Friday's Yarn

This is what I have on the spindle right now. It's kind of felty, but it's spinning up fairly nicely. I got it in a grab bag of fibers. Hope there is enough for a pair of mittens or something. If not, it will go in the increasingly large pile of "yarn I have spun but don't have enough of to make anything with". wow. That is some serious grammar, in that sentence there.

Hmm...the blue stuff above are also from the same grab bag of fibers, the pink and purple stuff came from somewhere else. I should really try to keep track of stuff like that. Or not. I get really caught up in what stuff is, where it came from, what I should do with it, like it's the Westminster Dog Show of fiber or something, when really all I want to do is sit and be hipmotized by the spinning wheel and then knit and crochet and make stuff, it doesn't really matter what. I just kind of like the rhythm of repetitive motion. Doing the same thing over and over again releases extra serotonin, and I like serotonin.

I like dopamine and norepinephrine, too, but serotonin is my favorite neurotransmitter. At work today I'm going to learn all about GABA and glutamate, because those are the NT's released by my neurons of interest these days, but they aren't my favorites. But they can become my favorites if I can learn how to get my neurons to make them on command, because then we would get a grant and insure my job for a little longer...and then I could buy more fiber and spin more and knit more! I knew I could get that little train of thought to circle back around!

This green and yellow stuff is from a bunch of fleece that I got from our friend Jamie. He's the chief technician at our shop http://goodyeardealers.com/richwoodautomotive/ . He was raising sheep for a while, so he knows "people" and got a bunch of fleece from someone...three bags full! Can I just tell you that sheep are some nasty ass creatures? Raw fleece can be a little full of poop and other ickies! But I spent last summer washing the wool and I card and dye a bit of it now and then. I dyed this stuff with kool aid. Skein on the left is plied with the same wool in a different kool-aid, the one on the right is plied with some embroidery thread that came in a big chest'o'thread that Tom gave me for Valentine's day last year (how sweet is that?).

This stuff is also Jamie wool, dyed with kool aid. I might actually branch out in to real dyes one of these days...you know, order something from the Dharma Trading company like a real fiber artist...but I am cheap, and I can get enough kool aid at Krogers for a couple of bucks at a time to keep me busy and happy, although perhaps a bit limited.

Enough blogging, time to check in on Facebook and then maybe read that GABA/Glutamate paper!

Things That Make Me Happy

I took pictures of things that make me happy yesterday. I recognize the irony of "things" making me happy, but since I can't take pictures of the moments that make me happy, I have to take pictures of the things that represent the moments. I am not so spiritual that I don't also love THINGS, too...but I hope that it is the quality of the THING that I love...a color, a shape, a smell...an esthetic quality?

These are my Joseph's Coat Roses. Joseph lives next to the garage. His flowers start off in little red buds and then change between red and yellow and orange as they go through their bloom cycle. I love these roses because they are pretty, they represent the beginning of summer, they have survived in my yard!

This is my Itty Bitty Buddha. I love him because he's so tiny and so cheerful. He regularly disappears behind piles of papers on my desk, but then reappears to remind me to stop and breathe and to find some joy.

This is a little book I bought from the tibetan monks at the Kenton County Library the other day. I like pretty books. I made paper for a while in my crafty life, and I like that this is made of handmade paper by Tibetan Refugees living in India. I hope that I was able to help someone with my measely contribution, and I hope the person who made it was happy to be doing something pretty.

These are the germs who live on my desk. The red one is Necrotizing Fasciitis, alias Flesh Eating Bacteria, alias Streptococcus pyogenes. He has a knife and fork. The little lavendar one is Epstein-Barr Virus, aka Mono. She has pretty eyelashes because she wants to kiss you and give you her disease. I love funny science jokes. We science geeks are some of the funniest people I know, but unfortunately we usually only understand each other.

I made this hat. I love making things. I love the repetitiveness of knitting and crocheting and sewing. I love spinning wool. I spun the wool in the purple and green stripes in this hat. I also love making stuff up as I go along. I don't know if anyone will ever actually wear that hat, but I had a good time making it. Wouldn't it be cool if lots of people loved my weird hats and wanted to pay me alot of money for them? Of course, then I would probalby hate to make them.

I love driving through the cut in the hill and across the river in the morning. I love living in Kentucky, and I love working in Cincinnati. I'm not so thrilled with my job right now, but I think that's more about me than the job. But that's another post. I love seeing the sunrise over the hills and the river. I think the river is cool because it represents a force of nature, a place for recreation, but also a place of commerce and industry.

I like coming to work in the morning. I like to listen to books on tape or WNKU. I feel like I am getting a fresh start every time I cross that river and swoop through the Lytle Tunnel and up Reading Road. It makes me feel like a grown-up, like I'm going out to DO SOMETHING.

I am sucking at my job right now, I can't seem to do any experiments right and I don't know why. So actually GETTING to work isnt' always such a great thing, but COMING here is good. And it will get better. I know this because I've been beating my head against the wall of science long enough that I know that there are portholes along the wall. Although if I get fired for spending all of my time on facebook and blogspot, the portholes might become fewer and farther between....

Beaver Lick Baptist Church

As promised, I have photographed the Beaverlick Church...not the Church of God, that one is farther down the road and I didn't have time to run down there last night...but the Baptist Church is at least as cool. And look! the Gallatin County Bluegrass band is going to be playing there!

I was trying to take a minute to stop and appreciate the beautiful weather last night on my way to a meeting. I have had no aptitude for joy the past few weeks, so I have to force myself sometimes. These are weeds, viewed from the window of the Windstar Family Carriage, in the lot behind the Speedway where I paid WAY too much for gas last night.

I think they are very pretty. Especially when the trash and stuff has been cropped out...maybe that's where my joy is hiding...behind the stuff I need to crop out. I need to upgrade my mental photoshop!

Now that I have figured out how to download the pictures from my camera to the computer, maybe I'll spend some time on photography. Not like I don't have seven thousand other things I should be doing, but there was a time when I really liked scrapbooking...and maybe that time can happen again...

I used to be into making photo essays. Maybe that is what I should try to do today. I have some fun series from the late eighties/ early nineties of St. Alphonso's...one year with T.Fox as the common element, another year with Gumby in all the shots...come to think of it, Gumby was in all my New Orleans pictures, too...I wonder what ever happened to old Gumby Dammit.

I think I'll make today's photo essay on 'finding out where my joy is hiding'

Camera downloading issues resolved!

This might just be a good sign. I have managed to figure out how to unload the memory card from my camera...which has almost two years worth of pictures on it...and copy it to the computer and then erase the memory card so i can make new memories! woo hoo! AND ALL ON A MONDAY MORNING!

Last week was a week full of mondays...so maybe I used them up and went straight to thursday this week! I've always liked thursdays. Thursday is Friday Eve, after all.

This is Esther. She's my mini frog...a Xenopus, but a tiny one. Not sure if she's so tiny because she's some kind of mutant variety or because she was treated with growth hormone at a young age so that she would metamorphose before she reached her full potential as a tadpole, but it doesn't really matter. She is a delightful desk companion. She lives in a 4inch cube of water on my desk, with her best bud Gary the snail and a little bamboo tree.

I had to do surgery on her a couple of weeks ago because she swallowed a hair and it was hanging out of her mouth. I couldn't just pull it out, because I didn't know how far down she'd swallowed it and I didn't want to yank her guts out with the other end, so I just chilled her down until she went dormant and cut the end of the hair off. I guess she's suffered no ill effects, because she sure is perky!

Prom

Old Dan went to prom on Saturday night. thank GOD they aren't old enough to drive themselves, so we got to drop them off and pick them up...I even got to chaperone the after prom party. which I probably won't do again, because four days later I am still feeling the effects of sleep deprivation...

from the left: Mackenzie, Dan, Sarah and Leanne. Although Mackenzie is Dan's girlfriend and official date, I thought it was very nice of Sarah and Leanne to coordinate their colors so nicely. I think they are trying to look like Charlie's Angels here, but Dan is more of a James Bond guy, I think. Pictures at Boone Woods Park.

Big Bone Lipstick Park

Before Sam could read, this is what he called Big Bone Lick State Park...close enough, you know?

We are truly blessed to live in an area with such colorful names: Below is the Beaver Lick Trading Post, which seems to change owners at least once every year and to manage to open for at least two or three weeks at a time before closing again.

These places are located On Beaver Road, between the Beaver Lick Church of God and the thriving metropolis of Rabbit Hash. In Sugartit. Honest to God. Except that some chicken hearted community leader somewhere along the line decided to change the official name of the town to Union. it still rocks!

catching up

I've been so busy driving people from one event to another that I haven't had time to take or post pictures of anything that has been going on, but fortunately, Grandma Mort is better equipped to record my life, and is willing to do so!

Here are Mackenzie and Dan in "The Man who Came to Dinner. Dan played the grumpy dad of the family, and Mackenzie was the patient wife. hmmm. the kids at Latin School did a great job with this play!

Karen had grandparents day at school last week, here she is with Grandma Mary and Grandpa John:

the kids used to call John "Grandpa Mary" because they call my parents "Grandma and Grandpa Mort". So complicated!

I also have another kid around here somewhere, but Sam has been laying low, so I don't have pictures of him right now. He's getting ready to go to Philmont with some friends from scouts. This is a high adventure backpacking trip to New Mexico...I think maybe he needs to get out there and do some stadium steps with that backpack on if he's going to get up and down that mountain!

I've been doing lots of sewing but haven't had time to take any pictures (or more appropriately, haven't taken the time to take any pictures). Also a little spinning, some knitting, and I discovered freeform knitting and crochet, which might be my new favorite thing to do if I can figure out what to do with the things I have been making!