I woke this morning to find a wonderful comment from Steven on Wednesday’s spider web post (he ponders about webs and diffraction in a post on his blog), and somehow I found my camera in my hand this afternoon to find dreamy blurs behind new webs—

peering closer in at the yellow markings on the spinner, who looks to be starting with a single circular area, I wondered if all webs begin as circles…

Nearby, another elegant spinner flashed with silver precision in the sun, and I blinked, trying to decipher what was spun and what was spinning, a point of reflection for the weekend ahead and the patterns I hope to weave…

p.s. these are even better in larger detail; click the image to go to the Flickr page for each—

I looked out the kitchen window this morning, put my hand on the sill to steady myself. My heart beat quickly as I slipped silently outside, moving shyly.

The sun lit the strands stretching to anchor the webs—I have begun looking for the fastening points, the fancy work at the edges,

the taut lines apart from a web proper.

Against the deep blue, the whole web starts to shimmer and tries on one color after another,

and small, new points dot the inner, the outer, and above on this day celebrating the Earth…

From sandwich construction with Holly last Wednesday, Thursday began with spider web builds outside the cottage.

Tiers of webs foretold the net phases of a day that began as I imagined what an egg tasting would look like, and decided on goat cheese, tomatoes, and fresh mayonnaise for the local eggs,

and I finished packing, sat in my favorite chair, closed my eyes, and knew that this tropical fruit (from Redland Organics—I think this is annona, the sugar apple), tasted exactly like its color with a texture like a sherbet at room temperature.

I fly often enough to appreciate literary seatmates, and I smiled when the person next to me closed his book’s cover (Oblivion) as we landed in New York, revealing a DFW kindred spirit.

Jonathan flipped a coin and we shared a taxi into Brooklyn,

where we walked Brooklyn Heights until we found the cheese shop Stinky Bklyn,

and sat outside eating Manchego, salami, and crusty bread in the sun as the strollers passed. Jonathan teaches a group of very lucky first graders, is about to begin an insect unit (we are obviously into spiders here on kthread), and I’m happy to think a chance seat placement began a friendship (I think sharing cheese adds to this, as you’ll see).

Later that night, Solana and I supported Brooklyn Restaurant Week at Pó, and I marveled at the perfect white bean bruschetta,

and wondered why I’ve never thought to make a ragù with duck (this was topped with Asiago). We talked about men, and women, and patterns, and serendipity, and how Solana has created a life that is never the same. She is right now in Taiwan, part of her frequent travels as Managing Editor of Global Voices.

The next morning, the buzz of the small screens flickering in the New York Times lobby stopped me,

and after spending time with gadgets and immersive environments at the NYT’s R&D Lab with Nick Bilton, I headed toward the Union Square Greenmarket on a quest for ramps and other vegetables.

Orange tulips made me happy,

and branches of Spring piled up on tables and in containers.

Just past the honey,

I found raw milk cheese and roasted garlic/duck fat ciabatta that I brought to the Jelly co-working event in Brooklyn later that afternoon (a second instance of sharing cheese).

A few hours later, I left the DUMBO area to watch a sculpture installation inflate into a Friday afternoon,

inverting and changing shape in the wind as observers paused to watch what would happen.

As the thin membrane of the plastic installation deflated, Amanda (who I happened to meet, and yet am connected to as she is a previous Knight News Challenge winner) gave me a dinner recommendation for the Badlands.

The Dakotas were a little far out for dinner, though, so after watching a Greek Easter procession on the street,

I ate beautiful raw corn tamales with a raw cacao mole and a little beet-chèvre ravioli on a wonderful patio with interesting friends of friends and heady sangria at Pure Food and Drink,

which also has a solid dessert menu, as Saskia illustrates.

Even better was the second dessert of the night, my first Gem Spa egg cream; I watched the seltzer being stirred into the syrup and understood.

The following afternoon, I turned to spot desserts painted on buildings,

and then industrial piscine signage,

a sidewalk tag sale,

the Memorial Doughboy (you’ll have to visit to see him in his full glory),

and Lady Liberty—who I have never seen before—wandering through the Red Hook area of Brooklyn.

As part of the Brooklyn Key Lime Expeditionary Force (BKLEF), I ventured with Cap’n Key Lime toward an undisclosed (to me) pie destination;

with the citrus loot procured, he looked out, enigmatically,

past the daffodils,

and the buses that no longer run,

to the water reflected in windows,

and the water taxi that ferries across the blue (you never know how or when the BKLEF will arrive or depart).

And later that night, the BKLEF delivered said pie to Sunny Bates’ fabulous apartment,

watching as the sun set over the New York skyline with wine, caper salad, asparagus from the Union Square Greenmarket spun into soup, local beef, broccoli raab with ramps, and my favorite part, a melty rhubarb gelato that was, like the rest of the weekend, simply perfect…

Picking up my friend Laura from the Miami airport last Thursday night, we drove to South Beach’s Tapas y Tintos on Espanola Way to meet my friends (and work colleagues) Jessica, Mayur, and Mayur’s girlfriend Rebecca. Here’s how Rebecca and Mayur met:

Joined by Stuart and Christian, we headed over to Hoy Como Ayer to hear the rollicking local Latin jam band the Spam Allstars:

Much later, after dancing with the swaying crowd, Laura was finally able to unpack before we headed to Key West on Friday morning to blue, blue water and white sand.

If you’re into that sort of thing, here it is, your moment of Zen:

Before the beach, though, we started at B.O.’s Fish Wagon,

with sandwiches of grilled shrimp and fried softshell crab,

conch fritters, fries, and Landshark beer.

We walked past paint that crackled on doors,

banyan trees spotted with sunlight,

to Ernest Hemingway’s house and its webs,

famous felines,

and infamous pool.

Walking down the adjoining street past neighborhood roosters,

and a mannequin standing watch,

I knew I would return to see more of this place that deserves a longer turn than a few hours in a Friday day trip. We laughed all the way back, as Laura interspersed cat poetry between our stories from the past few months (this poem is our favorite):

On Saturday morning, back in Miami, there were radishes and turnips in the CSA farm box,

and flowers to enthrall at the Coral Gables Farmers’ Market,

along with stone crabs cooked and waiting to be packed in ice and served with a melted butter sauce at the magic cottage…

Some South Beach wanders later, we headed for the Pinecrest market Sunday morning, to fresh herbs from Redland Organics,

and, in the opposite direction, shapes being twisted in North Beach into fanciful shapes (Laura took a beautiful shot of the work),

before wandering the Miami Festival of the Arts and smiling when we discovered the Spam Allstars playing the festival, this time in the company of a couple wearing unusual footwear.

The North Beach community was dancing together as we left to pick up Jessica for a Little Havana adventure–we walked into a shop on Calle Ocho, ordered coffee, and suddenly, everyone was on their feet.

And that is the one thing I hope Laura will remember South Florida for—above all else, this city surprises with pockets of dancing…

Today, kthread.com turns three. As is tradition (from her first and second birthday celebrations), I’ve given her gifts: a new verb menu above with a few new pages and a greener header image. More presents to come later in the year.

Thank you for this incredible year of gifts–your comments, your support of the kthread cooks show (on Miro), and your openness to food adventures during my 2008 travels made for a spectacular ride.

Like the title of the soundtrack song by Bag Raiders in the video below, you are all shooting stars. We begin with Sir Tim Berners-Lee using a Flip cam for the first time–

In order of first appearance (you are quite the cast of characters in my life): Holmes Wilson, Nicholas Reville, Ben Bateman, Keicy Tolbert, George Kelly, John Havard, Jeremy Grimm, Laura Hertzfeld, Chris Messina, Susan Mernit, Katrina Taylor, Jeannine Harvey, Brian Oberkirch, Brian Boyer, Rosental Alves, Stewart Pillow, Pilar Guzman, Andrew Pratt (hand), Margaret Rosas, Mascot of NextSpace, Jessica Goldfin, City of Chicago with John Havard’s voice, Andrew Hyde, Helen Dunn, Amber Tatum, Kassandra Taylor, Jenne Hebert, the Michelin Man, Nina Walia, Austin Bike Zoo at Maker Faire, Morgan Weiland, DC Freshly Squeezed skater, Reid Leslie, David Sasaki, Jordan Taylor, Dana Wheeles, Cameron Nordholm, Amit Gupta, Michael J. Fox, Conch Lady, Old Couple in Cambridge, Matching Sock Trio, Downtown Miami Street Artists Jess and Jenne.

VIP commenters making their debut in next year’s video: Amanda Hirsch, John Jackson, Jessica Smith

I’m in love with us. What shall we do more of this coming year on kthread? Favorite happenings from this year? Onward!