Happy New Year

Enjoy - be safe
and more in 2009

A Passing

Some passings have an effect on me
Miss Eartha Kitt

Merry Christmas everyone

An 1898 Christmas

Cha Cha heels, black ones

NOT ON CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Annie Xmas ornament

We're Counting down to xmas

watch through

sometimes I feel like dancing

I love Charo

more Fay

I know this is suppose to be a knitting blog

For my spinner friends

Annie and Chet

New Love

FAY SLIFT

Fay has the Power

Thanksgiving

Randomness

10 random things, a meme that I ganked from Kathleen at A Bag of Olives.
please feel free to respond, no tagging.

1. Magazines subscribed to - New York, New Yorker, Architectural Digest, Cabinet, Bon Appetit

2. Aside from knitting, my favorite pasttimes are - reading, cooking, talking about food

3. If I were not an artist (insert your own profession), I would be - a Restauranteur, with a quirky restaurant based on the history of food and eating, or maybe a Mathematician.

4. I am irrationally worried about - Time

5. If I were the opposite sex - I'd be Fabulous

6. The thing I miss most about childhood is - When I stop and think about it I don't miss it. (not the happiest of times for me)

7. I like to collect - That is a very long list - Friends on Facebook to 19th photography to books, books, books

8. Though I’ve never been there, I feel inexplicably homesick for - Brazil

9. I’ve never really liked to eat - Soup, I have a love hate relationship with it. Mostly hate but every once in a while there will be Soup of the Evening , Beautiful Soup

10. When I have nightmares, they’re usually about - falling

What's been going on?

Yep, we have dog #2, Annie. A puppy who at the moment is pestering Mr. Chet. He is a grumpy as ever.

what I've been working on

I've been working on some ideas embellishing the knitting. The experiment turned into this book. and now I'm working on another. It about 5 in. x 4 in.

Post Election

So all of the happiness and joy I have been feeling about the election of Barack Obama as president is tempered by the win of Prop 8 in California.

I've been moping around, complaining (ask Kenyetta) and in a funk, unable to put it into words.
Francis and I don't want to be married, but we don't want to be second class either.

This NY Times editorial helped me by echoing a bit of what I'm feeling.

I'm feeling optimistic

vote today

and remember

1922-2008

Yma Sumac

bugs

I've been working on the bugs again. It's frustrating though. I can't seem to get them to work the way I envision them. Easy, breezy bug scarves.


and I am still doing the other stuff.

kathleen - those pink piles are going to be used somehow in an installation. I'm working on building a yarn cabin and the idea is for those things to be exterior.

riggwelter, Harpaj, and TheAmpuT thanks for the encouragement.

More structure

The pile of pink poop has now become a cone.
I'll be out of the studio today, so no new images coming up.

Big Pink Pile of Poop

On the studio floor.

Yesterday in the studio

Slowly .... I think it's working

Now I go away on business until next week

new project?

I ditched the older stuff I was working on and spent yesterday knitting these?
I think that they may become structures.

anxiety

I am a very sound sleeper. It is rare for me to wake up at night. I'm a pretty calm person.
BUT....
the last three nights have been terrible. I can't sleep. I lay awake worried about money , and family(Mom), and the work.

I'm trying to channel it into the creative.
I'm starting to think I need to get a job. The question is doing what?

..............just a little rant...........

.... switching mindset.....

here's some knitting from the weekend
take a deep breath........................... exhale

sometimes I love Loretta

But not as much as Tammy


The Gay Me

Working on some pansies

back to working

It's been a while since I've shown anything in my studio. So here's the current wall. I'm not sure what's going on.
And then there are the drawings and watercolors.... bad dark photos I know, but I had to put something up.


Still sewing and working on the Gods and Goddesses and hoping I'm not falling off of a cliff.
There has been other knitting. I finished a couple of hats out of the Manos autumn multi. and there have been a few Pansy panels completed. Oh yea and stuff was sent to the Spencertown Academy for a Show in Oct.
See I am busy even though our business feels like it's collapsing around us...... Our customers are wall streeters.

And then there's Sarah Palin. yikes !!!!!! I'm trying not to go mad.

Shameless self promotion

Thanks to Karen Searle.
The book is here

Anyone new????
welcome.

everybody else,

resume your positions

<3

Saturday

What would your name be

if Sarah Palin named you?

Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper are already taken.

I'd be

Ripper Shook Palin

find out here sarah palin baby name generator.

Another reason

McCain and Palin are full of shit

the RNC

It's a good thing that McCain is urging for a stronger fight against adult illiteracy.


thanks to Towleroad.

When we do shows it takes me a while just to catch up with other parts of my life. One of the last things I do is a blog entry.

I also don't blog when things in general are hectic and static. Do you know what I mean? I feel really really busy and nothing is changing.

Anyway here I am.
The show was very vvveeerrryyy sloooooow. That puts some extra added pressure, the money thing, again.

I'm trying to get some writing and knitting completed because the book will be released soon,
I have been knitting, really just no pics.

here's the press release.
I think that the title may being changing.... not sure though.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

*Knitting Art, profiles and works of 18 fiber artists who create fine art
from knitting

As some knitters craft mittens and sweaters, others find themselves taking flight into the realm of fine art, creating exhibition-quality works: wearables, sculptures, and installations. Knitting Art: Inspiration from Innovative Artists, an exploration of art knitting, profiles eighteen prominent and intriguing practitioners of this craft-turned-art. Author Karen Searle, herself a recognized fiber artist, examines the works and inspirations of these artists who choose to communicate their ideas through knitting. Over 150 color photographs illustrate each profile, documenting the artists’ work and at the same time offering inspiration to those who might transcend the purely practical aspect of knitting. The fiber artists encountered here include Kathryn Alexander, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Reina Mia Brill, Katharine Cobey, Carolyn Halliday, Ilisha Helfman, Barb Hunt, Laura Kamian, John Krynick, Donna Lish, Anna Maltz, Janet Morton, Debbie New, Mark Newport, Lindsay Obermeyer, Jeung-Hwa Park and Adrienne Sloane.

About the Author
Karen Searle is a fiber artist specializing in knit and crochet sculptural works. Her artworks have been exhibited in the United States and abroad since the late 1970s. She has presented classes, lectures, and seminars internationally, has curated fiber-art exhibitions, and served on international jury panels. Searle is a mentor to emerging artists through the mentor/protegee program of the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota. A former publisher of books on ethnic textiles, she writes about the arts for several publications. She lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Knitting Art: Inspiration from Innovative Artists
Author: Karen Searle
ISBN: 978-0-7603-3067-8
Retail: $34.95US - $38.50CAN - £25.00
Hardcover / 8.5 x 11 / 160 pages / 171 color photos
Pub Date: October 2008

Available in bookstores everywhere or through www.voyageurpress.com.
For trade inquiries, contact us at trade@mbipublishing.com or (800) 458-0454.

Jeannie C. Riley

this is stuck in my head today

If there were no quizzes

or memes or FRIENDS I'd have no blog.

What's Your Best Quality? Your Result: Intelligence Your best quality is intelligence! People like you because you are smart and always make the right decision. Your intelligence also helps you handle tough situations.
Loving
Personality
Out-Going
Ambitious
Sense of Humor
What's Your Best Quality? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

I love that there is no sense of humour.

lazy me

Lazy Bloggers Post Generator

Peter Pan! I just had a terrible scare when I thought I have not updated this since people stopped clapping and Tinkerbell died... You would not believe that my hands were chopped off and I was waiting for bionic ones. My bad..

I am distracted with any regularity, a ticking crocodile, just generally being a terrible burden to society in general, my day is passing in a blur from the first cockadoodledoo from the rooster to way past dusk. I am wondering if I paid mine electricity bill. can't they see I am blogging.

I absolutely, positively promise I will write something that makes sense soon. No, really! What do you mean you don't believe me?.

For those who don't know

Here's what we do...

Francis is pricing the stuff in the Hampton's booth. Outside under a tent, hot.

How New Jersey are you?

Tuesday and I've been home since Sunday night.

I'll be spending the day in NJ visiting Mom while Sis goes to the Bruce concert.

which reminds me

I took this quiz and .....

You Are 100% New Jersey!

Wow, you're totally Jersey. There's no doubt about it. Congratulations, and always be proud to be Jersey--it's a great thing to be!

How New Jersey Are You?
Make Your Own Quiz

5:30 am and we're getting ready to run out the door.

We'll be returning on monday. aaah, my glamorous life.

Peaches, Tomatos, Zucchini

Summer is in full swing.
We're busy with shows, and I'm cooking the tons of local produce.
Big doctors evaluation of Mom this week.
All of that has left little blogging time.

so I'm turning to a meme,
stolen from thespunmonkey.

feel free to take it from me.

Here's a list of things you may or may not have accomplished in your life.
Mark what you've done in Bold and what you would want to do in italics.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said "I love you" and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Para-sailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone's life

Wow, a full life for me so far...

Boston and New Hampshire

more Florine

Back on Tuesday

summer art making

knitting in the HEAT

Just thinking

not writing

Florine Stettheimer

Hello

Yes, I'm still around.
It's summer and I'm lazy and there isn't much knitting or art going on.

I have a plan to move the machine to the second floor, my studio has just been too hot.

I'm trying to get my first pair of toe up socks going. 2 at once. but with the weather I haven't been able to wrap my mind around it.

Smudge/Billie/Daisy update:

She doing well and my Mom loves her. It's a good focus for her attention. yea!!

all for now friends.

I didn't think that I would fall in, but I have.
Dr. Horrible's sing-a-long blog
this link no longer works
Thanks Joanna

What happened to the knitting?

I'm busy, with life, it's boring to write about. There is a little bit of knitting going on. I'm working on the moustache.

Stupid Ugly Irma

This on Fabulon made me laugh today.

Moustache Wednesday

More on the dog

So we went to my Mom's and sister's for the 4th and we brought smudge/billie/evie. My sister had told my Mom that we were bringing her so she was waiting outside when we arrived.

At first she wasn't so sure, The dog wanted to run around, check stuff out, and it was new so she was focused on the familiar (i.e. Chet), but by the time we were leaving little evie was in her lap getting all of the attention.

I haven't talked about the whole story on the blog, so I thought I should fill everyone in. -----

My mom has memory loss and depression associated with aging. It's been going on for about 2+ years I think. It's part of the reason we moved to Philadelphia, to be closer and to help out my sister. When we first moved here we brought Chet to the house for a visit, and my Mom fell in love, she could remember his name, she'd walk in the neighborhood with him, it was a very good thing, and my sister kept hinting that maybe we should give them Chet....but there is a problem with that, Chet is getting better but he is still a nippy dog. He has bitten a few people, with out warning, other people he just loves, so we thought (my sister, Fran, and I) that it would be a good thing to find a very loving dog to help my mom , something to get her involved and active. It's been about 6 months, and we finally found this dog. the rescue we got her from was interested in our story and also believes this might help.

So far so good. Just over the past 2 nights my Mom hasn't gotten out of bed at 3 am and dressed and wandered, she's been staying in bed until the dog wakes up. You guys, really, this is major.

So it looks like it'll be working out. We will be keeping an eye on things and we love "Evie" too so if something we don't foresee occurs we'll happily add her to the Philly family (she been good for Chet , his dominance is in check with a female around). So it's a good thing.... except for

my brother,
I just realized I'm not quite ready to talk about that yet.
I'll say this.... He has been ignoring the situation with my mom and suddenly he and his wife have realized how bad it is. And they think that everyone else has just had the revelation too, but we've been involved all along , Look we moved here. But now he thinks, and his wife thinks, they should be in charge. grrr.

yep, too angry to talk about it.

The New Dog

BillieBillie's going to my Mom's today, I think it should help a bit with the depression. Mom's been talking about getting a dog for months.

Sometimes I'm afraid that I'm going to drop a knitting needle on the chair and later sit on it. YOW. It happened to a friend of mine once, her husband sat on a #1 needle. They took him to the emergency room. That's one reason I mostly use circs.

I am the hunter

It had to happen.

This morning I decided that I just had to go after them. I was merciless.

The millions of dust bunnies roaming wild in the studio are no more.

Moustache Monday

Me A Mess

Notice the gray?
That plays into my mood this morning.
Last week we went out to dinner with our neighbors/gaybours(J. + Chuck). Their niece is staying with them for the summer and she was with us. During the dinner I mentioned that I had added my Facebook, Ravelry, and Flickr links to my blog sidebar. ...and
she said, " It makes me laugh when old people do all that stuff like Facebook"

Choke Sputter..........

Okay so she's only 22 but still....... Me ----- I was at a loss for words, yes, me.
I managed to gather myself together and ask If she wanted me to friend her. She said, "when old people friend young people it's a little stalkerish, don't you think?"

GASP

I told her ok then , If she feels like it she can friend me.

end of story....

To you - yes the one reading this..... if you feel like it, you can friend me (I'm the old guy with the grey beard)

Saturday - a meme

From Cathartic Ink / theBon, a place that I lurk.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.”
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list on your blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them
The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed.”
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE. - !!?!!my underline wouldn't work!!?!!
4) Reprint this list on your blog so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville and again and again
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Moustache Monday

on a TuesdayWOW

My Youth

driving miles

Today we have to go to the shop in Connecticut and on they way home we're stopping in the city for a quick trip to the Met and dinner and then an opening of vernacular photography organized by our friends Andrew and Michelle, at Washburn Gallery.

Debra Winger

I've become very popular thanks to an image search for Debra Winger.

haha

moustache monday

I thought that I would start with a very unflattering photo of myself.

more to come ...

hurts but

not swollen. crisis averted. Now I have to figure out another way of moving the pachysandra.

Not a fun way to start the day

I visited Terrain at Styers, the new trendy garden lab by Anthropologie, yesterday and felt inspired on how to proceed with the back garden. This morning I was out there bright and early ready to move some of the pachysandra and pull up ivy from the spiraling stone path. My goal to get the bones of the place uncovered.

haha

I was trying to move a huge bundle of the pachysandra, I was tugging, I was pushing, I was pulling.

It didn't want to budge. I saw a very convenient spot to place my hand and lift. I put my hand in the hole and felt pin pricks, burning little pin pricks. I looked down and there were bees on my hand and they were swarming out of the hand hold. AAAAAAA

I ran to the house, pulling off my clothes (some bees were in my shirt).

I got away lucky, I think. about 6 stings on my hand, and 2 on my arms. I ran out and got some benadryl at the store and put ice on the stings. They hurt a little but not too much swelling, I can still bend my fingers.

If my hand starts to look really nasty I'll take some pics and post them. For now it's just slightly puffy.

So I stopped gardening for the day. I should go and knit in public.

too hot to think

Funny right?
I thought it would be preschool.

thanks bonnie

triggered by a MEME

an answer to yesterday's meme

Unusual skill or talent: I have a very acute sense of color - some times I can almost feel a color

got me thinking

Ever since I was a little kid I've been aware that all of my senses are, well, more sensitive than other people's.

I used to think it was something I was imagining but over time I've come to see that it's just the way it is.

so here I go.... a ramble on my senses...

Touch
The smallest little speck of dirt in my bed will drive me insane, I've been called "the princess and the pea" by some. I won't be able to sleep until I find what ever it is. I hate hotels because the sheets are always "scratchy".
I'd rather hug than shake hands. Troublesome at a business meeting.

Hearing
A friend always use to say that I have JPH, Jewish Peripheral Hearing, in restaurants I hear the conversations of people on the other side of the room. When I was small I'd hate being in crowded places because I'd get so distracted from all of the conversation going on around me. I still freak out a little in groups and at cocktail parties.

Smell
Ask Francis, I'll smell something and determinedly search for the source. Good or bad it doesn't matter. I'll smell it if it's there.

Sight
I already mentioned the color thing, it's more than that. I'll notice the slightest movement, or change in a room. I remember things through vision. ....Say a persons name, if I write it down and see it I usually will remember it. I am also very good at visualizing things in 3 dimensions. and have excellent depth perception.

Taste
I cook, and do it well. I love exploring new flavors, and can distinguish flavor combos in a food.

That's a little of the ramble. It's not that I have synesthesia, where a color is a letter, or a smell, it's more that all senses are heightened , I'm always getting all of the stimulus, everything's in a sharp focus.

Any way , that's what I've been thinking about. and I'm just trying to explain it, to myself.

meme

Ganked from Purlewe the newest addition to my blog roll

Accent: South Jersey, Philly, fag

Breakfast or no breakfast: Coffee, and an hour or 2 later Muesli with yogurt and fruit

Chore I don't care for: Washing dishes

Dog or cat: Dog - Affenpinscher

Essential electronics: Computer, knitting machine

Favorite cologne: De Sade, Laudanum both from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Gold or silver: both, I'm greedy

Handbag I carry most often: messenger bag

Insomnia: extremely rare

Job Title: HA..... artist? Neer-do-well?

Kids: Roasted with vegetables

Living arrangements: With Francis in a stone and stucco house in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia.

Most admirable trait: Compassion

Naughtiest childhood behavior: I really don't remember doing bad things as a kid (I'm sure family member would have a diferent opinion)

Overnight hospital stay: Not for a very long time

Phobias: Snakes - a little - screaming running

Quote: "I'm no Angel" - Mae West

Reason to smile: Life

Siblings: one sister-religious, one brother-republican both younger

Time I wake up: 5:30 a.m. - but I don't get out of bed until 6 or 6:30

Unusual skill or talent: I have a very acute sense of color - some times I can almost feel a color

Vegetable I refuse to eat: I will try most foods and I can't think of a vegetable I don't eat.

Worst habit: procrastination/laziness

X-rays: teeth

Yummy stuff: Wine - reds mostly, small Italian vineyards lately

Zoo animal I like most: elephant

Whiskey tasting

Anne at Anne's Food had the kind of day I'm in the mood for.

That's all.

YSL

good-bye

Jezebel

how I've been spending my time.

even though I think I've been kicked out of Planet Fabulon

I should make a list

I'm trying to get a ton of things going, but I'm in my usual confusion. A little overwhelmed.

Being in Woodstock last weekend was depressing for me. I miss the place and people.

Things are ok. just ok.

Tears of a clown

Best Birthday Gift

Old Hermit Knitting
A photographFrom
Francis

Thanks

Everybody . Thank you for the birthday wishes. The weekend turned busy and now on Tuesday we're getting ready to go to Rhinebeck. The set up is Thursday, so we're packing and getting Chet to his home away from home for the week. We'll be at Josh and Cheryl's on Wed. Should be a fun weekend, but you won't be hearing from me until Monday.

I've got lots of new things that came my way for the birthday... tons of plants for the front garden. a little bit of new yarn, from Sophie's Yarn in Philly. No photos though. I still need a camera.

So thanks again. Things are okay .... and busy

May 16

Happy Birthday to

Christian Lacroix
Jonathan Richman
Debra Winger



Mare Winningham
Janet Jackson
Tori Spelling
and
me
1957

okay.... so I stole the image of debra winger..... Debra you really aren't angry with me are you?

New reality

Rupaul's Drag Race on Logo it's casting time.

Musty I hope you apply.



And I hope this guy tries out too.

I've been away

Here's the thing...

I usually hate my birthday, but for some reason, this year it feels even worse. I keep thinking that I need a real change in what I do. a new way of making money. I'm in such a terrible mood and my birthday isn't until tomorrow.

Last year I thought I was old at 50.... this year 51 I'm old and grumpy.

OMG I've turned into a grumpy old man.

shirking blogging

I've been bad about writing lately. It's a combination of being busy with "stuff" around here, ennui, and lack of creativity.

I need a trip to the Cape.

Garden

I'm trying to get some work done in the yard.
I was suddenly inspired yesterday to build raised beds. These will be for vegetables surrounded by perennials. I finally got most of the pachysandra and ivy out. oh and I planted twenty boxwood, they're on the right out of the shot. I'm so happy to have just a little bit of land, and no deer to eat everything.

Since Thursday

Get ready for my longest post ever, with the usual typo's, bad grammar, mis-spelling and stream of conscience writing.

I think I'll start with a little bit about dinner at Osteria.

The restaurant is super friendly and the people working are super efficient, to the point of very nearly rushing us. Nearly but not quite. The wine list is fantastic with lots offered by the glass. It's a casual looking place.

The food - What's great is you just couldn't make this at home. The Pizzas are justifiably remarked on by everyone who eats there. I guess it's something about the oven which is at 700 degrees F.

What we ate -
We started with a spring onion flan with morels and a chervil tarragon salad. very springtime flavors, fresh contrasted with the earthy morels. Then our pizza, we opted for the fava bean mozzarella, walnut which continue our spring theme and in no way was as boring as my description may sound.
dinner was rabbit for me, skate for Francis and Carol(his Mom) had a crespelle with asparagus and truffles. all of the dishes were OMG good, I especially loved the crespelle, the noodle was perfect and the filling yum, Not saying I didn't love the Rabbit , too. I didn't taste the skate since it was scarfed down in a second so I'm assuming it was good. as a side we had the fried artichokes, we debated ordering more of them but as artichokes do they were killing the wine. which by the way was a full bodied dry red from Puglia. We just got a relative cheapie because we anticipated the artichoke effect.

then dessert A rhubarb bavarian, a polenta budino, and a semolina cake with strawberries. I loved the budino a soft polenta pudding with vanilla and chocolate hazelnut. all desserts were great. If you go( I'm already talking about going back) I'd concentrate on the pizzas, pasta and desserts.

The next day.
We cleaned and cleaned and shopped for food. Lunch at Honey's Sit N Eat where we had our favorite waitperson Angel (this is notable because we ran into her later at the B-52s show).
We got Carol to the Hotel by 4:30 so she could get ready for the rehearsal dinner, and we ran home to nap and then get dressed for The Show.

We get to the venue, pick up our tickets and passes at the will call and go in. Sounds simple right? It worked out but I was slightly nervous because I was sneaking Kate's birthday present in, and it was a garden gnome on a stake, definitely could have been a weapon. Lucky for me the security was straight straight straight, so the idea of a thorough frisk of an aging queen didn't appeal to them so the gnome in my back pocket trick worked.

They played all of the favorite oldies and integrated the Funplex tunes. I thought most people were there for the Older Bs. Keith had tons of energy and played all night., Kate was high energy and moving shaking and singing her voice was great (contrary to today's review in the Philly paper), Cindy was a little less forceful and Fred talked/sang dancing all night. The crowd was a little older, the after party was sedate and we were home by 1 pm.

That was a good thing since we had all of Fran's family coming for Brunch at 10 am the next morning...

The brunch was a blur, prepared food, gave tours of the house, gave tours of the neighborhood, hugged, kissed, drank coffee. Everyone left we cleaned up took a "disco" nap and got our selves to the wedding just on time.

The wedding, was fun and dancing and drinking and eating and drinking and more dancing and drinking, and we got home late again with a new pet ( beta fish that was a table centerpiece) and Jonathan and Lori tried again to give us one of their dogs. (Jon's a vet and Lori's a vet tech so they have lots of animals in their lives). We resisted(well Fran resisted).If I stop to think about it If you weren't family at the wedding you were a friend and involved with animals in some way.

Next morning we were back at the Hotel for family breakfast at 9am. I was not the only one there with a hangover. Lots of family stuff both Jon's and Lori's and by about 11 everyone was on their way home. Jon and Lori tried to give us the dog, again.

We just quietly laid around the house for the rest of the day appreciating the Sunday NY Times.

The end.
did anyone make it this far? there's more... but that will have to be later.

Tonight

we see


and I love

The booth in Chicago


That's what we do. Drag stuff around the country and sell it.

I've got a busy few days ahead, so apologies for the brief strange little posts.
Today is garden day. I'm getting the front yard into some kind of shape. .. something that makes visual sense. I'm thinking a boxwood border, with vegetables and perennials wildly growing inside of that tight line??????

This afternoon Fran's Mom arrives. Everyone will be here on the weekend for THE WEDDING..... not ours, Jonathan and Lori's . So tonight we have fun, dinner at Osteria with Fran's mom. It's suppose to be Philadelphia's best restaurant and in the top 10 in the country, We'll see.

then Friday will be spent cleaning and getting the house presentable, The whole, entire family (Fran's) will be here Saturday morning for Brunch hosted by , yours truly. We haven't a clue about the food yet. I think it might be something like a Philly theme.... cheese steaks and pretzels...... but I haven't figured out how to translate that to brunch.

in between all of this we're going to see the B-52's , Friday night. the Funplex tour, should be fun, what will I wear?

Brunch, i mentioned..... Saturday evening the wedding. and I'm guessing more family stuff on Sunday. I hope I have some time to blog it, I'm already thinking of ways to sneak away.

I'm home (sort of)

The Chicago show was soso. That means loads of extra work as we run around trying to stir up some cash. Today we zp up to CT with a bunch of stuff.

Yesterday was spent catching up on my life (and blog reading). and I picked up the dog from his vacation and mowed the lawn for my sister and Mom.

I working on my garden in between all of this stuff........

And the worst part is I wasn't in Philadelphia for Franklin's visit.

I did vote in the primary though.

oops

Back the 21st

I'm away

I'll be back April 19th.

We're packing

Last year's booth at the Antique and Garden Fair at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

This year I hope that the booth doesn't look so dark. No rustic furniture with us anyway.......

One more post before we take off.