k-brow: a pink sweater in the making

What a drama queen I am. Laying out a big "this is how it's gonna be" post, and then running off to VA and not blogging for a solid week. Apologies to all who might have been waiting for the "more blogging" I suggested. Pah!

Thank you for all the nice comments. I appreciate the openness and support of my people! To Acornbud, Blogless Michelle, Chris and Opal...I miss you more than I can say, and in so many different ways. I feel very blessed to have such dear friends in Hawaii. May, I'm sorry we didn't know each other longer, in the face-to-face realm. I will definitely be following your art and whatever else you put up in the world. Chelsea and Mokihana, thanks for the encouragement. I feel like I know you both in person, dear blogsisters.

To DisKnit; you are always welcome to post here, I will leave you up as co-author, though I won't be miffed if you don't post. I have other means of keeping track of your adventures. I know you're busy; inside the Beltway has a way of eating one's life. Mayhaps you'll come south for a visit?

So, I ran off to the Olde Country for a week, flying into Lynchburg, VA, visiting my mom, visiting a very old friend for too short a time, hanging with my sis, eating chili dogs, shopping for yarn, ( I bought NOTHING!!) picking blackberries, and in general, relaxing and enjoying being off the grid. I took the small Canon camera, fully intending to document the trip, but upon arrival in VA, discovered that I'd broken it! The view screen on the back of the camera doesn't work anymore, and shows fragmented images. It may still take pix; I was so horrified at the event, I just shut it off and put it in my bag. I have to investigate getting it repaired, as it belongs to P, who doesn't use it, but still...I loved that little camera. So no pix of the dinner-plate size mushrooms growing in my mom's neighbor's yard. No pix of the gorgeous wayside flowers, or the beautiful Virginia countryside. Nor of my sister and her friend, nor of the incredible mountains of North Carolina, on my drive back down to Georgia. Just fond memories.

I have to say, the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee just kick ass. They are so much bigger than the Blueridge along the Shennandoah Valley. I was amazed by them, and really enjoyed my drive back home! The new truck, my dad's 2004 Toyota Tacoma, is just great, tackling the steep hills bravely and not guzzling too much gas.

I'm home, now, and it's in the mid-60's outside, and overcast. I am cold, and am wrapped up in Lady Eleanor, and drinking wine, in the papasan chair, which is my indoor perch of choice these days. I present to you my outdoor perch of choice:
I've never had a hammock before. It's the most relaxing place to be! But too cold this evening to be out in it. I'm almost tempted to make a fire. We do have wood...

In my last weeks in Hawaii, I hung out a bit with Chris, and we observed that we tended to knit the same things, not always in a deliberate knitalong, but we seemed to have the same knits on our radar as well as on our needles. Klaralund, Lady Eleanor, February Lady, Clapotis...yes, I know, those knits are viral, and everyone knits them. But we decided to do a real knitalong, of Bonnie Marie's Ariann cardigan. Not just a sweater knitalong, but because we both had screaming pink yarns in stash...it became a Pink Ariann Knitalong. Today was our official cast on day, and I had intended to blog it earlier and call all and sundry to join in, but as you see, it's come to this. I cast on for it this morning, promptly messed it up, and ripped it. I will re-cast on just as soon as I finish this post, which was also on my to-do list today. So, if you want to burn some pink yarn in stash, or just want to knit Ariann with us, jump right in. No rules, no deadlines, nothing but sweet, cherry-bubblegum pink knitting. I wound up 6 yarncakes this morning. This is Cascade 220, purchased for $4.00 per skein at Ben Franklin's, back in the spring, making this an affordable indulgence. I like Bonnie Marie's designs. I don't know why I was unable to count this morning on my original set-up row for this sweater. I think with this glass of wine and the evening's coziness, I'll make a better start.

k-brow: saying what needs to be said

Worlds Collide, or This Entry Has No Pictures

I haven’t blogged in awhile, except for backdated entries in an attempt to make some acknowledgement of the passing time. Now, as I try to compose an entry and get back into the habit, some thoughts come to mind. This entry is for me, mostly, but want it here in The Knitted Brow, as a reminder of sorts.

I’m making the transition to life in the Urban Forest/Glop fairly well. Urban Forest is the term I gave, back when I was living in Arlington, to those places we’ve always made it a point to live; wooded areas adjacent to a large city. The more wildlife, nature spirits and trees, the better. “Glop” was a term I borrowed from Marge Piercy’s book “He, She, and It,” that lovely dystopia. It is used to describe urban sprawl, specifically all up and down the East Coast. Let’s say from Boston down to Miami, all linked by freeway. In Piercy’s book, the Glop was solid urban sprawl, and one needed to take a bullet train to get through it, but here and now, we’re still dependent on the dinosaur ooze of fossil fuels.

So. Transition. Living in the house I’ve come to call the Atomic Lodge, due to its 60’s modern construction, redwood ceilings, and woodsy setting. All our stuff’s been delivered from Hawaii, and we are in the process of unpacking, putting away, weeding out, and throwing away, giving away, wishing away. I purged personal possessions in Nuuanu before the move, but am feeling the need to continue that process, in this different house, with less space for storage. Everything is being re-evaluated, its value, useful or sentimental, weighed. The space issue, and the fact that we are looking at a probable kitchen renovation in the coming year, make the purge a good thing. Let’s face it, P and I have a lot of stuff. Some of it could use a new home.

So here, at the end of a summer in which I’ve mostly been alone, mostly been working on breaking down or setting up housekeeping, I’ve come to realize that in doing so, I’ve spent a lot of time on facebook, connecting, re-connecting, and generally defining myself to a hoard of people I don’t see all that often. We’re talking YEARS, kids. It has me thinking about who I really am, and whether this blog reflects that. I don’t give my blog address out to just anybody. Well, since it’s a public blog, that statement isn’t entirely true. But more correctly, relatively few people in my face-to-face life know enough about the blog to find me, unless they hunt me down, via Ravelry or some other such means. It’s not a super-secret blog. It’s a discreet blog. Knitting friends in Hawaii read it and inspired it. (yo, Chris, are you reading? Please read me!) DisKnit reads or doesn’t, but of course, is welcome to contribute. My sister reads. And a whole host of blogfriends, some of whom I’ve met through the blog read it. That said, I’m a pretty private person. I do not desire to share my ramblings in cyberspace with family beyond my sibling, who knows it all anyway. I want to reserve the freedom to write of things that strike my fancy, without fear of evangelism, argument, or judgement, no matter how evangelical, argumentative or judgemental my own entry may be.

In my facebook life, I re-connected with a lot of very Christian friends. I do not define myself as Christian, though, for a pagan, I would say that I am very Christian-friendly. I like Jesus, I like churches, I like a lot of Christian liturgy. I won’t take the Christian label because I do not believe Jesus is the one and only savior of the world and people’s souls. I cannot accept that my acknowledging and honoring other gods and goddesses, an alternate spirit world, and non-Christian practice is going to damn me to hell. This is one thing people need to know and accept about me, and it’s been the hardest thing to share with folks from my Olde Country, high school and past. Truth be told, I always had pagan leanings, and finding other people, books and groups to practice with felt like coming home in a way that nothing else ever has. Even as I define myself as “solitary pagan,” I would say that I enjoy meeting and celebrating with like-minded folk in a circle is delightful, and something that I hope to find here.

On religion, though, if you are family, or of a fervent evangelical nature, I would say I’m of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” persuasion. Moving back into the Bible Belt has me feeling like I just need to put that thing out there on the blog.

I write all this down because I’m trying (if thinking about it and composing entries in my head is trying) to get back into the habit of blogging, and due to a dearth of knitting content, am considering a re-format of sorts. I don’t want a separate blog. I have readers, The Knitted Brow is all tangled up as part of my identity, and I have too much going on to maintain multiple blogs. So as Aunt Pam said, so many months ago, I’m still trying to drop it down, here, without fear of backlash.

I’ve been meeting with a little knitting group, the past couple of weeks at a lovely coffeehouse in the Roswell area. It’s helped take the sting off missing the Aloha Knitters and the splinter groups I knitted with. As with any new endeavor, the challenge becomes one of figuring out how much to share, while continuing to maintain one’s identity, which is ever-changing in the new homeland.

So…dear reader, if you’ve always read me, read on! I hope to be here more often, with whatever comes to mind; knitting, dogs, domestic pursuits, spirituality, creativity. Be forewarned, there might not always be pictures. I’ve been so hesitant to blog, at times, because I don’t have photos to illustrate the entry, and I’ve recently heard and read a couple of remarks made by folk who didn’t seem to be too happy about blog/forum entries that lacked pix. This particular corner of cyberspace is for ME, and sometimes, there aren’t pictures. I’m just sayin’.

Also, if you read something that offends you, rest assured that: (1) it’s my space, my party (okay, DisKnit’s too) and I’ll say what I want to, and (2) I like to write, unedited, at times, and am a woman who changes her mind with amazing frequency. So if you don’t like it, click on outta here, but if you come back, you might find me taking an entirely different tack on things.

All that out in the open. Feel free to comment, or not. Of course, like all bloggers, I’m a bit of a comment whore. Not a very good one, judging from my comment history, and not always good about leaving the comments in other blogs I read. But we’re all trying.
More interesting content to follow.

k-brow: an open letter to Nu'uanu

Dear Nu'uanu,
I fell in love with you the day we met. I was intrigued by the idea of living for a time in Hawai'i, as I had never really considered even as a vacation spot; preferring the less expensive, though farther flung locales of Bali, Java, and Sumatra.

Somehow, after a week's vacation, and househunting, I stumbled upon your cool valley, with the lush green banyans, and mists pouring down over the Pali. When the rest of the island was hot, you still offered morning rains, and gentle breezes. Most of the time. I am forgiving and forgetting the howling nights of wind, and screens blown out of the window in the dining room, time after time. I will also forget the standing water in our yard and the mold growing on the furniture, not to mention my Birkenstocks.

Now that it's time for me to take my leave of you, I know you've been slyly showing me your best, with a wink, as if asking me, "Are you sure you're really ready to give me up?" Y'know, Nu'uanu, sometimes, I just don't know.

It's hard to leave a friend, especially one who's seen you through some of your hardest days, as well as your best ones. You were there, as my home, the day I found out, so shortly after moving here, that my friend Christie had died. You were here to return home to, each day, after I fled what was surely the most frustrating job I've ever had. You housed us generously, and were here, the day we brought baby Cricket home from the airport, feral and un-housebroken.

You brought me friends, other residents of your valley, who appreciated your charms. You also ensured that I wasn't ever alone in my house, bringing me hordes of rats, centipedes, roaches and a mongoose. Not to mention an army of toads, geckoes, anoles and skinks. My guests complained that they were unable to sleep through your symphony of doves each morning. But why would anyone want to sleep through one of your slow, sweet dawns?

So, dear Nu'uanu, I take my leave of you. I cherish the memories, and hope I return often to visit. Take care of yourself, dear cool, breezy valley.

So much love,

K-brow.

k-brow: dog and distraction

I like this picture of Ella, who looks like she's laughing.

Sometimes I feel as if I am too tangled up, energetically with my dogs, more so than is healthy. I've done ritual work with them in mind, put hours into their training and care, and worry about them, more often than not. But as Acornbud would say, it is what it is, and so we continue. I think this picture of the shadows shows how enmeshed we are as a pack.

Friday, I shipped Cricket to Atlanta. All week, I'd been worrying about it, dreading the moment when I would put him in his crate, and watch him be hauled off to the belly of the plane. Cricket has traveled before, and done very well, but it doesn't lessen the worst-case-scenario thinking, and the general sadness of being parted from my dog.

I had groomed him, clipped his coat, applied tick and flea meds, taken him to the vet for his rabies shot and travel health certificate. The night before he was to go, I took he and Ella to the Nuuanu schoolyard for a long run, in the beautiful evening light. I gave him lots of reiki the evening before, and just spent some time telling him about his journey, how it was gonna be. The day of the trip, we took an hour long walk, well before he was to leave, so he'd be tired, but cooled down for the travel.

I'm happy to report that Delta Cargo's Pets First program does well with dog shipping. The people at the airport were incredibly nice, to me and to my prickly dog. They let me keep him out of the crate til time to take him away, were concerned about his height and head safety in the crate I had for him, and were even jovial when he displayed a bit of temperamental alam when a guy bumped into him with a box. They bumped me up a crate size, from extra large to giant size. It was a crate big enough for me to ship in. His head still was close to the top of the crate. Cricket is a tall dog with a long neck. Bystanders were commenting on the enormity of the poodle. I think when folks hear the word "poodle," a small white yappy dog comes to mind. Something in a tutu, perhaps.

Then, when they came to take him away, he began to bark, not hysterically, but just repeatedly. I cried a little and wished him well and godspeed. They wouldn't let me watch him board the plane, (I couldn't go out to the passenger area at the regular airport where the plane was parked, about 1/2 mile away) but I waited at the cargo bay, and they told me when he was boarded. It was a beautiful, cool, overcast, breezy day, perfect for shipping a dog who suffers in the heat.

Then to console myself, I went to Savers and did some thrift shopping. Scored some shirts and a sweater. I came home, played with Ella, who seemed mystified that I'd spent the whole damn day with her packmate and rival, only to returned home without him, carrying a bunch o' stinkin thrift store clothes. I explained to her about cashflow therapy, and how a flattering glitter Roxy t-shirt can erase a lot of worry for a short time. Later, I gathered up my wine, chocolate and knitting and drove over to Chris's house for further distractions. We ate creamy brie, sushi, drank wine, knitted on our respective February Ladies, and discussed all things Harry Potter. Her husband came home, and we discussed Dexter. Hey, I have obsessions for everyone!

So I headed out to come home around 11:30pm. I went out to my car, opened the passenger side door to put in my knitting, and glanced across the car at the drivers seat, where I just happened to see...a huge centipede ambling slowly around exploring the seat. I shrieked, Chris shrieked, we stared in horror, and I sent her to go get the spouse, (like he was going to bravely fight the 'pede) and he came out and stared in horror, too. We were transfixed for a minute or so, and decided we had to get it out of the car, but it was dark, and there were so many places it could slither off to, if it were frightened. Believe me, I was NOT going home with that centipede in the car. It must've been 6 inches long.

Finally, I took a ziplock bag I had, screwed up my courage, and put it over my hand, and quickly reached out and grabbed it. I turned quickly to hurl it out into the yard, and hit Chris, who was standing behind me, looking over the shoulder. She screamed. I screamed. Fortunately, I did not let go of the 'pede. Then I threw him down, and dispatched of him quickly. Yeeeesh. If I had sat on him he'd have bit me. If I'd been driving, and he crawled on me, I'd have had an accident for sure.

Got home, showered, and went to bed, but I was too angsty to sleep, so I read, til P called at 1:00am to let me know that Cricket was safely in Atlanta. Ahhhhhh...

Such a day.

k-brow: party time

Last Saturday, Acornbud had a get-together of some friends at her house on a rainy, misty day. A nice gathering, up in the Dowsett Highlands of Nu'uanu. We just hung out at her house all eve, with margaritas, grilled meat and veggies, heavenly salads and decadent dips and then Lilikoi brought some tequila-lime cupcakes. As vegan as I am not, the offerings from that cookbook "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" continue to thrill me. Anyway, it was a great time, one of the memories of Hawai'i that I will cherish. Here are some pics. I am a lazy photographer, so they are just random things: (as always, click to biggify)

It was off and on rainy and cloudy, and really pretty cool when there was a breeze. I love these clouds. I'm enamored of the juxtaposition of white-grey-blue these days.

Here's the patio behind her house. It's lush and green, with old mosses growing up between the stones.

Acornbud has some crazy orchids blooming on her patio. This one is all curly and convoluted. I will miss the very commonplaceness of orchids, when I move to the mainland, and I think they'll be a plant that I'll actually try and have in my new house. I've always grown things like pothos, spider plants, cactus, etc. but here I haven't bothered to have houseplants, except for the occasional orchid, which lives its blooming life indoors and then goes outside when it goes dormant.

Party girls (counterclockwise from left) Teri, Barbara, Maureen, Opal, and Dayna. I think Maureen and Opal are pointing at the flowers, but they might just be debating something else.

There was also knitting. I am still slugging along on FLS, and her neverending sleeve. I say sleeve, because we aren't even at the second one. I am just finishing up #1 now. I will buckle down and finish this sweater to wear on the plane, I must finish this sweater to wear on the plane! But just as a backup, I have Clapotis, which is serving magnificently as a bed blanket on these breezy nights.

k-brow: empty house

The movers have come and gone, and now I am living in a mostly empty house, getting geared up for the final push of this transfer of my life, from the islands back to the east coast. I like being in the empty house, surprisingly. Without all my stuff around, I find myself breathing, gazing at the surrounding beauty of the valley, really catching the cool misty breezes. Very nice.

An update on the headache sitch…I had my visit with the Kaiser neurologist on Wednesday. Or, as my mom calls it, the “neurosurgeon.” The neurosurgeon prescribed me a powerful new migraine med called Maxalt. I have to say, I’m pleased with it, having already had the opportunity to try it out. Joy. It’s a melt-on-your-tongue kind of pill, that has a pleasingly minty/bitter taste. Fast acting, good-tasting; what more can one ask? Neurologist doc was very nice, giving me all sorts of practical advice for handling the migraines and the tension headaches.

I’m now without reliable internets, though I can steal from a very slow wireless network somewhere in this ‘hood, I’ve found. Its very pokiness and wavering signal make reading blogs and socializing on Facebook difficult, though, and I’m only really using it for email. Good for me to take the internet diet. I have no patience with slow networks, so I won’t be waiting around for this one.
Cool and rainy seems to be the order of the day today. I breakfasted on papaya, and am gonna inflate my aerobed and try and catch a few more z’s.

k-brow: turning energy around

True to form, Hawai'i is delivering the perfect summer weather that makes me want to stay here forever, or at least until my 4-seasons soul starts longing for winter. Perfect clean mornings, washed by the nighttime rains. Soft breezes scented with plumeria.Yellow flowers that can't help but make me smile. A lot. Though I'm still embroiled in getting ready to move, and am delaying my days of beach lounging this week until after Friday, there's that promise, too.

I think I'm about to turn a corner, finally, in this packing, though it's the little stuff that remains, and little things can be daunting, too. Still, I'm enjoying the solitude, the little excursions to dump recycling, go to Goodwill, run the dogs. The Nu'uanu schoolyard has been utterly empty, mowing has ceased, and so the grass and clover have been lush, making it an altogether pleasant place to hang out with dogs.

I've knit so little in recent days. The mojo has departed, which is unfortunate, though I can only guess that it'll return after all my furniture is gone and I have no tv. Then I'll have to take it to a cafe, I guess. Though I am saving our most comfortable camping chair to stay here with me, and it looks like I'll be around until at least the 25th, due to contractor slowness. That's okay. I don't mind. I've got FLS to finish, a scarf that is a gift for my dogs' sitter, the long-missing-shoulda-been-finished-by-now Neapolitan second sock, and the Simple Yet Effective Shawl, and the Cursed Koigu Chevron Scarf to finish. All, except for FLS, small projects that pretty much fit into one little bag, and will do me until September or so, when my stash and Earthly Possessions return to me in Atlanta

Megan gave me a loaf of homebaked sourdough a couple of days ago, and I've been pretty much living off it. So much for La Vida Low-Carb, which will have to wait til Atlanta. This bread is amazing, and I have been just eating it with unsalted butter, for the most part, with the occasional cornichon pickle or slice of feta. I've never tried baking sourdough before, preferring the dense, honeyed whole wheat offerings of the Tassajara Bread Book, but this bread makes me wonder if that's a direction I want to explore... A perusal of Megan's blog (check out those Day Geckos!) reveals that she's done a lot of trial and error experimentation to get this fabulousness. Still, yum.

I'm trying to turn some energy around here, today, by getting as much extraneous stuff out of the house as possible. Old towels going to the Humane Society, a recycling run, more stuff to Goodwill, bulky things kicked out to the curb for the trash guys to get this week. I think, as more stuff flows up the steps and off the property, the packing will flow. I've written in the past about this place being kind of an energetic sink, it's at the bottom of a very steep hill, where things can flow in, but don't always cycle out, mostly because one needs to carry them up the 31 steps to get them out. It has made it hard to be motivated to purge. My own energy is up, though, and in spite of a low-key headache, which I think will unwind with exercise, (though not necessarily heavy lifting) I feel like I can face it today.

k-brow: shoyu eggs

When P and I were traveling in Indonesia, years ago, we used to eat a lot of Padang food. Padang is a style of meal, where the foods are served in many little dishes, curries, sambals, fried rices, etc. One of my favorite Padang dishes is the curried egg. An egg is hard boiled, then peeled and cooked again in the curry sauce. I've made these curried eggs, and they are quite wonderful, but I didn't want to make curry, in this heat, so I made some shoyu tamago. Or maybe it's tamago shoyu...soy sauce eggs:
This treat couldn't be simpler. Hard boil and peel 4 eggs. Mix together the following ingredients:

2Tbsp shoyu
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp grated ginger
pinch of cinnamon
1 Tbsp rice vinegar or mirin
1/2 cup strong green or black tea

My own recipe was really more or less to taste. One needn't be so precise.

Put the peeled eggs in a ziplock bag and pour the sauce over them. Zip it up and set it all in a bowl. Turn it occasionally to ensure even distribution of the sauce. Let marinate for 24 hours. Or however long you can wait. Then take out, slice and eat. Yum.

k-brow: bucking up

I am cooking up a big pot of dog stew in the kitchen: soft meaty pork neck bones, chicken hearts and gizzards, mung beans, barley, celery and sweet potatoes. In my efforts to eat up all the food in the house, I'm having to actually shop for food to complete recipes and meals. Meh. It's stretching my kibble out, anyway. I love cooking for my dogs. When the high-end kibble that I typically feed my dogs started basically doubled in price from what I'd paid for it on the mainland, I realized that there was no obstacle to my going out, shopping the farmers markets and Chinatown, and cooking up stews and brews for my beasts. Everything that comes here by boat, in a container, is expensive. Local (or local-ish, in the case of chicken and pork) is fairly affordable.

It's been a tough week. Last week, as we were gutting out the rotted wood in the bathroom, we found live termites crawling up and down the doorframe. I'd hoped to avoid this scenario, particularly as these guys were identified as subterranean termites, as opposed to drywood termites. Our house had been fumigated for drywood 'mites and we had a warranty for that type of treatment. Naturally, this particular infestation wasn't covered by warranty. Arrgh. Another spendy step on the road to selling this house!

Social insects fascinate me.

The 'mites, the continued rat trapping, (which has been successful, I suppose) and endless grind of sorting, purging, packing and cleaning, without feeling like I've yet turned a corner, is a grind. The corner will come, soon, I think, as we resume some contracted work later this week. Lacking a corner, combined with the endless chipping away, has made me sad. The sadness has been layered with the sadnesses of deaths, hither and yon. The passing of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson - icons of my teen years, the death of a dear friend of my mother, last week, and today, the passing of Jake, Reya's beloved gold puppy... Death draws lines, divides our lives into eras. The "before" and the "after" phases.
I want sweetness, light, gentle healing, for my mother, my friend, myself.
I want this:

Honey At The Table

It fills you with the soft
essence of vanished flowers, it becomes
a trickle sharp as a hair that you follow
from the honey pot over the table

and out the door and over the ground,
and all the while it thickens,

grows deeper and wilder, edged
with pine boughs and wet boulders,
pawprints of bobcat and bear, until

deep in the forest you
shuffle up some tree, you rip the bark,

you float into and swallow the dripping combs,
bits of the tree, crushed bees - - - a taste
composed of everything lost, in which everything lost is found.

- Mary Oliver

I keep my pictures on iPhoto as a screensaver for our desktop computer. The other day, I walked into the office, after the termite discovery fiasco, to see the unexpected picture of my dad on the screen, looking particularly sassy. The shot had been taken the day we moved from Virginia; we'd stopped by my parents' house to spend the night before we drove west. The old man seemed to be saying "buck up" and after the momentary stunned gasp (I so am not prepared to see his face these days, and yet, I cannot remove him from the screensaver - I need this) I guess I bucked up. It's advice that keeps coming 'round. Reya says people are resilient, even as she survives the most awful loss imaginable to a dog lover. I hope to be. Resilient. I embrace the creaking-yet-lively Ella, and savor the moment, her sweetness. She moves away and asks "where's my ice cream?" Dogs are so in the moment, really.

I pine for the pines of Georgia, for the reunification of my primary pack, all under one roof again. For closeness to my family. And I mourn, in advance, already, for the goodbyes that are coming up.

Bucking up here, as best I can.

k-brow: a tune-up

More of the dog ice cream party here. As always, click the pic to biggify.


Listening to lots of progressive rock from the 70's tonight. Renaissance, Genesis, King Crimson, as well as the progs of the New Millenium; Joanna Newsome and The Decemberists. I do love iTunes, particularly to feed the prog-rock fangirl. Yum.

Little else to report. I ate cupcakes. Did a huge recycling run this evening, and took the dogs out. I am slowly finding my mojo again, through sheer necessity.

Lord, but I need a brow wax! Or at least a good sit-down with the tweezers.

k-brow: something for everyone

A little break in the cleaning action, as P returned to HI for a few days to turn 50, and to tie up loose ends. We haven't been especially productive, and have spent the time he's been here, mostly hanging out, or visiting old favorite Oahu haunts. Last night, we went to dinner at Roy's, the restaurant of local boy chef Roy Yamaguchi. Yum. I had the best cocktail I think I've had in a very long time. Later, P ferreted around the internets and found the recipe for me. Maybe to get me to stop talking about it, since it's been a major topic of my obsession, since:

ROY’S HAWAIIAN MARTINI
A signature cocktail and most welcoming beginning to any Roy’s experience.


1 ripe pineapple, rind removed
2 cups Skyy Vodka
1 cup Malibu Coconut Rum
1 cup Stoli Vanil
2 oz simple syrup or liquid sugar

Place one inch slices of pineapple into one gallon container. In a separate container, blend Skyy Vodka, Malibu Rum, Stoli Vanil’ and simple syrup. After sugar is completely dissolved, add to sliced pineapples. Let stand at room temperature for at least three days (the infusion process gives the beverage a subtle pineapple taste). When ready to serve, for each drink, fill a martini shaker with ice, pour in 4 oz. of Hawaiian Martini mix and shake aggressively. Strain into chilled martini glass and garnish with a wedge of fresh pineapple. Serves 6.

I will be making these, for sure!

Father's day is tomorrow, and I have to say, I've never before been conscious by how many ads for dad-type stuff there are out there. I don't know how I'll feel tomorrow. I've been really sad, lately, about my dad; it sneaks up on me, unexpectedly, at times. I'll see little things that remind me of him; a display of gorgeous tomatoes at the farmer's market, a fishing rod at the hardware store. Or I'll hear my mom complaining about a rabbit in the garden, and I'll think of how he'd have recommended just going out and shooting the damn thing. My sweet cousin messaged me on Facebook a few days ago, sending love and support for the coming weekend, and it struck me that we're in the same boat, now. Sometimes I get so caught up in my little shut-in world, that I don't stop to consider how I'm almost never alone, in my situation.

I am cranking out the last rows of the body of Miss February Lady. No idea, really, if it'll fit okay or not, just confident that blocking will erase a world of woes, should it come to that. I've recently come to the conclusion that I am at SABLE (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy) status, and I need never buy yarn again. A happy place for a knitter who's just gone unemployed, unless she's a knitter who likes to shop for yarn, and I do. But last week, as I emptied the yarn dresser out, and lovingly packed those many, many skeins into the two big Rubbermaid tubs, it hit me that I've got lots to knit, in the coming year. And incredibly, nothing which will suffice for the Whisper Cardigan. meh. I've got other things in the pipeline.

Still no move date. The coming week holds some more handyman time with Randall, and some decisions to make about how much home improvement I can afford. I'm still under budget for this place, and for the Atlanta house, too. After a banner week, in which I trapped 4 rats in 4 days, I appear to be done with rats. I know the recent rain may have lured them back outside, though, so I continue to set and place the traps diligently, in hopes of conquering this problem once and for all. I've been locating the rat nests and stashes around the house; mostly under sofas, behind the big green hutch, and in the pantry. I found the gnawed top of my dog biscuit jar, a crime I had wrongly accused Cricket of committing, some weeks ago. I found the remains of my Easter candy, as well as some shredded vacuum cleaner bags in the pantry. Mercifully, the rat bastard left me 3 bags intact, which hopefully will get me through this move and into the Atlanta house.

A friend, a few days ago, was talking about resurrecting her blog, and turning it into a type of gratitude journal. I have a hard time sticking to any one format for my blogging (witness the paltry attention paid to knitting, these days) but this is an idea which intrigues me. Some things that I'm grateful for at the moment:

The NRN
Broken screens as an excuse to run my air conditioning
The cousin, who's been a tremendous moral support to me, lately
Jo Sharp
Showtime On Demand
Tricycle Daily Dharma
The return of Nu'uanu's rains
The plethora of lizards here: skinks, anoles and geckos!

Cricket is grateful for the rare treat of the Frosty Paws canine ice cream. He's a slob, though, and just tosses his trash around.


On to my dinner of chips, guacamole, asparagus, pineapple and ramen noodles. Yes, we are well-fed here at Chez Nu'uanu Estate!

k-brow: sarong living and media check

I'm unemployed at last. With 3 paychecks coming over the next 6 weeks, it could be worse. I finished up at school, and have been trying to muster houscleaning/purging/organizing mojo, with mixed results. The heat and post-school exhaustion have conspired against me, but I'm getting a bit done, and finding my rhythm. Also, continuing to trap rats, and ferret out their little hiding places within my house.

Some lovely knitting in public yesterday, for WWKIP Day, and then Blogless Michelle and I hung out and ran around, picking up a big dog shipping crate for Master Cricket, who will soon be flying the friendly skies to his new home in Atlanta. He'd outgrown the one he'd traveled in from Australia. Blogless' brother-in-law generously gave me one from one that dear, departed Emma had used. I gave him some pinot noir in exchange. Win, win.

One of the great joys of summer and not having to be anywhere in particular, is sarong living. Two years in West Africa and time spent traveling in SE Asia have made me a dedicated sarong wearer. Cooler than a skirt, and somehow more versatile, (it's a dress! a towel! a blanket!) I am all about the sarong these days. Oh yeah, and I'm drinking my coffee iced in the mornings, in an attempt to keep cool.

Crazy violet toenail polish: "Jiggy" by Creative Nail Designs. Some salon stuff I scored via my sister's Beauty Supply connections. I am always all about the shades of purple, these days.

Little else. I have taken advantage of our Showtime On Demand to marathon season 1 of "Dexter" which was grimly pleasing in a rather scary way. I never thought I'd get sucked into a series about a vigilante serial killer, but Dex's do-good attitude about his hobby, and his mad forensic skillz, plus that terrific supporting cast just hooked me. Now it's on to season 2...

This video, Roseanne Cash's "The Wheel," was posted on the Owl's Wings blog a few days ago, and I am just bedazzled by how many tarot images there are in it. I love the song, and adore the tarot-ness of it all. Enjoy.

Rosanne Cash   More CMT Music   More CMT Music Videos

I wonder if it's just some director's brilliant idea, or if Roseanne is an aficianado of the cards?

I'm off to fry some rice for dinner, with veggies. Broccoli, red peppers, edamame n' bacon! Yeah, I know...bacon's not a vegetable.

k-brow: hillbilly exiled

Where would I possibly find enough leather
With which to cover the surface of the earth?
But just leather on the soles of my shoes
Is equivalent to covering the earth with it

Likewise it is not possible for me
To restrain the external course of things
But should I restrain this mind of mine
What would be the need to restrain all else?

—Shantideva

I am a big fan of Tricycle magazine's online Daily Dharma. You can be, too.

School is over, though my work isn't nearly done. Fatigue, crushing heat, and a sore knee forced me to flee early today, after an emotional goodbye to some of my students and their parents. This job, with this age group, drives me crazy. The kids are biologically programmed to rebel and fight me at every turn, but are so young still, that some get teary when they tell me goodbye. Arrrgh. And the parents...I love the parents, all about my age, and funny as hell. Am I glad to quit the job? You betcha. But I'll miss the parents, now, especially now that I'm not accountable to them. And the kids, well, the 11 year old is a thorny, feisty creature.

I came home and slept off my Keneke's food coma in the breezy heat, and then got up and played with the dogs and drank more ice water

I am watching some History Channel marathon of "Hillbillies: The Real Story" about my people. Fascinating stuff. Feeling a little sad that my experience of teaching American History is ended,for the moment, but more than a little jazzed about going back to hillbilly land, if only for a drive-by.

A little shot of a graveyard angel, from my Oahu Cemetary walk:


I promised knitting, and I am a woman of my word:
(click my pix to biggify)
The Simple Yet Effective Shawl, in its tadpole form. A bit of a tedious knit, but I like the stripes caused by alternating skeins. Noro is addictive. Kureyon sock yarn is a bit like knitting with twine, but I know it will soften up.



Miss February Lady, almost done with the body. The true color is the more purple version above, with a little help from the touch-up features of iPhoto. I love this pattern, memorizable lace is a beautiful thing.

I need to go to bed, nap or not. My sleep is all jacked up, still, due mostly to silly aimless naps and coffee drinking and general craziness. But tomorrow is a long, intense day of working my ass off, so I should admit to that, eat a salted caramel and just take myself to bed.

k-brow: been awhile, hasn't it?

I still tag my entries with "k-brow" in the hopes that DisKnit will return, but then I haven't been exactly an exemplary blogger, myself, now, have I?

I tell you, it all hinges on the damn camera, on how it seems like too much work to shoot, download, upload and narrate my life pictorally. If I could just log in and write, then it seems like it would be easier. meh. I think I'm just overloaded.

P has moved to Atlanta, and is living in the empty Atomic Ranch. I am wrapping up life here, though it seems to move at an incremental pace, as school creeps on. It will go faster, after school is out and I can dedicate my energies to getting ready for the move.

Two more working days (not counting tomorrow, which I will spend, in its entirety, in the classroom) and I can walk away from this job, which has been such a trial for the past 3 years. Of late, it's been particularly odious. The students have been just plain mean to each other, a co-worker has been giving me the silent treatment, because I openly disagreed with her about someone we'd interviewed to be my replacement. The interviews went badly, and I eventually just took myself off the committee, after realizing that I really didn't care, and didn't need to care whom they hired for next year...

I am spending tomorrow, all day, in the classroom, in hopes of getting the major bulk of my work done, so I can leave on my last paid day. I do not want to give any more time to my employers. It will be nice to be at work with no one there, to print out the report cards, to pack up closets, to sponge all the dead ants out of my desk and clear out my cubbies. Try to remember what it was like to love teaching, love having my own classroom. Try to sort out whether this is a huge sea change in my feelings around my career, or just this crazy job, these past few years. Time will tell.

I've been getting together, sporadically with the knitters. Dinner with Acornbud and son, who knits not, spinning with Opal, finally making it back to knit night, and hanging out with Barb and Lilikoi and sampling the joys of Menchie's Frozen Yogurt.

Knitting has been going on, if sporadically. February Lady for at-home, and Laura Chau's Simple Yet Effective Shawl for out and about. Pix to come when I get around to it.

My war with the rats continues. They are winning, I think. I caught one last week, but my remaining snappy traps are bent out of shape and I need to replace them. I'm thinking about going with an electronic trap, which my friend on Maui recommends. It's expensive, but re-usable, and if it raises my catch rate, it'll be worth the cost,(about $40 + batteries) since now, the rats are springing the snappy traps and eating the bait, some nights. Rat drama seems to be a major topic of conversation amongst the catless denizens of Hawaii, amusingly enough. I had a discussion with my auto mechanic's wife, last week, and she was sketching out the differences between roof rats, Norway rats, and mice, for me. It seems I've gotten one Norway rat, 3 roof rats and about a dozen mice, if her taxonomy can be believed.

Now, kind readers, to reward your patience, as I document the sorrows of my spinsterly life of rat-battling and child wrangling, I have some pix of life in Nu'uanu:
A beautiful temple here on Nu'uanu Avenue, about a mile from our house. Isn't it just gorgeous? I wish my house looked like this...

A favorite dogwalking place, the venerable Oahu Cemetary. Especially now that the pink trees are in bloom. I do love me a graveyard.

The latest pic of our stream. Note how dry it is...we haven't had much rain in the past weeks.

The most photogenic member of our household, looking ahead.

I am off to bed, to rest up for tomorrow's toil. Insomnia has been plaguing me a bit, but I'm hoping to get a few hours tonight...

k-brow: feed the fangirl

In light of the fact that I have no current photos to post, here's one from Christmas, when P and I went to a strange little town out in West Virginia, on a drive. Most of the stores were closed, alas. Because there were some incredible antique/junk shops in the area. I think the place was White Sulphur Springs? Somewhere just across the VA border. Anyway, a purple pimp hat, and a reflection of P, reflecting on such things.

Utterly lacking in mojo of any kind, I found myself making yarncakes this evening from all my laceweight. Sometimes it gets me knitting. Tonight...not so much. The Schaefer Anne is a mean bitch to roll. It tangles up and catches on itself in the swift, and I did my share of growling and cussing as I wound it. Still, it's pretty, even if it doesn't send me rushing for my needles. It's been a sort of lost weekend, with Speech Festival and a whole lot of sleep. I did bathe and clip the dogs, but for the most part, I've been in some sort of low-key hibernation. I don't understand it, but hope it passes soon.

We closed on the Atomic Ranch, and P is camping out in it this weekend. Says it's very quiet and peaceful and green, there in the urban forest. I can't wait. Alas, there's 6 weeks of contracting, building, cleaning, painting and packing in store for me, before I get that pleasure. Gotta somehow find the wherewithal to pull out of my personal stuckness.

Acornbud and I went to see the new Star Trek movie, on Tuesday, at the IMAX theater. Now I have always been fond of the series (in all its incarnations) from way back, though it usually takes a back seat to my more modern sci-fi obsessions like Battlestar Galactica. But a re-imagined and rebooted version of the series has set my not-so-inner fangirl all a-flutter once more. Okay, I think the villain, Nero, could've been a bit scarier, but the conflicted Spock was spot on, and Kirk was obnoxiously pleasing with his swagger and daddy complex. I am happy, and no doubt will see this film again. Gotta feed the fangirl.

My current favorite beach, again, that nameless Windward side park, with a long curve of sand, and a sweet little bay.

k-brow: response

Thank you for the nice comments on Must Have, and the congratulations on the house. I'm very happy about both!

Must Have was knitted from Paton's Street Smart booklet, from 6 skeins of Paton's Classic Merino in Dark Natural Mix. I used US 6 and 7 needles. It was not a hard knit, if one knows how to do cables, but it definitely took some concentration. The charts for this pattern suck eggs, but the written directions for the cabling are excellent.

I prefer charts for lace, but written descriptions for cables, I think.

Here's an outside shot of the house, and its cool roofline. It's a tri-level, with lots of woods out back.


Vog continues here; stinging eyes and sore throat. I'm actually thinking of not running the dogs this eve, just because of the ickiness; it must be affecting them, too. I will hang out with them outside, though and let them poke around in the woods so they feel like they've gotten some kind of workout.

Star Trek, the Movie is out. I'm antsy to see it. But P is in Atlanta...my moral dilemna is whether or not to sneak out and see it on my own, or with geeky friends here (Acornbud? Did you read this?) or hold out til he comes home...though he may be seeing it in Atlanta as I write this. Arrgh. The trials of the long distance marriage are already kicking in...amor de lejos es para pendejos...

The weekend is shaping up, nicely. Some knitting tonight at Mocha Java, and some more knitting at Bluewater Grill in Kahala Saturday. The Pet Expo at the Blaisdell Center all weekend - shopping for dog toys and hanging out with agility friends. Some pre-packing, some mousetrapping, The Tudors, the requisite beach time...I'm just looking forward to the good mix of downtime, social fun and no work to speak of.

k-brow: little update

So yeah, I finished Must Have. Must Have taken me a lifetime to do it. But it is warm and cozy and pretty and I am pleased with myself over this.

It still doesn't have buttons, though, because in spite of being the woman with a grillion buttons, I don't exactly have a bunch o' matching ones. I sorted all my buttons out, a couple weeks ago, searching for the magical seven that would transform this sweater into a Fully Finished Object. Nah. But I did have fun admiring the spoils of my grandma's button box and several yard sales.


It's been so long since I've posted that quite a bit has happened that I should probably catch you up on. First (well, in my mind, anyway) I've been sick. Off and on since mid-March. A flu, an eye inflammation, just endless exhaustion. I think my life has gotten way too complicated, trying to teach and figure out this move at the same time. I've been pretty gentle with myself, though, and am coming out of it, I guess.

In the meantime, with our ranch house in Atlanta, there proved to be so many complications, triggered by the home inspection and our recalcitrant sellers, that we terminated the contract. Sad, too, until we found out that the Modern was back on the market. So we made our original offer again, and it was accepted. So now it's the Atomic Ranch, again, and I'm happy, though trying to see the lesson in all this; this falling in love with a house, losing it, letting go, bouncing back, and then getting what I wanted all along. Always with the analysis of attachments, yeah? We close on the house in about 10 days. P will attend, I am here in HI, which has turned nice and sunny, with a whopping dose of vog, which I guess isn't really nice.

Beltane came and went. Celebrated in low-key fashion, as is my custom. But a pretty altar.

I had all kinds of things to say here, but they seem to have dissolved. I should probably post more often.

k-brow: grillin' and chillin'

More veggie grilling
In answer to the questions about my veggie grilling...I take asparagus, zucchini, onions, peppers, whatever veggies I have on hand, and I just hit 'em with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Sometimes, if I'm REALLY ambitious, I mince some garlic, or use sesame oil and herbs. I used to just brush them with salad dressing, but recently, I'm trying to eat more very basic, simple foods, so it's usually just the olive oil and the lemon juice.

I pre-heat the grill to about 500 degrees and then just put the raw veggies on and grill away. Sometimes, (but not always) I brush the grill itself with olive oil, first. I grill the veggies about 5 minutes, grill lid closed, on high, and then check them, turning them with tongs.

With peppers, I start them with the outside skins on the grill first, and then when they get sear lines, I turn them and do the other side.

With asparagus, I start them spread out, and then as they get more done, I pile them together. You have to make sure they're perpendicular to the grill grate so they don't fall through.

I grill and taste and grill and taste till everything's done, and not too burnt.

Expect a lot of shrinkage. What looks like a huge amount of veggies cooks down rather quickly, so grill more than you think you're gonna need. They make good omelet fillings, salad additions and snacks.

I have not grilled eggplant. I'm a little afraid of it, having had the good, the bad and the ugly with this nightshade. I'm thinking to start experimenting with it, as I had some superb eggplant milanesa at Soul de Cuba in Chinatown the other night. And I like Baba Ganouj, so I'm thinking that grilling the eggplant may just make it palatable.

Today, I've spent the day entertaining my handyman, who came to give us estimates on rebuilding our rotten deck and termite damaged bathroom. These things are liveable for us, at this point, but the house cannot be marketed with them as is, in this economy, so we're tackling them as major repairs. Those, and the replacement of the dead dishwasher (though in truth, we get by just fine washing our own dishes) and the repair of the ailing washer are just big investments that we are biting the bullet and making, in hopes that they help to sell the house. My handyman reminds me that houses don't come up too much in Nuuanu, and by the time we put it on the market, it'll be hot on Oahu, and Nuuanu will seem cool and green and welcoming to all comers. I bought the house in June, and used to sit in our condo in Waikiki and watch the morning mists pour over the pali and envelope the Nuuanu and Manoa valleys and dream of living there... now, of course, I go down the hill and head east to Hawaii Kai to see the sun, and breathe some dryer air, but all things change as the seasons change.

It feels like we are in some crazy nuclear winter these days though. Maybe it's just that I work on the Windward side of the island, which gets lots of afternoon cloud cover and due to my cross-Ko'olau lifestyle, but winter seems to still have us in its grip. Cloudy, low 70's, and I've worn long pants and long sleeves more here now than ever before. I usually work in shorts or skirts and tank tops, but this spring, it's not the case. Craziness. The shawls and sweaters are definitely getting a workout.

A sweet shot of Ella sleeping.
She seems thinner, and less muscled, these days, though her senior panel at her annual physical revealed robust health and good physical condition for her nearly 11 years. She sleeps more deeply, now, too. Cricket is most definitely in his physical prime, these days, big, very fast and powerful. His fearfulness with strange people and dogs makes him a constant worry out in the public sector, but I feel like I have to walk a fine line with him; keep the stress threshold down, expose him in a safe, pleasurable way to as many new sights and sounds as possible. It takes more energy than I think I have, sometimes. When he gets to Atlanta, we'll resume working with a trainer, privately, this time, to deal with the reactivity. I know the trainers who do that work here, and feel like the venue isn't a good one for him; I want to work with someone new, someone I don't have a history with, too.

The prospect of moving has triggered all sorts of questions and wonderings...

Will I have to dress up more for work? And wear makeup?

Should I sell the CR-V here, and just drive my dad's truck, which he left to me, in Lexington?

A new place seems to be the ideal situation to start new patterns, to keep the good stuff, and to cast out the not-so-good. I think this is what's keeping me working on this move so far, as it seems, at times, altogether too much to face.

Must Have is stitched together. Photos to come this weekend. I'm not 100% thrilled yet, but as you know, my FO's grow on me. I love the sheepy smell of it, but it's gonna get washed and blocked, because I want to squeeze some length out of it.

I'm swatching for the February Lady Sweater, with some Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed. I love the yarn, though it's DK nature worries me a little with gauge issues; the pattern calls for worsted yarn. The Silkroad is a pretty fatty DK though, and I nearly have gauge with #7 needles, and I'm told that the pattern sizes run big, so I'm pretty ready to cast on. Time to knit something purple.

k-brow: feed your head

So many things, these days, are restoring my energy and joy. I am a moody person, by nature, and go up and down, with the moon and as the wind blows. Recently, though (probably with lengthening days and a steady diet of supplements and nettle infusion) I am more "up" than "down."

Here are a few things that are making me happy recently...

Reya's blog, with its recent series of entries on spirit guides, complete with tonic and recipes is giving me food for thought. I highly recommend her as a regular read, especially if you're interested in the seasons, shamanism, or photography.

I swear, would starve if it weren't for the gas grill. Most of my dinners cooked at home involve, if not the Le Creuset dutch oven, the big rusty gas grill. Asparagus and red peppers, from Costco. Basted in lemon juice and olive oil and eaten right off the grill.

My neighbor's bird of paradise flowers are blooming. Just gorgeous! I see it on my daily stroll with Ella, who likes a little walk away from the ever-bouncy Cricket.

Red and green foliage in Waimea. I don't know what this tree is. It has fat shiny leaves.


This pic, which I took last fall. A pile of opihi, or limpet shells that I found on the Big Island. I wish I'd taken some, but for some reason, I thought they might be kinda stinky, and I was roadtripping in a rental car, and wasn't sure of my ability to get them back to Oahu without complications. I have never eaten opihi; apparently they're hard to find, and quite delicious. Somebody had themselves a little feast.

Aloha Shorts is this terrific local storytelling program on our NPR station. It's on every Tuesday, at 6-ish, and is a wonderful showcase of the voices and experiences of the islands. I will definitely try and get this show through some streaming source, once I move back to the mainland!

Off to cook dinner now; leftover potato-kale soup and salad, with fresh-baked bread.

k-brow: spring breakin'

My spring break is winding down to a close. I'm trying to get last minute bills paid, laundry done, lunches for the week planned and organized, and am doing a fair job of working through my to-do list.

After we recovered from the jet lag and sorrow of losing the beloved Modern, spring break has turned out pretty nice.

We went to Blogless Michelle's art opening at the Chinatown Boardroom on Wednesday night. She'd painted an ukulele that was in a show of local artists. The Blogless One was fresh in from Wisconsin, and didn't seem worse for the wear, though I wonder if she crashed later? I gave her tea and a shower and she trundled on down the hill with husband and baby to her opening, which we attended later. Great fun, and it's amusing to see how different artists painted the ukeleles.

We put an offer in on our backup house, and it was accepted. Though this is a pricier house, it needs far less work than the Modern would have, in terms of updates, fencing, flooring, etc. so we are pretty much breaking even on what we'd spend. Which is far less expensive than housing in Hawaii, Northern VA or California, given the adjustments for the times. The new house, which we shall call El Rancho Sur (remember, now, I'm currently living in Chez Nuuanu Estate) for want of a better name. So El Rancho Sur is a ranch house, with a big tree-filled yard, a screened in porch, and a white brick fireplace. Assuming everything goes well, we'll own it by mid-May, and P moves in at the end of the month. I'll follow in late June or early July, depending on when Chez Nuuanu Estate sells or when I've had enough of sun and sea...

We took a road trip on Friday:

We went to the North Shore, via the H-1, coming through Wahiawa, stopping for excellent Mexican food at La Palenque, then through Haleiwa and on to Shark's cove and Sunset Beach. We made a stop at Ted's bakery for chocolate haupia pie, and I spotted Pamela Sue Martin, the actress who used to play Fallon on Dynasty. She was eating pie and looked happy to be doing so. Then we proceeded to drive, through Kahuku, stopping to get banannas at a roadside stand; hoping for lilikoi - passionfruits, but no luck, and on around the Windward side of the island.

We stopped at this gorgeous beach park, that looks like a scene out of "Lost". Not sure what it was, maybe Heia?

It was getting stormy.

The sand was very hard and packed, a perfect place for a walk down the beach.

We were alone, except for a few surfers and these two, who were trying to warm up after a swim. We walked too far down the beach, and got caught in a rather cold rain, and raced back to the car, absolutely soaking, and drove on home, to warmer clothes and potato-kale soup for dinner.

There has been knitting going on, and even the attending of the Mocha Java Knit Night last Thursday, after a cheering dinner at Genki Sushi, with Opal and her mom, and Dayna and Barbara. I've been on a knit night hiatus, of late, preferring to cocoon in my own house with my own food, but spring break has me feeling resilient and social, for a change.

I'm finishing up the button band of Must Have, and will stitch it together tonight or tomorrow, for a final completion of this sweater which has been too long on the needles. I fear it may be too short, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd have just added 3 or 4 inches to the pattern, right after the ribbing, since there's no shaping whatsoever on this thing. My final verdict is that it is a fun knit, with some design flaws, namely the fact that it wouldn't have killed the designer to mirror the cables, and add a little waist shaping. When I began the pattern, I had no idea how to really plan for those things, and so didn't do them, followed the pattern verbatim. It's been 1.5 years on the needles, though, so I'm happy to power through this UFO. I think I'll be able to squeeze some more length out of it with wet-blocking, and will certainly wear it, as it's soft and cozy, and utterly comforting in color and demeanor.

Whiteout conditions and sheeting rain coming off the pali have me worried about my planned grilled chicken and asparagus and red pepper dinner...Really, it's white outside, with a fine mist pouring into the bedroom windows before I shut them. Arrgh. Will this winter never end?

Gonna go put some rice on, now, and pretend that it's just a passing shower.

k-brow: back from atlanta

So I'm back. My whirlwind trip to Atlanta was more work than play, I've gotta say. We must have looked at 60 houses, due to a real estate agent who really does her homework, and my husband's need to see every damn thing on the market. We made an offer on a house we'd been admiring for 2 months online, one that P had actually visited twice before, on previous trips to Atlanta. Incredibly, the day we put the offer in, other offers went in for it, too, and ours wasn't accepted. It was a 60's modern, unimproved, on a huge lot. I was heartbroken, in the way that one shouldn't be over househunting. I cried loud and long, yesterday, when the realtor called and delivered the sad news. I was so sad, because we could have made the offer weeks ago, and we just waited, saying "it's too early, we're not ready yet." It was too early, but even if we'd made it 2 days earlier... Now I'm over that, though I think it will be a long time before I can drive by that cool house, once I'm in Atlanta. No other moderns on the market to speak of, though, so I think we'll write an offer on one of our backups. So much for my dream of the 60's kine atomic ranch lifestyle in the Deep South. I think the backup house is a normal ranch with a screened in porch, and a fireplace, though, so it's a happy compromise. It's a nice house, with a shady yard and some ethnic restaurants not too far away.

I really have to get my head out of the hypothetical imaginings that the real estate search always triggers in me. Like the job search, I can't put energy into it, unless I visualize vividly, the new life in the house. The meals cooked, the way the dogs look lounging on the floor of the living room. The way the light will fall across my bed in the morning. All that thinking and projecting causes me to fall in love, which invariably breaks my heart a little when the offer isn't accepted. I think I need to be more Buddhist in this endeavor, practicing nonattachment. Or more Wiccan, setting some energy loose in the Universe to work on my behalf, in the best way possible. And then, trusting in that process. This "I see it, I want it, I can see us in it, and I love it" approach is painful.

P says "toughen up". But he was sad, too, as he's the great fan of modern architecture, and is, in fact, the one who got me to start considering it.

I give you P's creation of "cheezettes"- little cheese turnovers made with feta, cheddar and the leftover filo dough. Great cocktail food, and a decent lunch with salad. Our friend Janis' mother makes the BEST version of these; I think she uses puff pastry and stuffs them really full with a mix of cheeses and herbs.


Our dishwasher died an untimely death last week. Nothing like having to replace an appliance when you're trying to make a move. The wiring was shot on it. But while the repairman was here, he found evidence of mice and rats back in the dishwasher cavity, and so the war begins anew. I had caught a rat in the snappy trap last week, and last night, my mousetraps were all sprung but caught nothing, so I suspect it's one of rat bastard's relatives. I've patched all the holes I can figure out that might be giving them egress, but apparently they're doing well in the house, or they have another way in. Dammit. The appliance repairman remarked that living against the mountain as we do, we couldn't avoid having vermin. And even last night, driving up our alley, I saw a mouse running from neighbor Vernon's to neighbor Barbara's yard. Grrrrrr...

Nevertheless, it's spring break, and even when I'm sad, I'm happy. I finished one of my jolly neapolitan socks; just need to graft the toe, and cast on for sock two. I haven't really felt the knitting mojo, but my 8 hour flight from Atlanta to Honolulu left me no choice; I had to knit that sock. I guess I'll be grateful, come next November.

Today, an attack of my teaching storage room, and a great purge of school and teaching stuff that I just don't really use. I've been dreading this part of the house clean up, as it's the biggest mess ever. A tarot reading yesterday focused on the Justice card, and the message of making decisions with wisdom and discrimination. Does the decision call for severity or mercy? I think severity is the order of the day as I attack that room. Not a lot of time to do it, since I'm lunching with Charlene at 2, and Blogless Michelle is coming by later to use my shower so she can go to her art opening, clean, after a daylong flight from Wisconsin. With a baby. Yikes. The woman has more fortitude than I do, that's all I can say.

Off to be severe with my stuff.