marching right along

Here's the last monday morning in March this year. And the first quarter is done, calender-wise.

So this is how we sew:
Step one: sew a yellow triangle on the corner.

Step one: sew another yellow triangle on the second corner.

Step one: Sew another yellow triangle on the third corner. (Are we there yet?)

Step one: Sew ANOTHER yellow triangle onto the fourth and final corner. Repeat for the next square. Repeat for the next square. Repeat, repeat, repeat . . . Only eleven more squares for step one.

a story

A traveling circus was crossing the badlands of the old west when tragically, all on the same night, a giraffe, a lion, and a hippopotamus died. The roustabouts were too weary and dispirited to bury the huge corpses, so they just left them lying on the ground and moved on. The next day, a small tribe of indians veered off their normal path to see what had so many vultures interested. They were astounded at the strange animals and promptly skinned and ate them. The chief's wife took the lion hide for her bed. The medicine man's wife took the giraffe hide for her bed, and the wife of the best hunter in the tribe slept on the hide of the hippopotamus. In due time all the women gave birth to fine strong sons. In fact, the wife of the best hunter produced twins. Which just goes to show that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.

Isn't that how you find the length of one leg of a right triangle? My geometrical memory is so frayed and thin.

How about some nice kitty pictures? This is Ben, madly chasing a ribbon. He looks like a ghost, doesn't he? I could make up stories about this all day long.

Pepper and Fly are much easier to photograph. They are staunchly refusing to acknowledge the presence of the other, but they do hold a pose nicely.

What did you do this weekend?

I'm working on this quilt for my darling neice. It's going to be a lovely quilt. It would be even lovlier if I could actually sew a straight seam, but we make do with what we have and that's not a skill I have. Crooked seams make wonky squares, but a steel straight edge and rotary cutter cover a multitude of sins.

I know I SHOULD do all of the first step sewing, then all of the second step, etc, etc. But my inner three-year-old ain't having that no way no how. So we did first step sewing till she had a tantrum. Then we slapped together some second steps for a while, and pressed 'em up nice and tidy. That's when the cutter comes in, squaring up the edges. Back to first step seams. (70 times 4. Arrrrgh!) Finally, today, I gave in and did some step 3 seams.

Here is one tenth of the quilt top. Pretty nice, isn't it? (Say yes. Please say yes! My inner 3-year old is just on her last nerve and she will absolutely have a hairy cat fit if you say anything bad about this. "It's very nice, dear." Say it with me. "It's very nice, dear." Good, good. Shes' stopped holding her breath and is losing that electricity-shooting-out-of-her-eyes look. By the time we get back to sewing on Thursday, she'll be more than ready to go for it again.)

So that's pretty much what I did this weekend. How about you?

pink and yellowseason

I need to stick some primroses in the ground, but don't they look pretty, waiting patiently for my attention?

I snapped this shot from the car as DH and I rolled home from breakfast. "What was that?" he asked and I explained that I wanted to share the pink showing up in the neighborhood.

Bless his innate hunter's nature. We instantly started driving all over the neighborhood looking for more pink. He knew where there was a good stand of japanese flowering cherry and drove me over there. Click, click!

Then he saw a pink froth floating above the nearby houses, and we were off and away again. Flowering plum. We drove around for another twenty minutes while he hunted for bigger and better pink things, bless his dear heart. I am SUCH a spoiled and indulged woman!! These are the pick of about thirty photos of pink trees. Wanna see more? I'll be glad to bring them out!

On Thursday, MJ and I got together and put a back on the quilt we made. She showed me the wonderful technique where you make the backing about six inches bigger than the top, then fold it over to make binding. He sewing skills made it look sooo beautifully finished. Another quilt to donate!

Now I am sewing a quilt for my darling niece, LB. She actually asked me if I would make a quilt for her. I was so touched that I have decided to actually PLAN and MEASURE to get it to come out right. She wants a king-sized quilt. I have a neat square that winds up looking like a japanese lantern, and I have a bunch of Asian style fabrics to make the lanterns with. The square is 10 X 10. I have to make 70 of them, then alternate them with solid squares. You know, there is a certain satisfaction to doing things the usual way. Ask me how I feel about all this when I am sewing the 68ths square. I have five done already.

time has passed

Used to be, I worked a 40 hour week, ran a household, and still had energy enough to do things all weekend long. Finals week, I worked 45 hours, and I STiLL haven't recharged. Of course, I used to be fifteen years younger, too. And I'm just not in training anymore. Maybe I can manage a decent post tomorrow.

Yellowseason 2

Forsythia! For joy and brightness. For fountains of color like grounded sunshine.

Sweet violets! Sweeter than all the roses. Covered all over from head to toe, covered all over with sweet violets.

Daffodils in the back yard. the planter boxes there are sales bins from a variety store that we got when it went out of business and sold all fixtures and everything. We took off the legs, filled them with dirt, and voila - landscaping.

I wish I could give each and every one of you a nice big bunch of daffodils!

It's yellowseason!!

Nothing says spring to me like yellow! Brave, cheerful daffodils DO it!

Last night, DH took me to see "Wicked" and oh what fun it was! Light, fluffy with lots of singing and dancing. DH complained that nothing blew up, but other than that. "It was OK." He's such a hero to put up with stuff like this for my sake. I just relished the whole process, from dressing up to discussing the details on the drive home.

The special effects were a delight. I've been so accustomed to computer-generated special effects, I had forgotten what fun it was to bring a willing imagination to the play. Glinda's soap bubble was a stainless-steel circle with a little flat platform on the bottom. They flew it all over the stage and she just stood on this two-foot square. I would have been scared to DEATH!!

Interesting things people in the audience wear. One young lady showed up in white bike shorts and a light summer top. Like a hike in the park? Lots of us grey-hairs use the opportunity to look elegant and classy. Upwardly mobile types in jeans, cashmere and three-inch heels. And baby ballerinas (4 to 12 years old)in twirly dresses with their hair slicked up in buns. People are our best entertainment.

finals are ovah (for this term, anyhow)

This is the pile of final exams that people couldn't be bothered to come in and take after they begged the teacher to make special arrangements for them to come in and take them.

We have processed over 900 paper and pencil tests for the college this term (Guess who got to count?) I have no idea how many placement tests, on-line tests, GED tests, Pesticide tests and tax board tests we have done. I got fourty five hours of work on finals week, and if I'd been willing to work nights, I bet I could have had more. Things quieted down toward the end of the week, and I was able to get a couple of projects done (Like counting processed tests) in between surges of frantic activity.

Anyone who has worked with the public knows, there will be nothing - NOTHING for two hours, and then 15 people will all show up at once. I think they come, one at a time, and wait around the corner untill they have achieved critical mass, then storm the doors together. And they have stooges who get on the phone at the same time, so it's ringing off the hook while you try to give each person careful individual attention.

One of the teachers brought over a test for a student with no cut-off date, and one of my tasks was to purge all those tests from our files and return then to the teachers (Otherwise, they forget and we have paperwork from two years ago clogging the drawers.) I got the wrong information on where to take it,and delivered it to the wrong department. She called about it, and was outraged that it had been returned to the wrong department. "I don't understand!" She huffed. "I've been teaching here for xteen years. How did it get sent to THAT department instead of mine?"

"Gross incompetance, Ma'am," I told her. "I did it. I didn't know any better. I'll go get it and bring it to you." Which flabbergasted her even more. I have found that cheerfully admitting to gross incompetance has deflected any ammount of wrath from my fuzzy head. It must be accompanied by immediate cheerful repairs, of course. People understand that mistakes happen, and as long as they get fixed, it's ok. Mercifully, my mistakes mean papers go to the wrong building. People don't die or lose money over my gross incompetance. I prefer low responsibility jobs for that very reason.

Next week, I start a pretty regular schedule again with Thursdays and Fridays free. I am a lucky, lucky woman!

I go about a half a block out of my way to and from the office to walk past this particular corner. Thought I'd share it with you.

pant, pant

We have been flying low for finals week, but finally I can throttle back a bit. Lots of on-line classes coming in for tests and of course some of the computers pick the high-stress time to fail. Amd of course, some of the student pick the high-stress time to melt down. I set up one fellow, rather large with wild gray hair, and he began his test. Everytime someone else came into the room he would glare poisonously at them for several long seconds, sigh gustily, and get back to his work. About half an hour into the day he came storming out of the room, slapped his hands down on the counter-top, fixed me piercingly with a gimlet gaze and announced, "I have a mental illness and I find this constant coming and going intolerably distracting!"

The little simian in the back of my brain begins screaming, "omigawd, I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" I pulled a blanket over his head, pulled up my virtual socks and said, "I'm so sorry. It's finals week, so there will be a lot people coming and going all day long. Let me see what I can do to make things quieter for you."

He blinked twice. I could almost see his successful coping mechanism pulling tha blanket over his own inner simian. "OH." he said, in a much calmer tone. "Oh. Thank you."

I checked and told him, "OK, I see we have a private room available untill 10 this morning. Would that work for you?"

An entire cast of characters struggled behind his eyes, but mister rationality won. He graciously accepted my suggestion, finished his test, and thanked me quite cordially on the way out. I suggested that he should reserve the private room for himself everytime he needed to test with us, and he thought that was a very good idea.

And I think it's crowded in MY head!

This is, ostensibly, a knitting blog

LG gave me a ball of yarn for my birthday. This is yarn expressly for my inner magpie. When I unwrapped it, the magpie skrawked for joy. Skraaaaawk! This yarn is fuzzy aand soft and has shiney strands all through it. Ooooo - shiney!

And, although I didn't get a single stitch knitted during the party, I did finish a scarf this weekend. It's like one of those curly, curly scarves, only-sort of half-curly. Stylin' doncha think?

It's finals week, so I'm likely to be erratic in my blogging and fairly flakey when I DO check in. But I'm thinking about you all.

finishing the leftovers

Why yes, sometimes I DO build my outfit around a particular accessory. Why do you ask? (Pleased with my apron? You betcha! Thanks again, Janette!)

Leftover quichlettes for breakfast. Leftover scones for lunch. DH is taking leftover shortbreads to work with him. MJ already took leftover gingerbreads home to her two teen boys- the perfect eating machines. Dishes are all done and put away, and next week I'll have time to iron the napkins. And then it's time to start plannig the next one.

And then there's the leftover political discussions. As TW was leaving, she spoke of her belief in the need for, and practicality of socialized medicine. I don't know. Really, I don't. I lived in Denmark for a year and got to experience socialized medicine first hand, and I saw that you get what you pay for. In fact, you COULD pay for more and better if you wanted. I also saw that when people can survive on the dole, a lot of them will do so. Perfectly sound bodied people say, "Why work when over half my paycheck goes to the government? I'll just lay back and let the government support me." No, it's not right, but it sure is human.

And if we make all medical care available to everyone, then how do we decide who goes first? Person A will die unless he gets a heart transplant in one week. And he may not survive even then. B stands a MUCH better chance of returning to a healthy normal life if he gets his heart transplant next week, but he can survive, growing weaker by the day for another month. Soooo, who gets the transplant?

And, is every woman who wants a child entitled to all the fertility experts offer? How about a woman who already has children? How about a woman who does crack? How about a woman who smokes? Maybe she just has a glass of wine with dinner? Perhaps she doesn't always remember to take her vitamins or get her exercise daily. Where do you draw the line? I can't say I'm all in favor of socialized medicine because I'm not.

On the other hand, I'm very much in favor of preventive medicine. I see clearly that if people can't afford basic maintenance, we wind up paying more in the long run because they have fewer productive work days and finally wind up going to emergency. People who can't afford to get their teeth cared for wind up with critical heath issues as a result. Infections, chronic pain, damage to the cardio-vascular system. So how about government-issue dental work that is strictly non-cosmetic. As things stand now, some kids get straight white teeth, and some kids don't. You can pretty much tell how poor a family is by the kid's teeth. Maybe we could start by making sure the choppers are sound. And glasses, too. Even for kids who lose them twice a day. And work our way up to heart transplants and expensive perscriptions. My SIL spend $3000 a month on her meds.

I know it would be cheaper to visit the doctor if he didn't have to carry such outrageously high malpractice insurance. So here we are again, trying to decide how much is enough and who is entitled to what when something goes wrong. This is why I hate politics. I just don't have any answers. Lots of questions. No answers. I'm gonna go eat some more scones.

WHEW!

I expected 15 guests and actually got 14. Astounding turn-out and a ravishing party. The gift exchange was SO much fun and I think everyone had fun with it. Heaven knows I sure did! As people arrived, we all put gifts into the basket, and then, about half-way through the party, I carried the basket around and asked people to grab a gift. Everyone got something delightful - from scented soap to roving and a drop spindle to earrings. I forgot to put out the tiaras or blow up the balloons. But it turned out nice anyway. See? dining room table, with cookies, smoked salmon quichlets and scones, and gingerbreads plated up.

Party setting in the living room as well. I couldn't fit everyone in around the table in the dining room.

I made Jack get up and leave when the party started, but he does make a nice accessory for photo work, doesn't he?






Happy women laughing, talking, knitting, noshing, drinking and reveling. I am not going to write down 14 names. You know who you are and I am bushed. But oh, MY it was fun!!

Thank Goodness for MJ and her two teen-aged sons. She is always willing to take home leftovers.

prepping for the party

The table is set, the quichelettes are baked, the gingerbreads are cooling in the window Look good, don't they? I love my new individual cakelette pans. Tomorrow morning, each one will be filled with lemon curd and topped with yogurt cheese.

the ambrosia salad is mostly pulled together. Or it's all done if I decide not to add lemon yogurt. DH insists that ambrosia salad must have whipped cream (or Cool Whip for the lactose intolerant) and miniature marshmallows, but I'm holding out for a lighter, brighter taste. So maybe lemon yogurt, maybe not.

There are shortbread cookies baked and sandwiched with raspberry jam or nutella (chocolate and hazlenut butter spread.) We have tea ready to go, coffee to be brewed, and furniture almost completely arranged. I'll get pictures of the table when it's ready to go tomorrow. I wish you ALL could come. I have such fun with this!

Another thing I have fun with - well,
What you see here is the victim of a drive-by birthday de-stashing. I got the package of yardage ends, and a note reading, "Eeeeee, this is a drive-by birthday destashing." Beats being toilet-papered!!

Amy Lane used to be quite the quilter, and while clearing out her cupboards, she threw some surplus my way. This will definitely go into quilts for orphans. There are Garfield prints, and a splendid underwater print, and a bit of darling bunny, teddybear flannel. Wheeee!

And notice (whispers) It's sunny today.

mine's longer than yours

What? My Christmas celebration is still going on. See - mine IS longer than yours!

Janette in Oz sent me a Christmas present in lots of time to get here before mid-December, but Australian Customs likes to mess with the things that get sent between us, so the present wound up back at her hous in Late January. Being the feisty woman she is, she sent it right back out, and finally we have outdone the customs badgers! Janette knows how I love china, so she sent me this gorgeous Lilac-patterned cup, saucer and desert plate. JUST the ticket for a party of the Portland Purls.

And the ladies are meeting at my house again this Saturday. The theme this month is birthday parties. We all have 'em, so let's celebrate together. Everyone brings a small wrapped present, and we all put them in a basket, then you get to pick a present you didn't bring, so everyone gets to unwrap a gift. I was going to get tiaras for everyone, but holy crow, they want three dollars for a crappy plastic one and there will be eleven of us. At least. SOME people (Lynn, Susan and Jenny) can't be bothered to let me know if they are coming, even with multiple promptings. Serve them right if I didn't have a place for them to sit or a cupcake to serve them.

Actually, I won't be making cupcakes after all. DH bought me a baking tin with little individual shortcake type cups. I'm going to make individual gingerbreads and fill them with lemon curd and yogurt cheese. And I'll make shortbread cookies filled with jam, and mini quiches with smoked salmon, and scones. Oh, and ambrosia. You know - that orange and coconut desert. DH says it needs to have whipped cream and marshmallows, but I think I'll pass on that. Oranges, pineapple, coconut - that oughta do. Nice and light. Tea and coffee. Balloons. Am I forgetting anything? YOu can come if you want. Just let me know!

kiddy thoughts

My inner three-year-old wants to report that when you eat lots of yummy bright green bread, you get bright green poop. My inner three-year-old finds this highly amusing. She wonders if we can find bright yellow bread and bright purple bread and bright pink bread. Then she wants to feed them to the neighbor's pit bull so that, like a large Easter Bunny, he can leave brightly colored presents on the lawn.

How does THAT go down with the morning coffee? My inner three-year-old is helpless with giggles.

And the celebration continues

MJ and the Captain met DH and me for breakfast at Sully's, our favorite local eatery, to celebrate my birthday. I LOVE this process of ssstreeeeeeching the party out over days and weeks. Besides paying for our breakfasts, (I had the hangtown fry, DH had the biscuits and sausage gravy) MJ also brought me a glorious bread basket! Among the other goodies it contained was a loaf of Leprauchan Bread. Do not try to adjust your screen. The bread is green as clover. It's quite yummy and my inner three-year-old is helpless with giggles over the silliness of green, GREEN bread. Between delicious bread, and the Girl Scout cooky sales, and the baking frenzy I will be starting on Wednesday, I'll probably regain everything I lost last year. Oh, but yummy, dense, yeasty solid honey-wheatberry bread - how can I resist? And green bread? I want green toast and green sandwiches and green bread with butter. Teeheeheee!


Then DH and I had to go shopping and on the way we passed an estate sale. Our cars stop at estate sales. We really had no control over the vehicle. It parallel parked itself and spit out the keys. What were we supposed to do, just sit there? I got this nice hobnail glass luncheon set, for $2.50. two yellow pressed glass bowls for $1.50 for the pair, and four yards of red fine-wale corduroy for a dollar. Can't beat it with a stick! Dh looked at tools, but didn't see anything that tickled his fancy. So he got to pick what kind of chocolate we bought at the grocery store. Raspberry Bliss. Mmmmmm. . . (eyes closed and head swaying slightly in ecstatic anticipation)

Hope your weekend is equally fun!

Still celebrating

My friend Diane and I met at Abundant Yarn and Dyeworks for coffee (tea for me)and a comfy, cozy chat. And she surprised me with a gift of yarn. Pick what I like up to $25. I ran to the sale shelf because, even though I'm trying to divest, there's this luscious hand-painted Cascade Lana D'Oro - %50 merino, %50 alpaca - that I have lusted after. Oh joy, it was still there! Wah and might I also add, Hoo! Yarn doing a next-top-model pose with our very first jonquil. Work it, baby. Love the camera!

Remember that vertical stripe vest I just finished? The left-overs were just enough to make a short moebius scarf. I dropped it off at Med Team International along with a couple of quilts today.


And remember, if you want that manuscript copy of Sanna and the Dragons, I will need your snail mail address.

Happy weekend, gang!

fat and lazy day

I have spent the day doing the little daily diddly stuff (Ironing, sorting thorugh magazines, dishes, laundry) and the not-so-daily diddly (re-arranging the bookshelves to get the fiction with the fiction, and the references with the references) and forgetting / avoiding running the vacuume (Hate it! Would rather scrub toilets.) and have come upon some 8.5x 11 manuscript versions of Sanna and the Dragons. Cover illustrations are charmingly done by a thirteen-year-old friend. There are three extra, so if you are at all interested in the story, and due to the economy are just not willing to fork over the big bucks, I will send you a free copy. just speak up. First come, first served.

I have no shame

It's my birthday today. I am fifty nine years old. Yayyyyy! I have been having a grand day. I got marvelous e-cards first thing in the morning. (Dimples and curtsies. Thank you Paul!)The LYS has a bin where you can leave unloved yarn, and I had some boucle sock yar that was elastic and too fricking annoying to knit with, so I dropped it off. I happened to mention to the proprietor that it was my birthday and she told me that, on your birthday, you get a free beverage and 15% off you purchase. Well, I had already planned on a cup of tea, but I HADN'T planned on buying anything. I'm trying to divest, not invest. But as I walked in the door, this lovely merino sliver called out to me. And for 15% off . . . and it's my birthday . . .

Oh, what the hell - it was less than fifteen dollars, and it was pink and purple. And it already knew my name. How can I resist a dear,fluffly, soft little twist of roving calling my name in sweet, entreating tones? A man will buy something he needs, when he needs it, at the price asked. A woman will buy something she doesn't need if she gets a good sale on it.

I headed off to the college for the writer's group. As I walked into the building, there were a bunch of guys standing around smoking. I grinned at them and said, "Hi, guys. Tell me I look wonderful."

They all grinned back and obligingly mumbled, "You look wonderful."

"Thanks," I beamed. "It's my fifty ninth birthday."

"Fifty nine?" One of the older guys said, "Hell, you look hot!"
I do, don't I? Dh bought me a new outfit and I am just swanning around in it. (Sings) I feel pretty! Oh so pretty! I feel pretty and witty and bright!

Cupcakes for women writers

1 box Pillsbury white cake mix
4 eggs
1/3 c oil
1 cup Christian Brother's Golden Sherry. DO not, for God's sake, use the $30 a bottle Dry Sack. It does not work and play well with cake mix.

Combine ingredients and spoon into greased mini muffin pans. Bake at 350 for 15 - 18 min. Frosting is not necessary. Be sure to lick the bowl thoroughly. Don't share with the kids.

A nice day

I woke up in a warm dry bed with my darling husband beside me and cats piled happily around us. We had food in the kitchen and jobs to go to. The weather was mild and wet, which we need. Everyone at work was pleasant, and all the kids I tested were alert and co-operative. I stopped at JoAnne's and got two yards of black cotton for $5. On the way home, I bought gas. It's a dollar cheaper than this time last year. All the way to and from work, no one ran into me or tried to shoot me or blow me up. Our house was just the way I left it, and the kitties were all healthy. DH came home and he was still healthy. No one has tried to shoot him or bomb his place of work. We will have a nice dinner tonight. This was such a nondescript, fabulous day! Nothing noteworthy or exciting at all. We are extremely lucky people when we can have a day like this.
So, since there is nothing worth talking about, I will give you a nice kitty picture.

So much to be grateful for

Janette in Oz sent me an apron for my birthday! It's such fun - pink and green and three different fabrics with a pocket which is absolutely essential in an apron, don't you think? It just delights me no end and I plan on wearing it to the big Mar. 14 knitting soiree. Squeee!! This is not your mother's apron!

I have finally finished the last of my sewing frenzy and gotten the machine put away. Here is a comforter I made from orange and brown napkins picked up at an estate sale for $3. For batting, I used a machine-washable sleeping bag that has lived, unused, in our garage for fifteen years and has been in my posession for some fifteen years before that. I ripped off the zipper, and it makes a cushy comforter batt.

Using a precious quarter yard of art-deco print fabric in tan and peach, with some grey trouser scraps, and the last of my random batt scraps, I made yet another tea cozy. Daphne doesn't care as much for this one since it doesn't set off her own personal beauty as well, but I think it's rather elegant.

Signs of spring! The neighbor's weeping pussywilos just beginning to bud out. Guess it's in the kittenwillow stage right now.

Signs of spring! The daffs are stretching and swelling, growing eager to bloom. Any day, now! Any day.

Blessings on all you folks who are under the weather, figuratively or literally. How unfair is it that the East coast is getting hammered with yet more snow, and my daphne's are starting to bloom? It's like TOTALLY!

You can come visit me any old time. Just be sure to wear your boots, because it's the dust bunny mating season right about now, and you never know when a lust-stricken stud bunny may mistake your leg for the object of his affections. And persistent? You may THINK it's just a wad of cat hair stuck to your cuff, but oh no. It's bunny love! Now, for gosh sakes, don't let one follow you home. The breed of dustbunnies inhabiting my house is particularly fecund and robust. Let just one of those little studs loose in your place, and there'll be little bunlets popping up all over no matter HOW good a housekeeper you are. I used to be an adequate housekeeper, but now I am a broken woman, and slob is my middle name. And (Shudder) I think - in my sleep - well - what else could explain the way my hair is starting to behave? I mean, if that Polish boy could turn into a giant cockroach, why wouldn't my hair turn into a giant dust bunny?