Following a Pattern

Back on the left. Sleeve on the right.

I can't believe I have knitted the back and one sleeve of a sweater. I usually struggle to finish caps and scarves. I've fallen into crochet and knitting the way I fell into spending days with my grandchildren and making day trips to Yogaville. It's the only path open to me.

Sure, there are other things I can do and have done. I still have novels, poetry, blogs, landscapes, and other art. Somehow, none of those activities are as compelling. Handcrafts seems more important to do right now. Like spending time with my grandchildren was important. The way falling into a variety of spiritual experiences was important.

Like knitting and crocheting, tending children and practicing spirituality are crafts that accrue through small accomplishments over time. The relationships builds as does the practice. Slowly accruing anything has been near impossible for me.

Jumping to conclusions, seeing the big picture, dreaming, visioning—all of these are easy for me. I can see things coming a mile away. Or even further.

I'm enjoying looking closely and seeing what is right in front of me; taking it one step at a time.

So, anyway, I have two parts of a sweater now. I've been helped along the path to steady accruing by the Lion Brand Knit Along which I followed on Ravelry. Thanks to the Lion Brand instructor (who offered a lot of excellent tips) and all of the other participants (who offered a lot of great photos of their progress and more great tips), I actually finished a vest that fits. I got the correct gauge and only made one serious mistake: a dropped stitch on the back and I was able to fix that.

I don't know where crocheting and knitting will take me. It simply seems important to do right now.

Between Here and There

I started a photo-moblog (try looking that up in the last century’s dictionary!) while I was still working at SunTrust to capture what I found during my daily walk to the office. Since I parked in a free section, it was a 10-12 minute walk each day. So, altogether about a 20 minute commute. I still have a 20 minute commute, only now it’s all highway driving without the leisure of stopping for photographs. The best moments of the drive for the past two weeks have been

1. The hazy hill of blue on my left created by an invasion of bachelor buttons (or chicory, although I’m not fussy about what you call them).


2. The hazy sunlit strip of blue and white on my right as I exit from one highway to another. There the bachelor buttons are friendly with Queen Anne’s lace.

The universe just knows I need cheering up.

midsummer

Light candles. Blow them out in reverse. Pluck up tiny weeds. Remove the dried dead fronds of blooms returned to earth. Pace the garden. Note the flavor of the wind. Contemplate holly leaves dreaming of winter. Select a mimosa bloom for pressing. Hear subtle music.

Happy Solstice!

Songs of the Day: One Guitar, No Vocals – Leo Kottke

Notice anything different?

This is me blogging from my new 24" iMac. I look so much better don't I? Now I need to run out and buy a firewire cable so I can transfer everything over from my old mac. I'm a little sad. I will miss my friendly G4 buddy of eight years. Wow! Say that about a PC will you? Never!

Actually, there will be no running for a couple of days. Like when did I ever run? My back went out this morning. Thanks to my lovely chiropractor its now back in but I must be careful for a few days. er ... how did I get my iMac out of the case? Very carefully. Takes more than a sore back to stop that train.



Now back to my iMac.

i know you're out there somewhere

the secret of your beauty
and the mystery of your soul
i've been searching for in everyone i meet
and the times i've been mistaken
it's impossible to say
and the grass is growing underneath our feet

— The Moody Blues

things that bring tears to my eyes

1. The New Apple Mac OS X - Leopard. You must watch the fabulous tour and see the new Finder with stacks, Quick Look, Spaces, totally unbelievable Mail and outrageous iChat backgrounds. But my very favorite: Time Machine. Never lose a file again – ever! And find it easily, too. The only drawback: you need an external drive. No problem. I have one. I'm ready.
2. The New Improved iPhone. The darn thing isn't even released yet and already they've improved it! This tour shows you YouTube. I may throw my computer away, or at least my laptop. If I had one.
3. The Pantone home page flash highlighting 56 new spot colors. It's super "touch" sensitive. I don't know how they did it. It's not just a pattern, it's an algorithm. A new home page is not on the same order of magnitude as the Apple stuff, but even little improvements need to be celebrated. I love the whole Pantone site. It's very smart.
4. MirrorMask (2005) makes me wonder where I've been my whole life and why I wasn't first in line at the theater when this came out. The marketers stupdily missed my demographic completely. Fire the marketers! This is the most innovative movie to come out in this or any century. The story, the plot, the sets, the effects – it's all highly creative and like nothing else anywhere. I don't like horror and don't read Neal Gaiman but there's something in his collaboration with Dave McKean that catalyzes an entirely new reality. One which I not only wish to live in, but to die for and invest in. I may need a 3-day cooling off period.

I guess what's really going on is others knocking themselves out for me. It's so endearing. Ah, yes. I have put the "Queen" in alien drifter.

I'm back ... thanks for understanding

I actually got back Friday evening but was so relaxed from being in Cancun that I couldn't bring myself to do anything more than unpack and go right on relaxing. Yesterday I tackled the yard, the grass having grown 4 inches during the 7 days I was gone. The weeds are horribly frightening but I'm going to get to them shortly. Which is why this post will be short. I also spent 2 hours yesterday catching up on email and I'm still not done. That will be finished today, hopefully. I also plan to post a short summary of my vacation in my other blog. Mostly, I'm left with an irrepressible urge to burst into a warm "Hola!" every time I see someone. It's lovely! Everyone should have an all-inclusive vacation in Cancun at least once in their life.


more later

The Song You Need to Sing to Me

Well, here it is, inspired by my iPod full of love songs which makes me feel like a Queen of Yore beset with amazing troubadors. I am so rich!

I Long to Tell You
Everything I enjoy and how thoughts of you
open my heart
the glow in your eyes, your sensitive spirit,
open mind and loving ways
all these have brought songs to lips before
but never mine to you
my lips to you
and at night when we lie together
our legs entwined
i will breathe across your ear
into your hair
this song of all I long to tell you

My adventures
and how all I have learned has made me a cup full of life
ready to pour into you
as you open yourself to me
everything that I have in my heart
will make your heart sing in reply
and at night when we lie together
our legs entwined
i will breathe across your ear
into your hair
this song of what I long to tell you

As we lay in stillness contemplating light and shadow
I continue my soul's song
bringing you close to me with sins and generosities
weaving tales for you alone
and reporting what I have told others
as you listen in your quiet way
I understand that you are always here with me
and at night when we lie together
our legs entwined
i will breathe across your ear
into your hair
this song of what I long to tell you

this song will never end
even after we are both gone
it will linger in the air
permeating the atmosphere
until it finds some other pair
some other king and queen
brought to whispering
at night when we lie together
our legs entwined
i will breathe across your ear
into your hair
this song of all I long to tell you

You're on your own with the melody and orchestration, etc. I'm afraid you may even have to do minor edits to the words or cadence but, hey, you're the artist! Play on!

A Classical Gap

Yes, there has been a gap in my classical music education. This isn't the first I've known of it. I fell into the gap years ago listening to Debussy and Ravel while studying in the library at George Mason University. I sat in a carrel with huge earphones clamped to my head and lost track of space and time watching the sun shine intermittently through the multi-story glass wall into my eyes while a part of me that I barely new existed went to places off the map. Brilliant.

Today's gap discovery is Poulenc, Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc, a french composer with serious breadth and depth, who's music has taken me there again. iTunes is full of versions of his work, so you can sample plenty of them. I purchased the "Song of the Night" there because it seemed like a nice play on themes (Poulenc was tagged as "half bad boy, half monk") and it will fit in nicely into my "Sunday Morning" playlist. So, that's a start. Actually, I started with an Ogg Vorbis file from wikipedia (Capriccio) but you need a third party player (try Audacity). Now I'm going to find an album, or at least a small flock of pieces, of real Poulenc and for a little while magic will live again.

Monk Meets Poulenc (medley)

Before My Door

Every evening this week I've been coming home to this scene
... and it looks much better in person that in this photo. The daffodils are huge and have a light, clean scent. There's something so hope inspiring about daffodils. The crocuses have turned out a lot more splendid than I expected. Breck's sells these super crocuses. They are huge and beautiful. I love bulbs. I plant them everywhere I go. They are so reliable and virtually maintenance free – happy, energetic volunteers. Breck's makes the best. Here's one of the crocuses.
Current Fads
Listening. Playlist Recent Purchases (unpublished); lots of singing birds
Watching. Kate and Leopold (2001); Men in Trees; the sun coming up and those ruddy red clouds that transform into a steely blue and then become white languid wisps as if they were stretching out as they wake
Activity. wishing
Gadget. G4
News Source. the multiverse
Reading. The Secret of Platform 13 - Eva Ibbotson; A Wish Can Change Your Life - Gahl Sasson and Steve Weinstein; Writing the Breakout Novel - Donald Maas; GD USA; MacWorld; Fortune (Yes, I really am reading them all right now – I'm a reading addict. What can I say?)
i can't speak
i can't sleep
i'm a dumb waiter stuck between floors
waiting
waiting
waiting
pull really really hard and i will come crashing into you
ready to be filled