blog camp: SA

slight misrepresentation since this is cape town

but this was the picture i had

taken from victoria & alfred hotel where i stayed

the fabulous lynne of wheatlands news has suggested she would host an MPC blog camp: south africa simultaneously with MPC blog camp: denmark on june 19-20-21. she has room for five in moorreesburg. of course, this makes me want to drop in there, but since i'll be here with four (maybe five) fabulous blog friends and sadly transporting star trek style is but a hollywood dream at this point, we'll have to make do with a virtual hook-up. (the logistics of which we i are am frantically working on.)

 although this is at spiers' moyo

this is how chilled out i imagine blog camp: SA will be

i wanna go to blog camp: SA!! if you do too, please send an email to me with "blog camp: SA" in the subject line and i'll hook you up with lynne. we'll be coming up with more blog camp details and announcements here in the coming days. tho' you can already check on the blog camp blog (of course we have a blog!) to see who's coming in june and why they decided to come.

and remember if you're really serious about attending either of the blog camp dates--june 19-21 or september 4-7 in denmark, please send me an email (my email address is in my profile) so i can put you on the list (if you only comment, i can't get in touch with you if you're using a no-reply blogger address, so please do send an email). 

just a note: people are finding some seriously good ticket prices from the US for the september dates, so have a look at kayak.com (that's where the best price i've heard is coming from). even if you're flying from somewhere obscure like fargo, it might cost less than you think! and if you're coming all that way, we can surely find a way for you to stay a few extra days and see the sights, so don't worry about jetlag and making such a trip for only a few days! :-)

can i go back to bed?

it's raining, grey and dreary out today. sort of a steady, cold drizzle and while i can't really complain since we really rather need some rain, it makes me want to crawl back in bed. the dream i was having right before i woke up still lingers and i'd like to slip back into it. because i was taking some great pictures there, of a couple of old, broken clocks hung high up on a wall in an old, dusty, deserted part of an enormous library. a sort of unending, borgesian library. i left a leather chest there in one of the aisles with some of my camera lenses in it and i was just snapping a few pictures of dusty clocks hanging askew (and i know they were great pictures) and then turning back to the chest when the alarm rudely went off. husband hit snooze and i drifted right back in, but suddenly there was a group there, sort of a tour group, exploring these far reaches of the ancient library, disturbing the dust. because it was a dirt floor this far in. i could sort of see back to the part where there was a golden glow of light and wooden floors and scholarly elderly men moving about in flowing graduation robes or robes like a judge might wear. and i wished that group would go back there and leave me to my dusty clocks and my old leather chest of camera lenses. because i liked it there in the far reaches of the enormous, labyrinthine, old library.

one time at blog camp*

yesterday when husband suggested blog camp, i was just kind of fording the stream of consciousness, talking to him about this interface culture of the blogosphere and all of the naked conversations that result from it. and wishing out loud that it was more than an imagined community, but sort of more of a sunday philosophy club. and so in a fit of whimsy, i posted my little wish list about what i imagined blog camp would be. and the comments poured in. it seems that in you guys would actually be interested in doing this! and since it is a liquid life we lead in these days of globalization (even in light of GEC**), i began to think, hey, why not? we could really do this!

we can easily accommodate four guests at our house (hence the rule of four) and possibly five if i got my ass in gear and cleared some junk out of a room upstairs. but let's see how it goes with four, if interest is great enough, i might be motivated to clear out that room for one more. here's what i'm thinking about how this will work...

because of deadlines, travels and events at work, the first weekend i could host a blog camp would be june 19-20-21. i'm thinking that this first round will no doubt attract those of you who live within a reasonable distance of denmark (e.g. right across the sound (and with your dog, perhaps?)) or within an hour or so by air (ahem, oxford and london spring to mind but i am certain there are others!!) and who are fairly spontaneous (tho' in my view, this is plenty of time to plan ahead).

for fabulous bloggy friends from farther afield, how about a long weekend in early september (the weather is usually pretty reliable in denmark in september)--september 4-7 to be exact (since the 7th is labor day in the US and therefore a holiday).

here's the deal:

1. you are responsible for getting yourself here (i'll happily answer any questions you might have about the best route).
2. you will have a place to stay once you get here.
3. if you'd be willing to pitch in to help buy some groceries, we will feed you well.
4. all of the fun, laughter and wifi is included.

the first group will be a bit of an experiment. we will do activities to include all of you who can't attend either because it's too far or because space is limited. we'll try out that stickam thing and/or others that work well (i've seen stickam working, so i know it's more or less ok) to be live and interact online. we'll tweet. we'll blog. we'll laugh and laugh some more. maybe we'll make some stuff. and perhaps we'll even do some vlogging, just for fun. we'll go on photo walks, so bring your camera. we'll spend at least one day in copenhagen taking the city in through our camera lenses. the rest of the time, we'll hang out here, eating, drinking and laughing:

if you are interested, please send me an email (email is in my profile) with "blog camp" in the subject line. i am open to suggestions for other dates (subject to veto by me due to work schedule with my real job). and if interest is great enough, i'll definitely add some more dates.

just one more thing...if husbands/boyfriends/significant others/random people you live with are difficult to convince that this is a good idea or there are guys out there who think it sounds like fun but rather girly, there's also a rather more masculine playhouse at our place, so either bring 'em along (one of the bedrooms has a double bed and we could arrange for one more) or just don't be shy:

i'm sure i'll be writing about this again along the way, so pls. ask any questions in the comments to help me figure out what people need to know (for obvious reasons, i'm not publishing my address here, but will definitely provide that information to who are serious about coming). once again. shoot me an email (it's in my profile) with "blog camp" in the subject line if you're interested in attending one of the two dates i've listed above--stating which date, of course. other than that, start packing your pjs and have a nice day!

* with thanks to iasa !
** global economic crisis (i hope i can stop typing this out soon)

blog camp anyone?

the scene for blog camp

this morning, i was catching up on my blog reading (i didn't get done yet, so if you're missing me, don't worry, i'll be by soon) at the table instead of reading the newspaper (which is over-hyping the one solitary case of H1N1 in denmark anyway). i was reading funny snippets of some of my favorite blogs out loud to husband (who is a bit mystified by the entire blog thing and often advises me to find friends in my local space rather than in cyberspace). i had just read something funny and i sighed, "i want to hang out with these people in real life." husband said, "why don't you have a blog camp, they could come and hang out with you in your writing house." (writing house is the original name for my garden studio/atelier/place of creativity.)

and so i began to imagine what blog camp would look like...

: : nobody would get dressed all day if they didn't want to, they could hang out in their pajamas.

: : we would probably all sit in the same room on our laptops IMing each other.

: : we would drink copious amounts of wine.

: : we would cook and eat the fabulous food we made.

: : we would stay up late.

: : we would drink lots of pots of tea and many lattes.

: : we would figure out how to make those hearts in the latte foam by practicing lots and lots of times.

: : in the unlikely event we got dressed, we would go on photo walks. or maybe if we were all in our PJs, we could go on photo walks anyway...and end up being known as the pajama gang. or the pajama mafia. i've always wanted to be part of a gang.

: : we would laugh a whole lot.

: : hopefully someone would teach me to crochet and/or knit.

: : and we just might make plausible plans for taking over the world.

: : oh, and OF COURSE, we would blog the whole thing (thanks hit 40)!

doesn't that sound good?

what would you wanna do at blog camp?

a failure to complain

what we have going on here on this gorgeous, sunny saturday is a complete and utter failure to complain. there can be no complaining about anything when the day is full of sunshine and...

riding lessons

this time on milton

tho' i'm not keen on how he carries his tail

however, this is about not complaining

and it's not like he's OUR horse, he's a lesson horse

tulips & apple blossoms from the garden

doesn't the shockingly dirty window behind give a nice monet-like effect?

a walk in the woods

husband capturing me capturing macros of little woodland worlds

it's good to have two cameras

wonderful surprises from another hemisphere

thank you so much molly for the unexpected treat!!

i'm already inspired!!

and now, to top it off, we're making posh burgers on the grill (like #8 here).

it's pretty much been a perfect day.

hope your day was/is perfect too!

you can learn a lot from BoN

ok, it's been ten crazy days since MPC was named blog of note (still thanking you, gods of google) and i've been overwhelmed--more than 15,000 folks have come and had a look.  that's crazy, man! don't get me wrong, i love it and i'm very grateful that so many have stopped by to see what randomness came out my brain and onto the screen. i've also learned a few things...

things i've learned checking my site meter:

• someone posted my post on the new new world order to a website called conspirama: the best of conspiracy and the paranormal. kinda cool, but frankly, that post doesn't pose all that many conspiracy theories. i can write one that does, however. :-) i read ALL of those books on kennedy and marilyn monroe...
  
• someone from Nilai, Negeri Sembilan is looking at my blog right now as i write this. i don't even know where that is! somewhere in africa? indonesia? myanmar? i really don't know!
• people do a lot of blog surfing from work on monday...there's a big jump on mondays after the weekend. i can only assume that it's when people get back to the computer at work!

things i've learned from comments:

• my snow white story was viewed as a whole lot sadder than i meant it.
• my musings on the zone, which i found a little navel gazing myself, were something people could really relate to and which generated some really great comments. that makes me really happy because everyone should experience the zone. 
• lots of you guys are funny.

things i've learned from the follower thing:

• lots of people follow without commenting.
• this might be a good thing in light of how many are now following. i'm already using 29% of my gmail inbox and am notoriously bad about deleting things after i've read them.
• it's way fun.
• i remember that it wasn't that long ago i was offering a prize to my 50th follower. seriously, it wasn't even two months ago. 
• i thought i would do a shout-out to #300 when it reached that. and then suddenly it was 400 and last night, before i went to bed, i saw it become 500. i've clearly got to get quicker about these shout-outs. 
• i love you guys.

this whole thing has opened up a whole new world to me and for that, i am very grateful on this friday. thank you for stopping by!

note:  if you comment with an email address behind your comment, rather than one of those "no-reply blogger" addresses, then you will quite likely get a response. :-)

blog crush: cuttings on a blog

please forgive crappy quality of iPhone photo

the latte is for you, B 

i know you do coffee, not tea

yes, dahlings, it's time once again, for an official blog crush. i hereby give you cuttings on a blog--a witty and well-read, well-traveled, belly dancing spanish girl in oxford. what more could one ask? she's learning dressmaking, she had the computer skills to merge several of her multiple blogs into one (some of us would do well to do the same...ahem, ahem). she blogs in two languages...check her spanish language blog here. i'll admit that i can't really read much of it unless she mentions menu items since that's as far as my spanish extends (not that i'm saying she does)--guacamole anyone? she makes lists...like this one of her five rules for life. she's inspiring people from belize to zambia with her thoughts on home. she does beautiful posts on the covers of books.

do i really need to go on? why are you still here? go read her! you won't be sorry.