The Best Camera

This is lunch on-the-go today as I travelled between satellite campuses.  It was a cold, grey day and this was the most colorful scene I saw.  Notice the gift card enclosure?  One of my three bosses gave us this treat for Christmas, and I had it stashed in my purse for a rainy day.

And for dessert, caramel corn, which I found on my desk Monday, courtesy of same boss.  What a nice guy!  I only felt a tiny bit guilty for indulging.  :)

Now normally, this wouldn't be exciting enough stuff to qualify as a post, but I recently read an RSS feed from Apple, and I discovered this photographer:  Chase Jarvis.

The best camera is the one that's with you.  Every day.

What's in a Face?

I recently bought iLife '09 for my home computer and was thoroughly pleased with how iPhoto '09 reorganized my collection of about 10,000 photos.  It was cumbersome to have to scroll through that many thumbnail images, and I had gotten spoiled by having the latest version on my work computer.  I had noticed that iPhoto was running face detection in the background when it installed, and that took at least a couple of hours.

I didn't realize when I identified faces, that it would take so long to come up with matches.  The first one I tried was my new son-in-law, because I figured there were fewer pictures of him than of anyone else in the family.  That was a good first step!  iPhoto brings up images that you can confirm or deny.  Apparently the software is "trainable" in that the more confirmed images it has to match, the more accurate the matching process becomes.

When I picked out my daughter's face to match, it took hours and produced some unexpected results!  (Click to zoom.)  Notice the first one is the face of Jesus on a stained glass church window, LOL!  One of the possible matches is a picture of a photo of a much younger daughter, but the software also picked out a picture of a photo of her husband as a kid!  I expected to see myself in the possible matches, since we have a strong resemblance.  I didn't expect to see almost everyone else or the random images such as those above!  Or are they random?

Now I wonder what's in a face that makes it recognizable to a human but not necessarily recognizable to mathematical analysis?  (It's said that babies recognize faces immediately and that humans in general never forget a face.)  This question brings to mind the television ads showing inanimate objects or collections of objects that resemble faces.  :-)

What do you see in a face?  What do you want to see?

EDIT due to high demand for more gingerbread.  :-)  Somehow this face materialized from the last scrap of dough that was rolled.

And these faces could tell a tale or two!!

Goodbye to Gardening 2009 & Hello, 2010!

These are some gardening photos that never made it onto a post this year.

Redbud blossoms

Hill Country Penstemon

'Aztec White' Verbena

Engelmann daisy

Hypericum

Coral honeysuckle

'Natchez' Mock orange

Haydn Larson flowerpot & Texas longhorn sculpture

Shakespeare in the garden

GARDEN!

Lollipop (Justicia sp.)

Blue potato bush

Redbud in fall color

Crepe myrtle in fall color

Bigtooth maple

Strawberry bush (Euonymous sp.)

Red oak leaf

Pansy

It's been a year full of changes for me, much like a spring to winter transition in the garden.  There was a burst of energy and activity at the beginning, with a move from old to new science buildings at work, and a much needed re-entry into the gardening state of mind.

The summer was a sizzling buildup toward learning my way around here, sending two sons off to college, becoming an empty-nester, and helping to plan and prepare for my daughter's wedding.

The fall brought cooling rains, warm memories of a beautiful wedding, kids doing well in college, and a contentment marred only by continuing complications and additional surgery for a broken kneecap suffered by my oldest son just before the wedding.  All's well that ends well.

This winter brought exciting news of a grandbaby on the way!  Christmas break has been great fun having all the family together, and adding a new son-in-law to the mix!

I've so enjoyed being here.  It's been a real adventure to jump into this community and have all my senses blasted at warp speed!  :-))

Live long and prosper, my friends!  Happy New Year 2010!

Memories Fond Move the New Year Along

Ho Ho Ho

and a dusting of snow!

Lights merry bright

and cookies tonight.

Carolers tiny

and pretty things shiny.

Santa surprises

and Big Bird prizes.

Dogs happy

and children laffy.

Projects galore

and paper on floor.

Mimosa brunches

inspire mutant hunches.

Memories fond

and deep nights long.

Been a wonderful year

sharing the cheer!

Love in the wings?

No need for rings!

'Cos Cupid's success

Is all our happiness!

Happiest of New Years!

May ♥ love keep you in its warm embrace.

Them Chocolatey Ones

Today I baked "them chocolatey ones," the cookies referred to in a previous post called A Note From Santa.  These are a favorite of my oldest son!  This particular recipe came from The Texas Cookbook by Mary Faulk Koock.  I've seen the same recipe under different names in other cookbooks, and of course it must be on the internet.  The recipe may be called Chocolate Snowballs, because the uncooked cookie balls look like snowballs.  As the chocolate dough bakes, the powdered sugar coating cracks, and the finished cookies look very pretty.

I like to refrigerate the dough overnight.  It needs to be very cold in order to form it into balls.  For this recipe, I use a melon ball size scoop, and can make about 72 cookies.  Be sure not to  overcook these.  The cookie should be soft and chocolatey on the inside!  If you want to print this recipe, you can click to zoom, then print.

Cookies are starting to take over the kitchen!  :)