I'm Done!!!!

 Oh, how they danced, under a stark balcony of leafy, green plants and some strange yellow panel. We still can't see that he will end up with anything other than the oddest lips on record.

OK, so he still has funny lips, but do you notice how the flowers have bloomed? And there is a flower and scribbling that you can't read even in person on that strange yellow panel? Not to mention the oddly positioned French Knots that represent - ? - fairy lights?
Anyway, it's all done. All done. All done. I told Adrian I am going to wait a bit to start the next one. He said, "enh." I don't think my needlepointing has much impact on his life. It has a huge impact on my fingers. For the next few weeks, I'm going to work hard to mount the 345 other needlepoints I have in my armoir. (btw, google does not know what the word is. It is NOT amour.)  


Sunday we had a brunch to put together the PALAC programs for this Fall and Winter. It's going to be a lot of fun. So many good ideas. And such bright people. What saddens me is that my friend Norri decided that we are not ready for a group on String Theory. Damn. I'd love to have a real scientist leading a discussion on a topic that fascinates me. Damn. But not a bad idea in the bunch. In fact, it was suggested in the past that we should look at a classic Mexican piece of literature so we could know more about people from Mexico. One woman who I had discounted as flighty said that is a stupid idea. She is planning a group around the perspective of many different ethnic groups growing up in Pasadena. Find out how the other 85% live. Cool. No longer flighty. Outspoken enough to stop the idea that we can learn about other cultures by merely reading literature. What a great group.

It All Comes Down To This

There it is, the top right corner. All I have left of the stitching is a little square of black cross stitches. And then the top stitching begins.


We are having a Greek potluck at a friends house tonight. The homeowner, Joyce, is making a Greek Salad as the main. Fran is making dessert. I am bringing appetizers or Meze. Unfortunately these women know me. "Don't bring too much." Sigh. It's so hard. I'm making taramasalta at Joyce's because she has tarama at her house from a previous attempt. Mine is different, made with blanched almonds instead of bread. And I'm making spanikopita because I like those and I'm not afraid of filo. Oh, and I decided to make a little eggplant appetizer. 
I know, too much. But there will be 6 of us, 2 men. Surely we don't want them to go away hungry!


If I would like to change any part of my brain, it would be that. Less can be more. No, really. I think. Maybe I should ask Adrian to make hummus. OK, just joking.

Why Start Recipe Testing A Month Ahead?

Because.


Next. 


We are "camping" with the Campbells and Campbell-Kaswells at the beginning of August. I saw mini-corndog muffins somewhere and knew that I had to make them for the corn dog queen my nephew married. Had to make them when we are all together.
However, great (and I do mean great) nephew is gluten intolerant. Hummmm. On Monday I found a gluten free cornbread. The test was on. 
And this is why we test. Taste was OK, but the ratio and visual affect was wrong. I reviewed the original recipe and realized that I had doubled the amount of batter and used mini-dogs when I should have used 1" slice of regular beef dog.
And that's why we practice.  

Practice has made nearly perfect on the needlepoint. There is just a bit left in the upper right corner. And then I begin top stitching. Someone really wants to see the cat in the upper left window. He will appear, with tail, when the top switching is done.


Reading Alas Babylon. In fact, I was listening while walking through the market. Written in '59, it is about what happens when them damn Russkies and us brave 'Mericans shoot nuclear weapons at each other. It is so very good. I was in a strange mood as I walked the aisles. No electricity, no gas, barter, scrounge. I'm surprised I didn't stock up on bottled water and energy bars.

Found the Top!

So exciting! Do you see the two red columns at the top? That is the top. I am now working around that column to fill it in more. Reaching a corner would be grand. Maybe by the time this weekend is history. I've miscounted at some points. This will not be a perfect recreation. Perfect enough. 


Had lunch today with people from PALAC.  It was really fun. The organizer, Jacqui, invited several people because she likes people. We were waiting for The Audacity of Hope to be delivered. Lots of miscommunication because that happens with old people. It was all worked out and we all lived. The fun part was when we were talking about group leaders (those who lead the discussions about books and stuff.) One guy said that all leaders have followers. I said I am not a leader, but I have followers. Oh, what a joker I am. One of the women there said, "Yes, you do." and did not look all that pleased. 


Too many Hitler books. 


Yes, PALAC is filled with 70 and 80 year-old folks. This is the key. When you are young, hang with people who are older than you. They will appreciate your abilities. Of course, if you are really young, hanging with older people will only give you a leg up on experience and wisdom. Can't lose. Come, sit by me, my fine young friends. The tricks I can teach you.


As for reading, I'm working through Warmth of Other Suns about black emigration to the north in the years before now. (80's? 60's? not sure yet.) Sooo depressing if you know how thing were in The South during the 30's - 60's. But I have fall backs because Audible is selling some percentage off to all members. Lots of mysteries. Old ones from my library and new ones. They are good to have while stitching.


So, as my Gmail message says - happy in So Pas.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Son

He never reads this. I should write all kinds of personal and icky stuff that he will hate me for. But I can't think of any icky stuff. For his BD I went to the Farmer's market this morning and bought all kinds of stone fruit. Then I went to Nicole's in South Pas and bought Pain au Chocolat. OK, so here's a very tiny personal thing. When we drove through France together, he would run into bakeries to get pain au chocolat every now and then. Hum, not very revealing is it. Or maybe it is. 

So I woke him up with the croissants and strawberries and stone fruit from the market. Such love. Of course, I was on my early morning Farmer's Market schedule and he was on his Saturday sleep in until noon schedule. He was not mindful of my sleeping all those years ago, so . . .  We never forget.

I had fish in the fridge that I had to cook. Adrian is going back on his diet on Monday, so I made potato wrapped fish for dinner. Doesn't it look like it's wrapped with bacon? The salad is the Bistro salad from Trader Joe's. Kale, almonds, cranberries, edamame and tomatoes. Num. But the fish is amazing. And pretty easy to make. Potatoes will be off the diet come Monday. Until then, we have several more pieces of fish that look just this good. Lucky us.

Time to Roll it Up

Sick of my stories about famous authors I've met? Too bad. Before we had big award ceremonies for winners of The Times Book Prizes, we had smaller affairs in our executive offices and auditorium. That's where I met Carl Sagan's son. The dad was up for an award, but he had died. The son and his wife or girlfriend were under my wing. I got to introduce them to people I didn't know and sort of hang with them. They weren't old hands at this sort of thing like the dad would have been. So we made a perfect trio.

Then one year, Ray Bradbury won the award for career performance. He walked in the door and I sidled over to say, "I loved Dandelion Wine." There were so many more of his books that I loved, but I had just read that one. He was very old, very kind. I didn't keep him long. Then our new VP of Human Resources came in. I worked for her. She was suspicious of how I kept turning up at all these great events. I don't think she stayed around long enough to find out. She walked in that day and saw Mr. Bradbury and breathed those same words, "I loved Dandelion Wine." I was still close enough for Ray and I to look at each other and smile. Just one more thing for her to wonder about.

The bottom is done!! When I've completed everything up to his shoulder, the bottom half will be done. Such good news.


Bad news, Scott Walker is still governor of Wisconsin. That must be why I'm stitching so much. Listening to books, not watching the news.

Balance in Life

There should be balance in life. I don't do it right. If I did, I'd walk around the block more. But here's my attempts to balance.

I have two wonderful Tom's in my life. One is the dear Tom who I had breakfast with last Saturday. He, Donna and I met again in Northridge to eat breakfast in front of fasting John. Poor John. But he is diminishing slowly in size and that is a good thing. The other Tom lives in New York and will be out to visit in late September/early October. I asked him if he makes grown women squeal with delight very often. That was my reaction when I read that he was coming out here. This Tom was responsible for putting the Times Book Awards together for years. When life at The Times was really good (two years in a row) I would go to NYNY to help him with one aspect of the awards and then Karen would come down and we would help him with another part. What a joy to have two Toms in my life to balance  - what? The squeals?

 The balance of summer fruit. OMG, Adrian made this total decadence. Buttermilk biscuits and bourbon whipped cream. I have a big container of fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in the fridge. They loved mingling with this dessert. But wait, there is balance. I also got some little peaches that were early for peaches, but heaven in my oatmeal. Balance, right? Oatmeal must balance out whipped cream and biscuits, right? Even if you don't agree, nod your head. OK, so I bought a little maple sugar from TJs to sweeten my Irish oatmeal; but I added almonds and sunflower seeds to make it even more well rounded. And non-fat milk? Have I hit balance yet?

Where is the balance in this picture? I have touched (and finished) the lower right corner of the picture and touched the lower left corner as well. Left hand looks a little scant, but it is much more filled in this evening. I still haven't gone all the way across the bottom. There is a bunch of yellow/orange that must be stitched to the bottom of the left side reflection. But I alternate quick and easy half cross stitches (all that reflection) with the full cross stitches of black, brown and red. It really amazes me that those silhouettes are finally filled in, as are their shadows. But hold out your arms, straight out to your sides. Pretend you are touching the right side of the picture and pretend that you are touching the left side of the picture. Close to balancing, right?

My Life

Stitch, stitch, stitch. But look at what that does. I just have one of the guy's legs to blacken and, OK, a strip on his knee. The bottom has been found and has grown remarkably in just a few days. That long strip on the right is the cone of blackness that lives there. The pink on the left (how appropriate) is just a ruse. That long outlined rectangle is filled with black. Fortunately, I have reflections of light that are half-cross stitches and don't take as long to grow. 


Between stitching I have visited a fun multi-cultural grocery store in Altadena. Not just Mexican, but lots of middle-east. My friend, Joyce (soon to be 85), was amazed at how I threw things into my basket just because I was intrigued. What do you do with sour plums? We'll find out. Raw garbanzos that I have to cook tomorrow. I also bought Tuaca. Look it up. We had it with lunch with a salad Nicoise. Henry, her significant other, and I thought it was great. Good to know there is another drinker in the house. It's a little sweet for me, so I mix it with bourbon. Good.


The brand new car got water splotched in a light rain, so I took it to a car washer. We are now (as of today) dusting the car so water splotches won't be so ugly. Other than that, the car is running great. Gas mileage is still low because we spend a lot of time sitting at railroad tracks. Give me the open road!


Books: just finished Merchants of Doubt. Great topic. Dry listening. Did I mention the gang of scientists who helped develop bombs moved on to Star Wars, Acid Rain, Hole in the Ozone Layer and Global Warming. Argh. The Audible reader is just not outraged enough. He needs to be dripping sarcasm when he mentions how these things connect. It deserves verbal underlining.


Secret pleasure? Nora Roberts. Well read pulp fiction. Well written. The Witness is good. In fact, I've read a lot of good mysteries or mystery light (like The Witness) lately while stitching away - V is for Vengeance by you know who (that was good),  The Chalk Girl (did I already write about this?), Hell is Empty (OK, but just OK+, not great), and Live Wire (too New York for me, but OK.) Thank goodness for Audible sales. I also got discounted credits. 4 credits in waiting. 16 books yet to be read. I better wait. 


Good podcast? Slate's Lexicon Valley. Told me why I start so many sentences with So. So, what else is up? Breakfast on Saturday with Tom, John, and Donna. If you have fun, keep doing it until it breaks. Dinner with Joyce and Henry sometime soon. We are also cooking a Greek dinner for lots of friends at the end of June. (lots = 6 of us all together.) I cook just for people in this house. Flap meat and beef cheeks from that market mentioned above. Zucchini and tomato gratin ala Jaques Pepin. Strawberry ice cream. Actually, there is a lot of cream. Maybe I'll make chocolate ice cream tonight. Or sour plum.

I Am Here

Honest, I'm not stitching it crooked. It's just gotten to be so wide! You can see the left edge at the top of the picture and the right edge at the bottom. I'm trying to decide if I want to roll it up or down to find another edge. I know you completists think I should finish the middle that I started, but I'm a person who wants to find out where the outer limits are. On canvas. No Dora the Explora here. 


My iPod touch is  no longer accepting head phones. I still listen while I stitch, so does Adrian. I've found a very ingenious way of draping the charger cable around my neck so the ipod's speaker is close to my ear. At least Adrian can't hear it in his room. Of course, when I'm walking around it goes into my bra. What a handy holder. I'm going to the Apple store tomorrow to see if they will give me a new one. Sigh. 


Adrian has had to hear a mystery that was very silly, Live Wire by Harlan Corben, and for non-fiction, Merchants of Doubt.  PALAC discussed the Doubt book. I think that would have been interesting. Seems like a lot of the same PR guys and scientist cum political hacks were involved with some of our worst cover-ups or media campaigns to obfuscate the truth about scientific facts. You know, like, smoking being harmful, second-hand smoke being harmful, Star Wars as produced by Ronald Reagan, holes in the ozone layer, acid rain. And I'm only half way through the book. You know where this is heading - global warming. The characters have changed a bit over time because they were getting old. Some started with the government during WWII.  But the principle remains the same.


Another PALAC group that I'm sorry I missed was Thinking, Fast and Slow. One of my friends said it was so hard to keep some of the attendees on track. There must be a different kind of thinking where you are constantly following the wrong thread. 

Good Friends

 Tom, John, Per and I used to have lunch together. First in the great executive dining room, then  in the cafeteria. We replaced Per with John's wife Donna for a breakfast last Sunday. So much fun. I usually get to see Donna when she is worrying about John's banjos and other musical equipment. On Saturday, we just got to talk and enjoy each other. Great company. We will do this again soon.

I am learning that I can do all sorts of fun things with the photo App on my iPod. This is Ansel (black and white) with an old-fashioned frame. I think it's pretty, without all that color. My dancers have legs. You can see the right edge now. I'm trying to move on to the left side,but whenever I pull out a color, I think about where it can go in in the middle and right. Much fun.


Done with LBJ. Looking forward to the next installment in 5 or 10 years. I've also read a mystery, The Chalk Girl. A better follow-up to LBJ than Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took the Dog. Man that's a draggy book. The Chalk Girl was never boring. Audible just had a book sale, so I am totally stocked with mysteries. That's a good thing because I'm also finding the Ivan Doig book Dancing at the Rascal Fair to be kinda draggy too. He is supposed to be the new Stegner. I can see why. He writes about Montana. Novel writers about Montana will always be compared to Stegner, I guess. Even though it's draggy, this is a good book to stitch by. My dancers seem to be never ending as does the book.

Wahoo!

We just got a new Hyundai Elantra 2013! It is very nice, doesn't have too many bells and whistles, just a few dials and buttons that I have to learn. It was North America's car of the year for 2012. How can that be? It was made in Korea. Great mileage, great safety according to those who rate greatness (other than Hyundai.)  It is roomier than our Altima was. Even ACN has to pull up the driver's seat when he's driving. I rode in the back seat on our test drive, just to check it out.  It I had a lot of leg room behind the passenger and I could get out without too much grunting (thank goodness.)  Finally, I found a piece of a torn up check I wrote for the Altima back on 9/1/00. That car cost $1000 more, 12 years ago! Very nice, indeed.

 ACN got a new parking permit for the car. "No, ma'am,

 it has no outstanding tickets, we just drove it off the lot." So much fun to say.

Wow, even her torso is almost filled in. It grows by leaps AND bounds, one little stitch at a time.


Almost done with LBJ. Poor Adrian, he has to listen to my going on about the book on a regular basis. This is what I know to be true, both LBJ and RFK were complex characters. They both had goodness so good that it stuns you. Bobby's love and care of his own family and Jack's and his extreme levelheadedness that got us through the Cuban Missile Crises; Lyndon's true concern for poor people and people of color and his ability to get legislation through Congress (God, we need that now.)  But they both had huge, mean devils inside them. Bobby never forgave what he thought was an insult, Lyndon was duplicitous, lying, underhanded, etc. for no damn good reason at all (to hide deficiencies, wrong-doing, illegal money-making schemes.) OK, maybe there was a reason, but there shouldn't have been. And he was wheedling to those in power and rude to those he had power over. 


When we were getting the car today, there was a lot of time to look at magazines. One had an article about "strange bedfellows" which included DDE and LBJ after the JFK assassination. "I need you more now than I have ever needed you before."  Sweet. So sweet he said it to everyone, especially everyone who could, indeed, be better for him if they were being helpful rather than confrontational. But still. What a piece of work of God is man. More true of him than anyone I've ever read about. Oh, except Steve Jobs.

Happy Birthday, Karen

Have I ever mentioned that nobody has a better sister than me? She magically gets younger than me every year. This year we have been to two book festivals with Peter in tow. That is a first. He didn't know how much fun they are. Luckily, he is a pleasure to be with, so this addition is not a subtraction. They both walk my feet off, easy to do, as we go to panel after panel of interesting speakers. Karen and I have been going to The Times Festival of Books for years. We used to focus mostly on mysteries. We did a bit of that in Tucson too. We learned that the best panels were done by non-fiction writers. So this year at the FOB, we went primarily to non-fiction panels. That just happens to be Peter's favorite. 

Today Peter's favorite favorite is celebrating her birthday. Non-fiction, nobody would find her a mystery. 

Detail of layers for silhouettes,

maroon, then brown, then black 

I love the fire under his armpit 

At last his torso is done

Dancing in the Dark

I am making progress on my dancers, as you can see. These are the daily update shots for my first three days. The man emerged on day three. I'm hoping for other colors soon. I'll try to do some detail shots for my next update so you can see the three layers of color that make up the shadowy dancers.

Hey, Hey, LBJ, how many chapters did you read today? I've been mostly off my computer, just listening to LBJ getting to be Vice President. Caro is a Wonderful writer. He has written a lot about Jack and Bobby Kennedy as well as LBJ. I am wondering why I was so fond of Bobby when he was running for president. I am hoping that he had matured by then. What a brat. Jack is still a bit of a cipher.  I know he was idealized hugely after his assassination. Caro is such a careful writer, I have a feeling that I will finally be able to figure out who Jack Kennedy was by the time I get through his presidency. Caro mentions all the other books that were written about these people. He looks at points that were made from several sides, looks at all published material, reads unpublished documents, interviews those who are still alive. I think you get a very balanced picture by the time you are done reading.

This book is four sections long on Audible. Each is over 8 hours long. I have finished section one. I just checked, we will be heading to Dallas by the time I end the second section. The Kennedys used LBJ to win the '60 election. After that, he was not important to them. That means the next section will be about the diminution of a very powerful man. Oh boy.

I've decided to stitch again while I'm listening to my books. I've had problems finding needlepoint I like, but I decided to look again. Eureka! These three just arrived today. I was going to ask for votes, but there aren't that many people who read these. So I'm going to start with the dancers. That lady in the first picture is kind of intriguing, but  

let the dancing begin.

Finished The Barbarian Nurseries. Loved the fact that they ended up in South Pasadena. Let's hope they grew up a little along the way. As far as Hitlerland goes, it was great to the end. I'm trying to decide now whether to jump into Caro's new book about LBJ or The Warmth of Other Suns about the migration of blacks from the South. Not as easy a decision as which needlepoint to start with.

Why I Like History

As usual, I'm reading two books at once. This time it is The Barbarian Nurseries, written by Hector Tobar of The Times, recommended by Natalie; the other book is Hitlerland, written by Andrew Nagorski, who we saw at the recent Times Festival of Books.  A novel and a history book. This is a good combination for me because it underscores to me my preferences in books. 
The Barbarian Nurseries is well written. It does what a novel is supposed to do, tells a story. There are problems, there is human silliness (things that happen because too many assumptions are made), there is a resolution. A thick slice of some interesting lives. And really, I'm enjoying it. But it isn't my favorite kind of book.


Now, Hitlerland. Num. Nagorski writes about a part of history we all know well, some maybe more than others. He does the thing I love, he writes about the people who are slightly peripheral to the big story. These are Americans who were in Germany between the wars. They meet Hitler, they see the Brown Shirts. They even see Jews or people who associate with Jews being brutalized. So interesting. But I realized the thing I like best is that I know the ending to this story. Maybe not the ending to every individual highlighted in this story. But I do know how WWII ended. I don't have to listen to the end of the book to know how it turns out. I can just hear every individual's story and enjoy it as it comes. 


Those who know me well know that I read the ends of books all the time. The semi-official rule is that I need to have read/listened to at least 1/4 of the book so I know most of the cast of characters. Then, once I know the end, I can go back to hear how we got there. That is particularly true of mysteries. But there is no mystery in history. We might all have different interpretations of historical events, but the outcome is usually pretty clear. 


So, hurray to Hitlerland, The War to End All Wars, and 1861. I've finished the last two and I'm close to done on the first one. All excellent. All about the people who impacted history or were impacted by it rolling over them. And I didn't read the end first with any of them.

OK, I'm Here

We need a new car. It will cost $1500 to fix the radiator hoses next time I go in for a car checkup. Why not just buy a new car? This one is a 2000. Not old by my standards, but, well, 12 years is getting on in car years and I've sunk a lot of money into it already. So... We still have money in our Winnie kitty (she does our investments. This type of activity is probably frowned on.) I don't want to make monthly payments, so this is what we are going to do. Hit Winnie!!! So, I go into the Gweb and find this website for Hyundai.  My car is not there.  I've done research on Edmunds.com. It looks like the Elantra will be the best buy. At least Edmunds knows there is a car out there called the Elantra.


We saw one on the road yesterday. It looked good from behind. Adrian thought that was funny for some reason, but based on that two minute view of a car's backside I decided that gray was not a bad color and the trunk looked reasonable. Is that enough? Is that enough to stop him from laughing?


No. 


We are now negotiating on when to sit in a car. Looks like Monday will be a good day. Time. So much to negotiate. Do you know that when you get to be old you look at every step of a process as a mountain? It's true.


We're going Monday. I'll let you know if we decide to buy or not. Cars seem to be pretty small potatoes when you consider that a dear niece is waiting to receive a baby from Ethiopia. Baby-car-baby. OK, baby wins big time, but she will not be receiving same until all her process has wound its way through 1000 steps. I'm sorry it takes so long. My hope is that I have a new and reliable car at hand for when I need to visit somewhere to see this beautiful child on US soil. It will all happen. It just takes steps and time. So many mountains.


It is also Kevin and Natalie's 10th anniversary. May 4th. I just learned from Rachel Maddow that the day is called Star Wars Day. May the fourth be with you. The force is with Natalie and Kevin. May it also be with Tyler and Cathie (awaiting their baby.) And us in SoPas.