Sui Generis: May 2007

Cyclecide spank bike

Everybody loves bicycle movies! This is a quickie. Last one, I promise, unless I find another good video tomorrow. Take a gander over at Cyclecide's site for more heavy pedal bike rodeo action.

Tip of the hat to Noria Corvone, who recommended the Friends School Plant Sale. We went Saturday morning and spent the rest of the weekend planting, and we're still not done! Here are some photos of stuff that we got in the ground. Plus some old native favorites that were already in our yard when we moved in.

Peony buds about to burst forth

First blooms on my newly-planted rosebush, 'Marie Bugnet'

Morden Blush, my other shrub rose, just beginning to bud

Something pretty that Jenna picked out--dig the geometric shapes

A stark black annual flower in our front garden along the path

Tiny supernova of colour in a neighboring annual

Iris, planted before we moved in, and doing quite fine

Cyclist touring club (c. 1955)

All of a sudden, I'm drinking lots of beer and cussin' like a sailor. This could mean only one thing--it's biking season again!

Diversity has got to be the most splendid thing about cycling. I'm celebrating this variety with my recent movie selections, from the rusty rat bikes of urban bike clubs to the high gloss of professional track cycling. Today's clip captures the unique flavour of the upcoming annual Lake Pepin 3-Speed Tour. It's a short film from the British Rail film board for the promotion of English bicycle touring.

"Rugby? Who wants to go to Rugby?"

1990 Match Sprint World Championships

Vintage fishing lures

When I was a little kid up at my grandfather's house, he used to take me and my brother fishing on the lake. I had no interest in sitting in a boat or handling fish, but one thing I always enjoyed was the box full of colorful lures. I liked the squishy ones best. Looking through this collection of Coop's Vintage Fishing Lures takes me back to those days.

See also: Japanese "punk rock" collectible lures.

Brown-Headed Cowbird

The Internets are a perfect place for birding. I have yet to find a single comprehensive site, but I've gathered combined resources that help me identify tricky birds when my Beginner's Guide don't cut it.

The other day, I saw the weirdest bird. Stark brown head, and shiny black body with a tint of green. And the call was a cute, but strange, bubbling noise followed by a loud whistle. I was stumped until I stumbled across Wikipedia's image (above). It was dead-on exactly like the bird I saw, and Cornell's page has the call. Fun fact:

The Brown-headed Cowbird is the only brood parasite common across North America. A female cowbird makes no nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then raise the young cowbirds.

Brood parasites!

Rat Patrol Movie Madhouse!

St. Ratricks Day Recap With Grilled Rat, Tall Bikes And Tv Smash

Rat Patrol TV Episode II (part 1)

RPBC's Sweethearts present Dumpster Dreams 2006 (featuring male nudity!)

The Venn diagram of my life

Image via the Filter

Free Comic Book Day

I almost forgot! Today is free comics day!

2007 Craftstravaganza wrap-up post part 2

Super volunteer Mike took this photo on the morning of the Craftstravaganza. We made free swag bags for the first 100 customers. The bags were all gone by 8:45. By the time we opened the doors at 9:00, there was a line of over 200 people stretching down the block.

Traffic through the building was steady all day long. It got a little packed in some areas.

The crowd only seemed to start thinning around 3:30, and by 4:00 we were closed. It was perfect. Some vendors wanted to stick around, but others had already sold their entire stocks and were completely out of inventory.

We had three scheduled workshops (knitting, screen printing, and ATCs). The Textile Mobile was parked outside all day doing hands-on fiber art projects. Vanberto took this photo and a shot of the crowd where you can spot my two little brothers.

Of course we had live music all day too. The perennially popular Roe Family Singers came back to rock another Craftstravaganza. Our other three bands were new. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Here is one of our returning vendors, Aisha Celia. Out of our 90 vendors this year, around 20 had participated in last year's fair. We were excited to get so many fresh faces. It was also fun to see some old friends. Thanks to everyone who came to the fair and made it such an awesome event!

2007 Craftstravaganza wrap-up post part 1

Where to start? I'm still mentally unpacking all the events from last week, it was so crazy. 5,578 shoppers came to the show on Saturday. Hey, actually lots of great photos popped up on Flickr, I'll just let them speak for themselves.