June 1, 2008 The 'Angelfish' background series
came out much wilder than I anticipated. Don't worry, though, there are
very well-behaved embossed papers to use for trim or writing. Here's
a sample page.
It's an eye-catcher but it won't make people scream. I hope. I don't
know that I can claim it's fishy though you can still make out the
angelfish stripes and quite a few flashing fins, if you look hard.
June 1, 2008
My husband drank all the milk last night, so this morning I had
to drink hot chocolate made with water. It is disgusting. I don't
know how I managed to go on under those dire circumstances but I did:
the background textures are
all in the same format now with no missing logos or navigation arrows.
Schwew! It turned out we did not have an infinite number of pages as I
thought. Just six thousand, two hundred and four of them. Now I can add
new things without shirking tedious but necessary file handling. Soooo
happy.
May 29, 2008 Still having too much fun playing with seashells, which resulted in today's background series 'Cockle Flower.' Here is the sample page, in case you just want a quick glimpse of one layout possibility. I wonder what would happen with a limpet?
May 28, 2008
I started with a cockle shell. I intended to do something nautical with
it but that's not the way it turned out. You can still see that this
new background series was made from a seashell but it takes some
peering: 'Turbulence'
May 27, 2008
Plinking away at the file handling. It seems to be paying off -- only
ten texture series remain to be updated and then all will be on the
same page format. Booyah. I didn't think there'd ever be an end in
sight.
While I was at it, I upgraded an old series: 'Rowan.'
Tammy likes bright, colorful backgrounds and I felt I had gone too
monochromatic when adapting that one. It always bothered me. Now, there
is a little lift of extra color in the 3d wallpaper portions of that
series. Much better.
May 25, 2008
When Jo said hello in our guestbook, she asked for something fishy in a
new texture series. That sounded nice and summery, so here is "Seahorse." Do they count as fish?
May 24, 2008
I hope you're having an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. It's cool and
rainy here. Unusual but not unheard of for late May in northern
California. Since it was gloomy outside, I decided to make something
colorful inside, so I added a new texture and wallpaper series: 'Foursquare.'
It's an interwoven, geometrical pattern and for one version, I toned
down the bright colors and made it a nice, sedate wood to emulate
parquet flooring. I like them. Hope you do, too.
May 21, 2008
Good lord. How can it be the 21st already? And those darned
mix-and-match sets still not done. I do have a new texture series for
you, though. It's in highly-saturated, very bright colors with lots of
swoops and swirls for a lively look: Curlicue.
May 15, 2008 I
can't cut out graphics or tidy library files today. I've done so many
recently looking at a folder icon makes me want to scream. I'm almost
done with the Floats
mix-and-match set but it is beyond me to label one more graphic so the
large text portion of that set will have to wait till tomorrow. I think
I'm going to work on something entirely different today, like restoring
the Tour of Styles. It was silly but I miss it.
May 8, 2008 I
decided I didn't like the first draft of the High Touch text graphics.
They take awhile to cut out so I tried to live with it, but I couldn't.
I like crisp buttons, especially with a geometrical border series like
High Touch. While nice on its own, the text was too funky to go with
them. I pondered the problem while drafting the 'Floats' series. The
more I thought about it, the more it seemed to me that since I'm
recreating that section from scratch, I might as well run all the
mix-and-match text through the color spectrum as I go, making the
sets about as flexible as sets can be.
I ignored the idea as long as I could because it increases the tedious
file handling by seven. I ignored it while I played with sample sets. I
ignored it while I tweaked buttons. I ignored it when it tapped on my
shoulder when I woke up in the morning. Finally, when I found it
staring up at me from my hot chocolate, I decided the ignoring wasn't
working.
So now I've set aside work on the partially done Floats mix-and-match
set and I'm redoing the 'High Touch' text in a different font and
style. It is boring but I am hoping it will be forever useful once it's
done.
My outgoing email is not working. Someone is supposed to fix that for me. I hope they do.
May 7, 2008 Almost done with the 'High Touch'
mix-and-match set. I have a dentist appointment this morning and Mom is
likely coming home from the hospital tomorrow. It may be awhile before
it's polished to the last pixel. I've also started another set because
it seemed ridiculous to link the mix-and-match menu when it only holds
one set right now. When both are done, then everyone will see the
links. Till then, it's just you.
May 2, 2008 While
it's good that all the backgrounds and buttons are back online there is
a bit of bad news. The mix-and-match sets did not copy during the
backup before we moved. While the most recent sets can be restored once
I get my old near-broken computer back from our home in Copperopolis,
they are all gone for the moment.
Perhaps it's just as well. They evolved over time and last I worked
them, their organization was nightmarish. Starting afresh lets me
solve some old problems in file sorting and navigation. At the moment,
there is a new set in the works though it's far from complete. I'm only
linking to it here so I can get to it easily for previews and testing.
No complaints allowed if you visit while it's under construction. 'High Touch'
April 30, 2008 It's the navigation button sets that are coming back today. There are only a dozen of those, so I hope I'll be finished this morning.
April 29, 2008 Only
three or four more page bullet sets to place on their new pages and
that library will be entirely updated. Excited. I would be done now but
I paused to frame a few more of the old sets I felt could use some spiffying
like 'Pearls Through Wisdom.'
April 26, 2008
Now I'm working on restoring the bullets and pointer files. I'm only
about a third of the way through it but if you'd like to visit before
it's done, you can reach the index. I even took the trouble of framing the 'Glass Detail'
bullets because they've always needed that. If you get "404 File Not
Found" messages for series after that, well, you were warned. They'll
all be back in a few days.
April 24, 2008
A new texture series today because I again slacked off on file
handling. Funny how easy it is to avoid that. I thought this one looked
regal, so it's called 'Prince.' This is one way the red versions could be combined.
April 22, 2008
I didn't think I'd ever get all the background borders restored but now I have! No more 404s from that section! Yay!
April 20, 2008
I haven't had the oomph to return to file
management, so I instead made a new texture series. It was supposed to
be brightly floral but most of the color variations are muted and a
little darker than I intended. Figures. Life's been
like that, lately. I think they will do well for quiet pages, except
for the bright gold which is an attention-getter. Take your pick: 'Dark Field'
April 14, 2008 For the most part, I've just been tidying as I've restored bordered wallpapers but I did pause to improve 'Twist of Fate.' The layout is much simpler now and, I suspect, much more useful.
April 13, 2008
Less broken links, now. I believe I've restored about a quarter
of the bordered background series. Still quite a few to go. We
probably won't be adding new ones to that index when it's back to
normal, as bordered backgrounds are the least flexible of the tile
choices. If you like the layout, they're perfect but if you want to
center your page instead of left justify it, they are less useful than
the texure tiles.
They're pretty, though. I've been enjoying revisiting them as they go
by.
April 10, 2008 Many broken links but I put the background border index
back online anyway. I thought those sets that are uploaded might
be useful and since I hate broken links, it also motivates me to tear
through the rest of the pages and get them fixed. Sorry if you click
and get the dreaded 404 message while browsing. I promise I am working
on that.
April 9, 2008
Ashes in the Closet
Black carbon dust brushes bone chips
inside a simple dark box. I can hold it
in one hand. It weighs nothing
but it is so heavy, I must put it down.
A card from a cousin seems
safe.
"Condolences." A familiar word, now.
My mother cries. Tears catch
and stay
on her wrinkled cheeks. I don't weep
until I turn the note
and unexpectedly
meet my father. He is sepia-tones and twenty,
so
handsome and straight. His uniform is crisp.
His smile says the world is
bright, despite duty.
I don't know where he's gone. What we have
rests on a footstool under the winter coats.
We don't look at that closet's door,
though we must open it some day.
--------
I'm sorry we were just getting back into the swing of things, then
disappeared again for a bit. My father died unexpectedly on March 4th.
My husband and I have moved in with my mother now, so things have been
quite abnormal these last weeks. I should be able to return to our
site reconstruction now, as I believe the initial tumult and grief are
settling down a bit. Thanks to all for your patience.
March 3, 2008
Taking a break from file handling. As you may have noticed from missing
navigation graphics, this latest move caught us offgaurd and has been a
bit tumultuous. On the bright side, it's a great opportunity to use our
ten year anniversary to fix all the little mistakes that have been
irksome over the years. For instance, no more logo graphic existing
with a suffix of both .GIF and .gif. You'd think the
difference wouldn't matter but, oh, it does. And no more root
directory with far too many files in it. They're moving into folders,
where they belong. I'm sorry if that breaks links for folks who were
referring to specific background pages or articles, but they are all
still there -- just with a slightly altered address. Since this is a
once-a-decade event, I hope you will forgive us.
Soon, all will be neat and nicely packaged in tidy little
folders, all in a row. Then our library will stay put, with fewer
quirks so it will be easier for us to handle. I like
that in a library.
Of course, there is the unfortunate possibility that I will go stark
raving mad from file sorting before that happens. I hope not. I'm
pacing myself, so I expect this week's end will see the textures
library fixed. Then the borders index will be next! If instead, the
weekend finds me sitting in a corner babbling "1a.jpg, 1b.jpg, 1c.jpg,
1d.jpg, 1e.jpg..." I'm sure Tammy or Sheila will let you know.
February 20,
2008 We're moving! And reorganizing! Whee!
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