wallpaper* design award calling for entries last month, like i've commented here. today is the final deadline to send the work, i've been to the Greentower office by myself to submit my work.

Greenbench is an ordinary public bench with a Titanium-dioxide
coated material, a chemical that when exposed to sunlight binds with
oxides of nitrogen produced by cars and other pollution sources.
The pollutants are transmuted into nitrates, which are not harmful to
the environment, during the process.
Then the next time the rain comes along, it washes the bench clean.
Another feature of the material is that it repel dirt, helping the bench
to stay clean without the use of human interference.

all of time i use for this piece of work is just 'almost one day' so wait and let see another work of my easy-concept series if it works, i'd be happy with RADO prize.

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The fact that the front office is trying to make a move indicates to me that they are looking at Drew being out for at least 3-4 weeks. They would love to add one of their most productive hitters this year back to the lineup for the playoffs, and the best way to do that is to rest him for most of September.

The Sox also swapped out reliever Chris Smith for infielder Joe Thurston before yesterday's game for extra infield depth. You never know when Joba Chamberlain will throw at Kevin Youkilis again, right?

Internet es una gran biblioteca donde si se sabe buscar, aparecen temas relacionados con lo que precisamos en el momento. Así encontré este interesante escrito sobre el amor.

Un esposo fue a visitar a un sabio consejero y le dijo que ya no quería a su esposa y que pensaba separarse. El sabio lo escuchó, lo miró a los ojos y solamente le dijo una palabra: ámela. Luego se calló. Pero es que ya no siento nada por ella, dijo el esposo. Ámela, repuso el sabio.

Y ante el desconcierto del señor, después de un oportuno silencio, agregó lo siguiente:

“Amar es una decisión, no un sentimiento; amar es dedicación y entrega. Amar es un verbo y el fruto de esa acción es el amor. El amor es un ejercicio de jardinería: arranque lo que hace daño, prepare el terreno, siembre, sea paciente, riegue y cuide. Esté preparado porque habrá plagas, sequías o excesos de lluvia, mas no por eso abandone su jardín. Ame a su pareja, es decir, acéptela, valórela, déle afecto y ternura, admírela y compréndala”.

Eso es todo. Ámela.

Danny slowed us down quite a bit by insisting on carrying a very large stick nearly the whole way.

You can't really tell from this pic but it was bigger than him.

The path is halfway up quite a steep slope and because of this there's lots of little waterfalls along the path running down to the river below, and lots of little streams alongside, which Danny loves throwing sticks and stones into.

For some reason there's a set of monkey bars next to the path, and of course hubby has to have a go every time we come.  It gave the rest of us some amusement anyway.

This is my favourite bench on the path, I'd love it in my garden but I think it might be a bit big.

We walked for an hour along the path and then obviously an hour back to the car.  Needless to say Daniel was very tired by the time we got back, and covered in mud, but he said he'd had a good time.

To finish the day off, and to undo all the good the walk might've done us, my parents came round for a Chinese after we'd put the kids to bed.

While hiking to where we were to begin our mapping, we heard and saw some lava bubble bursts to the left of the ocean entry plume. Unfortunately, a watched pot never boils and neither does a watched ocean entry. As soon as I pulled my camera out, the bursts stopped. Ah well, at least the ocean entry plume still looked good.

This is a view to the south, and you can see the pali (or cliff) at the right of the frame. The lava flows toward the ocean from very far up the pali, sometimes aboveground and mostly underground through lava tubes.

The way we map new lava breakouts is by putting handheld GPS units on Tracking mode and then walking along the boundaries of the fresh lava. It's a good way to map, since you can set the GPS to record your position at intervals of three seconds. The level of accuracy is enough for our purposes. After all, the flow field changes fairly often.

Moving on to the field work I did on Friday (it wasn't too strenuous, don't worry)! We met up with a cultural resources guy from Pohakuloa Training Area, a massive area between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea where the Army and Marines practice bombing and combat. The samples we needed to obtain were on the military's land, so we have to go through the proper channels to collect them.

There's a bit of archaeology in what we were doing there.

That is a pit dug by the ancient Hawaiians. No one is sure why they dug these pits, which happen to be about 9,000 feet up the slope of Mauna Loa. We collected samples of the displaced rocks to perform the same Chlorine-36 cosmogenic isotope dating that we did on Mauna Loa's summit. The reddish lava flow that the pits are situated in is of unknown age, so we're also going to date that as well. It should give us an idea of how long ago the Hawaiians made the pits.

I suppose it can't hurt to throw in a picture of the other massive volcano on this island. If you can make out a small whitish blob in the left foreground, past the plants...that's our truck. This might give some sense of how gentle this particular slope of Mauna Loa is. Trust me, they're not all like that!

Tonight is my last night housesitting, so my internet access (and consequently posting) should pick up a bit this week.