GOP Primary:

Good on the Singer for not having sung in a sick vibrato.

I'm stunned at the amount of work I actually got done yesterday. Paid bills, got health insurance (the doctor thing is a whole 'nother matter. From what I can gather, not a lot of folks take the Commonwealth Link insurance. Which is funny, as it isn't cheap.) Duked it out with the DET phone tree (1/2 hour on the phone just to have a person tell me to call another day). Homework! Work work! Wow.

Today's my first day of classes. Am very nervous, as I haven't actually sat in a classroom in over 10 years.

Wish me luck, both with that and the DET silliness.

Okay, onward.

Labor Day.

A pleasant last respite before the Fall season to all of you!

***

It just occurred to me: this weekend's marks my 20th year in Boston. I'm here more than half my life now. Imagine that.

Speaking of ill-thought-through federally backed projects:

I don't know much about the Parisian Towers, but from what I've gathered, the Frenchie isn't too thrilled by them. If you can read French, take a look. If not - as soon as I am able to, I'll put a translation up. It's interesting.

(In case you're wondering, les vardiaux are riverbanks, or, more precisely, the marshy area between the water and land. The Frenchie grew up next to a river, just like I did. Yet another thing we have in common.)

My dad posted a link to an al-Jazeera story on, of all places, Buffalo.

I tend to agree with him that it is interesting. Not so much for what is shown, but for the journalist's a prioris.

I was particularly curious about a few items that they'd trotted out:

First - they fail to mention that Buffalo has been a major call center for collections for a good 10 years. It didn't just spring up out of nowhere over the last six months in response to the subprime crisis.

Second - I was a little confused about the funding for demolition vs development. Where is the problem here? What is this tension the journalist is trying to set up? Unfortunately, there *are* areas in Buffalo with blocks of boarded up houses. It's depressing; I don't like going to the Science Museum anymore because of what a wasteland the Humboldt Park neighborhood is. That area needs some serious help. However, in its present state, who is going to invest in it? Who in their right mind would want to set up shop in an area as it currently is (gang problems, arsons and all)? Demolition is just the first step. Building comes next - and one needs private investment for that, not government handouts for useless buildings that will only be abandoned, graffiti-ed, etc in the end (have seen this happen both in Boston and Paris.)

Third - I'm sorry, but I really can't muster up much sympathy for the lady who lost her house due to the increase in her mortgage payment. Who in Buffalo has a monthly payment of $900 outside of the area around Delaware Park? Outside of those areas, property values just don't merit that sort of payment unless one has a five year mortgage or someone didn't make a down payment.

Won't even go into the 'community activism' thing, nor do I much feel like talking about 'living wages.' There's a lot that needs to be fleshed out regarding those two points. Am wondering if the trash workers there are unionized like they are here, and if so, if the whole 'seasonal' thing was more manipulation on their part than the city's. Am wondering, as well, where Girlfriend's organization gets its money.

Also - where did that moniker "second poorest city in America" come from? Would love a citation for that, as I've never heard it before. It IS the second largest city in New York, which is the source of a lot of problems, economic, legislative and otherwise.

Anyway, Buffalo's got a lot of problems, to be sure. However, there are many very strong points that were overlooked in this story: University presence (not just UB and Buffalo State, either. Granted, it's not Boston, but it's no slouch, either.), Culture (Shakespeare in Delaware Park. Albright-Knox. The BPO.). Then there're the people: a combination of grit, intelligence and just all around sunniness that is quite apparent when one visits after a spell in a major East Coast city.

***

Gosh darnit, thinking about all the good just made me a bit homesick.

I'm going through one of those insomnia phases again, heaven help me. Last night, didn't get to sleep until 3:00 am. A fitful one at that, too, as I was up every hour and a half until I finally decided to get up at 9:30.

I will not let this wreck my today. Will not! It's just so beautiful out and I have so much to accomplish!

Glen Campbell was my first crush (age five). Does anyone else remember a chain of restaurants under his name? I swear that there was at least one around Buffalo in the mid-late 70s.

Sometimes hearing voices via the phone lines is all one has. Sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

Couldn't get to sleep last night, so after having read about all I could on Reconstruction, I finished this* off.

This morning, I fired up the old innernet and found that McCain's chosen a running mate who could very well be a descendent of the women in that book. This is so exciting. I was going to vote for him anyway not because I'm a huge fan of his but because of my dislike of the opposition**. Now I have a good reason to be pleased about my choice.

***

* It was an okay book, not the best I've read, but okay. Some factual errors. A bit too politically correct for my taste. Did make me remember how much I'm jonesing for Maine, though. Haven't been up yet. Will have to remedy that.

** Guess that makes me a racist. Sorry.

Truth and Soul.



Careful - not too safe for work.

Two things lacking in the political races this year. (How awful that I've had this song running through my head for like a week now? Beats the heck out of that new Eurythmics song, anyway.)

Pizza Night Tomorrow!

Yes, so Friday Night in the Big City is ordering a pizza and sharing it with my neighbor and her daughter. So what. They're fun. Never much liked going out to bahs or hanging around with people in my age bracket anyway.

We're thinking of maybe even barbecuing something over the weekend, too. Let other folks go to the Cape or New Hampshire. Somerville's fine with us.

Looked at myself in the mirror last night. Gosh, have I aged over the last year.

My smile lines have increased considerably and I seem to have constantly baggy eyes (not to mention multiplying crows feet.)

Went to the expensive Finnish cream site to see what I was doing wrong. According to them, I'm not doing anything wrong except not buying their product.

Maybe will get some Vitamin C stuff at CVS tomorrow.

Peaches!

Raphaella's 'non producing' tree ended up giving me a whole brown-paper shopping bag full of peaches. 1/3 of them ended up in jam - seven jars-ful. I ran out of sugar, otherwise there'd be a lot more jarred stuff.

I think that this, along with whatever I knit, will end up as gifts for Christmas this year, seeing as I have no income for the time being.

Spent yesterday here.

Was long, tedious, hard. Got 95% of what I needed, though, so am happy.

My class starts next Wednesday. Wish me luck.

(The other class has already started, as it's a self-directed study one. Have already begun the readings.)

Why am I doing this? Well: never took History in college. Haven't taken a college course in nearly 10 years. Really need to get back into the swing of things writing-wise. I took these classes last semester, but ended up dropping due to the hell my life turned into, too. It's personal now.

Does anyone know if these are edible? Raphaella says that they aren't, that they're only good for seeds. I could have sworn that I'd seen something similar at the farmers markets around town, though.

Well, the money part's taken care of for the moment. I think I found, too, some fairly inexpensive health insurance (a similar plan to my company offered at nearly half the rate they're charging for current employees. It's less than 1/2 what my COBRA rate would be). Have phone messages left with a couple of my current doctors to see if they'll accept it. All that's left is to get me out to school to register for classes, which I'll do tomorrow.

Also need to really focus on packing and finding a piano mover. I guess that stuff's starting to fall into place.

Done!



I really like how they turned out, too.

Eventually maybe I'll get a pattern together (after knitting a couple more pairs, of course).

Gardener's Companion.



Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
- South side of the house, very sunny most of the day.



Marigold (Calendula officinalis) - front bed under the lilac trees. West side of the house. Sunny most of the day.




Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus). All around the house. These things grow like weeds.




Black-Eyed Susan. Rudbeckia hirta
Neighbors' house down the street. These are in a sunny bed on the south side of their house.

***

Dad: you will be getting seeds for all these as soon as the flower heads I collected are dried out enough. I know that you like to put your trust in blue, but trust me. None of these clash. (Nothing clashes in nature.)

My mom never got much into preserving or jellymaking like I did. She's a good cook; that just wasn't her thing. (Just like bread making isn't her thing at all, though she's a great baker.) One thing she did like to do at the end of the summer, though, was to make pickles. For some reason, we always had a surfeit of cucumbers. I'm too little to remember where they came from - maybe from our garden, maybe from the Grandparents, maybe from the branch of the family that has a farm out in Amish/Attica country. Regardless, there was a cucumber "problem" like many experience with zucchini.

Anyway, my mom's pickles sort of ruined me for the industrial ones. Nathans and Batampte make pretty good briny ones. No one makes sweet ones like she does.

***

One of the nice things the ex-roommate did while she was still lucid was to give me a subscription to Cooking Light. (It didn't cost her anything, I think it was one of those free gift subscription deals, but money was tight and her heart was in the right place. I'm very thankful for it, though I have to admit that I do get a twinge in the upper chest when I see it in the mail.) Very often, as it's gotten more into the lifestyle stuff (yoga retreats, green homes, etc), I don't find much of interest. The August feature on pickling and preserving was pretty nice, though.
All sort of interesting stuff I'd like to try, from a version of kimchee to gravlax (not to mention a sort of duck breast "prosciutto" which could be really nice if it doesn't kill one).

The cucumbers were coming in force so, pressed for time and energy, I tried out their refrigerator bread and butter pickle recipe. Very nice. I ended up with six cups worth.



Four cups remain. I think the smaller jars will go to the landlord and Raphaella. Am considering making more and freezing them in tupperware, too. We'll see.

Hum a few bars-

Was straightening up the overflowing magazine collection in the living room the other day and happened onto an Idees Marie Claire from two winters ago. Generally, I don't like thinking about winter, Christmas or wool this time of year, but:



Idees douillettes et soins calins. Not enough of either of those in my life right now.

Okay, I'm in love. I want those gloves. I know I already made myself a pair of perfectly nice ones, but look at those. Look at that hat! Look at the sweater! I want a furry hat, I want a pair of thick, braided cable, fingerless lopi gloves. I want to be all elfin, peeping over the cowl of my oversized, tweedy sweater.

So, I started picking apart the cable pattern. It's not very difficult. Just the same, I'm rather pleased with myself for having figured it out.



Kind of reminded me of a past life when I used to transcribe stuff off of records or the radio either as a mental exercise or when sheet music for something I wanted to play wasn't in print. Come to think of it, taking that up again wouldn't be a half-bad idea. It's been ages since I've had the desire or emotional wherewithal to do anything musical. Used to enjoy it so much, too. Hopefully that'll come back.



Anyway. Though I really like the Marie Claire girl's white gloves, there's a bit of pink lopi in my stash that is just dying to be used up. This will look so nice against my new winter coat's lovely black tweed, I think. Don't know where I'll get a hat like in the picture, though.

There's been a lot of triaging going on in my stash. Essentially, there are three categories: What gets finished, what gets made into something else, what gets frogged. So far, the majority has been frogged; hopefully the yarn will make it into something that gets finished. I do have two sweaters and two shawls that I'd like to get finished before I move.

All this plus the scarf for Karen and a baby sweater for the Frenchie's colleague's little boy will probably keep me out of trouble for a bit, anyway.