MOA

The Moa was a really big bird that lived a long long time ago and may secretly still exist today.

It pretty much looked like this:

When I say Moa or see those letters in that order, all I think of is Mall of America. 

So naturally, I think of the mall being this funny bird.

I don't have a program on my computer like photoshop or adobe illustrator, I wish I did. If I did, scanned images like this wouldn't have the paper cut line. I have no way or erasing that. It irks me to no end that I cannot edit pictures like I want to. Oh well. At least I have a scanner. What an amazing invention. Some day I will be able to scan pictures and then add text and crop things besides the edges. Until then, grease pencil arrows and cut pieces of paper taped together.

Well, Moa birds were really big, like 11 to 12 feet tall. They lived in New Zealand. The 'drumstick' from one would be about a yard long! They are huge.

I learned about the Moa from this amazing book I have called "The Golden Book of Facts and Figures" by Bertha Morris Parker and designed and illustrated by Lowell Hess. It is from 1962.

Lowell Hess  is awesome. He may be a new drawing/illustration hero of mine.
This facts and figures book that I have, it is just lovely to look through.

I looked him up. Here are some nice examples of his work.

The citrus season is ending.

I have 2 rules that dictate my citrus purchases. 

A) Is it is easy to peel? 

      (has to be yes) 

B) does it have seeds? 

      (has to be no)

It can be hard to find oranges that fit those rules when you also want good flavor and texture. 

 

 

Well, the T.D.E. is my late season winner. They are a little pricey, but I think it is worth it. These things are so tasty and so so easy to peel and hardly ever have a seed inside. 

I think this is the one I am used to getting at the store... I am not sure if I buy a Shasta Gold or a Tahoe Gold or something else. I should look into that. Maybe there is something that is a generic TDE that google just isn't making obvious.  

(This is from the University of California website...)

"Tahoe Gold ^TM (TDE3) is a recently-released (2002) mandarin variety developed within the University of California Riverside citrus breeding program. The tree grows vigorously and is somewhat spreading in form, with a tendency to alternate bearing. It can achieve a moderately-large size at maturity. Tahoe Gold ^TM (TDE3) is a hybrid with Temple tangor, and Dancy and Encore mandarins in its parentage. The large oblate fruits have an attractive dark orange rind that is relatively thin. The flesh is seedless, bright orange, finely-textured and juicy. The flavor is rich and sweet when mature. The season for Tahoe Gold ^TM (TDE3) is mid-January to mid-February at Riverside. The fruit does not hold well on the tree."

I saw that TDE2 holds well on the tree through April and May... maybe mine were a 2? 

Well, whatever number you are TDE, I think that...

I think I have posted this image before, I will post it again. This is the truth. Don't let that tiny hole turn into a sleeve falling off or giant knee tear. Your clothes are not 'broken'.

 

I like to change something or add something to clothes that I wear that I did not make or drastically alter.  I really like sewing rickrack around hoodie hoods, and I also like pinning a pompom onto the 'point' of a hoodie hood. Today i combined those two things on the same shirt. I am not sure why I didn't do this sooner.

UPDATE! 

The TDEs I was enjoying are TDE #2, Shasta Gold. Learn about it here.

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Old negatives from high school. I think this was for practice using lighting. This would be about 11 years ago. Look at that beautiful batdog Sadie! I wish I could clone her and have her now and forever. My hair is longer now, and my bangs more swoopier. My glasses have less sparkles, but I wouldn't mind my next pair being more sparklie. I still pin my cardigans.

Some old drawings I had on my wall that I took down this evening...



I think they are from 5 years ago. Not really sure... It's from before I tried to document and date things, which I still forget to do sometimes. Mystery age.

I felt like I should document these cute packagings before throwing them away.
I have been sewing a dress about every 5 days. I am loving the old labels on my zippers, rick rap, hem tape, bias tape etc... The older they get the greater and more varied the labels are. I am going to try and note most of them here.
Dress pictures coming soon :)