Cheaper than Vitamins

Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent

2012-01-29T18:50:00.000-08:00

Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent. By Jean-Claude Ellena, Perfumer at Hermes. Jean-Claude is French. He lives in a mansion overlooking the sea. He likes Jean Giono, and he makes perfume for Hermes. Right there you know, Jean-Claude is awesome.

The book isn't quite so awesome for the ordinary reader, and I don't think Jean-Claude really had that reader in mind. I think he was writing down his artistic process for young perfumers. That makes sense, even though I can't make sense of it. I'm going to leave it at that and point the ordinary reader to Luca Turin or Chandler Burr, neither of whom I have read yet.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)

2012-01-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)
Yeah, really. Not just a colon, but parentheses. It's like they had too much punctuation in the fridge and they wanted to use it up.

About the book, though, the guys who wrote this do a podcast, Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything, (I'm going to try to stop pointing out the obvious now) and the podcast covers pretty much everything that's in the book, and it has interviews as well. I skimmed the book looking for new information, but in spite of the P.S. there's not much there that they haven't already told me. However, I do like the podcast a lot, and the book is good for those who don't listen to podcasts.

Sun and shadow: an Erik Winter novel

2012-01-29T18:17:00.000-08:00

Sun and shadow: an Erik Winter novel. OK, look. Ev ery freaking book doesn't have to have a colon after the title followed by someboring statement like "an Eric Winter novel." We'll look back on this decade and say, oh yeah, that's when readers had to be told that a novel was: A novel. And a biography was: A biography. Revised titles: Books of the past:

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Atticus Finch mystery
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: The true story of a Philadelphia statesman
Huckleberry Finn: A Tom Sawyer novel

I think that they are onto something with this, though, in that it could warn you away from books with characters you don't like. I never read an Erik Winter novel before, but Erik Winter is boring and I don't want to read an Erik Winter novel again. I am part Scandinavian myself, and I know for a fact that the genome has not completely suppressed a sense of humor. Gaiety, maybe, but not humor. And yet the Swedish novels that make it to this country, like the movies before them, are dreary things, and their characters never laugh.

Here we have another Swedish detective of the completely-buttoned-up, and not because-it's-so-dang-cold variety, but there are no pretensions to a global conspiracies, and computers barely exist. Erik Winter is not quite as irresistible to women as Mikael Blomkvist, though, of course, he's hot. In a cold and boring way. The crime itself is gory, and there's some suspense, but just in case you were worried about this, Erik Winter lives to fight crime another day, so go ahead and make out the lights and go to bed already.

Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes

2012-01-29T17:44:00.000-08:00

Whitechapel: The Final Stand of Sherlock Holmes (Gentlemen's Edition). The author of this book said, in the prologue, that he wrote the Gentlemen's Edition of this book so he wouldn't be embarrassed for his mother to read it. If you like blood and gore, though, don't let that scare you. His mother must have a pretty strong stomach, because there were still plenty of parts that I skimmed.

Aside from that, and the fact that he seems to think that people in the past did not use contractions, resulting in some pretty stilted dialogue, I really enjoyed this book. As you can probably tell, in it Sherlock Holmes solves the Jack the Ripper crimes. I'm not too knowledgeable about the various suspects that have been put forth, so I can't speak to that aspect of the book. But again, here's a writer who has the best subjects you could ask for--Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper--and he delivered. Maybe not up to Conan Doyle's standards, but it kept me awake. I just hope that Mr. Schaffer gets a better editor next time, one who convinces him to let people talk like people.

A Pause to Complain

2012-01-29T17:24:00.000-08:00

Google, get over the white! Not only have you taken a homely but serviceable product (Gmail) and added a bunch of geewhiz gadgets, you now have dropped the whole thing in a bucket of bleach, and gray is the color of the day.

But that is nothing compared to the hideously incomprehensible mash that is Blogger. I feel like I'm drowning in milk. Would it really be too much to ask you to use black to outline boxes and buttons? To make navigation items a shade darker than invisible?

Now I return you to our regular postings.

SKYJACK: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper

2012-01-29T17:10:00.000-08:00

The author of SKYJACK: The Hunt for D. B. Cooper heard of someone who said his brother was D. B. Cooper, and decided to follow it up. Along the way, he interviewed dozens of likely and unlikely suspects and came no closer to knowing what happened to Mr. Cooper. But here's another writer who has inherently interesting subject matter and makes reading it feel like a chore. It wasn't so bad that I quit, though, and that's about all I can say for the nonfiction I've read this month.

The Man Who Made Vermeers

2012-01-29T16:42:00.000-08:00

The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren. I was wondering what to do when posting a link about the books I'm reading. I like Amazon, just fine, but they don't really need the business. But my niece Kate works at Annie Bloom's (Independent) Bookstore in Portland, and I thought maybe I could help assure she can keep her job. Not that I'd recommend you rush out and buy any of the books I have read this month

I was listening to an interview with Marshall McLuhan's son, and he said that his father, when reading nonfiction, only read every other page, because nonfiction writers are so redundant (not to mention, generally boring) that it's all that's necessary. I smacked myself on the head because if I had heard that before I started this book, I may have finished it. As it was, I gave it a lot longer trial than it deserved, about 75% of the book.

You'd think that someone who has the elements of great art, forgery, and Nazi Germany, could inject some tension into their book, but this book just plods along, citing fact after boring fact, and not even anything like, "Here's how you forge Vermeers, in case you were wondering," though he does mention some of the technical processes. I think this book was written for art historians and then wrongly marketed to the ordinary reader. You'd have to be getting paid by the hour to finish it.

Locke and Key

2012-01-25T17:09:00.000-08:00

Remember how fun it used to be to read comic books? It still is. This one is gorgeous, and the story is good, too. I'm going to try to blog at least the titles of the books I'm reading, so I remember what I did this year.

I'm back, but I've lost my head

2012-01-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

About 3 years ago I started a blog at tumblr that I never really did anything with, though it was a good idea at the time. Now I haven't done anything with this blog for a year. I'm torn between the two, as this one feeds into my Ravelry account, and that one is more what I want to do today. But the tumblr blog is fanfare for the commonplace and I hope you'll look at it.

Happy New Year

2011-02-22T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yeah I'm really late. I intended to post this on January 1. I just found it again in my inbox and I don't want to waste it. We had a good time on New Year's. Kate brought the hats, which were an inspiration. We should have fun hats for every special occasion.

Spring will be here soon

2011-01-29T17:37:00.000-08:00

I drove to Burbank, Washington, on Monday morning to buy some beehives from a farmer who's retiring. On the way home I decided to take Highway 124 (Ice Harbor Drive) instead of Highway 12. This herd of sheep was moving down the road to new pastures before lambing season stars. You never see that on Highway 12. Plus, I didn't have to look at those wind turbines that

Oregon subsidized and that have wrecked the view all down the Columbia.

I didn't know there were still this many sheep in the county. Two shepherds and three dogs were working the herd, two were border collies and one was one of those big dogs that's for guarding, like an Anatolian or something. You can see one of the border collies in the top photo.

And yes, beehives! I got two complete hives and most of what I need to go with it, except the bees. I'll order them in about a month.

New settings in Blogger

2010-12-11T12:35:00.001-08:00

For those of you with a blog, I noticed today that Blogger has a new post editor that's way better at handling photos, but you have to enable it to use it. It's not perfect, but it's better. It's under Settings/Basic and it's way at the bottom of the page.

Tom's birthday

2010-12-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

For his birthday this year, I made Tom a necktie from some silk that Yuki's parents had sent me from Japan. It turned out better than I could have dreamed. Even so, I learned a couple of things I'd do differently next time. He liked it, too. As for the photos, I do wish it didn't look like he's got a fan on his head.

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

2010-10-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

Dale and Tom
Dale and Trish--note the Navy tat. Nice!

Some guys at the penitentiary (workers, not inmates) had a great idea for a fundraiser to combat domestic violence. Men would walk 1 mile on Main Street, from Heritage Park to the courthouse, wearing women's shoes. My brother (the tall blonde in these photos) and a one of his friends took that idea and ran with it, so to speak. His girlfriend, my friend Trish, helped with his costume and makeup. When I said that I hoped Trish didn't have to worry about him adopting a new lifestyle, he said, "I also like to be spanked." Look for Dale on the front page of the Union-Bulletin tonight, he and his buddy were the main attraction of that parade.

Annika's christening

2010-08-11T17:17:00.001-07:00

Here are a few photos of Annika at her christening, wearing her new dress. It turns out a gauge swatch and measurements work as advertised--the dress fits as I intended it to. In a fancy dress or not, Annika is one adorable baby and her mother is beautiful, too.

I bought a new camera specifically for this event, but not only did it not take very good pictures, its battery wore out before the day was over and there was no way to recharge. Therefore, these are mostly photos from Fred. I'll post photos of the party tomorrow.

Birthday dress (preview)

2010-08-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to Alameda for Annika's first birthday and christening. I designed and knit the lace dress and headbands, and also designed and sewed the apron. I used a pattern for the booties. I'll post more photos of the dress--some with Annika in it--later, but since Mara hasn't seen any of this, I wanted to give her a preview.

When technology and knitting mate

2010-05-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

and have crazy, hide-them-in-the-attic, offspring. Or, why knitters shouldn't spend too much time on Ravelry.

I don't know who made this or why. It's just funny.

Yes, we have no bananas

2010-05-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

I was recently in Alameda visiting Annika (and her parents). That kid is adorable. Fortunately Mara and Julian are busy capturing everything she does on film and photo, because I was so happy just to hang out with her that I usually forgot all about my camera. As it is, I am tempted to show off every photo I took.

Hummingbirds

2010-05-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, my brother, Dale, and I went to Tom Lamb's place, outside Dixie, to see hummingbirds. It was raining, so we didn't stay very long, but there were a lot of hungry hummingbirds. Unfortunately, my camera is incapable of a photograph of them. I have to take photos of things that hold still.

Finally finished

2010-04-07T15:08:00.000-07:00

I think I started this quilt 4 years ago--maybe only 3, but then again, maybe 5. Making the top wasn't too hard, but I had a big fear of putting it together, since I've never quilted anything. And I still haven't--I tied it, and it looks fine. I had a big fear of tying it, too, but finally I just thought I didn't care how it turned out, I just wanted it off my mind. I think it turned out OK. It has a flannel back. The photo doesn't really do justice to the fabric and colors, which are some very nice batiks.

It turns out tying a quilt is pretty fun. It's not really that fun getting it ready to tie, though. I am going to learn to machine and hand quilt, but for my first stab at that, I am going to do a much smaller project, like maybe a potholder or a tote bag.

What I did with all that lavender I grew last summer

2010-01-11T06:44:00.000-08:00

I made a lot of lavender sachets to give away for Christmas, these are a few of them. I honestly got a little tired of the scent by the time I was done.

A cowl thing

2010-01-10T06:20:00.000-08:00

I've been making a lot of things lately--and forgetting to take photos of them. This is a cowl/neck warmer/neck gaiter that I made for Yuki for Christmas. She luckily had someone take a photo of her wearing it. I made the buttons to match out of polymer clay--that was kind of more fun that knitting it. Making these cowl things is fun, because you get done in no time compared to a scarf. I don't know if receiving them is quite as much fun.

First geocache find

2010-01-09T15:11:00.001-08:00

Tom got a handheld GPS for Christmas and today we found our first geocache with it. It was fun, and we got a lot of exercise trying to find it--we over walked 5 miles! As you can see, the prizes aren't really worth taking, so we just signed the logbook and I took these photos. My phone has a GPS and I can attach the GPS coordinates to a photo. I did that for the first picture, then my phone and camera crashed. It was a good way to spend a dreary day.

So Many Saldanas!

2009-12-24T07:57:00.000-08:00

I've never seen anything like this before. I wonder what romantic event inspired so many Saladana siblings to, um, have a good time without birth control on apparently the same day. Somewhere there is a grandma knitting her fingers to the bone.

Now for some real talent

2009-09-26T10:54:00.000-07:00

This gorgeous pot, probably priceless, is just standing around (in a glass case) on the sidewalk in Fukuoka. I thought I had taken a photo of the plaque about it where it said how old it is, but apparently not, or it didn't turn out. At any rate, it's over 800 years old. The pink flower is just a reflection on the glass from a fountain behind it.

In the 1590s, one shogun, Hideyoshi, decided to conquer China by way of Korea, which was the usual way that was done. At that time Chinese ceramics were in style with the wealthy--and very expensive--but Japanese potters didn't know how to make them. Since he was there already, Hideyoshi abducted and otherwise "encouraged" huge numbers of Korean potters to emigrate to Japan. So many that his motives regarding that war are in doubt. Did he want China, or did he want ceramics? At any rate, they ended calling that the Ceramic Wars.

One of those potters, Yi Sam-pyeong (his Korean name) a.k.a. Kanagae Sanpe (his Japanese name) discovered the materials to make ceramics (kaolin) in Arita, near Saga, so Japanese ceramics have their birthplace in those little towns between Fukuoka and Kumamoto.

Fireworks celebration in the Yahoo! Dome (includes singing)

2009-09-25T09:29:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at the videos I took while I was in Japan, and I only wish I had taken a lot more. There were a lot of times I wished I could capture the sound of a place, and a few I remembered that I could. This one gives you an idea of what it's like when a Japanese baseball team wins.

Making pots

2009-09-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

When she started planning the wedding, Yuki asked me what I wanted to do in Japan and one thing was to take a class with a traditional potter. This turned out to be one of the best things we did, and everyone enjoyed it. I think Tom and Koichi (Yuki's brother) look cute in aprons--which Yuki had the foresight to round up for all of us.
This is our teacher. His studio was a horrible mess, but he seemed to produce a lot of pots.
It turned out I do not suck at this endeavor. The four pots in the foreground are the ones I made and the teacher seemed honestly shocked at how good they were. Really! He went on and on about it. He couldn't believe the only things I've ever made were a poland china pig when I was in grade school and a donkey a few months ago at Anne Bullock's studio. Obviously that was quite flattering. We left the pots there for him to fire and glaze and Yuki will send them to us in a month or so.

Miyuki Bridge

2009-09-18T16:04:00.000-07:00

I love this little bridge across the Kumamoto-jo (castle) moat. It's so picturesque and peaceful, almost rural-looking, then it plops you in downtown Kumamoto. I spent a half day sitting on the wall above the moat, sketching. Not that the sketches were worth keeping. This sign tells more about the bridge.

The moat and the steep slope leading to it, and thence to the castle, used to be one of the main entrances for samurai, who lived at the foot of the castle hill, to come to work in the morning. Back then the slope was much more steep, the bridge wasn't there (I guess there must have been a drawbridge or something) and there were guards, etc., so you probably had to be pretty fit just to get up the hill--especially wearing all that armor.

I liked to imagine hung-over samurai carrying their bento boxes to work in the morning. The sign below explains more about the slope.

The way the city was laid out, the closer you lived to the castle, the higher up you were in the pecking order. Downtown stayed near the castle, so all the tiny streets around where we stayed were really ancient, though generally the buildings were not.

Monkey, monk, money questions I can't answer

2009-09-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

They still use monkeys as entertainers in Japan, which is sad. This guy was in the Hawks Center Mall, which is right outside the Yahoo! Dome in Fukuoka. I'm not sure how busking or street entertaining works in Japan. The only two we saw had signs prominently displayed saying they had been approved by the local merchants, so there's a process, but it is uncommon. I didn't notice a place to throw money, either, but I may have missed it. I saw this monk or nun outside a subway entrance near our hotel in Kumamoto. I mean, I think she was a monk or nun, as she was dressed differently than I ever saw anyone else dress, and she was chanting and begging with a bowl, but I guess she could just have been eccentric and broke. I never saw anyone else begging, but I did see homeless people and their dwellings. Nothing like as many as are in the Bay Area, but far more than you see here (essentially none).

He's big (and sometimes simultaneously very small) in Japan

2009-09-17T01:30:00.000-07:00

I saw more than 1000 Buddha statues my first half day in Japan alone, and saw a few thousand more in the course of the trip. There are almost as many Buddhist and Shinto shrines as there are convenience stores--and there is a convenience store on almost every block. The first few days you say, "Look, a temple/shrine! Let's go see the ancient buildings and buddhas and lions!" But it wears off. We did see some really neat ones, though and I only took about a thousand photos of them. I liked this guy a lot, but I don't know why he has another Buddha in his belly.

And then again, lost in translation

2009-09-16T00:05:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I had to really stretch my imagination to come up with that headline, but in making elements of our culture, their own, the Japanese sometimes seem to miss the point. Cheerleaders at baseball games, for example--though who knows, this one may boomerang back to us.

Sweet little embroidered flowers on cowboy shirts, however, will not. At least, not in Oregon. (You may have to click on the photo and look at it full size to seem them.)

Finally, we have Japanese toilets, about which there is so much to say that it's likely I'll return to the subject. In case you have forgotten where you are, sometimes the toilet paper will tell you.

A shared language

2009-09-15T00:32:00.000-07:00

I thought that news of Ichiro's popularity in Japan had been exaggerated, but it honestly is difficult to walk more than four or five blocks without seeing either a giant billboard of him like this one; or a poster of him selling something, usually beer; it is impossible to turn on the TV and watch for more than 5 to 10 minutes without seeing him; and there are entire travel agencies that appear to be devoted to nothing more than selling package deals to Mariners games. No pictures of Swiss mountains, the Grand Canyon, or Polynesian islands; just Ichiro and maybe the Space Needle. I think he's more popular than all the licensed Studio Ghibli (Totoro, etc.) and Disney characters rolled together

All the Seattle games are televised, as are those of any team that has Japanese players, so if I had time to watch, it would be easier for me to see the Mariners here than at home, since here they don't require special TV subscription. This country is seriously baseball crazy, and I love that.

It's official!

2009-09-14T23:40:00.000-07:00

Because there were several people with very nice cameras taking lots of photos, I decided that for Tom and Yuki's wedding, I would not worry about photos, but I did take a few.

The reception was in a restaurant, and they brought plate after plate of delicious little things to eat, including a local delicacy--raw, marinated horse meat, which is never going to be on the menu in the US, but is good if you don't think about the fact that it's raw, and it's horse meat.

In case you can't tell, that tall guy with the blinding flash on his camera is Fred. The guy to the right of Tom is Yuki's brother, and the woman to the left of Yuki is her American friend, Amy. The guy to the right of Fred is the official wedding photographer, Yuki's brother-in-law.

Yuki's Dad, her mom, and her nephew.

I had a great time. I don't think anyone besides the Americans had ever been to a Western-style wedding before, but there was a bossy wedding planner lady telling everyone what to do, even though that was sometimes not exactly how we'd do it in the US.

Japanese parents cry at weddings the same as American ones, and Japanese grandmothers? Well, they get darn near hysterical. Japanese sisters have emotional melt downs, and Japanese brothers get drunk, so quite a few traditions are cross cultural.

But here's something you don't see every day in any country. The wedding was conducted in Japanese and English by a blonde, blue-eyed, French Evangelical missionary who had been raised in Ghana (due to having had missionary parents). He went to college in France, immediately got sent to Japan, has a Japanese wife, and isn't sure he'll ever go back to France.

It must be the Japanese wife that is the deciding factor, because nice as Japan is, I'd choose France without thinking twice. But then I probably have an affinity for cyncial, brooding, people. Which, as far as I can tell, is the antithesis of the Japanese culture.

Pants for Annika

2009-09-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

I made these pants with self-patterning baby yarn, which made the knitting fun, butdidn't work out that well on the top half. I'd make these again, but I'd work them in the round--saving myself a lot of time making seams, as well. I'm pretty sure I have a pattern like this by Elizabeth Zimmerman that I could use as a guide. I sewed a little ribbon bow on the front waistband right before I mailed them, but didn't take a picture of that. It looks cute.

Yard Chairs

2009-08-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

I wish I spent more time sitting in these chairs than I do hanging laundry and working in the garden, but I do enjoy the patio.

"Gottschalk's Open During Mall Construction"

2009-08-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

So say the huge banners, hanging from the empty mall. In its heyday the mall did all right, but as downtown got more interesting, and more business, the mall got less; eventually there was Sears at one end and Shopko at the other and only a long scary hallway in between. A developer had the bright idea to bulldoze the that center section hallway leaving the two "anchor tenants" hanging out by themselves and build several shopping plazas in between.

The developer got most of the mall bulldozed and a couple of buildings begun, then ran out of money. Some months later the place was bought again, and abandoned again. We still have Sears and Shopko and in between there is a bunch of rubble and Gottschalk's storefont, through which you can see weeds, heavy equipment, and piles of dirt. I believe Gottschalk's, a small chain of department stores, filed for bankruptcy about a year ago.

These recession posts are kind of fun.

We Want Health Care

2009-08-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

Representative Cathy McMorris Rogers (R, Tr-Cities) was in town Thursday, trying to rile up the local let's say--FOX news watchers, but a bunch of us let's say--people with brains also were there, and we had cardboard signs. The crowd in the dome seemed to be about evenly split between the two groups. The lady in the middle of the photo above wearing a vest and taking indignant photos was telling the college students they had no right to be there as they don't live here and aren't adults. Dang those stupid laws, if it was up to her, only Republicans could vote.There were a lot of older people there (it being 3:00 PM on a weekday) and the requisite old lady in a wheelchair saying that Obama wants to kill her, which Cathy Mc-R (R) did not correct, just shook her head sadly and beatifically, and said "I should take you on the road with me." My thought was she probably already is paying her way. The only question I would have asked Ms. Mc-R was, "How much of your campaign was paid for by the insurance industry?"

What mortgage default looks like here

2009-08-28T12:36:00.000-07:00

When I got back from visiting Mara, the yard of the Tokyo Drift's yard looked worse than mine, mainly because he had packed up and moved. So the other morning a few of the neighbors got together and mowed and watered and cleared out the junk. They even edged it! Then last night we saw his house will be auctioned on the courthouse lawn. Considering I never saw TD do anything but drive his noisy car at all hours of the day and night, I can see how they weren't able to make the payment on a $128,000 mortgage--which is way more than the house is worth. And since it was Countrywide that gave an unemployed person a gigantic loan, I hope they loose a ton on the sale. Goodbye Tokyo Drift, I hope you are happy in your new duplex in College Place.

Dried Tomatoes and Peppers

2009-08-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

I've been dehydrating a lot of tomatoes lately and today I threw in some peppers, too. I have four kinds of tomatoes--gigantic, medium, small and then the yellow ones. I also grew several kinds of peppers, but can only positively identify three kinds. The long thin ones are super hot, though, way hotter than the jalapenos.

Avocado Smoothies

2009-08-22T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yum! One avocado, some canned pears, yogurt, and a little ice. Mara's friend Kellie sent me a bunch of recipes that looked fantastic, but called for a bunch of stuff I didn't have in the house. What I had was an avocado, canned pears, and yogurt. They're still delicious, just as good as the ones at that bubble tea place on--I can't remember the name of the street, is it Park?--in Alameda, only lacking the tapioca. I admit, the tapioca is a lot of fun--wish I'd had that.

A quick update

2009-08-17T13:46:00.000-07:00

We did eventually take time to step back and photograph a few adults--with the baby, of course.

I'm home now, sleeping in my bed, playing with the cat, cooking, eating fresh tomatoes, and seeing Tom and my friends. Walla Walla is so pretty and peaceful and getting to appointments is a snap. Even taking out the garbage is easier. If Mara and Annika were her it would be perfect.

A wild ride

2009-08-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

The night before last Mara's fever went up to 103 from the infection, and she went back to the emergency room, this time leaving Annika here with me. After a few hours, they sent Mara back home, and by yesterday she was feeling much better and able to get around fairly well. Yesterday we took Annika to the lactation consultant and she's past her birth weight, which is supposed to take about two weeks, so in spite of all the craziness, she is thriving. I hope Mara, too, is on her way to more healing, relaxation, and enjoyment of her new baby.

Home Again

2009-08-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

with fingers crossed. Mara had four IV antibiotic infusions and spent the night in the hospital. She's feeling better now and the swelling has decreased somewhat. Julian has to pack dressing into her open wound once a day until it closes. It's really quite impressive.

Meanwhile, the temperature here is 82 degrees--a heat wave. With everyone's windows open, one of Mara's neighbors has apparently created a station on Pandora called "Freddy Fender" which isn't so bad when it's Patsy Cline singing sad country-ish songs. It could be a lot worse.

Two steps forward...

2009-08-08T16:10:00.000-07:00

one step back. Mara got an infection in her incision and is back in the hospital for the night, getting IV antibiotics. It's not life threatening, and she's doing all right, but feeling really crummy. We'll find out in a while whether she can be back on the OB ward, so that Annika can spend the night with her. I'll get some photos of Annika posted when I get them off my phone.

Annika Maria Martinez Palumbo

2009-08-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Born August 2, 2009 at 2:31 PM

7 pounds, 11.5 ounces

19.5 inches

Mara and Annika are doing fine. It was an unplanned C-section, but it went well.

Mara's water broke at about 7:30 PM on the 1st of August, and we went to the hospital at 3:00 AM on the 2nd. She finally got to the recovery room about 7:30 tonight, so it was a long and sometimes frightening day, but look at the beautiful baby! I just got home, ate some leftovers and am going to bed. Wednesday afternoon Mara and Annika get to come home!

Cool in the Shade

2009-08-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last year there was a big hole in the bamboo right behind the chairs, but it's filled in now, just not as tall as the bamboo on either side. I always think sitting on the patio sounds like a great idea, but I actually rarely do. On the left in the picture you can see how crazy out of control my garden got--and how lazy I've been about taking care of it.

Squash Blossoms

2009-07-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

OK, I don't really know if these are squash blossoms or watermelon blossoms, and it's a technicality anyway, but they are huge. I don't remember squash blossoms being quite this big, and cucumber flowers sure aren't. They are really pretty, though, and they taste good, and I think they make a nice orange, pink, or yellow dye, depending on what you chemicals you use with it.

I've never been successful with watermelon before and next year the watermelon is going to get its own area, far from the rest of the plants. It reminds me of that plant in Little Shop of Horrors It's enormous and climbs all over all the other plants and so far there's no evidence that those big flowers will ever be watermelons.

Pea Harvest--June 22

2009-07-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

Still catching up. I took this photo from my sister Bev's deck June 22. Her house has a fantastic view of the mountains and the changing colors and shapes of the fields. It's nice that the entire valley isn't grapes, yet.

Xeriscape Garden

2009-07-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

I'm embarrassed to admit that although the Xeriscape Garden has been in place for at least 15 years, I'd never visited it till this May. I ought to walk down and take a photo of it right now, but it's too hot! It's really a great place to get ideas for native and drought-tolerant plants, and a little oasis on a busy corner.

Bennington Lake

2009-07-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this pontoon boat up at Bennington Lake and thought how nice it would be to have something like this to just paddle out somewhere and then--sit in it and knit. It's inflatable! It's been so hot lately, I think I'd be happy with one of those things for fishermen that's essentially a fancy innertube. Actually, I'm pretty happy just having air conditioning.

Baby Shower

2009-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Continuing the nonlinear theme, also in June we gave Mara a baby shower while she was here. One fun thing we did was make an alphabet book for Annika. Jan and her mom brought most of the supplies, and I brought photos. I think Maureen Walsh had the most fun drawing really cute illustrations. Now here it is, almost time for Annika to be born!

Tri-Cities Dust Devils

2009-07-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

I went to a Dust Devils game the other night. They are doing very well this year, though not so well that night. But it's always fun to go to a baseball game.

Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival

2009-07-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

The blog is going to be a little nonlinear for a few days while I get caught up. The Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, which was around June 20, had free, open rehearsals. This one was at the Backstage Bistro, and it was Brahms. A wonderful way to spend the morning, and educational too, as the leader sometimes interjected interesting comments about the piece and about Brahms. I hope I can attend more events next year--and get better photos.

Lavender harvest

2009-07-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

My garage smells really good!

Quilt 2

2009-07-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

I cut out so many extra pieces for the quilt for Annika, that I was able to make this one, too.

Lately my computer has been running so slowly that trying to do anything takes way more time than I want to spend. I have a lot of photos, but getting the onto the blog is torture. Plus, half the time it seems like my Internet connection is super slow. Oh yeah, and my bathroom sink is clogged. I'm sure all of this is very bad feng shui related to hanging a mirror behind my bedroom door or something.

Quilt for Annika

2009-06-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

This is a little quilt I made for Mara's baby. I haven't actually quilted it yet, but it's pieced. Of couse compared to the handwoven blanket my sister Bev made, and a beautiful quilt made by Mara's great aunt, it's nothing special. And I'm sure my mother has made something out of pieces the size of pennies in a design from a book with a title something like "Further Quilts Not for the Faint of Heart." The baby will probably prefer something from Wal-Mart anyway. You just never know.

Survivor Walk

2009-06-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

June 12 was the big Relay for Life event at Borleske Field in Walla Walla and I did a Survivor Lap for the first time, although it's now been 8 years since I got my diagnosis. I went with a friend who just finished treatment. It was amazing! There were a couple hundred survivors and as we walked around the track, people lined the inside oval and applauded us, which would have made me cry if I hadn't had someone to talk to.

There were people there who were still getting treatment and people who have been cancer-free for much longer than me, and there were, sadly, quite a few people who've had it more than once. Then when we were done with our little bit of exercise, they gave the survivors a chicken dinner. We also got those purple T-shirts, which I doubt I'll ever wear again, and the best part was, we got a medal. About time!

Even better than the medal, though, was seeing how much people care and how much work is going on to help find a cure. I think they deserve the big applause much more than I do.

Very Van Gogh

2009-06-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Although the blooms on these irises died a few weeks ago, they were sure pretty while they lasted. I like irises in paintings and in gardens, but the scent is overpowering, so I don't like them in the house.

I'm making several posts today and have set it up so there will be a new post each day for a few days. I've been taking a lot of photos, but not doing anything with them.

Siamese cat and bunny felted amigurumi

2009-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

I forgot to take photos of these guys before I gave them away, so one of the parents of one of the recipients took these photos with her phone. I felted both these in hot water and dish soap after I made them, but the cat didn't felt up very well and the bunny felted a bit too well.

You never know quite what you'll get when you do that, just like you never know how small your sweaters are going to bet when you accidentally throw them in the laundry.

I also needle felted parts of the bunny, like his body and the insides of his ears. Both these patterns are from Lion Brand yarns, which has quite a few amigurumi patterns, although Lion Brand didn't say anything about needle felting.

I like doing the eyes and other small bits with needle felting because then there's no choking hazard and I think they turn out cuter than those plastic eyes you get at the craft store. Now I'm getting paranoid about the belly button. Maybe it should get cut off.

Balloon Wallpaper

2009-05-15T08:54:00.001-07:00

I'm using that third balloon picture as my computer wallpaper and it makes me happy to look at it. I didn't realize that the balloon has a muscial staff on it.

If you want to use it on your desktop, feel free. Just click on the photo so that you are looking at it large, then right click on it and save it on your desktop, then right click on the file you've saved on your desktop and look for the menu item that says use as wallpaper or something.

You probably knew that and don't want to use that photo anyway, but now I've done an entry for the day.

Rhody!

2009-05-12T15:08:00.001-07:00

For the first time in my life, I have a rhodedendrun that's actually blooming. And is it ever! But I'm not sure I know how to spell it.

I posted this blog entry from my phone--and that explains why I didn't correct the color on the photo.

2009-05-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

The organic garden at Whitman College is just a few blocks from my house, and a nice place to pass on a walk or bike ride. I hope someday that my garden will be half as nice--but as only one (not too ambitious) person works on mine, that is going to be a while. I wish I had a ramshacklely tool storage shed and some rusted art--not to mention rustic pergola and a giant pile of wood chips. I am relieved that aside from peas, their plants haven't gotten going yet, either.

2009-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I was reading the newspaper when I heard the whoosh of propane burners and remembered that this is Balloon Stampede weekend. I think every balloon that lifted off today flew right over my house, so I didn't have to go anywhere to see them.

Garage makeover

2009-05-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I finished cleaning and organizing the garage to give myself studio space. Now I have room to cut fabric or paper, paint, glue, store wool, yarn, fabric, and art supplies, and keep projects I'm working on out of the way of curious cats. Plus I can leave things out here and not have to pick them up or live around them.

All my craft, art, and pattern books are in easy reach. I also discovered a great new use for the laundry lifter. I can hang fabric I've ironed or that I am sewing currently on there, lift it to the ceiling, and it's out of my way--and the cats can't lay on it. It's great to be able to leave the iron set up if I want to, and the table I made has plenty of room for cutting.

I hung shop lights and installed some plug ins, and now it's a pleasant, light-filled place to work. I still have room to store more supplies, but not many. I think maybe I should get more file cabinets. Oh, and there's still plenty of room for gardening equipment and my bike.

Oh, and Shalimar, you'll notice I have a little (black) shadow that goes in and out with me, too. Not nearly as cute as Hazel. I don't wait for Yuki to be in every photo, she just seems to love the camera.

Gardening efforts

2009-05-02T10:36:00.001-07:00

In an attempt to have every perennial I love at the new house, I've planted rhubarb, a lilac bush, asparagus, and raspberries. The asparagus was from seed and hasn't taken off, the raspberries are a bit sad, but will probably live, the rhubarb seems OK, and I guess it's hard to kill a lilac.I also moved all these pavers from here, where I think a steel building used to be--to here, next to the patio, where I'm making small vegetable plots. Today, Tom and I moved them again so he can rototill under them. Unfortunately, he didn't volunteer to rototill till I was done with round one of the moving project, but he did more than half the work. I think it will look great when it's done.

Inside Pandora's Box

2009-05-02T10:19:00.000-07:00

It's Spring Release Weekend here in Walla Walla, a mixed blessing. On the one hand we have a lot of traffic, and on the other hand, we have gallery showings of performance art where "parental discretion is advised." Willow had this installation by Giancarlo Solimano, Frank Munns with cinematography and props by Colonel Christopher Hansen called "Pandora's Box." It was a little like the JCs Haunted House, only with body paint and satyrs. I was afraid to take photos of either of those, so I stuck with inanimate objects.

It was great fun, even if I did keep thinking of The Big Lebowski. Especially since the parental discretion was advised because the film had quite a bit of someone's Johnson. I wish I could go again, but they won't be having the performance part of the show again. (I think the film will be there, along with the props.) Plus, there was three layer lemon cake!

Catch up #3—Humpty Dumpty Amigurumi

2009-04-04T18:12:00.001-07:00

I made this amigurumi for my friend Trish’s granddaughter, Sofia, who is just two weeks old. And now I am caught up.

It takes a village…to rescue a cat

2009-04-04T17:44:00.001-07:00

Way up there, behind some leaves, hides Yuki, the cat put scaredy in the name. She had been there for five days and this morning she was starting to sound pretty weak. The fire department, it turns out, only rescues cats in cartoons.

Our next-door neighbors loaned us a 20-foot extension ladder and a neighbor across the back loaned us a branch trimmer on a long pole so we could clear an area to lean the ladder, but it turned out that ladder wasn’t tall enough. Our next-door neighbors remembered that a guy across the street has a 30-foot ladder, only he’s on vacation. Undeterred, my neighbor and his son went over there, hopped the fence and got the 30-foot ladder. After a couple of tries, Tom caught the flailing cat and avoided scratches by wearing his winter coat and my leather gardening gloves. Now all the ladders and tools are put away and Yuki is on top of my desk next to me, approving this post.

Catching up part 2—Mill Creek dam

2009-04-04T12:54:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday, friend, Janaki, and I took our dogs for a walk on the Mill Creek nature trail. It was cold and windy, and it seemed like winter will never end. There has been so much snow and, lately, rain, that the spillway from the day actually had water spilling over it, creating a rather impressive waterfall. The Corps of Engineers only diverts water out of the reservoir (AKA Bennington Lake) when there’s a danger of flooding, so you very rarely see this. Ordinarily Mill Creek is really just creek-sized, but when it rains a lot, it gets bigger than the Mighty Nemadji. The dogs had a great time. We turned around before we got to the reservoir—the wind was too strong.

Catching up part 1—Arizona

2009-04-04T12:39:00.001-07:00

Right, so Mara and I met up in Arizona last month to see my mom/her grandma. Mom at the Sierra Vista Farmer's Market. It's not as nice as the Walla Walla one, but it's sufficient.Mom and I went to an alpaca farm and got to meet all the alpacas. I bought a little bit of fiber to spin.After we picked Mara up at the airport, we stopped and had sushi. It was good except for one roll I ordered, I think because it had the word “happy” in it. Probably should have asked what the other words meant. We never found out, so I can’t warn you away.Mara and I went to Tumacacori, a mission started by Father Kino, near Nogales. I think it was the first mission in Arizona. It’s just south of Tubac. I liked this picture of the back of the mission better than the ones I took of the front.

I liked that they didn’t restore it. It was lovely, warm, and peaceful that day and the drive from Mom’s house to the mission was beautiful. Only about five cops/border patrol/sheriffs spotted on the way.
It being spring training, Mara and I also went to a baseball game, the Diamondbacks v the Rockies. Two teams I could care less about, but it was fun to be at a game, though hot in the sun.

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have war in the United States, where Mom lives is the place you can find out without going to Bagdad or Feluga. They have border patrol checkpoints about every 50 or 100 miles, where soldiers get really mad at you if you misinterpret their circular hand signs. There is at least one cop, sheriff, or border patrol car every 5 miles, hiding by the side of the road, on the side of a mountain or driving along beside you; and at night they have black hawk helicopters zooming around like it was East Los Angeles.

And that “eye in the sky” which the government is supposedly “developing?” I wonder why they don’t say it’s already developed. It’s there, high above the Arizona/Mexico border, in use, and visible from miles away. It’s no secret—any journalist could go down there and take a picture of it, but for some reason they don’t.

The border patrol has huge signs advertising for workers, and I hear President Obama has ordered troops to the border, I guess because you can only get so many people to join the border patrol. If you think about it too much it all gets frightening. It sure made me appreciate living in a state that shares a border with Canada. Oh Canada!

Two may be too many

2009-03-30T11:10:00.001-07:00

I wanted to learn to knit two socks at a time and Mara got me a book that shows how to do it. There's nothing wrong with the book, but I may not be coordinated enough for the method. As you can see, the yarn has a tendency to get tangled up. And with knitting such tiny socks, you barely have time to get a rhythm going when you have to fiddle around with the needles and the yarn again.

I think if I am going to really knit two socks at a time, I'll just cast onto two different needles and alternate between socks when I feel like it. But you never know, by the time I finish these socks, I may like doing it this way. The yarn is from Knitpicks and my mom gave it to me when I was in Arizona.

Will winter ever end?

2009-03-29T08:52:00.001-07:00

I woke up this morning to this all-too-familiar sight, but it did give me a chance to test sending photos from my phone straight to the blog. Works great if you don't mind tapping the copy out on the phone keyboard, or don't have much to say.

You Are What You Read

2009-02-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

You may remember my font rant from last year--or not--but I attacked Comic Sans as if it were my personal enemy. Now my design sensibilities have been verified by science, people! From Scientific American (edited for brevity):

Two psychologists at the University of Michigan wanted to see if they could motivate a group of students to exercise regularly. They gave them instructions for an exercise routine. Some received instructions printed in Arial typeface, others in a Brush font, which looks as if it had been written by hand.

The findings were remarkable. Those who read the exercise instructions in Arial believed that the regimen would take less time and would feel fluid and easy and were more willing to make exercise part of their day.
They decided to double-check these results with an experiment making a sushi roll. The volunteers read the recipe, then estimated how long it would take to make the dish, whether they were inclined to do it, and how much skill a professional cook would need to prepare it.
The results were basically the same. Those who read the instructions in the script saw the task as time-consuming, requiring a high level of skill and they were not apt to try it themselves. Those who received the instructions in Arial were much more likely to head for the kitchen.

I hope this information gets out to teachers --if they are having trouble teaching a task, they might have success just by changing fonts! Be sure to check the font before you decide something is too hard to do--it might be tricking you.

Fun with Filters

2009-02-21T10:18:00.000-08:00

I was playing around with the filters in Irfanview and made this. I like the colors. It's kind of magazine-y. I might mess around with some of my other photos, too.

Testing--New Comments

2009-02-02T12:33:00.001-08:00

Now that comments are working again, I decided to try out a new format that makes it easier, ,and more fun, for you to comment. If it doesn't work out, we can always go back to the old way. Please try out the new comments and let me know what you think. To get things go, if you could go back in time, where would you go, and why? What would you do? Would you visit anyone? You don't have to tell the truth.

Shalimar--thanks for your comment. It went under the old system. After this it should work.

Another Donkey—and a Bunny

2009-01-30T13:26:00.001-08:00

The donkey on the left is one I finished a couple of days ago; the one on the right is the first one I made. The one on the left is a girl named Betsy. The one on the right is a boy named Trot. Don’t ask me how I know these things.

Here they are with a bunny I am making. It’s a nameless boy. I’m waiting for inspiration on how to finish his face, etc. Yeah, I am wondering when I joined the Toy Making Elves Local N.P. 293 also. I haven’t even taken a picture of the second blanket bunny buddy I made. I am as baffled as you.

Donkeys!

2009-01-26T15:53:00.000-08:00

I just finished listening to a BBC play of David Copperfield. It was 10 hours long and when I got done I decided to read the book. David's aunt, Betsy Trotwood, detests donkeys, and comes running out of her house screaming "Donkeys!" whenever she sees one. I would say the same thing if I saw one in front of my house, but I like them.

My friend Jeanne Bates was here this weekend and she showed me how to needle felt. I always thought that was a craft to be avoided. Even though I like to do a number of things that require needles, felting sounds tedious and painful. But it wasn't tedious and I only poked my finger once, and it didn't hurt, so it wasn't painful. I started out making a sheep but about halfway through, it told me it wanted to be a donkey. I'm making another donkey right now and it is telling me it might want to be a horse. Maybe it will be a mule. Amigurumi is going to take back seat to needle felting for a few days.

I helped Jeanne with her knitting and what she lacks in know-how she makes up in speed. She made a pair of booties and a baby hat. It would probably take me a week to do that.

Ding, Dong, the Bush is Gone

2009-01-20T10:06:00.001-08:00

Here in crazy, quirky, America, and maybe crazier, quirkier, California, an entire inauguration recreation was made out of Legos.

At the real White House, President George Bush the First was announced and waddled out on a cane, looking like the Penguin; President George the Second was announced and looked, as he always does, like Alfred E. Newman; Dick Cheney was announced and rolled out in wheelchair, looking like Dr. Strangelove; the Clintons were announced, and appeared hand in hand, looking like they might start campaigning any second; and Michelle Obama's grandmother, Marian Robinson, looked like a very nice lady, but she was never announced. Malia and Sasha, her grandchildren, with whom she walked out, were, but not her. Old ladies who aren't senators or judges or wives of former presidents are still invisible. Help us Ms. Robinson! Make them notice you.Aretha Frankin wore an awesome gray, beaded hat shaped like a crown, which is no less than the Queen of Soul deserves. I guess they didn't know about the hat when they made the Lego Aretha. She shook up "My Country Tis of Thee," Aretha style. Wouldn't Marian Anderson be proud?

The composition by John Williams did not have a single Star Wars note, though it was, as usual with Williams, a hodgepody rip off--or homage--in this case of Samuel Barber, Aaron Copeland and the song "Simple Gifts." It was a series of musical cliches strung together with an eye to making you cry, and it didn't even do that. It was saved though, by the multicultural quartet of Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero, and Anthony McGill. (For your edification: an American Jew born in Israel, an Asian American born in China, a Venezuelan born in Venezuela, and an African American born in America.)

All I can say about Rick Warren is WHY, why why Rick Warren??? That and why mention Israel, even if supposedly only the historic Israel, in the first sentence? No really, I know why. I just can't believe he did it. Contrariwise, the Reverend Joseph Lowery kicked ass delivering a better closing prayer than Warren with some nice internal rhyme. Why wasn't he the opening pray-er? More importantly, though, why prayer at all? Why swearing on a Bible--who cares if it was Lincoln's? Move along, America and live up to the separation of church and state. If you want to pray, go ahead, but don't make the whole country do it with you.

You knew I had to talk about this: Elizabeth Alexander's poem started out weak, sputtered in the middle and pooped out in the end. A couple of times my ears perked up and I thought, Yes! She's going to go somewhere! But she never did. It's hard to write ocassional poetry and I am not saying I could have done better. But is there any good reason you can't memorize your own poem in time for the presidential inauguration? I guess there must be, because even Robert Frost didn't bother to, and so, when he couldn't read his manuscript, he recited, from memory, "The Gift Outright." And that was when five-year-old me decided to be a poet.
If you look in the background on the left side of this photo you'll see Walter Mondale. He was there today, too.

I can imagine there are five-year-olds who today decided to be singers, violinists, cellists, clarinetists, preachers and possibly even politicians, but I doubt that any budding writers found themselves electrified, burning to be as good a poet as Elizabeth Alexander. Moms and dads everywhere: You got off this time, now don't blow it and take you kids to any poetry readings. There are a lot of great poets in this country and they might hear one.

Thank you President Obama for not calling us to save America by shopping or bombing. Thank you for saying we'll have to make sacrifices. Thank you for including the peril of the environment. Thank you for talking about health care, your Kenyan father, and the poor. I may not agree with everything you end up doing, but thank you for trying to do what's right.

Finally, I was thinking how wonderful it is that our president is inaugurated not in some crowded cathedral, but outside, where all of us can attend. And with this president, that has become more than a symbolic display.

Comments are back

2009-01-16T13:14:00.000-08:00

I found the fix to the vanished comment box, so if you wanted to say something way back whenever, you can go back there now and tell us all about it. And I hope you do, because blogging with no comments is like working for no paycheck. If your Internet connection is running slowly like mine is today, wait a couple of seconds for the text box to show up.

If you want to know what you should do if you ever suffer from the case of the disappearing comments, read along, I'm posting the directions here for your edification and for Future Me. Thank you to How Can I Do That? for the information. It's as easy as one, two, three.

First, be sure that you've really enabled comments. This is like "be sure your appliance is plugged in," so I'm not going to include as one of the three steps. But do it anyway.

1. Now, go to the layout tab, click on Edit HTML, and click inside the box where you can edit your template. Scroll down until you find this text, which is the code that enables comments. (Click on the photo to make it bigger.) You'll be looking for the highlighted portion.2. Cut that out like a suspicious-looking mole and save it in your clipboard like for a cut and paste. Make a note of where you cut it from. You can do this in your head, or you can make a gigantic space there with a lot of returns so you can find it again, or if you know your html, you can remark it.

You may want to copy the snippet into a plain text file in case you should happen to lose it, but you are going to use it again in less than 30 seconds. If you are super cautious, click on the highlighted link that says "Download Full Template" and save your entire current template.

3. Now save the template, minus the offending bit, by pushing the orange "Save Template" button. You will get a warning that bad things could happen--like losing your comments. Go ahead and do it anyway. Then scroll back down to where you cut out that snippet and paste it back in again. You don't have to edit a thing. Save the template once again, and check. Your comments should work . Why, I don't know, any more than I know why they stopped in the first place.

Amigurumi--super happy cute crochet!

2009-01-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I saw a book about Amigurumi at Joann's and I kept going back to look at it until finally yesterday books were 40 percent off and I bought it.

Amigurumi have a couple of defining features and the first is cuteness, which is why I kept looking at the book. The second is they are knit or crochet, but far and away the most are crocheted, for reasons any knitter will see instantly. They are generally just a single crochet spiral and if you've ever crocheted a hat without a pattern, you'll be knocking these off in no time--or even if you haven't. They are dead easy.

I found out after I had bought the book that there are a lot of free patterns at Lion Brand and elsewhere, but I like having the pictures. I didn't actually read the patterns until after I had finished this little guy. The patterns aren't in Japanese, exactly, but they are written the way Japanese patterns for Amigurumi are written--which is a good way of doing it, very visual--but also, ah, foreign to Western crocheters.

Not having, as I said, been wise enough to consult the patterns, I started by making the head and body so small that I didn't even want to think about making arms and legs, so I decided to just not do them. Which turns out to be perfectly acceptable, and even common, in Amigurumi, where anatomical accuracy is the enemy of cute. Big heads rule.

I'm going to start a new one today--bigger, and using thicker yarn. I can hardly wait to make a Hello Kitty doll. And a Weeble family, and a barnyard of animals, especially sheep, and some birds, oh and a poodle, and maybe some cupcakes and carrots and...

The same publisher, Kyuuto (get it?) also has a book about felted animals, but I thought I'd start with a craft that A) I already know how to do, and B) doesn't require any new materials. You can get started on this without leaving the house, because all you need is some odd balls of yarn and a hook and off you go. You don't even, as I have shown, need a pattern, or even a good idea of how you want it to turn out.

What the *?#/& Happened to Comments?

2009-01-15T21:53:00.001-08:00

The other day I changed colors of the template I use from a black background to a beige one. That's seriously all I did. Now comments don't work. I have read all the help files and they say sometimes that happens when you use a template you didn't get from Blogger. I got mine from Blogger so I don't know how to fix it. I will keep working on it. If you have comments before I get this fixed, send them to me--at least someone will see them. Sorry about this.

What I've been knitting lately

2009-01-14T17:03:00.000-08:00

There's a bit of a baby theme going on this month. This Bunny Blanket Buddy is a free pattern from Lion Brand yarn. It's easy and it's the first time I've done what I guess is called double knit--you knit two sides at once, and that was fun. The project went very quickly until I started the embellishments. I was just going to tie a ribbon round its neck, but then that orange ribbon seemed like it could be put to better use and three hours later I had crocheted a bunch of carrots. I guess it was a waste of time, but it was fun. I'm not sure who I'm going to give this to.
I saw this self-jacquard baby yarn by Bernat and had to have it. The hat is off the inside of the label and the booties are from Ravelry. I made them for the baby of my friend Scot.
I made this for my friend Susan in Minneapolis--not my friend Susan in Portland, or my friend Susan in Walla Walla or Fred's girlfriend Susan. The the one in Minneapolis. She claims to like it. It was the first cable I've made since I was 8 years old--remember that sweater, Mom? Yeah, it frightened me off knitting for about 20 years. But it turns out, if you are older than 8, this particular cable is dead easy.

Busted!

2009-01-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

It started to thaw last night and I woke this morning to the frightening sound of water gushing from a broken pipe somewhere--where was not immediately apparent. You'd think that broken pipes would turn up when they freeze, but unless the pipe is associated with supplying or draining something inside the house, you mostly don't find them till they thaw and loose the ice corks that have kept them dammed up--along with hundreds of gallons of water.

The source of my problem was a pipe that feeds a huge valve that has something to do with the underground sprinklers in the front yard--but I couldn't find the shutoff. The soonest I could get a plumber here was this afternoon and the city wasn't yet at work and able to shut off the water completely. Meanwhile water was gushing out, and I had a small stream running down the sidewalk. (Nice to know the grade of the lawn is correct, though).

I did finally find the shutoff and luckily, it only turns off the water to the sprinklers, so I can still bathe, wash dishes, etc. Unluckily, I still don't know how to shut off all the water to the house.

While worrying how much Mike Harvey's Plumbing was going to cost, I remembered Jon, handyman extraordinaire, who helped me rehang the bathroom door, put up the light in the dining area, etc. After he dropped his kids off at school, he came by to assess the damage. We decided to let the repair go till spring. I got to show him the living room ceiling--he was one of the people who told me I could do it myself--and he was gratifyingly impressed.

So, what looked like a disaster at 7 a.m. was just an inconvenience by 8. I am so lucky to have found Jon. He's a home repair (and remodelling) superhero.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-03T08:44:00.000-08:00

I am trying to think of a new year's resolution that doesn't involve losing weight or exercising daily. One that I'll feel good about even if I only do it five times. This blog started from my resolution to take a photo each day for an entire year, and though that didn't happen, I am still glad I tried because I have the blog and a bunch of photos and a some writing and a record of what I've done for the past few years. So I think that the resolution should be something I really want to do. Here are some ideas I've had.

*Draw something every day.
*Cook something new each week.
*Memorize a new poem each week.
*Knit something each month.

I want to do all of those! What fun thing would you do or learn to do this year? Maybe a few of us could choose something and encourage each other or start a blog together.

SeaTac

2008-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

One of my former students, Austin Anderson, snapped this photo while trapped at SeaTac over the weekend. I got his permission before putting it up here. I was lucky that both my kids made it home during brief breaks in the weather.

Need food! Send help!

2008-12-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

My front yard. You can't see it, but under the big lump of snow on the left is my rhododendron--it's one of the biggest in the area, and taller than me. Also, note the giant icicle.Tom got a ride to work this morning. I can't get my car out of the driveway, but the buses should be running today, so I can go buy some groceries, and the bus stop is only a block away. I will also get some exercise shoveling, but I don't think I'll make it to the Y today.

Birdwatching

2008-12-21T10:18:00.001-08:00

Yes, it snowed more last night and yes, it's still snowing now, and no, I still can't drive, but when I can I am going to get a big sack of bird food. There's something on the pine tree across the street that's ordinarily not all that appetizing to birds, but becomes delicious when there's no other food to be found. It's wildlife TV for Yuki and Louis.

The Weather Outside is Still Frightful

2008-12-19T15:48:00.000-08:00

Tom's car last night.
Tom's car seen from the street. There's so much snow on top of it that it hides my car, which is in the driveway.
Homer sticks to the shoveled parts of the world. The snow is way over his head.
The snow is about four inches higher than my top step! Apparently it's not quite as bad in College Place, but as you come east from there, it gets deeper and deeper. I live pretty far east.

Tom finally got home from Japan at about 11 last night--13 hours late. They canceled all but the last flight from Seattle yesterday and he was lucky enough to get on it. Now I just have to wonder if Mara will be able to get here tomorrow.

Large Hadron Crocheter

2008-12-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I found another online comic I like, Questionable Content.

Stop the free credit card offers, catalogs, and other junk mail

2008-12-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

I don't have any good photos yet today, but I did run across this piece of information I thought you might find helpful. I just read about a number you can call that will get you off a lot of the free credit card lists, which will save you time shredding. Now if I could just find a number that makes the credit card company stop sending those blank checks. Call Trans Union at 1-888-567-8688 (1-888-5-OPT-OUT).

As for catalogs, you can go to this site and get off a lot of them.

Another thing I have begun to do when I get a catalog I don't want, is call or email the company ask to be taken off their list. So far everyone has been nice about this and I've only had a couple of unwanted catalogs this year.

At Direct Mail Choice.org you can fine tune your junk mail and, with luck, filter out what you don't want. I haven't done this yet, but I am going to start today.

Last, there's an outfit called World Privacy Forum that tells you how to opt out of just about anything--phone calls, emails, regular mail--and things you didn't know marketers are doing behind your back. I had no idea there were so many kinds of data about me "out there" and also no idea you could do something about it. It looks like a fairly daunting task, but probably worth it, and I intend to tic off the list of ten top offenders one at a time.

Will it stop you from getting all that spam email? I doubt it's going to rid your mailbox of Viagra ads (and what are these new ones about grants and mortgages--these guys sure know how to exploit people's anxieties), but it may stop or slow down stuff that's legitimate.

Happy Zamenhof Day!

2008-12-15T07:04:00.000-08:00

Mazel tov, Zamenhof and Zipf! Today is the birthday of Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto--and also of me, student of Esperanto. Aside from Esperanto, Zamenhof spoke Russian, Yiddish, and Polish as first languages and then went on to learn German, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English. He also wrote the first grammar of the Yiddish language. He and his wife had three children; all of them died in the holocaust, although both he and his wife were long gone by the Second World War. Hundreds of streets, parks, and bridges have been named after him, as well as hills in Brazil and Hungary, an island in the Danube, a minor planet, and a genus of lichen!As for the far less-famous Z, her birthday present is that it snowed more last night, and is still snowing right now. If she had her choice of further presents, it would be a shovel, as it appears that every one in Walla Walla had been sold by yesterday afternoon. Right now the snow comes to the top of the hubcaps of Tom's car and the roof, hood, all windows, and even the sides of the car are buried in snow.If it's not melted by the time he gets home from Japan on Thursday, Tom is going to need a shovel of his own.

A very thrify room makeover

2008-12-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

Take that, Design on a Dime! This whole project cost me less than $100--and possibly the use of my lungs in 20 or 30 years. I finished the bulk of the work for the living room on Thursday. Since then I've been rearranging furniture, hanging pictures, etc.

On to the before and after shots.
Here is the living room not long after I moved in.And here it is today. The ceiling looks fantastic now that it's been scraped, washed (and washed, and washed), primed, and painted; and the room looks warmer now that the dead white is gone. I also added the ceiling fan. Before there was an overhead light fixture that looked like a pimple on the ceiling. In fact, the entire ceiling looked like a gigantic skin disease--maybe leprosy. By the way, it's been snowing for two days--which you can see out the windows. I love the snow!This is the portion of the living room I designated as the dining area. I guess I thought a table and my imagination would make it so. It's worked for other things. Poor forlorn table.Now it's a dining area/library. It is my favorite part of the project--a cozy place to read or eat. The light fixture, which I picked up from a lady's driveway (freecycle), is what started the whole transformation of this corner of the living room. In case you're wondering, the round table went in the kitchen, where there was plenty of room for it.The cats like it, too. So now I have to yell at them to get off two tables.I believe they think this entire project was designed to give them more comfy places to lay around in.

Goodbye Cottage Cheesy

2008-12-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

So the house had this popcorn/cottage cheese ceiling, probably made entirely of asbestos, and it was hideous. At one point it was white, I guess, with disco sparkles, but after 30 or so years, it was gray--but the disco sparkles still shone. I intended to just paint it but four months of Jan's nagging wore me down and I decided to scrape it off. Damn the cancer, I want a clean ceiling!Here's Jan, spackling the only flaw we found in the beautiful plaster that was under the hideous popcorn ceiling. The left side of the photo is the area that's been scraped, the right is what's left to go. At this point it was almost half scraped. The scraping was relatively easy. The cleaning took a day and a half. And then there was the priming and the painting.

A Quick Tour of Whitman Campus

2008-12-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

I feel lucky to live near Whitman College, though I haven't actually gone to any events this year. It's a great place for a walk, and a nice shortcut to downtown--with no cars to worry about. Also, the students like to see Homer.Until I took this picture, I never noticed how this Venus (by Jim Dine) and classical columns of Baker Faculty Center play on each other. I hope that didn't sound as bombastic to you as it did to me.The Native Americans who live in this area have never had anything to do with totem poles, so it's incongruous to have two totem poles near this treaty rock, but I guess if anyone is offended by them, they've let the college know by now.I'll write about that treaty signing someday soon--I wasn't a ranger at Whitman Mission for nothing.

Last dog of the day

2008-12-06T10:14:00.001-08:00

There's a nice new dog park at Fort Walla Walla, but that's too far away for the daily walk. Near the house are Menlo Park, where, when school lets out, moms with younger kids turn their dogs loose while the kids play on the swings; and the Green Park playground, where, after 5 and on weekends, everyone in the neighborhood lets their dogs loose. The playground is much bigger and fenced and Homer gets to run through there most days. And I'm not speaking metaphorically, he really runs.

Sun Dogs

2008-12-06T09:51:00.001-08:00

A side benefit of the new camera was finding these photos on the card that was in the old camera. I have only seen sun dogs twice in my life, but I guess if I were looking at the sky more, I'd see them more often. I haven't figured out if there's a way to tell if they might happen or where they might be, unlike rainbows, which pretty much have announcements.

Wikipedia says they are called, scientifically, parhelia, and are caused by refraction of sunlight caused by ice crystals in the clouds. I guess the fact that they can also be caused by dust explains their appearance in Alameda, California, in the spring.

I thought they had to be quasi-rainbows, but they also can be balls of light that look pretty much the same as the sun appearing on each side of the sun, hence the name sun dogs. It's an interesting article, with good photos, if you want to learn more.
Both these photos were taken at Argosy University, where Mara used to work, on a day when a water pipe broke and the parking lot was flooded. In the photo are Konami, who still works at Argosy, Tom, Mara, and Yuki, who Tom is currently visiting in Japan.

New stove, new camera, same old dog

2008-12-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

My new camera arrived today yesterday, and it's very similar to my old one, and to the one that started on fire, so it's not all that exciting, aside from the fact that I can use it without having to take the batteries out to turn it off (and then put them back in to turn it on again)--and it doesn't catch fire, at least not yet. I got this little electric fireplace at Shopko for $50 as an after Christmas "doorbuster." Homer spends most of the day in front of it, and I like it too.

Time to find a new obsession (xkcd)

2008-11-09T09:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, We Did

2008-11-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

Alvarado Terrace

2008-11-01T08:10:00.001-07:00

Again, my skills and Tom's not-quite-as-badly-broken-as-mine camera don't do any subject justice, but a block from my house is a a beautiful neighborhood where the streets are cattywampus to the rest of the town, which makes them great shortcuts, as they meander diagonally to the Whitman campus and downtown and on my bike they get me to the Y in minutes. This one is now my main thoroughfare and part of the daily dog walk. The whole neighborhood is like a movie set for "picturesque college town." My street would be more the movie set for "postwar crackerbox housing" except it's not interesting enough.