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Wednesday Poem

March 29, 2023 By Karen in poems No Comments

I found this in my folder of saved blog stuff and ooof. It’s perfect for when your love’s illness triggers a lot of the same feelings as losing your mom, and for when you are feeling your age at the gym, and for when you’re considering Botox. (All the best poems are multi-purpose.)

 

Living in the Body
by Joyce Sutphen

Body is something you need in order to stay
on this planet and you only get one.
And no matter which one you get, it will not
be satisfactory. It will not be beautiful
enough, it will not be fast enough, it will
not keep on for days at a time, but will
pull you down into a sleepy swamp and
demand apples and coffee and chocolate cake.

Body is a thing you have to carry
from one day into the next. Always the
same eyebrows over the same eyes in the same
skin when you look in the mirror, and the
same creaky knee when you get up from the
floor and the same wrist under the watchband.
The changes you can make are small and
costly—better to leave it as it is.

Body is a thing that you have to leave
eventually. You know that because you have
seen others do it, others who were once like you,
living inside their pile of bones and
flesh, smiling at you, loving you,
leaning in the doorway, talking to you
for hours and then one day they
are gone. No forwarding address.

Tuesday Project Roundup: Sewing Warm Clothes

March 28, 2023 By Karen in sewing, Tuesday Project Roundup No Comments

If it’s going to snow and be cold forever, I’m going to have some new fleece for it. This was an impulse project over the weekend, sparked by looking at the Cotopaxi site (and by having about 6 different types of fleece and Supplex and a basket of notions on hand):

I used the Green Pepper Polar Pullover pattern again and just eyeballed where to split the main body to make 2 sections for color blocking. Instead of trying to put a zipper in this wiggly fleece, I extended the snap placket all the say down. Then I zoomed in on the Cotopaxi pocket and cut a square that looked about the right size and put an inset zipper in it (with a zipper garage!).

I cut too much off the armholes; I should have just taken the width off the shoulder and not evenly around. But it works to wear over big sweatshirts:

And it is COZY. I wore it out to the grocery store yesterday afternoon instead of a coat and was nice and warm, even though the wind was blowing and it was 37 degrees.

I got inspired by a lot of the Cotopaxi color block look and it’s not looking like it’s going to be warm any time soon, so stay tuned for some fleece joggers and a jacket that tries to mimic the quilting detail on this one.

Monday Mood

March 27, 2023 By Karen in Uncategorized No Comments

It’s Monday! It’s snowing again! Doc’s guts are acting up again! I saw this last night and just burst out laughing–that poor lady. She is me, expecting to be able to do a new job perfectly, expecting physical bodies to just recover immediately, expecting spring weather to be, you know, spring-like. Sometimes those expectations just get flung across the carnival ride.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Funny Oracle Card Decks (@rebeldeck)

Friday Links

March 24, 2023 By Karen in Friday Unrelated Information No Comments

Wow are we all having a hard time with the weather here. I saw my brother last weekend and we just looked at each other and shook our heads. I saw my friend yesterday and we both swore we’d plan a trip NOW for February 2024. I am so uninspired (and COLD) and I know the blog reflected that this week.

Also, it’s snowing as I write this and we’re expecting 4 inches from this storm today.

1. Related to the struggle with a winter that is just not going to end, I’ve started saying this to Doc after every basic task I complete (from here):

 

2. Is “your mom being vindicated that your youthful shoe choices will wreck your feet” part of the human condition? It might be. That’s how this Atlantic piece about the rise of cool orthopedic sneakers was framed, and I encountered it just as I realized my knees can’t handle wearing Converse any more.

 

3. I can’t get this song out of my head:

 

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A post shared by Capy FP (@capyclub_)

 

4. And finally, there is a general strike on in France and I’m sorry, the French even make striking look cool as hell:

Electricians and gas workers rallying with the youth. The fight against pension reform in France continues. pic.twitter.com/c0lEvf58a7

— Dripped Out Trade Unionists (@UnionDrip) March 23, 2023

Solidarity!

Gram Time

March 23, 2023 By Karen in gram time No Comments

Here are some things I’ve saved in my feeds as this cold, wet March still refuses to be springlike.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Poem

March 22, 2023 By Karen in poems No Comments

Here’s a lovely little poem for Wednesday, something to remember as we keep on fighting the good fight. We can be the last leaves.

You Can’t
by Maya Abu Al-Hayyat
translated by Fady Joudah

They will fall in the end,
those who say you can’t.
It’ll be age or boredom that overtakes them,
or lack of imagination.
Sooner or later, all leaves fall to the ground.
You can be the last leaf.
You can convince the universe
that you pose no threat
to the tree’s life.

from You Can Be the Last Leaf, 2022

Nine Years

March 21, 2023 By Karen in love No Comments

I met Doc nine years ago today, at a friend’s birthday party at the fancy taco place. He made a pun about the fish of the day and the rest is history.

We don’t have a lot of pics together but this is one from the summer of 2014 and nothing makes you realize how much you’ve grown and endured together than looking at the unyielding passage of time:

Since that picture was taken we’ve dealt with my mental health, my mom died, we debated kids, there was a pandemic, we pooled our money, Toby got old, I started caring about politics (he always did), and so much more.

I always assumed being a couple was date nights and fun trips, but being partners is that and a lot of hard stuff, too. He makes it not feel hard, though, and there isn’t anyone else I’d rather do the fun or the hard things with. Happy anniversary, honey. I love you.

Museum Day

March 20, 2023 By Karen in Wallace Stegner No Comments

We took our nephew to the Utah Museum of Natural History yesterday and had a good time poking around the giant building, wondering how the dioramas were made, and checking out the skyline from the roof terrace:
(He whipped out a spyglass to check things out; I don’t know where he was keeping it but clearly he was prepared for the trip.)

The museum is the very model of a modern major attraction, with lots (and lots) of interpretive text—even Wallace Stegner:


He might have stolen most of Angle of Repose from Mary Foote’s journals but that thief sure could describe the West.

Friday Links

March 17, 2023 By Karen in Friday Unrelated Information

1. Nebraska state senator Machaela Cavanaugh is a true hero: She is using a filibuster rule to hold up every bill that comes through during the legislative session, in protest after a bill that would outlaw gender-affirming care for minors* advanced out of committee.

From the AP story: Cavanaugh has spent entire days of her filibuster discussing her favorite Girl Scout cookies, Omaha’s best doughnuts, and the plot of the movie “Madagascar.”

“If this legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” Cavanaugh said. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”

Do not cross a Midwestern woman.

*specifically, trans minors. Let’s be clear, cis people (minors, too) can continue to get gender affirming care with no barriers—without even realizing they’re getting it. Example: Years ago, I got a testosterone-blocking medication called spironolactone by a dermatologist to help with acne. If you’re a middle-aged cis man, you can get Viagra with just an appointment with your primary care doctor. Boob jobs, hormone replacement therapy for menopause, hair transplants if you’re going bald…all gender affirming care. If you think trans people shouldn’t have that, really ask yourself why.

 

2. Ahem. Here are some capybaras chilling tf out. I would like to join them.

 

3. And finally, I have never thought about Gene Kelly’s core strength before, but now I can’t stop watching this.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The magic of old Hollywood (@oldhollywoodfans)

Feelings Lately (Via Instagram)

March 16, 2023 By Karen in gram time

(jk, I actually hired a financial planner last week and I feel SO adult [and relieved]. But this still crosses my mind.)

 

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