Gingerbread House in the Woods, Q. Cassetti, 2010, pen and ink.Brilliant day. Rumors have it that it may go to fifty today. Fifty! The geese are honking and the promise of turkey vultures in our trees beckon. It was a quiet night last night...with dinner and friends, kids all chatty about the play and school. Thank goodness the "pig lab" is done as Alex is done with it. He enjoyed it, but it got pretty rank at the end of that process. Tons of work yesterday. More of the same today. We got colliding rush projects that came across the transom at literally three minutes to five yesterday. A bit rugged, and I said "wait" on one of them that seemed to have had a bit more wait in it. I am trying to think about how to push towards more than a 5 minute turn around on work. It really is a bit about training the customer (maybe a bit of tough love) and praising them when they get it right. I hope this helps.

I am on my big pub for the Museum today...laying out, figuring out what goes where, with which image, silhouette or not>? side bar? or not? pullouts or not? You get the idea. Did a little work on an image yesterday (a small bit of a painting of a medieval woman holding a cup). As its a painting, its not too sharp. Plus, as it was a piece we had to work with that is around 2" x 2.75" at 600 dpi which was fuzzy at best with a lot of the line work being lost. So, I took a copy of the file, pulled a lot of the dark linework from the painting along with another midlevel selection in warm grey which I re-sandwiched with the original (multiplying the layers) and saved out... I will show you the difference when I have a chance to save out for you. It pumped the contrast of the image a bit...and though it is monkeying with the image to make it work as a little piece, still has integrity. Interesting process.

I ordered the Simon Buxton book on Bee Shaman yesterday and perused the Manuka Honeys that are offered for medicinal use (internal and topical). Big stuff in Europe. Not so big here though amazon.com has a lot of stuff. Here is a mid rated honey for both minor injury and internal use>> Manuka Honey from New Zealand>>

Honey is rated according to UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) which determines whether it is table honey or a honey that can be used for topical treatments:

from Manuka Honey:

What Is UMF?

• UMF is the name of a very beneficial antibacterial property found in some strains of manuka honey. (UMF is not in all manuka honey.)

• UMF indicates the honey has a high antibacterial component.

• UMF is a guarantee and measure of the antibacterial potency of honey.

• UMF Manuka Honey (UMF10 is minimum level) has enhanced antibacterial potency giving it special healing qualities.

• UMF Manuka Honey is the preferred honey when selecting honey for special therapeutic uses.

• UMF is an industry registered name, trademark, standard indicating antibacterial quality

• The UMF standard is the only standard worldwide identifying and measuring the antibacterial strength of honey.

UMF was first discovered by Dr Peter Molan, MBE, of Waikato University's Honey Research Unit. Honey contains an enzyme that produces hydrogen peroxide, a proven antiseptic with antibacterial properties. Dr Molan's research found another more powerful and more stable antibacterial property, called UMF, in some strains of manuka honey.  UMF is additional to the hydrogen peroxide antibacterial property.  These two properties together have a synergistic effect enhancing their effectiveness.

Studies are showing the enhanced antibacterial qualities of UMF Manuka Honey gives the honey special healing qualities.

There are Two Types of Manuka Honey:

1. Ordinary manuka honey with only the hydrogen peroxide antibacterial property common to most honeys. A very nice table honey.

2. UMF Manuka Honey with both the natural hydrogen peroxide antibacterial property plus its own natural UMF antibacterial property, giving it increased antibacterial potency. A specialty honey identified by the name UMF. It is the preferred honey for wound dressing and other special therapeutic uses.

Pretty cool, eh?