I missed putting out a Valentine item in February. March roared in
like a lion. I'm beating April Fool's Day with my Valentine-theme video
and article. Inspiration started with kin's visit on February 14.
The relatives brought flowers. I'd baked Valentine theme cookies
made from Red Velvet and Strawberry cake mixes. I searched for kiddie
Valentine cards and found one card, no envelope. A few days later, after
they'd left, I found a stack hiding in plain sight.
My journey in creating the Valentine blog theme started out small,
but became gargantuan when I collected hearty items to group together,
created kid-like artsy photographable items, and integrated videos in my
mix. The journey was quite an adventure in inspiration, organization,
and implementation.
Heart Use as a Verb
Hearting is an obscure but increasingly creeping use of heart as a
verb. Creeping, as in slowly moving, not creepy as nervousness inducing.
Consider "I heart NY" and "I heart radio", which seem normal in use of
heart as verb. As a thought, maybe "I heart [something]" can seem less
tension than the "L" wprd.
Indoor Shots
My video includes indoor images and also outdoor images. I got in
touch with my inner creative child for cutouts, punches, arrangements. I
also rustled up images for Valentine cookies that I'd baked
occasionally over many years. BTW, cake mix amounts in boxes have
downsized over the years that cookie dough dollops were less mannerly
this time around.
Outdoor Shots
I mentioned creeping use of heart as verb. A piece of my video shows a
hybrid of Halloween creep and hearty Valentine approach. Numerous other
outdoorsy shots include archives of heart-shaped prickly pear plants
from February 2010 and also February 2025. Eh, the 2010 ones were more
plentiful and cuter; the more recent environment wasn't as, uh,
fruitful. For my non-prickly pear plant shot, the red bud tree with a heart-shaped bloom had caught my eye.
What arose when the sun set down at the dark site we went to? Dark
skies and objects (constellations, star clusters, nebulae, ...) that
don't show up well in light-pollution, densely populated areas. What
three items am I talking about? A TV tray table, a transparent cookbook stand, and a thin, portable gaming monitor.
We met with another astronomy photographer (AKA astrophotographer) at
a dark site, both parties for a nebula 1000 light years away. Our
friend stayed long enough to also photograph a set of galaxies 60
million light years away. BTW, astrophotography is not merely taking one
pic and seeing loads of details. Each session for each target tends to
take hours, sometimes multiple sessions, specialized equipment for
taking out-of-the-world pix, and cooperative climate conditions.
Portable Gaming Monitor
Our friend showed a new acquisition for showing audience members at
outreach events—a portable gaming monitor that he read about in a NYT
Wirecutter article, maybe "The Best Monitors". Arzopa seems eye-poppingly low cost, compared to other reviewed monitors. "Arzopa Z1FC 144Hz Portable Gaming Monitor Review"
lists the measurements as 8.2 by 14.9 by 0.5 inches, weighing 1.7
pounds. (The traditional dimension reference is 16.1 (corner to corner).
Table Slots Between Slats a Hindrance to Stable Monitor Support
Anyway, he is understandably concerned about the monitor's thin
foldable corner support falling through slots on his display table
(square with narrow gaps between slats). Noting the monitor's thinness, I
mentioned having a plastic, transparent cookbook stand that would
probably work with such a monitor.
Another idea was trying a different table. I thought of our foldable TV tray table
that measures 14.5 x 19 and has no gap hazards. BTW, Google images
search shows good results for "acrylic cookbook stands" and "foldable TV
trays". BTW, a quick, low-effort, low-cost solution to preventing
monitor support fall-through, using a square piece of cardboard the same
size as the square table would help.
Music Stand as Monitor Support? Nah!
An idea for stable displaying of the monitor briefly arose—using a
music stand. It has variable height and tilt adjustments and horizontal
lip. Downsides, however, are heaviness from metal weight and feet that
take up space during transport. Furthermore, securing a monitor to avoid
tipping or toppling it is concerning.
Musing Monitor Support Using No-slat TV Tray Table and Cookbook Stand
The next day, I thought about taking pix showing my cookbook stand
and TV tray table. I took a set of pix—one of the stand (with open
book) atop the table, one with additional items, and several showing
different-angle views.
It occurred to me that I had the makings of a blog topic that
included some idea exchanges about items not specific to astronomy.
Also, I got to thinking of how to organize and create a helpful
slide-show video.
Besides Monitor Musings
Some additional items in the video are are a yardstick and a set of trekking poles. The yardstick provides dimensional references. The
sticks were mentioned during the imaging session. FWIW, a dark site can
be challenging for those unfamiliar with the terrain. Even more
challenging is navigating after the sun goes down. Better to have sticks
and not need them than need them and not have them.
Update: Additional Info After Video's Upload on Feb 28 2025
After publishing the blog article and uploading the movie, our friend
sent an image of his table and portable gaming monitor with the
monitor's support leg. His fix for possible leg fall-through was a
bottle cap.
A bottle cap does the job for the leg and the display is too thick to slide through. The [table's] gap actually cradles the bottom of the display! ... I added a couple of bits of foam insulation to the bottle cap to keep the leg centered in it.
The video's thumbmail shows the initial suggestion, the friend's pic,
and additional ideas. The newer items include bungee cords for better
securing a monitor for display and avoiding pit falls.
I wanted to Kool-Aid my cake using Raspberry Kool-Aid, but the
supermarket didn't carry that flavor. I thought about using Jello, maybe
make a poke cake.
Fortunately, I found info for helping integrate raspberry gelatin and
cake in a non-pokey way. The result was my raspberry con-fusion cake
(details farther down).
No Hokey Pokey Cake for Me, but Something Else
When I read elsewhere that a poke cake would deteriorate in a few
days, I abandoned the idea. Besides short life, the recipe looked like
more work than I wanted to do. I later thought about making something
with raspberry gelatin and cake. Did some poking around supermarket
prices and availability. Jello's small size cost nearly as much as the family size. I noticed that the store carries both Royal and Hill Country Fare raspberry sugar-free brands.
I found a few resources to use gelatin in cake besides making poke
cakes. Several commenters recommended merely following the cake box's
instructions and mixing in the gelatin powder. I've run across info
about enhancing cakes by adding an extra egg and using milk instead of
water, In my zeal to try a few different details, I put in too much
fluid.
My Con-fusion
My con-fusion with this cake resulted from using the amount of fluid
called for if making a small gelatin batch. For integration into a cake,
I needed to put in only half the fluid. Regular instructions for
small-package gelatin calls for 1 cup of boiling water and 1 cup of cold
water. Normal box cake recipes call for 1 cup of water total. Sooo, I put too much fluid. I decided to just carry on and see how the cake turned out.
To adjust for too much fluid, I baked the cakes for several minutes
longer, hoping evaporation would help. The cake layers baked; the
toothpick test came out well. However, they did not rise. The finished
cake cut cleanly with no crumbs. The mouth-feel texture was dense, like
pound cake. Within the six days of consumption, the cake became more
moist, even watery. The frosting seemed to almost liquefy to saucy
consistency.
If inclined, Google "what happens if you add too much fluid to cake
batter". The next time I retry the recipe, I'll remember to use only
half the amount of fluid.)
Resources for Using Gelatin in Cakes (Excluding Pokes)
The calories and sodium differ on whether you use sugar-free or sugared Jello gelatin powders.
Note: Using sugared Jello instead of sugar-free HCF adds about 320 extra
calories (~27 C/svg) and 320 extra mg of sodium (~27 mg/svg) to the
cake. Between the two sugar-free brands, the amount of calories is
negligible. The amount for sodium is more significant. The following
abbreviated table compares calories and sodium for HCF, Royal, and Jello
raspberry gelatins.
My profession had been technical writer/editor. Through TheWriteJob clublet (blog at http://thewritejob.blogspot.com), I have been exploring my inner creative writing, which includes mostly language enlightenment, entertainment, and a-muse-meant. Over time, I have become more active with images and my YouTube channel.
