I have spent a lot of time in the London area, actually.

For someone not British who doesn't really travel that much.

Here are some B&W shots I took in Greenwich (where the time meridian is, among other things) back in December 2000, in the midst of an 18-day visit which culminated in attending a wedding in a castle in Sussex (of two Americans. heh).

It was FOGGY. (Surprise, surprise.)

{twenty-nine} Still on a foggy day in Greenwich, England.

{twenty-eight} Outside the Observatory on a foggy day in Greenwich, England.

{twenty-seven} A gnarly tree on a foggy day in Greenwich, England.

{twenty-six} A foggy day in Greenwich, England.

(You can click through to Flickr to see 'em bigger if you'd like.)

posted by Duff on January 29, 2010 | Comments (2)

Wow, I am such a slug.

I just resort to doing almost NOTHING once school is back in session. Have barely taken any photos. So it's a good thing I am doing that Project Archive isn't it.

Here are some shots from the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island back in 2001.

{sixteen} Mermaid Parade (1)

{seventeen} Mermaid Parade (2)

(You may want to click through to Flickr where you can find links to view them bigger.)

And here's a shot of the Korean War Memorial from a 2001 trip to DC (it's a companion piece to the shot I showed you a couple weeks ago of the Vietnam War Memorial.)

{twenty-one} Korean War Memorial

And of course I do continue to experiment with my new lil camera as I wander about my days. Here's a shot from Union Station where I went to get on the train to the suburbs the other day:

Up.

And here's from a walk through Evanston on my way to a board-game playing party! (Do I know how to PAR-TAY or what?!?!)

Under the Over

OK well I better get some sleep because I am a Movie Dictator! tomorrow (the entire group has to sit and watch whatever movies I pick. hahahahaha.) and I've got to get up eary and make some cookies to offer my suffering dictatees.

posted by Duff on January 23, 2010 | Comments (0)

Oh, for me? Why, thank you, me.

So I had all these thank you points piling up on a credit card and I've been biding my time trying to figure out what I wanted. Christmas seemed a good time for a new camera, don't ya think? It's an Olympus Pen or EP-1 and it does all kinds of crazy fun stuff. Like you can shoot in square format with a Holga-esque filter and frankly I've only shot a couple random shots in any other mode so far!

Check it out:

Out and Down (There)

Hookahs!

zoom zoom

The best part is that while it is a slight upgrade from a point 'n' shoot in its capabilities, I can actually carry it around even when my bag is already full of school books (unlike my DSLR or my hassy!!) so I might actually be able to do some random shooting during the semester. Yipee.

The Corner Barber Shop

OK gotta go do some stuff! Later!

posted by Duff on January 13, 2010 | Comments (5)

I did some knitting over Christmas break!

I freaked out when I realized Cinnamon's winter hat was made of cotton. I mean, COME ON, we live in Chicago. So I remedied that.

C is for Cinnamon

I made myself another purty little shawl that I will mostly wear Bandito-style but here's a look at the full thing.

Milkweed, take a bow

And I made this crazy three-way cowl that I might end up wearing all scrunched up like this:

Doubled

Because I have such a hard time deciding which of these two looks I like better.

Stockinette at neck

Rib-side at neck

Well, it's back to school for me tonight so that is likely the end of major productivity but I do have a half-finished hat, 3/4-finished sweater and almost-done pair of socks, so we'll see...

posted by Duff on January 11, 2010 | Comments (4)

I do miss living in NYC at Christmas time, 'tis true.

(Not that Chicago isn't fantastic at Christmas. It's just...different. And not where I lived for 13 years.)

{five} Christmas in NYC (1)

{six} Christmas in NYC (2)

{seven} Christmas in NYC (3)

And below are three differently angled shots of the same subject: mannequin rockettes in a window with psuedo double-exposure appearance due to reflections of the city. The above photos I had printed years ago (in the darkroom); these below I've never really gotten a good look at until I scanned the negatives in today. I am so pleased.

{eight} Mannequin Rockettes (1)

{nine} Mannequin Rockettes (2)

{ten} Mannequin Rockettes (3)

OK, my spring semester starts tomorrow and my house is a nuclear disaster minefield thanks to construction events of last week. I gotta go continue my slow-ass meandering around the house trying to get things back in some degree of order.

Note: top 3 photos December 1998; bottom 3 photos December 2002. If you wanted to know.

posted by Duff on January 10, 2010 | Comments (2)

I'm an idiot.

I just bought tickets to Gomez without checking what day of the week the date was...and it's a night I'm pretty sure I'll be in class. SHIT.

Anyone wanna buy 'em off me? (Chicagoans.) March 4th at the Vic. They are a truly great band to see live.

posted by Duff on January 10, 2010 | Comments (1)

Project Archive

I decided I'm going to (attempt to) upload an old photo per day for my Flickr project this year. Which is great except I could not access my scanner all week so now I'm way behind! Yuh-oh. I'll have to catch up today and tomorrow.

Anyhoooooo (as Ame would say), here are the first four shots, all taken years ago.

From DC, the Vietnam War Memorial:

{one} Vietnam War Memorial

From MN, Mom and Sullivan:

{two} Mom and Sullivan

From NYC: Ellen at the Pool Hall:

{three} Ellen at the Pool Hall

And also from NYC: Building 72

{four} Building 72

That last one is one of my all-time faves but apparently no one on Flickr digs it the way I do! (It got no comments.)

posted by Duff on January 09, 2010 | Comments (0)

Another baby quilt DONE.

This one is for my cousin's baby Felix. I finished the quilting back in August but just ran out of time to do the binding before school started. But it's bound now! Yipee!!

Scrappy Baby is finally done!!

I love doing the binding anyway / but particularly on this quilt I think the blue binding was just PERFECT, it sets both the front and back off so nicely.

Wavy waves (from the back)

Mmmmmm green.

posted by Duff on January 04, 2010 | Comments (10)

Oh yes.

I've just gotten back a ton of B&W film I shot in the fall and I am gettin' giddy over all the great shots!

Like these two, shot in a quiet moment at Dragon*Con when the Twins were taking naps and I took a little wander 'round the hotel.

Quiet moments at the Con (1)

Quiet moments at the Con (2)

OK well I hope the grocery store is open as I want to start my year off with some naw'leans style red beans'n'rice but I don't have all the ingredients I need....

posted by Duff on January 01, 2010 | Comments (1)

Hey I finished Tiny Schmoo's quilt!

(Tiny Schmoo = Carrie's baby on the way!!)

And I'm so excited about how it turned out! Yippee!!

Front

Back

Four-patch fill ins

Hungry Caterpillar

Loopedy Loop (quilting from the back)

posted by Duff on December 31, 2009 | Comments (6)

F.I.N.A.L.L.Y.

Winter is here!

Oh, Hi Beautiful Sparkly Snow.

Oh, yessssssssssss.

posted by Duff on December 29, 2009 | Comments (2)

Two more!!

(see previous post for details)

Purple (and Read)

Pink (and Read)

posted by Duff on November 22, 2009 | Comments (2)

Color Week with Bonus Book Briefs.

Red (and Read)

Yeah, I have not really had any time for photography at all lately but I did decide I could manage one shot a day for Color Week. And somehow I wound up doing book recommendations two days in a row so I figured I'd carry it on. Then on Friday I clearly had a little too much time on my hands (PROCRASTINATION TIME that is), and went for three. I'll come back and tell you more if I follow through on the weekend.

(p.s. click on the pictures to go through to Flickr for thoughts on the particular books and/or sometimes the authors more generally. You can (probably?) also find mention of these books or authors either somewhere on Snip or else on the old (OLD) book page.)

Orange* You Amazing, Sarah!

Yeller

Green (and Read)

Blue (and Read) 1

Blue (and Read) 2

Blue (and Read) 3

posted by Duff on November 20, 2009 | Comments (1)


For the first time in a coon's age,

I actually knit something! Two somethings in fact.

One:
Simply Tied

Two:
Love the turn-a-square top

The second one doesn't really count as knitting PROGRESS however as it's a re-do of a previous version that was a wee bit too large for me noggin.

(Click through pictures to Flickr for details and/or Ravelry links.)

OK that is all, carry on.

posted by Duff on November 09, 2009 | Comments (2)

Did you hear?

It's 'Roid Week again! YAY!

One from last year:

4:45 a.m.

One from this year:

RW 2: Windows

Gotta go take some more shots! Later!

posted by Duff on November 04, 2009 | Comments (0)

My friend Andrew

Here after his first win at Settlers:

The Blurry Winner and His Blurry Secret Weapon

And here playing Monopoly:

hblad 63: Huffencoopers say Hey-O

And HERE as one of Crain's 40 under 40.

Woot. Yay Huff!

posted by Duff on November 02, 2009 | Comments (2)

I have had an insanely social last few days for a girl with a BOATLOAD of homework to be doing.

Thursday night dinner at Meera & Ross' awesome new apartment.

Man of Mystery

Friday night pizza party at my place (see previous post for a shot of our awesome homemade (completely) pie).

Saturday night Huffencooper Halloween party. This year's theme: superhero.

We can't all be Lois Lane.

I was so destroyed today it took me forever to get moving at all, let alone studying. And now once again I am in the position of "all daily/busy work for the week done but not a damn thing on the big idea assignments. GAH!"

Gotta get my act together, I've got lots and lots of writing to do!!!

posted by Duff on November 01, 2009 | Comments (1)

Homemade pizza! (with homemade wholewheat crust)

Easy AND delicious = the perfect combination!

We made pizza!

(There are mushrooms as well, they were cooked in the sauce so you can't see them under the three different kinds of cheese!)

I have really been cooking up a storm lately. Did I mention the chicken hand pies? (like individual chicken pot pie basically)

Chicken Hand Pies FTW!

So good!

posted by Duff on October 31, 2009 | Comments (0)

It's a monsoon out there.

But there were a few moments without rain the other day. OK I gotta go get some studying done, and drop by the post office, and pick up a comic book, and get some emergency yarn, and meet Lauren & Francesca for dinner and crafty time. I got things to do, places to go and people to see. For rlz. Later, yo.

Fall 'Round Campus (10)

Fall 'Round Campus (9)

Fall 'Round Campus (8)

Fall 'Round Campus (7)

posted by Duff on October 30, 2009 | Comments (2)

Mmmmm moss.

Fall 'Round Campus (4)

I just finished up two lesson plans and I'm so having a hard time convincing myself that no, it is NOT time for a huge extended studybreak because I STILL have to work up my script for tomorrow night's presentation and I STILL have to work on my position paper outline or proposal or rough draft or whatever I'm supposedly going to hand in to my other professor tonight.

HOW IS IT ALREADY THE 10TH WK of SCHOOL? I have so.much.writing due in the next six weeks. SO MUCH.

Fall 'Round Campus (5)

posted by Duff on October 27, 2009 | Comments (3)

Dessert is my favorite food group.

I'm planning to whip up a quick pumpkin pie when I get home tonight. Although a lot of my "when I get home from class exhausted at 9 p.m." plans don't seem to pan out. Wonder why that is? Oh the mystery! HA! Back to writing a lesson plan and daydreaming about a position paper and waiting for my leftovers to be ready to eat. At home studying? IS HUNGER INDUCING. Just so you know.

Oh YES, thank you Specs.

Peanutbutter Rice Krispy Bars

Dad's Chocolate Cookies

(You can click through to Flickr for recipe details.) Later, peeps.

posted by Duff on October 26, 2009 | Comments (0)

Also found in Iowa? BARNS!

Dusk

Barn

Quilt Barn (2)

Quilt Barn (1)

We'll be going back at some point to see the barns w/ quilt blocks in better lighting. (There are apparently a LOT more of them than just those two.)

posted by Duff on October 22, 2009 | Comments (7)

Since the leaves in Chicago have been resisting changing colors

we drove 300 miles to Iowa to see some good ones. (OK well really we drove to Iowa for pie shakes [yes, that's pie and ice cream blended together into a shake OHMYGOD CAN YOU FEEL THE MAGIC], but hey! trees! with pretty leaves! were a bonus.)

I drove 300 miles to find me some Fall (1)

I drove 300 miles to find me some Fall (2)

I drove 300 miles to find me some Fall (3)

I drove 300 miles to find me some Fall (4)

Pretty, eh.

posted by Duff on October 18, 2009 | Comments (4)

Downtown with Meera.

Met Meera for a sammy (that's sandwich to you) last night and a walk through a few super modern (and hence super bizarre) exhibits at the Chicago Cultural Center. Once it got dark we decided to swing through Millennium Park. The Joffrey Ballet was performing at the Pritzker so there was some lovely orchestral background music as we wandered to and fro amongst the lights shows happening on the various structures.

Meera

Skatepark: Red
(in reality that structure is white)

Night at the Museum
(the new wing of the Art Institute)

Conch: Pink
(in reality that structure is white as well)

Where I'll Be Tomorrow Night
(where I'll be tonight! yipee!)

The Conch: Green

posted by Duff on September 18, 2009 | Comments (1)