Take Joy!

Odds & Ends

(Before you ask—no, there was no independence days update this week. By the time I remembered it, it was Thursday . . . next week, for sure.)

Carolee Clark of King of Mice Studios is having a giveaway. She does gorgeous painted Halloween-y things, and this is a little wooden box painted with a black cat (who looks a lot like my departed Theo)—all you have to do is go to her blog and leave a comment on the August 17th post. And then wait until Monday . . . I can't afford her eBay things; wouldn't it be wonderful if I won this?

My newest find is IBOL—Iraqi Bundles of Love. Run by a soldier in Iraq, it's a short-term project, aimed at getting fabric/sewing tools/yarn and knitting tools into the hands of Iraqi women. Clicking on the button over to the left will take you to the intro post. Here's a quote—[this project] is based upon my assessment that sewing fanatics and quilters and knitters tend to have stashes that far exceed their actual needs, and that sewing fanatics and quilters and knitters are passionate both about sewing / quilting / knitting, and about sharing with others. How true. I can't bear to get rid of any of The Stash, even though I will have to live to be about a hundred and seventy-five to use it all up (and, of course, that assumes that I don't add to it in the meantime . . . ), but I love the thought of some other woman using the cloth or yarn that I've bought and lovingly stored—for a number of years, in some cases. So I have two priority APO boxes ($11.95 shipping, no matter the weight) waiting to be filled and mailed this week, just as soon the Social Security check gets here. I have fabric and yarn, and some knitting needles that I'll probably never use; I'm planning to go to the awful Super WalMart (only because my money will get more there, in this case) and get some needles and pins, thread and tape measures and scissors and anything else my allotted amount will cover—maybe some snaps and buttons—to add to my boxes.

I finished the green and yellow baby blanket; I'm just waiting for less humidity so I can block it. (Tomorrow, maybe; the rain seems to have departed for the time being. Yay!) Here's a picture:

As soon as I get it blocked, it will go into a plastic box to wait for October, when the afghans for Afghans deadline is (unless they change it, which may happen). I've begun another one—a ripple this time, in a warm yellow, a honeyed orange, and a maple syrup-y brown. I think I can get it done in time. :)

I took part in a doll challenge over at Sew What's New (there's a button link to my page down in the right-hand column). We were supplied a pattern and told to make something (my favorite kind). Here's what I came up with:

Tomorrow we're planning to get up early and go down to the river (yes, I worship at the watery shrine of Our Lady of the Swannanoa); perhaps I'll have pictures.

Good Stuff to Look At

Here are the first two poems from Kathleen Stripling Byer's "Searcher," which has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The rest can be read in Asheville Poetry Review; I need to acquire a copy posthaste.

African Alchemy is one of my favorite blogs—on her "about" page she says, Marya exploring the alchemy of place and relatedness from a homestead in Africa. Discovering the extraordinary in the everyday and listening with all the senses to a wilder rough magic both ancient and new… Yes. Lyrical and down-to-earth. You should read her, at least once—especially this post, and this one.

Catherine Kerr's blog, Beyond the Fields We Know, is one I've recommended before. But this post's poem, and the lovely photographs in this one, are well worth a second look.

Bedlam Farm Journal is mostly photos and occasional writing by Jon Katz, novelist and perceptive photographer. Lots of photographs of his four dogs (Rose, Izzy, Freida the Helldog and Lenore the Princess of Love); and he's currently posting a series of photographs of old stone walls.

Kalyn's Kitchen: Every recipe I've tried has been very good (especially this one, for Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Italian Sausage, Red Pepper and Hot Pepper Flakes), and they're mostly low-GI, which is handy since we're both diabetic.

I've just discovered Earthenwitch, and I really like her sense of humor.

Odds & Ends

Things I've found lately:

Gorgeous sheep, shot by fashion photographer Paul Farnham.

Thoughts on heat (and death) at Under A Blue Moon, which I've just discovered.

The sordid tale of Franklin's vacation on Cape Cod with Dolores and Harry . . .

Wonderful dolls made by Australian artist Susie McMahon.

Cindy's lovely post about her great-grandparents.

Giraffe's milk has now been declared kosher . . .

Quite possibly the best chocolate chip cooky recipe I've ever tried.

An article by Matt Taibbi on the economic realities our presidential candidates should be discussing (but won't be).

The Contrary Goddess on elderberries, and much more.

Is Google making us stupid?

A review of Robert Frank's Richistan: A Journey Through The American Wealth Boom and The  Lives of the New Rich. I need to read this, I think, although I suspect it will only comfirm what I already think.

Things I Missed Yesterday . . .

since I was working outside, and doing laundry, and baking cookies for the store in Black Mountain, and a bunch of other stuff that I have since forgotten . . .

Did you know that yesterday was Mother Jones' birthday? Me neither. Jane has a post here, with pictures—one of Mother Jones with Calvin Coolidge, and another of an icon of her. And here is another post by her, on the origins of May Day (the Labor holiday) and the tradition that links May Day and lilies of the valley.

And a Beltane poem at Beyond the Fields We Know—

There is a song in the greenwood,
There's an age old tale to be  sung,
Healing is there in the greenwood,
Spiralling endlessly under the  sun.

Go and read the whole thing, and follow her links to other Beltane articles.

Charlene Spretnak has a post up at Women and Spirituality called "May is Mary's Month!"—she quotes a few lines from Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together

Isn't that lovely?

Something that definitely isn't lovely—mountaintop removal coal mining. Here's an article from the Nashville Scene: apparently the Tennessee legislature isn't going to do anything to stop it, and that's a shame and a pity.
We should know better.

Things to Look at

Monet's winter magpie at Acts of Hope . . . and while you're there, take a look at Jane's list of suggestions for holiday shopping season.

A couple of new-to-me crafting blogs: Tender Arts and Allsorts. Bettsi of Tender Arts is a dollmaker, and Jenny B. Harris (Allsorts) is a children's illustrator and crafter. Eye candy at both blogs, and free patterns . . . I'm going to make a pair of elf shoes for the tree this year, I think.

Gorgeous photography (mostly views of San Juan Island, Washington) by Robert DeMar, here.

And the results, so far, of Christine's every-other-Monday invitation to poetry . . . inspired this time by her gorgeous full moon image.

Since it's Halloween and all . . .

Watch me turn into a
Jaguar at YouWild.org

   

Blog [In]Action Day . . .

Today was Blog Action Day, and I had planned to do as others—blog about the environment. However, I was in the throes of finishing a 5-year-old size "bride" dress for Halloween, and now I seem to have nothing to say.

So, I shall simply point out some others who have things worth reading, or observing:
Rosehaven Cottage
Anchors and Masts
Dharma Bums
Closely Observed
don't eat alone
Hedgewizard's Diary (and if you haven't read this one, you should)
and there are lovely photos, as always, at Paula's House of Toast

And I shall return to concocting a bridal veil from a pink plastic hairband, a yard of tulle, and some fake rosebuds and pearls and satin ribbon.

Stay tuned: pictures tomorrow . . .

I had no idea

that there was an official Rock Paper Scissors website. And a strategy guide, even . . . which one can order, signed, from the Rock Paper Scissors Pro Shop.

The world is just full of interesting things, isn't it?

Odds and Ends

Since I am indisposed today (trans: everything hurts. It's cold and raw outside, and all my joints ache; in fact, I have apparently developed some new ones, and they ache, too. So do my teeth. Today, aspirin is my bosom pal.), I am goofing off, alternately reading and surfing the internet. . . . so here are some things I found.

Gorgeous dolls. I'd never heard of Chandra Cerchione-Pelter, but she does lovely work. Here is her MySpace page, Chandra's Box of Stars, with lots and lots of pictures . . . and her friends look interesting, too. Warning for those who, like me, suffer the Agony of Dialup: it takes a long time to load, so go away and do something useful while it does. . . . because when you come back, you will sit transfixed.

And here is where I discovered  her. It's the blog for the Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts (News, reviews, and random musings on arts inspired by muth, folklore, and fairy tales), and it's full of all sorts of oddities and wonderments.

Photography; this one in particular, of woods in golden November light. The blog is Fragments From Floyd (Floyd County, Virginia), and Fred, the author, is a very good photographer and writer.

Recipes. This blog is called A Veggie Venture, and is chock-full of vegetable recipes. I'm not a vegetarian, but I don't eat a lot of meat, and am always looking for interesting things to do with vegetables. . . particularly those that I like but John doesn't. (On a related note, here is a site full of nothing but sauerkraut recipes. . . )

An interesting discussion of I Corinthians 13, the famous "love chapter" read at weddings. (Not ours, for we were married by in one of those wedding chapels in Sevierville, TN, because Tennessee doesn't require a birth certificate, North Carolina does, and I couldn't find mine. It was in a safe place . . . and I wore hiking boots, jeans, and a black leather vest. But I digress . . . )

More interesting dolls, made of papier mache, paper pulp, and handmade paper, at Figurative Paper. Some strange and some stranger.

Now I am going to retire to my rocking chair with the current book and the heating pad, and a bowl of the stew that has been simmering all day. I'm reading A World Lit Only By Fire, The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance, by William Manchester, and it's fascinating.