Stuff White People Like

My cousin Caitlin is to blame for bringing this blog to my attention this morning and, thereby, causing me to waste a large amount of company time reading (and stifling giggles with tears of mirth running out the corners of my eyes).

You're not in New England anymore.

Just around the corner from my hotel is the Buckhorn Saloon. The signs claim they have the world's largest collection of antlers.The Texas Ranger museum is also part of the saloon. I decided I needed to have lunch there and a friend who is also at this conference agreed to come. We did not pay the extra $16 to go into the museum (much as I would have liked to see the reconstructed Bonny and Clyde car...), but the restaurant was something in and of itself.


The whole room is full of dead stuffed animals and the walls are lined with heads. It's a bit disturbing - all of them watching you while you eat your cheeseburger. The mountain goats freaked me out the most. All of them had the front half of the goat mounted on a plaque to look like they are standing on a cliff. So strange.

There is a real, authentic, looking cowboy singing traditional songs ('Yippie Ky Yi Yea' and so on...). And not long after we arrived the reenacters from the Alamo started streaming in the door. It hurt my head a bit to see cowboys sharing tables with Santa Ana's soldiers. All of them wandering around with food trays and working the soda machines and lined up for the mens room was really surreal. I did manage to introduce myself to a certain Mr. Crockett who was sitting just behind us.

But, there's no basement....

I'm in San Antonio on a work trip. During a slow period this morning I went for a walk. My hotel is just a couple of blocks from the Alamo. I've been to the Alamo before and wasn't overly impressed with the exhibit. But I needed to get a gift for Ragamuffin who is feeding the beasties while I'm away. Turns out Thursday was the anniversary of the battle of the Alamo and this weekend there are big festivities going on. The plaza was swamped with cowboys and Santa Ana's troops getting ready to do a big reenactment.

Stay out of Vermont George, if you know what's good for you

For anyone who doesn't know, I'm from Vermont. I was actually born in Ohio, but spent most of my formative years in Vermont and consider it home. There have been quite a few times in the past when I've been proud of my home state. Today I am proud again. Not because of yesterday's primary (but I WAS pleased...), but because of the resolutions passed in the towns of Brattleboro and Marlboro.

Brattleboro is a cool place. I like it more every time I visit. It's just a short drive from where I live in Western Mass. There are a lot of funky artsy people there doing funky artsy stuff. There's good food and a great old movie theater. They have the annual 'Strolling of the Heifers' parade (It's a parade of cows. It's awesome.). Also it's legal to be naked on the streets of Brattleboro - just as long as you're not George Bush. Residents of Brattleboro and Marlboro, VT passed nonbinding resolutions yesterday authorizing police to arrest President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for "crimes against our Constitution."

Vermont rocks.

Vermont is also nearing record snowfalls this winter. I was up visiting my parents a few weekends ago and the snow on the sides of the path to their front door was higher than my head. It's like walking through a tunnel. I exclaimed that it was just like when I was little and my mother pointed out that I'm much taller now. Oh yeah. Lots of snow. And they've had a lot more since I was there.

We had a storm here on Saturday and I refused to deal. I'm sooooooo ready for winter to be done. I didn't go outside all day. Traci and The Ragamuffin came through the 'secret passageway' (our basements are connected through the bulkhead) to my house. The Secret Passageway has become a great treat that we only use when the weather is bad. We watched some Sponge Bob, drank some juice boxes, ate pickles and danced to Elvis. I made scones.
These are Cheddar Pepper Scones adapted from a free recipe from Cabot. I didn't have fresh chives and I used dried thyme. I also didn't brush egg on the tops - just sprinkled on some extra cheddar. They were tasty. And now I have lots of ideas for other kinds of scones. I like my scones savory and find that most bakeshops make them way too sweet. There may be lots of experimenting in the coming weeks.

I also finished the Baby Soft Jacket for Haley's first birthday. This is not a color I would normally choose, but Haley (and her mom) need as much cheerfulness as they can get I think. Haley started chemo a couple of months ago and I hear it is making her quite sick. Her birthday party is Saturday, but I'll be in Texas this weekend, so this is going in the mail today.
Baby Soft Jacket from The Knitter's Book of Yarn by Clara Parkes
Just over 3 skeins of Araucania Nature Cotton (on close-out at Webs)

Pete's Mittens (and Hat)

I've finished the hat and mitten set that I'm submitting to Judith Durant's next One Skein book. These are based on a pair of mittens I made for my neighbor Pete for Christmas. They're done in Cascade's Eco Wool (a yarn I am now in love with). I knit the mittens at a pretty tight gauge so they are nice and dense to keep out the cold. Since this yarn comes in skeins of 478 yards (for $15!) there was more than enough for a hat too. So, in classic overachiever style, I made a matching hat.

Pete himself took these lovely photos starring the first Peeps of 2008.

Knitting update

Here's a quick look at what I've been knitting lately.

First up is the Cables and Lace wrap from Sweater Babe. I used most of the same modifications as Rue. She found the alternate cable I used. The original just has 3 plain cables side by side I like the more complex one much better. I added an extra repeat of the lace before starting the ribbing on the sleeves. I also did some short rows around the neckline to give it some shape. This is done in Ultra Alpaca. I would knit bedding out of this yarn if I could. It is fabulously cozy.


Here is the 'Not Too Beret' from Knit and Tonic. I bought this yarn in the warehouse at Webs Thursday evening and knit the whole thing while watching the last episode of Heros Season 1 (I am concerned for Peter Petrelli's well being....but please don't tell me what happens in Season 2...). I haven't used needles as big as this (#11s) in ages and it was shocking how quickly this knit up. It's been on my head more often than not since I finished it, but I do wish it had a bit more slouch to it. Maybe I will block it around a big plate.


My Inauguration Day scarf is growing nicely. Here it is as of yesterday (with 336 days to go).

And finally, here is Obamy Bear. He was made for the Knitting Liberally giving project. He's going to live at the New England Learning Center for Women in Transition where he will soon be adopted by a child from one of the families they help. I'm sure that the child will probably want to give him a special name of their own, but for now, while I still have a few hours with him, he's going by Obamy. (That yellow book in the pile is 'The Complete Book of Cheese'. I bought it for 75¢ at the League of Women Voters Booksale last fall. It is awesome. Under that is 'The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism' by George Bernard Shaw also purchased at the booksale.)

I struggled a bit getting a photo of Obamy. Lily cannot stand for anyone else (even inanimate objects) to be the center of attention in my house.

I particularly love the one in the lower right where she looks so pleased with herself.

Wednesday Believer

I teach on Wednesday evenings. Later in the spring it will be a different class, but right now I'm teaching Knitting 1. My class runs from 6-8pm - dinner time. There isn't time for eating between leaving my day job and getting to Webs to setup to eat anything reasonable. And, I've found from past experience, that I do not teach well on an empty stomach. So on Wednesdays I eat a substantial (and often late) lunch. Last fall a friend taught on Wednesdays from 12-2pm and we would meet for lunch after her class ended. Perfect for both of us - I needed to eat late and she was starving by 2:00. She's not teaching this term, so I have decided to take myself to lunch on Wednesdays.

Since Cafe Lebanon's Northampton location (I have dreams about their Fattoush salad...) is no longer open at lunch time, I've had to find a new favorite lunch spot. The Green Bean Cafe which opened in the old Sparky's (previously Java Net) location a couple of months ago is a good contender (try the Green Eggs - they make me very happy).

Dear friends gave me a subscription to the Believer for Christmas. So I've been bringing the February issue with me to read over lunch. Last week I read 'No-Man's-Land' by Eula Bliss. You can read it here. The article begins by using the Little House on the Prairie books as an example of how we (by we I mean white middle-class girls) are taught about fear of other races (in this case Native Americans). I loved these books as a girl and was interested to read Bliss' perceptions reading them again as an adult (I should do this).

Like my sister, like my cousin, like so many other girls, I was captivated,
in my childhood, by that Laura. I was given a bonnet, and I wore it
earnestly for quite some time. But when I return to Little House on
the Prairie now as an adult, I find that it is not the book I thought it was.
It is not the gauzy frontier fantasy I made of it as a child.
It is not a naïve celebration of the American pioneer.
It is the document of a woman interrogating her legacy.
It is, as the scholar Ann Romines has called it, “one of our most
disturbing and ambitious narratives about failures and
experiments of acculturation in the American West.”

Bliss goes on to talk about how the white middle class perpetuates fear of other races and potentially violent locations/situations. She brings up the fact that most violent crimes are committed by a person of the same race as the victim (so why is that white people are afraid to walk alone in certain neighborhoods?). She also uses statistics about child molestations - that most children are molested by someone they know, NOT a stranger trying to give them candy. Crimes by strangers are sensationalized, while crimes by familiars are run of the mill.

There was the serial murderer who shot shopkeepers, the KFC customer
who stabbed a cashier, the man who offered a ride to a group of
strangers and was then murdered for his car. These are the murders we
find most compelling, of course, because these are the murders that
allow us to be afraid of the people we want to be afraid of.

A very thought provoking article that's stuck with me for the past week. It's made me feel even more critical of Bill Clinton for trying to play the race card in the southern states where misconceptions seem to breed fear.

Today the Green Bean was packed. Even if there hadn't been a line, it wasn't an atmosphere conducive to reading. I took myself instead to Woodstar where the special of the day was a tasty Thai Chicken Curry soup. And I read 'The Chaos Machine' an essay about fatherhood by Charles Baxter (with footnotes by his son Daniel). Baxter is one of my favorite writers. The Feast of Love is on my list of my all time favorite books. He has a new novel coming out next week that I'll need to get my hands on fast. The beginning of the essay is here.

In 'The Chaos Machine' Baxter writes about picking his son up after he's been away at college for a year. Loading the van with his son's belongings - 'the detritus of a young life' - he ponders what sort of father he has been to his son.

I am a traitor, it seems, to my gender.
Once my wife said, "All you're teaching Daniel is irony."

The essay also includes a pretty good list of 'rules to live by'. Here's a couple:

10. Use the left lane to pass. But don't stay there.
11. Life is really very simple; be openhearted and try to live for others. Avoid pretense.

It's a funny touching story by a writer I love. I will pass a copy to my dad and a couple of other fathers I know.

I'm about half-way through the February issue of the Believer. I'll keep you posted if I find anything else that makes me think or laugh.