by Sixer

Operation in the Interlude

It’s lunar new year, which means most of my shows have gone on hiatus this week, and I’m stuck between planning out The Garden and building those beds. {{1}} [[1]]But I did get my strawberry seeds on Thursday![[1]] What’s a girl to do in the interlude? How about install memory at 6 o’clock on a Saturday morning? It’s really the perfect time to do it: no distracting noises, no nagging deadlines. Just you and the harsh white glare of the lamp. You and the barely audible sounds of the screwdriver. You and the certainty that something is going to break.

It actually wasn’t hard at all, for anyone interested in upgrading their computer’s memory. The most agonizing part was taking the old memory out – it was really wedged in there!  My darling is an iMac 5,1,  and the upgrade took her from 1GB to 4. Since I also invested in a terabyte portable drive this month, I feel like I’ve gotten a whole new computer (not that I want to replace you, Anastasia). Of course the real question is, does the new memory make her go faster?

Uh, Yes?

Come on, if I were the type of person who could tell that right away, would I still be using a computer from 2006? Still, I think that single webpages are loading better now. Time to test running multiple applications at once.

 

by Sixer

The Dirt on 2014’s Garden Plans

There are four inches of snow blanketing my front patch of ground. right now. It’s piled on my stacking tower, making it look like a haphazardly delivered wedding cake. But strangely I am not able to enjoy it like usual. I am impatient for March and the first signs of Spring.

Last year I had a lot of plans for my little lot, but there were so many other things to work on that I could only put in a few things (the pot tower and the tomatoes). Now my family room is (mostly) done, and since I’m still deliberating over my bedroom plans, my garden gets my full attention. I have given myself a budget and carefully tried to map out my final goal. Of course, I have way more plans than can reasonably be attempted by a novice in one year, so I’m focusing on two things: blueberry bushes and herbs. I want a beautiful garden, but usefulness must be my first thought, and pleasure given my second. These two projects are, I think, the ones whose results will be most easily incorporated into my life (I noticed it was hard for me to get used to harvesting tomatoes,  hopefully herbs will come more naturally). Plus, they serve as stepping stones to my future, less practical, projects.

The jobs I’ve picked wil require two raised beds. One will go up against my house and end about a foot away from the already existing border of the front bed. This is where my blueberries will go. There red foliage in the autumn will, I think, complement the Japanese maple that’s planted in front of the window. In stage two I will add a level at the back of the bed for black pearls – a gorgeous, pepper plant which the Geekette and I saw at the gardens ages ago. We also saw hellebores, with which I am completely smitten. Those will go in front of the bed, and possibly snow drops, or some other early flowering flowers. This area tends to look pretty sad in the spring until the maple tree starts getting bed head.

The second bed will be on the other side of my door, stretching from my house to the sidewalk. The majority of my herbs will go in front, and I plan on making their box higher for easier harvesting (and to keep out dogs – we have a silk terrier living right next door who is very curious). Herbs that need shade can go in the lower middle section, where I’ll eventually be putting the more “ornamental” plants.

So that’s my plan for this year. I’ve already ordered my two blueberries (I wanted three, but in deference to their stated spacing preferences I’m starting with two), and am only waiting for the snow to melt before measuring my beds for a third time and buying wood. My blueberries will arrive the end of February and the beds need to be ready by then. Herbs will be started indoors in March, and transplanted mid-April (if the weather ever returns to normal, that is). But for now, in January, all I can do is dream.

by Sixer

Translation: コスモス (Cosmos)

A cosmos field I often biked pass in Japan.

A cosmos field I often biked pass in Japan.

Here’s a pretty piece of prosery from one of my Actual-Japanese Japanese Books, 鈴の鳴る道, by 星野富弘. It appears under a picture of cosmos, one of my favorite flowers. I love the way they looks like a watercolor when growing altogether in a field.

風は見えない

だけど木に吹けば

緑の風になり

花に吹けば

花の風になり

今、私を

過ぎていった

風は

どんな風に

なったのだろう

I freaked a little when I rediscovered this a few months ago, because I knew almost every 漢字. This happens a little more each time I “study,” but it still feels like a big deal.  The only two characters I didn’t know, and had to look up, were 緑 and 過ぎ, and they weren’t necessary to get the basic gist. I like to translate this poem so:

We cannot see the wind itself

Even so, it blows through the trees

Becoming a green gale

It blows through the flowers

Becoming a wave of flowers

Now it is myself

Which the wind has passed through

What kind of wind

has it become?

Obviously, this is a pretty self-reflecting translation. But it’s how I read it, all by myself, ignoring the words “passed” and “green” out of illiteracy. The word wind – I just couldn’t bring myself to repeat it so many times. I stuck in some rather fanciful additions instead. Yes, they add variety, but more then that I think “green gail” more  clearly expresses the idea of all the leaves in motion than “green breeze.” After all, what we have is no longer a quiet, respectable tree, but a manifestation of the wild wind. I got to see this poem in action this morning. It snowed last night and then gusted all day long, sending swirls of sparkling pixie dust whirling through the sky. 雪に吹けば／雪の風になり. The world lends itself as a body to the invisible wind, and in return that wind teaches it to dance, showing how detailed and complex its world is. When the wind tugs at my skirt, or blows icily against my face, what kind of wind is it making of me?

There, that’s my defense of my artistic license. How would you translate this differently? Do you think I’ve missed the meaning?

by Sixer

Hello, 2014!

The Labyrinth, found in the Cathedral of Chartres. Rubbing taken from a gift

The Labyrinth, found in the Cathedral of Chartres. Rubbing taken from a gift


And the wheel starts a new revolution! Not a change – either in motion, direction, speed, or shape – just a restart. A reboot. A repetition. A continuation of all that has come before. A natural progression from one thing to another. From 2013 to 2014.

I had a lot of fun  reviewing my year last night. A lot of things happened in 2013: I went to two weddings, drove to Georgia (twice), went hiking in Asheville’s arboretum, actually finished a sewing project, and somehow found myself hosting a NaNo night. But some of the more impactful things have been more mundane, barely noticeable really. I started going to a Bible study, I played both D&D and WoD (every. week. for almost four months), reached new financial goals, and got a new roommate. Not huge red letters items, just every day things I adjusted to without thinking. Until now, of course. With this excuse to pause for a moment, at the zenith of the circle, you might say, I find myself itching for newness and longing for the familiar. I have Big Plans for 2014. Not for radical and outlandish adventures, but for quiet, simple, methodical, well thought-out developments. Winter inspires a nervous desire to break out boldly, and I want to funnel this impatient energy into something productive and lasting. To harness the power of the wheel and use it to build my dreams.

So here’s to another year together. And, for some of us, another year apart. Another year of progress and preservation. What dreams do you have for it? Will you guide them gently or let them freely fly?

Showing title instead?

 

by Sixer

With Pockets and Ruffles

Apron at Last

That’s right, I have a finished non-food object for your wondering eyes to feast on. Or is that wandering eyes? You remember of course that pocket, which I referenced as recently as, what, three posts ago? Well, after being taken up, taken out, put down and laid away the two pockets have finally been stitched to the skirt of their intended apron, the skirt edges finished, the ties atached, and the bodice allowed to crown the whole thing, bringing it into completion.

It does feel rather nice to finally finish something, and something useful at that. But better than all else is how relaxing it was to sit and hand sew the pockets to the skirt. (Aren’t they clever? I got them from By Gum By Golly). I wouldn’t say that the activity was fun or enjoyable – certainly not as intoxcicating as, say, marathoning a TV show, or staying up until three finishing a book. Yet sitting in my own living room, with the christmas tree finally subdued in one corner and Karen Savage’s soothing accent readingng out Persuasion from the speakers, what more could be wanting for a peaceful evening (and morning and afternoon) of employment?Right Pocket

I discoverd a lot of things while making this apron, most of them things I had quite on purposely swept under the rug of memory. For instance, I don’t like measuring twice, mostly becasue I find it difficult enough to measure correctly the first time. There is a bit of wonky stitching on the ties from where I haphazardly ironed the folds without any measuring or desire for consistency. This led to trouble when I went acros the bodice and couldn’t see both sides of the ties. Whoops. Missed a spot.

More interesting, I found that I like hand sewing a whole lot more than machine sewing. I’m not any neater with my stitches when I sew by hand, but when I’m at the machine my greatest desire becomes Being Done and all my efforts focus toward speed. Hand sewing is soooo much slower by comparison that, even if I do think up a short cut, there is usually enough time to realize the flaws before I get there. What’s more, as long as there is something to entertain my mind – like music or a book or, if trusted myself more, TV – I find I actualy like the process of hand sewing. The movement of the needle in and out of the fabric, the glint of silver, the clash or blending of colors, whichever it may be. I discovered this kind of contentment while crosstitching too, which is of course unfortunate because I can’t help but think of cross stitching as one of those pretty but inherently dead-end arts, and hand sewing one’s own clothes, while impressive, sounds dangerously close to, say, climbing mount everest with only one granola bar or watching paint dry in a room without proper ventilation.

At any rate, here is an apron as a testimony that we can focus and get things done. That hand sewing can be the highlight of your week. That Persuasion has more angst behind a single “good morrow” than a trunk full high school dramas. And that, yes, not even ruffles can keep you from getting flour stains.Not wrong

These are from when I “tried it out” by making cupcakes. I only reazlied it when I was eating them later (and reading the last chapters of the book, becasue reading is faster than listening) but the characters in Persuassion spend a bit of time visiting Lymes, England and I happened to make Lime, Cupcakes. If you think it’s rather limp as a connection, I have it on good authority that lime can be used to crisp things up too – though that’s mineral kind, and usually in relation to pickels. Anyway, I wish I could remember where I first read about lime cupcakes. I was going to make lime something for dessert anyway, because I had them languishing in my firdge, but I don’t think cupcakes could have come to my mind without help. I used this recipe, utilizing all the juice from two limes (and using lemon-milk instead of buttermilk). I made the frosting too, but I couldn’t taste any rum in and it was too sweet to put on already sweet cupcakes. Plus, depsite loving fat in all its forms and having no qualms with sneaking it out of the mixing bowl, I still cannot get past the idea that eating this type of frosting = digging into a stick of butter. I haven’t had the desire to do that in the past, oh, decade or so (the last time I did my dad caught me. Enough said).

So, the stats for the apron:

Fabric: Random bits that came from other people. The skirt, for instance, is left over from a history fair table cloth. The fabric for the pockets is from my Grandma N’s collection.

Cost: All material I had on hand, so no cost at all.

Modifications: I couldn’t figure out the purpose of the bodice pleats. They were dashed awkward, so I took them out. Then I forgot all about the pleating when I sewed on the pockets and ended up leaving that off too because it made the fabric near the pockets lay weird. I didn’t line the skirt, but put the top between the right-sides-together waist ties and sewed the ties’ sides and straight across. Then I turned them right-side out, ironed down the still open edge, stuck in the bodice, and top-stitched the whole shebang.

First worn: Saturday 14th, making Cupcakes

Make it again?: Yes. The bodice is too wide for me at the top, and probably too long too. Plus, whoever heard of a kitchen with only one apron? I already know what colors I want for my next one.

Hmm, what’s better? Tasty cupcakes, tasty aprons, or finally getting something out of your workbasket?Tkae Heart