It’s Monday

By in Toby No Comments

And just like Bartleby the Scrivener, Toby and I would prefer not to.

(We had a busy weekend with social things both days and Toby made his feelings about that clear as we were getting ready on Sunday.)

Thursday Poem

By in poems No Comments

This is a sad one, but I’ve been feeling…not just sad, but discouraged lately. Downhearted, if you will. (Saw this one on Twitter, and yeah. That last line.)

 

Downhearted
by Ada Limon

Six horses died in a tractor-trailer fire.
There. That’s the hard part. I wanted
to tell you straight away so we could
grieve together. So many sad things,
that’s just one on a long recent list
that loops and elongates in the chest,
in the diaphragm, in the alveoli. What
is it they say, heart-sick or downhearted?
I picture a heart lying down on the floor
of the torso, pulling up the blankets
over its head, thinking this pain will
go on forever (even though it won’t).
The heart is watching Lifetime movies
and wishing, and missing all the good
parts of her that she has forgotten.
The heart is so tired of beating
herself up, she wants to stop it still,
but also she wants the blood to return,
wants to bring in the thrill and wind of the ride,
the fast pull of life driving underneath her.
What the heart wants? The heart wants
her horses back.

Can I Knit Yet?

By in knitting No Comments

After a few months of modifications and no knitting, my tennis elbow doesn’t bother me at all at the gym now. I always assumed the gym was the culprit and not the knitting, but I picked up February’s abandoned sock two nights ago and only got two rows done before I could feel that I’d regret it if I kept going.

So…I guess I don’t knit now? It’s one thing to not have anywhere to wear the clothes I sew, but it’s a million times more frustrating to not be able to physically do the other hobby I enjoy. Do I wear a brace? Do I learn how to knit Continental? (It’s my right elbow; I think the yarn “throwing” is what’s doing it.) Any knitters out there have tips?

Yarn from local dyer Llama Lovejoy that I would love to knit but is just sitting in the stash. 🙁

High Elevation

By in nature No Comments

We did our traditional July “go up to the lake at 10,000 feet and cool off” day trip yesterday. Doc is on more meds (but we finally know what’s wrong, whew) so we took it easy and just did 0.7 miles to Scout Lake.

We caught the end of wildflower season…

…but we were also out in the smoke from wildfire season (which is kind of all summer now in the West).

But it was a cool 70 degrees and it was good to get out and see the world a bit.

Friday Links

By in Friday Unrelated Information

1. This was fascinating but I have to take issue with The Atlantic‘s title–I kind of expect anything from a giant lizard, you know?  No One Imagined Giant Lizard Nests Would Be This Weird

2. This is definitely not safe for work and has adult language but it’s the best skewering (sorry) of the billionaire space race yet.

3. From the good old Dank Dune Memes account, in honor of the new! Dune movie!! trailer!!! (it looks incredible).

(my kind of flag)

For My Fellow 80s Kids

By in Uncategorized

This was the biggest dopamine hit of nostalgia I’ve gotten since I looked up the 1983 My Little Pony Movie on YouTube: A recreation of The Print Shop software from 1988. We had the MS-DOS version and I would spend hours making cards for random reasons–I still remember one I made with the greeting, “MOM, CAN I GET UP EARLY AND DRINK COFFEE WITH YOU?”

Anyway, someone has put a version of it online and you can relive all your childhood card-making adventures, down to what (now) feels like an extraordinarily long lag time between steps. Give it a try here. (I did, of course.)

Wednesday Poem

By in poems

Originally written in 1970 as a spoken word piece, Gil Scott-Heron’s poem has gone viral this week. I love the thought of a poem going viral; I just wish it weren’t for a d*ck-measuring contest between billionaires who could take just a fraction of their money and actually help people, rather than pretending to be astronauts.

 

Whitey On The Moon
Gil Scott-Heron

A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arms began to swell.
(and Whitey’s on the moon)
I can’t pay no doctor bill.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
Ten years from now I’ll be paying still.
(while Whitey’s on the moon)
The man just upped my rent last night.
(’cause Whitey’s on the moon)
No hot water, no toilets, no lights.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
I wonder why he’s upping me?
(’cause Whitey’s on the moon?)
I wuz already paying him fifty a week.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Taxes taking my whole damn check,
Junkies making me a nervous wreck,
The price of food is going up,
An’ as if all that shit was’t enough:
A rat done bit my sister Nell.
(with Whitey on the moon)
Her face and arm began to swell.
(but Whitey’s on the moon)
Was all that money I made last year
(for Whitey on the moon?)
How come there ain’t no money here?
(Hmm! Whitey’s on the moon)
Y’know I just about had my fill
(of Whitey on the moon)
I think I’ll send these doctor bills,
Airmail special
(to Whitey on the moon)

Where Is My Sewjo?

By in sewing

I have so much wonderful fabric, boxes of patterns, and even ideas about how to combine them, but absolutely no desire to do anything about it.

I think part of the problem is everything feels like it’s in limbo: there’s midsummer limbo, where you want the heat to break but it’s too soon to think about jackets and fall sewing; the “am I going to keep working from home 100%?” limbo, where you don’t need fancy jackets or dresses to wear to the office; and the “am I going to keep working with dudes who wear whatever jeans are clean, or am I going to change industries?” limbo.

So maybe that’s where my sewjo is. I do keep looking at knit pencil skirts, and big dresses, and knit easy dresses, so maybe I just give in and make a dress and that will get things going again?  I can always wear it with sneakers to match the dudes in jeans.

(images from my sewing inspiration Pinterest; they’re old enough that the links are all broken so I can’t credit anyway)

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