Bruges revisited

-
Another photo from a trip last Fall. This one from the canal-lined city of Bruges in Belgium. You definitely need a tripod when visiting this place, wonderful reflections of lit buildings at night. 



Here's some photos: Bruges Album









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Darwin In Action

-
Image
 I have an aquarium, and I keep freshwater fish and aquatic plants in it. I recently decided I needed to give it a remodel....change over to natural looking gravel, add an under gravel filter, and add some different fish and plants.  It's a slow process, you have to let the tank "cycle": it sits for a while to build up beneficial bacteria. Then you add plants and slowly increase lights as the plants grow, and at some point add fish. By cycling the tank slowly,it's better for the fish and keeps dreaded algae blooms in check.  I researched plants, looking for many that are slow growing (so I'm not trimming them constantly) and relatively hardy. I'm trying a ton of different varieties to see which do well in my water parameters (ph over 7, gh 120, kh 40).  Some of them will make it, some won't... A little Darwin in action, adapt or die. They are all tiny right now. I had a few struggling Amazon sword, and some very happy java fern, and I'm adding: Ludwigi...
Read more

Glass testing for geeks

-
Image
 Caution: glass geek post!. One problem that frequently arises is how to get rid of surface devitrification (ugly scum that shows up on fired glass). Some things that cause it: residue from my glass cleaner or drying rags, dust from my adjacent clay studio, glue that gets used to hold glass in place while carefully transporting it to the kiln, finger prints, price tag goo, etc.  In the glass community groups devitrification (aka devit) is a frequent topic of discussion. People ask for advice on how to clean their glass before firing, and which glass glue works best. All sorts of answers pop up, with not a lot of side by side tests. As a software engineer learning fused glass, it helps me learn if I test. I tested 20 different scenarios with 3 different COE 96 clear glass types that I had in stock: Oceanside Crystal clear, Oceanside icicle clear, and Wissmach clear. Each test consisted of a 1x1 inch square of glass with a cleaning method, and possibly a glue substance and glue ...
Read more

Loon encounter

-
Image
  Recently I went to have a lake swim on a chilly rainy day. I figured the lake wouldn't exactly be crowded, and in fact I had the whole place to myself.... I swam out to the middle of the lake and paused to rest. The resident loon family (parents and one baby) happened to be close by.... And they swam towards me. I didn't move, just sat and watched them come check me out. I see them most days, but I don't really see them close up. Dang they are big!  It was a quiet special moment, I watched them for a bit, and then swam away, thanking them for sharing themselves on a chilly quiet rainy afternoon at the lake. 
Read more