Category / Bunberry

by Sixer

The Great Annual Review of Summer Accomplishments

“Who reflects too much will accomplish little”

– Schiller, Wilhelm Tell, III, i (qtd. in Bartlett’s)
        Oooh, my first ever loaf of bread!

I have left my family’s house again, and in leaving have had to admit how much I’ve left unaccomplished. I had such plans of pleated wrap skirts, neatly sewed; Cute cardigans, and colorful shrugs; Books devoured and carefully recorded… And amidst all this I was to keep a careful schedule with you, oh unseen reader.
                 I did do some things though, let’s see I made an apron. It took one day to cut and sew, and only ten minuets to learn that you should not practice making button holes on an item intended for wear. The button hole debacle, combined with the ribbon fraying  fiasco, extended an otherwise short project, into the netherlands of eventually. I did finish it though, and I rather like it. I used one of my mom’s aprons as a guide, but added criss-crossing straps (One of the missionaries had an apron with these kinds of straps and I adored wearing it, even if it meant doing dishes).

                      At the start of the summer Theo and I started our fist cardigans. She’s knitting Hey Teach, and I’m knitting February Lady. See my little progress bars on the side? It’s the Je Ne Sais Quoi bar, the one that is only 15% complete. I’m really winging the pattern, since I’m using a lightweight linen yarn instead of the recommend wool, so I keep having to try it on to make sure I’m on the right course. Though this sounds simple, it involves finding loose string and transferring half a million little stitches onto it, and then back off it when I’m done. If I could just get over my dislike of this process I could reach the lace portion of the sweater in no time.
Another First Button Hole
            While avoiding the Lady, I finished another lonely sock, and made a Knit Picks order. City Tweed (in Plum Wine and Habanero), Comfy (in Cypress),  Imagination (Damsel and Frog Prince), and  Wool of Andes (in Pewter).
 

Yum….. Yarn. Shouldn’t yarn be enough of an accomplishment for anyone?
by Sixer

Remembering


My memory can be pretty bad. Not about the trivial things, mind you, but about the things that really matter. Or the things I want to matter, which aren’t always the same things. I know that, last year, I wanted to remember August sixth. But I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t been going through pictures of Japan. I’m trying to get my scrapbook put together (finally) and the first step is figuring out which of the 2,000 pictures I want to print out. I’ve narrowed it down to one hundred so far, I’m hoping to print out only twenty.

 If it means denial, then yes, I’m an optimist.
I promised you a report on my family’s trip to the Smithsonian, so here it is:
       If you are planning on going to the Smitsonian, and you are planning on taking small children, and you are not on some kind of mental medication, then let me now advise you to first consult a psychratrist. After you have been assured that your mental health is okay you should:
    1. Double check your travel method. We left the house thinking we’d take the MARC train to Carrollton. We left the MARC train station disillusioned, and in our van. It turns out that it is cheaper to drive six people than ship them along in a train. The distance is pretty much the same, too.
    2. Take time. Little kids especially resist this rule, but older people have trouble with it too. “Three musems and one restraunt, and all in six hours? We have plenty of time.”  Is what you might be thinking, but no. Plan at least two hours for each museum. And unless you plan on dining on location, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to eat too.
    3. Know what interest you. We went to the air and space museum first (which was so crowded it was hard to interest the non-readers) and, besides the imax presentation of Fly, didn’t really know what to look at. We had a lot more fun at the natural history museum ( who else can’t stop calling it the national history museum?), but we also had less time. The American history muesum was fun too, and reminds me of point number 4.

  1. Know when things close. Though the musems stay open late, certain activites stop after 4:30. For instance, the American Museum’s SparkLab, which is a hands on chemistry lab for children, was already shut down by the time we wandered over to it. Things may be less crowded after five, but remember that space comes with a price.
  2. Bring Your Happy Face. The best way to insure that your trip will go sour is to be sour. It’s good to be structured during the planning stages but once you get there relax. 
If you haven’t been (or haven’t been in a while) you really should go. It’s not only fun, it’s informative. It also beats watching repeats on Hulu.

P.S. Don’t forget lesson number six. If your going to bring a camera, make sure you know how to work it.
by Sixer

July, July, ,July

There’s a saying about bees in July, how they aren’t worth a fly (whereas bees in June and May have actual value). On the other hand, a picture is always worth something, no matter what month it is taken in.

          I actually picked this up (dead bee and all) and carried it inside to show it off. I don’t particularly like bugs, and sometimes dead bugs are even creepier than live ones, but it was worth it.
           I’ve finally read, for the very first time, The Old Man and the Sea. And three random novels  have also been duly devoured. I’ve three more books, plus the ones I put on hold, and then I’ll go back to the guardian challenge. The three books are non-fiction, which sadly makes things go much slower at the beginning. But I think they’ll be very interesting once I actually start them. I know I read way too much fiction, and from the juvenile section too, and I’m hoping I can mature my taste gradually over the next decade. Yes, I’m still idealistic enough to think taste can mature.
            Reading is so nice and relaxing, and I haven’t been doing enough of it these past few years. I’m afraid I’ve become something of a couch potato. In fact, besides a few online obligations, I’ve had nothing to do all summer until a few weeks ago when I finally got a part time job. It’s the best job imaginable. I get to hang out with two of the cutest boys you ever saw, while playing with an incredibly intelligent girl. They’re triplets, and they’re about sixteen months old. You can imagine how difficult it would be to raise three children all at the same time, but witnessing it makes all the difference. Even simple chores, like groccery shopping, become complicated.
             I wanted to end this post with a picture of the carnival my family went to  a few weeks ago, but I think I’ll show it to you next time instead. Oooh, I have a lot to catch you up on. I better get busy, huh?
by Sixer

Self Infliction, or the Guardians Challenge

 Sometime ago, about two five weeks I’d guess, I stumbled upon a book blog and discovered the Guardian Challenge. The Guardian is a british paper that has published a list of 1000 novels which they think are the best of the best. The idea of the challenge is to read 10 novels from the list  (1%), with at least one book from each of the seven sections (comedy, family, love, state of the nation, sci-fi/fantasy, and crime). A day spent on the library’s website and a short jaunt out to pick up my my holds and I was in business. My choices were pretty random, and I only checked out five to begin with, but I thought I’d review some of them for you just for fun (Photos courtesy of Amazon). 

A Room With A View by E.M. Forster
Set partly in Italy and Partly in the English countryside, this book really made me want to travel. It was enjoyable to read, with lots of description and digressions-which-were-not. That is, a lot of the book wasn’t actual dialogue but a summary of dialogue written in a general way as if it were unimportant to the plot. Plot is an interesting word to use in accordance with this book because one didn’t get the feeling that the book was about the plot. The first half seemed a commentary on the rules of propriety; though the author never says a word against the rules, the reader cannot help thinking some of them just make things worse. The second half was definitely more story-oriented, but it too makes the characters seem like a backdrop for something else. Some idea or philosophy that you can’t quite put your finger on. I think this is why I didn’t like this book. I mean, I liked reading it, but I didn’t like it. I prefer a story, I suppose, and I couldn’t shake the vague feeling that this book wasn’t about the story. The characters were slightly alien to me too. Sometimes they did things that seemed completely out there. Their reactions to certain events made no sense to me. (Cecil thanking Lucy was particularly odd). I’d recommend this book, because it was enjoyable to read (I’ll probably read it again. Eventually), but I wouldn’t buy it.
                               Silas Marner by George Eliot

                    After reading the backcover of this book I realized I had seen a movie remake of it, with Steve Martin no less. I’d advise all people interested to read the book first and then watch the movie – The book needs all the suspense you can give it. Like Forster’s book, this one’s plot was pretty simple. When I say that I do not mean to say it was bad or to otherwise disparage its worth,  I’m merely trying to explain what it feels like reading it. Most of the “adult” books I’ve read have been from the sci-fi/fantasy genre and involve an intricate weaving of plot, setting, and characters. This book weaves those things together too, but the whole feel is simplicity. The historical setting, for instance, was understated and would have totally gone over my head if I had not been reading an edition which mentioned it over and over agin in the forward.
              The book is only 176 pages long, but even so it has very few actual events and quite a lot of character-oriented introspection. There is a whole chapter of country dialogue, complete with accent and unique grammar structure, which has no effect on the plot. Even the men who are talking are little more than names, so that it is more an insight into village thought than into the minds of specific people in a specific village. Because there is not much dialogue, and even less action, I found it hard to care for most of the characters. For all that, the book was okay. Rather like oatmeal, neither overwhelmingly bad nor astoundingly good, but neutral with overtones grayness. But every now and then there would be a sentence that made me smile. I especially loved this one:

“In that moment the mother’s love pleaded for painful consciousness rather than oblivion –  pleaded to be left in aching weariness, rather than to have the encircling arms benumbed so that they could not feel the dear burden.”

by Sixer

(Dis)May

“Authors…. As much creatures of the reader’s imagination as the characters in their books.”

– Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

I stare around me in equal parts delight and dismay. The first month of summer (as the school year has taught us to call it) has been and gone, with only memories too prove it existed. Here are my vital signs to prove I have been virtually active during this period of blog silence:
Favorite song on Pandora: Laura Gibson’s “Hands in Pockets’ – I love the lines “So goes another winter slowly/ Hands in the pocket of my coat.” The whole song invokes the feeling of fortitude one must draw on to get oneself through the cold school days that seem to last so long. Now that it’s summer I can enjoy the coolness of the melody even more.
Recommended Blog: The Family Trunk Project – this is, at first glance, a knitting blog maintained by a designer. But the premise of the blog, as suggested in the title, is unique. The author is slowly designing a pieces of clothing for each of her parents, grandparents, etc. Reading how she translates her relatives’ characteristics into knitting is interesting no matter how you look at it. But even if you couldn’t care less for textiles, you should definitely Open The Family Trunk and take a peek at her history. One day, I am confident, she will inspire me to get acquainted with my own relatives.
              I have also been making waves on the crafty front. I’ve made an apron (which still needs to be re-hemmed and buttoned) and I’ve received the yarn for the February Lady Sweater. I’m making it out of a beautiful french blue linen yarn know as Euroflax. If you are  familiar with this yarn and this pattern you may be wondering what I’m thinking. Do not fear, I’m prepared to make drastic changes to the pattern with the help of my calculator and ruler. But first my needles have to arrive. Theo has already started her summer cardigan project. It’s not a race of course, but I’m going to have to knit fast to catch up.