Deviant Dispatches

It's been a while since I blogged about books. Here are a few I've wanted to read recently. The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara A doctor and an anthropologist team up for a trip to a Micronesian island. The doctor discovers the secret of the long-lived inhabitants (turtle meat), and comes back to the US, proving his hypothesis to receive fame and adoration, winning a Nobel Prize. But that comes at a terrible personal price. Written as a memoir, Publishers Weekly gave this book a starred review, saying that the doctor's "e xtraordinary circumstances allow his smothered weaknesses to blossom horribly." James Tiptree, Jr. by Julie Phillips I'm absolutely fascinated by this woman's story. In the 1970s, James Tiptree Jr. burst into the scifi writing scene. Everyone was fascinated by his revolutionary ideas and fascinating way of writing stories about gender. He communicated for years with the likes of Ursela K. LeGuin and Harlan El...

Lately, I've been reading The Once and Future King by T. H. White. Much like knights of olde, I've begun a quest: to finish my in-progress knitting/crochet projects before I begin something new. I tried to start a new project recently and discovered that all the needles I could have used for it were occupied. Needles shall be my jousting spear, the projects my opponent. I've already finished a scarf and TSTUD . (Edit: I was in a rush this morning and didn't post scarf details. This is Echarpe Tranches de Melon by Louise Robert, translated by lapawlow . I used M1R/M1L instead of yarn overs. The yarn is Watermelon Patch by Universal Yarn , in their cotton supreme batik line, and I loved working with it. More pictures will be posted here shortly.) I've also finished a washcloth and a little drawstring bag (it only needed half of the drawstring finished). Those were the easy projects (excluding the sweater, of course). Four down - eight to go.

Spousal Unit and I enjoyed a good, wholesome weekend with the family. Sorry, I mean a good, wholesome half hour. We were drunk for the rest of it. First things first: We went to Drammen Lutheran Church in Mondovi for a family reunion. I was excited to see some people I hadn't seen it a while. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the reunion was over. All that was left to see was the church. That still worked for me - my great-great-grandpa who came over from Norway built this church. Here I am being silly in front of it. (I doubt he would have approved.) Then came the less wholesome and more fun part of the weekend. It wasn't spent at the bottom of red Solo cups, but it was close enough. I saw a cool barn door while drinking. You are all shocked to know there are barn doors in Wisconsin. Amazing camera point: This was taken in pitch dark. You can almost see a face peeking out of that window, can't you? But from there on out, the night w...

Today seems like a good day for a sunset, doesn't it? A happy little sunset. We'll put in a few streaks of color here, add the edges of a nice little apartment building. And we'll give her a friend. Another happy little sunset. We'll make this one a little brighter, give it more cadmium yellow, less pink, but plenty of blue sky. And here we'll put a couple of trees in a little group. Nice and close together, so they can watch the sky together. And now you'll see happy little trees all the way to work. They line every street.

My tomato plants are doing wonderfully this year. I'm especially impressed because they're fairly large plants in the same relatively small pot, but they keep reaching higher, smelling fresher, and looking more vibrant. These are supposedly cherry tomatoes, but the one on the right is about an inch and a quarter in diameter already; I suspect I've ended up with regular tomatoes of some sort instead. I'm not complaining, though. We've had one of these sweet paste tomatoes already, and there are eight more almost ready to be sliced for salad or chomped outright. The plant continues to blossom, preparing for a second litter of fruit before the first is off the vine. This, at a time when we've just received an incredible scarlet (and verdant) harvest from the CSA. Sauce season is upon us; autumn draws nigh. * Title comes from the Pablo Neruda poem Ode to Tomatoes.  Like all Neruda, it is worth your time.

Well, I finally did it: I finished knitting The Sweater That the Universe Denied. It has a front, a back, and two far-longer-than-necessary sleeves. You may notice the look of terror on my face. I was afraid this was also possibly a pre-mortem shot.  The next step was to cut the sleeves, by crocheting stays into place. One tutorial suggested sewing by hand - but this yarn is so piece-y that I worried it wouldn't stay in place. I found another tutorial that suggested a crocheted steek, which sounded perfect. I added my steeks, and carefully snipped one stitch at a time. It went perfectly, and I'd begun to stitch the cuffs when the cat nabbed a loose strand of yarn: the one for the steek. It was almost entirely ripped out. "Did you expect finishing TSTUD to go smoothly?" Spousal Unit asked. (He has a point.) The evil little culprit.  I pulled out some heavy-duty quilting thread, doubled it over, and did a kind of paranoid back stitch/whip s...

Source 1. They both like to smack each other around. 2. The highest point in the vicinity makes them king of the mountain - even if it's only two feet higher than everything around it. 3. I might also be allergic to mountain goat noses. I have no reason to suspect this, but hey, it's possible. 4. They will eat (or try to eat) almost anything I leave lying it around. For all I know, a mountain goat might also decide to regurgitate something it has eaten in a mysterious corner of the house, staining the carpet a weird shade of blue. 5. They  look legless  when they curl up on the ground. 6. Their feet can inflict a great deal of pain. 7. If there is one in my apartment, chances are it won't take long to destroy something of mine - like my sweater (story coming later this week).

Over the weekend, Spousal Unit and I took a brief trip to his parents' lake house. No one else was there, so it was a nice chance to just hang out and have a brief vacation without paying for a hotel room. We assembled a couch and didn't get divorced by the end of it. Win. (Also, it was 10 a.m., but that was a beer kind of moment.) We went for a walk and saw little bee butts. And pretty flowers. We found an adorable little bridge... ...over an adorable little ingress. This sign did not seem to be placed appropriately, but it was very new-looking. Strange. And we found a beached turtle sandbox devoid of sand. It seemed really sad to me. Poor dude.

We had a pie contest at work last week. It was hella tasty. I made a gingersnap pumpkin cream pie - I'd only made it once before - in New Mexico - but it turned out about like I remembered. Except this time, the crust was better. We had a spread of seven pies for the contest. From front to back: mini chocolate coconut pies, vegan pumpkin, my GPCP, coconut cream, Fat Elvis (banana and peanut butter), cashew pie, and a Brandy Alexander pie. So much yum. The Fat Elvis ended up winning, and I couldn't disagree - especially when my pie looked like this when cut apart. I think I'll beat the cream longer next time.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas - but close. Hippie Christmas! This year wasn't as wonderful as the previous years; the City of Madison was doing trash collection every day this year, meaning there were slim pickings. I can't say I blame them; it's probably the most obnoxious time of the year for them. But dudes, you're totally harshing my vibe. It didn't help that I went at dinner time, instead of after, when people packing their cars get really desperate and start tossing the good stuff. On top of that, work is still totally FUBAR, so by the time I found a parking spot after dodging rush-hour traffic on the isthmus, I already wanted to go home and sleep. But I toughed it out and found this pitcher. I've come to the conclusion that some college students really like having fancy drinkware if they host lots of parties. This isn't much to look at, sure, but the spigot works, and it will go well with the decanter I g...

I accidentally turned off my alarm in the morning, resulting in more sleep than I meant to get and a dream about Steve Buscemi in my former college dorm. It was significantly creepy, but the really weird thing is that's the second time I've had a dream with him in it in the last week. (I won't say it was a dream about  him; it was more like he picked the lock to my subconscious and hijacked my imagination. Not okay, Steve Buscemi. So to get my mind off of that before work, here are a couple of random items. First is a leaf from one of my basil plants. It's ginormous. Second, a sunset. Sunsets are a good balm for bad dreams.

Part I Part II Dear The Universe Something somewhat miraculous happened this weekend, and I give you absolutely no credit for it: I started working on The Sweater That the Universe Denied (henceforth referred to as the STUD) again, for the first time in two and a half years. I'll probably be able to finish the knitting within the week. I am earnestly cringing in anticipation of my smiting. Each time I've worked on the STUD before, I've been thwarted by you, The Almighty Universe. I have a healthy respect for your mysterious thwarting ways - you've been nothing if not creative in your attempts to needle-block me. Therefore, I am wholly vigilant this time around. Of course, there is still the problem of the six-foot sleeves. (You remember those , right? The ones I spent countless extra hours of my life knitting because gauge was/is my evil enemy?) But I have a supposedly simple solution: first, finish the knitting at hand. Then, watch a dozen tutorials ...

Friday has needed to be here since Monday. Here is your reward for making it this far. 1. Bunny. 2. Last night's sunset, from the old hunting grounds. 3. An odd personification of a caterpillar. Early Stages: "This leaf tastes great! So does this one! And this one!" Middle Stages: "I'm so hungry. It's like I can't get full enough. Do I eat because I'm fat or am I fat because I eat?" Later Days: "WTF? Where is this weird stringy stuff coming from?" Shortly After: "AUGH! I have a compulsive desire to encase my body in it! I don't want to!" In the Cocoon: "Must ... control ... claustrophobia ..."

One of my favorite things from our CSA this year (besides the snap peas, herb bunches, salad mix, eggplant, cucumbers ... um, and everything else) is kale. Kale is amazingly versatile: if you're rough with it, it can be a great salad addition. Shred it up and it tastes great in stir fry or rice. And it's tough enough to make a great wrap for some kind of delicious stuffing, too. Inspired by a recipe in From Asparagus to Zucchini , I basically made baked dolmades (stuffed grape leaves, a Greek dish). Source They were pretty easy and amazingly filling. I used leftover rice pilaf in my version, straight from the fridge, but I imagine brown rice cooked in veggie stock would be just as delicious. Stuffed Kale Rolls 1 1/2 c. rice pilaf, cooked  1/3 c. walnuts, chopped 1/4 c. shredded mozzarella 2 tbsp. cream cheese, softened Oregano Lemon balm (or use a few drops of lemon juice) 7 to 9 large kale leaves (any large, tough leaf can be used, such as c...