So I was putting branches onto one of my woodpiles, and I saw this cluster of hundreds, maybe thousands of baby spiders reacting to the vibration of the woodpile moving.

So I waited until they clumped back up, and then purposely jiggled the woodpile again, so you could see their reaction.

Pretty cool, pretty creepy.

Tags:   spiders babies clump disperse reaction home backyard

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After being inside, painting, for more than ten weeks, and then another two weeks working on the photos from the show, I am delighted to be outside again.

Yesterday I found myself lying on the soft grass in the shady part of our field, looking up at the sky, and I thought to take a short video of it. Not much to see here, but you can pretend you are on your back in the grass, looking up, like I was!

It makes me feel rather peaceful to watch it, even with the sound of the truck backing up, toward the end, lol! But, it isn't as peace-producing without the sound playing, even with the truck.

iPhone video

Hmm... this video is clear as a bell, but when I play it on Flickr, it looks fuzzy. Oh well.

I tried to get it to rotate so it was on its side, but I couldn't seem to manage it. The only time I did, Flickr couldn't "process" it. Hmmm.

Tags:   Late Spring May 31 lying in the grass clouds birds trees peace home field shade grass

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Well, here is a video of me painting.... rather boring, but here it is. Every now and then I remembered to hold my phone and take a video of what I was doing. I stuck them together, and maybe it got a tiny bit more interesting.
Flickr ended it a few seconds early... I guess I hit the limit for video size!

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It really blew! And it poured! We have some parts of trees which fell. Ah, can't get through a year without lots of chain saw work, here!

I'm not the best videographer, that's for sure!

Tags:   Storm wind trees leaves evening home window movie

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Ok, once again this is a bit odd for me... different from my usual posts, I mean. This is from nearly five years ago, when I directed the musical "Annie" for my theater group. We had, I think, 32 girls, playing orphans, in the show, and they all got to be in this scene, singing the song "It's a Hard Knock Life", which shows their anger and grief at being under the cruel "care" of Miss Hannigan, at the orphanage.

I am uploading this not so much to show you (although I would be happy for you to see it, since it is representative of an important part of my life), but because certain people associated with the show want to see it, and it is too large to send via email.

However, I was SO proud of these young girls. They put their hearts into this show, and you could tell.

In this scene, they not only had to sing, but they had to learn choreographed movements... AND part of the movements were to clear the stage of all the beds and blankets. (The scene started in the middle of the night with sleeping orphans in seven cots, but when the scene ended, there was supposed to be a swift scene change. So we had the orphans just clear the stage during the song. Watch how angrily they do everything (they are supposed to be angry at Miss Hannigan, their terrifying orphanage "Caretaker")).

I only wish the sound quality were better. And, I was not at all accustomed to making videos with my camera (I'm still not very good at it!) so the video quality could be better. But that is all I am apologizing for. I, personally, think the performance was splendid.

Tags:   video movie Annie musical play stage performance girls orphans song dance Hard Knock Life Nativity Players Cincinnati Ohio May 13 2011

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