Ready for spring

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(Train of thought continued from here.)

The previous occupants of this house are green-thumb types, and I’m a complete botanical ignoramus, so when new things appear in the garden at various points in the year, it’s a nice surprise for me.

Well, not that pile of feathers and a beak the other day.  G was standing in the middle of it when I recognized what it was (could have been worse; it was literally only a pile of feathers and a beak). But I’m pretty sure the previous occupants didn’t put that there.

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Playing with saturation in the GIMP

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I’ve come across a few queries on the net about whether the GIMP has a “sponge tool like in Photoshop.” (for example, here, here, and here). I was going to say people seem to come away without a good answer, but it turns out the answer comes up occasionally, as it does in that last link. That’ll teach me to write the post and then research my references. Not. Anyway, it seems to me that this “sponge” tool is more or less a paintbrush in saturation adjustment mode.

I’ve never really wanted to do this, but having come across the idea, I’ve thought about it a little, and now played with it a little. Say you had a picture of a girl with a purple jacket on, and you’d like it to really stand out, more intensely than it does in your photo. This sounds like a job for a layer mask to me (funnily enough, so does any adjustment you want to apply to only part of your picture).

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Ready for spring: Prologue

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Surprise blizzard

I was actually getting a little fed up with winter in February. We’ve had a bit more snow than usual and I hate riding my bike in the snow. On the road, that is. I remember going out one March on my mountain bike, specifically to do endos and land on my back in cushy snow. That was, admittedly, a long time ago. And there was enough snow to act as a cushion.

The morning of the ride depicted above, I dawdled a bit before going out, waiting for the sun to burn off the frost in the bike lanes. It looked like the coast was clear. When we came outside, a few delicate snowflakes wafted by, sparkling in the sun. Cute, I thought. I welcomed them as little sparkly eyeball treats in my life and thought no more of it. Then, a few minutes into the ride, the sky started to look heavier. Then it got really pretty dark. Then it started snowing. Then I took a couple of pictures. Then I put my camera away because visibility was dropping and a carpet of snow was forming under our wheels.

I was happy, for the nth time this winter, that G was ensconced in her Cargobike cockpit. It’s been that kind of a winter.

(Disclaimer: It doesn’t really compare with what the family had back home, but we currently live in a climate where it’s generally feasible to opt to commute by bike year-round, with a child on board.)