Dining with Daffodils

Daffodils are out! At least at our local grocery store. There's nothing that makes the dining room brighter than a dozen are so smiling daffodils. 

We spend a lot of time in our dining room. We enjoy our meals there of course. Since we expanded the table, we've also been using it for many other pursuits. The large flat workspace has proven great for sewing projects, wrapping gifts, sorting through piles of paper in preparing our taxes, and Mike even used it recently to assemble a poster for a work conference. 

However, the most wonderful thing about the expanded table is that there is plenty of room for two bouncy chairs! This allows us to be able to sit down to meals - together - much more often. Although this has always been important to us, it became harder to do with two newborn sweetie pie babies. xo 

The babies gaze up at the chandelier as if it were a large mobile.  When their interest begins to wane, we adjust the dimmer which creates different sparkles and hues. With all that gazing, I've had to put 'dust and clean chandelier' on my to do list. 

Happy daffodils (even the grocery store variety) to you! 

Crochet Beads Necklace

My network is having an issue that started last night and I can't add new pictures to my computer... I thought OH NO! I can't write a post tonight!

Then, I realized I had more pictures I haven’t shared with you all and they were already transferred in to my computer. Whew... Thank goodness!

By the way, my sewing machine is safely (and in much better condition) home! I moped about not having my machine in my posts, but I have been busy with other things last weekend, and didn't have a chance to sew.

While my sewing machine was away, I made several jewelries and this post is about one of the necklaces I made.

I don't exactly know what to call these beads, but there is plastic part inside, and crochet around it. I really like the look of it and wanted to make a necklace for a while. Here is what I came up with:




I think the necklace has a whimsical charm to it because of the crochet beads. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tie the lace or not, so I am going to give it a try with lace for a while. What do you think? With? Without?

ILLUSTRATED: THE CRAB NEBULA THROUGH TIME

M1: The Crab Nebula, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, 2009. Credit: NASA, ESA.

Towards the end of my book DEEP BLUE HOME I wrote about the cave paintings of Mexico's Baja Peninsula—truly a wonder of the world—including an image of the Crab Nebula supernova from the year 1054.

[O]ne of the most modest paintings on view anywhere in Baja California: a small depiction in ochre of a childlike sun, with lines radiating from a circle, nestled beside the outline of another circle more than half filled with ochre pigment.

North American rock art depicting the Crab Nebula supernova, circa 1054. Illustration: Harry W. Crosby, from The Cave Paintings of Baja California.

  
You can see the art I'm describing on the far left in the image above: 

The story of this image has a long lineage, and the starting place for its rediscovered meaning dates back to the year 1054, when Chinese astronomers noted a guest star in the constellation Taurus and recorded that its glow was visible in the daytime sky for twenty-three days and in the nighttime sky for six hundred fifty-three days.

Little more thought was given to this celestial light for a long time. It was not noted in 1731 when the English doctor and astronomer John Bevis first observed a nebulous cloud within our own Milky Way galaxy nor, more than a century later, when another English astronomer named it the Crab Nebula. The visit of the guest star was nearly forgotten until the early twentieth century, when—working backward in time to calculate the rate of expansion—astronomers surmised that the Crab Nebula was the remains of the 1054 supernova observed by ancient astronomers.

The crablike sketch made in 1844 by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, for which the nebula was named. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

And:

Later the American astronomer William Miller calculated that the 1054 supernova appeared in western North America in dazzling conjunction with a crescent moon. He correlated this sight to two pieces of prehistoric rock art in Arizona, each depicting a star beside a crescent moon. Later astronomers found strikingly similar rock art of conjunct stars and crescents at other sites in the American Southwest. In 1971 the explorer Harry Crosby, traveling by mule in the Sierra de San Francisco, came upon this image of a star and a moon—the only painting of its kind in the murals of Baja California, which he later surmised was also an image of the 1054 supernova.

Chaco Canyon, 1054 supernova rock art. Photo via.

Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) describes the Crab Nebula as "the mess left after a star explodes," filled with mysterious filaments:

The filaments are not only tremendously complex, but appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova and a higher speed than expected from a free explosion. In the nebula's very center lies a pulsar: a neutron star as massive as the Sun but with only the size of a small town. The Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times each second. 

Crab Pulsar Wind Nebula, 2008. Credit: NASA.

  
This deep x-ray image of the Crab Pulsar taken from the orbiting Chandra Observatory provided the first clear view of the ghostly edges of the pulsar's wind nebula. From APOD:

The pulsar's energy accelerates charged particles, producing eerie, glowing x-ray jets directed away from the poles and an intense wind in the equatorial direction. Intriguing edges are created as the charged particles stream away, eventually losing energy as they interact with the pulsar's strong magnetic field.

It's astonishing to think how much we've seen—and learned to see—in less than the blink of a universe. Of course the real timeline of events is even more profound. Back to my excerpt:

The 1054 supernova occurred 6,300 years before anyone on Earth witnessed it. The explosion dismantled a star more than 37,000 trillion miles away from us. The blast radiated as much energy as our sun will emit in the course of its life, and its light traveled at the fastest speed possible, the speed of light itself, yet it still took more than sixty centuries to get here.

Credit: Danny LaCrue & the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator.

 

The beautiful mess of the Crab Nebula.

SUNDAY POETRY: "BEACH GLASS"

BEACH GLASS

by Amy Clampitt

While you walk the water’s edge,   

turning over concepts

I can’t envision, the honking buoy   

serves notice that at any time   

the wind may change

the reef-bell clatters

its treble monotone, deaf as Cassandra   

to any note but warning. The ocean,   

cumbered by no business more urgent   

than keeping open old accounts   

that never balanced,

goes on shuffling its millenniums   

of quartz, granite, and basalt.

                                              It behaves

toward the permutations of novelty   

driftwood and shipwreck, last night’s   

beer cans, spilt oil, the coughed-up   

residue of plastic—with random   

impartiality, playing catch or tag   

or touch-last like a terrier,

turning the same thing over and over,   

over and over. For the ocean, nothing   

is beneath consideration.

                                       The houses

of so many mussels and periwinkles   

have been abandoned here, it’s hopeless   

to know which to salvage. Instead   

I keep a lookout for beach glass   

amber of Budweiser, chryoprase   

of Almadén and Gallo, lapis   

by way of (no getting around it,   

I’m afraid) Phillips’

Milk of Magnesia, with now and then a rare   

translucent turquoise or blurred amethyst   

of no known origin.

                              The process

goes on forever: they came from sand,   

they go back to gravel,

along with the treasuries

of Murano, the buttressed

astonishments of Chartres,

which even now are readying

for being turned over and over as gravely   

and gradually as an intellect   

engaged in the hazardous   

redefinition of structures   

no one has yet looked at.

(Photo via.)

Link Love No.43!

I have been quite busy this weekend, and don't have any projects to share. Sorry!

I enjoyed going through the links though...

Here are this week’s link loves.

Cottage Hill shared a tutorial on how to make the perfect silhouettes. I love the silhouettes she created, because they are so detailed and pretty! I meant to work on this project and wall art for my family, but now I REALLY want to do this!


Isn't this adorable? Actually, my little girl saw this picture and fell in love with it, so it is almost like she chose this one as a part of link love. wondrlanding does amazing work, with her crochet skill. Thank you for sharing!


I was at the Anthropology website the other day looking at the necklace Flamingo toes used for this project as an inspiration piece. How unique and interesting! It is so fun to look at each charm on the necklace, oh, I wish I could find some of the pieces! Great job!


The next two projects were from one blog called Polka-Dot Umbrella. Looks like there are 6 contributors to this blog, Monday through Saturday (that is a nice way to do blogging too isn't it? How fun!). The first one is a Baby Quilt. She found this idea at A Pretty Cool Life. I love how Erica added some clouds to make it more personal.



The next one was posted by Carlee, it is a diaper changing pad made out of table cloth she bought for a dollar! I love the print on the fabric, and how compact you can fold it. Very stylish! If I had a little bum that needed to be changed, I would be doing so on this pad. :)


Great work every one! I hope you will have a nice Sunday, see you at my next post.

ORIGAMI OCEAN

1) Via, 2) Via, 3) Via, 4) Via, 5) Via, 6) Via, 7) Via, 8) Via, 9) Via

SUBSURFACE

Surface from Patrick Lawler on Vimeo.

Bargain Buys

[$7.50]

[$195.30]

[$90.30]

[$119.60]

[$89.40]

[$4.80]

[$399.60]

[$135.50]

All of these items are on sale at Wisteria right now.  They are such great buys! 

I want all of them.  Click on each image to go to the site.

Happy Buying!

LiveJournal Tags: wisteria

OCEAN, VOLCANO, TENT

THE MOUNTAIN OF ATLANTIC OCEAN from Alexandre Jesus on Vimeo.

DIY HEADBOARD

I just saw this DIY upholstered headboard idea on the blog Organized Design.  It was too awesome not to share with you.  The shape is perfect and what’s even better is that Jen only spent $85 making it.  Check out the rest of the story here.

LiveJournal Tags: DIY,Upholstered Headboard

Link party NO. 43 and a New Necklace

In my last post, I used a picture of my Honey Bun Cake. I wrote the post sometime last year, but of course if you are new to Tea Rose Home, you wouldn't know it! Several of you wanted the recipe for the cake (maybe I should have a category for recipes so it's easier for you to find my other recipes too... what do you think?)

Just click here and it will take you right to the post.

It's been a while since I had my sewing machine, I will introduce you to one of the jewelries I have made...


I have been making other jewelries, and they are shorter than this one (more posts to come soon). It is nice to have a variety.


All the flowers are made out of scraps from skirts and such that I had to hem. I kept them for things like this. I really don't like to buy fabrics for small projects such as this. It made me happy that I got to give them new life. :)


Ok everyone; it is time for you to show us your projects. I can't wait to see them!

Here are the rules:

1. Please post something YOU made. It doesn't matter if it is crochet, quilt, clothing, anything would be fine. I want to see it! If you use someone's idea or patterns please give them the rightful credit.

2. Link to your specific post, that way it is easier for everybody to find and read it.

3. Please grab the "Tea Rose Home" grab button, and link back from your post. If you can mention the party in your post or place the button on your side bar, that would be great! I want more people to have a chance to come and show off their creation.


<center><a href="http://tearosehome.blogspot.com"><img border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462799092490427250" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 126px; height: 160px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMqD2Vd0YEWWfW_JevA07K4_OWomfU7lSFZXBHspcGVRoVaexEOVPpQJj3QRfeDrXxLrc0VSBLINUdXmJx0aEnpBkhJBFyWX5aulRpCbQdmpicAtJkh2qCOcowwuHAunCyw2SpvLlb4ZI/s200/GrabButtonLinkParty.jpg" /></a></center>

Thank you for your participation, and making this link party successful and fun!

hello Suzani

World Market has been a long-time favorite of mine as far as home decor stores go.  Lately I feel like they have really stepped up their game too.  One thing that I’m really loving right now is this Suzani Flat Woven Wool Rug.

The colors are really vibrant and fun but sophisticated at the same time.  I could totally see a room designed around this very rug.

LiveJournal Tags: world market,suzani flat woven wool rug

Thoughts of Spring

We had a warm, cozy fire over the weekend.

Every time we have a fire in the fireplace, we always ask ourselves why we don't have them more often. For some reason, our fires are lit in the coldest months of winter. As I suggested to Mike, a summer fire...with the windows thrown open and the chirping of crickets outside...why haven't we done that? 

My hydrangeas are already budding, inspiring some spring reading (or at least the thought of spring reading)!

I added an orchid to the mantle in anticipation of the changing seasons.

Ever since the babies arrived, we've been spending most of our days in this room (which was tidied up before I took pictures!). For wear and tear (and spills and leaks), I typically throw a quilt over the couch. Baby swing is by Nature's Purest. 

I must have been tired...

Perhaps, I might need more sugar... I will tell you why I think that way in a minute.

Hi all! How was your three day weekend (I guess that's US only)? I had a pretty laid back nice time with my family. Except that I had a few things that are due in a couple weeks, so I took some time to work on them. OH, you would be so proud of me... I was working my tail off to make progress on them.

Usually I am such a short sleeper (and deep sleeper too), and sleep about 5 to 6 hours and I am fine. I can totally function during the day. Last night, I was watching TV with Rachel, and KIND of fell asleep. The next thing I heard was my husband talking to kids and putting them to bed.

Then, he came to me to see if I was ok and he started to tuck me in and I remember saying to him, "I am just pretending to sleep, so the kid will go to bed too. I will get up soon, let’s watch a movie."

Then, when I woke up, it was 9:00 in the morning....

I asked my husband what happened and here is his story.

“After I tucked you in, I went to see the kids off and do last minute conversations. When I came back 10 minutes later, you were snoring. So, I just let you sleep.”

Ugh! I feel like I wasted a night. I can't believe I slept close to 12 hours! That will only happen once or twice a year.

All I can say is; I must have been tired...

CORAL CONUNDRUM

(Photograph of Acropora pulchra by Albert Kok at nl.wikipedia, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)

I had the good fortune to meet Greta Aeby last April at her lab on Hawaii's Coconut Island—that tiny gem in Kaneohe Bay that was filmed for the show open of Gilligan's Island—now home to the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. 

I was planning to write about Greta's work on coral diseases for a new Mother Jones article. Then the Deepwater Horizon rearranged the known world and I never got to write that piece. 

(Coconut Island. Via HIMB.) 

Now I see that Greta is lead author of a new paper in PLoS ONE, assessing the causes of tumorlike diseases afflicting corals in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Coral cover in those waters has declined  by about 1 percent per year for the last 20 years, increasing to 2 percent between 1997 and 2003.

So what's doing that?

This paper outlines the first broad-scale assessment of how nine "predictors of interest" correlate with tumorlike diseases. You can see the predictors in the table below.

(Image: PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016887)

The nine predictors fall into three broad categories:

• biological factors: population abundance of affected corals
• human factors: human population
• environmental factors: warming waters, surface ultra-violet radiation

Statistical models were used to examine the prevalence of two coral diseases—Acropora growth anomalies and Porites growth anomalies. These diseases manifest like tumors. They're easy to identify in the field and not easily confused with anything else.

(Porites growth anomaly at top, and Acropora growth anomaly at bottom. Images courtesy PLoS ONE DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016887)

The team surveyed for growth anomaly diseases on 937 reefs from 13 regions across the Indo-Pacific between 2002 and 2008. They examined corals at the genus level.

The results:

• The Acropora growth anomaly was most associated with Acropora abundance—that is, the more Acropora corals, the more Acropora disease too
• The Porites growth anomaly was associated with Porites abundance, but also with nearby human populations—that is, the more people, the more disease too

Which basically means that the growth anomaly diseases are likely communicable, and the the Porites version is also likely related in some fashion to an environmental co-factor or two: pollution, eutrophication, habitat fragmentation, and/or direct introduction of novel pathogens into the ecosystems.

Might there be a similar correlation for human health?

(Survey sites. Image: PLoS ONE DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0016887)

Meantime, the heavily populated coasts suffering the most Porites growth anomalies are also home to many of the 500 million people most immediately dependent on coral reefs. The authors note:

As human densities and environmental degradation increase globally, the prevalence of coral diseases like [Porites growth anomalies] could increase accordingly, halted only perhaps by declines in host density below thresholds required for disease establishment.

Or... halted perhaps by declines in human density below thresholds required for disease establishment? 

This is not an impossible reality beginning sometime this century if—as projected—our population peaks and then naturally falls as more women become literate wage-earners. (For more about that, see my article The Last Taboo.)

But can coral reefs—or the people dependent on them—hold out until then? It's sort of a Catch-21st century. 

Coral Beauty from Greg Rothschild on Vimeo.

Finally, for your enjoyment, an incredibly gorgeous video of captive corals. Though the porno soundtrack is a puzzler.

The paper:

Aeby, G., Williams, G., Franklin, E., Haapkyla, J., Harvell, C., Neale, S., Page, C., Raymundo, L., Vargas-Ángel, B., Willis, B., Work, T., & Davy, S. (2011). Growth Anomalies on the Coral Genera Acropora and Porites Are Strongly Associated with Host Density and Human Population Size across the Indo-Pacific PLoS ONE, 6 (2) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016887

I ♥ open access papers.