Bartholomew Cubbins

Do you remember him? The Dr. Seuss character with a hat problem? Yipes! I can't seem to stop making hats. I have a reason for each one, such as a knitting technique I want to learn, or colors I want to use. Here are a few more.

The tam is one I made last year.

The blue one uses an interesting pattern called "entrelac".

The headband is double-knitted. What's that you say? It looks reversible? So observant! It's a technique I just learned that makes the reverse pattern on the opposite side. And I can wear it with a ponytail.

Then there's the Dr. Seuss-ish hat I just finished last night. I don't know. I just wanted to play with the colors. I think it might look cute schussing down the slopes! I'm waiting for some yarn to come in the mail so I can finish my sweater, and perhaps that will break the spell. We'll see. Or I'll have to put more hat racks up on the wall.

I hope we have a nice, cold February.

Bloggo, Ergo Sum (I blog therefore I am)...

...well, almost, right? So, here are some highlights of the last few days...

On Saturday, our neighbor, Lorri, and I met another of her friends at Tofanelli's for lunch, which was fun. Such interesting women! Lorri is a court reporter, a fascinating job, and one at which I would be manifestly unsuitable. There's the typing, for one thing. But she hears the stories! Beyond Police Blotter, that's for sure. Wendy, her friend, works for the Women of Worth organization (a local group), which seeks to address the needs of families struggling with domestic violence. After lunch, Lorri and I went to see "Benjamin Button". I'm not really sure if it deserves ALL the award attention it's been getting, but it was well done and we were both blown away by the aging/anti-aging effects of the characters. It provokes some interesting questions, like, "where do I get some of that make-up?"

Yesterday, Tom and I drove down to Loomis (the town) to visit with our good friends Scott and Jean Oas who live there now. Scott was the founding pastor of Community Covenant Church, the hub of our lives for 25 years. He and Jean moved on after about 5 years in 1986 ( I think!) and most recently served at a big church in Loveland, Colorado, where we were able to visit them from time to time (though it's been about ten years since the last time--oops). Last April, Scott transferred to Bayside Church in Rocklin (about an hour from here, near Sacramento) as a creative director for their worship services (of which there are about 25--I don't know. It's big enough to have it's own zip code, for sure). Jean followed a few months later. She works for a church-oriented TV-event-live feed kind of a company from home, so she continues that job, though her championship kick-boxing career may take a hit. They've made quite a big transition with this move, having lived in CO for quite awhile. And, somehow, we didn't quite get to a real visit with them until yesterday, when we went to their beautiful new home for lunch. We also got to hang with remarkable college-student daughter, Calee, and her friend, Joe, which was fun, too.

So, we have quite a bit of ground to catch up, but we made a good dent, thanks in part to digital photo archives and the internet. How wonderful it is to have them close (less than an hour, which is "close" for us)! Both our families are at quite different stages, now. Their older daughter, Jessica, is in the process of moving home from college in Seattle and son, Kinzie, is helping, so we'll have to wait until next time to see them.

And, for dessert, my narcissus are blooming away on the kitchen counter. How cool to see the flowers all bright and springy with snow falling in the background on Sunday morning! Ha! Love it! Next time...who knows? More calligraphy, hats, blotter...

Calligraphy Cont'd...

Back to work, today! Yesterday was spent sitting on the sofa with my knitting in front of the TV. I will always think of my new blue hat as "Obama".

I'm building a collection of calligraphy pieces. These one-offs (single works complete in themselves) are often called "broadsides". Here are the two I did last week. You're right. They are the same Einstein quote treated in two different ways (so observant!). The photography is lousy. I have to work on that.

Check out these cool links. Tom forwarded them from yesterday's festivities.

The first, which you may have seen on TV already, is the satellite photo taken during the inauguration yesterday. The brown dust-like stuff is--people!
http://www.popsci.com/content/inauguration-day

This one illustrates the international interest in the Main Event yesterday--Newspaper front pages. Mine took forever to download, so be patient.
http://benwikler.com/news21all.html

Yes!

'Nough said.

Needles

We're hoping for better weather this week. It's been a bit too warm (low 30s to low 60s) and all my bulbs and baby trees are going to wake up too soon! They need to sleep for a couple more months. Last year at this time, it was snowing every other day, but last week, we were running around in t-shirts. Oh, woe! My beautiful winter pretending to be spring (though it's really the lack of rain that worries folks around here)! But, maybe by Friday...

Meanwhile, how long's it been since I threw some pine-needle-basket pics up? I finished one with black wooden beads on Sunday (while watching Dr. Who), but I've been knitting more than coiling, lately. Here are a couple of others, though, that I made late last year (just the bottom view for one of them). I've been practicing a technique for starting the baskets called "teneriffe". It's a lacy sort of circular design woven on a metal ring. See what you think...

Tomorrow is the Inauguration. I'll be knitting or basketing in front of the tube most of the day (whoopee!), but after that, I'll post the calligraphy and knitting I did last week (during the heat wave)...

Hats Enough!

I know, the title's kinda terrible! But it lowers the expectations for the rest of the entry so that if it's even a little bit interesting, well--oh, forget it.

I like to knit. I know how to crochet, but I prefer knitting for some reason. It's also cold up here. In addition, you can't throw a knitting needle and not hit an alpaca or a sheep, not that I'm suggesting you do such a thing. I'm just saying. This is knitting country.

So, I've been knitting up a little storm in the evenings these last two years. Scarves. Hats. More hats. Oh, there's a sweater here, an afghan there. But the hats are the most fun.

It's why I'm growing my hair out, actually. Summer or winter, I should be wearing a hat of some kind. And I've had a most hat-unfriendly kind of hair style, for the last 20 years. Once a hat is on, it has to stay on. 'Til bedtime, at least. So, I'm growing my hair out. I'm not exactly sure how I expect it will help, but that's what I'm doing. Can't get "hat hair" with braids.

I made a few hats last year, but a couple were a bit small ("Patterns for Pinheads"--I should have realized). This year, I've fixed the sizing issues and am also having a bit of fun with the felting technique (which is when you throw your hat into the wash and it shrinks like crazy--and it's a good thing). So, the first pic of the first two pair is the "unshrunk" version. The last one is a little cap with ear flaps. I really like the way they turned out. In fact, when I wear them, I may keep them on. 'Til bedtime, at least.

Good Week!

I love the first week of January! Of course, I love everything about any new year...even the weather. I particularly enjoy the quietness of the post-holiday period. Quiet and simple. Ahh.

A couple of highlights for the week:

I made one of my quick trips to Fresno on Thursday to see Mom. My sister was able to stop by for a few minutes, which was fun! It was just enough time for us to open Christmas presents! Yes, we had to stretch the Christmas season to January 8. Mom had even left her Christmas decs up! We don't concern ourselves with Time constraints in this family! No. We keep Christmas (and birthdays, etc.) in our hearts (as Tiny Tim says) all year! Mostly because some of us are not quite as organized as we could be.

One of the gifts for my sister's family from us was a calligraphy piece I had made for them. Here's a photo. The words "Lord" and "Peace" are made with real gold.

Another bright spot in the week was that on Saturday, we bought and actually planted three fruit trees in our fenced (sorry, all you munching deer out there) garden area. It's bare-root season and the weather is nice enough at the moment to dig around and get some work done. Here's Tom, wielding his mighty spade to remove one of the two dead-ish trees we had to pull out in order to have room for the newbies. I don't know if they're so visible, but our little tree babies are lined up in a row in the last photo. We planted two apples (Calville Blanc and red Fuji) and a cherry (Lapins, similar to Bing).

In a couple of weeks, we'll add to our berry collection, which is, at the moment, restricted to Siskiyou Blackberries.

Holiday Blotter

It's been too long since I've posted some of the local shenanigans (and Nevada County has been busy), the evidence being that I have too many stacked up to fill any four or five blog entries! No worries! I'll just whittle them down a bit. Some of them are really pretty mundane, like the complaint about annoying phone calls (who hasn't been there?), or the call about the skunk with its head stuck in a jar (you see that every day). Let's just call this Police Blotter--Holiday Edition.

"9:41 p.m.--A caller from the 11200 block of Pekolee Drive reported a woman had just hit him over the head with a bottle and he didn't know why. He thought it might have occurred because of an argument he had with the woman over breaking his leg at work earlier in the day. Officers responding found the man was refusing medical attention and the woman left for the night." [where to start on this one?]

"1:28 a.m.--A woman from the 19000 block of Ocelot Drive reported someone had broken into her home and was standing in the kitchen. The person turned out to be her daughter-in-law, who accidentally scared her." [Perhaps it was the Black Beauty Face Mask and Green Glow Eye Cream...]

"11:18 p.m.--A woman from the 300 block of Northstar Place reported her neighbor threatened to do "horrible things" if she didn't turn off the lullaby music she was playing for her baby." [Of course, the only thing that puts baby to sleep is Metallica at 110 dB]

"6:30 p.m.--A caller from the Rood Center [county building] reported a "suspicious letter" on the floor. The letter was found to be mail that had been dropped by an employee." [I guess you CAN be too careful...]

"10:41 a.m.--A caller from a business in the 200 block of Mill Street reported a BB hole in the window. The hole turned out to be a smudge on the window." [Oh, come ON, people!]

"11:40 p.m.--A caller from a business in the Brunswick Basin reported a "creepy guy", was in the store. Officers were unable to locate him." [Wonder if they synchronized their definition of "creepy guy", first...]

"3:16 p.m.--A man from the 500 block of Whiting Street who appeared to be elderly reported his neighbor threw tree limbs on his lawn, and when he asked his neighbor to stop, the neighbor swept debris onto his feet. He was advised this was a civil issue. The man said he would beat up his neighbor make it a criminal issue." [Ah, the wisdom age brings...]

"5:07 p.m.--A caller from a business on South Auburn Street reported a man looked like he was trying to get money out of a towel machine." [I'm picturing one of those wall-mounted thingies in a restroom, are you?]

"2:18 a.m.--A man from the 10000 block of Bouler Street reported he was angry at people living in his house, then hung up. He called back to apologize, then said he was angry again at people in his house who sold his belongings and took the money. He said he would just kill them, then said he wouldn't. He then said he did not want to be contacted by a deputy, it would just make him angry again." [Right. We wouldn't want to risk that. Maybe we would. Not really. But then, again...]

"12:39 a.m.--There were reports of loud singing on First Street. Happy New Year." [Exactly. Happy New Year!]

A Few Things...

First, I watched the Rose Parade, this morning, as usual. Seriously. Why can't I remember, from year to year, on which station we receive the KTLA commercial-free broadcast? Stephanie was back (good!), but I'm so ready to lose Eubanks. Raul Rodriguez wowed me again and again. And I loved the colors on the Bollywood Float (Sierra Madre self built)! I watched it a couple of times, like most years. And I have it taped. Did you forget that I used to decorate them when I was a teenager (like just about every other kid in SoCal did at one time or another)?

I just looked at my entry from last year and realize that I haven't made much progress on my M&M's Peanut addiction. Still no meaningful control over myself when they're around. But perhaps I think of them less when there aren't any nearby. Self-improvement is so difficult to measure, really. So I don't try to often.

Our whole family, the four of us, is working toward changes/improvements in our primary work lives, this year. For me, it will be taking the great spaces we created for me, last year, and intensifying the level of focus and output in a planned way. Beyond that, I would like to have a regular involvement in a local helping-type organization in place by the end of this year. I have a few candidates in mind.

I want to spend more time looking at the night sky and have a great garden, this year. I also want to make some paths around the property. And learn to tap dance.

I want to do better at keeping in touch. This blog helps, but I don't use the phone much. A life-long issue. And I will throw away a lot of junk, starting with most of the magazines I kept (and moved!) all these years. Don't ask.

I'm looking forward to a very interesting year and I know Tom is, too. High hopes. But we're in for some bumps and obstacles, too. This is a weird and wonderful time. I just don't want to waste it. One good sign: I've got the Christmas tree undecorated, already! Happy New Year!!!

Dinner in Oakland

We wouldn't routinely head over to Oakland, a 2 1/2-hour drive from here, for dinner. We have lots of nice places to go somewhat closer to home. But to see some good friends--no hesitation.

Our friends from North Carolina, Beth and Mark, accompanied by their daughter, Jessye, were in the Bay Area on a regular Yuletide visit to see Beth's sister, Jan, who lives in Oakland. Mark is also one of Tom's fellow partners in Forte, Inc.--The Little Software Company That Could.

We were invited for dinner Sunday evening to Jan's house, a gorgeous, contemporary multi-level in the hills with a roof deck that looks out over the Bay and cities to the west. Her daughter, Ellen and boyfriend Grant (both visiting from the Right Coast, as well), cooked a wonderful Mediterranean meal for all of us, which also included Mark's cool mom.

Now, if I had any photographic intelligence at all, I could show you photos of these lovely and accomplished folks. But, the mode selector on my camera had twisted to "something else other than what I wanted" when it was stashed in my purse, and I forgot to check it when I started snapping away. So, instead, we get this artsy action picture of Tom, Beth and Jessye as we're sitting down to eat. Then, we have Mark, turning transparent as he pulls out his chair (so tricky, that Mark). Finally, there's Mark' mom, Joanne, Jessye and Ellen patiently waiting for me to stop snapping ridiculous photos of everyone.

There was top-of-the-line entertainment, as well. Jessye had brought her violin and wowed us with a couple of pieces I don't remember the names of, but who cares, since we were really just so impressed with how she plays! Is Jessye about 15? I think so. Plus she's quite an advanced artist, as well. She's a crack manga sketcher, for one thing.

Of course, we very much enjoyed hanging with everyone--all amazing and amusing people! It went all too quickly. But definitely worth the journey! We were home by 1am with at least 10 minutes to spare before we caved in for the night...