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Two new Honor Devices dubbed Prague in works, gets FCC certification

by Karthik Iyer 2

Huawei‘s sub-brand Honor just recently launched a new smartphone called Magic which is rather an interesting smartphone. It is an AI-powered smartphone and is said to be Huawei’s answer to Xiaomi’s concept phone the Mi MIX. Do make a note that these AI-powered tasks are still in beta testing and are more of the hit-or-miss idea but it will surely get better over time, and we will indeed see a lot of development. With that said, according to some new reports, the company is now planning to launch two new devices already.

Honor has two new smartphone works, and from the looks of it, it is safe to say that we will see them in the near future. These new smartphones are said to be a part of the same new series called as Prague. We are not sure if this could be the final name of the series or just an internal codename that they are using to refer them. Both these new smartphones got FCC certification which reveals some of the specs of the smartphones. Taking a look at the FCC certification, the two new models that are listing goes by the model name PRA-LX1 and PRA-LX3.

The FCC listing never really reveals any detailed specs of any smartphone. However, we do get some info every time to get up on the hype train and start speculating around. It looks like both the smartphones will come with a 2,900mAh Li-Po battery and 3GB of RAM. Both the devices will support Bluetooth v4.2 and 2.4GHz Wi-Fi as well. And now coming to the software side of things, the FCC listing indicates that both these devices might come with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Off course, they will run their own custom UI on top, but it is good to know that they will be running on the latest version of the software.

Sadly this is all the info which we could extract from the FCC listing as far as the specs are concerned. Apart from that, it looks like they will come with a fingerprint sensor which is located at the back of the device along with the camera sensor. And if in case you are wondering if this will have a dual rear camera sensor just like most of the recent smartphone, then you are out of luck as we can see only a single sensor. For the rest of details about the devices, we have to wait longer. If you are interested to know more about them, be sure to Stay tuned to PhoneRadar for details on the same.

Note – The featured image displayed above is of Honor 5C.

Karthik Iyer

Karthik is a Computer Science Graduate and a Tech Aficionado who has always found himself fascinated or playing around with all the latest and the best from the world of smartphones and beyond. When he is not working on any smartphone or covering the latest scoop, you can often find playing his favorite PS4 titles.

  • Hmm I hope it’s the Honor6C 🙂

  • Vishal Giri

    great budget offering from Huawei!!


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Friday, 16 November 2007

Photo Of The Day

A view of Sainte Catherine Street, looking west towards
Stanley Street in Montreal, Canada, c. 1930.

Anonymous said...

Hey, i wanted to use this picture on my blog. do you know who has the rights for it?

Louie Gee said...

I think the rights always rest with the original photographer, or with the agency that owns it. I'm afraid I don't know who.

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Saturday, June 25, 2016

Not A Father's Son

People have said I roll well with the punches... I don't know if that's true. I'm not even sure I'm great at getting up when some of life punches take me down. Like much of humanity I struggle with change. It was about 10 years ago in June of 2006 that I first learned I was going to become a father.

In simple frankness, I'd wanted to be a dad and also feared it. While life and my mother were kind enough to give me a great dad early in childhood, I didn't meet my biological father till I was 15. So I didn't know if I had the instincts or the qualities and perhaps no child should have to be put to the test of it. So in fact my childhood sweetheart and wife of 5 years at the time had stated to a small group of friends and our parents that we weren't going to have kids. She was in the middle of graduate school, I was going to go afterwards then we'd be old etc...

But then... a surprise happened when we were 25 and 24 respectively. She had been throwing up (me ever the sensitive husband had noticed but done very little about it). I was out on a Friday night and she was home after some social work group function. She called me and said, "Can you come home?"  In simple honest I said "Come on you knew I was going to be out tonight." In the entire history of our marriage that would have resulted in okay or come home, one of the two of us accepting the change and that being the end of the dialogue. She said okay, I went back to socializing. About half an hour later she called back and said, "I need you to come home." This was the first and only time that this type of call happened twice. I responded with that I needed to say goodbye and then I'd head there but while I'm good at saying goodbye I'm horrible at leaving good company. Almost an hour later, I got a call that said, "I think I'm pregnant." In one of my worst responses in the history of my life I said, "Can I call you back?" and hung up the phone. I stepped back in and said okay I gotta go I think my wife's pregnant and walked out. Apparently I said it with such an astonished look that people didn't know exactly what I'd said or if I was serious.

I got home, tried to bluff like I was ready to become a father, and asked how this could happen since she was on birth control. She was but apparently this thing had like a less than 1% failure rate but despite me being a less than adequate swimmer apparently not all of me was. I stayed up all night, literally all night, trying to figure out how to financially be prepared for a kid. Two weeks later my mom was in town for a conference from her job and we sat her down and she was thrilled. Oddly enough it was actually on father's day we told her, a fact I would not notice for years.

There is an old saying that women become mothers when they realize they're pregnant and men when the baby's born. I dreamed up of how awesome my son would be, how we'd play sports together, how I'd do all the dad/son things that I hadn't had in my early childhood. She was almost 3 months pregnant before she realized it and so it was only in the second appointment where we'd find our daughter's gender. I smiled and then thought... well there goes that idea now I'll live with only women, my wife, my daughter and my dog. So I took on an approach that life as I knew it was soon ending and I might as well enjoy it before the baby was born. I'd be gone multiple weekends before the child's birth, including 5 or 6 in a row for ultimate frisbee tournaments. I had some poker nights, went to more happy hours in those few months than I had probably the rest of my life combined. My wife was at many of those things though not at all since she was well tired and let's just say that type of approach during pregnancy doesn't do a marriage good.

Nonetheless, when Kiana Lys Leon was born, it was amazing. I'm a guy who can't handle bodily fluids but I was there and didn't pass out and cut the umbilical cord. Turned out life wasn't over. I took a paternity leave while  her mother went back to work for a few weeks before becoming a stay at home mom for a while. I read to her all the coolest books that the world had ever known. I played music and danced with her.

I got back to my life too quickly though and my wife and daughter were part of my life, nowhere near high enough priorities and I tried to balance it all not in the right proportion. Four years later, I'd be diagnosed with cancer and frankly took some of it similar to fatherhood, trying to figure out the bills. I went on a goodbye tour to all my friends in Texas and California thinking life as I knew it was ending the day of brain surgery. Some things changed and some things stayed the same, there was certainly far more change in circumstances than there were due to Kiana's birth.

I handled the communication even worse in marriage and that ended and somehow I've ended up with primary custody and I'm at almost 5 years of that. There's been stories of how I put off brain surgery to run a marathon and qualified for Boston, there's been stories of how I won one pushing a stroller. But the stories I'm more proud of, the ones that bring more joy are the ones of where I did races right next to her or got my mom to do her first half marathon at age 60, I was right there for. Or the one where my dad did his first 10k at age 70 and several other races but without exception did them all next to my mom, showing his wisdom at racing long before I did mine. There's something about keeping pace with the ones you love and the one whose showing love is the one whose helping you move.

So I recently went to Seattle for my first marathon since Boston of 2015. A year ago I hadn't done a
trail race at all and now I've done one of pretty much every distance (some far more technical than others). This would be my first trail marathon, the Light at the End of the Tunnel. My little brother would come out with his wife, and son and hung out with Kiana while I raced (without exception every race I've traveled for has had at least one of 2 things, somewhere I've never been or somewhere near people I care about, often both). Because it was on a trail that wasn't accessible there were very few spectators so it was really all about being in your head. The tunnel it referred to knocked out the GPS watch from being relevant. I got fortunate enough to where there a few guys fairly close to my speed and the competitive spirit kept me moving. But I think the real reason I got my fastest marathon ever at this race (3:00.09) was one thing and one thing alone. When Kiana and I do our races, I get her water and give it to her a little bit after the water stop (we learned early that her trying to get it from volunteers has led to her getting almost if not knocked over). She had said once long ago that she appreciated that a lot. At mile 16, my little brother, his wife and son were all along the side of the road taking pictures of us. I didn't see Kiana which worried me but then just about a hundred feet forward she was at the water stop. She had asked if she could hand me my water for once. There are almost zero race pictures of me ever smiling but I'm not sure anyone will ever catch a better one because I've never been sure which one of us is raising who but on that point I know who was taking care of who during that race. And that was the moment I kept referring back to when I struggled on the second half of the race.We went straight from there to the Seattle Zoo with my brother which we saw the entire thing which I think makes it be the day I moved the most ever in my life. But there was no way I was asking my support crew during the race to be bored after cheering me and both in spirt and in body, I am beyond certain it helped created a faster recovery.

We'd be back a few days later to do the Spartan race on father's day weekend again. Kiana kept asking if she'd get to do the adult one (something not allowed till kids are 14, an age Kiana magically has turned to twice before). I knew it'd be tougher in a Stadium race where you're far more visible than in the single track of trails. We tried anyway and got to complete it with Kiana destroying obstacles that grown men and women next to her were struggling with. I was with her side by side on some and in a safety spot in others. Expectations had been made clear as before that she had to attempts all the obstacles and do burpees if she failed at them. There was no walking allowed and no complaining. She fulfilled all that and more. Over walls, up ropes, on monkey bars, she learned that life is brighter six feet off the ground. All I can say is that my daughter is more than I could have ever dreamed of.

The next day at Father's Day she gave me the best father's day card I've received yet. Each year oddly enough it's the day I get the most greetings outside of my birthday. It seems from social media a statistical anomaly comes up every father's day that everyone has the best dad ever. I know one person, me, who is called that, it's inaccurate but I do have the best daughter ever no matter what everyone else thinks about their kid ;). Her all but life-size card had reference to many of our in-jokes including mine about how my favorite person is bob (a coming alive of the Bob stroller joke I've kept going for years). My mom was in town for the same conference and perhaps the world has come full circle and complete in that she helped her with the card and the first time I think I've ever received breakfast in bed on my 10th father's day. We also did our annual professional pedicure and hanging up our medals.

Just as meaningful of a moment was her smaller card she had made which now hangs on display at my house. I have no arts and crafts abilities, zero. But Kiana has them and I've continued to get her new things to try out and make. The latest is a tiny paper folding thing that came with ways of making particular objects but now she's been making ones of her own. She made one of me running and as the guy who always runs with music she threw music notes in there. One of those chocolates must have come open with sodium that got in my eyes. In the marathon, I had listened to a song that I heard the last time I was in New York when I went to see Kinky Boots, Not My Father's Son. It stood out to me for many reasons but made me think of having wanted a boy "with the strength of sparta and the patience of Job." Between the actual Spartan and the cards she made, she has shown both of those plus all the charms of a very feminine young lady. I've tried as best as I know how to let her breathe freely as herself in both the ways she's similar and the ways she's very different than me, to be profound enough to always live out loud, to never have to mirror what's not in her. I don't know why the universe has been so kind to me with this daughter but I am grateful.

As I said I'm not really clear as to who is raising who, so I am going to try to continue to learn from her  and hope she's learning from me. A year ago I had never done a trail race when someone tried to get me to go over to a lane. It was a trail race that starts at night and if you do the 30k or the 60k you're going to have to run at night. Immediately, from practicality or fear, I said a guy with spatial orientation absence and a history of seizures, said I'll do the 10k and be done before dark. I did and I won it but never did race a night one on my own. I raced one with Kiana in August and despite a few falls she finished it with conviction (we were always in a  crowd so I felt more safe). A year later I've won some and my fastest marathon is on trail but I still haven't done a night trail race. Well, that will only be true for one more day since I'm doing one tonight, a 30k where I'm guaranteed to be in the dark. I don't have a son and perhaps will never quite be an adequate father's son but I am going to try to learn from some of the fearlessness of my daughter, and that the best part of me is what she brings out to see. Perhaps running from my weaknesses and my fears will keep being further in the past and adapting to them will be where I'm running to.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

For the Run of It

I'm not very good at ceremony. I'm certainly not opposed to ceremonies, I just don't personally like to be part of them. Being the first in my family to graduate from college, I wanted to skip the graduation. My mom vetoed that idea quickly.  I rarely do birthday celebrations (the 3 in my adulthood have been 18, 28 (08/08/08) and 30. Medals on races that I do alone last all of a minute or two on my neck.

This of course is an oddity at best because I love being on the other end of things. Many of the races I've gotten to be a part of I've stuck around handing out medals till the last recipient, handing out happiness is what it feels like. There was someone I crashed into a race that came up and remembered that I was the person who handed them a medal at the first marathon they finished. There hasn't been a year since Kiana was born where I haven't thoroughly cheered commenting one more year of life. And in the last 3 days of school alone I was there 3 times as she had her last music share and two performances. I sure like to think I'm raising a princess but at some level I'm a little worried that she landed two of the leads in the 3rd grade drama class and the UIL drama club (they revisited two classics Queen Midas who turns everything into chocolate, very disappointed she didn't practice that at home and Princess Cinderella whose shoe problem was caused by the fact that she was a shoe size 87 1/2). And there might have been a parent who was happier or more proud of their kid than I was but I doubt it ;).

Some might see it as a bit strange to be doing all of this in the middle of MRI appointments and it's
results or perhaps some might see it as a way to distract myself from the suspense of those long 48 hours. I would like to believe that it's strange that cancer interrupts any of those things and believe you me, they weren't there to distract from cancer at all. In fact I would be highly disappointed in myself if cancer had distracted from my full focus on those events.

Still, the MRI happened. I finally got the courage to make a prick joke to a new attendant who found it hilarious. I did listen to the Disturbed version of Sound of Silence before heading there to get injected for blood and then to get reinfected with a medal dye that has all but once made me throw up and then washed out by saline. I sat and tried to think about the things that had gone right in there since cancer, not the seizures, not the surgeries, not the bills (those thoughts must have gotten magnetically pulled in there but I kept dismissing them). I thought of the fact that my parents had never ran a race before all this and thought of the one we had just done. This was one of my favorite races of all. My parents PR streak finally ended on it because my mom's been having a knee injury. My dad, showing the man he is, has never once done a race at his own speed and always done it right next to her. This was no exception. Kiana and I watched them come in and they were lovely. My mom used to try to come for my medical appointments but she has finally accepted that the image of her doing these races is a much bigger factor in the imagining in my head going well during an MRI.

And it wasn't just any race, it was one put on by the Austin Runner's Club. While I gave my mom bib #29, my dad #71, and Kiana #9 cause of their ages (and I took my #8), the race really is in it's 39th year. It had hurt a little with about a 100 participants and it was one my biggest hopes when this board took over that we could bring it back a little. When the race was done we had over 350 registrants. Kiana did manage to continue her 2 plus year streak of PR's. I had my watch set to the wrong settings so I could only tell at the mile markers approximately what pace we were at (didn't tell her that). I was hoping she would break 26 minutes and she ended up breaking 25 with a 24:57. She would also be the top fundraiser of the event with $650 towards Marathon Kids, a program that's just about kids running. Did I mention I'm not big on medal display? Well Daisy had medals this year and like all the ones that I've earned beside Kiana, it hangs in the living room prominently on display.

The results appointment was actually almost immediately after the last school assembly. Kiana got straight A's in 1st grade but missed a couple of days of school. In 2nd grade, she got perfect attendance but had one or 2 B's. In 3rd grade she nailed them both. I sat there and watched her glow at the results knowing well, if nothing else, I hope I've encouraged her that showing up is a good predictor of success and once in a  while you get to nail them both on an upward trajectory. I might have heckled a parent who upon seeing her kid get one of the awards that Kiana got asked, "oooh what did you get for that" I responded immediately with she got to have a chance to learn more. I hope Kiana keeps much of her motivation in the internal reward not just the external one.

So those were the thoughts going through my head during the MRI. When I got to the results appointment, I was in the waiting room looking at the magnet on the table where I was filling out forms: "Treating cancer is caring for people." The doctors I got are great at treating cancer if that's the definition.

I got called in and weighed and pulsed and asked the traditional questions. I honestly didn't remember anyone in the room but they all asked about what races I had done lately. Then I got put in the next waiting room. It was different because it had a window with a  great view of the University of Texas. I don't know if the other ones didn't have windows before or just not much of a view but somehow it just felt right to be looking at a place I'd given speeches to doctors, pre-med students, raced alone, raced with Kiana. It sounds silly but that just was a comfort in its own way that before I got an internal view of what it was inside my skull I got to look down lanes with memories, to be reminded that I got to choose life with a view.

The doctor came in and said my scans showed everything stable. He was wearing one of his signature bowties (bowties are cool!). We went over the scans from this angle and that angle, with contrast and without contrast. He went over realities that in the best case scenario they would have been able to remove all the tumor but that in my case my tumor was most likely dormant and may well wake up (where and when the mystery). But he talked to me about the latest phase of where brain tumor treatment is at Duke (coincidentally I was wearing a Duke jacket) with optimism but with reality that both he and doctors at Duke, Md Anderson had seen phases that got past phase 1 at trials and petered out in phase two or with a larger population. This was and is still only being used experimentally on people who it's aggressively growing but who knows there may come a day when it's able to used on people who have dormant tumors and come out with no tumors.  It was a cautious tone that said don't hold your breath but don't give up hope. Did I mention Dr. Vailiant rocks?

He then caught up about what races I had just done. We did some memory tests (I passed 2 our of 3) and he was impressed that I recognized we were in a different room since my spatial orientation doesn't exist. He thought it was memory but when you've been in enough medical rooms and waiting rooms and realize they have an entrapped feeling, there's no way that window with that view doesn't stick out in your heart of hearts, isn't that where the best memories are forged? He talked to me about running with his kids in a double stroller. It's funny he always tells me about his running and always prefaces it with "I'm a runner, not as good as you." I've never done it but I'm tempted to respond with something witty like "I have a brain, not as good as yours" but I always think of it after the fact not at it.

I told him that I'd been re-elected as ARC president which led to some jokes about the current state of getting elected president in the US today might not be as tough as it should be (neither of us said who we voted for so far but in case you're wondering, I voted for Pedro). We also talked about how aging is affecting my running, that I'm still hitting my times but recovery is getting harder and for the first time ever in a medical appointment he stated the obvious, that time catches up to all of us with aging and death. It was not a deep philosophical remark but it was somehow refreshing to hear from a guy whose monitoring my life.

But I got to answer a question which had taken too long to answer. Back in December of 2014, he had talked to me about the New York marathon, knowing my results in advance because he had live tracked them. He said what race do you have next and at the time I didn't really have anything on the calendar. In June of 2015 and in December of 2015, he had asked similar questions and gotten similar answers. Perhaps it's coincidence or perhaps it was subtle encouragement to look further than to the next visit to him but he'd be saying it me for the last 4 MRI's and never had an answer.

It takes a cursory reading of this blog to realize I race and run a lot. I've long said running is my therapy and how much I run and how long I run tells you how much I need therapy. In fact in my public speeches at races, I say "I never know whether I'm running to or from something but I keep running." However, a simple rule in most of our lives is if our words and actions contradict each other, our actions are almost always the ones telling the real truths. I mean I put off brain surgery to run a marathon but that's not where the pattern ended. If you look at November of 2014, May 2015, November 2015 each of them kept being the month that I did more races than I had ever done before. The MRI's feel and have been treated like a game of russian roulette where someone else is spinning the wheel and who knows what is pulling the trigger. So I've ran hard before each of them and then the month immediately after them are the lightest... some might think that's intelligent recovery planning but that's just not true. It was me afraid to make a commitment thinking that it was going to take time to get my affairs in order. I mean I did literally 3 races in 4 days before the last one.

I did it different this time. The week before the MRI's I registered for multiple races, 4 of them within the next 3 weeks, a 5k, a marathon, a Spartan and my first night race. There was a further one out, the St. George Marathon, where I'm a speaker and originally I had plans to go to the Grand Canyon out there on my own but before stepping into the doctor's appointment I said that I was going to Zion with good company cause the Grand Canyon can wait. I dared to dream for the first time beyond the MRI. Somewhere between now and the next one I hope to get the courage to sign up for a race beyond that one.

I sat in my car, relieved at the results and breathed thinking about reality, promise, the past, the present the future. And for some reason Emily Dickinson came to mind, I realized death will eventually catch up. However, I was grateful that I hadn't stopped upon becoming so keenly aware of my mortality. I combined the two thoughts with a nod and realized that I had not stopped for death, it has yet to catch up to me. I didn't do any great ceremonial approach upon finding the results. In fact after the last day of school, Kiana and I just went to the playground and then afterwards we did some hill repeats.

How will life go, probably as well as the races have, some good, some okay, some great, some tough? But what can I say, it took me a long time to learn that the coping mechanism should get me not just to medical appointments but through them. It won't for me ever be primarily for the medals or even the times though I doubt I'll be completely not competitive. So until death do us part, I hope I keep enjoying life and these races for the entire run of it.


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Oct 21, 2010

Multiculturalism is a ‘total failure’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking to the conservative youth organization of her Christian Democratic Union at an event called the "Deutschland Assembly", said that multiculturalism in Germany had been a total failure: “the notion that we would become 'multiculti' that we would live next to one another and be happy about one another, failed”. Polls indicate that a growing number of Germans believe that too many of the country's foreigners live in what are often referred to as "parallel communities" with little or no connection with German culture. Merkel declares “We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don’t accept them don’t have a place here” and adds: “Subsidizing immigrants isn’t sufficient; Germany has the right to “make demands” of them such as mastering the language of Goethe and abandoning practices such as forced marriage”.


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Information About Pigeon Lung

The British Pigeon Fanciers Medical Research Team (BPFMR) has conducted studies on Fanciers in their lofts, shows and Marking Stations for over 25 years, with all the team having a deep interest in PFL, the allergy that affects pigeon fanciers. Pigeon bloom and droppings have been shown to be an important source of reaction for Pigeon Lung. Well over 10,000 blood samples have been checked and data is held on the reaction of over 2,500 Fanciers. An average of 5 blood samples per week arrive at the Biomedical Research Centre, Glasgow University, from various parts of the United Kingdom. As a service to the Fancy, any Fancier can have his blood checked for reaction to pigeons with the co-operation of his General Practitioner, Practice Nurse or Hospital Specialist. With this extensive database of information and years of experience, BPFMR are the leading experts in this field and are constantly striving for a greater understanding of the disease.

The Research provides a routine diagnostic service for several Health Trusts in the United Kingdom and the financial support of the British Fanciers enables this information to be made available to fanciers elsewhere in the world. Scientific details of the Research have regularly been published in National and International Journals to the present date. As well as assisting pigeon fanciers in keeping their pigeons whilst controlling the problem, an early benefit of the research was to be able to exclude a pigeon reaction as the cause of chest problems in some Fanciers. The research is ongoing and intense studies of the mechanisms of the allergic reaction in Pigeon Lung continue both in the clinic and in the laboratory.

The importance for sensitised Fanciers to wear a MASK, CAP and GOWN and even GOGGLES has been stressed since the earliest days of the Research, whenever they are with the pigeons - especially when cleaning out the loft and also at Shows and Marking Stations.

With many of the fancy being intimidated about discovering their level of sensitivity to pigeons and the associated consequences, the team have always made it clear that they will work wherever possible to help the fancy keep their pigeons. Keeping the Fancy informed has also been an important part of the work of BPFMR and this website should provide some basic information for anyone interested in finding out more, with some personal experiences in the articles page. A Question and Answer method of providing information for the Fanciers is based on the common, most important questions that have been asked.

The research team has been greatly encouraged over the years by the enthusiasm, co-operation and financial support of the Fancy throughout the United Kingdom. This co-operation has extended to many of the countries of Europe including Russia and to North America - wherever there are Pigeon Fanciers. BPFMR are indebted to the Trustees and the Honorary Accountant to the Trust for managing the financial affairs.


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Bootstrapmade Bootstrapmade / tool / free

Marketplace for buy or sell bootstrap themes
7 favorites
submitted over 3 years ago, by heru
Bootstrapmade popular tool

Bootstrapmade has been use secure protocol so the new URL is

heru, almost 3 years ago

Great alternative for premium theme marketplace

deskam, almost 3 years ago

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Tutorials are any resources you learn from.

Examples: an intro to html5 screencast, a pdf about git, photoshop effects tutorials, meta-programming in ruby, lambda calculus, higher-order fixed-point combinators.

Tools are websites, apps or services used -on- your project (indirectly), to aid the process.

Examples: A color scheme generator, email marketing software, usability heat maps, css3 code generators, a downloadable png compressor.

Assets are downloadable files used -in- your projects, usually as code, textures, or images.

Examples: a jquery sticky menu, photoshop brushes, background textures, mvc frameworks, twitter bootstrap, 960 grid system.


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Prototypes and Inheritance in JavaScript Prototypes and Inheritance in JavaScript / tutorial / free

A short article that explains the dynamics behind prototype inheritance in javascript.
1 favorite
submitted over 4 years ago, by adiakritos
Prototypes and Inheritance in JavaScript popular tutorial

Login or to comment.

Tutorials are any resources you learn from.

Examples: an intro to html5 screencast, a pdf about git, photoshop effects tutorials, meta-programming in ruby, lambda calculus, higher-order fixed-point combinators.

Tools are websites, apps or services used -on- your project (indirectly), to aid the process.

Examples: A color scheme generator, email marketing software, usability heat maps, css3 code generators, a downloadable png compressor.

Assets are downloadable files used -in- your projects, usually as code, textures, or images.

Examples: a jquery sticky menu, photoshop brushes, background textures, mvc frameworks, twitter bootstrap, 960 grid system.


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Colored Diamond Accessories Designed by Jewelry Designer Charles Krypel

07 Mar 2015 13:23
Tags accessories by charles colored designed designer diamond jewelry krypel

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Colored Diamond Accessories Designed by Jewelry Designer Charles Krypel

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Friday, April 22, 2011

An Easter Skirt

I have been hoarding about two yards of lime seersucker for months now. I got it on Clearance at Hobby Lobby (the girl at the counter said it was discontinued!!). So I've had it sitting in my fabric pile just waiting to be made into a cute spring skirt for me. I decided today was the day!

I only have one little boy, so it's not too often that I can make some cute girly stuff. So naturally, I added the cotton eyelet trim (gives it that perfect dainty touch). This elastic waist skirt was so easy to make. I'll probably make another one so I can have a tutorial for you guys.

I added a cotton knit lining because the seersucker is pretty transparent in the sun. The only thing that suuucks is that I calculated incorrectly and cut the knit too short. Oh well! I might just take it off altogether and just wear a slip (which is what I wanted to avoid by adding the lining in the first place!). Or I might just wear it like that anyway. Who knows!

I'm so excited for Easter! My whole family is getting together at my uncle's house. It's in the outskirts of town so I think it qualifies as living in the "country". I don't know, but there will be ponies and goats and pinatas and FOOD!! My cousin usually DJs too so I know it'll be loads of fun!

What are your plans for Easter??

  1. Super cute! It just screams Spring! I love that soft green color! Hope you have a Happy Easter!

  2. Very cute Bon! Happy Easter!

  3. I love the green seersucker paired with the trim. Fablous!

  4. Cute skirt! I LOVE seersucker!!! Wow..big doins for you for Easter!!! Have fun!

  5. super cute skirt! I need to make one for myself also!

  6. { L O V E } that skirt! the eyelet is adorable.

Thanks for stopping by!


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• News/Talk
  • Music
  • Entertainment
Pipedreams home page
Celebrating the pipe organ, the King of Instruments

An Organist’s Yearbook

A summing up of the past year, with celebrations and memorial tributes, highlights of some exceptional recordings, and some glimpses into the future.

Audio 9852 Complete Show   88 minutes

Program Broadcast dates:

Music played in the program

JOHN COOK: Fanfare –John West (1997 Walker/California State University, Northridge, CA) Pipedreams Archive recorded January 19, 1998

JEAN LANGLAIS: FeteSarah Baldock (1987 Casavant Frères/Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary, Alberta, Canada) CBC recording September 29, 1998

DANIEL PINKHAM: Pastorale for Harp and Organ –Sandra Bittermann, harp; Susan Armstrong-Ouellette (1863 E.F. Walcker; 1947 Aeolian-Skinner/Methuen Music Hall, Methuen, MA) AFKA SK-542

SEARLE WRIGHT: Magnificat –Choir of Saint Thomas Church, Gerre Hancock, conductor; Patrick Allen (1956 Aeolian-Skinner/St. Thomas Episcopal, New York, NY) Priory PRCD600

MATTHIAS WECKMANN: Praeambulum primi toni –William Porter (1693 Schnitger/Jacobikirche, Hamburg, Germany) Pipedreams Archive recorded July 8, 1998

SERGEI PROKOFIEV: March, from Love for Three OrangesDavid Briggs (1979 C.B. Fisk/House of Hope Presbyterian, Saint Paul, MN) Pipedreams Archive recorded April 26, 1998

HENRY PURCELL: Voluntary in G –John Butt (1977 Brunzema-Casavant Frères/Maternity of the BVM RCC, Saint Paul, MN) Pipedreams Archive recorded May 5, 1998

HORATIO PARKER: Allegretto, from Sonata in E-flat, Opus 65 –Gordon Turk (1888 Roosevelt/FUMC, Boulder, CO) Pipedreams Archive recorded June 28, 1998

NED ROREM: Elms, from Views from the Oldest HouseJohn Obetz (1960 Casavant Frères/First Church of Christ, Scientist; Denver, CO) Pipedreams Archive recorded June 30, 1998

PYOTR TCHAIKOVSKY: Nocturne in c# –Ken Cowan (1926 Austin/Irvine Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA) Curtis Organ Restoration Society CD-141602

AUGUST GOTTFRIED RITTER: Fugue, from Sonata Number 3 in a, Opus 23 –Daniel Roth (1998 Glatter-Götz; Rosales/Claremont UCC, Claremont, CA) Pipedreams Archive recorded March 12, 1998

BILLY HILL: Glory of LoveGeorge Wright (Hollywood Philharmonic Organ/George Wright Residence, Hollywood, CA) Banda CD-109454

FRANCIS POULENC: Litanies for the Black Virgin –French Festival Choir, Michel Piquemal, conductor; Éric Lebrun (1894 Cavaillé-Coll/Église Saint-Antoine des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, France) ADDA CD-581320; also Naxos 8.553176

WILLIAM ALBRIGHT: Hymn, Glorious the Sun, from A Song to David –Saint Mark’s Cathedral Choir, Howard Don Small, conductor; Dean Billmeyer (1928 Welte; 1964 Möller; 1983 Gould & Sons/Episcopal Cathedral of St. Mark, Minneapolis, MN) Saint Mark’s CD-1995

 ©2017 American Public Media


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Return Of PFT (we never really went away)

Everything that you are away to read is pretty much summarised by Mark’s video down below, so if you can’t be bothered to read then go ahead and watch the video.

Nonetheless, I want to start by apologising for the lack of videos as well as the lack of articles.  I guess this can be accredited to a number of reasons, but if I was to single out one then I would have to go with change of surroundings. In September I left Aberdeen for Glasgow to go to university and like most people I need time to acclimatise and find my bearings about the place as well as getting used to the workload at university. This was four months ago and now following the Christmas break I feel like it is time to kick on again with PFT, and with bringing informative content.

As is tends to be in life, there are a few pitfalls in the way that we did not have to deal back in Aberdeen and so the content creation process is more difficult than it was before. First off, I stay in halls of residence which aren’t the quietest of places at the best of times and this often gets in the way of writing or editing content and that eventually affects the final product. Internet speeds aren’t helpful either as the internet provider KeySurf (both for myself and Mark) is shambolic offering very little in the terms of speed and reliability. I don’t have the same 30 Mb/s speeds I had at home with BT Fibre, and thus PFTTalk hasn’t been recorded for over three months. None of these should be acceptable excuses but sadly there is very little we can do about these issues. Hopefully down the stretch these problems will be taken care of but for now we are just going to have to struggle on.

On the positive side, coming back to halls has made me to try and become more organised following the fiasco of my last exam diet and use my time in a much more efficient fashion so that I can achieve a lot more and waste less time. I’m hoping that this will give visible results down the stretch but only time will tell if this is the case. By no means am I promising a timetable for content to be published as news in the tech industry often comes in dribs and drabs, but what I do want to say is that PFT shall again receive the attention that it needs from me.

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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Buy me some..please!

Buy me a toy train ..
a train that chuggs out on a chocolate station..
A train that gets me to go anywhere I want..
just a toy train..just a toy train..

A toy train, a new ,love..
Buy me buy me buy me..
Wats the price ..who cares..
Buy me..

People are selling ..
and selling cheap..
selling all they care for..
They are selling..cmon buy me some!

Buy me a road ..I dont care..
Just buy me the road...
And I dont want the one with asphalt..
I want the one with the golden pavements...cmon buy me one

And dont tell me u cant buy..
Dont tell me that u cant pay..
I have seen the money on u ..
I have seen the drool of the sellers..cmon buy me!

Dont worry..someday I will pay u back..
I can sell myself..its no problem..
Its problem
Everything here is for sale..

I really dont mind the price..
Believe me I really dont..
Some one to buy ..some one to sale..
O wat a wonderful world !

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Levels of knowledge

In any knowledge scenario there are three levels of knowledge. The first level of knowledge is grassroot level empirical knowledge . This is the set of knowledge which would be something like practical sets of observations.Something like the knowledge of a farmer regarding rains..or a mechanic regarding wheels . This body of knowledge is the biggest conglomeration because as many as there are occupations there are observations.This would mean statements like "iron rusts"..."seeds germinate when placed in water" etc

The second level of knowledge would be science. It would mean the crystalysation of the first level of knowledge into pockets of maths,physics chemistry and biology. This can mean statements like "mass is property of matter","space-time is curved", "in an euclidain space the sum of angles in a triangle are 180 degrees" etc

The third level is that of metaphysical level which again is the crystalisation of the science. This can mean statments like " everything is relative", "the more you seek the more u find"

The worst part of this kind of division is that the third level knowledge is absurdely simplistic. And that makes is posible for a layman to mouth the third level even when he has no knowledge of the first two levels .

And these people make up organised religion charlatans ..gurus and spiritual leaders ! Sad but true


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Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Simple male themed card

Believe it or not this card actually looks nice in real life but not so much in the picture, honest.

Made embossed squares on the Craft room Workstation, then cut out and edged with peel offs. Printed out backing paper and mounted on to an A4 half fold card and also edged with peel offs. Stuck some gross grain ribbon to the back of the embellishments and mounted using large foam pads. I have left it without a sentiment as I usually like to wait until I decide who is getting the card befor doing also put matching insert.

Monday, 23 February 2009

Another Fairy

Another fairy card same design as the last but this one has decoupage instead of a topper.

Poser Fairy 2

This fairy was another born from error. She was spare after I printed her instead of the decoupage sheet so just used her alone as a topper. Matted and layered again with patterned mirri board and pearilised brown card. User a Kameo Cards Plaid and Co backing paper. Used patterned scissors for the matted and layered card and put gold on top of gold for a subtle Happy Birthday, every fairy needs a few butterflies so added these in peel off form to finish off. I like the idea of 8x8 sized card but didn't have any so cut down 2 sheets of A4 card making one slightly larger just large enough for a strip of double sided to join the cards together

Poser Fairy

Decoupaged up this fairy she was lovely to work with. Matted and layered onto patterned mirri board and pale green card. I used backing paper from crafters companion vintage times cd, put a stip of mirri card on the front edge and used a border punch on the backing paper so the gold would shine through. Here is the finished result, not tackled an enevelope yet will cross that when I find a home for this lol. Oh this was two pieces of A5 card stuck together the from one was scored about 1 cm in to give an edge to stick together an trimmed off a bit to show more of the back, well truth is I needed to trim off a bit more as I had a mishap with the border punch oops!!!

Excellent Service from My Craft Studio

A few posts ago I mentioned about contacting My Craft Studio via their website about the disk that came with the Run Circles Around Men's CD. I thought it was awful, content, quality of designs etc. They replied to say this was how the images were supposed to be etc. The out come however was they dealt with me both professionally and courteously. I returned the disk and I was asked which Men's disk I would like to change it for. I chose the It's a Boy Thing, which arrived on Friday. I am very happy with this as the images are what I would expect from the My Craft Studio team.
This is the sort of service that everyone should recieve, I am glad I never went through Create and Craft as I don't think I would have got anything do. So well done My Craft Studio and thank you

Quick Update

I haven't been on to update pictures. I have been very busy. I am still working on my cd which is coming along well although one of the programmes I was using decided to play silly beggars. I got it sorted but took quite a few hours to sort out.
I have been watching the craft weekend and have managed so far to resist temptation but must admit there wasn't really any must haves on, or should I say wasn't much that I hadn't already bought.
I got a pair of fancy edged scissors out of Poundland and was surprised that they were actually really good so went back and got the other 2 designs. You just need to have them all lol I got 4 pots of cosmic shimmer yesterday so want to give those a try out. I have a few cards on the go so they should be finished tonight or tomorrow evening all going well so will post pictures as soon as they are.

Saturday, 14 February 2009

Flippin Valentine

My hubby and I don't usually do the whole Valentine thing. Don't need to be told when to say I love you but as I am in the throws of loving Flippin Men and my hubby loves to soak for ages in the bath I thought this would make him laugh. Apperture, hearts and love embelishment cut on the Craft Robo. Border peel offs put round the apperture and also around the plain red insert. Added some stitch effect using fine tip of a Mary Le Plumme brush marker.

Monday, 9 February 2009

Flippin Women are out Now!!

Well they are here Flipping Women. I didn't even wait until they were aired on Create and Craft, I loved the Flipping Men collection so when I knew they were available I ordered the Flipping Women. I later watched the show on Create and Craft and I love them.
They have a crafter so that will definately come in handy to send to someone, (me) but they are so much fun I can't wait until they arrive.
Have a look on La Pashe site to view them http://www.lapashe.com/flippin-women-decoupage.htm

Helix Craft Room and Run Circles Around Men

My Helix craft room arrived on Friday. I looked at it for quite a few days swithering whether to buy it. I have the Crafters Companion Ultimate Pro, I do like it but it has a few faults that I don't like mainly the cutter that it came with isn't great, it would probably be better to use a different craft knife than the supplied mouse cutter. I don't see the point of buying something then having to replace one of the features with an alternative, but all said and done I still like the Ultimate despite of this.
I must admit though I do like the Helix Craft room too, I think they are quite different beasts and comparing them would be like comparing apples and pears. I like that it came with the overlays for scoring the shapes, one of the main reasons for getting this was to get my 6 year old son more involved with crafting. He has tried to use the glitter girls boards in the past but finds them too hard. I also got the Run Circles Around Men kit to go with it, again as it came with a board for embossing and all male themed sports figures so again something to get my son involved. I haven't used the circle cutter yet and admit I have the Robo so didn't need a circle cutter but again I can get my son involved he likes a shot when I am crafting so might as well get something fun for him.
On to the cd that came with the Run Circles Around Men kit, it is a My Craft Studio one, where should I start? It is awful. The images are poor quality, the whole disk makes me think it was put together in a rush. The borders are poor graphics and to try to size them even slightly larger just makes them distorted. The backing papers are very basic and to be honest I wouldn't use them to make a card. The outline images supposed to be used in co-orination with the board are tiny and to try to size thes to match the size on the board just creates a distorted mess.
If you come across this cd on it's own and think ypu would like to buy it, I would advise against it. Give a 5 year old some paints and they will come up with better backgrounds.
I will be keeping the Craft Room but might return the Run Circles Around Men as I am so un-impressed with the cd that came with it there really isn't anything I wound use on it.

I have been spending quite a lot of time playing around with PSP X2. I must admit I really like it I have been working my way through tutorials to learn how to use different features and have got quite a few tubes. I have managed to make some lovely backing papers and surprised how easy it is to achieve some stunning effects. I also managed to find some lovely art that I have permission to use so now might be the right time to start creating my own cds. It is something I have been threatening to do for a few years so watch this space.


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Sunday, 25 April 2010

A few Samples

Here are a few samples made with my new CD. The shaped cards are some of the templates on the cd also any shapes on the cards which are stamped are using the stacker templates.

WOW Design Team Samples

The Design Team have been working on samples for my new CD Got It Covered. This will be shown on Create and Craft TV on 27th April at 10am. They have done a fantastic job. To see their lovely samples you can visit each of their blogs listed under Design Team or head to the website gallery.
I have some pictures of cards I have done will get them up on the Gallery and post them here.

April Freebie

I forgot to mention there is an April Freebie on my website. It is a digistamp birdhouse in various sizes and 2 sheets of backing paper full colour and 2 sheets with a distressed look to it.
Enjoy, not sure if I will keep uploading freebies as no-one seems to say thanks.
Having a huffy moment lol

Monday, 12 April 2010

One of my stamps

Finally got round to taking a picture of one of my bear stamps. I have been playing around with making stamps to get to grips with the logistics of it. I have made quite a few wee bears just to test out the process. Here is one of them stamped up also the backgound has been made using another stamp made to go with the bear in a set. I stamped the flower with versmark pad then used 2 colours of cosmic shimmer powders to colour. used some distressed inks to colour my mats. Stamped bear onto a linen card and sponged around the edges with distressed ink. Coloured using pro markers and added a few flowers as embelishements. The best wishes could have come out better but was using a new rather juicy pad. Also glazed over the greeting not sure if that was such a good idea. Anyway I think he/she is sooo cute.


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Elder Law

PK Law  – Leaders in Elder Law

A lifetime of savings can be wiped out in a matter of months if proper pre-crisis planning has not been done. This puts a burden not only on the elderly, but their families and friends as well. PK Law attorneys are leaders in elder law. Our attorneys have assisted thousands of families with their elder care planning to ensure that their loved ones are properly cared for and their assets preserved to the fullest extent allowed.

Our services include:

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  • Assessing long term care insurance contracts
  • Explaining how contracts with long term care facilities work
  • Preparing Wills, Power of Attorney and Health Directives
  • Ensuring probate avoidance to preserve assets
  • Structuring assets to achieve maximum protection
  • Using trusts to insulate assets from being spent down

Elder Law Client Intake Form (325.34 KB)

We know you have questions.
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Elder Law Client Intake Form (325.34 KB)


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Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Choosing Sides

Exodus 32 records the sin of the Israelites in making and worshipping a golden calf. When Moses came down from the mountain, he first confronted Aaron for allowing the people to commit this iniquity (v. 21). Then he turned his attention to the people.

It is important to note that Moses did not immediately condemn the people. This is consistent with the character of God who gives men the chance to repent and come to Him (cf. Ezekiel 18:32; 2 Peter 3:9). So Moses extends this invitation -- "Whoever is for the Lord, come to me" (v. 26).

Sadly, most did not answer this call. Only those of the tribe of Levi came to Moses (v. 26). They did not think of the consequences of their decision or what might be expected of them after responding. They simply responded that they were on the Lord's side, no matter what that might mean.

But what of the others who did not respond? If they were not on the Lord's side, whose side were they on? They were on the side that opposed the Lord. Therefore, they were worthy of punishment (v. 27-28).

E.M. Zerr, in his commentary on the Old Testament, makes a good application of these verses to us today. "If a man refuses to take his stand outwardly in favor of a righteous cause he is considered as being on the wrong side" (Old Testament, Volume 1; p. 168). Refusing to take a stand is not an option. We cannot ride the fence. We must make a choice.

Of course, Jesus makes this same point, and Zerr cites this passage to back up his statement. "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Matthew 12:30).

Are we willing to take an open stand on the Lord's side, regardless of the consequences? There are pressures all around us -- the world, our family and friends, sometimes our own brethren. We must have the resolve that we will stand with the Lord, even if it means not standing with those we love.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Belief or Disbelief?

"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned" (Mark 16:16).

This is a pretty easy verse to understand. Jesus specifically states two things that are necessary for salvation -- belief and baptism.

Yet many claim that this is not what the passage teaches. Most of the "Christian" religions teach that baptism is not necessary for salvation. How do they explain this passage then? They see that the second part of the verse says disbelief results in condemnation, and then point out that it does not explicitly say that not being baptized will cause one to be condemned. Therefore, they say, baptism is not necessary for salvation. This type of reasoning is exactly what Paul warned about: "trickery of men...deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:14).

Read the passage again. "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."

Jesus said the one who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Therefore, both belief and baptism are necessary for salvation. Do you believe His statement? If so, and you want to be saved, that is what you will do. But if not, "he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

BOTC - March 2008

The new issue of Banner of the Cross is now online and contains the following articles:

His Name Is John by Andy Sochor
Explaining and Giving Evidence by Andy Sochor
A Better Sacrifice by Andy Sochor

Banner of the Cross

Saturday, March 1, 2008

PBT - March 2008

The March issue of Plain Bible Teaching is now online with the following articles:

How to Approach the Bible by Andy Sochor
Making Sacrifices by Andy Sochor
Genesis: A Book of Beginnings by Andy Sochor

You can read the new articles by clicking on the link below. I hope you may find the new material helpful to you.

Creative Commons License


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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Lil' Erwin Adventures

With lots and lots of positive feedback on The Plainest Pictorial Periodical, I am excited to announce my next creative endeavor. "Li'l Erwin" was easily the most popular reoccurring strip in the book, so I am jumping right into a full length Li'l Erwin Comic. The book will consist of several short gag strips, as well as a handful of longer stories about my awkward childhood, growing up as a wimpy, emotional, chubby kid.
Above is my working cover, which I am not 100% crazy about, and may change before the book is completed. I'd love to hear people's feedback on the design.
This just one of three projects which I am currently working on. The other two I will make announcements on once I can iron out more of the details. Again, thank you everyone for the kind words of support. This is just the beginning of what I hope is a long successful career in what I've wanted to do since I was the just a Li'l Erwin.

- Erwin

Stu Livingston said...

I love it! Has a distinctly D&Q feel, very classy. Funny contrast

Erwin Ledford said...

Thanks Stu! I was looking forward to hearing your thoughts on what I could do to make it better. Instead I feel much more confident about it.

Stu Livingston said...

Ya lettering is bomb son...if you want some recommendations, a nice trim around the border, or at least something to fill out the lower space would be nice. A different color for either your shirt or the bg might help lil Erwin pop a bit more, but its your call. Looks rly great so far!

Erwin Ledford said...

Duly Noted. I was thinking the trim looked a little plain. If I had to change one or the other, it would be the BG, because the shirt is a real shirt I used to wear all the time. Cool great ideas :D


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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Knitting a Hat

Here it is! The finished hat. This isn't the gargantuan hat I started out making. Some where I miscalculated something and the hat looked large enough to fit King Kong. Then, being the impatient person I am, I just deducted how many stitches I thought was necessary and started a new hat unraveling the old. The new hat looked quite small. It turned out to be too tiny even for my youngest daughter. We all decided we should give it to my Sister's Munchkin. So I crocheted up a pretty blue flower and sewed it on with some bright pink yarn forming the eye of the flower. I must say, I'm pretty pleased.
This is my third attempt at making a sufficiently sized hat for my over sized yet not huge noggin . The pretty green, blue, and brown yarn on the side is wool and I am going to attempt to make a cute hat out of it once I get better at this!

I'm terrible at following directions, and tend to get impatient with tedious directions. I found this video very helpful and easy to follow.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Around the House and Garden

Finally, cool weather. It got down to 42 degrees last night, so it's the perfect time for hot rolls and hot chocolate. My girls like to dip fresh baked rolls in steaming mugs of hot chocolate. These are refrigerator rolls that I made with 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat flour. This is a pic before they were finished rising. They rose to about twice this size and baked to hot, fluffy, melt in your mouth, addictive little fat bombs. Yummmm
These are peeled loofahs and seeds that I saved. Even though I've given away seeds to all my friends that wanted them and some of the loofahs.........
I still have all these to go! Gardening is so abundant. Love it.
Here is a chicken tractor my husband is building for our new chickies. He's still contemplating how he's going to finish it. Also, he's attempting to build it with misc. things we have laying around the shed and house. The point of a chicken tractor is to be able to move around the small coop, thus allowing your chickens to free range without risking them to roving predators or stray dogs. No chickens do not drive it, you pull it or push it around.
Hello! Are you my mother? We moved the little chickies to the shed and are keeping them warm with a heating lamp.
Look how much they have changed. They are really motley looking! I hope they like their new home Byron is building them. If these chicks thrive, it will be a huge step for us in the direction of chicken sustainability!
I'm also attempting to make my first completed knitting project other than a dish cloth, a really wild colored hat. It looks big! I measured my head. Maybe I just have a big head. Anyway....Fall is here and it's a wonderful energetic time!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Fall Flowers for Pastor Appreciation

October is "Pastor Appreciation Month". Every year our church has a special service honoring the dedication and work of our Pastor. This year everyone out did themselves, and I certainly believe our Pastor was overwhelmed and, in his words, humbled. There was a service, special music, lunch afterwards, and a spacewalk and slide for the kids to exhaust themselves with afterward!
I wanted to do the flowers fallish without the typical pumpkins, gourds and maple leaves. Instead I did what I call "Marie Antoinette" fall colors. Lots of roses with pink, light blue and red mixed with the fall colors.

This is an easy centerpiece to make. Wrap a small chunk of soaked florist foam in a bright leaf, then arrange flowers and elements cut short in a pleasing mound.
This is the same concept on a larger scale. The foam keeps the flowers fresh without having to deal with large amounts of water in vases. The bright leaf hides the foam and brightens the arrangement. The glass vases can be used over and over for many different seasons and reasons. It's look being changed by what style and color leaf you use. Some suggestions are: Hawaiian Ti, variegated ginger, ginger, banana leaves, pittosporum leaves....your only limitation is your imagination!
Be creative with what you have on hand in your garden. Branches, berries, herbs, cones, dried leaves,....don't try to choose perfect items, the imperfections found on the plant add to the character of the arrangement.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Henderson Bush Lima Beans

These are Henderson bush Lima beans or "butter beans" as my relatives in Mississippi would call them. My mother called me this morning and asked what I was doing. "Peeling Lima beans.", I replied. My Mother intoned, "No, your shelling Lima beans. You peel shrimp and shell peas and beans." (Shrimp have shouldn't we shell them???) So I stand corrected. Today I shelled Lima beans! Another meal from my garden. This is becoming a regular thing, and I am thrilled.
Lima beans originated in South America and around 1300 moved further up to North America. In the 1500's Lima beans made their move to Europe. As the beans were shipped around the world their origin was labeled on the package. Earning them the name- Lima-Peru or Lima beans! Now why Southerners call them butter beans that's another story I'll have to look up one day.
Figuring out when to pick them and keeping the caterpillars off of them, I've found three different caterpillar varieties on them so far, is the two largest challenges of growing them so far. Despite this, I picked a whole "mess of 'em" and there are a whole bunch left on the bush. They've grown well in our fall weather, which varies between 65 to 85 degrees.
Tonight's dinner.
Seleste is home with what I presume is the flu. She has fever, chills, head ache, muscle pain, and an ear ache. Here she is snoring away on the sofa while I I Lima beans.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

It's Raining

Our Friend

Sister Margaret

We will
Miss you
Sister Margaret

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

About Purple Hull Peas

Just a little more on purple hull peas...please....I'm just ecstatic that I actually have a harvest. They are coming in by the bunches. Like I said, I'm a long time gardener, but I'm still a novice. This is the first time I've had enough of any kind of legume to cook a whole pot of them, and it looks like there will be several more pots to come!

If you're interested in growing them you can find a ton of information on them at this site Purple Hull Pea Festival. Emerson, Arkansas has a festival every year featuring these beautifully colored peas. They look like black eyed peas yet are tastier and prettier. The coloring is sort of a pale lime green with a pinkish purple eye, and of course, the hull is purple. They also are an heirloom vegetable. So much the more fun to grow! Someone asked if they were a Southern thing. I guess so, but you can grow them most anywhere if the growing season is long enough. Cow peas (purple hull peas are a type of cow pea) were originally brought over from Africa.

Purple hulls on the vine.
Purple hulls rinsed and ready to shell.
Shellin' purple hulls.
Look at all those peas in a pod! After shelling them, blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute and freeze, unless you're going to cook them right away.
Another wonderful thing about these peas is, you can save the seed and it will produce like kind. According to the book "Seed to Seed" by Suzanne Ashworth, Let the pods dry on the vine and then shell and save. These are the peas I'm saving to plant next year. Oh yes, I'm going to plant a larger patch of them!!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Gumbo is a traditional Louisiana soup. Since there have been requests that I write more about our local culture and specifically this soup, I am going to give the basics and what I do know about it.

According to the book "The Encyclopedia Of Cajun & Creole Cuisine" By Chef John D. Folse, I mentioned in the past, "Gumbo" is the West African word for okra. Okra was brought over from Africa via the flourishing trade with the West Indies. Since gumbo is generally made with okra, the soup was given this name. Some other crops that came over in this manner as well are cowpeas (black eye and purple hull etc.), sesame, and peanuts.

Fresh Louisiana shrimp bought right off the boat. $2.35 per lb (size 16-20). Shrimp are sized by how many you get in a pound.

Gumbo is a soup with meat and seasonings thickened with roux. Generally it is made with chicken and sausage. There are many many variations. Everyone has their own. Typically I make it with chicken, smoked sausage, and shrimp. My husband recently made a smoked duck (he smoked the duck himself) and andouille sausage. Andouille is a sausage that is made with chunks (instead of ground) meat and seasonings and then smoked. It's usually made by locals who produce specialty items such as: boudin (rice,meat and seasonings stuffed in a sausage skin), andouille, hog's head cheese (meat and seasonings formed in a gel loaf), smoke sausage, cracklins' etc. The best andouille I've ever had is found in Laplace Louisiana, then Lafayette. Taffe's in St. Bernard Parish (In Louisiana we have Parishes not Countys.) made the best hog's head cheese. His business was destroyed by Katrina and he hasn't opened back up. A real loss.

Basic Gumbo:

1 chicken

1 pack smoke sausage

2 lbs of peeled shrimp

1/2 to 1 cup of flour

1 cup of oil (butter, veggie, olive)

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced green bell pepper

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup chopped green onions

3 cloves of garlic minced

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

1 tsp. Cheyenne pepper

1 cup of chopped okra (I do not like the texture okra gives the soup. I always omit. Others absolutely love okra in their gumbo, give it a try)

First: In preparation to make a gumbo. Boil and debone one chicken. Throw away the skin and bones. Reserve meat and stock in large pot. Have seasonings ready.

Next Basic Roux:

Everything is done so hodgepodge and by memory. There are no hard fast rules. Roux is basically flour cooked in oil until it is dark brown. Once it is dark brown the liquids are added or you add it to liquids.

I usually saute the green onions, garlic, onions, bell pepper, celery and chopped smoked sausage in a little olive oil or butter and then put in pot with chicken stock and chicken meat. In the same skillet I add more oil and brown the flour to make a dark roux. It usually starts to smoke before it is finished. You must pay close attention to the roux and keep stirring and turning it often. When the roux is done, I carefully add it to the pot as well. The hot grease will pop when you add it. Sometimes I add a cup of chicken stock to the skillet when the roux is done to loosen it up before adding it to the large pot.

Add two bay leaves, salt, pepper, and Cheyenne pepper to mixture. If you like it very hot add more pepper. If you like it mild add less. Bring entire mixture to a rolling boil. Then add shrimp and okra. You can omit the okra if you do not like it's slimy texture (I really only like okra pickled or fried).

Continue to cook until shrimp are done. Remove bay leaves and skim any fat off of top. Serve over cooked rice.

It's traditional in my husband's family to serve gumbo with potato salad. True Cajuns always put a dollop of potato salad in the middle of their bowl of gumbo. Others also like garlic french bread with theirs.

Variations: (use basic seasonings and roux, just change up the meat)

Duck and Andouille

Chicken, Sausage, Oyster, crab, and shrimp

Quail and Andouille

Seafood only Oyster, crab, and shrimp.

Some people add tomatoes to their gumbo

Gumbo Potato Salad:

2-3 lb potatoes

6 hard boiled eggs

1 cup of stuffed Olives cut in half

6 slices of bacon fried crispy and crushed

Salt and pepper

Peel and boil potatoes until soft then drain. Smash potatoes in a large bowl with a potato smasher. Peel eggs then smash eggs into small pieces with potato smasher. Add to bowl with potatoes. Add enough mayo to bind eggs and potatoes together, salt, pepper, a dash of mustard and the olives. Stir until combined. Sprinkle bacon pieces on top and serve with gumbo.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Purple Hull Peas

Finally, enough purple hull peas to cook!
Purple hull peas are Byron's favorite. He never ceases to expound the virtues of the purple hull pea.
A little turkey sausage, chopped onion, minced garlic and green onions sauteed in olive oil until tender. Then add purple hull peas and some water. Then cook...simmer...simmer....simmer...until.
It's done. Serve over a spoonful of short grain brown rice.
And then seconds...more seconds...more more!
Mmmmmm....the best Mom!
Sure there's not enough for thirds? No....I promise I'll plant a lot more next time.
That was good Mom.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Sub Tropical Fall Arrangement

No colorful leaves... no crisp brisk winds... no leaf covered trails.....So when you live in the sub tropics you use what you must! Birds of Paradise, Mexican sage, Variegated Ginger and a Musquee De Provence pumpkin from the garden!
Isn't the color of this Musquee De Provence pumpkin gorgeous? It sorta looks iridescent!
The first blossom my Bird of Paradise bloomed!

Monday, October 13, 2008

How To Make Laundry Powder

Previously I gave a recipe for making laundry soap liquid. Lately I have been making this laundry powder recipe. It's not as inexpensive as the liquid, but it is still very inexpensive. It's very simple and takes less time to make and works quite well. My washing machine is a high efficiency machine, and the laundry powder works just fine in it.

2 bars of Fel's Naptha soap
3 cups borax
3 cups super washing powder

Method: Grind soap to powder. I use my food processor. Be careful. It grinds very fine, I use a mask to keep from breathing in any particles. Allow soap powder to settle then transfer to a large enough canister with a lid.
Add 3 c. borax and 3 c. super washing power to container.
I tape the lid shut to keep particles from escaping. Shake and rock back and forth gently until thoroughly mixed. Use 2 tablespoons per laundry load. Use a little more for a very dirty load.

You can also use 1/2 a cup of vinegar as a fabric softener. Don't worry, it doesn't make the laundry smell like vinegar.

Now line dry for the freshest smelling laundry ever!!! The sun also will help whiten white clothing.


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Thursday, July 28, 2011

Around The House And Gardens

Brown Turkey Figs
Yes, We don't mind sharing with birds.
Lady Margaret passion flower
Branches sagging with pears
Gulf fritillary caterpillars love passion vine
...but it's hard to get a pic of the butterfly...they never slow down!
The chickens love large overripe watermelons!
...they also love the shade of the mulberry tree...they love mulberries in the spring too!
...Our dominant rooster struts around all day making sure every one's behaving....
...the compost is ready!
...gorgeous!...This is Seleste's hand...she always has the most beautiful hair and nails!
..eeks...more rain.  It's rained and rained and rained around here.  Drought to Flood...sigh...I love Louisiana!
...the rain has brought mushrooms.  They're magical...
...well not really...they just have a magical feel!  Maybe there are little fairies hiding in there.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Sewing project!  I know it doesn't look that difficult...but the panel in the front and the neck facing   ..@*#$%()*(not really)...I learned new skills anyway!  And it actually fits right.  I want to sew several light cotton slip over caftans for working in the garden when it is so hot.  This one is from knit material (actually not recommended for the pattern), but I like the way it turned out.  I dressed it up with a little crocheted embellishment I made myself.
Not so good close up of the embellishment.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Around The House And Gardens

It is so humid and hot outside.  Just working in the garden for a minutes leaves me dripping with sweat.  Then any dust, mud or particles stick straight to my skin leaving me looking like some sort of prehistoric person lacking the means of personal hygiene doing the gathering part of hunting and gathering.....Regardless....the garden is beautiful and abundant.  The permaculture aspects of my garden are really becoming more and more evident as I learn more and more.

One important aspect of permaculture is to use nitrogen fixing plants and trees to enrich the soil with nitrogen.  Geoff Lawton refers to them as "legume" trees List of Leguminous Plants.  Ummm...I had never heard of I began to research.  Then I realized that I have several nitrogen fixing trees already in my garden and this is one of them.  It's a very beautiful plant and if it dies down from a freeze it returns from the roots.  I've heard of it growing well as far north as Georgia.
Cassia bicapsularis pronounced KASSee-uh bye-kap-soo-LAIR-iss  From what I have read, Leguminous Plants produce pods that contain it's seeds.
My "Pride of Barbados" plant also makes pods containing it's seeds.  It's in the "pea" family so it too is a nitrogen fixer.  Also the "trash tree" as some people call it, Mimosa is also a nitrogen fixer.  Mimosa has earned it's name as a plant that rushes in when the soil is empty an begins to grow.  It really deserves the name of "healer" since it protects the soil from being swept away, drops it's flowers and leaves to nourish the soil with organic material, and it's roots grab nitrogen from the air and fixes it in the soil making it available to other plants.  I have so much to learn.
My newest pear trees are drooping with fruit even though over half of the fruit was removed to keep it from taxing the small branches.
The side garden is doing well.  I have more work to do such as putting down more mulch.  I think it has all of the trees it can support.  Some lower growing plants need to be planted once the majority of the grass and weeds are suppressed using mulch.  Maybe sweet potatoes, squash, melons, and herbs.  There are banana, pomegranate, 3 types of fig, loquat, and bay trees in this small garden along with many perennials such as crinum, Louisiana phlox, amaryllis, cannas, angel trumpet tree, pineapple sage, four o'clocks, agapanthus, iris, Mexican sage, guara, and crybaby tree.  I may have even missed some!
Here is the view looking back at the house in the front garden.  Everything is so large and beautiful.  My swamp sunflowers (name I gave it!) that volunteered a few years ago reliably comes back larger and more beautiful each year.  I really need to identify it exactly!  Any ideas?  The boxes in the front have been collected to use as mulch.  Pine straw will be placed on top to hide them.  This works really well for me.
The windmill palm in the front garden is far surpassing the other three that are planted around the yard without the benefit of companion planting and mulching.
Here is a view of the front garden looking toward the raised bed garden.  The Aztec grass really pops in front of the weedy look of the guara.  Guara is prettiest in the morning when it's blossoms have freshly bloomed.  By mid afternoon the flowers have wilted and all the busy bees have finished harvesting it's nectar and are busy elsewhere.  In the morning guara vibrates and hums with industrious bees mining it's gold.  The guara in this part of the garden volunteered from some guara that I planted near the door.
The veggie garden is a bit overgrown and weedy.  That's not unusual for this time of year.  The heat and humidity causes every seed that  can to germinate.  A blessing and a curse.  Even in it's current stressed state it's still quite abundant!
The chickens have been getting most of their nutrition from foraging lately.  They clean up dropped fruit (that's what this chicken was doing under the pear tree), eat insects, scratch the soil, and fertilize with their droppings as well as giving eggs and meat.  According to all permaculture authorities, the perfect permaculture animal.
My persimmon tree has two persimmons on it.  The very first for my tree!
I love my little sitting area under the pergola.  I've lit the tiki torches and spent many evenings enjoying the purple martins and bats that dart around catching insects.  Sometimes the mosquitoes drive us in.  Maybe I could rig up some netting?  It's the perfect place to drink a glass of iced tea while taking a break from planting or pulling.
Muscadines!  The vines are slowly covering the trellis in their second year.  Next year I expect them the completely cover it and need to be trimmed severely!
Around six or seven brown turkey figs ripen each day.  They are so huge that this is just right for my family.  There will be so many to share once the tree grows larger.
Fiery Zinnia
Delicate Zinnia
This banana tree was obtained at half price at a local nursery because of it's shabby appearance due to a hail storm.  It's sprouting new leaves and doing just fine.  It is called Musa "ice cream" it is supposed to grow up to 15 feet and have delicious edible fruit.  We'll see!
Some of the satsumas are already showing a little bit or orange!
The navels are getting plump!
And ....Oh yes, I've harvested quite a few perfectly ripe watermelons!  Success at last!  Yummm!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Tree Self Education

On the fourth, Byron and I spent the day scoping out our new piece of property and trying to find all of the boundary posts the surveyor established.  There is a total of 21 acres and most of it is densely forested.  Animal trails criss cross the property, and the old logging road that cuts it's way diagonally across it is dotted with their tracks.
In an effort to really get the feel of the land, I spent the day just observing the lay and aspects of the land without making any immediate decisions like,  "Oh, here is where we'll put the cabin!", or "There is a perfect place for a small pasture."   This is more difficult than it seems.  But....the first order of business in establishing a permaculture garden (which I plan to do here since I will not be here that often) is to learn what nature is already doing here.  How does the water flow?  What plants are here?  What animals are here?   How are the hills situated?  What areas aren't easily accessible?  What areas naturally hold water?  etc...

But one thing I really wanted to do was identify the trees that are on the property.  Identifying trees is not one of my strong points....So I set about yesterday with the following book to identify as many trees as possible.  Quite a few of them proved elusive, but many others I've pinpointed with shaky certainty.  If I've made any mistakes please point it out and why.

Here is the book I used.  Needles and leaves were sticking out at all angles by the end of the day!  I find that this book was the most useful one I could find.  It has a really good introduction that explains exactly what to look for when identifying a tree.  It also gave a lot of additional useful information.  Each tree entry has a picture of the mature tree, it's leaves and stem, any flowers or berries as well as it's bark.  The description also includes any particularities of the tree such as branch shape, thorns, smells, etc...  It also has a map showing where they naturally grow in the United States.

We have long leaf pine....betcha don't know how I knew that was a long leaf pine....
Short leaf pine...
Spruce pine....
Laural Oak (not certain on this one)...
Post Oak (used for making fence posts, railroad ties etc...)...
Blackjack Oak  (this is an oak that grows in poor sandy soils.  It's not surprising that they are growing here since the land was clear cut about 8 years ago.  Let the healing begin!)...
Southern Red Oak (the underside of this oak leaf is a rusty color)...
American Crab apple...
Aren't the little apples so cute?!
Looks like a maple leaf...but it's not!  It's a sweet gum.  Ammunition for the kids (they make a very prickly ball seed pod that's great fun to throw at people but not so fun to run across barefoot!)  I've also heard that it's sap is sweet and edible...I'll have to check that to be sure....
Parsley leaf hawthorn...such a frilly and delicate looking tree...
Southern Red Oak...
Red Maple....
Sweet Bay Magnolia....This smells so nice when the leaves are a bay tree...The underside of the leaf is a blue grey.  A regular magnolia has a furry brown underside....
Winged sumac....
I also identified flowering pic....there are so many more plants there to identify.  This just scratches the surface!  O.K. so did I make any mistakes?  Hope not!


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2 years ago

Red County Unified School District Uses New Technique to Help Fat Students

Tesoro Senior School Gym Teacher Helps Adolescents Stay Match

David Gipe was once overweight in high school. He heard his teachers call him large and he knows how overweight students in the Orange County Schools feel. Gipe has been teach read more...


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Monday, November 11, 2013

Album Review: Karrin Allyson- Yultetide Hideaway

Hearing Karrin Allyson interpret familiar holiday material on her new Yuletide Hideaway album is revelatory.

While jazz fans- particularly her advocates in her former base of Kansas City- have long extolled Allyson's voice, renditions of songs including "Winter Wonderland" and "Christmas Time is Here" cast Allyson in an entirely new light.  Allyson is a terrific pop vocalist.

The format never strays from jazz, but Allyson keeps the focus on the songs.  Her scatting on "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," for instance, is restrained.  The hitch in Allyson's voice adds just the right dollop of spice to moth-eaten fare that might otherwise seems trite.  In a similar fashion, Rod Fleeman's exquisite guitar work enhances each melody.  The result sounds more like Barbra Streisand than Ella Fitzgerald.

It's difficult to imagine anyone not appreciating Allyson's light touch on Yuletide Hideaway.  The album deserves to become a perennial holiday classic.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.)

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