I Am the Beastmaster

It was so freakin' gorgeous this weekend that on Sunday morning I decided I needed to be outside.  On a whim I went to the zoo.  (1) I have been here for over 2 years and haven't been (2) I just happened to have my sketchbook in my purse.  I spent several hours (in entirely inappropriate shoes) marveling at nature and doodling.  Elephants are fun to draw.  Napping kangaroos are adorable.  River otters are too squirmy and move too fast to capture if you're out of practice as I (shamefully) am.  Once I have access to a scanner I'll put up some of my doodles.  

The most magical part of the day involved and orangutan.  I stood very patiently in a corner of the window, watching them play out of sight or with their backs to me.  After a few minutes the other zoo-goers, bored, moved on and it was just me.  A female kept looking over her shoulder and making eye contact.  I didn't move.  Soon she came swinging over and perched on some vines right by the window, not 6 inches from my face and we just watched each other.  I moved my pencil to start drawing and she immediately moved her head to try and see what I was doing.  I stopped and she looked up at me again.  I moved my pencil and she quickly looked back down at my book.  So I started sketching and she watched me.  I didn't actually sketch much because I was too fascinated by the actual animal in front of me and her very direct, sad-looking orangutan eyes (they have very mournful faces) and Justin Bieber hair (I kid you not).  We spent about 10 minutes communing and it was completely awesome.  Best thing that ever happened to me at a zoo.  One of the best things that ever happened to me, period, I would say. 

I May Not Die Alone

Wonder of wonders, October is shaping up to be the most social month I've had in a very long time.  I have the ability to interact with a variety of humans.  Bully for me.

Ye Olde Weekende Wanderings

Last weekend was a glorious exercise in variety.

Friday Night: Out for drinks and a little dancing with friends, home around 3am for a weeeeee bit tipsy sleepover.

Saturday Night: Attending the Westmont Bright Hope for Tomorrow dinner.  Classy outfits, wine, a fundraising dinner.

Sunday: Church, and a visit to Camlann Medieval Village, a "working" historical village a la Williamsburg (on a MUCH smaller, more ragtag-band-of-misfits kind of scale), depicting rural England, 1376.  We saw archers, a potter, 3 sheep, learned about different arrowheads, and the horrors of warfare, then capped it off with trenchers, pottage and mead for dinner. 

Yes, we are a strange people, my roommate and I.  Join us, won't you?

Gonna Live Off th' Fatta th' Lan

I have a tragic tendency for checking impossibly large piles of books out of the library.  Coupled with my delusions of ultimate domesticity and knocking up against my natural laziness, distractability and forgetful procrastination, you have a recipe for super-stoked-and-ain't-never-gonna-happen mental disaster.


Today I went to pick up a copy of Daisy Cooks! Latin Flavors That Will Rock Your World that was on hold for me at the library (at least I know I will cook some food - THAT I can do).  I LOVE watching her on PBS.  I get SO hungry - her food is beautiful and terrible for you and I want to just plunge my arms into the pot and hug it and hug her and her little east coast accent.  While there I wandered into the cookbook section and found Washington Local and Seasonal Cookbook and Slow Food Nation.  (Of course, spitting right in the face of these two acquisitions I stuffed my face today with a quarter-pounder, fries and a soda from McDonalds.  What can I say, I'm well-rounded.)  Then I saw another amusing treasure - Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance.  Pages and pages of summaries on how to run your own little country home from start to finish.  Handy tips on how to:

• buy land
• dig a well
• rotate your crops
• make cheese
• butcher livestock
• shear sheep
• keep bees

I actually really want to try to make some cheese but I have a nagging fear that I might just end up poisoning myself...

CraftFest 2010

Kara!!!

Kalin!!!!

Mochi!!!!

These are the faces of CraftFest 2010.  I went to Denver for the Labor Day weekend to see Team Lundquist and their mascot extraordinaire, Mochi.  We ate, crafted, ate, crafted, slept, and put the cycle on repeat.  So many delicious things, so much crafting, so much Degrassi marathon as background noise.  I love these two kids.  We also saw Lindsey and Nate Ballinger and their gigantic furry dog child Angel, who was incredibly huge and incredibly sweet and it was incredibly funny to see her and Mochi "play". 

Kara took me to The Fancy Tiger, an amazing little craft shop.  Maybe too fancy for every day use, but they had AMAZING fabric and BEAUTIFUL yarn.  I conned Kara into making me a case for my circular needles (she previously made a glorious one for my double pointeds).  I was seriously torn over the fabric choices but finally settled on Lizzy House's RIDICULOUSLY cute Castle Peeps pattern in brown as the base of the case with the green town print for pockets.  Kara supplied the lovely button and the skills.

I don't know if you can see, but the dude on the left is totally playing a lute and singing.

I knit Kate Davies' owlet sweater in a beautiful autumn red Spud and Chloe yarn (55% superwash wool, 45% cotton so it can go in the washer!) for my friend Maria's baby daughter.  I love the S&C motto: "Sweet yarns for real life". 

I haven't blocked it yet, so it still looks a little frumpy.  I also haven't added eyes.  You're supposed to use buttons, but buttons on a baby sweater seem dangerous, so I have to decide if I just want to sew 'em on real good or maybe stitch on some little eyes in a different color.  (Next I plan to knit a larger one in grey for her older daughter.  Then finally a full-size one for myself!)  Even Kalin got in on the fun, doing some paper craft.  Alas, I did not get a picture of the bitchin 3D robot he brought into existance.

And that, my friends, is the story of CraftFest 2010.  Now accepting applications for 2011 craft- and food-centric awesomeness.

Rot!

Oh bother,  I've got blossom end rot.  Well, I don't, but my tomatoes do.  From what I gather this is usually caused by uneven moisture or by calcium deficiency.  I have a sneaking suspicion that mine is due to bad drainage.  I'm really going to have to rethink how I work in the big plastic tubs I bought this year (more gravel on bottom? Bigger/more drainage holes beneath that gravel? Mulching? Was it mulching? It was mulching, wasn't it!? I SHOULD HAVE MULCHED!)  I'm worried all my little babies will turn grey and creepy and rot from the bottom up.  Can I get at least ONE good, ripe tomato?

Admittedly this whole container gardening thing was a domestic whim and I sort of just threw in and flew by the seat of my pants.  I tend to do that - just "give it a whirl" without doing appropriate research beforehand.  But I've really enjoyed what little gardening I've done and would like to do better at it next year and plan ahead and actually plant the little suckers on the right schedule.  So I'm going to get myself a copy of The Bountiful Container and do myself some research!

On the plus side, at least my chard is doing well.  Those guys are tough!  Mommy's little soldiers.

One Classy Dame

Is it silly that I'm totally stoked for these Katherine Hepburn stamps I bought today?  I want to send more mail.  I want to travel back in time and be her best friend.