Playing Around

I am a fiend for new iPhone and iPad apps. Such cheap entertainment. Such a great distraction. And now, I'm starting to think, a good way to keep my brain sharp.

I've been doing Lumosity off and on for a while, but on the recommendation of my cousin Kara, I've signed up for a year of "brain training". It's going okay, but it's pretty challenging.  It has however made me aware of the possible upsides of my favorite games.

My top faves that are a little on the more usual side (not in any particular order):
Eufloria
Circadia
Percepto
Orba
and my new OBSESSION. Blendoku. I was turned onto this game just a few days ago. It's a puzzle solving game that is only about color. No words. After I studied printed textile surface design at Parsons in the late 1980's I worked briefly as a colorist. What this basically means is that I took a fabric swatch and repainted it on paper in a different colorway. I spent a lot of time staring at colors and trying to figure out how to tweak it up a little warmer or down a little cooler. Mix, remix and mix again. Blendoku is a visually stunning game that delights in its simplicity. I think it's making me smarter.

The other kind of playing around I've been doing is photographic. I was turned onto the app Waterlogue last week as well. It transforms your photos into watercolor paintings. There are quite a few different styles and you can customize within each style or mode. Today I'm going to post some photos that I haven't shared yet here as Waterlogue images:

 With the Big Dog (Xander)

 With the Little Dog (China) at Tillamook Forest Center

 Snoozin'

In Provincetown this past September.

I love technology when it's pretty.

Oregon Never Loses it's Green

When I talk to my friends back in Boston, I'm always going on about the "fairy world" that is Portland. This morning it's in the 30's and it's green as can be. Sure, there is fall and the leaves to actually "fall". But then there are the other green things that continue to cover the bare trees so that they are never actually bare. Mossy "sweaters" and lichen "lace" drape nearly everything. Ferns deposit themselves within the moss on the trunks of trees and the invasive ivy often strangles the trees as it grips and winds itself upwards.

Some of the winters coverings will dry and fall away come the heat of Summer, some will continue to cling.

And in knitting news.... I continue my progress on the very-fun-to-knit Faberge.

 Every so often, I think....will this knitting and spinning continue to consume my life? Forever? I cannot imagine it otherwise. And, so it goes...