Friday Unrelated Information

1. Fall is in full swing, with September ending and full moons happening and who knows what else going on. Good thing I have a light-up alarm clock and a hippie website to sustain me. 

2. Get ready to party: Next Saturday, October 5, is Plaidurday, "the 2nd annual Worldwide Celebration of Plaid"

3. If  you've ever wanted to see Mitt Romney's face appear on posters for popular romantic comedies, check out RomCom 2012. The Photoshop work is good but the captions are brilliant.

Should Have Bought This Years Ago

Part of what makes winter so hard for me is getting up in the dark. Last year I discovered that there is such a thing as a "dawn simulating alarm clock" that gradually gets lighter and lighter to wake you up to an already-lit room. 

I didn't buy it last year because it was a little expensive and apparently I hated myself and wanted to be sad for another season. But not this year! Meet my new best friend:

I've only had this since Monday but I already love it. (Toby, however, has still not figured out how I am turning on the light while still in bed--I need to explain timers and sleep science to him.) This is totally me in the mornings now:

If you buy it, your bedroom will glow with the light of the sun and you'll wake up with perfect hair and makeup, too

I got mine at a little bit of a discount on Amazon. Check it out right here.

Happy Birthday, Tom Eliot

The Writer's Almanac tells me it's the birthday of T.S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot today, Anglicized American poet extraordinaire and writer of what I think I would like on a gravestone if I end up on a ranch and get to be buried there:

Under a juniper-tree the bones sang, scattered and shining
We are glad to be scattered, we did little good to each other,
Under a tree in the cool of the day, with the blessing of sand,
Forgetting themselves and each other, united
In the quiet of the desert. This is the land which ye
Shall divide by lot. And neither division nor unity
Matters. This is the land. We have our inheritance. 

(From "Ash Wednesday," of course.) 

Tuesday Project Roundup: Forging Ahead

This past week I started a sewing project and a sleeve on the nephew's sweater. Things are getting wild over here!

For sewing, I cut out the rayon from the fall fabric pile--it wants to be a Wiksten "Tova" dress to wear with leggings and boots. Considering the last thing I sewed was the long dress in July, I think this is good progress. 

In sweater news, the body is finished, I have one sleeve started, and I bought buttons. I think this can go pretty quickly to the end now (which is good, because Skyler isn't getting any smaller). 

The F Word

I went back to White Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood yesterday to help me get my head around the beginning of fall. Of course, the lake at 10,000 feet was well into fall and moving on to winter, so that pushed me a little further along in my acceptance. Thanks, nature.

 

(The lake was so low--compare it to three months ago when I was there last.) 

 

At least fall is orange. It could be worse.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Somewhat related to Wednesday's post about "the 47%" of Americans "who are dependent on the government": CNN featured a wrenching essay by John Scalzi about growing up poor. Just....go read it. It made me so ashamed of throwing around the term "the poor" without any real thought behind it.

2. It's the autumnal equinox tomorrow, and while one could be sad about the state of the world and the start of the long slide into darkness and everything else fall will bring, the hippies are telling us to take heart

Give the world ALL the LIGHT, LOVE and COMPASSION you have! Send your HEART out to humanity, the planet, and all life. Send your knowingness that paradise is here right now, and BE in the world as you want it to be. Use your highest, purest intentions, and remember that the truth is not out there; it is within YOU…GATHER TOGETHER and celebrate this beginning wave of your great transformation. Equinox will bring a much needed balance in your world

OK then. I love the caps; it's like a Dr. Bronner's soap label. 

Happy Birthday To My Brother!

It's my only sibling's birthday today and I hope he has a great one. From pulling me around on the sled (age 5) to threatening to kick some boy's ass for me (ages 15 - present), he's always been there for me if I  needed him--and now that he's a daddy I get to see that all over again.

So many people depend on him for stuff ranging from any mechanical repair to snow removal to making delicious dinners, so I know I'm not alone when I say: Thanks for all you do and happy birthday!

Fascinating!

I try not to come out of my bubble too much to pay attention to politics, but someone in my life watches things such as "The O'Reilly Factor," so I have to maintain balance in the Force by listening to "Democracy Now" on public radio. And that's where I heard about this:

A leaked video taken secretly at a Mitt Romney ($50,000 a plate) fundraiser is making the rounds, in which Mittens makes many fascinating statements, including,

"47 percent who are with him [Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax. "

and this one!

 My dad, as you probably, know was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company. But he was born in Mexico ... and, uh, had he been born of, uh, Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this.But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico.... I mean I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino.

You can watch the most-circulated clips, see the entire video, or read a transcript here at Mother Jones (who broke the original story).

You can hear Romney respond at a press conference  right here on CNN (second video): 

I was speaking off the cuff in response to a question and I'm sure I could state it more clearly and in a more effective way than I did in a setting like that and so I'm sure I'll point that out as time goes on.

Fascinating. I should come out of my bubble more often.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Fall Fabric

I finished off the bottom of Skyler's sweater and bought some buttons, but I haven't started the sleeves yet so it looks pretty much the same as it did last week. Let's look at some fabric instead!

I've been avoiding "the F word" (fall) but the fact that I had to get out Toby's space heater for the 50-degree mornings is a clue that I can't deny it much longer. 

Fortunately there's (from left to right) wool suiting, cotton-silk print that's a mill end from J. Crew, and some leafy French rayon to help with the acceptance process.(All three are from the local Yellow Bird Fabrics.)

Tractor Boy

Most of my family--including Skyler--spent last week on my grandma's farm in Nebraska, so I missed a nephew visit. I went to see him yesterday and he's learned to shake his head "no": 

"Skyler, do you want to get out of the swing?" {shake)
"Skyler, Auntie has to go goodbye now."(shake)

I pretty much melted. If I had had candy or a pony I would have given them to him right there. Wouldn't you? 

(The picture isn't from the Nebraska farm, but from my brother's "homestead" before the trip. Check out his blog for more Skyler!)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Happy birthday to Margaret Sanger, founder of what would eventually be Planned Parenthood and source of this quote, with which I agree wholeheartedly:

"No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother."

2. SIFL AND OLLY ARE BACK. The sock puppet stars of the best mid-90s show on MTV are back with a new online series, Sifl and Olly: Fake Video Game Reviews. Watch episode one here, or play the promo video below for a new happy song.

Oh Hai

You may have seen this, but it's great: We have that robot we sent to Mars taking pictures of itself now:

I love that it looks like WALL-E. (More info at Bad Astronomy, of course.) 

Pretty Much The Best Thing I've Read, Ever

Some backstory: Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo filmed a PSA for the group "Marylanders for Marriage Equality in 2011," supporting the gay marriage amendment on the ballot in Maryland. Then a member of Maryland's House of Delegates, Emmett C. Burns, Jr. (D-Baltimore), publicly demanded that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti "inhibit such expressions from your employee." Then a football player on another team, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, wrote a really great letter to Emmett C. Burns that contains this paragraph: 

I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won't come into your house and steal your children. They won't magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won't even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population—rights like Social Security benefits, child care tax credits, Family and Medical Leave to take care of loved ones, and COBRA healthcare for spouses and children. You know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails. 

All of it is just so good, but the postscript at the end (you'll have to click through) kills it. Well done, football players, well done.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Moving Right Along

This is what 24 hours in a car will get you: 

I ended up not being able to sleep in said car at all, plus I had some downtime on the actual vacation, so I was very glad I brought two extra balls of yarn for Skyler's sweater. I'll be on to the sleeves soon!

Happy Birthday, Mary Oliver

The Writer's Almanac tells us it's Mary Oliver's birthday today and features this poem from her. I don't think she wrote anything I don't like (she is the hippie poet extraordinaire, after all,) but I think this one is extra nice.

In Blackwater Woods

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. My parents will celebrate their 40th anniversary this Sunday. 40! Way to go, guys.

2. The Salt Lake Greek Festival is this going on through Sunday. I've personally renamed it The Sheep Apocalypse, but, you know, you could go if you like that sort of thing.

3. This will be the best internet video you see all week, I promise: Better Names for Things. It involves a Target. And word fun. And a happy soundtrack.

When A Problem Comes Along...

Oh, hooray for the internet. It's not letting the Mitt Romney dog incident (yes, that's a Wikipedia link) die and that makes me so happy. I read about Remember Seamus last month, and when my brother was out last week he saw a Dogs Against Romney sticker on a car with "I ride inside." And even the band Devo has released a single about the incident, with band member Jerry Casale saying,

"My God, the world is a scary place with seven billion people. What you want in a leader is a guy with some humanity at his core. I just don't feel that Mitt does."

The more attention the better, I say. I know people who will argue that it's just a dog and there are bigger human issues to focus on (hell, I know people who probably don't see a problem with it at all), but I think the whole incident shows cluelessness at best, and cruelty at worst, and I don't want either of those qualities in a leader.

Wednesday Poem

In the Moment 
by Maxine Kumin

Some days the pond
wears a glaze of yellow pollen.

Some days it is clean-swept.
The trout leap up, feasting on insects.

A modest size, it sits
like a soup tureen in a surround of white

pine where Rosie, 14 lbs., some sort
of rescued terrier, part bat

(the ears), part anteater (the nose),
shyly paddles in the shallows

for salamanders, frogs
and little painted turtles. She logged

ten years down south in a kennel, secured
in a crate at night. Her heart murmur

will carry her off, no one can say when.
Meanwhile she is rapt in

the moment, our hearts leap up observing.
Dogs live in the moment, pursuing

that brilliant dragonfly called pleasure.
Only we, sunstruck in this azure

day, must drag along the backpacks
of our past, must peer into the bottom muck

of what's to come, scanning the plot
for words that say another year, or not.

Vacation

Oh hai, I was on vacation all last week! Could you tell? Northern California is cold but it's really pretty. And I always like to see the ocean.

The other half of the week's pictures got captured on film, since someone forgot to bring her digital camera charger, but there was more Big Sur and camping and San Fransisco (oh my), too.