finished, mrs. butler!

amy butler, being the genius print-maker that she is, has re-awakened my love for little dresses. so, knitting on hiatus, i finish up this little number today. made of ohio sky and basil from the daisy chain and midwest modern collections. i know. i combined two collections. but they were gazing lovingly at each other from across the bolt stacks. i wanted to liberate their desires to be close to one another. 

i don't think amy would mind. (she's so brilliant it hurts my brain.)

and do you see the weather today? unbelievable. they don't make blue like that just anywhere. 

people can bash Cali's culture, immorality, economic problems, and outlandish home price medians. but when it comes down to it... we know you want to live here. there is something very capitivating about the mediterranean climate. and our super fun politics.

update 02/24/10

and here it is on the model! 

voice log stardate 01172010

driving the 217 miles to my sisters new condo, i needed to relieve some stress accruing from the horrendous drive. yes. accruing. like debt in the form of an over-priced high interest government loan that they refuse allow consolidation on and thus grows with prime plus who-knows-what while on deferment due to lack of income... but more on that another time.

it was way too dangerous on I-80, so when i got to walnut creek (the home stretch) i hit record on my phone. the following is a transcript of that monologue. among other things, what to learn from this is... i need to pay attention to my tenses, and i use 'really' and 'actually' and 'and' too much in my speech.

unedited:

"alright, this is entitled diamonds are not forever. and it really only applies to the people who drive to the [dirty] bay area.

and i had to practice my bradley birthing method breathing in order to not cry after hydroplaning. and even though the diamond lane is right next to the divider, and i'd rather run into a concrete divider than another car, um... hydroplaning is like one of the most frightening experiences when you're going 70 miles an hour. especially on 680 were people are psychotic anyway and drive like a bunch of idiots.

there's a reason why people, especially on I-80, [the diamond lane is] completely abandoned. i'm like, 'why aren't people driving on this?'

oh and when everyone else is braking in front of you, you should go ahead and brake as well, cause it means there's two inches of standing water in the freeway.

so i'm very thankful for the angels of I-5, 505 and 680.

this is crazy. it's some of the worst stuff i've ever driven through. ever. visibility is so poor i can't even read the street signs. it's a really good thing i know this road and i've driven it hundreds of times.

it's not a good thing that i'm in a toyota corolla. i don't even know how old these tires are. i don't think it matters.

and i will... [unintelligible (even to me and it's my voice and i was there. lol.)]... and there is no way i'm getting back on this freeway. as soon as i recognize a sign taking back roads to san ramon, i'm gonna do it.

plus i have to pee. really bad. but there were a few times on 505 where i really needed that coffee.

granted, people are being really cautious, which is nice. and i followed this honda civic forever on I-80 until they decided to go into the second lane, which i'm just not willing to do.

the wind is so bad--it's not so bad here on 680, which is strange--it's really bad in Maxwell area.

ah, lovorna road, praise the- oh... water... [clunk] oh... ah... i hope i didn't just break a tire. this road sucks man, they really need to pave this. there's like a huge dent in the road just filled with water. the only reason i knew about it was the huge van in front of me actually slowed down. i think he's gonna be my partner for the rest of the time here."

this doesn't even begin to illustrate how nasty it was. and no. i didn't look through the view finder. i could do this stuff blind. and notice there's no one around me. come on. i'm not that stupid.

smoky mountains

the name of the great smoky mountains comes from the natural haze around them.
so what would you called these mountains? smokin' mountains.
this has been the eerie sight since we got home from Oregon. this is picture from the local newspaper. it's cool how they got the shot with the plane in there. it looks a bit end-of-the-worldish.
at first we were looking to donate goods to the other county because of the big fire near chico, but it's looking like we can help out in our own backyard. while the ash keeps falling in it.
also, the air quality hasn't been so great. there's a singed flavor in the air.
something like 24K acres burned in the shasta-trinity forest so far...

The sun will become dark,and the moon will turn blood red
before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives... Acts 2:20

i'm waitin' for it.

Prosit Neujahr!

okay, i'm very aware it's not january. it's like 106 degrees out there. but the blog is the first of the year, yo! frohliche! ( i think that means happy or something.)
after months of silence on the internets, this is where i've been spending my time and brain. millville. note the hay bales and be amazed. sweet little school with sweet little kids. and even though they lived more outdoors than most of us, they still are utterly fascinated by a vulture flying by and raven's raiding the nest of a killdeer. "they are pecking and divebombing the black bird's head mrs. loucks!"

brrr...

a pair of flannel pants, wool socks, hooded sweatshirt and a steaming bowl of oatmeal...
not an evening by a wintry fire. nah. this is me in 72 degree weather after spending 4 days in redding, ca.
strange what a week in arid 100 will do to a body.

the g-rents visit

measure twice, cut once

while in Cali this last week, the youngest sis and i endeavored upon a whirlwind quilt. she had been pondering this avenue of creativity, and jo-anns, a not so great fabric shop, had a very great sale.

so we purchased.
we designed.
we measured.
we rotaried.
we should've measured again.
we compensated for error.
"i thought you were supposed to be my mentor, jess." "yes, and i'm mentoring you on how to redeem yrself when you don't measure twice before you cut once."
we redesigned.
we ironed.
we seam-ripped.
we sewed.
we smoothed.
we aligned.
we safety pinned.
we quilted.
i left at this point. i'm waiting on a pix of the finished product. here's a bit of the focus fabric. it should be incredible.

anatidae mergus merganser

notice i'm wearing a soft shell. a black one at that. in august. while the sun is up. clearly, i am not in redding.
we went w/ fam to the hamilton brach of lake almanor. i'm seen here with a super-secret rigging of lures of a clandestine nature. we were the only ones getting any hits so it must have been a ingenius combo.
the only action i got was watching a small trout nibble at my lure and swim away laughing at his brilliant avoidance of my hook.
dad, however, nailed a 18.5 inch rainbow. very nice. i got to hike up the trail back to the car with it. we sang songs. (the fish and i).

speaking of cars... ever try to fit three adults over the 5'11' mark in the back of a 4-runner? it's a hoot.
while there, we also saw two hungry osprey catching what we were after, a belted kingfisher zooming by, and a common merganser mama and her young.

winter (norm) breakage

everything i've ever heard about the pacific nw is that it's terribly dreary and damp raining all the time and cultivating feelings of self-worthlessness and meloncholy rooted solely the inability to metabolize calcium due to vitamin D deficiency. so... i come to sunny cali for xmas. i leave the clear sunny in-the-20s degree diapason then characterizing southern wash. and come here.

redding. "oh it will be in the 60s" is anticipated and i don't doubt this news reflecting back to the sunburn i received for thanksgiving.

we arrived amidst rain and have had but one day of reprieve since. nor cal i scoff you. you who yields 110 degree summers and forest fires attempting rivalry to hell itself. you who mocks the pac nw and then dumps its very surplus on refugees from therein. yv not seen the last of me...