girl at large

cool is cyclical

How could I (k)not know that March is National Crochet Month? That article, brought to my attention by sister Peg, only makes passing comment on crocheting, focusing on the 'hipper' hobby of knitting, but it's still sticks and thread.

In honor of this special month, I'll share the best crochet story I've ever heard:

When my mom was a young administrative assistant at the hospital in Evanston, IL (where she met my father), she worked the quieter late shift. To pass the time, she crocheted. She crocheted little triangles. Dozens of them.

When someone asked, preferably a male dr. or med student, she would say she was making herself a bikini. Visual---mom coyly holding up a teeny triangle and asking "What do you think? Will it look good on me?"

Crocheting may be cool again, but nothing beats that!

p.s. I have vague memories of playing with a basket of colorful, crocheted triangles as a small child. Just my imagination? I can't say.

what is he thinking???

It's also the little (to us because we don't pay attention) policies and positions of our current government that gain us such ill-will from other parts of the world, for example, his (GWB) stand on marriage and abstinence over condoms, described in this article from IHT about how even marriage in Africa can kill.

grrrr.

achieving

It's getting the recognition and celebration it deserves, the movie Uncle Bert calls: "the best movie ever, man".

This years fest was held a block away from my brother Thomas' house. A BLOCK AWAY. And he didn't go.

so sad.

What would I do on Sunday nights without all you breeders?

yarn: aarlan's arwetta 75/25 wool/poly blend (from Grandma Eileen's stash, possibly from mom's Fibre Shop)
pattern: 6 Mos. Baby Set from www.crochetpatterncentral.com ( I LOVE the colors shown in the pattern directions, may do another like it).

I just finished this sweater (not the complete set) today, as you can see it's blocking and I have to attach a button yet at the collar. I ran short of yarn for longer sleeves, but I think short ones still work. The only question now is, WHICH baby gets this project? Is there something in the water?

speaking of that area...

yarn:Katia's heathered grey mohair
buttons: vintage mother-of-pearl
pattern: Girly-girl Capelet from Hip to Crochet

I finished this poncho just after arriving back in America--I started it in Mom's livingroom in France, had to rip it out and start over because of a mistake (!), completed the middle (boring) portion on the plane and in airports in New York City and Atlanta, added a few stitches in Grandma Eileen's livingroom in Nebraska and then finished the edging here in my then-empty livingroom in Portland.

All to find that the trendy poncho look was NOT created with chesty gals in mind!! Circus tent anyone?

Especially for Martine...

all the American euphamisms I can come up with for a certain part of the female anatomy:

Rack
Melons
Hooters
Set or Pair
Hoo-ha's
Peaches
Knockers
Cha-cha's
Tits (though I prefer the more informal "Titties")

Am I forgetting any?

Happy Easter!

It's not Easter without Peeps! Or homemade matching dresses, white knee highs and little boy bowties.

I suspect that first picture isn't actually Easter--it's far too green--note the interior shots of the other two, and the just barely visible snowy scene out the window. Peg, Tom--do you remember? And Tom--in that last shot, how did you get such a raw deal with that teeny weeny basket??

Of course, now, my holiday treat comes in a bottle, not a basket. I wonder which color Peeps go best with red wine? Blue? Yellow? Pink?

Oh Canada!

It's alot easier than you'd think to emigrate to Canada.

over there, over there

"Grandpa Mikkelsen" and "Noodle"

Dad just returned from a quick visit (four days! no jetlag recovery time!) to London to see Peg and Ryan and of course, the person of the hour--Stella. I can't get over how much little Stella looks like my sister (it's in the eyes) and how very much Dad looks like his dad, my Grandpa Bunny.

eats on wheels

The Custard heard a little story on NPR today about Superfast Pizza, a delivery company that bakes the pizza in the truck on the way to your house. It's in Fond du Lac.

But is order-in better than a good ol' sit down at Schreiner's?

open letter to my roommate

Miss Ruby and her playdate, Monsieur Oscar

I love you RoobieDoobie, but there is dog hair IN the keyboard of my brand new lovely computer. DOG HAIR. In the keyboard.

I can deal with it on the bathroom floor (on every floor truthfully), on the sofa, woven into the handtowels, floating in bunches under the chair legs, lingering on the curtain edges (by the way, why exactly do you sit under the window with the curtain wrapped around your head?), on the bed, and on every piece of clothing I own, but... the computer keyboard?? The brand new shiny computer?!?! What gives little dog?

What exactly is it that you do when I'm away?

home sick for the southland

Browsing a copy of "1001 Places to See Before You Die" while waiting at the checkout counter; it fell open to "Savannah's Historic District".

Hm. Message in a point-of-purchase display?

double entendre

Male customer, to me, as I reach up and slide the rug racks back for his viewing convenience:

"Nice rack!"

I'm forgiving him only because he had his two kids with him and was mortified at the slip--he honestly meant the rug rack.

it's all too much

Just when I think I can't take it anymore, American life throws another one at me: strawberries.* A simple fruit treat, right? Wrong. Now they are "GIANT" strawberries. Even the ones not labeled "GIANT" are monstrously-proportioned specimens.

That I can't fit in my mouth. And trust me, I can fit alot of things in my mouth (sorry Grandma). Am I the only one who enjoys popping in a berry and enjoying it in one bite (maybe two)? We're talking four, five bites a piece here people. They're not strawberries, they are miniature melons from the planet Giganto.

I dreamt of a book I wish I could write last night:

'BIG AMERICAN LIFE'
Why we believe bigger is better, and why we might be wrong.

And don't even get me started on cell phones---and I do get that, contrary to everything else in our expansive land, they are actually getting smaller and smaller, to the point of being ridiculous lozenges. Lozenges that rule people's lives. When was the last time you let a shrill, screeching, interrupting annoyance rule your every waking minute? Isn't that why we leave our mothers?

*I know this will all wear off in time, but I hope that a few things stay with me---the calm I feel when I realize that I don't have to answer a ringing phone. The desire for little more than I need. The pleasure of a regular, sit down evening meal, even with just myself. The health of walking, rather than driving, to the corner store. I'm writing these things down, so when I get lazy and re-accustomed to this fastness and hugeness, y'all can find this page and remind me.

who needs dating when there's modern furniture?

I'm in love with The Knock-Down Drag-Out dining table, only it's much too big for my space. Which is a pity, because I've been searching for this table my whole life.

Feeling Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Now that I don't live there and am spared the smell of public pee the next morning, I'm a bit nostalgic for the big celebration in Savannah.

the sequel

Mom and Bert on Tishie Mae I last summer, Mom one of the five lovely towns of Cinque Terre on the Italian coast last year

It's official, late last week Mom found the bigger boat! Tishie Mae II (a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey) smaller than I would have suggested for living in tight quarters on water with your brother--only 37 feet, but she swears they'll make it work. They've survived with only one bathroom in the apartment for this long, what's the trouble with one head? And as long as Mom keeps Bert fed, I think all will be well.

It's moored in Viareggo, Italy, near Le Spezia and the Cinque Terre area we loved so much last year. The "crew" will be based there for about a month for training and shake-down cruising before they head off into the horizon...

see? i don't always need the 'self-portrait' setting!

Ruby and I (and friends both human and canine, not pictured) take a stroll on the Eastbank Esplanade, enjoying the early spring sunshine (not enough for me!).

found

I'm finally, at long last, set up online at home. wee-hee! I feel like a real person!

And, what better timing for an old friend to look me up online? Good to have you back Amy!

once upon a sofa update

the cubes in Savannah

I'll get into the details later, but I thought that I should mention that my sofa is home once again. Four states, fifteen years, two renters, three upholstery jobs (one really, really shoddy DIY version), one aunt, a flood, three boys and one very good friend (one could even say an "Angel") later, my beloved little modular cubes are safe and sound under my butt.

Feels good.

it has the sexiest legs

I picked up a new desk (or should that be A desk?) this week--and it's yummy. It's by Paul McCobb for Planner Group, if that matters to anyone. It doesn't to me--I just love that it's perty, blond and petite. Hmm, that didn't come out like I meant it.

And two cute little scruffy-mods just starting their vintage furniture business adventure hand-delivered it. Bonus.

Now I just have to save my pennies for that perfect task lamp (the Tolomeo floor model) for reading at the sofa, or should I say more accurately: working at the crochet-station. How is it that I didn't come by one of those fifteen years ago when I lived with Aunt Maria, who had them stacked up and multiplying like wire hangers in the closet?

oops

I popped into the pharmacy the other day to have a prescription filled---there was a wait, so I left my basket of other sundries at the counter and agreed to return for the prescription after finishing my shopping at the grocers next door.

I forgot to return. Completely. Until three days later.

One of the items in my basket of pharmacy goods was a bottle of MEMORY supplements.

It's how you look at it...or, Would you really want them back anyway?

I noticed something odd this morning---it seemed that a number of my undies were missing. After some sorting and searching, I was able to confirm that, yes indeed, six pairs are MIA.

My building has a common laundry area.

Some gals would freak out; me?-- I prefer to take a positive-attitude approach: Maybe I have an admirer?

vroom dreams

I'm haunted by white VW Bugs with "for sale" signs--today makes the third, in the third city, that I've seen...AS I'M TALKING ABOUT CARS (or my lack thereoff).

not your sunniest outlook

view from my little balcony, too bad you can't see my nieghbor's christmas tree on the opposite balcony. it's dark, but trust me, that dead, brown thing is still there.

more of the same.

four month itch

a shot from the November roadtrip....wishing I was back on the road. any road.

I've nearly forgotten how to do this....

My apologies to my "public" for not updating much at all lately---hopefully that will change soon. just as soon as America stops sucking ass.