Another beautiful artifact at the church

Check out the calligraphy! Amazing... 

Close up of the stained glass

I've noticed that there are shots I can get with the digital SLR that I couldn't get with the pocket camera: not sure if it's the lens or the more even flash or the instant gratification of the shutter opening precisely when you push the button. Probably the sum of all of those, plus better hardware and software to boot.

Still not sure we're going to keep it -- we might opt instead for one of those mini digicams which record to a hard drive or a media card instead.

Cool stained glass

You don't see much stained glass on the West Coast, but they have a few beautiful examples at the 21st Ave Baptist Church, where Fed's dad is the pastor. 

The return of the red hat

Here's Cameron showing off his red hat and his two lower teeth. He's turning out to be quite the eater. Today, he was drooling up a storm, which might mean more teeth are on the way to help him chomp down on bigger food! 

The third Easter egg hunt of the season

Here are the kids on their third Easter egg hunt of the season: their first was at the church Easter retreat, followed by one at Anna's birthday party, and topped off with the Easter Sunday version at Fedora's dad's church in the city.

I've always wondered about the origins of the Easter eggs, as well as the association of Easter with the bunny (after all, bunnies don't lay eggs: they're mammals!).

Anyway, the Internet consensus seems to be that both the egg and the bunny are symbols of fertility and birth. If true, eggs represent the same thing at both the Easter egg hunt (or exchange, as it might have been in earlier days) and the traditional Chinese red egg and ginger party. (In fact, some Greeks celebrate Easter with dyed red eggs.)

One fascinating theory for why the egg is associated with the bunny is cataloged on Wikipedia. The theory is that German Protestants wanted to retain the Catholic tradition of eating colored eggs for Easter but did not want their kids fasting at Lent, which they figured to be a Catholic tradition.

Anyway, Easter egg hunt or not, happy Easter to one and all! He has risen. (Mark 16:1-19) 

What if Apple had hired MSFT to create the iPod box?

All right: maybe this is a little too work-related, but I found it hilarious. Ever wonder why Microsoft and Dell and HP just strike you as blah brands while Apple seems oh-so-shiny? What this case study on how graphic and industrial design can really shape your perceptions of a company's brand identity.

More along the wacky & creative theme

Here's more along the same theme as my previous post on wacky & creative people. Check out these Rube Goldberg-type devices courtesy of Google Video:

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate

I saw this post on Slashfood and had to share: here's the Website of a UK-based food artist named Prudence Emma Staite who makes astounding things out of chocolate -- like entire people sculptures, chandeliers, dresses, ovens, and Jenga (you know: the wooden puzzle game).

I'm thinking that people have always been this wacky & creative: the Web just lets us see more of them and their amazing creations.