Over the weekend I finally had a big housewarming party. It was a lot of work, but to be fair, I decided to further add to the workload by making a new dress for it:
This is essentially the same pattern as the other tunic dress I made in May, just with a higher neckline, a shorter hem, and elbow sleeves (I was copying the style below, from EmersonMade–just not in boring black, of course).
The fabric I used is Amy Butler home decor-weight twill, so it’s very, um, structured. But I like it. And I pulled it off. Because I can sew dresses AND throw parties.
Watch Out For Snakes!
I went up into the foothills behind Red Butte yesterday afternoon because I wanted to think and get some sun and work on my poem memorization. I consider myself a cautious hiker (I stick to trails with cell reception when I’m alone; I always have food and water and a first aid kit, etc.) but I think I need to pay a little more attention to my surroundings and a little less to what’s in my head from now on.
I was walking along and brooding and passing what I thought was a stick until, mid-pass, my brain registers, “Holy shit that’s a rattlesnake.” I won’t say I nearly stepped on him but I was a LOT closer than I would have been had I seen him right away.
Fortunately, Snake seemed pretty relaxed in the sun, all stretched out and looking like a stick. I got some better distance between us and checked him out–about eighteen inches long and diamond patterned (nice camouflage, buddy!).
Then, of course, I paid a lot more attention to the trail for the rest of the hike.
(Do any Misties out there get the post title? No googling!)
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Yesterday I finally had sod installed! It’s one of the miracles of the modern age.
2. Speaking of miracles, this is a clever site that treats 1950’s advertising like religious iconography (ironically, of course).
3. The even*cleveland blog has featured women aviators this week. I really love the photos of the Women’s Flying Training Detachment she found in the LIFE archives.
It’s OK To Be A Cat Guy
I think people should just own their crazy cat lady (or man) tendencies, but apparently there’s still some barriers to overcome. That’s why I like this series of ads for a California animal rescue telling us, “It’s OK to be a cat guy.” No, they’re not subtle. But there are cats. And guys.
Bake Sale For SETI?
Remember how I mentioned that SETI was shutting down the Allen Telescope Array due to lack of funds? Well, there’s been enough public outcry that they’ve set up a fundraising site, SETIstars, specifically for getting the ATA back up and listening. From the About page:
We have launched SETIstars to formalize the significant giving that has already happened since the announcement of ATA’s hibernation and to be the start of a broader community engagement strategy for the SETI Institute.
The current goal is to raise $200,000 in the next 38 days–and they’re 10% there! Donate to help them out (since I don’t think they’ll take me up on the idea of a bake sale).
Tuesday Project Roundup: Hamburglar Chic All Year Long
I’m so happy that it’s finally warm out, but a few weeks ago I realized I missed wearing my striped coat everywhere. The lack of hamburger-stealing stripes made a definite hole in my wardrobe–so I fixed that.
I got more of the same IKEA canvas when I was down buying my TV stand (I love IKEA so much) and used a pattern from the Burda site. Other than forgetting to add seam allowances to the pattern download (oops! I fudged on the side seams), this went together easily, in about a day.
Now I can burgle burgers in the summer heat!
Monday Poem
I’ve recently discovered Galway Kinnell, so here’s part of a longer poem for today. Because what else is poetry for, if not to remind us that nothing is permanent?
From Little Sleep-Head’s Hair Sprouting in Moonlight:
5.
If one day it happens
you find yourself with someone you love
in a café at one end
of the Pont Mirabeau, at the zinc bar
where white wine stands in upward opening glasses,
and if you commit then, as we did, the error
of thinking,
one day all this will only be memory,
learn,
as you stand
at this end of the bridge which arcs,
from love, you think, into enduring love,
learn to reach deeper
into the sorrows
to come – to touch
the almost imaginary bones
under the face, to hear under the laughter
the wind crying across the black stones. Kiss
the mouth
which tells you, here,
here is the world. This mouth. This laughter. These temple bones.
The still undanced cadence of vanishing.
Friday Unrelated Information
1. Happy early Fathers’ Day to all the dads out there–including my own excellent father and my big brother, who is the lucky daddy of this morsel:
Seriously. This baby is so cute I can’t stand it.
2. I am debating whether I can pull this shirt off. I think it goes without saying that I really, really want to. (And honestly, is it any geekier than my Sagan t-shirt?)
(Don’t get it? Watch this. Enjoy.)
Black Is Hot, White Is Return, Green Is Ground
Have you ever wondered why I’ve never posted a full shot of my kitchen? It was because I hated the industrial florescent light fixture in it. But now I can show pictures (and only cavil at the cabinets being wood, not white) because look–new lights!
Matching new lights! (Yes, I still need a dining table.)
I made my father come over last weekend and change out lights–but don’t worry, I watched and learned. I could totally do the next one.
Here’s a detail. These are not fancy (I had no idea how much you can spend on lighting!) but they give the look I want (mod!).
Oh, Snap
This exchange from Across the River and Into the Trees has always haunted me. I was rearranging books this week and found some old journals and, yes, poems and had to think of it.
“Es un oficio bastante malo,” he repeated, “loving me.”
“Yes. But it is the only one I have.”
“Don’t you write any more poetry?”
“It was young girl poetry. Like young girl painting. Everyone is talented at a certain age.”
SNAP!