World Market Dash....

After picking up our cute and adorable little wolf from the groomers (on the way home from ceramics), DH and I went to get some teas at World Market.  Scrounging along the aisles for delicious things to eat, we found a smaller than normal and therefor less dangerous container of Lacey's. I can eat about two of them a month because they contain some forbidden ingredients.

For these cookies I would risk anything short of a heart attack. They are soooooooo good!  A couple of these and some Lady Grey tea is heavenly, accompanied by some delicious knitting of course.

Garns Studio Advent Calendar, Yay! as well as Sock progress, Cinema, and more Kid art

Garn Studio put up their Advent Calendar for this year and there's a button in the side bar so that you can snag the URL for your favorites and follow it day by day starting tomorrow.

The sock yarn looks MUCH better as a sock than as the triangle scarf. I love LOVE this cute little sock. Almost time to start the mate. The yarn is Paton Stretch Sox.

More of the little sayings that were mosaic'd (is that a word?) into the sitting wall at the World Music Venue.

Oh! I watched the movie, "Babies", last night. What a terrific movie! If you don't know about it, or have been living under a rock somewhere, hehe, it's about the first year of the lives of four babies - one from Africa, one from San Francisco, one from Japan and one from Mongolia. So CUTE! I wanted to get down on the floor/ground and play patticake with all four of them.

Black Comedy... I know, from the cutest things on earth, baby anythings, to Black Comedy. ~meep~

DH and I watched the very best black comedy I've EVER seen two nights ago. It's called "Adam's Apples", and if you like Black Comedy, don't mind - shall we say- "skin" or a lot of unsavory word usage, this movie is brilliant fun. I'd callit an XX rated movie for those two things, and adults only, definitely. Droll and definitely Black.

Amelia Peabody would be shouting, "Language!"

Here's the Garn Studios Triangle scarf progress, so that you can see the difference in the two yarns:

There's just not a lot of green in it so far.  Phooey!

Where the World Music Concerts are held in Kensington, there are two walk way seating walls of these saying created by the children at the school adjacent to the park.  This one really moved my heart.  I think they are all charming but this is the special one for myself.

May the tiny drop of ocean that moves through your heart connect you to the rhythm of the ocean and it's tides and currents.  May you feel like an Earthling again, Connected, and less like a God lost in Space;  may you thereby be cured of sadness, feel whole, and be joyful, like a little child is.

Good night friends.  Peace and Love.

Seema Shah on Fibromiagia and CFS

"My experience has led me to believe that health care providers
should expand the ultimate goal of care from 'restoring the
integrity of a body and/or mind” to “repairing the integrity of
a life.'

When chronic illness prevents a patient from engaging
in previous identity-defining activities, health care providers
can help patients identify and foster interests, skills, and
strengths that are still possible within their illness-related limi-
tations. This can help reshape identity and rebuild meaning.
Helping patients identify societal barriers to participation and
looking for ways to overcome them can also help accomplish
this. As a health care provider, asking 'What role can I play in
helping this individual reach the best quality of life possible?'
can open new possibilities in the provision of care."

The quote comes from Dr. Shah's writings on her own illness and how it changed her own life path forever.

It is especially important that a new way of looking at these chronic diseases should be found because these things never get better; they are life changing and forever.

So, if you should be tempted to tell someone you know, who has been diagnosed with either CFS or Fibromyalgia, they cannot just give up trying to be themselves again, you are basically telling them something akin to that if they had lost the sight in an eye, that they should just try harder to see out of it.

A while back when a discovery of a possible link to a mouse retro virus that infected the brain was announced, I was hopeful that all the "snap out of it" boneheads would get the message.

From reading at Ravelry, I see that they are still out there, giving opinions and judging others like me as slackers. Here. You come take my pain and I'll take over your life, ok? I want to hike, climb Mt. Whitney, ride my bike-something that I honestly thought I would do for the rest of my life- and keep a spotless house and charming garden and pour ceramics 'til I'm an 80 year old.

Here, you can have the fatigue,and the Myalgia.

Hot Wheels!

DH found this on Gizmodo! My brother collected these gorgeous little cars, actually Matchbook, and so did I when I could.

Last week's kiln

 

All the small items in the front are new. The Firing came out perfectly. Some of these little fellas are flying north soon. I was so pleased at the glazes on the repiles, having never used the glaze before, and never knowing if the kiln will work out or not. It's nice to see the firing was all perfectly done.

Yesterday the weather was cool and clear, crystal clear, and what could only be described at a Perfect Fall Day. We had a Thanksgiving communal-style dinner with my in laws, and some extended family members came as well. It was a lovely time. It was also a small side celebration for DH's birthday. We shared some knitting mags and chat. Yay!

And now the Christmas season of baking and candy making can begin! Yay! I am resting today, knitting and reading and drinking tea to stay warm and give my back a rest from sitting in a fold up chair for a long time. Also, it's very cold, especially overnight with records lows in the 30's where my sis lives, about 9 miles away in the valley. We aren't quite that cold here where we are on a mesa, but baby, it is cold outside at night. Brrr! Time for the UGGS! And the wool socks! Going to get them all out of the freezer to warm them up to wear. That is their summer/fall home.

Joe Nocera on "All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis"

Joe Nocera on "All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis"

Yep!!!

Little Aliens spotted

 

These little aliens were spotted recently in Balboa Park's famous cactus garden. They turned their backs to the camera to escape detection. They were too quick for the camera but not quick enough for the camera's operator, who tried speaking to them in at least 25 Human languages to get them to turn around again and smile.

In addition, the beings refused to react at all despite the best efforts of a black ant to bite one of them in a tender spot next to what appeared to be a node for communication.

Everywhere you look, Fractals are busy.

 

We live on a gorgeous and fragile planet. Earth is absolutely unique and precious, and the web of life has become increasingly fragile.

My advice to people who couldn't care less about anything but money and power is to stop scaring the kids and get to work saving their world for them.

Moonlight, after the Storm.. tonight

I was folding clothes and came into the back room to close a shade; when I looked out I saw the gorgeous moon! By the time the camera was ready, the clouds had drifted to the South but I took this anyway.

Magic! What would we ever have done without the beautiful, essential moon?

Video of tiny piglet pet

This is so sweet. It's late but I'm almost ready to shut down and wanted to leave something adorable for you all. HERE it is.. piglet pet. C/o my  DD Gee.

The scarf is coming along, and the sock is to the heel and is a really a pretty thing.  When I have the first few inches of the sock done, a picture will be posted.  It has a marled look and is a dream to knit on those little short fives.

My wrist is not getting well very fast but it's not a hip, a leg or some really serious thing just yet.  The doctor said it could take up to 6 weeks more to heal so I'm ok with that.  A couple of things about the scarf yarn if you try it.  It's not spun evenly, like regular superwashes.  So, the stitches don't come out with the same precision.  There are of runs an inch or two long in the yarn that are barely spun.  I think all this will work out in the final blocking and washing.  Though, it IS a superwash.  Just so you know this.

We are having quite a lot of rain.  This will be a wetter year than the drought years but by no means are we safely out of drought or water restrictions.  I'm going to go to bed now and listen to the rain.

My sister is finally thinking that she needs to get an exercise program and support group as well.  We will go explore what's available after the Holiday.  She needs to have her world be broader than the four walls she lives in.  I'm glad she is looking now instead of brooding.  She has started to adjust to the fact that this IS her life from now on.

Wolfie continues to be his funny little self.  We are so glad to have him in our life although it must be said that he had some big shoes to fill, as my brother-in-law was saying last Christmas. 

As we suspected, our cute, little mutt has all the earmarks of having been in a puppy mill.  We suspected that as there are a lot of mom and pop operations in National City and Chula Vista.  And Oceanside, and and and.....

Our friend's Shi Tsu, whom they got as a stray from the Oceanside shelter, was a lactating female when she was thrust out in the cold; the puppies were then probably sold through an ad in the newspaper. 

Here in San Diego, if the Humane Society gets too near, the people just let the dogs go and move away from the rented house.  Awful people.  We know of one other dog (puppy) that came out of Chula Vista and was sold to a clueless friend of ours as being a poodle, with two photos shown him that were off the "parents".  Poodles of course.  The dog is absolutely not poodle at all.

Reading the "allanimals" magazine article on how these puppy mill breeding dogs react to things just nailed it down for us. After that article everything pointed to only one history for this little fellow.

Blessings to all of you who read this.  And I wish you a lovely Holiday with much to be thankful for, though it maybe leaner times, we will make it through this.  Americans can be lied to, stolen from and cheated, but sometime or other the pendulum swings toward the truth regardless, and we start making our own communities work for us again.   

Sweet dreams!

Muck's Up! Wall Street's on the move!

From my Daily rag. I was shocked to see it there but then again the times, and other things, may be changing! Huzzah!

I knit, therefore I read.

Take care.. Love.. and Laugh.

A dilemma has arisen in my heart.  Is my life purpose to create beautiful things, or to keep tilting at windmills?  My heart tells me that if I don't keep making things that delight the inner eye, it might be fatal.  But my heart tells me the little animals and plants, the forgotten earthlings, cannot wait either.   

This magazine comes bi-monthly, and I read it from cover to cover. 

A few days before receiving this issue of "AllAnimals",  I had a dream.  In the dream I was walking slowly along the sidewalk that leads to Cowles Mountain.  It's a wide and newish sidewalk along a four lane road.

I came to an odd place in the road, and while looking down, I saw a patch of black top about the size of a dining room table top, and on it were small animals - a fox, a mere cat, some mice, and some prairie dogs, all looking up at me, and all soaking wet.  Behind them were small plants, sort of a miniature forest or grassland.  I sat down on the curb and took the animals into my arms, onto my lap, and started trying to "hear" the implicit pleadings that were in all of their eyes.   The forest/grasslands area was covered with muck! 

Then this bi monthy issue of AllAnimals came in the mail.  I'd say that it's sort of an awakening.  It's an awakening to something that I could really help out with in some way.  

As the very rich give each other parties and gifts, and plaster each other with dollar bills, it would be a quiet place to get away from all that trumpeting and posturing of Chambers of Commerce, and Political slush funds, and Corporate purchases of elections.  This would be a quiet place, and one where a person could really help out the earth and the "other earthlings" that get little space in the minds and hearts of most.  The press doesn't have much time for these tiny creatures, but they are important to the whole web of life.

If I don't talk much for awhile, I'm figuring out how to help.

Peace and Love!  Walk with Beauty all around you!

This and that ...

We went to the Turtle and Tortoise Society Meeting a few nights ago in the Prado Building at Balboa Park. The three big torts went, after a thorough search of the yard found them all! Two were under the little boat, and the youngster, Lucky, had dug his way back under the lime tree, through all sorts of heavy armament installed to keep the little butt head out of there. He will face a wall of cement next!

So, Churchy, Poko Ono and Lucky are healthy, and pretty p*ssed off about being yanked out of the burrows they thought would carry them through the frosts and rainy weather of winter. Only Poko was declared to be overweight (actually the "F" word was used. You know the one, that word that curls our lips)!!!

When the male vet observed that there were many womenfolk staring at him, he did a nice bit of fancy foot work by declaring that it was probably her "body type" since she didn't seem to be a Mojave tortoise like the two others. I said that, no she wasn't a Mojave tort but a Coastal one, and he said that was probably why she was so different. She has green eyes, for one thing. So, all was well with the crowd. The rumbling undertones of the slightly seething seas died down, and there was a very nice discussion after wards. (of course I am exaggerating)

That evening we met people who had Russian tortoises, very cute and small, and an awful lot of people who had Sulcatas. Quite a few of these folks did NOT know when they got them that Sulcatas would grow to be HUGE!  They get up to 150 pounds, and if they should bite your toes - as our desert torts do sometimes - you are going to feel it!    Churchy sometimes goes for my toes in summer because of my nail polish which makes them look very good to eat. Tortoises have eyes like eagles but their eyesight is lots better than their sense of smell.

DH and I know we will go back when the Spring Out of Hibernation event is given. When that happens, we will have a trolley and some stacking boxes with lids for all three of them. The babies were far too small for this event though some children did bring in their lovely little ones for everyone to coo over and enjoy. I had to carry in only one of the big cardboard boxes, the one with Poko in it, but the box and my purse almost buckled my knees. What saved me was a long rail down the ramp-and later " Up"- that provided a slide for me to cheat with. Next time we will have WHEELS!

Balboa Park is beautiful at night. It's lovely. We used to go to a meeting every month, for the Gemological Society, in Spanish Village, and before that, once a month for the Audubon meetings. I didn't realize how much I miss seeing the park at night.

Knitting progress and new header

A storm was coming in. This was taken over the Thanksgiving weekend, at Joshua Tree, a few years ago. The sky was amazing! I'll go back to the flowers, which I truly liked but I am thinking about Thanksgiving (for now) and all the decorating, etc.


Knitting report: here we go.

That manly/beastly is going so slowly but it is getting longer! I can only knit a row or two a day when all the cables are drunkenly passing over each other, then there is a stretch of about 6 rows that are almost straight knitting, well, as much as an Aran ever gets. The cables that cross are bunched up, so they look funny but I promise that they are doing what they should be doing. The only part of the pattern I don't like is that part. Next time, if there is one, that part will be swapped out for something that looks more attractive to me. That pattern runs down the middle of the sleeves.. Oh Joy!

The eye candy socks and scarf are plain and sweet! The socks are on 5" DPNs which I never thought would be long enough. I am really enjoying knitting with them and am even thinking of shortening some of the other needles.

But, it's cheap enough to just buy another short set at a nearby LYS. Vi had said she liked them a long time ago, but I thought they would be too short for my hands. But they aren't! They don't poke my palms at all, in fact they work out much better for knitting the beginnings of the sock. With longer needles it was always like I was wrestling with a porcupine. My hands are small enough that the needles are longer than the palm of the hand even when I'm knitting away.

Kara, it's not pink! hehe The background is more like orange fizz. I can't get a good pink, but I'll keep trying. ;)

PS ... I might throw in some decorative stitches in the sock leg, here and there. Because of tender feet, I don't do the instep in anything but a flat stockinette, having learned this the hard way. The pattern stays embedded in my foot for a lengthy stay! hehe

Storm Sky Watcher, so this makes sense later when the header is changed...

Yeah Baby,

 That's what I'm taking about!

NPR Interview with journalist Matt Taibbi about what Goldman Sachs, among others, really pulled off....again!

The book is called, Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids and the Long Con That is Breaking America

Thanks be to my sharp eyed DH.

Grist for our Windmills!

California defeated a bill designed to dismantle our State's own laws about environmental controls on pollution, of which we are justly proud.   GoCal!

Read about it HERE , in Grist, that dear old  "Beacon in the Smog". 

We are ROCKIN"!!!  That is not a pun.  heehee

Here's more fun stuff, speaking of rockin' out... here's a Jam session, sort of on the line of the opening tub drumming in "Green Card", only not just percussion.


Thanks to DD  Bee!

Now for a fun thing. Sheesh.. I've become such a scold lately!

My DD sent this fun thing. Thank you Elle!

1.Go to Google maps.
2. Go to "Get Directions."
3.Type Japan as the start location.
4. Type China as the end location.
5.Go to direction #43.

LOL!

Sky Watcher, Knitting, and Adam Smith on Money

The sky was beautiful on Saturday, and last night we got rain.

Knitting: The triangle scarf swatch on needle size 2 is too small, so it's on to 3 circs. All the other 3's that I possess are DPNs or Sweater straights. Addis are lovely, yes? I need to remember to avail myself of many more of them! I am casting on the socks but realized that the yarn is a stretch yarn, so I'll probably not be making any multi-yarn socks from odd balls this time; this project will have to be done another time. It just seems that stretch sock is not the right stuff for a sort of communal yarn sock.

I'm reading Adam Smith's, The Wealth of Nations, again. The first reading was just before the last of the DDs was born- the twins, full term. Oh yes, I needed to sit with my feet up a lot! I read the book when I couldn't do anything else anymore. It was huge and entertaining, propping that big book up on my big belly. Being captive to my large belly, I did a lot of sitting and reading.

I don't post about economics for any other reason than to try to make others aware of, and to think about, what is happening to them. The last big bail out of the banks robbed many families of mortgage savings, college fund money, etc. But it gave banks the ability to buy up land and resources of other countries very cheaply, and set into motion factors that influence how well middle class families fare (and the people slipping daily into poverty) to this day!

I think that knowing the fundamental reasons for what is coming will inform others of their obligation to themselves - at the very least-to stay abreast of the whys and wherefores of their shrinking share of the American Dream. I hope these posts will help to move Americans to do constructive thinking and take action; this instead of to blame the wrong people altogether. This as been a long time coming. The banking industry will be blaming everyone but themselves; we can bet on it.

These books are easy to understand if you read with patience. It's easy to understand, with patience, because one can see the hand of unchanging human nature running through it all from start to the present day.

The book on Money, which I sped forward to in the Max Lerner edit, Smith talks about how passing a piece of paper around to make money is as old as the hills! One of the reasons that Adam Smith is still VERY current is that human NATURE never changes that much. What Smith calls "fictitious payments" on bills of exchange, sounds a lot, as DH says, like a modern sort of "check kiting" scheme. GAH!

"Me nerves is shot, therefor I knit".

Also, I do read engaging fiction as an alternative to hating the banking system and all those who support it with things like $600 billion fictitious dollar bills.

What criminal has ever had a better system for stealing?

New $600B Fed Stimulus Fuels Fears of US Currency War

An absolutely critical interview.
This is quite important to the future. We should be listening to this man, and to the bit of an interview of Joseph Stiglitz , done earlier on DemocracyNow, which is embedded within it.

New $600B Fed Stimulus Fuels Fears of US Currency War

This is where "Voodoo Economics" has taken us.

And yes, Economics - like knitting - is my hobby.  It's the "cake" for me. Knitting is the "Peanut butter and jelly".  Yummy stuff!  ;o)

PDF site for the 1970 edition of  Super Imperialism , The Economic Strategy of American Empire, by Michael Hudson

New yarn for triangle scarves

I am too bloddy tired to be doing this but here it goes:

Yes, I'm going to make two of these Drops Scarves and just make a pair of Raggedy-Ann-sort-of-looking-left-over-bit socks out of the original yarn choice. I originally saw these socks in Reverly, in one of the many sock groups there, the thrifty sockers comes to mind, and they shared a lot of pictures of amazing looking sox made from bits and pieces.

This yarn is Garn Studios (Drops) and is called "Delight". It's a sock weight, and the usual blend for that. As you can see, it's Pink and purples blend and Purples and greens. It's a soft yarn, but not overly so, and the colors are truly beautiful, as you can see, even with flashy flashy overload.

We had a very quiet Halloween, hardly two dozen kidlets. I think that, on the whole, it is better for children to have so many options, like carnivals at schools and church, and even shopping centers but it's still fun to see the few who do come around to trick or treat. They are happy and very adorable in their costumes. We will decorate a little more next year, and maybe put jack o lanterns in the windows of the house as well as the RV, and lots of spider webs! Not just the real ones either!



I'm still reading Amelia Peabody Mysteries. I can't say enough positive things about these mysteries. Ramses is Amelia's and Emerson's son, Nefret is their ward. The entire cast of characters periodically are living on a large boat on the Nile, near Luxor. Nasir is the steward.

EDIT:  Unfortunately I tripped over my tongue and put in a spoiler, but I hope you didn't see it!  I've removed it.



Here's an quote to show the wit that is in these books:

"When Ramses returned to the saloon, Nasir was setting the table for dinner. He was less clumsy than he had been, but he had found a new excuse to linger by folding the napkins into intricate shapes. His ambition exceeded his skill; tonight's effort was probably meant to be a flying bird, though it more resembled a decapitated duck. Ramses dismissed him with a few brusque words and went to stand by Nefret, who was curled up on the divan.

'You hurt his feeling,' she said reproachfully.
'Stop him doing that, then. It takes forever to untie the knots.'"

At some point I'll have to read the stack of formidable non fiction I've been accruing, but-- it --can --wait. The damage to the economy is long done, stretching back to policies set in motion in the 80's by a moron listening to the most greedy bastards that lived at that time, and all we are trying to do now is get the damn ship to stop swaying and listing.

We'll see who has enough common sense and respect for the country to work hard to let the present Commander and Chief run the country and solve this, or whether the Ship of State will keep swaying and listing into oblivion, with the Commander and Chief aiding and abetting.  FDR would have removed more than a few people's nether parts by now, Supreme court rulings or not.

"We, the people" seem to have come out of the worm hole of space they fell into when The Jobs all were outsourced, the military machine got all the education money, and the Constitution - with all those tricky and expedient civil rights - was being trashed. Now with fingers pointing in all the wrong directions, they are all grabbing at the helm like crazed and drunken sailors who have seen the port side guns fall into the sea. We, who are left to report it all, have to see what will become of our voyage to a better world.

Ah well, another tale for another day.

EDIT: I've come back to correct a lot of mistakes that last night's fatigue caused to be strewn all the way through this little diatribe.  Sorry.  There should be a lock on my computer after 9 pm.   Gee, I hope I got them all!