Rhymes With Fuchsia

Macro Monday

2011-06-13T17:30:00.000-04:00

Macro Monday

2011-06-06T16:06:00.003-04:00

Despite the return to blessedly cooler temperatures, I have noticed that the calendar no longer says May at the top. I still have lots of flower pictures to share, however, and you know how I love my flower pictures, so I'm continuing Macro Monday for the time being.

There has been knitting and spinning, and I had a wonderful time at the Maine Fiber Frolic on Saturday. I saw the lovely and splendidly colorful Heather, her wares joyful banners rivaling the brilliant sky, as well as other favorite vendors and fiber buddies. There may also have been an Incident in the used-equipment shed.

Stay tuned.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-05-31T15:51:00.003-04:00

Ten Things to Put in Salad

lettuce
cheese (bleu, cheddar, cottage, or whatever you like)
artichoke hearts
avocado
sprouts
carrots
berries
beans/peas (green, kidney, chickpea, lentil, snow... the possibilities are myriad)
egg
onion (yellow, red, scallion, chive — chive flowers are edible and sweet — or anything else vaguely onionish)

Easiest ToT ever.

Macro Monday

2011-05-30T21:23:00.002-04:00

We hurtled headlong directly from dreich to high summer. New England spring is often like that: it comes and goes and occasionally comes again. I say seize the day, and as many flower pictures as possible.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-05-24T23:01:00.002-04:00

Ten Favorite Mail-Order Catalogs

This was a tough one (hence the 11th-hour post, literally). There used to be a lot more mail-order catalogs than there are now, or at any rate we used to get a lot more; I attribute the drop-off partly to paper's having gotten more expensive, partly to the rise of online catalogs and partly to the fact that we hardly ever order out of actual paper catalogs these days from anyone but LL Bean (OK, and WEBS, and once or twice Knitpicks, but even with them I mostly shop online). In any case, I don't know if some of these are even still in business, or still in the catalog business, but I do enjoy getting them, all crinkly and smelling of splurge: I'm like a kid in a candy store, ooh, I like that one and that one and I'll take two of those and one of those in each color — and it doesn't cost me a thing as long as my credit card stays in my wallet, which it usually does.

LL Bean
WEBS
Knitpicks
Patternworks
Sharper Image
Coldwater Creek
Talbots
Museum of Fine Arts/Metropolitan Museum of Art
Barnes & Noble/Oxford University Press
Victoria's Secret

Ten on Tuesday

2011-05-17T20:24:00.002-04:00

Ten Favorite Things to Do Outside
(if the weather is decent)
(guess I won't be doing any of these this week)

play catch
dry laundry
walk
swim
take pictures
knit
spin
smell the flowers
cook
eat

Macro Monday

2011-05-16T21:14:00.004-04:00

This week I have learned a new weather term: omega block. The jet stream dips down in the west, then up over high pressure in the plains, then down again in the east, looking like a big omega, and wedging dreich in place on both coasts. The weathercritters say we might, and they emphasize might, get rid of it on Sunday.

So it's a good thing I took all those flower pictures last week, enough to last at least a month of Mondays.

Geometric Increase

2011-05-11T15:51:00.000-04:00

Some time ago at Wednesday night knitting group I was talking about making squares for the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon, and my friend Martha asked if I could use some spare yarn she had. Well, of course I could; one thing I love about the Knit-a-Thon is that it requires nine-inch squares. That's it. They can be any color, any fiber, any pattern, knit or crocheted, solid or lacy. I knew I could use the yarn, and I could always make a square here, a square there, put some of it to good use, sometime between now and November. So, about three or four weeks ago, Martha showed up with two large bags of acrylic yarn, containing, among other things, eight skeins of Lion Brand Homespun.

I don't know what came over me. Well, I do: the truth is that I am in a knitting funk. I have one project that I absolutely have to get cracking on, but it requires thought, and I hate that. And I have any number of projects floating around the back of my mind, but they all seem rather shy, and none of them has wanted to come up to the front yet.

So I decided that at least some good should come of this state of affairs. I have 27 squares, with #28 in progress. This is more squares than I've ever made for one KAT before, and I have almost six months to go. A blanket comprising 35 squares, five by seven, at this rate I could have quite a pile to take with me in November.

Of course I believe this amazing square productivity to be a temporary phenomenon. But I'm still thinking at least two blankets. Maybe three.

Two on Tuesday

2011-05-10T14:44:00.003-04:00

Tips for Throwing a Big Party

Provide plenty of yummy food.
Ditto drinks suitable for all ages and preferences.

I know you are marking me way down for shorting you eight list items here, but, really, that's all I've got. In my experience, if you have those two things, and guests in a reasonably partyish frame of mind, to which free food and drink are highly conducive, you just wind 'er up and let 'er go, and merrymaking ensues. Some of our parties have had a theme, using theme in a very loose sense (Christmas, spring, blanket assembly), and some have involved guest participation (tree-trimming, maypole dance, blanket assembly, no, not all at once), but these are optional.

Truth to tell, we haven't had a party in quite some time (that's Miss B in the foreground, coming face to face with Dave; she is still shorter than he is, but not by much). I'll have to think on this.

Macro Monday

2011-05-09T21:54:00.002-04:00

Clueless wonder that I am, I managed to glory in ignorance of Macro May these four years, until I stumbled across it chez Maryse the other day. I don't know if sticking a camera an inch away from things and clicking away counts as macro, but I'm going to pretend it does, since I don't know if my camera even has a macro setting. (See what I mean? Clueless.)

Anyway, I hereby declare Macro Monday, giving me two opportunities per week for a relatively easy post. I hope it will help. I could also tell you how the yarn diet is going (it was coming along nicely until I might have had a slight case of insomnia on a Thursday night), and the square count (better). We will not speak of the food diet, but there may be pictures of FOs and UFOs.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-05-03T23:22:00.005-04:00

Ten Favorite Birds

ducks
robin
cardinal
goose
gull
hummingbird
finches gold, purple and any other color
chicken
owl
loon

Ten on Tuesday

2011-04-12T20:49:00.002-04:00

Ten Favorite Snacks

Note that the assigned topic says nothing about health or calories.

Cheese and crackers.
Cookies.
Veggies and dip. All right, it doesn't say they can't be healthy either.
Mixed nuts.
Small, seemingly harmless candies such as M&Ms.
Berries. I like grapes, too, but can't eat them.
Raisins. Unless they're all dried up.
Cherries, fresh or dried.
Popcorn.
Hot fudge sundae. It is too.

Croci Invicti

2011-04-04T10:58:00.006-04:00

Ten on Tuesday

2011-02-22T21:05:00.002-05:00

Ten Favorite Cocktails/Mocktails

This topic takes me back to my drinking days. Even in more carefree times I never drank much, having discovered early on that more than three drinks in an evening would have extremely unpleasant consequences, and eventually I started getting wicked hangovers even after only one drink. Now alcohol is on the forbidden list, and I've bent the rule a couple of times at weddings, but not otherwise. There seems little point, what with the hangovers, but I am feeling a bit nostalgic.

Vodka and tonic. This used to be my go-to summer drink.
Margarita. It made a nice change from vodka and tonic.
Virgin strawberry daiquiri. Sadly, strawberries are forbidden fruit, but once in a while I sneak one anyway.
Sombrero/white Russian/black Russian.
Screwdriver. Chock full of vitamin C.
Cosmopolitan. What I drank the last time I got tipsy, which, with me, doesn't take much.
Tequila sunrise. I once got carded while buying grenadine.
Rum and coke.
Muskrats of various hues. The muskrat was an invention of a crowd Grant hung out with in college. The varieties included red (beer and tomato juice), black (beer and kahlua), white (beer and milk), and, my personal favorite, green (beer and creme de menthe). To the best of my knowledge and no one's surprise, none of these was ever actually mixed, never mind drunk.
Jack Daniels and Fresca. Marjorie once seriously asked my dad to get her this at a political function. My dad said if she really wanted it she would have to ask the bartender for it herself.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-02-08T23:11:00.005-05:00

Ten Favorite Oscar-Winning Films

For many years I've had a combination of minor claustrophobia and agoraphobia: I hate having to sit still and silent in one place surrounded by strangers. This afflicts me most strongly at concerts, to which I must admit I usually go because Grant wants to hear the program, and where he won't let me knit. (Even if we are sitting 47 miles from the stage at Symphony Hall and my seat is located behind a pillar, so that even if the performers happened to be wearing telephoto nightscopes I couldn't possibly distract them.) Sometimes he is in the program, and I like those more, especially pops concerts. In any case, I prefer to watch movies at home, and I'd rather watch an old favorite than something new. This explains why everything on my list is so last century. In chronological order:

The Lion in Winter. "We know, and he knows that we know, and we know that he knows. We're a knowledgeable family."
Cabaret. This is a family-friendly blog, so I won't quote my favorite line (well, actually three lines) from this movie, but you know what they are, and I know that you know, and so on.
Coal Miner's Daughter. Same with this one, come to think of it.
Tootsie. I love watching Geena Davis before she was a redhead.
The Accused. Within a few months in 1988 Grant and I saw four or five excellent but extremely downbeat movies. This was one of them, and Clean and Sober was another; I don't remember the rest. I think Roger Ebert was right when he said it's easier to make a great drama than a great comedy; fortunately at least one was made in 1988.
A Fish Called Wanda. This is it. Don't call me stupid.
Ghost. Whoopi Goldberg should have won for The Long Walk Home, but I'm glad she won for this one instead, because I get to put it on the list, and it really is one of my favorites.
The Fugitive. This is probably my favorite Harrison Ford movie.
Dead Man Walking. Another great downer movie. I've also read the book, and my favorite Helen Prejean observation is that we don't trust government to pave the roads right, but we somehow do trust it to decide whom to put to death. (Only a minority of convicted murderers get executed even in death-penalty states. Pun intended.)
The Full Monty. It won for best music. This is at or near the top of my all-time list of great movies, and not just because it lets me end this list on a high note. It might have done better had it not been up against Titanic, which I've never seen except for a few minutes here and there, but which apparently kept about 90 percent of Hollywood employed for a year.

Honorable mention: Flashdance, Ed Wood, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-02-01T23:13:00.002-05:00

Ten Things on My Night Table

Some things, the normal things, live on my night table; others roost there while awaiting some resolution or seeking a permanent home. I've made great strides on getting organized, but my nightstand's entropy is especially strong.

alarm clock
lamp
single glove, mate's whereabouts unknown
half chocolate bar I just discovered and don't remember seeing before
water glass
yarn
$1 coin
comb
felted mittens awaiting decoration
five floppy discs of uncertain origin

This is only a partial list, of course. Some things are just not meant to be known.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-01-18T22:05:00.002-05:00

Ten Favorite Games from my Childhood
This one takes me way back, which is of course the idea.

Hide and seek. Does anyone play this any more? I can hardly remember a month when I didn't play it, starting at age five.
Jump rope. Same question. We mostly played a game called donuts, don't ask me why, which involved various feats of jumping one-footed, eyes shut, fast and slow.
Life, the board game. My friend Nelie and I played at her house at least once a week. Several times I ended up with six or more kids. I'm glad this was not a sign of things to come.
Go Fish, the first card game I ever learned, and still a good one.
Chinese jump rope. The "rope" was essentially a very long rubber band that went around two players' ankles, and a third player between them had to tangle her feet in it and then extract them in various ways.
Qubic, three-dimensional tic-tac-toe.
Sorry, Trouble, Aggravation, Parcheesi. I've probably forgotten a few of its names.
Canasta. My grandmother taught me her favorite version when I was about nine.
Tantalizer. This game was in the back of my fifth-grade classroom, and I only got to play it once or twice. It involved doing tasks like putting small rings onto hooks — but you had to do it all while looking in a mirror. I've never seen it since.
Ghost. My favorite for long car rides, but I've played it in other places as well.

Ten on Tuesday

2011-01-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

Ten Things I Wouldn't Want to Live Without

Pretty much by definition, but let's get it out of the way: anything I couldn't live without. Food, shelter, clothing, sleep. I've always had more than enough, and I try never to take these things for granted. I'm going to lump basic technology in here: modern plumbing, electric lights, household appliances, central heat.
Yarn. Well, really, how could I leave it out, even if everyone knows it already?
Fiber. It's where yarn comes from.
Sheep and other fiber animals. Well, I don't need to live with them, exactly, but I'd hate to live in a world without them.
Work. It's odd, since I often don't want to go there when I have to, but I do enjoy it.
Cell phones. I survived 35 years without one, but they sure are handy.
Music. I am extremely unmusical: I can't sing, I have no clue what's going on in classical music — Grant has been known to ask me if I can't hear what the voices in a fugue are doing, to which the answer is a resounding no — but a world without music would be too grim to contemplate.
Books. And, for me, that will always mean books I can hold in my hand and carry around with me: I haven't yet ventured into ebooks, but even if I do I'll still want paper ones.
Movies. Like books, the ones I love are old friends. Here I've embraced the new technology: with a DVD player I can visit my favorites whenever I like.
Blogs. Of course.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-12-28T22:53:00.004-05:00

Ten Intentions for the New Year

Can I just say I love the word intentions here? The road to hell, and all that, but on the other hand it's good to set manageable goals, knowing that one still will probably fall short of some of them, or what's a heaven for? Still, I'm aiming for the doable, and I know some of these are doable because I'm already doing them. Persistence is all.

Be prepared. Yes, I stole this one from the Coast Guard, but it's still a good one. Too often I fall short of my best, in various parts of my life, because of not having paid attention, picked a pattern, read my email.
Pay attention to what I'm doing, to what's going on, to what people want and need.
Continue Project Destash. I did really well this month, making gifts for both the office Yankee swap and Marjorie, whom I got in the family drawing. I thought I had someone else until last Wednesday, an excellent example of failure at #s 1 and 2. I made a nice recovery, however, although I do say it: I found a simple but nifty crochet stitch in one of my books, and I used it to make her a scarf in time for present-opening. (Getting in just under the wire still counts.) I was starting to make her a matching hat when she told me she never wears hats, she thinks they look awful on her, and could I please make her an earwarmer instead? In this case being behind schedule was a good thing: an earwarmer being faster than a hat, I finished before she left.

And speaking of simple crochet stitches, when my DSIL Ellen was in town before Thanksgiving I taught her granite stitch; she was so happy with it that she asked if I had any yarn she could use to make a scarf.

Which, strangely enough, I did: STR lightweight in the Jasper colorway. So I've used at least ten skeins/balls of yarn this month (contributing it to a worthy project counts as using), and I'll admit to feeling rather virtuous, until I look at the yarn I still have. (Astute readers will notice that all of this yarn use has involved crochet in one way or another. I don't feel even a twinge of guilt about this: I said I'd use the yarn, but nothing about knitting.)
Become less fluffy.

In this area too I have made progress, although since the holiday season started I haven't done so well. Still, I know it can be done, at least in my case (I'm not so sure about Fluffy's).
Become a better photographer. I promise that not all of the pictures will involve roosters, even if they do make great subjects.
Refrain from sweating the small stuff. To do this I have to identify the small stuff; my theory is that if I have time to ask myself if something is small, it probably is.
Become more patient. See #s 1, 2, and 6.
Clean my house. I've been working on it, and I've given away about twelve boxes of old clothes. I thought I'd miss them, even though no one had worn them for ages, but instead I feel lighter, as though I'd been lugging them around. I think this bodes well, but I need to keep at it.
Make dinner more often. When I started the Diet From Hell I basically gave up cooking, there being so many things I couldn't eat. I still have restrictions, but they're much less stringent, and I'm starting to enjoy cooking again.
Blog more often. No, really. You can hold me to it.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-12-07T17:58:00.003-05:00

Ten Favorite Holiday Shows

How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is my favorite, hands down, always has been, always will be. Little-known fact, at least little-known to anyone who's never watched Grinch or #3 with me: stories of redemption make me cry like a baby. Always have, always will.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Cheesy and sexist. I don't care.
It's a Wonderful Life. See #1. One year, I think it was in the public domain somehow, it was on TV somewhere almost 24/7. I think after the 17th viewing I got to the point where I didn't need a whole box of tissues. Of course the following year I was back to square one.
The Nutcracker (the ballet). Our local ballet company does a very good production, but someday I'd like to see the Boston Ballet do it, just so I can say I did.
Tree-lighting ceremony: anyone's, anywhere. There's just something about seeing a huge tree light up.
Thanksgiving Day, Patriots vs. Lions. Heaven knows when the Pats will play on Thanksgiving again. (Last night's game wasn't half bad either, although it hardly lived up to the hype. Then again, it probably couldn't have.)
Macbeth on Ice, or whatever skating extravaganza is going. We went when Miss B was about five. The crowds were awful, the food and souvenirs to say nothing of the show itself were phenomenally overpriced — in other news, the sun set in the west this afternoon and is expected to rise in the east tomorrow morning — and I loved it. I am a goof.
A Charlie Brown Christmas.
First Night in Boston. I haven't been in ages. I probably haven't gotten too old for it.
Ice storm. We don't always get one during the holiday season, of course, and I wouldn't want the one a couple of years ago that took out everyone's power for a week, but if you want a show you really can't beat nature when it puts its mind to it.

Yarn Report

2010-12-03T23:22:00.004-05:00

Almost two weeks ago I began my stashbusting program: I will use at least one skein (ball, hank) of yarn per week, and, with time, my stash will shrink, or at least quit trying to take over the house. So how's it going so far? So far, so good. You see above another granite-stitch scarf in Noro Yuzen, two skeins down, one to go. All of the yarns I'm using for Red Scarf this year are new to me, and this is a very nice one. I think it will need a hair-conditioner bath to soften it up a bit. It already does better on the neck test than most alpaca, though. (How alpaca can feel so soft on the hands yet so scratchy on the neck I will never understand, but I've stopped using all but the finest superfine alpaca for scarves.)

I'm also knitting another scarf that I'm keeping under wraps for the moment, but it has consumed two balls of Di.Ve Zenith. So, four balls in a little under two weeks is pretty good. This skates over the fact that I bought this yarn to make Red Scarves with, but I bought it before I began the regimen, and it's a start. My next challenge will be to match projects I want to undertake to existing stash. I have made the heartening discovery that a lot of people on my Christmas list are fond of purple. I'll have to check the stash to be sure, but I think I may have some purple yarn.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-11-30T23:27:00.003-05:00

Ten Favorite Places for Online Shopping

Once upon a time I loved shopping, mostly for clothes; now I hate it. I have too many clothes, and I am fat. But online, as one of my favorite cartoons has it, no one knows I'm a dog. I can shop for clothes and shoes and fancy hair foo-foos — rarely actually buying anything — without any teenaged salesgirls' asking me how I am today. (Fat.)

It's late, and I'm too lazy to put the links in. If you want to be enabled you'll have to meet me halfway.

L.L. Bean. They're the perfect store for middle-aged frumps. I even have their credit card.
The Loopy Ewe. This afternoon I missed a Wollmeise update, which is probably not such a bad thing, since 1) I have some yarn already 2) we are trying to be sensible. When I'm not stalking the elusive Wollmeise I flit through Dream in Color, Shibui, Bugga... yummm.
WEBS. They have almost every yarn I could possibly want.
elann. One of the best yarn vendors for cheapskates.
Knitpicks. The other one.
Ravelry destash. This is not a store, of course, but no one said my favorite shopping places had to be stores. Almost any yarn you want, someone is trying to get rid of.
Barnes & Noble. Thanks to Knitpicks book sales I haven't bought many books elsewhere lately, but when I do, it's usually from B&N.
Minuteman Library Network. Like Barnes & Noble, they have almost any book you could want, but free, as long as you bring it back on time.
Zappos. Alas, I've never been into cute shoes. In the last few years I've been on a quest for shoes that don't hurt my feet. These seem to be a pair of old hiking boots a friend gave me and Keen sandals. I think I'd do well with other Keens too, but here's a case where there's no substitute for brick and mortar. Meanwhile I admire all the pretty foot-punishing shoes I will never buy.
France Luxe, purveyor of fancy hair foo-foos. I found them online while looking for plain pseudotortoiseshell bobby pins, which stopped being sold in stores for quite a while. They've since made a return, but meanwhile I discovered better ones at France Luxe at a higher but still reasonable price. They also sell all kinds of crystal-encrusted creations (why does attaching little pieces of glass to something octuple the price? inquiring minds want to know) at highly unreasonable prices, but looking is free.

Thankful Thursday

2010-11-25T23:11:00.002-05:00

After much fun and feasting with family, I'm getting this post in under the wire. But it has been a long and wonderful day, and I'm thankful to have lived it.

Warmest slightly belated Thanksgiving wishes to everyone! I raise a glass in your general direction.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-11-23T14:50:00.002-05:00

Ten Things I Love About Thanksgiving

(photo credit: Katherine Dunn)

Cleaning. All right, you got me: I hate cleaning. What I love is having a clean(ish) house after cleaning. By clean, since we have a cleaning lady, I mostly mean less cluttered. This year part of cleaning will be packing stuff up to be given to charity. I already gave away a bunch of clothes, and I believe there are quite a few more I can clear out.
Menu planning. We are having the traditional fare — turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash. Negotiations are proceeding as to what else we are having and who is cooking it. Grant loves creamed onions, for instance; I wouldn't go out of my way for them, and I certainly wouldn't peel them. We'll see if Joy's trick (throw them in boiling water for a couple of minutes) helps with the peeling.
Shopping. The crowds, not so much, but there's a farm stand on the other side of town that always has fresh turkeys for the holidays. I don't go there often, because 1) it's expensive 2) it's on the other side of town, but it's a wonderful sensory-overload experience. They have amazing fresh fruits and vegetables at all times of year.
Family. This year we are hosting my parents and my brother. There will be walking and laughter and possibly even bridge.
Baking. I love to bake when I have time. There will be much pie. (Hence the walking: we have to do something to counteract some of those calories.)
Food. See menu planning and shopping above. There's something about making it all edible for my family that restores my soul. Hokey, I know, but I love it anyway.
Watching football. I don't watch it a lot, though I'm much more of an NFL fan since the Patriots got good (I know, I know, but for the first 25 years of my life they were perennial cellar dwellers), but football just goes with Thanksgiving, don't ask me why. (Plus this year the Patriots get the dubious honor of playing on Turkey Day.)
Time off work. 'Nuff said.
Playing games. We all love card games, board games, word games, the goofier the better.
Thinking about Christmas. This year we will host Christmas as well — it's really easier for us to manage Taz at our house — and I'm not ready to think about it until after Thanksgiving, when it is officially the season. Some years we observe all the standard family rituals, and others we throw a new wrinkle or two into the mix. I'm looking forward to this year.

Monday Musings: Taking Out the Stash

2010-11-22T17:17:00.002-05:00

The yarn I ordered for Red Scarves from WEBS finally showed up. For some odd reason it took them a week to ship it, but once they did it got to me pretty fast. Have I taken a picture of it? Of course not: that would be too easy. I got Di.Ve Zenith in port, Knit One Crochet Too Camelino in garnet (now sadly sold out), and Noro Yuzen in 13 (I guess when you're Noro you don't need to come up with sexy color names). I've already started a scarf in the Zenith, which is a beautiful yarn, soft, squishy merino with terrific stitch definition; it's also splittier than a Hollywood couple, but probably not so bad if you're not cabling without a cable needle. At this point, however, I would get more impatient with using the cable needle than with the splittiness. Just be aware before you order this yarn, which is on closeout at WEBS at a terrific price, that it looks like it's cable plied, but it's not: it's just six tiny plies fairly loosely spun, and any maneuvers beyond knit and purl can get a bit tricky.
______________________________________________________

Grant and Miss B were in Ohio over the weekend to take in a high-school production of The Wizard of Oz, with his sister's daughter in the role of the Scarecrow. I was not stunned to hear that they had a great time and she did a great job. Taz and I held down the fort at home.
______________________________________________________

While Taz watched Toy Story 3, his new favorite video, I addressed myself to the house. I'm trying to get it, if not exactly spartan, at least a bit less cluttered before the holiday company shows up. I made considerable progress in this endeavor over the weekend: I have put huge quantities of clutter in the kitchen and living room in their place, and now have to slog through the residual wads of paper that always remain. Those wads are pretty small, however, compared to, yes, my stash. I don't really know how much yarn I have, just that it's a lot, and decluttering would probably be easier if I had less. Let us suppose, however, that I have a hundred balls. I'm pretty sure I have more, but let's say a hundred for the moment. If I knit up a skein a week, not an especially ambitious goal when I'm focused on getting a project done, I'd dispatch that yarn in two years. As you might guess, the mere idea of being out of yarn gives me the willies, but, truthfully, I am quite confident that at that rate I wouldn't run out in two years, or even three or four, but I would free up a significant amount of space. This of course assumes that I wouldn't buy any more yarn in the meantime, which, let's face it, isn't terribly realistic, but I really haven't been buying anything lately just because it's there. (Well, all right, Wollmeise, but it's not there that much, hence the temptation.) Even the WEBS purchase was motivated by the fact that I had very little red yarn, odd as that seems. Therefore my goal: I will consume at least one skein of yarn a week until I can fit all of my yarn into a closet and a wardrobe. The majority of this will be gift and charity knitting — since, if I keep everything I knit, I may find myself with less of a yarn problem but more of a clothing problem. I will refrain from buying yarn except for charity projects for which none of my existing yarn is suitable, and even then I will be circumspect. I will also do a monthly State of the Yarn post.

Wish me luck.

Thankful Thursday

2010-11-18T12:26:00.001-05:00

So many blessings grace my life that trying to write about them can be hard: where to begin? Should I write about friends, family, work, yarn, home? Today my mind keeps focusing on a very simple one, so simple that it almost seems foolish to mention it.

Warmth.

Every chilly night I change into my PJs, which are not really PJs but flannel long johns, and I slip between flannel sheets and tuck myself into a blanket and two quilts. Almost every night it strikes me that not everyone is so lucky. (I have remarked on this especially the last couple of days, after a certain evil cat did a Very Bad Thing on one of these quilts, and I had to wash them both just to be on the safe side.) I am a sucker for any charity blanket project that comes my way, because heaven knows everyone should be.

Every chilly morning I make sure the thermostats are turned down before leaving the house (note to self: get programmable thermostats and learn how to use them), and every chilly afternoon the first one home turns them back up. We don't turn them down at night because Taz sleeps downstairs, and he can't get up and get himself an extra blanket if he's cold. But when we do turn them up, the house gets warmer, because there is oil in the furnace, which we're lucky enough to be able to pay for.

Every chilly day, usually several times a day, I cook something hot for my family to eat, there being nothing like a hot meal on a chilly day. I have a stove and an oven and a microwave that work, the electric bill having been paid. I'll admit that I don't usually think that much about this one, but it is amazing. I just turn on the oven or the stove, and cook hot food.

The end of the year, when we do most of our charitable giving, is coming up fast. I'm thankful that we can give so that more people can be warm.

Wednesday Wisdom and Wondering

2010-11-17T12:47:00.005-05:00

Yesterday's Ten on Tuesday was ten movies you want to see in a theater. I couldn't come up with even one — although, once Ruth mentioned it, I realized that I could be persuaded to go see the new Harry Potter. What usually happens, however, is that Grant and Miss B go to see whatever new series movie comes out, and I knit and help Taz hold down the fort and eventually get to see it on DVD and/or cable. Taz is not big on crowds, and I'm finding I'm not either: the older I get the more I seem to have some weird form of agoraclaustrophobia, wherein sitting in a public place hemmed in by strangers, at least one of whom nearby is guaranteed to have some annoying habit (even if it's only sitting in front of me while tall), is not my idea of a good time. I even prefer to watch sporting events on TV, at home, where, if I wander downstairs for a snack, I won't find myself at the back of a line of 14,000 fans in various stages of inebriation.

Anyhow, I was going to come up with some other ToT theme, but I didn't quite get there. Instead I present a random dose of Wednesday wisdom and wondering, the former falling under the heading of "things I've learned over the years, whether I wanted to or not," and the latter being things I still haven't figured out and doubt if I ever will. Without further ado:

Wisdom

Any time a cookbook says "stir constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes," it will be at least 15 minutes, even if you sneak half and half into a recipe that calls for milk.
Anything involving government takes at least three times as long as it needs to.
There's one in every crowd. Often it's me.

Wondering

You've all heard me kvetch about the relentless lengthening and crassifying of the Christmas season. Radio stations start playing wall-to-wall Christmas music before Halloween, retailers tart themselves up in red and green before Columbus Day, nay, before Labor Day, etc., etc., o tempora, o mores. Bah humbug aside, however, there's something I don't get: let's say that along about mid-July, hypnotized by the glitter of tinsel, I pull out my wallet and spend my usual amount on gifts at my favorite retailer. (For the purpose of this example let's assume that the cost of the items I buy doesn't change between July and December.) If I would have spent that same amount on December 23 anyway, how does that help the retailer? OK, axiomatically a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow, and if retailer is thisclose to going belly up, it's certainly better to stay in business today and worry about tomorrow tomorrow. They probably also hope that as the days shorten people filled with Christmas spirit, eggnog or whatever, will pick up one extra gift. Of course early decorating doesn't work on knitters: if I get inspired to start working through my Christmas list in July that just gives me more time to knit. But, anyway, have you ever worked in retail? How do these equations get worked out on the other side of the counter?
Why is crocheting so much faster than knitting? Srsly. I finished my first granite-stitch scarf in two days and my second in one. (It looks just like the first one, except a teeny bit narrower.) Sure, if you triple crochet in bulky yarn, especially if you do a lacy pattern, you'll produce a given amount of fabric in a lot less time than a knitter would, but granite stitch is 1) single crochet 2) perfectly solid. Being no speed demon at either craft, I'm glad to have found a good-looking crochet stitch I can use to crank out some quality Red Scarves, but I'd love to know why it works that way. A single-crochet stitch is three quick movements: hook with loop from previous stitch into stitch/space/whatever, draw up loop, draw through two loops. Likewise a knit stitch for a picker: needle through stitch, pick yarn, needle out, stitch off. I know that sounds like four, but really, needle-out-stitch-off is one motion. Any efficiency engineers out there?
Why is Callie petrified of every human being on the planet except me? When she sees me she purrs, she rubs, she leaps onto any available railing or furniture so I can easily pet her. She wants to be where I am, helping with whatever I'm doing. (This isn't always a good thing: see picture above.) When she sees anyone else, including Grant and Genevra, she doesn't see much of them since she bolts. No one has ever threatened her in any way, and she and Achilles are littermates, and he likes everyone. Maybe a cat shrink could explain this, but I will admit to harboring doubts.

What are you wondering about today?

A Happy Hooker

2010-11-12T16:25:00.003-05:00

That would be me. Remember my discovery of crochet granite stitch during my squaremania? I planned to use it for a Red Scarf (everybody knows about the Red Scarf Project, right? of course, silly me), and that's exactly what I am doing. I started the pictured scarf Wednesday night. I took the first picture yesterday and the second one a few minutes ago. This puppy is fast. Also addictive. It makes a solid fabric with the perfect drape: substantial yet fluid. I'm about six inches from the end, which means I'll finish it tonight. What then? You'll just have to tune in next time: we bicraftual types are unpredictable.

Thankful Thursday

2010-11-11T21:05:00.003-05:00

Carole suggested that we devote November Thursdays to blogging what we're thankful for, and I'm thankful that she had such a great idea in the first place and that we're doing it again. As usual, I hardly know where to begin: I am truly blessed, we are truly blessed, and I'm thankful for blessings large and small every day. So today I'll do three knitting-related ones. I am thankful for:

Time to knit.
Friends to knit with.
A home to ~~store my yarn in~~ come home to.

What are you thankful for today?

Fear of Plying: Laceweight Edition

2010-11-10T14:19:00.004-05:00

Did I mention that I finally finished spinning the Eternal Blue Merino? I don't think I did. Sorry about that. Well, I finished spinning it, and I decided that since I'm a relative novice at plying and I've never plied laceweight, I would wait for spinning group to begin. Being a bit nervous about it because the laceweight is very thin — well, of course it is, otherwise it wouldn't be laceweight, but in places it's even thinner than that, and I don't know what to do if I break a single while plying, other than sit in a corner and cry — I thought it best to try it in the company of accomplished spinners who might be able to give me a few pointers on keeping it from happening in the first place and recovering if it still did. I was really looking forward to spinning group last night.

Until Grant drove us into our driveway, and such a huge wave of relief and contentment at being home swept over me that I knew I was going nowhere but through my kitchen door, not to emerge again before sunrise. Our sitter had even made lentil soup (I had done some of the prep before leaving for work); so domestic was I feeling that while Grant and Miss B ran a quick errand I made biscuits. (I used a mix. There are limits.)

So, my accomplished readers, have you ever plied laceweight? How did it go? Did your single break? What did you do then?

Ten on Tuesday

2010-11-09T15:24:00.004-05:00

Ten Dream Vacations

If you've been around here for a while you know that we take a dream vacation in Rangeley every August: its being cheap and (relatively) close doesn't make it any less dreamy. And I fear that in my kids' lifetime if not in mine world travel will become as out of reach for us ordinary folk as going to the moon. Still, that's the beauty of dreams: I can go anywhere, including the moon, just sitting right here. (I wouldn't want to vacation on the moon. I hear they just opened a new restaurant with great food but absolutely no atmosphere.)

Germany. Grant's been there, but I never have. I want to see the castles and the cathedrals. I want to climb a German mountain. (If I can find one small enough. I'm ridiculously out of shape.) I want to leave Grant happily drinking beer in Munich while I sneak a side trip to Pfaffenhofen.
France. I've been there. I want to go back.
The Yucatan and/or Cozumel. I've been to Mexico, but just for a long weekend, and I'd love to spend a couple of weeks exploring the ruins, the history, the architecture. I might even take in a beach here and there.
Arizona/Grand Canyon. I'd want to learn a little geology first. Talk about history written on walls.
Italy. The architecture, the paintings, the sculpture, the culture. Oh, and the food.
Iceland. More cool geology.
Israel. A friend of mine told me she'd never understood what the big deal was — why was everyone willing, nay, eager to fight over this tiny piece of land? wouldn't Long Island work just as well? — until she went there and found it so beautiful she understood why three major religions think it's where God lives.
Spain. See Italy.
Hawaii. You will have gathered by now that I mostly want to visit places that are beautiful and historic. I'm making an exception here: Hawaii doesn't need to be historic, any more than Brad Pitt needs to be smart. (I have no idea if he is or not, and I don't need to know.)
Anywhere I haven't been. Wait: anywhere warm I haven't been.

A Time to Join Squares Together

2010-11-08T11:37:00.006-05:00

The Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon took place yesterday at the State House. What a total blast. I went with my knitting-group buddy Lynne (not to be confused with Lynne), and we were joined by Kathy and her daughter and perpetual good sport Julianne at the event. We also met the lovely Lauren, and the fun began. We picked out 35 squares we liked. We arranged, reshuffled, and recombined until we had the perfect layout. And then we crocheted like the wind. Behold the result:

The State House is a pretty amazing place. I hadn't been inside it since a school field trip (mumble) years ago, but it was as grand as I remember: inlaid mosaic floors, marble, granite, stone, skylights and stained glass.

If you ever have a chance to visit, you should definitely grab it. You won't be lucky enough to see the grand staircase the way I did, though.

...Well, maybe if you come with me next year.

(By the way, my fundraising page is still open for donations. Just sayin'.)

It's Hip to Make Squares

2010-11-01T17:04:00.002-04:00

Don't say I didn't warn you: I am all about the squares until Sunday, and there will be square puns. I finished another square in Twin Rib (blocking will happen), bringing my total to 11 (I think: it might be 12), and started another one in one of my go-to square patterns, Seeded Rib Check from Barbara Walker's second treasury. It's amazing what can happen just with combinations and variations of k3, p1. I find squares the perfect excuse for trying out Walker patterns, the dirt-simple-yet-great-looking knit-purl combos in the first chapters of her first two books. What can I tell you? I am easily entertained.

So, you want to encourage me in all this rectitude, don't you? Of course you do. Here's that link again. Go ahead, encourage me. It could increase my efforts geometrically.

All Squares, All the Time

2010-10-29T21:01:00.003-04:00

In between Ten on Tuesday posts, I have been knitting, not that you would know it. It's Pine Street Inn Knit-A-Thon season once again, and I am squaring up, so to speak, to participate.

The truth is that I really enjoy making squares. They are finite by nature, just a little bigger than the standard swatch, and I like to try out different patterns. This year's discovery is crochet seed stitch, aka granite stitch. I used it for the red square and the purple square in the middle. I'm not a huge fan of lacy crochet stitches or granny squares for blankets, because my toes poke through the holes and get cold, but this stitch is a solid as can be. It's dead easy, too:
Chain an odd number.
Setup row: Sc in second ch from hook, *ch 1, sk 1 ch, sc in next ch.
Row 1: Turn, ch 1 (turning ch), sc in ch sp, *ch 1, sk 1 ch, sc in next ch sp, end sc, sc in turning ch.
Row 2: Turn, ch 2 (turning ch plus ch 1), sc in ch sp, *ch 1, sk 1 ch, sc in next ch sp.
Repeat rows 1 and 2.

I've seen this pattern given as just one row, but actually there are two: in row 1 the first chain space is next to the turning chain and in the turning chain at the other end; in row 2 you ch 1 and skip that stitch from the previous row. I really like the way it looks; I plan to use it for a Red Scarf, which will be next up after squaremania ends with the Knit-A-Thon.

So, want to help? Of course you do. The Knit-A-Thon will take place at the State House on November 7, a week from Sunday, from 11 to 4. (Yes, the State House, the thing on Beacon Hill with the gold dome. I vaguely recall being inside it about a thousand years ago on a school field trip. I think it's a pretty cool place for a knit-a-thon.) It is actually not a Knit-A-Thon at all, but an assemble-a-thon, where we put all the squares everyone has made together as gifts for Pine Street Inn clients moving into supportive housing.

If you don't live around here or you're busy next Sunday, I give you option B: my fundraising page. Any donation of any size is deeply appreciated. Want to donate by the square? I have ten so far, with another one on the needles. I'm betting I can make at least another five.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-10-26T20:41:00.003-04:00

Ten Ways to Have Fun on Halloween

It just dawned on me that I'm going to miss Ten on Tuesday if I don't get myself in gear. Lately all my gears have been moving very slowly due to a nasty cold, but I'll do my best.

Carve pumpkins. These days some pretty amazing pumpkin templates are available online. I prefer the old-fashioned jack o'lantern myself, but then I am... old-fashioned.
The day after Halloween, chuckle evilly as you cannibalize the pumpkins for pie.
Buy too much candy you like. When half of it is still there at the end of trick-or-treating, sigh heavily and say you might as well eat it, don't want it to go to waste. I try to pursue the opposite strategy of buying popular candy that I don't happen to like, but you never know when something may jump into your cart. Oddly enough I have the same problem with a certain online yarn vendor. (There was no chance that I wasn't going to link that. Really now.)
Bake cookies. A couple of months ago I happened across a bat cookie cutter, and promptly bought it, of course. If this cold stops kicking me around I may actually use it.
Change one detail of your appearance, such as the location of the part in your hair, and watch people squint at you as they try to figure out what's different.
Wear something orange, especially if you never wear orange. This is more difficult if, like me, you don't own anything orange.
Sing along with "Monster Mash" really loud whenever it comes on the radio, especially while driving your teenager and her friends to a party.
Create a soundtrack of scary noises, such as creaks, groans, bloodcurdling shrieks, and political commercials.
Train your black cat to assist you in greeting trick-or-treaters. This is easier (but not much) if you have at least one black cat.
Wear an odd getup that may or may not be a costume. Smile mysteriously when people ask what you're supposed to be.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-10-19T17:01:00.002-04:00

Ten Things in My Freezer Right Now

This should be rather interesting, that is writing it should be rather interesting, because I didn't actually look in my freezer before I left for work this morning, so I can't name with certainty everything that's in it.

Ice. Let's get the madly boring stuff out of the way first. Our fridge has an icemaker and a little chute through which you can dispense ice without opening the door. I used to think icemakers were unbelievably bourgeois, but the fact that you don't have to open the freezer to 1) take the ice-cube trays out 2) put them back in full of water 3) take them out again to (if possible) get the ice out and put it either in your drink or the ice tray, which with luck you took out at the same time, must count for something.
Cold packs. These are a wonderful invention, although freezing bottles of water and putting them in with your beer or your sandwich works too.
Chicken. I'm not sure what part of the chicken, but I know there's some in there because there always is.
Packed lunches for me. These usually consist of lentils and rice, two things that are nutritious, especially if eaten together, on the list of things I'm officially allowed to eat, easy to make, and, last but not least, cheap. I may or may not have mentioned that we are in the midst of major house repairs, have been since that big rainstorm at the end of March, actually, when a leak in a window led to various unfortunate discoveries that in turn morphed into basically rebuilding the house from the outside in. Actually the inside is fine, for the most part, but the outside is, or at this point I should probably say was, one vast expanse of dry rot assisted by the occasional carpenter ant. (One of these days I'll show you pictures.) After a couple of months of this I drew up a household budget, something we'd never had before, to see where our money was going and if we could manage to keep more of it... well, keep is not really the operative word there, so much as reallocate. I was astounded to discover the extent of our fixed expenses, meaning that flexible expenses, the easy ones to cut, take up only about a quarter of the budget, meaning that economies that I had always thought too small to matter... matter. Thus packed lunches.
Waffles. I haven't gotten to the point of making these myself yet. There's such a thing as overkill.
Bread. No one else in the house likes my favorite kind, so it's either freeze it or frequently find that the loaf I had eaten only two slices of has turned into a science project. Not that I have anything against science, mind you, but I'd prefer not to sacrifice perfectly good bread to it. See small economies above.
Applesauce. I had never made it before a few weeks ago, when I took out my trusty food mill with the hand crank, very similar to the one my mother had except for the plastic parts, and started cranking my way through the results of this year's apple-picking spree. It's very easy, and the results are good.
Apple pie filling. This year I am not going to be caught short at Christmastime.
Blackberry puree. The only drawback to blackberries is too many seeds, so I separate fruit from seeds with the abovementioned food mill. The resulting puree can become sweet duck sauce or chutney, or probably several other things I haven't thought of yet.
Something extremely inedible. Remember #10 on my fridge list? We go to the dump on Saturday. If I find the offending item in the fridge on Sunday, it's spending the week in the freezer.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-10-12T15:09:00.003-04:00

Ten Ways to Have Fun on Long Car Rides

Since time passes much more slowly for kids, it's not surprising that I recall the weekly visits to my grandparents who lived a good hour away as being much longer than the four-hour-plus ride to Rangeley, and the three-hour trip to Rhinebeck that I'll bet inspired this theme seems like a piece of cake, although the journey home always seems longer. (I still don't know if I'm going, and if I am going I still don't know if I'm going for one day or two. The latter question depends largely on finding somewhere to squeeze in.) In any case, with one possible exception I'm going to limit this one to diversions that were available when I was a kid. All of these assume at least two people in the car.

Play Ghost. Start with a letter, any letter you want. The next player adds a letter, and so on until someone is forced to complete a word. After giving a letter, a player must be prepared to give a word that could start with the letters given so far. The loser of each round gets a letter of the word ghost, and the first complete ghost loses the game. In the Superghost version, each player can add a letter to either end of the existing letter chain, again as long as the resulting chain can be found in a word.
Play Alphabet. Find each letter of the alphabet in turn on objects outside the car. With the recent trend of naming car models with strings of letters, preferably the less commonly used ones, this is easier than it used to be.
Play Twenty Questions. This is an oldie but a goodie.
Botticelli. The player who is It thinks of a person (who may be real or fictional), and another player asks a question like "Were you a famous Renaissance painter?" to which It answers, "No, I am not Botticelli." If It is stumped, the asking player then gets to ask a boolean question like, "Are you alive?" Subsequent questions must conform to all of the known characteristics; if it's been established that the person is a real, living, male American movie actor, for instance, only questions whose target has those characteristics are allowed. It can bluff: if It is Dustin Hoffman, for instance, and the question is, "Did you appear onscreen in drag to play the title character of a well-known movie?", It may answer, "No, I am not Robin Williams," but if It can't think of another actor that fits the bill, It must then admit, "Yes, I am Dustin Hoffman."
Knit. Admittedly, this doesn't help to entertain the other people in the car, so it's best to be able to knit while playing Botticelli.
Listen to show tunes. One could listen to anything at all, actually, but show tunes seem to be especially enjoyable. They can also lead one to...
Burst into song. This sometimes happens to us while on the way to visit family for Christmas. You probably would recognize the tunes but not the lyrics.
Play Cat's Cradle. Needless to say, this requires at least two passengers.
Play Mad Libs. This requires literate players, one of whom can read and write in a moving vehicle without becoming ill. It can be quite educational: Miss B learned all the parts of speech when she was six so that she could play with us.
Talk. This may be a last resort, but under the constraints of space and time I've learned things I didn't know even about my blood relatives.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-10-05T16:57:00.004-04:00

Ten Things to Love About Fall

Changing leaves. The brilliant reds and oranges are glorious, of course, but, as you see, even the more muted colors can catch the eye.
Golden light. There's something about the light of evening at this time of year. It happens in the spring, too, but not as noticeably. Maybe all the leaves magnify the effect.
The kids are back in school. In the summer Taz is in summer school part of the time, but on a different schedule from regular school, Miss B is away at camp part of the time, and we're away on vacation part of the time. Much as I love summer, it's nice to get back into a more consistent routine.
Apples. Picking them, baking them, eating them.
Changing clothes. A couple of weeks ago I unearthed some cold-weather clothes I had almost forgotten. It's like a new wardrobe I didn't have to shop for.
Halloween. I love carving pumpkins and seeing all the costumes and handing out candy. Apparently at least in some respects I never grew up.
Thanksgiving. I love making dinner with all the traditional dishes and baking and quality family time. See Halloween.
Pie. See Thanksgiving, also apples, although it is not just apple but pecan and pumpkin and even Key lime pie (a favorite of my favorite men, season in, season out).
Holiday knitting. As the daylight retreats and the air chills I can feel the brainchildren unborn stirring within me. It's an incredible rush, quite different from the Hitchcockian terror that inevitably ensues as deadline projects first circle and then descend, beaks extended.
Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon. My getting to Rhinebeck this year is looking doubtful, but I wouldn't miss the PSIKAT for the world. This year it's at the State House. Yes, the thing with the gold dome. Want to come? You can join Team Flaky, in honor of pie crust, among other things.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-09-28T13:09:00.001-04:00

Ten Things in My Refrigerator Right Now

This is an easy one for me, mostly, because the contents of my fridge are pretty mundane... most of them, anyway.

Butter. Real, actual butter. It's an essential element of apple crisp, pie crust, cookies... all that is yummy and not good for us.
Cream cheese. It goes in bagels and in apple-turnover crust. I don't know why turnovers demand a crust different from pie crust, but they do.
Leftover mac and cheese. It's left over from last night, having mysteriously escaped both late-night snackage and being grabbed this morning for lunch.
Pie dough. I made a quiche for dinner last night, and since I make my own crust, at least a double's worth at a time, there's a handy ball of dough there now and another quiche in our near future.
Orange juice. It's become one of Miss B's favorite drinks, and I can't complain.
Lettuce. Have I mentioned that we've been embrangled in major home repairs for the last six months? Well, we have — I should probably post about it one of these days — and the resulting stress on our bank account has led me and Grant to start practicing small economies, including taking our lunch to work. Miss B takes hers to school now and then, too, although I think she's motivated more by the poverty of cafeteria offerings than by the desire to save us money.
Cold cuts. See lettuce above.
Apple turnover filling. I believe I did mention that we have too many apples, and I am finding lots of things to do with them. Damn the waistline, full speed ahead.
Mustard. The Dijon that Grant likes, and the French's that I like.
I haven't the faintest idea. I'm sure I put it in the fridge with the best of intentions, and I definitely didn't intend to let it get shoved to the back and then forget about it. Since I did, however, as soon as I find it, into the trash it goes, no questions asked.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-09-14T15:59:00.004-04:00

Ten Reasons to Watch Football

It's like wizard chess with much brawnier pieces.
It makes a nice change from baseball. Grant is a huge fan of baseball, any game, anywhere, (almost) any level, and, while I like baseball — except for not being able to watch close games while the Sox are in contention, which, fortunately for my fingernails, is no longer the case — it's not the only sport in the world.
In just about every game, you will see something that is physically impossible. Granted, this is true of every sport — think of the famous Swoboda catch or "Havlicek stole the ball" — but just watching Randy Moss catch a ball floating 20 feet over his head (I exaggerate only slightly) is nearly worth the price of admission.
You can get a lot of knitting done during commercials.
You can get a lot of knitting done between plays.
Not to mention halftime. Recently someone analyzed a typical football broadcast and concluded that only 9 percent of it involves actual playing of football. That's a lot of knitting time; I feel justified in letting it take up three of my ten entries.
In just about every game, you will see a call so bad you can hardly believe your eyes. Again, this is not unique to football (memo to Bud Selig: give the kid his perfect game already), but watching it happen, waiting for the challenge, and seeing if the challenge will succeed makes for great theater.
There is also the possibility that Bill Belichick will once again demonstrate his encyclopedic, eidetic, maddeningly pedantic knowledge of the rule book. That assumes that you're watching a Patriots game, of course, but I can include this one because I usually am.
So-called sportscasting analysis is great fun. "Now, leading 10-7 in the fourth quarter, what the Patriots really don't want to have happen here is for the Colts to march down the field and into the red zone." Seriously? I would never have figured that out. (The baseball version of this is, "Down 3-1 in the ninth and with a man on first, the Yankees will bring the tying run to the plate." If you are down by two runs and have a man on base, by definition every man you bring to the plate represents the tying run. Any baseball fan over the age of three knows this without being told. Stop trying to wind up the tension already — see fingernails above.)
Reading about it afterward makes a lot more sense if you've watched the game. Of course I only want to read about it if my team won, but if they did I want to enjoy the rehash.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-09-07T08:31:00.003-04:00

Ten Things to Do Before the End of Summer

This depends on what you call the end of summer, of course; if you call it Labor Day, I'm already SOL. (About ten years ago my daughter asked me what that stood for. "Sincerely out of luck," I said, thinking quickly.) I'm going with astronomy, which places it on September 22, so I still have a couple of weeks. Even so, this list is probably way too ambitious, but seeing a couple of Hoarders ads has put me into purge mode, and I'd best use it while I've got it.

Finish spinning the blue merino. I'm down to three little balls of roving. I think as long as I can spin on the deck I've got a good chance at this one.
Get started on Pine Street Inn squares. Actually I have started, sort of, because Debbi gave me a big bag of them last week, and I also have a couple that didn't make it into Cheryl's blanket, but that just makes me want to set the bar higher. (I'll have a fundraising page up pretty soon, speaking of setting the bar.)
Pick apples. We already did this, actually, over the weekend. The apples are rather small this year, but there are plenty of them.
Figure out what to do with apples. Grant has already pointed out that baking with apples can lead to, shall we say, weighty issues.
Clean out the freezer in the basement. Then I'll have a place to put frozen apples.
Since I'm cleaning, clean out the master bedroom. This continues to be my bugaboo because I want to finish what I start, and the bedroom, being the repository for everything we don't know what to do with, resists finishing.
Clean the rest of the house.
Have a yard sale. Or maybe just give away everything usable.
Swim. The local swimming hole is technically closed, but you can swim there if you're willing to take your chances without a lifeguard. Since very few places in the designated swimming area are over my head, I think I can manage.
Put the rest of my Rangeley 2010 pix on Flickr. I've learned from experience to put files I want to keep on the cloud. (I love that expression, especially given the number of photos I take of clouds.)

Ten on Tuesday

2010-08-31T16:11:00.003-04:00

Ten Ways to Lighten My Mood

Go for a walk. I'm immeasurably lucky to live right next to conservation land with a brook running through it and trails of varying length. When it's this hot out I'd change that to going for a swim: we're also lucky to live very close to the town swimming hole (created by the simple expedient of digging a big hole in/around the brook bed and waiting for it to fill up).
Clean house. This works only if there's a finite task that I can finish within a couple of hours. If cleaning involves massive sorting and reorganizing and decisions as to what goes, what stays, and where to put the stuff that's staying, it may have the opposite of the intended effect.
Cook. I enjoy cooking if I have the time to do it. I also enjoy eating, which, depending on what I've cooked, may or may not be a good thing.
Spin, especially if it's not very goal-oriented (still haven't finished the blue roving) and I can get into the Zen of it.
Knit, preferably in company, although alone works too. Since giving and a sense of completion (see cleaning above) both give me a huge lift when I'm blue, charity squares are the perfect cheer-me-up knitting. Not that you asked, by the way, but the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon is November 7.
Hang out with friends and/or family, or, if no one is around...
Hang out on Ravelry, usually in the forums, although sometimes I just gawk at what people are knitting.
Put my latest pix up on Flickr. This is especially effective if we've been to Rangeley recently: see example above.
Shop, mostly for yarn, usually online. It's safer that way: if I can actually touch the stuff I'm beyond hope.
Read blogs, of course.

Eye Candy Friday

2010-08-27T23:24:00.002-04:00

Deep sigh. To everything there is a season... and some of them are much too short.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-08-24T23:53:00.005-04:00

In typical fashion, I'm getting this in just under the wire...

Ten Things I'd Tell a College Freshman

As the poet said, make much of time. You don't have as much of it as you think.
Get your priorities straight, aka applying the 80/20 rule: for any task, 80 percent of the work will take you 20 percent of the time and effort. If you don't have time to do it all, do as much as you need to as well as you can. This is probably the most important thing I learned in college. There's a reason they give you more work than you can comfortably do.
Study, study, study. I wish I'd studied more; it would have saved me time in the end.
Play to your strength, but also...
Go outside your comfort zone. If you're a math geek, take an English class; if you're an English major, take math (logic and statistics, both endlessly useful, count as math).
Don't spend all your time studying: do something extracurricular with people you like. In fact, do a bunch of things, and as time goes on pick a couple to concentrate on. (I really wish I'd stuck with the college paper. I'd have learned a lot and it would have been better written.)
Learn how to learn. When starting any new endeavor you'll never know even half of what you need to know, so get in practice.
You will bump into professors who are egomaniacs, jerks, sexist pigs, who haven't had a new thought in 40 years. Pay attention to them: they can teach you something, if it's only how the world looked 20 years before you were born. Knowing a little about coping with an egomaniac sexist jerk may also come in handy.
Look for people who are different from you. (They won't be hard to find, even if everyone is studying the same thing and comes from the same part of the country.) Once you've found them...
Listen.

Eye Candy Friday

2010-08-20T14:44:00.001-04:00

Only one more day... and a splendid cerulean one it is.

A Little Light Reading

2010-08-19T14:57:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite new(ish) books didn't make my summer reading list because I've already read it — several times, in fact. I'm referring to Home Is Where the Wine Is, the second book by Laurie Perry, aka Crazy Aunt Purl. If you haven't read it, and you have a little beach time left in your summer, I highly recommend it. If your beach season has already flown, I apologize; I've been meaning to write this review for a while, and one thing and another, yata yata — yet I still recommend it: it's as tasty, bubbly and satisfying as fondue by the fire on a chilly evening. Truly, it is a book for all seasons.

If you read Laurie's blog, you know she's a gifted storyteller, able to take you for a walk in her shoes even if you've never tried to operate space-age exercise equipment or become one with a slightly overcrowded universe. I've never dated online, and after reading about Laurie's exploits in that arena, I have no such desire. (Grant will be thrilled to hear this.) She does have some hilarious tales to tell, however.

I would be remiss not to mention the patterns in the back. There are several by The Crochet Dude, including one for a flip-flop wine coaster that I may try as the holidays get closer. There's a terrific evening bag by Myra Wood. There's an I-cord braided rug.

And... there is one of mine. It's a small but extremely useful item for the home, it's a bit outside my usual repertoire, shall we say, and that's all I'll tell you about it, except that it's on page 193. (OK, you can find a picture of it on Ravelry too.)

Go forth and read!

Outdone

2010-08-18T15:16:00.004-04:00

Two down, five to go: I finished another piece of roving, and I started the next biggest one, on top in the picture. While I realize I have to make some pretty awesome progress actually to finish before we leave for home, I'm pretty happy with how full that bobbin is getting, and endlessly mesmerized by the hundreds of shades of blue passing through my fingers. I was feeling altogether pleased with myself, in fact...

...until I encountered a true expert. I am outdone and outspun.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-08-17T17:38:00.002-04:00

Since there's no official ToT this week, I'm rolling my own, using (very) recent experience as my guide.

Ten Things to Do on Vacation

Spin by the lake.
Visit a favorite scenic spot. In our case this would be Small's Falls.
Eat. Last night we visited our favorite restaurant so far since our previous favorite burned down. (The Porter House, a couple of years ago. Nothing left. So sad, although not as sad as if anyone had been injured; fortunately no one was.)
Swim. I love to swim, which in my case is really paddling around, and I've never yet found a better place to do it than Rangeley Lake. So clear, so lovely.
Take pictures. Many, many pictures. There will be more.
Hike. I haven't done much this time. Fortunately I get my exercise paddling around.
Pick blueberries. I haven't done this yet either. I fear most of the blueberries may be gone already, that very hot June we had having moved up the growing season, but I'll venture out at least once before we leave.
Shop. One nice thing about being in the middle of nowhere is that the chain stores haven't made it here yet, so I don't see the same stuff as everywhere else.
Visit the nearest biggish town. A yarn store and a used bookstore (I mean a store purveying used books, of course) live cheek by jowl, an excellent arrangement.
Find a place with free wifi and blog about it all.

See you tomorrow with another report on #1, and, of course, more pix.

Progress Report

2010-08-15T21:12:00.004-04:00

Of the seven little balls of roving, five and a fraction remain. I'm taking them in reverse order of size, that is thickness (they are all more or less the same length) — I'm sure there's a way to separate a roving into perfectly even pieces, but I know nothing of it. It seemed to take me forever and a day to spin up the first one, but it's done — you can see the last remnant of it fluttering in the breeze above — and I'm now at work on the next biggest one, which I think is the top back one. Now that the end is in sight I get a bit impatient, until I get into the Zen of it, aided by the endless blues in the vista before me and the ones traveling through my fingers. (I let a couple of the kids staying at the place try the wheel, using some practice roving I had luckily brought with me, and I noticed that beginner spinners tend to work harder than they need to: rather than just pinching and drafting and letting the wheel draw the yarn in, they worry about getting the yarn onto the bobbin. Of course I was that way too when I started. As a very wise friend always says, it's the process.)

So the bobbin looked like this at the completion of #1. I can definitely see progress, and from here on out I'll take a picture as I finish each piece of roving.

And this is what I am spinning next, a wool/mohair blend from Touch of Twist. The process is the thing, but a little incentive never hurt anyone (especially anyone who is a very, very slow spinner).

Free-Association Friday

2010-08-13T12:36:00.009-04:00

For all who admired (for suitable definitions) yesterday's picture, I should add that the young man appeared quite competent at his daredevil exploit; it was clearly not his first time. The cliff there is not more than 20 feet high (with very deep water below), and I don't imagine that jumping therefrom is any more dangerous than going off the high diving board at your local pool. We even let Miss B do it — although, like most people who try it, she did a plain jump, and we wouldn't have countenanced anything else. The really crazy people are the ones who jump maybe 40 feet into smaller pools; believe it or not, I caught one of these completely by accident while just trying to get a nice picture of the falls. The guy in midair (the blurry one to the right of the group) is probably about halfway down.
______________________________________________________

In between pix of crazy people I got a nice butterfly shot. Can anyone name this species?
______________________________________________________

I finally managed to get some halfway decent loon pictures, after at least ten years of trying. I will confess that I bought a superzoom camera not for the sole purpose of becoming a loon paparazza, but definitely with it in mind. For every picture here there was at least one loon dive just as I was focusing.
______________________________________________________

I also got a better merganser picture. The mergansers are shyer than the mallards (who, as you know if you've been here for a while, given proper incentive will walk right up and say howdy), but considerably less swimoffish than the loons.
______________________________________________________

And, of course, thank heaven for little gulls.

New Theme

2010-08-12T15:28:00.006-04:00

Things I Have No Interest in Trying Before I Die

I think in this case it would be very shortly before dying.

Blue Ambition

2010-08-11T17:30:00.002-04:00

Wendy turns out to be an excellent traveler: I separated her drive wheel from her frame for the trip, then reassembled her without the least difficulty. The atmosphere up here has been highly conducive to spinning, and I have a mere seven little balls of blue roving left, similar to the one you see trailing in the breeze above. I believe I can actually finish spinning and plying the blue laceweight here. I even brought a little incentive with me, which I'll show you next time. (Read: I forgot to take a picture.)

Even on vacation, it's good to have a goal. Or seven small, soft, lovely blue ones.

Ten Reasons to Love Bacon

2010-08-10T13:17:00.004-04:00

This is the easiest ToT topic I've ever seen. My hat's off to Carole, or whoever came up with it.

Ten Reasons to Love Bacon

Bacon and eggs, of course.
BLT.
Bacon-wrapped lamb patties.
Bacon cheddarburger.
Fettucine carbonara. That would be Canadian bacon, which counts as bacon.
Bacon spinach salad.
Uncured bacon.
The smell of bacon in the morning. Or just about any other time.
Bacon and onion quiche.
Random bacon.

Why the duck? you may be asking. Because I don't have a picture of bacon.

For the Birds

2010-08-09T21:19:00.002-04:00

Slice of Heaven

2010-08-08T15:03:00.003-04:00

We got a late start yesterday, and then we ran into traffic.

But we got here.

And that's all that really matters.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-08-03T15:19:00.003-04:00

Today's ToT, things to take on vacation, could not be better timed, since we leave for our annual Rangeley sojourn on Saturday morning. It also gives me a chance to redeem myself for the camping one. I found that list quite revealing, actually, as clearly some people go camping fairly often and enjoy it; they pack the necessities without having to think much about it and then make sure they have plenty of fun things like knitting, books, bathing suit and towel. Then there are those of us who haven't been camping in quite a while, or if we have, it wasn't our idea, and our lists reflected all-too-vivid memories of being constantly cold and wet (that would be me), or having trouble starting a fire, or other vicissitudes of outdoor life. My favorite was Ruth, who got as far as 1. hotel reservation — I have to admit that this was my first thought also — and promptly and wisely abandoned the whole exercise.

In any event, since as always we will be staying in a nice dry cabin with modern plumbing and kitchen facilities, when making this list I can (mostly) concentrate on the fun stuff.

Ten Things to Take on Vacation

Clothing, including plenty of long underwear, wool socks, and sweats. Recurring theme, I know, but in this case it's mere prudence: it is Maine, after all, in the mountains yet. Temperature readings in the mid-40s at 7:30 am are not uncommon. (I know this because 7:30 is when I take my morning swim.)
Bathing suits and beach towels. See above.
Matches and/or lighter for stove (gas stove, no pilot light) and grill. Inexplicably I failed to include these on my camping list, although I did think of them. Having read The Clan of the Cave Bear, I know in theory how to start a fire without modern equipment, but I'd rather not have to try it.
Hammock with stand. Yes, we really take this with us; disassembled, it takes up surprisingly little room in the van.
Spinning wheel. This year I'm thinking seriously of taking Wendy; ordinarily I don't tote her around, because she's quite large, but I've really been enjoying spinning on her, and I can take the wheel off the frame pretty easily if need be. Whichever wheel I take, I'll also take roving and other spinning supplies, of course. Miss B may bring her Ladybug as well.
Knitting. This includes whatever projects are either on the needles or in my head, and all of the materials and tools for same. These easily fill a small duffel, with the overflow sometimes sneaking into my big duffel, and almost never do I complete more than half of what I bring, but what's a heaven for?
Laptops, mine and Grant's. While the place where we stay preserves its rustic charm and probably will not get wired for wireless in our lifetime, the Rangeley Public Library is much more abreast of the times. We have even been known to sidle up to it when it's closed, sniffing for a signal.
Cell phones. Verizon has finally colonized Rangeley, may all the saints be praised — we'd always been able to use our phones there as long as we were willing to pay an arm and a leg. Down the road a short piece in either direction we get that little box with a line through it, which means we've temporarily eluded civilization.
Books. See my summer reading list, and also #6 above.
Bug spray, sunscreen, hats, and pails. The bug spray and sunscreen are useful in a variety of settings, but all four items are essential gear for an expedition to the blueberry patch (no, I'm not telling you where it is, either).

Ten on Tuesday

2010-07-27T14:21:00.002-04:00

Ten Things to Do Instead of Watching TV

Knit. All right, unless I'm knitting something truly fiendish (like my second lace baby blanket), technically I can do this while watching TV, but at least if I'm also knitting I can feel slightly less vegetal.
Spin. See above. I like to spin while watching baseball, because I have plenty of time between pitches to work on keeping my laceweight single as uniform as possible.
Read. Almost since I learned to read I've been reading disquisitions on the superior virtue of reading to watching TV. Reading takes much more work, they say. It depends what you read, I guess; if I'm trying to unwind after a long day I'm more likely to pick up the last Spenser novel (it really is the last, alas) than The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Waste time on the Internet.
Clean house. Sadly for the state of my house, I'd rather do anything else on this list, even...
Do yard work. I never get as much done as I would like, but it can be quite satisfying.
Walk. I should do more. Can I count spinning as walking while sitting down? Even if I use just one foot?
Berry. This does involve the presence of berries, of course; otherwise it's just a walk.
Bake. Often after berrying.
Blog, of course.

Spoil

2010-07-21T21:35:00.002-04:00

(I have a new crop of scratches too, but you don't need to see them. And they were totally worth it.)

Ten on Tuesday

2010-07-20T07:01:00.003-04:00

Ten Things to Take on a Camping Trip

Let me preface this list by saying that I don't find camping per se all that attractive. I enjoy the wonders of nature as much as the next person, but after a full day of great outdoors I would like to sleep in an actual bed under an actual solid leak-free roof, preferably with modern plumbing immediately available, by which I mean that I don't need to get fully dressed and leave shelter in order to use it. Call me a hothouse flower if you must. I'd make an exception if I had nowhere else to sleep, due to lack of either decent hostelry or funds. In the former case the scenery had better be drop-dead, and in the latter case I'd better have a really good reason to be there. My list presumes that I am miles from nowhere and must be prepared for anything.

Tent, extremely waterproof, with fly and ground sheet ditto.
Sleeping bag rated to 40 below. You understand that there's no way I'm going camping between September and May. Still, see above, prepared for anything.
Camp stove and lantern(s) with plenty of fuel. All of my water will be thoroughly boiled. Scenery that doesn't include a body of fresh water by definition fails the drop-dead test.
Heavy-duty pot with lid ditto. See above, thoroughly boiled.
Food. In this category I'm not too picky; I can subsist for at least a week on beef jerky and cold cereal. Since I haven't fished in 30 years and have never shot a gun, I'm taking the minimum necessary foodstuffs with me.
Bug spray and sunscreen. See above, if I insist on summer I'll have to be prepared for the standard hazards.
Long underwear, several sets, preferably merino wool, and socks ditto. Since I brought the sunscreen I'm guaranteed at least one cold, damp day.
First-aid kit.
Knife and hatchet for campfire construction. Scenery that doesn't include trees by definition fails the drop-dead test.
Camping companion(s). You didn't think I was going to carry all this by myself, did you?

Monday Maunderings

2010-07-19T07:39:00.016-04:00

And the answer is: blackberry pie. I liked Carol's anwer the best for originality, and Joan's for common sense — although, strictly speaking, the picking was the hard part; once separated from the bush the blackberries had no problem with being eaten.
______________________________________________________

I hadn't been blackberrying in a couple of years, and the place (no, I'm not telling you where) is considerably more overgrown now, one of the thicker thickets I've fought my way through. The blackberry canes have grown over each other and the surrounding underbrush, sometimes forming very effective barbed-wire fencing around the berries, and occasionally up into trees, where the fruit is most unfairly too high for me to reach. I tell myself those belong to the birds, which was obviously the intention: if you're a plant seeking world dominion, make your fruit juicy, tasty and hard for flightless critters to reach, and your seeds will go far, just a few at a time. To paraphrase the old saying, a bird is just a plant's way of getting another plant.
______________________________________________________

People say "dense thicket," but no one ever says "thick thicket," understandably, I suppose. I actually looked up thicket earlier to see if it was from thick or another case of convergent semantics, but it is indeed etymologically more or less "thick place." Which the blackberry patch certainly is.
______________________________________________________

Only my husband would refer to the second baseman of a certain evil baseball team as Robinson "Arma Virumque" Cano.
______________________________________________________

This does not seem to be the Red Sox' year. It got to the point a few weeks ago where Grant said, "Varitek broke his foot," and I said, "you're just making that up." What would be next? Hail? Lightning? Plagues of locusts? Very nearly as bad: plagues of Rays and Rangers, and a tragedy of errors. I am not complaining (much), as I was certain six years ago that the Sox would never win a Series in my lifetime, they've won two since then, and it's probably someone else's turn. As long as it's not ~~Voldemort's minions~~ ~~the Evil Em~~ the Yankees.
______________________________________________________

We went down to Connecticut yesterday to visit Miss B at camp. I took the obligatory water picture — see, it's blue — and I refrained with difficulty from leaping the rope barrier and flinging myself into the coolth. Heaven only knows how much trouble I would have been in, but since there are signs all over the place saying "set a good example," such behavior would undoubtedly have been frowned upon.
______________________________________________________

Speaking of blue, I am at least nominally participating in the Tour de Fleece, and I have actually been spinning. Do you know anyone else who takes two years to spin a four-ounce braid of merino roving? I thought not. Still, progress has been made. I may not seize the coveted yellow jersey, but I'll climb as high as I can.
______________________________________________________

Finally, Conan (the Grammarian) would like to advise the copy-editing staff of the New York Times, assuming that there still is one, that no English possessive pronoun ever contains an apostrophe. When he interrupts my peaceful perusal of the Sunday magazine with screams of anguish, things have gone too far.

A Riddle

2010-07-17T22:52:00.002-04:00

What did we have for dessert tonight?

Curiosity

2010-07-16T19:48:00.002-04:00

Ten on Tuesday

2010-07-13T15:47:00.008-04:00

Ten Things I Like about Where I Live

I'm taking "where I live" as meaning my house, my neighborhood, or my town, and I have some of each.

We have a big flat back yard, great for running around and playing frisbee and practicing soccer in. We don't actually do any of these things all that often, but it's a great thing to have.
Privacy. We can see one other house from our back deck, and even that's a blank wall through trees. I can wander out there for breakfast in my pj's if I so choose.
We have a big oak tree next to our front walk. When we moved in I suggested having it taken out because it would block all the sun from the front yard; Grant vehemently opposed the idea, and I'm glad he did, because it's great to sit out there in the shade and watch the world go by. Speaking of which...
We have great neighbors. We know some of them better than others, and some not at all, but we exchange waves with everyone walking by, and we look out for each other's kids.
Conservation land borders our neighborhood on three sides. It's great for walking and contemplation and photography of any wildlife that will hold still long enough (this explains why most of my nature pix involve plants).
We live within walking distance of a town park with a swimming pond. It's a small one, created basically by digging a big hole in the path of a brook and waiting for it to fill up, but when it's absurdly hot out one can go over there and fling oneself into it and be back home in half an hour.
Our town is fairly small; after a while everyone starts to look familiar. I say hi to everyone I see at the store if I have the slightest suspicion that I might know them from somewhere, because I usually do. (Once in a while I end up in one of those conversations where I'm trying hard to conceal my failure to remember the other person's name; often it turns out that she can't remember mine either.)
One place where people get to know each other is Town Meeting. Our town is just a little too big for TM to work comfortably, but it's still nice that everyone can talk about the issues and anyone can give a presentation as long as it's relevant and they get permission ahead of time. We also have local-access TV, so if during a routine meeting that we've decided not to attend a town crank (every town has at least one; we are blessed with several) proposes a spectacularly crackpot idea, we can get there in time to vote. Everyone's being aware of this cuts down on the crackpot ideas.
Our town is pretty safe. People tend to know each other (see above) and look out for each other's kids. I don't push this too far, since predators are everywhere, but it's still a nice feeling.
We have a great school system, to the point where as high school began to loom larger on the horizon I briefly flirted with the idea of sending Miss B to prep school, where the environment would be less competitive. The high school is a little bigger than I would like — I went to a four-year prep school with a total of about 275 kids — on the other hand, there's a lot going on, and no matter what her interests there will be other kids who share them.

Of course there are things I don't like too — there would be no matter where I lived — but they're far outweighed by the good things.

Thirteen on Thursday

2010-07-08T21:47:00.006-04:00

This is what I get for missing Ten on Tuesday: I have to come up with three more to make the alliteration work.

Thirteen Ways to Have Fun in the Summer

Go to the beach.
Knit lace. It's certainly the only thing I can stand the thought of knitting right now.
Go on vacation. Preferably next to a nice big cold body of water such as Rangeley Lake.
Jump in a lake — or water body of your choice.
Pick berries.
Eat summer fruit, including berries, but also peaches, plums, nectarines... yum.
Make pie. And eat it, of course. I count this as a subcategory of eating summer fruit; it's easier not to think of the calories that way.
Cook out.
Picnic. Pie for dessert!
Dress scantily. Everything being relative, for me this generally means showing marginally more skin than a nun in full habit, but in the last few days I've definitely started to appreciate the joys of deshabille.
Stop and smell the flowers.
Take pictures of the flowers. I must have taken at least 300 so far this year, partly due to two (count 'em) visits to the Bridge of Flowers.
Feel a refreshing breeze. I know there's one out there somewhere.

Stay cool.

Bittersweet End

2010-07-02T23:41:00.006-04:00

Our first house had a teeny back yard with maybe six smallish trees in it, so when we moved into our second and current one I was enthralled with the big back yard and the woodland beyond, a mix of pines and maples with the occasional oak and birch. I was pleased to see that we even had a small festoon of bittersweet here and there, so that I would be able to make my own door decorations come autumn. Which, somehow, I never did, and though I noticed that the bittersweet grew and throve beyond all reason, I never did anything about that either.

Last week even Grant remarked on the fact that the bittersweet had gotten entirely above itself, and also above the pine trees it had climbed, and had taken to waving its tentacles about threateningly in the breeze. Whereupon, finally, I had had enough, and, taking our old handsaw and a pair of lopping shears I had bought with just such an occasion in mind, I went out to battle the beast.

Observe the two monster pythons curling up through the undergrowth. The good news was that I could free the pine trees from their devil's snare simply by sawing through these behemoths; the bad news was that I lacked the perseverance to sever the bigger one (in the rear; note to self: get saw sharpened), especially as by this time I was being dive-bombed by mosquito squadrons, and had to settle for girdling it.

It seems to have worked. Note the marked droopage in the second picture. Ordinarily I think of myself as a peaceable person, by no means bloodthirsty (sap-thirsty?), but the sight fills me with evil joy.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-06-29T23:49:00.004-04:00

Today we have ten books on my summer reading list, which is an interesting one given that Grant and I have been going through all the boxes full of books in the basement, the idea being to give away as many as we can bear to part with. He is being ruthless. I would like to be ruthless, but I have a hard time with books. Besides, there are things in there that I haven't seen in twenty years and always meant to read, but then forgot about. I also have a number of books that I acquired with every intention of reading them for my book group. Fortunately I can bluff my way through (see what a college education will do for you?), but I never try, because much, nay, most book-group conversation is about the neighbors rather than the book.

Thus my list is partly things you've never heard of before or long ago forgot about, and partly from fairly recent bestseller lists. I doubt if I will get to all of these, especially #10, but it's good to aim high.

Ten Books on My Summer Reading List

Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
Stieg Larssen, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Dan Brown, The DaVinci Code
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (in the original French, that being what I own)
Rex Stout, The League of Frightened Men
S.I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Dorothy Sayers, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason

A nice eclectic list, don't you think?

Ten on Tuesday

2010-06-22T22:20:00.005-04:00

Ten Ways to Entertain a Child

It depends on the age of the child, of course. As babies my kids could ride in a stroller all day, especially Taz. These days I think Miss B would be best entertained by being set loose in Needless Markup with her own credit card and no parents in sight. She will have to settle for TJ Maxx preceded by a discussion of what she really needs. A teenager's lot is not a happy one. Nonetheless, off we go:

Visiting the library. Miss B loved books early, and she also loved Eyewitness educational videos. By age four she was fully checked out on where ladybugs come from.
Playing in the park. There's a nice one for little kids conveniently located behind the library.
Baking cookies. This always my fallback for a rainy-day play date that started to lose steam.
And when the sun came out, a good old-fashioned game of catch, be it frisbee, baseball, or beamo. Taz still enjoys a good game of keepaway-from-parent with a soft ball. (I fondly remember an impromptu baseball game when most of the neighborhood kids were five or six. Due to shortage of players, at one point Fluffy came in as a pinch runner. She did reasonably well if you overlooked her being unclear on the concept of staying in the base paths.)
Nature walk. We had to pick our spots and seasons when the kids were little, as they were both so tasty to mosquitos they'd come back from a woodland ramble looking as though they'd contracted some exotic skin disease.
Twenty questions. This is a good one for car trips, along with...
Alphabet game, and...
Singing along with the radio. Once in a while Miss B and I actually agree on a song and know the words.
Card games, board games, pencil-and-paper games. Miss B can now beat me at most of them most of the time.
Holiday decorating. This of course requires a holiday to decorate for — you'd look pretty silly putting up a Christmas tree in July — but painting eggs or stringing popcorn or cutting out lots of frilly hearts is a fine way to keep a kid occupied. Also certain adults who never quite finished growing up, not that I would know any of those.

How would you entertain a little kid? How about a big kid?

Monday Maunderings

2010-06-21T17:39:00.005-04:00

Maundering is much like musing, only less coherent. It's as good a label as any for assorted random synaptic events.
____________________________________________

I had every intention of doing last week's Ten on Tuesday, ten reasons to participate in Ten on Tuesday, but, oddly, I couldn't think of anywhere near ten. Usually in that case I can always make stuff up, or change the topic, but this time my mind was a blank, aside from the screamingly obvious "without ToT you'd hardly hear from me at all." I did eventually come up with a few more:

You can compare answers with your friends.
It often makes you think.
In fact, it's rather like being set an essay in school, except that...
You don't get graded, and you can change the topic if you feel like it.

So there you have it: five on what should have been last Tuesday but is actually today, Monday.
____________________________________________

Today was Taz's last day of five years with the same teacher in the same school. It was hard for her, and her two wonderful assistants, to say goodbye, and it'll be hard for us too, but his new school promises to be great for him and an adventure for all of us. I took him there for the morning last Wednesday, everything went great, and they're looking forward to having him. The change of school will also mean a change in schedule, since the new school is half an hour down the interstate, and I suspect I'll be getting up earlier and getting acquainted with a new van driver. We've been lucky enough to have the same driver for several years as well, a lovely man named Ed, whose near-saintly patience stands him in good stead when he has to fiddle with the wheelchair lift on a sleety January morning, without gloves, since he needs his fingers for fiddling. It finally dawned on me along about late March that I should be doing what I could to alleviate things, and, timing being ever my strong suit, I gave him these today.

Handwarmers in my own Sunday Brunch stitch. One of these days I will write out the pattern (I know, I always say that, I will, really), if I can tweak the thumb increases so they blend in more smoothly. (They're on the side of the thumb, so you can't really see them unless you're looking for them; if you do look, however, they're more obvious than I would like.) Of course these are completely useless in June, but with luck Ed will think of me warmly next January. (I did slip an ever-practical DD's card inside one of the mitts.)
____________________________________________

Miss B has been out of school since last Thursday, and she too will be changing schools, but she won't have far to go: she will move about 100 yards down the hill from the junior high to the high school.

High. school. One short walk for a kid, one holy-cannoli-how-did-this-happen leap of the heart for parentkind.
____________________________________________

I didn't do any eye candy last Friday. Here's some from Maine, where the Fiber Frolic and the irises (and the lupines, of course), were splendid, if a trifle damp.

____________________________________________

That didn't stop the sky and the ocean from putting on a show. Fred and Ginger, wherever you are, look to your laurels.

____________________________________________

Hey, guess what tomorrow is.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-06-08T16:23:00.003-04:00

Ten Favorite Children's Books

Where the Wild Things Are. This has been Taz's favorite book since he could express a preference, and for quite a while now Grant, Miss B and I have all been able to recite the text verbatim, singly or in combination.
Winnie-The-Pooh. I much prefer the original books, which are quite different from the Disneyed-up videos and stories. I can see why Disney made some of the changes, since some things work much better in print than on film, but that doesn't prevent me from yelling at the screen, "No, that's not how it goes!" every time I see a video.
Heidi. To this day I cannot read Heidi without a tissue handy, especially the part where she gets back home to her grandfather. Yes, I am a sentimental idiot. (It doesn't help that on first reading it I immediately identified a candidate for the role of Fraülein Rottenmeier.)
Anne of Green Gables and its sequels.
The Nutshell Library, another Sendak masterpiece, or rather set of four small masterpieces, Alligators All Around, Chicken Soup with Rice, One Was Johnny, and Pierre. Such is Sendak's genius that I didn't notice the educational content, which usually sticks out like a sore thumb hey I am teaching you something and you will like it until I reread them to my sister.
The Tailor of Gloucester, imho the best of all the Beatrix Potter books. NO MORE TWIST
Click Clack Moo! Cows That Type. While you will have gathered by now that I prefer the classics, or at least books that have survived a couple of generations, I make an exception for this one: it's a newie but a goodie.
The Phantom Tollbooth. If you don't know this one, get it out of the library and read it to your kids, or someone else's kids. Or to yourself.
A Little Princess and The Secret Garden. Yes, they are hokey and full of, um, antiquated attitudes. I will confess to loving them anyway, passing over the attitudes with a quick wince.
Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants. Yes, really. The rest of the CU books are fun too, but this one involves audience participation. Go here, follow the directions, and then come back and tell me your silly name. Booger Wafflefanny, at your service.

What are yours?

Saturday Sky: Lupinescent

2010-06-05T20:21:00.003-04:00

Eye Candy Friday: Bridge of Flowers

2010-06-04T23:28:00.004-04:00

Fleeceless in Cummington

2010-06-03T22:27:00.005-04:00

So, Cummington.

Eight years ago, I think it was, I went to Cummington with Miss B for the second time. After that I never managed to get back there; I wanted to, but something else always seemed to be going on; I nearly pulled it off a couple of times, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. So when I finally did make it last weekend, I was determined to make the most of it. Which I did.

I can't help lloving the llamas.

Piglets! So cute! I almost wanted to take one home.

Goatlets! So cute! I did want to take one home.

Big-time camera ham.

This lady had all the colors of the rainbow gloriously displayed, and wore them all on her person as well. Her patterns and her yarn were seriously tempting.

I loved the sheep...

with and without robes...

...and the judging. Showing a sheep is no small trick. I know I couldn't have done nearly as well as these kids. I definitely wanted one of each — the sheep, that is, I have enough trouble keeping track of my own kids. Or, if I couldn't have a sheep, at least some of their lovely wool.

Are you noticing a theme here? Yes, I am on a serious yarn and fiber diet, due partly to unexpected and ongoing house repairs and partly to, well, having a lot of yarn and fiber. In an attempt to distract myself from all the fiber goodies I watched an impromptu spin-off, won by the lovely and talented Lynn. (Lynn has many more splendid sheep and people photos. I was camnesic for most of the day: I had it with me, I just forgot to use it.) The measuring turned into something between a game of twister and a maypole dance. This all occurred right next to the Holiday Yarns booth, where I had already narrowly escaped purchasing Lisa's amazing sock kits.

I didn't buy a single thing all day, except food (the sweet-potato fries were awesome), but somehow I left feeling satisfied.

This weekend: Fiber Frolic! Hey, I resisted temptation at NH and MA; how hard can one more festival be? Oh, hush.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-06-01T22:17:00.004-04:00

Ten Things I'd Tell a High School Graduate

Congratulations! Well done!
Go to college. If your parents can't pay for it, get a scholarship, work by day and go to night school, make it work somehow. You'll be far happier and richer for it, and not just financially, although hard coin is not to be sneezed at.
Pick a hands-on career, be it doctor, plumber, or chef. Pick something that people always need and that can't be outsourced.
Always learn. Knowledge will walk in and sit down if you leave the door open.
Always question. Falsehood will get up and walk out if you make it uncomfortable.
Play to your strength. Do what you love. But also...
Practice doing hard things. It's a skill you'll always need, and it'll take you a long way. Anything you love will come with hard things to do.
Stop and smell the flowers.
To thine own self be true.
Don't drink with anyone you don't know well.

If I'm very lucky, when I tell her she won't roll her eyes at me and say "Mom, I know," even if she really does.

Saturday Sky

2010-05-29T22:11:00.003-04:00

This year I really wanted to go to Cummington, and I wanted to do a day trip to save money and parental brownie points, but I wasn't sure if I was up for four hours' driving and a full day's scoping and sticking to the yarn diet. I'm pleased to report that I found an extra gear for the occasion, with help from Erica, once again my companion and navigator; we even made a brief side trip to Shelburne Falls.

For now, however, you'll have to be content with one glimpse of the Bridge of Flowers, a full festival recap being at the moment a bridge too far.

Old Habits

2010-05-26T21:52:00.004-04:00

Hey, here's something I bet you didn't know about me: I knit! Yes, really. Most of what I've been knitting lately has been either a gift or a design I hope to foist upon a waiting world someday if I can ever work the kinks out of it, i.e. not suitable for blog fodder. But now that one gift has actually reached its intended recipient, I feel that I can share it with you.

These Hyacinth Socks are my contribution to the latest round of a small sock swap (you may recall Mary's Socks from a previous round). The Hyacinths belong to the lovely Carolyn, whose sock specifications were rather... unspecific, so I am very pleased to report that she likes them.

Would anyone like the pattern? I suppose I should have written it down while I was knitting, but at least I had the sense to take pictures. (In case you're wondering, there's a hyacinth on one side of each sock leg, and a cable pattern on the other.)

Ten on Tuesday

2010-05-25T20:39:00.002-04:00

This is a good one, so I'll get right to it.

Ten Favorite Cookout Foods

Lobster. This probably doesn't make anyone else's list, but I don't know of any better way to eat lobster than in my parents' back yard.
Burgers. Hamburgers, lamburgers, garden burgers — anything you can pat into a patty works for me.
Sausage. This includes the humble hot dog, which I do enjoy, but not as much as kielbasa, sweet Italian, or my all-time favorite, cheddar wurst, an evil concoction resembling a kielbasa with cheddar cheese in the middle of it. If you ever get these do not, whatever you do, read the nutrition label. Just enjoy them. Not too often.
Kebabs. Lamb, chicken, veggie, anything you can put on a stick.
Spareribs. Probably my all-time favorite, though it's hard to pick just one.
Corn on the cob. I like the kind with the small, slightly crunchy kernels, but I'll take it any way I can get it.
Chicken. With barbecue sauce, or lemon basil pesto sauce, or chutney sauce, or... sauce it, I'll try it.
Pie. Blueberry, or strawberry, or apple, or... any fruit pie, really.
Jalapeno cornbread. This isn't strictly speaking a cookout food, but my friend Linda usually makes it for cookouts, and while I'm not a big fan of cornbread in general, I adore hers.
Grilled endive. After last summer's unfortunate experience we may not be able to enjoy this for a while, but I hope we can get back to it someday. It's a wonderful thing if it doesn't get anywhere near a grill brush.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-05-18T17:15:00.003-04:00

Today's ToT is ten favorite musicals, which I've been having great fun contemplating as I barely avoid bursting into full-throated song in my cubicle, not a good career move. I've always wished I lived in the world of a musical, where everything rhymes and everyone can sing, and does, spontaneously, whenever the urge strikes. In real life, sadly, I can carry only the simplest tune, and that not too far, and if ever I forget myself my family quotes, or rather shouts, Monty Python at me:

No! No singing!

Sigh. But I can hum. Very, very quietly. You're welcome to join in. Here we go, in approximate chronological order:

Ten Favorite Musicals

The Wizard of Oz. I've seen this as an amateur stage production and, of course, I've seen the movie on TV more times than I can count. Favorite song: "Over the Rainbow."
Brigadoon. It's a good thing my sister was into theater in high school, as otherwise I would probably never have seen Brigadoon. It's goofy, and cheesy, and I love it. Favorite song: "My Mother's Wedding Day" (by circa 1983 even high-school productions included the line "I ought to know, for I was there," which originally had been deemed too racy for some professional venues: ah, those were the days).
West Side Story. If you ask me, this is the finest Shakespeare-based musical ever made. Favorite song: "Somewhere," of course, Streisand version, or any version, really.
The Sound of Music. The plot takes a number of liberties with reality. Who cares? Favorite song: there are too many, but I can't go wrong with the title number. I still know most of the words.
Fiddler on the Roof. My favorite song used to be "If I Were a Rich Man," but, after (more than) 25 years, I'm changing that to "Do You Love Me?"
Man of La Mancha. Carole reminded me of this one, and it's an oldie but a goodie. Favorite song: "Little Bird."
Jesus Christ Superstar. Carole reminded me of this one too. In my early teens I had the music in my head all the time, but I didn't see a production until quite a while later. I'm glad I did. Favorite song: "Simon Zealotes."
Little Shop of Horrors. Favorite song: "Dentist."
Phantom of the Opera. I saw Phantom at the Wang Center about 17 years ago and got to meet one of the cast members who was a friend of my SIL. Favorite song: "Music of the Night."
Wicked. I haven't actually seen this, but Ruth and I listened to the soundtrack, several times, actually, on the way to Rhinebeck last year. Favorite song: "What Is This Feeling?" I hope I do get to see it someday.

What did I miss?

Makeup Monday

2010-05-17T22:16:00.009-04:00

No, not the kind you wear: you may wear it, but I don't. But last week I had no Eye Candy Friday nor Saturday Sky; in my defense, I was somewhat preoccupied. I'm pleased to say that it's been six whole days since Taz has had any scary seizures — he's had a few, but they've been quite short, well under a minute, and presented with typical (for him) symptoms. Fingers crossed that the meds have kicked in, and let us have no more of this 20-minute nonsense.

Meanwhile, I'm playing catch-up, shape-up, makeup, now that I feel up to the task. Yesterday I took a lovely woodland ramble and visited many old springtime friends and one I didn't expect to see.

Starflowers (Trientalis borealis) and I have been friends almost as long as I can remember; they are so small, common yet elegant, part of the forest-floor springtime tapestry. They bewitch me also by their vagaries of number. Canonically the starflower has the unusual feature of being constructed in sevens: above its seven-leaf circle it bears one or two flowers, each having seven petals and seven sepals. I say canonically because, while most of them do conform to this fortunate pattern, some just have to be different. In the top picture above we have a good typical example, being kept company by an even more common flower, Maianthemum canadense, known variously as false lily of the valley, two-leaf Solomon-seal, and Canada mayflower. The middle picture shows a six-petal starflower above what appear to be six leaves; I did see one six-petal one crowning eight leaves, but I can't find the picture now. In any case, I find the bottom picture above the most interesting of all: one plant, eight leaves, two flowers, one with eight petals and one with seven.

Some of the eight-petal flowers look very well formed, like the example above, while on others two of the petals are slightly out of alignment and look as if a single petal split in half. This makes me wonder (again: alert readers may recall a previous post on this topic, proving that some of my obsessions can be quite long-lived) if flowers would really prefer to make even numbers of petals. Let's leave the starflower, however, and wander onward...

to another favorite, the jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum). They are extremely common in our local woodland and elsewhere, but I think they are some of the coolest flowers around: one giant modified petal (or is it a sepal?) cleverly concealing a proud spathe that becomes a red-berried staff in autumn. One of these days I will find a way to knit one.

This moth seemed to be resting and drying its wings, which it refused to open for me, before moving on to whatever moths do in the daytime when there are no lamps to hover around. On a less sunny day or a slightly darker trunk I might not have seen it at all.

I have met this little critter before, but only here and there, Polygala paucifolia, fringed polygala or Gaywings. I stumbled over a whole colony of them yesterday, quite close to home. Later I will see if I can get a decent picture of the whole flock of them, looking like tiny, strangely proportioned airplanes with very odd propellers.

What would New England woods be without the pink ladyslipper (Cypripedium acaule)? I remember my mother's telling me very sternly that I must never ever pick them, and she and other mothers did their work well, for it seems to be out of danger at least in these parts.

All in all, it was a green and gold afternoon to restore my soul. I hope it gives you a little lift as well.

Interesting Times

2010-05-11T16:55:00.003-04:00

Today's Ten on Tuesday is ten places that make me happy. Ordinarily I'd have no trouble with this one, but today my happy place has a padlock on the door and a large sign: NO ADMITTANCE.

Since Taz's brain tumor almost twelve years ago, he's had seizures fairly regularly. Most of them have been short, well under a minute (even a few seconds is quite a long time to watch your kid have a seizure, but nothing to alarm a neurologist); one or two have been as long as two minutes. Most of them involve rapid eye movement and facial twitching; some also include jerking movements in some or all extremities.

Three weeks ago Taz had a clean MRI, which is an excellent thing. Since then, however, he's been having seizures of unusual length and with symptoms we haven't seen before. Two weeks ago he had a 14-minute one, and yesterday he had a 20-minute episode that his neurologist believes to have been a seizure even though the presentation was quite different from his typical ones: he went very pale and limp and nonverbal, although he didn't pass out. Earlier this afternoon he had a much shorter one, less than two minutes, which we would ordinarily take in stride except that during it one eye, and only one, rolled back in his head.

His neurologist ordered a blood level on his anticonvulsant, which we will have taken tomorrow morning. Meanwhile I am lying on the bottom of the ocean twitching, a nervous wreck. About all that can be said here is that the worst-case scenario has already been ruled out, but not knowing what we're dealing with is driving me mad. Please send ~~yarn~~ ~~chocolate~~ — on second thought, I have plenty of both of those, they don't seem to be helping — mojo and good thoughts.

Saturday Sky: Carpe Occasionem

2010-05-08T23:21:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you have to seize the moment, even if it pours cold water on you.

My friend Erica and I traveled northward to the New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival today. The weather started out unpropitious and quickly degenerated to dreich.

The alpacas weren't enjoying it any more than we were: they huddled together for warmth, the baby in the middle. (By then Erica and I, both of us having failed to dress for the weather, were both sporting NHSW sweatshirts; supporting the festival gave us a nice warm feeling.)

Still, we spent most of our time indoors, ogling the wares of Mostly Merino...

...and Heather's wall-o-color. Here Heather displays a lovely colorway she calls Floozy. I told her anything so splendidly fuchsia was going on the blog, nomenclature notwithstanding.

While I wasn't inspired to do much with the camera, we saw many other great vendors as well, and lots of friends; we left with everything but our spirits dampened.

Back home, the sky cleared briefly as I collected Miss B from her second soccer game of the day. They lost both, but played much better in the second game, Miss B's tenacious defense garnering special notice.

As wet days go, this one was right up there.

Friday Flowers

2010-05-07T22:29:00.004-04:00

Do you remember the tulips in the office park where I work? Vast, color-coordinated displays of them, every bulb complete with leaves and flower, every flower perfect.

Like everyone else, the landscapers have had to deal with budget cuts. This year the tulips are sparser, more random, some beds a glorious jumble of color — but with obvious method to the madness — and here and there one tulip amid the rugosa, seemingly sprung there by accident.

If you're going to New Hampshire tomorrow, I hope to see you there.

Saturday Sky

2010-05-01T22:06:00.007-04:00

This has been a great year for flowering crab trees, I'm not sure why. Some clever landscaper planted one every 20 feet or so along our street. They are basically weeds, so they thrive on neglect, and they seem to take turns being covered with flowers or having just a few here and there, but this year most of them have gone all out. I did my best to capture the sweep of the whole street.

...well, I tried.

We have several trees in our back yard; we moved the pink one as a baby from where it inconveniently sprang up, but all the others came of their own accord.

Yes, I have gone a little nutty with the photos.

But I like them. There are more here, should you for some reason be not yet surfeited.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-04-27T17:22:00.003-04:00

Today's Ten on Tuesday is ten favorite iPhone apps, a topic I am singularly ill equipped to address, since I don't own an iPhone. I've played with my sister's, and I've watched my friend Kathy use hers to zip through cyberspace, and it is definitely a very cool toy, but... I don't need one. I don't need one for business, and I spend most of my life in front of a computer or at any rate near one, so I can really live without an iPhone (or Droid, or Blackberry) perfectly well. The human race went tens of thousands of years without ever seeing an iPhone, or ever dreaming that such a thing was possible, and somehow managed to thrive anyway, so obviously what we have here is marketing and advertising yet again creating a "need" for something we don't really need.

Except for one thing: I want one. And I am too cheap to buy one. I refuse to buy an iPod, either, even after watching my daughter get lots of mileage from hers, and I am not about to get Tivo so that I can waste yet more time watching TV.

Hmm... there might be a theme here.

Ten Gadgets I Want But Am Too Cheap to Buy

iPhone. Carole assures me that resistance is futile. I'm sure she's right. At least if I got an iPhone I wouldn't have to walk around with one of those earpiece thingies (I expect the arm attachment to be out any day now).
iPod. Even though I could listen to Dire Straits 24/7 if I wanted to. (My husband and my daughter disagree on a lot of music, but they both abominate Dire Straits. Of course.)
Tivo. See above.
Wii. My SIL Ellen has one — actually she has quite a few nifty devices, her husband being a gadget freak. Watching my daughter play WiiFit games during our last visit I began to wonder if I might actually drop a few pounds if I had one of those things. No! I resist! We have a perfectly good exercise bike.
Electric can opener. I really don't even want one, except that there's something mesmerizing about watching the little arm make its way around the can. Yes, I need to get out more.
Direct TV. See Tivo.
Call waiting on our land line. Since we all have cell phones, we could probably get rid of the land line and save some money, but I perversely cling to it like a security blanket, a connection to the good old days. And we have a phone with an actual cord, so we can make calls even if the power has been out for three days and all our cell phone batteries are dead, so there. (The fact that in the 15 years we've lived in our current house the power was once out for almost 24 hours has nothing to do with it.) I am still not having any of these newfangled contraptions. Besides, I hate being put on hold.
Cuisinart. Well, actually we have a food processor; it's called an Oster Kitchen Center, it was a wedding present, and it's old and big and clunky but still perfectly serviceable. Kind of like me.
Knitting machine. It would be a lot of fun to play with one of these, and once I got up to speed I could certainly make room for more yarn in a hurry, but, let's face it, my speed is one stitch at a time.
Golding wheel. Or Norm Hall, or Lendrum Saxony, or... you get the idea. I have a wheel already. Several, actually. Quite nice ones. Not miracles of engineering, not stunning marriages of form and function, but still with a lot of good years left. Kind of like me.

You may notice that while some of these are relatively new on the scene, others have been around for a while. What can I say? I'm an equal-opportunity fuddy-duddy.

Saturday Sky: Modern Art

2010-04-24T21:49:00.000-04:00

Eye Candy Friday

2010-04-23T19:21:00.005-04:00

This is Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard, formerly known as Gay Head. As my sister put it, how many times do you suppose that sign got stolen? I don't know what Aquinnah means in Wampanoag, but it's a prettier and mercifully less evocative name.

I believe the colors of the water will occupy my dye dreams for some time to come.

Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T19:22:00.002-04:00

Happy Earth Day to all! May we grow ever greener.

Do you know anyone with an Earth Day birthday? I do.

Miss B is 14 today. She celebrated by going to Vermont with her dad over the weekend and to Martha's Vineyard with me yesterday to visit her Aunt Becca. For someone who'll always be my little girl, she's gotten awfully big.

Happy birthday, sweetie! Here's to a great year.

Gull of My Dreams

2010-04-21T22:35:00.001-04:00

Ten on Tuesday

2010-04-20T08:56:00.002-04:00

It's not that easy being green. Old habits die hard. In honor of Earth Day on Thursday, however, today's Ten on Tuesday is ten ways to be green. I don't have anything new here, and I do some of these, while I'm still working on others.

Ten Ways To Be Green

Whenever possible, carpool in the highest-mileage vehicle available. Grant and I work about a mile apart about 15 miles from home, and we started carpooling about five years ago in an attempt to be at least slightly greenish. This also saves us money on gas, but not a whole lot, and gives us an hour each carpool day of uninterrupted adult-conversation time, which we didn't even think about but which turns out to be priceless.
Better yet, work from home. Of course this one isn't feasible for everyone. My employer unfortunately frowns on the practice, but I do work from home a few hours a week, more at crunch times. Grant has been working at home on Fridays for a year or so.
Don't eat meat, or don't eat red meat. When I went on the Diet From Hell I started eating red meat again; with all the dietary restrictions it was just too hard not to. Now that I've been able to bend the diet here and there it's probably time to stop again. I've read that chicken takes three times as much energy to raise as vegetables, and pork five or six times, but beef takes 20 or more times as much and also pollutes more than anything else.
Buy local produce whenever possible.
The rest of my items are relatively small potatoes, but, hey, every little bit helps. For example... Lower thermostats at night and when no one is home. We have a timer on one of our thermostats, and we should get one for the other one.
Do laundry in cold water. Most of the energy used in washing clothes goes to heat the water, and most laundry doesn't need warm water. I save up stained items and whiter-than-whites until I have a full load's worth.
Hang laundry out to dry. I don't use the dryer unless the snow is deep or we've had no sun for three days. (My son the Random Laundry Generator seems to pick rainy days to need five changes of clothing, but I suspect that this is the same phenomenon that makes it seem like you get stuck behind a Sunday driver only when you're in a hurry.)
Unplug anything you won't use for a while. Apparently power strips and a lot of appliances draw some power even when they're turned off.
Make as few trips as possible. We usually do shopping and errands on the way home from work.
This one sounds really stupid, but it does count: use energy-saving light bulbs, and turn them off when leaving the room.

Now I have to go read what everyone else said and see what I missed.

Monday Musings

2010-04-19T21:36:00.002-04:00

If you're a political junkie like me, or even if you're not, you may have heard about the hot water Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell got himself into when he issued an official proclamation declaring April Confederate History Month without mentioning slavery — and then compounded his error by explaining that, while slavery was an important issue in the Confederacy and the Civil War, he had "focused on the [issues] I thought were most significant for Virginia." He ended up apologizing and amending the proclamation to include a reference to slavery.

As a born-and-bred Yankee descendant of a long line of Yankees I've never quite understood the Southern fascination with the Confederacy and various attempts, some still afoot, to make the Confederacy and the Civil War somehow not about slavery. It was about freedom, independence, states' rights, anything but slavery.

The incomparable Fred Clark had, or I should say borrowed, another take on Confederate History Month. I followed a link in the comments to an Open Yale lecture series by Professor David Blight on the Civil War and Reconstruction, and I'm currently five or six lectures in. (I'm reading them; at some point I may listen to them as well, but I'm still fogy enough to prefer the written word.) In a lecture on the Southern point of view Blight quotes a Southern writer on why the South has such a long memory: "Because we lost the war." Apparently, as we approach the Civil War sesquicentennial, that still rankles, and not necessarily in a way-in-the-back-of-the-mind way. There is the Lost Cause, there are the Confederate flags, and there are local historical societies that seem a lot like the ones around here that glory in Revolutionary War reenactments (I grew up in a nearby town where one of the first battles of the Revolution was fought; by the fourth grade I was thoroughly tired of hearing about it) — except that these Southern historical societies refer quite matter-of-factly to the War of Northern Aggression. If the Yankees had just had the good sense and good manners to leave well enough alone, the feeling seems to be, in its own proper time everything would have worked itself out, slavery would have withered away, and we'd all have been better off.

As a Yankee I have a lot of trouble with this. The history I learned in school took it for granted that slavery was an intolerable evil and that, therefore, and regardless of any other issues, the Union cause was the right one, or at least the better one. While still believing this to be true, I wonder if it's too simplistic.

So, my Southern friends, help me out here. How does this look from the other side? What did you learn in school about the Civil War? Was the war mostly about slavery or something else?

Choose Your Weapons

2010-04-19T11:50:00.001-04:00

Thanks for the thoughtful comments on last week's Monday Musings! I of course agree that both knitting and crocheting are noble crafts. I think Margene may be onto something when she notes that, for sweaters and other clothing, there are just a lot more and nicer options in knitting than in crochet. It is certainly possible to design and make a beautiful crocheted sweater, but it's definitely harder. At some point I may challenge myself to do this, possibly putting granny squares into the design just to up the degree of difficulty. Yes, there is such a thing as a beautiful granny square.

Another factor possibly limiting the availability of good crochet designs that just occurred to me this morning is that while it is possible to make a crocheting machine, it's not easy, and it's not practicable to manufacture them for home or small-business use. To make anything approaching a living designing sweaters, you have to be able to crank out a lot of samples, and, at least until you are well enough known to have a line of fast workers clamoring to test knit for you, it's easier to do that by machine — once you've mastered the use of the machine, which is an art all by itself. A crochet sample pretty much has to be done by hand.

Anyhow, not being easily discouraged or disparaged, I will knit and crochet steadily onward. I will also have a new Monday Musings up shortly, but since it's on a wildly different topic I'll separate it into its own post.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-04-13T17:06:00.003-04:00

Today's ToT is ten favorite TV shows. This was a pretty easy one for me, even though I never got into Seinfeld or The Office or any of the big reality shows, and even though I don't think of myself as much of a TV watcher.

Ten Favorite TV Shows

Criminal Minds. Some of the episodes are too creepy for me to watch more than once, and I can definitely see being ready to start a new season and suddenly saying no, I can't have all that stuff in my head again, but it's very well done. And Garcia knits. (I'd love to see Reid take up knitting. He'd probably end up like MMario.)
Jeopardy. The classic quiz show. It's the only game show I've ever seen that often asks general-knowledge questions I can't answer off the top of my head — or I should say answers I can't question off the top of my head. Having been forbidden to watch TV during the 60s, and not being heavily into pop culture, I am terrible at the pink questions, and completely hopeless with anything like, "Who is Nicole Ritchie's hairdresser?" (I'm not even sure I'm spelling her name right. Or that she really exists.) But Jeopardy wants to know, say, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, or the name of Lincoln's secretary of state. I love it.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? (either version). I don't much care for Drew Carey, and, yes, some of the gags get predictable after a while, but those people are funny.
The Daily Show. If I wanted the straight story during the Bush years, it was either Le Monde or my pal Jon.
M*A*S*H. It's dated now, and I never noticed the first time around what a sexist boor Hawkeye was (in my defense, I was a teenager at the time). But still funny.
The Carol Burnett Show. I miss good old-fashioned variety shows. Mostly this one.
Batman. Favorite expletive: Holy priceless collection of Etruscan snoods, Batman!
Monk. In real life Monk would probably have lost his job in the first five minutes. Favorite moment: Monk calls 911 when he has to change a diaper.
Mystery Diagnosis. House (speaking of people who'd never hold a real job) with the medical mystery, hold the soap. Perfect.
Mythbusters. I kinda wish they wouldn't blow so many things up just for the fun of it — do you know how many carbons that emits? me either, but it must be quite a few — but my daughter has probably learned more about the scientific method from this show than in science class.

Monday Musings

2010-04-12T17:19:00.002-04:00

Monday Musings is a new weekly theme that I just invented. It's a time for me to paddle gently down the stream of consciousness, to wonder as I wander, to ask questions in the hope that someone can concoct a better answer than I've been able to come up with.

Today's question: Why is crochet so often viewed as less classy than knitting? Granted, this question has been around for quite a while, but after reading some very long Ravelry threads I still haven't seen a good answer — by which I mean an explanation I find plausible, not a cogent case for why crochet is in fact inferior, because I don't think the latter exists.

Yes, we've all seen the 70s-vintage ripple afghans and the hideous plastic granny squares. I myself have never seen a Southern-belle toilet-paper cover, acrylic or otherwise, mentioning which seems to be the craft-wars equivalent of issuing a blanket condemnation of Chinese food by reference to MSG. (I'm not saying it's bad to dislike crochet or Chinese food here, just that it's unfair to imply that those of us who like them are weird or trailer trash, or weird trailer trash.) But I've also seen stunningly beautiful crocheted bedspreads, lace shawls, linen insertions, hats, mittens, scarves, and, yes, even sweaters. I've likewise seen knitted items covering the whole spectrum from gorgeous to garish.

I'll be the first to agree that crochet is different from knitting, and that each lends itself more readily to some things than others. Most crochet stitches are thicker than most knitted ones, which makes the fabric thicker as well; hence the popularity of crochet for afghans, hats, and anything else that should be warm. (It is, however, not true in my experience that crochet uses three times as much yarn as knitting. Half again as much, if that. Then again, I like cables and ribs and other dense knitted stitches.) Conversely, you can do things with knitted lace and openwork that are harder to do with crochet. But there's a lot of overlap, and indeed there are some projects that almost demand the use of both: it is possible to seam blanket squares together, for instance, but it's easier and more decorative to crochet them together.

So, what do you think? Do you crochet, knit, or both? Do you like one more than the other? (Don't be shy. Much as I love and respect crochet, the truth is that I do a lot more knitting.) If you're a crocheter, have you been snubbed by knitters or by LYS staff? (I don't think I ever have.) And why do you think some people, some of whom are knitters, put down crochet?

So That I May Speak

2010-04-04T21:17:00.002-04:00

Ten on Tuesday

2010-03-30T20:49:00.007-04:00

Today's Ten on Tuesday is ten Easter or Passover traditions. Since I was raised in a secular Jewish household, I have a few of each.

Ten Easter and Passover Traditions

Egg dyeing and decorating. We used to blow eggs and paint the shells when I was a kid; when Miss B was younger she liked to dye hard-boiled eggs.
Easter egg hunt. As kids we hunted jelly eggs; our kids liked the plastic ones with goodies inside. (You can get quite a few jelly eggs into one of those.)
Chocolate bunnies. I wish they made them in dark chocolate.
Which brings me to: Easter jokes. I'll refrain from telling you the one about the meaning of Easter for the zillionth time, but this is my all-time favorite Easter cartoon:
Matzoh-ball soup. (Are you noticing that there's a lot of food in this list? Yeah, me too. I must be on a diet or something.) I'm not actually all that fond of matzoh balls, although people who are tell me I just haven't had the right ones yet. But I do remember the soup. If I could avoid the matzoh balls it was pretty good.
Easter baskets. We used to make them just the way Carole said: fake green grass, lots of goodies.
Which brings me to Cadbury creme eggs. They are disgusting. I love them.
Peeps. Grant and Miss B love them. I admit they're cute, in a sickly marshmallow food-coloring sort of way. I want no part of them.
Seders. I haven't been to one in quite a while, but I do enjoy them, and I like all the traditions.
Singing the Hallelujah Chorus in church choir. I love to sing, even though I don't do it very well; luckily the Hallelujah Chorus is hard to mess up, and also a lot of fun. (I haven't been to church in a very long time, if you don't count weddings and funerals. Apart from singing, I don't miss it much.)

I'm completely with Carole on her #10: Easter means spring is almost here. Hard to believe in the midst of yet another deluge, but true. Happy Easter, happy Passover, happy spring!

Ten on Tuesday

2010-03-23T21:37:00.006-04:00

Today's ToT will be easy for me, and because I have an all-time favorite I'm going to do it in reverse order, Letterman style.

Ten Signs of Spring

Mud, mud, glorious mud! OK, I don't actually wallow in it, indeed I avoid stepping in it, but I do enjoy seeing it. The world is mud-luscious, and spring is crouched, its tail twitching.
Flood. It can be rain or snowmelt or both, but with the approach of spring inevitably comes the deluge. Most early springs aren't quite as soggy as this one, thank goodness.
The CVS Easter display. It goes up as soon as they can move all those tarty hearts out of there.
SPA and/or my birthday. They both come at the end of February, and I've always felt that if I can live with discontent until my birthday I'll soon be celebrating the spring. SPA gives a nice little lift just when winter seemed interminable.
Pussy willows. One day, there they are, their pearly promise standing out in the otherwise barren marsh; the next day they're green, and the day after that, it seems, they merge into the burgeoning leaves and are lost to sight for another year.
Kids. They shoot out of their houses bearing footballs and baseballs and rollerblades, courting the inevitable spring colds by wearing far too little for the actual temperature, but who can blame them?
Geese in flight. Honk! Honk! Winter, get out of our way!
Crocuses. Usually my first sight of them is out of the corner of my eye: hey, what's that among the leaves? Is it really purple? Holy pistils, Batman, it really is.
Red maples. Small flowers, great vigor. This year I will finally get a good picture of the females.
And my all-time favorite sign of spring is: the light, of course! I don't know if the return of the light counts as a sign or the cause of spring, and I don't care: I'm so thrilled finally to have twelve hours of daylight I can hardly think straight.

Happy spring, everyone!

Walk With Me Wednesday: Waterworld Edition

2010-03-17T23:10:00.003-04:00

Does anyone remember Walk With Me Wednesday? I haven't seen one in ages, but I'm going with it anyway, because today I thought I'd take a stroll through the nearby conservation land and show you what the brook looks like a couple of days after nine inches of rain.

I was afraid of this. At this point I considered taking my shoes off and wading, but I got cold feet, or rather the fear of them, and I decided to try going around the other way.

Parts of the path were actually dry... very small parts.

So this is the best I can do. As soon as I can get near it I'll show you the raging spate. For now, take my word for it: that lake is usually a smallish stream.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-03-16T23:43:00.006-04:00

Today's topic is things to do on St. Patrick's Day. Since I don't drink and rarely wear green (most shades don't flatter me), I'm having trouble with this one, so in honor of better weather (finally) and approaching spring I'm going to change it up a bit.

Ten Ways to Wear Green

bravely in November
in the rain
on your tail
in the morning mist
clinging to a rock
tightly spun
festooned with cones
festooned with cones festooned with snow
underfoot
at harvest time

Monsoon Blogging

2010-03-15T14:29:00.009-04:00

It's Monday, it's wet, and I've got nothing. (I'm even recycling the amaryllis.) Luckily I seem not to be alone in this predicament; the lovely Carole not only found this meme but invited people to steal it. I can't pass up a deal like that.

20 Questions

Explain what ended your last relationship?
Bear in mind that we're talking 32 years ago here, and that my memory is not what it used to be. It depends what you call a relationship; as best I recall my last... um... thing BG (before Grant) didn't so much end as stop happening. Not that much was happening to begin with.
When was the last time you shaved?
Again, this is archived data. I am not at all hairy, so I can get away with very little shaving; it was last spring/summer sometime, but I can't narrow it down more than that.
What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.?
Eating my morning oatmeal. I am currently on yet another round of bulge-battling, so I've replaced my usual two slices of toast with oatmeal and have decided it's a really nice way to start the day.
What were you doing 15 minutes ago?
Looking out a fifth-floor conference-room window, scanning the surrounding landscape for pairs of animals.
Some things you are excited about?
My daughter's school musical comes off this weekend and next; the homeward commute may be quite an adventure, depending on how many low-lying roads we have to use; spring is coming.
What is your favorite flavor of JELL-O?
Jello, ew.
Your prom night, what do you remember about it?
I didn't have one, because my school didn't have a prom.
Do you have any famous ancestors?
My father told us on a family trip to Provincetown when we were kids that we were related to Thomas Rogers, one of the Mayflower pilgrims listed on a stone memorial there. He said his father had told him this, having heard it from his father. As best I've been able to tell just poking around on free Web sites, this story is of dubious historicity: Rogers is my father's name, but the male line from Thomas Rogers seems to have died out within a few generations. My paternal grandmother's name was Nickerson, and there are scads of Nickersons descended from Mayflower folk (indeed they seem to have intermarried with Rogers much farther up the line than my grandparents), so it's possible, but it's more likely that my ancestors came over a good long time ago, but much more quietly and less memorably.
(There are some quite wealthy Yankee Nickersons, but I'm not related to them, or at any rate not closely enough.)
Last thing received in the mail?
A reminder for Taz's upcoming checkup at the Dana-Farber. Not very interesting, I know.
How many different beverages have you had today?
Water, water and water.
Do you ever leave messages on people’s answering machine?
Yes, of course, but not if I know they have caller ID, because those people will call me back whether I leave a message or not.
Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?
I can't even remember the last time I went to the (ocean) beach. When/if I do go, I generally stick to small and highly amateurish sandcastles if I play in the sand at all.
Any plans for Friday night?
Friday night is family night out; our local Applebee's recently closed, so now we have to think about where to go. (No need to expound upon the mediocrity of Applebee's food: we know this, but we got into the habit of going there and liked how "everybody knew our name.")
Do you like what the ocean does to your hair?
Not especially -- anything, even salt, that gives my hair body is a good thing, but having it all coarse and stuck together is bad. I love playing in the waves, so I do go in the water.
Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorns?
I think so. I think we ended up throwing most of it out.
Do you re-use towels after you shower?
Yes. I’m not a fan of daily laundry. (This is Carole's answer, upon which I can't improve.)
Describe your keychain(s)?
I don't really have one, just a ring with all my keys on it — unless you count my tiny Swiss Army knife, which has proved useful many times.
Where do you keep your change?
In my pockets. I've tried a change purse but hate fishing for it in my bag and fumbling to get it open. Change also tends to end up on the floor of our vehicles; this extremely poor money management has occasionally come in handy, once provoking a successful speed mini treasure hunt for meter fodder at the train station.
When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people?
How large? I asked a question during a meeting of 20 or so people a week ago. In a former work life I used to train groups of 5 to 15 people. If you want me up at the front of a room before 100+ people you have to go back to high school.
What kind of winter coat do you own?
I have several. This year I've been wearing a purple wool cape I bought during my first pregnancy (see #3 above). I had forgotten how much I like it, even if it does make me look fat. (Yes, it is possible that the fault lies not in the coat, Horatio....)

Saturday Sky: Almost Spring

2010-03-13T19:06:00.003-05:00

No, I didn't take this picture today, nor yet yesterday; we're in the midst of another batch of dreich, albeit a smaller one, if the weathercritters are to be believed. At least it's not snow: in March I'll take even a cold, howling, lashing rain, keeping firmly in mind that at least I don't have to shovel it. And tonight we spring forward. The bad news: it's back to getting up in the dark for me, at least for a short while. The good news: I can knit on the evening commute as well as the morning one. Spring won't be here for weeks, but the plot thickens, the pulse quickens.

And at the unmistakable approach of warmer weather, what compulsion steals over me? Why, to knit wool socks, of course.

Eye Candy Friday

2010-03-12T23:07:00.003-05:00