Month: October 2018

Happy Samhain

Karen

I’m not Wiccan but I find it endlessly fascinating to learn about the old, old traditions, how the early Christian church adapted/co-opted them, and how they’ve evolved into what we have today. (See also: Saturnalia, Eostre, etc.)

For Halloween, we can thank the Celtic pagans for the idea of spirits being close, the focus on death and blood and bones, and even trick-or-treating–and you can learn all about it in the Wikipedia article.

Turns out the originators of the holiday had some of the OG creepy costume ideas, too. I present the Láir Bhán (similar to the Mari Lywd, for any readers of The Dark is Rising series):

In parts of southern Ireland during the 19th century, the guisers included a hobby horse known as the Láir Bhán (white mare). A man covered in a white sheet and carrying a decorated horse skull (representing the Láir Bhán) would lead a group of youths, blowing on cow horns, from farm to farm. At each they recited verses, some of which “savoured strongly of paganism”, and the farmer was expected to donate food. If the farmer donated food he could expect good fortune from the ‘Muck Olla’; not doing so would bring misfortune.

(Image from here)

Tuesday Project Roundup: Gym Pants (That Are Not $85)

Karen

At the risk of sending my dad into cardiac arrest when he reads this, I tried to buy the Outdoor Voices CloudKnit Sweats for $85.  Sure, I knew I could make them, but I’d convinced myself the fabric and the fit would be spectacular and totally worth it.

I mean, just look at these miracle sweatpants!

 

Well, two sizes and returns later, the fabric felt like a weird polyester microfiber, there was an unnecessary  seam right at the bend of the knee, and the fit was less flattering than the Hudson Pants pattern we all know and love. I knew what I had to do.

I got two yards of a very soft poly/rayon/spandex French terry and for $20 and a half a day of sewing, I had some gym pants and $65 in the bank.

As you can see by the photo IN AN ACTUAL GYM, I’ve worn these to workouts and they do great–the spandex keeps them from bagging out at the knees and they’re trim but not frumpy, with a little more coverage than leggings. (Maybe next year I can be the person wearing shorts, knee socks, and a lifting belt, but I’m not there yet.)

Mousekin’s Golden Ears

Karen

Doc sent me this picture of Toby enjoying the sun on the couch during the week, and I immediately thought of these books, and this one in particular:

I don’t know if Toby is the smiling Mousekin or the smiling jack-o-lantern, but he’s definitely a happy kitty.

On Judging

Karen

When you go into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees… and some of them are bent, and some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens and some of them are–whatever. And you look at the tree, and you just–allow it. You appreciate it. You see why it is the way it is, you sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way, and you don’t get all emotional about it, you just allow it. You appreciate the tree.

The minute you get near humans, you lose all that, and you’re constantly saying, “You’re too this,” or “I’m too this,” or–that judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees, which means appreciating them just the way they are.

 

(From a blog post by Ram Dass in 2016, here)

Learning New Words

Karen

I am out of the dating scene and not in my twenties, but I enjoyed this essay nonetheless: Against Chill. As the subhead explains it, “In recent years, ‘chill’ has become one of the most desirable qualities in a romantic prospect. But it is a garbage virtue that will destroy the species.”

I routinely happen upon men who are perplexed when I eventually declare that I want to know where we stand. Indecision is not a noble virtue. If a man is in “Not really feeling this becoming more than what it is,” territory, I should be made aware in no uncertain terms. If a man is in “I am waiting for someone else to be my girlfriend but I’ll keep you around till I find her” territory, I ought to know that too. My feelings, and the feelings of many people I know, are more hurt by the prolonged waiting for a concrete answer while we sit quietly with our feigned Chill. It is as if I’ve broken some unwritten law when I ask what they are looking for and am dissatisfied with the answer “I don’t really like to put labels on things.” But putting labels on things are how people find the exit during a fire and make sure they’re adding vanilla extract to the cake instead of arsenic.

Golden Days

Karen

My mom took us all out to California and the Channel Islands before she starts a little more chemo, and it was a wonderful trip. I kept thinking of M.F.K. Fisher:

There we were, solidly one for these moments at least…not laughing perhaps as the families do in the pictures and the stories, but with our eyes loving and deep, one to another. It was good, worth the planning. It made the other…more endurable, more a part of being that undeniable rock, the Family.

Today’s Quote

Karen

Something from David Foster Wallace (via Austin Kleon) and something to keep in mind as you choose (or write) your books.

“Look, man, we’d probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is? In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live and glow despite the times’ darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.”

Tuesday Project Roundup: BEST CRAZY PANTS

Karen

Sure, sewing means you can make workout wear and plaid button-downs and an array of knit tops to fill holes in your wardrobe, but sometimes you just need to sew some crazy mustard-colored Japanese printed pants.

Or JAPANTS, as my coworker called them:

I saw this fabric at Miss Matatabi and the idea of JAPANTS sprang into my head fully-formed, like the trouser version of the birth of Athena. I used the Emerson Pants pattern and my serger and in about a day I had the best crazy pants of my dreams.

They are a lot of PANT but I love them–I’m a sucker for a Japanese print and for that Bob Ross yellow ochre color, so together they’re doubly good.