O God It Burns: Freezer Burn

John Winkelman

Hot Peppers from this past summer

The above photo is of the remnants of my hot pepper harvest from this past summer. It is somewhat depleted, what with the fact that I use them in practically EVERYTHING that I cook. Including:

Hot sauce - Jalapeño and Cayenne

…Hot Sauce! The dish on the left is Jalapeno, and the one on the right is Cayenne. They both use essentially the same recipe – just different peppers. I made the Jalapeno version a few days ago and have been using it on almost everything. The cayenne (well, kung pao, to be precise) version will have its first trial tomorrow.

Interference Globe

John Winkelman

Actionscript 3 and Mathematics and Art

I’m not sure precisely what I was going for with this one, but I really like how it turned out. In the longer view, I am playing around with making some generative art, things which I can print out and frame…and maybe offer up to the community at large.

But right now, I am going to turn this thing off and look outside at the first thunderstorm of the year. January 7. Grand Rapids, Michigan. Thunderstorm. It was almost 60 degrees Fahrenheit this afternoon.

2008 Already?

John Winkelman

The above photo was taken at the Wege/Wittenbach Agri-Science Center in Lowell. Cynthia and I took a walk out there on December 30. I just posted the photos, which can be seen here.

So: 2008. I had a total of eleven days off over the holidays. I spent some time back on the family farm around Christmas, and I had friends from the tai chi class over for a New Year’s Eve party.

Everything about the holidays seemed much more relaxed than in the past. Much less drama, fewer reports of whackiness in the stores, and no emotional hangover. I took advantage of this to take care of a few outstanding projects, including maintenance on my house, working on the new version of the From the Heart Yoga website, and updating the Crime Statistics page to make it as current as possible. So now I can dive into the new year with nothing hanging over my head.

This afternoon, after practice, I spent a couple of hours at work moving the office around. Now that we are People Design, we are working on making our space a little more comfortable, including a cafe area and a library room. So now, after hours of moving around heavy filing cabinets, my grip muscles are sore.

The only New Years’ resolution-type decision I made was as follows: take care of things as they come up. Don’t let issues linger. And I am going to write more.

Maybe.

New Orleans, Late February, 2007

John Winkelman

I just uploaded 88 photos from a trip my brother, his fiance and I took to New Orleans back in February of this year. Our first day there Dad (who lives just north of Lake Pontchartrain), took us on a tour of the parts of the city which were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Or damaged by the hurricane and destroyed by the incompetence of elected officials all the way up and down the chain of command. I guess how you look at it depends on how forgiving you are feeling at any given moment.

Note that these photos were taken eighteen months after the hurricane hit. For those of my readers who are familiar with Grand Rapids, Michigan, imagine Kentwood with an eight foot high-water mark on every house.

Mardi Gras itself was beautiful, and fun, and something I recommend everyone experience at least once in their lifetime.

Click on the photo to see the rest of the set.