I ATEN'T DEAD
Well, I never came back and finished updating that road trip... not because we didn't enjoy the hell out of it, rather because I got home and got up to speed with the local homeschoolers, the SCA, the house, and so on.
I'm in the middle of a long post talking about tolerance, games, brains and biology... but it'll be a while yet, and I thought I'd just put something up here to let you know I'm still reading my LJ.
Days here are filled with little errands, trips to the library, perfecting my sourdough recipes, taking Linc to the library and the beach and the park, gaming (weekly boardgame nights, Okami with Linc, and Glitch), SCA illumination... nothing too stressful.
I've been slowly savoring Gabrielle Hamilton's memoir, Blood, Bone & Butter. It is an absolute delight... every single page I find delicious turns of phrase and sentences that just make me stop reading, stare into the middle distance, and just moan a sigh of appreciation and pure unadulterated writer's jealousy. I cannot promise that you will love it as much as I do, but I feel safe in saying that you will not be sorry if you take the time to pick it up.
Bill bought me a copy of Michael Pollan's Food Rules, and while it isn't quite as perfect as Gabrielle's book, it's been a wonderful reminder and condensation of some good, solid, basic food-related wisdom.
(On second thought, maybe it's Gabrielle's imperfections, and her unabashed portrayal of herself as an imperfect human being, that makes her book speak to me eloquently... the same way I connect so viscerally to Anne Lamott's writings.)
Speaking of perfect, Bill took me to go see a Tim Minchin concert last Saturday. Tim has nailed the art of the intimate performance, and the two-hour show flew by far too quickly. If you get a chance to see him live, do it do it do it!
I'm not knitting anything lately (hot and humid is not conducive to wrapping wool 'round one's fingers), but I brought a box of beads with me on my road trip and made little thank-you earrings along the way. I also made a few wirework pendants and necklaces, and uncanny adopted a piece that I made over ten years ago. When I made it, I thought it would be mine (I loved the dichroic focal piece and made the necklace around it), but I never wore it. At the last moment, I tossed it in the box, and right when Uncanny saw it, she started making little noises that told me right away that I'd found the piece's forever owner. That little moment, knowing something I'd made had found its right home, was one of the high points of the trip for me (among so many others!).
I think I gave away over 30 pairs of earrings on my journey, and mostly failed to get photos of any of them. If you're reading this and you chose a pair, I would be so very pleased if you would send me a snapshot of your earrings (you don't have to be wearing them, but it would be a bonus!). And if I didn't make you a pair, and you'd like one, comment and we'll make it happen!
It was soooo wonderful to reconnect with so many folks, especially Cordell and Julia... I still miss them every day, but it's truly awesome to see them in their own spaces, on their own, excited about what they're doing, making decisions about what's next. But I need to not wait so long to see them again.
The next trips on the agenda are a week-long working vacation for Bill in Kansas City (and he's able to bring me and Linc along), July 10-17, and a jaunt out to New York to see my sister (date yet to be determined, but this summer).
OK, I think that's quite enough for one post, don't you?
I'm in the middle of a long post talking about tolerance, games, brains and biology... but it'll be a while yet, and I thought I'd just put something up here to let you know I'm still reading my LJ.
Days here are filled with little errands, trips to the library, perfecting my sourdough recipes, taking Linc to the library and the beach and the park, gaming (weekly boardgame nights, Okami with Linc, and Glitch), SCA illumination... nothing too stressful.
I've been slowly savoring Gabrielle Hamilton's memoir, Blood, Bone & Butter. It is an absolute delight... every single page I find delicious turns of phrase and sentences that just make me stop reading, stare into the middle distance, and just moan a sigh of appreciation and pure unadulterated writer's jealousy. I cannot promise that you will love it as much as I do, but I feel safe in saying that you will not be sorry if you take the time to pick it up.
Bill bought me a copy of Michael Pollan's Food Rules, and while it isn't quite as perfect as Gabrielle's book, it's been a wonderful reminder and condensation of some good, solid, basic food-related wisdom.
(On second thought, maybe it's Gabrielle's imperfections, and her unabashed portrayal of herself as an imperfect human being, that makes her book speak to me eloquently... the same way I connect so viscerally to Anne Lamott's writings.)
Speaking of perfect, Bill took me to go see a Tim Minchin concert last Saturday. Tim has nailed the art of the intimate performance, and the two-hour show flew by far too quickly. If you get a chance to see him live, do it do it do it!
I'm not knitting anything lately (hot and humid is not conducive to wrapping wool 'round one's fingers), but I brought a box of beads with me on my road trip and made little thank-you earrings along the way. I also made a few wirework pendants and necklaces, and uncanny adopted a piece that I made over ten years ago. When I made it, I thought it would be mine (I loved the dichroic focal piece and made the necklace around it), but I never wore it. At the last moment, I tossed it in the box, and right when Uncanny saw it, she started making little noises that told me right away that I'd found the piece's forever owner. That little moment, knowing something I'd made had found its right home, was one of the high points of the trip for me (among so many others!).
I think I gave away over 30 pairs of earrings on my journey, and mostly failed to get photos of any of them. If you're reading this and you chose a pair, I would be so very pleased if you would send me a snapshot of your earrings (you don't have to be wearing them, but it would be a bonus!). And if I didn't make you a pair, and you'd like one, comment and we'll make it happen!
It was soooo wonderful to reconnect with so many folks, especially Cordell and Julia... I still miss them every day, but it's truly awesome to see them in their own spaces, on their own, excited about what they're doing, making decisions about what's next. But I need to not wait so long to see them again.
The next trips on the agenda are a week-long working vacation for Bill in Kansas City (and he's able to bring me and Linc along), July 10-17, and a jaunt out to New York to see my sister (date yet to be determined, but this summer).
OK, I think that's quite enough for one post, don't you?