Hike of Death (With iPhone)

So I went hiking with guy and dog. It had been intermittently raining buckets – giant buckets, like when firefighting helicopters pick up water from a nearby swamp and release it all at once over a forest fire. Worried that my camera would get soaked, I left it behind.

But I did take my iPhone and managed to document the hike through randomized Hipstamatic photos. 

Collage
Weeks of rain left more mud than hiking path – a foot deep in places. Even the dog refused to traverse some of it without encouragement. 
Moody_tree_500px

But we finally reached the top of the cliff just as the sun broke through the clouds.

Cliff_tree_500px
The trip back was brutal – the guy slipped in mud and tweaked his back, and I slipped in mud and twisted my knee. And the dog, well, I thought she was going to demand to be carried the rest of the way, which isn't easy with a 70 pound dog (75 pounds with all the mud she'd acquired). But we made it back. And it was beautiful.

A Difficult Decision | Thing-a-day #12 & 13

Reasons I love Thing-a-day month:
1) It sucks me out of January hibernation.
2) It makes daily creative projects more important than cleaning the kitchen, which will totally still be dirty tomorrow.
3) I get to come up with tons of silly ideas.
4) It makes imperfect execution acceptable – what else are you supposed to do?

After 2 successful Thing-a-day runs, I never questioned whether I should take part in TAD '11 or that I would finish with another perfect record. But I wasn't hibernating this January – I was working on a few big creative projects already. Yesterday I worked 11 hours on one only to realize that I had no time left for Thing-ing.

I mulled it over today while cleaning the kitchen, which was totally still dirty from yesterday. 

I realized I am doing exactly what I should be doing this February. Not the kitchen cleaning – although one does have to do that on occasion if one wants bug-free food – I mean putting my long-term, slow, blog-unsuitable creative projects at the forefront of my spare time.

So my Thing-a-day project was admitting that this is not going to be another perfect Thing-a-day. And that's okay. 

Sidenote: I just got an email from the friend whose project (co-project, it's mine too) I worked so hard on yesterday thanking me for "caring enough to do this sort of art." Warm fuzzies!

iPhone Sweater | Thing-a-day #7

Iphone_sweater

In Thing-a-day '09, I made a sweater/case for my iPhone. That sweater was a trooper, protecting my iPhone from the elements while others' techie cases did nothing to prevent scratches, cracks and outright destruction.

The sweater was finally done in by a long tumble into a giant puddle of auto oil, rotting tree leaves and mud. But the iPhone within was safe and sound thanks to a tightly woven wool/acrylic blend.

It took me a month before I was ready to replace the Original iPhone Sweater, but it was time to move on. 

iPhone Sweater2 has a cable pattern on the front, just so's you know it's the latest model.