Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Look - A Real Update

It appears that when I try to balance a lot of things, my blog is what I drop. But, yay!, I have time to write a little post tonight.

Knitting
Sunday night, I finally finished my stinking Jaywalkers. Here's a bad picture:


The jury's still out. They fit fine, but they're a bit itchy. Maybe because the yarn includes a bit of mohair. I'm sure I'll like these socks more during the winter.

I continue to work on my Interlocking Balloons scarf. Next week, I hope to make Wednesday night knitting at Companion Bakery.

Fiddling
Last night, I had my second fiddling class. I'm improving a little, but I find the class kind of difficult. I like to have music in front of me, but the instructor mainly teaches by playing. Even when he recites the fingering, it gets jumbled in my head because I have a hard time with spoken numbers (and letters). But, it's still fun and pretty low pressure.

This week, we continue to work on scales and variations of "Boil Them Cabbage Down."

Plants
Despite a brush with mold and frantic repotting last Friday night at 10:30, my tomato sprouts are doing well.

Here's the group:


This is one of the stars, a Fox Cherry:


I think I should take off the little lower leaves, but I'm not sure.

My supervisor and I will try to plant some seeds this weekend. I have some beet and carrot seeds to put in the ground. Melons and squash and tomatoes will follow a couple weeks later. Oh, and I'm looking forward to the Webster Groves herb sale on the 26th!

Food
Last weekend, I ate a bunch of grease-laden food and felt quite disgusting. On Sunday, in an attempt to reverse the state of things, I juiced a lot.

Juice is pretty and tasty:


Mixed-Use Buildings
I spent nearly 3 hours scoping out a residential/commercial building on Cherokee - once with a realtor and once with Porkchop's dad. Did I ever write that Porkchop is moving back to St. Louis in May? Well, she is, and we're both ready to get started on finding a building for a print shop and for us to live.

The building has some nice features - a complete tin ceiling in terrific condition and enamel bricks inside - but it would be a lot of work, of course.

Rain Barrels
Suzi and I trekked out to Bonne Terre on Saturday to pick up some barrels that will be converted to rain barrels. The license plate of the guy with the barrels read "IAMNRA." We were a bit intimidated, but he turned out to be a really good, ecologically minded guy.

Right Now
I'm watching a great show on PBS about Zora Neale Hurston. It's great because it focuses a lot on her work as a cultural anthropologist, something which is often ignored in discussions.

Have a great night!

6 comments:

Porkchop said...

YAY! Look! My internet is working now! I'm so happy. Also, I'm happy to be coming home soon, even if it's a week later than expected. Thanks for looking at buildings with the realtor and with my dad. You're the best!

Anonymous said...

Re: IAMNRA

I heard he died.

YAY for Carrie and Amanda reunification!

Bianca said...

Wow! Lots of news going on with you. The Jaywalkers look great. You are such an awesome knitter :-D
I'm so impressed with your Fiddling. Would love to hear it sometimes. Did you ever watch the Futurama episode with the Fiddling contest in Robothell? One of my favorites.
Amanda moving back? So happy for you two. Sucks being far away. And the whole building buying thing... good luck. When you find one, let me know if you need help painting. I like doing that stuff ;-)
Hope to see you guys soon. xoxo, Ale

7-letter Deborah, never a Deb said...

congrats on the new building search--it sounds cool. I know it's frustrating, but there's really good reasons to learn to play by ear. I'm glad you're still having a good time--and great tune!

Kathleen O'Connell said...

IAMNRA?
Everyone knows what that stands for....
[can't think of anything witty enough to write] or [Do you think I'd grow well in your garden when I'm unemployed in a month-and-a-half?]

Gracie said...

we have to talk about this fiddle business! i was going to try to learn the banjo and then decided that was too hard so then i was like, maybe the fiddle....maybe i should go back to clarinet? or we could have a double fiddle band together?