k-brow: there are no words

in this here blog:

Grass Doe

Just amazing, beautiful pictures of people, places and food.

k-brow: oh look, a meme!

I'm on spring break now and feeling lazy.



1. Can you cook? What?
I'm a good cook. I specialize in soups, stews and peasant foods, for the most part, but am also able to bake bread, cakes from scratch and biscuits.

2. What was your dream growing up?
To be a hippie chick and live outside of Blacksburg, VA on a little farm with chickens, horses and goats, with my guitar-playing soulful boyfriend.

3. What talent do you wish you had?
Some sort of musical talent.

4. Favorite place?
In all the world? Probably the area of the country where I grew up. Close contenders are: the Sonoran Desert, the island of Java, London.

5. Favorite vegetable?
Kale. Homegrown tomatoes.

6. What was the last book you read?
"The Friday Night Knitting Club". meh.


7. What zodiac sign are you?
Leo

8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
Ears pierced.

9. Worst Habit?
Procrastination.

10. Do we know each other in real life?
Many of you do.

11. What is your favorite sport?
I am not sporty, by nature. Dog agility?

12. Is a glass of water half-full or half empty?
Half-empty.

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me (after we called for help, of course)?
Oh, just talk your ear off.

14. Would you share an embarrassing moment with me?
Um...no doubt.

15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
I constantly look for ways to break tiny insignificant rules.

16. Do you have any pets?
2 poodle dogs.

17. Can you read a book upside down?
uh...why do you want to know?

18. What time is it where you are now?
5:23 pm. Time to walk the dogs and figure out dinner.

19. Who was the scariest fairy-tale/children movie hero ever for you?
I was terrified of pictures of a cyclops in a children's encyclopedia.

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
I'd be more muscular.

21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
your conscience.

22. What color eyes do you have?
hazel.

23. Ever been arrested?
I had a warrant placed for my arrest for a bicycle traffic violation, but I paid a fine and got off without going to the pokey.

24. A cop or a robber?
Probably, in spite of my sneaky ways, a cop.

25. If you won 10,000 pounds/dollars today, what would you do with it?
Maybe do some repairs on my house. Take a trip to Japan. Bring my sister along.

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
Dubble bubble.
27. Favourite fastfood restaurant?
Taco Bell, and in Hawaii, Zippy's.

28. Do you believe in ghosts?
Yes.

29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Knit. Read. Daydream.

30. Do you swear a lot?
Hell, yes. More than I'd like to.

31. Biggest pet peeve?
Gosh, I can't think of anything that really bothers me at the moment.

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Eclectic.

33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

k-brow: court intrigues

A weekend dedicated to the migraine, and too much fioricet, resulting in more sleep than any one person needs. I feel better now, and actually managed to get a few things done, knitting, even. But I'm left with the residual feeling of deprivation. Now back at work, all I can think of is that Spring Break is coming, and not a minute too soon.

This thing, this theme of "Keep the country country" cracks me up. There are very few places on Oahu I'd call actual "country", and certainly Sunset Beach/Waimea, where this pic was taken, isn't one of them. But I do get the gist of it, that desire to return to a simpler time, or at least to preserve what simplicity remains. (as always, click to get biggety-like images)

Speaking of old times gone by, and simple stuff that's gone completely crazy in these modern times...

Our school is having this crazy spring fling with a court and everything. A court. Here in the islands, there's this practice of choosing a king and queen (formerly on May Day) and princesses and escorts, in the elementary schools each year. Like a prom, only not with the dancing and dates and suchlike. But definitely an opportunity for sowing the seeds of princess behavior. Hell, I've heard it's even done in preschools. It's a little bit precious, especially as it gets all mixed up with Hawaiian language and culture studies, at least at our school. The queen has to do a special hula, and each class that performs (because it's nothing if not a huge freakin' performance opportunity) has to bow to the court before the performance. It's some crazy stuff, and coming right hard on the beginning of break, end of the quarter and right before state testing. I complained about the bowing thing, today, and got a good warning about trying a little harder to not mess up the authenticity of the fete...showing proper respect to the court, etc. Oh man... while I like royalty and all, and DEFINITELY think our queen is a good kid and one who deserves every honor, this court thing has gone a little over the top. My bowing complaint was mostly because it didn't flow with my class's performance, which requires them to start offstage, not onstage. Nevertheless, I sucked it up and choreographed in a little bow. I know not to mess with royalty. Or traditions at this school. It's just that this mix of European royalty tradition and Hawaiian culture played out in school customs is something I can't quite get my head around.

I am counting the days. Oh lord, am I counting the days. I am so counting the days.

Lest this turn into a rant about things I don't really mean, I feature now a shot of the burgeoning Nuuanu stream, the very one that runs through Acornbud's backyard, and on downhill into our own neighborhood. I go to sleep each night to the sound of this creek, and it is very full right now, with all the rain we've been having. It is more natural uphill, in our 'hood it's this fenced in culvert thing, as pictured. Still, the area is lush and green. Occasionally, one sees ducks hanging out, and I think our resident toads do their breeding there.


No knitting to show, I am trying to finish Must Have, so I can wear it on my endless flight to Atlanta. But our jade plant is responding to the newfound sunshine with a touch of red.

k-brow: lion or lamb?

Thus goes March. Yesterday, sunny and cool; possibly the most beautifully perfect Hawaiian spring day I've ever seen. I got sunburned standing outside at school, coaching my students through their dance practice. Today, it's cold and rainy again. Rain all day, and temperatures back in the 60's. I had a migraine, leftover from yesterday, and spent much of the day in fitful sleep, aided by the miracle of Fioricet. Awoke at 5pm, declared myself cured, and took the dogs outside for a sunset frolic at Nuuanu schoolyard.

It was Pi day; 3.14, so P made a pie; Bstilla, to be precise:

So yummy, accompanied by a green salad. Too rich for dessert, though I am eating a bit of dark chocolate with a cup of red zinger tea now.

Because of the all day sleep, I'm not the least bit sleepy. I'm sitting up, shrouded in Lady Eleanor, Ella at my feet, watching first a fascinating show about ancient architecture on the History channel, and now the movie, "Yentl" on Showtime. Knitting on this sweet confection of a sock:


The elusive Trekking 126. It's been lounging in stash for a couple of years. I think, at one time, it was discontinued or in high demand or something. I love its colors; neapolitan, or like that Brach's coconut candy that's so hard to find. The pattern is the basic sock recipe from Sensational Knitted Socks, which is my sock bible. Knit 3, purl 1, top down on 2 circular needles, size US1. Trekking is my go-to sock yarn. I own others, but it is this yarn that I most frequently knit up into socks.

I'm feeling sock-positive, these days. I am not one of those knitters who knits exclusively socks. You know the ones. But moving to the mainland, I'm thinking that a few pairs of handknit socks could be a good thing. It would chew up some stash, as well.

I've seen the new Knitty, and I love the Reverie and Sourwood Mountain patterns. Especially Sourwood. I will knit those mitts. I've got the perfect yarn for them, a deep green Jo Sharp Silkroad DK, in stash. Another portable project for one burnt out on hefty undertakings.

I am going to Atlanta for a few days over Spring Break, week after next. Might as well go see the place where I'll be living...looking forward to the getaway, looking forward to spring on the East Coast, but oh my, do I fear that nonstop flight from HNL to ATL!! Endless time in the air. I'm already making a playlist for the iPod; I've corralled the perfect book; Wally Lamb's "The Hour I First Believed", and I've got the socks and the UFO Chevron Scarf to finish. And still, it will be an endless flight, in coach. Thank the goddess I have an aisle seat.

I love this movie "Yentl." It's about a woman in eastern Europe, in the early 1900's, who wants to study Torah. Barbara Streisand cuts her hair, and somehow convinces the men she's a young boy and goes to seminary, only not seminary. I guess it's yeshiva. Anyway, good stuff, for an escapist night. We have the love interest of Mandy Patinkin lighting up the screen as well.

I went to Knit Night on Thursday, mostly because errands took me there, but also to wish Acornbud a happy birthday. She ended up gifting me with a bag of lavender flowers and some homemade soap! Heavenly stuff, both. The lavender is destined to be stuffed into a sachet, and the soap is too pretty to use, but I guess I'll have to. I hadn't been to Knit Night for weeks, and I haven't particularly missed it. It feels like too much, the working all day, coming home and running the dogs and then racing out to Ward Center. The group is bigger, now, and it just seems easier to curl up on the couch and light a stick of incense, brew a cuppa and knit in my own peaceful house, most nights. There is the social dimension, though. I will play it by ear, this Knit Night hiatus.

In a total non-sequitur, yesterday, at school, at lunch, we were talking in the teachers' lounge about how I would miss local foodstuffs. I remarked that I was very consciously making sure to keep Apple Bananas, pineapple and papaya in stock all the time, now to enjoy while I'm here. Two of my coworkers remarked that they never ate fresh pineapple here, but preferred the canned! I nearly fell out of my chair. One remarked "I don't like to mess with it." Hey, I'll mess with it. I was always a fresh pineapple eater on the mainland, though, it seemed more like a splurge or a rare treat, there, rather than diet staple that it is here.


We found daffodils in the Safeway today. 'Tis the season.

k-brow: i am elinor dashwood

Take the Quiz here!

I was so honest taking this quiz, it wasn't even funny. But I was hoping to get Anne Eliot, who is my favorite Austen heroine. Ahh, well, I won't cheat.

Cold. Rainy. Frozen lasagna in the oven. Gonna go finish the Clapper and do some schoolwork.

k-brow: a dispatch from the submerged world

I'm up uncharacteristically early on a Sunday morning; it's about 7:30. I'm up because Ella peed on the bed in her sleep. Arrrrh. Doesn't happen all that often but it's a rude awakening. Spay incontinence can be a bitch. Heh. I said "bitch" in reference to my female dog. Lest I sound completely uncompassionate, let me assure you that she is being treated, with Chinese herbal compound Suo Quan Wan, which works fairly well, and is much gentler than the alternative, Proin, which my vet describes as "dexatrim" for animals. I think she drank a lot of water last night and was just really tired or something. Anyway, the sheets are in the wash, and the bed is coated liberally with Nature's Miracle. Rude awakening, nevertheless.

But all worth it, because I got to see a patch of blue sky. That is something, around here, let me tell you. It's been a whole lotta this, recently:


We simply do not see the sun in Nuuanu, and it rains more often than not, these days. I've taken to going to other parts of the island to see what sun there is to be seen and to feel like I'm drying out a bit. It's been windy, too, adding to the general feeling of cold. I'm not alone in my incessant whingeing about this weather, but I'm even getting tired of hearing myelf!

The external conditions are mirrored for me, internally, so I really want to do nothing more than burrow under the sheets and sleep until April wakes me up. But work is eating my life right now, so to work I must go, where it is no sunnier, and where I am scrambling frantically, to finish out the quarter, as well as coach a bunch of kids in a dance performance that I'm just learning as they are. Ugh. I do not like this extracurricular aspect of teaching. Usually I run a homework club, but as our class gets ready for its big Spring Fling, it's flinging extra responsibilities my way. Add this to the burgeoning hormones and pre-adolescent drama of the 5th graders, and you've got a recipe for exhaustion. Far worse than the exhaustion, though is the condition of "no joy."

A conversation with a friend last week reminded me that life could be far, far worse, and that I am very blessed and lucky, indeed, but it's a difficult time of year, nevertheless. I won't be but so magnanimous on the blog, thank you.

Still, there was a little glimpse of blue sky today.

My knitting on Clapotis, in the "Driving Through December in Virginia" colorway of Silk Garden, continues. I am on the last few decrease rows, now, and am enjoying this knitting, with its stockinette soothing me all the way. I chose to knit the thing on straight needles. I often start a project on my Lantern Moon straights, mostly because they are so beautiful to see and touch, but then, as the project gets heavier, I switch to the Denise circulars. Not so for this project. The rosewood was too nice a match for the earthy colors of the yarn, and I needed the thrill of pleasure I got each time I picked up the needles. It hasn't been all that heavy, and the Lantern Moons are pointy and fast, fast, fast. Even for a slow knitter like me. Here is a progress shot, though we are long past that, as well:

I am looking forward to wearing this so much! I have never knit a clapotis that I kept for myself that was truly satisfying, and I have a feeling this will be the one.

I spent a nice evening at Acornbud's last week. She surprised me with a Guinness upon my arrival, and things just got better from there. It was good to get out of my own house and head, and just enjoy the company of friends and great food. Chris made a rare appearance, and Blogless Michelle came over and brought vegan cupcakes along with Baby Max, who is not pictured here, alas... which were these incredible gingerbread things with lemon buttercream (except that there was no butter nor cream in the recipe) frosting. Now I'm no vegan, but when someone brings me cupcakes, especially in a flavor I was craving, I'm not going to quibble semantics. Blogless Michelle is taking over the world with her culinary experiments, and establishing a new identity as a meat-eating vegan. We are the happy beneficiaries of her experiments.

There's sun actually shining across the valley this morning. Albeit, a weak lemon buttercream sort of sun, but it shines nevertheless. I'm going to refill my coffee and try and finish up my clapper this morning, and hope for beach weather soon.

k-brow: worth the wait

The end of Rosedale. Well, except for the sleeves. I saved the sleeves, so I could see a clear image of the color runs of the yarn. I have several small balls of Kureyon left from the frogging. I want to felt them together to make one larger ball, but would like to stay true to the color runs of the original balls, so I kept the sleeves for now, whilst I work on this salvage project. Ahh, Rosedale, you deserved better...

The year I moved here, really, on the first day I arrived here, I found, discarded in my yard, a phalenopsis orchid in bloom. I brought it inside, kept it as a pet for a long time. It made a baby sprout and then the whole thing seemingly died. I was sad, but quickly healed my pain by focusing on the ease with which dendrobium orchids are grown. Forgot about the phalenopsis. Moved on. Occasionally I checked the pot that was sitting outside on the wall (with all the other "done blooming" orchids) but didn't give it much thought. Two days ago, this greeted me as I walked out to work:

Well worth the wait, and I never saw it coming!

P is back from Atlanta for the moment. He's been looking at houses, which aren't nearly as expensive as homes in Northern Virginia, California, or Hawaii. Nothing's been decided yet, as far as places to live go; we have plenty of time, at this point.

I am cooking dog food and waiting for a time between showers to go out and walk Ella. She is the Dog of the Day; ie, the one who gets the energetic focus.

k-brow: freeing the Noro

Today was windy and cold. On a wild whim, I decided to wear Rosedale to work. I knitted this sweater more than a year ago, and I have had mixed feelings about it since I cast it off the needles. So many errors, so much awkwardness. I knitted it because I craved a technical challenge; the corrugated ribbing + intarsia panels were so seductive. The funky, candy-colored sunset Noro Kureyon just made me happy every time I picked up the needles. But my raglan lines were ugly and the intarsia panels were puffy. I never wore it. The Kureyon was itchy, even though I knew it would soften up, if I soaked it. Probably a good blocking would cure the puffitude of the intarsia, too. Alas, I couldn't bring myself to love it. Today, I almost did. It was so warm, and so many people stopped me in the halls to admire the crazy colors and sporty design.
This evening, I decided it wasn't fair to keep the Kureyon enslaved in a sweater I had no love for. Not since I've experienced true love, in the form of Icarus, or the Malabrigo mitts. So I decided to free it for other uses.

I did not reckon how damn difficult it would be to frog corrugated ribbing, let alone intarsia. I learned anew, that I'd had 3 balls of yarn working at any one time on this sweater, and all the little scrips and scraps and woven in bits were enough to make Jesus cry. Not the baby Jesus, either, but the full grown one. It was like unraveling clown vomit for awhile. I've done about half of it, and I'm giving myself a break. This yarn needs to be washed and skeined again, later, to knit again. It's so crinkly and crunchy. But the Noro love in my heart is strong.

k-brow: warming the heart

I give you curried pea soup, and an unintentional peek into my obsession with Le Creuset cookware.
This is my whole collection, bought piece by piece, over about 8 years. On sale. The kettle, a gift from P last Christmas. But the soup...the soup is yellow split peas, carrots, potatoes, celery, curry and fresh spinach, with generous helpings of grated ginger and garlic. I've been feeling the need for a healing broth, a la curry. It isn't done yet, but smells heavenly.

Icarus...I haven't yet blocked him; the bed I use for blocking is covered with stuff waiting to go to the Goodwill, but I've been wearing him every day. I'm madly in love with the softness and the warmth. Hawaii still is in the throes of its windswept winter, and the merino is cozy.

This is how I wear it. I think if I blocked it, it would grow; I would like it a tad bigger, but it's okay for the time being.

Here's a shot of me wearing Icarus in Rivendell...functional fashion for Elvish events!

And here's the outside shot, showing that the shawl isn't really all that green.
I am home alone, and enjoying the quiet. I took the dogs for a leash walk this eve, both together, which is no easy feat for my two. There was cavorting and barking, and it took us awhile to find our rhythm. I usually exercise them separately, if walking is the order of the day. I think I need to do more of this with them together, just because of the extreme subdued behavior afterward. I can play fetch with them for a long time, and they come home riled up and in a lather. But this walk has left them so mellow. I'm no Cesar Milan fan...okay, I think he's cute, but maybe there's something to this 'walking is good for the pack' thing he always preaches. At any rate, I'm trying to walk my own ass out more often, these days. Something about the beginning of Lent, and the need to reinforce good habits.

The timer tells me the soup's ready. Off to turn over a load of laundry, and to cue up "Letters From Iwo Jima" on the dvd player.

Oh and we are getting a crazy hard rain right now. The windows are rattling in the house and the once-catatonic (heh, I said "cat" to describe my dogs) dogs are getting their bark on!

k-brow: blood of the lamp

Happy Belated Valentine's Day. We usually celebrate in a low-key, homecooked meal way. Today, lower-key than ever. Ate school party chocolate, and walked the dogs. Otherwise, we spent the day cleaning house, purging stuff, preparing for the mother of all Goodwill runs. Not as bad as it sounds. P kept threatening to make a chocolate souffle and never got around to it.

I was driving in Manoa today and saw a truck with a spray painted message on its tailgate. Now I think the writer in question meant to write "Blood of the lamb" on it. But they got a little carried away with the can and it ended up reading "Blood of the lamp." I am so sorry not to have a pic of this fabulousness, but I was driving fast and he (not sure why I'm assuming this is a man) was driving faster. Blood of the lamp. May it illuminate your life.

Two weeks ago, I was going to Mocha Java for knit night, and I saw a racy black car with a big decal on the back windshield that said "Hemo Yo Panty." At the time, I had no idea what it meant, only that someone was driving around with the word panty decalled on the back windshield. Later, after mutual confusion, Opal asked her mom what it meant, and her mom gently informed her that "hemo" is Hawaiian for "take off." sigh. So damn tacky. On a car. Out on the street. Pah! I know tacky isn't the word for it, but at the moment I have no better.

We've had howling winds all day here, and our power was out for several hours after the dog walk, say from 6pm to about 11:00. We were cold and tired, so we just went to bed. Then the power came back on, and we'd done nothing about dinner, so we ate leftover salad and wine. Now, I'm wide awake and it's 1:30 am. Glad it's a 3-day weekend.

Knitting mojo remains dicey at best. I'm plugging on Clapotis, though suspecting that I should concentrate on earlier UFO's instead. Just so I don't have to haul the Wicker Basket of Shame to the mainland. I've made so much progress on the clapper, anyway, that it's become a UFO in and of itself.

I went to a great dog training seminar last week. Greg and Laura Derrett, these international agility superstars were en route back from Melbourne, Oz, and stopped by Hawaii to give a 2 day seminar in Mililani. I audited the first day, which was all about agility foundation work. Foundation work is all the games and tricks and techniques you do with the dog before you ever introduce it to the obstacles. The Derretts believe that taking a long time with foundation work makes training the obstacles easy-peasy, and makes for speed and control in competition. I did a fair amount of foundation work with Ella, but know that the person with whom I trained here did not empahasize it, mostly because her clients didn't want it; they wanted to go to the obstacles. I kinda understand that, the obstacles are FUN! Now, having Cricket, who is so bratty, and out-of-control, I realize that we'll probably never run courses, except maybe in private lessons. So the foundation games become a way to build control, and bond with my difficult dog through training. Anyway the Derretts were incredibly funny and I felt really lucky to have a day with them. It made me a little regretful, for a tiny moment, that I had retired Ella, but I'm enjoying the not-training with her so much that I can't really regret.

In Mililani, I visited Blogless Michelle in her new home. She made me an avocado shake. Not something I would have ordered myself, but hey, I drink Nettle infusion, who am I to turn down someone else's idea of green heaven? It had coriander in it and was actually quite nice. I also saw that awesome baby Max, who has definitely raised the bar for looks in a baby. He is just a gorgeous child!
Me and the avocado goodness:

There's been some knitting at Joy's place, as well. But no pix, because I keep forgetting the camera. Suffice to say, I'm out and about and having fun, these days. Gotta taste that rainbow.

k-brow: spring, finally!

Our cold seems to have broken for the moment, replaced by fragrant humidity, and haze. Not ideal, but I like being warmer. The plumeria tree is trying to get leaves and blooms, too. So I can't complain. I am in the midst of multitasking; cooking up stew for my dogs, writing a letter of recommendation for a student who's applying to Punahou (Barack's alma mater!) and watching "Lost."

Little knitting of any consequence has gone on. I finished Icarus about 10 days ago. It had completely dominated me, that shawl. I was knitting about 2 rows a day, and feeling like I would never see the end of it, and suddenly, it was done! Just like that. Then there was the bind off, which pretty much took me a whole Saturday. And now, it's done, though unblocked, thus far. I've been wearing it as a scarf, and am kind of pleased with its wavy edges and the incredible softness of the merino. A true luxury item, considering the hours and hours I put into it.

Now I can safely say 2 things with assurance: (1) I enjoy knitting lace, and forsee more in my future, and (2) I will never knit a big shawl on little needles in laceweight yarn again. So there you have it. Icarus, the anticlimax.

Lots going on in my life. Things I haven't blogged about, so writing about it now seems hurried, somehow abbreviated. Long story short, another chapter in our nomadic life is about to begin. P got a new job in Atlanta, and we're planning to move there sometime this summer. This has more to do with his career and habit of taking jobs in far-flung ends of the country every few years, than with any burning need to flee Hawaii right now. But the truth is (and regular readers know it well) that I do miss life on the mainland and welcome the change.

So yeah. Reactions and the first thoughts in my head...

The logistics of the move just dazzle me. And not in a good way. Didn't I just get unpacked from a crazy move from DC to Honolulu just 3 years ago? Pah!

Shipping 2 dogs in the summer, from one hot place to another? I'm still working out this one.

Selling a big quirky house during a slow economy feels daunting. Moving to a place with far, far lower cost of living is appealing, though.

Quitting my job (I resigned today, but will work through the school year) feels wonderful. It was like taking a big weight off my shoulders. I can enjoy my work again, without feeling embroiled in work drama. A temporary high, doubtless, but I'm committed to enjoying it as long as it lasts.

Leaving friends, my hairdresser, the best vet ever, the perfect dogsitter, the ocean, spam musubi, poke and a walkable, safe downtown? I'm crying over all these things. I don't let myself think about the volcano, the stars and the plumerias, lest I lose my resolve.

But honestly? Seriously, I need to be closer (2 hour flight, or a 10 hour drive) to my family. I can go to VA for a long weekend from Atlanta. I need 3 or 4 seasons, my mind and body just work better that way.

I feel like I'm telling a story that I've told before. Only this time it's all different. Bear with me.

k-brow: a poem

Imbolc Blessings to all and sundry! In honor of the 4th annual Bloggers Silent Poetry Reading, I give you my own contribution:


Green Frog at Roadstead Wisconsin

It is the way of a pleasant path
To walk through white birch, fir,
And spruce on a limestone trail
Through the quiet, complacent time
Of summer when, suddenly, the frog jumps
And you jump after him, laughing,
Hopping, frog and woman, to show
The stationary world its flat ways.
Love is a Frog, I grin that greenly
To your green eyes and they leap
At me. Up, I will enter the Frog World
With you and try the leaping ways
Of the heart that we do not fail to find
The sunlit air full of leaping chances.

- James Schevill

DisKnit: Foot Care, Retrograde, Slowness

KBrow worries that she dominates the blog. I worry that I slack. But the notion that here in cold DC and there in rainy Hawaii, the two of us both bought foot spas on the same day was just too much synchronicity for me to ignore. I ordered mine from Brookstone since I am far too lazy to venture off the couch these days. I also ordered a green suede bag since I lately have been convinced that my life would be better if I had a new purse and when I saw a green one, I knew it had to be mine.

Mercury is in retrograde now and I am inclined to use it as an excuse for everything even when wiser souls tell me that it is only responsible for certain things. I know my wireless internet is acting crazy, so I know it is responsible for that.

Still I have been knitting on the second second in this glorious green and blue from Woolarina:


The Inauguration was quite an experience, my good friend J from Sacramento came. She and her dog Ana is still in the Curtis Park 'hood, in contrast to Ella and Curtis. We had many experiences, including going to a very cool concert called Songs for the President, that in a another moment of synchronicity was mainly sung by folks from Sacramento. I can't tell you all to rush off and buy the three CD set, Of Great and Mortal Men, but it is compelling project. A different song for each president, not always about what you expect. The concert included marvelous drawings, photographs, and films.


The next day, J and I strolled to the mall and caught the We are One concert on the Jumbotrons by the WWII memorial. No major hassles, lots of fun with the people in the crowd gathered near the Washington Monument. At times the urge to record with cameras was a bit overwhelming, but it was also irresistible. Still here is my picture of the crowd all taking pictures as then President-elect Obama spoke:


We were happy to be part of it all. For various reasons, J had to head back to Sacramento before the swearing in, and my plans to watch it at a cafe fell through, so I watched it on the internet at home. By the end of the long weekend, I was inauguration weary, but here we are before that took over:

k-brow: bad traffic, slow progress

After a frantic morning of trying to get things done, and being thwarted by bad Chinese New Year traffic and my own tendancy to argue with people over silly things, I am home again. Intending to clean out my closet, but perhaps more realistically, to take the dogs out, after a short nap and then another shot at stimulating the economy...

I have a pair of Dansko clogs that are about 10 years old. I noticed that the soles were splitting in multiple places the other week, but figured they'd last a few months longer and so didn't pay much attention. Well, yesterday, at work, as I was teaching math, one of my students pointed out that there was "dirt all over the floor" and when I looked down to check it out, discovered that the sole of the left clog was disintegrating as I walked around. Damn...I'm trying to replace them, and have one store left to try, according to all reports, otherwise, it's off to Zappo's. I wore those clogs every day to teach in.

Also, on the shopping agenda, and in the more frivolous category, a foot spa bath. I got a Macy's gift certificate from a student, and am ready to treat my feet to a bit of lovin'. You know, after having a shoe disintegrate...

Nuuanu remains cloudy, in spite of gorgeous clear sunlight elsewhere on the island. I have been indulging in carbofeeding today, with pancakes for breakfast, and part of a gyro sandwich for lunch. What can I say? The attempts to run errands and un-success at finding shoes triggered a need for Brent's coconut-macadamia pancakes. Tomorrow will be better.

Our funny little orange tree is having a good fruiting year, this year. Last year, it gave one orange, this year, about a dozen. I gave this orange another few days to ripen, and when i went out to pick it, I found that one of our ring-neck doves had beaten me to it, and had pecked into the fruit and removed much of it. Those doves are big and fat, and I like to convince myself that it's they, and not the rats, who like to eat our citrus.

Cricket, the dove hunter, is not doing his job.

I am a mere 7 rows from finishing Icarus! My hands and wrists are so sore that I can only knit a row or two a day, now, but I'm not feeling too bad about the progress, anymore. I'm going over to Joy's to work on it tomorrow, and hopefully will get some done. I tried to knit at Aloha Knitters on Thursday, but it was too loud and I kept making the same mistakes over and over again. After this? Maybe a few smaller, more easily completed projects on bigger needles, with fatter yarn, before I face lace again. Though I do have a fascination with lace, I tell you.

k-brow: the little martini glass that could

Far-flung inaugural joy. That's the mood today. Just so happy, feeling like some big heavy thing in my heart is breaking loose; the years of disillusionment and disconnect from the agenda in the White House finally oozing away.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

So it begins. I am happy. My favorite image of the inauguration ceremonies was that of 10-year-old Malia Obama, taking pictures. I love the budding documentarian in the making. Who knows what blogs Malia will keep in a lifetime of capturing the tiny moments in her life? Even those moments that are pretty huge...

I've been up and down this week. Missing my dad, kind of reeling at times from the realization, anew, that he no longer walks in this world, this side of the veil. I'm so grateful for the distraction that working provides, these days. The 5th graders are a very real, demanding presence, thoroughly on this side of the veil.

Icarus...I pick it up, I put it down, a row later. I'm rapidly losing the idea of deadlines and commitments with this silly shawl. I am about halfway through the final skein of yarn I have, and am seriously wondering if I'll have enough yarn to finish it up. I have about 10 rows left (long-ass rows) and just don't know. I'm prowling my stash and have found a back up skein of some forest green laceweight that might make a pretty ending for it, should the unthinkable happen, and I do run out of yarn. No pics of my efforts, it all just looks the same right now. Instead, I have a pic of some yarn that Miss Joy gifted me with, last week. I'd given her a dog crate for her latest pack member. A Cricket hand-me-down, as it were, and this gorgeous skein of Shaefer Anne knocks me out; it's been a recent obsession, yarnwise, and I love these colors:
Earthy, with a bit of intense sky thrown in. These colors remind me of Scotland, and our trip there in the fall of 2003. Dark forests, browning fields and hillsides and cold blue skies. I feel more lace knitting coming on, or perhaps a pair of kneesocks? If I ever finish Icarus, but of course, I'll finish Icarus. Turning off that "it's impossible" thinking is just not my thing right now.

I have a sore throat. Which seems to be something I did not consider as I eagerly accepted this Perfect Manhattan that P made this evening, for no real reason at all.

It didn't cure the sore throat, but it did bring back fond memories of DisKnit, who introduced me to this lovely drink, so many years ago back in Sacramento. It is a tiny little drink, in my tiny little old martini glass, scored in a thrift store in San Francisco, back in 1992. I love the glass. There was just the one, sitting on a dusty shelf, at St. Vincent de Paul, in the Mission. It has outlived (out lasted, outplayed) quite a number of more expensive glasses that have come and gone.

One of my New Year's resolutions, though I don't like that term and am not good at keeping them, was to use my planner more conscientiously. I'm happy to report that it's going well, that I'm getting things done slowly but steadily. When I write something down in the planner, I'm more likely to do it. The other resolutions of more exercise, losing a ton of weight, well, they're kind of put in the category of "later" or "on the back burner." La Vida Loca(rb) still continues, and weight is trickling off. That would change with more exercise, but see "later" and "on the back burner." Writing things like "go to the gym" down doesn't really work so well. Still, I'm loving the planner. I think the other things will come.

k-brow: somber but really all that sad

Headache brought me home drowsy and out-of-sorts. Two doses of Excedrin over 3 hours and I'm better now, and just about ready to pick up Icarus for our daily date.

P just called and is bringing me takeout from the Halekulani, where he is off amusing visiting co-workers. I was supposed to go join them for drinks, and am a little sad about missing sunset over a mai-tai, but it's nice to have the quiet time with the dogs and knitting as well.

I found out today that in spite of the fact that I'm a tenured teacher in the district (at last!) that my head is on the chopping block. We have to cut a position from our school for budgetary reasons. And people holding the positions that we could afford to cut are all teachers with more standing in the district than me. So anyone cut out could apply for my position and bounce me out of it.

Wow...

Now, in my favor are the fact that no one at my school really seems to want to teach 5th grade, and I've been doing it this year with relative cheer and success. I could see where it could be a ghastly job, given the right (wrong) mix of parents/kids/teacher chemistry. I've been lucky, and the job's been fairly enjoyable. So I'm hopeful that I don't get bumped out. I mean, I want to be the one who chooses to leave, if I leave this job.

And y'know, honestly...I was going to look at postings and openings in other schools anyway. I don't LOVE my school; often I wonder if there's not a better fit for me out there, and I'm always looking to reduce my commute. So I'm throwing this one up to the Universe and trusting in the Right Thing to happen.

And I'm gonna update my resume.



It's been awhile since I've updated on Cricket. He did really well with the dogsitter while we were gone in December. Both dogs did, and I know it was probably harder on Crick, because of the whole separation anxiety and suspiciousness of strangers thing. Dogsitter says she can see a difference in his behavior over the past year, and that he's far better and less anxious than he used to be. I have stopped taking training classes with him, and have concentrated on keeping his threshhold for stress and excitement low. His dog aggression is unimproved, and I think I've faced up to the reality that this is Who He Is, and that he'll never be the social butterfly, the party dog, the agility dog that would follow Ella. I'm okay with that now. It took a long time and a lot of tears to get here. I think I kinda had to divorce myself from the dog training community, in regards to him, to "get it." I love him, and have learned so much from raising him. I kinda see now that Ella is the dog who brought me out into the world, and taught me all about participation, competition and training in established patterns, and that now, Cricket is the dog who is holding up a mirror and asking me to take a long look and listen to my own gut and heart and instinct about what is right for him. I can manage his aggression, control his environment, and enjoy his companionship, as he is a stellar dog to live with, as long as we don't meet up with strange dogs on the street or at the beach.

I believe, as does his breeder, with whom I've had many very frank conversations about Nature, Nurture and Why He Is How He Is, that he is in the right home, and that we're doing right by him. The perfect storm of conditions to make a dog go wrong were in place before we really recognized them, and to use a Battlestar Galactica expression, Cricket's "line has been boxed," ie: other dogs have been bred from that line of dogs (too many temperament problems) and all resulting progeny have been spayed or neutered.

Time for some chamomile tea and giving Icarus some love.

k-brow: green things and exhaustion

The constant earworm of Brian Eno's "Everything Merges With the Night" is rattling around in my head tonight. I just had to go and listen to some Eno at work today, and now I'm paying the price. There are far worse fates than an afternoon spent listening to
"Another Green World" and "Before and After Science", though. I have the new Eno waiting in the wings, but am waiting for an opportune moment to gift it to P, who pretends not to like ambient music, but then I catch him listening to it...

I am now solidly back at work, which is not making me happy. Oh, my students do please me; I was overjoyed to see the galloping Portuguese twins and their beautiful-but-academically challenged sidekick, who bears such a resemblance to them as to make them all look like triplets, as they came in to visit me on their next-to-last day of winter break. They gushed and oohed over the new seating arrangement, and admired the 2 new laptops that the Techie had delivered this morning. These 3 girls are usually helpful, and often drop in after school to close windows, wipe down counters and file things for me.

No. It's the administrative stuff that's dragging me down. The endless staff meeting, slated for tomorrow, the stack of report cards that wait to be done, and the new fresh hell of writing letters of recommendation for private schools, because 6th grade is one of the points of entry for private school in Hawaii. None of this stuff is very daunting, but all of it together is not what I want to be doing.

What I want to be doing is working on Icarus, which is going well enough, if a bit slowly. I'm now into the 4th and final lace chart, but the 400+ stitch rows make for slow going. I'm only getting 1 or 2 rows done a day, which is okay by me, at this point. It IS pretty, though this doesn't reflect the color very accurately; I was playing with iPhoto's retouching features and may have warmed it up a wee bit.

More on the green front; dinner was roasted broccoli, canned black beans and sauteed Opah, or moonfish. Very nice, especially the broccoli, which is cut up, tossed with minced garlic in olive oil and pan roasted at 425 for 20 minutes, resulting in carmelly fabulousness. A dash of sea salt, a squeeze of lemon and it's good to go. I'm doing fairly well on La Vida Lo-ca(rb) though I did give myself a total cheat day, and went out for dim sum with Opal, her mom, Joy and Barb on Saturday. We knitted awhile at Starbucks, and then went on to eat many, many dumplings. Yum. I'm back on the wagon, though I've added red wine and chocolate back, just like I said I'd do. I don't consume much of either, but it's the key to my not feeling too deprived.

I am off to bed, in hopes of combatting this awful sucking exhaustion that I know is only partly a physical thing.

k-brow: tired and uninspired

I have been putting off going back to the classroom to get ready for the new semester. Today I finally dragged myself there. All my plans for what I'd teach have kinda fallen out of my head. Thank the goddess for the District Standards that provide a little roadmap! I feel so uninspired for my work right now. It didn't help that our head custodian tried to give me a good scolding as I came in, about how dirty my carpets were. I wasn't bothered by it (well, except on principle, anyway) because I just can't give a damn about the mud on the carpets, especially over break when they're supposed to be shampooing them anyway. Feh! It's mud, they're kids, it rains, get over it, big guy! This particular custodian has always been on the crusty side to me, and I kinda just let his abrasiveness roll off my back.

Tomorrow will be better. I'll go in earlier, I made myself a to-do list, and changed classroom seating. I'll take some cd's and Ella will come with me, and keep me from taking myself too seriously. Heaven forbid that she should track in any mud...

I stopped by Aloha Yarns in Kaneohe, en route to work. Okay, it's not really en route, but Miss Acornbud was successful in luring me out. I took my spindle and some old colonial top and did a bit of spinning. That colonial is pretty and smooth and even though I've hardly spun at all since I blew my hands out in September, with the Devil's Own yarn, I did okay. I love that LYS. Since I've already been out today in the knitting world, I'm gonna take the night off and not go to Knit Club at Mocha Java, tonight. My jet lag, which I pronounced "not a factor" 2 days ago (yeah, right) is kicking my ass. I'm currently on the bed with both dogs, who seem to have not a lot of firepower either, and am trying to visualize getting up and making some kind of dietetically correct dinner.

Lunch was Korean food from the Tasty Corner, in Kaneohe. I didn't know that Korean cuisine lent itself so well to low-carb eating, but an order of teri chicken, hold the rice please (the old guy behind the counter really wasn't thrilled about my no rice policy) and 4 vegie selections: beansprouts, choi sum, long beans and a big pile of daikon and cabbage kimchee made for a satisfying lunch, with leftovers for tomorrow. So ono, and I'll be going back there again.

I have a goal of staying up til 9pm tonight. Dinner will be chili, no rice, and then I'll sort through some mail and recycling and maybe knit a bit on Icarus. I've taken a 2 day break from him, and am now ready to finish him up, I think...dare I set a due date??

k-brow: dashing

I took a couple o' days to knit the wonderful Dashing mitts from Knitty. I'm reasonably sure I'm the last person in the blogosphere to make these, but oh, what a sweet, sweet knit they served up, especially in sunset-colored Malabrigo! Started on the flight from Honolulu to Virginia, and finished a day or so later. Comfort for a cold climate, and relentlessly cheerful through trying times. Love the Dashings!

I don't love how fragile Malabrigo is. It's already starting to pill a little. Okay, I admit that I DID wear these nearly nonstop, indoors and out, through my 19 days in the Olde Country, but I do expect more from my mitts... still, I look at that color, and feel that Malabrigo caress, and all is forgiven.

P had a plan to put himself (and therefore, me) on the South Beach Diet, or a bastardized version, thereof, upon his return to the islands. His illness has required a steady intake of orange juice and ramen, however, so he's bowed out. Not me. I had psyched my own self up to eschew everything carb, upon my own return, though, so I just started it up yesterday. Being conscious of the impending diet, I made sure to deny myself no pleasures on the mainland, and so this isn't too painful. I try to keep to the spirit of the diet, if not the letter, just eating lean protein, lots of veggies. I cut out sugar, rice, pasta and bread, but keep berries (some people don't eat fruits on the restrictive Phase I of this diet) and sweet potatoes and kabocha and such. I also eat beans and nuts pretty freely. So mostly it's kissing my beloved sugar and white flour pastrys and pastas goodbye, at least temporarily, til the clothes fit again.

I always find a couple of weeks on this diet "resets" my tastebuds again, so that everything tastes good. Cutting out sugar is a good thing, for me. I'd been having LOTS of headaches, lately, and I know that's connected to sugar intake, in my body. I've done okay; 2 days into it. Eggs for breakfast, salads w/ walnuts and feta for lunches, and I grilled some steak last night that's also gonna be dinner tonight, along with a big pile of asparagus. Yum. I find this way of eating doesn't leave me too hungry, and I don't "crash" on it. I'll phase in some more carbohydrates in a week or so; oatmeal, whole wheat bread and pasta, but it'll be a gradual thing.

I'm missing the red wine, though, not to mention the martini. Neither of those will be long away, either, I can assure you.

I think I just needed to re-set things here in the new year.

Ella is getting some fiber in her diet. Both my dogs are big grass eaters, and it doesn't seem to correlate with stomach upsets, as it does with some dogs. I think they just like the taste of green.

5 things that struck me today, as I drove around the eastern part of Oahu trying to rev up the CRV's dead battery:

- how blue and clear the ocean is between Waimanalo and Makapuu. Jeez! It's incredible!! Lucky live Hawai'i all over again.

- how many potholes there are in the roads here.

- how very friendly people are here. I don't think I come from an unfriendly place, but I'm always struck, after a time away, how very NICE grocery checkers, maintenance folk and people you meet on the street are.

- Nuuanu is the rainiest place I've ever lived. It truly did me a world of good to drive out of the clouds. I'm feeling much more aloha toward the world in general now.

- my car has not been immune to the pervasive mud, mold and filth that seem to have invaded the house. Ugh. Must clean it up, if I'm to face my work commute again.

Off to work some of crazy Cricket's energy off, as we have a brief period of sunshine here.

k-brow: there's hope

There is really too much to say for one entry, but I'm trying hard to come back... I've been in the Olde Country, Rockbridge County, Virginia, for the past three weeks. My dad died on December 17. He'd been sick, diagnosed with myleodysplasia for about 2 years, and had been increasingly bedridden for much of the fall. It was not unexpected. But it was too soon. Hard to talk about it much, still. I am generally pragmatic about life and death; I hold dear the pagan tenets of Life, Death, Rebirth. But those things don't ease the loss of my funny, hard-nosed dad, who put his family first in all situations, and whose love of nature, droll humor, and practicality continue to inspire me. I am so sad, for myself, and my family. I know we will get through this. It's just that the way seems so long and hard right now.

I won't write too much about it here. There are public stories and private ones, from the past month, and I'm still sorting out what's what. I so appreciated the time I had with family, my mom, sis and P, as well as with my aunts and cousins and old friends and acquaintances from the county. I don't like the Christmas season much in the best of times, and these certainly weren't. Somehow we made it through, and I rather enjoyed, in a completely perverse way, the fact that there wasn't a big deal made of the damn holidays. My dad never liked this time of year much, either, as I recall. Our family always chose this time of year to go to Key West, not to celebrate Christmas, but rather, to avoid it, with the beach, penny-ante poker and the supreme distraction of a road trip.

So, in the spirit of making the best of a bad situation, I will catalogue the good things of the past month:

1. Driving a Prius that I had to rent, due to a cancelled flight from Dulles to Roanoke. Uh, thanks, United. But the Prius was just as sweet as could be, once I figured out how to start it.

2. The mercurial Virginia weather, which would gift us with high-60's one day, and windy-20's the next. But mostly days in the 50's and sunny. You can't complain about that, especially if you're coming from Hawaii.

3. Long walks with P. On the Chessie Trail, and in the woods and fields surrounding my parents' house. Through grey and brown beech-and-cedar stands, and old abandoned cemeteries. By the Maury river, and along cliffs of shale and limestone, coated with melting ice.

4. Funeral food. There. I said it. Pecan pie, incredible homemade soup, fried chicken, biscuits, fudge, little swedish meatballs... we were well fed by the good cooks of my homeland.

5. P's "Christmas miracle" of the discovery of one forgotten piece of the aformentioned pecan pie. My husband is a funny person.

6. New Year's Eve, complete with "Pride and Prejudice" (because really, what extended shut-in period would be complete without a little Jane Austen)and the momcat also made these killer Reuben sandwiches that night. We watched the ball drop, my mom, sis and I, and hoped for better times in 2009.

7. Driving my dad's pickup truck all over SW VA. Clifton Forge, Peaks of Otter, the Blueridge Parkway, as well as along his favorite highways and byways in Rockbridge County. Seeing deer and wild turkeys along the way. Crying hard, and laughing some, too. I do my best crying, it seems, behind the wheel. I should have known that, by my commutes here, but I always thought it was work-related and Hawaii-situational. It is not.

8. My sis and I, finally having had enough of shut-in, went out on New Year's Day to see "Twilight." Thoroughly enjoyable, in a teen-vampire-lovin' sort of way. I loved the soundtrack, and will be downloading it shortly.

9. Knitting Icarus. Knitting Icarus some more. And yet more knitting on Icarus. I'm done, at last with the first 3 charts. One more endless chart of lace to go, and then the bind-off of 500-and-something stitches. Yeesh. I don't know if I will ever finish this shawl. It's been such a good companion to me these past few weeks. I also knit Dashing mitts, from the fetishized stash of Malabrigo. Yum. Easily finished and they came in handy for the cooler days.

10. Re-potted my mom's 79-year-old christmas cactus. It had been languishing away in a cracked pot for awhile in the dining room. It had been given to my great-aunt Fannie Sue, back when she was pregnant with my dad's cousin Bob. Susie gave it to ma years ago. Or maybe to my grandmother on my dad's side. It lived with me for 5 years in Arlington, spending each school year in my classroom window, and rewarding me with blooms every February. I thought it deserved a new lease on life in 2009.

I came home to Hawaii last night, greeted the ecstatic dogs, showered and collapsed next to the feverish P, who's caught some kind of travel related malady. He came home last week, and has some sore throat thing with a 102 fever. Yikes. I woke up this morning to the sound of Board of Water Supply's jackhammer up on our street. I went out to check it out and found our purple orchid getting ready to bloom.

There's always something to be hopeful about.

I will be around and about over the next few days. Cleaning my mud, mold, and mice-ridden house. Grooming the dogs, who are similarly muddy and moldy, and utterly overjoyed to have their pack reassembled.