Friday Unrelated Information

1. This week I discovered the Twitter feed of Sockington the cat, the latest cat-related internet craze. Some gems include:

tiny meow behind you please turn around it would mean a lot to me if you turn arHUNGRY HUNGRY HUNGRY

stretching neck at you streeeetching neck OH NECK IS STRETCHING NEAR YOUR HAND OH GOD SO CLOSE TO ooo petting what a surprise

2. Speaking of the internet, should I be on Facebook or Twitter? Apparently this will help me find a job.

3. Items baked this week: Cinnamon swirl bread, a whole-wheat baguette from Laurie Colwin's recipe, oatmeal-butterscotch chip cookies, and dulce de leche brownies. I made my own dulce de leche, too.

"Teach us to care and not to care. Teach us to sit still."

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar, which reminded me of the T.S. Eliot poem of the same name. I wish I had studied this one in college, because I'm sure there's a lot more to it than I'm getting now. It's long; you can read it all here. But this excerpt from the end of the last section seemed to fit with the weather today and my general mood. (Not literally "the aspiration to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human salvation," as Wikipedia says, but maybe the hope for spring? And better times?)

Wavering between the profit and the loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these things
From the wide window towards the granite shore
The white sails still fly seaward, seaward flying
Unbroken wings

And the lost heart stiffens and rejoices
In the lost lilac and the lost sea voices
And the weak spirit quickens to rebel
For the bent golden-rod and the lost sea smell
Quickens to recover
The cry of quail and the whirling plover
And the blind eye creates
The empty forms between the ivory gates
And smell renews the salt savour of the sandy earth

This is the time of tension between dying and birth
The place of solitude where three dreams cross
Between blue rocks
But when the voices shaken from the yew-tree drift away
Let the other yew be shaken and reply.

Wednesday Tune: Happy Birthday, Ralph Stanley

Bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley is 82 today, so today's tune is one of his: "The Darkest Hour."



It's just before dawn, of course. Which is another way of saying things have to get better.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Here Come The Owls

That's what the next step in the pattern is called: "Here come the OWLS!". I'm as excited for them as the pattern writer was.
I've been trying to take my time on the owl sweater, though, because I don't have another sweater to work on when I finish it. (I've been thinking about this one, but I'm not sure I can justify buying yarn while unemployed.) To keep the owls going slowly, I pulled out some gray alpaca from the yarn basket and made some fingerless gloves over the weekend.

Because--have you noticed?--it's acting a lot like spring lately. And I've been watching a lot of Victorian miniseries.

We Haven't Had A Toby Picture In A While

He sure is good company.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Have you noticed I haven't had any local political commentary lately? I'm only getting the Tribune on Sundays now and it's been lovely. The less I know about what the patriarchs in the Utah Legislature are doing, the happier I am in the mornings. (Of course, the paper boy decided to deliver the paper every day this week, just in time for Buttars to disgrace himself again.)

2. Since I mentioned WWII on Tuesday, I have to mention that Yesterday was the National Day of Remembrance for the American citizens who were put into internment camps during WWII. Families could only take what they could carry--what about their pets?

3. And I was so excited to post the quote about pie on Wednesday that I forgot Wednesday's tune. To end the week of sad stories and WWII on happy note, here's Big Rock Candy Mountain, "a song about a hobo's idea of paradise," according to Wikipedia.

It Was A Nice Dog, Too

So I went to the main library yesterday around noon. Nothing makes you feel more fortunate than seeing a homeless dude who's smuggled his dog into the library with him by hiding the dog under the blankets on his wheelchair. No, I don't have a job, but I don't have to smuggle Toby into a warm place to spend the day. Nor am I in a wheelchair.

Comparatively, I have no problems at all.

Did You Know Last Saturday Was International Pie For Breakfast Day?

I missed it, but I learned about it and found this fantastic quote on my daily read, EvenCleveland:

Pie is the American synonym of prosperity, and its varying contents mark the calendar of the changing seasons. PIE IS THE FOOD OF THE HEROIC. No pie-eating people can ever be vanquished.

The New York Times, 1902

I need to make some pie!

Tuesday Project Roundup: Thrifty AND Prepared, Just Like The 1940s

After all the knitting lately, I finally used my sewing machine again last week. I cleaned out the closet when I got my craft shelf and found some extra pillowcases, so I tried out the embroidery stitches on the Bernina:Something new to decorate with for free!

And I pulled out an unfinished project from a couple of years ago--this pencil skirt:(It's finished but too dark today for a modeled shot, so here's the pattern. Early 50s, I think?)

I had originally thought I would sew this to wear to the second job of Christmas 2007 but ran out of time, and by the second job of Christmas 2008 I had made more than enough dresses to wear. But while thinking of the job search these past two weeks, I realized that a plain black straight skirt would be all kinds of useful, so I finished it up.

It's my interview skirt. I don't have any interviews yet, but--in keeping with the 1940s theme here--I did it before and I can do it again.

If I Could Make This Link Sparkly, I Would

So my oldest and most helpful friend--who very conveniently studied graphic design while I was learning music theory--sat me down last week and got my portfolio cleaned up and got my portfolio site redesigned and up again.

Check it out: portfolio.karenkaminski.com

I even got a mention on her company's site, which she also designed! I am so going to have a job soon. (Hey, "Yes, We Can" worked for Obama, didn't it?)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. The weekly baking report: I made the French chocolate granola (awesome), the chocolate cookies (awesome and getting made again this weekend), the slow-rise bread that appeared in the NY Times about a year ago, and a light wheat sandwich bread. And today I'm making cheesecake for our Valentine's Day dessert. It takes 4 packages of cream cheese. That's two pounds. I guess love is being able to eat a pound of cream cheese with your sweetheart?

2. Speaking of Valentine's Day, how about some Wilson Pickett to express our feelings?



I also like Elwood's addition to the lyrics (which you can watch here):
"You know people when you do find that somebody hold that woman, hold that man. Love him, hold him, squeeze her, please her, hold her, squeeze and please that person, give 'em all your love. Signify your feelings with every gentle caress because it's so important to have that special somebody to hold, kiss, miss, squeeze and please!"

3. Why yes, I have learned how to embed video. How could you tell?

Valentine's Day Is Coming Up

Click the last one for bigger, and find more "I love you more than____" hearts here. I love that someone said, "I love you more than Arthur C. Clarke."

Wednesday Work Tune

I realize that "Work Tune" is kind of a stretch, because I'm not playing real work songs like "Union Maid," but I think the blues count, right? Here's Robert Johnson's 1936 recording of "Walking Blues" for your Wednesday listening.




Why this one? I like the nervous energy in it, and I like the verse around 1:30:
Well, some people tell me that the worried blues ain't bad
Worst old feelin' I most ever had
Some people tell me that these old worried old blues ain't bad
It's the worst old feelin', I most ever had

Tuesday Project Roundup: I'm A Versatile and Experienced Knitter

...and I've been writing cover letters way too much lately. Although I've been getting a fair amount of knitting time in, too: behold the tan sweater, finished after three months! It took three months, yes, but it's exactly how I wanted it to be. I used this pattern to start with, but I kind of had to fake the measurements since I was using a different yarn size. So I'm glad it turned out so well.

Of course, I've had lots of help these past two weeks at home. Someone even had to help us with the photo shoot last night:

GOSH

(Actually, I have more portfolio stuff to do, and I'm going to get awesome cover letters written for The Summit Group, Crowell, and Love Communications. I don't suppose anyone reading this has an in at any of those places? No? GOSH.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. My baking spree continues: Today it's peanut butter cupcakes from the latest Martha Stewart, and I have cinnamon swirl bread, chocolate granola (scroll way down), and "world peace" cookies planned for the next few days. I'm going to weigh 900 pounds by the time I get another job.

2. In my new routine, I totally forgot that Monday was Groundhog Day, Candlemas, and a Druidic holiday: Imbolc, the beginning of the end of winter. Time to start seeds! (Read more about them all here.)

Dickensian

I've been watching a BBC miniseries version of Bleak House this week (yes, I got it for the title) and it's awesome. I don't have a lot of patience with reading Dickens, but watching it is great. According to Wikipedia, Bleak House is "held to be one of Dickens's finest and most complete novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon." After just the first two installments, there's already been a Mr. Krook, the bad landlord, a Miss Flite, the crazy bird lady, and someone named Mr. Guppy. And a minor character will die of spontaneous human combustion! Really, what more could one ask for in a miniseries?

Wednesday Work Tunes

Tuesday Project Roundup: Why Yes, I Do Have A Lot Of Spare Time Lately

The tan sweater is still in pieces, but I'm hoping to have it finished in a few days. I'm done with anything related to job hunting by 3:00 or 4:00 every day so I've been watching movies on the computer and knitting until Mr. Isbell gets home.

I've also been cooking like there's no tomorrow: I've made two loaves of bread, chocolate pudding, and cinnamon rolls in the last four days, and am trying to decide what yeasty baked good is next. Because, hey! I'm home to oversee the risings and the second risings and the bakings, so why not?

Keeping It In Perspective

In addition to pulling together a portfolio and biting my nails over my long weekend, I started reading about Ernest Shackleton's 1915 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition:

There is nothing that makes you think, "Wow, it could be worse" faster than hearing about people stuck in the frozen Weddel Sea.

They were for all practical purposes alone in the frozen Antarctic seas...Nobody in the outside world knew they were in trouble, much less where they were. They had no radio transmitter with which to notify any would-be rescuers, and it is doubtful that any rescuers could have reached them even if they had been able to broadcast an SOS....
Thus their plight was naked and terrifying in its simplicity. If they were to get out--they had to get themselves out.

And in a nice cross-media tie-in, I watched Encounters at the End of the World Saturday night. (Highly recommended, especially for Werner Herzog's voice-overs.)There are crazy scallops underneath the ice in Antarctica! And seals make weird clicking whistles underwater! The world is a cool place, and I'm not trapped in the ice. It could be worse.