It is the Eiger, who needs an excuse!

http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/blankcheck/



One of my favorite Jonny Copp stories.









Eiger North Face HMG from Dan Goodwin on Vimeo.

Cloudforest

Cloudforest, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Rainy weather brings mist to Redwood Regional Park in Oakland, California. This is a great park, full of huge trees, lush ferns, and a flowing creek.

Baghead - Review from an Extra

"Baghead - Review from an Extra" was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.







You can't do this until next month, but last weekend we went to see Baghead, the latest indie film from Mark and Jay, the Duplass brothers, who work on a shoestring budget to turn their stories into films. This movie is premiering in Austin - even New York and Los Angeles have to wait!

Philo and I loved the .. Duplass feature, The Puffy Chair, so we'd have wanted to see the latest Duplass movie in any event, but we had a special reason to see Baghead on opening weekend - to find out if either Philo or I could be glimpsed in the final film.



Most of Baghead was filmed at a cabin in the woods near Bastrop, Texas, a town Southeast of Austin. Hilarious, scary and surprising things happen to the two men and two women who are attempting to finish a screenplay for a movie - while also making sure the movie will provide roles for themselves.

Before they leave for the cabin, the story starts at a film festival, and back in October of .., Philo and I were both extras for a scene of an audience watching one of the film festival entries in a theater. I was directed to a seat right behind the four main characters and Philo was on the aisle, so we're both visible on screen for a couple of seconds - the sleeve of my light green blouse gets a few more seconds as background!



Baghead is said to use a comedy form to combine a scary movie with a relationship movie. That's not a bad description, and I'll add that we both liked the characters and story. It's an 'R' movie, which means casual profanity, nudity, and some violence. (These things don't bother me but I'm not sure who's reading this blog and thought you should be warned.)



And it's an indie movie which means some jiggly hand-held camera moments - and also some wonderful closeups. That visual intimacy with the actors' faces is something that's always been essential to the film experience, but recent movies are so stuffed with special effects, explosions, iconic landscapes, distant vehicles and petty details of historical recreation that there seems to be little time for dwelling on the individual landscape of the human face, keeping the audience at a distance from the people in the movie, sometimes leaving an unsatisfied feeling at film's end.



In contrast, the Duplass brothers let the camera linger on the faces of their four main characters, played by Greta Gerwig, Elise Muller, Steve Zissis and Ross Partridge and all of them were very watchable. We'd already seen Greta Gerwig when she starred with Mark Duplass in another indie movie called Hannah Takes the Stairs. Although I wasn't crazy about that movie it was interesting and I wanted to see the quirkily charming Greta Gerwig again - she's a naturally charismatic actor. Seeing Baghead let us know how amazing Steve Zissis can be - we hope to see him in more movies!



When the post about our experience as extras who'd been directed by the Duplass brothers went up in autumn of .., we didn't know whether we'd be in the movie - now I harbor delusions of grandeur and wonder whether a couple of seconds of screen time would qualify me for an entry on the IMDb. Could there be really be some filmmaker looking for a sixtyish, well-upholstered, grandmotherly type who sings songs to the trees?



"Baghead - Review from an Extra" was written by Annie in Austin for her Transplantable Rose blog.

Easter!!

May you have Egg-zatly the kind of easter day you want. Make sure it is a good one.
Happy Easter one and all.

Shroom

At the bottom of the crumbling, rotted tree that woodpeckers and moss had assaulted and transformed into a pyramid of decaying wood chips, grew this tiny, tiny mushroom.

'Twas the Summer of '59

The first and last time that I attended summer camp was in June 1959. I was eleven years old and it was also the first time that I had been away from home for any length of time. The camp was affiliated with the Girl Scouts. Two of my friends, classmates and troop mates, Susan and Joanne, were there too, so it wasn't like I didn't know anyone. It sounds like I had lots of fun. Too bad I don't really remember specific events, though I do remember attending. Hopefully, my spelling and grammar have improved somewhat over the years...



Dear Mom,

I am fine, How are you, Jack, Doug, and Terry. Do you know that you have to pay 15¢ a car, 15¢ for parents, 15¢ for children under 12 years of age.

My consulers are Micky, & Watona. I am having a good time, I'm just a little home sick, not very much.

Do you know what a hopper is it is a person or more that helps set tables and get food on the tables. a hopper doesn't have to do his own dishes but she has to do the tables dishes.

I have written a letter to grandma to.

sincerely yours
Beckie W.



Dear Mom,

I told you about a hopper. I'm a hopper Sat. Lunch.

Can you guess who my cabin mates are? They are Susan Howell and Joann, Suzanne, Pamella, and Diane.

Monday night we had a lot of trouble Susan was crying for her dog, and Dianne triped and hurt her eye, and we made a clothsline and I forgot where we put it and ran thurgh it and got a rope burn, Suzanne was home sick.

I got your letter and was a little home sick. I am going to save $1.00, 5¢ a day for the Mermaid-Festival. Don't tell anybody else.

I lost grandmas address will you send me the address.

Sunday we had hotdogs, potatoe chips, milk, water, Bread & butter.

I am having loads of fun I will write to you & the family almost every day.



There is one letter that Mom sent me. I'm sure she wrote more but this is the only one that got kept...



June 15, 1959

Dear Becky -

Well how is the weather. It's raining here and I've got the furnace turned on - this is always the kind of weather you get when you go to camp. What time did you get to Pottawatamie. I'll bet you were hungry when supper time came - What did you have that was good to eat. Who have you got for a cabin mate. Even if it is raining I'll bet you have fun - We are watching T. V. It's the first its been on in the morning for 2 weeks. I've got some more strawberries that have to be picked. I was over at Pat's yesterday and we are going to have to start picking peas.

Ruth and Gene Stutzman are on vacation this week too - I hope you can read this - I'm trying to get done before the mail man gets here - Terry was looking for you last night & wanted to know when we were going to get you - Bill & Sue were here yesterday and Doug started yelling for you to come & play - He stopped as soon as he got "Bec" out.

= = =

There was one more page in her letter that listed the addresses of people that I was supposed to write to. She signed the letter "Mommy".

Pat is Mom's sister. Pat and her family lived on a farm and always planted a large garden. Bill and Sue are Mom's brother and his wife. Jack, Doug, and Terry were my brothers and sister. It's nice to know that my siblings missed me ;-)

I'm pretty sure that Camp Pottawatamie was located on or near the Tippecanoe River, which was the same river that flowed through the fields less than a mile from our house. I also think the camp is now part of the Tippecanoe River State Park. The town of Winamac is located on State Road 14, in Pulaski County, about a two hour drive from where we lived at the time. Not that far, but I'm sure it seemed further.

This post was written for and contributed to the 76th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy :: How I spent my summer vacation…

Turn Your Capris into Cycling Knickers

If you own a pair of capri pants that are comfortable to cycle in, but you don't like the way the bottoms flutter in the breeze or get caught in the drivetrain, then here is a quick and dirty way to turn them into cycling knickers:



You will need a long elastic band, which can be purchased at a shop that sells sewing supplies. Alternatively, you can use narrow hairbands, as shown above (these come in a pack of 10 that costs around $2).



Check the hemming at the bottoms of the pant legs. Sometimes the manufacturer will leave an opening in the hemming, at the outer seam. If not, carefully create an opening. Don't cut into the actual fabric; just undo a small portion of the outer seam through which to thread the elastic. This was a quick and whimsical project, andI do not have a step-by-step photo documentation. But I hope these after-the-fact pictures adequately demonstrate what is involved.



Once you have threaded the elastic through the hemming, simply tie it on the side so that it is snug, but not constricting. You can then choose to either hide the knot inside the seam and sew it back up, or leave the knot exposed. The benefit of the latter is that you can keep converting the pants back and forth between normal capris and cycling knickers.



Aside from staying clear of the drivetrain, an additional benefit to these knickers is that you can continue to wear them in colder weather. Simply add long socks, and the elasticised bottoms will protect your legs from the wind. Cape Cod has greeted us with temperatures in the 50° F range, and it looks like I will be living in these for the next 2 weeks!