A day....

I went to practice this morning, dark and early, and as I stepped outside I noticed it was snowing but that the ground was covered in water. It seems the ground is too warm for the snow to stick. Off I went to catch the bus in the snowy down pour. While waiting I saw two snow plows headed North.

The bus was late but I still got to practice on time. The teacher and I chatted until five minutes after class was supposed to start. Then I rushed out 45 minutes later into the pouring, wet snow and caught all my buses on time. Got my cup of tea from a cafe, negotiated the icy, slushy, stairs and, after greeting a fellow guide, was informed that school was on a 2 hour delay.

Huh?

I ould have finished practice? *sigh* At least I got to laminate some chemists.

We planted today which was wonderfully simple and cheering. I love planting seeds. Especially in compressed peat pot pellets.

So the day went.

Then off to sign up for the stranded class scheduled for Saturday. I left work at 5, did my banking, and got to the shop at 6:05. The shop closes at 6. Fortunately there were still people inside so I was going to wait until the owner was available, as she was helping customers, but this other lady offered to help me and it turns out she is the class instructor. So I explained why I was there after hours and she said Ok. She pulled out the class binder and all eight spots were taken. I was disappointed but I figured "Oh well, that can happen" So I thanked her and said maybe next time. Then she asked me if I was an experienced knitter.

Ummmm. Let me show you what I'm working on and then you can tell me. So I showed her the Cabled knee-highs I'm making from Favorite Socks.(I'm on the fifth repeat of six before beginning the heel).

She squeezed me in! Lucky number nine.***CV

triste

Feeling a little blue.

Hopefully, planting some nasturtiums tomorrow with the children will help.
**
I found a wonderful picture of Copernicus. He looks like he had a good sense of humour.***CV

floral triangles

A friend and I were planning to KAL Eunny's anemoni mittens but that was before my friend got a copy of the new IK. Now it seems entrelac socks are on the agenda.
**
While at the library yesterday I picked up Susannah Clarke's, the Ladies of Grace Adieu.Then I came home and put four John Connolly books on hold. One of them is an audio which will be nice for a change.

Of course I'm still reading Sacred Games, The Armless Maiden, Murkmere, and Astrae. Not to mention the school reading regarding the ancient Greeks, Trees and evolution in general. Speaking of which, has anyone read that article about the chimpanzees who were observed making and using spears to hunt small mammals? Seems it is the females of the group who are doing so. ***CV

Silvered daemon

The Black Angel, John Connolly (485pp) This story takes place after The White Road. Charlie Parker has a new baby daughter but his relationship with her mother, Rachel (whom he loves), is not going well. This might have something to do with the fact that his dead wife and child keep turning up in a very gruesome manner. However, Charlie is called to help his friend Louis and consequently more is revealed both about Charlie's nature and Louis' past. Cistercian abbies, Nazis, fallen angels who have no wish to be absolved, art collectors and a tattooed snow white all come together as the story reaches resolution in an ossuary in Prague.

Sone memorable lines:

"It looked like the launch of a new Cure album, or a reception after a Goth wedding." (Referring to an art auction not an ossuary.)

" Geiler's copy of the Malleus Maleficarum went to a tiny elderly lady in a pink suit, who looked grimly satisfied with her purchase."

***CV

Swan

Today I went to a workshop on Breath practices. It was very soothing. We spent two hours just practicing different breaths for meditaion and talking about the way different techniques can be interpreted. As a tool we were each gifted with a ten breath mala (a bracelet of beads that are divided into groups of ten with a larger bead as the marker).
**
Last night I went to various sites seeing what opportunities are available. I saw about five that appealed to me so I will be contacting them this week.
***
There is a class in stranded work next week and later this year there will be a workshop of Nordic Knitting, in Seattle. I'm going to take the stranded class in preparation for it.
****
Tomorrow is to be devoted to Plato and Archimedes. Must make sure the bathtub doesn't leak****CV

the Future

It snowed for a litle bit this morning which was nice to watch from the cottage windows.
**
Further meeting news. Apparently there will be only one guide next year. No decision has been made, or at least told to us, who that guide will be. One would think if such a decision had been made then they would know who by the time they actually spoke with us.

Well, I would think so. In fact I would tell, so that the person who had to replan could start ASAP.

Therefore I'm considering my options. One interesting thought is this might be a really good time to change anyway (regardless of what "they" decide). Since no one is telling I might as well be doing.
***
I'm halfway through the Black Angel by John Connolly.****CV

Irked

Being called in for a meeting ("And we only have about 20 minutes because I really need to meet with so and so") then asked "How has the year been for you so far?"

Not one of my favorite things.

How about telling someone ahead of time: "I'd like to meet with you to talk about how the class is going and about your plans for next year. When would be good for you?"

Is that really too hard?

It seems so. ***CV

An elegant foot

Knitting on the bus I have the opportunity to see a lot of shoes. The other day as I was working away on my chocolate and strawberry knee highs I chanced to glance across the aisle and near dazzled myself with some lemon yellow footwear which a stylin' brother was wearin' over there.

Talk about cheerful feet.

So he and his friend are talkin' about this and about that, mostly about clothes and what the current budget will and will not allow, and suddenly I hear, "Now those black and white ones, they're all right."

What? I do a peripheral peer. I don't see any black and white shoes near by.

"But I dunno I don't think I got the clothes for 'em. Still..."

Come to realize he was talking about my near ten year old spat style Doc mary janes. I think I've been complimented :)****CV

hexahedral ice

Today one of the children was making geometric figures with paper so I thought I'd slip in a little information:

"Y'know, you're really doing some secret stuff there."

What? I'm just making geometric solids.

"Well some people would say that what you're making there should not be for just anyone to see," Then I look around, "Let me show you something." I bring out my special book. "Here see these?"

Yeah! That's my cube and there's my tetrahedron and there are the other geometric solids but, there are only five of them..."

"Uhhuh. Notice anything else?"

Well there's no prism and -hey, what's that one?

"Shhhhh. That is an icosohedron. Wanna make one?"

Sure!

Yeah he made three today. In fact, except for lunch and recess, that's pretty much all he did. Plato would be so proud. Just wait until I introduce the young one to Archimedes***CV

and yet more...

The Seeing Stone, Kevin Crossley-Holland (341pp) Okay any middle reader book that mentions the salmon leap has my approval. Imagine my immense pleasure at Merlin leaping 47 feet and then casually referring to Cucchalin. So yes I will be continuing this series (there are three volumes). One aspect that I enjoyed about this volume is how matter of factly medieval it is. It is simply the narrator's recounting of his life as it happens to him. Another aspect I liked is all the questions that were raised and not directly answered. Life questions. Questions that only the particular participant can respond to but which we all at some point or another come to on our own. I would really love to make this a small group book. Just myself and a couple of interested children to take turns reading aloud and discussing.
**
Lupin III, vol.7, Monkey Punch (180pp) Yep it's Lupin. The volumes seem to get raunchier and raunchier as they progress. I may stop collecting at volume 10.
***
Still reading: Sacred Games, The Black Angel, The Armless Maiden, Wild Life.

Review revue

Aaack. Book reviews due or I will be seriously behind.

xxxHolic, Clamp (185pp) I purchased this on impulse. It reminded me of a shop I used to patronise and which has since closed its doors. The premise is that a boy, named Watanuki Kimihiro, is mysteriously drawn into a shop in which wishes are granted for a fee. His wish being not to see the spirits which he has been able to see since always. His paymnet is service to the shop after which his wish will be granted. He becomes a lackey and so far this series has 14 volumes.
**
Vampire Knight, Matsuri Hino (192pp) Now don't get me wrong, I like a cute manga boy vampire as much as the next girl but this series has some issues to work out after which it could be just fine. My primary complaint is the continuous reccap at the beginning of every chapter. This is a collected work peoples. It is no longer in monthly format so there is no need to update the "just joined" every ten pages. Other than that it is a cute story. I wish the heroine wasn't quite so dippy. Adn taht school director? What is up with him? There is a vaguely Twilight feel to the interactions of the vampires and the female lead which is interesting. Volume 2 is due in April.
***
Saffron and Brimstone, Elizabeth Hand( 239pp) Oh look. A non manga book! A collection of stories in which muses are literally brought to life and what has been foretold regarding the west coast actually occurs. Tarot cards, butterfly girls, green men and Calypso; I'm looking forward to reading other works by this author.
****
Godchild vol.4, Kaori Yuki (190pp) Look it's a gothic Lolita who is a literal clone of Cain's dead cousin: And she wants Cain. OhNo! How will Riff rescue Cain if he has been bitten by one of her deadly pet spiders? Eeek! Will the organization Delilah take over London? And just what is Jizabel's secret that the Cardmaster now knows?
*****
Cain Saga vols. 1-3, Kaori Yuki (176-187pp) This is the background series explaining Cain's history. There is one more volume in this series yet to come out.
******
Angel Sanctuary vol.18, Kaori Yuki (196pp) Sara has changed and not for the better. She may really be with child. Lucifer (aka Kira) gets more handsome all the time though he is now in alliance with Rosiel who has become a living picture of Dorain Gray. The grand cross has been formed (at what price?) and the gates to heaven have been opened. Kato makes good on his promise. *Sniff* Only a few more volumes left til the end.
*******CV

no trump is least

Beause we will be having another Summer Reading Challenge, right?

The Man Who Was Thursday, G.K. Chesterton
The Old Stories, Kevin Crossley-Holland
Vampire Knight, Maturi Hino
xxxHolics, Clamp

**
I am really enjoying Elizabeth Hand's short stories. The last one I read dealt with a tattoo artist who was raised by a very independent author mother, and who inadvertantly brings a tarot card to life. OSaid trump is of course from the estate of the artist's favorite author and she finds the deck purely by chance at a rummage sale. Of course this tale could be interpreted like Woman on the Edge of Time; I'm choosing not to see it that way. I like happy endings.
***
I started a pair of cabled knee socks this morning. Siamese colours: brown and cream. ****CV

CV Bobs Her Hair

Frederick Allen wrote two books about the 1920's that I really enjoyed. Each volume was like reading a newspaper of the times. I currently own a dress that I found in a thrift shop that is dated 1918 and I have worn it to clubs, to graduations, to weddings.... I adore Erte and I have books about the choreographers Miss Ruth and Ted Shawn, as well as Clara Bow, Lillian Gish, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Martha Graham, Louise Brooks, the Keystone Cops,etc. When I finally got around to reading F. Scott Fitzgerald I devoured everything I could find and I believe my collection is now complete.

There are days when I really just want to Charleston. Today is one of them.

I wish my "sister" Louise was here.****CV

libros solomente

I have started Saffron and Brimstone and it is an odd collection of stories so far. In the first story we meet a genuine Butterfly girl who is ultimately collected by the Greenman. And in the second story there is the feeling of being in the presence of both spirits of the American south west and Odin.
**
Then I began The Seeing Stone because a couple of children said it was very confusing. So much so that the person whose family special ordered it for him ended up donating it to our class library. I, too, was a little befuddled in the first three (very short) chapters until I realized that the narrator is the hero who is recording the story as it happens to him. It didn't help that the back blurb mentioned two Arthurs (one modern and the other historic), two Merlins and two dragons; and that the modern Arthur is actually a medieval Arthur. Anyway it is becoming quite good now that that confusion has been cleared away.
***
While reading Angel Sanctuary I realized that Lucifer bears an uncanny resemblence to Dream in Sandman. And that Mad Hatter, for some reason, was dressed as Beetlejuice.
****
Meanwhile I am still reading the Black Angel, Sacred Games and Pagan's Scribe.

Lest I get bored a friend loaned me a book to read this holiday weekend by Molly Gloss.*****CV

Tea, Chocolate...

Kidnapped, Robert Loius Stevenson
Angel Sanctuary vol. 18, Kaori Yuki

aaah, the perfect Valentine***CV

Ashes ashes...

Oh my what a fun place to visit. I saw this at Got Medieval which doesn't update near often enough to suit me but I understand why he doesn't.

So, I wonder if his was pneumonic, bubonic, or septicemic?
**
As to "Pretty, pretty", it's a direct quote from a rather camp film. In fact, the band Duran, Duran credits this film for their name. What I most remember from it are the many pointy teethed dolls.
***
Edinburgh is celebrating R.L. Stevenson this month by giving away free copies of Kidnapped. It's part of an everyone reads event. Edinburgh looks like a great place to visit. Must add that to my To Do list****CV

pretty, pretty

Astrae: The Imperial Theme in the 16th c., F. Yates

The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, Frances Yates

Saffron and Brimstone, Elizabeth Hand

Angel Cage: The Art of Angel Sanctuary, Kaori Yuki
**
I wonder if anyone recognises the title quote?
***
The art book has an interview with Ms. Yuki. Golly you think I might like the writings of someone who has a gothic sense, is heavily into Lewis Carroll, Grimms fairytales, Victorian London, tarot and hierarchies of the occult? You think?

Oh, and who can draw quite the lovely boy btw.

I think Ms Yuki and Mr. Amano need to collaborate****CV

Volume 18, where are you?

Yes this is what I'm waitng for. I think it rather represents all aspects of valentines day, don't you?
We got the roses, or at least the remnants
We got the dark handsome guy, why yes he does look a trifle anemic; and
We got the look that says, I only have eyes for you; or perhaps,

"I remembered the flowers: there was something else?"***CV

strange happenings

Cain Saga, vols 2 and 3, Kaori Yuki

GodChild vol. 4, Kaori Yuki

And Angel Sanctuary should be in stock in a week, yay! I also just received a notice that a Francis Yates book I've had on my wish list has been reissued so yay again.
**
Other than that this week has just been strange. People falling asleep on the bus, people coming in late due to sleeping in late. No one able to concentrate and there has been the scent of natural gas permeating my neighborhood for the past week.

Are these normal preValentines day symptoms or what? Perhaps the last oddness before Lent?***CV

Blithe II

New reads:

Cain Saga, vol. 1, Kaori Yuki

GodChild, vol. 2, Kaori Yuki

Pagan's Crusade, 1 of the Pagan Chronicles, Catherine Jinks

Pagan's Scribe, 4 of the Pagan Chronicles, Catherine Jinks

**
I started the Armless Maiden last night. This is going to be a slow read. All the retold stories are in some way related to childhood trauma. I had to stop reading after the third poem. Then I simply skimmed a few of the prologues ot some of the other stories. There is one that is similar to Donkeyskin.
***
On another note my pink haired doll arrived and the fourth eye-colour is green****CV

Shalabasana

How to do a backbend on one's chin: do a full wheel only grab hold of your ankles and rest your chin between your feet is one way. Viparita shalabasana is another way. The latter is what we were working on in class. I posted a pic of it a while ago. I'll see if I can find it again.

Aha! Success.

If anyone is interested in asana postures - just to have a breakdown with photos, I highly recommend BKS Iyengar's, Light on Yoga. I bought my copy used in SF and if I had to have only one yoga book that would be it. Another good one is his daughter Geeta's book, Yoga, A Gem for Women, but her Dad is amazing. He still practices and is almost ninety.

This, btw, is not Mr. Iyengar.
**

In knitting news I refuse to believe that Noro Silky and Rowan Felted Tweed are the same weight. They don't even look the same thickness. So how come they're both considered DK?
***
Oh, and the cutest Nick looking boy rescued one of my DPN's for me on the bus today. Who says commuting can't be fun? ****CV

Blithe Alice

I am now the proud owner of a miniature Blythe Doll. She's so cute. It's an Alice in Wonderland, with turqouise hair and her own tiny white rabbit. I also won a Big Eyes doll with pink hair and four colour eyes (depending upon which way she's looking they are either pink, blue, amber or, I believe, green).
**
More crazy backbends in class today. Somehow I will get all my weight on my chin - just not today thanks.
***
I finished a pair of cabled glovelets in a red tweed. Go me! Now to try and make them in the yarn that was recommended. Oh and that latest Piecework has a sampler knitting collection of miniature sweaters, socks etc. Think it might be good to try with the class?****CV

nota bene

Lupin III, vol.6, Monkey Punch in which Lupin becomes a salary man, enters an asylum as a patient and meets his nemesis: greed. I think it was Lupin as a salary man that I found most perturbing. Oh and he also has a dog as a sidekick in this volume. I must go get 3,4, and 5 for (hopefully) some explanation of this strange set of events.
**
Has anyone else read the article about the Newsweek book critic who stopped reading a book because he felt he had better things to do with his time? Better things? Like looking for a different job perhaps?
***
Sylvie and Bruno continue to sing up a storm, bright and early; and are entertaining the feline no end.****CV

berate or beret

I just took a class in cabling and I learned a few things. One, cabling can be fun. Two, that though I am a loose knitter, I am not such a loose knitter that I must go down three needle sizes in order to achieve a well fitted garment. Three, if I do choose to go down three needle sizes I will not have to change the pattern in order for it to fit a smaller individual, the needles did it for me.

I also learned that I can recognise obscure music but not the singer's name: " Oh, it's Eva Pilaf, no, wait, it's Edith Pilaf no, ummm, Oh, I got it: Edith Piaf."

I also picked up the new Interweave sock book***CV

twinkling hoar-frost

Yesterday was Imbolc or the Feast of St. Brigid. Today is Candlemas, but for the sake of Silent Poetry Reading we will pretend that it is Bride's Day. There is something truly wonderful about a goddess of poetry and smithcraft.

In honor of this day of weather forecasting and in hopes for Spring:

On Monday when the sun is hot
I wonder to myself a lot:
"Now is it true, or is it not,
"That what is which and which is what?"

On Tuesday, when it hails and snows,
The feeling on me grows and grows,
That hardly anybody knows
If those are these or these are those.

On Wednesday, when the sky is blue,
And I have nothing else to do,
I sometimes wonder if it's true
That who is what and what is who.

On Thursday when it starts to freeze
And hoar-frost twinkles on the trees,
How very readily one sees
That these are whose - but whose are these?

Lines Written By A Bear of Very Little Brain, AA Milne

***

Three new books today:

The Armless Maiden, ed. Terri Windling

Young Buddhists, Loudon

Lupin III vol6, Monkey Punch****CV

Sylvie and Bruno

Sylvie and Bruno are doing well. They are in the coldest room of the house - it is the only room I can secure from a certain feline.

Tonight they were singing up a storm and when I last checked on them two heads, nestled together, peeked out of one nest.***CV

Not a Happy Camper

Aaaaaaaah! So I was forced to move and this is the first time I've actually been able to access my own blog. As any number of my childeren might say: Auuuuugh!

I wonder if I might be allowed to access it from home tonight? Hmmmm? Do I have to beg? If so I will move elsewhere. This new blogger is incrediby slow, slower than typepad slow. And yes it has taken up to five minutes to access typepad blogs. So those of you who are on it that I read I must really like you :)

***
Oh and Sylvie and Bruno are fine so far.****CV