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| South Mountain, March 7, 2013, 7am |
Contact: Email me! Art Web Site: TEXT
I walked out my front door this morning and was engulfed by the warm sun, a huge blue sky, and the wonderful stillness of the air. My body and senses were very alert and I felt a surprise of relief from the winter cold and wind as I delighted at the early Spring day. At the corral I shed my winter coat and gloves and proceeded to begin my morning animal chores.
I entered the barnyard and was was greeted by my goats; Finian, Rainbow, Abbakiss, and Cloud. Ziggy Starman came towards me then changed directions with his "move away" horse dance. I decided to work with Zigs and asked for his attention. He walked further away and then turned to face me. The goats were hugging my legs and little Cloud, vying for attention, was nipping at my boots. I gave the goats all pets and scratches, which is not terribly easy with 4 goats and 2 hands. I called to Ziggy and he did not move. I clicked a few more times and I could see the slightest change of stance towards movement. He finally began to move towards me and stopped at a distance facing me. I clicked again and he stopped within my body zone but not too close. I took two steps and blew in his nostrils (which horses do to greet one another). He let me pat him then moved off and away. Back to the goats, we had a love fest. Then I clicked to Ziggy and repeated the the same routine of steps to bring his attention to me until he came forward a second time.
Paradise in the corral is communicating with my animals on a gorgeous Spring day. I finally walked away to feed everyone and fill up water buckets. My dogs, Rooe and Cooper, were let in the corral as I began to muck up. Two large ravens flew and landed, which caught Rooe's attention. Coops came over for pats. Rooey ran off to look for rabbits, which she hardly ever catches. It was a beautiful morning and the the animals and I felt good.
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| The "boys" enjoying the sun. Abbakiss expressing |
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| Cloud curled up and scratching winter coat |
As Spring has begun to "sprung", so have my computer problems. The large photo
manipulation files that I am developing have exhausted my computer memory and hard
drive. The search for a new computer that will fit my needs has taken me two weeks,
many phone calls, internet investigations, huge amounts of stress, and great pulling out
of hair. The question that I never thought I would ask myself "Mac or PC?" arose.
This sent me over the edge as I have always been a Mac user and love the interface,
intuitive operating system, and general applications. Could I move to the "dark side"?
As my needs as an artist have grown to involve more intricate and complex computer manipulations with my photos, I need more power and memory. "Drawing and painting" within my images create many layers of information. I am also excited about using the results for other mixed media projects. My poor, four year old, Mac Book Pro is limping along and does not appear to "enjoy" my new work. As a result I have (and I do not write this lightly) decided to Buy a PC!!!
My decision to go to "the other side" was not made lightly. After a fruitless visit to the Apple Store where my questions about my needs were not answered clearly and my exploration of the limitations of an IMAC (expensive and the screen is difficult to calibrate) and Mac Pro (has not been updated for three years and is cost prohibitive), I decided to have a PC custom built for me for less money and superior parts. I continue to hyperventilate as I leave the MAC world, but I know that will pass.
I wish to thank my friend Patrick Carr of Carr Imaging, a fine art digital printing business in Albuquerque, for allowing a MAC person onto the premises and then spending time with such a person and divulging information about PC's. Please visit his wonderful facility for any fine art and other printing needs. Patricks web site is http://www.carrimage.net
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| Still Hyperventilating! |
