The end

of NaBloPoMo! My Internet connection is sketchy today, so this is my final bow. Nothing more, until perhaps tomorrow . . .

Work

and more work. I received another editing job today (which will tax my skills in legal footnote style) plus more of the odious proofing of the "relational" text . . . ugh.

Now do you see why I've put it out there to the greater forces concerning what to do? Are you there, God? it's me, tut-tut . . .

dinner

Why is it, do you think, that bacon can so satisfactorily fill any spiritual void? Especially when combined with prosaic peas from the deep freeze . . .

Stuck

here, working at my desk, longing to get out.

This morning's yoga was quite a workout. I tried to put it out there that I want to discover what it is I'm supposed to be doing here on earth. Surely it can't be this?

I won't be able to get to the studio today; maybe tomorrow . . .

Tuesday

I went down to Studio C today and wove, had a spinning lesson (I'm still not there yet, but I'm getting more consistent results), and visited with M.

L was home with teenager-itis; I think she needed one more day of rest, frankly. The View was its usual can't-look-away mess, so of course L and I watched it. Joan Rivers: yikes. Mario Cantone: why?

I have to dump all the hundreds of photos from my camera so I can take some more. I'll post a picture of my weaving (first project on the loom in almost 20 years, so be kind . . .).

Other than making chicken tonight, I have passed through an eventless day!

Monday, Monday, Monday

We went to the mall (bleh) today; our mission: to find pants. L got some and a shirt at the vast wasteland that is American Eagle. We had some good Chinese food here, then made our way over to the Barnes and Noble where we felt right at home, finally.

thinking

photo by L

I feel like going out, but then again, I may sit here a while . . . It's Sunday afternoon, and I'm contemplating what to have for dinner. We are in a dinner entre rut around here, even with all my cookbooks for inspiration. The area we live in is not known for the wealth of exciting ingredients, so I'm often on the chicken/beef/pork circuit. I just can't get excited about tofu. I have one recipe for tempeh I use, but it's for a lunch sandwich mix from Moosewood.

Any suggestions?

raking

photo source: www.pnc.edu/ photos/autumn2005/

It was so nice to get out. D went out first, and I felt guilty, seeing him toiling by himself. So I grabbed my (hand knit, ahem) sweater and a rake and tackled the leaves by the kitchen door. I'd forgotten how satisfying it is to create a pile and drag it off, leaving a (well, an almost) pristine patch. L, after a bit of prodding, got into the act, carrying away tarp-fulls as I raked them up.

Here, we can rake the leaves (or dump them) into huge banks at the edge of the road, and someone from the town comes by in an orange truck and hoovers them up. But their schedule is a mystery, so perhaps we will be raking the same leaves back up into a pile again.

I remember my father raking them into a pile and burning them; I miss that smoky smell of autumn in the suburbs . . . And of course, nowadays, I could do without the annoying roar of the leaf blower.

day after

Well, L and I met up with Stacie, P, and M at a Japanese sushi restaurant. Only Stacie was a pro; the rest of us stuck with tempura. Very convivial; I did try some of Stacie's and liked it. And Stacie surprised us by treating all of us to lunch!

Then a quick tour around a few galleries, one of which Stacie is part of. After that, we went over the river (though not through any woods) to see what was up at another gallery. Very busy; not much parking and Stacie whirled away. Unfamiliar with the territory, she ended up back across the river, and decided to buckle down and go down to her studio.

Even though I didn't cook, I'm still tired. It must be the start of the whole merry-go-round, the center of which is Christmas. I'm sticking with my plans, so tomorrow begins some creating!

Thanksgiving

Have as tranquil a day as you can in whatever circumstances you find yourself.

New intention

I went over here, and found that there is a whole movement afoot to buy or make handmade things. Given the fact that I'm very very interested in knitting, sewing, weaving, spinning, it only makes sense to embrace that in every way I can. After all, there isn't much of a leap from making dinner from scratch every night, from as many local, organic ingredients as possible, to making things "from scratch" or buying such items.

So, I'm taking up the challenge and getting down to it; I've got fabric, yarns, fleece: I just have to get past having to do everything perfectly. There is so much to look at for inspiration, too; so many good bloggers are great crafters and artists, too.

And then there's the whole issue of letting someone else decide just what it is you do want to have. And what about your standards concerning workmanship? Money versus quality? This brings up the lack of oversight concerning imports from China, as well as our domestic problems in food inspection. Maybe if we each get more involved in the doing, we'll also take back more control of family life in general! As Laurie Colwin paraphrased Ralph Nader in More Home Cooking, large corporations do not have our best interests at heart.


Well, enough of a rant; I'm off to find the scissors . . .

Thanks for nothing . . .

Yesterday, the full realization of what it means to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant hit D, and hit him hard. All the busyness, all the preparation, all the cleanup, all the talking to (my) relatives, all the finding room in the refrigerator: All of it gone! Banished!

He was so overwhelmed with the notion of nothingness, that he fell into bed for an afternoon nap . . .

Tomorrow, no school until next Tuesday. No getting up early, chasing around for retainers and the like. But somehow, between tomorrow and next Monday, the mall is beckoning L. So there's that.

baking

With all my pie activity yesterday, something must have kicked my baking gene into gear. I decided this morning to do everyone a favor around here and make cookies.

I went over to Smitten Kitchen and found these. But I didn't have pecans, and I had some chocolate chips that were swirled with white chocolate. So I substituted the walnuts for the pecans and threw in the swirled chips. A great cookie, but something about them makes me want to put in dried cherries . . .

However, they came out looking just like Deb's!

* * *

It sure doesn't feel like Thanksgiving week today; it's supposed to be 70 degrees F this afternoon. I need some brisk, breath-revealing crispness to get me excited. We've been invited to a friend's house, but I think I really want to skip all of the cooking and, dare I say it, go to a restaurant. What is more freeing than arriving, having someone else bring out your food, and, when it's all over and done, get up from the table and just leave! No "Here are all the sides I made at my house for you!" No "Here, let me do the dishes." No, just a simple car ride home. Sounds good to me . .

Pumpkin Pie

I spent the ENTIRE morning helping the youth group and their leader, A, to make pumpkin pies to raise monies for activities at church. The youth group was mostly helpful, until they decided to bring chairs into the kitchen and have an impromptu party.


The church kitchen has a great old Garland gas stove, with two ovens. We were able to fit eight pies at a time in there (there was only one rack per oven; otherwise, we could have doubled our output).

Poor A did not count output/demand, and we ended up with some extras.

Out . . .

Sometimes we do go to a restaurant. We've been liking this one recently. Plus, if you sit by the window, you can catch sight of the river.



A partial view of the menu:



L likes fresh-squeezed juice; they do grapefruit and orange.



I mean to get some wine glasses like this one; I like the way they feel in my hand.



D waiting . . .



For some reason, this reminds of the entrance to something other than what it is:




like a subway . . .

Meeting

I've just come back from a greatly inspiring meeting on fiber arts, classes, a fashion show for next year! My head is reeling, and I'm feeling the excitement I wish I'd been feeling during the summer. I'm really fired up now to get back to all things fiber: knitting, sewing, weaving, spinning!

Even though I'll be involved in promotion, it's an exciting group of people. Class development is something I'm looking forward to doing too, so it's back to my original ideas for the shop (which, alas, several of us have pulled back from). But I think the direction I'm going in now will put me in wider connection with a group of people who are on the move.

Weaving

My loom now resides in Studio C; I've woven 20 inches or so in tabby on my scarf that was to be place mats (but it's pink, so I don't know what I was thinking when I started out to make place mats). I'm pleased that I'm making progress.

My knitting has been idle, though. I've got to get back to it.

I'm looking for a loom bench, Harrisville, the small one.

More dental

Thinking about my tooth brings to mind things various hygienists/dentists have told/asked me over the years:

I'm on the verge of periodontal disease.

I'm a wonderful flosser.

Do I know how to floss?

I have an arthritic jaw.

Have any persons in my family ever lost their teeth? [this one truly gave me pause]

My gums bleed.

My gums don't bleed.

I need a crown right away on my upper left molar.

I don't need to think about a crown on my upper left molar.

If I keep flossing the way I do, I'm in danger of exposing some roots, causing me much pain.

I wonder what to think of all this rather conflicting information . . .

Dental woes

I had a cleaning today . . .

I hate going to the dentist. It all started years ago, when I was still in single digits. Somehow, I had an abscess, in the lower left quadrant (which remains to this day a troublesome area, tooth-wise). The dentist came at me with the hugest syringe I had ever seen. What did I do? Yes, I leaped out of the chair and got as fair away as I could from the dentist and his syringe.

What did he do?? He yelled at me to sit back down! And chased me!! My psyche has never been the same since.

Last summer, the dentist (not the screamy one; I'm sure he's long dead—at least I hope so . . .) told me I needed to have a crown put on in that lower left quadrant, on a tooth already much maligned with a root canal. Naturally I made the appointment and naturally I canceled it (when they weren't open, so I didn't have to talk to anyone). But today the dentist tells me that the "crack is widening; you don't want to lose the tooth, do you?" so I made another appointment.

I don't know what to do. Keep the appointment? These things are expensive. Gamble with my dental health?

I was going to post a picture of teeth, but I can't even bring myself to look a them!

Out on the town with D

Finding ourselves at a loose end, D and I took ourselves to the local tapas bar.

We were enjoying a glass of wine, when in came a not-young, not-old couple, obviously on a first date. As they were seated right next to us, it was difficult NOT to hear their conversation. The fellow regaled the spiffily dressed woman with his wine knowledge, including a detailed description of a wine course he had taken in the Napa Valley in California. Apparently, he was the only person there who was not somehow a sommelier.

The waitress came to take their order.

The man said, "Bring us whatever you'd like us to have!"

Nonplussed, but only for a second, the waitress said, "Red or white?" Surprised, the man looked to concur with the woman. "Red!"