BTT: Odd Reads

Oh-oh-oh, this week’s Booking Through Thursday question from Deb goes quite a bit beyond the usual stuff… P(f)unny she is, too, because while last week’s question was entitled Serial… she calls this one Cereal! Ha ha. Here’s the question:

If you’re like me, you grew up reading everything under the sun, like the cereal boxes while you ate your breakfast, the newspapers held by strangers on the subway, the tabloid headlines at the grocery store.

What’s the oddest thing you’ve ever read? (You know, something NOT a book, magazine, short story, poem or article.)

Oh gosh. How am I to remember that?! I think that at some point in history, there were short stories or encyclopedia kind of facts printed on our milk cartons (i.e. text not necessarily connected to milk). Maybe there still is – I’m not really keeping myself updated with milk cartons since I discovered I was lactose intolerant more than 15 years ago. (I now drink soy milk. Without stories.)

Ah. I see a loophole! If there’s one place where I’ve come across odd things… That will be the internet… ;) Probably especially while I was most involved in Harry Potter discussions between the sixth and seventh (=last) books in the series. (Some of the oddities I picked up then, I’m now trying to collect in my blog Through My Spectrespecs.) But the experience of blogging has also continued to be a source of  “odds and ends” that I wouldn’t otherwise have come across: Learning about places, plants, animals; words and expressions, quotes and weird signs; bits of history, mythology and whatever, from all over the globe. And Google and Wikipedia have made it very easy to look things up.

ABC Wednesday – K for Kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebbles and bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Coined in 1817 by Scottish inventor Sir David Brewster the word "kaleidoscope" is derived from the Ancient Greek καλ(ός) (beauty, beautiful), είδο(ς) (form, shape) and -σκόπιο (tool for examination)—hence "observer of beautiful forms." [Wikipedia]

Exactly how the digital photo kaleidoscope works, I have no idea. But it’s a lot of fun to use, and easier than you might think. (Basically, just click a button and see what happens.)

The software used for these is Corel Paint Shop Pro X, where you’ll find the Kaleidoscope under Effects / Reflection Effects.

Have a guess, if you like, what kinds of photos may be the origin of the four kaleidoscopes in this post. Scroll down for the answer.

The answer is:

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Winter – Spring – Summer - Autumn

Here are the original pictures:

For more of the letter ‘K’, visit ABC Wednesday.

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You might also be interested in checking out
the K-post at my blog Through My Spectrespecs.

Monday Morning: Splash of Pink, Splash of White…

I think I need to start this week with a real splash of colour for Macro Monday. This is another shot that I took outside a florist’s shop last week. (I always feel a bit sneaky doing that… With my camera I can take home those gorgeous colours without actually buying the expensive bouquets! I did go in and buy a begonia for my window, though. I’ll show that some other day when it does not have to compete with these.)

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Now to a more depressing sight. Yesterday we turned our clocks forward one hour to “summer time” (daylight savings time), and this is how we were rewarded for our efforts:

It snowed all night. This morning the sun was back. But it still looks more like February than what we like to see at the end of March:

I just checked my old blog. We had the first snowfall as early as 21 October. It’s been a long winter, and it’s not over yet.

The Times They Are A-Changin’

Yes, it’s that time of year again. I woke up early this morning, and was considering trying to go back to sleep, but then it struck me that it was actually supposed to be later than I thought… or… whatever… Anyway, instead of going back to bed, I forced myself to a morning walk around the flat to put all the clocks forward one hour. Because while I slept, Time had rushed ahead and decided that it’s now Summer Time, or Daylight Savings Time if you prefer. A change which always makes me grumble a bit – and to be sure, this year I had the outdoors thermometer very much on my side. At six… er… seven… o’clock, it showed minus 7°C (and windy too, according to swaying treetops). That’s certainly not what I call Summer…

Well, at least it’s not snowing. Not yet, anyway. Around noon we’re up to +2, darkening sky and increasing wind force. Not sure what might come out of it…

Yesterday we had blue sky and sun (but chilly winds):

Last year’s reeds down by the riverside…

…where the rich people live.

I was actually able to sit for a while in the sun on my own balcony (smaller, not overlooking the river,  and not glassed-in…). Had to cover myself well in winter jacket and blanket, but still. It was my first real “sit-out” lasting more than a few minutes.

It also seems my clematis plant has survived another harsh winter out there. Just tiny little buds yet… but… buds! Always gives me a “wow” feeling. (I do hope last night’s frost didn’t kill them!)

Linking to Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday.

Double Feelings

Had two more rather big dental jobs done this week – I hope yesterday was the last one for a while! I have a wonderful dentist and he did a good job as usual. I’m also very thankful for local anesthesia… But… Since 10 years I have chronic pain problems concentrated to the right side of my neck and shoulder/arm. This also makes me more sensitive (oversensitive) to pain in right side of the body than on the left side. This phenomenon has gradually become less distinct. But the recent dental jobs mostly on the right side were evidently enough to trigger my “double personality”… Last night I woke up in the middle of the night (as the effect of painkillers taken in the early evening was wearing off), very much aware of that weird feeling of being ‘split in two halves’ (including a sort of numbness all the way down through the leg). I’ve been out today trying to walk it off (stimulating blood circulation etc) but I’m still conscious of it. An increase in neck pain was to be expected, but I had almost forgotten that feeling of a zipper running all the way down though the spine… Hope it wears off soon. But I might do well to spend a little less time at the computer over the next few days.