Rocks, Lotsa Salt

So ...

2010-12-27T15:24:00.009-05:00

Yeah, I've been AWOL for a few months. My life is just not that exciting. Oh, I have lots of opinions I could share, but aren't there enough screaming heads blogging out there just now? Most of them aren't even literate let alone articulate, and that's just the people on my side of the aisle.

But my blog's been vacant too long, so here's some stuff ...

Finished crocheting this sweater about a month ago. It's made with Simply Shetland's Silk & Lambswool, a big favorite of mine. It's called Stepping Stones, by Kristin Omdahl, and can be found in the Fall, 2008 edition of Interweave Crochet, if you are interested. A slightly complicated start, but the top-down style means no seams to sew which makes it a lot easier than it looks.

Let's see ... Christmas was this past weekend. We got into a discussion of movies on Christmas Eve and boy is my cousin, we'll call him J, ever down on True Grit. I never knew J was such a fan of John Wayne, but he's taking the remake as an affront to the Duke's honor. It was pretty funny. Ordinarily I share his opinion of remakes ... why? Why remake something that's already a classic? Let's face it, they usually ruin them. However, they've done something right with this one, I think, in that they cast Jeff Bridges, who is not one of the new pretty boys. He's got acting chops, having been around for something like 30 years, so he just might do it justice.

I also made a few scarves as gifts, but due to the last minute crunch to get them finished (They were finished a while ago, okay? I just, er, forgot ... yes, that's right, I forgot to weave in ends and do the blocking and other boring stuff until the day before Christmas Eve.) they weren't camera ready until it was too late and I was too tired. But I do still have this scarf and mitten set, mostly because I made it for myself, heh. Oh, I did get a picture of this collar thingie I made for my niece. It's intended to dress up a tshirt or tank top.

What else? Well, I decided how to best make use of my new Kindle, with which I was gifted. Since I love to read, it was never a question of whether I'd use it. However, as nifty as e-books are, unless they are public domain, i.e., the author has been dead a long time, they still cost you something to buy, which is why I get a lot of books from the library; and since I know I'll still need to purchase hard copies of my usual keepers, I wasn't sure where e-reading would fit in. I got to thinking about the kinds of things I'm interested in reading, but don't usually want to buy. Magazines and nonfiction books top that list, so I went hunting and came up with The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain, because I like science stuff. And I have it say, it's a winner. The folks at Scientific American have been doing this kind of thing for a very long time so they know how to make science stuff accessible to us non-scientist types without dumbing it down, all the while showing you how relevant science is to your life. It touches on things like Alzheimer's and autism, but it also discusses why men don't like to consult maps while women navigate best via landmarks; why you'll know your car keys when you seem them, even if they aren't where you expected them to be; why so many of us aren't morning people; why a word might be at the tip of your tongue but not at the top of your brain; and a whole slew of other interesting questions. If you enjoy learning something new, I can recommend this one. With or without the Kindle.

And that'll have to keep you until the next time ...

Long Live The Book

2010-08-02T15:10:00.006-04:00

I was just reading an interesting article from this month's issue of Washington Lawyer, entitled "The Future of Reading," by Bob Kemper, which discusses the doom and gloom pronouncements on the death of the printed book now that e-books are becoming ever more popular. ~~It isn't available online yet, or I would link to it; but I didn't want to wait to write this post lest I forget.~~

So many people are predicting the end of the printed book, but I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, I know there are a lot of benefits to e-books, not the least of which is their portability. You can carry a whole lot o' books around in one little e-reader. And it's an excellent medium for researchers, no doubt about it. And it's true that e-readers are becoming more popular, and are possibly encouraging more people to read, all of which is good. The article says that the number of readers in the U.S. declined by 20 million between 1982 and 2002, according to the NEA. But the article also says that the U.S. alone publishes 275,000 books in a year, which is even more than a true reader could keep up with, so I don't know that we can say that people have stopped reading altogether, or that people have completely forsaken the printed book.

Even with the Internet, I have had a little trouble tracking down exact figures, but the gist of what I have found seems to say that while the publication of printed books has flattened out quite a bit, we are still way ahead of figures from the 1950s. In fact, according to the article, and contrary to it's own doom and gloom prediction, the latest NEA survey, released in 2009, says that the number of readers has risen across the boards for the first time in 25 years, with the biggest increases between the ages of 18 and 24 ... you know, that group that's supposedly too busy texting to read anymore.

They cite the rise in popularity of first the Harry Potter series, and second the Twilight series as reasons; but, honestly, I think it was more likely a natural ebb and flow. And does it really matter why? If people of any age are once hooked by a book, they will eventually read again. It's really just a matter of finding the right book for them. It doesn't matter whether they come, initially, by way of an e-reader. If they are hooked at all, I think the odds are that they will visit a public library, pick up a paperback at the drugstore, or borrow from a friend. Because once you fall in love with reading, it's a love affair for life.

And now I'm going to sneak in another little opinion of mine, a radical idea that has been niggling away at the back of my mind for a few years now. Is it possible that the publishing industry, itself, is to blame for what might appear to be a decline in book sales? Oh, I'm not even talking about the price of a book, which is becoming ridiculous, I admit. No, what I've been pondering is a theory more rebellious than even that. Did it, in a mad rush to ride the wave of reading popularity of a few decades ago, lower its own standards? Because I have to say that while I have always bought and read books, it has become increasingly hard to find really GOOD books over the last few years. So I'm wondering if publishing types, rather than paying attention to the quality of the books they printed, were, perhaps, letting themselves be led by the bean counters.

See, that's the only way I can explain to myself why, every few years, there seems to be a glut of some sub-genre in publishing. To be putting out that many books aimed at one small market and get them all out on the shelves in a fell swoop, I have to believe that publishing has been doing it deliberately, and I simply can't believe that whoever makes these decisions really believes that every single one of those serial killer paranormal romantic suspense chick lit mysteries is the next Tom Clancy or John Grisham offspring. Which means that they have been deliberately glutting the market with inferior reads. And rather than admit that the reading public has gotten disgusted and decided to be more selective and aim for quality over quantity, they are instead shouting that people don't read anymore. Huh.

Okay, I got a bit off topic there, but not too much. Because my point in all that ranting is that people are still reading, and the printed book is not dead or even dieing. It's biding it's time. In the article, Katherine Hayles of Duke University, herself a teacher of electronic literature, agrees with me, pointing out that traditional books have many advantages that digital devices will never have. Face it, you never have to recharge them. And when the apocalypse comes, which another depressing group promises is just around the corner, my hard copies will still work just fine.

Of course, Of Course

2010-07-20T11:16:00.010-04:00

There are days on my way into work when I'm not paying attention. I wasn't paying much attention this morning either, at first.

Nope, not here. Let's try this again.

Oooh, so close, but just missed him. One more time.

See him now?

What about now?
It's K Street. He's probably a lobbiest. Oh, and there's a cowboy in there somewhere, too. He's hiding behind the horse. I don't know why.

Kinda Cool

2010-06-14T11:33:00.002-04:00

What I like about crochet is its essential portability. I technically know how to knit, but I seem to be incapable of completing a row without needing to put down my wip (work in progress). This is problematic in knitting as you carry an entire row of stitches on your needles, and it can be confusing, if you have stop in the middle, to remember what direction you were going in. Well, it's confusing for me, anyway. With crochet, there's only one hook, and one active stitch/loop, so stopping mid-row is not a big deal.

Which is why I can crochet on the subway. I used to see people doing cross stitch or embroidery; but I've only seen one knitter, and she was was making socks using 3 (or maybe it was 4) dpn's (double pointed needles). Since I have difficulty with two pointy sticks, I was completely in awe of this woman. My point is, although I know there are knitters riding the train, I don't come across them very often.

In just the last two weeks, however, I've encountered two other people crocheting. In the first instance, I sat down next to this woman and we both pulled out our hooks and yarn at the same time to our mutual amusement. In the second instance, I was waiting for a train one evening and a woman walked up and said "you were crocheting this morning." Yes, I was. She then pulled out her current project and we had a brief but pleasant chat about yarn.

And then just last week I was sitting on the train and two women who sat near me remarked that they, too, crochet. And I think the one woman might have been inspired to bring a project with her on the next ride.

There's this idea out there that knitting and crocheting are for "older" women. Huh. It's practically trendy, if my recent experiences are anything to go by, and those were just the crocheters. There are knitters out there, as well. I think there are more of us yarnies out there than is generally realized. It's like being part of a secret but wide-spread counter-culture movement. How cool is that?

This stuff ain't for wimps

2010-05-11T12:00:00.005-04:00

I know you all are ever so impressed with my happy Harriet homeimprovementmanship. However, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to tell you this story:

So I bought these big tubs and pots for the deck a few weeks ago. I got a couple of kinds. One doesn't drain very well, I discovered, so I figured I would just drill some extra 'drainage'. I get out the drill and it's cordless so I charge it for a few hours on Saturday while I'm doing something else. Then Saturday afternoon I slip a drill bit in and tighten it up real good using something called, I kid you not, a "chuck key." Mind you, the tub is full of dirt and a few plants at this point so I have to be very careful about tipping the pot in order to get at the bottom. Well, I do this and find a way to prop it while I drill and it's all good, except I'm finding that the bit is only barely marking the plastic tub (did I mention it was plastic? Made to look like wood, but not). So I figure probably there isn't enough power and decide to recharge overnight and try again on Sunday.

Sunday I recreate the tipping of the pot and put the bit back in, use the chuck key to tighten it up, and give it a few experimental whirls.

I try again to drill a hole in this plastic tub and again all I accomplish is to scrape a few curls of plastic off. I'm impressed with how well made this thing is. Maybe I'm using the wrong kind of bit? There are bits for drilling different materials, I know; I don't know how to tell them apart. So I go and look and select one that is, at least, different from the one I'm currently using. Replace the old bit -I'm getting good with the chuck key - and try again. Still nada. And I'm thinking, is this thing made of plastic-coated titanium? My frustration level is rising. I try a different place on the pot, same thing. Maybe I need more pressure? I brace the pot and try putting a little muscle into it. Still no results.

I've been sitting there on the deck trying to put a *&^%$ hole in the *&^*%* pot for 20 minutes and at this point I'm considering using the &^%$& drill as a blunt instrument and hammering a &^%$& hole in the thing. Then, as I'm looking at the drill bit and giving it a few more experimental whirls, fuming over what should have been a really easy 5 minute project, I notice that the threads on the drill bit appear to be going in the wrong direction, spiraling up into the drill, instead of down into the still nonexistent hole. Huh.

Turns out, the drill has TWO DIRECTIONS. One for drilling in to a surface, and one for extricating the bit from the resulting hole. And if you have it going the wrong way, there ain't no way you're going to make a hole in anything thicker than paper.

I timed it. I put 10 holes in the bottom of that pot in 4 minutes. It only took me two days.

Someday

2010-05-05T16:31:00.011-04:00

My first exposure to crochet was watching my mom crochet covers to protect our couch and chair arms from the kind of wear and tear that happens. She used heavy thread, I think #3, and did her own pattern of chains and doubles to create a version of what is called 'filet crochet'. That's when a pattern includes closed and open spaces and, if carefully planned and charted, it's possible to create simple pictures and text that way. Think "Victorian sampler." Usually that's done in a much finer thread.

Thread is rated according to a number system that goes up as the thread gets finer. A #3 is roughly equivalent to string. It's very sturdy and often used to create things like dishtowels and facecloths because it will wash and wear very well. #10 is what you usually see used for doilies and such. #30 is extremely fine; more like sewing thread. And I think it's possible to get thread even finer than that, although you probably can't find it at your local hobby store. If you are looking for fancy lace trim on your wedding or ball gown, that's the stuff you want. The finer it is, the more drape the fabric will have. Makes sense, right?

Mostly it's made of cotton. In recent years, a blend of cotton and bamboo has become trendy. Bamboo is incredibly soft, but also terribly stretchy with no elasticity, so blending it with something else is a good idea. But it's lovely stuff for wearables. 100% cotton thread tends to feel a bit stiff when you are first working with it; but it loosens up considerably as it is worked and more so with blocking, the way an old favorite t-shirt will soften over time. I've also heard of silk thread, although I've never seen it in a store.

When I was a kid, people used doilies and lace tablecloths a lot to protect a finish and show off their whatnots. Today, you don't see it so much. I think the current trend is for less clutter and to show off the beauty of wood furniture. We've gotten away from using doilies, table scarves and so forth. I think, though, that it's going to come back around again eventually. Most things do.

The above projects, in case you were wondering, were done with #10 thread. I did the bookmark first for a small project. It was a way of getting my feet wet with thread. The second is a beaded scarf, still in progress. The beads are about the same color as the thread, but I think you can just make out their glint at the edges and at the motif centers. In the third photo, I've included the two crochet hooks I'm using. One to work the thread, and one to work the beads. Yes, there are hooks on the ends of them. One hook is 2.25 mm, and the other is 1.3 mm. The pen is by way of comparison.

These tiny thread hooks are made of steel. In theory, you can make a crochet hook out of nearly anything that's rigid. Most hooks used for yarn work are aluminum. I have a set of bamboo hooks, too. But thread hooks are inevitably made from steel because the heads are so very fine, and yet need to stay rigid. Aluminum hooks that tiny would bend. Other materials, if you could carve them to such thinness, would be fragile and probably break.

And that's your lesson on thread crochet.

Here's something else to look at. It's a baby afghan I'm almost finished with. I'm using yarn, not thread, so I can use my bamboo hooks. In this case, it's 6.5 mm. I'm using the Tunisian stitch in a technique called entrelac, which makes it look like woven strips to get the diamond pattern. I think I talked about Tunisian before. It's a cross between crochet and knitting, neither one nor the other but incorporating elements of both. You use a hook - that's the crochet element. But you cast on a series of loops, which is more like knitting.

And that's your refresher on Tunisian.

No Idle Hands Here

2010-03-29T14:46:00.019-04:00

That's so not my problem. It didn't used to be this way. I was happy with the occasional afghan or baby blanket, secure in the knowledge that I could drop this habit anytime I wanted to.

I can't say that anymore. Thanks to the Internet, I'm discovering new designs and new yarns everyday that make my hands itch. Sometimes it's the challenge; sometimes it's the novelty. Whichever, my meager discretionary funds are more meager than ever.

Take those winter gloves, for example. I have very small hands, and finding gloves that fit is a never ending problem. Especially since I'm prone to losing them. And then one day I stumbled across the answer to my problem when I discovered a pattern for crocheted gloves. And when I spotted the Mini Mochi sock weight yarn, it was love at first sight.

My latest longer-term project is this tunic in last fall's issue of Interweave Crochet. I've got all the pieces done ... I just have to do some tweaking and get it all pinned and sewed together. I'm using a really lovely yarn from Cascade called Venezia Worsted. It's a blend of Merino wool and silk that feels soft and drapey in the hand, especially after a brief soaking. I don't know why, but you can never really know what a yarn will do until after you have washed it. It was nice before, but the stitches loosened up so beautifully that the fabric just flows now.

All the putting together steps take time (I'm hoping it will be ready to wear before it gets too warm out!) though, and I get impatient. Which is why I like to have a smaller, quicker project, such as these socks. For these I used Karabella's Superfine Cashmere. Yeah, cashmere socks.

Ain't that a kick?

Snowmegeddon

2010-02-11T16:26:00.012-05:00

That's what they're calling it. Here's a brief history.

We had measureable snow in November. We had about 2 feet just before Christmas. January was relatively peaceful.

Then came February.

We had only a few inches on Feb. 2, but it was cold and stuck around. On February 5, the second snow of 2010

hit. The first flurries showed up late afternoon. It didn't lo

ok like much when I went to bed that night. Maybe a few inches. Then during the night, the real snowfall came. When I awoke at 7:30 a.m. we had this:

And it kept coming all that day.

This one on the left is a picture of my back deck, taken though the glass doors.

Those two lumps are my garbage can and my table. As you can see by the drops on the glass, it was still coming down when I took this picture. That's why it looks so hazy; it's viewed through the snowfall. Measurements vary by area, but I think we had something like 28" when it was done.

The next day everyone started digging out. The day after that I was able to get out of my neighborhood and fill up my gas tank and make a grocery run. The bread aisle was decidedly picked over, but there was bread. Of course, I got there early, hardly anyone in the store. But the parking lot was plowed. All of this was good because ...

We got more. Can you find the trash can now?

The guys manning the road plows worked like dogs, they really did. But even so there were many areas that hadn't been plowed before the second snow hit. And thousands of people in my county have been without power for days. Families moved into hotels or just shifted to a friend or family member's home. Trucks got stuck in the snow. The plows and tow trucks sent to get them out got stuck. And although it only dumped a measly 10"-20" inches more on the area (about 14" in my neighborhood) this second storm came with very high winds. The plows had tried to forge on, but eventually they were called back because the drivers simply couldn't see. And it kept on coming until about 7 p.m. last night.

I was out around 4:30 p.m. trying to make a start on clearing my sidewalk and car. I have this power shovel that was a gift a few years ago and it really came in handy. Not much good on the first snow, just way too deep; but handy for this second snow. Also, getting an early start helped a lot. Then I went out and finished up this morning. The sky is blue and the sun is shining, so getting the worst of it done early meant the sun could melt whatever I couldn't get scraped up. Here are some more photos.

Skiing, anyone? Below is not my house. I couldn't get a good picture of my roof because of a tree, but I've got a similar ice situation. I've been swinging a garden rake in the general direction of the gutters, trying to keep the icicles to a minimum.

Yes, that's my car. I'm rather proud of the job I did, getting it dug out.

This photo, below, is where a bobcat (is that what they're called?) piled snow around a tree. We've run out of places to put it.

And my sidewalk. That's the power shovel leaning against the front door. As you can see, I left scrapings, but the sun has already cleared most of that up.

Plus I used a wee bit of my salt stash wherever the patches looked especially nasty. Also around my tires. If you ever see bags of salt in the store, get yourself one. Never mind that you don't expect snow. It won't go bad, and you'll thank me for it eventually.

Time, Please

2010-02-04T16:04:00.003-05:00

The main problem with life is all this other stuff you have to get out of the way in order to get to the stuff you really want to do. Take jobs, for example, which are just about paying bills, really. And the bills are just a by-product of the jobs other people are doing in order to get the money to pay their bills that somebody else sent them! It's a big vicious circle, is what it is.

And what now what I really want to be doing is reading and crocheting. I'm collecting books and patterns like crazy, and if I live long enough to collect enough money to pay the bills without the job (gotta pay the bills, so the next guy can collect his money and pay his bills, and so on) I am going to be so set. I've also been buying yarn. Not as devotedly as with the patterns and books, because the yarn thing can really add up to a lot of money; but when I come across something particularly luscious, I can't stop myself from getting it. If I ever have the time to just sit and play around with yarn and pattern and techniques, I'm going to have a blast.

And books. I read all the time. I'm either reading a hardcopy book or listening to an audio book. This is great because then I can crochet and read at the same time! I read books from the library and buy books from stores. I collect and reread books. And it's never enough. Some I have to devour right away. Some I set aside, allowing anticipation to build and plotting ways to carve out big blocks of time so I can sit and just read without interruption. It's hard to do at home because people know I'm there and will insist on trying to get in touch with me. Tell people you are going to spend a few quiet hours just reading and you'd think they were on a suicide watch the way they line up to talk to you.

Don't tell me I can just read them later. I know that technically books won't go bad if I can't get to them right away. It's not like there's an expiration date ... well, okay, there is on a library book, sort of. And the lady at the yarn store assures me that yarn doesn't go bad, either. In theory, both will wait patiently until I can get to them.

But I don't want to wait. I want to do all this stuff NOW. So here's my plan. If everyone just stops doing this work thing, if we do this all together, then there won't be anyone to send out bills. And if there aren't any bills, we won't need the money, so we won't need the jobs. And I can stay home and read and crochet. With my phone off the hook.

Are you in?

"Mac" Gyver

2010-01-13T11:57:00.008-05:00

Do you remember that old series? An adventure every episode, and you got to look at Richard Dean Anderson, too. He was the "go to" guy for the Phoenix Foundation. "Mac" could do almost anything with a Swiss Army Knife and a roll of duct tape, and make it look easy. My new Macbook pro is so much fun, and so full of neat, user-friendly applications, that it's become my "go to" tool. My MacGyver.

The touchpad, for example. Unlike most laptop touchpads, on the Macbook it is not a soft touch, rubbery texture, but rather a glass plate, about 3" square, give or take. Yes, just a glass plate. And no pressure is required to navigate with it. It recognizes even the slightest touch of my fingers. And even more amazing is that it knows whether I'm using 1, 2, or 3 fingers. A single digit operates the cursor. Two digits scrolls the screen up or down, and three can be used to flip through applications. Okay, I'm not very good with three yet, but I'm getting there. But how cool is that? I don't even need to have the cursor on the scroll bar; just the fact that I'm using two fingers instead of one tells Mac what I want to do.

I've also adjusted the settings so that I don't even need to pressure click to select an option. No clicking necessary. I just tap on something twice "tap tap" and it's selected. I love that.

And I love the docking thingie at the bottom of the screen. All the stuff I use all the time is displayed on this shelf at the bottom of the screen. I just tap tap on the icon for the application I want, no need to minimize what I'm working in, and the icon sort of bounces in place, like it's all excited that it got picked for the team or something (remember the Teri Hatcher character, Penny, on the show?), and then pops right open. And I can adjust what shows up on the dock. For example, the default applications included things like Garage Band (I think you can play music on it or something?) and Photo Booth, which I don't anticipate using regularly, if at all. But I like the Stickies (like the 3M notepaper, except not) to show there because it's a handy place to store frequently accessed but not really confidential information like my library card number.

And there's a ready-to-go back up application which I haven't actually used yet, but theoretically should back stuff up to an external drive.

It has something something called a Keychain which I'm still figuring out how to use, but is essentially a passworded application for storing other passwords. And if you consider how many dag blame passwords we need these days, you can see how useful that would be. If I'm reading it right, there's even the option for another layer of security for those really confidential numbers.

Another handy feature is the "downloads" display. Tap tap and anything I've downloaded, audio, photos, documents, fans out in a semi-transparent diplay so I can easily find them. And it's right there on the right hand side of my dock; no need to go through layers of menus to find out where I stored something. I need to find out how long stuff shows up there. Forever? Or maybe it's just the X number of recent downloads? Gotta read up on that.

Also over there on the right hand side is the Application and Documents menus. Tap tap and and I get a menu of all my applications. It looks something like a Windows Control Panel, except sharper, the icons more obvious. Tap tap on Documents, and what appears looks something like the iTunes menu, but displays what, on Windows, is probably the "My Computer" menu.

It has ports for USB cables, thumb drives, and - get this - the power cord attaches with magnets so if it gets stepped on, it will come away easily and not send the whole laptop crashing to the ground. It also has a series of tiny green lights that show the battery lever when press there.

But I still don't know where the speakers are. Haven't found the Swiss Army Knife or duct tape, either.

My Macbook Pro - First Impressions

2009-12-28T15:25:00.010-05:00

I have so NOT explored all there is to do with my Macbook, so consider this an off-the-cuff kind of review, and a review from a former non-Mac user, at that.

First, why a Mac and why the Macbook Pro, specifically? I've been toying with getting a laptop for a while. My pc is, I think, 4-5 years old and very, v e r y s - l - o - w. I knew replacing it was my best option given its age. What remained was deciding what to replace it with. Well, one of the biggie issues I've had with Windows is the near constant virus scans that are a security necessity. Pair that with what seems to be an awfully frequent need for updates, and I'm not-so-virtually tearing my hair out every other week.

I had heard good things about the Mac. From what I could learn, it was much less vulnerable to viruses and hacking in general. I don't pretend to understand all the geek-ese, but I gather it has something to do with the way it is designed. Which doesn't mean it's impervious, just much less likely to get hit. That means the software does not need to be constantly on the defensive, which sounds like a good thing to me.

And I've usedother Apple products (iTunes, iPod and iPhone) and I've been very well pleased with them. There's a sleek, consumer-friendliness to their design, and they've been dependable with regular updates that don't take forever to install, and the one time I did have to contact a customer service rep, it was someone who was obviously not reading from a script, something which drives me absolutely bonkers when I encounter it.

So I was favorable to the Mac, but still wary of the price, which is a lot higher than a Windows OS laptop. The price difference seemed to make the choice a no-brainer at first, but as I played with building a virtual Windows laptop I realized that my first impression wasn't entirely accurate. By the time I had built my preferences to include memory, battery-life, and software comparable to the Mac, that price difference narrowed considerably. A Mac was still a lot pricier, but not so scary now. And I reasoned that if I was happier with it, that difference would be worth it. My only remaining quibble is the cost per screen size. 15" seemed to be pretty standard for Windows, but to keep the Macbook to anything like a comparable price I had to settle for a 13". And I'm okay with that because it's for home use, mostly Internet surfing and so forth. But I still don't see why Apple needs to charge so much more for a measly 2". And I would be very much surprised if they don't phase out the 13" in the very near future and drop the 15" inch price to something more in the 13" neighborhood. I think it would go a long way towards luring in the fence-sitters for whom screen size might be important.

I went with the Macbook Pro mainly because I wanted to be sure of having all the same device options - memory stick and so on - that I was used to using. In reading through the specifications, the Macbook Pro appeared to be the only one that had no limitations that I could tell.

Placing the order was fairly painless in the end. I opted for the free shipping rather than express,but I still had it within a week, and true to all the talk, it really was ready to go pretty much out of the box. The only setting up required was introducing it to my wifi, which was relatively painless.

What's different? Well the whole look of the thing, for starters. Getting used to not having "windows" as I've understood them was something to wrap my brain around. You can certainly have multiple programs operating at the same time, but whereas each Windows program has its own menu, the Mac OS (which is called "Leopard") has essentially one menu bar that shifts focus according to whatever program is on top, or "active" at the moment. Thus, if I am working in iTunes, the menu is all iTunes related. If I have Safari (the Internet browser) open and active, then the menu is Safari related. Other programs can be operating, but Leopard focuses on whichever is active or upper most. But they are all visible as icons on what is called the "dock" at the bottom of the screen. and it is very simple to switch from one to another simply by clicking on the icon.

And although there is a "control" key, all comparable functions are accomplished with the "command" key. Also, there is no right click. That's taking some getting used to. The track pad is all one piece, no right or left options. I think there's an option to get something similar to a right click, but I want to learn my way around before I go changing things much.

The sound quality is amazing. Listening to Pandora or iTunes is a great experience. For music, no additional speakers are necessary. I've heard that the volume suffers if you are watching video, but I haven't tried that yet. I have no idea where they are hiding the speakers, though.

It's only run one system update in the two weeks I've had it (no virus scans - yay!), and I was instructed that it is preferable to have it hooked up to a power source rather than running the update on battery. But it was a smooth and speedy process, and I was able to still work in another program at the same time with no noticeable hitch.

I love that there's no 'booting up' period. I turn it on, the screen goes blue, there's a tone, and it's ready to go. I'm talking about seconds as opposed to the minutes I am used to waiting for Windows to get up and running.

I think there will be things I miss down the road, programs or software that are Windows only that I just can't get for the Mac. But so far I'm very pleased, and so far the pros are out-weighing the cons. I'll come back in a few weeks when I've explored further and feel more comfortable.

I Think Its Going To Be A White Christmas

2009-12-20T08:25:00.004-05:00

I know there's still a few days to go, yet, but the forecasters don't think we'll get above freezing for the next two days, and I do believe it will take more than one warm day to get rid of it all. This pic to the right was taken late afternoon yesterday. I actually had shoveled everything out once, but there was no way to keep up with it. I paid a kid $5 to take a final pass behind my car and left the sidewalk for today. It's a light, powdery snow, so it shouldn't be to hard to move, but the stuff behind my car was pushed there by multiple passes of the plow and was in danger of becoming packed.

The street light on the crest of the new fallen snow gave a luster of mid-day to objects below. The haziness you see just outside the light's halo is actually more snow falling. This one was taken about 9 p.m. last night. Yes, night time. Without flash. All that snow glows and reflects the smallest amoung of light. As you can see, these neighbors didn't even attempt a rudimentary dig out yesterday.

And finally, my back deck this morning. I's a bright sunny day, very pretty and all the snow is sparkling like jewels; but it's only 26° so I'm guessing we won't be using the deck for a few days.

One Thing At A Time

2009-12-08T10:41:00.005-05:00

If you've been paying attention, you know that I have clutter issues. Not dirt, or actual messes, but just plain clutter. As in "too much stuff." Over the last few years I've tried various methods to get a handle on the problem including the "put it down once" school of thought. But what do you do when you encounter something else that needs picking up? What about when you have something in hand and suddenly something on the stove is burning? I mean, come on, life happens. It happens frequently to me, and I have to figure it happens occasionally to other people.

A few years ago I heard about this person who calls herself "Flylady" (I don't know why; it's not a very flattering moniker) and runs a website and email service designed to get people organized. I checked out the website and she did have some good ideas. For example, breaking down tasks into small, manageable portions. Maybe you don't have time to clean a room, but you can clear off one surface - that kind of thing. She also suggested limiting yourself to 15 minutes per chore and then moving on before it turned into an all day deal. You're even supposed to set a timer. This makes sense to me. I think the sense of being overwhelmed is the main reason people don't get a lot of things done. And I'm sure there's a corollary to Murphy's law about things that get put off growing exponentially. If not, there should be because we all know it happens.

Anyway, "Flylady" had some good stuff, but some of it was a bit silly. For instance, if you subscribe to the service you would get pinged with emails throughout the day, telling you what room you were going to work on this week, and what other chores to accomplish through the day. But it seemed to me that I'd be getting pinged to, I don't know, scrub the tea kettle or some such thing, when I'd be at work and couldn't do anything about it. And, focusing on one room per week, it could be a month or more before I got around to the room that needed the most work. Remember the corollary? Also, she has an unhealthy obsession with having a clean kitchen sink. I thought it was bad enough that she instructed people to shine their sink every day .... EVERY DAY?!?! But she lost my respect completely when she suggested hiding unwashed pots and pans under the sink just to keep the sink looking good. Am I the only one who sees this as a problem waiting to happen?

I figure some of these tips will work for some of the people some of the time, but I don't see any of them being practicable for all of the people all of the time. Certainly not for me. However, there was some good stuff in there and I didn't see any reason why I couldn't make use of the parts that would work for me, like breaking chores down into small parts.

Take those black holes otherwise known as closets. Things accumulate in there. Possibly they even breed. Tackling the closet is a daunting task and, for that reason, a perfect place to try out the "small parts" system. In this case, I placed 2 trash bags, one white and one black, just inside the closet, and every time I looked in there I had to put something in one of the bags. When the white bag was full, it went to a charity. When the black bag was full, it went out with the rest of the trash. This worked fairly well for the bedroom closet because I access it at least twice daily. But other places don't get visited that often, and/or were too easy for me to ignore. Which is what gets me into trouble in the first place.

At the beginning of November I decided to try a twist on the traditional New Year's resolutions by making an old year resolution. That way, I reasoned, I'm getting rid of the old with the old, and there's the potential for starting the new year with a clean slate, which I like. I kept the rules very simple; in fact there's only one. Each day I must either put away or throw away at least one thing. One thing. I can do one thing.

We're now approaching the middle of December and I think it's going well. Keeping it simple is the essence of any successful plan, to my mind. Make anything too big or too complicate, set the bar too high, and you are setting yourself up for a fall; and once that happens, the negativity sets in and you stop bothering. Me, I only have to do one thing.

So far my "one thing" rule has encompassed getting rid of forgotten and decades old spices from the back of a cupboard, ditching stuff from under the bathroom sink, and relegating old, unused bathroom towels to rag status, either under the kitchen sink (I can do that because I don't store dirty pans there) or in a bag in the laundry room. I only have to do one thing, once a day. I often end up ditching two or three at the same time, but I'm not going to raise the bar because then it will become a time issue and get put off and not get done. But one thing, one day at a time, I can do that forever. And I'm seeing results. Slowly, but it's happening.

'Tis the Season

2009-12-02T12:27:00.007-05:00

I've been busy whipping up Christmas gifts. And wouldn't you know that just when I had decided to make some of this year's gifts, and committed myself to it by purchasing the yarn, my favorite magazine, Interweave Crochet, has at least three projects I'm drooling over for myself. Well, if nothing else it was incentive to get the other things done. A reward, of sorts. Because I'm worth it. Here are three of the things I've made so far.

First up is the sweater for my niece. I need to finish blocking and make some small adjustments for fit, but it's basically done. When worn, the buttons are supposed to be at the bust, with the skirt section falling from that in a cut-away style. It's made with Cascade Yarns 220 Wool.

This next piece is a special request from my older nephew. He had this old earflap-style hat, bought years ago, and wanted something to replace it.

No, that isn't my nephew. He's much taller. And blonde.

And one more hat for my other nephew, also a special request, both the length and the colors. Yes, he does march to his own drummer. I like that about him. When his brother requested the earflap hat, he said he wanted a stocking cap, one of those long ones, "in orange. With a little purple."

That's not my nephew, either.

Both of the hats are done in Cascade wool, too. I deliberately went with the wool because it's naturally water resistant, handy for damp winter days.

And what am I planning to make for myself? My first project is going to be this tunic, from the above mentioned magazine. I've got some really nice Merino/silk blend yarn, Cascade brand again, that I think will feel really cozy. And if I get cracking on this, there's a slim chance I might finish it before warm weather hits.

Lest I get company again

2009-12-01T15:03:00.006-05:00

But also because I feel a rant coming on. I'm going to try not to actually, like rant, but I make no promises.

What's with all this stuff lately about "traditional American values"? Have you noticed that nobody using that phrase ever actually lists those values? Those same people who throw the phrase around are usually implying that somebody else doesn't have "traditional American values," but they never actually say what those values are. It's like that odious cliche where the husband asks the wife what's wrong and she replies, "Well if you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you!" which makes women sound like silly twits. It's offensive. And so is throwing that *&^%* phrase around.

I tell you what "traditional American values" are: freedom of speech. I am not only allowed to disagree with you, it is an inalienable right guaranteed to me under the U.S. Constitution.

And here's another "traditional American value" guaranteed under the Constitution: Freedom of religion. Not just freedom of your beliefs, but the freedom for anyone to practice any belief system they choose.

The U.S. Constitution is much more than the basis of our laws. The Constitution defines what being an American is. Those are our values. The founding fathers put it in writing. It's been the defining document of our government for over 200 years. That's pretty damned traditional.

So it seems to me that anyone who wants to put limitations on those rights, anyone who wants to re-write the Constitution because they don't happen to like those bits, those are the people who are going against "traditional American values."

And if they don't understand that, then maybe they're the ones who aren't "real Americans."

It's Like a Blanket?

2009-09-23T11:16:00.008-04:00

I had friends over a few weekends ago. They all knew, vaguely, that I crocheted and while they were there I mentioned I was working on an afghan for my cousin's wedding. Only one of them knows anything about crochet so I dragged out what I had done so far so they could see what I was talking about when I mentioned strips and braiding. We were chattering blithely on when I caught the eye of my Chinese friend who asked "what's an afghan?" She's very Americanized in many ways (a right proper little Capitalist) but there are still things she's unfamiliar with that most of us take for granted. Which goes to show that you should never take for granted that everyone knows what you are talking about. Lesson learned.

Here it is, done at last. It's huge being nearly 6 feet long and approximately 5 feet wide. The afghan is made up of strips which are themselves composed of 3 separate strips braided together and held in place by 2 rounds of stitches. The main strips are stitched together with what's called a reverse single crochet, which makes a pretty, braided edging.

And a closer up view.

Tonight I'll double check for loose ends that need to be woven in, and make sure I got all the markers out. Then it will get washed and blocked. It's an acrylic yarn so it should wash up nicely.

Ties Abinding

2009-09-21T10:14:00.007-04:00

My baby cousin is getting married this coming Saturday. J is nine years and eleven months younger than I, and the nearest thing I have to a brother. He is not my only cousin, but he is the one I have the closest ties with. Although my extended family is large, I grew up with only two aunts nearby, and only one had a child. He and my younger sister were especially close as kids, being less than two years apart.

A lot of family are gathering this coming weekend for the wedding. Some of them have never ventured more than 50-100 miles from home, so that tells you that this is a big deal. Partly it's because J is an only child. Most of the rest of them come from families of 5 or 6 kids, and I often think that the younger ones get the short end of the stick because by the time their big moment - be it wedding, graduation, or new babies - comes along their older siblings have already been there and done that and I think the extended family doesn't always make as big a deal out of it.

Probably I should explain what is meant by "extended family." Here's the deal: my mother comes from a family of 8 kids. Her oldest sister had 5 kids; the next oldest sister had 5 kids; the oldest brother had 5 kids; my mom, only two; the four younger siblings are 0, 3, 1, and 0. So that's 19 cousins just on my mom's side.

My dad was the baby of 4, but his sibs did their part to populate the world. His oldest sister had 4, his older brother 4, and his next older sister had 6 kids. That makes 14 cousins on my dad's side, or a whopping total of 33 in my generation alone. And I'm not even going to get into their kids and their kids' kids.

J appears to be the last of my generation to be getting married. Okay, there's me, and one or two other cousins about my age who are holding out; but we're a bit set in our ways at this point and nobody seems to be expecting announcements from us. J is also well liked in the family, and his wedding may be the last really good excuse for a clan gathering on my mom's side; so I think more people than usual are making the effort, even though it means going out into the big, bad suburbs.

I'm anticipating some family stories, and I'm also thinking that this might be a good time to get some of them written down. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Stopping By the Junkyard* on a Sunny Evening

2009-09-02T15:10:00.005-04:00

I took this photo from the window of the subway, part of which is above ground, while we were stopped outside a station for a few minutes. It amused me, not for the first time, to look out on the length of track and see wood trestles holding the rails. I know nothing about railroad lore, but I presume the trestles used for our underground, highly electrified, modern commuter system are much the same as those used to build the First Transcontinental Railroad over 100 years ago.

*Not really a junkyard. Not what you would call a junkyard, proper. Just a lot of well-used looking vehicles. Probably the backlot of an auto repair shop, but that doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

That's What I'm Talking About

2009-08-11T16:08:00.004-04:00

Stairs. Aren't they pretty?

They've been in place a week or so. The railing is the last little bit. Yes, I know there's some missing. Family Member's job sent him off to Italy to install some dude's wine cellar. I know, I know: Italy, home of wine connoisseurs and old world craftsmanship, and they buy American. Seriously. Makes no sense to me, either; but Family Member got a trip to Italy out of the deal. It was wasted on him, though, as all he had to say was that everything was very old, everything was crowded together, and he missed American food. Of course he didn't have much time to assimilate, either. They flew into Milan, or thereabouts, checked into the hotel and the next day had to board a train to Alba. And if you read the Wiki link, you'll know more about it than he learned while he was there. Not the adventurous sort.

Last weekend I had to remind myself several times that I could go down to the yard right from the deck; it wasn't necessary to go out from the basement. This will take some getting used to. But it's A Very Good Thing.

Pay Attention and You Might Learn Something (More Deck Stuff)

2009-07-28T11:06:00.007-04:00

Steps - the beginning.

If I had realized how much work goes into putting in stairs I might not have agreed to having Family Member do it. He and the various family member assistants are doing a great job, but it's a big task and I'd be feeling pretty guilty if he hadn't volunteered to do this of his own free will.

Why is it such a big job? Well, stairs down from the deck have to go somewhere and my yard is small; having them come straight out meant they'd end up somewhere outside the back fence unless they were built really, really steep. Clearly some creative thinking was required here. Thus it was decided that I should have a landing so that the stairs could, so to speak, turn back upon themselves. I lose a little yard, but it was just space that needed mowing anyway, so I'm good with that.

Then there have to be support posts to hold the stairs and landing in place. Since you can't just stick a post up there (there are apparently rules about this kind of thing), holes had to be dug into which the posts went, along with cement to hold them in place. This, I learned, is what they call a "footer." And let me tell you, when it comes to equality between the sexes, men win, hands down, in the "ability to dig deep holes" category.

Those jagged boards you see are called "stringers." They are the forms upon which the actual treads are layed. How do you know how many treads are involved? Math *shudder* The length you need is called the "rise." The average height for "risers" - that is, individual steps - is 7". You can go to a 7 1/4" or higher; but if you need more than a few steps, it's gonna get hard on the legs making the climb. So you divide the length by 7 and you get the number of stairs.

I ended up with 11 steps down to the landing, and another 6 to the ground. So how high up is my deck? You do the math.

Did You Know? A Deck Update

2009-07-21T13:03:00.011-04:00

RAILINGS! I've got railings!

You may not know this but there are building codes and industry standards that dictate what you can and can't do with railings. For instance, depending on your locale, specifications for railing height range from 32" to 48". This was of particular interest to me because, being short, I found my old deck railing much too high for my satisfaction. So when I started looking into getting the new deck, my personal requirement was that the railing be no higher than absolute minimum required. In my area that minimum is 36".

Behold the 36" railing:

Another thing I discovered is that the railing must not be "climbable." This one strikes me as being good example of regulatory silliness. I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as a fence that really can't be climbed if someone puts their mind to it and tries hard enough, especially since there's no corresponding regulation against having tables, chairs, stools, ladders - or anything else with a climbable surface - in the vicinity of the railing. Further research says what this really means is not giving idiots really obvious footholds, should they get it into their heads to do something stupid. Basically, we're protecting people from themselves.

Another rule says that the maximum space between balusters (those are pickets, btw) is 3.5" maximum. And apparently they test this by trying to roll a 3 1/2" ball between them. Because if the space is too big, the same idiot who tried to climb the railing will stick his head through there and get stuck. And just think of the damage he could do to the balusters in the meantime.

Yes, there's a gap where the stairs will be. So Family Member says "Don't forget you don't have stairs yet." And I say "How can I forget what I never had?" Yes, some idiot could jump off and hurt themselves. Then again, the idiot could decide to jump off the stairs, once I have some, and hurt themselves. There's only so much you can do if people are really determined.

In the meantime, I'll avoid inviting idiots over to my house. And if you come to visit, please don't climb the railing or stick your head through or jump off the stairs. Which I'm hoping I'll have by then.

Deck Update

2009-07-16T16:15:00.008-04:00

Old deck goes "bye-bye." Everybody wave.

For some reason I find it very amusing that these chairs were left hanging there while they ripped up the floor. That splotch on the first one is the vacant dove's nest. That amused me, too, which is why it's still there.

But now I've got new deck flooring! Isn't it pretty??!!! FYI, that's my neighbor's Rose of Sharon shrub in the background.

What I've Been Up To

2009-07-13T11:07:00.017-04:00

Okay, I've been lax about posting and I apologize. The thing is, there isn't much point in posting highlights when you don't have any. Life has been mostly humming along in a predictably boring fashion, and I'm OKAY WITH THAT. I like boring. But now I finally have a highlight to share with you ...

I'M GETTING A NEW DECK! Why yes, I am a little excited about it. It's not actually a luxury item, though, since my deck is so old and worn that safety will become an issue in another year or so. The cost is making me a little queasy, but it's a necessity. So I did what you're supposed to do and set out to get estimates. I liked the first guy that came out and a lot of what he said sounded reasonable and made sense. Also, his estimate was within the range that I'd figured on. Then the second person came out and that was a trip. These people take decks very seriously. I really loved this one:

And then I realized that I have no water view unless the neighbor's yard floods so, really, what would be the point?

This one is good, too. I'm not sure, though, that my homeowners association would agree. Especially when the neighbors on both sides and behind complained that my deck was taking up rather a lot of their yard. Sometimes people have no vision.

Really, all the designs were amazing and they left me with this nifty folder filled with brochures and testimonials. And then they wanted to come back so that we can discuss the estimate. The thing is, my home is not a McMansion. It's a itty bitty townhouse with a postage stamp back yard. My current deck is 12 x 16, and if it was much bigger it would cover my entire yard. Plus, there's that homeowners association again. So ... what is there to discuss?

I want a deck pretty much like what I have except without the warped and splintered boards. And with stairs. Did I mention that my second story deck has no stairs? The original owners had small children at the time it was built, and I understand that safety was an issue, but it rather severely limits access to the backyard. Or maybe they thought throwing stuff over the deck railing and optimistically hoping it wouldn't break on impact was a fine thing. So stairs down to the yard are like the bright and shiny light at the end of my tunnel.

Fate seems to be smiling on my stair-struck ambition because it turns out that a family member with lots and lots of construction experience and whose work I have actually seen first hand just happens to have nothing better to do with his time this coming week and has offered to build my deck! In fact, I strongly suspect that he would have voluteered to do it for the cost of materials alone. Not that I would have agreed. Pride aside, it's going to be a lot of work and I don't care if he likes to do this stuff, that just wouldn't be right. Would it? *sigh* No, no it wouldn't. We found some middle ground that saves me a lot of money and earns him a good chunk of extra cash. And as it's considerably less than the other estimates, everybody wins.

Why yes, there probably will be photos. Stair-gazing ahead. Stay tuned.

String Theories

2009-05-22T15:02:00.001-04:00

Oh, relax, this has nothing to do with math.

I've been crocheting for many years, although I got obsessive about it only a few years ago. Still, there continue to be new things to learn. This pattern, in a book of afghan's called Vanna's Afghans All Through The House, was my first experience with the afghan stitch, also known as Tunisian crochet. Yes, Vanna. Yes, her. FYI, she's an avid crocheter, has put out a few pattern books, and even has her own line of yarn. I haven't checked the etymology, but I'm presuming (rightly or wrongly) some kind of association with Tunisia (the stitch, not Vanna), probably in the same way that the word afghan has anything to do with Afghanistan, which is to say only vaguely if at all. But I digress. Go read this earlier post if you are curious.

And now I'm learning something again. This photo shows the first few rows of a new sweater I'm working on which uses a stitch called broomstick or peacock lace. You should be able to click on the photo to get a better idea. In case you are curious. Just saying. The effect does look a lot like bristles on an upside down broom, or the "eye" on the end of a peacock feather. This is the first time I've worked with this stitch, and like the Tunisian crochet, it combines elements of both crochet and knitting. Working backwards along the chain, you use a crochet hook to pull up loops of yarn which are cast onto a fat knitting needle as you go. (In case you are wondering, it's a #19, 15mm wooden needle.)
The broomstick effect is created after you slide the needle out from the loops (this required a great leap of faith for me) and then gather clusters of loops with a series of double crochets. I have no idea what might have inspired anyone to do this, who did it first, or when or where. It's like wondering who first considered putting cinnamon and apples together. Or chocolate and peanut butter. How do people come up with this stuff?

~~~~~~~~~~~
sneaking this one in here so as not to scare BCB. I finished it about two weeks ago. I love it. Doesn't fit as snuggly as I thought it might. Next time, if there is one, I think I'll try using a smaller hook. It might be a little tricky, but smaller hook will = smaller stitches, which in turn = smaller size.

Enablers

2009-05-01T12:34:00.010-04:00

Well, the economy is in the tank, and everyone is watching their pennies, cutting back where they can, making choices about just what is really necessary in their lives.

Apparently, I've decided that anything which feeds my yarn addiction is a necessity. Thus did I, in recent months, purchase two back issues of Interweave Crochet, a set of bamboo crochet hooks (because I can't afford the rosewood hooks, that's why), and yet more yarn.

The scarf in the photo over there on your right is the result of two of those purchases. The pattern is called La Mer and was designed by Cheryl Means. I spotted a picture of it while browsing patterns and decided that I had to make it. The pattern was printed in the Summer 2008 issue of Interweave Crochet so, of course, I had to buy the back issue to get the pattern. Then I had to find just the right yarn to show off the pattern and came home from a trip to my local yarn store with a few skeins of Jojoland™ Melody Superwash. And since the pattern indicated a beaded fringe, I made a stop the next day at Michaels for some gorgeous glass beads to go with the yarn. But ultimately it was worth it, I think, because I love the final product. It's going to be a belated birthday gift for my niece.

I had also done another scarf, pictured on the left, with some left over Simply Shetland Silk & Lambswool. No extra cost there, but two scarves in a row left me feeling a little itchy for a new challenge.

I've had this pattern for a sweater using the broomstick stitch which I got about a year ago - uh, the pattern, not the stitch. But I had not done this stitch before and the pattern emphasized that a really well draping yarn was required to get the look of the garment just right so I've been holding off on it. I think it's time. I found the right yarn, but it didn't come cheap. However, as the owner of my local yarn store says "yarn doesn't go bad"; and if the sweater is a bust, I figure I can always make another, really, REALLY nice scarf ... or three or four.

Okay, clearly I have a yarn addiction. But it's keeping me out of pool halls and away from the evils of drink. Sort of.

In the Garden

2009-04-27T15:03:00.014-04:00

I've been busy outside the last few weekends. There's still a lot I want to do, and I'll likely be putting in annuals and maybe a few new perennials for several weeks to come. It's an ongoing process every years. But here's a peak at what I've been up to so far this spring (spring? It's like 90 degress F out there today!)

For starters, I took out the old timbers that used to surround my small veggie patch. While some were still not too bad, others were badly rotted. Well, they were there when I moved into the house 15 years ago (15? where did the time go?) In their place I installed a composite "timber" system. Note that both timber and system are not to be taken seriously. However, the composite stuff is light weight enough for me to handle myself and won't rot on me possibly ever.

And the system involves parts! Spikes and corner joints and end cap thingies, oh my!

This is the set up I was thinking of initially, but I soon realized that the awkward angles were going to present maintenance issues. I've got spare "timbers" and eventually I'll run it longer alongside the fence. But for now I've settled on this.

But probably you'd like to see something prettier now. After all, I did use the word garden:

The blooming stuff are pansies and snapdragons, annuals which I put it for their instand impact. Oh, and some kind of spiky blue thing which I forget the name of. I put in some perennials last year, but those are just green leafy things for now.

And this is the bleeding heart I put in last year which more than just green and leafy. It's quite healthy and blooming like crazy.

And these are violas, as are those tiny green dots sprinkled across the rest of the bed. I started with one lone plant about 10-12 years ago, but it seeded like crazy, with each generation begatting some more. I don't really mind as the effect is so pretty. They won't be flowering for much longer though. Most of the seedlings will get rooted up to make way for more plants, and some of the bigger plants I'll attempt to transplant to that back corner. We'll see how that goes.

I liked the look of this annual vine. We'll see how it holds up, but it does add a nice splash of color. And finally, we have the lilac bush. I've been very excited at how well this has done. I just planted last year so I wasn't expecting a whole lot just yet. And now it's loaded with flowers and has quite a bit more height as well. I need to read up on trimming and training so I can get it to fill in a bit more, but I'm going to go very slowly on that so as not to ruin what appears to be a good thing.

And that completes the tour of my back yard. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

For the Birds

2009-04-11T09:39:00.006-04:00

If you have wandered over here because you can't figure out where the CherryBombs have got to, things are in disarray because we seem to have sprung a leak over there, or maybe stopped up the plumbing or something. We don't really know what it is we did. We were rather hard on the old place, what with the pole swinging, guacamole stains and lurkers in the attic. And while our landlord, Bryan, has been quite patient with us, we are considering *gulp* venturing out on our very own, with like a mortgage and everything. Hey, the bail fund is flush at the moment. Anyway, please wander over to our Potential New Home and see what you think.

If you find, when you're there, that your comments aren't popping up immediately, it's because we've left BCB in charge and she gets distracted easily. But be patient and eventually she'll be back to let you in. Unless she doesn't recognize you or thinks you might be a member of the Chipper Spam Monkey band. It's not that she's discriminating, she just likes having that kind of power.

In the meantime, I appear to be the way station for wandering CBs and lurkers so I'll give you something else to look at for now.

Here's an updated picture of my lilac bush which you can see is greening and budding up nicely. Actually, it's even leafier now than when I took this picture, but right now it's raining outside so you'll have to make do with this.

And here we have a picture of Mrs. Mourning Dove in her new place. At least I think that's Mrs. I think she's got eggs now. Stay tuned for updates.

And in other news, here's a picture of me standing in front of this big White House in DC. And I didn't even have to climb the fence or anything, even though they are quite strict about tresspassing there considering the tentants are pretty new to the neighborhood.

Any Port in a Storm

2009-04-08T09:06:00.002-04:00

GP says she sent and email to Bryan and I did as well. As far as I can figure out, it is something that would have to be fixed by the host. As Bryan may well have other (not actually better, but possibly other) things going on, we may need temporary digs for a bit, and here's as good a place to hang out as any. Or we could play musical blogs and take turns or whatever.

Got Buds

2009-03-26T15:10:00.006-04:00

My lilac bush is budding! And my daffodils are standing tall, if not yet blooming. Also, I spotted Mr. and Mrs. Mourning Dove while I was out in the yard last weekend, and I do believe they are planning to start a family.

I love these first signs of spring. Although winter is relatively mild in my area, the dreary sameness of the landscape starts to grate on my nerves after a while and I find myself wondering if green grass and leaves on trees is a thing of the past, a story old-timers will sit around boring kids with. "When I was your age, we had real seasons. And there were four of them. Every single year. It was interesting. Not like it is today with all this sameness day after day. You young'ns don't even know what real seasons are like!" So at the first sign that life is, indeed, returning to my corner of the planet, I'm out there buying mulch and prepping the flower beds.

Saturday, while the ground was still soft from recent rains and the sun could get through the bare tree branches, I raked the front yard and put down some grass seed. My yard is patchy yet, but the grass I seeded last year made it through the winter and even stayed reasonably green. I figure if I do this twice a year for a while, I'm going to have a gorgeous yard in a decade or so. Even patchy, it looks better than the neighbors', ha!

Sunday was all about the back yard, and that's when I spotted the lilac buds. And the daffodil stalks; mine bloom a little later than the neighbor's, for some reason. And the doves. The whole time I was clearing out the flower bed, Mrs. Dove was eye-balling me from her perch on the edge of a lawn chair. The chair is stored under the raised deck, hanging from some hooks, and is the same place she made her nest last year so seeing her there again was pretty ... well, ominous, actually. There's no friction on the surface of that chair and last year the nest went tumbling in the first big storm. I'm going to keep an eye on it, and if she is really going to build there again (I did warn her) I'm going to have to jury rig something to make sure it stays in place.

My kingdom is very small, but it's all mine and I try to rule wisely.

Audible Affection

2009-03-03T11:42:00.004-05:00

You know, I almost titled this post "I *heart* Audible" and then I remembered that saccarine makes me queasy. I am, however, really fond of Audible.com.

I love books and I love crochet. With audio books, I can have the best of both worlds. Audio books also provide distraction from mind numbing but necessary chores. When the whole iPod rage first started, I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. I mean, I like music but I don't feel the compulsion to be plugged in 24/7. Then I discovered that audible content wasn't just about music. It was possible to download books, too! Now, I've been a fan of audio books for a long time and I've cheered on the revolution that took what was basically an assist for the deaf and turned into an assett for the average person. What used to be a small shelf in the bookstore has become a staple of publication. All the latest and greatest bestsellers come out in audio format. Taking it another step and allowing people to purchase downloadable content is, well, comparable to the invention of the wheel. Sure, you could technically move things from one place to the other before ... but now it's really portable.

So, I like MP3 and other format players, and I like audiobooks, and it follows that I like vendors who bring them together. My favorite? Audible.com. The array of content available on their site boggles the mind. But their customer service is the real reason I stick with them.

I got this email the other day which was a promotional deal. Anyone can purchase audio content from Audible.com, but members get special offers and certain perks. I dont' want to bore you with the details; suffice it to say that I contacted Audible.com because I thought something about the email was confusing. I wasn't complaining, my intent was to point out an issue that they might want to fix in the future. For my efforts I was rewarded with the equivalent of a $25 coupon to my account.

Now that's a company that wants to keep their customers happy. Is there any question why I'm so loyal to them?

Two Things

2009-02-27T15:40:00.005-05:00

Okay, here are some pictures. The sweater on the left isn't nearly as bulky as the picture makes it look. In fact, it has a really nice drape to it. It's a pattern from Doris Chan's book Everyday Crochet called Haru. I have no idea what that means. I made the sleeves a little longer than those pictured in the book, and didn't include the side slits at the hip. Well, I would have included them, but by the time I had worked the appropriate number of rows the sweater was already long on me. I could have taken out some rows and reworked them to include the slits, but why? I liked it just fine as it was. The yarn, Simply Shetland's Silk and Lambswool, is just as wonderful as I thought it would be. It's a light weight yarn, but still warm and cozy to wear. I'm very happy with it.

So happy, in fact, that I used some left over in this "waffle weave" scarf where the laciness of the yarn shows up much better. Probably this will go to my sister for her birthday in a few months. Probably.

I like doing scarfs. You can't beat them for perfectly portable projects, and gauge isn't important. Gauge is all about sizing, how many stitches you work per inch. This is important when you are working on clothing because you are usually trying for a particular size, and your sweater, or whatever, isn't going to be the same at, say, 5 stitches psi as it would if you are getting 10 psi or even 2 psi. Too many stitches per inch and your piece is going to run small. Too few per inch and it's going to work up a lot bigger than what you want.

So how do you know? Look at the pattern. A pattern is a set of instructions that tells you more than just what stitches to make. It will also have yarn weight and hook size recommendations, and information on gauge. The hook size is just a suggestion. Here's the thing about handmade as opposed to machine made: stitch size is harder to regulate. Two people can use the exact same yarn and hook, and yet not make their stitches exactly the same size. Back to the original question, how do you know? You make a swatch. A swatch is exactly what you think - a sample. Your pattern will say, for example, '5.5 per inch in pattern.' So you work a few rows using the pattern stitch (double crochets or shells, for instance) to maybe 4" square and then you measure how many stitches and rows you have per inch. If you come out with too many stitches per inch, try again with a larger hook. Too few per inch, try going down one or two sizes in the next swatch. When you get it right, you have your gauge; and when you have your gauge, it's easier to work a garment to the size you want.

When I started the sweater, I think I did three 4" swatches before I got it right. Is it a pain having to possibly work a few swatches before you can really get started? Yes. Which is why something like a scarf or afghan is nice sometimes; no gauge worries. If it's a few inches short or a few inches too wide, who cares? And if I don't tell my sister that the scarf is the wrong size, she'll never know. Nya!

I'm Working On It

2009-02-24T11:26:00.002-05:00

About a year ago I picked up some paint chips to get ideas for the hallway. No, I still haven't painted, or even definitely decided on the color. It will be some shade of green, probably in the khaki or sage family. I will get to it. Eventually.

I'm still in the process of decluttering drawers and closets. I have started and each small accomplishment gives me a sense of peace that keeps me going. But, you know, there are other things that have to get done, too. Like laundry and cleaning the kitchen floor. And while I could find more time to devote to the decluttering project, it would take away from more fun stuff and there's not enough fun stuff as it is. But I'm getting to it little by little.

There are still some tree branches I didn't get to last fall because I couldn't quite reach them and decided that tree trimming is fine while my feet are planted on the ground, but doing so while up on a ladder without a spotter is stupid. It's on my list of things to do this coming year.

I need to put up a new light fixture in the powder room. There is a fixture in there now, it just doesn't have a proper shade. As long as we aren't, uh, powdering in the dark, I don't see any big hurry for this.

I'm mostly finished with the wrap I intend as a gift for my mother's sister. It's supposed to have pockets, and I've crocheted them, too; but now I need to actually sew them on the wrap itself. That part is boring so I've been putting it off. Maybe by Christmas.

And speaking of crochet projects, I finished the Haru sweater a few weeks ago. There will be a photo up here eventually, because I like having this catalog of finished projects. I just have to remember to have the sweater and my camera in the same room at the same time.

I don't do anything very fast, as you can see. I've tried being one of those "see it through from start to finish" type people and mostly I just stressed myself out so I don't do that anymore. I've learned to pace myself, to prioritize. All the really important stuff is done; I've even finished my taxes and sent them in. I'll get around to everything else a little at a time. But I'm going to do it on my schedule. All of this stuff will happen. There is a plan.

I'm working on it.

I'm considering having those words put on my tombstone someday.

Time Passages

2009-02-18T11:00:00.004-05:00

Well I'm not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are the things that don't last
Well it's just now and then my line gets cast into these

Time passages
There's something back here that you left behind
Oh time passages
Buy me a ticket on the last train home tonight
excerpted from "Time Passages" by Al Stewart

My niece, the first baby in our family, will be 24 next week. I'm having a lot of difficulty adjusting to that. At 24 she is really and truly an adult, eligible to do anything except run for president or apply for Medicaid. But in my head she is still that kid who had to practice winking and who held my hand as we walked through a parking lot.

Her one brother will turn 16 in a few months, old enough to drive more than a Big Wheel, and just possibly mature enough, too. He's well and truly a teenager now, and will likely never again sit next to me on the couch under an afgan just to cuddle.

Yesterday, after much arguing with my niece via text messaging, I have had to accept the fact that my youngest nephew, the real baby in the family, is now 11. I knew, logically, using certain events as points of reference, he was at least 10 and possibly 12. Now I have to deal with the fact that he probably doesn't even remember honoring me with admission into his "secret" fort in the back of his bedroom closet.

When I was younger I couldn't understand why my parents had such trouble keeping track of my age, or dealing with the fact that I was getting older. I understand a lot better now. I like these kids a lot. I enjoy being in their company. I just want them to stop growing up so fast.

They'd better become some really outstanding adults, because I'm not going to get these days back again and I think I deserve some compensation. Maybe a trip to Disney World. They owe me.

Stuff ... and Nonsense?

2009-02-10T12:21:00.006-05:00

In my quest to organize my real space in an effort to organize my head space, I've been clearing out drawers and closets. Slowly, to be sure. Baby steps. But little by little I'm making headway.

If asked, I would have said that I'm not a collector. Of anything. No stamps, or pincushions, or thimbles, spoons, china ... nope, not me. I have lots of books, but I'm not collecting them. Collectors worry about first editions and condition and so forth. I'm only concerned that all the pages are present and accounted for, and not stuck together. I also find myself buying lots of yarn, but that's because I intend to use it, not display it.

But for all that I don't deliberately collect anything, I do find that there are things I have an awful lot of. Containers, for instance. Cardboard, tin, ceramic, whatever, I can't seem to get rid of them. And not particularly special ones either. I mean, I'm not oohing and ahing because I have a limited edition pillbox or anything. It's just that once a box with lid comes into my environment, I can't let go of it. I'm sure I'll find the perfect use for it and if I do get rid of it, probably come to regret doing so at some point in the future. They're useful, which gives me a perfectly good excuse for saving them. If, in fact, they actually got used. Mostly they get forgotten about until I need to clean out a closet or drawer and then ...

It could be a kind of metaphor, now that I think about it. I have a need to be organized that conflicts with my inability to avoid clutter. Maybe, subconsciously, I view boxes as a compromise, being things in which I can organize and store the clutter. Except the boxes themselves have become clutter which then needs to be organized. Probably I need a box for my boxes. Oh wait, I have one. It's called a house.

Which brings me back to square one. I'm working on it.

The Archbishop in Andalusia

2009-02-06T15:16:00.003-05:00

So, I read The Archbishop in Andalusia by Andrew Greeley, the latest in Greeley's mystery series featuring Archbishop Blackie Ryan. I would say that if you have enjoyed the Blackie series before, you will probably enjoy this one, too. If you haven't ...

Here's the thing: they aren't really typical mysteries, so they might not appeal to everyone. I enjoy them because I like Blackie's character and some of the secondary characters that inhabit his world. But the stories are very much about the characters and their relationships, and a little less about the plot, so the appeal may not be universal.

Things I liked about this book:

Blackie's character. He's just likeable, an engaging philosopher who has no problem poking a little fun at himself.

More background on Cardinal Cronin* and how he and Blackie first met. Things about Cronin that were hinted at in past books were a lot more fleshed out here, so that was fun.

Some interesting stuff on the history of Spain. I guess it could be considered infodump, but that doesn't bother me because I enjoy learning something new; and if infodump is done correctly, it can do a lot to lend atmosphere to a story. The book takes place largely in Spain, and the background on the country provides perspective on the culture of the people, so the history stuff was useful.

Things I didn't care for:

One of the central characters, and the one who's situation Blackie has been charged with fixing, is less than sympathetic. She's supposed to be this strong, admirable woman, beloved by all of Seville, but I thought she was rather wishy-washy. Confident in business situations, she's a complete hand-wringer when it comes to her personal life. Possibly the ensuing angst is a cultural thing, but I found myself thinking "do it or don't do it, but make up your mind and get it over with." That said, it's entirely a personal opinion and may well be the kind of drama other people enjoy.

Some of the secondary characters were a bit flat. While Greeley can be very good with some characters, I found Blackie's nephew and his fiance to be lacking in personality altogether. They were in the last book, too, and in fact met during the course of that book. But in this one, they were just there being such garshed darn nice young Americans that they made white bread look exciting. Also, their presence didn't seem to serve any purpose and wasn't, to my mind, adequately explained. Blackie could have been conversing with a brick wall in some of the scenes, and at least the wall would have lent texture.

Overall, the book was a pleasant read. I wouldn't rush out and recommend it everyone I meet, but I didn't throw it against the wall either.

*In case you decide to read it and start worrying, let me just say now that it does have a happy ending.

Yes We Can DID

2009-01-21T14:43:00.002-05:00

... let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
President Barack Obama, January 20, 2009.

There were many great moments during the inauguration of President Barack Obama yesterday. But more than anything else he said, what struck me was the way he reminded us that while our cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds are varied, we as Americans have one common responsibility. The future.

It was an historic day for a lot of reasons, and it's not my intention to diminish any of them. But the truth is that every inauguration is historic, because every time someone takes that oath of office, someone else relinquishes that power. We've done this 43 times now. Barack Obama is the 44th President to take that oath of office, which means that 43 men before him have stepped aside. Over 200 years ago when our founding fathers started this experiment in government, it may not have seemed like much. But yesterday the eyes and ears of the world were upon us as responsibility for leading the most powerful nation on the planet was transferred from one man to another.

Peacefully.

That in itself is a gift we give to the future. Let us never take it for granted.

Book Review

2009-01-14T15:59:00.004-05:00

So I picked up a few new books the other weekend. The new JAK, Running Hot, and the new Kay Hooper, Blood Sins. I also picked up the new Andrew Greely, The Archbishop in Andalusia. What with one thing and another, I haven't gotten around to reading the last one yet. I'm hoping to get to that one over the upcoming long weekend.

As for the first two, I liked them. A lot. They are two of my favorite authors and fairly dependable. That said, I didn't love them. Why? Well ...

The new JAK is part of her Arcane Society series about a secret group of people with extrasensory abilities. JAK gave us the usual banter between the hero and heroine and in general lived up to her earlier books. My main problem with this book, and the Arcane Society series in general, is the idea of this secret society. See, it's not very secret, as far as I can tell. You've got the hero and the heroine, the guy who sends the H&H into the Dangerous Situation, the folks the hero normally works for, the heroine's previous employer, the new head of the Arcane Society and, so far, at least 3 Bad Guys each getting their own henchman, and a few peripheral characters. That's, uh, about a dozen characters who are either members of this Secret Society or member of the equally Secret Evil Rival Society. And this is just one book of a series. And this Arcane Society has been around for a few hundred years. I'm thinking, ya know, it's not such a secret anymore.

But that's just me. The banter is fun, the bad guys are appropriately twisted, and once I let go of my hang up about the secretiveness of this society I did still enjoy the book.

The new Kay Hooper is also part of a series, an offshoot of the FBI run by a guy named Bishop who has, and also employs people with, paranormal powers (notice a trend here?) in the pursuit of justice against Big Bad Guys with paranormal powers. Once again, there are an awful lot of people running around with this extra ability. And because, like JAK, Hooper writes romance, you get a new H&H with every book. So it's not just the folks within this secret (there's that word again) arm of the FBI; its all these other people who get recruited into saving the world, or their love interests who usually turn out to have their own something extra. Okay, I could deal with all of that. And in fact I really enjoyed the Bishop series initially. What's getting to me is a tendency for the characters to spontaneously sprout a new psychic ability in the nick of time. I just don't see that as playing fair with the reader; it's a violation of some kind of rule of fiction. Okay, there needs to be a big climatic scene where it appears that the hero and/or heroine just might not make it. That goes with. It's part of the suspense even when you know that good will ultimately triumph. But the new powers thing? That's like giving Batman x-ray vision just because he's in a tough spot. I don't think the author should change the rules just to accommodate the good guys. As I said recently to someone else who had read the book, Hooper should just dispense with the romance angle and write paranormal suspense using Bishop and Co. as her ongoing cast of characters. Like a Justice League kind of thing.

I'm not throwing either of these books against the wall in disgust; in fact, I think both writers are very good. Just not writing up to their potential. But that's just me. You should form your own opinion.

I'm In Love

2009-01-07T14:22:00.004-05:00

Okay, I did finish the wrap thing except I have to find some matching thread to sew on the pockets with. Probably I could have tried harder this past weekend, but I was pretty much looking for an excuse to dive into my new yarn.

This is it. And I'm already fighting the temptation to buy more, to horde the stuff against some blah, bleary day when I need a yarn fix. This stuff is WONDERFUL. Really, all caps and italics, too. I feel like crying out "where have you been all my life?!" It's like the dark chocolate of yarn, the good 75% organic cocoa content stuff, the beans harvested by Juan Valdez's distant cousin and hand carried to a delightfully wizened, old-school confection genius in the Swiss Alps who created the world's first truffle. Get it?

It's not just that it's soft. I've handled softer. It's not just that it's pretty, although it is. It's the entire experience of the yarn. The folks at Simply Shetland have created a fiber blend that is the best of both the silk and wool worlds. I know it doesn't look like much to the naked eye; but trust me, this stuff is good. I'm spoiled for all other yarns. I'm giddy. Maybe it's the honeymoon phase, but I'm into the second skein now so I'm feeling pretty confident.

I'm savouring here.

A Good Yarn

2008-12-29T15:36:00.009-05:00

In case you were wondering, yes I did finish the raspberry colored shrug from an earlier post. And made a few raspberry colored noises. I didn't like it. I tried to figure out how it could be fixed, but I think the problem was in the yarn. When I sewed up the seams and tried it on there was too much bulk under my arms, very uncomfortable. So I've stashed that away to possibly frog some day (to frog in yarn circles means to pull out or unravel a project). I wasn't that crazy about the yarn so I'm not in much of a hurry to get that done. Some day I may try that pattern again in a lighter weight yarn and see if it makes a difference.

In the meantime, I started and am nearly finished working on a wrap-type thing with pockets. I like the idea of the pockets. I'm working with a very yummy yarn by Rowan called Cashsoft DK that is 57% extra fine merino, 33% acrylic microfibre and 10% cashmere. Very soft and cozy which makes it perfect for a wrap. DK is short for double knit ... I know, you just had a flash back to those ugly polyester pants your Aunt Edna used to wear, didn't you? Take heart. In this instance double knit describes the thickness of the yarn and has nothing to do with the fiber content. DK is somewhere between worsted (think afghan yarn) and sport or baby weight (think, uh, baby sweaters). The Cashsoft has a nice hand, very smooth as it spools through my fingers and very little splitting. Also, no nasty kinks from over-twisting of the yarn, which plagued me while I was working on the above mentioned shrug. Yeah, I should have taken that as a sign.

The merino should keep it from stretching out of shape and cashmere is just always nice to have next to your skin. The microfiber content isn't even noticeable but ought to provide duribility. The yarn is a deep blue gray that the Rown people call Kingfisher, if that gives you any idea, and not the pictured lime green. Really, who looks good in lime green? Nobody. It's supposed to be 62" long. I'm trying to decide if that is too long. Sure, it looks good on the model, but how tall is she? I mean, if it hangs down below the hips when worn, then wouldn't the pockets be a little inconvenient? I'm at roughly 54" now so I need to drap this on someone taller than me and see what they think about the length.

My next project after this one will be this long sweater thing (well, what would you call it?). The pattern is called Haru (I have no idea what that means) by Doris Chan who does a lot of crochet designs. This one is from her book Everyday Crochet. Even better, I didn't have to buy this book. Please don't tell Doris. Our county has a terrific interlibrary loan system, and in some cases I can even get books on loan from other counties in the state, which is how I got my hands on this pattern.

I have a very nice yarn I want to try out for this. Not the stuff pictured, but some lovely fingering weight yarn (slightly finer than the DK) by Simply Shetland called Silk & Lambswool. It's 41% Shetland lambswool and 59% silk. It feels lovely in the skein. And it's actually spun in the actual Scotland so I can have fantasies about Men In Kilts while I work with it! That's my plan, anyway. What did I say that wrap was now, 54 inches? That's long enough don't you think? Heh.

Harriet Homeowner Rides Again

2008-12-28T17:58:00.005-05:00

Guess what I did today? I replaced a flush valve! Yeah, I'm pretty psyched, too.

You're making fun of me, aren't you? Yes you are; I can hear you laughing from way over here on the other side of the Internet. Fine. But don't come crying to me when your toilet won't stop running and you need a new flush valve assembly.

We have a finished basement which is quite nice when it's not cluttered up with all the stuff we dump there in order to have the rest of the house looking nice, you know, the parts that company actually sees. I did do some cleaning up last week and it's not looking too bad now if I do say so myself. Still some stuff to dump and I've got bags and bags of books that need to go to either the library or a used book store. In the meantime, however, we haven't been able to use the downstairs toilet for months. Mind you, we don't need to all that often. The problem was that it wouldn't stop running so water was being serously wasted. It wasn't a leaky flapper; I checked that first and there was no leak there. Now, you might think of toilets as being complicated affairs, but they really aren't. It's basically just the flush apparatus and the flapper, that's it. And - I found this interesting, maybe you will as well - the basic modern flush toilet mechanism has not changed much since the first patent was issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775. Ha. You thought it was Thomas Crapper, didn't you?

No, I am not a plumber, nor do I play one on tv. But I learned a lot from my dad about how to fix stuff around the house. It's amazing how much the average person can do for themselves, and cheaply! Seriously, I paid about $10 for the assembly and it didn't even require special tools to install. Ten bucks! You couldn't even get a plumber to drive past your house for that! And all the instructions where right there inside the box, easy peasy. I admit I was nervous about doing it and had put it a ways down on my to do list. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet and a couple of different DIY websites, I became more confident about my ability to handle it. And it really was pretty easy. Didn't even need a wrench. In fact, the instructions clearly state NOT to use a wrench but to do any tightening required by hand.

Now it's done and I'm feeling pretty darned proud of myself.

It's Beginning To Look ...

2008-12-12T16:23:00.008-05:00

I put up my Christmas lights the other weekend. Just lights on the shrubs and an animated snowman figure but that took me long enough. Had a heck of a time figuring out the power cords, getting the right tab a into the proper slot b, so to speak. At one point the snowman was animating away, but not lighting up. You would think the animation would have been the hard part, but no.

In case you've never done this before, let me explain how it works. A string of lights comes with a female end and a male end. They do, well, what you'd expect. Except not with each other. It's not a moral issue, dear reader. The male does the manly job of connecting to the household current, while the female end has the all important maternal job of keeping the current running for the rest of the family and giving all the baby cords something to feel connected with.

The trick is to make sure you have all the strings running in the right directions or you end up with boys next to boys and girls next to girls. Electrical cords work much the way biology does: you need one of each in order to make a ba - uh, in order to make a complete circuit. So I had the string of lights plugged into the extension cord and the extension cord running into the outlet, with the intention of hooking the business end of the snowman (it's a snowman people, get your minds out of the gutter) up to the lights. There's a whole 'nother set of lights on shrubs to the right side of the door, but that part was fairly simple.

My problem was, there are 3 variations the average householder will encounter in North America:

1. Two prongs

(a) Both prongs of equal size,
(b) One prong wider than the other; and

2. Three prongs.*

And wouldn't you just know it, Frosty had a 1(b) connector while the lights had a 1(a) receptacle and they don't fit together, no way, no how. You can't even cheat on that one if you wanted to. To make matters more complicated, I discovered that Frosty came with a plethora (okay, 3) of plugs/receptacles and the instructions were, um, vague. *sigh*

One of the new found connectors did fit into the light string and I was quite excited for a whole 10 seconds when Frosty started tipping his hat at me. Then I realized that while he had range and motion, he wasn't exactly glowing. Finally got it all squared away and the figure anchored down which I must have done a pretty fair job of because we had some big winds the next day and it held just fine. What do you think?

In other years there have been those pretty icicle lights hanging from the gutters, but that involves much time on a ladder and even then, for me, it's a reach. And you know, the snowman took long enough.

*If you find yourself with a 3 prong connector but only a 2 prong receptacle on an extension cord, you might be tempted to cheat and jam it in there anyway. DON'T. Just don't. I won't bore you with the technical reasons for the variations, but I will say that they are practical and even safety related. Do it right.

It's a Classic

2008-12-01T15:46:00.004-05:00

As a rule I go quite a long time between movies simply because I'd rather be reading. I honestly don't think most movies are worth giving up my free time for. I'm not anti-cinema, it's just that today's movies tend too much towards gratuitious everything - profanity, nudity, gore - and rely on a sort of potty humor popular among adolescent males. Since I'm neither a male nor an adeolescent, I just find it dumb. There are a handful of exceptions, but I generally prefer old movies. What with less sophisticated special effects and more stringent censorship (no, I'm not advocating censorship), film makers from by-gone times relied a lot more on imagination - theirs and ours, both - and in my opinion that's why so many of the oldies are still goodies. Of course, "old" is relative. I like Bogey and Bacall, Hepburn and Tracey. But I also enjoy Redford and Redgrave. In the last few weeks I've watched The Sting, The Untouchables, The Great Escape, and The Stand. I've watched them all before, but that doesn't matter.

The Sting is wonderful because (a) it's got Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and (b) it's got some great twists in the plot that delight me everytime I watch it. Everything about it says "let's have fun" right from the start.
The Untouchables is a great cops and robbers flick. It has Costner before he let fame go to his head, and Sean Connery's in fine form as an old-timer beat cop. Also, notably, a very young Andy Garcia and everyone's favorite bad guy, Robert de Niro. I've heard this one mistakenly described as a "gang" movie. pffbbbt. Fugetaboutit. This is not about some turf-happy punks trying to be tough. It was da mob, people.
The Great Escape. Not a lot of people know that this movie was based on a true story. Not a happy ending, so you don't watch this one if you want happily ever after. Still, it's got that triumph-of-the-human-spirit thing going for it. And what a cast. Steve McQueen, James Garner, and James Coburn just to name a few.
And The Stand, based on the Stephen King novel. King also wrote the teleplay, which is probably why it was so well done. Don't wait for a network re-airing, though; too much is cut out to make room for commercials and it loses something in the continuity. The original broadcast of the mini series, though, is about as true to the book as any movie could be, and the book is among my all time favorites. Talk about classic good v. evil. And Gary Sinise, too. I think what made this book so perfect, and what held true in the movie version, is that nothing was wasted. Every character, every plot turn, has a purpose. And the big showdown is about as perfect a climactic ending as you could ever ask for.

In retrospect, it's pretty clear that I was in the mood for some good guys v. bad guys stories. And even if these movies don't all come with happy endings, they do have some good guys kicking ass. Sometimes you need that.

While You've Been Waiting

2008-11-22T19:50:00.011-05:00

So. Things have been ensuing. Not exciting, not bad, just ... things. Yardwork (leave sucker upper guys came this past week), job, doctors appointments and so on and so forth. It sounds like so little when I put it down in print, but it seemed to take up an inordinate amount of time. Or maybe it's just that it takes me longer to get every blessed thing done these days. But I digress.

Over there to your right is one of the things I finally finished a few weeks ago. The pattern is called Barbados Tee. I don't know why, except that it's loose and comfortable so I suppose you could wear it on Barbados or another tropical-type place. The shirt is crochet from (I think I told you this before) fibranatura's Exquisite Bamboo, actually a blend of 77% bamboo and 23% Merino wool. Very, very soft and cozy, and I will definitely be making something else out of this yarn one day because it's so comfortable. I followed a pattern for the shirt, but did deviate slightly. I put just a bit of slope in the shoulders and worked that slight cut out in the back of the collar, both with a mind to how the shirt would hang on me. I'm really pleased. I might have to do another one of those some day.

Next up is the shrug pictured below. Not quite, quite finished, but close. And yes, it is spread on a pillow. Because it didn't look right on a hanger, okay? If it looks the way I hope it will, once it's finished, it might be a Christmas present for my sister. This was a quick project, a relatively easy pattern done entirely in single crochet, worked only in the back loop. Which means nothing to you unless you crochet. FYI, working in the back loop only is why it has that pattern of ridges. It also makes the fabric more stretchy. The pattern is really just a large "T" shape which is then folded and sewed together in a way I can't explain but which leaves arm-holes and an open, shawl-collar front. I'm debating doing some edging work on it, to give it a more finished look.

My next project is going to be a sort of wrap/shawl thing with pockets. I've chosen a yummy yarn named "Cashsoft" which is a blend of Merino wool, microfiber and 10% cashmere. Very yummy, very soft, very cuddly. A kind of bluish color. More on that later.

I've also been reading a lot in the last few weeks, more than I'd had the time or functioning brain cells to read for a while. A few more books and I might start to feel back to normal again. Delta read for a friend who's book shows a great deal of promise and which I'm really looking forward to seeing on the bookstore shelves one day. That was fun but also a wee bit scary since the point of Delta reading (beta reading for the rest of you) is to look at the story with fresh eyes as a reader - not an editor or critiquer - and help the writer to make the book the best it can be.

Also read the new J.D. Robb which was terrific and discovered to my delight that Harley Jane Kozak, the actress, can write. Her book, Dating Dead Men, was hysterically funny and I urge you to go find it at the library and read it for yourself. I don't know if her other books (yes, she has written more than one) are as good. I'll have to get back to you on that. Oh, and I was excited to discover at the library today that Suzann Ledbetter had written another book in her series set in the Missouri Ozarks. I read the five before this starting with East of Peculiar and loved them so this was a great find. They're good, fun mysteries with an endearing cast of characters including, but not limited to, the residents of the retirement community that the central character acts as resident manager for. Go get the first one, you'll thank me.

And, finally, here's something to help you get into the holiday season a little early. This is my Mom's Christmas cactus which started life nearly 20 years ago as one of those windowsill sized plants you can pick up at the grocery store. Needless to say, it no longer fits on the windowsill. I don't think I've ever seen another one quite this big that flowered this extravagantly.

And some years she'll get second blooming from it. What can I say, it's a happy plant. Hopefully it will stay happy because it's too danged heavy at this point to be repotted.

That's it for now. Let's not wait so long to do this again, okay?

At The Tone Please Leave a Message ...

2008-11-17T11:28:00.002-05:00

BEEP!

I know it's been a while, nearly a month in fact, but I'm busy so just hold your horses. I had planned to slip in a vacation blog, but it was needed somewhere else so, oh wah.

I finished a crochet project and will have a picture. Nearly finished with another so another possible picture there. And Mom's Christmas cactus is gifting a little early this year so there might be a picture of that as well. It's worth a picture as the thing is huge and quite a sight when it's dripping with flowers.

In the meantime, if you have something to say go ahead, don't wait for me.

"I May Not Agree With What You Say ...

2008-10-28T16:04:00.006-04:00

... but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."

I grew up thinking that was said by someone like Thomas Paine or Patrick Henry until a few years ago when I learned it was Voltaire. Or maybe Paine or Henry did say it, but not originally. More to the point, though, is that speaking out is not just a right granted us in the U.S. Constitution, it's an obligation. Many years ago someone said to me that we are either part of the solution or we are part of the problem. If you don't speak out when you believe something is wrong, then you are just as guilty as the perpetrators. A hard truth. Someone else put it better when they said that evil conquers when good men do nothing. Why am I going into this? Because next Tuesday is Election Day here in the U.S. of A. But before you read my post, please go on to read what BCB has to say about it here. Most anyone who is reading my blog is probably reading hers, too. If not, you should because she much more articulate than I am. That's because she is a Writer, whereas I am a Reader. I don't have to be articulate, I just have to recognize it when I see it. Like art.

She has pointed out all very good reasons why everyone should vote. It's a right nobody should ever willingly give up. But if her words have not convinced you, I'll give you another damn good reason. We are making history this year, and you should not forsake your chance to be a part of it.

This Presidential Election is already unprecedented. During the primaries, the Democrats gave us a choice of not just one minority candidate, but two. Two! We had, first, a woman running for the Democratic nomination. Then we had a black man running also. So right there, in the primaries alone, we were making history. Amazing stuff. Then, as if that wasn't enough, we saw a true, nail-biting race worthy of the Kentucky Derby. All the big money was on the favorite, the known quantity, a political dynasty in the making. And then what happens? The dark horse (pun not intended), the relative unknown comes up from behind and suddenly anything was possible. From week to week, from one primary to the next, nothing was for sure. If there was a primary like it before this one, it didn't happen in my memory.

Now we have a Democratic candidate, a new face, going up against the old guard GOP. And you would think that the guy with the most history, the most political savvy, would be a shoe in. You would think it would be a no-brainer, that everyone would side with the more comfortable known quantity; but no. Instead it has been another neck-and-neck battle. This election has had so many twists and turns that even now it seems like anything might be possible. Throughout first the primaries and now the Presidential Election, nothing has been certain from one week to the next. It makes it hard to be cynical about the outcome, whichever way it goes. For the first time, the American public has had some real choices and have been out there making their choices known. It's an amazing time, and you should get out there and be a part of it. Regardless of whether your horse wins or loses, you should not sit this one out because you will be passing up the chance to take part in history.

No one candidate is going to have all the right answers, regardless of who wins. And, as I have made it a point to say before, the Presidency is about more than just one issue. It's not just about your stand on abortion, stem cell research, Darwinism, religious freedom, the war in Iraq, or, even, just the economy. No one issue should ever, EVER sway your vote. You are voting for the person who will be recognized as the leader of the United States. It has been said that the Presidency is a figure-head position. Maybe, maybe not. But it is true that this person will be the face of the U.S. to the rest of the world. This is the person who we will hold up as our representative. And there is so much more to being an American than just one issue. We are an amalgam. A mix of not just cultures and religions, but of political beliefs. We are not just conservative in our outlook, we are also liberal. We lean not just to the left, but also to the right and sometimes square in the middle of the road. We are not just rich, we are also poor and middle class. We are not just Anglo, we are also every ethnicity on the face of the earth. We are religious and we are atheist. We are educated and we are blue-collar. We are urban, suburban, small town and country folk. We are farmers and mechanics and doctors and lawyers. We are rebels and we are law-abiding. We are strong and we are compassionate.

So. If you are a U.S. citizen and over the age of 18, you need to vote. Vote because you can. Vote because you should. Vote your conscience and vote your heart. Vote for the person you think will best represent us as a nation. But, mostly, vote.

The Rabbits Didn't Win

2008-09-14T14:39:00.004-04:00

Edited to fix an obvious but possibly amusing typo which nobody could be bothered to tell me about. Oh no, I had to discover it for myself. Probably you were too busy laughing at me.

So, as you may recall from back in the spring/early summer, I had this little issue with cute little furry bunnies ravaging my garden. There's a reason that God made some animals especially cute; it's the only thing that saves them. Out of all the veggies I originally planted, the only things remaining are the crook necked squash, the tomatoes, and one lone banana pepper plant. It goes to show just how hardy nature can be, because that lone pepper plant had been completely denuded (why "de" nuded? Shouldn't it be just "nuded"?) of leaves. But it survived and has a single actual pepper on it right now. If the weather hold, I may yet get a second one. But I digress.

It wasn't just the veggies. At one point the furbags had gone through all my flowers, too. They had all been de-flowered (I'm sure that's right) and some had been et right down to the ground. But, as I said, nature is hardy and it looks like they've all come back. Because of the bunnies I only got this one corner planted. I didn't see much point in putting flowers into the long bed (slightly visible to the left of this photo) just to feed the critters, so I let the other bed go barren. But as I said, nature is one tough gal, and I actually had a few tenacious pansies hang in there for most of the summer. They're gone now - pansies don't like the heat much - but they flowered for much longer than I had anticipated. Oh, I did put in some bleeding heart on the other side of the fence which is doing nicely. I even spotted a lone flower which was a nice surprise because I wasn't expecting anything from it until next year.

Here's a close up of one side of that corner garden. Those bright orange/yellow things are lantana. That's one of my favorite things to plant because they grow like crazy but require no upkeep, not even deadheading. The pink stuff is pentas, the long green blades are from a variety of lily - I forget which - that won't bloom until next year. As you can see from the photo above, there is also some purpley stuff, as well as some coreopsis, which has some buds but not current flowers.

The lantana and a few other things are annual and so won't repeat for me next year. But that's okay because it's too crowded in there right now anyway.

Is It Just Me?

2008-09-11T10:03:00.004-04:00

I'll admit that I'm not the most active person. I live by the motto "why walk when you can lay down and take a nap." I know that there are oodles of people out there who are way more productive than I am and are happier for it. But lately it seems to have reached maniacal heights.

These people are tiring me out just listening to them. And it's nearly impossible to not listen since, along with the hyper activity, there also seems to be a need to justify their existence by telling everyone. Hello? I am not in charge of awarding gold stars, keep it to yourself. Am I supposed to be impressed by the person who belongs to three separate running groups? I'm not. I think it's insane. Running with one group could be considered exercise; more than that and I have to wonder what it is they are trying to run from.

If they aren't obsessing about exercise, it's something else. Work two jobs, save the planet and, if there's any time left, raise a back to nature family by growing your own granola. And they want everyone else to join them in jumping on the hamster wheel Squeak, squeak, squeak. Am I the only one noticing that hamsters never actually go anywhere?

I think it's a conspiracy. There's a radical group at work here whose aim is to keep everyone so busy that they never notice that (a) they aren't accomplishing anything other than wearing themselves out, and (b) the planet is being taken over. Probably by a giant rodent species from another planet who think it's amusing to watch humans run around in circles for a change. And we won't be able to fight back because we're all too tired to think straight.

I propose a counter attack. Everyone take a day, once a week, and do nothing. If you really can't do a whole day (some people will need to build up to it slowly) try for an hour. Don't improve yourself, don't join anything, don't start something, don't be productive. Instead, sleep in. Then get up and take a nap. If that gets old, read a book, count raindrops, watch clouds go by or look at the night sky and wonder what drugs the ancients were on when they decided that a group of stars looked just like a bull, fish, goat, whatever.

Slow down. Take a deep breath and relax. Tomorrow will still come, but today won't last forever. Take some time to appreciate it while you can.

Yarn Tails

2008-09-03T09:56:00.006-04:00

I've got a few things I'm working on. Over the long weekend I tackled the sleeveless top I had worked on in June. It was supposed to be finished, but I was never really happy with the edging aroung the armholes. And I had no excuse for ignoring it because I had spare yarn and I knew the edging would be easy enough to unravel without harming the the rest of the garment. I don't know why it took me this long to fix it, because it's only a few rows around. Anyway, it's done. The original edging had an odd flair to it that was unintentional and seemed to get more obvious as the fabric softened. I don't know what went wrong. This time I added slight decreases with each round and I'm much happier.

Nearly finished with the t-shirt. Into the home stretch, anyway. The back side is completely done and I'm into the sleeve portion of the front (working bottom to top) so this should be done in a few weeks, tops. I'm debating giving the pieces a soak in hot water to tighten the stitches. Probably I should experiment on the swatch first. Here is a picture of the work in progress. Note that I still need to work in the neckline, in addition to to finishing the sleeves.

Oh, and I've been fooling around with knitting! I learned as a child, same as I did crochet. I took to crochet more readily but I've encountered so many tempting knit patterns recently that I'm thinking I want to try it again. I picked up one of those "teach yourself" kits and tried out a few stitches one afternoon. Just knit and purl, and getting the hang of binding off to finish a piece. I need to work with more techniques but I think this might work out. The kit included two sizes of needles and a booklet with decent illustrations. We'll see, but I'm feeling inspired.

I HEART My Public Library

2008-08-25T12:06:00.005-04:00

I really do. I buy a lot of books, but books are expensive so for the most part I stick to buying authors who are tried and true and will reside on my keeper shelves. That is, I buy the books written by the authors, not the actual authors themselves. Not that I wouldn't love to have them residing on my keeper shelves, cranking out books just for me. Some of my favorite authors seem to insist on having lives and doing things outside of creating books, like raising kids, visiting relatives, etc. I might argue that they could increase their output by doing away with that trivial stuff, but do they listen to me? No.

But I digress. My point is, books are expensive so I try to limit my purchases to those that I know I will return to time and again. Fortunately we have in this great country of ours something known as the public library. Now, just in case someone out there has missed this concept, a public library exists for the sole purpose of providing books for people to read free of charge! It's FREE. How can you beat that? For no charge whatsoever they will let you browse their extensive collection, which rivals some bookstores, FYI, and you can pick any book completely at random and they will let you read it. Most of those books they even let you take out of the library for up to three weeks at a time. This means that not only are you allowed to read this book without owning it first, you can do so in the comfort of your own home, or anywhere else you desire. All they ask is that you bring the book back at or before the end of the three week period, preferably undamaged, so that someone else can have the privilege of reading it. They will probably charge you a small fee if you bring the book back late or damaged, but as long as you abide by the rules, it's all FREE.

Now, I know what you are thinking. There must be a catch because nothing in life is free. Well this whole public library thing has been going on for some time now and if there is a catch nobody else has found it. I, myself, have been doing this "read for free" thing my whole life and haven't found a flaw in the system yet. As near as I can tell, the modern idea of a public library came about in the 1800s. There were libraries before then, but they were known as "subscription libraries," which required a modest regular fee. It was still probably a pretty darned good deal if you read a lot. But today's public library, at least in the U.S., is free to anyone and everyone. Everyone. They don't care who you are, what you like to read, how old you are or whether or not you are well educated. They don't care. They will let you read their books ABSOLUTELY FREE! I remember mentioning this to my then 10yo nephew on a visit many years ago. He looked at me and asked "how can they do that?" Of course he knew, in theory, that the library was free but it's one of those things that people take for granted, not giving any real thought to. Free. Is that amazing, or what?

You may be thinking that this is a bad thing for people who make their living writing books, but I would argue that ultimately they do benefit. Most of the books I have purchased are by authors I first discovered in the public library. My first Dorothy L. Sayers, Rex Stout, Ellis Peters and Agatha Christie were borrowed from the library. I discovered Margaret Maron, Jane Haddam and Parnell Hall while randomly browsing the shelves at the library. I've since acquired many of their books for my own collection; but without the library, I would never have known what I was missing in the first place. I think this is generally true. People are more likely to spend money if they liked the free sample. If not, they weren't going to anyway.

Getting back to my nephew's question, though, the "how" is through our tax dollars and through donations - of both books and money - from people just like me and you who want to keep this wonderful idea going for future generations. I think you'll agree that it's a pretty good deal. You don't have to be an avid reader to appreciate it. Probably at some point you will want to know "how to" or "what happened" or even "why." And you can find out inside your public library, because available books are not just limited to fiction. So if you ever find yourself with a few dollars that you would like to do something nice with, something that would profit future generations, something where you can actually see what is being done with your charitable donation, think about your local public library.

For A Limited Time Only

2008-08-21T14:59:00.005-04:00

This morning I got an email notice from one of the big chain bookstores. I think I have a discount card for them which is probably why I'm on their email list. Anyway, the email was touting an "online exclusive" that would allow me to get this very nifty messenger bag absolutely free. And it does look like a nice bag; probably it would be great for my daily commute. So I decided to check it out, being aware that its "freeness" was dubious at best. The bag, FYI, is a $17.95 value. And it can be mine absolutely free if I add $100 worth of items I would like to purchase to my cart. All I have to do is put $100 worth of merchandise into my virtual shopping cart, that's all. Then, I can also add the $17.95 bag to my virtual cart and - here's the kicker - when I proceed to checkout, the cost of the bag will be deducted. Notice how they carefully don't say that the bag is free only with a $100 or more purchase? As if I'm not going to notice that I'm paying $100 or more for an $18 bag. No, I did not order it. It isn't that I'm not capable of racking up $100 in books. Hardbacks ain't cheap. But my purchases are sprinkled throughout the year. I've probably purchased that much or more (well, there was the trip to Portland - home of Powell's. 'nuff said) already. See, that's my problem; I buy books when I actually want them. If I had just waited, I could have taken advantage of an exclusive offer. That'll learn me.

It reminded me of the going out of business sale a local furniture store was having years ago. The splashy tv ads made it clear that all their stock had to be liquidated and I should act quickly to take advantage of the amazing savings because at those prices the merchandise was going to go quickly. I think the ad ran for 3-4 years. So glad I rushed right down there ... not.

I resisted, but I don't claim to be immune to temptation. If the minimum order for the free bag had been more reasonable, I'd have given in. But, please, $100 is a lot to ask for a $18 dollar bag. $50, that's my final offer

Food Is The Only Thing That Falls Into Your Lap

2008-08-11T10:16:00.010-04:00

There's this person I know, whom I'll call "Nancy" because I don't actually know anyone by that name, who has had a rough life. Nancy was a good little girl and married young as girls did then and per her parents' expectations. It didn't work. Eventually she entered into a "commited relationship" which also didn't work. Then she got married again and, you guessed it, it didn't work. To be fair, initially she was just following the expected pattern for her generation. The idea of a woman being financially independant is pretty new. Unfortunately, Nancy continued to repeat the pattern of finding someone to take care of her. And now she is reduced to doing unskilled manual labor in her late 50's and clinging precariously to an uncertain and unstable financial situation - and still looking for someone to take care of her. To make matters worse, she pretty much raised her daughter as she had been raised, and now they are both in the same boat. Nancy is a good person. It would be easy to say that she doesn't really deserve such a hard life. And yet, she hasn't done anything to make her life different, either. She could have chosen to learn from experience and hedged her bets while still young. Instead she kept looking for a shortcut, an easy way out.

This post isn't really about Nancy, though. It's about all the other people out there, people I know and probably people you know, too, who keep trying to find an easier way. Sometimes they learn; sometimes they don't. There is no easy way. You work for what you want and you plan for things to go wrong because they will. If, instead, you sit around waiting for good things to happen just because you're cute/blonde/friendly/manicured - pick one - please have the grace not to whine when life doesn't go according to plan.

If this sounds harsh, well that's how I'm feeling. I'm tired of being resented because my life seems less problematic than somebody else's. I'm tired of having to test the air before I can share whatever blessing comes my way. I earned my life, and what I have is a result of decisions I made. Nothing just fell into my lap.

I am cute as hell, though.

Waiting For The Lull

2008-08-07T13:43:00.004-04:00

When you are a true Reader of the obsessive variety, the story playing out between the pages of a book is as engrossing, and even more intimate, than any viewed on the big screen. I once missed my stop on the subway going home because I had only two pages to go and didn't want to close the book. I got off at the next stop and waited for a train going back, reading the whole time. Why couldn't I just close the book and pick up the story where I left off once I was home? I just couldn't that's all. In spite of knowing, logically, that the words on the page were static things and not about to carry on without me, I was convinced that, if I closed that book before finishing the story, something would happen and I would miss it! And that's not the only time that has happened.

I was reminded of that incident recently while reading Clive Cussler's Sahara. I have issues with Cussler's writing; that book in particular could have used a better editor, for one thing. But he's hard to beat if you want a story with lots of action and heroic feats of derring do. During the evening, if I had to stop reading for any reason I found myself giving my mother a blow-by-blow of what was occuring in the story at that point. "Okay, they haven't found the sub yet; but Pitt and Giordino have just escaped the clutches of the evil billionaire and stole his helicopter. Then they crashed it into the river to put the bad guy pursuers off the scent, and are now stealing the evil general's antique car." How's that for action-packed? And that's after blowing up the yacht and ... well you'll have to read it yourself, if you want to know. And although I didn't get the book finished that night, I did keep reading long after I should have gone to bed. I had to wait until the good guys were safe before I left them. Mom, being an obsessive Reader herself, understood perfectly.

Burrowing In

2008-08-04T10:01:00.005-04:00

After spending a good part of the last year running to and fro and having a darned good time in the process, I've finally worked it out of my system, I think. One might even say that I achieved Inner Peach. I had a grand time and am looking forward to more grand times yet to come. But I am, by nature, a homebody, a nester.

That seems to be the phase I'm in just now. I'm burrowing in at home, cleaning house and getting more organized. We're not talking about a whirl wind of activity here. Whirl winding is not my natural state, although I can do it for a while when necessary. My natural state is a lot more thoughtful and cautious. My natural state likes being tidy, but also enjoys curling up quietly with a book. My natural state doesn't like to rush. I asked it, and it said, quite clearly, "No hurry, whenever." In fact, my natural state embraces quiet time. I am Getting Things Done, however.

Take, for instance, the closet cleaning the other weekend. I also finally got the ugly, broken old shade on the front window replaced with new blinds. And I've started on the cupboard under the stairs. That's going to be a longer project because it's more about better organizing the space than just clearing out. That's okay, all in good time. And one of these days I'm going to actually get the hallway repainted. I even got some paint chips a while back. Probably it's going to be green. Yes, definitely green. Which particular shade of green requires a little more thought. I don't like to rush into these things.

And the plumbing in the basement toilet needs replacing. A new flapper isn't going to do it this time. Since it is the basement toilet and doesn't get used much, there is no urgency. But it's on my list.

Also, I need a new deck. The old one has suffered the elephants for more than 20 years and it shows. Boards are badly splitered and/or warped. It's not a hazard at the moment but it will be if I don't do something about it. I think that will have to be my priority project for next year. And no, it will not be a DIY project. I don't mind weilding a hammer, but I draw the line at hauling lumber. And, because of the landscaping behind my back fence, probably the lumber will have to be brought in through the house. Oh, that will be fun.

This fall I'm going to prune back the shrubs in front of the house. Those shrubs have not looked good for a long time and, in truth, probably need pulled out and replaced. But (a) replacing will cost money, and (b) I have no idea what to replace them with. If it's taking me forever to choose paint for the hallway, you surely don't think I'm going to rush on landscaping, do you? In the meantime, they need cut back so that some sun can get to the ground in front of the bushes. Then I'll put down more seed and possibly get grass growing there again.

And while I'm at it, I might take care of the tree limbs that are reaching for the gutters. The trimming I did a few months ago focused on the lower branches on the sidewalk side of the yard. For the other branches I'll need to break out the ladder. And probably have someone handy to spot me because reaching overhead with a long pole whilst balanced on a ladder is not something that should be done without assistance. I'll get to it. Eventually. It's on the list.

At least I have a list. It's a good start.

Memories, like the corners of my ... thing up there in the skull, you know what I mean

2008-07-21T11:43:00.010-04:00

I used to have a great memory. I used to be able to bring up exactly the right word when I was talking. Heck, I used to be able to recite the entire plot and character arcs for every book I'd ever read. And that's saying something. And it wasn't so long ago either.

There was a time when I could juggle fifty different details. I was On Top Of Things. I was the go-to person for tracking a dozen threads and never got a one tangled. I was good. I'm still good, for that matter; I just have to write every blessed thing down now. No more storing them up in my thingie. And yes, proper nouns were the first to go.

I used to think it was funny, the things that my parents couldn't remember. Like how old they were. Geez, how could you forget something like that? These days I'm doing the math, just like my dad used to do. Good thing it doesn't require long division or I'd never know. Bits of conversation are temporarily misplaced, too. A friend will say "didn't I tell you?" And I'll say "no, I don't think so." But then a week later the entire former conversation will pop up to the front of my brain. The odd thing about that is that it will come out entirely out of context with whatever I'm focused on at the time.

No, it's not dementia or Alzheimer's or any of those other dreaded things that we all fear. A lot of it has to do with time and energy. I don't seem to have as much of either as I used to, and probably my brain is getting sloppy as a result and isn't sorting and filing information as diligently as it used to. The other thing is that I'm older and there are simply more memories for my brain to store than there used to be. I was thinking about that just this past weekend as I was cleaning out a closet. There was so much junk that had migrated to the back of the closet floor, stuff that's totally useless and why wasn't it thrown out in the first place? Old empty hangers that had worked their way to the far left end of the rod, one garment at a time. Empty boxes. A mateless winter glove. A leg warmer - just one. Where the heck did that come from?

The closet got that way because of my own bad habits. I've got clutter issues. I'm always sure that I'm going to find a use for this whateveritis that is still perfectly good. Like one leg warmer? Probably I threw the other one away already thinking, like Romeo, that its mate was already gone when all along she was just sleeping in the back corner of the closet.

So what does all of this have to do with my memory issues? The back of my mind, like my closet, has become the repository for all sorts of things that have long outlived their usefullness. It's interesting the way it works. I find one lost leg warmer in the back of my closet and I wonder what the heck I was thinking. But if I pull out a phone number from childhood, I marvel that I still hold onto it. And what really is the difference? The difference is that I can clear out all that clutter from my closet; what's in my brain will stay there, only surfacing when, as with that lost bit of conversation, I'm looking for something else entirely.

Maybe the trick is to get my real space more organized. Maybe then my brain space will relax and follow along. I'll be able to pull what I want to the surface more readily. First I need to find the time and the energy. And a really big trash bag.

Playing With String

2008-07-08T12:00:00.004-04:00

I'm still crocheting, and how. I finished the sweater for Mom, which she loves, and then started another project, a tank top thing that is supposed to be part of a two-piece sweater set but won't be. It won't be because (1) I don't have enough yarn for both pieces and (2) I only want the tank top. I'm not really a twin set kind of gal, not that there is anything wrong with that. They just never look the way they are supposed to when I'm wearing them. Anyway, I finished that and in fact wore it to Portland so a few people have seen it already. For the rest of you, if you are at all interested, I'll try to get a picture up soon. It is worked in a linen blend yarn called Rowan Damask. It was a bit like working with twine, if you can picture that, but the linen softened up tremendously the more I worked with it and should continue to do so with wear which will make it a very comfy piece. I'm not entirely satisfied with the way the armholes turned out. Well, it's all a learning process.

Next up is this t-shirt which I'm doing in FibraNatura Equisite Bamboo, a bamboo/Merino wool blend in a blue/green shade they call "Winter Sky." I know, bamboo doesn't sound much like something you want in a t-shirt. Well, they don't spin it up into yarn straight from the branch but rather put it through a process that breaks down the fiber. What you get at the end is an incredibly soft yarn that feels something like cashmere. No, really; I've handled some pure bamboo yarn and it's fabulous. In addition to its softness, bamboo is also a fiber that has excellent drape and "breathes," much like cotton. Since they are both cellulose (plant) fibers, that makes sense. The downside is that it doesn't contain much elasticity and can stretch out of shape over time. That's where blends come in handy, combining the attributes of different fibers. In this case, the cool softness of bamboo and the soft elasticity of Merino wool. If you are thinking of wool as that hot, scratchy stuff, then you haven't given Merino wool a try.

It turns out that wool can vary in texture much the way hair does among people. Human hair, when viewed through a microscope, is composed of layers, like scales. The number and size of the scales decides whether your hair is frizzy, curly or straight. It's all a matter of genetics. The same is true with wool; it varies depending on what breed of sheep it comes from. Merino is a very soft, smooth fiber that still retains the best characteristics of wool, i.e. durable and elastic.

To get back to the project at hand, I'm very pleased with how the Exquisite Bamboo handles. Although it's nice and soft, the yarn is not "fuzzy" so the stitches have good definition. Initially the yarn had a tendency to split as I worked with it, my hook catching some of the fiber strands but missing others. Now that I've done several rows of it, however, I'm encountering less of that. My fingers seem to have made the necessary adjustment. I would tell someone who is working with any new yarn for the first time to be patient and give it a chance. Eventually you get used to working with it. As you can see by this swatch, the Winter Sky is a variegated (multi-colored) yarn. In some yarns the dyeing process for variegated results in a too rigid patterning. In this case, I think it just adds some interest. I like the shading of blues and I think they named it perfectly.

Snip

2008-07-07T12:13:00.004-04:00

I got my hair cut this weekend. I hate dealing with haircuts and I have a tendency to put it off until my hair is at the stringy stage. I have a "perfect length," as I think most people do, that one length that allows me to do what I want with my hair. It's the length that always seems to look and feel good. It my "comfort length." Any longer than that and it gets stringy and ratty looking. Any shorter and I lose the ability to pull it up or back, which I often do when I'm doing chores. If I can't do that it drives me crazy the whole time I'm working. The problem? The problem is that hairdressers, in my experience, are constitutionally, perhaps even genetically, incapable of cutting off less than two inches.

I go to the hair dresser and I say "just trim the ends." I say "I really like this length, just give it a bit more shape." I think that's pretty clear, don't you? But no, I look down after a few snips and I see two and three inch locks littering the floor. Why is it so hard? Don't misunderstand me, I'm not getting bad haircuts. The cuts are always really cute ... just not what I want. They always want to give me some kind of cute short cut and, pay attention here, I HATE SHORT HAIR. I HATE IT.

And my hair grows very fast so it's not like I can go a long time between cuts. I've tried that and I end up having to wear it up by necessity because I can't leave it down at all and still have it look decent. I shouldn't have to do that. I should be able to get, amnd it, the amnd hair I amnd want! I swear to Bob, the next hairdresser that whacks off more than 1/4 inch from my head is going to get something of their own snipped off. Maybe I'll match it inch for inch. Maybe I should make this clear before I even sit down. Maybe if I brought along a pair of sheers of my own they would get the message.

Thank you. I feel better now.

The PNW

2008-06-26T10:00:00.005-04:00

So I finally got to see something of the Pacific Northwest when I visited the Portland, Oregon area last weekend. The purpose of the trip was a CB gathering. Okay, so we claimed we were celebrating the summer solstice, but I don't recall one person dancing nekkid under the moon the whole weekend, and I think I would have remembered, so clearly that was just a thinly veiled excuse to party.

I got in late afternoon on Thursday. Earlier in the day while I was waiting for my flight I had received a text message from Wapak telling me that she was there waiting for GP and that I should hurry up. Yes, because I have any control whatsoever over the airlines. Does anyone? But I told her I was flapping my arms as hard as I could. So I get to PDX and text Wapak saying that "I am in Portland" to which she responded, "are you in portland yet?" And it went down hill from there. I responded that yes, I was in Portland, but (at that point) still on the plane. And then, because I like to dot my i's and cross my t's, I confirmed that I was in the Portland that is in Oregon. Wapak wanted to know if, since I hadn't deplaned or whatever the term is, if they were supposed to move the party to the airplane. Frankly I didn't think there was room and suggested baggage carousel 8. She told me to be on the lookout for CBs as I left the plane and I was. I was on the lookout as I got off the plane. I was on the lookout as I left the gate area. I was on the lookout as I got on the escalator leading to the baggage area, and still again when I arrived at the location where I expected my bags to show up. Still no CBs. Then my cell phone rings and it's CMS asking where I am. And I responded "at baggage carousel 8" which she seemed to find very funny. Once she stopped laughing she explained that they had been so busy talking that they didn't see me get off the escalator and WALK RIGHT PAST THEM. Ironically, she was there because she was the one who knew what both JenB and I looked like and could pick us out of the crowd. That was a successfull plan.

As the weekend went on, there was much frivolity and merry making, making Mary merrier, one hopes, but as far as I know no marrying, merry or otherwise. Except possibly in Powell's but we never got the whole story on that. At one point our hostess went off (well she went off on several occasions, ostensibly to procure more ice, and we'll just let it go at that) in the company of, I think, JenB. Don't let Jen's sweet face and quiet manner fool you; it's all a facade. They called back to the party to see if anything was needed or wanted and, well, you've already heard that K.L. requested and received her very own pony. I can't remember if GP wanted a camel or an elephant, but whatever it was she got, she seemed happy with it. I, on the other hand, came out way ahead of the pack on account of I got ...

MEN IN UNIFORM

And even though there were plenty of weapon wielding hunks to go around, I did not share. So there.

The Cotton-Tailed Caper

2008-06-13T11:23:00.007-04:00

So, the mesh fencing stuff referred to in the on-line listing as "poultry fencing" is on order and should actually arrive today or tomorrow. Not that this will do me much good as (1) I'll need help getting it up and (a) my help has limited free time, (b) I'm going to be away for several days myself in the coming week; also (2) there isn't that much left to protect at this stage. Still no signs of snacking on the crook necked squash. I'm starting to wonder if the rabbits know something I don't since they are leaving those plants alone. Fortunately tomato plants, the green parts, are poisonous so they haven't gone after those. Also which, I keep the bottom-most leaves trimmed away in an effort to limit pests of the insect variety. So those two are doing fine.

I couldn't find any more zucchini plants anywhere, but I did locate some seeds which I have started indoors. Please note that I'm learning from my mistakes, here. I put some potting soil into an over sized wine glass (really, more like brandy snifter size) and stuck some seeds in it. I've been misting it since to keep the soil moist and Houston we achieved sprouts. I'm going to let these puppies get fair sized before I transfer them NOT to the plant bed (still learning here) but to some large pots. Of which I am considering the idea of putting up on stilts. And behind a barbed wire fence. But I'm not bitter, no not me. I haven't yet resorted to the measures referred to in this NY Times article . Or to be more precise I haven't resorted to measures that require a permit to carry.

The other night I went outside to water and the furry little ... deep breath ... was sitting there in the middle of the yard STARING AT ME! He doesn't even scurry away anymore, which I think is just insulting. He just sat there the whole time I dealt with getting the hose out and turning on the water. Amnd it, he could at least have had the decency to look worried. But no, he just sat there as I turned on the spray pointed, initially, at the tomato plants. And then I had an idea. Heh heh heh. I reached up and twisted the spray setting from "gentle shower" to "atomic blast stream" and jerked the barrel suddenly in ol' Flopsy's direction. Got him right under his little cotton tail and goosed him clear across the yard. Bwah ha ha ha. No, I don't feel a bit guilty about it, so there.

And he came back! Really, he was back for more last night. The flop-eared little ... was thumbing his twitchy little nose at me. Clearly this called for desperate measures. It just so happened that my FPDU (as Ms. Merry calls it) had followed me to the patio doors. She was hunkered down in tail twitch position staring out at the intruder in the yard. Now, Kelly isn't as young as she used to be but she's still pretty spry and in her day was known to bring "gifts" to the door on occasion. So I decided to see if she still had the stuff. I slid open the door and she padded out on pussy cat feet towards the edge of the patio, crouched down, and ... proceeded to munch on the grass. No, no! I look out and Mopsy is still there, hysterical. Hysterical with laughter. Oh yeah, he's worried now. Okay, maybe he wasn't ROTFLHAO, but I'm sure I detected a chuckle.

Okay, clearly Kelly needed a little reminder about those ancient hunter instincts she's supposed to possess. Instincts she remembers just fine when she's pouncing on imaginary dust motes inside the house. So I pick her up, yes, I did, and I CARRIED HER OVER TO THE RABBIT. Who finally had the grace to look a little nervous scampered just a few feet away. Didn't actually RUN, mind you, but did at least move to what he may have considered a more advantageous position. At this point Kelly starts to get a clue that maybe I'm expecting something from her and wriggles out of my grasp. And now the chase is on. Around and around and around the yard they went. No, the rabbit really did make a run for it with Kelly close behind. They did several circuits of the yard before the bunny wised up and made for the back of the shed. Not only did that slow Kelly down a wee bit it's also the location of one of Bugsy's favorite egress points. So he got away but Kelly got some exercise out of it and I've showed that I will not be trifled with. I know he'll be back, at least until I get the fencing stuff up, but Kelly and I fought the good fight and made a showing. We saved face. And tomorrow's another day.

Where's Elmer Fudd When I Need Him?

2008-06-05T10:21:00.009-04:00

The rabbits are winning. Actually, I think there might be just the one bunny visiting the yard now. It's a very small one that's still capable of wriggling through the various barriers I stuck around the fence two weeks ago. At any rate most of my veggies are history. Except, curiously, the crook neck squash. The zuchinni is gone and the peppers with it. This means that if I want to have a garden this year I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves and get serious.

A friend recommend the plastic mesh stuff pictured here. It's called poultry fencing and is supposed to be better than wire. Certainly it has to be easier to work with, I would think. And it won't rust. So I'm off to the hardware store this weekend to get some. It come in rolls 2 and 3 food high, and 25 feet in length. No, I don't know how much I need. I think I'm going to just concentrate on surrounding the individual plant beds first and then if that goes okay I can move on to bunny-proofing the whole fence.

And while I'm at it I need to get something to replace the railroad ties currently bordering my tomato patch. They've gotten a bit nasty on the underside, kind of rotten and attracting the sort of icky things that like rotten wood. So I'm giving that some thought too. Ideally I'd like to do something with real stone or brick. Not that fake hollow stone stuff; I want something fairly sturdy. Of course that would mean having to cart the stone through the house to the back yard. On the plus side, it being stone I would only need to carry it as far as the back deck. If it's rock it should survive being tossed over the side of the deck rail, don't you think? Or I might try something like this:

Mind you, they aren't saying exactly what "this" is, but it's not supposed to break down, dry out or become brittle. Sounds a whole lot like plastic, doesn't it? Stay tuned.

How I Spent My Long Weekend

2008-05-26T14:24:00.006-04:00

We haven't had many good weekends this spring. In fact, it's been a pretty soggy mess for the last few months. I'm one of the lucky ones that didn't suffer any flooding, and for that I'm thankful. But there was a ton of stuff that needed doing around the yard and not enough good days to get it done. I did a few things on the occasional nice evening, but most of what needed doing took more time. For instance, pruning the tree in the front yard. It's a beautiful flowering cherry, but it needs upkeep or the branches grow out of control. When we got a lot of rain, as we have, the branches would get heavy over the outer sidewalk. So that was one thing that needed attention on what turned out to be a perfect spring weekend.

Meet my friend the pole trimmer thingie. I highly advise anyone with a tree to get one of these. Makes pruning back branches a snap. Literally. That rope you see dangling attaches to a sharp set of pinchers and one good tug on the rope snaps off small branches as easy as you please. If even I could do it, you know it must be easy. I had to pass on the highest of branches as I wasn't brave enough to get up on a ladder while doing this. I also didn't use the saw blade on bigger branches. But even so, the tree looks much nicer now.

Other things I did included putting in pepper and zucchini plants. Which the rabbits found very quickly. *sigh*. They also found the new flowers I put in. So I picked up this spray stuff that I call the bunny blaster. In theory, Peter, Thumper and the gang don't like this stuff (it does stink) and will avoid the flowers. Not that I don't believe in their advertising, but I also made an attempt to block their more obvious exits and entrances. In this I had to get creative. A few large stones wedged between fence slats, a long metal thing (I have no idea what it was doing behind the shed) wedged into the fence behind the shed, and (I got creative, here) a metal grill from an old bar-b-que grill in front of the more ominous looking gap. Looks tacky and probably won't work. But at least I'm being proactive.

My butterfly bush bit the dust this year. They are supposed to be virtually maintenance free; not mine. Mine needed special attention every single year and last year it was just pitiful. This year, there was an initial attempt at new growth before it just gave up and died. Well, I did have a few good years out of it. I replaced it with a Persian lilac. You might get to see pictures if I don't kill it off. I also got the grass in the back yard cut (hint: lawn mowers start much easier when they have enough gas in them) and even weedwhacked the edges. It looks pretty good now. Except where Bambi's buddy went after the flowers. FYI, they are fond of scabiosa and osteospermum (which is not a seed with a bad back). Who knew? Okay, I'm moving on now.

I also got out the leaf blower and tried to clean up the old patio a bit. Oak leaves had piled up along the foundation and between the house and the shed. Curiously there are no oak trees on this side of the house. At all. It's all flowering cherry and pine. So where did all the oak leaves come from? I have no idea. It was pretty bad, though, and we've been having problems with ants so I figured getting the dead leaves away from the foundation was a good start. Following which I went along the wall and patio with my trusty bug blaster. We'll see.

Look Out!

2008-05-20T11:42:00.005-04:00

I have control issues. I've talked about this before. It's the reason I don't volunteer and the reason I won't be in charge of anything. Put me in charge and I'll turn into a tyrant, screeching that people are doing it wrong, wrong, wrong. This is not only unpleasant for people around me, it's also not a whole lot of fun for me. My blood pressure skyrockets, steam comes out of my ears, my heart races ... and I don't like feeling that way. So I try to avoid putting myself into those situations. It's best for everyone concerned. What does this have to do with the title of my post?

Sometimes avoiding those situations is very difficult. There are people in my life that I care a great deal about, and it pains me to watch them make bad decisions. My concern for them meets up with my control tendencies and it's like this double whammy hitting me. If I saw someone was about to step into the path of an oncoming bus, I would naturally yell out a warning. When I see people I care about making choices that I know will just create more problems down the road, or that will make their lives more difficult than necessary, that same instinct kicks in and it's all I can do not to jump in front of the speeding bus of their decisions and knock them out of the way. And they wouldn't appreciate it. People never do. I'm pretty sure I would feel the same way. So what am I supposed to do?

One sure-fire solution would be to eliminate the problem by eliminating the people. From my life that is. Okay, not really; but it's a recurring fantasy I have. My other little dream is the one where I just start smacking people upside the head until they stop screwing around and start doing things my way which is the right way IF THEY WOULD ONLY ADMIT IT! Which would probably bring my first fantasy to life.

Again, I ask you, what am I supposed to do? I don't know if it's the right answer, but I have developed a philosophy. All I can do is remind people to look both ways before crossing the street, advise them to take care not to trip and fall, and then back away and hope for the best.

It's a hard-won philosophy and doesn't do much for my peace of mind, really. Sometimes I still need to vent, to talk to someone who will listen and understand that my words are not an expression of criticism but of concern. If you happen to be one of the people I've vented to, thank you for listening. I'm blessed to have a few people like that in my life. And just smart enough to know how lucky I am.

And that's why, inspite of the lure that first fantasy still has for me, I haven't actually resorted to the second. But please, for me, when you go out into the world I would really appreciate it if you would be careful. Look both ways; don't run with scissors, and call and let me know that you have arrived safely.

So what do you think?

2008-05-19T16:15:00.006-04:00

Oh, come on, tell me honestly. Do you like it? Isn't it gorgeous? I feel happy just looking at it. This is what a garden is supposed to be. I love the little bench at the end. It's very peaceful. Looking at this just makes me feel all happy inside. I love cottage gardens. I love the wild look of it with color spiking up here and there.

*sigh* Wish it was mine.

Or this one. I'd be happy with this one, too. These are what I want my garden to be. But I think that gardens like these takes a lot more patience than I have. My problem is that I want it all to look like these pictures NOW. But gardens like these take years. I think most of these plants are perennials. Translation: they come back every year. This is great in theory, but in practice it takes a few years, and a strong back, before you actually get that look. I did say I was impatient, remember. Which is why I always give in and purchase annuals. Instant color and pizzazz, but lacking a bit in the charm category.

These photos are what I want my back yard to look like. I think, though, that the only way I'll ever have it is if I'm willing to spend the big bucks to have professionals landscape it for me. Heck, my grass doesn't even look that good. Maybe someday. And maybe someday I'll get a new deck with graceful steps that lead down to a quaint brick or stone patio. And maybe I'll throw in a water garden, too. Something small and tasteful , like this

Or maybe I'll just buy a bench.

What's Your Excuse?

2008-05-07T16:23:00.004-04:00

I was late to work this morning because of an obstruction in the road. More specifically, five obstructions. It's probably my own fault because I know it's spring and I know what sort of "road hazards" I've encountered in the past. But this is one traffic jam that doesn't usually produce road rage. Quite the opposite.

Oddly enough, my local subway station in the 'burbs is a popular hang out for geese. I don't know why. There is a tiny stream that bisects some of the parking area, but otherwise it's not a very waterfowl friendly location. The geese in our area are, I think, supposed to be transplanted Canadians but they are around pretty much year round. Even when you don't see them, you see evidence of them. Usually on the sidewalk.

Seriously, though, it's not uncommon for traffic on 4 lane roads to come to a complete stop at this time of year. This little guy is trying to figure out how to make it up over the curb, which is taller than he is. He managed.

For Mom

2008-04-25T14:26:00.008-04:00

I came across this pattern which I thought looked pretty cool. It's a combination of a cardigan and wrap and I thought it looked nice and cozy. I also thought it would make a nice gift so I decided to make it for Mother's Day. I just finished it this past weekend; what do you think?

I still need to finish weaving in stray yarn ends and do a little blocking for shape. I don't think it will need much, but I'm thinking about using a little steam on the front panels to bring out the stitch detail a little more. I'm really pleased with it. I love the way it drapes and I think it will be cozy without being too heavy. And hopefully there will be a little time for her to enjoy it before the weather gets too warm

And Now A Word From Their Sponsors

2008-04-21T16:40:00.004-04:00

Overall I don't mind commercials that much. I could wish there were fewer of them and more of the few programs I want to watch; but for the most part I'm not bothered by ads. In fact, sometimes I find the commercials more entertaining than the scheduled broadcast. One of my still favorites was for the HP photo printer. You know the one I mean? This guy shuffles and manipulates photos like a magician with a deck of cards. It was a very clever use of special effects and, I thought, visually entertaining. Even though I knew it was all done with computers, my eye couldn't resist trying to discover the 'trick.' It evoked in me the same sense of wonder I felt watching David Copperfield perform locally several years ago.

But now and then there is a commercial that I find especially dumb or even offensive. There was one that played for years in my area, and maybe it's a regional thing, for a bathroom remodeling company. This woman walks into her bathroom and throws back the shower curtain only to discover that the tub and tiles are filthy with mold and mildew and who knows what else. So then the woman has this company completely refit a new bathroom for her and extolls the speed and efficiency with which it was done. But I have to wonder how she let her bathroom get that bad to begin with. I mean clearly she hadn't bothered to clean it, or even use it, or it wouldn't have come as such a surprise to her. And if she hadn't bothered to clean it in the first place, would she bother with the new bathroom? Or was she planning to get it refitted every six months? Okay, I know it was just a commerical, but it was a dumb commercial and did not in the least make me want to rush to the phone and order a new bathtub.

The most recent addition to my list of all time idiot ads is a new one for Brand X paper plates. It starts out all warm and fuzzy with this woman saying how she has decided that spending time with her kids is more important than spending time washing dishes. This commercial bothers me on several levels. First, because it implies that if you wash dishes instead of using paper plates that you must be an uncaring parent who isn't interested in spending more time with your kids. Second, it completely ignores the fact that (a) there would still be dishes to do if only in cooking the food, and (b) washing up a few plates takes only a minute. Apparently she doesn't begrudge the time it takes to scour pots and pans. Another woman appears in the commercial marveling that Brand X plates are even good enough for her grandmother's recipe. Which makes me think that her grandmother's recipe must not be very good. And then there's the fact that if these women weren't spending so much on paper plates they could probably afford automatic dishwashers.

Just how dumb I found this commercial is clear; all I can think of when watching it is how much it offends me. I couldn't even tell you what brand it's supposed to be advertising. Which is pretty bad marketing if you ask me. Or even if you don't.

Still turning pages

2008-04-10T15:20:00.004-04:00

In case you missed my earlier comment, Jan Karon's latest addition to the Father Tim series Home to Holly Springs was fabulous. I love getting pulled into her world, or Father Tim's world, I suppose. Warm and fuzzy feelings I've got for that series. These books are written for adults, but there's an almost child-friendly feeling to them. Gentle, I think is a good description. I'm a terrible cynic, myself; but sometimes escaping into that more simple world works better than any prescription drug for soothing whatever ails me.

Also recently reread Terry Pratchett's Making Money which I also have listened to the audio twice. Moist Von Lipwig is my all time favorite Pratchett character, second only to Lord Vetinari. Neither one is the most sterling example of humanity. Moist is a thief and scam artist, Vetinari is a tyrant, literally. But sometimes the best person for the job isn't the guy with the cleanest motive. Pratchett's books are great fun. He might set them in a fantasy world, but it only serves to underscore the familiar aburdities of our own culture.

Just finished Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart. If you like Bill Bryson, you might want to give this one a try. With much love and humor, Stewarts tells how he and his wife came to live on a small farm in rural Spain, the people they came to know and the life they obviously fell in love with. Charming and quixotic would be a good description. It reminded me a lot of James Herriot's stories, actually.

Another One Wrapped Up

2008-03-28T11:27:00.004-04:00

Ta da! Here's another project, hot off the hook. Please ignore the wrinkled t-shirt. This one is a cropped jacket from a Moda Dea pattern I downloaded for free. Not bad for free, huh? Okay, the yarn I had to pay for. I actually used Cascade Sierra for this one, as I think I mentioned before. I know, in the photo it looks more like a melon color, but it's actually a bright magenta in real time. Despite the open work design, the jacket is actually pretty warm which makes it just about perfect for spring/fall. Also, the yarn is mostly cotton with a little Merino wool for elasticity which means the fabric should breath well and be comfortable at a variety of temperatures.

I was really pleased at how quickly it worked up, and how well the pieces fit together. A sign of a good pattern, I think, when it all goes the way it's supposed to. The only thing that I did differently from the pattern was at the back of the neck, which you can't see here. I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been reading up on techniques to create crochet garments that don't look homemade. The book is Couture Crochet by Lily Chin and I highly recommend it. One of the things she mentions in the book is the difference that a properly fitted neckline can make in the way a garment hangs. Go to your closet or dresser and pull out a shirt, any shirt. If you lay it flat and examine the back, you'll see that the neck area is cut about 1/2 inch shorter than the shoulders. This is because the back of your neck slopes slightly before it meets your collar bone. If the upper back is cut straight across, the garment will have a tendency to hang heavier in the back requiring the wearer to constantly jerk at the front to keep the garment hanging correctly. By cutting out the center, about 5 inches wide and only 1/2 inch deep, you clear the collar bone and the back hangs properly. Learning about this was a real eye-opener for me. It's not something I've seen mentioned in crochet patterns, and it wasn't written into the pattern for this jacket, but I figured out that I could accomplish the same idea if I switched to a slip stitch for those middle 5 inches of the last row. And it worked beautifully; the jacket hangs almost flawlessly. I'm so pleased with how it turned out that I might do another one before long, maybe as a gift.

But while I was finishing up the jacket, I was simultaneously working on this cardigan for my mother. Since I intend it to be a surprise for Mother's Day I've had to sneak working on it during lunch hours, sometimes working a row or two at night. This pattern is from a book called Style For You! from the folks at Leisure Arts and uses Caron Simply Soft yarn. Soft and inexpensive, it's been very nice to work with. I have the back and sleeves done, and have started one of the front sides. The interesting things about this pattern is that you don't work the pieces separately and then sew together. Instead, each section is worked out from the last. For example, when I finished at the upper back I continued on, creating what became the collar and sleeve. Once I figured it out, I really liked the idea because I hate stitching pieces together. I'm crossing my fingers, but I think the fronts should work up fairly quickly as it's all double crochet and chain spaces.

A Good Yarn

2008-03-26T10:08:00.005-04:00

As I'm getting more involved in crochet projects I've been trying to learn more about yarn. This is turning out to be more complicated that I thought it would be. One of the reasons I've really dived back into crochet is the greater variety of yarns now available. In the old days yarn was yarn. You had acrylic yarns and you had wool. You had yarns of a weight suitable for afghans and you had the thinner pastel yarns suitable only for baby blankets and sweaters. The issue for crocheters is that a crochet stitch uses a bit more yarn than a similar knit stitch, which meant that crocheted fabric had a tendency to be bulkier and so were less likely to be turned into garments (except for those ugly granny square vests of the 1970s ... don't get me started on granny squares).

But fiber arts (that's what they call it now) have exploded in popularity in recent years and along with the interest (like the chicken and the egg, I'm not sure which came first) we're seeing yarns in an amazing array of fibers and thickness, although not necessarily at my local Michaels or WalMart which, contrary to the trends, have been stocking less yarn than ever. I can't figure that one out, but never mind. These newer yarns use fibers and spinning techniques that work up into fabrics with much better weight and drape than ever before which has been a boon to all the fiber arts, but most particularly to crocheters. With yarns spun finer and with more elastic fibers, the extra bulk in a crochet stitch is negligible. And as the variety of yarns has increased and improved, patterns have been written to take advantage.

All of this is fabulous for the craft, of course, and great fun when it comes to shopping for yarn. Let me loose in a yarn store and I'm like a kid running wild in a toy store. But more choices mean having to choose what yarn will work best for each particular project and that means learning more about the characteristics of fibers and yarn weights. There's a little information out there, but you have to really look for it. I have not, so far, found one inclusive source on the subject. I'm thinking that I might actually have to start compiling what information I find and create my own resource file. Daunting. Especially as I'd much rather being working with the yarn than researching it.

Desperately Seeking

2008-03-11T10:00:00.004-04:00

Lost: Inner Peach. If found, please return to owner.

I had it here somewhere just recently, I know I did. And then I turned around and it was gone. Pfffttt! Just like that. But it's my own fault. I wasn't keeping a close enough eye on it. I got lax and lazy. I got comfortable thinking it would just always be there when I needed it. And now it's gone and I'm not even sure when it happened. I'm hoping this is just a bid for attention. I'm hoping that if I show true remorse and make a real effort to change my ways, that Inner Peach will come back to me.

My new plan is to retrace my steps and see if I can figure out just what went wrong. I can't fix it until I can identify it, yes? I think I see part of the problem already. Too much clutter. I've been letting other people leave their issues in my head, trying to be a helpful, caring person, you know? But they just leave them there! They just dump them and go on about their merry business, leaving me to sort it all out and find someplace to store it all. I don't have that kind of room in my head. I barely have room enough for my own issues. I don't mind helping out, really I don't. But angst and insecurity are like guests and fish ... they start to stink up the place after a while. I mean, most of this is not even my mess, and yet I'm losing sleep over it. No wonder Inner Peach left.

It's even possible that Inner Peach isn't gone, just misplaced temporarily in the mess. So I'm going to spend a little 'quality time' reorganizing. I've got my boxes ready: Box 1 is for stuff that just needs put back in its proper perspective; box 2 is for old stuff that no longer has a place in my life and that I just need to get rid of; lastly, box 3 which is for other people's junk. I should probably alert them to come collect what truly belongs to them; except it occurs to me that in all this time if they haven't noticed that it was missing, its possible that I was placing more importance on this stuff than they were. No, I shall round up all those stray issues and problems from every dusty corner of my psyche and get rid of it all. Maybe I can find someone else to take them on. Someone, there's always someone, who takes pleasure in worrying about other people's problems. One man's trash is another man's treasure?

The trick will be to take it step by step and not let myself get overwhelmed by the size of the job. I can break it down into zones, maybe. First this relative, then that friend. Or maybe I'll start by sweeping out all those current events droppings left all over the floor. There are people who are paid to think about this stuff, why don't I just leave them to it?

Okay, I've got a plan. You know, I feel better already.

The Sum Of All Fears

2008-03-05T20:36:00.005-05:00

Today I had to do math at work. I had to figure out currency exchange rates which meant percentages were involved. Percentages! I can never, never remember how to do that. Every time I have to start out with something I already know the answer to and then work backwards to figure out how I'm supposed to come to that answer. Yes, folks, not just percentages, but percentages done backwards! Ugh. And it's not like I enjoy doing math at the best of times.

My dislike of math goes way back to childhood. Third grade to be exact. Halfway through the school year we moved and I changed school systems. This would not have been an issue except that at my old school they were heavily into teaching us "new math." New math. What the heck is that? Who came up with the idea of reinventing math? It's numbers, for crying out loud. We've had the same math since the first caveman sat around trying to figure out how many clubs he had, and it worked just fine for a few millenia until some earnest young thing got a bright idea. Geez.

So there I was the new kid in a new school that was doing math the old way, the way every generation since cave guy had been doing it, and my first math class they might as well have been talking physics. I didn't even have a clue about times tables, that's how bad it was. Mom worked with me and got me up to snuff on all that stuff, because she learned her math the old fashioned way too. But in the meantime I had some self esteem issues because, hey, new kid, new school isn't bad enough I have to look ignorant too? No, my teachers weren't big meanies; we just didn't any of us have clue one where the other was coming from.

And I never really recovered from that. I mean, I went on to do just fine at all the basic math stuff and even took some advanced math classes in junior high. Well, to be honest, that was my counselor's idea. I was considered fairly bright so they kept trying to shove me in AP classes. So there I was this math phobic teen expected to play nice in first algebra and then geometry class. Again I say, ugh. Fortunately for me I had a great teacher, Mr. Mewborn, and was fast friends with another girl in class who suffered similarly.

Here's the biggest problem with math classes. It isn't enough that you know how to do the problems. They want you to do them fast. Why? What kind of instant, life altering decisions do they think you're going to encounter? Only McGuyver was ever in that kind of position. In real life, nobody's life or death hinges on how fast they can figure out the length of one side of a triangle. It just doesn't. So what's the big rush?

Back to Mr. Mewborn, Bob bless him. If it wasn't for him I never would have made it through. Talk about underappreciated teachers. He used to let my friend and I stay after on days when there had been a test. Then he would put a tough problem up on the blackboard and sit there listening while we worked out the answer. If we could prove that we knew how to answer the problem, given enough time, and came up with the correct answer, he would factor that into our test grades. Because he realized that all that really mattered was that we had learned what he was trying to teach us. I don't say it stuck with me, but without him my math phobia would have been much worse.

So thank you, Mr. Mewborn. I still don't give a rat's behind about theorems; but if I'm given enough time and a big enough blackboard, probably it won't kill anyone.

I'm Listening

2008-03-04T19:18:00.003-05:00

You already know by now that I love books. I read across genres, having my favorites but not completely distaining any. My favorites are romance (when it's done well) and mysteries. I got hooked on mysteries when I was a kid and ran out of things to read that were suitable for my age. So Mom turned me on to the likes of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Rex Stout.

A few years ago I got turned on to books of another sort: audiobooks. Funny to think that audiobook publishing is so big now. Initially they were intended for the visually impaired. Then folks who had long commutes, or just a long drive ahead of them, discovered them. And now, each year, the audio offerings at the local book store keep getting better. Audiobooks have gone mainstream, offering a welcome distraction to anyone who, well, needs a distraction. Need to exercise more? Reward yourself for your discipline by listening to a book while you sweat. That pile of ironing threatening to take over the house? Use it as an excuse to "read" for a while.

And these days you can even download them from the internet. And you aren't limited to listening from your PC, either. Many sites allow you to upload onto your mp3 player, in rare instances onto your iPod, and frequently allow you to burn the audio onto CDs. My county library system has that. Of course you have to pay for the CDs you burn them onto; so, although the service is technically free, it can still end up costing you. I'm actually collecting quite the library of audiobooks.

My favorites to listen to are the old standbys - the English cozy mystery. I have discovered that not all books translate equally well to audio. It helps if there is a lot of dialogue and a fair amount of activity in the plot. And the pacing must be good, otherwise it's much too easy to become distracted while listening. But a good, character driven mystery is perfect. Currrently I am obsessed with listening to all the Ellis Peters Brother Cadfael books that I can get my hands, or my ears, on.

But if the kind of book is important, equally so is the narrator. If the voice is too lyrical, too musical, the words get lost. Too flat and the characters won't come alive in your head. Good pacing and inflection are vital. I was listening to a book not long ago which was fairly enjoyable except for a tendency on the part of the narrator to insert odd pauses. It reminded me of that old grammar joke "what's that on the road, a head?" I've come to the conclusion that good narrating is an artform in itself.

If you haven't given audiobooks a try yet, you should. Doesn't everyone have that one dreaded task looming over them, that one that they keep putting off until it, like the ironing, keeps getting larger and more daunting? Go ahead, check it out ... possibly from your local library.

Oooh, Shiny!

2008-02-25T10:09:00.014-05:00

I gots new toys. Well one is new but it works with the other toy so nicely it's practically like having two. And they're interactive, and I get to channel my inner child and say "whee!" while I crank it. Wanna see?

This is my yarn ball winder, which is not my newest toy, but still pretty neat. It allows me to wind up loose yarn into center pull skeins ... no more tangles! Now when I have a half-used skein, I can wind it up, nice and neat, and save for future use.

And here is a picture of my brand new yarn swift. Isn't it cool? Oh, come on, you know it is. And what, you might ask, does a yarn swift do? Well, I can take a long hank of yarn - which is yarn that is not wound into a ball or skein - and fit it around the extensions,
attach a loose end to the yarn baller, and then start cranking on the baller. With each wobbly revolution it pulls yarn from the swift, which in turn spins as the yarn hank unwinds. That's where the "whee!" factor comes into it: I can make this baby hum!

And thus another nice, neat skein of yarn is wound, ready for use or for storage in a compact, tangle free little package.

Admit it; it's really cool, isn't it? Feel free to come by any time and I'll let you play with it too. But you'll have to bring your own yarn because I used up all my loose stuff playing last night.

The Revolution That Isn't

2008-02-13T11:54:00.002-05:00

There was an article today in the Washington Post about an invention called the Book Ripper. Apparently if you have lots of money and nothing else to do with your time, you can buy this device and use it to copy your home library into a digital format. Pointing to the Napster hullaballoo of a few years ago, the author of the article questioned whether the publishing industry was worried about wide-spread pirating. The answer from the publishing industry is: not so much.

And really, why should they? There is a market for digital book readers, but that market is fairly small. Although publishing has been offering books in digital format for years, readers have been fairly slow to jump on the bandwagon. The reasons are many. In the past reading a book digitally has meant dealing with eletronic scrolling, awkward font sizes, screen glare and so on. But the electronics industry keeps trying. Amazon.com recently joined in with its much ballyhooed Kindle which it markets as (and I kid you not) a "New Wireless Reading Device." Um, not exactly a new idea. I think they call those things BOOKS.

And therein lies the reason that the publishing industry is not worried about pirating. Books might not have whiz-bang gimicry to entice techno-geeks, but that's about all they lack. Think about it. The Kindle measures 7.5" x 5.3", or roughly the size of a paperback novel. So it's not going to win over readers based on size. It's supposed to weigh only 10.3 ounces. I don't have a scale handy for my latest read, but I feel fairly confident that the weight of the average paperback is comparable. Unlike an electronic reader of any kind, a book doesn't require batteries or a power adapter. You don't need to tinker with a scroll setting because you turn the pages when you're ready. And most books are remarkably sturdy, even the paperback versions. I have quite a collection of my own and they've held up through several rereads over more than 20 years ... heck some are probably twice that old. How long, you have to wonder, will that nifty $400 electronic thingie last you?

When you really think about it, the only upside of digital readers is that they can hold the contents of several books. Perhaps helpful for academics and researchers; but personally I'm usually only reading one book at any given moment. I may be in the middle of several books, but I usually keep them where I am mostly likely to reading them: the paperback in my totebag for reading on the subway, a hardback next to the livingroom chair, and something of a nonfiction nature at my bedside. The nice thing is, they stay right where I need them. That's another downside to e-readers that I can see: you would have to cart the thing around with you from room to room; you can't leave it at the bedside when you leave for work in the morning or you won't have anything to read on the subway.

And just try to use that button covered plastic thingie to even up table legs, or press flowers. I bet you can't tuck a photo or recipe inside for safekeeping, either.

And the answer is ...

2008-02-11T14:20:00.000-05:00

You aren't cheating, are you? I hope you at least tried to answer the questions before heading over here.

Scope, CMS, and Jen-T (although I don't know if Jen says "aboot." CMS does, although she denies it.)

Pittsburgh (And she left it in favor of Men In Kilts, can you imagine?)

Carpeting (which has never been satisfactorily explained)

Mary (it sounds just like her, doesn't it?)

Canada (they were supposed to have dinner with Scope and CMS)

Elizabeth Bishop (I've got nothing on this one)

A hole in the wall (Actually, the advice wasn't so much re the hole as what she should hide behind it. And I don't think she's ever said.)

University of California, Santa Cruz (and the mascot is a banana slug ... you have to wonder about the message that sends)

CMS (there should be some kind of medal for that, don't you think?)

Twinkle Toes (now that I think about, I believe the nickname was thrust upon her rather than chosen.

Lee Child (That was CC's doing. By all accounts he was a good sport about it. Could be he's fan experiences even more bizarre than that.)

The Moles (Tal, Tal, come back Tal!)

the dip (Probably she didn't mean BCB. Probably.)

Regis (nobody ever explained that one to me, either)

Speen (it even sounds evil, doesn't it?)

So how did you do?

It's That Time Again

2008-02-06T09:41:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was Super Tuesday *shudder*. From now until November rational conversation with rational people will be impossible. I work in the Nation's Capital and the entire region is caught up in a political fever and this town is insanely political at the best of times. At least this election, for the first time in my own voting memory, is a true contest. It will still be nuts around here, but at least interesting.

One of things that makes me craziest about politics is the whole notion of party politics. One guy is supposed to be better than the other because of the color campaign button he wears? Oh puleeze. The whole idea of voting a straight party ticket, or of backing a candidate solely because of the party he represents makes no sense at all. In the first place, no one political party can hold all the answers to every issue. There are things that need dealt with conservatively, and things which would benefit from a more open minded (dare I say liberal?) approach. Sometimes we need to lean a little more to the left, and sometimes a little more to the right. In truth, most things need dealt with from somewhere in the middle.

In the second place, how can you judge a leader by nothing more than his party affiliation? Isn't the individual more important? What does it matter what his party stands for if he's incapable of standing up for anything, abuses the power of the office, can't think for himself? Doesn't the ability to govern conscientiously matter more than whether someone's tie is blue, red, or polka dot?

And last on my list, but certainly not least, are the voters suffering from tunnel vision regarding one issue or another. It's great to believe in something and to be involved, but to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others is just ignorant. The candidate with a history favorable to your pet cause can still be a lousy leader; and the candidate opposing your particular issue might still govern more wisely than the other guy. People need to get their heads out of their posterior regions and look at the whole picture. Saving a tree is good. Saving it only to have the entire forest around it burn down is pretty damn pointless.

Inspiration

2008-02-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

I'm still crocheting. What with the holidays and just trying to keep on top of day to day stuff I was having trouble finding blocks of time, but the need and desire were there. I did work on some pillows, just simple 14inch throw pillows. Picked up the pillow forms a while back, and bought tons of yarn. But even though this was a fairly small project it was a while before I could block out time for working on it. I made some mistakes with the first one because I tried to be creative instead of just following the pattern. Bad McB. The second turned out much better. I'll try to remember to post pics later.

Another project that I started, but had to take a break from, is a scarf to go with Mare's hat which Jenny Crusie made and which I won in a contest she, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart were running to promote their collaborative novel The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes. Here's the hat ... Isn't it gorgeous? So of course I decided that I needed a scarf to go with it. I emailed Jenny Crusie, asking what yarns she had used and she very graciously replied with brands and weights and colors which I was able to order. Got the yarns and started on the scarf and it was coming along quite nicely until I goofed. I thought I could just unravel my goof but it got tricky because of the kind of yarn. It's beautiful stuff, incredibly soft and perfect for a warm winter scarf; but it's a two-ply yarn, partly ribbon-like and partly similar to fun fur. Anyway it became very tangled up and I decided I neeeded to put it aside before I ruined the whole thing with my frustrated attempts. I'll come back to it when I'm in a better frame of mind for it.

Along the way I've been reading this great book I picked up at a local yarn store. The book, Couture Crochet Workshop by Lily Chen, has some wonderful tips and tricks for making homemade fit and look like made-to-order designer fashions. It also includes some wonderful patterns and charts that are very inspiring. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to tackle them but I want to, very much. So I've got some incentive to keep practicing, keep improving.

And in the meantime I've switched over to working on this cropped jacket in hopes of having it ready for spring. Don't tell the Moda Dea people, but I'm using their pattern with somebody else's yarn. Specifically a fabulous pima cotton/merino wool blend called Cascade Sierra in a gorgeous fusia. I did a swatch (something I learned in the above mentioned book) to check the yarn's fingering (how smoothly it works up) and drape. The book advised putting the swatch to the test so I balled it up and stuck it in my jeans pocket for an afternoon, steamed it, let it dry, soaked it and let it dry again. The idea being to find out how well the yarn will hold up in an actual garment. If it stretches too easy, pills up (you know how some sweaters will do?) or develops other problems, better to know before you've spent all those hours on a project. It seems to have passed the test so I dived right in.

This pattern is rated at intermediate skill level. Intermediate means that they give you some of the instructions, but not all of them; they leave out bits here and there for you to figure out on your own. It's a lot like working a sudoku puzzle in that respect. And like a sudoku puzzle, you don't know if you are doing it right until you get a ways in and it all starts going wrong. Huh. But I think I've got that part figured out now.

Only You Can Save Mankind

2008-01-30T10:19:00.000-05:00

The title of this post is also the title of a YA book by Terry Pratchett. It's been on my mind this week because it's been an especially busy week at work.

It's a matter of pride for me to do the best I can in return for a regular paycheck. I sometimes grouse because I know there are people who do decidedly less and get away with it. But I guess it's just how I'm wired ... I know what I'm capable of and I can't lie to myself and justify doing less than that. My boss has gotten used to the idea that I am capable and efficient and she can safely put matters in my hands, knowing it will get done. She's gotten a little too used to it. Her immediate response whenever there is a project that needs doing is "McB can do that." I don't think she even considers whether I have the background or training for whatever, the words just come out. I can see it now: aliens invading, nuclear holocaust imminent, volcanic activity under our office building. And what will her reaction be? "McB can handle it." Next job I'm going to start screwing up right from the beginning and save myself some stress and anxiety.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go save the universe. And then do my filing.

Listening to the voices in my head

2008-01-27T13:36:00.000-05:00

I have a good life. I have good people in my life and I've made some good decisions in the past. From the outside I think it sometimes appears to other people as if I've just been lucky. I think we make our own luck. And I think most people could be 'lucky' if they listened less to their ego and more to their inner voice.

So much of life is timing. Too many people are in a hurry, as if having everything now will bring them happiness. Nuts. Happiness has little to do with what you have or don't have, it's all about appreciating the now. Having a new car is fun; it has nothing to do with happiness. And if you rush out and buy that new car with no patience or planning, you could come to regret that rash purchase down the road. Where would that leave you? Decidedly less happy.

I've been there. I've jumped on bandwagons and rushed into decisions that ultimately were not in my best interests. Chalk that up to life experience. And from those bad decisions I've learned a few things. I've learned that it's okay to want those nice new things as long as I'm willing to be patient. If I listen when that inner voice says "not yet" instead of listening to my ego say "oooh, shiny" I might wait longer for what I want, but I'll be happier with it in the long run. Because eventually that inner voice will reward me by saying "now." The ego might get me into trouble, but the inner voice hasn't steered me wrong yet.

The ego is tricky and tempting. It will always be pushing you towards the quick fix, the easy way out, the immediate gratification. Ego is the serpent in the garden, seductively waving that apple in front of Eve's nose and hissing "why not?" It's been a few, what, millenia? And you'd think we would have learned something from that, and all the other snakes and apples that have come along. I've always wondered about that story. I've wondered what would have happened if Eve hadn't listened to the serpent and in turn tempted Adam. I think it's possible that, if they had resisted, God would have let them have the apples eventually without punishment. Maybe, if they had just been willing to wait, they could have had the apples and been able to stay in the garden too. We'll never know, but you have to wonder.

Or maybe I'm the only who hears that voice. I hope not.

She's Gonna Blow!

2008-01-20T17:01:00.001-05:00

I have PMS today. Oh shut up.

It's been coming on for a few days, but I realized in the grocery store today that it was here, big time and in living color. There was this little kid behaving the way little kids to when forced to endure really boring grown up stuff like grocery shopping. He was a normal kid behaving normally. So why was part of my brain convinced he was the spawn of satan? PMS.

I'm the only one who is allowed to say it. That's the rule. If it is "that time of the month" and anyone other than the woman affected dares to mention it, they get their faced ripped off and fed to the neighbor's schnauzer. I think it's a schnauzer, anyway. It's some kind of annoying little .... deep breath .... better.

PMS makes me feel schizo. Even while I'm envisioning grabbing the neighbor's yipping little fur ball and doing my version of an Olymic discus throw right over the rooftops, I know that what I'm feeling isn't logical. I like dogs, really. And the little &&^% was just expressing his perky little personality. I know this. And next week I will be at peace with the little *&^). But that's next week. Next week I might run into that same kid in the grocery store and realize that his eyes aren't actually glowing red and, no, those aren't horns he's sprouting.

But this week it's best if you don't look at me the wrong way. In fact, just don't look at me. No matter what expression you are wearing, I'm going to take offense. No matter what you say it will be the wrong thing. And even while I'm envisioning just how to go about feeding you to Fifi, or Fido or Frank or whatever the little &^%#'s name is, I'll know that you don't really deserve that. And I'll feel guilty as all heck about it. Next week. This week, not so much.

The Laugh Line Revolution

2008-01-17T10:25:00.000-05:00

I'm supposed to be working right now. I've even got a list of Things To Do. I'll get to, really. I just need to work up a little enthusiasm first, get my head together and aimed in the right direction. So I don't really consider this procrastinating so much as a kind of stretching exercise before getting serious about my list.

I'm in my 40s. Like anyone else my age when I look in the mirror I notice that there are things about me that just aren't quite the same as they used to be. Overall I have been very lucky in the genetics department. I have no grey yet. As my mother, at 67, has very little grey herself, so little in fact that's it's barely noticeable, I feel fairly confident that I won't need to worry about covering my roots for a while yet. My jaw line is ever so slightly softer than it used to be, the skin on my face, in general, not as tight as it was perhaps 10 or 15 years ago. But I comfort myself with the thought that these things might not be so apparent to other people.

I do have a few faint lines. The ones that bother me are by my upper lip and make me look like I've spent my life with my lips puckered around a cigarette. I don't smoke and never have. In my case it's the result of 40-some years of scrunching my face up in my sleep. They used to disappear when I'd been awake for a bit. Then it was okay because a little face powder covered them. Now, well now they're just there. But like the softening of the jaw line, I tell myself that nobody else notices. Really it wouldn't bother me at all if they didn't look like the result of a 20 year, 2 pack a day habit. I hate it that, to someone who doesn't know me, they might give that impression. Otherwise I really would be okay about it.

If that sounds like I'm protesting too much, please take note that I also have those little crinkles at the corner of each eye. Slight yet and perhaps not obvious to anyone else, I know that over the next few years they'll slowly become as much a part of my face as the shape of my nose.

Those little crinkles are laugh lines. When you laugh, if you really put your whole heart into it, your face sort of spreads out and causes the skin to crease, usually up by your eyes where there's less 'give' in your face. Don't believe me? Go head, take a piece of cloth, pinch on either side and then pull apart. See how the fabric between your fingers creases up? That's what happens to your face when you smile really big. If you smile a lot, especially as an adult, they become more obvious and even take up permanent residence.

I know some women are bothered by this, although I've never understood that. Our faces, over time, reveal to others who we really are inside. And even with botox and plastic surgery, you can't escape reality completely. Something about you, the look in your eyes or the set of your shoulders, will give you away. Personally, if I have to carry some symbol of my life around for all to see, I don't want the first impression I give to be one of bitterness and fear of aging or, almost worse, a complete lack of emotion. This is why those little creases by the corners of my eyes don't bother me at all. In order to achieve those, in order to have them be a permanent part of my features, I have had to laugh and smile a lot in my lifetime. Hell, those lines are a badge of honor ... I've earned them. I only hope that, as I put another decade behind me, people will see them for what they are. Signs that I've laughed a lot my life.

As I said, I know that some women fear those first tell-tale lines. This is just so wrong. We should celebrate those little clues that ours has been a life well lived and filled with joy and humor. Rather than pouring money into magic potions and creams to delay or hide that evidence, we should be emphasizing it. If the world was more logical, young women in their 20s would be devouring magazine articles on the art of creating laugh lines. They would be penciling in fake crinkles in an effort to convince the world that they, too, have laughed and enjoyed life. And then the rest of us could sit back, smugly superior, because we have the real thing.

The Big Brouhaha

2008-01-16T16:16:00.000-05:00

You've heard, I'm sure of the big storm over the books of Cassie Edwards who allegedly - although there doesn't seem to be much doubt - committed plagiarism. If you haven't heard about it you are probably a member of an obscure tribe on an obscure island in an obscure ocean ... and possibly living in an obscure cave. As I said, there doesn't seem to be too much doubt about it, but I'm not going into all that because, to paraphrase Honest Abe and the Gettysburg Address, it's been discussed far beyond my poor powers to add or detract. Plagiarism is bad. It is theft of someone else's work, their words and their research, their efforts. So it's just wrong. But I think there is a larger issue here that everyone seems to be missing.

Although Ms. Edwards sin seems to include several of her books, it first came to light when someone read a passage in her book Shadow Bear and noticed a discrepancy in the narrative tone. A little sleuthing was done and it turns out that she took whole passages from a story (nonfiction) by nature writer Paul Tolme on the plight of ferrets. Yeah, you read that correctly. Now, Mr. Tolme had every right to be angry over this issue. It was his words, the results of his research, that she took and used as her own. That's bad. But as I said, there is a larger issue here that has yet to be addressed.

As Mr. Tolme himself said, "Wow, that is some bad dialogue. It stands out as clunky and awkward even by the standards of . " And that, my friends, is the problem. As a result of this tempest millions of people who have never read a romance novel before ... well, okay hundreds ... a lot? Somebody, anyway, somebody who has never read a romance novel before, is going to take a look at Ms. Edwards' book to see what all the noise is about and will assume her work to be an example of the entire genre. In other words, they'll skim a few pages and decide that they were right all along to avoid them.

*Sigh* The genre has come such a very long way towards legitimacy that this kind of bad publicity is almost physically painful. However will we get serious readers of serious books to take it seriously now? We shall have to choose, oh so carefully, a few authors whose books truly do shine as an example of the progress the genre has made and do our utmost to move their names and their books to the forefront. How to accomplish this? Fight fire with fire. We should launch a counter-scandal that will have academia scrambling to research the issue, thus forcing them to read and, hopefully, become fans of romance fiction. It will have to be something big though, something that can top the ferret story and steal the limelight from it.

I can only appeal to big names in romance fiction to put aside their personal concerns and do their duty to their genre. Go forth and sin. And make it a big one, huh? Time's a-wastin' and we need to catch this wave before it moves on.

Something To Look Forward To

2008-01-04T17:01:00.000-05:00

The year is only a week old. This means the 51 weeks to come are still a clean slate. That's the thing with beginnings; the possibilities are still out there. I'm not one for resolutions, but I like the idea of a fresh start. I don't have a list of things to attempt, I have no specific goals. Instead I'm going to focus on simplifying, decluttering, streamlining. Life got overwhelming and I am so ready to ditch all that stress. This, I hope, will be the year of finding some peace of mind, some inner peach.

I'm going to put some of what I've learned from Fly Lady to good use. I'm going to try to declutter my life, get rid of stuff that's just taking up space and making my life more complicated. I'll hopefully get some drawers and closets cleared out, and maybe do something more useful with the finished basement. Um, that last one might be overly ambitious.

I'm going to bring more color and texture into my life and I started this past weekend with a visit to a local yarn shop, WoolWinders. I was very wary of visiting this store because I know how dangerous it can be. This is not yarn you find at your local craft store or Walmart. To be fair, it wasn't all exotic stuff either. But there was a wealth of color and texture that just made my fingers itch for my hook. Imagine for a moment that you have just come upon a conference table covered in one long sheet of pristine white paper. And in the center of that table is a brand, spanking new box Crayolas, the big 64 colors box. You can't resist, you just have to draw something. That's what it felt like when I walked into this store. Overall I behaved, indulging in just one skein of a lovely cotton/wool blend in eye-popping magenta. Gorgeous. It's just one skein because I have two more projects lined up before I get to this stuff, and I figure in the meantime I can play with it a little and figure out what the possibilities might be. It's nearly 200 yards, so I can have a lot of fun with it before I get down to a serious project.

I'm taking my youngest nephew to Disney World. His older sister and brother have already been, and now it's his turn. It will be just me and him and the exciting thing about this is that for a few days I'll be living in his 10yo world. Hey you, over there, sitting in your corner and scoffing at the idea. You don't know what you are missing. I've been to Disney World numerous times, but not for a few years now, and I can tell you that it doesn't matter what your age is, there truly is something there for everyone; and if you come away from a visit still jaded, there's clearly no hope for you. And maybe I'm alone in this, but I rather enjoy an excuse for acting like a kid again.

There's been talk of a biggish CB meet this summer. There's also been some debate over exotic locales to hold it in. The issue is Moot, really because we tend to spend so much time talking we probably wouldn't get around to seeing or doing anything other than eating, drinking, talking and buying books. My people. :sniff: I love my people. :~) Wherever we end up, I really hope we can make this work. Where there are CBs there is love and laughter.

So, no goals or lists. But maybe some good times, some small pleasures, some fun. Something to look forward to.

10? I dunno.

2008-01-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year.

This is a time for reflection and for looking ahead, for making lists. Lists of things accomplished or goals to achieve. I got through the year; that's what I accomplished, and it was such a big accomplishment that it's the whole list as far as I'm concerned.

For some reason 10 seems to be the default number for lists. Why is that? Why do we have to struggle to come up with ten of anything? If you can't think of ten does it make you a loser? If you've got more than that, should you be embarrassed? This doesn't seem right to me. It's like setting the bar too high, you're pretty much planning to fall short. So I'm not going to set a number, I'm just going list a few of last year's highpoints (no need to list the low ones, is there?):

I met a lot of CBs. Not all, but a good chunk. And I adored each of them just as much in person as I have online. I'd like to say here that CherryBombs are strong, intelligent, responsible people ... I'd like to say that, but it would ruin a hard earned reputation so I won't. What I will say is that behind the zaniness, the snarky humor, and the bad puns is an incredible group of people who probably could TOTW if they put their minds to it, and the world would be better off for it.

I got hooked again on crocheting and accomplished a number of projects, most of which I've shared with you here. I need to continue doing this, continue putting aside the time to just quietly sit and ply my hook, perhaps listening to some music or an audio book, but nothing more stressful to the mind than that. It would be easy, in the bustle of things needing to be done, to let it slide. But I know that I need that quiet time and I need the soothing methodicalness of handwork. So I'm going to let other things slide here and there, and make sure I do this for myself.

I tackled a few small chores around the house and confirmed to myself that I am capable, and can still learn a few new things. Anything needing strength and size might require assistance; but for the most part I know I can do pretty much anything I put my mind to.

I did read a few good books this year. Mostly I did a lot of rereading, needing the comfort of old friends. But here and there were a few new ones that proved up to the task. Books and friends - new or old you can never have too many good ones.

As lists go this one may not seem very long, but sometimes it really is more about the quality than the quantity. And as to goals for the coming year, that's another list for another blog. Stay tuned.

Fa la la la, what?

2007-12-30T15:10:00.000-05:00

What is the point of putting waterless hand santizing gel in a bathroom with hot and cold running water and all the hand soap you could ask for?

Actual quote from actual e-mail to my boss recieved from another assistant re her boss: "X gave me his list of gifts for the clients; please let me know if you would like for me to take care of ordering them for him." WTF? What does she think she's supposed to do with it?

I don't eat shellfish so maybe I'm just missing something here. But I saw a sign on a salad bar recently that said "fake crabmeat." If it's not crab, then what is it? And if it's something else why don't they just say so? Although I'll give them points for flat out honesty.

I got this great gift from my bosses this year; an iHome clock radio with tons of bells and whistles. I'm still getting it all figured out, and had a few adventures, but I love it. One thing, though. It's got the possibility for 12 radio station presets if you include a.m. Twelve radio stations? Does anyone really have twelve radio stations that they like enough to have preset on their bedside clock radio? I don't think I can name twelve different music genres, even throwing in talk radio, to use them all. Now I can see it for car radios because you can easily drive in and out of station range so lots of presets is handy. But my clock radio, being attached as it is to the power cord, pretty much stays next to the bed. And my house, unlike Dorothy's, also stays where it's put. So ... twelve?

I was a good girl this year and Santa paid attention. Two favorite gifts received: (1) down-filled pillow top mattress cover. I could roll myself up in this and sleep on the floor if necessary, it's just that comfortable. (2) "Thrones, Dominations" by Dorothy L. Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh, complete and unabridged in CD audiobook. I love love love Lord Peter Wimsey and my excitement at discovering that Ms. Walsh had not only brought him back via story notes left by Ms. Sayers, but she had done such an excellent job of it that, really, I can't tell where Sayers ends and Walsh picks up. I own the hardcopy and it's been reread several times. The audiobook has been much harder to get ahold of. Pretty much a special order from Amazon.com. My sister must have been feeling guilty for something when I mentioned how much I wanted it. Did I mention that it's read by the incomparable Ian Carmichael? It doesn't get much better. I am, as I type this, ripping the CDs so that I can listen to the story at my leisure on my iPod.

Oh look! Company!

2007-12-23T18:00:00.000-05:00

Hope you didn't have any trouble finding the place.

Are ya'll hungry? Thirsty? You have to try this great recipe I found for hot buttered rum. This will warm you right up.
Oh yes, this one's for you. Gosh I hope you don't already have one.

And there's some more over this this other pile ... if you wouldn't mind passing them around? Thanks.

Itchy Fingers

2007-12-18T11:00:00.000-05:00

I've been keeping my crochet hook busy. My latest finished project has taken me several months, and is my most ambitious project by far. I've never made a garment before, other than the odd baby sweater. And they don't count because babies don't really care if a sleeve isn't perfect or a seam is a bit off. But I had run out of people to make afghans for and my fingers were itching to start something new so I poked around on-line at various websites devoted to yarns and patterns. Most of the best patterns are for knitters, and someday I'll have to brush up on my needlework and try a few. It's been a lot of years and I never did feel as comfortable with knitting needles as I do a crochet hook. That was then and this is now, as the saying goes, and maybe I'll feel differently now.

I did find this one pattern for a bolero which looked simple enough. Ha. The stitches themselves were simple, just a lot of double crochets. My problem was two-fold: first, with a garment you must pay attention to gauge (stitches/rows per inch) and you must get it right otherwise the pieces won't match up when it comes time to stitch them together. Second, I used a different kind of yarn for the very first time and until I adjusted it was very tricky to work with.

I know, this isn't what you think of when you hear the word "yarn." It's really more of a ribbon, and more specifically what they call a "ladder" or "trellis" ribbon. It's a bit like stitching together cobwebs, but is also amazingly strong and has a beautiful drape. I really shouldn't have done my first major project with this, but how could I pass up those colors? And I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Well worth all the tearing out and restitching.

My next project should be much simpler, but I'm still pretty excited about it. I have new furniture in solid colors and it needs some jazzing up with pillows. So I found this pattern:

I liked the way the stripes reverse, and I liked that the pattern calls for different textures of yarn. To me texture is even more important than color in the things I crochet because they are meant to be felt, whether it's an afghan or anything else. It's all about how it feels. In this case it's all done in Homespun (a nubby yarn) and chenille. I'm planning to use a combo of the chenille in a few different jewel tones and some faux suede yarn with just a little Homespun for accent. It should result in a nice, soft pillow. We'll see.

Wordsmith

2007-12-14T10:03:00.000-05:00

From Dictionary.com
word·smith –noun
1. an expert in the use of words.
2. a person, as a journalist or novelist, whose vocation is writing.
[Origin: 1895–1900]

Actually I think the above definition might be too simple. In my opinion a wordsmith is a craftsman in the same way that a potter or cabinetmaker is. Much of the craft might be learned, but they have an innate talent that puts them several levels above the mere dabbler. Anyone can use words; but putting them together in such a way that the product inspires, amuses or intriques others is an artform.

I was thinking about this last night as I lay in bed unable to sleep. Usually if I can't sleep it is because I can't turn my mind off and a sometimes effective aid is to plug in my iPod and listen to an audiobook. If I can become lost in a story my mind will be sufficiently distracted to let go. It has to be something engaging, though, a story that pulls me into the author's make believe world. In this case it was Terry Pratchett's Going Postal that I turned to. I'm telling you, the man is an artist with words. I've read the hardcopy twice and am on my third listen and it never gets stale. He weaves elements together, puns and wordplays, cultural phenomena and current events, in such a way as to keep the reader in a constant state of anticipation. You just know there's something wonderful waiting around the turn of the page.

Take this line from Going Postal. In the story our reluctant hero needs help and turns to Miss Dearheart, his romantic interest and the only person who sees him for what he really is. She's a no-nonsense dame and exactly what Moist (yeah, that's the hero's name) needs. Her advice?

Get yourself a little bit closer to heaven. And then get down on your knees and pray. You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together -- and hope.

Maybe it's just because I'm an old movie buff - that is, a fan of old movies, not an old fan of movies - but that line just tickles me every time I read it, or hear the narrator read it. Even without backstory and character description, you get an instant picture of Miss Dearheart. You know she's standing there arching an eyebrow and looking the hero straight in the eye as she delivers that line. You know it because the line is iconic. Lauren Bacall said it to Bogey in the 1944 movie To Have and Have Not. Actually what she said was, "You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and...blow." So Pratchett didn't invent the line, but he used it deftly, tailoring it to his character while preserving the flavor. It's just that bit different and yet that much more amusing for its famliarity.

I have favorite Pratchett books, and this is one of them. But every one that I have read has included a few gems in the way of word pictures and great dialogue. The man's a genius.

The Commute That Wasn't

2007-12-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

We've got elephants. White elephants to be exact. Frankly, these elephants are pretty small potatoes, if you don't mind me mixing my metaphors. The roads are wet and there's some accumulation on grass and so forth, but otherwise the weather is not all that noteworthy. Except that this is our first snowfall of the season and the mildness of it lured a lot of people into a false sense of security driving safety wise. When I left my community this morning I could see that the road to get on the main route I take to the subway station was ridiculously backed up so I went with my alternate route. It is normally much longer as it includes going through a main commercial area, lots of stop lights, etc. But it is an option.

Well this morning my second choice wasn't moving any better. I was slugging along, slow but at least moving, when suddenly my radio died and my windshield wiper went into slow motion. A quick look at the dash indicated a battery problem. Everything came right back on again, but dare I trust it? I don't think so. I start to moan and then I realize that the traffic snafu might have been a blessing in disguise because this route will take me right past the dealership. So I make my way there eventually and I'm actually in and out, complete with loaner car, in about 10 minutes. Just to get back into traffic again. I eventually make my way to some side streets which will eventually wind around to the vicinity of the subway station, so at least I'm moving but it goes a little out of the way first so quite a bit more time passes before I get to the station. And find NO PARKING PLACES!

This is bad. We have 2 parking garages and 3 lots. Normally plenty of parking even if latecomers might have to hike a ways. I check two of the lots, driving past a garage marked "full" and can find no place to park! So I pulled into an illegal space to think about this. Okay, I could work my way around to the other remaining parking lot, but that's on the other side of the station and would add easily 20 minutes (there's no direct way to get there). And no guarantee of a space there either. I could go back to the dealership and get a ride back to the subway, but that's 20 minutes to get there if I'm lucky, a wait for someone to drive me and then we go through the whole traffic thing again, so I don't see that option taking less than 45 minutes. And then I still have a 40 minute subway ride.

At this point it's after 10:30 and just trying to get to work is going to cost me a half day leave. I didn't have to ponder problem too long. If I'm going to lose 1/2 day's leave, I might as well take a full day and relax at home. So that's where I am. At home, waiting for the dealership to call and say my car is ready. Oh yeah, there is a battery problem and the guy confirmed that there was a good chance my car wouldn't have started tonight, or tomorrow morning, or sometime soon, potentially stranding me somewhere without transp. So God really does work in mysterious ways.

Now you'll have to excuse me, because my cat is waiting for a cuddle.

In Them Thar Hills

2007-12-02T15:21:00.000-05:00

Every so often the subject of my parents' home town in Pennsylvania comes up. People ask me what it's near, because naturally they are trying to get their bearings and place it. It is at this point that it gets complicated because, you see, it isn't near anything. It's not even on the way to someplace. It's up IN the mountains ... not along side, or at the base of, or with a mountain in the distance. God spread some of the Alleghenies apart and plopped the town down right there. Well it's old enough that it could have been done that way. It is a wide spot between mountains, with only 2-lane mountain roads to access it.

Exhibit 1 ... a 2-lane mountain road. The mountain has actually been carved away some in this spot, otherwise it would likely be a 1-line mountain road. And that would be fine until some fool came around the curve in said mountain road going the wrong way.

And to your right ... we'll call this Exhibit 2, alongside a 2-lane mountain road. Please forgive me the power lines. Would that I had the PhotoShop skills to get rid of them. It's a picture, isn't it? This is a small slice of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River which eons and millenia ago forged its way between the mountains and likely helped create the wide spot that became the town.

These two, above, were taken from my aunt's house. Now, this is not the town proper. This is what in more urban areas would be referred to as the 'burbs. See the stone bridge in the left hand picture? It crosses one of many cricks (we don't call them creeks in these parts, that's flatlander talk) that trickle down from the mountains. Up in the hills these little communities are referred to as "runs." This one is known as Brewery Run, and my mother assures me that way back in history there was in fact a brewery somewhere up the road. Back in those same eons and millenia that created the river these various cricks were likely much deeper and wider. Deep and wide enough to carve out enough flat land for a few houses and a road.

My father grew up in a neighboring community, in fact just up the main road, one creek over from this one, called Drury's Run. I have no idea who Drury was. Dad's community was slightly larger (read wider) and boasted a small general store when I was a kid. It was complete with a front porch and glass fronted counter for storing penny candy. Considering how many kids pressed their hands and noses up against that glass, it amazes me that they were able to keep it clean. It's gone now. Some years back, when I was still a kid, Hurricane Agnes hit these mountains pretty hard, flooding the river and the creekbeds. Some of the houses were high enough or far enough back from the flow to survive. The store - and the owners lived above it - was I think too close to the mountain and, already really old and run down, suffered too much damage to remain livable. But I've still got the memory of creaky old floor boards and lighting just not quite bright enough. And penny candy.

I took all these pictures on a recent weekend trip when mom and I went up to "visit" family. And it feels, oddly, much like a visit. My uncle, my mom's older brother (that's both of them to your left) kept referring to the lanes between as roads and alleys. As in, "Now so and so is just up this road. Go past here and make a left at this alley."

Now the whole idea of visiting cemeteries can sound a bit morbid, I admit. But you have to admit that if you have to have a final resting place, you can't beat these views.

Comfort Reads

2007-11-28T12:42:00.000-05:00

I've felt a bit out of it just lately. It started about a month ago when I had this really nasty cold. I got over it, mostly, pretty quickly; but what followed was a bad cough and some sinus issues which left me feeling tired. Coughing is exhausting, plus it's hard to get a good night's sleep. And the sinus thing had me feeling dizzy which wasn't pleasant. I got my butt over to the doctor and got some prescription grade decongestant which helped a lot. No infection or anything so that was good news. I'm on the mend finally, but for a while I had trouble concentrating. This meant I was falling behind on my reading "GASP!"

When this happens, if you are a reader, the only thing to do is to turn to your comfort reads. Whether they are old favorites or new books by dependable authors, they are books that you turn to time and again because they give you exactly what you need. You know the plot will hold your attention. The fact that you have probably read it before just means that you know what to look forward to: that scene that had you laughing out loud, the character that lived in your head long after you closed the cover on the book, that moment when the hero triumphs and you just want to shout "Yes!" because you've lived through it with him/her and now you feel vicariously triumphant.

Not everyone understands the allure of a re-read. To some, once they've read that story it's done. They already know what's going to happen and so they have no interest in returning to the story. That's a good point and I can understand where they are coming from. But for me, a re-read is a comfort read. There are times when I don't want to try something new; I don't want to use my brain that much. I want something that I know will satisfy me, a bowl of favorite soup on a bad weather day. I want characters that I'll enjoy spending time with because they feel like old friends. My collection of comfort reads includes several authors and various genres, because what I want will depend on my mood. Like that bowl of soup, I might want something cozy and comfortable. Or maybe I'll be in the mood for spicy.

Of course there is a danger inherent in this practice. It's very easy to become complacent in your reading, to stick with what's safe rather than risk disappointment. That would a shame because you never know when a great new book may cross your path. So I indulge for a while, feeding my face with humor and mystery and closing myself away with characters that I know will be there for me. But not for long. Because the only thing better than an old comfortable read is discovering a new comfortable read. And you can't have too many good books, or good friends.

You Asked For It

2007-11-18T18:22:00.000-05:00

Okay, not all of you, but some of you did. Ask for photos of my new furniture, that is. And if you aren't one of them, well don't look if it bothers you.

Here is one of the new rocker/reliner chairs. No, they didn't charge us extra for the cat. I'm just thankful that she likes laying on the towel which should keep the cat hair on the furniture to a minimum. Please ignore the junk laying around. Oh, what am I talking about? That's not junk, that's BOOKS! The ones on the table to the left are from my J.P. Hailey collection. Sadly he only wrote about 5 under that pen name; you may or may not know him as Parnell Hall who writes one of my favorite mystery series. No, not the Puzzle Lady books. He writes others and IMO they are better. The Hailey's are hard to find and out of print for a long time but if you run across one in the library or your local used book store (under mysteries) grab it. The blue bag on the floor is the stash I scored at RWA NJ last month. Mom and I are still working our way through it. The green bag which you can just barely see contains library books. Since they have due dates, we are naturally working our way through them first. Which explains why we aren't done with the NJ books yet.

This one is the reclining loveseat. Now, I have to mention that the colors in this picture are not true. It's actually a deep wine color but not nearly as dark as it look in the photo. It was night time when I took the pictures, that's why. I relied on the flash which did okay, but the loveseat and the floors both look darker than they really are. The floors are actually a sort of medium tone in slightly varying shades and not red. Yes that's the same cat on the chair. No, I didn't crochet the afghan you see over the back of the loveseat. Mom did that one. No, you can't have it, it's mine. She made it just for me. Because she likes me best, that's why. We just got the last piece of furniture yesterday so there will be some shifting of furniture and wall decorations, i.e. the mirror, to center things better. Eventually.

So, the new dining table. See through the door all that dark? Told you it was night time. We got this table to replace the longer retangular one, even though there was nothing wrong with the old one, really, because it's slightly smaller and oval and works much better in the very small dining room. The plants are my mom's babies. If you are nice I might include a photo of the flowering Christmas cactus in the right hand corner one of these days. It's huge and has gorgeous peach-colored flowers just now. Ignore that junk in the lower right corner. It's a recently bought stash of yarn with which I plan to crochet pillows as soon as I finish the other project I'm currently working on. More on that later.

The Conquering Heroine

2007-11-13T14:48:00.000-05:00

thank you, Theresa!

You've waited and you've wondered.

Would she? Could she? WILL she?

The waiting is over. (cue Rocky Theme Song "Gonna Fly Now")

Behold ...

THE NON-DRIPPING FAUCETT

And the crowd goes wild!

In Flanders Fields

2007-11-11T12:54:00.000-05:00

In Flanders Fields
Written by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Some of the bloodiest battles of World War I took place in the areas of northern France and southwest Belgium known as Flanders and Picardy. The British front line was determined to keep the Germans from traversing Flanders and the Ypres river valley to reach the port of Calais. Troops from both sides were holed up in the Ypres salient, an outward projection of the battle line. Defending British troops were vulnerable on three sides; therefore this was a bloody and dangerous place for a soldier to be. The destruction from the battles in this area reached beyond the battlefield to the towns and roads of the area, and led to the demolition of buildings, roads, and all plant life, leaving only mud.

John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. One of the most asked questions is: why poppies? The answer is simple: poppies are the only flower when everything else in the neighbourhood is dead. Poppy seeds can lie on the ground for years and years until there are no more competing flowers or shrubs in the vicinity, or until the ground becomes uprooted.

There was enough rooted up soil on the battlefield of the Western Front; in fact the whole front consisted of churned up soil. So in May 1915, when McCrae wrote his poem, around him poppies blossomed like no one had ever seen before. In Flanders Fields is also the name of an American War Cemetery in Flanders. This burial place, near the village of Waregem, has taken its name from McCrae's (Canadian) poem. The bronze foot of the flag-staff is decorated with daisies and poppies.

November 11, observed in the United States in honor of veterans of the armed services and in commemoration of the armistice that ended World War I in 1918. In 1954 it was renamed from Armistice Day and given the added significance of honoring veterans.

Take some time this year to honor all the soldiers who have died on the ground, in the air, and at sea and show your patriotism to those who have fought or are still fighting for our freedom today.

Some Gave All

I Whistled And I Gave My All ...

2007-11-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

Bonus points for the person who can tell me (a) what song that line is from, and (b) who sang it. Here's a hint, it's someone you have heard of. Yes, you have, trust me.

I like to learn new things. Anything really. Except bad news, you can keep that. But I enjoy learning something I didn't know before. I like that aha moment when I find myself thinking "well, wadaya know." Sadly a lot of people seem to think that learning is best left to those still in school. Then there are those people who can only be bothered to learn something useful. No, really. Statement overheard a few years ago on the grounds of a winery that offered a tour ... "I'm never going to need to know that." Huh? That isn't the point. I firmly believe that every new thing we learn adds something to the person we are as a whole. Like travel, education is broadening. And those of us who enjoy learning anything new, even some small, trivial, entirely useless thing, are never bored. There's an aha moment waiting around every corner.

Which brings me to the subject of something I've really wanted to learn for a long time. Pretty much my whole life, in fact. And there don't seem to be classes available in my area. This is disturbing because I just know that were the subject offered, and were it made known that such a class was available, I think the turnout would be really amazing. So if you know of anyone who'd be willing to teach me ... huh? Oh. Uh. Hehe. Well ...

I want to learn how to whistle through my teeth or, barring that, between my fingers.

They didn't cover this at Viers Mill Elementary School. At least not while I was there. And I really want to be able to do this. I really really do. It's like my lifelong ambition (okay, as ambitions go this would make me pretty lazy, I admit). I've tried to teach myself but it comes out as something less than the desired ear-piercing tone. It's more of a pffffflllllttt. This is so not useful for summoning a cab. Also which, people standing nearby object to flying spit.

All I Have To Do Is Dream ...

2007-11-04T16:44:00.000-05:00

I got home from running errands today, which included yarn shopping but that's another story. Got home and it was a lovely Sunday afternoon so of course I decided to take a nap. I woke up from my nap and immediately came to the computer to tell you about it, because I had a dream, folks, and it was a lulu.

First of all, I'm not entirely sure that I'm awake even now because I woke up at least twice in my dream so I could conceivably still be there. Except in the other two occasions when I woke up it was to come downstairs to my grandparents' house. The house that hasn't existed for over 20 years. Yeah. However as I write this I am in my own house so possibly I'm really awake this time.

And in this dream some friends of mine where there. I have no idea why but it's all good because I have great friends and if they want to hang out in my dreams, that's fine with me. One of my friends, oh, we'll just call her friend D, was writing her blog and commenting that when one receives a bag of books from a friend, one should take care to confirm that said books are as advertised. I have no idea what that was about. Really. I asked D, in the dream, what was wrong with the books I had given her but I never got a straight answer. And speaking of books, there was one book (we're still in the dream) which I first mistook for a Nora Roberts but which was really Gena Showalter. At least that's what it said. I have no idea if the back cover photo was really Ms. Showalter. Sadly I don't recall the title of the book. But apparently it reminded me of one of NR's.

And then the dream shifted and we're outside somewhere, possibly up in my parents' home town which would fit the apparent theme, and we're out in a field or something and I'm trying to explain about the reason my grandparents' house isn't there anymore (which must have come as a surprise to the friends in the dream since they were just there, but they didn't mention it). It had to do with the town being located alongside a river and between two mountains and my grandparents house being on low ground and so had a tendency to flood.

FYI, this part is true and the reason my grandparents house isn't there anymore. Waaaay back in the 1970s when Hurricane Agnes struck the east coast my grandparents' house got flooded up to the first floor ceiling. They dried everything out afterwards and it was livable, but the governmental powers that be decided that it would be cheaper to give them a new house on higher ground than to keep paying for flood damage on the old one. So the last years of my grandparents' lives were spent in a nice, new, single story home which my grandmother just loved. Mind you it didn't have near the charm and character of the old house which is probably why I didn't feature it in my dreams. My grandparents passed away many years ago, but in my dream they were still with us ... somewhere in the house. In a neat twist, one of my much younger cousins is now raising her family in it. No, I didn't dream that part, that's true.

But back to the dream. While we're standing there out in a field somewhere "D" (you know who you are) was complaining to the other friend, whom we'll call "R" (you know who you are, too), that she looked and looked for what I wanted (huh?) but couldn't find anything called kneelers. I did not then nor do I now have any idea what she was talking about.

So I spent a little time with good friends in pretty part of the country in a place which held a lot of happy memories for me. And my one wish for you is that as you nod off into slumberland tonight, that your dreams will be just as nice.

Here's Looking at You, Kid

2007-11-02T12:29:00.000-04:00

First Crush

2007-11-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

Sparks will fly, but this catch of the day could be the dish of a lifetime!

First Date a la Maggie
Take one lovelorn diner owner (me)
A generous helping of nosy local gossips
A dollop of envy at married sister's perfect life
A splash of divine intervention (my matchmaking priest)
Combine ingredients and add one strong-but-silent lobsterman with a hidden heart of gold.

Over at Dee and Dee Dish they love to read just like I do, and they do book reviews as well. In this particular instance, they have a review of CATCH OF THE DAY by Kristan Higgins and give it rave reviews. Go check it out.

According to their review, the character in this book has a big-time crush. I think most of us had a crush when we were young, didn't we? A pop star or someone's older brother, maybe? I had my share. One that comes to mind is my 7th grade science teacher. Yes I had my share of pop star crushes, but I guess this one was my first on a "real" person. To be fair, I think all of his female students had a crush on him. He was young with dark, curly hair and the nicest smile. And we were all doomed because we were sure that he was having a romance with another science teacher. Since she was really nice and lots of fun we didn't mind too awfully much. I guess that counts as a fairly harmless obsession, huh? I never found out if their relationship was real or a product of our over-active, hormone-driven imaginations. I'd like to think that we got it right and that they went on to live happily ever after.

On Family, Furniture and Herb

2007-10-29T11:39:00.000-04:00

Our old furniture was looking pretty funky. The cat has never been declawed - is any further explanation necessary? Also we use our living room to, well, live in. This means that beverages have been consumed there, and sometimes spilled. Rumps have been cozied into corners nearest the best reading lamp and said corners are now permanently rump-imprinted. Our chairs and love seat were napped in, cried in, laughed in, snuggled in, lounged in, stood on and generally abused for 11 years. And it showed.

Mom and I had mentioned the future shopping trip to relatives and friends. Friends were very encouraging. Relatives were critical. Friend asked "What color are you looking for?" "What store are you going to?" Relatives said "You have such a small room, don't get such big furniture!" "You don't need all recliners in that little room." "And get rid of that big tv stand while you're at it, it's much too big for that room." Sigh. Family. Gotta love 'em. It's like a rule or something.

So Mom and I went out to a well known store and found a great salesman named Herb. Yes, there are still Herbs out there in the world and they look exactly like you expect them to. I'm pretty sure they're all salesmen too. We explained to Herb what we were looking for, that we had just a small room, that my mom's back is a mess so comfort and easy access for her are priority.

For Mom at least one piece had to be reclining. In X-rays, Mom's lower back looks like a suspension bridge and it's only through the skill of a fabulous neurosurgeon that she can walk at all. The most comfortable position for her is semi-reclining so that no one spot on her spine receives all her weight. So comfort was our main priority, as explained to Herb. And I must say, when you next go furniture shopping, or shopping for anything, ask for Herb. I am convinced that the Herb's of this world make the best salesmen. He was great, steering us away from the more formal, for-looks-only, stuff and mentioning which brands, in his opinion, had the better reclining mechanisms. Then after pointing us in the right direction, Herb left us to ourselves for a few minutes. This is the hallmark of a good salesman: knowing when to back off, to give the customer a little time. Nobody likes to feel rushed, and if you are rushed you may come to regret the purchase.

We fell in love with this one chair, a rocker/recliner, and a reclining loveseat. Yes, all reclining and all overstuffed as well. They had smaller pieces, but once you sat on this stuff you just didn't look any further. Or at least we didn't. And we loved the colors too. Deep wine for the loveseat and pebble gray for the chairs. So that's what we got and on the way home we giggled at each other because we knew we were going to get harrassed by the relatives. It needs to be said, though, that it's not BIG furniture. Its simply that our living room is so very small. And sure enough when Mom was telling my aunt about the stuff we bought, my aunt questioned the size. My aunt even asked, get this, if my feet touched the floor. When my mother related the conversation to me I just stared at her and asked if this was the same aunt or some other long lost relative who had never met me, because my feet NEVER touch the floor unless I'm standing on it. I'm seriously short and I have no idea what my aunt was thinking.

The big day arrived this weekend, and so did our furniture. Well one piece is back ordered but we should have it next week so that's okay. The delivery guys were very timely and organized and had everything set up and in place quite promptly. Mom and I sat on our new furniture, petting it (it's microfiber, but feels just like suede), and giggling to each other because it really is too big ...

AND WE DON'T CARE.

It's so pretty and so comfortable regardless of what position you choose. Mom says it feels wonderful to her, and it's easy for her to get in and out of too. We're happy.

So thank you Herb and my friends are welcome to come over and check it out any time. As to those relatives .... ppffflltttt! Don't sit on it if it bothers you so much.

Simplify, Simplify

2007-10-24T16:30:00.000-04:00

Those are the words I am chanting under my breath these days. I'm trying to simplify my life, to relax a bit more. To take the time to do things that give me pleasure without stressing over how to fit it in. My problem is that I have a very organized soul trapped inside a very lazy body. My soul demands that things be done right and that life operate efficiently. My body thinks it should wait until later. Then later gets here and my soul stresses because it doesn't have the time to do the job properly. At which point my body points out that I might as well skip it then which causes my soul to have a hissy fit. And so the battle rages with first one side and then the other winning minor battles but neither emerging completely victorious. Clearly a little détente is needed here. Time to head for Geneva and begin negotiations.

Last month in her blog, Argh Ink, NYT Bestselling author Jennifer Crusie took her fans through 12 days of office cleaning/organizing. No, I'm not going to do that here. But in some of the comments there was mention of a website called Fly Lady which sounded interesting enough that I decided to check it out. According to Fly Lady, we become overwhelmed by day to day tasks because we set the bar too high. This results in what she refers to as CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). Sound familiar? Fly Lady's answer to the problem is to break up all the things that need doing into smaller, more manageable chunks. Don't try to clean the whole house at once, just concentrate on the desk. Or even just the desk drawer. And limit it to 15 minutes at a time. You do this until you've eliminated the worst of your clutter and disorganization and then you create and stick with a daily routine of small tasks to maintain order. And apparently Fly Lady has encountered perfectionist souls before because she also suggests that it's better to do something half way than not at all.

I think she has a point. I'm not going to sign up for the program, even though you can follow along for free, because I am not much of a joiner. But I've been browsing the site and I can see a lot of stuff that I can start incorporating into my own life. For instance, instead of putting off dusting until I have time to move objects and wield a can of Lemon Pledge with enthusiasm, I could focus on keeping the majority of the dust off the easy to reach surfaces. Instead of devoting a day I don't have to reorganizing my paperwork, I could work on just one stack at a time. And so on to include my closet in which I am sure the lost treasure of the Aztecs is hidden somewhere. And setting a time limit is a good idea too, because once you start blazing trails it's really easy to wander down side paths and end up lost. The beauty of this system, in theory, is that by nibbling away at the edges of all those chores they will eventually become smaller and more easily managed. Then the idea of breaking out the Pledge won't seem so daunting.

I decided to put this to the test this past weekend. A friend (hi Dee!) and her DH came by Thurs. evening to take away some old furniture in order to make room for our new stuff. With all that empty floor space it seemed like a good time to tackle a little fall cleaning. So I got out the dust mop and Swifter Wet Jet. But rather than mobilizing like a crazed Russian general, I broke the job down into sections. Dining room, living room, hallway. I worked one section and then took a break for a cup of coffee. I worked another section and then spent a few minutes on the deck brushing my cat. And so it went. Okay, my remaining furniture is still pretty dusty, but my floor now looks really good. AND I still had time to go to the library that day and to work on my latest crochet project that evening. So this may be working.

On Sunday I decided to implement my new simplicity system a little further. While at the grocery store I stocked up on those wipes you can get for counter top surfaces and those little disposable duster things. My theory is that I can keep the counters in bathroom and kitchen looking nicer if it's a simple matter of swiping over the surface with an already treated cloth. And likewise if all I have to do is flash the duster thingy over and around tabletops and shelves the dust shouldn't build up so badly.

Of course this is all theory so far, and will require my sticking to some kind of schedule in any case. We'll see. Stay tuned.

What's In A Book?

2007-10-23T14:35:00.000-04:00

Below is an excerpt; well two excerpts, but from the same page, from Bradbury's Farenheit 451. The last time I read it was probably when I was a teenager. A long time ago anyway. Certainly before I could really appreciate it. This book is one of many that have been challenged in schools and communities. Challenged, but not technically banned because we don't do that in this country. But what is it about this book that makes people worry? I think this one page explains it best.

***

“And the second?”
“Leisure.”
“Oh, but we’ve plenty of off-hours.”
“Off-hours, yes. But time to think?”

***

“It tells you what to think and blasts it in. It must be right. It seems so right. It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time to protest, 'What nonsense!’”
“Only the ‘family’ is ‘people.’”
“I beg pardon?”
“My wife says books aren’t ‘real.’”
“Thank God for that. You can shut them, say, ‘Hold on a moment.’ You play God to it. But who has ever torn himself from the claw that encloses you when you drop a seed in a TV parlor? It grows you any shape it wishes! It is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. Books can be beaten down with reason."

***

Farenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, pg. 84, MM Paperback

This is the real reason that some people object to books. Books are ideas and ideas are dangerous.

Rocks, Lotsa Salt

So ...

Long Live The Book

Of course, Of Course

Kinda Cool

This stuff ain't for wimps

Someday

No Idle Hands Here

Snowmegeddon

Time, Please

"Mac" Gyver

My Macbook Pro - First Impressions

I Think Its Going To Be A White Christmas

One Thing At A Time

'Tis the Season

Lest I get company again

It's Like a Blanket?

Ties Abinding

Stopping By the Junkyard* on a Sunny Evening

That's What I'm Talking About

Pay Attention and You Might Learn Something (More Deck Stuff)

Did You Know? A Deck Update

Deck Update

What I've Been Up To

String Theories

Enablers

In the Garden

For the Birds

Any Port in a Storm

Got Buds

Audible Affection

Two Things

I'm Working On It

Time Passages

Stuff ... and Nonsense?

The Archbishop in Andalusia

Yes We Can DID

Book Review

I'm In Love

A Good Yarn

Harriet Homeowner Rides Again

It's Beginning To Look ...

It's a Classic

While You've Been Waiting

At The Tone Please Leave a Message ...

"I May Not Agree With What You Say ...

The Rabbits Didn't Win

Is It Just Me?

Yarn Tails

I *HEART* My Public Library

For A Limited Time Only

Food Is The Only Thing That Falls Into Your Lap

Waiting For The Lull

Burrowing In

Memories, like the corners of my ... thing up there in the skull, you know what I mean

Playing With String

Snip

The PNW

The Cotton-Tailed Caper

Where's Elmer Fudd When I Need Him?

How I Spent My Long Weekend

Look Out!

So what do you think?

What's Your Excuse?

For Mom

And Now A Word From Their Sponsors

Still turning pages

Another One Wrapped Up

A Good Yarn

Desperately Seeking

The Sum Of All Fears

I'm Listening

Oooh, Shiny!

The Revolution That Isn't

And the answer is ...

It's That Time Again

Inspiration

Only You Can Save Mankind

Listening to the voices in my head

She's Gonna Blow!

I HEART My Public Library