i got my crafty mojo back and finished up some old projects and made a few new things.

here is a medley of what i have finished/made recently:



the lighting is horrible in these pics, but you get the idea.
-- from top left, we have a mini-skirt from a burda pattern
-- then there is the ripley hat without ripples in malabrigo worsted weight
-- next is a picture of one of the fingerless mitts (also from ysolda)
-- then there is the cowl i made (without a pattern) with some handspun my sister made for me
-- another shot of the fingerless mitts
-- finally there is a picture of my rib and cable socks from interweave knits fall 2005

i've also been busy with school and all of the related school activities. and i am tired.

this week there will likely be some good music shows... but i don't have much time to spend at shows, so i have to make wise choices on who i will see.
monday night -- japandroids with the mt. st. helen vietnam band
thursday night -- the horse's ha (for free!)
friday night -- matt and kim

i missed the sleepy sun show last week... i was way too busy. i also missed the fruit bats and am bummed, but there was just no way i could make that show and get all of the work done that had to get done. i did catch starfucker, which was just so-so. a few weeks back i caught the felice brothers -- which was awesome. go see them!

okay, this is turning into a list of shows i've been to or have missed, which is kind of boring. so i'll get back to work now and leave you with this.

my soundtrack for tomorrow

they played such a great show here earlier in the summer. they are great performers and, shucks, their songs are so sweet.

servant to all and servant to none

the video is crappy in this clip, but it's a great version of the song.
it is a palace kind of day...

also did you know there is a word for 'harmonica' in Seri? yeah.

this and that

once a great place...

i temporarily rescued a beagle mix last week. he was running down the sidewalk of a busy street. i grabbed him, went to the bike store and they cut a tube and tied it to his tagless collar. i took him home. unfortunately (for me), the owner called the pound right after i reported this little guy missing and then called me to schedule their reunion. his name was dewey, but i would have called him pepaw. it made me seriously want to adopt a dog again. but will one ever live up to patterson's legacy?



i can't get enough of sufjan stevens these days. i am particularly fond of his kcrw set from morning becomes eclectic. you can listen to it here.

my vegetable garden is look really schnazzy these days. i have the following veggies in the ground:
3 heirloom tomato plants and 1 plum tomato plant
3 sweet pepper plants (different varieties)
4 rainbow chard plants
3 beet plants
4 broccoli plants
4 brussel sprout plants
1 basil plant
1 dill plant

i got all of my plants and soil at urban roots.

i also temporarily got my knitting mojo back. i stumbled upon a yard sale from the former owner of the (no-longer-in-business) local yarn shop 'looped back'. i got some laceweight hand-dyed yarn and am knitting up a loose garter stitch scarf with it -- completely experimental. i love the fabric it's making. i also got some more of her lovely alpaca yarn.

i'll be gone lots this month -- which is good and bad. i have so much to do... so i should get to it.

in the mean time, check out bonnie 'prince' billy if he's playing live near you. his show in toronto was amazing. the helio sequence are also on tour and they rock. period. also, while in toronto, i went thrifting/shopping in the leslieville neighborhood. it was cool -- definitely worth visiting again.

...just rolling with it

i think that knox says it pretty well here.

of course, it's also her birthday soon.

shortly thereafter someone else is having a birthday. and hot damn, i wish i could make it to the party.

and i just found out that the helio sequence is coming back to buffalo next month. ah, yes. the show last summer rocked my world. it should be another good one.

i think more good news is on its way this week.

love and poetry

Originally uploaded by hello bum

it's gray and rainy and dreary here. the trees have no leaves and i'm still wearing tights with skirts. i'm behind on so many things and stressed out by all that's on my plate. but there are some things that are still making me smile. here's a list of them:

1. 'mockingbird' by ryan adams -- here is a link to a live version of that song. it's bittersweet in a way that gets me every time.

2. my first sightings of tulips here on my run yesterday -- they were yellow and red.

3. longer days!

4. the prospect of wearing vintage summer dresses soon (like the cute vintage items found here)

5. camping in may!

6. my upcoming trip to italy

for now, i must get back to work... my short-term motivation being that i get to go swimming later.

that crap you said...

it meant something. to me, at least.

richard buckner put on a good show last night at mohawk place.



he played quite a few songs from "the hill", which was nice. he mixed in a bunch of others, all coming together as if they were connected. the word 'sad' does not do justice to some of his songs. but what can i say: they hit all the right buttons for me last night.

at the end of the show he left part of his song playing, stood up, put his jacket on and confidently walked past all of us in the audience to the door and left. the lights came on and so did some other music. i put my jacket on and headed toward the door. as i walked outside, two other gentlemen were to my right smoking cigarettes and buckner was to my left. for a moment, he seemed boyishly nervous and self-conscious. the two men to the right started walking toward him and said, with thumbs up in the air, "great show!" and he responded with something like "really?". they were right, it was a good show.

dear emily sparks...

winter is slowly coming to a close. i have mixed feelings about it... caught in the middle of some kind of seasonal tug o' war. i long to go cross-country skiing more and bundle up with tea and warm socks, but i want to be outside in the warm sun as well... ah, to be fickle.

right now i am thinking of this poem from the spoon river anthology that was set to music by richard buckner. for a limited you can stream his album 'the hill' here. i recommend it.

a post of sorts

right this minute i am thinking

1. spelt flour pasta isn't that bad. really.

2. 10pm telephone meeting with advisor is not so hot, but necessary. i guess.

3. i am so done with jury duty, but we haven't deliberated yet... waiting for "the law" as told to us by the judge.

4. i wish i were still in hawai'i. on the north shore.















5. i am making a sourdough starter using this recipe. i hope that it turns out.

6. i want to learn more about making kombucha at home.

7. i am sad to be finishing 'what i talk about when i talk about running' by murakami. it's really enjoyable.

a recipe

i like food. maybe my tastes are not as refined as those of my sister, the former chef, but i think that i genuinely appreciate fine cuisine or just quality food made with care. in some ways, it's funny that i'm starting this post with those words because the recipe i am about to share may not seem like it fits into the category of "fine cuisine". it is nonetheless good, healthy, inexpensive food -- and that's alright with me.

as i mentioned in my last post, for the most part, i am not eating meat right now. when i was looking for info about the veganomicon cookbook i stumbled upon this page which contains a link to a recipe for "snobby joes". at first i thought -- weird. i didn't eat sloppy joes as a kid or as an adult, so i didn't find it very interesting. but then i thought about it -- i like my vegetarian chili a lot, but i kind of got burnt out on it and this recipe could be thought of as a new version of vegetarian chili to me. so i made the snobby joes, but i made some changes to the recipe and i thought i would share it with you here (unfortunately sans photos).

my version of snobby joes
(adapted from isa's version from the veganomicon)

ingredients
1 cup uncooked lentils
4 cups cold water

1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium-sized onion (yellow or white), diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 poblano pepper, diced
1-2 teaspoons salt (depending upon how salty you like it)
2 tablespoons chili powder (i used ancho chili powder)
2-3 teaspoons dried oregano
2 cloves of garlic, minced
15 oz can of tomato sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste (or a few squirts from your tomato paste tube)
a little bit of water (from rinsing out the tomato sauce can)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon yellow mustard

rolls or bread to eat this stuff with

directions
start by cleaning your lentils -- make sure there are no stones or weird things in there. rinse them off. put them in a sauce pot and cover with the water. put a lid on the pot and bring to a boil. once they start boiling, lower the heat and simmer for around 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender, but not super mushy. drain them and put them to the side.

10-15 minutes before your lentils are finished cooking, heat up a large pan or soup pot (something with a large bottom surface area) to somewhere between medium and medium-high heat. once the pan is hot, add the olive oil. once the olive oil is hot (you can tell this if you drop a piece of onion in and it sizzles right away), add the onion. saute for a few minutes. add the bell pepper. saute for a few minutes. add a teaspoon of salt. add the poblanos. continue to saute the veggies until they are softened, but still somewhat crisp. add the chili powder and oregano (and any other spices you might fancy). stir and let that cook a bit (so that the herbs and spices soak up some oil). add the garlic, stir constantly for a few minutes and then add the tomato paste. stir. add the lentils. add the tomato sauce. stir to combine everything. turn the heat down a bit until it just simmers lightly. at this point you can let it simmer for 10-20 minutes, adding water as needed to keep it moist. right before you're ready to eat it, add the maple syrup and mustard and heat through.

turn the heat off, cover the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. get your rolls or bread ready.

serve the snobby joes over the roll, open-faced. i like to add some cheese to the roll before putting the snobby joe mixture on the roll -- something like a mild cheddar tastes good here.

that's it. easy, healthy and rather inexpensive. i'm thinking of adding some more veggies to this like diced carrots and maybe even some chunks of sweet potatoes.

some non-crabby stuff

that last post was kind of negative sounding. so here goes a post of not-so-negative things. that show featuring the music tapes was, after all, very happy.

1. baking cookies while trying to write a paper is not a good idea. but cookies baking in the oven smell so good and are putting me a in a good zone for finishing up the sections of the paper i was working on earlier. b is right -- good smells are important. and these cookies are for friends, so they are extra-special. i love sharing food with people.

2. the delicious cookie smell is covering up the smell of someone in my house cooking meat last night (i think it was my new upstairs neighbor). i couldn't believe it, but that smell of hamburger meat frying grossed me out last night. even though i have switched to basically being a vegetarian since last october, i never thought i would be the kind of person who would feel unpleasant at the smell of meat cooking. i guess this means my flexitarianism is really taking hold.

3. i went to a new cafe in my neighborhood to work today and it was great. the cafe was perfect for work and i got some writing done. although, for a brief bit of time there was a guy next to me whistling to the music -- i think that might be verboten cafe behavior (don't you?), but whatevs.

4. i kicked that general malaise (GM) in the butt last week. so GM, don't even think about creeping back up in here!

5. i had an awesome workout yesterday. run + swim = good times.

6. the voices of the members of ida are so pretty. here is a lovely clip of them (which is 1 in a series of 4 clips). it's not for people with a short attention span, but it's worth it if you have a little bit of time to kill.



7. got to get back to writing school stuff... i'm starting to sound like my own private motivational speaker here. yuck.

this is not really a post...

it's just a version of something i wrote on my hand last night when i saw julian koster playing his singing saw in the audience at soundlab.


Originally uploaded by blueberryboat9

to the girl who kept saying 'sorry' to everything:
fake shutter speed sound is not music.
kay?

he had the same sweater on. love the orange banjo strap.

general malaise

i'm not feeling well today. but these two gents from HEL looks made me smile.

this one is inspired by everything he gets for free, like his flatmate's wardrobe.

this one is inspired by sports and political history of the 70s and 80s.

i am really digging the songs from juliana hatfield's new album. here is an acoustic version of 'shining on'.



okay, back to my cookies and tea.

dance dance dance

BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo



Breaking it up – alternative live video. Filmed by: Christian Haag from Lykke Li on Vimeo

an animal collective remix via the prefix mag.
'my girls', remix by hatchmatik

i can't help it. it's friday and i want to dance. dance. dance.

one small thing

this morning i can't stop listening to this song by nick cave and the bad seeds. so good.

found entry 3

"i heard the other day on NPR that it was the start of whaling season off in this distant alaskan town. i thought, what a life -- marking time by such things... the whales are here, the fruit is ready, the sun is gone for good, the turtles are making nests. and then i realized that tonight is a full moon. and i'm a taurus and what does this all really mean except something that you read in a weekly paper. for fun. and amusement.
i just want to tell you what it is i want and what it is that i'm feeling in every little moment i look at you and your skin and your eyes and your neck. and when you list body parts like that it sounds so freaking ridiculous, but those are parts of you. parts of you i look at and lose track of time. because time just happens and in those moments i can't be bothered with the mundane aspects of life, like breathing or rain or socks."

three things

1. a little talkie-talk
i feel like my posts have been pretty vacuous lately. they have been something like extended twitter updates or facebook status messages -- little snippets of what's going on in my head at any given moment in time (and even at some undisclosed moment in time in the past, via my "found entry" posts). perhaps it is the case that extended narrative of what's going on with me seems even more self-indulgent than posting little thoughts or curiosities. but i should just give that up because having a blog is pretty freaking self-indulgent. and who is out there reading my blog? (interpret that as your chance to leave me a comment on this post.) you are surely a small voyeuristic bunch. but please don't get me wrong, i like it that you are reading these words. it validates this self-indulgent off-and-on habit of mine.

2. music
on a completely different note, next week i'm going to see antony and the johnsons. i'm excited about it. i hope that they will play a version of beyonce's 'crazy in love'. i can't get enough of their rendition of this song today.
here is a clip of them doing it:



he ends the song by saying, "who says that i'm not a teenage girl?"

3. knitting
and yeah, i'm still knitting, there's just no real photographic evidence of it.
i received a lovely knitted gift for christmas. here is a strange picture of me wearing the shawl/scarf that e made for me out of local handspun yarn:















she also gifted me some of her own handspun. i made a cowl (or neck gaiter) out of it. i just have to sew in the ends on that one and i can start wearing it. maybe a picture of that will be posted here some time in the future. or maybe not.

found entry 2

"did i ever tell you that i once got a job in moldova? well, i did. but i didn't take it. i didn't move to moldova. i guess you probably know that, right? sometimes i wonder what my life would have been like if i had moved there for a few years. did you know that the capital of moldova is kishinev (or chisinau, depending upon how you spell it)? that's where i was supposed to live. and there would have been electricity outages and rabid dogs and all sorts of exciting things happening in russian that i wouldn't have understood for a while. things would have been really different if i had moved there... do you think it would be possible to go back and do it all differently?"

this reminds me of a dream i had...

bodies of water

something i read

Originally uploaded by BIFRÖST

"science is founded on the conviction that experience,
effort and reason are valid -- magic on the belief that
hope cannot fail nor desire deceive."
-- bronislaw malinowski

music and myth

i don't know why i keep thinking about that claude levi-strauss book "myth and meaning". i'm still processing it. and although i found a lot of it interesting, for some reason the final chapter on music keeps coming back in my head... when he talks about music taking over the structure and function of mythology. the example he discusses is the recurring theme of the renunciation of love in wagner and that the only way to understand the recurrence of the theme throughout this long story is to try to see if the events which represent that theme are one and the same... okay, you get it, right? if not, just read the last chapter of his book because what i really wanted to talk about is something different. namely, reading about wagner got me thinking about country music, and i mean music like maybe what george jones made popular... country music with a narrative, frequently an autobiographical one. so i thought, that would be a fun project -- looking at the narrative constructed in country music or american folk music and see how the structure and function is comparable to mythology, as discussed by CLS. in my quick search for such studies, i found this book.














looks cool. it's on the 'to read' list... like so many other books.

in the meantime, i can't stop listening to this song by band of annuals... it's a little bit country and little bit folksy.

ineffable

so what is the order of operations?

-- see something
-- have an emotional response
-- can't describe that emotion with any words

hmmm?

photo by BIFRÖST

vampires and zombies

this post is for bryan and his funny story about vampires.

this is the zombie part:


i really like the sound effects in that video... it was found via something JD told me to look at. he's been doing work for long now and told me to look at this interesting piece from will wright and brian eno. but to be honest with you, i haven't finished watching the wright/eno thing. some day.

purple

this photo is by jackson eaton
and i'm really digging it right now.

found entry

"this isn't a letter to you anymore. it's a letter. to no one. to me. a letter to groucho. it's a crinkled letter with a coffee stain on it. it's the last drop of tea in the bottom of the cup that doesn't really have taste but is obligatorily consumed to empty the cup and quench the last bit of thirst. it's the tea dregs. it's the sting in your eyes after crying. it's the wandering mind that distracts me to the point of procrastination."

lots of snow

it's been a while since i posted... not that i have a fanbase out there, but this snowy day inspired me to write something and share it.

i was away for a while -- incommunicado for a couple of months, kind of living in a tent. it was nice to get away, but there's nothing like being home, even if it means now i have to deal with all of the regular day-to-day shit that is annoying.

during my travels i went to the calexico kxci fundraiser show in tucson. no pics of that, but it was fun.


back in november i saw elf power with vic chesnutt at club congress. it was a really interesting show. elf power really impressed me. here is the tucson weekly preview of it. here is vic chesnutt on npr -- worth checking out.

back in october (?) i saw okkervil river before leaving buffalo. it was a good show, but i think that eric bachmann's band kind of stole the show.

here are some things that i have been thinking about lately:

-- this post by juliana hatfield really got me. it's about dealing with her dog dying. it's about love and loss. made me miss my girl.


-- i really like this new bon iver song.



-- gotta get in as much cross country skiing as possible these days...

and on that note, that's what i'm going to go do.