Thing #28: Learn How To Can

Thing #28 on the list of 30 Things always seemed like it was going to be hard, but making jam is easy!

These were the berries from the u-pick farm. This is probably a year's supply of jam for a single person.

As Laurie Colwin says in the excellent chapter "Jam Anxiety" (in More Home Cooking):
...I felt contentedly thrilled with myself, as if I had pulled off a wonderful trick. People feel this way when they make bread or have babies, and although they are perfectly entitled to feel this way, in fact, nature does most of the work. Jam making is, actually, a snap...

Tuesday Project Roundup: Skirt Ahoy

Here are some pictures of the sailor skirt from last week--sorry, no action shots; the sun is so far north that the bedroom (where the full-length mirror is) doesn't get any morning light.

It was hard enough to figure out how to assemble this, let alone make a lining for it, so I got all fancy on the seam finishes again. This front panel unbuttons to reveal a zipper and a pocket:

So the inside had a lot of seams to bind:


Ditto for the (flattering!) curvy panels on the back:

And inside:

(Obviously, I was getting bored working with plain navy so I had to add some color somewhere.)

I'm just pleased that this fits well, because there were a lot of steps to get through before I could even try it on to check the fit. Whew!

Yay for Three-Day Weekends!

I really enjoyed that extra day off I took this weekend. Friday I ended up going to Antelope Island to see the lake (still stinky) and then stopping at a u-pick farm with my parents for some strawberries.

I think u-pick farms are the way to go: All the fun of a farm with none of the upkeep! It was nice to be out in the strawberry fields in the sun--until someone got "Strawberry Fields Forever" in my head. So now it can be in yours:



This video is kind of what Monday mornings look like to me anyway. More coffee!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I'm late posting today because I have a day off (!) and Toby let me sleep in until 9:00 (!!).

2. I actually went to an open house this week, despite not really being at the point where I would be ready to make an offer. It just looked like a perfect house, in my price range and location, so I thought, "Maybe the universe is giving it to me--I'd better go look!" But no. After seeing the un-remodeled basement, I decided the universe was actually telling me not to buy a 100-year-old house.

3. I've tried all these things! (From here.)

Speaking Of Trains

I think the opening sentence of The Dharma Bums is a really good opening sentence:

Hopping a freight out of Los Angeles at high noon one day in late September 1955 I got on a gondola and lay down with my duffel bag under my head and my knees crossed and contemplated the clouds as we rolled north to Santa Barbara.

Trains: So Poetic

Now that it's warm enough to keep the windows open at night, I can hear the trains better. This poem was on the Writer's Almanac a few weeks ago and describes the sound of trains perfectly.

From "Things I Didn't Know I Loved: After Nazim Hikmet," by Linda Pastan.

But how about the sound of trains,
those drawn-out whistles of longing in the night,
like coyotes made of steam and steel, no color at all,
reminding me of prisoners on chain gangs I've only seen
in movies, defeated men hammering spikes into rails,
the burly guards watching over them?

Those whistles give loneliness and departure a voice.
It is the kind of loneliness I can take in my arms, tasting
of tears that comfort even as they burn, dampening the pillows
and all the feathers of all the geese who were plucked to fill
them.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Waiting For Buttonholes

I don't have anything ready to show today--apparently, using the internet to look for houses and furnishing said houses in your imagination takes up a lot of time in the evenings. (Come on, that is SO productive!)

I do have a skirt that's ready except for the buttonholes and the hem, though. It's from BurdaStyle and it looks as if it could be worn by a glam sailor:
I really like how the Burda patterns fit me, so now I'm tempted by a pair of pants from their site. I just can't decide if they fall into the "glam retro sailor" category or the "mistakes from the early 80s" category. Any thoughts?

Happy Summer Solstice

I am telling myself that it is the first day of summer, not the beginning of the end of long days and warm weather. Here's a Longfellow quote to fool yourself with:

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Last night I had a dream in which someone described colors as "fab fab" and "spectacular." Even in my dreams I like color, I guess.

2. Ask for a big furry Russian hat and the universe--or your dad--gives you one. (Apparently, he already had one. Who knew?) Universe, I sure would like a money tree now. Universe?

3. The weekend is going to be WARM AT LAST. I think I will celebrate with a margarita.

No Expectations

I felt a little lonely last night (which is pretty rare these days, fortunately) and then I remembered that the only person that I can expect to make me happy is myself. So I did that by working on a skirt and looking for houses for Toby and me online.

Here's the Rolling Stones song of the same name, from Beggars Banquet:

I Think I Found Toby's New Cat Condo

It would match my dress! I think it would look nice with an Eames recliner!

(Hey, this one isn't too bad--there are many more insane options out there.)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Even I Will Admit This Is Loud

I'm not afraid to wear a lot of color or to mix prints, so it's strange that something that's black and white makes me feel so conspicuous--while wearing green shoes, a turquoise cardigan, and a navy polka-dotted dress and carrying an orange purse doesn't.

I think it's the print:

The pattern is vintage; I'm guessing 1965 or 66 (check out the print they used on the left!). I left off the bow on the collar because there was already enough going on.
I've been trying to fancy up my finishes lately--I've lined all the skirts I've made--but I didn't want to engineer a lining for this. So instead I finished the seam edges with bias tape. (That takes a long time, by the way.)
Now if I can get some pointy-toed kitten heels and a Moscow Mule, I'll be set.

Happy Flag Day

Put out your flag today and be glad you don't live in North Korea--the New York Times has an interview with eight North Koreans who have left the country in the last month. It seems that the recent currency devaluation there has made life nearly unlivable (and it wasn't really that cushy before).

Just something to think about Monday as I go off to my fancy advertising job...

Friday Unrelated Information

1.Every time I watch Breakfast at Tiffany's (or even the clip I posted yesterday), I have to remember that George Peppard went from playing the love interest in that film to playing the Colonel in The A-Team. Strange.

2. Speaking of movies, I watched The Hunt for Red October last night and was struck by all number of things--how young Alec Baldwin was in 1990, how 18-year-olds have no memory of the Cold War, and how I kind of want a big furry Russian hat.

"June drifter, off to see the world"

When Toby was having his adventures outside, I would thought of that line from "Moon River," and today I woke up with it in my head. So here's the version from the film--we all need something pretty to look at on a Thursday, right?



However, my absolute favorite version of this is on the LP "Ben E. King Sings for Soulful Lovers." Go check out the sample and you'll probably agree with me.

How Did The Spending Freeze Go, You Ask?

My month of not buying non-essentials was pretty successful: I did buy a manicure last month but that was from my list so I'm not being too hard on myself for it. I also went to Starbucks a few times.

But overall, it wasn't so bad to get back in the non-spending habit--much easier than when I first went on a budget four years ago and had to approach not spending the way an alcoholic approaches not drinking (one day at a time). I'm glad I proved to myself I can still do it, because once I get a house I think not spending is going to become the new normal (again).

Tuesday Project Roundup: A Little Aubergine

The controller/head of HR at work is expecting a little girl, and I thought, "Hey, I haven't done any real knitting since March and I have some lovely leftover eggplant alpaca yarn, so why don't I make a little baby hat?" So I did.

I tried to make it a little bigger than newborn size, since babies born in July probably don't need a hat right away, but the only size gauge I had was Toby. (It's too big for him.)

Also, I remembered that I really like knitting! Maybe I need to pull out the cabled sweater and work on the sleeves, so I'll be ready to go when it's fall again.

Can Adults Get Summer Vacation, Too?

This poem about summer vacation showed up on the Writer's Almanac a couple of weeks ago. Nothing like warm weather to make you feel full of longing and think that anything is possible.

First Year Teacher to His Students

by Gary J. Whitehead

Go now into summer, into the backs of cars,
into the black maws of your own changing,
onto the boardwalks of a thousand splinters,
onto the beaches of a hundred fond memories
in wait, where the sea in all its indefatigability
stammers at the invitation. Go to your vacation,

to the late morning cool of your basement rooms,
the honeysuckle evening of the first kiss, the first
dip and pivot, swivel and twist. Go to where
the clipper ships sail far upriver, where the salmon
swim in the clean, cool pools just to spawn.
Wake to what the spider unspools into a silver

dawn dripping with light. Sleep in sleeping bags,
sleep in sand, sleep at someone else's house
in a land you've never been, where the dreamers
dream in a language you only half understand.
Slip beneath the sheets, slide toward the plate,
swing beneath the bandstand where the secret

things await. Be glad, or be sad if you want,
but be, and be a part of all that marches past
like a parade, and wade through it or swim in it
or dive in it with your eyes open and your mind
open to wind, rain, long days of sun and longer
nights of city lights mixing on wet streets like paint.

Stay up so late that you forget day-of-the-week,
week-of-the-month, month-of-the-year of what
might be the best summer, the summer
best remembered by the scar, or by the taste
you'll never now forget of someone's lips,
and the trips you took—there, there, there,

where snow still slept atop some alpine peak,
or where the moon rose so low you could see
its tranquil seas...and all your life it'll be like
some familiar body that stayed with you one night,
one summer, one year, when you were young,
and how everywhere you walked, it followed.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Here's a Flickr set of "animals at sea" from the National Maritime Museum--I love the mongoose, mascot of the HMS Emerald.

2. The Writer's Almanac tells me that today in 1919, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, giving women the right to vote, was passed by the United States Congress.

3. And, related to the above:

Happy Birthday, Toby!

Dear Toby,

Today is your unofficial birthday! I know you were born in June so I picked the third for you, same as my birthday. Here you are when you were a baby, before you came to live with me:

You're three now, and you've been going outside like a big boy. I'm proud that you got so brave so quickly, but it hurts my feelings a little when you run away from me to go into the neighbor's garage (or into the bushes, or into the other neighbor's yard, or under the cars in the back parking lot, etc.).

Since you're all grown up now, let's make a deal like grown-ups, OK? You will stay mostly inside for the rest of the summer and I will find us a new place to live, one that has a yard with a fence and less traffic. It will have lots of rooms to explore inside, too--it might even have stairs! I know you love stairs. Almost as much as you love laundry:

Even when you get too excited by the outdoors, you are still the sweetest, cutest, and best cat. I'm so glad you came to live with me.

Love,
Mama

PS--Do you think you'd like a new kitty tower? A really tall one?

Can We Say It's Almost Summer?

I am going to say it, even though there was snow ten days ago. This is the opening of Dandelion Wine, my summer book:

It was a quiet morning, the town covered over in darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Jumping Back Into The Week. Also: Sleeves!

I meant to post something by Wilfred Owen yesterday in honor of Memorial Day, but the morning got away from me and I'm going to be confused about what day it is all week anyway, so...let's move on to sewing!

This is a blouse I made in rayon; I hadn't worked with it before and I really enjoyed it. As you can see, it's very drapey. And it has big sleeves.

The fabric is from a designer who introduced some of his prints on apparel fabric (rayon and voile) in addition to quilting cotton. I actually used this same print on regular cotton when I made my quilt. So now I match my bedding.