Holiday crafts

I made a ton of crafty gifts for the holidays - several categories, each gift in a category was different. If I try to do that again, I'll get J to shoot me. Here's a sampling of what I did, though.

Books from scrap paper w/ postcard covers














Purses made from woven wrapping paper














Purses made from books











































Bracelets of beads made from catalogue pages





























Table made from books














So there it is. What do you think?

Before launching into 2010

I'm approaching 2010 a little late, as is common for me in general. I'm starting my focused "resolution-type" efforts tomorrow - now that CES and a whirlwind visit by J's aunt are past. So, it's appropriate that, on this last day of "2010 denial", I'm writing about my year-end for 2009 (this will be the first of two posts today)

Books - I just got to 24 books last year. Ah, well, some were quite meaty and took a while. I'll shoot for 35 at least in 2010, if not the magic 50.

Book #22 - Haunted Providence: Strange tales from the smallest state by Rory Raven. My brother knows Rory and I've met him - he was a mentalist long before the show existed, and is quite the skeptic. Still he digs up some good tales and I love learning more about the city Sonny lives in. He also makes some great points about storytelling that I will be blogging about on Media Creole in the next week or so.

Book #23 - Black Water by Joyce Carol Oates. A fictionalized retelling of a tragic true story - a Senator leaves a party w/ a young girl, crashes the car in water, and the girl dies. Told from the girl's point of view and for the most part in the moments after the crash, flashback style. Powerful.

Book #24 - On Literature by Umberto Eco. A collection of essays and lectures, this can get quite technical at points and so is not recommended as a whole for the casual reader. Still there are some awesome points in here. Discussion on the search for the perfect language and how it ties to poetic artistry. A powerful essay on the power of falsehood, that, like Foucault's Pendulum, makes you realize how different history would be if one joke hadn't been played. The importance of literature:

...the wretches who roam around aimlessly in gangs and kill people by throwing stones from a highway bridge or setting fire to a child - whoever these people are - turn out this way not because they have been corrupted by computer "new-speak"(they don't even have access to a computer) but rather because they are excluded from the universe of literature and from those places where, through education and discussion, they might be reached by a glimmer from the world of values that stems from and send us back again to books.

Rochester eats

Organizing some thoughts around food places here in Rochester - focusing on the city proper...partly as a reco for someone passing thru.

Fine dining -
Pane Vino - Water St
Bamba Bistro - Alexander St
Edibles - University Ave
Pier 45 - Charlotte port
Max - Memorial Art Gallery

Cupcakery -
Sugar Mountain - Alexander & Park

Pizza -
Tony D's - Corn Hill
Veneto - East Ave

BBQ -
Dinosaur - Court St

Thai -
Thai Taste (small, family run) - Mt Hope Ave
Siam - Corn Hill
Esan - Park Ave

Diner -
Jines - Park Ave
Charlie's Frog Pond - Park Ave

Greek -
Aladdin's - Monroe Ave

Sandwiches -
Open Face - South Ave
Orange Glory - East Ave

British Pub -
Old Toad - Alexander St

Just a few of my faves in the city, places I want to try. Feel free to add others in comments....

Furlough's over - it's a wrap!

So, the furlough is up. Went back on the clock today. Had a ton of email to wade through and still need to get re-oriented around what's been done and what's waiting for me to do something.

I had started to picture my furlough as time spent wrapped up in the cocoon of craft ideas, herb harvests, books, and my slightly-OCD to-read pile rotation. I was nestled in home life - talking mostly to the cats, a bit to J. I got out a little bit, but just for fleeting moments.

I loved it. The contemplative side of me did, anyway. And yet I felt isolated, lonely, a bit too, without my friends to hang with or other people to talk to.

I geared up for my re-entrance. I steamed a bunch of clothes to have stuff ready. I was going to barrel in on Monday am, kick butt, and make everyone so happy I was no longer gone.

*snort* yeah, right. J wanted to leave early, I didn't get the chance I wanted to write this post, and the whole morning went off wrong. I was worried about those pants w/ this shirt, so resorted to just jeans and a nice shirt, but the vestiges of my cold decided to play w/ my body temp - I wavered between chilly and sweating most of the day and so remained wrapped in my hoodie. There were several moments when, yes (I have no shame), I actually got tangled up in my own hair. The triumphant nerd who trips on the door mantle on her entrance. MAN. Shall I try again tomorrow?

It's alright. I'll just write it off that I lost coordination on furlough. Everyone knows to milk it for a few days...

Book #21 -A Scanner Darkly: A graphic novel based on the novel by Philip K. Dick. Hmmm. Trippy. And yet, while you assume the plot is somewhat known, it's as roundabout as a drug-addled debate. I did not like the depiction of the scramble-suits, but concept makes stuff interesting.

Oh, PS - So I read the essay on Sylvie and it got somewhat more interesting, but not worth re-reading. Sometimes I think people just read too much into things.

Furlough - the middle

My DSL has been spotty all week so I'm going to try to crank this out before it goes down again, but no promises.

Wednesday night I went to the Beer & Chocolate Tasting event at Tap and Mallet - a local pub that carries a wide variety of beer - and many dark ones. As a lover of "beer you can chew", the beer/ chocolate combo is quite natural to me - I love several chocolate stouts - hmmm can't think of one gone wrong so I guess I love any chocolate stout you put in front of me. I was surprised by the reaction of some people - lips curled, their body weight shifted away as if I had said something horrid. If it had been lemonade & chocolate - I learned in high school that combo is wretched, then I'd understand.
Anyways, the chocolate was exquisite - the dark beers in the pairings were quite nice (I skipped the paler beers - not my style and why spoil it?)

Thursday, I harvested the sage and most of the chives (one bunch was forgotten). This was such an odd year for the garden. Too much rain and cold to produce a lot berry-wise, flowers died fast in all the wet, too. But now I go out there and see that others took the opportunity to totally take everything over. Lemon balm is popping up where it never had before. Strawberries have infiltrated far further into the heart of the flower bed than I ever expected. Lots of clearing to do this fall/ next spring and then I'll have to keep a tighter reign next year.

Speaking of sage. I have tons. And it lasts - plus it is very rare to use more than 1 tbsp max in any meal. I have two large spice containers full of processed sage, 2 clementine boxes of dried sage to process, and a large shopping bag full of the latest. Have to think of a craft project that uses this stuff or else everyone gets a keg of it for Christmas. Thoughts?

Book #18 - Diary by Chuck Palahniuk. Pretty good. I want Sonny to read it. Some of the commentary on art school was great, though some of it got a bit long. One of those - "I would totally have seen it coming and bailed before they got me" - type books.

Book #19 - Straken by Terry Brooks. You guys know I love these books. They follow a pretty clearcut formula - a kid who doesn't think he/she is so special winds up being the only one who can save the land via the magic they didn't know they had. But it pulls you in deep real fast and you become immersed in it. The character development is great. In almost every book of these series, a character dies or comes close to dying and I cry. You wind up caring that much. Linked to the Word and the Void series in a way I haven't got to yet, the Shannara books tend to be more complex, with more plot lines running, but all well done.

Book #20 - Sylvie by Gerard de Nerval. I'm reading On Literature by Eco right now - a collection of essays & lectures. One is on this book - he opens it by gushing about how it "bowled him over" and talking about the love both he and Proust had for the short piece. He also highly recommended reading it before reading his essay. I'm thinking it's one of those stories (like "The Yellow Wallpaper" or "Turn of the Screw") that you really have to read in a critical setting - like a class or partnered with a critical evaluation to get anything out of. I read it and felt "meh". Do have to say, first book I've read on Google Books via my Touch - pretty cool that.

Furlough starts

I'm off this week, but it's my furlough, which means I have no ties to whatever company it was that they thought I worked at anyway. I came into the week with plans to get a specific set of tasks done. They may still, but it's been slow going. Mostly because I'm fighting a cold and physically need to slow myself down sometimes. I'm trying to listen to the signals so that it won't take me out entirely, and in hopes that I'll recover faster.

I may have just needed a recharge anyway.

I'm reading a lot. Cooking about the same, though I'd like to do more - may make some bread today. The basil and mint have been harvested - and if this sun persists for at least 1/2 hr more, I'll take in the chives and sage today. (I have a pic of my monster basil but the network hates me today, so that will have to be part of another blog post.) The piles in my study are slowly ... well getting more organized anyway.

Speaking of food - I had promised to post this: Devil's Food Pancakes
1 1/4c flour
1c sugar
1/2c cocoa powder
1/2tsp baking soda
1/8tsp salt
2 eggs
1 yolk
3/4c buttermilk
1/4c vegetable oil (or sub in applesauce for a tasty lo-fat version)
1tsp vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt. Whisk in eggs, yolk, buttermilk, oil, & vanilla until well blended.
Drop onto griddle & cook like typical pancakes.

And, as I read, I'm accumulating a (neat) pile of books to post about. Here's a few:

Book #16 - The Secret Books of Venus I and II by Tanith Lee. Meh. I got pulled in enough that they read pretty fast, but I didn't really care. I thought the religious "fervor" elements of primary characters in the Second book quite annoying and almost all of the epilogue to that one could have been done without to save it from cheese-ball classification.

Book #17 - Lord Minimus: The extraordinary life of Britain's smallest man by Nick Page. Fascinating tale of Jeffrey Hudson, at 18 inches tall a sufferer of growth hormone deficiencies. Unfortunately, while there are many remarkable events in Jeffrey's life that are significant enough to provide the records for Page to build his tale, Jeffrey is often just a sidenote and there's not a ton of rich information. You could say that makes even a bit more the everyman-who-fell-into-the grand-life, I guess. Just wish he kept a diary or wrote letters or something. As Jeffrey was a member of Charles I's court (or more specifically Queen Henrietta Maria's), also a good primer on a time in British history that I hadn't read much about.

A quick Method promo

So, Jenny gave me a sample pack of Method cleaning products a while back. It had:

• Hand wash
• Dish soap
• General purpose cleaner
• Wood cleaner

Awesome stuff! We normally use the dish soap to wash hands in the kitchen, which always dries my skin on my palms, fingertips. The Method handwash was quite refreshing because it left a clean feeling - not greasy, but not dried out either.
First, I started using the wood cleaner to clean the shelf above our kitchen stove. The kind of spot that has sticky dust and a lot of it. The wood cleaner worked wonders. As I was up there, I looked at the walls above the shelf, and broke out the General spray. And I went a bit nuts, scrubbing all the walls. It worked great and they hadn't been tackled ... in a long time.

All in all, my kitchen is much cleaner thanks to the sample pack....

Focus, Possibility, and Vacation reads

First - full disclosure - someone commented on the last post that "there's nothing cool about opening for Creed" and I deleted it because I didn't want to deal w/ snarkiness. TBH, I don't know Creed except to say I don't listen to them (I'm really bad at tying bands to music unless they're a fave), but whatever you think of them, my brother got to open for a band that drew thousands on a rainy night at a big venue for our parts. That's cool.

OK.

I spent my vacation recentering, spending time w/ J, both of us focusing more on diet and fitness - and I finally saw some minor progress towards my goal - down 4lbs... Ways to go, but good to see movement. I like the way my diet thinking has solidified and I'm hoping this extra step, coupled w/ continued workouts, proves the catalyst needed to keep driving to my goal. I want to dig out that bag of clothes I've stashed away for "when A loses the weight" and try them on again - and have some fit!

One of many awesome birthday gifts was a book called The Art of Possibility. I had forgotten it was on my wishlist, but am grateful it was chosen. The book is structured around "practices" that help to open up the realm of possibility. I'm going to try a practice a week - we'll see what happens. At home so far, practice one has had an impact though more subtle than blatant, I think.

Book #14 -Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. LOVED IT! Structured like exploring a set of Russian nested dolls - the stories are so different in plot and voice and yet meld together into one big saga of where we've been, where we're going and the power one might have to change it. I have many pages flagged for quotes - some for "deep meaning", some for the beauty of the language.

Book #15 - Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum. And now for something completely different! Fun romp thru zombieland, though you have to set aside the nagging feeling that zombies who don't remember doorknobs and are dropping pieces of themselves left and right probably can't keep a good haiku journal.

Laughter, tears, and cheetah groundhogs

Tidbits today.

Sonny had a show recently that got written up in Boston's Phoenix paper. Very very cool.

Danny has been playing more gigs than ever with his various bands. The biggest of late was opening for Creed at Darien Lake. Mega cool.

The other day I was waiting outside by myself for a delivery. Walking around in circles, leaning on a street sign. Feeling generally awkward to just be standing there.
As I'm leaning on the sign, scanning for the delivery guy, a cop car pulls up.
Two thoughts automatically pop up in my head - 1) Is it illegal to lean on street signs? 2) Maybe it's Mark or Jason - the guys I know in the RPD.
He stops a short distance away. I gulp a bit.
His hand comes out of the window and makes a "come here" motion. Uh oh.
I walk up. Not Mark, not Jason. I lean towards the window, hands in pockets. "Hey, how's it going?" (Picture a golly-gee-willikers fist pump here)
Guy looks at me. Points out that he was just letting the person standing behind me cross the street.
Mortified!!!
But the best part was telling this to Jenny & Tina - who double over with laughter and even had me in tears recounting it...

Earlier this summer, J and I were driving by a big lawn on the way to errands one evening. We enjoy spotting the groundhogs that often litter the green expanse, so I was keeping my eyes open. And saw this incredible image. A groundhog RUNNING! He was booking somewhere (and I like to think it was a joyous and not a lifesaving type of thing). He flew over dips, legs extended in each direction. The cheetah-hog. Awesome....

Two catchup books.
Book #12 - Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl: The true story of "Renee" w/ forward by Frank Conroy. Fascinating. Renee's story is presented in so matter of fact a manner. Things just get very different from normal. The extent of the loss of reality defies categorization and she's often forced to bucket things in ways that aren't right just to try to convey what's going on. Voices, for example, are more compulsions from "elsewhere". The therapist's interpretation is baffling to me. First, she often uses "psycho-babble" - words that do not need to exist (like utilize in business!!), where syllables are added just to make it sound more official. Then, she's pinned all of Renee's issues to the fact that she was weaned prematurely. Geh? How about the fact that her mother discovered her father cheating, which broke up the marriage and made her mother threaten suicide - right at the time when Renee first started experiencing symptoms???? Never mentioned it. Seemed weird. Good book though.

Book #13 - The Secret of Two-Edge: Book 6 in the ElfQuest reader's collection by Richard & Wendy Pini. To balance #12 - I don't have much to say. Kinda' fun, kinda' ok. Meh.

Two quick food bytes

I had a couple of recipe requests on Twitter - so I'm posting them here quickly. I owe 2 books - hopefully this weekend...

J's simple pho
(note, J does not cook by recipe and is uncertain of volumes. Use best judgement)
Broth: veggie broth ~1/2 strength. Oyster sauce. onion, garlic, hot pepper. Powdered ginger. Dry lemongrass.

Cook shrimp in the boiling broth. Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes early (if using dry - if using ones packed in oil, add at end w/ peas)

Make rice noodles in another pot (the ones we tried fell apart too easily; need to find sturdier noodles)

Combine stuff in bowls, add pea pods broken into bit-sized bits. Serve with basil, lemon balm leaves, and hot sauce.


Bulgar w/ peas, sun-dried tomatoes, & mint
Melt 1tbsp butter in a saucepan. Add 1c bulgar, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic. Toast briefly.
Add 2c water, frozen peas, and some dry ginger.
Let simmer until most liquid is gone. Meanwhile re-hydrate sun-dried tomatoes (if you have dry (same as above) - place in 1c water and heat in microwave til boiling - let sit 5min.
Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped fresh mint leaves, and a bit more dry ginger.

Summer refocus

Trying to refocus a bit on where I want to be healthy eating wise and workout wise. Just a day or so in, but it feels so good, why is it so hard to keep up? Well, part of the workout problem was the ankle. We'll see how this new workout goes.

Also, trying to make faster progress on projects now that a certain big one (which I'll talk about more later this month) is out of the way... Inspired (and egged on) a bit by the maniac redo of a bathroom & some other stuff next door.

But, mostly, I posted to list the latest books - I've had a bit of a burst lately.

Book #9 -The Incredible Hulk: Transfer of Power written by Bruce Jones, pencils by Stuart Immonen, inks by Scott Koblish. I love the Hulk. Even though he doesn't show much in this particular one, when he does, it's awesome. Another treat is a reference to a children's classic in the artwork....

Book #10 - The Elric Saga, Part 1 by Michael Moorcock. I was curious about this because a friend was gung-ho super into the series. While I intend to put the subsequent books on my library list, I won't add them to my "to buy" list. The stories pulled me along at a pretty good clip, but the lack of character development was annoying. At first I thought it was for everyone but Elric. Yes, true - any culture or character outside the central figure is very flat - but then I realized that Elric himself is never fully explored. So much about personality is stated as a straight fact and depth is never given. One more ding - the dialogue had a tendency to the over-fluffy, fake-formal you see sometimes in books of medieval days.

Book #11 - Moomin: The complete Tove Jansson comic strip: Book 2 by Tove Jansson. I loved the first in this collection and liked this one even better. Poor Moomin fares a bit better in this one - never at the point of losing everything.... As a family, the Moomins face their off-the-wall adventures. And their light-hearted, positive spin prevails, over hordes of young Mymble-siblings, over Stinky and his schemes, and so on. Fun.

(Book #12 will be done soon - maybe a day or so)

An unexpected trip - Part II

What is it about Paris that brings couples together? I saw many couples all over each other in our walk around the city. It made me wonder - was this Parisians acting Parisian, or was it people assuming "hey, we're in Paris, we can slobber on each other on the streets!"?

Love seeing all sorts walking carrying bread in small paper wrappers, some just randomly taking bites now & then. One guy who looked rather "butler-y" carrying several loaves, perhaps for a dinner party.

Book #8 - Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks. I love this series - and people following the books I read know that. Some themes that stood out to me in this one: 1 - Nest's strength in the face of utmost adversity/ evil. Long caught up in the ultimate battle between the Word and the Void, Nest faced down several demons without taking any smack. She pulled from her core and refused to waver from what was right. 2- I wrote down "Good fooling evil - will get you back" - and I'm not totally sure who is getting who back so that's a bit vague. 3 - O'olish Amaneh - his persistence but in an insubstantial way - a native from an ancient tribe near Nest's home and a servant of the Word, though not a Knight like key character John Ross - O'olish Amaneh is solid as a great tree and yet can disappear on the breeze. I like his "quiet" approach to the fight.

An unexpected trip - Part 1

So the trip to Paris started off rather inauspiciously with an 8 hour flight from Chicago to Dulles. Yick. Missed the flight to Paris, had to get rooms for the night, and the next afternoon flew from Dulles to Ohare (yet again) to Paris. After all of that, I decided to stay until Saturday instead, so that I could decompress before dealing w/ the airlines again.

Finished Book #7 on the trip from Chicago to DC - Eugene Onegin: A novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin - translated by Douglas R Hofstadter. Had this been written in prose, I would have struggled with it, I'm sure. It could have ended up like the Austin novels that I just can't get into. In verse, however, the stuffiness fades quite a bit and the fondness of author and translator for language comes to the fore. Hofstadter is very fond of wordplay, but considers this faithful to the original, as Pushkin used many plays on words himself. The puns, goofy rhyming, and what Hofstadter calls "poetic lie-sense" brought several smirks to my face while reading.
The story itself is one of missed opportunities and stubbornness blinding people to the happiness right in front of them. One trouble spot I had was in the final chapter, where Pushkin jumps ahead and seems to leave out a section of the tale.

Did a ton of walking around Paris. Love the city, but the homeless seemed more prevalent than I remember - of course I did not spend a ton of time in tourist spots when working there, but still. I was struck by their plight. I felt for those caring for pets. The woman with a very young baby almost brought me to tears. And I kick myself now because I just kept going. Was it because a band of girls with the same note written in English about Dad dying and having no food approached first to scam money, and so I felt I needed to guard against appeals? Maybe partly. I was stressed about how much I had and what I needed for the little spending I was doing a bit too. Still, to go back and give, just what I could spare.... In any case, it was tough to see and I wondered about the stories behind the lost eyes...


Good numbers of smart cars, more than here, definitely more than Dublin, but less than expected. Lots and lots of scooters and motorbikes - definitely more than when I was last here. Trouble is, a Parisian driver on a motorbike is still a Parisian driver and can squeeze through more spaces and pull in and out of traffic even more easily than in a car. Chaos ensues.

Watchmen

Travelling to Chicago for work. I love the opportunity to mix things up, get out and about, but I feel like things have been non-stop lately, that I need time to retreat from practically everything. So I’m not super excited to be going. I’m hoping the research itself is really insightful so it feels like the craziness and stress I’m imposing on myself (yes, I know it really is all in my head) is worth it.

[Two days later] So, Chicago yielded good insights and now I'm off to Paris - which I didn't know til yesterday. Between groups I ran out and bought more clothes. I'll definitely need at least one more book, but maybe I'll buy it there. To Paris! Just a few days - one to recoup from travel and explore a bit, one full of groups. Haven't been in 14 years (woah). Looking forward to it.

Book #6 Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. I haven't seen the movie yet. Found this quite striking but not in a total downer perspective friends who have seen the movie felt. The alternate history brings intriguing subtleties to the story. While ultimately, I felt some better justice could have been served without the media disaster anticipated, overall the story was super compelling and I loved the format.

Taking Eugene Onegin and Angel Fire East on the trip.
More from the City of Light!

Baby steps

Last night, while grocery shopping, I found relatively inexpensive recycled napkins and chose to get organic ketchup. Little things, but they make me smile & feel good, just like discovering a new plant in the garden would. I hadn't realized before how full of corn syrup normal ketchup is. Now I'm doing that little bit extra for the environment and for our health.

If people responded to positive health/ green decisions the way they do to a favorite fried meal or other indulgence - the cascade of better choices would grow a thousand times over. We need to milk, talk up, promote the endorphins that this can bring. Successful community gardening efforts are a good example - people get really jazzed, involved, and it spreads to others & other choices.

I think I'll add community gardening to literacy programs in my list of "when I give my time"....

BTW - book #5 - Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Wow. Good book. As it opened with life in Kabul in the early 70s, the contrast vs the National Geographic article I had recently read on the 2004 situation was so vivid. And it coincided nicely with Mummies of Urumchi's details of some of the earliest migrations into and through the region. Kite Runner soon became about so much more. Powerful in a not pleasant way that makes you want to run in and help. Somehow. Add Afghanistan kids to "when I have $ and can give both time and...". It could have ended earlier, but then it might have been less "real".

Vacation and a couple more books

I've taken a few days off, part of J's spring break. He has some homework and I'm largely catching up on to dos and cleaning (or I mean to, anyway), but it's nice. Something about not being pushed by routine - being able to bust away and actually think about some stuff for a bit. I should do this more often...

Today we took a walk around the neighborhood, hitting a couple of our favorite shops- hung out with Wayne for a bit at Futons 'n More, stopped by the Genesee Bakery for some goodies and lunch. And before I dive into cleaning, I'll update you on the latest books:

Book #3 - Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The reason behind the rhyme by Chris Roberts. Chris is a librarian who runs historical tours around London. In detailing the origins of some of our most common nursery rhymes, he taught me a lot of the nuance and personality behind British history, place names, etc. Especially fascinating is the subject of rhyming slang where "Lady" means "fiver" because of Lady Godiva - it's a type of slang that makes you think to get it. I may have to search for more on this.

Book #4 - The Mummies of Urumchi by Elizabeth Wayland Barber. I got this because I had never heard of caucasian-featured mummies in China before. There is a lot of information on the region (the Uyghur Autonomous Region) and puzzling out who these people were, how they lived, and how they got there from just what they wore into the grave. Anyone interested in the history of textiles or linguistics will find this quite interesting. My only gripe is that Barber seems to come to a conclusion - and then tell us again and again and again. By the end, I kind of wondered why it was still going.

Stories are our lives - thoughts on eternity

That's a bit scary. Feels like it's been so long since I posted I was a bit reluctant to come and write. Typing will help loosen me up, I'm sure. Now that I'm started...

First off, Book #1 - The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's only novel. I appreciated the backstory in the forward and the footnotes for their critical context. At times, Poe loses track in the longer form and has some disjointed elements - characters never mentioned again, that type of thing. It's rambling and typical of the style of the day. I was a little disappointed that it didn't get more into the characters mental states, but again, that might not have been the era for it. Much matter of fact on a crazy adventure that is definitely memorable and has several gem moments.

*******
So, the other day I was reading a chapter in Aldous Huxley's Perennial Philosophy on "Time and Eternity" and was struck by the relationship Huxley draws between the temporal focus of a faith and its tendency towards violence, political powermongering, slavery, etc. (I'm going to try to quote a piece, it's a long rant)

For four hundred years, from the beginning of the sixteenth centyr to the beginning of the twentieth, most of the Christian nations of Europe have spent a good part of their time and energy in attacking, conquering, and exploiting their non-Christian neighbours in other continents. [...]The first collective protest against the slave system [...] was made in 1688 by the Quaker Meeting of Germantown. [...]Of all Christian sects in the seventeenth century, the Quakers were the least obsessed with histroy, the least addicted to the idolatry of things in time. [...] Moreover their eternity-philosophy preserved them from the materialistic apocalypticism of that progress-worship which in recent times has justified every kind of iniquity from war and revolution to sweated labour, slavery and the exploitation of savages and children - has justified them on the ground that the supreme good is in future time and that any temporal means, however intrinsically horrible, may be used to achieve that good.

Fascinating, I had never considered the tie, although one thing that interests me in other philosophies is a desire to avoid the powermongering that I know exists in certain sects.
One more quote on this to talk about the flip side - the eternal perspective:

For those whose philosophy does not compel them to take time with an excessive seriousness the ultimate good is [...] in an eternal diving now which those who sufficiently desire this good can realize as a fact of immediate experience. The mere act of dying is not in itself a passport to eternity; nor can wholesale killing do anything to bring deliverance either to the slayers or the slain or their posterity. The peace that passes all understanding is the fruit of liberation into eternity [...]

Veering away from the religious, I finished Book #2 - White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Interesting story about the lives of immigrants and those closely tied to them in London - a generational perspective on the desires to succeed, to fit in, to conquer, to fade into the background, etc. There are a few spots where it gets a bit long, but I found the twist at the end quite nice.
On the final page is this quote:

the end is simply the beginning of an even longer story

I like that. A lot. Have to make dinner now.

Today's guest judges...

Last week, J's Aunt was in town from Connecticut, as part of her annual audition tour. She is a choreographer for Nutmeg Conservatory, a ballet school and for the past 3 years has stopped in Rochester to hold auditions at Hochstein and teach at Rochester City Ballet. And for the past 3 years, J and I have been guest judges at the Hochstein auditions.

I've worked for years to understand people, what they want, how they want to hear about it, what makes them happy, frustrated, etc. Observation, as many of the leading edge thinkers point out, is a great way to build up this understanding. I take what I see at the auditions, toss out the fact that I really don't know what a "soda shop" or a "pa de buerre" is (and no, those aren't intended to be the right spellings), and try to get a feel for the students, as students, as dancers. To paint a picture of where they are now and where they might be a few years down the road.

J looked on with a designer's eye, noting the form and line in certain positions.

J's Aunt (Joan) is always thrilled with our input and I'm thrilled to contribute. To have some time to sit, watch, note and have that input valued.

While the auditions can tend to make me feel large and very clunky, as well as slow and clueless about ballet, the up side is definitely worth it.

The final books of 2008 and Christmas crafting

Did I get to 50? No, still not there. ALMOST 30, but not quite. It really depends on mood, type of book (I don't weed out the slow ones to improve my count), and the type of intermediary articles and things that crop up. (The system is a bit complicated and very ocd'ish).

So, here they are:
Book #27 (I actually had 2 #20s before, so this is correct) - Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. Nice, light, and simple. A series of 30 vignettes, with interludes, that could totally have occupied Einstein's thoughts as he was honing the theory of relativity. Each vignette looks at one way of relating to time and envisions what life would be like.

Book #28 - The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. A horror classic and I can see that. But I want MORE. I wanted more details on the sordid history of the house - maybe somebody should have found a journal or something. I love big old houses - so I wanted more on the house. As it was, I almost drew it because the description of how the house gets you turned around - well, it really turned me around and I was baffled. What were the outbuildings like? *sigh* Still, pretty good.

Book #29 (that's the last one) - Under the Banner of Heaven: A story of violent faith by Jon Krakauer. Fascinating. Depth in areas of Mormon history I had not known - Krakauer even visited Palmyra for the Pageant! I found his style very straightforward. He admits when he is baffled by it all, but still lays it out as the various fundamentalists see it. His analysis of how a faith could spawn such splinter sects was very insightful. I would love to see a postscript that continues the story given recent stories, or just an ongoing commentary.

For Christmas, I did 3 categories of craft projects.
1) Newspaper yarn: (pic not working for some reason)

2) A bag crocheted from plastic bags - Caveat - This deviates from the pattern because it's the first thing I ever crocheted and I used the wrong stitch for the entire thing.


3) Spa stuff! I made lotion bars, herby oatmeal bath soak, and sugar scrub:

My "themes" for 2009

Following the lead of several in my Twitter community (like Chris Brogan), I've shifted my thinking from specific resolutions to a few theme words that should direct most of my thinking and efforts in the new year.

Curious? I've picked 3 themes:





1 - Focus. I'm a multi-tasker with boundless curiosity. Tons of tabs open for posts and pages whose headlines caught my eye. Tons of articles, magazines, and books in my "to read" pile for the same reason. Many projects started and not finished. Happens with hobbies, with work, with housework. With goals like fitness and financials, too. "Focus" as a theme is a deep breath, a bit of zen. Remembering the whole instead of getting caught up in the compulsions around the pieces. It leads to #2 quite well, also.

2 - Calm. Another big breath. I stress. I know that on a semi-regular basis I'll get overwhelmed with all that's going on and how little progress I seem to make. This is my reminder to stop, step away, and melt the tension away before it sweeps me away.

3 - Circle. Not as obvious. I firmly believe (and will post more on my Media Creole blog soon on this) that to get the full benefit of sharing stories, experiences, life, the process needs to be circular. I don't mean that you give with the expectation of getting back in a selfish sense. The "getting back" is in the form of "thank yous", stories told in response, smiles and photos. "Circle" for me, for 2009 is about keeping up my part of the sharing cycle. Being better about my blogs, about keeping in touch with close friends and family, about sharing pics.

So, there you go. I still need to share the last books of 2008 and Christmas crafts - it'll be a flashback of sorts. Here's to a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2009 for all.


Finally, before I go - it was one year ago tonight that my "episode" happened. J's face and voice are graven in my mind. I feel fine now - there's a bit of adjustment to meds when I'm trying new cardio, but that's about it. Bionic pieces have not had to fire. I've only set off store detectors once or twice and no one noticed when I did. But it's still striking and something that makes me pause. Makes me marvel a bit at what I took for granted and focus on what is truly most important. - tears are threatening so that's it. Thanks.

Another recipe - cranberry chutney

Once again, a recipe request gets me to post.

Dan had a gig in San Francisco yesterday and went to see Bela Fleck on Friday night. Need to connect with Sonny to see what he's up to.

Our family Thanksgiving (minus Sonny and Pam who are visiting her family this year) will be Wednesday afternoon, because Dad has to work on Thursday. I plan to make my cranberry chutney in just a short while.

And here's the recipe! (marked in my cookbook by a Cheese pumpkin pattern :))
Originally from Bon Appetit, I believe.
Cranberry-Pear Chutney

1 12 oz bag of fresh cranberries
2 pears, peeled, halved, cored, corsely chopped (by far the messiest part)
1 onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
1 c orange marmalade
1/2 c dried pears (I never find these, so always leave them out, seems fine)
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
1/4 c grated lemon peel (another item that could be omitted if you don't have lemons around)
1 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper

Combine all in a pot.
Cover and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens (and cranberries pop), stirring occasionally - about 30 minutes. Cool.
(Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Update - typed too fast - 2 things - 1) instead of lemon peel I usually put in a splash of lemon juice, 2) 1/3c packed dark brown sugar.

Grandmother's White Bread

In 3rd grade, my class made bread and butter at school. It was fun, I mostly remember licking the bowls and eating a lot of flour... That poor teacher must have had such a mess to deal with!
But she sent us home with the recipes - and nearly every Christmas eve day since then I've made the bread.

@solessence asked on Twitter today if anyone had bread recipes and I thought it was time to share, so here is the famous "Grandmother's White Bread" recipe:

1 envelope yeast
1/2c very warm water (I run tap until quite hot to finger and use that)
3 tbsp sugar
2c milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp salt
7-8c flour

1) combine all but 1/2tsp sugar, milk, butter, & salt in saucepan. Heat until butter melts. Pour into a large bowl and cool 'til lukewarm (until comfortable to dip finger in to bottom)
2) While cooling, sprinkle yeast into 1/2c water. Stir in 1/2 tsp sugar. let dissolve and stand until bubbly & double
3) Stir yeast mixture into lukewarm milk mixture.
4) Stir in 3 c flour and beat til smooth (I do all beating/ kneading by hand, but if you have a mixer you trust, go for it). Stir in enough flour to make a soft dough (about 4 cups)
(aside: I learned in a bread-making class recently that you really want to mix flour in until the dough is no longer sticky - you shouldn't need any flour when kneading)
5) Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (10 minutes). Add flour as needed to keep from being sticky.
6) Place in a buttered bowl. Turn dough to bring buttered side up. Cover with a towel. Let rise in a warm place 1 hour (until double).
7) Punch dough down. Turn onto lightly floured surface. Knead a few times. Put bowl over dough. Let rest 10 minutes.
8) Divide dough in half. Knead each half a few times. Shape into 2 loaves. Place in buttered loaf pans.
9) Let rise again in a warm place 1 hour (until double).
10) Bake in a hot (400-degree) oven 40 minutes. Should be golden brown and sound hollow when tapped. If browning too fast, cover loosely w/ foil.

Book catchup

I have a ton of stuff to post about, but "housekeeping" first in this post - the latest books.

Book #20 - Tanequil by Terry Brooks. The latest read in the Shannara series holds true to form. A great escape that swept me away for a weekend. The Rock Trolls are great. It got a little sappy with the latest Ohmsford, Pen, and the blind Rover girl, Cinnaminson in one spot, but generally you get at least one super-sappy spot in each trilogy in the series. Evil forces are out to do the unthinkable, something that will destroy life as the people of the Four Lands know it - and you really feel the impact of how terrible that can be.

Book #21 - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Another classic I never read as a kid. Not bad, good fun. Although after a point Toad's nonsense just got annoying and I was looking for the end.

Book #22 - Abyssinian Chronicles by Moses Isegawa. Traces the chaotic life of Mugezi, a guy growing up in Uganda, from the end of colonialism through the reign of Idi Amin and rebel government after rebel government, into the era of AIDS. I was struck by the ways in which the various elements of Ugandan society needed to transform themselves, and how often, in order to survive the latest crisis. Powerful, if a bit dry and dull in spots.

Book #23 - A Sorcerer's Treason by Sarah Zettel. I found this a bit dull at first, but got swept into the stories a few chapters in. I found some elements stiff and predictable at times. The dialogue,intended to be late 19th century, seems forced at times. But the story is good. My favorite is when Bridget weaves spells through the air via dance. I love the idea and the image. I will most likely pick up the second book.

Book #24 - Good Omens: The nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. My spirits lift thinking of this. It was refreshing - a blast of cool, fresh air on a hot and sticky day. And a lot of fun. Not laugh out loud funny, but smirks and sideways grins, definitely. The end of the world has come to pass, or is supposed to, anyway, and all sorts of different folk - people, witches, demons, angels, dogs, have roles to play. A great piece that seemlessly blends the styles of Gaiman and Pratchett into something very entertaining.

Book #25 - Made to Stick: Why some ideas survive and others die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. I was hooked on this book from the first time I read the prologue online. Dealing with ideas that are able to burrow into our subconscious and influence our behaviors, the brothers approach this from the standpoints of business and academia. In researching sticky ideas, urban legends are an obvious place to start. What really sticks with me is the research into tainted Halloween candy - which shows that there NEVER WAS any apples w/ razor blades reported to police!!! Only two incidents showed in records from WWII to the 80s - one was a kid who got into his uncle's coke stash and they sprinkled it on his candy to throw off the cops, and one was a kid whose father put cyanide on his candy to get life insurance. Think about how much this has changed our behaviours! Incredible. The brothers have a sound approach to making ideas sticky that hopefully will be useful for me in the future.

That's it for now - more soon!

May wonders never cease

I <3 finding out about new creatures - or seeing for a first time creatures only rumored to exist. The idea that we may not know everything about this world we live in thrills me. Who knows what beasties dwell in the Amazon, the African rainforest, or in the depths of the ocean that we have yet to encounter? A part of me believes too that behind a thin obscuring veil, the people of faerie are going about their lives. The possibilities, the potential to learn and discover more, the wonder....

Two stories struck me this week:

The first time an Okapi has been caught on film. Called the "African Unicorn", I love the patterns on its fur. (via TrendHunter)


The first photos and video of a live fringe shark. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may have figured out that I love sharks. This one is so funky looking - very alien when the fringe gills are flaired. The deep ocean must be an incredible place. I wonder if fringe sharks and Megamouth hang out. (via National Geographic)

Coolness!

A Happy Hippo and Not-so Angst Ridden Teens

Just a few book reviews today. I wanted to get this down and I'm still recovering from a bug that's had me wiped out and zomboid of late, so no great insights that you'd care to hear (though Fringe looks tres cool) - just books.

Book #19 - Moomin: The complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip by Tove Jansson. So the Moomins aren't exactly hippos, but they do kinda' look like them. The crazy characters in these comics are always up to something extra-ordinary. But Moomin would rather have a sedentary existence - "I only want to live in peace, plant potatoes, and dream!" - Ahhhh, doesn't that sound nice? I could use a bit of that myself right now....

Come on, they look a bit hippo-ish wouldn't you say? (Photo by Ksu on igougo Helsinki)

Book #20 - Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I promised I'd keep an open mind when trying this and I rather hate that I come off sounding like a book snob, but I just did not care for the style and I thought the story very poorly developed. The prose reminded me of the stories of sarcastic princes and tough talking young ladies that I wrote in high school. The characters weren't well developed - I really didn't care about any of them. Teen angst, much alluded to, was extremely wimpy. Drama and suspense, not a ton. After I finished, I found myself building out the story, rewriting it, adding characters, depth and backstory in an attempt to make it whole - but struggling with the lack of starting material. So it did linger, but not because I wanted to be with the characters longer, to live the story withe them, as with many of the books I love, just trying to fix it. A miss on my list.

It's all about perspective

I'm sure most of you have seen the Dove Onslaught video/ ad. I thought it was great when I first saw it because I do appreciate that we can really end up messing with kids' heads with all of the fake stuff that's out there.

It's important to encourage self-esteem and positive self-image and reinforce that you can succeed. Although altering the system so that everyone achieves is a step too far and a whole 'nother story.

But I'm also increasingly conscious of the impact of the products that I use on the environment, and this response video by Greenpeace has been stuck in my head for days.



Do note the "update" in the Notes for this video - Dove has responded in a positive way. Let's see them stick to it. In the meantime, I may add Palm Oil to the list of ingredients I want to avoid.

Warning: sappiness enclosed

Over the long weekend, Sonny came home and we celebrated our birthdays together with the family - just missing P.

First - the stuff I had been stressing about - my job was moved to California. I'm very much a Northeast girl - love the forests and the green and the seasons. The family is all here. Still, J and I thought quite a bit over the couple of days I had to decide and were considering it, a way to get out of any ruts we might be in. It ended up not working out because J will most likely be going to industrial design school here in the East when he finishes MCC and I couldn't be there alone for years.

Now, I have a bit of time to find another job within Kodak - here's hoping.

So, as we celebrated birthdays I couldn't help but reflect on the 33rd year of my life. The health scare that led to my adoption of bionic parts. The 4 days to decide if we could move across the country for a few years and start a different life. I am very blessed that I have such awesome parents, brothers (+ their others), and husband. Without them, this wannabe kickbutt chic would have been very lost and lonely and would have taken a lot more time to heal. Crises emphasize what's important. Good Lord, these really did. Thank you guys, soooo much.

OK, sappiness over:

Book #17: Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. This helped to motivate me to make some fundamental changes to my diet. It underlined the importance of avoiding processed foods and going organic often. I've nearly cut all of my pop consumption and really increased water intake as a result. I plan to switch to an unprocessed type of sugar - potentially crystallized honey. That said, I'm not totally swayed on the dairy and meat issues.

Book #18: Stranger than Fiction: True stories by Chuck Palahniuk. I have to admit the first stories in this are a bit fuzzy in my memory - I started reading it in the hospital on little sleep and stress, followed by pain meds. I did enjoy the vignettes presented and I think they have piqued my interest in his novels - now that I know a bit more about him I can perhaps overlook some of the more extreme elements of his style.

Looking forward to the weekend

Sonny's coming up for a joint birthday (mine & his) celebration this weekend. That will be fun. Life has been crazy of late and it will be good to be with the whole gang. I need to see if we can get a good pic for YoungMe NowMe on Color Wars.

Can't really tell the full story of recent craziness yet. By next week. Part of it included a whirlwind trip for J and I to San Diego last weekend. We departed Rochester at 7:30am on Saturday and returned at midnight Sunday/Monday. Total nutzoid. From Chicago to Denver we had a selection of flics, including Leatherheads and Prince Caspian. I was excited about Caspian - even though the volume differences between dialogue and musical interlude were annoying. I would say we were about 2/3 of the way into the movie - just as everything starts to come to a boil - when it shut off as we started the approach to Denver. Evil! Don't show a movie if it's longer than the trip! Now I have to move that to the top of the queue.

I seriously need to catch up on books because I'm doing well this year and I'm just being horrible about blogging them, but I don't want to do more than 2 to a post, so:

Book #15: The Quantity Theory of Insanity by Will Self. J found this really powerful. I found it a bit to slog through. I don't remember any particular pieces that struck me, but I just didn't get into it and found much of the premise a bit too convoluted.

Book #16: A Knight of the Word by Terry Brooks. The Shannara series by Brooks remains one of my favorites - one of the few fantasy series that I loved in high school and don't find somewhat annoying today. Running with the Demon, the first book in the series of which A Knight of the Word is the second, also ranked high - bringing elements of Brooks' storytelling to today's world and carrying some of the moral undercurrent I like to see (we humans can seriously screw up life here, or we can work to make things right). Knight did not disappoint. In fact, I'm seriously considering reordering my to read piles to try to catch up with the prolific Brooks - I can't wait to see the latest!

Witnessing a different world

I've blogged before about The Mole People. Last week, we watched a documentary called Dark Days. Focused on an underground community in the Amtrak tunnels, it documents not only the basics of how they live, but also covers an attack on one community member that forces change. The people talk a bit about their past, and the stories are not pleasant.

Towards the close of the film, Amtrak declares that all tunnel occupants are evicted and will be forced out into shelters. The ACLU intervenes and manages to get the residents into a federal housing program where they get their own, real apartments. The last we see of the former tunnel dwellers, they are settling into their new homes, and dreaming big.
A bit of a spoiler that, perhaps - but I needed to tell you that in order to make sure you watch the "postscript" feature in the special features list - sorry I don't remember exactly what it was called - it gives vignettes of life after the tunnel for the key subjects of the documentary.

Striking, all told.

Book #13 - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. Yes, the description of what happens to the dog is a bit nasty. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this. Narrated by an autistic teen who is determined to write a detective story and, through his discoveries, forced to experience more of life than might be expected, this is incredibly well done. I feel like I got a great glimpse into the mind of an autistic person. And I discovered some logic that seems to explain some of my, well, issues - ones that probably afflict many of us to some degree.

Book #14 - The White by Deborah Larsen. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in this. A novelization of the story of Mary Jemison - the "white woman of the Genesee" - kidnapped as a teen, who passed up several opportunities to have her freedom redeemed to remain with the Seneca (I believe) family she became a part of, to me it failed on the "novelization" side. Mary told her story to a doctor in her later years, and this book reads like I believe that would. Not that I don't like the style and cadence, the sparseness of the prose, etc., but I expected more. For what I got, I would rather have read the doctor's edition of the tale and bypassed a modern interpreter. I thought I'd get more depth.

Whistler, Vancouver, and more books

I was in Whistler and Vancouver last week - such great country, there! I could go on and on, but to give just a few highlights.
- Crowds walking near wilderness paths quickly fade from your attention - you can be solitary even in a tourist rush.
- Lift is still an awesome restaurant (we went there on our honeymoon, too)
- People in Vancouver are nice, fit, and very environmentally friendly.
- Cranberry rosemary gelato tastes like eating a rosemary plant. Figs and chocolate shavings is yummy.

I've never been super skilled at chatting it up with strangers. Cab drivers, bus drivers and passengers, people on planes. This trip, though, I actually did strike up a few chats. I think social media playing has helped this. I can throw out 140 characters pretty easily.


Breakfast on the water near the Vancouver airport, first morning there. The kitchen has issued orders to push the meat, it seems. I've never been probed specifically on meat-based sides before. A macho party guy tells of winning at Neil Diamond trivia - interesting contrast there. Only after he brags of it does he back off, a bit embarrassed. Real maple syrup is the default - something I like to see.

Whistler's library has a green roof - very cool!

I read 3 books on the trip and shortly after - up to 15 read this year. Here's the catchup from before that...
Book #11 - I Shudder at Your Touch , an anthology edited by Michele Slung. This was a reread from that Alien Sex lit class I took in college (yep, vampires, aliens, robots, the whole shebang). It's subtitle is "22 Tales of Sex and Horror". What is it with this Horror thing? Some of the tales were odd, some were gross, but I found none horrific - none made me wary of sleeping in a hotel alone without a light on. Overall, it was just ... odd.

Book #12 - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This book is big, but has incredible pull. I couldn't stop reading it and was very unproductive the last few days, especially. A great romp, immersive and realistic while still giving a great fantasy tale. Norrell is so uptight you'd like to smack him around. Strange is compelled and it takes him to incredible places that no one ever expected he'd reach. Very cool. Now I need to get her second, The Ladies of Grace Adieu.

Quick movie & book review

Traveling to Whistler and Vancouver next week - psyched to go, but sorry J couldn't make it to our honeymoon spot!

Saw The Incredible Hulk last night w/ Dad for Father's Day. I really liked it. Dad & I kept nudging each other as links to the show came up. I thought Norton did a good job as Banner and Roth was certainly looney tunes. And I didn't think the CG Hulk was too bad. As for smashing, just like on the show, Hulk smashed to survive, save people, get away from meanies. Not gratuitously.

Just enough time to record Book #10 before other things need to be done:

Book #10 - Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger. I picked this up to see what other stuff of his was like, after The Catcher in the Rye. It's a series of pretty down and dreary vignettes. The most striking was the last story - "Teddy", but I won't tell you why - try not to spoil things here.

But they're an institution!

Sitting in a coffee-shop when a father and his 3-ish daughter step up to the pastry case. He's detailing the goodies she can chose from and they come to the mega-Rice Krispies treats. "What's that?" she asks and he proceeds to detail how they are made. My gut reaction is horror - how can any kid old enough to walk into a coffee-shop and share goodies w/ Dad not know Rice Krispies treats? They're a childhood institution!!

Book#9: Waking up Screaming by H.P. Lovecraft. I have to be honest. Lovecraft had been so hyped as a master of terror, that I felt I must be horribly jaded as I read most of this book. Creepy, gross things, yes. Terrifying, no. In most stories, I figured out the deal early on, so all of his work building suspense was just in the way. That said, I did really enjoy "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" - the novella at the close of this collection. I didn't have it totally right at the start and I enjoyed the history of Providence it wrapped in.

Vacation musings

Thought I'd share the notes from my journal from the first part of our vacation trip.

6/2/08 - Swarms of gnats hung from each tree like a plume of smoke. Their coordinated movements spurred thoughts of collective intelligence, as in some horror film.

6/3/08 - After intermittent drizzly showers, the river has calmed to a glossy stillness, blurred by fog.

6/30/08 - What was the crumbling shack in that field before? A farm stand? A small home for someone making do? Whatever it once was, today it sags and bulges. From a window, a pink leg of some (once-loved?) stuffed beast droops. Memories left behind become just a part of the rubble.

Come and gone

Dan's birthday gathering was in the Thousand Islands. We stayed in a nice cottage on top of a big pile of rocks right on the river. Even though the weather wasn't spectacular all week, it was a great time. J made it up two days after the rest of us (because of a class), the guys got to spend an afternoon fishing for big 'uns, and we did an islands tour so we got to fantasize about having an island someday....



Sonny's run of trees sold out in < 1 minute. He's also sold some other large pieces recently. Awesome stuff.

I have a bunch of books to catch up on:
Book #8: Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot. I was pretty disappointed in this. I was hoping for book of case studies detailing what had been buried and why. I got a lot more really dry academic definitions of history and its composition. The moments when he detailed what little is known of some of the true events surrounding Haiti's revolution, it gets more bearable - but just not the really cool analysis I thought it would be.

Check out the Trees

Sonny has a bunch of tree pieces that are going up on Tiny Showcase tonight at 7:30 pm. Check them out!

Sustainable futures and social connections

We know that knowledge and understanding can help preserve what might otherwise be lost - places & landmarks of historical significance, understanding the past so as not be condemned to repeat it, the advent of ecotourism, etc. Even stronger than knowledge are relationships, social connections.

I like the idea of Crop to Cup a company that brokers family-grown coffee, but also provides tools so that end users, the coffee drinkers, can connect online with the growers, roasters, etc. who are behind it. It's bound to increase their loyalty to the product and their willingness to pay...

Then the other night I was watching Jean-Michel Cousteau and there was a segment where Celine Cousteau visited Amazon Herb Co. Dedicated to "a positive sustainable future for the rainforest and its inhabitants", the company sells herbal products derived from traditional remedies found in the rainforest. What I love is that it is all maintained in a sustainable way. Where they grow the herbs is the rainforest - they have not discovered a product and obliterated everything else to produce items to sell en masse.

I need to find more companies like this to connect with... You know, all of those children's charities where they push for cents-a-day to feed, clothe, medicate, educate the poor of the world and fill their commercials with doe-eyed, sad-faced kids - often use the hook of the letters you'll receive from the kids reporting their progress. Make connecting around the world easier and positive change can result. Hmm need to ponder more.

On the more mundane side -
Book #6 - The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury, illustrated by Dave McKean. An entertaining short story I look forward to reading to future children (no immediate plans on that)

Book #7 - Convergence Culture: Where old and new media collide by Henry Jenkins. I enjoyed this. Jenkins provides a few great case studies of the implications of new media on how we tell stories as a society, how we learn, how we are entertained. Some I still need to digest. A great foundation for anyone interested in trans-media storytelling.

Happy Belated to Dan - though I did call the day of, while you were chowing down, and we'll be celebrating this summer, Roelle-style....

Distractigirl Sunday

Some days I just can't focus. Sometimes happen when I'm on a book binge. I am reading a lot this weekend, but I think there are other causes. I've been daydreaming about some stuff - pondering possibilities and it makes doing chores really hard. It's sometimes like I have tunnel vision in reverse - items on the periphery pull me here, there, anything to keep me from seeing straight ahead....

I plan to post a bunch of pics of recent projects (well, from Christmas on)but need to simply take the time to connect my camera. It's not happening right now. If I waited for that, I'd never get the rest of the post done.

I've finished up through Book #7 and Book #8 is darned close (two pages, actually). Book #9 will soon follow. I'm only blogging #5 today to hopefully get me back here sooner.

Book #5 - The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. When the movie hit the Oscars, I avoided it's mainstream appeal. It seemed, as Sonny would say, "poppish". Now I need to move it up in my queue. The book was quite intriguing. Not extremely elegant prose and remarkably dull subject at times - I wanted to get to the next bit of the action and was pulled on. The ending was quite striking, but the very end I think spoiled it a bit. The narrator, so long a third, anonymous person, suddenly referred to himself and totally confused me.

Reading something about people building castles in the Northwest. Wondering, would I want a big, heavy stone castle, or something more like this. Probably the latter. Both are so much better than mcMansions.

Recycle caps

I always like to see new and different thinking on the reuse/ recycle side of things. And I can see how this one could make a big difference. It's a limited deal, but if it gets enough support (both in terms of caps turned in and shampoo sold), we could see Aveda and other companies doing more.

When bottles are recycled, caps are often cut off and thrown away. But Aveda and Shape magazine are teaming up to keep them out of landfills and waterways, where they can end up choking and starving baby animals.

From March 10 through May 10, Aveda stores will be accepting caps from water and pop bottles, laundry detergent, facial cleanser, shampoo, and whatnot. These will be reused as caps on retro Clove Shampoo bottles (a limited edition anniversary deal in Sept). Bring in 25 caps, get a free Aveda sample. If there isn't a store near you, you can mail them in. Full details here.

Book #4

There have been a bunch of articles lately that say many Americans do not read a single book a year (1/4!) and that the median number read by those who do is 9 for women, and 5 for men. That makes me feel a bit better about making it to 30ish, but I'm still trying for 50! Except for those days when I get sucked into finishing something and get a headache from doing nothing else, I don't think I could consume enough books....

So, #4: Clever Maids: The Secret History of The Grimm Fairy Tales by Valerie Paradiz. Fascinating. Paradiz wraps in many synopses of tales from the collection as she tells the stories of how the Grimm's came upon them. The role of women in their collection process (not really full disclosure on the Grimm's part on that), and the role of the tales in their lives and society at the time of the Napoleanic wars is really interesting. Not only that women guarded such tales, but how much society's woes and pressures weighed into subtle differences in the telling. Also just a good primer on the lives of the brothers Grimm.

Sonny's story

Here's a vid that the Providence art co-op AS220 did on "CW"

An unexpected smile

I don't talk a lot about politics on here, but when people supporting a given candidate produce artistic pieces that make me smile, I take notice. Here are two for you. I'll leave it at that.

Will.I.Am video


Artist Shepard Fairey has made some great screenprints

OK, I'm done

I'm sick of recovering. I want it over. I am tired of being sore. Of wearing out after a couple of hours of anything. Naps are great, but I hate needing them. I want to be able to run both hands through my hair without bending in half. To wear a cami. To pick up my cats. All that.

I feel petulant and sullen - I'm being a whiner - I could be in a far worse spot and stuff generally improves every day (except when I set myself back by falling down the stairs), but I just want to GO!

When you had what they call a "scare"...

... people look at you differently. Which I wouldn't mind so much, except that now, on those days when you fight to get out of bed, it's icy cold and windy outside, and you don't want to think process, but rather cupcakes or soup or cartoons... on those days people get very concerned. "Are you OK?" "You look tired, are you feeling alright?" "Make sure you're not overdoing it now" - it's just a bad day, not a heart problem, really.

That said, I still lose energy and get sore. I'd love to work out again and the gym at work is now free, but since my energy tanks at 3 or 4, I can't really even considered 20 min of cardio....

I may have mentioned this before, but J has been absolutely incredible. From presence of mind though scared at the start of this all, to the presence of mind to do deep research and ask questions to make sure I wasn't getting treated for the sake of treatment, to the emotional and moral support and general taking care of me. There are so many ways this has hit home how much I love him.

In the meantime - Book #3 - The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. I definitely disagree with the critics on this one. Strong storytelling - yes. It brings small-town Mississippi in the 1970's into your home to sit next to you. But I wouldn't call it compelling. It was very very long and often wandered into places that really didn't matter (I guess you could call that "complete"). I also found the ending highly dis-satisfying because it didn't really end, it just ran out of pages.

January - 'tis full of freakiness this year

Is there some sort of curse on January 2008? Something about election years or leap years that could explain all of the weirdness abounding around me?

Yes, things could be freakier - we're not at a total extreme, but the number of unfortunate occurrences in my social circle seems really weird:
- I passed out in bed and wound up diagnosed with Long QT Syndrome, and had a defibrillator implanted.
- Jenny's bunny, Ernie, passed away
- Jenny was in a car accident
- A friend's son had a seizure and puzzling EEG results
- A coworker had a pain in his side that turned out to be a clot

Whatever the case, January has been a month of "firsts" for me:
- First time talking to a 911 operator (very nice lady)
- First time in an ambulance (not good driving "backwards", lying down, when nauseous
- First: CT scan of head (again, glad I was over the nausea as they kept wiggling the table back and forth, EEG (bad hair day after that), many EKGs
- First extensive neurological exam (involving a cruel math trick)

Many many many thanks to the family and friends that surrounded me, kept me sane, and kept me distracted with text messages during the week in the hospital and the recovery at home after. I couldn't do it without you guys. For all of January's weirdness, I'm blessed.

Good for you food can be tasty, too

Last night, J and I went with his visiting Aunt to Tasteology - a new restaurant in Rochester. (They're going to start cooking classes soon, which I'll have to check out)

Tasteology's thing is "healthy menu items from all over the world". Entrees are under 500 calories - made from local, usually organic, produce. Excellent in theory, but what about taste? Would 500 calories satisfy? When it's done smartly, it not only satisfies, it delights!

We started out with Mexican Hot Chocolate, which probably had more calories than dinner, but was so tasty and perfect for the bitter cold that I didn't care. I got a turkey, honey yam, spicy cranberry sauce roti wrap, which came with greens and a small side salad. For desert, I had a "Petit Pleasure" - apple and cranberry with a bit of oaty cookie in the middle.
Excellent. Can't wait to go back and try more. Service was also great and it has a simple, clean decor which has a friendly, healthy feel.

Quick book update:
Book #1 - The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde. A short, highly amusing tale of what happens when a wizened British aristocratic haunt encounters a "modern" American family. Quite fun.

Book #2 - The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City by Jennifer Toth. I've long been fascinated by people who live differently and the thought of lives lead in secret corners has always been intriguing and one I've enjoyed in Neverwhere and other fictional accounts. Mole People is the first of a few books I have on actual underground societies. I loved the documentary work Toth did - found the vignettes of communities and individuals fascinating. When she tries to tie in historical and literary references, she bounces around and gets a bit mired, but luckily that's only a small portion of the book. A "wow" ending, too.

Happy!

you know the rest....
Christmas was fun, as always. And the boys, though they don't blog about it, are doing well in their various endeavors. Dan played with Nik and the Nice Guys at Turning Stone for New Year's and I heard a part of a discussion about Nik (the group) playing with Three Dog Night at Seneca Niagara this month....
(Dan can post to correct me if I'm wrong)
Sonny continues to get acclaim for his art.

By the end of 2007, I had 4 more books for my list:
#25 - The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger. A book club book that we haven't met on yet, but I can pretty much sum it up with "meh".
#26 - The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. This was pretty good, although I didn't get much deep out of it, it was well done.
#27 - The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Quoted at our wedding, I needed to check this out for the first time.
#28 - Zenzele: A letter for my daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire. A striking look at the heritage a mother from Zimbabwe wants to pass on to her daughter studying at Harvard. Extremely well written - so much so that I often had to remind myself it was a novelization. Compelling insider's perspective on life, the struggle for independence, and strength.

2007 closes having been quite a year. Looking back, I've made some significant career discoveries and progress. I traveled quite a bit. J is going back to school with a vision of what he wants to do. We've radically changed our eating habits from nearly all meat to mindful meat-eating, but largely veggies and grains. We're endeavoring to be more green and sustainable. I made several cool craft things - will blog about holiday crafts later this week.

So, I launch into 2008 hoping to finish a couple of books in the next few days and once more shooting for 50. Here are some of the other thoughts I have for the new year:
- be better organized - at least keep piles from proliferating
- bake more
- get back into shape (of course)
- play more
- craft more
- stress less
- continue to explore ways of re-using everyday items and ways to use what I can grow myself
I could go on, but I might start to get worried about being able to keep it up.

Happy 2008 - best wishes all.

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas morning. Early. I am definitively not a morning person, but something about Christmas rouses the kid in me. I cannot sleep. Especially when J isn't around. Especially when I overnight at my parent's Christmas eve. I started waking today at 4 and finally got up to grab my stocking and turn on the coffeepot just before 6. 5am is usually an especially evil hour. (J returned to our house to mind our cats overnight - we'll be meeting him at Danny's later this morning)

It's not really about opening stockings and gifts, seeing what has been put under the tree in the few hours I've been in my room. Because that's cool, but not the be all. It's a happy, exciting day, full of good things, family, good fun, and goofy moments. I'll blog later about what the day itself brings.

To Sonny in Rhode Island and all others out there - may today bring you the peace and simple happiness that keeps me from sleeping in this morning.

And here's a pic from downtown Springfield,VT - J's hometown and the "hometown of the Simpsons" - host of The Simpsons Movie's world premiere.

J and i are in vermont celebrating xmas w his family
ape