Yours 'til Niagara Falls

Early Spring

I like this time of year.  It harkens back to Medieval times in that the days are marked with saint's days and liturgical seasons.  Starting with St. Valentine's, Ash Wednesday, St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's day, in this part of the country, anyway, all these days are observed.  It all culminates with the Easter Triduum and, in Western New York, a Polish festival day called Dyngus Day.  There is also a secular observance on March 14th which I celebrated for the first time.

The new holiday is Pi Day - 3.14.  Linda of Raveloe (that sounds vaguely Medieval, doesn't it?) invited a group to come to her shop and enjoy pie and discuss the mathematical wonder that is Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl.  We had a lovely evening eating pizza pie and a variety of dessert pies. A few daring members of the group endeavored to sit in a circle and all knit on the same circular shawl at the same time.  There were six knitters using circular needles and separate balls of yarn.  We discovered that it can be done.  Practice will make the process easier, but our experiment was very satisfactory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A week ago Saturday was Cousin Bridget's fabulous corned beef and cabbage feast.  The day after that was the St. Patrick's day parade in Buffalo.  Bridget and I made a day of it.  We parked our folding chairs on the corner of Delaware and Chippewa Street and enjoyed watching the parade and the parade go-ers.

 

There is a considerable amount of imbibing as a traditional element of this particular parade.  This year was no exception.  As the day wore on, it sort of devolved into a drunken brawl.  Walking back to the car, Cousin bridget had to grab me by the collar and drag me away when I turned into a rubber-necker when a rumble started across the street from us.  We did, however catch sight of a tree which only blooms during this parade:

 

 

 

 

Starting last Tuesday, I have the dubious honor of hosting my daughter's two dogs while she and her family spend a week in sunny climes.  That brings the canine count around here to three.  This is the legal limit in my community.  That is, I have discovered, a good rule.  My life has been letting dogs in and out and in and out. Today I took a picture of the three amigos.  When I posted it on facebook I gave it the caption "There is not enough Febreeze in the world to make this couch smell normal again."

On Friday, after the obligatory Lenten fish fry, I went to a lecture by Edwidge Danticat.  She is the author of Crik, Crack! among other books.  Ms. Danticat is Haitian and much of her lecture was directly related to her background.  She was very charming and likable.  She is an alumna of Barnard College, as is my own sweet daughter.  I brought my knitting with me and enjoyed the event completely.

Today I went to the opening of an art exhibit at the Castellani Art gallery on the campus. The exhibit was devoted to the art of Alice Bak.  I knew Alice and always enjoyed her work.  She worked very hard to preserve the Polish traditions and folk art in the community.  The organizers expected about fifty people to attend the event and were thrilled to have over 200 people show up.  Alice was a humble person in the very best sense of that word.  She would have been delighted to see such a crowd.  I particularly loved the Easter table that was set up with the pysanky eggs and traditional centerpieces.  I feel very inspired to have a similar display in my own house.  I also loved the sweet embroidery motifs on the tablecloths.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a tradition of paper-cutting in Polish folk art. Alice would consider a Polish proverb and create a beautiful papercut to illustrate it. After the show, there was the nicest dinner you can imagine hosted by Bridget and her mother Patricia.  it was a Polish menu with pierogie and breaded porkchops.  Delicious beyond words.  So... That is what my early spring has been like.  Busy and interesting.

 

Reading Voraciously

One of my perpetual New Year's resolutions is to read one good book per month.  This year I am off to a good start.  So far this year I have read:

• Home by Bill Bryson - The history of domesticity.  I liked it a lot.  It led me to read #2 on my list 
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• Into the Woods by Bill Bryson -  Very interesting.  Slightly off-put by the utterly obnoxious true-life character introduced in the early part of the book.  She is a blow hard know-it-all who is mocked for the duration of the author's trip along the Appalachian trail.  Her name?  Mary Ellen, natch.
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• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Freidan.  I liked this book on a lot of levels.  It was published in 1963 (before Kennedy's assasanation) when I was a mere babe of three.  It was an interesting counterpoint to The Women's Room, a book I recently re-read.  I was fascinated by the things that have changed for women and the things that have not.
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• Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.  I bought a copy of the book when my girlfriend Oprah suggested it for her book club.  I read a couple chapters and then put it aside.  Then I started watching the mini-series on the Canadian Broadcasting System. ( I'm lucky - I get to view Canadian TV channels - a lot of good programming). I picked up the book again and read and read and read until I finished.  I loved it.  Now watching the final installments of the TV series is a pale, watered-down version of the novel, bordering on a spoof.
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• The Hunger Game by Suzanne Collins.  I had heard strong recommendations from people I trust.  My resistance stemmed from my dislike of science fiction.  I was oh-so-wrong.  I read this tale of a dytopic society cover to cover in one day.  I will be reading the other two installments of this trilogy in the very near future.
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• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is what I have currently fired up on my Kindle.  It was described to me as a very dark novel, but I am not finding it so.  It makes me sad that the author did not live to see his own success.  It also wants me to go to Scandinavia to see the setting of the story.

I am open to suggestions for my next book...

I have dusted off my library card.  For a long time, I preferred to purchase novels rather than borrow them, but I am changing my mind.  Possibly due to realizing what a burden it is to have to store the books and the disappointment of having books spoiled in storage.  As it happens, I don't often reread novels. I do refer to how-to books endlessly, so that is the type of book I should restrict my purchases to, I suppose.  I  am currently reading this book, Laughter on the Stairs by Beverly Nichols, which was written in 1953.  It is the second of a trilogy, but the only title of the three on offer at the local library. It is about the author's attempt to restore a Georgian mansion in England. His depiction of neighborhood characters is amusing.  A little like Peter Mayle's Year in Provence. 

Today's culinary experiment involves a new food dehydrator that I bought last week from Aldi's.  In an instance of chance favoring the prepared mind, I've been curious about food dehydrators since reading about them in Mary Jane Butter's wonderful volume MaryJane's Ideabook, Cookbook, Lifebook.  As it happens, there is a dearth of information, relatively speaking, of information regarding preserving food in this manner on the world wide web.  I'm hoping it works because I hate throwing out food, which I do at a sickening rate. A full report will be forthcoming. 

The Women's Room

I finally got around to re-reading Maralyn French's The Women's Room.  I read it in 1977 when it first came out.  I was a seventeen-year-old girl at the time.  While I remember it as an interesting book, I really had no context in my life to truly understand what the novel really meant.   I have to say that the part of the book when the main character Mira laments that, as a woman, 'you spend a certain amount of time scraping sh*t out of diapers with a kitchen knife and spend your energy trying to find green beans 3 cents cheaper a pound' did come to me as a flashback when I was at that stage in my life.  Anyhoo... I think this book has stood the test of time.  Many of French's ideas continue to have validity.  It was a nice change for me to read a book that required some level of analytical thought.  I've let myself get into a rut wherein I read fairly unchallenging books.   

In the Company of James Beard, Nigella Lawson and Elizabeth Zimmerman

This morning, with my resolution to eat more healthfully*, I made some Irish (aka pinhead) oatmeal.  There was some left over, so I used it in an oatmeal bread recipe from James Beard's Beard on Bread , a cookbook which I have used since the mid 80's.  The pinhead bread is delicious, and I'm betting it will be a real treat toasted.

As long as the oven was on, I also tried Nigella Lawson's Sticky Gingerbread from her latest cookbook, Nigella Christmas.  I haven't sampled it yet, but it has made the house smell heavenly.  Gingerbread is, quite possibly, my favorite cake of all time.

It did not stop snowing for even a minute today.  It was like living in a snow globe.  I took advantage of being  snowbound by finishing the Elizabeth Zimmerman February Jacket.  I thought the pretty color would make up for the high acrylic content of the yarn.  I was wrong.  In the sun, the fiber has a harsh, glassy look.  Wool, on the other hand, is enhanced by natural light.  I will take consolation in the idea that the sweater will be easily laundered.  I didn't have suitable buttons handy - maybe tomorrow I'll unearth some.  The little mouse to is from Ikea.

Today was the Feast of the Epiphany in the Catholic church.  I generally celebrate it on January 6th.  It did make me realize though, that We Three Kings is my favorite Christmas carol.  It brings back a funny memory to me. I'll tell that story another time.

*My son told me about a report he heard which I found unnerving.  He told me that peoples' stomachs actually stretch from all the holiday feasting, delaying the brain's ability to signal that the stomach is full.  According to my son, it can take weeks to snap back.  Eeeek!

What a Nice Weekend

This weeken started off like most others - with a list of things to do.  Well, I got most of the items on the list checked off.  Christmas is more-or-less under control.

At last night's concert, one of the musicians was using a limberjack to keep the rythm for a couple of songs. I knew I had a how-to to make a limberjack, so I unearthed this book which was published waaaaaay back in 1984.  I wish BH&G still put out books this good.  This book has projects and recipes that could keep a person busy for years. 

Looking at the index, I recognized two of the designers included in the book.  Mary Engelbreit has a quilt with matching dolls and Salley Mavor has at least five projects including rag dolls and a nativity set.  I won't have time to put anything together for this year, but wait - there are 380 days before Christmas 2010.

 

I love my tree this year.  Some of my favorite ornaments:

 

  
 

Best Hour of the Day

Being that I've been unwell and loathe to spread the pestilence, I had not seen my-favorite-little-boy-in-the-world for ages.  I missed him deeply.  We had a great time tonight reading books of his choosing.  There is nothing, in my humble opinion, more fun than reading with a small child.  This particular little boy can, at the tender age of two, recite some of the key phrases of his books:

"Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!" and the ever popular "Let the Wild Rumpus Start!" are delivered with gusto at top volume.  What a treat!

Nancy Drew, Girl Sleuth

 Today was the first day of school; meetings, meetings, meetings.  Seems as though education is shifting toward a therapeutic approach.  By that I mean, students are assessed for strengths and weaknesses and if it is diagnosed that there is a delay, a prescriptive approach is used to teach the needed skills.  This is essentially what I've been doing in speech therapy for the past twenty years.  The result is... I will probably be immune to the philosophical shifts taking place.  OK by me.

My room is adjacent to the library.  When I perused the stacks of new books I saw the latest incarnation of every girl's favorite detective Nancy Drew.  Newly-appointed supreme court justice Sandra Sotomayor was greatly influenced by Nancy Drew as a girl.  So were Ruth Ginzberg, Sandra Day O'Connor and Oprah.  Anyhoo... Nancy Drew in 2009 is presented as the main character in a graphic novel (aka a comic book style format).  Not only that, but the visual rendering of Nancy is greatly influenced by Japanese anime.  The image above is today's Nancy Drew.  I really don't know what to think. 

A Well-Dressed Person and a Well-Written Book

School starts in a week.  So what is the thing about which I feel the greatest anxiety?  What shall I wear, of course.  I am not a snappy dresser and I truly admire people who can put together an outfit.  Toward the end of last school year I was feeling very frumpy.  I really wanted to figure out what I need to in order to be a well-dressed person so I made a point of interviewing some co-workers who dress in what I consider to be an attractive manner.  This is the information I gleaned:

• Well-dressed people buy few, if any, garments from warehouses like Sam's Club.  I'm guilty of tossing clothes into the shopping cart along with cereal and strip steaks on my shopping trips.  You can't try them on, so I always just hope for the best.
• Well-dressed people actually plan what they will be wearing.  I tend to be poking through laundry baskets five minutes before I need to get into the car.
• Well-dressed people pay attention to how garments fit.  I find myself wearing tops with gaping necklines and waistbands which threaten to pinch me in half by 2:00 pm.
• Well-dressed people have at least a vague awareness of what styles are current.  I don't have a clue in the world as far as colors or shapes that are "of the moment". 
• Well-dressed people come in all sizes.  One of the reasons I allowed myself to be so dowdy is that I always promised myself that after I dropped twenty or thirty pounds I'd take myself on a shopping spree.  I had it in my mind that size 14-16 people don't deserve new clothes.

So... this morning I left my house determined to get some back-to-school clothes.  There is a factory outlet mall close to my home, so that is where I (along with hundreds upon hundreds of Canadian citizens) headed. 

My first stop was DressBarn.  I bought a couple items and was almost out the door when I waddled past a display which I recognized as the solution to all my wardrobe troubles - Garanimals for adults!  It was a whole section of the store where everything matched with everything else! I have very fond memories of wandering through the Gold Circle department store when my children were little.  I would fill the cart with darling little clothes which all had tags featuring giraffes, tigers and monkeys to help match tops and bottoms which resulted in  - ta da! - well-dressed children.

I bought in one fell swoop:

• a blazer
• a textured jacket
• a shift dress
• a plain blouse
• a patterned blouse
• a shell
• a pencil skirt
• a pair of tailored pants 

And they all coordinate!  I will be a well-dressed person come fall!

 

In literary news, yesterday I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from cover to cover.  I have always been fond of epistolary novels (Daddy Long-Legs, A Woman of Independent Means).  I guess I like the forbidden fruit aspect of reading someone else's letters.  Anyhoo... I enjoyed this novel.  It had many elements which make for a good book - dynamic characters, compelling setting and interesting information presented as the plot unfolds.  In this case the interesting information was in regards to the German Occupation of the Channel Islands during WWII.  I was unaware that this ever happened.  The accounts of the what the islanders endured are skillfully woven into the story.  I think it is safe to assume that these antecdotes are based on the experiences of real people. As an aside, there is even an interesting back story as to the authors of this novel.  I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read. 

Some Crafting, Some Reading

I made this felt vessel last week.  Wonderful Linda at Raveloe Fibers held a class to teach how to make this.  I haven't always had the best luck with wet felting, so I'm pretty happy with my results. I particularly like the mohair curls on the surface.  The shape is pleasing to me, too.

I was in the mood to spin last night, so I used some fleece I vaguely remember having dyed at a natural dye get-together from last year.  I don't write things down.  It could be cocheneal, it could be something else.  I'm feeling like I want to do some patterned mittens for winter.  One thing that is kind of interesting is how pretty patterns turn out when all natural dyes are used.  It is almost impossible to make the colors clash.

It rained on and off all weekend.  I wasn't complaining because it gave me a chance to read Someone at a Distance by Dorothy Whipple.  It was about a British family living in harmony until a Frenchwoman comes along and spoils everything.  This book is one of the Persephone Classics, which is a series I am endeavoring to read.  They are re-prints of books by authors which are, according to the publishers "middle-brow, neither too literary nor too commercial.  Many of the books are written by female authors considered to be the "surplus women"  between WWI and WWII. Denied the possibility of marriage and family, these women began writing as one of the few "respectable" career options open to them.  Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is another popular Persephone title.  The website is here .

  

He's on the roof, even though he's not a fiddler.  My husband is repairing the damage sustained last January when a tree limb impaled the roof of my studio.  A new roof is going to happen sooner than later, to my great joy.