BURNING MAN

It's been a while since I've posted anything, we were both very busy preparing for Burning Man again this year. The festival occupies your thoughts more and more in the days leading up to it... We decided to go for a half week this time (Thursday through Sunday), because staying for both setup and takedown is incredibly draining! The first time I went I was so enthralled and delighted by everything--this year, well, it took two days to adjust to the heat and dust, I didn't feel like I had the full experience. There was plenty of cool artwork, like tower pictured below. I'm not sure if it burned in the end, but it was hella huge, wooden, full of gears, and the whole construct could be rotated by people using turnstiles around the perimeter (not pictured).

Sometimes the most impressive things you see at BM are of modest size--last year there was a high school locker way out beyond the Man. It was astonishing to find this thing in the middle of a dust storm, complete with textbooks, notes, doodles, and cheesy essays. This year the neatest thing (in my opinion) was a series of bottles hanging on several rows of cords. Each bottle was dented with mirrors affixed to it, and could spin rapidly when the wind blew. As these bottles spun I swear you could see distorted faces in them, and the whirring of their spinning reminded me of humans mumbling. Eerie!

You'll see some other goofy pictures below of us. I tried making and EL wire hat at the last minute with an animated blinking eye on the front. It looks weird in the photo because you're supposed to view it in complete darkness, but it worked well and I'm looking forward to more EL projects! Perhaps a similar top hat with flickering flames around the perimeter? Scott made a wonderful clown suit that's not shown here, but soon our pics will be posted on the Winking Lotus site. Lots of other great photos there, check it out:
Official Winking Lotus Website!

Flammable rotating tower of terror!

Scott takes off!

Man falls!

Decked out on Burn night

Brews on the Bay

This past weekend we decided to hang out on a big ship and drink grog! It was the second annual "Brews on the Bay" fest hosted by the San Francisco Brewers guild. Beers from several city breweries were served aboard a historic WWII vessel, the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brian. I sampled plenty of tasty beers--Beach Chalet's Riptide Red was quite snappy, and Bear Republic served up a Vanilla ale I could not resist! Hmmm, vanilla flavors are much better in wine than in beer, I think, but glad I gave it a try. The Watermelon Ale from 21st Amendment made an appearance, and though it may sound repulsive, this is a mighty refreshing and popular beer!

After getting thoroughly soused you could take a tour of the ship's engine room. Even though the boat stayed anchored, the propellers were turning and the furnaces were stoked down below. No fat sailors aboard this vessel! The walkways that meandered through the engine room were extremely narrow. Also, huge ponderous cranks and pistons within arms reach made me think yikes, no loose clothing or you're hamburger meat! Interestingly, the ship is powered by a triple-chambered steam engine just like the Titanic--in fact, the O'Brian's engine room was filmed for that (in)famous movie.

Alky-traz! I think the island looks shaped like a ship from out here.

Our mateys, left to right: Mitch (Scott's brother), Derek, Tom (Scott's Dad), Sabrina

"We're under ATTACK!!!" Scott and I love regressing to the age of 3.

*Hic!* Whazzaaaaah...

I'll blow this place outta the water if I don't get more grog!