Friday Unrelated Information

1. It was cloudy here for the super perigee moon last Saturday, which kind of made me feel like the girl who misses the sun shining on Venus in that Bradbury story. But then I read that another full moon that will be almost as bright will happen on May 6 next year. I guess its full phase will be pretty close to perigee--not coinciding perfectly with it like the one that just happened--but it made me feel better.

2. Dr. Sagan would be ashamed of me, but I'm going to say it anyway: I think the "super moon" wreaked emotional havoc over the last week and a half. At least, that's what I'm blaming.

3. And finally, Toby's garage explorations are getting a little out of hand:
All he wants to do is play on the Ford Kitty Gym--and of course I can't say no to him. Spoiled Toby!

Oh, Evelyn

The way you describe finding love as opening a "low door in a wall" that opens to "an enclosed and enchanted garden" makes my heart happy.

But I was in search of love in those days, and I went full of curiousity and the faint, unrecognized apprehension that here, at last, I should find that low door in the wall, which others, I knew, had found before me, which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden, which was somewhere, not overlooked by any window, in the heart of that grey city.

Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisted.

(I watched Downton Abbey last week, which reminded me of the Granada Brideshead series from the 80s.)

I Feel As If I've Been A Crazy Cat Lady For Much Longer

Today marks three years of Toby in my life! Here he was the first day he came home--so small and worried.

And here he was Monday, large and sassy and inspecting fabric:

You already know that I get pretty ridiculous when it comes to Toby, dedicating poems to him on Valentine's Day, reading him The Tailor of Gloucester on Christmas Eve, saying he's the love of my life on our last "anniversary," etc. So it's not crazy of me at ALL to put up the theme from Love Story to mark this year's anniversary. NOT AT ALL. Because I think the lyrics suit the occasion:

He came into my life and made the living fine
and gave a meaning to this empty world of mine
...I reach for his [paw], it's always there

Tuesday Project Roundup: Little Elephants

As I said back in December, my brother and his wife are expecting a little boy in about a month. One of the baby showers has now passed so I can finally show you some BABY PROJECTS!

This is a little sweater with elephants on it (the green blobs), from this pattern. It turned out pretty big, so I think Nephew will be able to wear it his second winter.

And what does a stylish baby wear with his cardigan? Matching pants, of course, with elephant fabric on the cuffs. (I even tried out flat-felled seams on these, so they met my 3+1 Things goal.)

I finished both of these before I moved, but getting them wrapped for the shower got me excited again to sew tiny things. What should I do next? Doesn't every baby need a Hawaiian shirt?

Happy Birthday, J.S. Bach!

Today the composer I'd listen to if I couldn't listen to anything else was born. Bach was also my favorite composer to play, back when I was playing (especially this). I'd always think of a Bradbury quote from The Martian Chronicles when I was practicing:

He built an architecture of Bach, stone by exquisite stone, raising a music cathedral so vast that its farthest chancels were in Ninevah, its farthest dome at St. Peter's left hand. The music stayed and did not crash in ruin when it was over, but partook of a series of white clouds and was carried away among other lands.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. If you've read more than one post I've written, you know I keep things pretty insular (solipsistic) here. So of course I haven't talked about Japan, because what can you say about such destruction? What can you say about images like these? At least they have something left?

If I could be spared anything, I'd want it to be Toby. But what about those who weren't spared anything?

2.Ruth Reichl has a way to live with that question. Mostly.

3. When things are upsetting, I like to think about space: This Saturday, a "super perigee moon”--the biggest in almost 20 years--will be out. According to NASA, that's a full moon that coincides with being closest to Earth in its orbit. But that doesn't fully explain why it will look so huge:
"For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging Moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects."

There. All it takes is some mystery (not of the "why all this misery?" kind but of the "something incredible is waiting to be known") and I feel better.

What's This?

I was joking when I said I'd tell Toby the tiger painting was a portrait of his ancestor, but apparently it really is:

He spent a good part of yesterday evening next to the painting in the hallway, giving it these deep looks. I asked if he was "communing with his ancestor" and I got a cat blink in reply.

Burning Bright, Tangled

Last week I had an idea to search Etsy for "vintage paint by number" and look what that got me:

(I'll tell Toby it's a portrait of one of his ancestors.)

And my friend Kara pointed me to the work of Stasia Burrington, where I found this print called "Tangled." I had to buy it--it has Japanese kites and the artist described it as "about relationships and sticking out your neck."


So, despite thinking I needed to branch out, I have two more Asian-influenced things to frame now. I might as well embrace it and just call my decorating style "chinoiserie," I guess.

Tuesday Project Roundup: In Which I Wield A Staple Gun

This week's projects are all for the sewing room. In the 5-year plan, I want to finish the basement (I use the term "I" loosely) and move the sewing stuff downstairs. But until then, I wanted to get the room a little more done. That meant a table and lamp from IKEA and some fabric projects.

First I got my dad to deliver and cut some Homasote and loan me his staple gun (thanks, Dad!). Then my project supervisor had to approve my plans:

Then I stretched some fabric over the Homasote and stapled and in about 20 minutes I had a bulletin board. (I still need to get it mounted on the wall--and pin things to it--but this gives you an idea. That's the new table, too.)

I also made a new polka dotted ironing board cover. I used this tutorial and it worked like a charm:

And here's one last shot of everything together--the "ironing" view:
Now I just need some real blinds for the rooms upstairs...I guess I can't make those.

Knowing When To Stop

(From the Married to the Sea archives.)


I got some new books from the library Thursday and jumped right in to the easy one--and then I stayed up too late all weekend finishing it.

I always have to laugh at advice for insomniacs that says, "Read before bedtime to relax," because I've never been able to stop reading to sleep. Even if the book isn't particularly gripping or particularly good, I still just have to see what happens next. (If you remember, that's also my m.o. for living.)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. As if I needed a reason to love Carl Sagan more--check out the letter he wrote arguing for the inclusion of women into The Explorer's Club. I love one of his closing lines:

But we presumably are adults, with a special responsibility for interacting with all humans on this planet.

It's exactly what I want to tell people who go on and on about gender differences.

2. Have you heard that the Kilauea volcano is erupting like crazy? You can get the latest updates from the USGS here. This picture from the 6th has perhaps the most understated caption I've ever read:
"...lava pouring from the fissure into a seemingly bottomless crack. Napau Crater in the background. Helicopter [top right] for scale."

I personally would have captioned this "ZOMG earth is opening huge waterfall of LAVA RUN AWAY!!!!"

This Ad

This Cole Haan ad makes me covet that grass-green satchel (naturally), but "THE HEART IS A..." in the background also makes me think of Franny and Zooey: In the first part of "Zooey," he has a script for a play called "The Heart is an Autumn Wanderer," which inspires one of my favorite Salinger conversations.

"'The Heart is an Autumn Wanderer,'" [Mrs. Glass] read, mused, aloud. "Unusual title."

The response from behind the shower curtain was a trifle delayed but delighted. "It's a what? It's a what kind of title?"

Mrs. Glass's guard was already up..."Unusual, I said. I didn't say it was beautiful or anything so just--"

"Ahh, by George. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get anything really classy past you, Bessie girl. You know what your heart is, Bessie? Would you like to know what your heart is? Your heart, Bessie, is an autumn garage. How's that for a catchy title, eh?"

I wish I could go around telling people their hearts are autumn garages, but the insult really only works with Salinger fans. (Wish I had that purse, too!)

Next Poem, Please

I picked the next poem in my 3+1 Things project--most of the final section of "Ash Wednesday," by our buddy Tom Eliot--to coincide with Lent and Easter. (Actually, they're all seasonally appropriate--"Starlings in Winter" falls in December, Dark Harbor comes in summer, etc.)

Since today is indeed the actual Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar, I guess it's time to move on from "The Poems of Our Climate" and start memorizing this one:


Although I do not hope to turn again
Although I do not hope
Although I do not hope to turn

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

Tuesday Project Roundup: Camouflage!

This is what happens when you like pink and orange furnishings and clothing indiscriminately--you blend right in!

Here it is, un-camouflaged:

I used the basic shift pattern from the out-of-print Built By Wendy Dresses book and even made a muslin to test it out first--because it would be a shame to waste any of that enormous paisley fabric. (The fabric is from the stack I bought right before I closed).

This is the first of what I classify as "spring" sewing,* and it was all sewn up in my new craft room, and boy is it nice to have a space where I can just leave projects out. No more living in 500 square feet for me!

*I AM IGNORING YOU, FOOT OF SNOW OUTSIDE! I DON'T SEE YOU!!

I Am Ignoring You, Predicted Snowfall

I see bulbs coming up in all the planters downtown, and the bulbs are not only up but blooming at my parents' house. So I think it's time to re-read my spring book, The Secret Garden. Here's the scene where Mary is finding bulbs in the titular garden:

There had been a flower bed, and she thought she saw something sticking out of the black earth--some sharp little pale green points...she knelt down to look at them.
"Yes, they are tiny growing things[...]Perhaps there are some other ones coming up in other places," she said. "I will go all over the garden and look."
She went slowly and kept her eyes on the ground. She looked in the old border beds and among the grass, and after she had gone round, trying to miss nothing, she had found ever so many more sharp, pale green points, and she had become quite excited again.

Friday Unrelated Information

1. Check out Ray Bradbury's awesome letterhead (and awesome advice).

2. I got a land line at the house this week and this may make me technologically backwards, but I love it: A land line always gets reception! It doesn't drop calls! I can talk as much as I want and not get charged extra!

3. That's all I have; it's been a a busy week. This is what I thought waking up today:

Which One?

I think I need another t-shirt in my wardrobe (I don't have that many), but which one should I get? The one that says, "I'm so literary"....

...or the one that says, "I'm wearing an illustration of Carl Sagan's eyebrows--and I like it"?

Hmm.

It's Like My Car Has A House, Too

I got home last night and you know what I did? I went out into my garage and got my car cleaned up from moving. It was great. Toby thought so, too. I think he's plotting how to drive it so he can do this:

Tuesday Project Roundup: A Deocorating Equation

These 2 items:

plus 1 bedskirt from IKEA add up to this:


That total, when combined with 2 lamps from Home Goods, 1 new headboard, and 1 more IKEA "Rast" chest finished by one's father, gets you a new total of:


100% FANCY. Oh yeah!

Yesterday Was A Great Day

Why? Lowes delivered a new washer and dryer and my dad did a custom installation for them.* Then I did five loads of laundry WITHOUT LEAVING MY HOUSE.
I used the "Bulky" setting, I used the "Handwash" setting, I used the "Steam Refresh" feature on my dryer, and I felt as if I'd finally arrived in Grown-Up Land.

Not only are they full of features, they are Toby-approved, too:

Yes, yesterday was a great day.



*Dad, I didn't realize it would be that tricky or that washers were THAT heavy. Thank you!!

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I'm getting a washer and dryer delivered this weekend! I still don't quite believe that in just 48 hours I'll be able to do laundry IN MY OWN HOME.

2. Happy birthday to my buddy Wallace Stegner!

3. LOOK AT THIS T-SHIRT. And you can print it in custom colors! I'm buying one.

Not Quite An Imaginary Boyfriend

I heard a James McMurtry song Sunday on KRCL that just hit me--I had known of his name before but hadn't really heard any of his songs. It's called "Hurricane Party" and the refrain is "There's no one to talk to when the lines go down," plus it talks about "one great love." Thoughtful, lonely lyrics! Clever guitar! I was hooked. Have a listen:



Although I learned he plays a club in Austin most Wednesdays and I briefly planned an Imaginary Trip, complete with Imaginary Cute Outfits I'd Sew, I think he may a little too close to a hippy to be a true Imaginary Boyfriend. (A couple of years ago I took a vow: No more hippies, EVER.)* But he can be my Imaginary World-Weary-and-Older-Let's-Have-Some-Bourbon-and-Compare-Scars Friend.


*The way he sings "The Lights of Cheyenne" kind of makes me want to recant that vow. But I hold firm! Because I value steady jobs and shampoo!

Crossing A Line?

I'm almost ready to hang art on the walls in the house, but I have one problem: Ninety-nine percent of my art is prints of Japanese woodblocks. I don't want the place to start looking like the Asian Art Museum of San Fransicso, so I'm considering an abstract painting for above the fireplace. Or more accurately, I'm considering plagiarizing someone else's art and making my own abstract painting for above the fireplace.

I am in love with a couple of sold paintings from Michelle Armas--I think her use of color is right up my alley and if I had a couple of thousand dollars to spend on art, I totally would spend it on her art. But I could also buy a canvas and some acrylics and not exactly COPY her, but maybe make my own abstract painting in the style of Michelle Armas.

The sold one that I love, "Rosalia."

Another sold one, "Wise Math."

What do you think? Do I enter a gray area of taking someone's intellectual property? Would mine just look amateurish, because there's a reason hers cost so much? I have her 2011 calendar, so I could always just wait for the year to be over and frame that. But prints of paintings just aren't as shiny as real paintings, with their real brushstrokes and gobs of paint.

(It's a first-world dilemma, that's for sure.)

Tuesday Project Roundup: A Day Off To Sew

I put my day off yesterday to good use: Cut out a new dress, made coffee cake, bought lamps and picture frames, assembled a flat-pack coffee table--and sewed a pillow to go on my newly-reupholstered chair.

And the long view:
Don't the chair and pillow combo just shout "FANCY!"? Gosh, it's nice to have the space to finally be fancy.

(We're not fancy all the time over here, though. There was a lot of this going on yesterday, in spite of all the productivity:)

Friday Unrelated Information

1. I'm sure you've heard all about Watson the supercomputer this week. The only thing I have to say about it is, "Why didn't they name it Sherlock? He was the smart one!"

2. I have one more appliance decision to make, and that's on a washer and dryer. Good thing President's Day weekend is a time of appliance sales.

3. I am really enjoying an attached garage--and so is Toby. I was unloading a lot of stuff this week so the car was open, and he decided to jump in and explore. Now when I let him into the garage he sits outside the Focus and meows to get in. Crazy kitty.

How's The Memorization Coming?

Remember before all the house news that I wanted to memorize six poems this year? I gave myself two months for each one, and now that it's nearly the end of February I'd better step up the work on "The Poems of Our Climate." I have the first stanza down, but there are two more. Here's what I have memorized, just right for a snowy morning:


I
Clear water in a brilliant bowl,
Pink and white carnations. The light
In the room more like a snowy air,
Reflecting snow. A newly-fallen snow
At the end of winter when afternoons return.
Pink and white carnations - one desires
So much more than that. The day itself
Is simplified: a bowl of white,
Cold, a cold porcelain, low and round,
With nothing more than the carnations there.

Wind!

Remember last week when I put up the poem that said, "Hold on, dear house...against the wind's tearing force"? Well--hold on, dear house! It was pretty windy all night so there was a whole new set of house sounds to learn.

All this wind is supposed to bring snow. Technically, snow removal is part of the HOA dues I've paid but I don't have a contact number or any info about it. This will be fascinating...maybe it's time to yell at people on the phone again?

Tuesday Project Roundup: I Think Unpacking Counts As A Project

Obviously, I've been too busy moving to really make anything. But I only have two boxes left ot unpack, so I think I can count this as a project. Want to see how my stuff looks in the new house? (Answer: "sparse." But it works for now.)

I call this "View Over the Kitchen Counter with Toby Head."

Just behind that shot is the kitchen. Are you blinded by the glory of this fridge? Oh wait, that might just be the florescent lights. But the fridge IS pretty glorious.

I'm not taking a picture of the empty dining area, so that's pretty much the main floor. If you go up the stairs, there's the guest bath at the top of them:
Check out that mirror my dad hung so well. Fabric for the shower curtain is there on the counter.

Turn left from the guest bath and you get to the master bedroom. I'm only showing one end of it because the other end just has a lonely dresser. I need to get some more furniture in there because there's enough room for a seating area, too. This is the less-lonely end with the bed (and Toby's bed):
And I have a master bath--I have to share it with Toby, though:

And look at this medicine cabinet that my dad hung! It's mirrored inside. It, too, is glorious.


Turn right from the top of the stairs and you get to the two other bedrooms. I'm using one as an office:
I've discovered it's the wi-fi "hotspot" in the house.


And the other bedroom is the craft room! The red table needs to become a long white table and I need to make a new ironing board cover in this fabric. I also need to assemble the rolling chair in that box. And you can see I'm trying out fabric for the valance.

Whew! Lots of pictures. Lots of stuff that got moved in. And yet, even more stuff still to buy. But that's being a homeowner, right?

I'm In! And Someone Didn't Password Protect Their Internet!

I moved and am mostly unpacked and have internet right now, so I thought I'd better give a shout out to my family, who not only helped me move SO MANY HEAVY THINGS over the weekend but helped so much: My dad arranged the rental truck and hung mirrors and plumbed the water line for my new fridge; my mom vacuumed and cleaned both the new house and the old apartment, and my brother used his own truck and got to carry the heaviest things upstairs with my dad. My family is the best! So thank you, family.

One of the best things about this move is realizing I never have to move again if I don't want to. But if I do, I'll hire movers. Don't worry, family.

Going Dark For A While

I have house keys, I have garbage and recycling cans, I have 90% of the apartment packed up, I have utilities transferred, I have the move all planned out--but I don't have internet in the house yet.

Because it's new, there's no cable run. I have Comcast coming out for a "site survey," but...it's Comcast; I have no idea when that will happen. So I can't post here for the foreseeable future (which is going to feel strange because I've been posting every day since 2006). I think updating the Twitter during the workday might be a little more feasible than a full-blown post, but I'll check in when I can. Maybe I can even pirate a neighbor's network.

So stay tuned...the next time you hear from me I'll be in the new house!

And Now All The Drama Is Over

And now I can, you know, start living in the house I bought. Here's part of a poem about it:

Hold on, dear house,

‘gainst the long hours

of emptiness, against

the wind’s tearing force.

You are my mind

made particular,

my heart in its place.

(from Robert Creeley’s “This House”)

DO YOU SEE THE LIGHT?!

As you read this, I am on my way to CLOSE on my HOUSE that I bought by MYSELF.

Up until yesterday afternoon, I was fully prepared to have everything implode (and then this would have happened), but the closing costs stayed as estimated, the mortgage insurance didn't increase, and I ordered a cashiers check, the heavens opened, and I could only shout, like Elwood, "The house! The HOUSE!!"


Because YES! YES!! JESUS H. TAP DANCING CHRIST, I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT!! I'M A HOMEOWNER!!

And god bless the United States of America!

Tuesday Project Roundup: I'm Going To Buy SOMETHING

Let me just start with a house update: I have a closing time set for tomorrow. This is a step farther than I got before, when I had a day but no time, but I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop and by god, if anyone tries anything funny with the final closing costs, I am walking. (If that happens, I'll just pretend that my construction deposit was for a vacation. A vacation that nearly gave me a stroke.)

But going to back to last week, when I was going to close and didn't, I was trying to sleep Friday and ended up on the Fashion Fabrics Club site, where they had some really great stuff for spring, and I thought, "Maybe I can't buy a house this weekend, but I CAN buy fabric." And I did.

I bought some big print sateen for a shift dress, inspired by a Lily Pulitzer dress:

I bought some big dots to make a skirt for that Cynthia Rowley bodice I abandoned in the summer (it should work out to be similar to this dress from Boden):

And I bought a Japanese print knit, because I will take anything in a Japanese print.

Now it just needs to be spring. And I just need to unpack my sewing room.

Is It A Good Day Or A Bad Day?

Today things will either go smoothly with the revised appraisal and my loan will be squared away--or I can finally yell at someone on the phone the way I've always wanted to. I really don't know which scenario to expect. I didn't expect any of the loan drama over the last month, so maybe I'd better expect the worst. Should I even expect....the Spanish Inquisition?!

Where Will The Football Go Next?

As it turns out, I am not closing today. Or Monday. I'm "probably closing next week." (The appraisal, which came back MONDAY, did not have enough comparables to satisfy the mortgage insurance company, a fact which the loan officer didn't notice until YESTERDAY.) I know I shouldn't be surprised by more drama and misinformation and mendacity* with this house purchase, but, like Charlie Brown, I keep expecting it to be different.

On the bright side, it was supposed to snow this weekend anyway and now I have some more time to pack. With the delay, I may even have a real mailbox installed and waiting! Stay tuned!


*My gay best friend and I are having a good time quoting Tennessee Williams lines about "mendacity" to each other: "Mendacity is the system that we live in!" "What's that smell? Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?" It's a good time.

Yes, It Is

I had the inevitable moving meltdown last night: I ran out of boxes again (and still have all my books and most of my dishes to pack); I learned that I may not close on Friday as planned, which would give me just Monday to not only get into the new house but to get out of the apartment and clean it; and as of right now I still don't have a mailbox at the new house--the builder insists that the postmaster isn't returning his calls, but until the postmaster comes to the site and orders a mailbox, I don't have a recognized address. Which means that I can't update any billing information or get utilities turned on.

However--this is all temporary. I hate moving (and uncertainty) with the fiery intensity of a thousand white-hot suns, but I will find more boxes, most of my bills are online anyway, and if I have the weekend to pack, I won't feel as rushed. I saw this image making the rounds on the lifestyle blogs, and you know what? Everything IS going to be amazing. I'm going to be a homeowner!

Moving Time

Oh yes, this week I am packing for a Saturday move.

Toby is helping, of course.

While I pack, I have the Semisonic "Closing Time" song in my head, but I'm making up new lyrics.


moving time,
pack up all the boxes
and stack them up in your house
moving time
time for Dad to rent a truck
and drive everything across town

I do like a line of the original lyrics, though: every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end. Oh, the profundities of 90's pop.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Attack Of The Baby Tomatoes

Here's another veggie hat for another coworker's expected little girl. This one is a tomato, because I had red yarn leftover from the owl sweater and green yarn leftover from knitting for my impending nephew.
I'm still all over the place for sizing baby things--I was in a store looking at newborn sizes and they looked impossibly tiny. But I guess babies are, indeed, small. This hat is on the small side, just in case.