Winter is coming (apologies to House Stark of Winterfell)

The night before last, I heard the Winter wind make its Winter noise at the bedroom window for the first time. And my feet were cold when I went to bed and when I woke up in the morning. Then, yesterday it rained, probably a good 5mm or so judging from how deeply the sand was wet. Yup, Winter is definitely on its way. *sigh*

I saw a change in the light/air a week or two ago already, when it was still February.  I never want to believe it so early in the year, but something about the quality of the light changes then already. Not quite enough to put your finger on, and you can almost convince yourself that you're imagining it. But you can only fool yourself for so long.  Once you hear the wind at the window and the rain starts, it's pretty much a sure thing.

Also, the figtree has lost most of its leaves already and the leaves of the hanepoot and the roses have started changing colour.  The sun only comes up at 6:45 and goes down at 19:15. By 8pm it is already dark while in Summer the sun isn't even down by then.  It feels like we didn't properly take advantage of the nice long Summer days at all. I think that every year. And it's probably true every year.

It's not so much that I dislike the Winter, it's more that when the seasons change, you really become aware of the passing of time.  As that is what bothers me.  It feels as if time is just rushing past without my really appreciating it.  And add up the days and the weeks and then the years are just flying past and we're getting older and it starts feeling as if time is running out.  I feel closer to a full-on midlife crisis at the changing of the seasons than at any other time during he year.  Especially when it is changing to Winter.  And it's not even past the equinox yet.

Maybe this year I will have my midlife crisis and shave my head and run away to India or something. Or maybe I will stop eating cheese or something life-changing like that. Get a tattoo or learn to meditate or levitate. Sort out all the clutter and go minimalist. Stop drinking coffee. Not bloody likely.

First AV project -- One Perfect Day...

(This video was inspired by Simoné's "August".)

I used iPhoto to cobble together some photos, video footage and music. Dirty camera lens, lots of shaky footage, noisy backgrounds etc, but it's a nice reminder of a lovely day.  Daniel _loves_ watching it over and over.

I've uploaded the mobile version because the HD version is more than 500Mb and will take forever to load.

The music is Come Back When You Can by Barcelona.

You know the rules!

Shannon and Simoné's first video is up, and has even been featured on their hero's website (http://pinchmysalt.tv/?cat=4). One of his funny videos was the inspiration for "You know the rules". How cool is that?


You Know The Rules from Penguin&Panda.Productions on Vimeo.

If it won't load -- watch it HERE.

Guerrilla Artists on Scooters

Decided that today was a good day to not sit around the house, so we decided to get out and do some guerrilla art. And get some scootering done too. The storm water dam near our house has finally got some water in after the rain, so that's where we headed.

The dogs were obviously very happy with the water and started sloshing around as soon as we got there. You could just imagine them standing there waiting for a (shot) duck to fall out of the sky. They looked very much like RETRIEVERS, and very at home in the water.

Shadow was trying his best to retrieve something from the bottom.

And Harley was smiling from ear to ear.

Then on to some Guerrilla Art...

I know that it's probably technically vandalism, but no-one ever goes to the "dam" except us, and we thought it could do with some decorating.

The three artists got to work right away. Daniel drew on "his" side with chalk:

And was very proud of his artwork:

The girls had some paint to use on their sides. Here are the artists hard at work and lost in their own worlds:

Then on to a hill for some downhill scootering. Shannon was trying all kinds of weird things:

Sarah wasn't trying anything funny, but still managed to come away with skinned knees and bleeding toes. Might have something to do with the inappropriate outfit she was wearing.

Daniel only hurt his thumb this time, so he must be getting better.

Then it was time to go home to rinse the dogs in the sea. They did swim properly but they still smell vaguely of stale pond-water. Was nice to get out of the house for a bit.

Recipe for Chocolate & Vanilla Retrievers

Had such a good laugh today. The kids wanted to scooter on the roads here behind us, so we took the dogs and the scooters and off we went. I asked them to scooter up and down the same road away from the busier roads so I wouldn't have to worry about the dogs' lack of car sense. I was taking some photos of the kids coming around the corner, and checked on the pups from time to time. They were just running around the bushes, sniffing and having a great time. When Shannon came around the corner again, I asked her to check on the dog farther on next to the road because his nose was all brown. It just looked like sand from far away, but when I took a photo and zoomed in, this is what I saw:

They had found a bit of muddy water (leaking pipe) in all that dryness, and were digging it up into a muddy puddle. Shadow quickly got into the action as well:

They were dipping their faces right under the water:

They were having so much fun, I just ignored the fact that the mud had to be removed again at a later stage:

This is what a thoroughly-dipped chocolate and vanilla Retriever looks like:

It was just so funny! I was sitting on the road laughing until the tears rolled down my face. The kids thought I was having a fit. I could hardly hold the camera still, I was laughing so hard. And the dirtier they got, the more I laughed.

At least their "self-cleaning mechanisms" have kicked in and they are basically clean again. And it was mostly sand and clean water, not real mud.

Musical Cats

I just had to laugh to myself last night. Daniel had already fallen asleep and I was watching TV in bed. As the night went on, more and more cats got onto the bed until I was firmly wedged in. I couldn't move much and before I put the TV off, I decided to sort out the cats into more manageable positions.

So, I got up and moved Claudie to the bottom right of the bed. If she lies against you and you move, she tends to hum and growl a bit. So, she went near the bottom of Daniel's feet, but out of kicking range. I moved Sassy to the pile of clothes on the rockingchair. She's a real pain on the bed as she wants to lie right up against you and no matter how many times you move away, she follows. I moved Fallafel to the bottom left of the bed near where my feet go. He normally sleeps quite still during the night and only sticks his nose in your face if he thinks it's time to get up. Tommy, who's always slept with the girls, is now on our bed as well because the girls have been coughing him awake at night. He's really heavy but doesn't move around too much, so I just sort of slid him along to the middle of the bed near the bottom. He barely moved a whisker. Shandy was sleeping on the decoder but she jumped off when I got out of bed.

Then, with all the cats sorted and mostly out of my space, I got into bed, knocked the pillows into shape and got comfortable. Just as I sighed contentedly to myself, Daniel sat straight up, twisted around and plonked down again with his head wedged into my ribs. You just can't win. :-) At least Stewart is back tonight and since he tends to growl and spit at the cats in the bed, only the most stubborn ones will be sleeping on the bed with us (usually Sassy).

One of the things I like about Winter

When the wind is off the sea, the seagulls float over our house.

(Will try to come up with a few more things, but that's all for now. It's cold. I don't like the cold. *grumble*)