Wearing Black in New England

I’ve been playing with Typepad, and Scout told me about WordPress…we’re both wanting more out of our blogs, although she’s got Noelle working some magic for her.  So, I’m trying out WordPress, seeing if I can do what I want to do.  Which, really, isn’t much.  Really. 

Yeah, in a fit of avoidance, I’ve become a real joiner. I’m avoiding school. I have a bad attitude right now, but I’m sure that will get straightened up by the weekend. In the meantime, I’ve decided that hell, yeah, even I, Albuquerque’s slowest knitter, can get through a pair of socks between 2/1 and 5/1. So, I joined Sockapalooza. Sign ups are on through midnight.

I also joined Mama-E’s call for public displays of yarn porn. That sexy button did me in. And didya notice, I have a boatload of buttons? And they all link, now, thanks to a tip from my pal Scout. Ok, so it was more like she made it happen than a tip, but I’m learning!

Back to work, now, missy. SnB tonight, and don’t forget to boycott SF/SE. Me, I bought the A-line skirt pattern from Sew Betsy Ross. Now that my machine’s fixed, I’m gonna sew me a spring wardrobe. Right after I knit those socks.

My East Coast (hey, I can’t help but see that Buzzard Bay postmark! A Cape girl!) SP7 sent me a package, which I got yesterday. Sunday? you ask. Are you special, Beverly, that the mail comes to you on Sunday? Special, sure, but not quite that special. I forgot to check the mail on Saturday after my quest to find a book for school that lasted until 11:00 p.m. In this delightful package was a selection of tea bags (I’m boiling water right now), two bundles of mohair roving, a big bundle of merino/silk roving, a dainty spindle, and a hank of chocolate brown alpaca that she spun–I can’t wait to knit something with it, and it smells delicious. There were also two little cards with meditations–one called “The Rainbow” and the other, “Artist Zen” as well as a cheerful note!

Thank you SP! I can’t wait to try spinning. Your yarn smells lovely, btw. What do you set it with? I’m off for a cup of special tea…xxx

Ramona posted about this haiku contest, and I’m such a joiner, I had to send one in, too. Remember, kids, I write fiction, not poetry. Check out Jessie’s sock yarn. I’m gonna get me some come May!

Ruminations on My Time

I crochet, knit, spin
When I should grade, read, or write.
Don’t tell my secret.

Noelle is a good listener and a generous friend. She saw this, remembered I had talked about how much Jenny liked it, and picked it up for me. What a sweetie, huh?

A glimpse into my closet. There are files with all my teaching/school/grantwriting archives; notecards for the letter writing I like to do; a few special papers for making books; my newly mended sewing machine, an almost finished felted purse, my old quilting bag, stuff for embroidery; some of the gajillion journals and notebooks I have (everyone loves to give writers journals. And we like them!); some linens; a few boxes of misc. junk I can’t throw out; and of course, yarn. Real Simple suggests using yarn to decorate. Group it together and it will look pretty. Ha! As if we didn’t know that already.

My SP6, Brianne, sent me this, along with a great book mark that she and her little guy Owen made together, and some adorable knitting notecards. MWAH! Thanks, Brianne!

Hot dog, you can read the story for yourself.

I’ve read this story a number of times, and every time I do, it seems more richly crafted to me. I like Byatt a lot. Possession and Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye both sit on my bookshelf, and I read one or the other every year or so.

What is so appealing about this story, then? Byatt, who doesn’t hesitate to lead her reader into the world of magical realism, makes me believe in Ines’s transformation from woman to…well, I gave you the link, go read it.

More than anything I love Byatt’s images. Her descriptive language is precise, and her settings are real to me. “In September they had several days of driving rain, frost was thick on the turf roof, the glacial rivers swelled and boiled, and ice came down then in clumps and blocks, forming where the spray lay on the vegetation.” Can’t you see it? I love that Byatt moves me to Iceland in the second half of the story. I flew through Iceland once, and I cannot wait to go back. The little glimpse of the country that I had was enough to make me believe that her magical story could have happened there.

I taught this to my students last fall, and they did not seem to like it, citing more than anything, the magical realism elements. How about you? Did you like the story? Do you like magical realism? I also wrote about this in terms of Italo Calvino’s Six Memos for the Next Millinneum (if you’re a writer and haven’t read it, go right now and pick it up). If you like Byatt’s story and want to read more about what I thought about it, let me know, and I’ll send you the article.

I bought this. I should get it by mid-February.

I spent my Friday afternoon with Scout, who taught me about the pleasures and dangers of html. Dangers include ditching writing time to play with my blog. Must. Stay. Focussed.

Carole’s been working on a new banner for me.

Things may be a little creaky as I learn my way around, but wbnm’s gonna be a good looking site before we’re through.

Best of all. Today is my dad’s birthday…he’s turning 68. My dad is the most gentle, kindhearted, fair person I know. He knows right from wrong, and he’s good at giving the gentle reminder about that when needed. He believes in his kids with so much faith that I, for one, feel obligated to make something of myself so his faith is rewarded. But I know when he holds my first book in his hand, he’ll have the same amount of love for me that he does when he opens his b’day package. Which contains these. He claims they’re almost as good as his mother made. If you make them, they have to be thick…no sissy thin cookies here.

I’m off to spend the day with Noelle and the Knitters not Quitters gang