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.

DisKnit: Meme Redux

KBrow is off with family, I am here in the Capital City trying to get my knitting going. So here are my answers

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Yup. My name is a family name from my great grandmother, there are currently four of us with it.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Almost two weeks ago after a difficult conversation at work.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
No.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Turkey (but I don't like the concept of Lunch Meat).

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No.


6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Sure, I'm a pretty good friend.


7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
Yes. I hear KBrow's complaint about it being overused, but I just find that it is sometimes the only way to make it through some things like work bureaucracy and condo politics (okay, any sort of politics, really).
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Probably not. But could be convinced of it by the right crowd, but the fact that it costs money doesn't last very long makes it less appealing than other ways to spend money to endanger yourself (whitewater rafting, downhill skiing, etc -- none of which I love but which at least take a while).

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Barbara's Shredded Oats or Frosted Shredded Wheat.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Does anyone?

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Am always a little stronger than I expect, but am basically a weakling.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Don't really have one. Favorite ice cream experience: a small hot fudge sundae at Gunther's in Sacramento.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Not sure.

15. RED OR PINK?
More often pink.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Not having a magic wand to clean up after myself.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My circle of friends in California.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO DO THIS?
Only if they want to.

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Was wearing brown.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
peppered bacon egg sandwich from Starbucks.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Horns honking.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Leaf Green

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Lavender. Mint. Rosemary (but I'm not the most "smell" oriented person).

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Technically, Diana when I called to say I was outside with the car. For a real conversation: my mom.
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
[not really sent, but my co-blogger is a fine person!)

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
I will watch live sports outside if I can knit and the weather is pleasant or the company is pleasant. Watching Hockey is high school was an odd pleasure.
27. HAIR COLOR?
Light brown/blonde/red thanks to the wonders of Urban Escape's Agus
28. EYE COLOR?
Blue-gray

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No.
30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Lately, Hot Chocolate.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Both
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
Miracle Match, yet another underdog sports movie -- a genre that is a personal vice that I don't impose on others.
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Black sweater with a dark red sweater on top
34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Hmm
35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs.
36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
I'll echo Marzipan from KBrow, pecan pie is good.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Not really asking anyone.
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
All the people I didn't ask.
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Dewey the Library Cat. Really Tedious.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
It is red and upstairs.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
I went to a live play (Next to Normal at the Arena Stage)
42. FAVORITE SOUND?
Ocean waves
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
The Beatles.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
New Zealand, but since I am half-Kiwi is was full of family.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can figure out almost any bureaucratic system and get it to work for me.
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Lower Marion Township, Pennsylvania

47. WHAT ARE YOU BAKING NEXT?
Maybe some cookies with Patty over New Years.
48. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FIRST LOVER IS?
Yes.
49. WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING RIGHT NOW?
Nothing, but there is cold coffee just out of reach.
50. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Not really expecting any.

k-brow: memelicious II

Got this from Chelsea's blog. She expressed a desire to hear my response, and it pleases me to please Chelsea, so here it is. All may participate, if you're on my bloglines (and who isn't?) I'll read you.


1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nope. My mom had some boy names picked out, and I turned out to be a girl, and was given a name she and my dad thought was "feminine sounding."

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
I think it was Friday morning, on the way to work, about something not work related.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yes. I got bad grades in penmanship in school, but have been complimented on my writing's appearance by many, many co-teachers. I tend to print in D'nealian-style printing, though, as a leftie, I do make my letters in an unorthodox manner.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Pastrami, but I'm not picky. I'll happily eat bologna.


5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
No kids. I'm childish enough, as it is.


6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Yeah, I guess. I like to think I'm friendly and easygoing.


7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
No I don't. Or I try very hard not to. I think it's over-glorified and emphasized in our culture, in fact.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
I do.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
You know, I just might...given a jumping off place with good scenery and the presence of fun-loving accomplices.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Wheat Chex. I like good granola and a health food store cereal called Nature's Path Synergy, as well.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Not if I can avoid it.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Resiliency-wise, yes, very. Physically, in terms of muscle mass and power, not so much.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
Haagen-Dasz Strawberry.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Friendliness.

15. RED OR PINK?
Both. Together.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
My tendancy to dwell in my own mental hamster wheel for much of my waking time.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My family. My VA pagan circle. DisKnit as a neighbor.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO DO THIS?
Everyone!

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
We don't wear shoes indoors in Hawaii. The last shoes I wore was last night's black Dansko Mary Jane clogs, worn against the possibility of puddle wading.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
Oatmeal, with honey and peanut butter mixed in.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
NPR's Sound and Spirit. Water running in the Nuuanu streambed. Some birds cheeping.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Blue-violet.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?
In this order: Eau de horse barn; leather, horse, and hay. Fresh mint. Fresh cut grass. Roses. Nag Champa incense. Lavender. Burning sage. The sheepy smell of some yarns and rovings. Eau de crayon box. Playdoh. Cloves.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Opal, who was making me laugh inappropriately, as I waited in the Hee Hing valet parking line.

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Yes, I do, though we've never met. I love her blog.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Um...I don't like watching sports that much. I do confess a love of televised bicycle racing commentary with Phil Liggett, a la Tour de France. I like to watch equestrian events, thought they are rarely on tv. I love to watch dog agility.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Naturally: medium brown going grey, with a big shock of white on top.
Currently: bright red. I like it. This, too, shall pass...

28. EYE COLOR?
Grey-green.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Not usually. I have contacts, but I mostly just wear them for snorkeling, so I can see the fishies clearly.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Oh, everything is fair game. Usually in the spicy-savory zone. The cuisine of south India is perhaps my favorite locale. Think fiery curries with a distinct lemony tang, fish, and yummy puffy breads.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
I like scary but not gruesome. I prefer Hitchcock-style, or ghostly. Violence, gore, slasher, not at all. I do like a happy ending, as well.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
"Blood Diamond" Excellent but harrowing to watch.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Tan, orange and brown. A promo shirt for this film, which is directed by the friend of a friend.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Summer.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Depends on who from.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Gelato, whenever I can get it. Marzipan, whenever I can get it.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Hoping that DisKnit responds, and all other readers of this blog.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
You know who you are.

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
"Duma Key" by Stephen King. Weirdness.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
I don't use one, but I still have one, "Oklahoma State University Food and Fiber Systems Literacy Program" advertising a curriculum I piloted for the good ag ed folk back in the day.

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
The tivo'd finale of The Amazing Race.

42. FAVORITE SOUND?
The soft rippling of a sunny stream.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
The Beatles.

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Since home keeps moving, my perspective keeps changing. Right now, I feel so very far from home, though I am in my home. I guess, globally, as opposed to philosophically, the island of Java is as far, culturally and geographically, as I have ever been.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I can fix some things that leave my spouse baffled. I can go into a trance state with no problem whatsoever. Sometimes this is a problem.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Columbia, South Carolina

47. WHAT ARE YOU BAKING NEXT?
Anise biscotti dipped in dark chocolate for the NRN cookie exchange.

48. DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FIRST LOVER IS?
In a big southern city, running a brew pub and no doubt telling the same damn jokes he always told.

49. WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING RIGHT NOW?
Some cold coffee I pirated from P.

50. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
All and sundry.

k-brow: FO pic and a lot of rain

I'd promised y'all a pic of my completed Minimalist cardigan, completed in October, stitched up together over Thanksgiving weekend, and worn daily since. Here we go:

This is an easy knit. About 8 skeins of Cashmerino Aran, bought on sale at Little Knits, for the amazing price of $4.39 per skein, making it the cheapest luxury ever. I don't know why it took so long to finish, except for the fact that one can only do moss stitch for so many hours at a stretch. The color is hard to photograph; I call it "clover green". My mom had a shaker knit cardi in this color when I was growing up. I borrowed it a lot as a teenager, and she handed it down to me when I was in college. I wore it all the time, and finally sent it on to Goodwill, back in the mid 90's, in a pretty beat up condition. I think, unconsciously, I was trying to replace that sweater in my wardrobe; an easy, cozy, utilitarian piece, in that oh-so-comforting color. Minimalist Cardigan = WIN!!!

We have had continuing hard rains here, off and on since Thursday's debacle. Yesterday started off heavily overcast and humid. I took the dogs out, mid-afternoon and noticed that the Pali had become invisible, covered over in white mist. There'd been a tornado watch on Kauai all day. I realized something BIG was headed our way, once more. Gave the dogs their constitutional, and hastily ran a few errands and got home about 2 minutes before the gale force winds and rains hit Nu'uanu. We had to close windows all along one side of the house, due to hard, hard winds and rain. It was crazy, and pretty much the same white-out howling wetness of Thursday for an hour or so. Then, a lessening, a settling into a soft steady rain for the duration of the evening.

I even went out, meeting up with Acornbud, Opal and her mom Maureen, Jen and her husband, and Angela, for dinner at the fancy and oh-so-yummy Hee Hing restaurant on Kapahulu. Too much food, all day, really. I have a love-hate relationship with holiday food. A little goes a long way, and I had gone a long way already, as I'd made eggs for breakfast, and P had brought home lo mein for lunch. At least today, I'm starting out with oatmeal...

Today seems nice. Washed clean. More rain in the forecast this week, but we've gotten off easily here in Nu'uanu. I think it's the vertical pitch and basic rockiness of our land, everything just flows down around us. As long as the tree roots hold the boulders in place, Chez Nuuanu Estate is safe, except for the usual problems of standing water under the house, and the ever-present mold and dampness of EVERYTHING. Poor Kai and the other folk in other parts of our island have not been so spared. I hope last night's rains didn't hit her a double whammy, just after she'd cleaned out from the first wave.

k-brow: seasonally affected

As usual, around this time of year, my own seasonal affective disorder and the chaos of being with children all day, as we approach the bratty Christmas season combine to create a severe case of the "Fuckits." Term coined by my sister, who knows the names of all the worst maladies that afflict our family. Today, Oahu got hit with the mother of all rainstorms. We were treated to a few claps of thunder, but also high winds and annoying power outages. What we were NOT treated to, were school closures. So I had to drive the 8 miles into Kailua, on the Pali Highway, which was a brown river in places, only to arrive at school, and have the lights be off. Our windows had to be open because otherwise it's pitch black, and we endured hours n' hours of howling wind, blowing rain and fairly dark conditions. Let me tell you, the novelty wore off, very quickly. The rain wore off around 2pm, just as school let out, and was back on again by 4:30. I beat it home right after the kids left, being in no mood to concern myself with teacherly things for one more minute. Fuckit.

I am riding out the seasonal affected time of year reasonably well, this year, though my fuse is definitely shorter. Sleep, St. John's Wort, supplements and tonics are keeping me alive until winter break, starting next Friday. The shorter days of light are grinding me down, but once off work, I can at least spend more time outside, and hopefully we'll get some decent sunshine and beach time over that break. Something that's been working well, was my decision to go off coffee; an annual experiment that begins when it starts tasting nasty to me, and ends when I decide I need it again. It's been 3 weeks now, and I'm doing more or less okay with green tea in the mornings. I haven't been pure (I'm not about pure) as I've had the occasional Starbuck's offering, but have been impressed at how much I've enjoyed those infrequent treats, now that I'm off the morning Joe.

Meanwhile, here's my "recipe" for warding off a cold. You have to take it at the first sign that something may be coming on:

I grate a 2 inch piece of ginger, crush 2 cloves of garlic, juice a lemon (but I used a lime this time because it's what I had) 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Infuse in about 2 cups of boiling water, and add honey. Sounds nasty, but it hits the spot if you're feeling sniffly or scratchy.

All the leaves and blossoms are gone from our plumeria tree. Sad, because I love the fragrance of the waxy white blossoms, but the barebonesbranches do create a striking image against the sky. Like black coral. In this land of almost-constant green, the sudden deciduousness of a tree is strangely disturbing. On one level, I find myself longing for dormant brown and grey woods where the only green is the occasional splash of holly or pine. Here it's the opposite, with only the plumeria providing the winter starkness.


Poor Cricket is seasonally affected, as well, as he is suffering an ear infection, which requires flushing of the ear on a frequent basis with a warmed solution. He doesn't mind it too much, but the flush contains gentian violet, and it stains like crazy, so we have to do it outside, so he can shake his head afterwards and fling the purple droplets everywhere.


Only another week (punctuated by parties and festivities which I am only marginally excited about) until I get 3 weeks off. My sis is coming to visit, and hanging out with her always cheers me.

k-brow: red flowers and the post-turkey letdown

What are these flowers? There's a whole hedge of them growing at my school. I love their little waxy blossoms.

I have a sneakin' feeling I should be somewhere doing something fun, but instead I'm here in the living room, watching what seems to be a marathon of "Entourage" and going through bills, junk mail and catalogues. Which wouldn't be a chore if I did it more often, but since most of this stuff is from October, I'm pretty much saving my own life, now. This show, which I do not really watch, is amusing in the "this has nothing to do with my life" sort of way.

I planned to go to work today, and spend the entire day there, but instead, got sidetracked by the Farmer's Market, where I found good deals on local mizuna greens, string beans, romaine, papaya, jabon (like a pink pomelo - giant citrus fruit) and sweet potatoes. Essentially the greens and vegies for my week of dinner and lunches. I've been really slammed by the raised prices at the grocery store, these days, and am making a more concentrated effort to eat from the markets at Diamond Head and Chinatown.

Thanksgiving was a non-event, the high point of which was Acornbud's surprise delivery of the most amazing apple-cranberry crisp. We ate it still warm, with ice cream, and it actually kept me restrained at the dessert cart later at dinner at 3660. P finished the rest of it off for breakfast on Friday morning. Yum! Ms. Bud is a wicked good cook. We went out to 3660 on the Rise, a schmancy restaurant in Kaimuki, which has become something of an annual Thanksgiving custom for us, here. They have a great buffet, and we celebrated by dressing up, having a cocktail and having a leisurely dinner. I swear, the same crowd was there this year as were the past 2 years, which does not surprise me. It is one of my favorite Hawaiian customs, this going out for Thanksgiving, which works well, since we don't have family here. Thing is, I LIKE the Thanksgiving meal, but don't like having to cook so much, so many dishes all at once. I'm a little sad now, about having no dressing and pumpkin pie for breakfast these days, but I will cook a turkey at Christmas for my sister's arrival, so we'll have that stuff, then.

We are having a rainy weekend here, throwing a wrench in my plan to clip both dogs into their winter-mud-season-skinned-alive looks. I got as far as bathing them, last night, and today was greeted by the downpour at the Farmer's Market, so I just cancelled my grooming. I love having dogs who don't shed, but clipping them every 6 weeks is a chore, and an expensive thing to farm out to a groomer. $60 - $90 per dog, and the uncertainty of having strangers handle them. I have occasionally sprung to have Ella groomed, but spent the day worrying about her while she was at the groomer's, and I just imagine that Cricket would wreak havoc at a grooming parlor, in a sensational way.

My great-aunt Eva died last week, in West Virginia. She was 97, and my grandmother's baby sister, a sweet, spirited old lady. My mom told me that she'd (Eva, that is, not my mom) had an amazing dream, about a week before she passed, in which she and her husband, long dead, had been running around up and down hills and in the woods. She said they'd been about 17 in the dream, and were laughing and having a great time. A couple of weeks before that, she'd called my aunt and had her come over to help her write her own obituary up for the paper. She was ready to go, to whatever lies ahead, which for her, I think, was a reunion with her true love, and her family.

I'm calling the Samhain season officially over, with this wee new moon, and Eva's graceful departure for the summerlands. I'm thinking though, about leaving up an ancestor's altar, though, this coming year. I read an interesting article, on Witchvox, a week or so ago, that discussed the way we do our daily spiritual practice,and how we activate our energy. It talked about invoking local nature spirits, our ancestral spirits, as well as whatever deities we might have an affinity for.

Maybe you came here for knitting? It's a little cheating on my "All UFO All the Time" game, by knitting a sock out of the adorably neapolitan Trekking 126, and some grinding away on sleeve #1 of Must Have. Which I intended to finish this weekend, but the sock was a distraction. But cute. I did finish sewing up Minimalist, and it's getting a fair amount of wear at work. I will post pics soon, I promise. I also finished a scarf, the chunky blue and blue and blue one of yarn that DisKnit made me buy last year at Crafty Bastards. Yeah, yeah, I know I need to take pics. Bad knitblogger.

Tomorrow, we are going to see the play "The Frost-Nixon Debates" at Manoa. It will be with some friends whom are both fun and trying at the same time. I am stoked and up for the challenge, which will provide fodder and fuel for the days to come.

k-brow: I need a waffle

Sometimes you need a special breakfast. I'm working hard, these days to not run out to a restaurant everytime I need to eat. Hard work, when one lives in a city that does offer a lot of good food options.


It starts with the batter. I am lazy and use a mix. But it is organic and contains only natural, whole food ingredients. I might as well make it myself.


Not all kitchen appliances are beautiful. This, a gift from P's father, from back in the 1980's, when we lived in a little apartment in Davis,CA. Still going strong.


Acornbud tipped me off about the presence of Maui strawberries in the grocery store last week.


Voila! The perfect Sunday breakfast!


What waffle feast would be complete without a beggar, asking to lick the syrupy plate?

k-brow: in between days

They say that this time between Samhain and Yule is the "time between time", and that the veil that separates the world of the dead and the living hasn't quite thickened fully. It's supposed to be a quiet time, and in other places, I guess, it's the long march into Serious Winter. Here in the islands, it is fitting that it would be voggy now, adding to the feeling of quiet and "not quite rightness" that seems to be hanging over. Reyaasked in a comment about vog. Vog is volcanic emissions, from Kilauea volcano over on the Big Island. When our winds are blowing as trade winds (forgive me, I don't know the direction) the vog blows away from us. When the wind shifts or dies down, the vog comes over to Oahu and gives everything a soft grey haze.

I've been sick, my usual sinusthroatlungthing that has me taking 2 days off from work. I haven't felt well, but I do admit, it's been rather a treat to hide in the house, when the rest of the world is out working, and just drink tea and listen to music. I've slept a lot, so much, that I'm tired of sleeping now. I'm pretty much on the mend, though I shudder to think of how much my classroom has run awry in my absence. I've been doing a little knitting. I abandoned the endless stockinette march of Icarus for awhile, to concentrate on the aran of the Must Have Cardigan. Found a mistake, a miscrossed cable and a hiding dropped stitch which triggered a great ripping of one of the completed side pieces, halfway down. I don't know where my head was at with that cable. Thought about leaving it in, but realized that since it was a front piece, it would always bother me. 'Twas the traveling cable, as well, so I had no idea how to just rip down a part of it. So rip, rip, rip. I have re-knit it completely, though, in my little retreat from the world, and in the process, learned a few more things about readng my knitting. So it's not a sad thing at all.

My commitment to only work on UFO's til most (note, I've changed "all" to "most") are off the needles is making for boring toil, but on the other hand, it feels constructive, too. Like it's an appropriate thing to do in the time between times. It's times like these, though, that I feel like I need to stay off the blogs, because there are those knitters out there that produce a firestorm of finished objects, inspiring me to cast on for new projects, and invariably feeding into the whole product-oriented dissatisfaction with my craft.

I can't blog without saying some things about our now-passed presidential election. Interestingly, I think it's post-election peace that has contributed to the time-between-times feeling, too. Letting go of my political addiction is hard; it's now rolled over into the endless Obama fascination. I am thrilled, needless to say, with the results, and not sure what to make of the feeling of a great weight being lifted from my heart. In the days following the election, however, I found my inbox bombarded with mean-spirited jokes and forwards from the more conservative end of my family. I shared this with my sis, who said she'd gotten some stuff from friends, as well, that were just plain offensive. I emailed a cousin, asked him to stop, though, of course, I did it none too gracefully (that's always my flaw, to take it til I can't stand it anymore and then explode) and was met with an angry political defense about "right" and "wrong" and "you will see in time..." Now, silence. But I don't understand this need of people to backlash against the results of an election that was so clear - not a tie, not one that went to the courts. Are people afraid? And what good does fear do one, in this situation? To amp up that adrenaline, over political position, and unseen results of an administration change is useless. My own hopes are high, and happy, but I've learned, after 2 previous presidential elections, that it's best to keep on keeping on, when you feel your position wasn't represented in the election. I was just surprised at the vitriol. I just marvel at my family, sometimes.

My dad and I were talking a bit, last night, about the current financial crisis in the country, and he said he thought it had folk extra-excited, as well. He shared being really offended when folk referred to it as a "depression". The old man lived through the Great Depression, and has some harsh words for people, on the subject of these times, particularly with regards to the pervasive aura of fear and consumerism that has gripped the culture in the past few years. He is also philosophical about Obama's election; I imagine he voted McCain, but has decided to keep on keeping on, with the current results. Me? I'm just glad about the potential for change, an Obama presidency and being on good terms with my father, with whom I had so many contentious years of conflict.

Two members of my household are curious about something. Nice to see them working together on anything besides the competition for my attention.

k-brow: the Halloween episode

No crows in Hawaii, but this is a blast from my Stonehenge past. I think it's fitting for the season.

I always think of Samhain as more of a season than a specific day. It starts around the 20th of October and winds up around the first week of November. So I was gratified to hear, this week, that the actual cross-quarter (midpoint between the fall equinox and winter solstice) day of Samhain falls on November 6. Halloween is such a chaotic day in an elementary school that I rarely celebrate my rites on the actual day, preferring to go home after the sugar-soaked revelries at work, and just fall into bed, or on more chipper days, scuttle off to a movie.

Today was amusing, in its exhausting way. I ate lots of candy, which has resulted in a bit of a headache. I came home from work, to find my impulse purchase of some Silk Garden #47 from Little Knits had arrived on the doorstep. No real immediate plans for this bag of 10 skeins of browns and greys, but thinking that it might just become the Clapotis that I make and love and keep for myself.
Acornbud fell prey to the same Little Knits sale, and we kind of decided that Noro maybe shouldn't count as stash, but more like chocolate or tea, a soothing necessity of life. These colors kind of remind me of winter woods; all dead leaves and grey bark, a play of light and shadow. Earthy.

I'd wanted to write about ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night, but my wrist is hurting, and that story is long in the telling. So I will close this Halloween entry with 2 funny stories of our custodians at work. We have these great custodians, who really put up with a lot, from bossy demanding teachers and wild, over-indulged children. After school, they often cut loose in utter hilarity. Custodian #1 told me this great story of a Halloween party he'd been to the night before, where someone had dressed himself up as a bong, complete with a big tube of dry ice smoking off the top of his head. The mental image of this costume had us roaring in a punchy sugar-enhanced bit of silliness. Custodian #2 was marching around school after hours wearing a wall clock tied to a string around his neck, and my enormous gold sunglasses (birthday gift from DisKnit) and referring to himself as "Waimanalo's own Flava Flav". I took pix, but he's shy and so you'll have to use your imagination on this. Very funny, though, in a ghetto sort of way.

More later, and maybe even an installment on that novel that DisKnit has tricked me into writing.

DisKnit: Chapter 1 (DC) Two Islands

From 2008 10

He cursed the 30 bus line again. Joel knew he shouldn't have been tempted by the chance to have a garden and live near Whole Foods for under $1,500. It meant giving up living near a metro stop and instead having to depend each day on the erratic bus service. John Catoe could say all he want about improving performance, but it still seemed like every day three buses came at the same time and it was worse odds than the DC lottery to figure out which one might get him to the cubicle on K street faster. And then once on, he had to decide whether to force one of the priveleged kids to get up so he could sit by the window. The chances were always better with young women that they might move over to let him sit down, but they might also want to chat. He knew he was just what most of these bright young women wanted: handsome, dressed in a suit, wearing the requisite blackberry on the belt and under 40. But, he didn't want them and indeed after 15 years in DC, he'd lost patience for having the encouraging conversations about their futures while subtly making sure they understood he was gay.

Nevertheless, with his Ipod plugged in, and his hand carrying the blackberry, he figured it was worth the risk. He went up to one of the blondes, nodded at the seat by the window, and watched her sigh and move over. He nodded thanks. He kept his eyes on the scrolling blackberry screen while he thought about his latest conversation with Jackson. Jackson, a state department worker, was both married and in the closet. And he lived in the Virginia suburbs and pretended to be a republican when the republicans were in control. It was such the DC cliche that Joel even thought about him. After dating Navy officers, Republican Hill Rats, committed non-profit activists who couldn't ever pay for dinner, he should have just stopped talking to Jackson once he came clean. But in contrast to all those others, Jackson was different in one way crucial way: he wasn't an idiot.

Joel, like most people who stay and live in DC longer than five years, had come firmly to the conclusion that most people who want to work in DC are foolish. In addition, he knew most of them would leave. Like other DC residents, most of his best friends had moved other places. Those who loved the outdoors were in one of the Portlands depending upon the predilections. Others got lured to Chicago for some job in the arts where the MacArthur money was dependable and they didn't have to work for the feds. The straight ones didn't necessarily move out of the time zone, they just set up their houses in the suburbs that required a car to get to and then produced the requisite duet of children. Joel found himself turning down most of their invitations.

As the bus finally freed itself from the traffic disaster of the mall known as Georgetown, Joel realized it was time to focus on work. He was going to make it just in time for the latest meeting with the marketing team that was doing pro-bono work for the non-profit, Save Our Generation, where Joel had worked for the last five years doing membership development. He knew they were going to suggest a new name. SOG just didn't work as an acronym and the effort to use SaveOG or S-Our-G had all brought nothing but endless mocking within the organization. After the finance department head had been convicted of skimming money, the non-profit bloggers were going wild on the name. Joel thought for a second about life without the web and got off the bus.

DisKnit: Two Islands: A Novel?

So I was thinking that since KBrow and I both live on/in islands and because we both like to make up stories, that we should collaborate on a novel in short chapters about two characters: one in Hawaii and one in DC. Naturally (I mean it), the characters will have nothing to do with us -- no history/grant types on my side, no teachers on her side. Yet, both characters will participate in the highly particularized behavior of island-dwellers. And perhaps we will confuse our readers by making such insider references that they will be forced to comment. And then we may abandon the project at any moment (since KBrow doesn't even know about it yet), further frustrating our few but loyal readers. The hope would be to distract us all from the real world with fictional meanderings. Since I made this up, I will begin.

From 2008 Knitting

p.s. I was going to spend valuable writing time creating a book cover, but for now, here is a sliver of a picture that could be part of the cover. I imagine words like discover the real life of Island Dwellers, Power and Paradise Together, etc, etc. We'll see.

k-brow: blogless michelle's FO, and a bad chattaranga

Fall is come to Nuuanu, as evidenced by the new slick coating of moss on my steps and patio. High winds at night have Ella in a state of angst, and she's hitting the Rescue Remedy hard. I am drinking milky coffee and eating a superb Ba-Le almond croissant from the farmers market. Hoping that the combination of caffeine and marzipan will pull me out of my grogginess.

I had fallen off the yoga wagon since summer, and have just crawled back on. This new class is not as hard as the old Death By Vinyasa, but it's a new kind of hard. Sort of a Slow Death By Vinyasa. This one has us holding poses for longer, while the instructor talks on...and on... Good yoga practice, actually, but work. It has me feeling a little sore in the mornings. The new class is in Kailua, at that ymca, with a teacher that my friend Noni raved on and on about. Turns out this teacher is named after an ice cream confection with a cherry on top. And she is good. But a weird little thing happened in class last week. Mid class, she asked; "Who has a good chattaranga?" and a lady raised her hand. She asked her to demonstrate, and indeed, her chattaranga was very good. Then she went around and asked to see everyone else's. Various incarnations of the pose were demonstrated and corrected. My own was deemed "It's okay, that's where you are at the moment" or in frank terms "man, your chattaranga sucks!" People, I am weak in the arms and shoulders, where this pose takes power. So... moving on through the vinyasas, everytime Ice Cream Lady would call out "chattaranga" she would giggle. This went on through like 6 repetitions of the sun salutation. Whose chattaranga was causing such amusement? Likely it was mine, since I wasn't getting my chest down low, and was, too often, modifying by doing it on my knees. But was it that damn funny? She wasn't laughing when she mentioned any other poses! Weird.

Last week, or rather, the week before last, my dear Blogless Michelle finally completed her WIP. I give you the lovely and amazing Maximilian!
Doesn't Miche look radiant? I have yet to see this adorable babe in person, but I love this pic; he's become part of my laptop desktop slideshow. I suppose the baby knitting should commence.

We went to the Big Island of Hawaii for a few days last week. P was working, so I took advantage of the junket to go and enjoy Hilo. Went birding on Hakalau Forest Reserve with some of his coworkers and saw lots of rare and endangered Hawaiian birds, and generally enjoyed a day in a beautiful old growth ohia and koa forest. I also took myself on a drive up the Hamakua coast.

Hilo itself was a pleasure. I did make it to the Sig Zane sale, and bought a dress that was a relative bargain. Then I went thrift shopping and found a shirt, as well! Later, we went up to the Volcano, hiked around in the voggy park. Halemaumau crater is spewing great clouds of smoke, and the whole day was very grey.

Home again, I'm knitting sporadically on Icarus, a project which does not take kindly to sporadic, as the progress isn't easily revealed on smaller needles and lots of stitches. Ah well... it's report card week and parent conference week and my energies are elsewhere. I did make it to Knit Night, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Acornbud brought her knitted kitties (scroll down to see the cats) to deliver to their new owner, and they received much admiration. The woman is a ringing endorsement for the benefits of retirement, as she produces a steady stream of charming creations. I also, unintentionally, I might add, provoked a bit of political discussion, as sometimes happens when Lilikoi and I sit together. Apparently, though, folks were enjoying their politics-free knitting time. Meh. Times like these, I miss living inside that Washington Beltway.

The marzipan and caffeine aren't doing all they could be doing, so it's time to give caffeine another chance.

k-brow: staycation update

I can find ways to waste time that you never dreamed of. A manga avatar!

5 days into vacation, today, I actually went to work. Upon arrival, I saw how very much work there was to be done, promptly rearranged my room and then, after visiting with my 4th grade teacher teammate, left. Came home, ate lunch, took an hour long nap, and met with the dogsitter for the weekend.

Truth is, I just don't want to go through the next 3 weeks of my life... report cards, grading, and parent-teacher conferences. And a big state test; the HSA, in which my students have to do a hands-on science experiment and then write it up. Ugh. It's all perfectly do-able, but I don't like it, not even one little bit. ugh. I shouldn't begrudge away weeks of my life, I realize. I'll just bite the bullet and do it, and be glad when it's over. But I want to stay on vacation forever. Just whiling away the days with a bit of housework, a few errands, some reading and some knitting.

I finished, a few days back, a fantastic book, for all you dog lovers out there - Reya, DisKnit, Blogless Michelle, Acornbud..."Merle's Door" by Ted Kerasote, which is basically the tale of Kerasote's relationship with his dog Merle, whom he finds in the desert in Utah. He tells the tale of bringing this dog home, and of their ongoing dialogue of walks, conversations, adventures and tiny moments, all the while weaving in anecdotes of animal behavior and canine history. This book comes with a huge Kleenex warning, though. Like all dog stories, it ends too soon, though I really admire Kerasote's commitment to NOT micromanage his dog. Spoken from a very dedicated micromanager of her canines, and of course urban Nuuanu is a far cry from Merle's home in Jackson Hole, but he's given me something to think about, anyway. The ending is just perfect, respectful and loving, and in the final resolution, very pagan in the telling. I kept reading the last 2 pages, over and over, crying and completely unable to put it down. It really has me wanting to read more of his writing about the wilderness, hunting and how we handle our relationship to Nature. I wonder if he will get another dog?




In happier news, there is the upcoming trip, tomorrow eve, to the Big Island, for the getaway with my absentee boy, P. Nice to get off this rock, even if it is just to another rock. To shop Hilo's swanky farmer's market, to eat the Two Ladies' Mochi treats, to go to Sig Zane and admire what one man does with fiber, botany and art. There's a sale on, but I won't actually be able to shop it til Saturday, (I'm tied up with a field trip with P - an experience in itself) which means that all the good stuff will be gone... long have I craved a piece of affordable Sig Zane wear, as I love his scientific illustration/culturally significant/hula-lifically correct spin on aloha wear. So say a little shopping prayer for me... Even without a lucky score at a sale, I'm happy to go to Hilo, anyway. One thing I'm not really feeling, is the need to shop for yarn. A perusal of my stash and my pipeline of "to be knitted" reveals an overload that should keep me busy for months to come. No need to add stash, not even the desire. I want for naught.

It is late, and I'm not even the least bit sleepy. I think I'll do some laundry and clean the kitchen.