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Finally a moment when energy, time, and internet access all coincide. It’s 6:10 am in Flagstaff, AZ and I’m waiting for the sun to brighten the sky just a little bit more so I can get running. It’s a strange neighbourhood and I don’t feel like running alone in the dark here.
Everywhere’s been a strange neighbourhood lately.
This trip has been full of such variety that it is hard to believe that it’s all been the same trip. Chinatown, redwoods, whales at the coast, outlet shopping, the kelp forests, endless urban sprawl, desert so quiet it presses on your ears… After Portland we drove down to the Oregon Dunes, then along the coast to San Fransisco. We picked up Rainer’s parents from the airport and have continued to go strong. Ships and archeological ruins, tours of Alcatraz and the Presidio; the celebrity-loving LA, the gaudy tediousness of Las Vegas; the giant crater and the sweep of the high desert from the rim of Meteor Crater…
On this trip it strikes me once again how much like a sort of reverse archeology learning is. Rather than uncovering layers, we’re making them. Each mention of a subject in a new location creates a new strata of meaning and understanding. Sometimes the mind in intrigued and builds a thick layer of sediment rich in bits and pieces of objects; other times just a thin layer of dust sifts over our process, building just a little bit on what we already knew.
I should go. The sky is that bright yellow-green just before the sun rises and I don’t want to make us late for the Grand Canyon. (The Grand Canyon!)
There’s a whole lot of Montana.
We expected to be driving through the Rockies, but got the Oregon Plateau instead. Then the Columbia River showed up to knock our socks off.
Starting a race in the dark is odd. Starting in the dark in the rain is daunting. Running the race was better than we expected. Thank you, Portland, for giving us a marathon and half-marathon to enjoy this trip.
The iPad is super cool, and one of the best things for travel ever, and that list includes airplanes, good hotel beds, and immunizations. We’ve used it as computer, as I’m doing right now, as a map, as a locator for restaurants, a toy (new game- Cut the String), a tv, a radio, a notebook for our trip plans. Seriously, a game-changer.
The roasted chicken craze in grocery stores is a gift to budget-conscious travelers.
Our kids crack us up. Hilarious.
A day of race expo, Knit Purl, and Powells is a day of tempting choices.
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Too much on my plate. Tasks are juggled. Things slip. Time to slow down soon.
The Queen brought the Magna Carta to Winnipeg this summer.
We are homeschoolers. Rainer, in addition to his work saving the world from academic ignorance as a reference librarian, has his MA in medieval history and teaches one course on medieval Britain each year. Ergo, like the Magna Carta, we went to Winnipeg.
It wasn’t impressive or fancy. Just a legal document of functional design. But it was the Magna Carta.
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We passed some of Winnipeg’s famous polar bear statues on the way, leading me to wonder, “What would PJ think?*”
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*PJ reference from the Disney Robin Hood.
“You took the words right out of my mouth, P.J.”
“P.J.”! I like that. Do you know I do?
Hiss, put it on my luggage.”
1: one book that made me cry yesterday
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Thies Raven. A wonderful true story of a man who did a little bit more than he had to during the Berlin Airlift of ’48. I think that the reason I was so touched by this was the relief I felt at the realization that there have always been people with compassion. I’ve been feeling a little dubious about the future lately. When I was a kid it seemed that things were getting better and the future was bright. The Cold War was ending, racism was being fought, David Suzuki was helping us save the trees from acid rain. Lately I’ve been feeling like the storms of troubles meant that the future was, at best, partly cloudy. Here came this book about a time long before my birth of people being good people, of compassionate people at the right place, and I felt a little sunnier.
40, 000,000: forty million AIDS orphans
Knit-A-Square wants you to make a few stitches to help these vulnerable children. “Crocheting and knitting for charity, especially for children in need, is not only an act of love but makes a difference. There are many millions of abandoned children, AIDS orphans and child-headed families in southern Africa, who live in dire poverty. They lack love, shelter, food, education and warmth.” Knit a bit, make them warmer.
105,000: Knit-a-Square’s target for 2010
Even one makes a difference. And it mails as letter mail.
10: Ten Squares I’ve knit this Week
Remember all the fun I had throwing dye parties for my family and friends as a birthday present to myself? Well, I have figured out a use for the worsted weight that we did at the family dye party.
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I have always been attracted to stripes, but haven’t knit many for myself. I have a plan to knit a striped raglan with my odd balls of yarn, but I haven’t had time yet. The chance to play with colours has been so addictive. I love playing with the colours. What does it look like with the lime green as the background? What about when the pink is the background and the stripes are lime? Simple, nearly mindless knitting that nevertheless fascinates.
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4: Four Patterns that knit on the Diagonal
Wonderful because you just knit ’til they’re the right size, then start decreasing.
Reverse Mitered Square – this is the one that I can’t stop knitting. I love the look of the stripes in garter and the sharp angle they take.
Diagonal Weave – This looks like so much fun and yet so simple.
Diagonal Ripple – Textured and tactile.
Grandma’s Favourite Dish Cloth – I took the pattern and adapted it to have no holes and be warmer. Here’s how to do it:
No-Holes Dish Cloth, aka Easy Square
Cast on 4 stitches
Row 1: Knit 4
Row 2: Knit 2, kfb, knit across the row.
Repeat Row 2 until one side measures 20 cm/8 inches.
Row 3: Knit 1, ssk, knit to the end of the row.
Repeat Row 3 until you have 4 stitches on the needle.
Bind off.
For squares going to KAS, leave a 1m tail for them to use to sew them together.
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2: two inspiring blog posts worth reading:
Sewing Circle – the colours alone are worth the click, but the thought that homeless flood victims are getting these quilts…sigh
Discovering the Joy of Sheer Existence – see. love.
