Random stuff I found...

In an article in the October 09 Walrus, there was a two paragraph mention near the end of Dyesol solar panels, a new kind of solar panel being produced by a British steel company in Australia. The articles piqued my interest because the panels seem so sensitive that they work even in dim light--perfect for rainy environments like Vancouver. According to the article, the panels are being printed right onto roof tiles. They're made out of titanium and ruthenium, and it seems a lot of people think this is a great improvement on current solar panels models.

I also got to use a solar cooker the other day. Fun!

Mons

Dawn out my window. You can see Corsica in the very early morning, as the sun rises behind it.


Snow, 730AM. The morning was very blue!

1PM!
Nothing to do but watch the birds
with the cat!

Dawn the next day.


The dog, Luna. Sweetheart!

It's organic, if you didn't know. Edible labels?

Astounding: you can make your own club soda.

Severed Heads!

Louis Riel and fun in the snow!

I've Been Knitting!

This is a hanging of most of what I've made in the last five months.



So, I bought three balls of yarn at the market in Ceret, all were multi-coloured, two were plied black, one was plied orange. The scarf was done in alternating colours of ribbing (right? That's when you just knit?) an idea inspired by Venus' beautiful and loooong striped scarf. My scarf turned out pretty; the hat was the left-over black-plied yarn, and looks like something god-awful that a 17 year-old hipster would pay 40CND for at American Apparel. But when my head is cold, I wear it.

It wasn't warm enough, however, after I re-shaved my head in January (wrong month, wrong hemisphere for that decision), especially when I realised I'd lost my stitch-hitter black hat (regardless of the fact some people thought it looked like a jockey helmet. I will be making a new one, but I have to find more of that lovely Icelandic wool). I'd been making mittens from a pattern my mother gave me, with wool she'd spun--red wool plied with Chow hair (yup!). The pattern was a thrummed pattern, so it incorporated unspun wool into the pattern, which felts together as you wear it. Long story no shorter (I love Clue, the movie) I decided to make a hat the same way in order to keep my head warm, and it worked! I need to felt the thrums a bit by hand to keep them from felting sticking out, but otherwise, success!

The inside of the mitten.


These were in the closet in Mons, and I loved the simplicity of the idea. So I started knitting my own, albeit much finer ones since I only had one option for yarn. Halfway through the first one, I decided to make arm-warmers instead. I like them!

Nice is...nice?

I know, I know. Why am I posting blurry pictures? WHY AM I POSTING THREE BLURRY PICTURES? Well, it's probably best to try NOT to understand.

I love blurry photos. Accidents and motion, not someone's attempt at photographing fireworks. The long story is that I had to leave Marseill very, very early--well, you know. My train left at 720 and I was staying in the suburbs. When I told the guy at the hostel that I HAD to leave at 630, he scoffed. It was downhill to the train station! In the end, I don't know if he overslept or if he just decided I didn't need all that time (even if I thought I did)--he didn't let me out (the whole building was locked--like a Russian nightclub. I would not want a fire) until close to 700, and I, predictably, got lost, although this time I surprised even myself by getting lost less than a minute after I left the hostel. I took two right turns and ended up who knows where--the cat dimesion or maybe the lost-sock-in-the-dryer dimension. Short story? I was basically throwing my bike on the train as it pulled out of the station. Well, not quite, but it was within seconds, I assure you.

Once I'd caught my breath, I took photos out the window of the sunrise. Pretty! There is one of a city street...so this is technically still Marseille.

And this one, I can't get to flip. Sorry, but I like it.

Palm Springs? Florida? Nope. Nice. LOOK AT THAT SKY!


If you look up close, that's right, Hotel Floride! Complimentary teeth brushing? Or maybe they only host dentists?


Okay, so, pretty beach and water and everything...but this beach was also handicap accessible! That's right, it had a wheelchair ramp leading down to the...uh, wait a minute. To the sand? Um...


Art. Public art. Guys contemlating on the top of poles. With birds balancing. I think there was a time when the end of the world was coming (Godspeed, You!Black Emperor--can't help it), at least according to some, and there were really devout people that basically built little towers and sat on top and waited for The End. Of course, maybe I dreamed that...or it's now called shopping.

I know I already posted this guy, but he's so irresistable!



And his flying-pig window companions. This was in the window of La Galarie Rosonoff, heading toward the really, really touristy area. 'Not made in china, not made in USA' and 'Pigasus Volubilis' are bothe by Patrick Schumacher; the painting behind the Buddha is 'Turning Orange' by Akhilesh.


NO ONE does churches like the Russian Orthadox. Seriously, I'm surprised Communism could compete.



And the knife sharpener again.

So now I remember why I have so few pictures of Marseille. My card was full and I had to delete things to take pictures in Nice. I couldn't resist it, and bothe the sky and the clouds in this picture should prove my case. I only wish I'd been able to get better pictures of some of the astonishingly beautiful architectural details of the buildings...

Nice is nice. But it's also rich--even Rich. You can feel the money oozing out of it. But the light is beautiful. And the guy working the desk at the hostel wasn't half bad, either.

Anti-Olympics--warning, this post has swearing...

I've been poking around for info on the anti-Olympic protests and riots (nice Metro through the TD Bank window! I like!) Here are some photos that almost had me tearing up--oh, I miss my old neighborhood. Mike Usinger's an asshole, and he writes articles to prove it. In fact, he might be the number one reason not to read the Straight (which has become a straight paper, anyway). This one has a rather blow-by-blow description of activities that seem a little...overlooked? by the straight media. What the hell was Arnie carrying the torch at one point? I do not understand. And this blog is kind of cute, although I don't know why I think it's cute. He's chipper!

Anyone else have good sources? I am now a little disappointed I am not there... Commercial Drive is still one of the best neighborhoods in Vancouver, and it is what I miss, if I miss anything.

Marseille

I think I'm just going to leave this one as a post of random, un-captioned photos.

Sardinia, Italy

Brilliant. I shall not throw ubstructing things in the toilet, as to avoid obstructing things. Life lessons from Italian shipping companies.


Somewhere along the way, she stopped being a vélo and became a bicicletta.

Mailboxes!

The beautiful beach near Santa Theresa. During the twenty minutes that it DID NOT RAIN while I was in Sardinia. Proof that Italy does NOT like me. It was brilliantly sunny when I left. Of course.