Snow, rain, knots and beads

It's done - the book was sent off to the publisher on Saturday - in a snowstorm. Ya for us. Mostly for Annika, she's lived in a cave downstairs cranking out macrame at an amazing rate. The number of beautiful and truly unique projects that emerged from her nimble fingers is amazing.
All I had to do was wrestle with Windows Vista to get Adobe Illustrator to behave and draw over 40 diagrams of the knots. Piece of cake right? Not so much - Vista does not play well with others - I installed and uninstalled and reinstalled, navigated around the blue screen of death, and eventually dumped as much as possible off my brand-new laptop(say goodbye to all my purchased music), just to get Illustrator running. So in the next week or so I'll be shipping my computer off to the local guru to be downgraded - NT here I come.
In the mean time I'm getting ready for Christmas, trying to figure what to get the roommate who has everything, the niece who needs everything and the niecle (Rosie) who wants everything (as all six-year-olds do). I'm so not used to buying for girlie-girls.
Non-Christmas purchases are easy I found couple of cute outfits for Rosie at Goodwill this morning - she's growing like a weed, like most of the kids in my family, long and lean.
I also found a couple of treasures for myself - a raincoat, black wool skirt and purse. I'm headed off to Andover Mass, in a couple of weeks for a business trip, so must look professional. And warm.

Micromacreme - aw knots !

Check it out - this is one of the illustrations for Annika's book on micromacreme. Yes, I did this, and even though it's not finished I'm quite pleased with it. Annika is finishing up the writing portion as I write this and I've just got a couple of things to finish - this being one of them. So stay tuned, I'll update with publishing and release details as soon as I hear about them.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving
I must say a pleasant day, it's been too long since I've had the opportunity to cook for such an appreciative audience. Marcus and his mother were quite lovely and I will cheerfully cook for them whenever I can. Marcus brought two beautiful pies, and his mum did the sweet potatoes. It was a lusciously-lazy afternoon with the lot of us snoozing in front of the fireplace after dinner.

Once upon a time I wanted to be a chef. That was before I discovered that there is a world of difference between cooking for a living and loving to cook. I tried to work in a restaurant for a time, it was great fun until I killed a prime rib (it made a lovely pot roast) and made my boss cry. For food mangers out there a bit of advice - never leave a vegetarian in charge of an expensive cut of meat without very explicit instructions. So my cooking career went the way of my vegetarian diet - gone but often looked back on with fondness and a vague sense of longing.

I still love to cook, and love feeding people. Since I don't have a family to feed my friends get pressed into fulfilling my inner Grandmother tendencies. Come on over and the first words out of my mouth are, "Can I get you a cuppa tea?" Tea usually comes with whatever nibbles I have on hand, fresh fruit, cheese, and gluten-free goodies.

Speaking of nibbles I made the most amazing scones on Friday. Pamela's Baking Mix has been a sanity-saver and on the back of the package I found a recipe for scones (I love scones - and missed them terribly when I gave up gluten a couple of years ago), to which I then added a couple spoonfuls of cranberry-orange relish to the batter. Yum...I was in heaven. Try it with your own recipe, it rocks.

Monday, Monday

It's the first Monday in quite some time where I haven't had to drag myself out of bed and to work. I love my job, I do. But it's nice to be typing at the kitchen table with slightly-dated rock and roll playing in the background. Peaceful y'know. Our house lives out in the country, with older, somewhat neglected landscaping. Nothing pretentious, gnarly old apple trees, grapes that wrestle with the blackberries for dominance (with a little help from me and my pruning shears), rhodies, volunteer roses and asian plums. We didn't get any plums this year - the neighborhood raccoon swiped them all just as they were getting ripe. I don't mind, I'd much rather a vegetarian raccoon feasting on plums than a omnivore getting into the garbage and threatening the cats.

Vacation.....of a sort. I'm taking this week off to take care of all-sorts of neglected things. Including my blog. So stay tuned - I'm learning to use Adobe Illustrator and will be uploading some of my tests.
I'm also doing Thanksgiving this year - as a single person, cooking a turkey is normally an exercise in excess, but this year there's Jennifer, Rosie, Annika and a couple of friends coming over. So I've ordered the bird, and am planning the menu. I'm thinking a wild-rice risotto/stuffing dish, sweet potatoes, cranberry orange relish, a fluffy salad and snacks. Oh and mashed potatoes, just so there's something to put under the gravy. And how does one make gravy without the evil wheat you ask? Why with potato starch, it gives a smooth texture somewhere between cornstarch and regular flour and absorbs all the wonderful flavor from the drippings. And there is no learning curve, since it works about like a regular flour roux - in fact I've used potato starch to make a roux for cream-based soups, macaroni and cheese and other sauces. Even when I could eat wheat, I preferred it in soups, because of the creaminess. One note though, it seems to take less salt in the final product, so be gentle with the shaker. :)

Another Saturday....

Homework - gotta love it. Today I'm trying to refresh my memory regarding rationals, radicals and roots. Sounds like a lawfirm doesn't it? The firm of Rational, Radical and Root, specializing in tax shelters and corporate law. Hmmmm....wonder if they can set up a trust. Maybe I should do a Leona Helmsley and leave my vast fortune to the cats.
This is Gatto (a little unimaginative, I know) -he came with the name and any attempt to change it has been met with supreme indifference. Indifference describes him very well as a matter of fact. He's currently curled up on the sofa snoring. Loudly. Imagine how hard it is to stay motivated when you are sharing the room with someone so intensely asleep.
I should mention that although he technically belongs to Annika - he feels he's above the whole ownership thing. He treats all of us as staff, when he decides to notice us at all.
Oh well, enough of a break - back to work. Wish me luck.

Fall.....ing asleep.
It's hard to believe that another summer has slipped away. School starts on Monday and before I crawl back into the world of academia I wanted to get some random thoughts on the nature of reality out - you know, light stuff.
As a society we tend to identify ourselves with various archetypes, I'm currently dealing with a group of folks who identify strongly with the victim stereotype (I did at one point in my life - but that's a post for another day). It's true that they have been wronged at various points in their lives and, rightfully, have a lot of anger and fear from those experiences. But I'm coming to realize that a victim is a very powerless place from which to live, true that there is a certain amount of sympathy that can be gleaned from that position, but a victim has given all of their power to the people around them, and can only gain power from pity.
The other problem with this world view, is that a victim requires a villain. That paints any relationship as fundamentally unequal. So- how does one move beyond that victimhood to reclaim one's power and grow from these toxic experiences? Any thoughts?

Ah Changes.....

It's been a hectic summer here - my fabulous niece, Jennifer,and her lovely, six-year-old daughter Rosie have moved in with Annika and I. Unexpected - yes, a big adjustment - you bet, but an opportunity to get to know a couple of really beautiful souls. Jennifer and Rosie have been dealing with some troubling circumstances with more grace and dignity than 90% of the people on the planet.
So there's some major adjustments going on in my homelife. I'm in the process of clearing out my office so Rosie can move in there. Jennifer is taking the guest room which, thankfully, was in pretty good shape. So I'm busy weeding out a dozen year's worth of art and crafting supplies, paperwork and junk. Some of which I still need to unpack from the move, the rest I'm trying to decide if I'll need to get to it in the next year or so. Why so long? Well, Jennifer is pregnant, and I don't expect her to be in a position to move out until at least next summer. Did I mention that there are some radical adjustments being made at home?
So the first thing Jennifer did was go out and find a full-time job. She intends to work as long as possible, and get back to work at least part time soon after the baby comes.
Annika has been amazingly cool through this whole process, and Rosie has cheerfully adopted her as a surrogate Auntie. We have a hard time keeping Rosie from pestering her though, Annika is busy writing a book on micromacreme, and Rosie sneaks downstairs whenever she gets the chance. It's cute.

Don't Drink the Water

Several of my actor friends are currently in a show over at the Wade James Theater in Edmonds. I haven't seen it yet, that happens this coming Saturday, but these folks are amazing. Jay Irwin, Ian Gerrard and Keith Remon can individually make a show - I expect fantastic things from them as a group. The show itself is a classic Woody Allen - full of witty dialog and physical comedy. I can't wait.

Another wet June day....and boredom sets in. I've got stuff to do, but am lacking the necessary oomph to drive me to action. There is calculus to review over the summer, furniture to arrange, a shelf to hang, dishes to wash (laundry too), vacuuming and tidying to be done - but all I really want to do is curl up with a good science fiction novel and snooze. Coffee....I need coffee.....preferably in a pure form.

Bit by bit, I've been redoing my bathroom - it's a small space that was filled with clunky retro-70's oak. Since it was from the 70's most of the finishes were pretty well shot. It was dark and impossible to clean (bathrooms are one room that must be scrubbable) . The first thing to go was the oak toilet seat, then the oak towel bars that were not only screwed to the wall, but glued as well (what a pain). A medicine chest that was too big for the space was replaced with an oval mirror. I filled the holes from the old fixtures and painted everything white, including the old vanity. I also replaced the mis-matched knobs with brushed chrome and put up a hook for a robe and a single towel ring. Everything matches. Then, last week, someone at work was selling the shelf I'd been looking at buying, instead of over $100.00, I picked it up for $15.

Well - off to work.

OK so it's been a while....the old work thing has been taking too much of my time and creativity. And when not working I've been trying to get the yard beaten into shape - so far the blackberries are ahead, but I have a radical comeback strategy, involving pruning shears, a weed eater and shovel. And sweat....lots and lots of sweat.

Here's a snap of the front yard - it's hard to tell the scale, but the rhodies are well over 10 feet tall.

In other happenings, Annika, (my fabulous roommate) and I spent last weekend sewing - actually she does the sewing and I do the cutting and pressing. We put together the most beautiful shirt - a sort of medieval print, wrap t-shirt. Also completed were a skirt and trousers.

Dreaming of the UK

I'm planning a trip to the UK this fall and am so looking forward to it. I was there last spring for the first time with by buddy Annika. Here's a picture of Glastonbury Abby - I love the texture and colors of the ruins.

Well I survived Dear World, with my sanity more or less intact. Kirkland Performance Center is a great house with a seriously fabulous tech crew. Every show has to have one crisis - I think it's a law or something - one of our actors had a nasty flu and couldn't go on opening night. The good news was our director was able to step in without a hitch - he learned the music a scant 15 minutes before the show and rocked. It was great catching up with a couple of friends I haven't seen for a while and meeting a couple of new ones.

Dear World

A dear friend of mine talked me into stage managing a show for him. Marcus is an amazing actor, writer and all-around performer who is directing Showtunes' latest production of Dear World. What is Showtunes, you ask? Showtunes is a theater company that regularly puts up concert versions of musicals that, for one reason or another, don't get produced regularly. They keep it fun - and so far it's a great group. So here's the link. We go up next weekend.

www.showtunestheatre.org

My first post....

Wow, a blank slate on which to store my ramblings....too much fun. I'm currently snowed in, the northwest hosted it's second snow-storm so far this winter, the roads around here are pretty much sheet ice. And since I'm off the main roads, the chances of getting plowed, sanded or salted are pretty slim. It is gorgeous though.

I'm feeling a little anxious - I'm working on a couple of shows and I need to be able to get out tomorrow for rehearsal. The scripts are in my car, so I REALLY need to get out.