So I owe you…

Posted on July 8, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, family, photography, wide world of vacation | 1 Comment

I owe you all four pictures–I promised one a day!

I mentioned that I had more pictures of the Rose Kennedy Greenway at twilight to share. Here they are.



These are coming to you all in one batch because we were away for the 4th of July weekend. We visited Simon, Frances, and Eva in Saratoga Springs. Simon and Frances teach at a summer dance program there, and as it’s only about four hours from here and as I lived there during college, it’s always a good place for us to get together. They are staying in a nicely fixed-up old house this year with some other dancers who are teaching in the program. We stayed with them and just had a good time relaxing and catching up.

On the way home from Saratoga Springs we made two previously unplanned stops. For lunch we decided to find somewhere to eat in Western Mass. We ended up in Great Barrington where we had very tasty organic-sourdough-wood-fired-gourmet pizza. Yeah, it was good. Then as we neared 495, inspired by the cool way the place we’d stayed in Saratoga Springs had been fixed up, I asked Ez if he wanted to stop at IKEA for some organizational goodies. He agreed, and we hit the joint around 6:30-ish, so it wasn’t too crowded (though it was ridiculously messy–IKEA has such a tidy aesthetic that it just kinda seems completely incongruous that their shoppers would leave potato chip packages and empty soda cans on displays). We found many practical and relatively inexpensive items for our little home improvement project–which is basically a home organization project. It was a successful tangent!

Yesterday the darkroom at MassArt was closed, but today I spent several hours there. The prints from today are still drying, but here’s one from last week.


A few things to share

Posted on May 6, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, family, friends, photography | 3 Comments

So I haven’t felt very blog-worthy lately, as I suppose is apparent.

A few possibly blogworthy notes:

Beware evil doers, wherever you are!!!

Posted on March 2, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family, films, me and my brain | 5 Comments

Recommendation of the day…

Sometime when I was a kid, my family watched Radio Days together. Kim and I have now seen this film countless times, together and on our own, and it’s a long-standing favorite. It’s a sweet, sentimental, funny nostalgia piece–there’s not really any plot to speak of, but it doesn’t need one. As you might guess, it’s full of tons of great music from the 40s. The cast is fantastic, too. I mean, Wallace Shawn plays the Masked Avenger!

…If nothing else, when you watch it, you might figure out where some of the silly things we say all the time come from.

More new photos, this time from France

Posted on February 26, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, family, photography, wide world of vacation | Leave a Comment

I finally got my two rolls of film developed. Both are full of pictures from leisure time during our January trip to France.

Some are black and white…

Ezra in Eze

train station, France

…and some are color.

Eze

Vespa

I’ve posted more on flickr.

Memories live in photo envelopes

Posted on February 25, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, daytripping, family, photography | 8 Comments

I investigated the contents of a stack of photo envelopes on my dresser and found that I’d never scanned a bunch of them. Here’s a little peek at a few from the first batch to meet with the scanner.

From a long-forgotten walk in a dream:

On a street corner, under a sky:corner

Memories of memories:mendad
Me and my dad in the backyard in State College. I’m holding a camera that my grandfather picked up in Germany during WWII. My father gave it to me. Ezra took this picture.

Felines!

Posted on February 23, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family, me and my brain, the pusses | 7 Comments

Have I mentioned lately how much I adore my kitties? I think I need to say it again.

SUKI

Suki

Suki

EDIE

Edie

Edie

Their cousin to the south, DEXTER
Dexter

And some much beloved family cats no longer with us… they still have a special place in my life.

JASPER

Jasper
Jasper was the first kitty in my life, and he will always be the Zen master of all kitties.

TRUMAN

Truman
Recently departed; we miss this sweetie.

Somewhere along the way, my family figured out the mysterious and wonderful charms and the calming power of cats. I feel lucky to have had and to continue to have so many connections with these fuzzy, amazing creatures.

Eurotrip 2007-2008: France

Posted on February 6, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family, photography, wide world of vacation | 11 Comments

So I don’t think I’ll write out our France trip day-by-day because it was more of a family thing and less oriented around sight-seeing… and thus I can’t always remember what happened which days! This post will be long but photo-filled! So, sit back with a beverage of your choice and read on.

The first day we met up with Ezra’s family, who were also in town for the wedding, and wandered around Monaco in the pouring rain. It was windy and awful–unfortunately, really the worst way to see the place. Ez and I had been there before, so honestly it was pretty unpleasant for me. Poor Estee (Ezra’s younger sister) had a cold and I think I picked it up. Having just recovered from a sinus thing, that kinda sucked.


In the pouring rain in Monte Carlo. Note Estee’s pink nose.

BUT, we did get to go to the ballet that night and see a performance of… Faust–which couldn’t have been more appropriate after our visit to Leipzig mere days earlier. It was quite good–very passionate and artistically free. I feel like the more creative ballets I’ve seen in Boston have always gone over like a lead balloon with everyone except for me and Ez and a few others, but Les Ballets de Monte Carlo is a much different animal (as is their audience). April’s good friend Asier danced the lead and he was very good.


At the ballet (Ezra was retrieving his things from the coat check)

While in France we also trekked up into the winding pathways of Eze. Again, Ezra and I had been there before, but it’s a cute place and worth multiple visits. Plus it’s decent exercise climbing around up there. I took a lot of pictures on my film camera there, in black and white, and I keep forgetting to get them developed!! Argh. Need to do that.

Ez and I also wandered around Old Nice (Vieux Nice) a few times. It’s a pretty little area with little shops and cafes… it feels very old world compared to what you find in the U.S. The first day we wandered there it was still rather rainy and blah, unfortunately. Some places you go and the weather doesn’t matter, but in Nice I felt like it really did. We went back on the morning of April and Manu’s civil ceremony, and it was MUCH nicer. I found the soap shop I’d fallen in love with when we visited April in 2004 and bought them out of the Eucalyptus soap I love. It was sunny that day, and there was a fabulous antiques market going on. If there hadn’t been a wedding that day, I could have wandered the antiques market for hours. There were so many amazing things!! Simon found a train car for a friend of his who collects them and I bought an old advertisement from a man who was selling boxes and boxes of them. They were really wonderful.


The antiques market in Vieux Nice.


The vintage advertisement I bought at the antiques market in Old Nice.

One of the best parts of the trip was seeing April and Manu, meeting Manu’s family, and doing wedding-related things. I don’t think I’ve ever seen April happier than she was at the wedding, or more nervous than she was the night before. She was very kind to me and honored me by asking me to photograph the wedding (which I think I’ve mentioned before). Their kitty, Gus, made everyone feel more at home, I think.


Manu and Gus

We spent time with them in their apartment in Nice eating and drinking (too much eating, of course!) and chatting. On the eve of Three Kings Day we all got together there with Manu’s wonderful sisters Julie and Marianne and had delicious king cakes. The one I sampled was made with almond paste–so lush!! And I think the other was made with pecans. Ezra’s mom and Manu found the little tiles in their cakes, so they were the king and queen the next day.

The night before the civil ceremony the family got together at their apartment and had a sort of mini-bachelorette party. Simon, I think (or was it Abby), had brought a silly little bachelorette party kit with stickers and temporary tatoos. I forget now what my tatoo said!! But it had a strawberry on it and I got it in the middle of my upper back. Simon thought that looked pretty good and suggested that I consider getting a real tatoo there (ha ha, wink wink). Ez got his on his ankle and it took forever to wash off. We all got them–Ezra’s parents and everybody. So that was fun. I think April had a tiara as well. She gave me the bride’s VIP sticker, which I have affixed to my Sudoku book.

The day of the civil ceremony was, as mentioned, really pretty. All the rain clouds were gone and it was sunny and bright, with a high blue sky. After enjoying the antiques market a bit (and briefly losing Ezra’s dad), we headed back to our hotel to primp. Once we were all ready, we formed a little sort of parade heading off to city hall. April wore a gorgeous Chanel suit and some nifty stockings. Everyone looked quite sharp.


Before the Civil Ceremony. Jeroen, Manu, April, Christian, Asier, Simon, and Julie.

Marianne, Estee, and Julie
Outside City Hall. Marianne, Estee, and Julie

April's stockings
The stockings

The city hall was a nice little old building. We all went into the wood-paneled room and were able to witness the ceremony. The mayor did a bit of talking, mostly in French, and I think he made some sort of sly remarks about Manu being a DJ… but mostly he was fun. There was a lot of signing of papers and grinning. I took a bunch of pictures and tried not to make too much noise with my heels on the wood floor.


April and Manu with the mayor of Nice

After the ceremony we all walked over to Le Meridien Hotel were we had a couple drinks in their lounge. April gave Manu a special gift and we generally basked in the sunlight pouring in the windows and the overall happiness of the occasion.


The happy couple at Le Meridien

Then I think we took a quick pit stop at the hotel to change our shoes and then crossed over to the church for the rehearsal. The church ceremony was in an Anglican church, and the priest was British. He told us a bit of history of the church and his role in it. The rehearsal went pretty quickly. I guess dancers are used to learning these sorts of things fast! I tested out my camera and lenses and tripod to make sure I’d be able to get some shots the next day.

After the rehearsal, we paraded once again to dinner at an Italian restaurant not far from our hotel in one of the shopping areas. I was starting to feel my cold at this point, unfortunately. We all commented on how huge the portions were (so much for American restaurants having huge portions!!). I ended up having to leave a little early, especially knowing I had to be up for photographing the next day.


Abby doing the chocolate dance with her dessert. That’s what I call a large portion. Needless to say we shared–and yes, it was good.

Happily, I felt fine the next morning. I got ready early so I could take pictures of the others getting ready. We all had breakfast together at the hotel that day, which was nice. I had a few minutes while everyone was getting ready and before they wanted me to take pictures, so I went out into the little hotel courtyard and took some photos with my film camera. Then it was back inside to take some photos of the ladies dressing. It’s a wonder they got ready so quickly considering how often people kept knocking at the door, but again–I guess dancers are used to fast changes!! And with the church right across the street we weren’t too worried.


Putting on the veil

The church ceremony was pretty. The church has some lovely colors–reds and blues. I managed to get some shots in the church, but the light at the church entrance and at the little reception afterwards was much nicer and I think I got my best photos in those places. I was especially nervous about taking group portraits, but I think they came out OK. It was a little bit of a learning experience to have multiple lenses at my disposal. Ezra was a wonderful assistant.

April and Asier
April gets a kiss from Asier

ballet friends
Even with group shots, the candids are sometimes the best. Here we have April and Manu with a bunch of friends from the ballet. It probably looks better bigger (see my flickr site).

The reception was at a nice little restaurant in Old Nice. The food was good but I was so full and I think a bit affected by the cold (without realizing it)… I couldn’t eat much. We had really nice chats with Abby, Dan, and Simon (we were all seated together) and just a really good time.


Manu’s sister Marianne at the reception.


Abby


Estee


Some brotherly conversation.

(Let’s hear it for the new portrait lens!)

After all of that, we changed and ended up back at April and Manu’s. I was starting to feel quite ill by this point, but I held out for the fabulous wedding cake. I remember I was quite proud of myself when I understood a conversation that Manu’s mother and stepmother were having–all in French! Of course, my French is not so good that I could chime in.


The traditional cake

The next day we had to be on our way back to the U.S. We’d had a great trip and had lots of fun mementos and pictures to bring home, but we were wiped out and missed the kitties. We flew back through Heathrow, where we had a bit of a layover. I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go while we were vacationing–mostly while we were in France and especially on the plane trip from Berlin to Nice–and I wanted another book for the flight home. Well, it was crazy! I went to two different bookstores, I think, and looked through all of their books twice and couldn’t find anything. Finally I went to a WH Smith and that’s where I hit the jackpot. I got The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I loved. I recommend it!

If you want to see even more of the photos I took during our time in France (mostly wedding-related), go here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/tercat/sets/72157603695146753/

My mom kicks butt

Posted on February 5, 2008
Filed Under Blather, craft, family | 3 Comments

I will have to post pictures soon.  Mom altered two jumpers for me.  And they look great.  And I am just so impressed!  She’s quite the seamstress.  Mom rocks!

Eurotrip 2007-2008, Day Six: Our last morning in Berlin and then off to France

Posted on January 30, 2008
Filed Under Blather, art, family, wide world of vacation | Leave a Comment

For our last morning in Berlin Ez and I had one main goal–to see the Bauhaus Archive. The building in which it’s housed is rather small, and they were seeking donations so that they can expand. There was an installation replicating parts of a 1930 Paris exhibit with designs for high-rise living. We watched a good bit of the films they were looping in their little viewing area. I was struck by the sort of theory behind the Bauhaus–the ways of looking at things and approaching art. I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but I think that sort of art and design influenced me when I started drawing and messing around with art in high school. One of the first artists who caught my eye the first time I went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York was Paul Klee. I remember some of the exercises we did in my first painting class seemed to be inspired by the Bauhaus. There was one where the instructor shined different colored lights on a variety of white geometric shapes and we had to paint them. It seemed so simple, but for me at least it was a challenge at the time, and I’m sure it pushed me to look in a more basic way.


Paul Klee, The bright side, Postcard for the Bauhaus exhibition in summer 1923, Color lithograph

A few pieces in the museum that particularly stood out to me were a couple of brightly colored geometric weavings and a series of exhibition postcards done by artists and students at the Bauhaus. We wandered through the shop and I giggled when I saw these:

Remember them? They were such a big deal in the 80s for a while. I had a white one that I used to keep old notes Nora and I had written in Jr. High. I’ve no idea what happened to it. It is a clever design. There were quite a few things in the Bauhaus exhibit that have just become a part of our everyday lives–certain chair designs, for example, were just so ubiquitous in the 70s and 80s in offices and public spaces. We found a couple of posters and a number of postcards in the shop and then went on our way.

We gathered our things at the hotel and waited for our cab to the Tempelhof airport. Our cab driver turned out to be pretty entertaining. He was working on his English (which was really pretty good) and talked to us about music (he likes country music) and his sister–who lives in Pennsylvania!

The Tempelhof airport is one of three airports in Berlin. We had arrived at the Tegel airport, which is definitely one of the bigger ones. Tempelhof is a regional airport and it must be one of Berlin’s smallest. It was very nice and clean, but it almost didn’t look like an airport. It was right in town, in a nice old building that, from the outside, didn’t look anything like what I expect when I go to an airport. It was fairly empty and quiet inside. It seemed more like a quiet train station than an airport. I found an interesting British article about the airport’s past here.


Tempelhof airport, outside (photo found on the web)

Tempelhof airport, inside
Tempelhof airport, inside (photo found on the web)

We checked our bags and sat in the little cafe where we sipped on a few drinks and gazed at the German TV. When I went to use the restroom I got this strong feeling that I was in a very old-style East German place. Everything was rather cold (in several senses of the word) and hard. The waiting area for our flight was small and busy. There must be a few main flights out of the airport everyday, and ours was one of them.

We flew to Brussels, where we had a short layover. I’d never been to Belgium before. I was struck by how quiet the airport was. Unlike Templehof, there were lots of people there. They just weren’t making tons of noise. It was wonderful! Unless I’m drunk or in a particularly crazy mood, I’m not an especially loud sort of person, and I always hate airports and big shopping malls and places like that in the U.S. that are full of crass, noisy people. Anyway, it made the whole experience very pleasant and easy.

We arrived in Nice in the evening and were greeted by Ezra’s sister April’s then-fiance, Manu (short for Emmanuel) and Ezra’s brother Simon. We’d never met Manu before, so there were lots of hugs and smiles. They carted us off to our little hotel, The Nice Garden Hotel, which was practically right next to the church where the wedding was held several days later. Our room was a lot smaller than our suite in Berlin, but it was charming and comfortable.

We were wiped out after all that travel, so we did a bit of unpacking and decided to just do a little wandering around before turning in. I can’t remember now what we were looking for–just some water to drink, I think. We passed a strange looking person on a street corner who gave us a funny look. It took me a few seconds to process the whole thing: broad-shouldered person wearing a lot of lipstick, sort of eyed us up and down and made unwanted eye contact, I felt involuntarily repulsed… yes, I’m pretty sure we’d encountered a transvestite prostitute who’d told us in those few seconds that yes, he/she would do us together, no problem. (!) Now, Berlin DEFINITELY has a seedy side, and I’m sure you can find yourself in a similar encounter there if you’re in the right (or wrong) place at the right (or wrong) time. I mean… mostly it was just funny and we chuckled about it. But Nice is a vacation town for sure, and there’s a bit of a “what happens in Nice stays in Nice” feel to it sometimes. Anyway, that little encounter was sort of our “Hello, welcome to Nice!” moment.

Just a break in the action to say…

Posted on January 20, 2008
Filed Under Blather, family | 4 Comments

Happy birthday to my super fan-tas-tic, butt-kickin’, cookie-bakin’, partner-in-silliness sister Kim! I know I’m just getting this in under the wire, and I did already tell her myself today, but it’s worth sharing and repeating!


Kim and Hope in May 2007 (Hope is wearing a barrette I got when I was a kid!)

keep looking »

Song of the Day

Devo-It’s Not Right 

Photos

My Photos on Flickr


The Knitting Turnip

On My Needles

Rhapsody in Tweed cabled pullover for Ezra! using Tahki Donegal Tweed in Forest, from Fall 2004 Interweave Knits. I've just picked this one up again, so it's moving up in the queue!

Sweater with Cable Patterns pullover using Araucania Nature Wool Chunky in Mauve, from Rebecca Magazine Number 28

Heather Pullover using Classic Elite Wings in Larkspur, from Rowan’s A Season’s Tale... This needs the knit doctor. I'm going to have to frog back a little bit and redo the shoulder area. Long story.

Hush Pullover using Jo Sharp DK wool in Wine, from Rowan’s Calmer Collection

Recently Finished Projects

In the Groove boatneck pullover using Manos del Uruguay in Black and Cheek (pale pink), from Fall 2006 issue of knitscene. SWEATER IS DONE!

Stash Stealer Scarf for me, using delicious yarn that darling Amy let me raid from her stash. I made up the pattern--a couple of wide ribs rimmed in moss stitch. It's soft and fuzzy and DONE!

Moss Stitch Jacket with Collar for Hope using Classic Elite Wool Bam Boo in Ivy, from Quick Baby Knits by Debbie Bliss. JACKET IS DONE!

Next in line

Brompton cardigan using Noro Cash Iroha in Jewel Green (my name for shade #100)

Eyelet Yoke Pullover using Debbie Bliss Merino Aran

Under consideration

Loads!

More scoop on my knitting endeavors can be found at my home on Ravelry (clicky here).

Links


Recently


Categories


Archives