March 2007
It’s This, or a Vacation
I will have internet access at home in a week and a day and won’t have to skulk around work and blog, but until then, I’m afraid there won’t be much going on. (Although I promise LOTS of pictures of the new place when I’m back online.) But until then, prepare yourselves for unillustrated and random posts. Like today’s: “Words” That People Must Stop Using.
Today’s “Word” That People Must Stop Using is “thrift.” Not when used as a decent and proper noun, but when used as a verb. It appears on all the pretentious craft blogs I’ve found, where stay-at-home moms make stuffed animals that they sell on Etsy, and have one or two young-ish children that they dress in vintage smocks, and on days when the kids are at art camp or something they get lattes and go “thrifting.”
This is not an acceptable usage of an established word. Nor is it acceptable to describe something you purchased while shopping at a thrift store as “thrifted.” It just isn’t. It’s juvenile and affected. Please, craft bloggers, stop this immediately.
(Don’t get me started on people who use “impactful.” At least the craft bloggers don’t do that.)
Hey, An Anniversary
I’m afraid this will be the week of short posts, since I can’t compose them at home ahead of time. (Well, not until the 22nd, when I get internet at the new apartment.) But I noticed it’s been just over a year since I started posting. [Insert obligatory remark about how much has changed here.]
Also, is it warm enough to wear a muumuu yet?
Moved!
Oh yes, I am now moved in and very stiff. (Heavy things? I don’t want to lift heavy things!) I love my new place and would love to share pictures, but someone was unrealistically hoping to pirate wireless internet in the new place, which is not the case. So I have no way of getting them uploaded at the moment, unless I want to go to the library and do it. (Which I might, by the end of the week–we’ll see how this “living alone” will go.) But so far, so good.
Part IV: Muumuus
So I bought a muumuu on vacation but was so filled with delight while wearing it (it’s flowy! it’s bright! it has a pocket! and a flounce!) I didn’t get a modeled shot. So here’s a staged one:
When you wear a muumuu in Hawaii, you feel like putting a plumeria behind your ear. That’s what I did with this one:
In fact, I loved my muumuu experience so much we found a Hawaiian fabric store and I bought both a pattern for another muumuu:
and the fabric:
Apparently, other people (well, coworkers) think it’s strange to go to a fabric store on vacation. But what better souvenir to get? Because this summer I can put on one of my muumuus, sit on my porch, and remember this:
Part III: The Nene
What, you may ask, is a nene (“nay-nay”)? A nene, my friends, is the Hawaiian goose, a distant relative of the Canadian goose, and the state bird of Hawaii.
Because it has the best name ever, the nene captured my heart on this vacation. Sadly, I didn’t see one, but the signs about them were awesome. My favorite: A nene silhouette with the words “GO SLOW” beneath it. My second favorite: A sign proclaiming “A fed nene is a dead nene!” (I’m still mad I didn’t get pictures.) I guess I’ll just have to go back.
This is not a nene:
It’s a rooster living in the parking lot of:
And what does Akaka Falls look like? Big and damp:
And remember–A FED NENE IS A DEAD NENE. Don’t feed the nene.
Part II: Lava
Subtitled: And You Thought The Ocean Could Kill You.
So picture an approach to the shore in Volcano National Park, around sunset. Um, is that shoreline smoking?
Oh, I think it is. Don’t breathe in the smoke!
In spite of MANY warnings from the Federal Government…
…we want to get closer to the lava. Where is the lava?
We do not view the 4-minute lava safety video.
On our way to get closer to the lava, we pass some old lava that had happened to just, you know, FLOW ACROSS THE ROAD. In 2005. I am amazed and point at it:
The adventure continued as we hiked across some old lava (avoiding the steam plume) and hunkered down with the lava rats (no, really) and let it get completely dark. Of course, my camera couldn’t focus in the dark, so you’ll have to imagine the best part: seeing the lava flowing down the hillside and entering the ocean. We were a mile away, more or less safely, and it was just incredible to think that new land was being formed right before our eyes. Because who else gets to see new land being formed? Pretty much only God.
Lava. I like it as much as I like the ocean.
Part I: The Ocean
I had never really spent any time by the ocean until this trip. And let me tell you, I like the ocean. It smells nice. It makes the horizon really big. It does cool things with waves. It’s a pretty color:
However, while I like being by the ocean, I learned I am afraid of being in the ocean. It’s big. There are waves. And if you’re not a strong swimmer, the ocean can kill you:
And things live in the ocean! Sometimes really big things, because the ocean is big! Things like whales:
And sea turtles:
And twenty-year-olds from the Coast Guard! (Hello, boys!)
Yes, I like the ocean.