intricate and beautiful

http://www.datamancer.net/steampunklaptop/steampunklaptop.htm

go to the above link to see this man's beautiful, fantastic work... art.  i could spend hours and hours looking around his website at the computer stuff and other art.

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.
I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.
I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.
It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”
It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.
I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.— The Invitation, Oriah Mountain Dreamer (via colporteur)

(via colporteur)

what's going on

well, for one thing weather finally warmed up enough that i could spend some time in my studio.  a friend wanted me to dye some bright superwash BFL for her to spin for socks.  after doing that (of which i do not have a photo), i just kept on pouring color onto white fiber... and this ---> and this is part of the result.  the turquoise and blue make me think of the sky and waters of Crete  and of course, the sun!

and i couldn't stop after i went through all the superwash.  there was also a bag of BFL/tussah silk.  Jim wants me to knit him the Sakori vest from Folk Vests (Interweave Press), so i dyed some of this fiber for the vest... and of course, spun some of it before it was even quite dry.  i love it!  next to see how it looks knitted up.

and i've also been watching things grow... unexpected things.  i had a ginger root which started growing a nub/sprout thing as it lay neglected and unused on the counter.  i put it in a pot of dirt and just barely covered it with dirt, leaving the sprouty thing exposed... and just look what's happening here.  i don't suppose there's a remote chance of it growing up and living in this climate, but it's amusing me for the time being.  also have a sweet potato suspended in a glass of water which has been growing and trying to take over the kitchen window sill.  straight from The Little Shop of Horrors!!

iPad issues

i'm trying to get everything set up with my iPad so that i can blog while i'm in Crete for a month. have run into a glitch with not being able to upload photos from iPad to blog. so my mission now is to find an app or a way around this problem. i'm so prepared for blogging ease while on the road that i bought a wireless keyboard... lightweight and easily portable. now just gotta solve the photo upload thing. onward and upward in search to solve problem....

better living through chemistry??

check out this article:   

Worms' diet the key to coloured silk