/356 - Last Hurrah (?)

Emi and I had mostly a great day together today.

Hung around this morning — watched a movie, did some drawing, played some games. Decided to go out to the treasure (thrift) stores to see if there was anything to find. I brought the field recording thinking that I could get some interesting noises, totally forgetting that it would all be ruined by the background music they pump into stores. I also sort of felt like we might not get to go out like this again for awhile since the covid numbers are spiking and another lockdown is pretty likely.

On the way there we passed a playgound that Emi likes and she asked if we could stop there on the way back. I told her sure as long as there weren’t too many people there. We pulled in and it seemed ok, but after getting up the hill I saw there were a lot more people than I’d guessed. Emi was THRILLED to be around so many kids, and is very good with keeping her mask on, so I thought it would be ok to stay for a little bit. Pretty surprising and disappointing to see so many of the parents and kids there not wearing masks. Anyway, Emi and a few girls were playing in the sandbox when I told her we needed to go and she came along without any fuss at all. Once we got into the car she started crying really softly and it broke my heart. “We didn’t get to finish making our cake, Dad.” I sat in the back with her and tried to assure her that it won’t always be like this and that we will be able to see people again. I don’t think she was very comforted and I really wasn’t either.

Once we got home she seemed to feel better (a lesson in resiliency from 4-year olds to us all) and we played outside for awhile. We have a small pond near our house that’s flocked with ducks and geese so we went and sat together and watched them chase each other around. Our last last hurrah was that I realized that it was this week 3 years ago that I went vegan, so while the restaurants are still open we ordered takeout from our favorite Red Fern and enjoyed the hell out of it. Ash and I used to go there on dates pre-pandemic and are really looking forward to doing that again.

We will get there. ♥

/351 - She's Crafty

One of those Sundays where you don’t feel like you did very much, but at the end of the day you’re still beat. I did manage to get a bunch of the mess cleaned up in the garage. It was way overdue and definitely needed to get done before the cold really sets in. I also managed to find the spot where I skipped numbers in my blog posts so will be fixing those soon. Ugh.

Emi and I did some more coloring and papercrafts today. She just can’t seem to get enough of turning large sheets of construction paper into small piles of scraps. The frog picture was from an ancient coloring book that Ash found in a thrift store — 70s or 80s? Emi had already traced her hand on it, but I just had to color this stately frog wizard so I worked it in.

/349 - Holidaze

The week before Halloween we brought the pumpkins inside to warm up before we carved them. As days went by, Emi would put her hand on them and say “nope, still too cold.” Well, today was apparently the day they were perfect! lol I hollowed it out and she drew the face for me to carve. She was very insistent that he needed cheeks.

After that, she decided that it was time to start making “Christmas ornaments”, which really meant she just took a bunch of construction paper and cut it into tiny pieces. I wanted to salvage what I could and glued a bunch of scraps into trees. I think they actually turned out pretty cool.

This kid is a real nut. ♥

/342 - A Walk in the Woods

It snowed (a tiny bit) both days last weekend and this week it’s been in the mid 60s every single day. Emi and I went and took a hike this afternoon and it was really great. Fall sounds and colors all around without the cold and wet. I brought my film camera and binoculars so I’m sure I looked like a total dweeb but we had fun walking around, playing in the mud, and listening a million little sounds. I shoulda/coulda brought the H4N but I felt like I had enough to carry around. Next time.

/314 - Walkabout

It was a beautiful day so Emily and I went for a walk at a nearby nature park with our cameras. Since she got it yesterday she’s been carrying it everywhere, snapping away happily. Since Ash recently got some film back it lit a fire under me to finish a few rolls I have in cameras. She got me the Sprocket Rocket about 6 years ago and it’s got the same roll in it from then. Finished it! It’s not going to be cheap to develop (panoramic and sprocket holes) so I hope that something turns out. I really need to be less precious about the things I shoot on film so it doesn’t take so long to finish a roll. (only a few more shots left on that roll of ?? inside the OM-1n)

/313 - Big Little One

Ash got a bunch of old film scans back today and this was in there. Love this kid so much. Happy birthday to the one who makes me laugh the most! ♥

Was cleaning out recent recordings and found this. Have really been enjoying #just playing guitar, but also missing processing and what comes of it.

/312 - Last Bounty

Emi and I collected probably the last bit of things out of the garden. There are still some unripe tomatoes, but not sure if they will make it due to the increasing cold. We had an incredible yield this year compared to last year, and it sort of scares me to think of what next year will bring! I’d really love an indoor greens garden for the winter, but in case you haven’t noticed I already have a lot of projects up in the air. Who knows, it would be a really great thing to have and maybe probably not as complicated as I think. (maybe)

Emily turns 4 tomorrow!

/311 - Rightside Up

Not sure how creative putting together a kids bike is, but the instructions definitely were. They seemed (no indication) to be guiding me through the assembly of 3 totally different kinds of bikes, each with different shapes, cables/connections, and attachments. Luckily the model we have is very simple so it was mostly a matter of lining things up and making sure everything was tight.

Emily’s birthday is on Thursday and she is going to be so excited! It’s weird how things like this make you notice the passing of time. How can it be that she is big enough and aware enough to be riding a bike like this? She’s more and more independent every day and I’m so proud and it’s so amazing to see, but it’s like I already miss her as a little person and she’ll still be little for quite awhile. Just the way it goes I guess.

/306 - In It To Limit

I picked up this small old digital camera today as a gift for Emi’s birthday next week. She’s always very interested when Ash and I are shooting and wants to hold the cameras and take pictures of her own. We figured this would be a great thing for her to be able to carry around and play with. It’s funny because I’m pretty sure that I had this same camera back in the day. Anyway, I was checking it out and noticed that at full zoom it was pretty much worthless, but still like the images it took, so here they are. Adding a blur effect? Boring. Pushing an antiquated piece of technology outside its bounds? Wonderful.

/305 - Foggy

Emi woke up at 5:05 this morning, right as I was putting on my coffee. That means I wasn’t able to get down to the machine and get it running on the Rip etch. On top of that work turned out very busy so I wasn’t able to divert attention to do it later on either. Jinx I guess.

This afternoon Emi and I made a few replacement cards for her daily calendar. Ash scored a ton of great old materials from a retired school teacher, but there were some things missing so we made a few more together. I’m particularly happy with the fog drawing haha

/300 - Fridaze

Not a lot to show for today. I did finally manage to massage Axoloti back together with 2 working screens. Now I need to get back to working on the patch.

We’re having the last gasp of summer weather amid the changing leaves. Emi and I hung out in the yard most of the afternoon doing this and that. She occupied herself with mud cakes (and tea and pizza) for awhile and I played guitar on the porch. Was pretty great. Did a bit more brainstorming on the guitar strap and the jazzmaster pickguard/electronics. Think it’s almost time to order some parts. I also told Ash that she needs to teach me how to use the sewing machine…

/288 - It's Sunday?

Spent the first half of today somehow thinking it was Saturday. What a harsh realization.

Had a first go at fixing the failing oled screen on my Axoloti. All I really did was reflow the board connections since that’s all I could get to without taking it all apart. No luck. Next step is dig in deeper and take it apart so I can check the header connections, and then replace it if that still doesn’t work. If it is broken then it’s my fault — when I was putting it all together originally a stray nut was under the screen when I tried to tighten it down so it flexed a bit. I don’t think it enjoyed that, but I’m honestly surprised it’s lasted this long.

Emi and I also got the building done on the platform bird feeder project. It’s glued and clamped, just needs some sanding and a finish before we can put it up. It’s turned out great so far.

/286 - Friday Misc

I got Emily really excited to do a project with me this afternoon, so we stopped and got supplies while we were out doing the rest of our errands. By the time we got back she was over it. Then right before bedtime she lost it because we didn’t have time to do it before she had to go to bed. I got it all planned out tonight, so hopefully tomorrow we can finish it.

/282 - Colors

Ash had to work most of today so I got to spend it with Emi. We did all sorts of the usual things, but it’s been awhile since we did some serious coloring. We were talking a bunch about coloring in the lines and letting your feelings take your art where it wants to go. Showed her some works by Picasso, comparing his realism and abstract works as an example that art can be anything you want it to be. Maybe a little much for someone her age, but the overall point I tried to make to is that there is no right and wrong in art.

Afterward she went out and played in the mud (we had a storm this morning so her sandbox was just how she likes it) and I brought my guitar out onto the porch. Pretty nice day.

/279 - Success!

Emi and I had a good day today. Hung around, played games, read books, and took a hike. I brought my camera and binoculars and that was heavy and I didn’t see any birds. Still, it was fun.

Axoloti: As it turns out, my modification to the encoder object was correct — I just capitalized something I shouldn’t have. Once that was fixed everything works as intended! Feels great to be able to work my way through a problem like that when I’m so out of my depth. Now I just have to patch it all up (Image shows the layout for 1 encoder out of 4 total) and hope it all works. ( I really shouldn’t jinx myself like this)

/270 - Things Go Snap

Emily got a Totoro nightlight a long time ago and the umbrella he was holding promptly broke off. That was fine because it was just a plain piece of gray plastic and I thought Totoro desserved better anyway. Well, that meant he moved to my projects pile and sat there for way too long. Today we were in the basement and Emi asked me if I was ever going to fix it, so tonight’s the night. Origami seemed appropriate and it’s been a long time since I have done any. This took 7 individual pieces attached together to make. I probably should have taken more pictures. Now I just need to find a way to attach it to the umbrella handle.

/266 - Saturdaze

TL: Emi coloring her heart out on the amazing drawing sent to us by our dear friend Kara.

TR: Installed B-B-B-B-Beat and it was full of glitchy bugs, until I found out that it was all intentional. haha

BL: We ordered lunch from our favorite The Red Fern and took it to Cobb’s Hill Park. These two set up nearby and proceeded to make some very interesting drones as a small group of people watched. We took a walk around the reservoir and they were gone by the time we got back, but it was SO COOL to randomly run into experimental music in the wild.

BR: There’s never a bad time for some Don’t Break The Ice.

/265 - Green

Emi and I took a little walkabout today to see what we could see. In the end we didn’t see very much, but the weather was great and it was still fun to walk around and talk with her. She cracks me up!

I need to start digging back into my project list. Time has been short lately, but it feels to me that I’m just posting the same old thing all the time. There’s tons I want to work on, just need to jump in and do it.

/261 - Monarch Morning

More meandering sounds with baritone guitar and norns running barcode. Recorded very early in the morning in 4 channel mode to pick up room sounds …and all else. I didn’t know anyone else was awake until Emi came bolting into the office on an important mission and it never occurred to me that our conversation was recorded until I listened back through files tonight. I’ve got the biggest smile on my face.

(They were all there, and all ok)

/258 - Scenes From A Day

1&2: Ash discovered some Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed plants next to our house. The first thing Emily wanted to do when she got up (at 6am) this morning was go check on them. I was barely able to convince her that they probably wanted to sleep in. When we finally did go out she made sure all were accounted for and then pulled up her chair to make sure “they were staying safe.”

3: Had a lovely time with my guitar and norns on the porch after dinner. Stayed out as long as I could, but eventually the mosquitos won. Tried out 4 channel recording for the first time — using the line ins from norns and the built-in mics to capture all the environment sounds. Haven’t had a chance to listen yet, so hopefully things turned out ok.

4: Macrame! Very simple design, but decided not to go way overboard (at first) for once. Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that I can nurse this spider plant back to health.