The Cat and the Silk Nightie

Lazy Sunday

More photos from the hydrangea bush.


This is the bush on February 19, 2009 during snowmaggedon.

Butter London

No formaldehyde, No Toluene, No DBP...

Just that fact that I only recognize one of those ingredients got my attention. I ordered the Butter London Nail Lacquer Remover Powder Room. Wasn't at all bothered by the powdery smell some reviewers complained about. Was a little suprised at the small size until I used the product. Two tips on a cotton ball and I was able to completely remove the polish. It left my nails neither dry nor oily. They just feel like nails. Highly recommend.

Skirt KAL/CAL

For the unitiated, KAL=knitalong; CAL=crochetalong

I've been waiting to knit a skirt for like forever. A few posts in the KP forum gave me the idea to organize a knit/crochet along for skirts. I've been wanting to knit Kat Coyle's Short Row skirt and Gansey skirt. Kat Coyle is one of those designers whose designs always grab me. I have her Nomad Hat currently on the needles. Need to finish that before Fall.

Brewster Socks

Have started the gusset on sock two. I've made one major mistake in the pattern stitch but this sock has on the whole gone much easier that the first sock. I don't think I appreciated the amout of stress I was under while knitting sock one during the time the whole new job process was coming together.

Pi Are Squared Shawl

Coming along but I'm torn. I will probably finish knitting the 440 yards of the black yarn. On the needles the shawl just doesn't look that big. Here's my fear: that I will add another 200-400 yds of a complimentary colour, soak it for blocking and end up with a shawl that falls to my knees. I think I will seek advice in the Shawl KAL group.

Reading:

Found a wonderful little series, well it's not exactly little in terms of the number of titles. The A Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press. I bought Landscapes and Geomorphology and International Migrations but have added a bunch more to my wish list in Amazon.

Birthday:

I'm starting to realize I'm coming up on one of life's landmark events. My 60th. Damn, I don't feel sixty, don't think I look it and I feel more intellectually stimulated and emotionally balanced than at any time in my life. I certainly don't feel, look or dress like Aunt Bee.

Interesting that at 30, I felt the need to get pregnant (didn't act on it...well I did the act just prevented the preggers part). At 40, I really thought, I'm over the hill. Coming on the big 60, I'm looking around for mischief to get into or something new to explore or both.

I'm not a big birthday party person. What's up with not being able to get that really buttery, sugar-laden icing that turns hard as rocks when you leave it out overnight. The new trend in creamy icing just leaves me flat. Give me icing you need to use a fork or knife to separate from a slice of cake, instead of spoon, and that'll give you a real sugar rush before you've finished that last bite. Anyway...I was filling in my calendar (google is so nice to send you an email saying you have no appointments today) and realized that I will be working the weekend before my birthday, as well as on my birthday, and the weekend after my birthday.

Tossed out the idea of a weekend trip. Think I might book my self into the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and use my gift certificate for a full 80 minute body massage and a facial. And then schedule a lunch with my sister to seriously pig out on Dim Sum.

Films

Watch the latest George Gently series. A flim I'd seen before on Jewish performer Kurt Gerron. I still have a Jacobean play on DVD with Helen Mirren and Stanley Baker to watch.

Photo Editing condt.

What's interesting to me about photography (which ties in with being mindfully aware) is the camera sees what we see but metally filter out unless it's so intrusive it determines what we see. For examle, yesterday was hazy. It was that haze that signals humidity in the atmosphere. What I found looking at my photographs from yesterday is that I really didn't mentally register the impact of the haze until I took this photo of a distant building.

This building was about two blocks away from where I stood to take the photo. The first is the unretouched photo. The second photo is after I used GIMP photo editing software to adjust the layers follwing these instructions. The third is the photo after I readjusted the colour.

Hydrangea Photos

I hope to add to these photos in the coming week.

Clothing for Infusion Patients

Under links on this page is a link to Libre Clothing. If you know a dialysis or chemotherapy patient, this line of clothes is reasonably priced, has zippers for arm or leg access, is warm enough, eliminating the need for a blanket or cover, for most dialysis centres (which are like refrigerators). They are machine washable.

One of the issues infusion patients face is being dressed warmly, and fashionably, yet allow medical staff ease of access to their access sites. This line of clothes solves that problem.

2011 Steps That Count

The 2011 American Kidney Fund Steps that Count Walk was held at National's Stadium. It was an amazing venue for the walk and everything I heard from staff, the National's organization was wonderful to work with. For someone who remembers Griffith Stadium and RFK, this is a stadium worthy of the Nation's Capital.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton came by to speak and to present to AKF her insertion into the Congressional Record; and the Mayor declared June 11, 2011 Kidney Awareness Day. The Congresswoman presented some alarming facts. The three zip codes in the US with the highest percentage of people with kidney disease are in Washington DC. In the 61.4 square land miles of the Nation's Capital there are 6K+ kidney patients in a population of 601,657. That's almost 1% of the population.

I started volunteering with AKF after my mother's death from end-stage kidney disease. AKF gives 97 cents of every dollar raised to kidney patients and their families. The walk featured health screenings, exercise demonstrations, healthy cooking demonstrations and healthy menu
options as well as excercise routines, face painting and chair massage.

If you have any of the risk factors listed in the photo below, get tested; even if you don't get tested.

The Red Shoes

The latter part of the week and this weekend have been cooler, but the threat of August-like weather looms in the coming week.

One thing having such a minimal commute impacts is knitting and reading time. I managed last week to set aside a bit of time to knit, but must work reading into my evening schedule as well.

Bought a pair of red shoesI'm amazed; they are narrow enough for my feet; have a sort of egg carton padding that makes them feel like bedroom slippers.

The piccy at the start of the post is Toupie attacking a skein of the Bristol Yarn Gallery Lyndon Hill. It is such a rarity that Toupie interacts with yarn; but of course, he sees the yarn as anathema when it steals my attention. The problem with owning a predator that is a solitary hunter as opposed to a dog, which is a pack hunter, is intelligence. You forget whfromre the prey crosses the road, you may not eat. I'm constantly surprised by Toupie's prodigious memory for objects and situations. He knows now when the white board comes out that the camera and yarn will follow and often rushes to get on the white board before the yarn.

I met another new neighbor on Friday when we returning from doing the trash because I screeched when Toupie rushed past me hellbent on getting inside her apartment. Luckily the baby in the stroller squealed when he spotted Toupie and that slowed his progress. She said, after my apology, that she gathered from the noise I made that I meant Toupie might run into the apartment. I got him inside quickly, so she could proceed on her way.

I finally figured out how to use the multiple shot feature on the camera. That's how I got the piccy of Toupie treating the yarn like prey. Some of the shots were clearer than others. So my next task is to sort out how to make them all clear.

Films:

In The Name of the Rose: I think I tried reading this at the time and couldn't get into it. The story was classic mystery; the clues well-placed and the dialogue and the drama well done. The acting was first class. A young Christian Slater was spectacular in his role as the novice.

It Happened Here: I wish the production values had been better. The film is done in documentary style and postulates what would have happened if the Nazis had won WWII and conquered England.

The Scent of Green Papaya: This film is about a girl who grows up as a servant in a household in 1950s Vietnam. It is beautifully filmed and acted. This is a film you really need to watch as Mui takes small moments to explore the world around her.

Reading:

The Wisdom of Sustainability: Buddish Economics for the 21st Century by Sulak Sivaraksa

This book contains selections from Sulak's talks and articles. He makes cogent and rational arguments against globalization, points out the damage World Bank and IMF policies have and continue to do to people, the environment and their societies and calls for governments, businesses and societies to adopt a people-first approach to policy. There are so many moments in the reading when his pithy but true statements make you stop and think. The one that I can't get out of my head is where he points out there are more prostitutes in Thailand than monks. The other statement is that small frogs and other reptiles in rice fields that used to provide a source of protein for rural communities have been eliminated by insecticides and combine harvesters.

Pie Are Squared Shawl

I am more convinced than ever that this shawl was meant to be knit in a non-lace weight yarn. I've increased the needle size to #10's. I have the width I want (it's on 40" circulars in the photo above) but I'm not getting length--well, I am it's just taking a month of Sundays.

A Candlewick Pillow
Did this years ago: