The Good and The Bad

I found a really good deal on ebay for a Polaroid SX-70, but when I got her, she didn’t want to work. I was so bummed, so so bummed, because I have been yearning for one of these for a long time, and was so excited to use her. And she was so pretty. I did internet searches and tried cleaning her battery contacts, and finally, I had succumbed that her fate would be The Shelf, to look pretty only, and that I would be on the hunt again. Just my luck, I guess, for getting such a good deal.

But it turned out so well, because a flickr friend made a very sweet offer to me of one of hers. She said she was pretty banged up and sounded a little funny, but worked great. I couldn’t believe it, I was so blown away. I got her this weekend, and she is a little more worn, and does sound a little funny, but she does work, and oh, I love her.

Carrying On

I got a roll of film back this week with a bunch of shots from picnicing at American Players Theater, so these will be popping up for awhile. I love this one of my friend’s picnic basket.

I had a bit of a freak out yesterday afternoon when I walked to my usual library branch to return a book and pick up a hold to find that they were unexpectedly closed. Well, unexpectedly to me. For remodeling. For two weeks. And I didn’t recall ever getting any notification of this. I don’t mind the exercise, and it’s not really that far from my house, but it was still 25 minutes wasted in a day that felt too short already, and I stomped home as it began to sprinkle, mumbling under my breath and scowling. It had already been kind of a rough day, and it was sort of like the straw that broke the camel’s back, you know?

So I get home and immediately post a scathing little note on my facebook status that I’d composed in my head on the walk home, about how it would have been nice if they’d given me some notification of the closing before I wasted 25 minutes of my life that I could have spent working on a project, and also where do I pick up my hold? And !!!!. Hear my roar. And then I opened up the most recent email notice of a held book, and right on top, of course they DID give me notification. Albeit notification in the same size and color as the rest of the email, in a place where I never look when I get these emails becaues the pertinent information is always at the bottom. I jump the gun sometimes. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise.

Bigger

I still haven’t used much of this kale yet, and it’s gotten alot bigger. And I even sent my mom home with a huge bag full of it. I think every day that I put off using it it grows bigger and bigger just for a chuckle at me. But I have a plan for braised kale with a fried egg and toast here pretty soon. Perhaps tonight.

It’s kind of feeling fallish around here. I thought I spied a couple of fallen maple leaves with twinges of orange the other day when I was out walking. I need to work on a fall plan, I think, and that orange cornmeal cake is sure to be part of it.

Balloons!

I feel weird posting without a photo, and wordpress won’t let me embed flickr, so, hydrangeas.

At the place – ahem – where I do the majority of my internet surfing, I don’t have the appropriate web gear (newest version of flash or something) to play the videos on flickr. I’ll come across something that I’d love to watch, click on it, and be reminded again by an unchanging rectangle of black that I can’t watch it. My heart sinks, I vow to remember to go back to it when I’m in the place where I can watch such things, and then 99.9% of the time I completely forget and I’ll die without seeing it. Which, really, isn’t the end of the world, I know, but it gives me small moments of disappointment every so often.

I was actually IN THE PLACE WHERE I CAN WATCH these things a couple of nights ago and it must have been karma or some kind of cosmic retribution, because this was right on the first page of my contacts list in flickr and I clicked on it and my mind was blown. Then this too.

I’ve wanted to go to a balloon fest for years, and that just made the desire even stronger.

Stumblings

This picture has nothing to do with anything, but we had to go to the laundromat to wash a gigantic blanket that we have after an escapade with dried soap residue and a puddle told us that it didn’t fit in our washer. Luckily, there is a mat a block away. I’ve been wanting to take a camera in there ever since we moved to the hood, so I did.

So, anyvays, this is so great:

And also, I truly adore this:

Mini Road Trip

1. for giving, 2. Tomato heaven., 3. some are red!, 4. tomatoes in window

I am loving all of the garden bounty pretty-ness out there.

We took my mom on a little surprise mini road trip this weekend for her birthday, to Mineral Point. We drove the backroads, through field after field of corn. I was looking for other colors to photograph, but there’s alot of green out there right now.

We had lunch at the oddest little diner I’ve ever seen, walked around a bit, had a beer at the brewery that we didn’t find til the end of the afternoon, went into galleries and antique stores. I found a polaroid 400-something land camera that I didn’t buy, a teeny little point and shoot brownie that I didn’t buy, and a twin lens reflex with a broken mirror that I didn’t buy. So tempted, though. I may go back…

Why I love my Farmer’s Market

When I asked the nice lady at my favorite honey stand if they sold the dark wildflower honey in large glass jars like they do with their lighter clover honey, she said no, but we could certainly work that out for you. She wrote my name down and a week later, had a big glass jar of that dark stuff waiting for me. I really love when they’ll go a tiny bit out of their way to please their customer’s philosophical idiosyncracies.

Art

We drove out to Arena on Sunday to go to a friend’s art opening. It felt good to be talking about art for awhile. And seeing similarities, and also differences, in how we think about it. We’ve known each other for a long time, but have never seen each other’s work. It’s nice to have changed that.

Then storms raced us home.

Sewing and Beer

More weekend sewing. I had plans to be at a beer festival this weekend, and the weather had plans to heat up and be really humid, so I was thinking it might be nice to have something as low on the clingy scale as possible. The trapeze dress from Heather Ross’s Weekend Sewing has been on my to do, so I cut the fabric and sewed it right up on Friday night and Saturday morning.

It was pretty straightforward. And quick. The bodice is a bit fussy and had me a little confused for a bit, but I worked my way through it and didn’t really get all that stuck. (Thanks, Sarah, for some random advice!) I will say that even though I made the size that the book indicated for my bust size, it was still way too big and I had to take in the sides by an inch and a half total even after I sewed the bodice part on. So that kind of negates the continous bodice detail that the dress has going on, but I guess it’s not that big of a deal. After wearing it for a bit, I’ve also decided that I should remove about an inch from the front between the straps, so that they and the box pleats sit a bit closer together on my frame. So I’ve got some adjustments I want to make to the pattern and make another one.

The beer festival was fun, we tried more kinds of great beer than we could count. (Next year I think I’m really going to have to TRY to count!) A favorite brewery from Duluth was there, as well as a favorite from Louisville, lots of familiar breweries and lots of new to me ones. The pretzel necklace is a funny tradition that lots of people do, so that they have an easy access snack/palette cleanser. I couldn’t find any regular string, so I used fancy baker’s twine, and it totally matched my outfit. And I got a random drive-by walk-by compliment on my dress from a complete stranger, which was nice.

And boy, was it ever hot. I’m so glad I had something flowy to wear.

Winos on the Lawn

Madison calls it “Concerts on the Square,” but a friend of ours more appropriately dubbed it “Winos on the Lawn.” Every Wednesday in July the Madison Symphony Ochestra plays a concert on the capitol square, and 30-40 thousand people lay out blankets and quilts and little short chairs and picnic tables, bring all manner of food and tons of wine and have a little (or big) picnic around the capitol building listening to fancy symphony music. I’ve gotten stuck in the parking fiasco that ensues on multiple occasions in the past, but have never copped a squat on the grass with a glass of wine to listen, until this summer.

Picnics are super fun. Especially with booze. We packed up a small quilt, a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers, some cookies dug out of the depths of the freezer and got a couple of sandwiches. We decided we wanted a bit more wine so I went on a field trip to the wine store down the block for another bottle. And I got lots of ideas for other picnicky food for next time. Edamame! Other cold vegetables. Hummus, of course.

My favorite part about it is the patchwork of blankets and quilts. And people walking about out in public with real glass wine glasses. The music is nice too. We’ll definitely do it again next year.