Bird and Little Bird

The Random Post (Part Two)

We had a pleasantly busy weekend, filled with all kinds of the good stuff: walks in the woods, a trip to the library, lunch out, the aquarium with friends.  And, perhaps most importantly, some solid pajama time at home.  I did get in some good crafty time as well, but didn't get anything finished in time to get decent day-lit photos. 

A few other things:

- I am loving the art from Amy Blackwell, most especially this.  I know that the "no more room for art" discussion is ongoing on this blog.  It is perhaps second in frequency only to "I eat too many cupcakes and like it a lot" as a favorite topic.  But... I just so happen to be hatching a plan to address this problem and thus be able to buy more art.  More on that later this week.  

- If you or yours are at all inclined towards the enjoyment of birds, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website is a virtual smorgasbord of birding fun.  We just so happened to have a strong need to know the approximate size of cardinal eggs around nine o' clock this morning and found that information and much, much more here.  An awesome resource for teachers as well as parents and of course, nerds like myself.  

- I keep stumbling upon the pattern for the Village Frock (from the talent behind Sugar City Journal) but it always seems to be sold out.  I checked again this evening and scored; in stock and now on it's way to me!  Of course, it only goes up to size six and since I normally avoid garment sewing like the plague, Mariam may well be six years old before I actually get the thing stitched up.  She's on the small side for her age though, so I think we'll be good...

Good Clean Fun.

I discovered a fun new app for my iPhone this week: Shake it.  Basically, it takes pictures that you shoot with your handy little camera phone and makes them look like Polaroids.  I heard about it from a post on Wise Craft the other day and had to download it pretty much immediately.  I have great affection for all things Polaroid and therefore find this to be great fun.  I took these photos when I was out for my run this afternoon, because what makes a person look more normal than crouching by the side of the road taking pictures of dandelions while all sweaty and out of breath?  Um, nothing.

It also turns out to be Polaroid week on Flickr.  I didn't post these fake ones there though.  I'm sure that the Polaroid purists would frown on my counterfeit Apple product produced photos.  I'm having a good time though.

Comment Weirdness.

I'm just realizing what I suspect many people who read this blog might have known for days: there is something seriously amiss with the comments function.  For whatever reasons, comments are not showing up on recent posts here on the blog, despite the fact that I am getting notified via email as people leave them.  I'm getting in touch with Typepad support, but in the meantime, feel free to leave comments even if they don't appear here.  I'll still get them.  I think.

Fall...

For some reason, it has turned out to be really difficult for me to use photos to capture the transformation of the landscape here in Vermont over the last few weeks.  We kept waiting and waiting for the leaves to change and even as they did, I couldn't help but thinking that the moment that we were really waiting for hadn't yet come.  Then, a few days ago, all of a sudden- it happened.  I looked around me and everything was orange and yellow and red.  Mostly brilliant, golden yellow.  And then it was as if it had happened so fast, I felt like I had missed my opportunity to document it happening.  It was also so stunningly beautiful that I still feel like every picture that I have taken over the last few days pales in comparison to the actual view, almost to a point that I feel unsure why I even bothered.  It's difficult to explain. 

I did go outside again this afternoon and take a few more pictures.  The trees around our house are losing their leaves so quickly that it actually looks as though it is raining leaves when I'm walking through the house and catch a glimpse of the yard through my peripheral vision.  The landscape will be a winter one soon.

Our yard is blanketed with leaves.  Our landlord has a neighbor of his out to mow our lawn every couple of weeks and I need to remember to call and ask him not to clean up any of the leaves out in the back.  We have almost an acre of golden yellow leaves on the ground and I am not at all ready to see them go. 

This might have to become my new blog banner.  Because it is exactly like the old one, except that the variety of leaves represent a big geographical shift.  Oh, and I got new shoes.  Yes, I know that they look exactly like the old ones.  What can I say?  I like what I like. 

Making Lists.

My girl is turning into quite the list maker these days.  Grocery lists, wish lists, lists of good and bad ideas, lists of dinosaurs and how much they should probably cost to buy (if they weren't extinct, obviously).  You name it, she'll make a list out of it.  If you are willing to help a bit with the spelling, that is.  Apparently, we aren't quite comfortable with invented spelling just yet. 

I particularly enjoyed this grocery list from this last Sunday, not just because I think that all this list making is crazy cute, but also because of the items that made the list.  For those of you not fluently literate in little kid, the list reads as such: "sweet potato, sushi rice, avocado, jelly rabbits."  And yes, those are spots of syrup mixed in with the marker. 

Home.

Not trying to upset anyone here.  I just couldn't resist posting this picture because I felt pretty proud of actually managing to capture the actual moment when this enormous walrus came right up to my face.  We are back home in Vemont and I have a pile of laundry to address, so I think I'll just make a couple of notes here and then sign off until Library Monday comes around.

1.  Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks is officially the best rainy night road trip album of all time.  Only vintage Bob can convince a person that driving straight into a raging thunderstorm is not only a reasonable thing to do, it is actually preferable to many other things and has the added benefit of making you feel a bit like you are channeling some On the Road era Kerouac.  

2.  The walrus must be the weirdest mammal of all time. If it isn't, it is at least giving the duckbill platypus some serious competition for the title. 

3. I am in Vermont. However, the power cord for my MacBook is still in Brooklyn.  Oops.  Posts may have to be a bit on the side of short and sweet for the next few days. 

nido.

A few days ago, Abby mentioned in the comments on another post here that there is a new fabric and yarn shop here in Burlington called nido.  I made pretty much immediate plans to check it out because, let's face it, I'm a total fabric snob and I have yet to find any place here that comes close to meeting my needs in that department.  I've been continuing to subsist on a diet of Purl, generally via UPS. 

Anyway, in what I think happens to be a really great coincidence, I was having lunch with a friend on Tuesday and making plans to visit nido this afternoon when I got an email from the owner of the store (via the joy that is my iphone).  Funny, no?  So, I went this afternoon to drop off a batch of Bird and Little Bird patterns for her to sell in the shop and to take a look around. Please take a moment to note that you have been spared comprehensive photo documentation of the printing and packaging of the big stack of patterns which went late into the evening last night.  You are welcome. 

I'm currently kicking myself vigorously for not having thought to take my camera along to get pictures of the shop because it is so cute and well put together.  It's in a great old building with brick walls and shiny hardwood floors and there are beautiful sample projects everywhere you turn.  The fabric selection is perfect; lots of Japanese imports and some really lovely upholstery weight options as well.  It's kind of the fabric store of my dreams which is either a really good thing, or a very dangerous one.  I really need to use up some of the fabric that I've got stashed in various corners all around this house if I am ever going to feel remotely justified buying any new stuff.  That being said, I did pick up a couple of mixed fabric packs because I told myself that they were small, interesting, and that they had color combinations that I wouldn't have created on my own.  That makes it okay.  Oh, and I bought some fabric markers, which pleased me to no end because they are Clover fabric markers (my favorite) and I haven't seen them anywhere else locally.  

So, this is a good find.  Very good. 

Small Things for Small People.

Discussion of the usefulness of having mini-books on hand for times when attempting to wait peacefully with small people (restaurants, doctor's offices, airports... oh my!) got me thinking that it was perhaps time to restock my bag of tricks, so to speak.  Hence, the appearance in my mailbox this afternoon of these very cute and tiny canisters of colored pencils.  

Paired with one of these little Moleskine notebooks, portable colored pencils become the perfect way to pass a bit of time while simultaneously managing to avoid being the cause of a public disturbance.   It's an all around good deal, if you ask me. 

Words To Live By.

So Very Happy, art by Shelli Dorfe of Studio Mela

Yes, I know what I said about having absolutely no available space whatsoever for the hanging of additional artwork.  No need to remind me.  However, I also know that I am a big believer in supporting the work of independent artists whenever I'm able and this was just too good to pass up.  I need to see it hanging on my wall when I get out of bed each morning.  It's my new motto.

One Hundred.

I was very pleased to find these in my mailbox this afternoon.  This pile of wooden buttons is exciting for a number of reasons, but foremost among them is the fact that they are seven-eighths of an inch across and have only two holes. This combination of attributes makes them absolutely ideal for stuffed animal making, and is also surprisingly difficult to find, despite the stunning number of buttons available to a girl in the modern craft/sewing store. 

I feel a bit like Toad in that Frog and Toad story where he has an absolute fit about losing his button and then searching like mad for it only to find that every button he comes across is too large, too flat, has the wrong number holes or is the wrong shape.  I know that feeling well and this is why, when I found just the right button, I ordered one hundred of them.