Il faut cultiver son jardin.

Got out for a bit to tend to the gardens around the Somerville Estates. Though not as manic about this as I used to be on Winter Hill (partly because I don't have Raphaella around to guilt trip me anymore), am still managing to spruce things up a bit.

Out back, rounded up and transplanted the nasturtiums in pots up front. Thinned out the chives, radishes and dill. Decided to leave the greens to grow a bit more.*

Staked the peas.



Looks a bit like the camera had a hard time focusing in the low light. Sorry about that. Still, you get the idea.

Up front, dead-headed** everyone who needed it and where I found mature seeds, sprinkled them in blank spots. Worked on shoring up the little rock borders I'm making around plantings with ballast I find under the porch. Planted some more cheap annuals picked up on sale at K-mart.***

Also, moved outside and pruned the poor, half-eaten tropical thing an ex-coworker gave me when the office had a plant purge. Hopefully, the time outdoors in the sun, along with some plant food and a bit of respite from the cats will revive it a bit. I'm really fond of the thing (and of the person who unloaded it on me).

Around the ash tree this year, I planted marigolds.



Generally plant either them or alyssum, as both are pretty hardy and tend to lushness. Also like the smell. My main reason for planting here is to dissuade hospital clientele from using our (and the neighbors') yard as a trash receptacle. So far, so good; have only had to collect up remains from one lunch and a couple butts. No medical waste yet, anyway.



Inspired by the work of a friend in the old neighborhood, I decided to try planting morning glories around the tree. Started them from seed in Mid-April, and believe that, with luck, the little clumps of heart-shaped leaves will climb up the trunk and give us some purple flowers. We'll see.

Am pleased, as have already gotten positive feedback on the yard work from some hospital staff, a couple patients and neighbors a couple doors down I'd not met before. Pavel actually told me that another neighbor who puts a lot of work into her yard stopped him in the local garden store to talk plants and landcaping.

Tiny effort, small results that do grow with time. Kind of like what another dead European**** came up with the title once said - 'Se prendre du mal pour les petites choses est parvenir aux choses plus grandes.' (Taking pains with the small things leads to success with larger ones)*****

***

* This year it's going to be rocket, sorrel, kale, collards and mustard. I wanted tougher than lettuce and bitter/sour so the animals would leave some for us.

** Or, as Pavel put it - continued the plants' states of reproductive frustration. Kind of reminds me of what another guy friend once said about having the boy cats 'snipped.'

*** $1.89 for a package of six plants! This time around, we got some cute little fuzzy buttons in purple.

**** Not the guy who came up with the title to the post.

***** Just a rough citation from memory, so please pardon my inexactitude along with my French. Also, positive, but am pretty sure it was Samuel Beckett who said that.

Well, I'll be darned.

Woke up this morning to a smoky, sweet scent that reminded me of burning incense. Now, I have been reading a lot about the Byzantine Empire but am not generally subject to olfactory hallucinations (crazier than a bedbug though I might be), so was a bit curious. Wandered around the house, then went outdoors to sniff around. Yes, the smell was everywhere.

A short time later, Pavel came downstairs. First thing he mentioned was the pretty but strange smell in the air. Wondered aloud on what was causing it. Nobody does leaf fires in the neighborhood - too dangerous with all the wood houses stacked on each other. Certainly wasn't a house (or more likely a series of houses - when one goes up here, the neighbors get hurt as well), as we didn't hear any fire engines overnight.

Found out later that we were smelling (and still are smelling, though a bit less now) is ash from forest fires in Quebec brought down on the wind. Apparently, too, here in Southeast Middlesex, there's an air quality alert in effect until tonight.

***

Update - early afternoon (about 13:15 ish) - smell's gotten stronger and one can really see the haze. Any outdoor work that needs to get done will be done out back under the trees, I think.

(18:30) - air quality has improved slightly, but is still pretty hazy out. Took a walk around the neighborhood for a couple hours and didn't have any trouble breathing. Eyes are kind of bothering me, though.

Sunset on Spring Hill



The view from the front porch isn't the prettiest but sometimes it can be surprising.

Pavel tells me that the hamburglers are out again by the Mystic. He heard the high-pitched calling, approached a blueberry bush and scared a half dozen or so out.

Hooray!

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, and - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!"



Dennis Hopper on Johnny Cash's show in 1970. There are other recordings of him reciting Kipling's poem during different stages of his life; all are interesting to watch. One can tell that he really took it to heart.

Rest in Peace.

Afternoon Feeding.



A male housefinch feeding a baby. It's a pity my camera doesn't have sound; the babies' squeaks are so incredibly high-pitched and loud that, really, only hearing is believing. Also, note the little one flapping just one wing: it knows full well how to feed itself, but if it can scam a free meal, it will.

Oh Dear.



Don't know if I should be laughing or be crouched in a corner rocking myself calm after this.

This week's Weekly Standard just arrived and I see that the cover story is about the notorious Barnes Affair. This is something I'd been looking at for some time because the Barnes Foundation (much like its Brahmin Sister, the Gardnner Museum) was one of my favorite art collections (heck, or even places in the world).

The precedent that this case (followed by a similar challenge by Princeton against an endowment specifically to its Wilson school) set regarding charitable giving is a pretty frightening one, even to a non-lawyer type like me.

Arrowhead.

Finished my first arrowhead lace shawl - turned out to be more of a scarf, as the Noro ran out and I didn't have anything complementary to finish the shawl off with. Kind of reminds me of a First Communion veil or maybe even a mantilla.



Thought I might give this to Karen, but now am not so sure. Don't think it's in her colors.

Was such a joy to knit, that almost immediately after binding off the first, I cast on for a second one:



I'm cannibalizing a kit a friend gave me; plan even on incorporating the included beads.

The yarn's a bit more difficult to deal with than the Noro; sticks a bit to the needles. Love those jewel tones!

Too Hot.

End of May in New England, the temperature should not be in the 90s!

Poor cats are dealing as well as they can:



Le Pauvre Trouble.



Langour.

Even noted that the fledglings are doing an awful lot of mouth-breathing. Do they not have sweat glands either? We put some ice cubes in the bird bath in the hopes that that would help some.

Weather breaks by the end of the week (hopefully!).

Sea Legs.

Couldn't concentrate on lace for a while. Or knitting. Or putting one foot in front of the other, exhaling after inhaling, etc. Had to put aside the pretty but kind of complex 12 row repeat pattern I was working, as was tinking back more rows than was knitting forward.



Here's the start of my Glasgow Lace pullover, anyway. Can't tell from the rather old picture, but I'm about 1/2 way through with the back panel. Am planning on making the body longer, giving it some shape and shortening the sleeves. The yarn's some seriously vintage wool (possibly as old as me) I picked up at the Salvation Army in Leominster not quite 10 years ago.

At some point a few weeks back, maybe when the Frenchie was here, got seriously tired of not knitting. Needed to do get the hands moving and it needed to be simple. Since I'd gotten enough grief about the state of my worn-out but much-loved quilt, so decided on a new bedcover.



Here's the start of my "Sediment Scraps" blanket/throw thing. The working name for it is Puddingstone.



A close-up view of the latest rows added. I'm just a little short of 1/2 way done with what looks like either a 60" square coverlet or even rug, it's so heavy.

There's no rhyme or reason to the color scheme; am just picking the colors as I go along. Don't know that the transition from greens to purples in the early stages is very successful, but am not too worried about it. It's kind of fun to see how this progresses. Also, a bit weird: each time I grab a new bit of yarn to tie onto a knitted end, I feel like that guy who got transported to his childhood home during teatime. (Sometimes pleasant, sometimes not.) If I had the gift of putting as inneresting a spin on my memories as he could his, I'd knock off a volume or two myself. Think I should just stick to knitting for now, though.

Anyway, while rooting around for another something to add to the above yarn stew, happened on a lovely, forgotten bit of silky stuff I'd received in a gift package some time ago. Now, I have the hardest time using yarn that friends give me because I don't think I can do justice to the gift (strange, I know). This, though, was kind of calling out to my hands to play with it, it's so soft. Seemed, too, to want to be something lacy, in spite of the fact that I don't normally like to use variegated yarns for that (often distracts from the stitch work).



Pam Allen's Little Arrowhead Lace Shawl, available here for free. Why not give it a try? Seriously, it's a good beginning exercise in chart-reading. The yarn's Noro's Silk Garden in a beautiful scale of sandy tones.

Since Karen's birthday was a couple days ago (same as Grandma Double-Vey's), figured I would send this out to her. She normally likes really bold colors, but I think that this could hold its own against her. For some reason, too, she was the first person who came to mind when I started the project.

***

Don't know if I'm regaining the Sea Legs; hope so. I really do hate it when I lose the taste for doing stuff that normally makes me so happy.

Still feeling off but hungry, decided to make a bit of soup for breakfast. Not bad:



Gratuitous soup shot. Am growing to like playing with the camera again. Couldn't be bothered with it for a while.

Nothing really exciting: just some chicken broth, a handful of fresh spinach, 1/2 an onion, a couple mushrooms a clove of garlic and four or five cubes of frozen cilantro (the smell from that alone calmed the upset stomach down right away). Simmered it all for about five minutes, then poached a couple eggs in it.

This felt about as good going down as a bowl of miso soup. Come to think of it, maybe I should revive the practice of having a bowl of that for breakfast.

Anyway, Safe Mode. Had to put aside the History books and Stendhal for a bit, as the brain is so cloudy right now. Started reading another from the growing pile of Time Life cookbooks in the pantry. Tonight, got interested in a brief summary ancient Romans' tastes, their love for sweet/sour blends and what I guess could be their equivalent to Worcestershire sauce, Garum.

Chemistry.

Am sort of operating in "safe mode" as the hormones start cresting. Though all my life I've been on a 21-24 day cycle (save for the year or so when I was training for the Tour de France. Then, it was a roughly six-week cycle), am still neither used to or happy with it. Wish it didn't have to be as physically painful as it's always been. Wish I didn't have the 2-3 days of utter hopelessness that show up before the bleeding.

The Change can't come soon enough.

Tentative Takeoff.



The first sparrow fledgling of the season paid a visit to the yew yesterday. This morning, we saw at least three perched on branches taking in data and begging. Early evening, one little dope flew smack into the kitchen window, bounced off and managed to gain a foothold on one of the dead branches. Shook the kinks out of its head, then immediately started flapping its wings and begging from a house finch.

Sorry to take so long to get back. Family's being Family as per usual, and am responding to that as though I'd never learned my lessons with them. So - am putting something up to divert thoughts and to leave people with a happy feeling. (Hug! Help!)

Okay, this is really cute.



(Thanks, Pavel!)

OLD.

Happy Earth Day.



Should go without saying, but will repeat it anyway: NSFW.

(21st anniversary of Gaia busting my nose, too, by the way.)

And now, the Frenchie's Tuesday ticket has magically transformed into one for Sunday next week. Amazing how that happens.

For him, it's been fairly easy, though disappointing: he's just been cooling his heels at home. I feel terrible for all the other folks trapped Heaven Knows Where depleting their bank accounts in Limbo.

Makes this news seem all the more Onion-esque.

The Frenchie's got a ticket for Tuesday, but is looking desperately for alternative airports. Taking a train to Madrid is actually starting to sound good, actually.

(sigh)

Well, no flights out of northern Europe until probably tomorrow now. The Frenchie, who was supposed arrive here this afternoon, managed to get a flight for next Tuesday. Given how the cloud's moving and how, organizationally speaking, stuff is in chaos, I have serious doubts on his getting here next week (or at all).

Given that things could be much, much worse*, I really shouldn't be so sad or disappointed. Still, am.

Hopefully he'll get a nice sunset or two out of this all.

***

* We were actually talking about the last time volcano ash affected an airplane, maybe 20 some odd years ago. The Frenchie said that, at least he's home and not 12 km in the air with all engines failing.

Someone isn't a very happy camper right now.

Roissy's officially closed until 14:00 tomorrow. The Frenchie's flight was due to take off at 13:50. (We're prepared for the worst, but 're also hoping for the best.)

Nine Hikes to Avoid.

Last FM

Wow.



Was totally unaware of their existence. (Appears to be the audio equivalent to Youtube.) Enjoy.

Malcolm McLaren has died.

Guess he was best known for managing the Sex Pistols and Bow Wow Wow (one of Boy George's early efforts).

I'll always remember him for bringing Elitist Music to the Masses, though:



Gerome meets Cinemax after the kids have been put to bed.

Not to mention fusing The Urban Culture with the Cowboy Way.

Say what one wants, will maintain that he was one heck of a Bridge Builder.

Was kind of waiting around to see what the aftermath of the original story's publication would be. Surprised me, given defamation/libel law out there and the involved parties' normal speed at invoking it, that a suit wasn't immediately filed. Guess this is why not.

Speaking of Green - Speaking of Magic

Isn't it amazing how what comes off the needles looking like this



Ends up like this after a good soaking and pinning?



Gosh, I love knitting lace; it manages to calm me down when nothing else seems able to (of course, am also happy to have something to show for my work; that's always nice). Love blocking lace, too, as it effects such a transformation.



Really, really enjoyed this project. Heck, was such a joy to work, it practically knitted itself. The pattern is Evelyn Clark's Flower Basket Shawl, and I knit it with Knit Pick's Palette in green tea heather.

Today was a bit grayer than the past few days, which really set off the colors of burgeoning life. This was just around the house today:



Norway Maples are sort of viewed around here as pale cousins to the red or sugar varieties. Granted, both the blooms and the foliage of the latter two are spectacular. Still, this isn't too shabby. (My favorite green, in fact.)



Last year's primroses! Am so happy to see them! I'm terribly jealous of the Frenchie, as these have naturalized in his garden. Normally, I treat them as annuals, as the Winters usually freeze them out here. Thanks to the wonderfully mild one we had this year, though, at least half of last year's transplants have come back.



The neighbors' fence been needing repair or replacement for some time, just as their cherry tree's been needing a pruning. Still, there are sometimes advantages to stuff going rank. Am trying to decide whether to leave these untouched or to bring a few branches in to force.

Love this perspective from the back steps.

Thought I was on the road to recovery back-wise; guess I was wrong. Woke up with much difficulty this morning and limped along as best as I could for a while. Round mid afternoon, a spasm so strong that I nearly lost my lunch completely broadsided me. Lie on the floor for a bit until things calmed down and could see something other than blinky-lights. Got a couple stretches in, then dragged myself to the medicine cabinet.

Since there's a lot of keyboard work to be done, am managing by keeping the back stock straight (Thank heavens for old-fashioned hard-backed chairs! Thank heavens for ground score!) and propping myself up on a number of overstuffed cushions. Will be sleeping on the floor tonight, I think.

***

Though I've been therapized out the wazoo, still am a bit slow when it comes to recognizing the triggers. Two such spasms so close after the gut problems that almost caused me to hit the emergency room can really only mean one thing: my brain's eating me alive. Granted, I have a whole hell of a lot to be stressed out over. Still, I'm more good to me alive than dead or seriously debilitated. Really need to stop this.

Funny how predictable the thugs are, in spite of what Conventional Wisdom says about their nature.

Weird Use of Race.

Interesting juxtaposition of race and class among leftists in power. Bless Althouse for Having Done Due Diligence Here. (Thank you!)

Are You Experienced?

This is a little list of knitting techniques making its way around the webs. In bold are the things I've already tried/made. In italics are the things I plan on trying/making.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn (kind of pricey)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting (have done this inadvertently, actually, by twisting the cast on stitches on a circular needle. Liked the effect, so kept with it.)
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting: knitting items on, or to be left on the street (Find this actually kind of annoying.)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf

Teaching a child to knit
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Household items: dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…
knitting socks- or other small tubular items- on two circulars
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding (currently working on something, in fact.)
Olympic knitting (Knitting would be ruined by competition.)
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit (Want to teach the Frenchie how to knit. He's kind of resisting, though.)
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (Heck no!)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards (Don't actually enjoy this.)
Machine knitting (Have a machine; haven't broken it out of the box yet, though.)
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
JewelryKnitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom (a tricotin? Have done that.)
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Win first place at the fair (Can't be bothered; did win an honorable mention once on something that I made for a friend's daughter. Friend was so impressed, she entered the item into the local fair's needlework judging. Was kind of pleasantly surprised by that.)
Hair accessories (Head bands count?)
Knitting in public (Back when I took the train, was always knitting.)

I think that I'm more interested in learning new techniques than trying out novelties or drawing attention to myself. To each his or her own, right?

Wow. Another Winter's past and another Poetry Month's upon us. Will be spending most of my time over at my little April dacha. Why not come join me there?

(Happy National Poetry Month! Happy Hopeful Spring!)

Something to Consider When Filling Out the Census Form. (Bless them all!)

Try, Try to Wrap the Mind Around This.

Just Because the Muslims are engaged in terrorist tactics (and they are) doesn't mean that Russia isn't a totalitarian thug regime. (Same holds true for France, by the way.)

T Minus Three Days and Counting until Poetry Month.

(From Last Year.)

Kind of Romaticized

But lovely account of low-frequency radio stations in London. Interesting that the internet hasn't completely stamped these out; we even still have a handful of them here.

Tonight, We Are All Pyongyang.

Well, so much for the vote. Guess will just have to keep up my conscientious objector status.

It's honestly too bad; a good bunch of us are here precisely because our ancestors moved away from third rate governments that didn't listen to the citizenry. What next?

For What It's Worth.

Pavel jotted off a last minute note to our so-called representative the other night voicing all his unhappiness with the all but certain Yes-Vote that Capuano is going to make:

Count me as one more very disapproving constituent. Health care reforms, please, but NOT THESE REFORMS.

I may write you too late to influence your vote. I have just learned from here

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2010/03/capuano_yes_on.html

that you intend to vote yes for the so-called health reform bill as passed by the Senate in December. Still, you should hear my opinion as one more sample of those you represent.

I am one of many who believe this bill is an opaque, bureaucracy-building monstrosity that does little to address the true causes of excessive costs for health care, while adding dangerously to the nation's future debt burdens, and failing to enlarge consumer choice.

I am strongly opposed to a national individual mandate, on pain of tax penalties -- a provision of very dubious constitutionality.

Will my middle-aged premiums then become greater without all the young people compelled to bear the costs shifted away from me?

Well firstly, that's only just. Young and healthy adults in early career with lower incomes, and looking to start their own families, shouldn't be discouraged by shifting more of their earnings to aging generations than they do already. We oldsters selfishly kill the golden goose when we deter the child-bearing generations with a regressive tax.

(And an effective tax it is, when we are compelled to purchase what we would otherwise not -- no matter whether the actual collector be a private insurer, or government. If the President makes such a provision a law, then he will have reneged on his pledge not to impose new taxes on low and middle earners. Quite simply, he will be a liar.)

And secondly, I say give me the choice to elect for less comprehensive, catastrophic coverage and just pay fee for service in routine care, analogously as I insure only for car collision repair and not for fluid fill-ups.

Is the mandate needed to make the future system work, if insurers are not to deny coverage on the basis of preexisting conditions? Well then, just drop that misguided crusade against the companies, however heartless that sounds! Insurers are not to be blamed for running real insurance businesses in a rational manner. If my uninsured house burns, I can't then demand that an insurer cover it retroactively for pennies. The insurance business would be impossible with such incentives. No, my earlier irresponsibility is my problem. I want to hear an unsentimental realist of a politician tell this unpopular but necessary message to the people.

Will I eat those words if I lose my job and my coverage with it? I can't pay COBRA premiums beyond a limited term, even if I'm willing and able to. I am prevented even from being "responsible," as I called it, even if I have means. Extraneous eventualities -- my changes of employment -- may compel me to terminate one policy and begin another, and become an undeserving victim of the precondition trap.

Well sir, there is the real unaddressed core of the "crisis."

Why should the continuation of my relationship with my insurer be conditional on anything but my continued premium payments and non-fraudulence in my claims? Why do so many of us accept it as normal that one's health insurance is non-portable after a job change? That makes no sense: we should no more buy health insurance than home insurance through employers, indirectly. But an irrational tax code makes employer-provided insurance advantageous over individually purchased insurance. Worse, the incentive to use these pre-tax dollars even for routine care (thus turning "insurance" into a health-maintenance subscription, making nonsense of the word), and resulting over-consumption, is what causes the spiral of premium inflation that we all complain about.

So end that tax advantage! (As presidential candidate McCain suggested.) Fix the incentives. Employees should get more direct, not imputed, pay in exchange for the responsibility to shop for their own health insurance and maintain it, and to become smart shoppers for routine care.

We need a true national free market in insurance policies. The authors of the Constitution were wise to know that barriers to trade among the states should not be imposed at the will of state governments -- which would have retarded economic development and impoverished all. What's good for tangible goods is no less good for a financial product like insurance. The federal government should use its authority to govern interstate commerce, to strike down the states' barriers to health insurance purchases.

We need consumers to be free to purchase as much or as little coverage as they choose. We need incentives for individually purchased insurance to become the norm. We need a wider market of many competing providers keeping each other "honest" -- and no insulting nonsense (thankfully off the table, but which certain House members would have put past us last year, if they could) about setting up a costly new governmental entity just to get us a single "competitor" with the very unfair advantage of subsidy. (Don't insult me a second time either with the promise that this entity would remain funded only by premiums collected. Political pressure would change that in no time.)

The alternative ideas for health care reform are out there. The President was downright wrong when he suggested that the opposition to the reform bill have no alternative ideas. Any insinuation that opponents to this bill's "reforms" are opponents of all reforms, satisfied with the status quo, is very dishonest.

These alternative ideas require strokes of the legislative pen to change regulations and alter incentives in the marketplace from the perverse ones existing now. What they do not require are costly new bureaucracies to direct transfers of wealth. They are easily explained and understood and could be embodied in a bill one hundredth of the size of the one that is now pending.

But I wait for that in vain in the present, deeply dishonest political and media climate, where a bloated and overreaching government, colluding with insurers that are really only too happy to add the advantage of forced consumers to that of competition barriers, is instead portrayed as the white knight slaying the big bad corporate dragons preying on the widows and orphans. Such a sham insults my intelligence.

Mr. Capuano, you had the opportunity to surprise me pleasantly, when you wavered on this bill. But if you get on that bandwagon after all, then you may not rely on my vote for your reelection.

The people of our state voted FOR obstruction of this bill in the special senate election. That was an explicit appeal in Senator Brown's campaign and in the slogans of supporters. They do not trust this bill. They want it scrapped and redrafted along fundamentally different lines. I hear it in casual conversation even in my eighth-district neighborhood. I heard it even today, from a government employee no less.

Do not delude yourself about this.

***

Pavel is much better with written words than I am; feel that he explained it best for the situation of an awful lot of 'average' folks.

I'm totally against the so called reform, as, being a 'consumer' (or should I say 'victim?') of the Massachusetts Jailbreak, (that the current President has considered as a national model) have my own set of problems that are more considerably and consistently costly, not to mention subject to Bureaucratic Incompetency than whenever I had to deal with a doctor's office or hospital directly.

(Have been too tired lately to detail my problems of not being able to afford COBRA for MA inflated rates, my problems with hack state a/r folks and the lack of customer service with, the fact that I live in one of the maybe three states that my alma mater's catastrophic coverage insurance plan doesn't cover for new gradutates, and the fact that, the minute I try to send off the application for Commonwealth Care's subsidized plan, I am forced to tick off a box allowing the State of MA full access to my medical records. Much, much easier, not to mention cheaper to pay the state income tax penalty and to visit and pay cash for a doctor like one did for the 'back alley abortionists' of yore.)

Not Quite There Yet. Just the Same:



Spring, April, Poetry Month. So much to look forward to.

Sunshine's streaming in through the back windows; am multitasking my way through two knitting projects and a stack of way-overdue correspondence while listening to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra perform a favorite by Sibelius. Life does have its bright moments.

Oh, finished the Fascist interpretation of Second Century Rome last night. It ended on a note of longing for the a rebirth of Sparta; second best - the return of the Roman Republic. Really interesting. Anyway, put that aside and am now digging into the first volume of John Julius Norwich's look at Byzantium. Just about 20 pages in, see that it's going to be fun. Such a refreshing contrast to the actually pretty poorly written book I picked up as a (disappointing) Birthday present to myself a bit back.

Had noticed that, when I'm down, tend to isolate myself when the healthiest thing is probably to be reaching out.

Tried a bit at breaking the feedback loop I'm in and find that, actually, am feeling a bit better for having done so. Things aren't great, but they could certainly be a whole heck of a lot worse.

Ooh! Some folks sleep walk, others eat, I actually write while asleep.* See it as a sort of 'exquisite corpse' between the hand and the brain, and often I have a hard time trying to figure out what was filtering its way through the consciousness to the paper/keyboard/etc.

Anyway, a bit editing of the last post for clarification: Took a look at the sidebar links and noted that one friend was a bit unhappy for a couple reasons - lost a friend and sold an instrument.
Neither is catastrophic, but can be upsetting, I understand. Anyway, had a couple solutions to offer:

1.) On the lost friend, maybe not lost, just misplaced. As he's done a bit of song writing before, maybe should consider writing a song (or a poem - next month's Poetry month in the US; in the UK, I think poetry month falls in May.) about the experience. That or (and this is a bit radical) contact the friend and try to hash things out.

2.) Instrument-wise - that can be bought back or replaced. I recently lost some no longer published sheet music and some pretty valuable books in the recent bad weather. Am still kind of sick about this, but will get over it. If he played and I could afford the shipping, would gladly send him one of the two pianos in my life, as only need one and don't rightly what to do with the other.

Life has a way of throwing us for a loop sometimes. I'm in a couple serious pickles right now and am having a hard time seeing past the bad. I think, or at least hope that things will get better; that hope is kind of all that I have right now.

***


*Interestingly enough, when was a kid, used to talk a lot, too - apparently my brother and I could carry on entire conversations while asleep and have no recollection of what we talked about.

Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors.

As I said earlier - Pi Day's kind of cute. It's at the Ides, though, when you have to be watching your back.

In Memoriam.



Here's that shawl that I was talking about earlier. Was so pleased at how it turned out that trudged out in the rain on Saturday morning to photograph it.

The fence was getting to be a bit long in the tooth. Was kind of funny, though, to see a pile of broken wooden slats in its place this morning. Lost most of the fence along the back and the side opposite to this bit of wood as well.

Was mentioning to Pavel that I thought it might be cheaper and prettier to replace the wood with shrubs: lilacs in the space pictured, as there're already two trees there; mountain laurels on the opposite side; across the back, due to drainage issues, pussy willows and/or forsythia. Of course, all's contingent on what we can find at the local Home Depot. (Wish us luck.)

Just because we absolutely had to get out of the house, decided to take a drive out to Concord today.



This was Alewife Brook, between Somerville and Cambridge (just before the turn off to route 2). Was pretty darn swollen. When we got to that turn off to Route 2 (just before the Alewife T station), noted that Route 16 was closed due to flooding.

As we went further west, saw all sorts of high water street closures like this one near Concord Center:



Basement flooding and the loss of whatever fencing in the yard was still standing after the last northeaster (the one that one didn't hear much about due to the freak snows further south) aside, I guess we got off lucky.

(Am trying to keep a positive outlook on this, anyway. A good bit of my life is in the basement and am just not up to seeing just how much of it's gone. A vein in the temple started throbbing when I saw a couple pretty much irreplaceable partitions buckled, moldy and soaking. Will deal with it later. At least rain's going to stop tomorrow and we have a dehumidifier.)

Pattern Recognition.

(As have been saying for the past couple years, the above is the across the Atlantic version of the mess The Great Unwashed voted in here.)

Bless Peter Graves



For some of the funniest self-perpetuating one-liners ever. (May he rest in peace.)

***

(For those of you who loved him earlier than the above, one of my favorite versions of the theme from "Mission Impossible:")

Yes, so it's Pi Day. Cutesy and kind of geeky.

Tomorrow's the Big Day, as far as I'm concerned.

Pattern Recognition.



Noted a bit ago that this one looked an awful lot like something in those film strips we had to watch in Health Class back when they'd separate us into boy and girl groups for a few days each year.

Heavens.

Because we all know that folks in the chastiser's neck of the woods are such proponents of Free Trade.

Currently re purposing a beautiful spice-colored striped cowl neck that I found in my
"to do" pile so that it might serve a purpose. Looking at it and working it kind of hurts, but am soldiering on.

Interesting and Not Unexpected.

In fact, it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint.

I'm kind of curious about something, too, given that the last major delay I experienced was due to hasty implementation of poorly defined security regulations. Are airlines (and ultimately the passengers/their clients) to be penalized if the delay is directly related to government policy?

Interesting that the diacritical sometimes used over the n in Habanero (and which is almost always pronounced) - ñ - is actually a hyperforeignism. I did not know that. Is nice to learn something new every now and again.

Habaneros.

As a parting gift, got some of the much-coveted jelly from homegrown habaneros. (Actually, was an exchange - I sent along clementine). Normally save pepper jelly to have on crackers with cream or farmer cheese. Was told that this was good, especially if one was sensitive to hot peppers. In addition, one could brush it over chicken on the barbecue or to deglaze it in a fry pan.

Before anything else, though, we were to try it straight from the jar.

Pavel and I were drooling at the sweet, hot, vinegary scent on opening. *Boy,* was it hot, though. As a result, applied it very conservatively (only about a tablespoon for two chicken breasts). Could have used twice or thrice that, though, as the pepper flavor mellows out considerably on cooking. Caramelized beautifully, though. Served this with broccoli and jasmine rice.

Gratuitous Reference to Shadows On a Cave Wall:



Not a big fan of most of what I've seen by Bertolucci, but The Conformist is probably one of the most beautiful and sad films have seen. Trintignant's also one of the very few actors I've ever actually had a crush on.

which comes with a call to reread the the bit about the philosophers' drinking party. (My favorite. Of course, it's a popular subject among girls. Not so much the drinking part and the trash talk beforehand, though it is kind of entertaining here.)

Pho.

Am on a quarterly schedule with a lot of friends - not bad or good, just is so. Actually, I think that an awful lot of folks run on that sort of calendar due to life changes, etc. At holiday time, it gets worse. Family issues strike, even more so. Anyway, one of the brighter sparks in my life that'd been somewhat reduced to a distant glimmer, came back into the foreground lunchtime today*. Enjoyed the food, particularly enjoyed the company.

Generally, we opt for Asian food of some sort, so decided on the relatively new pho place around the block and down the street from me. Now, I like them; have found the basics that I like and that should be good to be perfectly fine**. He gets out a bit more than I do to such restaurants, so was curious about his take on things. Started off with the summer rolls and an order of tod mun***. Was first off charmed that the fish cakes were obviously made by hand, hot and fresh. The sauce was wonderfully perfumed with citronella and coriander. Could feel myself smiling automatically at the taste. Nothing to complain about on the summer rolls, either, save that we couldn't eat all of what they'd given us in order to save room for the soup.

My friend had the pho ga (chicken), while I had bo vien (beef with meatballs). I think he was happy with his; I know that I enjoyed mine. Heck, didn't even feel the need to spice it up with pepper paste or the sweet sauce. Just enjoyed it nature, with the fresh basil and sprouts. As we'd been debating pronunciation of the name, got the definitive answer from the waitress: [fə], just like the French feu****.

Lunch over, time to get back to life. Should get out more to see folks, to lunch in general. Glad that there's a pretty good so far Vietnamese place in the neighborhood. They're actually kind of few and far between north of the Charles.

***

* Am trying my darndest to not reference flickering shadows on a cave wall.

**Summer rolls, bun, Vietnamese crepe. The last is one of my favorite comfort foods, and I think theirs is particularly luscious.

***A serious favorite of mine, but always fraught with hazard. Have ordered this in much more expensive restaurants and have been served what seemed like fish sticks served with a dipping sauce.

****I've read that the pho comes from 'pot au feu.' Makes sense. Come to think of it, most of the soups I make tend to be less French soups than pots au feu; in fact, unless I make something specifically French like an Onion Soup or a veloute, we generally call it pot au feu.

Am nearly halfway done with the final lace chart on my Traveling Woman scarf. Cannot wait to get this thing off the needles. Honestly think the yarn's cursed (was originally for a pair of socks I'd intended for someone who isn't in my life anymore. Hate having stuff lying around like that.)

Am still on the Stendhal kick, by the way. Started the Chartreuse de Parme last night, as I was super insomniac and tired of Carcopino. So, kind did a switch from an English translation of a Frenchman's appreciation of Rome to the (somewhat polyglottal) version originale of another Frenchman's love of Milan. (Love Stendhal's writing, gosh darnit. Don't think I'd have liked him personally; do love what he had to say, though.)

As I'd mentioned earlier - had been reading a very interesting book on Ancient Rome by this fellow. The first couple chapters on the structure of the urbs as well as the distribution of domii to insulae (houses vs apartment buildings) and water rights was fascinating; it sort of gave lie to what I'd previously learned about these things in the past.

Where it gets *really* interesting, though, is when we break away from the urban planning study of the eminent Archaeologist and start to look at his interpretation of primary source materials to paint a picture of family life, education, religion, women's roles in society, etc. Even before learning of his placement in Vichy, had a Blink moment where images from Olympia were flashing behind the words. "Hmm, interesting," I thought. "Am learning an awful lot about the writer, too." Anyway, am about 1/2 way through, and am enjoying it on a number of levels.

This has kind of spurred me on to look again at works of the Progressives (the folks who, among other things, brought us the all-white, pro South view of Reconstruction among other things), some of the post-Progressives (like Hofstadter - love how he writes. He makes very clear his prejudices, and very entertainingly so. Will argue forever that The American Political Tradition is one of the best post WWII histories out there - take my praise with a huge grain of salt; I'm new to the History thing), as well as some of the older interpretations of the Middle Ages I'd read in the past life (namely Bedier, Huizinga - scored a copy of his Waning of the Middle Ages at a library sale recently for a quarter. Remembered loving that book as a kid.)

From there, it'd probably be good for me to check out a copy of Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States, if only to see how much I can pick up on him and what I think might be the modern equivalent to Fascist European interpretations of history. (Again, take this with a huge grain of salt; might be totally valid. Then again, fifty to 100 years from now, maybe there'll be another girl sitting reading her dollar copy of the book with the same bemusement that I feel lying in bed with Carcopino's Daily Life in Ancient Rome.)

Am feeling a fair bit better than yesterday, thank heavens. Doesn't make the need to deal with health insurance (up to now, have chosen to pay the penalty - under protest, of course - to the DOR; seems the least bad of the range of options afforded to me) any less necessary; just less driven by emergency concerns.

Kind of long for the days when one could go to a clinic in one of the big hospitals around, barter a bit, and come up with a payment plan. I did this a lot when I was younger and always was treated decently, both by the doctors and the financial staff.

This is amazing.

Interesting to think about, too, that not too far away, regardless of the EU statutes, they'd likely be "suicides" during their period of "protective custody."

Have been feeling like garbage all day. I think and hope that it's just the old gut (I have IBS - sorry for the TMI) just stamping its feet and letting itself be known. If it's anything worse, I'm screwed, as I'm not insured.

Good Neighbors:

Ran into the husband of the neighbor I ran into on the walk home from the grocery store. Ended up talking for like 3/4 of an hour. When I saw him last, maybe before Thanksgiving last year, he'd told me that he was trying to lose weight for a physical for work. Well - he lost weight in spades. Told him that he *really* looked good and, brash sort as he is, I think he actually blushed. (eee!)

Exchanged gifts, too: had a book on trains for him from a book sale as well as some homemade jam. Got a shopping bag full of mason jars in return.

This is kind of interesting.

Found it as a sort of appendix/correction to a previous post talking about making popcorn with truffle oil. I clicked the product link and found two things that gave me the



feeling.

First, there's the highlighted brand. Now, nothing against them, but I see Roland products as total tight "budget gourmet" both here and in France. Generally, I'll buy their stuff if I find it at Job Lots or Monoprix, but I'm not going to go out of my way to order or pay boatloads of money. (Above is their American distribution address. For some reason, and I'm only going on gut instinct, I think they're Asian. Don't know.)

Second, the price (approx $7/bottle). That's about the price for a fair to middling bottle of *unflavored* olive oil here. Last time I was au marche in Versailles, I noted that...like...*real* truffles were going for nearly 1000 EE/kg, so just an olive-sized piece to soak would cost a fair bit more than the price of the two bottles for $13 listed here.

Ever since reading Allende's recipe for a truffle in olive oil decoction, I've wanted to try this. Can't do it right now, though, as even if I *could* get truffles in the States, I'd not be able to afford them. So, settled for the next best thing here - a small bottle of truffle *flavored* oil from a local Eye-talian shop. I had no illusions about it, given the price (slightly higher than the inexpensive Spanish stuff I normally buy), but it did the job. Not ashamed of that. But then again, I'm not marketing myself as a gourmet or anything. Am just someone who likes food and who cooks decently enough.

For what it's worth, the reason why I bought the oil was to make a treat for the housemate. He'd described frites drizzled in truffle oil and sprinkled with rosemary. Given my food restrictions right now, I came up with an actually really nice workaround:

Patates Douces aux "Truffes" et Romarin

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
4 T olive oil flavored with truffle (or not - just wanted to be foofy and nice for the housemate. Used Monini brand from Spoleto, IT, by the way.)
1+ T dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste

1.) Preheat oven to 375 F.
2.) Wash, dry, cut out bad spots on the sweet potatoes. Slice thinly width-wise (like potato chips).
3.) Toss potatoes in olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. Save a bit of oil to rub on a cookie sheet.
4.) Bake for roughly 15 minutes or so, turning over when necessary. Ultimately, you'd like them to be crusty on the outside and softish on the inside.

Pavel actually told me that, though it wasn't very truffly, it was honestly good and a keeper. I was happy because it's totally within the South Beach parameters.

Didn't much talk about what I have in mind for the upcoming year for myself, as, over the past couple years, have had plans scuttled pretty spectacularly. Anyway, have wanted to set the goals low, manageable and as little subject to the vagaries of those around me as possible.

First off, I want to finish the job of losing all the weight I set myself to do last November. Had started at about 195-ish lbs, and am currently at about 177 (yes, gained a few pounds since returning to the States in January.) The goal weight is between about 155-160 lbs; totally within reach. I just have to keep up the good eating as prescribed here.

Exercise has been difficult lately. Most mornings, I have enough trouble finding motivation enough to get out of bed. Have been managing a couple dozen push ups and stomach crunches every day, though, which I guess counts for something.

Handwork-wise, I mentioned wanting to knit one lace project a month already. In addition to that, would like to take one item out of the unfinished pile and finish it/repurpose it/salvage the yarn. Also, would like to confine my knitting to the yarn I've collected over time. There's a lot of it; it really needs to go.

Mentioned also learning to spin - that's been awfully fun, but have to watch out. If I spend too much time doing it, the shoulders and the back start to hurt and the fingers get blistered. Plus, I end up with more yarn to get rid of!

Didn't mention that I also want to teach myself to crochet this year. Funny, but I can manage hundreds of stitches on two or more needles, but just have never got the hang of *one* stitch at a time on *one* hook. Really want to learn to make granny squares, too. Love them.

Then, there's work. I've been seriously underemployed for some time - some of it due to choice, some of it a bit out of my control. Have a couple projects going on at home, but would like to find a few hours a week out of the house. I think it would have to be temporary work. Just something to get me out and build up the bank account a bit.

I took all the history classes at the local community college and really can't afford to go anywhere else right now, so am just trying to do a bit of directed reading. Was a huge fan of Stendhal in my other life, so have picked him up again. Have been trying to supplement that with readings on the Revolution in France, the oscillations between liberalism and absolutism there and in other parts of Europe, // developments in the United States, etc. What I'm taking home from all this is that, heavens, as crazy as things were on my side of the Atlantic, they seem positively straightforward compared to the jailbreak that Europe was at the time.

Am not much into what I guess is called Historiography, but have been reading other things as well and noting how stuff's been interpreted over time. Amazing what you can learn about academic fashions in pre-Vichy France from reading a monograph on Ancient Roman city planning...

My, am running on a bit, aren't I. (More later - am no where near done.)

Works In Progress.

Have been so wrapped up in spinning lately that I've kind of left knitting a bit by the wayside here (not project wise, though). Anyway, this is what's been en chantier the past couple weeks:



This is my little 'sherbet semaphore.' Ordinarily I don't go for this kind of yarn (and really, I shouldn't be spending money on nonessentials right now), but it looked so cheerful on the gloomy day stopped into the store. The pattern is called Baktus, a clever little thing, and well-suited for "mindless" knitting. I only really work on this when am watching a movie or being read to.



One of an eventual matched pair for Monsieur Scoot's mom. The pattern's from an ancient Family Circle knitting magazine, and it's called "Dutch Girl." The seed stitch pattern, though, reminds me of Guernsey sweaters. In any event, I really don't like working on anything that needs a twin, and really, really don't the yarn. (The lady these are meant for is allergic to wool, so I'm using a cotton blend from Rowan yarns.) Can't wait to get these out of my "to do" pile.

The last thing I'm working on is installment #2 of my New Year's resolution to knit a lace scarf or shawl a month. Like with January's project, it's been fun to watch this grow and take wing on the needles. Am using up a good bit of sock yarn from my stash, too, in denim blue and fuchsia variegated. Don't have a picture of it yet, as it's still on the needles (yep, running behind already), but that'll be remedied over the next day or so.

Yesterday, got a phone call from an old neighbor, then ran into another on at the grocery store. Ran into a third on the walk back. Somehow I think that someone's trying to tell me something - like maybe I should stop being so miserable, get out some and see friends? (Don't know.)

Girl Cat had yet another appointment with the Loverly Man in the White Jacket today.
Was put under to have the teeth and gums looked at and taken care of. Cost a fortune, of course, and she's in a bit of pain, due to sutures. Apparently has the same genetic problem as Tony (re absorbtive lesions?) so we have to keep an eye out, of course.

Am so happy to have here home, recovering. Was scared to lose her.

***
Never meant to Fall In Love like this.

Once seen, cannot be unseen.

Vrijdagmuziek.

Een mooi(e) verzion vaan deze loverly, but oh, so decadent adaptation of nasty stuff:



Happy Friday and vrolijke (een beetje spaatelijk?) nieuwjaar! (snort)

Spin Another Yarn

Finally worked my way through all the old roving I had lying around. After washing and hanging the finished mess to dry, measured what I ended up with: have just short of 25 yards. What to do with it, now? Thought of dying it with old tea leaves; decided that if the color was good enough for the sheepje who gave it up, it was good enough for me.

Knit-wise? Hmm. this small quantity of bulky wool won't go terribly far. Maybe I can make a neck warmer or a pair of wrist cuffs. Maybe a pillow (though it'd be a small one). Or perhaps I could incorporate it into the hat I want to make myself before it gets too warm out.



Rough looking, but surprisingly soft.

It's not the prettiest stuff in the world, but am actually kind of darn proud. Someday am sure will spin finer stuff. For now, though, I'm happy to have picked up where I left off and to have made something useful.

Well - the coffee roasting experiment seemed to work out well. Took about 1/3 cup of the beans and put them in an aluminum pie plate one layer deep. Roasted them under the broiler for about two-three minutes on each side.

The roasted beans were only slightly darker than the original ones, but they were much oilier. Also, though the flavor of the coffee was milder than the Trader Joe's stuff, I noted that two cups of it didn't wasn't making me dizzy like the past couple days. Also, the kitchen smelled heavenly.

I might try roasting the stuff longer tomorrow morning; we'll see. Am glad, though, to have found a workaround, even though it is a bit of a pain in the rear. We have like a pound and a half of the city roast left, and it was getting to be painful to drink.

Dad posted
something kind of sweet last night.



Loved him in his tight leather pants phase; love him even more nowadays. (Words in English; Traduction a venir, bien sur!)

Spin a Yarn.

A number of years ago, I treated myself to a drop spindle, some wool and a spinning lesson. For all sorts of reasons (one major one being a back injury that the posture I assumed while spinning was aggravating), I stopped. Resolved this year to get back into 'the spin of things' so to speak.

Gorged myself on How To videos and actually sat down to read the two manuals I had on the subject. Ended up with this last night:



The twist is a lot looser and the resulting product is certainly bulkier than I'd like, but it's a start. I've got just short of 10 yards of it.



This is the second batch that I'm working on - still a lot of variation in thickness and still way bulkier than I'd like, but again, it's a start. Here, I started loosening up a bit. Stopped trying to control the twist and actually let myself feel the transformation of Potential to Kinetic up the strand to the fleece. Got a huge blister on the thumb doing this, but was worth it.

The most difficult part of things has been "drafting," or regulating the flow of fleece into the spin. This is going to take a lot of work. For the moment, I'm doing what's called "park and draft," where I spin the spindle, then stop it to conserve the energy until I need it. Then I move the spin up the thread as I need it. Have also been "pre drafting" or separating chunks of fiber into a more manageable thickness before spinning and wrapping it around my arm so that I don't have to worry about doing all this one-handed. It's clumsy and slow, but has been good for isolating the different movements my body needs to learn. Has also been cutting down on entanglements and my getting rapped by the spindle when I lose control of it.

Like with translating, Hanon and stomach crunches, am going to give myself a few minutes a day to build up strength. May not see the results for a bit, but then again, small bits do add up. Perhaps after a bit, as well, I'll be ruing not having the chunks and variations in my fine stuff, as a fine-spinning new friend tells me may happen.

Pavel and I are I guess what you'd call cheap coffee connoisseurs; more to the point, even if we both were employed full time, I don't think you'd find us paying $20-$30/lb for coffee when there's perfectly good stuff out there for considerably less than that.* Generally, except for the emergency runs to the bodega across the street for the least expensive Latin stuff (always good, though always ground), we get whole bean, so I guess we're not completely lost.

Anyway, our two favorites in this area are Trader Joe's and Eight O'Clock (with 8:00 winning out for a while when they had their frequent buyer program). Had been drinking a lot of the TJ's French Roast lately, as they sell that in a huge tub. It's nice, though a bit messy in the grinder due to its oiliness. Only just ran out of it a couple days ago, so Pavel went out and picked up a big, two pound bag of Eight O'Clock.

As I'm the first to get up in the morning, I'm the one who preps the first pot. Always use the same amount of coffee, so found it interesting when Pavel mentioned that stuff was tasting too weak. Myself, I noted that I was getting the jitters and actual head spins. Slow on the uptake that I can be sometimes, finally noted that we had the regular blend (which I can only assume is a city roast - meaning, the least cooked coffee out there - this imparts a mild flavor and burns off the least amount of caffeine. Kind of like Dunkin Donuts stuff as opposed to your normal cup of Starbucks). Since we have so much of it, I'm actually thinking of playing at roasting a bit of it as I'm not nuts about the caffeine and the housemate's not too thrilled with the flavor. We'll see what happens.

***

*One thing we do make a point of doing is avoiding anything "fair trade," as there doesn't appear to be much "fairness" about it if one takes Webster's definition. I know that there are other definitions at play, though. In any event, Bad Catholic that I am, I just see it as lefty indulgence-selling.

The cats have been in rare form today leading Pavel to wonder aloud about what's been causing them to be all Hobbesian -like. (Dunno, maybe the weather? I know that low pressure systems sometimes drive me to distraction.) Anyway, there have been so many fights and so many different gang-up configurations that we renamed everyone:



The orange one is no longer Tony, but Brutish. Magnolia was christened Short.



What else could this one become, but Nasty?

Am at odds over which of the three of the "Three Colors" movies is my favorite: Liberty, Equality, or Brotherhood. Am kind of thinking that "Equality" is right now.

Harbinger of Spring:

We've had a ton of Goldfinches and House Finches out back for the past month-or-so that I've been back; is interesting in that they weren't around last year, or anything.

Have become kind of ordinary, these little ones:



Goldies flocking on the feeders last week. Get a load of that particularly Gold bee-hind on the top level!

Have to say that I'm surprised with how accustomed to the bright flashes of primary colors have become; sometimes even find myself looking beyond the birds to other things. Still, changes in the routine do surprise. The other day, observed something subtle, lovely, totally Springlike: a male Red Head tenderly passing a sunflower seed to a brown headed, stripy-breasted girlfriend. (sigh.) Spring is *almost* here.

Skippy and Fabio are no longer. Am trying to figure out if I didn't add enough anti-chlorine treatment or if there was too much. If the water temperature was too high or too low. Gave them both a seaman's burial last night. (Sob!)

Almost Forgot:

Modular Lace using Short Rows.

What this means, essentially, is that you treat the circle like a pie and you treat the spokes like individual, but attached, pie pieces:



Knit from Lion's lovely organic cotton string. I think I used almond here. The doily didn't turn out as I'd wanted - meaning, there were a couple too many rows, so it looked like a princess with a cleft palate or something. Ended up giving it away to someone who seemed pretty happy with it, though more for the time spent on knitting it than anything else, I think.

Couple things came to mind while I was knitting this one. First, that favorite verse from the Tao Te Ching that I'm always quoting. Second, Sunshine:



How much are the guitar's arpeggios and arabesques like the above's knits/purls/yarn overs/k2togs?

Lace.

I'm smart, but feel dumb most of the time. Far more adept manually than what I give myself credit for, am easily intimidated by anything that looks 'too hard.' What is too hard, though? Especially in terms of knitting.

Started knitting some basic lace patterns back in the day when we could bring knitting on airplanes. I liked that it both occupied my hands and kept me focused mentally when nervous fatigue would make reading, for example, impossible. Last year, got through two gorgeous scarves: Falling Water (first lace ever!)



Katia's Alpaca. This languished for nearly a year before I got up the energy to block it. It's currently on pins and wires in my room as I type.

and Nancy Bush's Stork's Nest.



My version: knitted with some lovely-looking, but kind of difficult stuff from Vermont. The color name is "antique brass." Love that.)



Where's my closeup?! Close up!

Both took forever because I saved them for flight/airport time, but both were incredibly satisfying and made (in my opinion) lovely gifts.

Was really pleased with the flat-knitted results (especially when, after Falling Water, I figured out how to do purls without twisting the stitches. This may seem obvious to 85% of the population, but I'm left-handed, so was a bit of a casse-tête.)

Anyway, based on all this success, decided to take thing further and try a circular (yes, like a doily) bit of lace. The joy of this is not having to purl every other row unless it's germane to the pattern. Decided on Brooklyntweed's interpretation of Hemlock Ring:



My dad was kind of nonplussed by this project as, during a difficult family time, I was cursing like a stevedore late at night when everyone was trying to sleep. Found some errors in the pattern, y'see, and was having a hard time resolving them/'reading the lace'/concentrating in general. Lace problems: solved! Family ones?: Not so much yet, anyway.



Finished knitting in Fray-ance chez le Frenchie. Kind of fitting that I end up with a cabbage flower for un petit chou, non? (snort)



Aah, the magic of blocking!
Am so pleased at how this turned out. The Frenchie, also, as one can see.

You all saw what I did for me as a Birthday gift. Was down and out enough to not leave the house for a bit, but could still knit. Decided to try the little bird spreading its wings on the needles construction, as that's kind of what I'm feeling like right now. A new friend's fearlessness and a free pattern (not to mention a huge stash of lace/sock yarn) are what's fueling the latest project:



The Journey of 400m Begins with But a Single Cast-On. It's called Mesange Bleue because "Blue Tit" is something that the 12 year old boy in me won't allow me to call it (snort).

I'd like to do a new lace project a month. Something that'll challenge me technically, hopefully, too. As I'm working on a new physical body as well (more later), would like to make some nice Summery stuff for me.

(We'll see, right?)

It's That Time of Year Again.



Many of these are in the process of being knitted/sewn together/stuffed. All will be revealed a week from Sunday; don't want to ruin the surprise.

Found my next knitting project. (Hint: it ain't this.)



Is up and keeping with my goal to knit a lace scarf/stole/shawl a month this year. I have other goals, too. Will talk about them soon enough.

Sister Moon.

Climbing up to my squirrel's nest last night, caught a glimpse of the moon peeking out through the maples.



From my little perch high atop Spring Hill. Really, you had to be there.

She seemed more demure, less blowsy than while in her Wolf phase the other night. Still very radiant, though. Anyway, brought to mind that bit from St. Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun:

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

One thing I'm noting: even when down, am not necessarily out, as there's too much beauty about for me to completely lose interest in life.

My fat cat diet and laser pointer therapy seem to be working, too. Since last March, I've lost 22 lbs. The goal is to lose another 15 and to get myself back into decent athletic shape. I think I can get the weight lost by mid Spring - just in time to start some serious hiking again.

***

Am still trying to decide if I'm a Happy Cat at heart, though, or too sad from too much bad. I know I try to be happy, just doesn't always happen, though.

Am noticing something interesting: Ampersand was not a happy cat. Her early life was rough and she was just too traumatized to really ever be at ease. I think she was thankful to have a warm place to sleep, people to keep her company and decent food to eat, though. The best I could do in her case was to make the end of her life better than the beginning.

Magnolia, on the other hand, seems to be a happy cat at heart who just went through some recent tough times. As the shelter folks thought might happen, she is starting to blossom into a more confident, strong animal. On watching her break up a fight between the boy cats today, I got the impression that she just might end up the boss of the house.



The Good Ship Maggie. Just got word from the vet: aside from some bad tartar and gingivitis, she's in good shape. Need to get a tooth cleaning scheduled soon.

Apparently, like me, she's a nervous eater when she's unhappy. Have her on a diet and am exercising her a good bit with the laser dot. She's going to be okay.