i stayed up into the wee hours last night making a paper chain for the tree. i used a badly damaged book of victorian poetry. the book itself was not very old but the pages were beautifully foxed and yellowed. the chain turned out quite pretty but i think it isn't long enough. it's raining out now so perhaps i'll sit inside where it's warm and dry and add some more links.
sister and i went into town to do some last minute shopping. i found the coolest children's books from the '20s but i didn't buy them. i did however steal a slip of coleus from a planter outside of sephora. tee hee. it was a lovely visit with the sister. yays!*
when i got home i checked the mail. my glasses have arrived! as expected they make me look very odd indeed. but i think the oddness has an edge of charm. just the way i like it. i can't use my new specs until i have my own lenses installed. the current diopter bespeaks a creature of inhuman myopia. i suspect the previous owner was a very dashing mole.
as i walked home from the post i noticed one of the naked locust trees was harboring a big growth of mistletoe. i promptly stole it. hoorays! now if i just had someone to kiss. i'll have to surfeit my need with cuddles from sister and nephews and nieces. or perhaps less chaste fare if i can wrangle a good-looking stranger. wink. WINK.
brown paper parcels are winging their way across the continent. i have wrapped gifts in brown paper and twine for many years. i don't use tape. just the twine. i really like how it looks. i usually throw in a few colorful wrappings too. i'm partial to paper with holly or pine boughs or abstract prettiness. though once i scored some really awesome swedish paper bedecked with weird christmas fairies. it sounds nicer than i've just described it. though covered in fairies it wasn't terribly fay.
wellidy. it is time for me to drink this coffee and behead a chocolate santa. he provoked me.
adieu.
edit: i also found an amazing dress from the '50s at a shop i once frequented. they're going out of business so i might pop back in there and buy that thing once the price has been reduced considerably. also also i trimmed my bangs last night. i made them far too short. this is what happens when you drink a few too many hard ciders and then apply shears to your hair. nota bene. i spent the afternoon feeling very dorky indeed. strangely over the course of the evening i've formed a real fondness for how it looks. with the addition of specs and the duck boots i'm anticipating on christmas morning i shall really look a sight.
we decorated sister's tree this evening. it was delightful. sister's beau roasted chestnuts. i have roasted them before but mine didn't turn out very good. the chestnuts tonight were fantastic. sister's beau said it was the ex carved into the tops which did it. i think perhaps he was right. mine only had a single slit.
my fingers are pink from cranberry stringing and i smell of popcorn. we didn't finish garlanding the tree in popcorn and cranberries though. it's a slow process this garlanding business. but i like the finished product.
i think tomorrow or the next day i will harvest a tree for myself. i can't find my glass barn owl ornament. but the little german hedgehog is in the box of windfall bird's nests. yays. there are wreaths of snowberry twigs and lichen and rosehips. we will gather wild holly and boughs when i nab my tree. so pretty.
wellidy. time for something hot to drink.
went with sister and her beau to collect a christmas tree. i still haven't procured one for myself. i don't know that i will. i suppose i'd better decide soon.
tomorrow or the next day some very overdue gifts will be winging their way to their intended recipients. to that end i will make mug after mug of mulled cider and work into the wee hours to finish the last details of one of those gifts. it was finished but i unswaddled it and decided to carry out some last minute alterations. couldn't help myself. i get obsessive about these things. another package will wing its way to england. i hope it brings some joy. i also hope it results in beautiful photos that i can swoon over. i don't doubt that things will play out exactly as i hope.
finally found a gift for father. he's the easiest person to shop for because he begins hinting about what he'd like about three months prior to the big day. plus i know i can never go wrong with a quilted flannel shirt or a book. easy. by way of contrast i'll have you know my mother is the most difficult person to shop for. she never hints about what she'd like! and though i know her tastes well she's one of those sorts who own two of every tool and gizmo. i should request an inventory list in october so that i know what particular gizmo is missing its mate. then i'd be set. hmph.
the amaryllis are rocketing up from their pots. the white freesia are raising little translucent white spears with pale green tips. i can't wait until those bloom. to my nose they smell exactly like earl grey tea. the paperwhites are lagging behind all others but it's hardly their fault. i potted them up later than the rest. after they are done there will be a procession of hyacinth. blue jacket. sky jacket. city of harlem. splendid cornelia. gypsy queen. white pearl. dwarf iris and crocus will follow. should up the cheer quotient around here. yays!
wellidy.
]]>we're having quite a storm. the wind is roaring around the corner of the house. i can hear the willow tree outside the window whipping about.
very soon i will take the quilt top that my great-grandmother made and quilt it to a backing that i have yet to make. there used to be all manner of quilts she'd made kicking around. over the years some less than careful relatives have destroyed most of them. i've hung onto this quilt top though. it's made of white cotton with an orange and green and red floral design. there are bits of trapunto and my g-grandmother had begun to embroider french knots in places. quite pretty.
i am simultaneously dreading and welcoming the new year. how can that be? it just is. if i look back at december and january posts from this blog and the old one they all seem to say the same thing. my wheels are always spinning. stuck in the mud. i keep rocking my ride hoping it will eventually free itself. i think i feel an extricating momentum. i won't say it with certainty though because i don't like to jinx myself.
think i'm going to revisit some nabokov. it would be better to do so with lebkuchen and tea. especially given the weather. but i'm out of tea and am lebkuchenless. darn it.
wellidy.
it was another rather cold day. ice stayed on the ground. lola made little tracks through it when i let her out this afternoon. i sat in my car in the sunshine and read some and wrote some. the feral mama cat came loping by with a huge gopher in her mouth. she looked so pleased with herself. the sleek black creature.
i have been running around trying to do so many things but i never manage to feel as though i've accomplished anything. it's frustrating but the attempts at completion have at least the advantage of keeping me relatively distracted.
a few weeks ago i had misplaced a favorite scarf. i found it this afternoon in the back seat of my car. it's currently around my neck because the house is so cold. i don't mind. the scarf is cashmere and thus exceptionally soft. besides i have some very fond memories attached to this particular item of clothing. comforting.
when i wake there will be pin oats and cream and brown sugar to eat. i can't convey how awesome a prospect i find it. now if someone thinks to put a spurtle in my stocking.... incidentally i wouldn't mind a wax mustache and some lebkuchen in there either.
adieu.
it is so very cold out. at 1:30pm it was still only 36F. and that's not taking into consideration the icy wind that was a-blowing. however it didn't stop sister and me from going for a walk. as we rounded a corner i was looking at my feet and trying to successfully gauge the camber of the road so as not to trip. i noticed something gold and shiny in the middle of the street. it was a man's ring. i looked around but didn't see anybody nearby. so. i put the ring in my pocket. tomorrow i'll post flyers and see if someone calls to claim it.
my glasses should arrive soon. i think they will have to be fitted with prescription lenses. all of this staring at the interwebs is giving me a squint.
well. time to do something useful.
adieu.
]]>it is said that the daughter of linnaeus would set a match to fraxinella on windless summer nights. the air above the plant would burst into flame momentarily. bang.
along highway 41 there were fields of haulm from cotton crops. the ditches were white with stray bolls. the rushes along the aqueduct were golden. egrets stood along the banks. dead stalks of sunflower lined the fences. the prospect would have been very lovely if the light hadn't been so dingy and the atmosphere so pink with smog.
i said farewell to my friend. i thought composure would be attainable considering how completely i'd broken down upon first hearing the news. i was mistaken. but i'm glad i said a proper good bye.
in happier news...
the amaryllis are poking up there heads. tomorrow i will pot up some paperwhites and white freesia. i don't really care if they bloom in time for christmas. i just want to smell them. so good. incidentally i loved this post. the idea of forcing bulbs in hobnail glass had never occurred to me. i love how it looks.
rarely do i link to the many fashion and design blogs i read. i suppose i should start a design blog so that i could fill it with links. anyway. i spend a lot of time perusing etsy and this gal is consistently awesome. i don't know if she blogs outside of etsy but she should!
been enjoying this site thanks to a friendly tip off. :)
and one last thing. been listening to this song compulsively.
i'm not sure what it is about her voice that has me so bewitched. i just love it. i do have rather a soft spot for lo-fi recordings. maybe that's it. dunno.
wellidy. hold tight to those loved ones.
went for a long drive in the country yesterday with my sister and mother. it was sister's birthday. we drove to the top of a very high ridge and stopped to look back down the dirt road which we'd just ascended. it was a lovely view. the sun was declining. the air smelled dusty and like black sage and currant leaves. so nice.
tomorrow i will go and say goodbye to my departed friend. i'd like to throw a party in his honor because i think it's what he'd prefer. perhaps i shall.
wellidy. time to hem my pants and brush my coat.
g'night.
just received the news that my exboyfriend has passed away after a battle with a rare form of cancer. disbelief.
he was soft-spoken and kind. a consummate record nerd. given to spontaneous displays of goofy affection. impulsive on one side and methodical on the other. reserved but wickedly funny underneath. he took a long while to achieve some happiness in this world. finally found someone to love. but too briefly. life is really fucking unfair.
the first time that i met him was at a party in a ramshackle victorian house by the creek. he rented it with several other guys one of whom was a good friend of mine. records were being spun. he put on the mummies and danced comically across the room to where i was sitting in a corner with a book. he tried to pick up on me. i turned him down. but i secretly thought his antics were dorkily charming. so. we ended up dating. it didn't last but we remained good friends.
rest in peace, mr. w.