Feliz Navidad, Sorta

As fun as vacations are, I always like the part where you get home, unpack, and get to sleep in your own bed once more. First thing this morning at 2:00 a.m. when I made it through my door, I warmed up my computer and downloaded my photos. 453, my friends, that's how many I had. I must have taken at least 475, too, since I deleted some while reviewing them on the island. Digital cameras are neat.

Some Highlights:
-Getting sat next to an aggressively friendly guy on the plane who kept trying to make conversation despite my best attempts to ignore him, and who downed two Dos Equis and chewed multiple wads of tobacco on the way from Denver to Cancun. It was amazing. It was just like I was working at the bar, but without any possibility of walking away. I claimed the window seat after that.

-Riding the ferry to Isla Mujeres at 11:00 p.m. with a full moon shining, music playing, and a local woman singing along to her cute grandaughter beside me.

-Getting to know the stray dogs.

-Beach combing and finding a good 1-2 pounds of beach glass that will be perfect for jewelry, as soon as I figure out how to make it usable.

-Walking through the turtle farm and seeing all the itty bitty turtles that were about the size of my palm.

-Remembering some of my Spanish from 6th grade and hearing my brother, who took two years of IB Spanish, constantly ask people, "Do you speak English?"

-Lime flavored ice cream.

-Gorgeous architecture and decorative details.

-Seeing the skate before I stepped on him while I was wading in the ocean.

-Bumming around the hotel's open-air bar and beach, writing to Camii, taking pictures, and reading a book.

-Hearing Christmas carols and seeing Christmas decorations while walking around in shorts and a tank top.

-Having everybody (drivers, hotel staff, etc.) defer to Casey, even though all of the reservations were in my name and I was the one with all the info.
Driver: Do you have your reservation, Senor?
Casey: Uh...
Me: Here's our reservation slip.

Waiter at the hotel: Here, Senor. (Hands Casey the slip to sign for dinner)
Casey: (Slides it over to me)

And so forth. I mean, come on. Casey is obviously not an Alexandra, and yet... Feminism has not completely arrived in Mexico, it seems. Made for comedic relief though, when everybody was directing questions to him and he was giving them blank stares back.

Anyhow, when you go to Isla Mujeres, get a taxi to take you places, eat some ice cream at Cool's, skip Hacienda Mundaca, but make sure to stop by the turtle farm.

I'm On Flickr

I've got my first batch of photos up on flickr. To see them, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/ali_nebula/

Fun With Frozen Things

After a couple of days of mostly staying home, and since it was a decent temperature outside, I took a walk today. I brought my camera because I've gotten in the habit of always bringing it when I go for a walk, and because I figured I'd best take advantage of the snow.











Still, my priority was to go for a walk, not to take pictures. When I got home and hooked up the camera, my computer told me I had 150 pictures. A couple were from a few days ago when I had a huge icicle hanging off the gutter, but most were just today. Oh well, so much for a photo-light walk.

I love this bird's nest shot.










Once I hit the Nature Center I walked out on the pier (?) type thing that juts out over the river. The way the snow melted and ran off on the wood planing makes for an interesting pattern.













By far, one of the highlights was when I walked over to the river by the dam where some of the slow-moving water was frozen over. Around some of the rocks there were very cool fractal-like formations in the ice. As a bonus, I even got mud all over my shoes! Worth it, though. Definitely worth it.

The Ameoba-Like Cat

So, where there originally was one cat, now there are two. It's like Sam has divided and produced a duplicate. A few nights ago I pulled up in my driveway and saw kitty twins. No pic. of the both of them, but here's another solitary feline photo:

My New Pet Stray Cat

The neighborhood where I live has a number of stray cats who wander around and occasionally invade my house if I leave the door open to catch a breeze. The past week or so, I've been seeing one particular cat a lot. A couple nights ago, he was even sitting in front of the door on my porch when I got home. I think I may have to adopt him - not as a housepet (verboten by my lease) but I'm going to get some cat food on my next trip to the store and put it out back for him.

I think I'll call him Sam.

Other Wildlife

Early Fall Walk: Bugs

There are a few spots where the trail splits, and today I went right instead of left. I'd never been that way before and felt like seeing what I could see.

When the trail was being built, the concrete didn't stay pristine, so you can find imprints along the path.

As it turns out, it was also a good day for bug sighting.

Thank Gosh for Vases

I started thinking about vases, about how handy they are for jewelry pictures. Then I remembered the vase I got, filled with roses, for my birthday. It's got a big wide shape and I thought, "Hrm... could it work?" Take one wide vase, add a natural light desk lamp and a gray shirt, and this is what you get.

Testing 1-2-3

In preparation for setting up an etsy.com shop, I've been playing with my camera and various ways of photographing my jewelry. I've got earrings down just fine, now if only I can figure out something that works as well for necklaces. Of the batch I did, only one necklace came out a way I like.




Here are two earring photos, with two different backgrounds (tan stationary and the blank wall of my office).

An added plus with using a tall vase for the earrings is that it gets them right up near the light, which helps the finished picture quality.

Took a Walk the Other Day

Oh digital camera, how I love thee. The other day it was nice and spring-like, so I went on down and took a walk by the river. I came home with about seventy pictures. Pictures are fun. So is picture editing software.