Tag: Photo

A Glimpse of Rivendell on My Wrist

I recently replaced my original model Apple Watch (sometimes referred to as a “Series 0” model) with a Series 4. I really liked my old watch, but Apple stopped issuing system updates for that model so I knew its days on my wrist were numbered. When I finished a couple of particularly big projects recently, I decided that my reward would be a new Apple Watch.

The new Series 4 is a worthy replacement. Everything (except, of course, the time) runs much faster on it. It has a much better speaker. It does ECGs. It has great battery life. It can spit water!

But my favorite feature is its slightly larger display, and its ability to run the Kaleidoscope watch face full-screen on it.

On my old watch I had created a Kaleidoscope watch face based on a photo I had taken of some jacaranda tree blossoms. The result was a watch face I nicknamed “Rivendell.”

Rivendell looked lovely on my old watch, and it continues to look lovely on my new one. But when I made a full-screen version of it for my new Apple Watch, it became mesmerizing. In fact, it’s so mesmerizing that I consume much of my new Apple Watch’s extra battery power by keeping my portal into Rivendell running on my wrist for minutes at a time while I gaze at it. It’s very calming—much more so than the Breathe app.

Rivendell Face Full-Screen
A still image cannot convey the stately Elvish grace of this slowly animating watch face.

Now, I don’t know for a fact that jacarandas grew in Rivendell, but Elrond, who ran the place, knew Gandalf, and he knew the Valar queen Yavanna Kementári (the Giver of Fruits)  back in the old country, and she is the one who basically planted all the original foliage on Middle-Earth, so if Elrond had wanted one of those purple-blossomed lovelies in his valley estate, he could probably pull a few strings.…

Time Lapse Synchronicity

I have one of those novelty cat clocks that has moving eyes and a wagging tail. I thought it might be fun to shoot about 20 minutes of time-lapse video of it so it would look like the cat was manic, with rapidly twitching eyes and tail.

Turned out that the frame-rate of my iPhone’s time-lapse feature is an even multiple of the eye-moving, tail-wagging period. As a result, the clock seems to look quite normal in the video if you don’t notice that its hands are moving rather rapidly (expand the video below to full-screen to see the hands more clearly).

Soup of the evening, beautiful soup

Soup of the evening, beautiful soup…
Soup of the evening, beautiful soup…

This started with my grandmother’s recipe, but has mutated over the years. I make it in an improvisatory fashion, so the measurements below are all approximate. It honestly does help reduce the symptoms of a cold. And it tastes even better if you don’t have a cold. (By the way: the large pot I use is a ceramic coated cast iron pot that I got from my grandmother about 40 years ago, and which she used for several decades before that, but any large pot will do.)

In a large pot, toss in 4 large or 6 small chicken thighs (thighs make a richer, sweeter broth than breasts)

Add 1 large or 2 small yellow onions, peeled and cut into large chunks

Add 2-3 stalks of celery, sliced into half-inch pieces

Add 2-3 carrots, sliced into half-inch pieces

Add 5-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced thinly

Add 1 tsp. salt

Add 1/4 tsp. black pepper, and 1/8 tsp. hot red pepper

Add 1/4 tsp. each of oregano, dried sage, basil, marjoram, rosemary

Add 2-3 sticks of cinnamon

Cover all ingredients with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for an hour. Remove chicken thighs, discard skin and bones, shred chicken and return to the pot. Let simmer for another hour or two.