Happy Birthday, Alan

Karen

My big brother is 48 today! I look back on previous birthday posts to make sure I get the ages right (easier than math) and it struck me how lucky I am that my brother is good people.

Last year I wrote he was “utterly convinced about right and wrong,” and only reading it this year did I realize that also describes me. Two siblings with Convictions could be a recipe for disaster, but he has a Harris/Walz yard sign. I remember how upset he got hearing about Matthew Shepard long ago. He’s never liked cops.

We fundamentally agree, because we’re fundamentally the same–same parents, same memories, same genetics. He remembers what made me spit my milk out at dinner 35 years ago, I remember what upset him in our 20s. There are jokes online about “the mortifying ordeal of being known” and let me tell you, that is a sibling relationship in a nutshell. I’m just thankful to be known by a good person, who loves me, whom I love. Happy birthday!

 

Another Poem

Karen

I try not to post too many poems from week to week, but it’s almost fall; it’s a poetic time. I saw this one on the Poetry Is Not a Luxury account. “This test again” sure sums up how I feel about sunset at 7:30, ha.

 

September
by Joseph Fasano

And now the first winds
purr what they’ve been learning
like a children’s choir
flipping through their hymnals.

This test again, this wintering,
this bite.

Summer, Summer’s roads are over-

And all these leaves,
this foliage on your shoulders-
like all the ghosts of childhood’s
wild silence
laying on their hands
as though to guide you.
It is time to fall into your life.

The Lost Labyrinth of Egypt?

Karen

I follow Stephen Ellcock, an author and “renowned image collector” (according to his publisher), on Instagram. He’ll drop a slideshow of art and images, loosely related by theme, which is how I found out about The Great Lost Labyrinth of Egypt (!).

Image from Stephen’s post, captioned “The Great Lost Labyrinth of Egypt, (said to be more impressive even than the pyramids) as described first by Herodotus. 1670s engraving by Athanasius Kircher.”

 

I went right to Wikipedia, as one does, and read about it (emphasis mine for the cool parts!):

There are also double sets of chambers, three thousand altogether, fifteen hundred above and the same number under ground. … We learned through conversation about [the labyrinth’s] underground chambers; the Egyptian caretakers would by no means show them, as they were, they said, the burial vaults of the kings who first built this labyrinth, and of the sacred crocodiles. …

But I really wanted more artists’ recreations! I want more info! I also want either a current expedition to discover more of the ruins or a movie about such a thing, I’m not picky.

I did a brief wider search and found “Virtual Harawa,” plans for a research expedition, and, uh, a TikTok from a cosplayer claiming there were LIDAR scans? But not much more! Get moving, scientists, I want my National Geograhpic special/summer movie.

Lesson: Just Use The Good Fabric

Karen

After I posted about block prints and dresses a few weeks ago, I finished my muslin of the Bonnet Shirt in the dress view. I used shirtings I had in my stash (the last of my order from Sultans a couple years ago); in my mind, a mix of classic stripes could be preppy and cool.

Except it turned out more “Founding Fathers slumber party” than “cool preppy dress”:

The pattern was fine but I could not get over the nightshirt vibes, so I cropped it to the tunic view. Much better!

 

I DO think that I’ll like this pattern as a dress–just in a print that feels like me. I’m not preppy! I love colors and patterns! So it’s a good thing that my block print order arrived:

Thursday Poem

Karen

This was in the most recent Hell’s Backbone Grill newsletter and it’s really giving me Mary Oliver vibes. “There are many ways/ to face the dark” indeed.

 

Crickets
By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

When they sing
it is a kind of love,
a pure-toned,
full-bodied ringing
born of friction.
You could say
it’s just a wingstroke
that makes a pulse of sound
that joins with all
the other pulses
to form a river of music,
and you would be right.
But there are many ways
to face the dark.
One is to hide.
One is to prowl.
One is to bring
the bright music
of your body
and offer it
to the night.
Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

54 Days

Karen

We watched about thirty minutes of the presidential debate last night before we both went online to read live-streams about it instead of listening to that guy’s deranged voice. Doc chose the New York Times; I chose social media.

 

This was pre-debate but you know I’m going to post the Chinese AI:


 

In all seriousness, I appreciated the Harris strategy to get under his skin, and not just for the rich online fodder. I thought she was fantastic talking about abortion:

I can’t fathom how anyone is undecided in this election but … maybe decide for the candidate who hasn’t announced plans to be a dictator. Also check your voter registration/make sure you’re registered!

Tuesday Project Roundup: Hiking (Climbing) Pants

Karen

Since shorts season is ending, I thought I’d make some hiking pants. But every pattern I was seeing didn’t seem high-waisted enough to be comfortable with my hip pack. Then I remembered the splash that the Leila Makes Topo Pants made–Leila has a huge Instagram following and released her first pattern for a pair of climbing pants last year. The pattern said it was high-waisted to work under a climbing harness. Boom! Pants pattern acquired.

 

The pattern has some nice details, like a double front with knee darts, and the drafting was fine. She’s selling these as unisex, though, so I made the recommended full seat adjustment just by guessing how much my seat would need. The elastic at the ankles seemed like a weird insertion method and the instructions could have been tighter, but overall it wasn’t too amateur of a pattern.

I made these in a technical stretch woven (Eddie Bauer for Joann) and did not size down as the pattern recommended, so they’re baggy. But I don’t mind; I’ll probably grow into them as I keep squatting and I can throw a base layer under these pretty easily.

 

The pockets included in the pattern are unequivocally great, though: two deep front pockets plus as many holster pockets as you want to add (I made two and put velcro on one). I also added a zip pocket into the yoke seam, which was pretty easy to figure out. (You lose your ID in a lake one time and you put a secure zip pocket for ID ONLY on every pair of pants thereafter.)

 

And they’re definitely high-waisted enough to be comfy with my packs, so all in all a successful project. Plus I have some pants if I ever want to try climbing.