I am unable to watch this video without laughing so hard that I am afraid that I will seriously rupture myself.
The guy who is taping it is amazingly calm. I don't think I know of any guy who could be that calm. And Otto looks SO VERY guilty. He is thinking that his Sad Face will save him from any impending punishment.
27 April 2008
I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
So I went to Boston for a few days, but I'm too beat to put any of my pictures up yet. So to tide you over, here is a kitty who is either actively hallucinating or who has found Horton's flower.
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20 April 2008
Signs of Life
So we've had our first week of warm weather-- warm meaning the sweater people still wear sweaters but people like me wear shorts and no shoes and don't mind the chilly-ish breeze that still blows by. The lake is still covered with white, but it's more slush than ice or snow.
So I went outside today with full intentions to get in my car and drive, but I was distracted by that rectangle in my backyard. It's a lasagna garden, which means that I don't technically have to rototill it-- just add more layers of compost and mulch and manure and peat moss-- but there is something so very satisfying about prying up shovelfuls of sod and turning them over-- so I did.
For two hours. I am insane.
There is a tiny little once-upon-a-time garden by my driveway, where all that is left are those daffodils that I took pictures of in my last post. I've long meant to dig them up and replenish the soil around them (the soil is mostly rocks and clay and is nearly taken over by grass) so today I dug them up and plopped them in the garden proper. They were so incredibly choked with grass roots and weeds and tangled bits of whatever. I shook the bulbs free and pulled the nooses from around their stems and snuggled them into their new home in the healthy-looking soil. You could almost hear the daffodils sigh in relief, stretching out their roots and shaking their leaves free.
I don't pretend to know anything about plants, and mostly I just go by intuition when I'm out there mucking about in the dirt. I was reminded today of "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett:
She did not know anything about gardening, but the grass seemed so thick in some of the places where the green points were pushing their way through that she thought they did not seem to have room to grow. She searched about until she found a rather sharp piece of wood and knelt down and dug and weeded out the weeds and grass until she made nice clear places around them.
"Now they look as if they could breathe," she said.
So I went outside today with full intentions to get in my car and drive, but I was distracted by that rectangle in my backyard. It's a lasagna garden, which means that I don't technically have to rototill it-- just add more layers of compost and mulch and manure and peat moss-- but there is something so very satisfying about prying up shovelfuls of sod and turning them over-- so I did.
For two hours. I am insane.
There is a tiny little once-upon-a-time garden by my driveway, where all that is left are those daffodils that I took pictures of in my last post. I've long meant to dig them up and replenish the soil around them (the soil is mostly rocks and clay and is nearly taken over by grass) so today I dug them up and plopped them in the garden proper. They were so incredibly choked with grass roots and weeds and tangled bits of whatever. I shook the bulbs free and pulled the nooses from around their stems and snuggled them into their new home in the healthy-looking soil. You could almost hear the daffodils sigh in relief, stretching out their roots and shaking their leaves free.
I don't pretend to know anything about plants, and mostly I just go by intuition when I'm out there mucking about in the dirt. I was reminded today of "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett:
She did not know anything about gardening, but the grass seemed so thick in some of the places where the green points were pushing their way through that she thought they did not seem to have room to grow. She searched about until she found a rather sharp piece of wood and knelt down and dug and weeded out the weeds and grass until she made nice clear places around them.
"Now they look as if they could breathe," she said.
18 April 2008
Is this really happening??
Remember all that snow we had? Well, it's almost all gone, and now my yard is this rather horrid golden/grey/brown color, all soggified from the meltiness. However, if I look closely, here and there, there are signs of life.
Daffodils!
More daffodils!
Even more daffodils!
Daylilies!
Jacob's Ladder!
Julian, of course, doesn't care. He's still in hibernation mode.
Daffodils!
More daffodils!
Even more daffodils!
Daylilies!
Jacob's Ladder!
Julian, of course, doesn't care. He's still in hibernation mode.
16 April 2008
When Ananas go bad...
So Ellen once saw this Broadway show where they had rotating dancing ananas. (Was it Cabaret? I can't remember. I think it was Mama Mia that had the dancing heads...) Anyway, this reminded me of just how insidious pineapples can be:
They look like some sort of fruit bodyguards or something...
They look like some sort of fruit bodyguards or something...
15 April 2008
Have some coffee, dear
....but what Harvey doesn't know is that his wife spiked his coffee with a little arsenic. Serves him right, the creep.
12 April 2008
A quiet afternoon
So it's a dreary grey Saturday, but in my house it's warm and snuggly. This is the perfect kind of weather for running black-and-white subtitled movies all afternoon, and finally finishing off projects.
(I had a professor in college who loved Kurosawa films and who would occasionally show them up on the big screen in the lecture hall. Thanks to her, I've learned to appreciate them as well.)
Look, my convertible mittens now have buttons! And now that they have been washed and blocked they are the softest mitteny things I've ever worn. I don't want to ever take them off.
And my first striped sock is done! Woo-hoo!
And, since my dad doesn't appreciate all of the knitted stuff I post on this blog, here are some gratuitous and random fly-fishing pictures.
Honestly, some people....!
(I had a professor in college who loved Kurosawa films and who would occasionally show them up on the big screen in the lecture hall. Thanks to her, I've learned to appreciate them as well.)
Look, my convertible mittens now have buttons! And now that they have been washed and blocked they are the softest mitteny things I've ever worn. I don't want to ever take them off.
And my first striped sock is done! Woo-hoo!
And, since my dad doesn't appreciate all of the knitted stuff I post on this blog, here are some gratuitous and random fly-fishing pictures.
Honestly, some people....!
11 April 2008
Mixed Tape Friday night!
So for the last couple of weeks I've been listening to Dinosaurs and Robots for their Mixed Tape Friday nights. This is from their website:
"Every Friday night, Dinosaurs and Robots will upload a dusty cassette mixed tape! Found at garage sales and junkyard glove boxes, mixed tapes provide all the voyeuristic thrills of reading somebody’s diary without the related ethical quandaries. Tune in each week for a new exploration into heavy metal thunder road trips, teenage bedroom melancholy meltdowns, college radio clunkers, headbanger barf bag parties, glam rock glitter fests, industrial punch-your-lights-out rockers and the ill-advised tapes created by lovers soon to be spurned. Before collaborative filtering, music was hand selected for us by those who know us best."
I wouldn't say that I like all of the music, but I like how eclectic it is. It's definitely got me wondering what I would find if I scoured garage sales for old mix tapes. I have all of my old mix tapes in a box, and they really are like little diaries and representations of our personalities that we would either make for friends or they would make for us. They also can be quite creepy, like peering into windows at night.
Meanwhile, the snowpack around here is shrinking dramatically. We have little rivers everywhere, and every time I walk in my neighborhood I see little kids splashing in them and sailing little paper boats and things (which makes me think about the idyllic Eden that childhood should be until I realize how absolutely filthy this water is and what microbial beasties are living in that lovely spring runoff) . This gurgly stream was particularly pretty:
And in our classroom we have a very impressive little garden. This is a baby zinnia:
...and this is a baby dill:
It's so funny-- the kids come to my room and immediately go to the windowsill and say encouraging things to their plants, and gently pet them, and water them with capfuls of water. Along with zinnias and dill, we have violets, johnny-jump-ups and basil sprouting. The only one that hasn't germinated is mine (!!!!!!!) but I'll just bring in some that I've started here at home.
My obnoxiously blinding sock is coming along nicely:
The purple is just an illusion-- the yarn is only blue and red and yellow. These socks are little like 3D glasses for your feet.
"Every Friday night, Dinosaurs and Robots will upload a dusty cassette mixed tape! Found at garage sales and junkyard glove boxes, mixed tapes provide all the voyeuristic thrills of reading somebody’s diary without the related ethical quandaries. Tune in each week for a new exploration into heavy metal thunder road trips, teenage bedroom melancholy meltdowns, college radio clunkers, headbanger barf bag parties, glam rock glitter fests, industrial punch-your-lights-out rockers and the ill-advised tapes created by lovers soon to be spurned. Before collaborative filtering, music was hand selected for us by those who know us best."
I wouldn't say that I like all of the music, but I like how eclectic it is. It's definitely got me wondering what I would find if I scoured garage sales for old mix tapes. I have all of my old mix tapes in a box, and they really are like little diaries and representations of our personalities that we would either make for friends or they would make for us. They also can be quite creepy, like peering into windows at night.
Meanwhile, the snowpack around here is shrinking dramatically. We have little rivers everywhere, and every time I walk in my neighborhood I see little kids splashing in them and sailing little paper boats and things (which makes me think about the idyllic Eden that childhood should be until I realize how absolutely filthy this water is and what microbial beasties are living in that lovely spring runoff) . This gurgly stream was particularly pretty:
And in our classroom we have a very impressive little garden. This is a baby zinnia:
...and this is a baby dill:
It's so funny-- the kids come to my room and immediately go to the windowsill and say encouraging things to their plants, and gently pet them, and water them with capfuls of water. Along with zinnias and dill, we have violets, johnny-jump-ups and basil sprouting. The only one that hasn't germinated is mine (!!!!!!!) but I'll just bring in some that I've started here at home.
My obnoxiously blinding sock is coming along nicely:
The purple is just an illusion-- the yarn is only blue and red and yellow. These socks are little like 3D glasses for your feet.
06 April 2008
Unrequited Love
Cats are weird creatures. I don't understand them at all. For instance, I walked into the bathroom this morning to find my wee one, Zeek, making out with a washcloth.
You'd think the cloth had been marinated in catnip, but it wasn't-- just soap and bathwater. She had evidently pulled it down from where it was drying in the tub.
Whenever I tell Mum about these weird things the kitties do, she says that they are "Scottish Fold traits." Okay, I might agree that when my cats do their silent meows or when they sit on my hand and won't let me type or drive the mouse (as Julian is doing right now) that's within the normal parameters of cat behavior, but having a crush on a washcloth? NOT NORMAL.
You'd think the cloth had been marinated in catnip, but it wasn't-- just soap and bathwater. She had evidently pulled it down from where it was drying in the tub.
Whenever I tell Mum about these weird things the kitties do, she says that they are "Scottish Fold traits." Okay, I might agree that when my cats do their silent meows or when they sit on my hand and won't let me type or drive the mouse (as Julian is doing right now) that's within the normal parameters of cat behavior, but having a crush on a washcloth? NOT NORMAL.
05 April 2008
April Craziness
What a crazy week I've had. I had to videotape myself teaching a student and had to critique myself (gaaaahhhhhh), and my room was used after school several days so I couldn't get my work done (blaaaaahhh) and I had meetings several nights that went until 8:00 (plaaaaahhh) and I had a doctor's appointment on Friday and I was late to that because of this icky yucky slushy stuff that was falling from the sky (waaaaaahhhhh). However, I had these photos on my camera from a walk I took last week that cheered me up-- mmmmm melty Springtime.
In the evenings, my one time to actually sit down for a few minutes, I knit. I had bought this yarn about a year ago and I knew it was time to use it. My sister likes to tease me because I'm drawn to obnoxiously bright primary colors (remember those salt and pepper shakers?) and this time of the year I did not want to knit anything bland or neutral-- thus, here is a purposely-overexposed picture of my new sock:
I've apparently come to the conclusion that if socks don't blind you, then they're not worth knitting.
In the evenings, my one time to actually sit down for a few minutes, I knit. I had bought this yarn about a year ago and I knew it was time to use it. My sister likes to tease me because I'm drawn to obnoxiously bright primary colors (remember those salt and pepper shakers?) and this time of the year I did not want to knit anything bland or neutral-- thus, here is a purposely-overexposed picture of my new sock:
I've apparently come to the conclusion that if socks don't blind you, then they're not worth knitting.
01 April 2008
......but but but... pwwweeeaaase?
So I am always looking for dumb pictures to put up on my computer at school for the kids to talk about and laugh at. This one was today's...
The kids were walking around, saying to no one in particular, "but Mo-om, the giant kitty followed me home! Can't I keep it? Pwwweeeeeaaaase?"
(I hesitate to think about what they will remember about my class in 20 years....)
If you have never seen this, it is about time you have:
The kids were walking around, saying to no one in particular, "but Mo-om, the giant kitty followed me home! Can't I keep it? Pwwweeeeeaaaase?"(I hesitate to think about what they will remember about my class in 20 years....)
If you have never seen this, it is about time you have:
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