check this out!

Yesterday I went outside to check for eggs and Claire followed me. As we walked up to the coop, I could hear the familiar shuddering noise that is Plumpy, our Rhode Island Red trying to lay an egg. We heard the same noise for two days when her sister died on New Year's Eve. She seems to occasionally have a hard time laying her eggs but I thought we'd worked out all the kinks. Not so much. Josh said she had been in there for over two hours but he didn't want me to worry. (I caught the Catalina Cold that two of the girls in my dorm came down with) Claire and I both had our cameras and I opened the back of the coop to see what was going on. Sometimes Plumpy just likes to hang out on her egg for a while after she's laid it. Claire turned on her camera and all its beeps and boops, not to mention the giant keychain charm on the camera strap, started Plumpy and she got up and took off, out the coop and up the hill. Grrrreat, I'm thinking. Then I saw it: the egg was starting to crown while she was walking! Claire and I hurried through the mud and I fired off three quick shots before I heard a little "dink!". The egg rolled down the hill and landed next to a little rock and some nasturtiums. It was CRAAAAZY!

See, didn't I tell you chickens are fun? Next we want a rooster for a week or two. His name will be "Hot Wings".

kaylie and I in catalina

thankful for them

thankful for them
Originally uploaded by mosaic me

field trip

Yesterday I went on a field trip with Kaylie's fifth grade class (as a chaperone, ooooo!) to the California Science Center. We all trudged to South Central LA on big, yellow, exhaust-spewing school buses. I had a group of seven 10-year olds to supervise. We waited in the hot sun (it was 90 degrees today, the kind of weather you've heard me say I pay good money for to live in CA) for the IMAX movie, Prehistoric Sea Creatures or something. The movie was pretty neat; they sure don't make 3D like Captain Eo anymore, do they? The movie followed the life of this little penguin-dolphin type of animal called a dolly-something-saurus. (I'll look it up. (Better yet, you look it up by following the science center link above, deal?) It was so cool to feel like you were swimming in the middle of a school of fish, or to see the glassy layer of dimension on the aerial shot of the ocean. The kids couldn't help but reach out to try to touch the images; I caught myself wanting to do the same. HOWEVER! I was not in the mood for the whole circle of life spiel today. The cute little dolly-saurus saw her mom and her brother eaten over her lifetime and had a chunk of her fin bitten off by a shark-o-saurus, where the shark's tooth was embedded in her scarred flipper foreverandeveramen, until her bones were found somewhere in Colorado thousands of years later.

I cried at the fucking movie, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear? Is everyone happy now?

Cheerfully continuing on the day's theme of life and death, we (my group and I) noticed the teacher awkwardly standing over something near the side of the spiral staircase. It was a teeny little hummingbird that she said was dead, or at least in the throes of death. It was the saddest thing I've seen in a long time! I scooped it up with my museum papers and carried it over to the science center workers. They informed me that it was against their policy to pick up sick or injured animals. I looked around over the three flights of spiral stairs leading up and all the layers of bird crap under their favorite perches. Pigeons grow fat in the city, you know. (All I could think as we walked up was bird-flu-bird-flu with every step. Right-left-right-left. Bird-flu-bird-flu. Dear Lord, please let the kids have enough sense to step over it.) I said "Really? With all this crap around and things hanging from the ceiling, you don't have injured and dead birds all the time?" Nope. They pretended to call their "animal care department" to get me off their back, crazy lady in high heels at a freaking museum with a twitching bird (nearly) in her hand.

I couldn't stay until the fictional animal care team arrived, damned kids, so I tucked the bird, still on the paper, near the entrance and under a bench, then let the worker-people know where I'd put it. As I was doing this it made one last attempt at spreading its wings - literally. It didn't look fully grown to me, so maybe it was a fallen fledgling. I spent the rest of the day trying to convince myself that all it needed was some warmth and a quiet, safe place to recover and it would be fine, but I just don't know. I do know it was saved from death by stomping fifth grader, though.

Back home,we get Claire, have Big Sticks courtesy of Teresa and Jordan, change, get back on the road to go meet Nana. Sneeze and sniffle (them, not me) the entire way there. Shit. Meet Nana at Panda Express, eat dinner, kids pass out cold on the 90 minute drive home. Still sniffling and sneezing like faucets and whatever else sneezes a lot. Drag kids into Vons for fresh supply of Dimetapp and tissues, since they each went through two Puffs travel packs in the car. (those are my favorite travel tissues, just so you know) Get 'em home, shower 'em up, dose 'em up, herd 'em into bed. Hallelujah. There is hope for the to go to school tomorrow yet!

1:20AM. Someone is awake. Kaylie. She yells for me that she's nauseous and needs a bucket. I fly across the floors in my socks just in time to get a half-full trash can (for junk mail) under her face and she starts to hurl. Ahhh, partially digested Panda Express. Isn't it enough that I couldn't eat Chinese food when I was pregnant with her? I manage to not puke myself, clean Kaylie up, clean out the trash can and line the rest of them with plastic liners and placed at each kid's bedside. I'm ready.

(thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you Joshie for my flickr pro account! wheeeee!!!)

7,000 views

Not blog views - Flickr views.
Seven thousand views since June 2007
kinda makes me smile :) which is kind of difficult this week.

El Campo Santo

I'd love it if you would check out the pictures I took yesterday at El Campo Santo, the old graveyard at the Workman Temple Homestead. I've been doing some reading about local history, probably because Kaylie is doing another explorer unit this year. We visited the homestead museum in fourth grade and again in sixth I think. I've always loved the area and been fascinated about the lives of the people who built their homes here "first".

However, I have been highly annoyed to find out that one of the settlers killed himself when he lost all this land at the beginning of the Depression. Kind of an important piece of the story, isn't it? We don't need to go into details, but kids deserve to be told the truth, especially when learning about history at school. Sheesh.

You can also check out more pictures of the cemetery by yours truly here.
If you like, you can read an interesting "article" about Turnbull Canyon, the legends surrounding it and how they tie in to the Workman/Temple/Rowland families. It's a long one though. I've chosen not to believe most of the legends of Turnbull Canyon. Growing up here, I had my fair share of party nights at the locations mentioned above. Still, when a Christian evangalist chick gets mysteriously killed and dragged around the city (beginning on Turnbull Canyon) it does make you pause...

birds on wires

birds on wires

Somewhere off the 101 in the San Fernando Valley this morning. I've been chasing one of these pictures for a while and finally just *did* it.

after a long absence...

after a long absence...
Originally uploaded by mosaic me

no birds

no birds
Originally uploaded by lucky_charmer

Josh's sister Kim and her family have been evacuated.
Paul's girlfriend Joy and her mother have been evacuated from their homes.
My brother in San Diego is wetting down the roof of his house as the fire approaches.

six million people

6millionpeople.blogspot.com/
www.flickr.com/groups/6millionpeople/

green

green
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

Please visit the original photographs and the photographers by clicking on the links below:
1. Untitled, 2. My job is done. I'm out'a here., 3. Chucks, 4. Frog

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

another June 07 explore

another June 07 explore


Explore disclaimer plus faq: bighugelabs.com

Is Explore a showcase for the top Flickr photographers?

No. It's for photo viewers, not the photographers. It exists so that, at any moment, anyone who wants to view interesting photos can go to Explore and have a reasonable chance of seeing something interesting. Does that imply that photographs not in Explore are uninteresting? Of course not. There are many, many wonderful photos uploaded to Flickr each day that aren't selected for Explore. But to serve its purpose, Explore only has to include a small sampling of all of the photos on Flickr (currently at 500 per day or about 0.1% of the daily upload volume). And Explore tries to show photos from as many different people as possible to create a diverse selection.
Explore is for the viewers. It's a way for Flickr to show the world a sampling of what is being shared there. It's there for those who are new to Flickr, who are lost in the vastness of it all and don't know where to begin. It is not a "best of" listing of photographers. It is not a popularity contest.

the ties that bind

the ties that bind
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

Please visit the originals and the photographers by clicking on the links below:
1. blue yarn, 2. Day 21: Hatched!, 3. knots, 4. i heart daylillies

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

four

four
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

Please visit the originals and their photographers by clicking on the links below:
1. blue yarn, 2. Day 21: Hatched!, 3. knots, 4. i heart daylillies

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

6/19 favorite favorites

6/19 favorite favorites
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

Images appeared in Explore on 6/19/07. Please visit the originals and the photographers by clicking on the links below:

1. Pinkalicious Splash !, 2. Door Kroustas, 3. A very cool wall I saw while driving down the road the other day..., 4. Abstracted, 5. Bestfriends, 6. Star Fish Cottage, 7. pink patchwork tote, 8. Pretty Pink, 9. an ocean & ship, 10. Moon-Venus June 2007 conjunction, 11. Shells, 12. The Wizard, 13. Catch me if you can, 14. venus and her cradle, 15. Untitled, 16. Back Light(My 14th Explore), 17. straw - pajitas de colores, 18. Love his baby blues!, 19. For Mom, 20. Untitled

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

pink chandy-lears

pink chandy-lears
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

Today's mosaic. I am a woman obsessed.
I just looooove all the sparkles in these photos.
I need a house with a chandelier in my bedroom in my next life.

this collection made possible with original photos by the following:

1. pink & green chandelier - rsh, 2. ikea chandelier remix, 3. Something old something new, 4. cuz who doesn't need a pink chandelier??, 5. Think Pink, 6. Flamboyant, 7. decorated chandelier, 8. chandelier, 9. pink tinge, 10. Bling Bling, 11. ...*Chandelier*..., 12. pink ceiling, 13. Gorgeous pink crystal chandelier, 14. Chandelier, 15. Pink Chandelier, 16. Funky Chandelier Downtown, 17. Succotash chandelier, 18. pink chandelier, 19. pink Hollywood Regency style chandelier, 20. Pink Chandelier, 21. Pink Ladies' Chandelier, 22. chandelier, 23. Pink champagne on ice, 24. the calendar hung itself, 25. L

pink flowers

pink flowers
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

I learned myself how to make a mosaic this morning over at fd's flickr toys. I think it came out pretty nicely, don't you? Of course, all the credit goes to the photographers for sharing their beautiful work.

Look for lots more mosaics to come...

this collection made possible with original photos by the following:

1. pink & green chandelier - rsh, 2. ikea chandelier remix, 3. Something old something new, 4. cuz who doesn't need a pink chandelier??, 5. Think Pink, 6. Flamboyant, 7. decorated chandelier, 8. chandelier, 9. pink tinge, 10. Bling Bling, 11. ...*Chandelier*..., 12. pink ceiling, 13. Gorgeous pink crystal chandelier, 14. Chandelier, 15. Pink Chandelier, 16. Funky Chandelier Downtown, 17. Succotash chandelier, 18. pink chandelier, 19. pink Hollywood Regency style chandelier, 20. Pink Chandelier, 21. Pink Ladies' Chandelier, 22. chandelier, 23. Pink champagne on ice, 24. the calendar hung itself, 25. L

rainbow week

I've found a new obsession - Flickr! I've probably tagged about a thousand favorites. It's complete eye candy and so inspiring.
After browsing for a couple of weeks I took the plunge and joined a group called Rainbow Week. The idea is to take a picture with a different theme color each day of the week. I created a little mosaic with fd's flickr toys of this week's entry. I took Thursday's photo (green) a day late so I never posted it to the group. Friday is blue, Saturday indigo, Sunday violet.


rainbow week mosaic 1
Originally uploaded by laura carmer

1. under the bridge downtown, 2. blue ribbons, 3. indigo stars, 4. this summer's beach bag