A good thing it is to be with

I made a quilt

2009-11-30T05:52:00.001-08:00

I made this quilt for charity and mailed it off. I am happy with it because I used a variety of different fabric lines. Lately my quilts have been too matchy because I stick to one line, and even if it is nice fabric it comes out looking rather bland.

Here is the back:

Inspiration

2009-08-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

I got the book Imperishable Beauty from the library. It is a book of art nouveau jewelry and it is absolutely stunning.

I took the bird image above and played with it in photoshop, and since I don't know much about photoshop, it was more accidental than purposeful.

This was using the cutout feature:

And this one is a simple stamp.

Pottery Addiction

2009-08-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hi, I am a secret pottery addict. When I seen nice pottery I just want to caress it and pet it and fondle it. Lately, I have seen some pretty nice stuff on etsy and elsewhere...

This is from Kim Westad:

This one is from Bridgman Pottery:

This is from Red Hot Pottery:

And this is from Whitney Smith:

Can you tell I like my pottery smooth? All the better to caress and fondle.

Fabric urges

2009-08-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

Sigh, more fabric collections are coming out that I MUST have. I am beginning to think that I like just collecting fabric almost as much as using it. Seems silly, but I guess it is better than collecting some other things, like old Coca Cola memorabilia, because at least I can use the fabric to make something..... at least that is what I tell myself.

Anyway, I must have this collection by Tanya Whelan, called Dolce. I have already found a place to buy it, the Fat Quarter Shop, and am on their notification list for when the fabric comes in. it reminds me of the 1920's and the Thin Man movies, and cigarette holders and cocktails.

Also, I must get Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley. I haven't found a place that I know is going to stock it yet...... so I will keep looking. It would make a great string quilt.

And I also like this collection, very arts and crafts.

Getting there

2009-08-14T08:13:00.001-07:00

I am almost finished with the blue half of my two sided quilt. All I have to do is put on the 12 inch natural borders and then I can send them to be quilted. Of course, I have to arrange for someone to do the quilting....

Front and Back, or Back and Front

2009-05-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

So, this is to be a two-sided quilt. One side will have orange and green blocks, while the other side will have green, blue and gray blocks. Here they are, unassembled.

Now I need to go to the quilt shop and get off white fabric for the sashing and the borders (simulated here by the wrinkly sheet). I think I will need about 9 yards, eep! Good thing solid colors are cheaper...

Since this is a queen size quilt for our bed, this one will be professionally quilted. How exciting!

Tulips

2009-05-08T11:31:00.001-07:00

If only the squirrels knew what beauty they were eating when they chew off the tops, they would refrain from their destruction. I like to think so.

New project

2009-05-06T08:32:00.001-07:00

Yay I started on my new quilt this morning. It is based on this pattern, which I bought from her etsy store, and so far I really like it. It is going together really fast. You start with two fat quarters, cut a bunch of rectangles, and sew them together. For the whole quilt you use 8 pairs of fat quarters. I started with one set this morning, cut the pieces,

sewed them together, and ironed them, all in about 45 minutes.

The pattern is also very efficient, there was only this much left over from the original pieces of fabric:

Now, only seven more pairs to go....

More fabric obsession

2009-05-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well it is time for another round of fabric obsession. Usually in May all the christmas themed fabrics come out, and I ignore them. But there are some others that look good. I must write them down to remind myself to find them when they come to stores.... There is:

Picnic Parade

Mezzanine

Summer Soiree

Del Hi

Wildwood

Most of them are very BRIGHT!

And there is more!

2009-04-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

I barely bought any plants that weren't on my list.... but this Geranium phaeum had to come home with me. I could hear it begging me as I walked by.

I also bought a dwarf Boxwood. I have always loved boxwood, but the ones around here get such sad winter burn. This one, at a maximum height of 6 inches, can easily come inside for the winter.

Ummmm, I already forgot the name of this one, it was also not on my list. Ain't it adorable though! Oh wait, I remember, it is Bergeranthus. Never heard of it before.

And here is a cute Linaria, AKA perennial snapdragon. It too will only be 6 inches high. Perfect for the rock garden.

Wheeee!

2009-04-22T10:41:00.001-07:00

I just made my yearly trip to The Flower Factory, the best perennial nursery I have ever been to. Lets look at the new inhabitants of my garden....

Of the over 4000 perennials they have, I thinking buying fewer than 30 is QUITE restrained.

My big plan this year is to have more trough rock gardens. These pots can be brought onto the porch in the winter for storage, and will be little work to plant and maintain.

Here is a Sempervivum. Ain't it cute!

This is Orostachys, also cute as a button!

My most favorite genus of all, Alchemilla, this is A. faroensis I think.

Saxifraga here, quite the rock garden darling.

What do you think?

2009-04-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Is this too long and narrow? I was originally going to pick the best five zig zag stripes from among the seven that I started with, but then I ended up sewing all seven. The quilt measures 31 by 54 inches. I would rather not take out one of the strips, but I also don't want it to be a really strange shape. It is for a baby quilt.

The big zig

2009-03-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

I ran into the neighbors and found out their new baby is a girl..... therefore, I need to make them a baby quilt. I decided on a zig zag quilt. According to this method, you cut and align two squares, sew 1/4 inch off center and then cut that into two triangle sets.

I am only part way done.

After starting, I found two more zig zag patterns just released on the web.

The first seems brilliant, you don't ever cut any triangles, it is all done with rectangles and squares.This makes me want to make another zig zag quilt.

The second uses triangles, and seems much riskier.

It reminds me of the math involved in crafts. This is not just some people blindly assembling stuff. There is a lot of Mathematics in knitting and crochet. And clearly, Geometry is quilting's muse.

A blog about other people

2009-03-24T05:48:00.000-07:00

Often I have thought about starting a blog that would solely highlight other people's work. I know, there are many blogs out there that already do that, but some times I find stuff that is new to me that is so cute I just need to share it with someone. Like these two.

Apak

bumble ink

Yay!

2009-03-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

I decided that my next quilt will be with a set of Amy Butler's Lotus fabric (right column above) but I didn't have enough coordinating fabrics to have enough for the pattern. However, I had already ordered the full fat quarter set of Neptune by Tula Pink, and when they arrived I was happy to see that some of them (second column from right) would be perfect with the Lotus fabrics! Yay!

Then I will use the other Neptune fabrics (two left columns) to make a different quilt. Wheee!!!

Thaw

2009-02-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

The best description of a spring thaw that I have read comes from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and I think of it every year. I had thought the description came when Peter, Susan, Lucy and the Beavers met Father Christmas, but actually it is when Edmund and the White Witch are pursuing them. It is kind of more interesting this way, to see the signs of Aslan coming through the eyes of the evil characters rather than the good characters.

First Edmund describes how the sledge is harder and harder to drive, then he notices the noise:

"A strange, sweet, rustling, chattering noise - and yet not so strange, for he knew he'd heard it before - if only he could remember where! Then all at once he did remember. It was the noise of running water. All round them, though out of sight, there were streams chattering, murmuring, bubbling, splashing, and even (in the distance) roaring. And his heart gave a great leap (though he hardly knew why) when he realised that the frost was over."

And it goes on for a while longer, describing the appearance of patches of green in the white snow, the appearance of the trees from beneath the snow, and the arrival of early flowers. It is really quite lovely writing, very evocative of the joy in the arrival of spring.

My favorite sentence: "Unless you have looked at a world of snow for as long as Edmund had been looking at it, you will hardly be able to imagine what a relief those green patches were after the endless white."

That is how I am feeling now, as our snow is melting, green patches are appearing, and spring is around the corner. Oh, I know, it snowed two more inches last night, but it is spring snow!

Whew!

2009-02-12T06:28:00.001-08:00

I feel better now, that was very cathartic to get that all out.

Cloth Obsession

2009-02-10T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well I am not about two weeks into my fabric obsession, and it shows no sign of letting up. I have so far restrained myself from spending, but it is coming soon. Here I catalog my current desires, mostly so as to get my thoughts straight. If you seen anything you like, holler!

And now, in no particular order, what I want to buy.

1. Neptune by Tula Pink.

I really like the combination of the blue gray, algae green, and coral.

I also like her Nest line, and it is on sale at Hancocks of Paducah, but I think the colors are a little to BRIGHT for me.

2. Farmer's Market by Sandi Henderson.

This one is from last fall, I think. Cute colors. This also got me looking at her earlier line, Ginger Blossom.

3. Woodland Wonderland and Garden Friends.

These are so cute! The designer, Jay McCarroll, was a winner on Project Runway.

4. Moondance by Jenean Morrison.

These might be a little too pale for me, but I like the patterns so much. Do check out her web site, she has some cool paintings and prints.

5. Prairie Gothic by Jane Sassaman.

These might be harder to quilt with, but she is such a genius!

6. Denyse Schmidt.

She does not have a new line of quilting fabric out, but now I really want her older fabric line Flea Market Fancy. It is from a few years ago, so I think I am out of luck on that one. that is the hard part of fabric, it is usually only available for a few months. Not like a good book or a record, where you can get something form twenty or two hundred years ago.

Gee that was not so bad, Think of all the fabric I am not buying!

More crafty goodness

2009-02-07T07:49:00.000-08:00

I think I am developing a full blown fabric obsession. I hope I can weather it out without spending too much money buying fat quarter sets.......

Here are some more nice craft sites:

ohfransson

That site also has lots of cookie recipes, bonus!

resurrectionfern

She was featured on cuteoverload for her snail cozies.

feelingstitchy

Embroidery, my future obsession!

Wow

2009-02-02T18:10:00.001-08:00

Imagining all of the millions of web sites out there, it is amazing that we ever find anything worthwhile, as we are sorting through pages and pages of dubious Google hits.

But sometimes, neat things do arise. Here are two sites that I really like, that make me happy knowing there are beautiful things out there.

A quilt is nice
This is a very nice quilt blog. I love the colors she uses, bright but not loud, light but not pastel. I also like the liberal use of white. I wish I had seen this before I started my last quilt, I think it would have been much improved with more white. Some of my favorites include: the boxed-in quilt, the birds on a limb quilt, and the double hourglass quilt.

Whitney Smith Pottery
What amazing pottery!! Don't you want this bird stand NOW? How about the nesting bowls? Or these split pod vessels? Again, great colors. You can tell how she started with a more Arts and Crafts style but has moved to a more minimal modern look.

Sneak peek

2009-01-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, I have been hibernating....

But I have also been quilting. Here are some pictures of it so far:

I have the whole top done and I just realized that I don't even like the quilt. I need to finish it anyway, because a half-done project is just not acceptable...

The fabric line is Amy Butler's Daisy Chain and I think the main problem with the quilt is that I did not use enought different fabrics. So, it is busy, yet boring. Oh well, it was a good experience, 'cause now I know to think more about the diversity of fabrics used and the effect of that one the final product.

Next up, a Kaffe Fassett quilt for a friend of mine..... and by that time it should be spring!

On to the next project...

2008-12-16T15:32:00.001-08:00

This is my christmas present to myself. The complete fat quarter set for Amy Butler's Midwest Modern 1 and Midwest Modern 2. That's right, over 60 quarter yards of fabrics. I think this is my favorite fabric collection ever. Here they are by collection (1 on the left and 2 on the right):

And here they are by pattern:

It has all my favorite colors, robin's egg blue, bright pink, light orange, olive. Amy Butler really knows how to combine colors.

I am going to make a simpler quilt pattern with these fabrics, and I think I have enough to make a quilt on the front and a quilt on the back, if that makes sense. If you google "yellow brick road quilt" or "turning twenty quilt" you will see what I have in mind for the pattern. Something with large blocks of fabrics.

But first, I have two other quilts in the queue..... and this fabric is too pretty to cut up just yet, so I might not actually make this one for a while. I think for now I will just play with the fabrics.

I finished!

2008-12-06T11:35:00.001-08:00

Here are the pictures of my finished quilt, yay!

First the back:

I always try to use up the remaining fabric for the back, rather than buying separate yardage. This time I barely had enough.

Here is the front:

Overall I think I like it.

Next up: a knitted scarf, then I will make the matching pillow covers and curtains for the quilt.

Top done

2008-11-25T07:06:00.001-08:00

Here is a photo of the finished quilt top. It is supposed to have a border but I think I will skip it. I am not sure I like the outcome, somehow it looks rather random. Oh well.

I still have to piece the back, quilt it, and then sew on the binding, but I am hoping to finish it by the end of the month..... so I can start on my next project, another quilt!

Hmmmmm

2008-11-11T07:31:00.001-08:00

I have now done ten blocks and I am realizing that this might not have been the best choice of block pattern for these fabrics. The bold and large-scale patterns in the fabrics might be better served by a simpler block design. Oh well, I will still like it overall.

Sorry for the crappy photo.

Loot!

2008-11-11T07:28:00.001-08:00

These are the NEW trays I got at the estate sale, aren't they great? My mom was not fond of them, but my husband likes them. I like how they are very graphic and bold, with clean lines. They are about 16 inches in diameter and were only $2 each.

I am going to repaint the room a more neutral color, the greyish-blue clashes with the bright colors.

Another estate sale..

2008-11-07T16:57:00.000-08:00

... coming tomorrow!

Here is something I got from the last outing, for only $3. Way cute! the tray is about 10 by 14 inches, so it is a serving tray. With Ducks!

First few blocks

2008-10-29T11:28:00.001-07:00

Here are the first three blocks of the quilt. It occurs to me that the crochet lace background is waaaay to busy to be a backdrop for these fabrics.

17 more to go...

What? I can't hear you, my quilt is too loud!

2008-10-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some mock-ups of the block from my new quilt. The pattern is from Kaffe Fassett's Kaleidoscope of Quilts. The block will be 12 inches by 12 inches, pretty large. I cut out most of the pieces for one block, and then laid them on a large section of different fabrics, to audition different backgrounds. It is interesting to me to see how the different backgrounds affect the interaction of the rest of the fabrics. This one highlights the center piece.

This one highlights the pink squares.

In this one, the background is too dominant, but also merges too much with the center part.

I think I will cut out a bunch of pieces and then spend hours making various combinations until I find 20 I like..... which might take a long time.

Next up .... another quilt

2008-10-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the fabric for my next project. It is from Heather Bailey and is called Pop Garden (the florals) and Bijoux (the small prints).

I still haven't decided which pattern to use, but I am currently poring over all the Kaffe Fassett books for inspiration. That man is a genius!

This could get addicting!

2008-10-17T13:21:00.000-07:00

Original photo:

Cutout tool:

Stamp tool:

I was working, really!

2008-10-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was working on a graphics project for a faculty member that required me to use Photoshop. If you know me, you'll know that I am not skilled in the graphic arts. I was working on a complex yet uninteresting photo, and was having trouble seeing what effect the changes were having. So, I picked a simple image that I took last weekend, and manipulated it instead. What fun!

Here is the original image:

This version is bas-relief:

This version is the stamp tool:

This is the photocopy version:

And this is the cutout version:

Pretty neat what you can do with the click of a button! It reminds me of a conversation I overheard at an art gallery recently, where a woman said she never looked at photography anymore, "because it is all Photoshop now." Upon hearing that I scoffed, but I guess she has a point

Oops!

2008-10-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I had planned to post again on October 8, to have a nice and even two months between posts. Since I am a Libra,

I am all about balance. But that didn't happen, so now my posts are two months and five days apart. Not nearly so balanced.

Anyway, in the past few months, I have traveled to the land of sunshine, rollercoasters, and rampant consumerism. Yes, I am talking about Orlando. We made the rounds of many of the parks, starting with the big one, The Magic Kingdom.

Another park had the best animals, including these fruit bats, which have a wingspan of six feet, how cool is that?

My personal favorite was at yet another theme park, and yes, I did get my picture taken with The Cat in the Hat, who wouldn't?

Back on the home front, I have ordered LOTS of fabrics for lots of quilts I plan to make. I will post pictures of that soon.

I have been away from the internet for much of this time, and it was nice. No web surfing, no email. Peace and quiet and in-person interactions. Of course, now I am back to the web, like a fly on honey. There is always something new to find, like this blog, by a woman who is very clever with her crochet. Or the satellite sites at ICanHasCheezburger, such as Funny Look-Alikes, whic gives us "Furbie totally looks like Gizmo"

see famous look-a-like faces

or their web site Engrish, which gives us a new take on bottled water:

more the engrish!

And I am sure there is more where that came from....

Happy October!

Tempus fugit

2008-08-08T06:03:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to my 25th high school reunion. It was fantastic! The people who went to my high school are smart, funny, thoughtful, caring, clever, independent, creative, open-minded, and all around wonderful. I think the biggest thing I learned in high school was to value each person's uniqueness and individuality.

Now I will be taking a little blog break (although I have already been posting infrequently) to prepare for my family's two week visit, then a week of actual vacation at an internationally famous theme park... I'll be back September 15.

Enjoy the big sky!

Yet another fawning review of Neil Gaiman

2008-07-29T15:15:00.001-07:00

Well at least I call it what it is. This weekend I read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett. I think a reviewer on the back said it best, something like "The Book of Revelations as written by Monty Python's Flying Circus."

It is about the coming of the Antichrist and the end (or not) of the world. Every page has something to chuckle about, like how any tape left in your car for more than three weeks magically transmutes into Queen's Greatest Hits, or how the Hound from Hell was tamed by a boy. It has one of my favorite characters in years, Anthony J. Crowley, an "Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards."

Supposedly Terry Gilliam has the movie options on the book, but has had them for a decade or so, so don't look for the adaptation too soon in the theaters.

A highly recommended summertime read. I think I may buy the book as I expect it is funnier upon rereading.

Well here I am

2008-07-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

An unanticipated home repair (front door lock) finds me at home today, waiting for the locksmith. I will update you on some books and movies.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. This was a good one-day read. In fact, it was so engrossing that I think I read it all in one sitting. Nothing earth-shattering, just enjoyable. The narrator and hero is a very realistic and likeable person. The story is interesting, with lots of "color" since it is about the circus.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. This is a novella that may be for children, but is super scary, even for adults. I loved it. My husband read it and liked it too. I see that it is being made into a movie, but thankfully it will be an animated movie, not an adaptation with live actors. I was a little scared, because Dakota Fanning is listed as the person who will play Coraline, so I worried that she would be the lead actor, but she is just the lead actor voice. Not that I dislike Fanning, I just wasn't sure this would be done well with live actors. Neil Gaiman is amazing, just amazing. I have not read anyone's works in a long time who has such a brilliant and original imagination.

Stardust, the movie. Another Neil Gaiman story. I had tried to read the book a while ago and could not get into it, because I did not know it was a fairy tale. Seeing the movie makes me want to read the book again, knowing it is like the Brothers Grimm or something, rather than a modern fiction novel. The movie stars Charlie Cox (hottie alert!) Claire Danes, Robert DeNiro, and Michelle Pfeiffer. It is a fantasy and a little odd, since it isn't really for kids and isn't really for grownups either. Again, though, Gaiman has such great and fantastic ideas, it is worth it (to me) to watch a Hollywood version, even with all the Hollywood conventions and baggage. There is one scene that looks to be a rip off of Titanic, which is not a movie I want to see imitated (in the sense that I didn't like Titanic in the first place). If you watch Stardust, see if you can find that scene, it almost made me laugh out loud.

Hooked, again

2008-07-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Now I finally have a new project. I am going to make a tablecloth from crocheted squares. I tried 2 squares but the one on the left was too open and the one on the right was too dense.

But, like Goldilocks, the third one was just right. This is called prairie rose from 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws, and Afghans, by Jan Eaton. The two above are from the same book.

I am not going to use that beige yarn for the tablecloth, it was just some Dale Baby Ull I bought for practice. I wonder how long it is going to take me to buy some yarn for this project. probably months and months. Then months and months to make the squares, then months and months to crochet them together. I call it the Slow Crafting movement. Like Slow Food, we aim to relax and enjoy the process...

Hooked

2008-06-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

No, this is not about a crochet project, although I am starting a new one..... I am going to make a tablecloth, even though I am sure it will take me ten years to finish it.

Since reading Busman's Honeymoon I have been obsessively reading the other Dorothy Sayers novels. I read Strong Poison and Have His Carcase, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, and I just finished Murder must Advertise, which I think is my second favorite.

I just love her books for the astute and detailed description of British society in the 1920s and 1930s. As I said before, the class distinctions and all the baggage and social conventions that go along with that just fascinate me. It is amazing that so many people were so accepting of such a silly idea. Murder must Advertise has a long of conversations by the characters about where they had gone to school, and of course those who did not attend college or did not attend Oxford or Cambridge, are automatically socially inferior.

On a totally different note, I am also obsessively reading The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. There are ten total graphic novels (collections of individual comics really), and I have read six so far. Once I sit down with one, I MUST read it cover to cover. I really cannot put them down. Highly recommended if you like comics, but they do have some pretty serious adult content.

In May everything besides gardening took a back seat during my free time. Now, everything besides reading is taking a back seat. I do manage to vacuum the house weekly, and walk the dog, but not much else is getting done... thus passes time.

my favorite book

2008-06-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

If I had to pick just one book that was my favorite, I would pick Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers. It is her eleventh, and last, Lord Peter Wimsey detective novel. This is the fourth one to feature Harriet Vane, his love interest, after Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night. In fact, it is probably best to read those in order, to understand how much fun Busman's Honeymoon is.

Why do I like it so much? Well. it is witty, romantic and well written. But especially it seems like an accurate yet idealized picture of English Country life before the modern era. Sure, it was 1937, but the house they took didn't have electricity, and they had to arrange individually for the beer to be delivered, to find the best butcher, and make relations with local merchants and craftspeople, everything that modern life is not. It is also fascinating as a picture of the English class system, where everyone knew their place in the pecking order and behaved accordingly. In the book, there are many times when a "subordinate" does something for Peter and Harriet that no one would do for a stranger today, and they did it simply because Harriet and Peter were their social superiors.

It also reminds me of the James Herriott novels, which I loved when I was younger. English country life, aaahh that is the life for me. Of course, I would have to be one of the wealthy ones, asking for tea from the manservant, having my clothes laid out for me, and generally being taken care of.

While I haven't read James Herriott in twenty five years, I do reread the Sayers mysteries every five years or so. Those are really the only books I ever read more than once. Life is too short, eh?

Thank you Mother Nature

2008-06-11T06:14:00.001-07:00

After months and months of horrible weather, we are finally being rewarded for our ability to withstand 101 inches of snow, 5 months of below average winter temperatures, and a hoard of ravenous bunnies. May and June (so far) have been exceptional. Mild temperatures, no mosquitos, a beautiful spring. Of course, last weekend we got 6 inches of rain in less than 48 hours, so Mother Nature may not be letting us totally relax into summer.

Monday night, our neighbors hosted their bluegrass band practice in the back yard, instead of inside the house. husband and I were sitting in our back yard and we got an hour-long private concert. It was superb. Coupled with the wonderful weather and this beautiful sunset, it was the best evening I have had in a long time. I wonder how differently I would have thought about it had the band been some experimental free-form jazz band, or a drum quintet.... as it was they were pretty darn good, and bluegrass in your back yard on a June evening is a little bit of payback for all that snow.

Smokin'

2008-05-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

I look at this picture of prairie smoke, and I am reminded of my own hair....

Yummy Spring Meal

2008-05-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop. It is quite yummy. This recipe description is not in very good order, best to read the whole thing first. And add salt and pepper to taste.

For two people:

Toast 4 slices of country white bread.

Cut asparagus into one inch lengths. Cook in boiling water for two minutes.

Mix 3/4 cup crumbled feta with 1 T diced mint and a little milk to make a spread.

Whisk 4 eggs with a little milk, add the asparagus, and gently scramble until eggs are set.

Spread feta mix over toast and top with eggs and asparagus.

We got our first CSA box today and it was full of fresh organic vegetables, including asparagus. We made this meal and it was delicious! It is one of those breakfast-for-dinner type meals, and would actually be very good for breakfast, brunch, or lunch.

MACRO

2008-05-26T08:31:00.001-07:00

I am AMAZED by the macro capabilities of my simple camera. My husband gave me a tripod for my birthday a few years back, and that makes all the difference in the world. I would like some day to get a fancy digital camera with a dedicated macro lens, but I think for now, this does just fine. You can take close up photos of tulips,

capture the bleeding heart flower in the act of unfolding,

and actually see the pollen on the geranium flower.

Purple

2008-05-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Purple is one of the dominant colors in the garden right now. We have the purple of phlox,

the blue purple of virginia bluebells,

the grape purple of irises,

the reddish purple of violas,

the indigo purple of catmint,

and the orchid purple of tulips.

My new toy

2008-05-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

This may not look like a toy, but it is.....

A big spherical ceramic cobalt blue globe. I have been wanting one of these for years. At the place I got it, they also have a beautiful orange and a nice lime green. I think I need a little series of globes, to arrange and rearrange in the garden.

Death is the Mother of Beauty

2008-04-28T18:11:00.001-07:00

Grammar police

2008-04-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

Seen on a web site:

"Job Description
Shift: First
Wage: $28,000 / year or commiserate with experience. "

Read in a book:

"trying to ween herself off cigarettes...."

Read in a book, referring to a quote earlier in the text:

" as eluded to in the above passage by Smith and Jones...."

Those are some vocabulary errors!

One quilt leads to another

2008-04-13T19:26:00.001-07:00

Well since I had made my friend's third child a quilt recently, and I had made her first child a quilt when she was born five years ago, I felt that I had to make the second child a quilt, even though he is three years old already....

The fabric is "Dick and Jane" by Michael Miller.

I needed that

2008-04-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

After 100.7 inches of snow this winter, I really needed to go out in the yard last weekend and see my crocuses. I can't imagine how they got planted so close together....

I needed to see the white crocuses, which I did not even plant, but which are relics from previous gardeners, who also planted the irises, peonies, and jack-in-the-pulpits. Thank you!

And I needed to see the snowdrops, which were actually blooming March 19, while there was still snow on the ground. Thank you snowdrops! These may be my favorite bulbs, because they are unassuming, and because they are first!

A little trip to the big city

2008-03-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Well, as typical inhabitants of the Frozen Tundra, we went south for spring break... to Chicago. OK, so that is not so South, but we did end up experiencing one inch of snow instead of the seven inches that fell on our fair town in our absence!!

Here is our itinerary:

Thursday
Drop off dog at Dog Spa
Arrive at noon, eat lunch at The Chicago Diner, a great vegetarian diner north of downtown
Check in to hotel, the Hyatt Regency on Wacker Drive
Walk to The Art Institute, see the Hopper/ Homer exhibits, discover Lionel Feininger (below)

Go to Millenium Park, see Cloud Gate (below) a fabulous work of public art, really wonderful

Walk around downtown, notice all the big tall buildings with lots of windows:

Dinner at The Berghoff (I know, touristy, but close to the theater), I had a great iceberg lettuce salad with Maytag dressing
Drink at the Palmer House Hotel, which has a very pretty bar, drink was okay
Watch live taping of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!, which was hilarious

Friday
Breakfast at the Tempo Cafe, highly recommended
Walk around Michigan Avenue, realize we don't like shopping, at all, buy a few things
Hang out at Barnes and Noble for a while
Drink at Miller's Pub in the Loop
Dinner at Cafe Iberico, great tapas restaurant, although the tapas are too big! we only ate four
Drink at the Drake Hotel bar, called the Coq d'Or, drink was very nice
Shop at Border's, bought Granta, think about getting subscription

Saturday
Breakfast at The Oak Tree Restaurant on Michigan Avenue, great view, great fruit plate
Drive back to the Frozen Tundra
Pick up dog from Dog Spa

Say Hello to Stanley!

2008-03-18T15:41:00.001-07:00

At least that is his name for now, I am sending him to a friend. She may decide his name is something else.

Yes, I got sucked in to another hobby: amigurumi. This one is from the following book, which is my favorite amigurumi book so far:

I like it because the animals are smaller than in the other books I have, so they are both cuter and quicker to make.

I think I might make a whole series of little bunnies, same pattern, different colors. Or maybe I should do cats, or bears, or mice..... they are all so cute it is hard to decide!

Movies saved my life this winter

2008-03-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

In 1973 Michael Lesy published Wisconsin Death Trip, a book that combined photographs of settlers in the state in the 1890's with excerpts from local newspapers. The photographs showed mostly tired and hardworking people, sometimes large families with worn-out parents, often a baby or two in a small coffin, or simply people with a haunted look in their eyes, like the photo below.

The newspaper excerpts, on the other hand, were selected to show that our image of past settlers playing the fiddle or reading the bible to while away those long winter nights, might not be so accurate. Instead, they may have been going insane, burning houses down, drinking themselves to death, attacking family members, and engaging in other such pastimes, driven mad by the isolation, poverty, and weather.

Luckily, due to advances in electricity and home heating, there will be no repeat of that winter wildness this year, although I personally came pretty close a few times to completely losing it. Movies saved my life this winter.

Our decision to buy a 32 inch HD TV was very fortuitous, because I don't think I would have made it through the winter with the 12 inch one we had. I watched more movies this winter than I have in years, and it is a good thing too. Otherwise our 90+ inches of snow and colder than average temperatures would have had me at least tormenting our pets, if not worse.

Recently I watched three movies, all worth seeing.

1. Nurse Betty. Off-beat quirky flick with Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock and Greg Kinnear. A bit violent at times, but fun nevertheless.

2. and 3. Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets. These are both Ealing Studios movies from the 1950's, both with Alec Guiness. I preferred Kind Hearts and Coronets, although they were both good. They are just little slices of life in a totally bygone era: "civilized" England. An England full of little old ladies with umbrellas, sherry, and polite criminals.

Now that the sun (!) has returned, and the snow is melting (!), I think I can safely say that I will not kill anyone, maim anyone, destroy my liver, or burn anything down. At least not until next winter.

Solution to scarf problem: get an expert to help

2008-03-02T17:17:00.000-08:00

Well I took advantage of my mother having as a friend an expert knitter. I took my scarf over to her and she frogged the six screwed-up inches and managed to get all 74 stitches on the needle in the right orientation. I had no problem with the idea of ripping some out, I just didn't trust myself to catch all the stitches before they ran away. Thanks, Harriet!

And she even gave me a pair of cherry red wrist warmers, which are awesome...

Normal people leading Freaky lives

2008-03-02T16:53:00.001-08:00

That is how I would summarize Marie Antoinette, the 2006 movie by Sophia Coppola starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman. Actually, I liked it quite a bit. I got it from the library, after thinking, "Oh, that got really bad reviews, didn't it? What the heck, it will be fun to watch a bit of it." And in fact, the $40 million dollar movie only made about $15 million in the US, so I guess it was not a success.

Of course, it tells the story of Marie Antoinette, the famous French queen. She was only 14 when she was married off to the Dauphin of France, Louis XVI, made queen at age 19, and was killed at age 37.

First of all the movie is GEORGEOUS. It has the most stunning style, all cotton candy colors, bows, ribbons, pasties, pies and feathers. Beautiful food styling. Fantastic costumes, lighting, and set decorations. Probably one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. Shot at Versailles (mostly), the indoor scenes are breathtaking, while the outdoors scenes are equally beautiful, even without the gold trim and mirrors. Check out the pastries on the table in the back of this shot:

Or the color of Marie's gown in this picture:

I think the idea that Sophia Coppola had was that these were just two ordinary people, put into the most unnatural lives imaginable. Marie didn't even dress herself, apparently it was an honor and a badge of rank to be able to put on her underwear for her. There were people to greet the royal couple every morning when they got up, which made it even more excruciating that their marriage was unconsummated for seven years (apparently Louis's fault...) and they ate side by side, not facing each other, in a large room where they were gawked at by the court, only getting a drink of water when aided by two people. They were forced to marry total stranger, and had no control over their own lives.

I know that of millions of French women living at this time, only one had such a life, so maybe it is not worth all the attention we give to royalty, given that they are such a tiny minority of the total population. But the fascination remains, because I can just not imagine a life like that. Worse than today's celebrities, these people lived under a weight of protocol and tradition that was just crushing. Also, Marie is expected to be a diplomat, even at age 15. She was married off to seal an alliance, and she still is expected to care about politics and act in Austria's (and France's ) best interests.

I think the movie does a good job of relating how extraordinary these lives were, even when the people living them were most ordinary. Jason Schwartzman does a really good job at this, as his Louis seems most nebbish, ordinary, and totally uninterested and unprepared at being king. The man does not even know how to make love, much less rule the most populous country in Europe.

One of the main criticisms of the movie was that it was not politically aware enough, but to me, that is almost the point she was trying to make, how can you expect political awareness from a 14-year old, who was treated like chattel and completely insulated from the real world. Apparently even at age 12 was almost unable to read and write, so little schooling and practical learning had she been given.

Now, don't expect a masterpiece, but if you like pretty clothes, fun music, and things to think about, then you might like it too!

P.S. It was released on my Birthday, October 20, a fact which I just found out from reading Wikipedia.

Gratuitous Winter Photo

2008-02-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Just because winter is still here and it has been long and I am trying to be positive about it! I think my husband took this one.

Eclecticism

2008-02-28T15:41:00.000-08:00

Why do we all want to be thought of as having eclectic tastes? Especially in the area of music, people are proud when they have Led Zeppelin and Bing Crosby in their collection. When you ask anyone about their musical tastes, they will in all likelihood reply "Oh, I like all kinds of music".

Yesterday I left the library feeling so proud of myself for being eclectic. I had gotten out the following materials:

2 gardening books
Novel by A.S. Byatt
5 graphic novels
Warm fuzzies: 30 sweet felting projects
Martha Stewart Living
Wired
5 movies (sadly none of which star Cary Grant or Gregory Peck)

And I thought to myself "now who gets out Martha Stewart Living and Wired at the same time? Am I cool or what?" Of course, the feeling lasted only about 2 seconds, as I realized there were probably millions of people being equally eclectic right at that very moment.

But it got me thinking about why we value this trait. Are the days gone in which people can say "I only listen to jazz" or pride themselves on only reading nineteenth century fiction?

And why does eclecticism only apply to certain areas? I am not aware of many people whose wardrobes are particularly eclectic, for example. It is just something to ponder.

Distraction

2008-02-17T17:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am trying desperately to forget what I discovered today..... that the scarf I am trying to finish has a mistake about six inches ago, and there is no way I can fix it. I had gotten to the point of not even liking the scarf anymore and was just trying to finish it so I could move onto better things, when I was looking at it today and realized I had switched the right side and wrong side of the lace pattern and now it just looks ridiculous. It took me SO long to make, since it is lace weight yarn and size two needles.

I am seriously thinking of ceremonially burning it.

So, instead, I am thinking of the movies I saw this week, Houseboat and Spellbound.

Houseboat, of course, is another entry in the Cary Grant canon. This time with Sophia Loren, with whom Grant was supposedly madly in love with at the time of filming. Alas, she had already met Carlo Ponti.....

The movie is great fluff, the best part is actually the acting and story line of the three children, very realistic and poignant, and not at all maudlin or played for comic relief. Sophia Loren looks fantastic! even though I feel sorry for her having to sing a few silly songs ("presto, presto, do your very best-o" and so on).

Although it is silly to imagine that a father of three children would hire a nanny on the spot, without even getting any information about her. Oh well, that's Hollywood. Whatever makes the plot run.

Spellbound is a Hitchcock film, and probably not one of his best. Ingrid Bergman is a little overly dramatic as a psychologist trying to help Gregory Peck uncover some dark secrets, and Peck is a little wooden. Still, some of the camera angles and shots are pretty inventive, and the Salvador Dali-designed dream sequence is fun. Did you know the score was played on a theremin? I didn't, until I checked out the DVD extras.

Again, silly plot devices, in which the two meet and are instantly struck by a coup de foudre, explaining why Bergman runs away with Peck, a suspected killer, less than 24 hours after meeting him... Then again, he is very pretty, I would be tempted to run away with him too.

There, I managed to forget about the scarf for fifteen minutes, and now it is almost time for Part 2 of Pride and Prejudice on PBS. Another 90 minutes of sweet scarf oblivion.

P.S. I watched The Devil Wears Prada last night, and was VERY disappointed in it. Meryl Streep was fabulous, but the rest of the movie was flat. the clothes weren't even that great.

Time flies...

2008-02-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

...but work remains unfinished.

It seems like just a minute ago that I was gloating that The Cheaters lost the Super Bowl. Then I blinked and it was Wednesday and we got 13.3 inches of snow and I walked home amid waist high drifts. Then I blinked again and now it is Sunday and the temperature is -10 degrees below zero. Sigh.

And I have so many half finished projects. There is the stuffed toy that I am making to use up scraps of fabric....

the scarf that is 95% finished....

and the necklace I am making for my sister....

and they are all calling me to finish them. But I sit here, after lunch, thinking of watching a movie. Houseboat or Spellbound? Cary Grant or Gregory Peck? Sophia Loren or Ingrid Bergman? Or maybe a nap. Early February, sunny day, freezing cold, just right for a nap.

At least there is the return of Austenmania on PBS. Part one of three of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth. Where will you be at 8:00 p.m. C.S.T tonight?

A Sunday well spent

2008-02-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched the Super Bowl instead of anything Jane Austenish, and boy am I glad. Watching the Patriots lose was well worth it! It was actually an incredibly fun game to watch. I was disappointed in the Super Bowl commercials, then never seem to live up to the hype. And it is annoying because I can't knit or crochet during the commercials, 'cause I am watching the commercials!

And now football season is over (except for the Pro Bowl) so I will have to wait until next November to get excited about football. I don't get excited earlier in the year because like to be outside more and so as long as it is nice outside, I don't sit inside on weekends and watch TV. But when the cold weather comes, I watch.

Inspired by Mansfield Park

2008-01-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

That is what the title of two versions of Mansfield Park that I just watched SHOULD have been. They seemed to have the same characters, mostly, and the same plot points, mostly, but that is where the similarities ended.

First, the Mansfield Park on the current PBS line-up. I give it a C. The heroine, Fannie Price, was played by Billie Piper, who apparently had it in her contract that she would not style her hair according to the character or the time period, but would just be allowed to wear her current day haircut, whether or not she even brushed it. (Not really, but that is the most logical explanation for her total lack of period-appropriate grooming). Online reviews of the production focus on different criticisms, but they all remark on the hair. And on the running. She did a lot of running, which seemed totally inappropriate. Edmund was cute. You can see the hair, the running, and cute Edmund, in this clip from youtube, although the voice does not sync too well. By the way, Mrs Bertram was not like that at all in the book......

Interestingly, Maria Bertram was played by Michelle Ryan, more recently seen in Bionic Woman, on TV. I didn't really watch the TV show, but I enjoyed thinking about a hypothetical movie mash-up between Bionic Woman and Jane Austen. Now that would be an interesting movie! It would be called Maria!, the bionic, Regency England heroine!

The second adaptation, Mansfield Park by Miramax, BBC Films and Patricia Rozema (1999) was even worse. I give it a D+. I should have known when the subtitle on the intro screen read "From Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, her letters, and journal" or some such disclaimer. Another tipoff would have been the description of Fanny as "spirited young woman" on the back of the DVD cover. If there is one thing the Fanny is not, it is spirited. Apparently even Jane Austen's mother thought Fanny was too timid. They also decided to imagine that Fanny Price was Jane Austen! Budding writer, sassy relative, and ironic commentator. And a feminist and abolitionist. Oh the horror. And if that wasn't bad enough , there was the "we are modern" ploy of talking directly to the camera. Bad. Edmund was cute.

I will be taking a break from Austenmania, and not watching Miss Austen Regrets, the biopic. I just know I am going to dislike it, so why bother?

The Awful Truth is awful good

2008-01-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

If you like 1930's screwball comedies, you will probably like The Awful Truth. A 1937 classic with Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. This is one of those movies, like The Thin Man series, where people booze it up in the morning, everyone is way dressed up, all the time, even at home, and wit just pours effortlessly from everyone's lips.

The two play Jerry and Lucy Warriner, a socialite couple who get divorced but of course still love each other. The plot is entirely predictable, but the movie is still great.

These are people who wear a suit and tie or a sparkly gown even in their own home, in the morning.

The movie has some great lines (especially by Aunt Patsy) and some great animal acting, since their dog, Mr Smith, almost steals the show, he is so funny.

Watching this makes me want to drink champagne at all hours, invest in some fluffy boas, and wear dressing gowns all weekend......

And of course, it confirms my belief that Cary Grant is the most handsome and attractive person who ever walked this earth.

Breadth, not depth

2008-01-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

Baby = baby quilt.

This one is for a friend who just had her third. I make baby quilts randomly. Some friends have one for each kid, some have gotten none, and some have one for one kid, but nothing for the other. It depends on whether I am in a quilting mood when I hear about the birth. I think this one is appropriate for a girl named Margaux.

It is rather small, only about 25 inches by 25 inches. More of a wall quilt really. But it did reawaken my quilting interest..... uh oh. Fabric is so beautiful and interesting, it can be addictive.

My husband sometimes asks me, when I buy fabric, "What are you going to make with that?" and I hate having no answer, since I may have bought it just because it was pretty.

Imitation

2008-01-21T12:39:00.000-08:00

Have you ever, gentle reader, found that, when amongst the company of a person or persons from the Southern Climes, you find yourself using "y'all" and "sugar" and wishing for some sweet tea? Or perhaps you have read lately about Ms Spears affectation of a British accent, no doubt occasioned by the presence of one from Great Britain so close to her. It is true, then, that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. I find myself, after eight days of total immersion in all things Austen, to be thinking and feeling in her language. I desire to use the phrases "exceedingly vexed", "most disagreeable" and such, to have farthings and shillings in my pockets, to be torn as to whether to wear my sprigged or my dotted muslin, and to have my suitor carry me about the county in a barouche or curricle, not that I am even quite sure what those conveyances are. How sad that my husband has no desire to put on a waistcoat and dance with me in someone's parlor..... or that we cannot take long country walks, hither and yon, to admire the scenery and discuss what to do about the servants or our younger sibling's most headstrong behaviour.

In the past fortnight I have seen Persuasion three times (twice on TV, and once in a DVD rental), seen Northanger Abbey once (last night), and reread most of the novels. Last week I was most exceedingly unwell, and was forced to retire to the couch for two entire days during the week. There, combined with this most recent weekend, and today's holiday, I was able to find such time as to peruse Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion, and reread Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, in their entirety. I am utterly infused with Jane-ness.

And I find that my opinions on her works have altered from my youth. While still treasuring P and P and Persuasion, I confess that I enjoyed S and S much less than I had hoped, while being delightfully surprised at how much I enjoyed Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park. I don't think I will even attempt Emma, as it reminds me most painfully of Gwynneth Paltrow ...

As I once took a class on Romanticism, I found that Northanger Abbey was quite a clever send up of those romantic novels such as The Monk and The Mysteries of Udolpho, and that it contains some quite witty writing, such as, in a scene between two matrons:

"Mrs Allen had no similar information to give, no similar triumphs to press on the unwilling and unbelieving ear of her friend, and was forced to sit and appear to listen to all these maternal effusions, consoling herself, however, with the discovery, which her keen eyes soon made, that the lace on Mrs Thorpe's pelisse was not half so handsome as that on her own".

And Henry Tilney is really quite witty and clever himself, and more of a real person than some of the more serious Austen heroes.

Furthermore, Mansfield Park used to be my least favorite of the novels, mainly due to the total insipidness of Fanny's character, but now I find that the rest of the novel is quite good, and has more realistic characters and and a more compelling plot.

The questions now, is what to do next? I can't really bring myself to re-reread the novels, but who else has her discerning wit and talent for drawing room conversation? Who else can finely describe a person in only a few sentences, or elicit sympathy for the lives of the barely rich who find themselves trapped by convention? I have read George Eliot, but she is less witty, I have read Charles Dickens, but he is less refined and less romantic. Jane Austen's greatest flaw was that she only wrote six novels....

And for the record, I think the recent television version of Persuasion is quite as good as the 1995 BBC version with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. The former has some odd direction, and plays most loosely with the novel. But the latter commits a far greater sin. All but the last scene are done most tastefully, with realistic crumbs on the table, beer for breakfast, and muddy skirt hems. But the last scene, after Anne and Wentworth are married, shows them sailing off on a ship, on another of his commissions. There is no ship in the book! Anne does not sail off on a ship!!!!! THERE IS NO SHIP! It is most shocking, and really, I was almost unable to breathe, upon seeing this flagrant disregard for the text. Why they would feel the need to tack that complete falsehood on at the end is completely beyond my powers to discern! Most disagreeable!

A Letter

2008-01-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Jane,

Last night I watched the PBS version of Persuasion again, as they are showing productions of all your works on Masterpiece. I first watched it on Sunday, and then I watched the rebroadcast last night. Sure, I had to stay up until midnight, but it was worth it.

On the whole, I think Persuasion is my favorite of your novels. The new production did not really do it justice. Anne Elliot is a dutiful daughter who gives up a chance at marriage because it is the right thing to do for her family, not because she is wishy-washy and indecisive. This television show made her all hesistant and passive, staying in the corners of the rooms, looking breathlessly at people, getting out of the way. I think the producers mistook her proper and dutiful personality for weakness. Perhaps that is an accurate way to portray Fanny from Mansfield Park, but not Anne Elliot.

Plus, there were some changes to the plot, which made the story weaker, not stronger. And a few modern touches like having Anne look directly into the camera all the time, having her RUN, in public, all over Bath looking for Wentworth, and then having them kiss in public, that were just awful.

The worst I think was adding the totally new scene at the end showing Wentworth buying Kellynch for Anne as a wedding present. That made no sense, since Anne's father owns Kellynch, and would not sell it, nor is Wentworth rich enough to buy it. Furthermore, it is entailed upon Anne's cousin Mr. Elliot, and he wouldn't want to sell it either. Why add a terrible scene like that onto a perfectly good book?

The best thing about the production was that the producers did realize that your novels are in a way Harlequin Romances for the literary type. They cast a total hottie to play Wentworth. He was appropriately wounded, brooding and smoldering. Just like Colin Firth in Pride and Prejudice. But better looking.

Anyway, I will still watch all the other ones, but I hope they do a better job with the remaining novels.

Your faithful fan.

P.S. My husband overheard two women on the bus talking about the production. They said the exact same thing I did, that Anne was not portrayed as a strong person in the television show as she was in the book! So it is not just me who thinks this way about the show.

P.P.S. This Sunday is Northanger Abbey, but I fear the NFC Football Conference Game will run long and I shall be prevented from watching it. But after all, it is the Packers playing, and I can always watch Northanger Abbey Monday night.

P.P.P.S. I suppose it could be worse, the summary line from the library about the DVD of an older BBC version reads "Anne Elliot will do anything to get Captain Wentworth now that he is interested in Lousia Musgrove". Now that sounds like a Harlequin Romance!

Sublime

2008-01-08T07:02:00.001-08:00

Sublime
adj. elevated or lofty in thought, language, etc; supreme or outstanding.
v. to convert from solid state to gas.

Interesting that one word has two such different meanings. Lately, our 18 inches of snow on the ground has been subliming, due to the warm temperatures. The result has been sublime. Dense, thick, beautiful fog.

This is not to say that fog does not have its drawbacks, as demonstrated by the hundred car pileup on the interstate the other day, which killed two people and put many more in the hospital.

But if you are a pedestrian, walking among the fog, it is a sublime experience.

Listmania

2008-01-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Not to be confused with Lisztomania, Ken Russell's 1975 movie about Franz Liszt, starring Roger Daltrey.

No, I'm talking about lists. What are we so obsessed with making lists? Is it our desire for order? Or our urge for social ranking? Whatever, I love 'em. Sometimes.

I got a book out of the library, called The Top Ten, writers pick their favorite books. Edited by J. Peder Zane. This book asks "What are the ten greatest works of literature of all time?" Now, what immediately struck me about this book was its ludicrous claim. No one can even begin to rank the world's greatest works because no one has read them all. Therefore, all rankings and lists are by definition fatally flawed. Furthermore, they only ask current writers, 125 of them. No critics or academics, or people from the street.

The authors don't seem too aware of the limitations of the concept, saying that this is "the most authoritative guide yet to the world's most extraordinary books." Hardly. They then go on to make sublists from the main rankings, e.g the top ten works by American authors, or the tope ten mysteries, even though this method must be suspect statistically, since this is not what the people were asked to rank.

That does not mean it wouldn't be interesting to see what people think.... But unfortunately the lists seems as obvious and cliched as a Britney Spears joke. Here are their top ten:

1. Anna Karenina
2. Madame Bovary
3. War and Peace
4. Lolita
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
6. Hamlet
7. The Great Gatsby
8. In Search of Lost Time
9. The stories of Anton Chekhov
10. Middlemarch

I will admit right away that I have only read 5, 6, 7, and 10. But really, is Anna Karenina really the best novel EVER written? How many people read it today? Does it move them? Do they cry, or send copies to all their friend, imploring them to read it?

They then go on to describe all 544 books mentioned by any one writer, stating that all these books are worthy of reading. But from looking at the descriptions of many of them, I am not inclined to pick up many of them. Oh sure, I should read Faulker, I'll try Chekhov, and give the Madame Bovary one more try. But in general, their great books did not seem great to me. Maybe I should pick five at random and read them and then decide.

Here is my list, more than ten, in no order, and not all novels. I am sure I am forgetting many, many books.

The novels of Raymond Chandler
Gain by Richard Powers
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Eye of the Heart (collection of short stories by Latin American writers)
Life: A User's Manual by Georges Perec
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The novels of Charles Dickens, all of them
The Odyssey by Homer
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
The novels of Jane Austen, all of them
Daisy Miller by Henry James
The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
The works of Italo Calvino
Ship of Fools and Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter
The novels of Barbara Pym
The USA Trilogy by John Dos Passos
The autobiographical works of Simone de Beauvoir especially La jeune fille rangee
Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier
Pobby and Dingan by Ben Rice
L'Ecume des Jours by Boris Vian
The poems of Paul Verlaine
The Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy Sayers
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
The Lorax and The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
The Betsy, Tacy and Tib novels by Maud Hart

Oh and many more. I suppose it would be hard to narrow it down to ten. My absolute favorite, Life: A User's Manual, was a book I recommended to just one person, and they did not even like it.

What would you have on your list?

Alone in the kitchen

2007-12-09T10:50:00.000-08:00

I just read Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, which is a good collection of essays about solo eating. One essay said that no one is truly honest about what they eat alone, we all say we eat an omelet with veggies and a nice glass of wine, when really we are eating pickles and crackers with grape jelly.

While I don't think that is really true, that people lie about their habits, I do find it interesting to see what people eat while eating alone. Some contributors said chili, or noodles with cottage cheese(!!), or bread and tomatoes. For me, it is popcorn with cheddar cheese grated on top (don't knock it until you try it) and a beer. It used to be cheese and crackers with olives and pickles for dinner, but for the past five years or so, it has consistently been popcorn. For dinner. With a beer. If it is for lunch, then I drink a N.A. beer, unless I want to take an afternoon nap.

I asked my friend S, and she said her alone meal was usually beer and cereal. But not at the same time. I bet my husband would answer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which is his default meal even when I am around... I would never eat cereal or peanut butter and jelly for a meal, unless that was the only, only thing available in the house. But popcorn, that is a totally legitimate meal. Right?

Random photos

2007-12-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

I must learn to be more experimental with my photos. I have this great camera that is always in my bag. I have plenty of free time to take a million pictures. These I took the other day while waiting for the bus. The first is just graffiti on the bus shelter.

The others were inspired by a friend's pictures on his Flickr site. He said you just move the camera while focusing on the subject. So I tried a few. These aren't abstract enough, you can still tell they are car lights in evening traffic. But I still think they are pretty. That is the nice thing about a digital camera, you can take one million failed shots and not really waste anything more than a little battery power.

I wish I had thought of that!!

2007-11-30T07:09:00.001-08:00

Reading through the latest Interweave Crochet (more about that magazine later), I came upon one of those simply stunning artists, those who give you the "I wish I had thought of that" moment.

This time it is Elaine Bradford, a crochet artist. The image in the article was of a taxidermied squirrel that had been crocheted a mod sweater, including face mask. It is genius. I went to her web site and could not find that exact picture on the web, which is too bad, but here are some others.

Here, she crocheted sweaters for every item in her refrigerator.

Here she crocheted sweaters for rocks.

Also on her web page are some crocheted sleeves for taxidermied deer hooves. That made me laugh because we once stayed in a cabin up north and they had deer hooves (bent to right angle) as coat hooks. It was horrifying to see deer parts just sticking out of the wall, but now I wish I had been able to crochet them some sleeves. That would have been funny "guerilla" art for the cabin owners, coming home to see their animal parts lovingly warmed through fiber.

But, now that she has done it, it takes away a bit from the rest of us. I mean, being the second person to crochet a sweater for a taxidermied squirrel is just lame.

Has it been that long?

2007-11-28T06:47:00.000-08:00

Oof, how many days without a post. I must say, now that my job is all computer all the time, my enthusiasm for all things Internet has cooled considerably. Let's catalog the online activities.

1. Local forum. Was reading that for years, posted for years, then stopped posting about 9 months ago, now I barely read it.

2. Blog surfing. Don't really do that anymore either. Sorry, Althouse.

3. Family blog. Still going.

4. This blog. Hanging in there.

5. Facebook. Yes I have an account, I had one friend for a while, even though I told her I didn't use it much. I got it to check out my students on the web while I was teaching. Another friend had told me his students talked about him on Facebook, so I wanted to check. I didn't see anything. Now, a second friend has "friended me" or whatever on Facebook, and I may have to respond.

6. Ravelry. I signed up and I think I have already forgotten my password. I hope I wrote it down somewhere.

7. Email. I have my work account, my Google account for Blogger, and my Yahoo account for Flickr.

8. Flickr. I was putting up lots of photos for a while, but that too has slowed.

9. LinkedIn. My 25th high school reunion is approaching and the organizers want us to create a profile at LinkedIn. I hadn't even ever heard of it. I think it is a version of Facebook, maybe?

So, as you can see, it is a bit much. I should decide which to keep up and which not to. The web is just too much some times.

Run to the library, now!

2007-11-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Go check out A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. I read it today, as part of my two-day vacation, and I cried.

It is about two women in Afghanistan from the 70s to the present. I looked at a couple of reviews, and while they slammed Mr Hosseini for writing "fiction" not "literature," they generally liked it, since it is such a gripping story.

I had read parts of several other books about that region. I read part of Lipstick Jihad, about a twenty-something Iranian-American woman who is a journalist in Tehran. Too hipsterish for me. I tried reading Reading Lolita in Tehran, but it was too pretentious and self serving. I did read Kabul Beauty School and found it entertaining and educational. I later found from the web that there is some controversy over that last one, the author wrote it as a memoir of her time in Kabul, setting up a beauty school. Apparently, she may have embellished, or told the story selectively, or something.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is fiction, but it feels like real life. It is so gripping and emotional, and you know that thousands of people in real life Afghanistan have had the horrific life experiences that the characters in the book have had. It made me cry to think of their hardships.

Then I went for a walk with my dog, and felt the obscene-ness of my middle class American existence. My dog probably has a more comfortable life than many people in impoverished places around the world do. Afghanistan has experienced a coup, a Soviet invasion, regional fighting by the Mujahideen, takeover by the Taliban, and invasion by the Americans, all within the last thirty years. There are millions of Afghani refugees living in Pakistan and elsewhere, most of the country is very poor, and according to wikipedia, they are experiencing severe environmental stresses, including drought and deforestation.

Sometimes my husband claims that our country is going to hell, that the Bush regime is a dictatorship, etc etc. This book will give him perspective. A country going to hell is one in which people are starving to death, one in which 70% of the forest have been cut down in a generation, one in which there is no clean water for drinking or electricity on a regular basis. A dictatorship is a regime where you could get your hand cut off for stealing, where women are not allowed to go out in public without a man accompanying them, where TV and music are forbidden.

Now, go read that book!

Cupcakes!!

2007-10-29T15:40:00.001-07:00

Wow am I lucky. first I get cake, now cupcakes! Actually they are miniature pincushions made by my supercrafty friend Anne. She is a new assistant professor and I don't know how she has time to make these cute little presents! They are made from wool felt, embroidered and stuffed. About the size of an actual miniature cupcake!

So far she has made me a quilt, potholders, two aprons, a mosaic pot, and now this!! Thanks, Anne!

I am 40 now

2007-10-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well I had a great birthday weekend, I have noted that having a birthday in late October often means that the foliage is at the peak of turning colors, so it is often the most beautiful time of the entire year (nope, not biased!)

My husband gave me a great present, a Canon Elph, which I can fit into my pocket. I opened the present Saturday morning to find an empty box.... because the guy at the camera store had forgotten to put the camera in the box before packing it up. So we had to wait two hours until the store opened and I could actually get my present.

Once that happened, I was thrilled. I decided a while ago that I wanted a digital camera that I could just put in my bag all the time so I could take snaps whenever I wanted, and my husband cleverly deduced that this would make a perfect birthday present.

Yesterday I noticed a nice window reflection and today I took a picture, just like that. But first, I noticed how nicely my shoes contrasted with the pavement:

And then I decided I needed an action shot:

And then I took the reflection picture:

This will be FUN!

The upside of aging

2007-10-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

Well it is 36 hours and counting until I turn 40.

But today I discovered one positive benefit of aging - I can let my inner bitch out. She has been hiding in my brain my whole life, now she gets to come out in the sunlight.

It started this morning when a woman got mad at me for not knowing someting I had no way of knowing. Then it snowballed when I discovered a building-wide invite to a party had somehow not gotten extended to the group I belong to - the staff.

So I shot off nasty emails to the responsible parties and FELT A WHOLE LOT BETTER. It got me to thinking, why not be a bitch all the time? The other staffers told me that this stuff happens all the time, that you get tired of going on a rampage and having a reputation as being "difficult" or "mouthy", but for now I am enjoying it. And it reminds me of a few episodes in my life where I wish I had been a whole lot bitchier.

One happened recently. Glasses-wearing guy and I had gotten in the elevator. We said Hi. Then three more people got in the elevator. It closed. We went up. Our elevator has a voice feature (you know, to be ADA compliant) that announces the floor you are on. As it announced "going up" one of the three people, lets call her Sharon, 'cause in fact, I think her name is Sharon, said "A talking elevator. I bet we paid a pretty penny for that luxury." Then we all stood around in awkward silence for the rest of the trip. The three people got out at floor five and glasses-wearing guy and I were left. He said, "I bet T would have liked that feature " ( T being a blind guy who used to work with glasses-wearing guy and who had an assistance dog) and I said "yeah I was going to say someting to her, but I didn't want to seem rude."

Well now I wish I had been rude and said to her "Hey, that voice feature is for the vision-impaired, I bet they don't think it is much of a luxury. And besides, you didn't pay a penny for anything, this is a state building." But I didn't say it, I just thought it, or rather, my inner bitch thought it.

The other episode happened in 1986, but I still remember it, maybe Cousin Flora will too, if she reads this. I was traveling in Europe with three friends. We were on a train on the way to Amsterdam. Behind us was an older American woman and her son, also going to Amsterdam. They were talking to a Dutch woman, who was telling them what they should visit in Amsterdam. She told them of the Anne Frank House, and they chatted for a while. At some point the American woman said "I think Jewish people need to finally get over the Holocaust and stop feeling sorry for themselves." The Dutch woman was stunned into silence, and our group, sitting in seats just next to them, were also stunned. I wanted to get up and yell at her, and say that not all Americans were prejudiced idiots like this woman. Partly I didn't because I knew if I got up, turned around, and spoke to them I would just be so angry I would babble incoherently and not be able to make my point, but partly I was too shy to stand up and say something.

The worst part was just sitting there, next to my friend M, who was Jewish. I remember holding hands with her and just willing that American woman to shut the hell up.

Many times since then , I have thought to myself what I would have said if I had only had the guts and the poise to get up and say something. If only that woman had met the 40 year old me, she would have gotten an earful.

CAKE!

2007-10-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Friday I was so happy because I got home and what was in the mail? Cake! From Julie! It is smaller, and therefore much cuter (and harder to make), than I thought.

YUM! Those are kid-sized utensils from my youth (clearly in need of some spit and polish!). I am so pleased with my cake, because in six days I will turn 40, so I am viewing this as my first birthday present.

Now, I am one of those strange adults who actually care about their birthday. My logic is that this is the one day of the year to most revel in your existence, and the best day of the year for people to tell you they love you. I really try (although I do not always succeed) to remember my friends' birthdays. All the people I know are totally uninterested in their own birthdays (and thus in other peoples' birthdays too) but I think they can really be an opportunity for celebration. So, I am doubly happy about my cake.

And, I went to the local yarn store to buy a return present (not in the mail yet...) and I came upon my birthday present to myself!

Another good artist/crafter

2007-10-11T17:07:00.001-07:00

I got Fiber Arts out of the library and saw an article on Laura Splan. So I checked out her web site, here, and it is pretty cool. I especially like the Doilies and Vigilant. Maybe because I am a scientist. Check it out.

HAHAHAHAHA I am too busy

2007-09-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

I thought this was going to be a necklace a day week, I would make one necklace a day and post a picture. Silly me. The one I started on Monday is still in my tray..... and I gotta work all weekend. So, here are some picture I took of the County Fair in July.

Fecundity

2007-09-17T13:12:00.001-07:00

You know I don't really read books, I just sample them. I am done sampling Agatha Christie's autobiography, and now am on to The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton by Kathryn Hughes. This is of course, about Isabella Beeton, author of the eponymous guide to Beeton's Book of Household Management, popular since 1861.

Anyway, the sentence that has struck me so far is about Isabella's mother, Elizabeth. Widowed at an early age with four children under the age of eight, she remarried a man who also had four children under the age of eight. So, they instantly had eight children under the age of eight. That seems plenty, no?

But no, apparently not. The new couple went on to have THIRTEEN more children, for a total of twenty-one, seventeen of them delivered by Elizabeth. She gave birth to her last child at the age of 47 in 1862. Ouch. That hurts just to think about it. It is amazing that she survived all the births.

And it is especially sad to contrast her with Isabella, who apparently died at age 28, giving birth to her second child. (Note: I haven't gotten far enough in the book to be sure of that...).

I cannot even fathom having seventeen children and four stepchildren. Not at all.

Everyone's doing it

2007-09-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

Just after I wrote about my "so called scarf" project, I was reading one of my favorite blogs, yarnstorm, and found that she is making the same scarf. I really like the yarn she is using. It is fun to imagine many people walking the earth with the same scarf on.

Haiku

2007-09-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Autumn has descended upon us seemingly overnight. I was thinking that as I walked my dog yesterday. And, as I thought the words "Autumn Descends" I thought of haiku. How many haiku could I think of relating to autumn? Now, all I know about haiku is the 5 7 5 rule and the general theme of nature. How many different moods could you capture?

Undergraduate:

Fall is upon us
Football games and binge drinking
No more muffintops

Schlocky:

Autumn descending
Leaves turn and fall to the earth
Sunset of the year

Fatalist:

We all will die soon
Just as the leaves and plants do
Dust to dust forever

I guess I won't give up my day job.

Of course, the best writing about fall is by U2:

October

October
And the trees are stripped bare
Of all they wear
What do I care
October
And kingdoms rise
And kingdoms fall
But you go on
And on

Thank you, youtube

2007-09-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

Who knows how the brain works? Last week I was opening the refrigerator door when inside my head I heard a few lines from "Corner of the Sky", a song we used to sing in high school. And by "we" I mean people I knew who could actually sing. Maybe someone did it at a talent show, or as an audition for a school musical. Whatever the source, I have always remembered that song. And then it appeared in my head, 24 years after high school. I don't think it was a case of hearing it in a commercial and subliminally forgetting that.

Anyway, thanks to the magic of youtube I was able to find more than one video of the song being sung, so I could sing a long to my heart's content. There was even a NIEHS web site with the music and lyrics for kids to sing along to (my husband wanted to hear "Hi-Ho" from Snow White, go figure). Anyway, only look at these videos if you don't mind the song getting stuck in your head.

Who knew Bo Bice did this song during American Idol?

A really good high school version

Rivers belong where they can ramble,
Eagles belong where they can fly.
I've got to be where my spirit can run free,
gotta find my corner of the sky.

Am I still working on this?

2007-09-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I saw the pattern for the "my so called scarf" and decided to make one. I think I had bought some Manos del Uruguay yarn and was looking for a pattern for a scarf. After I saw this pattern, I bought two skeins of Malabrigo, color Violettas, and decided to use that instead.
I knitted up a skein and thought it was long enough so I bound off. Then I decided the back side (on left) was none too attractive and that I needed to use the second skein to make an identical scarf, which I would then sew to the first scarf and have a double thick scarf that was nice on both sides. Unfortunately, I had used up the entire first skein for the first scarf, so I realized that I would need a third skein to have enough yarn to sew up the two individual scarves into one. It took me over a year to get that third skein! I called the LYS where I got the first two skeins to see when they might get more, and they kept saying "Oh, so and so would know, I'll have her call you back" but so and so never did. Finally I bought the yarn over the web.....

And so now I can finally work the second scarf, sew them together, add some fringe, and probably make matching hat. Finally. Next time I will try to plan better.

Oh, and I still have those two skeins of Manos and have not used them either.

Tee hee I forgot this

2007-09-01T17:16:00.001-07:00

Some time ago we went to dinner at a restaurant out of town. I took my camera, asI am always on the prowl for good photos. There was not much of interest until I got to the Women's restroom in the restaurant, and I saw this print next to the sink. What a sweet pastoral scene, a young lady learning to fish.

But wait, let's look a little closer. What does that boy have on his mind? Fishing, or a glimpse of black stockings?

The look on his face just makes me laugh. Maybe he just has no eyelids.

Just had to share

2007-08-25T06:20:00.001-07:00

Good poetry is very hard to write, good poetry satire must be even harder. This is from a book called Conversation Pieces: poems that talk to other poems.

THIS IS JUST TO SAY

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

(William Carlos Williams)

VARIATIONS ON A THEME BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

1
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to
live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
and its wooden beams were so inviting.

2.
We laughed at the hollyhocks together
and then I sprayed them with lye.
Forgive me. I simply do not know what I am doing.

3.
I gave away the money that you had been saving to live
on for the next ten years.
The man who asked for it was shabby
and the firm March wind on the porch was so juicy
and cold.

4.
Last evening we went dancing and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy, and
I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor!

(Kenneth Koch)

A random walk

2007-08-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

At one of the craft blogs I read, I came across a reference to Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. I got it from the library and started reading (and perhaps that will be the subject of a future post). But she quoted a passage from Agatha Christie's autobiography, which made me think "Hmm, I bet that is interesting." I mean, who did not read all of Agatha Christie's books when they were twelve? So I got that out of the library.

So far it is OK, the introduction tells us that "A few episodes which to some might seem important - the celebrated disappearance, for example - are not mentioned." So I guess it is pretty subjective. On the whole I can say it seems to be just a massive brain dump. She Rambles, she defines the word "ramble".

But so far, I have come across some interesting things, such as her description of bathrooms:

"We were very delicate about lavatories in those days. It was unthinkable to be seen entering or leaving one except by an intimate member of the family; difficult in our house, since the lavatory was halfway up the stairs and in full view from the hall. The worst, of course, was to be inside and then hear voices below. Impossible to come out. One had to stay immured there until the coast was clear."

Can you imagine having to hide in your bathroom until everyone was gone, just so they would not see you leaving the room? Imagine how much time was wasted.

P.S. Note to self: use the word immured more often, it looks intellectual.

Bride and Prejudice

2007-08-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well the movie viewing continues, yesterday I watched Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood-like adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. I enjoyed it, but you kind of have to be either a Jane Austen fan, a movie musicals fan or a fan of chick flick pictures to like this one.

It is a pretty faithful adaptation of the novel, with a few changes in the subplots (most notably the Wickham-Lydia subplot). It was strange watching this movie knowing what would happen yet not knowing what they might change.

I have not seen any real Bollywood movies, so I was a bit surprised by the singing that seemed to crop up at the oddest moments. There were also some cute fantasy scenes, and a lot of dancing. A lot of dancing. I guess big dance numbers are a staple of Bollywood movies, with hundreds of extras.

What I enjoyed the most about this movie, besides it being yet another version of one of my favorite books, was the COLOR. The colors were fantastic in this movie. The women wore dresses (sometimes saris, sometimes not) of turquoise, salmon, coral, lilac, and grass green. All the extras in the dance scenes were dressed in similar bright yet clear colors. People mostly wore solids or near solids, so there were just big bright blocks of color everywhere.

It made me think about my own wardrobe. I have always mostly worn solid colors, not being a fan of stripes, plaid or dots in clothing (fabric for decoration and quilting is another story). But why did I go through a phase five years ago when I thought the simplest way to dress was to buy everything in gray? I have so many gray sweaters and shirts from that period. Now they depress me.

Also, you would think that cultures from the "drab" north would crave these bright colors, but it seems like the "tropical" cultures, like Mexico, India, the Mediterranean, etc, are the ones we associate with bright colors. I wonder if it was the availability of dyes, or the inspiration from the indigenous plants (like bougainvillia, hibiscus, etc) that caused certain groups to use more bright colors. Maybe it is the effect of the light at the equator, if things aren't bright, they just look dingy? Or maybe it is just a cultural cliché.

When I think of colors and Northern countries, I think of Blue and Yellow with Sweden, which I guess is bright. I also think of the reds and blues and greens of Lapp and Finnish costumes. But in general, the pinks and corals and oranges and greens and yellows conjures up more tropical places.

Then I think about my own decorating, using sage as the main color, with accents of beige and cream and natural wood. Hardly Bollywood. Maybe we should redecorate......

P.S. The movie is almost three hours long.

Closer?

2007-08-14T19:31:00.001-07:00

Do you feel that when you see a movie and you don't "get" it, that it is

a) your fault, you are not that smart

or

b) the movie's fault, it is not that good.

Usually I feel a), but after seeing Closer, I feel more like b).

The movie, from 2004, is about Alice and Dan, a couple in London, and their encounters and relationships with Anna and Larry. Briefly, Alice and Dan are living together when Dan meets Anna, with whom he becomes obsessed. By a plot quirk, he introduces Anna to Larry, and those two become lovers. But Dan continues to stalk Anna, and eventually convinces her to start a relationship with him. Havoc ensues.

As my husband pointed out, the movie sucks because both the guys are jerks, who treat the women as possessions to fight over. But I realized that the women are the ones who make the final decisions in the relationships, although they aren't necessarily happy.

But I wonder, why did Anna do what she did in the end? Why did Alice make her decision? Was Larry lying to Dan about his relationship to Alice? Does my not knowing the answers to these questions mean that I am obtuse or that the movie was poor? I am not sure.

I will point out that we watched the whole thing, even though we said throughout the movie that it wasn't that good..... how bad can a movie be with four beautiful people in it? It had Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law, and Clive Owen. They are all so beautiful and enjoyable to watch that I wonder if that didn't make the movie more palatable.

Vanity Fair

2007-08-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Watching a movie made from a book instead of reading the book is a little like reading Cliff Notes, isn't it? After trying to read Vanity Fair umpteen times, I rented the movie this week and it wasn't bad. Not really a chick flick, not really a Masterpiece Theater rip-off, it was a fun few hours with Reese Witherspoon. I don't think you can forget for a second that she is a Hollywood star instead of a nineteenth century adventuress, but no matter. She looks good, the sets look good, the costumes look good, and the screenplay is a pretty good adaptation of a "classic"novel updated for the screen. And it is much better than Gwynneth Paltrow as Emma.

And James Purefoy as Rawdon Crawley is hot, hot, hot. I see from IMDb that he was in Rome as Marc Antony, gotta check that out.

Still not happy

2007-08-01T15:09:00.001-07:00

Well I am still not too happy about my crocheted blanket progress, maybe someone can give me a suggestion. I was initially in love with this crocheted blanket from a Garnet Hill catalog I saw a few years ago.

So when I decided to make a blanket, I thought hexagons would be cool. I even saw a pattern in Essential Crochet by Erika Knight.

So I tried some. This first one is a pattern I made up to imitate the blanket from Garnet Hill.

This is a hexagon from the Essential Crochet pattern.

Here is a hexagon from another pattern book I have.

And here are some squares, just in case. I realize piecing together squares would be much easier than hexagons....

But overall I am not too crazy about any of them. I don't like how the white of the sheet shows through the spaces in the blocks. The only way to change that would be to do solid squares....

Any ideas?

Elements of Style

2007-07-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

Now if you are an English major, you might think I was referring to The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. But you would be wrong.

I am referring to Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein. The novel, by the playwright. I read it recently and found it to be a good use of a few hours. Not really chick lit, it is more like a comedy of manners. The upper crust of New York society. Now, I know this is fiction, but given that Wasserstein lived in New York, it is probably more of a roman a clef, so I figure it must pretty accurately describe these peoples' lives.

And what lives they are. The "right" people have four houses: summer, winter, vacation and beach, or something like that. New York, Aspen, the Caribbean, and somewhere else, Maine perhaps.

They have their pilates instructors come to their house, the wives don't have jobs, yet need personal assistants anyway. They are all rail thin and uber-fashion conscious. One woman's favorite snack is four soybeans and a chocolate chip.

But of course, they aren't any happier than we are. Or any different.

Would be a good read while you are taking the private jet from your home in Manhattan to your home in Miami.

P.S. did you know that White, of Strunk and White, was E.B. White, of Charlotte's Web fame? I didn't.

P.P.S. Shouldn't it be playwrite instead of playwright?

Waiting, waiting

2007-07-28T15:14:00.001-07:00

Books I am waiting for, from Interweave Press:

Crochet Me

Bag Style

Folk Style

Harmony Guide: Knit and Purl

Harmony Guide: Lace and Eyelets

Harmony Guide: Cables and Arans

Knitting Little Luxuries

The library does not even have any of them on order yet..... sigh.

P.S. Click on the titles for link, for some reason it is not showing up correctly....

Late summer blahs

2007-07-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Where have I been lately? Well, I have been picking Japanese Beetles off my plants and watering them (the plants not the beetles) hoping to keep my garden alive in this drought. Then, Thursday pm we got about an inch and a half of rain. Wow. It reminds me of that commercial for some shampoo, from the 70's, where the woman is acting in a scene where she plays a farmer in a rainstorm.

Cue camera, and rolling, and it starts to rain. She takes off her bonnet, allowing her long blond hair to flow out, and cries "The crops are saved!!" as she is soaked by the rain. Cut and she is in the trailer, getting her hair dried for the next scene.

That is how I feel this week, even though I have no other crops that strawberries and tomatoes right now. They talk of the "billion dollar rain" where a whole region's crops are saved by a timely rain. I sure hope the farmers around here got the rain we did.

Bike path

2007-07-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

Recently seen on the bike path:

1. A guy riding along on his bike, with a parrot perched on the handlebars and a cockatiel perched on the guy's shoulder.

2. A guy riding along on his bike, reading a book.

3. A guy riding along on his bike, with two rubber chickens slung on his handlebars.

Quilt art

2007-07-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

Check out this post on Purlbee if you are interested in quilting. It is an article about Quilt Art, which is a group of quilters. There are a lot of beautiful quilts on the web site. I especially like Inge Heuber.

I enjoy all my crafts, mostly because I like pretty colors and shiny objects, but I think quilting is the one that is the most awe-inspiring to me. Some of the quilts I have seen are beyond incredible. I don't think I would ever feel that way about a piece of jewelry.

An open letter to the Celebrity World

2007-07-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

OK, so I didn't watch any of Live Earth when it aired, but I really don't need any celebrities to tell me how to be an environmentalist. It is so insulting to listen to a bunch of really rich and wasteful people leture me about the things I can do to save the earth. What a bunch of hypocrites. And I am insulted that they think we are too starstruck to notice how hypocritical they are.

Now I am not against celebrities using their fame for whatever cause they want to publicize. I applaud them for getting our there for AIDS, cancer, orphans, of whatever is dear to their heart.

But I don't need someone with a mansion, or several houses in different places around the globe, telling me to conserve. I don't need Madonna telling me to conserve when I recently read that she purchased her fifth house in London.

I don't need Cameron Diaz to tell me to turn off the shower while I shave my legs (!!). Cameron, I shave my legs while sitting on the edge of the tub, not even while taking a shower at all. See that way, you can use water sparingly. And by the way, you are a terrible actress and I avoid any movie with you in it.

These are the people in one of the least eco-friendly occupations. Making a movie is tremendously wasteful, when things are blown up for a 3 second shot, when elaborate sets are constructed, when costumes are made that are used for only one scene, when 300 people jet off to some remote location to film a few scenes. The last thing they need to do is stem on a pedestal and tell the rest of us to use less toilet paper! Especially when the person telling us this (Sheryl Crow I believe) is using a three bus convoy to drive round the country delivering her message. Sheryl, if you really cared you would get in a car yourself and drive it around, sans entourage.

Not that celebrities are the first people to do this, given the abundance of idiomatic phrases to describe this behavior, like "Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk" or "Do like I say, not like I do" or "Put up or shut up".

I guess I should be glad that more attention is paid to the environment, but this is almost doing more harm than good. First of all, people get resentful when they are patronized like this. They might think why should they sacrifice when Celebrity X has three houses across the globe, or five jets, or their own private golf course. Secondly, it makes people think that if they do do these small things, it will be OK. People, we are going to need a lot more than using less toilet paper to prevent the oncoming ecological disaster. We might even need people to only own one house..... or one car.... or no car.

I read books

2007-07-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

When it is 90 degrees out, I don't feel much responsibility to get things done. Usually summer weekends are filled with gardening, errands, fixing the house up and having fun. But when it is this hot, I feel pretty good about myself just for getting up and making my own meals. It is kind of nice in the sense that I don't even remotely feel compelled to be productive. This weekend I read.

I read Truth and Consequences, by Alison Lurie. A good summer read, not too heavy. It is the story of Jane and Alan Mackenzie, who are, respectively, administrator and professor at Corinth University, clearly a thinly disguised Cornell University, where Lurie works. They meet Delia Delany, a visitng scholar, and Henry Hull, her husband, when Delia comes to Corinth University. Of course, stuff happens. I thought it was nice in that all the people seemed real and to have real motives and emotions. Henry was a bit too little fleshed out, but the rest of them were believable. It makes you wonder what real life people the story was based one. It only took a few hours to read.

I also read The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio by Terry Ryan. This one had gotten a lot of press when it was published, it is the story of Evelyn Ryan, raising her ten (!!) kids under very poor circumstances, since her husband is rather an alcoholic, and thus not a real stellar breadwinner. Evelyn enters a LOT of contests and wins many of them, enough to push her family up over the edge of dire poverty. The book was little too long, but pretty entertaining. I think at the time the main action of the book takes place, Evelyn would have been about my age (39), and already the mother of ten. One kid every two years for twenty years. Unimaginable. I saw that there was a movie, with Julianne Moore playing Evelyn, which seems totally unbelievable and Hollywood-fake. Julianne Moore is just too beautiful (no offense, Evelyn!) to play that kind of role. Although Evelyn did apparently have a good amount of dignity and grace, I would spend the whole movie just thinking how fabulous Julianne Moore looked.

Anyway, it is a good "slice of life" book for the 1940s and 1950s Middle America category. Pretty entertaining and informative.

Now, when will it cool off? My bathroom is half painted, but it was too hot to finish it this weekend....

Inspired

2007-07-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

Remember a while back when I was going to make a ripple blanket? It just seemed like it would be a pain to haul the whole thing around while I was making it. Instead, inspired by Julie, I am going to make something in blocks and then sew them together. I decided to do crochet, and I have bought my starter yarn, Cascade 220, also inspired by Julie.

The colors are violet (7809), Highland (9430), Azur (8906), Flamingo (7805), and Tangerine (9444). My husband at first thought they were too bright, but then after I put them on the mantel he said we should leave them up there as decoration. I am hoping that means he likes them.

Now I just need to pick a pattern...

?

2007-07-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

Seen painted in large letters on the back of a pickup truck:

Horse Massage

Plant Quiz answer

2007-07-03T06:22:00.001-07:00

Amy was right, it is Echinacea. This is Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower. The one below is the standard species, which I grew from seed.

I also bought some cultivars for our front yard garden. This is either 'Magnus' or 'Spinning Top', probably the former. I guess the petals are a bit wider and less reflexed, but there doesn't seem to be a great difference.

One think that is amazing about plants is their morphological plasticity. When you see a baby bunny, you know more or less what an adult bunny looks like. But plants can dramatically change their shape throughout development, and that makes them fun. I especially like how the flower bud looks so different than the flower.

One Good Turn

2007-06-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

Another book review.

Have you ever read any books by Carl Hiaasen? Maybe Sick Puppy, about land developers and toads in South Florida? Did you even wish he was British and the novels took place in England? Well if so, you are in luck, you can read One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. It is kind of like Carl Hiaasen with tea and crumpets and tins.

I read Behind the Scenes at the Museum, also by Kate Atkinson, some years back and really liked it, but it was nothing like Carl Hiaasen. I would recommend it anyway, a bit more serious tale of a British family in the 1950's with more than a few family secrets.

I got out One Good Turn on a whim and read it in two days. It goes fast. It is a book of coincidences, quirky characters, and unexpected plot twists. It is set in Edinburgh and is full of very British characters, language, culture. Good for an anglophile like me.

I particularly want someone to read it so I can ask them a question about one of the characters. There is a twist at the end that I did not see coming and I want to know if others can see it coming...... so read it and then let me know so I can ask you something.