[ joao silva ]

sooooooo...joao silva, new york times photographer, stepped on a land mine in afghanistan in october 2010 ~ he lost both his legs below the knee. as soon as i hear 'stepped on a land mine' you know it's not good & i'm kind of waiting holding my breath for the extent of the injury. we hear about the losing limbs but rarely are all the injures talked about... joao had to under go reconstructive surgery to repair his badly injured colon & urethra.... once you hear that, the missing limbs suddenly aren't the breath stopping component...


this man is so calm ~ he felt that his number came up... & given the chance, prostheses permitting he'd go back to photograph more... wow ~ i'll need a few more therapy sessions before i can fully process that.



'CONFLICT ZONE,' inspired by joao silva, is an exhibition of photography taken by world leading combat photographers from the front lines of the wars in iraq & afghanistan is being shown at the New York City Fire Museum


Half of the proceeds will be donated to the CHRIS HONDROUS FUND (chris hondrous was one of joao's colleagues, killed in libya in april 2011), the rest will go to the FISHER HOUSE FOUNDATION & the INDEPENDENCE FUND.



joao silva on voyeurism:

'Somehow the camera gives us access to the most intimate moments in peoples' lives. And you do feel out of place when you're photographing a mother cradling a dead son or whatever the case may be. Or a young Marine helping an injured friend — you do feel like you're somewhat out of place. But at the same time, you know that it's important to do it. It's what you're doing there. Otherwise, stay home and hang out with your PlayStation. ... You gotta learn to live with yourself and what you do. When you take pictures — and these are extreme situations — you are intruding. You're very fortunate to be able to record somebody else's history. I've always maintained that the true heroes are the people around me. ... I always understand that it's the history that I'm documenting — that's the whole point of being there.'

[ easy to make pipe cleaner roses ~ full instructions! ]

sooooooo... i can't take the credit for coming up with the idea... but i think they are brilliant!! and today i went into oscar's school for his 100th day party & made them with his class. the kids are 5 & 6 year olds & although they did need some help they all got it & you could tell they were all excited with the result!! great for fine motor skills.

& whats great is all you need are 7 pipe cleaners! 6 of the color you want the rose petals to be & 1 green one for the leaf.

i like using different shades of the same color.

check out how easy they are to make:

first take 6 pipe cleaners for the rose petals. tap them down to make sure they are the same lengths.

then hold them horizontally, find the middle & twist them round so they stay together.

put your finger on top of the twist & bend the pipe cleaners up to make the ring part & twist. make sure you can still get your finger in there...

next open up the pipe cleaners like whiskers.

pinch each end over & then roll them up to the middle.

do that will all the pipe cleaners.

then tidy the petals up... i like to start with the darker colors in the middle, take 2 & put them opposite each other, then put 4 around & the others go underneath.

next twist a green pipe cleaner under the petals & pinch the ends & roll up just like the others.

these make great boutonnieres & also are nice for decorating presents.

[ HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ]