Monday, April 28, 2008

Escapism

The earth keeps rumbling and we carry on. We drive north to our beloved desert lake and soak up the sun. I was chilly but resisted putting on my sweatshirt, trying to keep in the spirit of 'early summer'. I ask myself, 'what if this earthquake pattern continues like this for months? For years?' Gotta say, all this quaking doesn't do my little anxiety-ridden self much good. I am trying to just ride it out (ha ha). The one I experienced this morning was actually pleasant, sort of like riding a floaty air mattress on gentle waves.

Didn't get much work done in the yard this weekend. Tied up some rosebushes, did battle with the junipers (can I tell you how much I hate those plants (ie. fire hazards)?), watered and weeded. The whole backyard is in desperate need of loving care but I don't think it is going to get much until school is out (two more weeks!) and possibly until after the garage is cleaned out (soon? I can only hope...).

Things may end up being a little bit quiet around here for a while (no surprise there, eh?) . I am busy getting (well, attempting to get) settled into my topsy turvey work situation and finishing the aforementioned school. I'll try not to be a stranger.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Whoa, easy there Mama Earth

No, not a belated Earth Day post but just a crazy fact. We've had almost 400 earthquakes out here since February 28th. Yeah, 4-double-0. Just felt a cluster that had me half-diving under my desk. Luckily, the majority are tiny (1.2, 1.4, 2.2) but this is, as my geology professor would say, "an unusual pattern".

Well, ok...I do have a little something in the honor of (belated) Earth Day. A friend turned me on to these blogs, GardenPunks and Little Homestead in the City. Gotta say, I'm catching the fever to build some raised beds and grow food all year long.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Upheaval

I'm experiencing extreme work upheaval which is giving me extreme stress so let's look at those Monkey socks that I forgot to post a few weeks back, shall we? Knitting = comfort.

Knit in a one-of-a-kind colorway of Lorna's Laces sock yarn for my mama's birthday. I really loved this pattern. It never got boring and was always nice to see how it emerged with the colors. My mama was pleased (yay!). And I think maybe I'll knit up a pair of these for me next year. Yeah, next year. I've got so many projects lined up that I think my queue won't be in need of filling until sometime next year.

Stalled on Clapotis and a birthday bunny (like this one, if you can see past the whiskers), but I've just been too tired at night to get any knitting done. At least the semester will be over in a few weeks and...all knit, all the time, baby. That is, except for my create-a-thing-a-day-month project but knitting is creation, right? Actually, I've been thinking about the CTDM project (let's just call it that, eh?) and I'm really excited. I'm going to have specific themes for each week and I'm coming up with some good ones.

Hope you have a good one...

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Poetry

This morning during the usual rush to get out the door, Kidlet pointed to a book that I had sitting in her room. I told her it was a book of poetry.

"What's poetry, Mama?"

I opened the book and read a brief poem about sleeping under the pines and on the boulders and how a calendar was no longer necessary because they were living in the moment, at peace. I explained it to her as best I could.

"I've got a poem for you, Mama, 'I love you'."

That's a good one.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Snow in Spring


Sorry, I've been a bad blogger-pal lately. Guess my mood is, well, moody. Creative projects are at a standstill, except for coloring in coloring books with Kidlet. I guess I'm just at a holding pattern while I finish up the last few weeks of school and get through the next little bit work stress (it's 'personal evaluation' season and I have to assist with an upgrade this weekend).

But despite the 'slogginess', I do have ideas.

--Taking a cue from the illustrious Keri Smith, I'm thinking of instituting my own little 'create-a-thing-a-day month'. It won't be until June since there's this thing called 'final exams' in May.

--Nessie has inspired me with her entryway to tackle ours.

--I need to start thinking of gardening and some fun ways to decorate the yard. I think I'll get Kidlet to do some rock paintings but I want to really go all out this year. Lights, lanterns, sparkly bits that shine in the sun, gnome houses...

Ahhh, just thinking about all that good creative stuff makes me feel better all ready. How 'bout you?

Friday, April 11, 2008

Lanterns and a Party


"You can tell it's a Halloween party by their spooky eyes." Kidlet is very interested in Halloween, despite the fact it's 6.5 months away.

Have a festive weekend, all! Maybe hang lanterns on your patios to celebrate spring...

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

How do I do what I do? A ramble on creativity...

Here is the question that was posed to me by Dominique...

"How can you, as a creative person, find the right balance in doing many projects simultaneously? How do you manage to complete many projects while keeping a healthy body and mind?"

I've been thinking about this question for about two weeks now. Pondering the question of creativity and how I shoe-horn it in to my life, made me question...what the heck am I doing? The answer slowly revealed itself to me. How do I do what I do?

I make multitudes of lists. While I am sitting in class at school or waiting for a computer to reboot (endlessly) at work, I make lists. Lists for arts/crafts/ideas I want to try. Lists for books I want to read. Lists of upcoming knitting projects. Sometimes I make the same list more than once but making the list multiple times takes me that much closer to fruition. Having such limited time means I need to distill the idea until it becomes very clear to me what I want to do. Once I'm there, I can execute it in fairly short order.

Be satisfied with small bits of progress. I find I just about lose my mind if I don't take time to knit at least every other day, and I'm better if I can get a few rows in every day. While I'm not adding a huge chunk onto my project, at least I have touched it and that soothes me like nothing else.

Finding creativity in the most mundane things. I carry my camera everywhere and try to keep my eyes tuned to the easily overlooked. I also try to look at activities that wouldn't be considered artsy in a creative light. Making bread. Digging a hole for a plant. Even cleaning the house with an economy of movement and a song in my head can be satisfying (well, not as satisfying as making a collage, but I try!).

Taking it all less seriously, although this is not easy as art has always had an elevated status in my mind. Somewhere inside me, I feel like I need to take it seriously, as if some collector was going to come across a pile of my stuff and say "Oh! You undiscovered genius! I will be your patron!" and shower me with accolades and cold hard cash. I need to remember that I'm doing this for myself, and that is all.

My creative life is quite limited right now. I have so many obligations: a full-time job, part-time school, full-time mama/wife/family member...I could keep going but won't for fear of overwhelming myself. I'm finding that I like to work on several things at once instead of slogging through one project at a time, despite the fact it feels counter intuitive (wouldn't it be faster to concentrate on one thing? for me, the answer is no). Despite lack of time, I still manage to end up with finished objects and I think that creativity in my life is one of the few things that keeps me sane (sane-r?). I also look ahead to the future for when I might have more time to undertake larger projects or expand my arsenal of the crafts that I do.

Thanks so much, Dominique, for bringing this question my way. It's been quite enlightening and cleared out a few mental cobwebs.

Monday, April 07, 2008

A Dilly of a Day


Despite starting out with a humdinger of a night the night before we left (Chest pains, anyone? 3 hours of sleep due to the lovely anxiety attack? Sheesh...), we had a fantastic day out of town yesterday. The weather was amazing, right around 70 degrees. Flowers of all hues and forms were in great abundance. It felt so good to be out, running around like a kid at Fairytale Town and being full of wonder at the Zoo (Ahh, the zoo. Such mixed feelings about zoos).

Some of the best...Hubby and I sharing thoughts and plans on the drive down. Running the Crooked Mile with our friends (who joined us for the Fairytale Town portion of the day). Watching the vulture spread his wings, Kidlet and I whisper back and forth about how amazing and beautiful he is. Eating veggie burgers and sharing milkshakes.

Hope your days were just as lovely. Back later this week with more knitting and some thoughts on creativity that I didn't get to relate last week (sorry I'm taking so long, Dominique!).

Friday, April 04, 2008

We'll show you the way...


Map to Fairytale Town, by Kidlet. We're finally going this weekend, yay!

I'm just going to pretend the weekend starts right this minute, despite the fact I still need to make crepe batter for dinner tonight, mop the floor, take a shower, take Kidlet to school and take myself to work. That's right, the era of happy relaxation has begun. The weekend is merely a state of mind.

Have a lovely one, friends.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

My LYS away from Home


A week ago (just a week ago!) , I put out the feelers to find a good sock yarn for hubby. Raina voted for ShiBui, a brand I had not tried but I was intrigued. My beloved LYS has a large inventory however, ShiBui is not a part of it. Away to the web I went. The Loopy Ewe showed up in my search and as I had seen their name around on Ravelry, I thought I'd give them a go. Lovely folks and the fastest shipping EVER, definitely recommended. And the yarn, like butta'. Can't wait to cast on...just need to decide on the pattern.

Pleased to Meet'cha!

I have had the pleasure of meeting two lovely ladies through the blog, Ms. Noodle and now Crafty Bean. It's been great fun to put words out in the land of bits and bytes and have it turn out that I can meet flesh and blood people.

All Sunday morning, Kidlet's mantra was, "is it time to go meet our new friends yet?" After much stalling until our appointed hour, we finally got to meet up with perennial friend W and new friend, Annabel (Bean's daughter). The small girls had a good time romping about the park, as did the women who met and munched snacks in the sunshine. We have tentative plans for more meet-ups and camping. I can't wait! (Please tell me we really are going camping!)

And the photo has nothing to do with our meet-up except I thought it was pretty. :)

Tuesday, April 01, 2008


"You have a choice every day...will you do everything, despite the circumstances, to generate love and light or will you give in to the darkness around you?"

--Mayor of Newark, NJ, Cory Booker
as heard on Bill Moyers' Journal podcast, episode "Race and Politics"