When I was in high school, I became a vegetarian. I also was against zoos, circuses, and buying leather. I supported animal rights and also became an atheist. Now I eat meat a couple times a week, still support animal rights but lean towards being agnostic. I guess people never stay the same as they get older. The reason why I don't like circuses is because I felt it was cruel for animal to learn tricks, entertain people, and not get paid! In seriousness, Why would you want to be an animal trainer? Profit, I guess, but taking a wild animal out of its natural habitat and making it jump through hoops, ride a bike, twirl around is not great, natural, or entertaining to me. Though I do like to read/ hear the history regarding circuses when it comes to the people, especially the side show, that's my favorite. Anyway, the husband and I went to the Ringling Museum in Sarasota this weekend. We have been going for the last 4 years in February to escape the cold New York weather. Matt's parents invited us to stay with them for a couple of days at their rental house. So this year, I decided to go to the museum, since I've never been. Part of the Ringling, is the Circus Museum. John Ringling (one of the 7 Ringling brothers) made the circus' winter headquarters in Sarasota, FL in 1927. As soon as you walk in there is a 22 feet high by 42 feet long mural done by painter, William Woodman. It was commissioned by Field Entertainment (a parent company for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey) for the lobby of their corporate headquarters in Virginia. Then after 22 years there, it was moved to the Ringling in Florida. They also had circus posters and newspapers from 1890's. With over 44,000-pieces, the Howard Bros. Circus Model recreates the dioramas of the train cars, circus tents, scenarios, animal training, and the side shows! The second floor host a timeline about Barnum and Bailey and the progression of the circus. It also hosted memorabilia, props, costumes, masks, more posters and wagons. Aw, a Jumbo the elephant poster. One of my favorite taxidermist, Carl Akeley help mount Jumbo. I read about it from Kingdom under glass by Jay Kirk. It was such a sad story on how he died (hit by a train). After the circus museum, we went to the Courtyard! Look at this place, so beautiful! After leaving the museum, we went straight to the beach. It was a warm day, but the water was still too cold to go swimming. The husband splashed around instead. I went back to work the next day, and my short vacation felt like it didn't exist. I must stay longer next time!
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I am addicted to making stuff! This weekend I took a class that involved Shibori techniques with natural indigo dye. Shibori is a Japanese tie dying technique from the 8th century. I used the Itajime shibori style which is a shape resist technique. Traditionally, the cloth is sandwiched between two pieces of wood, which are held in place with string. I brought 2 pillow cases and this is the final product. I really like it! I wanted more! So I went to Michael's and bought a black and green tie dye kit and 1 pound of ginormous yarn! For the black one, I used a circular pill box, and a hair clip. It looked like faces to me! Unfortunately for the green one, I tried to make stripes, but it didn't turn out too well. You can hardly see them! I guess I didn't bind the string (rubber bands) tight enough, plus it's not a contrast color against the white. So use dark colors from now on. I have 6 pillow cases, should I try again? I think I am gonna try pink next time! Or, dye the green pillow cases again! What will it look like? Lastly, I've been weaving for a little over a year now. Ever since my last birthday, I started to weave. My friends bought me an Intro to weaving class at Brooklyn Brainery, and I haven't stopped since! Though, even before that, I taught myself to weave through you tube tutorials, but the with the class, I got a bigger loom! and of course the softies I made in the lower left hand corner say hello!
The husband asked me to come along with him on his way to San Francisco for work, (I usually can't because of my work!) but this time, I decided I could. I had a couple of vacation days, so I said OK! I really like SF; one of the reasons why is because you don't need a car, and you can take the BART from the airport to the city in about 30 minutes! We stayed 2 nights in the city and 2 nights at the beach. When we got there, we took a walk around the Mission and went down Clarion Alley, which had a lot of murals. Here are a couple of ones that I liked. Sometimes you see sneakers up on telephone wires or power lines, but these have pink HIGH HEELS! Can you see them? I've been to SF several times, so I knew my way around. My favorite place is Japantown! I made a reservation to eat/drink at Crown and Crumpet, which is this little cafe that serves tea, and food. I found about it through Atlas Obscura, this website that promotes weird/ off the beaten path of things to do, places to see while you're traveling. This place is so pink! It has pink tablecloths, walls, and decor. I ordered the grapefruit tea, a sandwich, and pistachio macarons. I also went upstairs and found this little place called Maruq. I wanted to buy everything in there! They have the best sweatshirts! I have so many clothes, I really don't need anything, I just want them. Here are a couple of pictures from this $1.50 store in Japantown, I also went to called Daiso. I love this store so much! They have really cute, inexpensive goods for your home! This is what I actually got. Starting from the left- an earphone cord reel, a teddy bear shaped measuring tape, 2 monster washcloths, a pore care pack (which smelt weird because it was charcoal) and an arm warmer. Total $9.50! I also went to another store called Amiko boutique. They had Momiji dolls, but I have so many and they are expensive, so I didn't buy any, though I wanted to!! I am trying to cut back on my shopping, so I just took photos in stead. I also went to Paxton Gate, this taxidermy, oddity store, which was fantastic! It was full of amazing taxidermy, skulls, bones, minerals, glass domes, etc. All the stuff I love! These dolls are my favorite pieces in Paxton Gate. They are animal skulls dressed up in Victorian style doll fashion. They also include beads, different animal parts and bones. So intricate and interesting! The detail is to me, is beautiful. On the last day in SF, I went to Mission Dolores Church, which was founded in 1776. It was close by to the Airbnb place we stayed at. It is very beautiful inside and out. I'm not a religious person, so I didn't pray, but I did appreciate that it was very quiet and tranquil inside. Outside the church, they have a garden and cemetery. Both are small, but well cared for. Some of the tombs date from the years 1790 and 1830. Half Moon Bay is about 25 miles south of San Francisco. We stayed in this really nice hotel called the Half Moon Bay Beach House, which had a fireplace and a heated pool! It was so relaxing and great there, I did not want to leave! On the first day, it was drizzling and foggy. But the next day was sunny and warm! We went to Dune Beach close by and the waves were loud and big. We also went on a trail and saw mushrooms. On the way back we walked along the beach and had to cross a body of water that separated the beach. The husband did some reconnaissance and found a shallow part where we could cross! That water was so cold, I couldn't believe it!
A little way down the road was Maverick Beach were people surfed. My friend told me about it and said I should visit. Unfortunately surfers died there due to the massive waves. We didn't go, since we were too busy swimming in the heated pool, and looking at the flames in the fireplace. Next time! |
My short blog topics include: photography, music, science, crafts, vacation photos, movies, events in NYC, and of course stop motion animation.
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