I'm on my Way

Hello Little Ones,


If this doesn't charm you, I don't know what will.  Today there is also this lively blog, and another song.

For your visual pleasure, a drawing Harvey made some years ago- this drawing illustrates "everything you need for photography."

C'est tout!

100 frocks

Dear Busy Ones,

     Do you know The Hundred Dresses?  By Eleanor Estes?  It's been on my mind because I have wanted to show you this wonderful project,  100 Acts of Sewing.  I had the pleasure of meeting this fine person at the Maker Faire a few years ago.  You can purchase her dress pattern here, on Etsy.

     When you aren't sewing up a dress in homage to Sonya Philip, you can read Eleanor Estes books.  I expect you might think that you don't have time for reading children's authors.  To this objection, I quote another great author,  Kate Douglas Wiggan, from Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm:  "When joy and duty clash, let duty go to smash." 

     Feeling a little less busy yet?  Here's something related, I think, and quite possibly my favorite youtube video.

sound and vision

Dear Those Who Would,

 

     Today's little treats are loosely associated and  absolutely necessary to the project.  The first is a fine auditory adventure- do you know, my friends, of the glass harmonica? 

Listen on...

 and on...

Isn't it delightful?  If your appetite for unusual instruments is merely whetted, try a brief introduction to the ondes Martenot and the cristal Baschet.



     Now, a little feast for the eyes.

 

These contemplative and formal pieces were painted by Pegan Brooke-  I hope you will, what do they call it?  Internalize;  I hope you will internalize their beauty.  Ms. Brooke is having an exhibit this month at the Friesen Gallery.  Please look at more if you have the time.


Au revoir,

 

the Joyce is yours

Dear Ones,


Today, a pun to groan at- and some links to marvel over.  Try this little triplet of Joyce:

 beautiful script

 lovely alliteration, assonance and consonance

 a pome pennyeach


This other Joyce gives us a wonderful project and a poetic marking of time.



If you need me, I'll be in the backyard, with my camera and my notebook bent towards the sky.

a taste of honey

Marion Cunningham writes in her Marion Cunningham's Good Eating that these biscuits are "...so ridiculously simple, you don't even have to be awake to make them."  I have left out her charming prose and further condensed her easy instructions in the following adaptation:


Cream Biscuits

Oven: 425 f.

Combine in a bowl:

1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour

Add, stirring as your pour:

1 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

It will come together in shreds and shags; if it is too dry, add more cream.  Once you have a fairly cohesive lump, knead it 3 or 4 times and pat it out to a thickness of 1/2 to 3/4 inch.  Cut it up into 12 pieces of similar size, and then coat each side by dipping it into:

1/3 cup melted butter

Put them onto an ungreased baking tin and bake them until lightly browned; 12 to 15 minutes.
Have them hot, with a taste of honey.  Be sure to watch this video, it is delightful!

For a little more reading, try this.  Also, Marion Cunningham's cookbook is a perfect gift- for anyone, anywhere, anytime.  We got it as a wedding gift, and it is still in regular and treasured use after 14 years.  It isn't for coffee tables, there aren't a lot of silly pictures of eroticized food; it's just good, easy to follow and sweet.  Ruth Reichl (another great author, cook and all-around quality person) tells a nice tale of her friendship with Marion Cunningham in this terrific book:  Tender at the Bone.

words and what to do with them

Dear Ones,



Today, some things you can do with words. 

This is what Jonathan Feinberg calls a 'word cloud.'  Explaining just what this nifty gadget can do for you and your words is much easier done than said, so visit www.wordle.net and try it for yourself.


Here is another message:  Fate hooted howdy.  Which, o cleverest ones, is an anagram of  'the way of the dodo.'  Make great heaping piles of anagrams with this terrific tool. 


Have some more words- including a word of caution:  don't watch too much of these, just listen.

word up

word up one

word up two

word up three

word up four

word up five

word up six

word up seven

word up eight

word up last



The last word?

Farewell.

It's a crying shame

Dear Anachronistic Ones,

Hurry, I implore you, to your nearest roller skating rink.  Is it still there?  Tell me something good.    If it is still there, please keep it for me; I plan to skate it.  The rink in my town closed two years ago.

They have just closed another one I had hoped to visit:  Los Angeles' s World on Wheels.

 

 

Skating is even more fun than list-making.  Here's a list of rinks I got to in time:

Moonlight Rollerway, Glendale, CA.
Skate-Mor, Paso Robles, CA.
Skating Plus, Ventura, CA.
Redwood Roller Rink, Redwood City, CA.
Sunrise Rollerland, Citrus Heights, CA.
Rollertowne, Visalia, CA.
WaterCity, Marina, CA.
Skateland, Bakersfield, CA.
Cal Skate Clovis, Clovis, CA.
Family Fun Center, Sandy, UT.
Central Coast Sports Arena, Santa Maria, CA.
Deleta, Pocatello, ID.
Roller Kingdom, Reno, NV.
Rollerama 34th., Bakersfield, CA.
Roller Paladium, Santa Cruz, CA.
San Diego Skateworld, San Diego, CA.
Skateland Northridge, Northridge, CA.
San Jose Skate, San Jose, CA.
Crystal Palace, Las Vegas, NV.
Rollero, Phoenix, AZ.
Skate Country, Tucson, AZ.
Humble Family Skating Center, Humble, TX.
Rainbow Roller Rink, Conroe, TX.
Playland Skate Center, Austin, TX.
Paradise Skate, Antioch, CA.
Cal-Skate, Rohnert Park, CA.
The Golden Skate, San Ramon, CA.

Divertimento

Amapola * 



Dear Reader,


I have just read a book (The Shallows) that concerns itself with reading- which leads me to think on the act, function and method of reading (tangentially, writing).  The other book I am reading  (Douglas of the Forests) is composed mostly of what the scholarly folks call 'primary texts.'  I began to read it so that I could make a list.  A flora and fauna list, in fact, but lists and writing I'll leave for the nonce; back to reading:  Douglas of the Forests is made up of journal entries by 19th century Scots naturalist David Douglas (Douglas Fir, Douglas Iris, etc.- Douglas first brought California Poppy seeds to Europe).  Reading these entries is a little laborious, because it isn't written as a narrative.  It's more a list of events; crammed with data that doesn't assist the flow of time represented by the entries.  What do I mean by that?  Well, weather details, and when, and to whom Douglas wrote a letter (it continues hot; near a week of smothering heat here; I wrote to Mme. B., but have not yet received reply).

Now, where were we?

Yes, reading.  You mustn't take my word for it.  Read The Shallows for yourself... it's excellent.  I know, I am always asking for your time:  look at this, listen to that, read this, make that.  So perhaps a suggestion for prioritizing these recommendations?  If you do but one thing, make it spinning, if two, let it be to play guitar, if three, read The Shallows. 

So, another so:  Why should one do these things?  The answer?  To improve.



The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr.

Douglas of the Forests, by John Davies.


 *-  for the taxonomist and musicologist, this song was not written to Eschscholzia Californica, but to the Papaver genus, or what you might call Oriental Poppies. 

Glorious Gloria Nord and The Skating Vanities

My Little Chickadees,


A seasonal extravaganza for you, and a wish for a transcendentally good watermelon.

If you should put even a little on a little, and do this often, soon this too would become big - Hesiod

Good Day Searchers,



This fine blog effort was sent to me by my Father:  I hope you will enjoy it, too.



Until later.