Author Archives: Katherine

Pinteresting

24 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Favorite Things, Other Favorite Sites, Review, Technology, Thoughts

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Mama, you should try Pinterest.
It is like receiving a new magazine every day.
[Rachel Smith]

Pinterest

I’ve had a long line of personal computers since 1982. Computers fascinate me and are now my main tool in my work. I spend hours standing in front of my Mac fiddling in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. I don’t use a cell phone. Frankly, I like being out of touch. I’ve never felt pressed to answer a ringing telephone. I maintain 5 wordpress blogs and I am working on revising my website, but I am not a member of Facebook or Twitter. In other words, I try to be a gatekeeper to filter that which bombards me from the outside world. Then came Pinterest.

Of course it has been around since 2010, but didn’t reach out and grab me until now. Oddly enough, a tip for cleaning the buildup off of my gas stove grates pushed me over the edge. In addition to shiny grates, I now have an unclogged shower head and plenty of advice for training my two new puppies. The industrial design section convinces me once again that humans can create instead of destroy. The gardening section almost makes me want to pull weeds. Pinterest reminds me of the 10-inch thick dictionary on the stand in my third-grade classroom—whenever I look something up, I am in constant danger of getting completely sidetracked.

 

ArtWorks, The Galleria of Fine Art

17 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Favorite Things, Other Favorite Sites, Review, Thoughts

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Art enables us to find ourselves and
lose ourselves at the same time.
[Thomas Merton]

ArtWorks

Last Friday was girls night out for my niece, Katherine, and me. After supper, we shopped at Jefferson Point (Fort Wayne) and then went to the opening reception for the art show, “City Blox,” at ArtWorks. I was delighted from the start since Joel Fremion’s landscapes were displayed just inside the door. His craftsmanship, his technique and his vision have fascinated me for several years. He creates fabric collages in great detail and with amazing effect (above left). Among the paintings and objets d’art of other artists were paintings by watercolorist Diana Miller-Pierce. Her crisp technique, sense of geometric balance, and eye for detail drew me into her work (above right). Eighteen artists were represented in the show making it well worth one’s time to stop in and browse this lovely gallery.

 

Contrasts

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Favorite Things, Thoughts, Writing

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There is no quality in this world that is not
what it is merely by contrast.
Nothing exists in itself.
[Herman Melville]

Peony

Four posts down from this one is a photo of my Saturn Sky sitting between two five-foot snow banks. There was a peony bush sleeping under the nearest snow bank. It not only survived sub-zero temperatures and deep snow, it also survived being trampled.

The winter temperatures and snow weight demolished my garage. While it was being rebuilt, the peony tried to sprout though the thawing soil but was repeatedly stepped on. I finally put a little fence around the damaged shoots and they were able to grow into a lovely bush. It finally bloomed two weeks later than usual, and its sweet scent filled my sun room.

The contrast between what I considered a dreadful winter and welcome summer is brought home to me in this delicate bloom. I’m glad peonies are the Indiana state flower.

Mother’s Day, 2014

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by in Thoughts

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A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.
[Marion C. Garretty]

sisters

My niece, Katherine, took my sister (at the right in the photo) and I (at the left in the lace) to lunch for Mother’s Day. Yum. Then she took me to get flowers for my window boxes in the hope that it doesn’t snow again this spring. I also got a card from my children’s father, and a lovely bouquet from my friend Ray. I am blessed.

International Women’s Day

12 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Knitting, Other Favorite Sites, Thoughts, Writing

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The story of women’s struggle for equality
belongs to no single feminist
nor to any one organization
but to the collective efforts of
all who care about human rights
[Gloria Steinem]

Shepherd's Moon

This Saturday is International Women’s Day. The photo is Ellen Robert’s display piece at the International Women’s Art Exhibition in the UPMarket Galleries (The Provision Market, Newport, Gwent) in Wales. Ellen spins, dyes, weaves and knits fiber, and she designed this lace poncho. The logo is her business identity, Shepherd’s Moon. The loom was built by her grandfather and used for many years by her grandmother—Ellen uses it now. The spinning is lace weight yarn the thickness of an eye lash. I am in awe of Ellen’s talent and skill. I have to add that she is also my oldest daughter.

Summer Things

15 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by in Thoughts

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In the depth of winter
I finally learned
that there was in me
an invincible summer.
[Albert Camus]

Sky in snow

I can’t really whine and complain since there are millions of folks affected by the unusual severity of this winter BUT I know I am a summer person because I had to resist the urge to put on sandals and shorts just because it was above zero this morning. As you can see, my car is a summer thing too. I considered putting the top down when I took this photo but the trunk was frozen shut. There’s an azalea bush somewhere under that five-foot bank of snow. I hope it lives to bloom again.

Brown-thumb alert

12 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Favorite Things, Reading, Thoughts

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I want it said of me by those who knew me best,
that I always plucked a thistle and
planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
[Abraham Lincoln, birthday February 12, 1809]

Orchid

A friend who knows me well enough to know that my gardening thumbs are not green gave me this orchid for my birthday last November. I’ve always wanted an orchid but figured it would only last a week if consigned to my care. I’ve posted this to prove my lovely orchid is just as pretty after two and a half months!

Valentine gift advice: Buy her an orchid. It lasts longer than cut flowers and is so elegant (like her, I’m sure).

Side effect warning: I’ve developed an urge to read all of the Nero Wolfe books I can find (Rex Stout wrote over seventy). Both Nero W. and Rex S. were orchid lovers.

Dacapo Jacket Complete

06 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by in Knitting, Knitting Sites

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The whole difference between construction and
creation is exactly this:
that a thing constructed can only be loved
after it is constructed;
but a thing created is loved before it exists.
[Charles Dickens]

Dacapo_JacketHanne Falkenberg’s Dacapo jacket

Hanne Falkenberg’s designs are sold as kits (yarn and pattern). A friend gave me this kit last spring and I finished it this week. What a delightful project. I rarely knit other people’s patterns but I’m glad I had a chance to knit this one. The construction of the jacket was finely engineered and fascinating.

Rebuilding my Website

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Ongoing Projects, Technology, Writing

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I put my heart and my soul into my work,
and have lost my mind in the process.
[Vincent Van Gogh]

site map

Over fifteen years ago, a client handed me a book (Teach Yourself HTML in 24 Hours) and said, “I would like for you to build a website for my business.”

I was only vaguely aware of what a website was, and had never seen the internet. I bought a piece of software called BB Edit, studied the book from cover to cover testing my code in Netscape (I wasn’t connected to the internet), and developed a detailed organizational chart for my client’s site. He approved the chart and gave me sketches of his vision for the look and feel of the site. As I set to work, I had no clue about how other sites looked. The one I developed was very visual since I am a graphic designer instead of a technically oriented person. We put the finished site files on floppy disks and hand carried them to our web-server provider. He showed the site to me on his computer—my first glimpse of the internet. I was so excited that I was jumping up and down inside.

Since then, I’ve ridden the roller coaster of web development through all of its iterations. After publishing a number of client websites, I still use principles I learned on that first site:

  • Plan, plan, plan—work out the details and gather the resources before assembling the first page.
  • Keep the perception of the site guest in the forefront. Make it “user-friendly.”
  • Keep it simple and compatible with older browsers.
  • Document the site structure for future maintenance and expansion.
  • Test each phase during the process so, at the end, everything works and nothing needs to be retrofitted.

I am in the process of redesigning my original site. I usually start with a detailed site map (organizational chart) that I draw in Adobe Illustrator, but this time I am assembling it in Microsoft Excel (shown in the image above). This is proving to be so much quicker and easier. It allows me to focus on content instead of construction. I’m looking forward to this project. Meanwhile, I’m studying another refresher course on Lynda.com.