Harvey Street

Don't Oversell Yourself

2010-06-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

Need leftovers? Look no further! (Chillicothe, Ohio)

Or perhaps you'd like to browse a wider range of things?

Sadly the "This & That" doesn't appear to be in business anymore. Surprising, given that they seem to have covered all aspects of the market. (Nelsonville, Ohio)

Just what will 99¢ buy?

2010-06-18T18:25:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting photos of stores with funny names for a few years now. Some of the best names are for independent dollar stores.

So, ever wondered what 99¢ will buy?

Power? Creation?

Dreams. Yes.

Wait for it...

Wait

for

it

...

Infinity.

(Locations: Sip Ave, Jersey City; W. 23rd St., NYC; JFK Blvd, Jersey City; Cleveland Ave, Columbus, Ohio)

Spring in Granville

2010-04-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Spring in Granville. Sometimes I think spring is prettier here than just about anywhere else I've been. So many flowering trees, daffodils, crocus.

Everything came weeks early this year because of the hot weather. Yes, eighty degree days in April are not normal here, nor should they be. Perhaps it's the warm weather or perhaps it was the heavy snow cover we had here this winter, but the flowering trees have been extraordinary this week. But, the asparagus came too early and now it keeps getting nipped by cold nights. Personally, I'm not convinced by the trade off. You can't eat crabapple blossoms...

I'm putting a new bed into the garden for tomatoes and herbs. Under the grow lights I've got four different kinds of tomatoes, tomatillo, peppers, and eggplants. Currently growing in the garden is garlic, rhubarb (amazing since I keep killing all the rhubarb I try to grow, spinach, radishes, bok choi, and snow peas.

And, while I'll admit that I'm not the most organized gardener or tool keeper, I'm secretly thrilled that my lack of attention to the pots outside the back door has meant that a house wren was able to build a nest there.

(Oboists might notice the pieces of warped oboe cane in the white pot. Bad for reeds but good for marking plants in the garden!)

It's always spring somewhere...

2010-02-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

If it's true that it's always 5pm somewhere then it must be true that it's always spring somewhere.

Granville is a winter wonderland today.

But at the Franklin Conservatory, it's definitely spring.

I think we'll brave the snow and see if the Buxton is serving drinks tonight...

Coming up for air

2010-01-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

Now that it's time to work on my syllabi for spring, I've suddenly decided to update my blog. It's been a busy fall of teaching (classes and private students, yay!) and taking care of business. Perhaps the reason I haven't been updating more frequently is that life has been relatively quiet lately. And that's probably a good thing, when you think about it.

I've put together a few photos to share what I've been up to since September.

The sauerkraut? After being a scary fermenting thing for several weeks, it actually turned out quite nicely. It's not kraut for the faint-hearted but it stands up very well to wurst with hot and spicy mustard, so it's probably exactly what I would've made if I'd felt like I had any control over the whole process.

In October we spent a weekend in Pittsburgh and visited the Phipps conservatory. Very nice. Although I don't have a picture of it, I liked the section on edible tropical plants the best. They had the usual suspects such as coffee, cacao, etc. but standing next to the strawberry guava tree was as close to what I imagine heaven to be like on a smell level.

Ferns are strange premordial things, aren't they?

In mid-November we traveled to Mexico City for the annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology. The weather was lovely and has spoiled us for the winter.

Outside of Diego Riviera's studio/house, with Frida Kahlo's adjoining house. Imagining scenes from Barbara Kingsolver's Lacuna . Bill asked to see the tiny kitchen in Kahlo's house but it wasn't open for public viewing. The book was great but we both enjoyed it more having a first-hand sense of the world in which it took place.

We found the Museum of Popular Art just by chance but it was one of my favorite places. Can I have a skull bicycle too?

At Teotihuacan we worshiped the sun and moon. We tried raw agave juice and then later we sampled it in its more exciting forms--as pulque and mezcal. It's hard to communicate scale here, but these agave were about six feet tall.

The sky was amazing that day. This is one of my favorite photos from the trip and it was taken looking up from the platform halfway up the pyramid of the moon.

This last photo is from a history of Mexico depicted in different vignettes and different artistic media but all using skeletons. The macabre in me loves this.

Wishing you all an auspicious 2010.

Autumn already?

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

Where does the time go? Suddenly August is gone and school has started. Where have I been? In the garden, growing a zillion cucumbers and huge tomatoes.

In the kitchen, canning pickles and tomato sauce.

These are my first tries at canning veggies. I've also got a crock of cabbage in the basement, fermenting into what I hope will become sauerkraut and not some nasty mess. No photos yet. Fermenting seems like a private process of becoming, not to be interrupted and captured on film. Rather like human adolescence.

And I've tried to spend less time inside on the computer and in books and more outside among the plants.

Now that the weather is cooler, the morning glories are staying open a little longer into the day. And the zinnias are regularly visited by monarch butterflies and hummingbirds.

Before and after

2009-07-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

I've become addicted to Design*Sponge and all the pretty things and pretty places featured on the site. Inspired by many of their "before and after" posts featuring reclaimed furniture and redecorated rooms, I've been trying to see more potential in what other people discard or are otherwise done with.

I found this chair on the curb during Granville Clean-Up days when residents can get rid of large items and others can go curb shopping among the piles. Getting it home the four blocks was tricky because it's pretty heavy and it doesn't fit in the car (except in the passenger seat if you leave the door hanging open...).

And it cleans up real nice after four coats of primer.

The seat was made from a cabinet door from a neighbor who is currently ripping out a kitchen back to the studs (thanks James!). The fabric is from the local Granville designer Amy Butler. I made the cushions myself, even covering leftover buttons with fabric to make the matching buttons.

July in the Garden

2009-07-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

I returned from Minnesota in late June to find my garden erupting in foliage. The tomatoes have grown to be at least as tall as me and they're now setting fruit.

Particularly beautiful are these tomatoes that I grew from seeds saved from a delicious Italian tomato we ate last summer in Le Marche. The other half of my tomato plants are San Marzano tomatoes, grown from Italian seeds sold in the U.S. There are fewer fruits coming on the plants right now but I'm hoping to use the San Marzano mainly for canning, while the other ones are for eating fresh.

Also looking good are my fabric potato pots. I was intrigued by the concept of filling a container in order to grow potatoes and I've read about growing them in bushel baskets, clay pots, etc. These collapsible fabric pots appealed to me since I can remove the soil after the growing season and store the pots folded flat (don't ask me where I'm going to store all the soil, I haven't figured that out yet). Not all my potato started this year but I think it's mostly the fault of the seed crop and not the new-fangled pots.

In the newly reorganized herb garden.

I put the little clay turtles in the mint pots. Someone else (the little girls next door?) decided they needed to be together and arranged them side-by-side, making their way to the rain barrel...

Up North

2009-06-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

We've just returned from a visit to Minnesota where it was nice and cool. Don't these views make you want to be there too?

My big heap o' trouble

2009-05-27T12:50:00.001-07:00

I heard one could get a "truckload" of free wood chips from the village. I should have asked exactly what was meant by "truck." I envisioned a pick-up. They provided a dump truck. I calculated that I could've mulched our entire lot at least three inches deep.

Thankfully as of posting this photo the hill is perhaps a little over a third gone. My neighbors, friends, and friends of neighbors have come to help themselves. But still, what to do with the rest?

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

2009-05-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

A year ago we were in Italy. Now that it's almost summer I've been dreaming again of Italy. So last night we made a homemade pizza with fresh ricotta and arugula from my garden. Wow.

I had never had fresh ricotta before but now I think I'm spoiled for ricotta forever. Really, if you can find it it's worth every penny. We finally made it to the foodie mecca of Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati and now our fridge is stocked with all sorts of fabulous finds and rare delicacies. Too bad I'll just be eating ricotta at every meal...

And the garden?

I finally have my own vegetable garden in my backyard. We built the beds in April and already are eating spinach, lettuce, arugula, and swiss chard. Also planted in the beds are leeks, onion, shallots, snow peas, beets, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, basil, and cilantro. In containers I'm growing potatoes and I've planted pumpkin seeds in a few spots to see if anything happens. Perhaps I'll go sow some pole beans this afternoon.

The fencing? Granville has a serious deer problem. They eat all the hostas, of course, the daylily buds, the hydrangeas, viburnum, tulips, hollyhocks, sedum, phlox. They even eat things that are supposed to be unappealing to deer: coneflowers, boxwood, coral bells, alliums, etc. They eat the plants growing right next to the houses, they walk down the middle of the streets in full daylight. They do everything except walk in the house and open the fridge. So, the veggie garden needs a high fence. I've reinforced it at the bottom to keep out marauding ground hogs. So far no invaders but I wonder if the raccoons will find it when it's tomato season.

Cozy Kitteh

2009-04-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

Max has found an alternative use for my grow mat.

How to hypnotize a bunny

2009-03-14T07:56:00.000-07:00

Thor is new to our house. Bill bought him from a 4-H kid back in December as my dissertation present. Now that Thor's stud days are over he lives a quiet life the highlights of which are eating broccoli stalks and guarding the back bathroom against dangerous intruders (otherwise known as friends and houseguests).

I've only ever had lops but I find them to be the most responsive and social of rabbits. While my other bunny, Roo, had a personality kind of like a dog--friendly, curious, playful--Thor is more of a fussy boy, more like a disapproving bunny than a puppy. Everything is a big drama for him. And if it isn't, he'll make it a big drama. Stomp. Stomp! STOMP!

Despite being so cuddly looking, most bunnies are not all that interested in being held. So, I don't often pick up my bunnies unless I'm checking on their overall health or trimming their nails. To look at their teeth and to check their skin and ears I will usually pick them up and hold them in my lap. While in this position their feet are positioned to give you a decent blow to the jaw (yes, this has happened) but I read once that you can calm them down and make them very docile while they're lying back.

First of all, make sure that the bunny is held and supported. You don't want him to be able to twist or jump away as this could cause him to hurt himself. Keep his feet supported and still by pressing your chest against them, and keep the rest of his body contained in your lap. Not too deep so that he's at risk for falling through, but cradle him in and support him so that he feels held.

Now, gently rub his chin with the backs of your fingers. Go slow, make it even, and strive to make the strokes match the speed of your own relaxed breath.

After a few minutes of this you should have a mellow bunny who will consent to gentle petting of his forehead or even to clipping his nails (although keep a hand gently holding his body down since he might get nervous and jumpy again). Keep going back to stroking his chin now and then.

Enjoy.

Spring knitted collar

2009-02-23T05:21:00.000-08:00

Knitting projects are like books. Generally I have several that I'm in the middle of.

Lately I've been busy with knitting baby hats for the local hospital and I'll post more on those later but I just finished a project for myself that I've been thinking about for over a year.

This is the Berthe collar from No Sheep for You, a book of patterns for projects specifically designed for fibers other than wool.

I'd been looking for a long time for just the right yarn to show off in this project. The photo of the finished collar in the book was a lovely sea green color and I must admit I was immediately wanting to make one just that color for myself. I'm so original, right? Not only do I always knit from someone else's pattern but so often I want to follow the colors of the yarn in the photos. What can I say, so many of you designers have such impeccable taste!

I finally found the right thing in a sale bin at So Much Yarn in Seattle. Their store, by the way, is full of gorgeous yarns and I could have totally spent myself silly in there. But I was restrained and focused for once (and I didn't have too much room in my tiny suitcase).

As I tried to show in the above shot, I used GGH Boulino yarn, a blend of cotton, nylon, and linen. From a distance it appears shiny but up close it has variations of texture and thickness that seemed just right for the level of interest I wanted in the yarn for this collar. I used just a bit less than a 50 g ball for the whole collar, knitted on size four needles. Since the yarn is rather slippery I used bamboo circular needles and they gripped the yarn well but didn't mar the silky finish.

My only complaint about the Boulino was that it was difficult to keep it from twisting while pulling from a ball. It comes wound on a cardboard spool and pulls from the outside. I tried handwinding it into a ball and even then the ball would fall apart in my knitting bag because the yarn was so slippery. With this kind of yarn I'm not sure there's a good solution to this problem of slippery and twisty but the end result was definitely worth it.

Here's another shot of the collar, held together with just the wooden pin from my shawl pin shown above.

This is a great project for putting in your purse (in a ziploc, of course) and bringing with you for when you have just a few minutes here and there to knit.

Let me consult my crystal ball

2009-01-30T08:07:00.001-08:00

When we woke up Wednesday morning we expected to see lots of snow. Instead the six inches of snow we were predicted to get had arrived in the form of ice. Now it's Friday but the temperatures have stayed cold and all the ice is still around. One the ends of my hydrangeas it created these cute little ice orbs.

They look like little lightbulbs or very mini lawn globes.

Thankfully we never lost power here. Actually it's surprising, considering that all we need in Granville is an errant squirrel or a stiff breeze to knock power out for a few hours. The first three nights we spent in our house here in August of 2007 our power went off and on every evening for three evenings in a row. My first thought was that the electrical system in our house needed serious attention. Well, the electrical is old and probably does need at least moderate to serious attention but apparently it was a local transformer problem, which they then solved by turning off the whole town's power for 6 hours over one night in order to access and fix the infrastructure. Still, power flickers are the norm here even with a repaired transformer.

I'm also thankful that we haven't needed to get anywhere by car in the past few days. Bill walks to work and everything else vital is also within walking distance. Check out the quarter of inch of ice on the windshield. Only just this morning was I able to use an ice scraper to help me pry open the driver side door. And even when pushing from the inside I still can't get the passenger doors to budge.

The ice on the windshield is almost impossible to scrape and I've already broken one scraper. Eh, maybe I'll scrape later.

Spring organizing

2009-01-23T05:53:00.000-08:00

So I've been searching everywhere for our other futon cover and I finally found it a few days ago in a box that we hadn't opened since we left Wisconsin. Sure, there was only a humidifier in the box so I didn't think we needed to open it. Yet after searching in just about every other possible space I finally decided to open the box and finally found just what I was looking for.

It's been an ongoing challenge, moving into a smaller house with less storage space and less reliably protected storage space: dirt crawl spaces, damp basements, yucky and hard to reach attic. I finally freaked out last year when I couldn't find a book I was looking for (it was in one of many boxes of books stuck on shelves in the basement) and we put up lots of bookcases in our living room in order to actually have books out and accessible. Still, I often find myself going through boxes of stuff in the basement, trying to find something that I finally conclude we got rid of before we moved (that stupid spaeztle maker I never used for years, now I'm actually making spaeztle and trying awkwardly to do it with a cheese grater, duh).

One positive thing that's come of our having less storage is that I've learned how to be even more choosy about what I need to keep. With my Lutheran guilt I've just kept things forever because it felt wrong to give them up. I loved that sweater when I was in the ninth grade but do I really need to keep it? Or, someone else loved that [insert object here] maybe I need to keep it and love it too. And this has worked for some things. I've come to the point where I'm better at actually using something that may be antique or valuable--a rare but cracked Roseville compote as an everyday fruitbasket--because value is ultimately subjective, right? If I'm not selling it, then it's worth what it's worth to me. Still I have bins full of antique tablecloths that I'm still too chicken to use on a table, and I have lots of old sweaters and half-finished projects just languishing in bins.

But there comes a point when one needs to take stock and streamline. And then organize!

It's such a soothing thing, organizing. I do love reading organizing and design blogs and while I totally enjoy looking at how clean and stylish some of these homes are, I know that I can't ever totally get there myself. Indeed, I've come to love color more than ever and can't now imagine living in a place that is predominantly white, even if that white is a neutral backdrop for color. Ok, I can imagine it but I just can't see it ever being a reality for me, I'm too scattered. Of the many, many, shelves of books in our house I've only been able to organize one single shelf by color. All the rest are in odd groupings by subject, whether their Bill's or mine, or whether they just fit that sized shelf.

But, my point! Yes. For the past several days I've been organizing my yarn stash and knitting supplies. I've had bags of yarn stashed around in various places (usually filling the tops of moving boxes) that needed to be put in a central and protected space. But my knitting albatross was most certainly the unfinished sweater for Bill that I began knitting back in 2000. I loved the color and I loved the detail of the pattern but when I began the project I was young, impatient, and inexperienced (as a knitter, of course). Gauge, smauge! Who needs a gauge! It'll be close enough.

uh huh.

Looks fine from here doesn't it?

And I just kept knitting and kept denying that this sweater was larger than Bill could ever possibly grow to be.

Could I just sew it up and trim off the excess? What do I do?

January 2008 I made the decision to pull it out. January 2009 I actually mustered up the courage to do it. And after spending who knows how many hours knitting up that mess, it probably took another three hours to unravel it neatly. So, photos, balls of yarn, and the many hours lost are all that remain of my failed project.

But it's a new year. I unraveled part of another sweater I'd started for myself back before I understood how to make complicated cables (yes, again the unexperienced knitter bites off more than she can handle) and now that I've made my peace with these scuttled projects I'm feeling suddenly very light and free. I now have yarn for two sweaters and I didn't have to spend a dime. All my yarn is organized, stored in airtight ziplocs in a clear bin in my office, and I'm ready to start something new.

So, my new plan for Bill's sweater is this. It's much more Bill's style and it should be a bit more fun to knit. I can finally handle this basic cable and I'm looking forward to relatively mindless stockingette stitch for most of the sweater.

I don't really do the New Year's resolution thing but I'm realizing that my efforts towards confronting those unfinished projects has made me feel quite happy. Whether that project is just cleaning out a few more items that I've kept but don't use anymore, or whether it's been having the courage to undo another project and start from scratch, I must say that I prefer this feeling of fresh starts.

start small

2009-01-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

I'm finally able to get back to knitting again after almost a year. Of course I have a bunch of unfinished projects (like that sweater for Bill that I've been working on for eight years?) but it's best to start small.

I started these little booties from Saartje Knits back in November. I carried them around with me all from Minnesota to Virgina and points in between but didn't get them finished until twenty minutes before we were meeting our friend's baby. We were sitting at the car dealership in Alexandria waiting for our estimate to fix the faulty circuit for our headlights (you don't even want to know how much that cost) and I was frantically finishing knitting and sewing up the last bootie.

Thus the pics are bad again. But this is an adorable pattern and it knits really fast once you actually do the knitting. I love the little crossed straps. So cute.

I used a white yarn (Plymouth Dreambaby 4ply - acrylic microfiber and nylon) and one that mixed a light green and white (Louet Gems - merino). Both are a fingering weight and I knit them on size 1 needle.

They were warmly received by both little Katherine and her mom!

Winter Delights

2009-01-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

There are many things I love about winter. Living in Minnesota and Wisconsin I've always loved snow (and, despite Bill's potential disagreement on this) I do like the cold. Last night was our first real snow here in Granville and it was a pretty one: lots of big drifting flakes, an occasional breeze.

One of the things I love about snow is that it makes the world brighter. Even today with the sun behind the clouds, there's so much more light coming in through the windows. One of the struggles I've had with living here in central Ohio is that winter's involve less snow and less sun. Winter's are often damp and cloudy, making one feel psychologically, if not physically, more chilled.

So today was a cheerful morning of brightness already, but then as I was making toast I happened to look out the window above the kitchen sink and catch a glimpse of a cardinal convention.

Really, is that seven cardinals in that bush by the shed? I've thought time and again that I need to prune whatever species of shrub has gotten completely out of control back there but the trouble is that birds, especially cardinals, love to perch there.

The overall quality of the pics leaves a bit to be desired. One does what one can with a point-and-shoot digital camera used through the glass of the kitchen window. (I feel like this camera used to take better pictures, do these cameras gradually just fade in overall performance? I could understand a catastrophic failure but I don't get this gradual decline...)

Hope you enjoy the pics despite the quality.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

I think when you live in a town as cute as Granville it's written in the municipal law that one must decorate for the holidays.

Hope you all have safe travels and meaningful celebrations.

Life after the dissertation is written...

2008-11-13T20:21:00.001-08:00

I am alive. Just tired.

And celebrating.

Hurricanes in Ohio?

2008-09-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday started out a little breezy, sunny, warm - perfect weather for doing laundry and hanging it out on the line.

About 4pm the wind started to blow, and blow, and blow. Coming through the midwest the remnants of Ike met a cold front and the result was a crazy storm where there was no rain, just wind. Lots of it. Fast. For hours and hours.

And the power flickered, stayed on for a few minutes, and then went out. I watched as the shingles blew off the house across the street and branches came down everywhere. You know how they say that tornadoes sound like a train bearing down? I can now confirm that particular sonic characteristic. They say that wind gusts in the area were up to 75 mph.

Now some of the trees are cleaned up (including the large maple tree down the road that was turned into the shape of a blooming onion). Most of the power lines that were lying in the street are now back up on the lines, even if they are not yet live.

We've been without power at our house since Sunday afternoon. It's now Wednesday afternoon. At least we have running water (unlike many houses in the area that have wells and don't even now have water). We have a hot water heater than runs on gas, so we can enjoy a hot shower in the morning. That's good. Bill's school has power and internet, hence my ability to post.

We found a home for most of the freezer contents but the fridge is a lost cause. Today's task is to venture in and throw things away.

They say that power may not be restored until Sunday. That would be a full seven days without power. It seems doable, right? I mean, if I can charge my laptop at someone else's house or off the car battery then all's good. It's strange. I can't explain the low level stress of not being able to cook or plan on what to eat. The garden is full, but it seems impossible to do anything other than to try a macrobiotic raw thing. Then there's the weird-ness of it being 8:30pm and just feeling like the best thing to do is go to bed and get up early to work as soon as it gets light.

I don't use that much electricity in the course of a day, but I do need it now and then. We're just not set up to work any other way. We need more technology that enables energy independence, even on a household level! And it's going to require a serious shift in how we live. Even after three days I can tell you that much.

Camping is all fun when there's not work that needs to be done, deadlines that have blown by (pun intended), and nothing is they way it is supposed to be. I'd love to sit around and play cards and do charades by candlelight. But I want to get my work done and each day that goes by and I'm not able to work, or that I have to spend money to buy food while simultaneously throwing food away, things just get more frustrating. Life is strangely on hold but also strangely filled with immediate panic and anxiety.

Luckily the roof is fine.

Eating locally while writing a dissertation and other tales of wonder and superhuman skill...

2008-09-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I choose to finish my dissertation writing just at harvest time. I've been trying to balance eating, cooking, freezing, canning, etc. with needing to be spending 95% of my waking hours working on the last bits of research and writing it up.

I've been so inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's book that I want to do what I can to make it so I can eat locally as much as possible. So, it's usually a game of trying to write until I'm absolutely thick-headed and then trying to cook or preserve whatever just came in. Or, usually, whatever came in several days ago and needs to be dealt with or abandoned for compost.

Making pesto late at night? It's what I do these days.

Yesterday we made several quarts of a beautiful pink vegetable broth, using up some old shriveled beets, corn cobs, herbs, etc. That's in the freezer waiting to be used for winter soups and risottos (risotti?).

We also have lots of frozen pesto, and tomato sauce; shredded zucchini, berries, and sour cherries. Shallots and onion live in the basement along with fingerling potatoes.

We've planted fall beets, lettuce, chard, Tuscan kale, cabbage, broccoli, and spinach.

Today I picked pears, tomatoes, raspberries, hard squash, and potatoes.

And last weekend, I canned my first peaches. It was a bit of a splurge in terms of time, but I figured it would be a little present to myself. Only one jar didn't seal but I've already eaten it! Not too bad for a beginner, tasted good!

Here they are, looking beautiful in the sunshine. Next to them is a big vase of sunchoke flowers. The plants back in the garden are glorious: 8 feet tall and covered in these yellow flowers, which, strangely, smell just like peanut butter to me.

This is a photo of what my kitchen counter looks like these days.

Note the gargantuan scale of some of the veggies. That's Bill's nano, just to give you a sense of scale.

Sometimes I get to sleep too. Once in a while.

I want my "Democracy Now"

2008-09-02T04:51:00.000-07:00

So this morning on NPR the protests in Thailand got more coverage than the protests of the RNC in the Twin Cities.

I'm frustrated, angry, disappointed, etc.

YouTube has videos of Amy Goodman's arrest, a non-violent protester getting deliberately pepper sprayed in the face as she stood merely watching police walk by, and the "pre-emptive" raids on houses in St. Paul (based on the suspicion that the occupants are dangerous protesters).

The RNC has turned my hometown into a police state. Before this they had already made it a Potemkin village. For more on how the empty St. Paul storefronts were filled just for the convention, check out this link to Minnesota Public Radio.

Why yes, Emperor, your new clothes surely are STUNNING!

my favorite joke of the year

2008-09-01T05:41:00.000-07:00

People ask me what my dissertation is about. Well, some people do.

Although it's topically about music, the main idea is the same as the "Guys on the Bridge" joke from Emo Philips.

So, full props to him for his excellent punch line.

And now you know what I'm writing about.

Oh to be 33 forever

2008-08-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

Now and then I get a chance to step away from my writing.

I love my flower garden. Some of my zinnia plants are almost five feet tall. Who knew? My hydrangeas are so tall it's getting hard to see out our front window! Then again, my glads all died except for one. Win some, lose some.

(tall red zinnias are "Will Rogers" and the small are "Persian Carpet." Below includes "Envy" and "Purple Prince")

I love flowers I can cut and bring in the house with me. Max does too.

Don't look at all the weeds!

2008-07-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

This was today's bounty.

The first ripe tomato!

We've been eating yellow squash and zucchini for a few weeks now. The cucumber came in earnest just recently (despite the fact that this one is as big as a moderate size zucchini and much heavier). It's been so hot that the basil is starting to want to make flowers, so I cut back the tops and will make some pesto tonight.

We've already harvested yellow onions and shallots and these are drying in the basement after spending some time outside curing in various places. We had the windows in the house replaced last summer and so I've been using those old expandable window screens to dry onions with. (The ones you buy if your windows are a hundred years old and don't actually come with screens.) Open them up on a wooden clothes drying rack and you've got a great place to cure onions.

We've already harvested many of the beets we planted in the spring, and now the small potatoes are ready as well. (Hee, hee. Small potatoes. They're so cute.)

In case you forgot what the garden looked like this spring, you should scroll down and see the empty pictures.

So awesome. Just don't look to closely or you'll see that we also house lots of weeds in our garden.

Bella Italia

2008-07-26T14:53:00.000-07:00

For two weeks this was the view out I saw every morning when I got out of bed.

And this is what I ate for lunch.

Wanna see more? You know you do.

Anna is away from her life, please leave a message

2008-07-20T13:22:00.001-07:00

Some people leave messages that they're away from their desks. These days I'm always at my desk. Always.

Except for when I get up to take a photo of it, of course.

This is my desk.

This is my desk on a dissertation marathon.

Note the flowers from my garden. Eh, it's too hot to be out there anyways.

I did get to have some fun last month, though. Can't complain. All you music nerds out there know where I am, right?

What you don't know about yourself could fill a wiki page.

2008-06-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Do you ever just Google yourself to take stock of what's out there, circulating through the tubes of the inner-nets?

Imagine my surprise.

It's actually pretty weird.

I am forced to admit that I do talk with my hands.

2008-05-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Max says, "Can't we turn the heat back on? It's been raining for three days and the house is so cold this morning."

"Anticipation..."

2008-05-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Sing it with me people!

"...it's making me wait..."

This is Jane's lovely garden. What you can't see are the potatoes, beans, peas, and other tasty treats that are growing beneath the surface of the dirt. Whoops, there's some asparagus. It must be spring.

My faithful readers (all three of you) must know by now that I love the before and after pics of plants in growth. You know, then, what's coming in future posts.

"...it's keeping me waiting..."

I'm so lucky that Jane is sharing her garden with me this summer.

These really are the good old days... (awww!)

See Jane Garden...

2008-04-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

Look, look.
Look and see.
See Jane and Anna.
See Jane and Anna in the garden.
The garden has many weeds.
Jane and Anna pull the weeds.
Jane and Anna also talk about books.

Jane and Anna plant vegetables.
They plant potatoes and tomatoes.
They plant spinach and beets.
Hopefully Jane and Anna will grow many vegetables.
Yum, yum!

Funny, funny Anna.
Funny, funny Jane.

2008-03-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

I've been working on this off and on for the last year, but I've been thinking about making this cushion for almost ten years.

This is the Shell Cushion, designed in 1925 by Vanessa Bell. The original can be found in the Garden Room of the Charleston Farmhouse in Sussex, the country retreat of Vanessa and Clive Bell and the gathering spot for their friends, the group of artists and writers known as the "Bloomsbury Group." (This is also the spot where designer Kaffe Fassett did the photo shoot for his most recent book.)

The pattern was reproduced by Melinda Coss in her (now out-of-print) book Bloomsbury Needlepoint. Although the cushion is now faded, Coss was able to take the cushion apart to find the original bold color scheme. I've tried my best to follow that color scheme using Appleton Crewel wool and a 12-mesh canvas. The only detail I omitted was the red criss-cross on the yellow centers of the orange blossoms.

What next, a cushion patterned after William Morris design? The Abstract-Patterned cushion from Charleston? I can't decide.

Blizzard of 2008

2008-03-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

The snow is melting away now but last week's blizzard broke records. To spite the frozen tempest outside, the Clivia bloomed even harder and it still looking spectacular after nearly two weeks of blossom. The second plant should be opening its blooms in the next few days.

The twenty inches of snow that fell here in central Ohio still can't dissuade me from my obsession with the coming spring. Things have gotten quite out of hand here with seeds and sprouts. So far we've got broccoli, tomatoes, lots of different kind of herbs, and a few flowers (monarda and calendula). The salpiglossis seedlings are looking a bit peaky, tho', and I'm wondering if they're going to make it. The picture on the seed package was so pretty and it said they were easy to grow but this is the second year I've tried and I'm still not impressed. Better to stick with zinnia, cosmos, and marigolds?

When I was a kid I remember one of our neighbors had a big porcelain claw foot tub outside next to the house. It was filled with dirt and they planted things in it. In the years since I've seen these tubs turned on their ends in the garden and used to create small grottos to house statues of the Virgin Mary. So, you can see why the idea of using a bathtub for things other than bathing might have occurred more readily to me.

And don't worry, we do have a shower stall.

Clivia Watch 2008

2008-02-29T06:20:00.000-08:00

Clivia "A" has finally blossomed! And Clivia "B" is making steady progress towards the same goal. Not bad for a first-timer!

The keep the blossom stalk growing tall and graceful I didn't put the plant into the best sunny spot until the blossoms were imminent. Too much sun and I've heard that the stalk doesn't grow and the blossoms get stuck down in the leaves.

It has been snowing off and on for the past week, big pretty flakes that draw one to the window to watch. Here is the view out our south windows.

The barn belongs to a neighbor but we're happy to get one of the best views of it from our house. I'm not sure how old it is, but some of the main beams bear the marks of being hand-hewn.

When its snowing I feel more energized to get things done and particularly excited about cooking and baking. My latest experiment was this Cardamom Wreath.

The recipe is available in a variety of places, including this website. It's more of a subtle sweet yeast bread than a coffee cake, and it's perfect for breakfast or with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The recipe suggests topping with slivered almonds but I decided to try it on its own, although I did make the cardamom butter recipe that accompanied the bread since I had some orange zest left from the bread recipe. The bread keeps well for several days, especially if you wrap it in a linen tea towel and store in a bread box.

If you decide to make the bread I can offer a few bits of feedback: I started the wet ingredients in my kitchenaid mixer with the batter attachment and switched to the dough hook after adding the first two cups of flour. (If you start with the dough hook you won't be able to mix the butter, sugar, and eggs well enough.) The dough was quite moist and sticky so I kept adding flour while the machine kneaded and until I could handle the dough without getting stuck in it. I was worried I'd overwork the bread but it appears to have survived and is still soft and tender despite lots of kneading. Lastly, my ground cardamom was probably fairly old and it wasn't very fragrant anymore so I decided to use a mortar and pestle to grind some cardamom seeds myself (just remember to take them out of the pods first). The result was incredibly fragrant and fantastic but it didn't overpower the recipe. With the freshly ground spice and the orange zest my kitchen smelled wonderful!

I dream in color, specifically in olive green

2008-02-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

Excitement is building here on Elm Street as we await the Clivia blossom that is sure to come soon!

That said, there's not too much to report from here. I'm wearing out my office chair from too much sitting and writing my dissertation. Perhaps that's why I dreamed last night that I was buying a Herman Miller chair (in an experimental olive green color!). I mean, we all have our own fantasies don't we? Dreaming about chairs is a whole lot better than dreaming about writing my dissertation, I'll tell you that much. I already carry a small notebook with me for any inspiration that happens when I'm away from the computer, don't tell me I'm going to have to keep it by the bed for all those dissertation dream insights! I'd rather dream about chairs.

So that's the kind of excitement we've got going on here.

We did host a Spaghettiplausch party last week for a few friends. I have to say that the Swiss do manage to come up with the very best in meal traditions that are intrinsically social. Indeed the meaning is built into the name Spaghettiplausch: "plausch" means to "chat."

Now while a Spaghettiplausch is not based around melted cheese like fondue or raclette (more's the pity since we lurve the cheese) it is still very fun! The point, as I understand it, is to offer a variety of different spaghetti sauces to try. And then to chat, of course!

We had four sauces for five people and we ate enough pasta to fuel a table of marathon runners! In addition to a meat sauce, we contributed one of my favorites - a Cantaloupe-Tomato sauce. I got the recipe from a friend almost ten years ago and I still make it from the notes I jotted down on a scrap of paper. Yes, I know cantaloupe isn't the first thing one thinks of as the key ingredient to a pasta sauce but once you try it, I'm sure you'll be hooked.

Have fun and throw your own Spaghettiplausch party!

Cantaloupe pasta sauce for 4 people

1 cantaloupe chopped into bite-sized pieces (the more ripe, the more easily it will break down when you cook it)

1/3 stick butter (the recipe I copied this from says 1/3 stick per 1/2 melon but I've cut back the proportions to 1/3 stick for a whole melon, IOW butter use in this recipe is fairly flexible and you can use more or less to suit your own tastes)

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

Saute the melon until it breaks down.

Add tomatoes, cook a few minutes more.

Add 1/3 cup of heavy cream (we use half and half and it works fine) and remove from heat.

Finish with a little S&P to taste. Serve over pasta (spaghetti and angel hair work well with this sauce).

Clivia Watch 2008 Part 2

2008-02-12T06:56:00.000-08:00

We're finally getting some snow here in Ohio. As long as it's not yet spring I prefer to have some snow on the ground.

Still, with seed catalogs coming in the mail it's hard not to start thinking about vegetable gardens and flower beds.

So, to measure the progress of the season I give you this week's Clivia report.

Progress has been made. (If not by me on my dissertation, then at least my plants are making progress. Ha, ha! I've actually been writing these days. Maybe it's too soon to label this draft as actual "progress" but the page count is getting higher every day. And that's a good thing. But back to the subject at hand...)

Clivia "A" is showing excellent progress towards blooming. I'm trying to rotate the plant everyday to keep the blossom stalk from leaning towards the window.

And Clivia "B" is now also showing signs of possible blossom production. I thought that this would be the plant to bloom this year since it is larger and possibly more mature. I suspect, however, that when I received it I repotted it in a pot that was a little too large and it has taken longer for the plant to feel pot bound enough try for a blossom.

I've heard that one must be careful with potting clivia, that their roots can pop a pot, so I know it's a bit of a risk to use such a pretty blue pot for it. I've lost several clay pots to Canna lily roots over the last few summers to know what I'm in for. But instead of being concerned about losing a pot, I admit I'm just more amazed that plants can do this sort of thing. And again I just sit back and watch them force open the pots: "CRRRAAACKK." Well, you know what I mean.

Stay tuned for more Clivia news next week.

Clivia Watch 2008 Part 1

2008-02-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm new to being a Clivia caretaker. I bought two at a potluck plant sale before a Granville Garden Club meeting because I was in love with the tough green leaves and how gracefully they drape. Apparently they are related to the Amaryllis (hence the lovely leaves) and they are native to South Africa.

To see if I could force my two plants to flower this year I kept them for 8 weeks in our front entryway. The light is low (the window in the door gets north light but is shaded by our porch) and the temp is also low (probably around 55 degrees Fahrenheit) since we keep it closed off from the rest of the house. Now the plant is a few feet from an eastern window and the house temp varies from as much as 68 during parts of the day and probably around 58-60 at night (I wouldn't know! I'm in bed where it's warm!).

Just last week I saw the tips of a possible blossom emerge from the leaves.

In addition to sitting and watching my plant grow I've also done some knitting. No, silly! I don't really sit and watch my plants grow, I just check on them three and four times a day to see if they've done something new.

Here's a hat I made for the son of some friends. Since northern Minnesota is cold, and since I wanted to protect his little noggin with good thick wool, I picked Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted (85% wool, 15% merino) in "Forest Shadows." Since the pattern calls for the wool to be doubled up the hat turned out quite thick and warm indeed. I managed to coordinate the variation in the color with the two strands so it's not quite as speckle-y as it is shaded.

I had just enough left from the one skein of yarn to make the little pom on top, my only alteration to Alexis Riggs' "Toasty Topper," (pattern available free from Knitty.com. See how I'm learning the whole hypertext thing?) I was able to finish it during holiday car and plane rides, so it knits up quickly.

Updates on the Clivia will follow! Lucky for you they won't be the "three times a day" updates that I'm doing myself. Hopefully there will be progress to report!

Take a break from the ice and snow

2007-12-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's been my plan all along to save these lovely summer photos for the darkest, if not yet coldest, time of year.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7335802@N07/sets/72157603473897293/

These were taken in August at Schnormeier Gardens, a gorgeous private garden just outside the town of Gambier in central Ohio. I visited them with a group from the Granville Garden Club.

Now that gardening is over for the season, save the planning and my cold compost pile, all I can do is think about all those bulbs I planted this fall. I hope they're sending out good roots.

Still life with knitting

2007-11-02T09:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, things have been busy! And the computer means work to me these days, so it's hard to bring myself back to it in my downtime. That means fewer posts, but I've got lots of good things stored up to share sometime soon.

Now that the cool weather is here, I'm drawn back into knitting (rather than blogging or gardening) when I have a little free time. The thing is about our cute new house, it's cold! Coming from the north I'm used to lots of insulation to keep the cold out and the warm in, but I noticed one day as I stood at the top of the basement stairs that I could hear outdoor sounds as if they were indoor sounds. Hmm, why is that lawn mower so darn loud? Did I leave the window open? Nope, there's that unfinished spot in plaster where the upper stairs meet the wall where I can see the outside siding from the inside. Huh, that's funny, shouldn't there be something in the space between the plaster and the siding? Like, uh, fluffy warm stuff?

I suppose it's a good thing, considering what you read these days about indoor air pollution. No indoor air problems here! Cuz our indoor air is just like the outdoor air!

So, instead of turning up the global warming with the furnace, I've decided to knit my way through our stay in this house. First things first, I gotta keep my hands warm. I don't know about you, but my hands get so cold when I type even when the rest of me is warm. My lovely husband (I'm pleased to introduce www.billkirkpatrick.net) would tell me to put on a hat. I just might do that. But first, I'll treat the immediate symptoms with "Fetching," these lovely fingerless gloves, pattern by Cheryl Niamath and available at www.knitty.com.

Love them I do. The first one I knit was huge, the second one I knit was more reasonably sized, and so I undid the first and remade it and it's the best of the three. Part of me was tempted to "revise" the second one too but I couldn't face it. Besides, my hands were cold! Not wanting to repeat my earlier mistake with the capelet, I bought two 50g balls of Classic Yarns Cashsoft Aran (57% merino, 33% microfiber, 10% cashmere). I used just over 1 ball (although I might have been able to make it with only one if I'd knit a bit tighter from the get go). No worries, I've got a plan for the left overs (although it's not a hat, maybe I should make a matching little set for working at home on the computer...).

See, didn't I tell you the house was cute? I forgive it for being so cold since it's so cute and since it drives me to knit. What's the bad here, really?

Knitting in the Park

2007-09-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

After our two moves (yes, two!!) this spring and summer I'm still catching up on my life, hence the lack of recent posts.

Here I am enjoying two of my favorite things: knitting and gardens. For garden info see: http://www.halifaxpublicgardens.ca/

For info on my scarf, check out Knitty my favorite place for knitting patterns: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTargosy.html

More new garden photos to follow soon!

Bugs and Berries

2007-06-20T07:54:00.001-07:00

Summer in Wisconsin is about brats, cheese curds, and beer, but it's also about eating fresh foods right from the fields.

We went strawberry picking on Sunday at a farm just west of Janesville. The picking was amazing: two people, a combined 20 feet of a row of berry plants, and 30 minutes = about 16 pounds of beautiful, delicious berries.

The other reason we went to Janesville was to see the cicadas. I've grown up hearing about the 17-year periodical cicadas in northern Illinois and didn't want to miss seeing some for myself. I've never really been a bug person, despite my young fascination with those movies of the insides of giant termite colonies, so I didn't really want to see the crazy "sweep them out of your path with a broom" masses of cicadas. But I didn't want to miss them entirely.

There weren't any cicadas in evidence at the farm where we picked the berries but just a few miles east at the Cook Arboretum we got out of the car and could hear the cicadas right away! I'd post video if I were savvy enough to figure out how to do that but photos will have to be enough for now. The sound was thrilling though. I'd heard that the sounds of these masses of cicadas were enough to drown out a conversation and that the Chicago Symphony's Ravinia schedule has been altered this year because the sound of the insects would actually interfere with the sounds of concerts.

Since we didn't have the masses of cicadas in Janesville that are present in some areas of Chicagoland (indeed it took us awhile to actually spot any bugs at all) the loud volume of the sound from the few cicadas in the arboretum was impressive. You could hear two layers in the sound: one dry, scratchy sound and then the constant pitched drone.

The cicadas themselves are pretty cute, especially their eyes. See what I mean? But the most amazing thing about these insects comes when you start to think of the scale of their lives, emerging from the ground to do their thing in seventeen-year cycles: 2007, 1990, 1973, 1956, 1939, 1922, 1905... The next time I'll get to see them will be in 2021. Wow.

Farmers' Market

2007-06-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

As I prepare to move away from my dearly-beloved city of Madison I am trying to cram as much Madison as I can into my last few weeks here. Hence my lack of recent posting - too much to do (paint the deck, work in the garden, pack boxes, eat asparagus) and so little time!

It doesn't get much more Madison than a Saturday morning at Farmers' Market on the square (where does that possessive apostrophe go anyway? There are multiple farmers at the market, so I'm putting it there).

To top off last Saturday's Farmers' Market it was also "Cows on the Concourse." Does it get any better than this? I don't think so. Fresh cheese curds, a cool morning, content cows, the crowded counter-clockwise shuffle, and bags of produce to take home.

Here's a recipe for my favorite spring market soup from the May 4, 2002 Harmony Valley Farm CSA newsletter:

"Simple Green Soup"
2 T. butter or veg oil
1 small, diced onion
1 lb. peeled and diced sunchokes (also known as a "jerusalem artichoke" thru some awkward and historic pronunciation language gap between Italian and English. You could use other root veggies like potatoes but I strongly recommend getting sunchokes if you can since their flavor is superior)
4 cups water or broth
1 bunch nettles (or you can use sorrel or watercress, but I absolutely prefer the nettles - just wash them well to get rid of the sting)

Saute your onions in the butter until translucent. Add sunchokes and broth. Bring to boil and simmer 15 min or until sunchokes are soft enough to yield to pressure from a fork or knife. Add the nettles and the heat of the broth should wilt them. Puree until smooth with an immersion stick blender or use a food processor (but go in small batches, trust me).

Option: add some cream or half 'n' half at the end for a creamy soup. And/or add a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper for a little extra warmth.

Serve with fresh bread and fresh cheese curds on the side and you've got a lovely spring market meal. So good.

the more we change...

2007-05-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

the more we stay the same.

I finally broke down and purchased the weighty tome that is Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home.

I don't know why I feel so compelled by these all-in-one domestic management manuals. Perhaps it's the bibliophile in me - all the answers to your most obscure and your basic mundane questions: "How to care for cloisonne" and "How to get the most out of your dishwasher," it's all there!!

Maybe it's because I actually kind of like keeping things tidy, cooking, sewing, and knitting. One the one hand I did receive the home economics award at my eighth-grade graduation, a fact both embarrassed and enraged me even at 13. Why didn't I get the geography award or the English award? I did well in those classes too! Even in high school I did fine in my classes but got an award in economics, a class I cared little for that taught skills I prefer not to actually implement in my current life because they make me think about how little money I actually make... Maybe they just drew names from a hat for those school award ceremonies, I'd like to think so.

And on the other hand, maybe it's just because these books are so darn useful. After all, I would like to get the most out of my dishwasher, wouldn't you?

I think at the root of my recent purchase is my desire for a book long out of print and now found only in libraries and archives: Catherine Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe's The New Housekeeper's Manual, published in 1873. How I would love to own a copy of my very own. While I was preparing a class on American women in the nineteenth century I was able to browse a copy in the Cairns Special Collection at the University of Wisconsin. It had really great stuff in there, like how to make your own potting soil with old composted manure from your cows, how to set up a house for proper ventilation, how to make dried pea soup. You know, useful stuff.

Here's Catherine Beecher's recipe for Dried Pea Soup (paraphrased from my notes):

Soak a quart of dried peas in water overnight
Rinse them in the morning
Add the peas to four quarts of water
Add 1 t. sugar, two chopped carrots, two chopped small onions, one chopped stalk celery
Boil three hours
In another pot boil 1 pound salt pork for one hour
Remove the skin from the boiled salt pork and add the pork to the pea soup
Boil one more hour

I also copied the recipes for spongecake and potato soup. I'm a little nervous about the spongecake, given the fact that we're baking in two completely different kinds of ovens (open hearth vs. gas?), but I aim to try it one of these days. This also gets at my fascination with historical cookbooks and recipes. But that's a story for another day.

How do I reconcile this compulsion for housekeeping books with my own third-wave feminist-ness? Well, they published a domestic manual, but the Beecher sisters were no wallflowers. Since I can't have the Beecher sisters' book, I guess I'll just have to settle for Martha's. At least she talks about composting. Martha may not be an abolitionist but she's feisty. I can live with that.

Where my thoughts are today...

2007-04-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

http://www.bradycampaign.org/

The BBC World Service conducted this interview with Daniel Vice of the Brady Campaign:

BBC: (on passing "common sense" gun laws) …In fact, the laws are getting less strict not more strict.

Vice: Sadly at the federal level, we have had some success at the state level, for example, after the Columbine shootings Colorado passed a law requiring background checks at gun shows. But in Virginia you can go to a gun show and buy a semi-automatic military-style assault rifle – no background check, not even a record of sale (BBC commentator: "Oh my…), you don't have to tell them your name.

BBC: Why is that the case?

Vice: Partly I think it's the myth of the power of the gun lobby. The National Rifle Association has a lot of money, which they give freely to our elected officials and very few are willing to stand up and say no. But we've seen that when they do, and there are some who do, that they are supported by the American public. People support common sense gun laws and we're hopeful that our leaders will finally stand up and say enough is enough and protect our children.

BBC: When tougher laws were introduced in Colorado after the Columbine shootings, what was the public response there?

Vice: The public was supportive of that and we've seen that gun laws work. For example, in other countries that have passed tough gun laws there's no where near the level of gun violence that we have. And at the federal level we're working to change that, where we can't succeed there we'll go at the state level, and if we have to change our leadership that will come too.

*****

Idle hands are the devil's work, but busy hands are the dissertator's bane

2007-04-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

Oh dear knitting, how I've missed you.

I thought I could be a studious worker on my dissertation during this semester of enforced solitude but then I started looking at knitting blogs and websites and now I'm hopelessly distracted. Here's my latest project: an Anthropologie capelet that just about everybody who's knitting and blogging has been making. It's super easy, which was good for lapsed knitters like me who forget how to do yarn-overs and other simple stitches (not that I got the yarn-over right at all in this shrug, don't look too closely!).

Here's the link (I have yet to figure out hypertext):
http://peonyknits.blogspot.com/2005/11/anthropologie-inspired-capelet-fo-and.html

I used three full 50g balls of Rowan Starlight (because everyone loves a little sparkle). I only bought two when I started but had to go back to Knit a Round for another when it was clear that two was going to make a very, very short little capelet. I should know better than to wander around a yarn shop unsupervised, but my favorite part of my little capelet is the LOVELY shell pin I found while browsing. It's from www.shawlpins.com.

Now I'm working on a lovely spring shawl from www.knitty.com, my new favorite site for cool and free knitting patterns. And, yes, I have since figured out the yarn-over. Now if only the weather would warm up again so I can wear short sleeves!

Not your average catnip mouse

2007-04-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

Gehrig and Max were especially pleased with the contents of their package from their Kitty Grandparents in Minnesota.

Note: we should have included some common everyday object for a sense of scale (a ruler, a quarter, a Volkswagen Beetle). It's not a "Honey, I Shrunk the Cats" scenario, although that could be cute in itself, but rather this is the largest catnip mouse you've ever seen. I guarantee.

As ever, "Value Village," my favorite thrift store in the entire Twin Cities, is responsible for being the source of this fantastic find. That's the fabulous thing about thrift and consignment stores, you find the most amazing things you never thought you needed but just have to have because you know you'll never find something like this again.

Max and Gehrig send their thanks and best wishes for a tuna-filled Easter Monday.

The Motor City

2007-04-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

spring in Ann Arbor

2007-04-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk last Thursday because the sky was so blue.

When we moved here in January everything was dark and bleak, so it's nice to see the city in color and sunshine. It's amazing how quickly the transformation takes place from mud and slush to green grass and blooming flowers.

These photos trace my walk from Glen, through Kerrytown, and then back on Depot.

I took the same walk again today to get some ingredients for the Rajma I'm making tonight and as I was buying some cilantro at Sparrow Market I got a British penny in my change! At first I thought it was a Canadian cent (because of the Queen, of course, and also since we were just in Ontario yesterday it seemed more possible than usual to be receiving Canadian money) but it's a nice shiny "Penny" (it even says so). Lucky me! I checked the current exchange rate (for those of you not following the currency markets as of today 1.97 GBP = 1 USD) and, little did they know it, it's as if Sparrow gave me 2 cents instead of one. Now I just need to get over there to England to spend it...

Save as you go or lose data at your own peril...

2007-03-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

So last time I was here I worked really hard to craft an eloquent and detailed post and then my browser quit unexpectedly. Too frustrated to return for at least a week, I've finally gotten over it and I'm finally back.

What I wanted to say was this: as a nation we pretty much deserve an "F" in on our report card in "Plays Well With Others." Haven't we been taught to share?

Here's what I wrote to the Ann Arbor News back in February:

Health care have-nots resent the haves

The issue of domestic partner benefits has been the subject of much debate in the Letters section. On Feb. 21, Ada T. Gardiner wrote to express her sympathy to Pam Gordon, but also reminded us that many people are not able to provide health coverage for others in their family.

Gardiner concluded her letter stating that Gordon's choices were her own responsibility and that she (Gardiner) should not be made to pay for Gordon's lifestyle choices.

Unfortunately, Gardiner's letter reveals the sad truth about how this issue has really divided us: We have become resentful of those who have health coverage or who have better health coverage than we do. In addition to complaining about our own lack of fair health coverage, many of us are also speaking out against those who have fair coverage, trying to pull them down instead of trying to pull everyone else up.

Instead of undermining each other, we should be standing by those with fair coverage and demanding that we, too, be given access to a system that lets us get coverage for our entire families, regardless of age, dependency status or sexual orientation.

Anna E. Nekola, Ann Arbor

To see the letter on their website go to:
http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/
1172677287222660.xml&coll=2

I'm particularly concerned about what's going on here in Michigan with the termination of domestic partner benefits for state employees. Read more about the recent ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals here:

http://www.umich.edu/%7Ehraa/ssdp/index.html

http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=25989&
TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm

SCMS in Chicago

2007-03-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot from SCMS this past weekend.

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday that the skyline looks photoshopped. Even better than the real thing.

good eats

2007-03-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm hungry, where do you want to go get some dinner?

Oh, I don't know. It's been a long time since we've been to Chicken.

That's a great idea! I love Chicken.

Thinking of my brother...

2007-03-06T11:56:00.000-08:00

Inspired by placelog I now join the conversation. The first photo is a wanna-be placelog photo, it's Pittsburgh after all.

And this is me. With Silver Clouds.