Summer Yummer

Last night we ate the lemon cucumbers that we got from our CSA/Farmers' Market.

Yum.

Photo credit:  rfduck via flickr

Observation

Doing well at the World Cup gives a nation more street cred than doing well at the Olympic Games.

Go Team USA!

Photo credit: RO/LU via Flickr

I Won! I Won! (or The Perils of Urban Planning)

I have been thinking about knitting with Rowan Denim for quite awhile. Maybe too much Mason-Dixon? Maybe the upcoming Smurf movie? I don't really know for sure. I have been thinking about an Aran sweater for the Boy. I have been thinking an awful lot about Jared Flood's Urban Aran Cardigan. And all this thinking has lead me to dream of how cool that cardi would look in the Denim on my Boy. So I've been reading a bit about the Denim on ravelry and Mason-Dixon which in turn lead me to an amazing looking adaptation of a man's sweater into a boy's sweater using the Denim. Now I am thinking, "I can actually do this."

So in my fully deluded state, I hunted down the pattern and ordered it from a shop in western New York.  And then, knowing I can't get the Denim locally, I started looking for a good deal online. This search ultimately yielded (the most reasonably priced) fruit on eBay. This weekend I was compelled to place a (winning) bid on 10 skeins of the Denim in Nashville. And, seeing as how I was the sole bidder, I won! I won! I won! The price was good, the shipping was free, and it is on its way to me now from the U.K.

It is on! Toddler Urban Aran Cardigan here we come!

To be continued . . .

Photo credit: Breibeest via Flickr

A Fresh(ish) Start

I was going to start a new blog - a clean slate, tabula rasa - all that nonsense. But there is really nothing wrong with this blog. All that is needed is this cleansing post and it should be okay. Think of it as recycling.

I will probably still use flickr as source for photos. I will probably still do weird little research-project posts like this, or this, or this. I will probably still refrain from posting photos of my kids. The big change will come in that this will no longer be a "rule" based blog.

Instead I am just going to write. I may write about: myself, my kids, my husband, other family members, knitting*, a good meal I ate out or cooked, the beach, a book I read, a movie I saw, something cool I bought or wish I could buy, exercising** (don't hold your breath, people), a recipe, or something or someone I am feeling judgmental about with no real basis for casting stones. Whatever.

So welcome to my "new" blog - where I write about whatever I feel like.

*My paltry attempt at blogging my knitting will be absorbed in the instant blog.

** My paltry attempt at losing weight and the equally paltry attempt to blog it will also be absorbed in the instant blog.

Photo credit: hellosputnik via Flickr

Life is a Dream

Today's photo is another example of why I love the internet. My first thought when I saw this was, "Ooooh. Pretty." Then I thought, "Gee, this looks a bit like the plaza where we hung out in Amsterdam a jillion years ago. How will I ever figure out where this is?" So I looked at the picture in its largest size and I could make out some words on the pedestal of the statute. So a-Googling I go and I find out that Pedro Calderón de la Barca is a famous Spanish playwright whose life and works are feted in Madrid by this statue. Which means (a) this isn't Amsterdam and (b) I get to learn something new. Calderon de la Barca's most famous play is titled Life is a Dream

and it chronicles a story about free will vs. fate. Life as an illusion is an overarching theme (hence the title). Heavy stuff. But for my purposes here today, it is the simple, face value, aw-shucks, gee-whiz, cock-eyed optimist interpretation of the title that I am drawn to: I gave notice at my job today and I start my new job in about two weeks! WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!! I have felt stuck, trapped, etc. where I am so being able to move along is really a dream come true!

Photo credit: David Boyle on Flickr

Lieblingsplätzchen

The title of this photo is "Barnies Lieblingsplätzchen" - Barnie(s) presumably being the cat. I never studied German yet I was intrigued by this German (I assumed) word. It means "favorite place" or "favorite spot." I love the way it sounds (at least in my head). It makes me think of the way I imagine the sounds of: the end of the evening collapse on the couch OR finally getting to pick up the knitting during the kids' nap time on the weekend OR finally falling into your beach chair after getting every one settled, umbrellas up, blankets out leave me alone go play by the water OR settling into your seat at the movies with Milk Duds and popcorn after months of DVD-only viewing (hello, old friend - I've missed you so). "LiblingSPLATZCHeeehhhhhhn." What a lovely feeling. None of my little spots are quite like Barnie has here - a soft blanky, sunshine warming the seat, the bolstery arms surrounding him like a big ol' hug. But it isn't all about the accoutrements. Lieblingsplätzchen is more about where your head is at then where you lie your head.

Photo credit: gillyberlin on Flickr

Pipe Dreams

Galapagos Islands. My strongest association with these islands is not Charles Darwin and his Beagle but rather Vonnegut and his novel.

I remember being on a Vonnegut kick when this book came out in paperback and devouring the whole thing in a weekend. I was so entranced by the characters and the evolutionary concepts being put forth. It was over twenty years ago now so the details are fuzzy* but I couldn't get the book out of my head. This is the kind of book that made me dream of going into science. Obviously that didn't happen. But I do still love reading science fiction. Maybe it is time to break out the old Vonnegut paperbacks again. I might understand more than I did back in junior high.**

*Pun optional

**Junior high=middle school of yore

Photo credit: cdorobek

Fish Face

Fish. Okay. I guess, though, it doesn't really matter what the picture is since I need to explain my months-long absence (I love that I write here as if people are actually reading). I guess I was kind of busy at work. And if I wasn't really truly busy, I was trying to seem busy. And I have been pretty miserable at work for quite some time so I think I was feeling that the tone of the blog was a little too bitter for any one's good. There has been some sweet - I was lucky enough to have a gorgeous baby girl in December. The Boy has adapted quite well to his sibling, although he is exhibiting the signs of toddlerhood/terrible two-ness on a regular basis; nothing especially unusual, but probably somewhat exacerbated by having a 3 month old sister getting all up in his world. Anyway, things are feeling a bit more normal these days, so I hope to be writing more again. Still going to use the same formula as before so I (we, dear reader?) will see where Flickr takes us!

Photo credit: b.roveran

Obsession Waning

Last month I wrote about how I had become mildly obsessed with Entourage and was so excited for the new season to begin. Too bad it is a big yawner. Maybe it is because Vince isn't looking for work this season. Maybe it is because Turtle has a girl. Maybe it is because Drama has work. Maybe there is too much E. Maybe it isn't more of the same but less of the same instead. I don't know. It seems to have crossed the line from merely mundane (in the vein of a show about "nothing" a la Seinfeld) to really boring. So disappointing after my big build up. Oh - and in case you were wondering about the photo for today (which by the way was not the first photo when I went over to Flickr) - the tie in is that time can change your opinion about things or something philosophical like that (as philosophical as one can get about a television show, anyway).

Photo credit: sciondriver on Flickr

Zoom Zoom

So my Boy is becoming such a real little boy. He loves cars and trucks. He loves balls. He dives head first off the sofa and laughs hysterically about it. Two of his favorite toys right now are a red double-decker bus and taxi that are Matchbox-car-sized. Every car, truck, bus, motorcycle - even bicycle - that we see on the road gets a comment from the Boy. Airplanes and helicopters. Riding lawn mowers. Everything that goes. It is fun and exciting to see him developing an interest in something in such a consistent fashion. I am already contemplating a "big boy" room decorated with some kind of "things that go" theme. There are some great linens out there. Without ever really "researching" the subject I know that I love the clean graphics of the Dwell transportation set and love love love the old-school Marimekko Bo Boo that my little brother had in his room. But I guess it pays to wait and see. Who knows - by the time the Boy is ready to move to his new room he could be into the solar system or Shakespeare.

Photo credit: Martin Pettitt on Flickr

Remnant Memory

This brings back memories. The crunchy piece of carpet my dad and I carried up to my dorm on the first day of my freshman year of college which is longer ago than I care to admit right now! The smell, the creases, the weird plasticy threads that stuck out from under the binding. It was a peachy pink. Not a favorite color of mine, just less ugly than the other choices if my memory serves. I had great linens and art (I think, anyway!) for a freshman dorm room - bright colored fish duvet cover with bright sheets, Matisse's The Goldfish (so sophisticated right?). Thankfully I loved my room (it was a single) because I didn't make a ton of friends the first semester and ended up spending a TON of time in there studying. Later, once I got myself hooked into a group of people I enjoyed hanging out with, I still loved my room as a refuge. It was too small to have people over so it was really my little space. Other than camp, where bunk beds, open cubbies and zero privacy abound, this was my first time having my own place. If I had to do it all over again I wouldn't change a thing - except maybe I would have chosen a darker color carpet - in blue??

Photo credit: hectorir on Flickr

Missing

I am missing bike riding this summer. Until the past week or so the weather has been so mild - perfect for taking a leisurely bike ride. The Boy has become mildly obsessed with bicycles of late and every riding toy whether a stationary rocker or something with wheels is "my bicycle." So I feel terribly that I can't put the kid in a seat on the back (or the front - have you seen those? they seem very cool) and go out for a ride. This is the third summer in a row that I can't ride and next year will probably be the same*. Hopefully by summer 2011 (that sounds so far away!) I will be able to strap Baby Number Two into a seat on my bike and the Boy will be peddling on his own or trailing along on one of those nifty tandem attachments. Watch out neighborhood! We will be coming! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

*My OB/Gyn said Bike riding was not recommended during my pregnancies and also not recommended is children under one year old in a bike seat or bike trailer. I was pregnant in 2007, had an infant in summer 2008, I'm pregnant now and will have an infant in summer 2010.

Photo credit: John Beagle on Flickr

*STRIKE*

This makes me miss our bowling alley. Bowling is the perfect distraction in winter on a Tuesday night when you've got nothing else to do, no where else to go during a desolate beach-town winter. We used to go often when we first started dating, the Man and I. Have a few beers. Make fun of each other's "skills." Unfortunately all that is left of bowling locally for us is memories since our bowling alley is now townhouses. In February 2003 there was a blizzard. A real one. Where the whole state was shut down. And not just my state that doesn't know what to do with snow - the New Jersey Turnpike was closed too. Yes, the whole Turnpike. I remember this storm so vividly because it was also the weekend the Man and I drove four hours from our new apartment to my parents' house where all of the furniture, stuff, and things that were intended to fill up the apartment were stored. We left the day before the storm hit. We were stranded at my parents' house for two extra days because of the storm. And when we returned to our apartment we learned that one of the casualties of the storm was the bowling alley. The snow was so heavy that the roof caved in. There were outgoing messages on the bowling alley number for months that the bowling alley would be re-opening soon! Hooray! Then the building was raised and construction began on just what we needed - note sarcastic tone - more townhouses! Even if we don't have the bowling alley anymore, at least we can look back fondly at that early part of our relationship and still tease each other mercilessly about our bowling prowess. The Man still kicks my butt every time we bowl - on the Wii!

Photo credit: justephens on Flickr

Chocolatey Goodness

So sometimes cruising around the internets leads to strange coincidences. Maybe not earth shattering stuff that keeps you up at night but the kind of stuff you notice enough to say, "Hey, that is kind of weird." That is what happened with today's picture.

This is a photo of a band from Venezuela called Desorden Público playing at an outdoor music festival called Im Fluss in Basel, Switzerland*. It seems like a pretty cool festival - a big barge is moored in the Rhine and bands play out there for two weeks.

The band plays ska/reggae/rock (click here for a live stream of their music). They have been around since 1985 (that is a pretty long time for any band, right?). And like I said, they are from Venezuela.

Now for the kind of weird interconnectedness part of the web. Remember - I warned you that it wasn't an earth shaking thing - just a little weird. One of the articles that popped up in my reader today had to do with growing cacao beans in . . . Venezuela. Hey - I warned you!

But the thing is that when it first arrived in my in-box, I just skimmed the article - and even thought about not going to the full text after reading the scrib on the reader. But after I looked up the information about the band in the photo, I became more interested in the article. And I learned some stuff - cacao in Venezuela is mostly grown on plantations owned by non-Venezuelans but farmed by local (read: cheap) labor. Venezuelan cacao is known for making some of the most coveted chocolate in the world which is what keeps growers motivated to keep growing in an otherwise politically hostile environment - activists do sit-ins in fields (with machine guns), the government requires permitting and inspections out the wazoo (all for big time fees). Venezuelan cacao accounts for only 1% of the cacao grown in the world - and the output of the nation has remained constant for the past 300 years. And there is more.

So maybe I haven't found a new calling in life and my mind wasn't blown but I never would have known that stuff if I hadn't come across this random photo on Flickr. And now I am really curious about chocolate made from cacao beans grown in Venezuela! Me want to taste some!

* Thanks for the correction, knickinoptik - Basel, Switzerland not Bassel, Germany.

Photo credit: knickinoptik on Flickr

Vista

Isn't this the kind of scene you want to jump into and run around in Mary-Poppins-style? And funny enough it brings to mind another Julie Andrews' classic - the Sound of Music. OK, so maybe that isn't exactly the Alps in the background but wouldn't it still be fun to be there to spinning around in a dirndl singing "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music" at the top of your lungs?

Photo credit: bcran on Flickr

So Where Was This A Few Hours Ago?

The perfect innocuous photo. Nondescript grass. Could be a beach or a dessert. The photo stream owner has the perfect name for what I am writing about lately: Banalities. The photo title "Formentera" did peak my interest though so a-googling I a-went.

This place is GORGEOUS! This dour photo over here on the right doesn't even begin . . . .

One of the websites I found says Formentera is, "one of the last outposts of paradise in the Mediterranean." According to Wikipedia, Formentera "It is known for its many pristine beaches and the fact that nude sunbathing is allowed on most of its beaches. Also, Formentera hosted the 2007 Techno 293 OD World Championships in windsurfing for juniors under 15 and youths under 17.

Fascinating. It sounds wonderful. Once again, I drool at vacations lost!

Photo credit: Banalities on Flickr

No Photo Day

Everytime I have tried to get a photo for today's post Flickr has presented me with a shot of someone's wedding or someone's kid. For some reason it does not seem appropriate to me to write about such intimate things when I have no context for the subject of the photo. I am not saying I will always "reject" a photo that has an intimate or personal subject, but somedays it just doesn't feel right. So this is just a rambling post that once again touches on the oh-so-boring subject I always seem to return to (yet have no expertise or authority in): what is proper to blog about. Yawn.

I just felt like writing today despite the fact that I have nothing in particular to write about. There is some craziness going on with my family today (which I will not write about here) so maybe that is why I feel like I need an outlet of some kind? Also, I do not feel like working (not that that is particular to *today* especially!). Too bad I couldn't wait for a picture that I felt was "safe" to write about. Maybe I will try again later if I still feel like writing.

Obsessed

This post has no relevance to today's picture. Frankly, it didn't really matter what popped up on Flickr today because I need to let it out to the world that I am obsessed with the show Entourage on HBO. We didn't always have HBO so by the time we did get it many of the highly acclaimed* series on that station were so deep into their runs that we never watched them on television but rather only on DVD (hooray for Netflix!). So we watched Entourage on DVD through the fourth season. And I pushed my dear Man-o-mine to watch, watch, watch as much as he could stand because I couldn't get enough of the show. I don't even know what it is. I don't have a crush on any of the characters. I have not been particularly engrossed in any of the plot lines, relationships of the characters. It is, I think, the whole package. It is a thirty minute escape into someone else's (albeit rather fancy schmancy) mundane world. Because really - how many times have I seen these guys sitting down to breakfast, a post hook-up debriefing, looking for work, looking for love. Is it that different from what most people do other than the setting? No. But I am compelled to watch. The new season started Monday and I set up the DVR to record. We didn't get to watch until last night. It wasn't a great episode. Not much happened to establish move any story line along. No major players seem to have been introduced that we haven't met before. But I watched it twice. I think about the show when I have trouble falling asleep. I think about the show when I am driving home from work. When I am bored my mind wanders to the show. I wonder what this is all about? Only five days until the next new episode . . . .

*I don't know if Entourage was highly acclaimed or not but it always looked like a good time when I would see previews.

Photo credit: Михал Орела on Flickr

A Fine Mess You've Gotten Us Into

Every camp mess hall must look exactly the same. I was convinced when I first glimpsed this photo that it HAD to be my old camp. The big mob of campers on the right. The bug juice on the end of the table. The delicious looking food on display. Mess halls have a . . . distinctive smell: old dishwater, over scrubbed stainless steel, bug juice (yes - the bug juice is a recurring theme!), fryer oil due for a change. Kind of yucky - yes. Worth all the other great parts of camp - yes. My first sleep away camp had such a questionable mess hall that it was the reason I became a vegetarian for twelve years. Two surprise health inspector visits. Two cancellations of taco night. One camper who decided she could survive on cereal, salad, and PB&J for the rest of the summer! I know I am abusing the exclamation point in this post but I loved camp - weired smells and risky food all the same.

Photo credit: fujimatt on Flickr

Ugly Duckling

I always loved the story of the Ugly Duckling. I think I identified with the poor little thing. I don't think I was an ugly kid but I think I was something of an outsider. The poor little cygnet. Trying so hard to fit in but never really succeeding. Sometimes I still feel like I am waiting for the day of the transformation - when I will figure out that I have been in the wrong place, doing the wrong things, all this time. And other times I feel gorgeous and glorious - floating across the water with my head held high.

Photo credit: Anyaka on Flickr