::to the ends of the earth::

Cruising altitude. Sunrise after the storm. En route to relief. "Oh, there's an island where all things are silent I'm gonna whistle a tune Oh, there's a desert that size can't be measured I'm gonna count all the dunes To the ends of the earth, would you follow me There's a world that was meant for our eyes to see To the ends of the earth, would you follow me If you will have a say my goodbyes to me Out there's a a world that calls for me, girl Headin' out into the unknown Well if there are strangers, and all kinds of danger Please don't say I'm going alone" --Lord Huron

::red cadet, do you copy?::

An experimental time lapsed capture of last night's full Lunar Eclipse as seen from my mom's porch in Ocean View, HI. It dawned on me yesterday as Mom and I were driving up to the Observatories at the summit of Mauna Kea coincidentally enough, that I should really take advantage of the clear calm weather and try to photograph the eclipse. I've never really delved into the world of Time Lapse Photography. With a little research I figured out how to hook up my laptop to my camera and leave it on the porch over night programed to fire my camera every 5 minutes from 2am-6am.
I got up several times during the night to check the exposure and location of the camera. At 3:40 I got up and realized I needed to move the camera off the porch and into the driveway. I fumbled around in the dark without glasses or contacts searching for some sandals or slippers and loudly whispered "shit godamnit!" when instead I stuck both my hands in the cold bucket of water for the dogs. Even though the moon was incredibly bright and close it's still very hard to manually focus a camera in the dark when you're exhausted. I found that it helped a bit to shine a flashlight beam at it.
While my digital work station outside recorded the action, I slept sporadically on the couch so I could see everything out the window. During the eery dark Orange phase it went through around 4am, it looked as though I was looking at Mars.

::handmade holidays::

It's been too many years since Mom and I have spent Christmas together. This year I'm back in Hawaii for 2 weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. On a blustery cold Sunday afternoon Mom and I decided to get to work making a Vinetarta. It's a traditional Icelandic Holiday cake we've been making since I was very young. A good handful of my relatives in Blaine, WA were of Icelandic decent.
It's a bit of a lengthy process that usually starts with boiling down the filling that consists of dried Prunes, dried Currants, Brandy and/or Rum, (just use both, it's Christmas after all!) Cardamom, Lemon juice and Vanilla extract. The Prunes may sound a bit off putting but it's surprisingly really tasty.
The next step is to make around 6 or 7 large sugar cookie sheets that will divide each layer. Basically Eggs, Flour, Sugar, Vanilla and Almond extract and an overly generous amount of Butter. I guess that's really more of a Short Bread.
This may not be true to the traditional recipe but it's extra good to put a thin layer of a Powered Sugar icing with a bit of Almond extract mixed into it on the very top cookie layer of the Vinetarta. Let sit for at least a day before cutting into it, so the Prune filling can sink into the cookie/short bread layers and soften them a bit.
This cake is pretty rich and small slice is especially nice late at night with a bit of Guava desert wine.

::why on earth should life be so serious?::

"just wait and see, all the changes there will be, by the time it gets dark" -yo la tengo

::intentions and reflections::