Geek Crafts

As you all know I knit pretty regularly lately. Currently I'm working on a Sackboy from Little Big Planet. Other than some issues with the tiny fingers he's been a joy to knit. I've had so much fun with this project that I'm tempted to do another one. Now I just need to stitch him up and we are good. My sister-in-law had knit one last year and I always thought that it looked cool. But the idea sat in the back of my mind and then got lost (like many things do). I didn't remember it until I was looking for patterns for a Cthulhu hat. And that's when I discovered Geek Crafts.

I'm a geek. Not a full blooded geek but I know enough to be dangerous. And in comparison to most of the people I work with, I'm a "super crazy geek". I was once called that by a coworker. I took it as a compliment, which is how he meant it...I think. So Geek Crafts is right up my alley. This combines two of my favorite things, geek topics and amazing crafts. The website is filled with projects that include sewing, knitting, baking, carpentry, model-making...and many more. People submit their projects along with the occasional pattern/instructions.

Every geek topic is covered: Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, video games, and so much more. The site posts on a consistent basis and almost daily I find myself looking at a new craft I want to make. Some of them are way beyond my talent. Like these Doctor Who nesting dolls below. All 11 doctors and they fit in a tardis (it's bigger on the inside).

Things like this Yoda Keychain make me want to geek myself out a bit more. I tend to downplay my geekiness, particularly at work and I think that needs to change. I could be carrying my keys along with the greatest Jedi ever (and no I don't care that the new films had him fighting. Yoda was cool even before I saw a lightsaber in his hand).

And some things just inspire me. I've been wanting to learn to sew. I think the totoro pillow below would help with that. I would be more than happy to make him as one of my first projects. Like Sackboy, when I'm excited about a project, I don't mind putting in extra hours to get it right.

Lastly, I have to stop by this crafters Etsy store. I need some Alice in Wonderland beads. Isn't this amazingly lovely? I would gladly dress myself in Tea Party garb...if it's this tea party. Geek Crafts, for the geek in all of us.

Love of my Life

Years ago, Jeff broke into my phone and changed his name from the rather boring "Jeff" that I had listed it as, to "Love of My Life". He did it as a joke and it certainly worked when I tried to find him in my contacts the next time. But it's been rather long lived for a joke. Five years later, he's still listed as Love of My Life in my phone. I still address him that way when he calls. And he still is the love of my life.

My dear husband has a birthday today. I won't tell you how old he's turning this year (I'm pretty sure he'd be mad at me for that). It's been a year of changes. The next one will have even more. Jeff has shown me incredible courage and poise this year. As one of our good friends told me recently "he's really grown up a lot". He's so different now from the man I married but I love him just as much, if not more. We've lived through some incredible times together. I just hope he knows how special he is to me. Happy Birthday to the Love of My Life.

New Favorite

I went out for a three hour dinner tonight which included two beautiful glasses of merlot, a mushroom lasagna that made me drool, a tasty tiramisu, and some absolutely incredible dinner conversation. My friend and I met at 6 and were still talking as we walked out the door at nine. The only reason we called dinner over was that she had somewhere to be at 9:15. Otherwise we'd still be there. Thanks Christina, for an amazing dinner!

So I have no real time for an actual post. That doesn't really matter though because I've been wanting to share this image from Joey Remmers that I found last week. I want a print of this. This might have to be my birthday present this year. He's selling them as part of a show he's doing at the Corey Helford Gallery. This print is called A Sheep Amongst Wolves. I really like the rest of Joey's work but it was this image that made me instantly take notice. I just love the colors and the lines. It's just gorgeous. Joey has a rather nice website filled with his painting and the tattoos he's inked. I love both. His ink work is a bit out of my price range but I bet you it is worth it. Perhaps when I finally have the money to get my ink done, I'll fly out to him. But until then, I think this print will tide me over.

Rainy Day Reading

I had so much that I was going to get done today. I had been so productive last night and I was looking forward to really making progress on a couple of projects today. I have a letter for our homeowners association that I need to draft in the next day or so. That hung over my head all day. I have a house that severely needs to be cleaned out. We have reached that extremely cluttered stage that drives me crazy. I had some writing I was going to get done. But I woke up late this morning with a headache (stupid wine) so instead I drank endless pots of coffee, ate most of a loaf of beer bread, and spent the entire day reading.

I'm currently reading Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky which is a rather fascinating history of how the salt trade and production has shaped our world. I got interested in the book after reading At Home by Bill Bryson last week. Bryson had done a small section on salt and pepper for his dining room section. He didn't list where the salt information came from but when I found the book at the bookstore, I figured I'd found a definitive history. I love seeing how one product has impacted us so immensely. I would rank Salt right up there with A History of the World in Six Glasses as one of the more incredible food based histories I've read.

I read some of Salt, but the rainy day called for a little lighter fare today. So it was off to the library to return my stack of books and pick up more pictures books for my 1001 Children's Book Challenge. I picked up a brand new stack. I can't seem to leave the library without at least a dozen books. I brought them home and lay on the floor reading, like I was 10 again. I even started craving hot chocolate. I laughed and I marveled. So many of the books were just great. Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French made me laugh so hard I snorted. Even Jeff was surprised at how hard I was laughing. Joyful Noise, Poems in Two Voices has such interesting insect poems that I found myself rereading the poems over and over. A Van Allsburg made me gasp at the beauty of the illustrations. It wasn't the most productive day but it was a good one. A perfect rainy day.

Wine and Beer

Jeff and I spent the night last night in Omaha. He had a cricket match early this morning and rather than drive in at 5 this morning, we headed there last night. We stayed in my favorite hotel. An old Embassy Suites that has become a Doubletree. The rooms are huge and beautiful. The hotel was quiet. And breakfast was free. Even the pool and the hot tub (which we took advantage of) were warm.

The match was not warm. It was freezing. Drizzling and about 50, I spent most of the time huddled in my sweatshirt or watching from the car. It was not the best weather for a match. Jeff's team lost but they put up a great struggle. It could have gone either way.

But the weekend trip was invigorating. Jeff and I had some incredible talks this weekend. It was nice to just get away from everything together. I came home ready to do things. I've cleaned the kitchen, gone through some paperwork, started a box of things to get rid of, and finished putting away dishes. Right now I'm working my way through a bottle of Barefoot Pinot Grigio, one of my new favorite wines. It's a bit too dry for Jeff but I'm not complaining on having the bottle to myself. The other thing I'm doing is baking. After last week's banana bread I decided that I need to make more quick breads. This week it's beer bread.

I'm using the Super Secret Bierling Recipe for beer bread. It is:

3 cups Self-Rising Flour
4 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
12 oz Beer

Mix together until moist. 35 minutes at 350 degrees. Make sure to flour your loaf pan before baking.

Yep, that's it, that's the list. It's such an incredibly simple recipe and it's so tasty. Both Jeff and I prefer this yeasty bread a little undercooked. I love the soft interior and the slightly crisp crust. It has a unique flavor. I'm sure you can vary that depending on what beer is used. Most of the time I just use whatever is in the fridge, tonight Bud Light. So it's a wine and beer night. Following an incredible day. I'm so lucky. 

Poetry Friday

I've been scatterbrained lately. I find myself writing notes as reminders and then forgetting where I put the notes. I have a post-it filled with blog ideas on it but I seem to have lost it. Time for a good housecleaning. So instead you get a poem. It's aptly titled "We Forget".

We forget

The romances of childhood
The stories that seem endless,
that pull us in, until we too
stand with Peter Pan, gazing in wonder
At a place too perfect to be imaginary

We forget
The roses and thorns of youth
Where every possible slight
Becomes catastrophe
And nothing seems real
Nothing seems possible

We forget
Our first tastes of freedom
The rush that comes with
Letting our parents let us go
As we step into something
Far greater than ourselves.

We forget
The first blush
When attraction turns from lust
Into something far deeper
Something stronger than moon
Or tides. Something eternal.

We forget

Scottish Library Mystery

I posted a link today on Facebook about a mystery that is surrounding Scotland's libraries and festivals. Someone is creating elaborate and beautiful paper sculptures and leaving them in various libraries and at various book festivals as celebrations of books and the places that hold them. The sculptures started in March and so far there have been seven of them that have been dropped off. All of them are incredibly beautiful and very poignant for the location they are left in. Each is accompanied with a gift tag that makes me giddy. Here are some of the tags.

"For Central Library @ Edinburgh_CC 'A gift'--This is for you in support of Libraries, Books, Words, Ideas-- Libraries are Expeansive (It's hard to see the E crossed off. I'll just show this one).

"For @filmhouse--A Gift in support of libraries, books, words, ideas... and all things 'magic'."

This one left at the Poetry Library leaves me speechless "It Started with your name @by leaveswelive and became a tree... We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books...a book is so much more than pages full of words... This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas...a gesture (poetic maybe?)

I found the story in a link from Neatorama from a community forum called This Is Central Station (read this, they cover this mystery, and the artists incredible words far better than I could). They cover all of the finds. The sculptures appear unnoticed and are left in random spots throughout the libraries. Often times they are not noticed for several days. The first location was the Scottish Poetry Library, then the National Library of Scotland, the Filmhouse, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, the Edinburgh Book Festival (two were left there), and the most recent is the Central Lending Library. Each are beautiful.

The cup reads Nothing beats a cup of tea or coffee and a really good book. 

The cupcake reads Except a piece of cake. 

The teabag reads By Leaves We Live

It really is a mystery but one of the best kinds possible. I hope that this person who is creating and leaving them knows how extraordinary these are. How inspiring these little miracles are. How incredible this kind of support is. I hope that these wonderful art pieces bring some notoriety to the libraries and festivals. I hope the artist understands how appreciated his or her gestures are. These made me giddy and made me cry with happiness.

In Mourning

Dove hunting started September 1st in Iowa. For the first time in 93 years it is now legal to kill mourning doves in the state. The Des Moines Register had a huge article the very next day glorifying a group of hunters who bagged dozens of birds yesterday. And not surprisingly, I couldn’t be more pissed.

Now I’m not a hunter as you all know. Hell, I don’t even eat meat much less go out to kill the creatures that provide it. I don’t know the emotions that come with hunting. But dove hunting is particularly loathsome to me. Mourning doves have some of the most beautiful calls of any bird in our area. Their soft coos and owl-like calls are a constant in my neighborhood. Since I feed the birds I get to listen to the beautiful whistling their wings make when they take off. They are surprisingly pretty birds. But that’s not what really makes dove hunting unsportsmanlike to me.

The reason I’m pissed is that doves are relatively easy pickings. Doves tend to be the last to leave an area after all other birds are startled. They cannot silence their wing whistles so they are easy to track as they fly away. I will admit that they aren’t the brightest birds on the block (if hunters really wanted a challenge they should gun for crows). They can be downright stupid sometimes. Instead they are beautiful gentle birds who are going to see their population drop very significantly in the next couple years. Like the passenger pigeon (which was exterminated in less than 50 years) the dove I think will start to see a serious decline. And I’m saddened that I won’t be hearing their calls or their wing whistles. Like most times when humans and creatures mix, the creatures have lost. And very few are mourning them.

Early Poetry Friday

I know I'm early for Friday but I'm out of time for any real posting today. So instead you get a poem.

Go Placidly
I'm not sure who the author is. Anyone know?
[Edit: Thanks to Partly Cloudy Knitter I now know that the poem is called Desiderata (Latin of course) and was written by Max Ehrmann in 1927. Thanks for the enlightenment!]

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
And remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly & clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull & ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud & aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain & bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing future of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment
it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.

Beyond wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees & the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labours & aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

When Life Gives You...er Bananas...

You make banana bread. I had the day off work today for a beautiful four day weekend. And I had four bananas that were just about dead. At least they were well past the point where Jeff and I would eat them. For the record I like mine with still a bit of green to them. So I decided to do what millions before me have done when they have overripe bananas. I made banana bread.

I've been reading a blog called Eat Me, Delicious for years now. The author regularly posts vegetarian recipes that make my mouth water. And the baking ones make me want to dust off a taupe and become a pastry chef. So when I went looking for banana bread recipes to try, I started with Eat Me, Delicious first. I thought I had remembered a chocolate banana bread that would be fun to try. I found the recipe and tried it. Not only is the bread easy to make but it's incredibly tasty as well.

The recipe can be found here and other than the buttermilk and the cocoa powder, most of the ingredients were already in the house. Assembly took less than half an hour so it was quick that way. There was a ton of actual baking time (70 minutes in total) but by the fifty minute mark I was already drooling with the great smell. It's a rich bread. Almost dessert-like. The chocolate and banana are well balanced. It was even more amazing right out of the oven when the chocolate chips were still melty. I'll make this more often. So tasty.

The Lost Thing Weekend

I've mentioned before how much I love the work of artist Shaun Tan. I was introduced to his illustration work years ago when looking for Adam Rex images (not sure I see the connection but hey). Since then I've been buying Shaun Tan's books regularly. I have Tales from Outer Suburbia. I have The Arrival. I even found an old copy of The Red Tree on ebay. Any other books that I haven't bought I've picked up from the libraries. I love this man's work.

One of my favorite stories is The Lost Thing. The picture book tells the story of a central narrator, who remembers when he found a lost thing on the beach one day. No one else seemed to pay any attention to it (they were all too busy for odd lost things), so he took it home. His parents were too busy to notice. But the boy knew he couldn't keep The Lost Thing. So the next day he went down to the Bureau of Odds and Ends to turn it in. While they were waiting to fill out the numerous forms in triplicate, an odd looking janitor handed the boy a card and said that if he really cared about the thing to take it to this address. The boy searched for a long time (the Bureau was dark and scary anyway) and found the address. It was a courtyard filled with lost things of every size and shape. And they all seemed happy. The Lost Thing was happy to go and the boy returned to his life. As an adult now he has noticed recently that he's seeing less and less lost things. But then again he's really busy.

I read the book years ago but hadn't found a copy to buy. This past year though Shaun Tan released a collection of three of his stories (The Red Tree, The Lost Thing, and The Rabbits) in one volume called Lost and Found. This weekend while at Barnes and Noble, I spotted a copy and had to buy it. Even with my limited cash I knew this was a book I would treasure. I hadn't read The Rabbits yet so that was a treat (well not treat. It was powerful). When Jeff asked what I'd bought I made him go through all the stories. I was so excited.

After I got the book home I was searching through an animation blog I read when I stumbled on information about Annecy, an animation festival held annually in France. The festival webpage mentioned that Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing (animated short) had won in 2010. I had seen the trailer years ago so I quickly tracked down the film. It was on iTunes. I was expecting a $10 movie so I was thrilled to see the basic version of the film available for $1.99. I couldn't click the buy button fast enough. The animated short was perfect. Exactly the way I would have imagined the story done. I was so excited to finally own the story and the movie. I've been wanting them for a long time.

By the way, Shaun Tan has the best interview answer I've ever read about drawing. He was sitting in an interview and being asked about his illustration. The interviewer of course asked "When did you start drawing?". Shaun just replied "When did you stop?" And he makes a great point. We all grow up drawing. We may be terrible but as a kid we draw. It is only as we get older that we stop. The artists we love, just never stopped. I remember that when I start to worry about how bad I'll be at something.

Mood Shifts

I wrote a post this morning and promptly left it at work. I was going to try to recreate the mood of the piece but I'm in such a different place than I was this morning that instead I'm going to sum up all the various moods I've had over the course of the day. And hope that it's enough to be interesting.

My piece this morning was on the Mourning Dove hunt which started in Iowa yesterday. For the first time in 93 years, people are allowed to hunt doves and I'm actually pretty pissed about it. I had a ton of great points about why I'm angry but that is saved on a different computer and to be honest after the afternoon and evening I've had I'm so far from angry that it would be hard to get back into the right mental framework. I'm also a bit drunk so if this makes less than perfect sense I apologize.

My work day was actually pretty fantastic. My coworker brought me the Wicked soundtrack to preview. I had mentioned that I want to see the musical (I'm one of the four people on Earth who LOVED the book) but I haven't heard any of the music. So I spent my morning listening to that and working. The afternoon was really productive. While I worked I listened to hours of Regina Spektor radio on Pandora.

After work we met my parents for dinner at this really tasty pizza place in town. Then we headed back to their house. Jeff and I had something we wanted to talk to them about that we've been putting off. It was wonderful to sit down and talk things through. They were awesome about everything. I'm so lucky to have the parents I do. Thanks Mom and Dad!

After hanging out for a bit Jeff and I headed off to the local comedy club. We grabbed drinks and talked before the show. Both openers were a lot of fun but the main comedian (Bert Kreischer) was hilarious. I was so enthralled by a story he was telling that I forgot where I was for a moment (although the Jameson and the two beers didn't hurt). I laughed for two hours straight. It was fantastic. As we left the club at midnight, the wind was picking up. A thunderstorm was brewing. We found a nice quiet spot to sit and watch the rain and the storm and talked. A perfect end to a perfect day.

I'm sure I'll grab that post some time this weekend and post it. But it won't be tonight. Comedy clubs and anger don't go together. I'm too tired and happy to work up a good lather. So this evening I'll go to bed with a smile on my face, remembering that this morning my mood was completely different. I'm happier with this.