“… No es un chiste. El presidente los EE.UU molesto por la presencia de una mosca durante una entrevista con John Harwood de la CNBC en la Casa Blanca observó al insecto y zis, zas, acabó con él. Fue una sucesión de tres pasos:  

Me acabé de leer esta novela la noche del sábado al domingo pasado, de un tirón, hasta las tantas de la madrugada. Así, entre la fiebre (tenía un gripazo de los que hacen historia, con fiebre alta y todo; todavía me está durando la flojera), los capítulos finales y el golpeteo de la lluvia y el viento en el cobertor del tendal y en las ventanas tuve pesadillas toda la noche; resultado: dormí a ratos y fatal entre la fiebre, los mocos y los sueños con gente chamuscada saliendo de armaduras; oí voces en la ventana del dormitorio (ya podéis imaginaros “quien” era); tuve que encender la luz en varios momentos cada vez que me despertaba porque notaba presencias en el pasillo; soñé que me mesmerizaban y me convencían de que tenía que escuchar villancicos una y otra vez sin parar a descansar; soñé con que volvía a mi trabajo anterior; en fin… que tuve una noche movidita…

Y lo peor de todo esto es que, en el cuarto capítulo o así, la novela empezó a aburrirme fatalmente. Tanto que pensé en dejarla y retomar su lectura en otro momento. No es para tanto. Lo he hecho en alguna ocasión; p.ej, con La saga fuga de JB, un supernovelón (que es mucho más que un novelón),  que sin embargo me resultó imposible la primera vez que intenté leérmelo; la segunda, de un tirón y sin parar de reír.

En este caso se unían dos factores:

1) que El misterio de Wraxford Hall, en su composición y estilo, me recordaba mucho a La dama de blanco, de Wilkie Collins; me lo releí hace poco, antes de mi mudanza, así que todavía lo tengo fresco; claro, John Harwood homenajea al maestro y creador de la novela de misterio de hoy en día imitándolo, pero a mí me saturaba tan seguido tanta semejanza;

2) que no me apetecía nada leer con tanto trabajo, y menos algo que obliga a prestar atención a los pequeños detalles para no dejar pasar nada por alto; llego a casa muy tarde, empiezo muy temprano, y realmente la lectura atenta me daba pereza; si le unimos la desilusión que me estaban provocando esos capítulos a partir del cuarto, y el bajón que toda novela tiene ya en esos primeros momentos… pues ahí está la explicación de por qué no quería seguir con ella.

Pero, una vez decidida a darle una nueva oportunidad, y dado que mis compañeras de trabajo me expulsaron del mismo el sábado por la tarde para que me metiese en cama con mi gripe y me curase, o por lo menos, me cuidase, allí arrebujadita con mi cobertor nórdico (bendito invento), que me costó una pasta, pero que abriga que da gustito (nunca he gastado tan bien un dinero), y con una tacita de café con leche y miel (con varias a lo largo de la tarde), allí que me puse a leer esta novela, que me acabó gustando como creí en un principio. Así que os la recomiendo siempre y cuando:

a) no tengáis fiebre,

b) no haya temporal de lluvia y viento,

c) no viváis en un lugar silencioso, o con ruidos nocturnos de animales (tipo un pueblecito rodeado de bosque),

d) no haya tormentas (porque son parte muy importante de la trama);

e) no estéis pasando por un momento triste sentimentalmente hablando (uno de los protagonistas todo le sale mal); yo no lo estoy, y acabé llorando por la triste suerte amorosa del pobre abogado.

Disfrutad de su lectura.

(Hey, if the Kactus Korral can take liberties on the spelling of their name, I should be able to do the same!)

Creepy cacti and sumptious succulents weren’t the only photographic subjects on our visit to the Kactus Korral. (See my previous posting here.) As soon as we entered the greenhouse, a small and elusive black cat appeared. We later discovered she was checking on her three tiny, six-week-old kittens. I discovered the kittens under a table and fell instantly in love! One was a calico and the other two were torties—one with a neat yin & yang stripe down its nose.

Plants and kittens…do I have to choose?

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

(Hey, if the Kactus Korral can take liberties on the spelling of their name, I should be able to do the same!)

Creepy cacti and sumptious succulents weren’t the only photographic subjects on our visit to the Kactus Korral. (See my previous posting here.) As soon as we entered the greenhouse, a small and elusive black cat appeared. We later discovered she was checking on her three tiny, six-week-old kittens. I discovered the kittens under a table and fell instantly in love! One was a calico and the other two were torties—one with a neat yin & yang stripe down its nose.

Plants and kittens…do I have to choose?

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

On this trip to Texas, we stopped at the Kactus Korral in Harwood, Texas, before heading to our final destination—San Antonio. Usually we stop at the Kactus Korral on the way back to Virginia (after leaving space in the car to fill with plants, of course). We learned from Molly (our friendly plant expert/cashier pictured in the last photo below) that the Kactus Korral will probably be closed by January 2009.

Saddened by that news, I bought more plants than usual, knowing I wouldn’t get a chance to see this many gorgeous plants in so many varieties again. I picked up some that I don’t ever see in our local nurseries, such as two variations of the otherworldly “Ghost Cactus” (Euphorbia trigona ‘Ghost’), which is native to Mexico. Once again, we scored bargains. Essentially everything was 50% off—the plants I picked out ranged from less than $2 for the smallest size to under $6 for the largest. After gathering my bounty, I photographed my favorite plant heaven one last time while Molly calculated the (minor) damage to my cash-on-hand. Many of the plants were in bloom, so I got to see what one of my favorite plants–Lithops or “living stones”—might look like when they finally bloom. This time around, I bought 4″ pots with large “colonies” of these amazing little brainy-looking plants rather than the small single specimens. Many of them were already blooming with pink, yellow, and white fringe-like flowers. (See my posting last year on the Kactus Korral here.)

If you’re in the San Antonio/Austin area, you might want to check out the Kactus Korral before it closes. The selection is overwhelming, the plants are very healthy, and the prices (plants are 50% off, pots are 60% off) are amazing. I just wish I had the money (and the space) to offer to buy their inventory! Michael and I pondered that insane idea, thinking we could start a cacti/succulent nursery in Virginia—since no one in our area offers such an incredible variety of cacti and succulents. My only problem would be letting go of the inventory!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Visit my main blog at www.cindydyer.wordpress.com, where I post portraits, event photography, personal essays, and other non-garden-related entries.

On this trip to Texas, we stopped at the Kactus Korral in Harwood, Texas, before heading to our final destination—San Antonio. Usually we stop at the Kactus Korral on the way back to Virginia (after leaving space in the car to fill with plants, of course). We learned from Molly (our friendly plant expert/cashier pictured in the last photo below) that the Kactus Korral will probably be closed by January 2009.

Saddened by that news, I bought more plants than usual, knowing I wouldn’t get a chance to see this many gorgeous plants in so many varieties again. I picked up some that I don’t ever see in our local nurseries, such as two variations of the otherworldly “Ghost Cactus” (Euphorbia trigona ‘Ghost’), which is native to Mexico. Once again, we scored bargains. Essentially everything was 50% off—the plants I picked out ranged from less than $2 for the smallest size to under $6 for the largest. After gathering my bounty, I photographed my favorite plant heaven one last time while Molly calculated the (minor) damage to my cash-on-hand. Many of the plants were in bloom, so I got to see what one of my favorite plants—Lithops or “living stones”—might look like when they finally bloom. This time around, I bought 4″ pots with large “colonies” of these amazing little brainy-looking plants rather than the small single specimens. Many of them were already blooming with pink, yellow, and white fringe-like flowers. (See my posting last year on the Kactus Korral here.)

If you’re in the San Antonio/Austin area, you might want to check out the Kactus Korral before it closes. The selection is overwhelming, the plants are very healthy, and the prices (plants are 50% off, pots are 60% off) are amazing. I just wish I had the money (and the space) to offer to buy their inventory! Michael and I pondered that insane idea, thinking we could start a cacti/succulent nursery in Virginia—since no one in our area offers such an incredible variety of cacti and succulents. My only problem would be letting go of the inventory!

© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.

Best Sushi in Durham Ontario

I do not normally comment on food, however today I will make an exception. I just had some of the best sushi I have EVER tasted. If you are a fan of sushi / Japanese food you will not be disappointed. It is located at 50 Kingston Road East in Ajax (beside Casey’s) with Dine in / Take Out & Party Trays. In case you are not sure they are in the RioCan Durham Centre in Ajax.

www.makimono.ca

The service is awesome and the prices are good!

Andy MJ / a.k.a the G.T.A Patriot.

I mean big as in heavy books to lug to the beach this summer. I wrote earlier about oral history books leading up to the Oral History Association conference in October, 2008. The Dayton Teachers History Book Club is reading Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals as a companion to following the nominating conventions and presidential electioneering this summer. Fortunately, I already read that one because it weighs in around 900 pages. Let me know if you are in Dayton, Ohio and want to join us for this discussion come September.

I recently finished three novels—Noah Charney’s The Art Thief, Louise Erdrich’s The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse and Michael Ondaatje’s Divisadero. All three are good reads that I recommend. Charney’s is a debut novel and it’s a kind of mash-up of sociologist Howard Becker’s Art Worlds and mystery writers Janwillem Van de Wetering and Georges Simenon (“Maigret” for PBS watchers). Now I realize that I read the short, easily portable books first and have the weighty tomes to carry on vacation. By the way, if you haven’t read Van de Wetering–take one of his mysteries to the beach.

What I want to haul around, to the dismay of my husband, are John Mack Faragher’s A Great and Noble Scheme: the Tragic Story of the Expulsion of the French Acadians from their American Homeland and Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. I noticed that a Canadian blog, Gen X at 40, linked to my earlier piece on the Acadian Bank Museum in Rustico and I was embarrassed because a local historian in Rustico had to correct so much of my first draft. I want to get the Acadian story right. I also liked Faragher’s Daniel Boone a lot. Some how the lottery of books on hold at the public library landed the second big book in my lap this weekend – Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth. I know there will be a hold on this when I get back so I’ll try to shoe horn it into my suitcase as well. Perhaps I should just download the audio book? I’m also taking Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven because recent events in Texas have so many people talking about it.

I’m saving Elliot Jaspin’s Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America and Christopher M. Kelty’s Two Bits: the Cultural Significance of Free Software for my return. Kelty’s book is available free online but I couldn’t seem to wean myself off of a book to hold in my hands. Perhaps the new One Laptop Per Child computer that also functions as an ebook will solve that problem. These two did not sound like vacation reading. Looks like I’ll facilitate a Center for Teaching and Learning book discussion of Two Bits at Wright State in the fall.

If you like photographs, I recommend a book that is both beautiful and serious. Gary Harwood’s Growing Season: the Life of a Migrant Community will remind you where your fresh vegetables come from this summer. You can see many of his photographs online but buy the book.

I find myself eagerly awaiting the next addition to Louise Erdrich’s children’s book series (The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence). Some adults got hooked on Harry Potter but not me. I should go back and read more of her adult novels but I don’t think there’s room in my suitcase or my two-week vacation.

Listened to John Harwood’s interview with Candidate Obama on the Times’ website. You have to admire Obama’s self-possession. That said, the guy’s writing a lot of verbal cheques. It will be interesting to see if, provided he wins the election, Obama can actually turn any of it into meaningful legislation. His blueprint for change is just a little ambitious. Still, better to be ambitious than ambivalent.

Getting to the Oval Office is going to be difficult in the first place. While racial reservations are inevitable, Candidate Obama’s politics are also responsible for for his lack of popularity in some regions. Democrats from traditionally conservative districts are already distancing themselves from the presidential nominee for his decidedly left-leaning stances. Though I generally support Obama’s priorities, to say they’re liberal is no misrepresentation. Here in Oregon, at least so far as local punditry is concerned, Obama’s failure to captivate blue-collar America is due less to his politics and more to his ancestry. What infuriates me about these types of assertions is that they insult the intelligence of entire swaths of the population while at the same time exacerbating Obama’s problems in creating inroads. Surely some people see Obama’s race before anything else, but his aggressive, progressive politics are surely a greater reason for pause. While stately and articulate, his professorial idealism just doesn’t jive in places where desirable change means a return to the better days yore. To appeal in these places, Obama must step beyond the cult of personality that has formed in his wake and permeate an image of a reasonable, adaptable reformer. Though the candidate seems to understand the value in unity and pragmatism, he has been riding a wave of angry progressive supporters whose educated self-righteousness puts Obama’s greatest strengths at risk. Going toward the general election, Obama must shed his air of hopeful inevitability to truly reach undecided skeptics.

Paul Krugman wrote an insightful piece in the Times regarding race and politics at this juncture in US history.

In a related note, it’s curious that many of the people who were calling on Hillary Clinton to drop out earlier for the sake of the party now reject her as a VP candidate. Polling suggests that her addition to the ticket strengthens Obama against McCain, so wouldn’t it be in the best interest of the party that she run? Though Obama hardly wants the Clinton shadow lurking over him, how can he reasonably reject Hillary, with her 18 million supporters, as the VP candidate if that’s what will lock up victory?

und ich kann euch ein paar Fotos an der Frau zeigen

.

.

200 g sind noch übrig, also wiegt die Jacke 1.400 g

Da das Garn wieder mal melliert ist und man das Muster schlecht erkennen kann – HIER kann man die Jacke noch einmal bewundern (allerdings wurde DIESE Jacke nicht von mir gestrickt

Es handelt sich um das Garn STYLE (schwarz/mint) von den Wollsisters. Dieses Garn hat mich fluchen lassen, denn ich habe sage und schreibe 27!!! Knoten darin gehabt. Einziger Trost ist: Die Jacke passt und ist wunderbar weich.

…befindet sich noch die Harwood (aber nicht mehr lange). Ich habe heute die Schulternähte geschlossen, den Kragen gestrickt und die Knopfleiste am linken Vorderteil. Jetzt fehlt noch die Knopflochleiste, die Blende an der rechten Tasche, das Vernähen diverser Fäden, Einnähen der Ärmel und Schließen der Seitennähte. Es ist also noch einiges zu tun, aber das Ende ist endlich in Sicht… puh…

Und ich bin ganz ehrlich – die Lust hat mich in dem Moment verlassen, als ich diverse Knoten in diesem Garn hatte. Seitdem ist es eine Qual für mich… aber ich stehe das durch

Außerdem habe ich heute mit einem Paar Sommersöckchen begonnen. Zu Ostern habe ich ein Sonderheft mit Sockenanleitungen bekommen und ich habe mir das Modell 67 ausgesucht – ein Ajourmuster mit einem neckischen Bündchen, das ich bislang noch nicht gestrickt habe. Da wird nämlich der Mäusezähnchenrand klein gehalten und angestrickt, der zuvor gestrickte Umschlag wird dann nach innen gestülpt und weiter genadelt. So ist der Umschlag zwar am Mäusezähnchenrand festgestrickt, hat aber den Charme, als wäre er es nicht

Das Garn ist eine ONline-Baumwolle, die ich zuvor SEHR locker gewickelt habe, während ich telefoniert habe. Mir persönlich ist dieses Garn zu bunt, aber es wird sich mit Sicherheit ein weibliches Wesen finden, das dieses Paar gern haben möchte…

Nachtrag um 21.15 Uhr

Die Socken bekommt Nosupermom

Nachtrag Nummer 2:

Die Sache mit dem Bündchen ist wirklich nicht so ganz einfach und ich hab mich nicht so wirklich klar ausgedrückt, und darum tippe ich mal eben die Passage ab:

Anschlag 56 M und den Umschlag wie folgt str: 4 cm Rippenmuster, 2 Rd li M, dabei in der 1. Rd pro N 2 M abnehmen = 48 M, 4 Rd re M, 1 Loch-Rd (= 2 M re zusstr und 1 U im Wechsel) und 4 Rd re M. Nun die Arb an der Loch-Rd nach innen schlagen und in der folg Rd jede M mit der darunter liegenden M der 1. li Rd re zusstr. Die Arb nach innen stülpen und noch 4 cm Rippenmuster arb, dabei in der 1. Rd wieder pro N 2 M zunehmen. Anschließend im Ajourmuster weiterarb.

]]> http://sunsy.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/einzelteile-der-harwood-fertig/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:02:12 +0000 Sunsy http://sunsy.wordpress.com/2008/04/21/einzelteile-der-harwood-fertig/

Zunächst möchte ich mich ganz herzlich bei euch für eure vielen lieben Kommentare bedanken – es ist sowas von schön . Ich komme zwar nicht immer dazu, alle zu beantworten (gestern waren wir dann ob des Wetters auch viel draußen), aber ich lese sie immer alle und freue mich jedesmal wie ein Schneekönig

Gestern hab ich dann übrigens an einem neuen Paar Herrensocken genadelt und den zweiten Ärmel meiner Harwood fertig gestellt. Und das heißt, dass ich als nächstes die Schulternähte schließe und den Kragen stricke, dann fehlen noch die Blenden, die Knopfleiste… und die elende Vernäherei sowie das Zusammennähen. Und DANN ist die Harwood fertig

Heute kam der/das neue Clue des Fancy Fulness-Tuches heraus und ich konnte nicht umhin, das Pensum gleich zu nadeln

So sieht das Tuch bis jetzt aus… – und ich seh schon, so richtig hab ich es nicht festgesteckt. Aber das geht später auch viel einfacher, wenn keine Nadeln mehr drinnen und alle Zipfel gut zu sehen sind

An der Harwood hab ich gestern auch weiter gestrickt und dabei ist ein Teil des ersten Ärmels fertig geworden:

Leider, leider kann man das schöne Zopfmuster bei der Wolle und der Beleuchtung nicht erkennen – es ist ein Kreuz…

Uuuuhund Duncan Talisker ist wieder in Sutra gelandet um 200 Jahre nach seinem Weggang wieder Heldentaten zu vollbringen. Und was soll ich sagen: Es liest sich immer noch einmalig schön. – Kann mir mal jemand sagen, für welche britische Autorin Miller Lau ein Pseudonym ist? Überall lese ich nur, dass es das ist, aber mehr nicht…

By

Jeff Knowlton, Captain of Industry

Ask anyone that attended a party at the Harwood House and they will tell you, I always had a 6.5 oz. Coke bottle in my hand. Always. You couldn’t miss it. Fred Astaire always danced with Ginger, Roy Rogers always rode trigger. Me, I was always seen with a 6.5 oz. Coke bottle.

My supply was just down the street on Summerlin, between Central and Pine. I would show up with a half dozen, drink a few and hand the rest out. At some point later on, I would run out of Coke, other people would run out of beer and a trip to the 7-11 was arranged. Pat Greene or Matt Gorney, Carolyn Watson, the Flying Wiatroski brothers or someone else would pile in my car. I don’t drink so I always drove us.

This 7-11 was famous. Everybody went, even if you didn’t need anything. You went for the woman that worked the register and the freaks that showed up late at night. I’m sure she had a name, but no one knew it. I can tell
you that she was black and somewhere between 40 and 50 years of age, and she didn’t take shit from anyone. Period. Not the Sterno bums that passed out in the parking lot, not the surfers, not the spike and safety pin
wearing punks, not anyone.

She tolerated us I think, not because we were as polite as we could be and still remain cool, but because we were in a sense, in on it with her. The surfers, the flophouse bums, the punks, they were idiots, a joke, entertainment to us hipsters. At least we believed that, believed that we were different. Maybe in the end, we bought stuff and didn’t fuck up the store as much as anyone else during the night shift, didn’t make any
trouble for her, so we were cool and thats all.

At the party we all talked about her, had our favorite stories; how she threw some stinking drunken bum out. You never made the mistake of talking back to her like he did. Not in her store. You never wanted to be on the
receiving end of that verbal beat down. Tyler Perry’s Medea doesn’t hold a candle to this woman.

Or the time I asked her if I could use the restroom. It was no problem. We were cool. A few minutes later as I was buying another six of the 6.5oz Cokes, a bunch of stoned and drunk surfers wanted to use the restroom.
“Its outta order,” she told them. As they walked away she looked at me and said, “I aint letting them throw up all over my bathroom and piss on the toilet seat.” She fucking cracked me up right there as I handed her my money.

No party was complete without that trip; a real pilgrimage.

The last time I remember being at the 7-11, speakers had been installed in the parking lot and Muzak(tm) wafted through the air. Nothing repels stoned surfers, drunken flophouse bums and anarchist punks like Muzak(tm).

The area became known as Thornton Park and on occasion you could spot Willem Dafoe with his parents eating more or less across the street at the Thornton Park Cafe.

They aren’t the kind of people that piss on the toilet seat at 1:15 in the  morning.