Friday Unrelated Information

1. It's been a while since we had a LOLcat. I have this one hanging up at my desk:

2. Enjoy the Hokey Pokey as written by William Shakespeare. "Verily, I say, 'tis what it's all about."

Two Videos

Here is a video "trailer" for the Mars Curiosity rover landing on August 5, found via Bad Astronomy. It is worth the five minutes to watch it because in five minutes you can have your mind blown and your faith in humanity reaffirmed:

I usually dislike taglines but "Dare mighty things" at the end kind of made me tear up a little.

And here is a video created by the European Commission as part of the “Science: It’s a Girl Thing!” campaign to encourage girls to study science (it's now been pulled from the campaign).  This also blows the mind and brings you close to tears--but not in a good way:

To quote Elwood Blues, "Jesus H. Tap Dancing Christ." To quote the article in The Atlantic where I found this, "...science sells itself. It needs no polish or varnish or manufactured appeal to be attractive to women. To imply otherwise is an insult. To science and to women."

Wednesday Poem

This one rhymes! And is by Tennessee Williams (!). Who knew?

Clover

These are fragrant acres where
Evening comes long hours late
And the still unmoving air
Cools the fevered hands of Fate.

Meadows where the afternoon
Hangs suspended in a flower
And the moments of our doom
Drift upon a weightless hour.

And we who thought that surely night
Would bring us triumph or defeat
Only find the stars are white
Clover at our naked feet.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Less Doing, More Planning

The last thing I knit and finished was those legwarmers for my yoga teacher in February. (The knit tie was knitting up way too thick to actually tie in a knot, so that's been shelved.) I just realized this lack of knitting may be contributing to feeling like I need hippie affirmations all the time. 

But what to knit? Sure, I could finish the two sweaters for me lying around, but I think I need a new project. And I think Skyler needs a little hooded sweater for the fall. 

Construction-wise, I think this pattern ("Duck Soup") wins (knit in one piece, plus the cuffs and hood edges can  be rolled back to accommodate him growing):

But I love the Christopher-Robin-ness of "Roo" (and the real toggle closures, vs. knitted ones):

So planning has begun. I just hope this kid doesn't grow too fast between now and the end of the year--look how big he's getting!

It's Monday

Sit in it like it's a drawer organizer and look dubious.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I didn't see this in time for the actual date, but last Friday the 14th was photographer Margaret Bourke-White's birthday. Life Magazine (where she was one of four original staff photographers) has a really great feature up in honor of her.

2. This gif is pretty much the best thing ever if you've ever worked with clients.

Two Things To Make You Happy Today

1. Space always does the trick for me. I'm sure you've heard by now that Voyager 1, launched in 1977 with the famous golden record of Earth sounds, is nearing the very edge of our solar system. I think the Daily Mail put this fact in context really well:

With absolutely no attempt at hyperbole at all, it is fair to say that this is one of--if not the--biggest achievement of the human race. For, as we speak, an object conceived in the human mind, and built by our tools, and launched from our planet, is sailing out of the further depths of our solar system--and will be the first object made by man to sail out into interstellar space."

2. And in further news of humans living up to the name, here's something that's been making the rounds: 21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity. I just had to think of the end of the second Lord of the Rings movie and Sam saying, "There's still some good in this world, Mr. Frodo."

Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice! I still struggle with seeing this as a moment of fullness and celebration and not just the beginning of the long slide into winter, but a year of steady yoga and the Mystic Mamma site have really helped. Here's a quote posted there in honor of the day:

And as we watch the field baking in the heat-–as we feel the sun's power to burn as well as to bless--we can feel our own gifts, our own special abilities as they ripen and swell, and know that we, too, have the power to make a difference for growth or for destruction in the world.

It is a time to mark peak moments, moments of warmth and growth [...], (it) is a time to invite fire into our lives-–fire to burn away all that we have outgrown and all that no longer serves us; fire that makes the wild things grow in us, for which our inner selves have longed. 

Cait Johnson and Maura D. Shaw from Celebrating the Great Mother

Tuesday Pending Project: Dare I?

It's summer, my inner hippie is running free on eight-mile hikes, and I have a co-worker's mountain wedding to attend next month, so I'm playing with the idea of making a long dress.

Never mind the fact that I made a long skirt circa 2004 (inspired by this one from Kill Bill 2), wore it about three times, and then felt really self-conscious--look how "effortlessly glamorous" the fashion world tells us the long dress is:

Wear it lounging in a mod chair!

Wear it on the streets of a big city!

Wear it on a mountain top!

If you've seen my Pinterest project board in the last week, you can tell I'm trying to hunt down the right fabric for it. Because I think I need a long dress to wear three times and feel really self-conscious in to wear effortlessly and glamorously for the Summer of the Hippie.

(All images via Google. The search term "anthropologie maxi dress" gives you a veritable explosion of bohemia.)

Outdoorsy

I spent Saturday being outdoorsy and going to White Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Look at all the gear we had--that must mean we're really Outdoor Types, right?

 Nature is hilarious

Yes, that's an ice axe.

Still partially frozen...

...but starting to thaw. 

On the way back down.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. This has been making the rounds, but it's good: a list of tips from a Pixar story artist. A few highlights:

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.

2. Enjoy perusing The Worst Things For Sale.

3. Happy Father's Day to my dad and brother!  

That Time of Year

The light in June leading up to the solstice is so lovely in the foothills. Predictably, I think of this part in Out of Africa:

The sky was rarely more than pale blue or violet, with a profusion of mighty, weightless, ever-changing clouds towering up and sailing on it, but it has a blue vigor to it, and at a short distance it painted the ranges of hills and the woods a fresh deep blue. [...] Up in this high air, you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be.
 

Two Quotes

I found the first quote on Mystic Mamma and thought, "What a nice and reassuring thought to re-post, wild horse picture and all." So here it is: 

“Make a pact with yourself today to not be defined by your past. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn’t what you get for it, but what you become for it.” 

Meanwhile, my brother sent me today's second quote, from American Beauty: 

Lester Burnham: "Brad, for 14 years I've been a whore for the advertising industry. The only way I could save myself now is if I start firebombing. " 

I guess the moral of these two quotes is that sometimes it's nice to give your inner hippie options (quotation-wise, that is; don't firebomb things).

Tuesday Project Roundup: Flat Pack Rodeo

How about some furniture instead of fabric this week? I decided it was time to upgrade my bedroom dresser to something bigger. Here's the setup before:

And here's the after, courtesy of IKEA (the Malm dresser and Hemnes mirror) and these lasercut fretwork panels:

I'm not 100% sold on how much contrast there is (maybe the drawer fronts need to be all white?) but I'm completely happy with the capacity: 

Many, many thanks to my dad for pickup, delivery, and assembly over the course of four hours. As the IKEA instructions tell us, one person assembling this is a frowny face. But two people is a great big smile!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Here's an inspiring comic about the power of science. 

2. And in other science news, here's a rare image of the transit of Venus you may not have seen:

What an event.

Goodbye, Ray

You've probably heard by now that Ray Bradbury, one of my very favorite authors forever and ever, died yesterday at the age of 91. 

From raybradbury.com: 

He is survived by his four daughters, Susan Nixon, Ramona Ostergren, Bettina Karapetian, and Alexandra Bradbury, and eight grandchildren. His wife, Marguerite, predeceased him in 2003, after fifty-seven years of marriage.

Throughout his life, Bradbury liked to recount the story of meeting a carnival magician, Mr. Electrico, in 1932. At the end of his performance Electrico reached out to the twelve-year-old Bradbury, touched the boy with his sword, and commanded, Live forever! Bradbury later said, I decided that was the greatest idea I had ever heard. I started writing every day. I never stopped.

Wednesday Poem

If I were still memorizing poems, this would be a good one to have in my head while hiking. Let's be like the water in it. 

Passage

by John Brehm

In all the woods that day I was
the only living thing
fretful, exhausted, or unsure.
Giant fir and spruce and cedar trees
that had stood their ground
three hundred years
stretched in sunlight calmly
unimpressed by whatever
it was that held me
hunched and tense above the stream,
biting my nails, calculating all
my impossibilities.
Nor did the water pause
to reflect or enter into
my considerations.
It found its way
over and around a crowd
of rocks in easy flourishes,
in laughing evasions and
shifts in direction.
Nothing could slow it down for long.
It even made a little song
out of all the things
that got in its way,
a music against the hard edges
of whatever might interrupt its going.

No Projects, Just Natural Stuff

This is what I'm doing instead of sewing lately:

(That's a frozen lower Red Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood canyon.)

And did you save your eclipse viewing glasses from a few weeks ago? Tonight you can use them to see the transit of Venus across the sun, which won't happen again for 117 years. So you probably don't want to miss it.

Sunday Night Conversations, Part Whatever: The Zombie Apocalypse

My best friend and I were discussing current events and the rash of gruesome "zombie-like" attacks fueled by the drug "bath salts" came up. And he said:

 "As a purveyor of beautiful bath salts, I have to think, 'Is this something else for me to worry about?'"

I tried to explain that the drug in question was not made of actual bath salts and that people were using the term with quotation marks around it, and he came back with: 

"Zombies are not scrupulous in their use of quotation marks, Karen."

 And those are words to live by. 

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Last year's Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan is publishing a new short story. Over Twitter. I rolled my eyes too but then I got sucked in--the voice and the pacing really work. She's posting new installments 140 characters at time on the @NYerFiction account, or you can read the whole thing here (updated every evening).

2. If you love to hate fashion blogs such as The Sartorialist, you'll love to love Sartorial Zoo. It features the dreaded "street style" shot,  paired with its animal equivalent: