Kate's Perspective

HOME | ARCHIVES

Saturday, May 31, 2003

Peonies from my Palm

Also, my cat.

posted at 2:05 PM # (0) comments

Friday, May 30, 2003

Speaking of skunks...
A real live skunk was skulking along the perimeter of our house Wednesday night! I shouldn't express surprise, since I was smelling skunk very strongly at about 4 a.m. that morning, but to actually see a real live skunk trundling through the flower bed, and to smell his wafting fragrance was pretty cool! John and I were returning in the dark from a mid-week dinner out at fabulous Brothers' Pizza. As we pulled into the driveway, the headlights caught Pepe, which didn't faze John at all. (He gained lots of skunk experience during summers on Martha Vineyard.) I thought we ought to let Pepe continue on his way before making any startling door slam noises, or stomping onto the porch under which he had taken cover. Soon enough, he came out the other side of the porch and waddled along the house into our neighbor's yard. Phew! I hope he is a he and has no friends or relations. The other side of town is currently battling a skunk infestation, which is smelly and expensive.

posted at 11:11 AM # (0) comments

Thursday, May 29, 2003

The weather has begun to get us down. We had a long, snowy winter, (kind of fun) which turned into a long, rainy, cold spring. I haven't really minded, but now that it is May 28, I am having flashbacks to my first summer in Seattle, WA and my second summer in Kodiak, AK. If I'm going to have cool, damp Northwest weather, can I at least have some of the perks?

posted at 9:52 AM #

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

Old and Busted
New Hotness

I have a new toy: The Palm Zire 71 organizer/digital camera! My second-hand Palm Vx, which I have loved, has a scratched screen, a loose calendar button, and a disinclination to accept anything I write on the first try. I have put off even looking at new Palms, because the Vx has been the best of the best for a long time. The newer ones were ugly or way over-powered or just not enticing. But over the long, rainy, holiday weekend, John told me it might be time to look again. He wanted me to see the Sony Clie which has a backlit color screen and is not too expensive-- but it has AWFUL WINDOWS FONTS and made me feel like I was carrying around a desktop. I pretty much hated it for no good reason.

On the other hand, I was immediately drawn to the Palm Zire 71 for equally no good reason. The one feature I was looking forward to adding to my Palm was a digital photo album. The Zire 71 one-upped my request and offers a retractable digital camera lens! So cool. The screen is beautiful and feels just like my old Palm. I think I will be taking more photos for my blog now that I have my own low-res camera. Yippee! Okay. Commercial over.

Note to self: second chance to watch Martha, Inc: NBC, 9 pm, Saturday. Don't miss it again!

posted at 10:09 AM # (0) comments

Friday, May 23, 2003

Never mind that we have just laid off an additional 23 people in the Americas. Royalty probably would still find work.

posted at 6:34 PM # (0) comments

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

I just saw an article from the Monday, May 5, New York Post which suggests Prince William wants to move to New York to lead a life out of the public eye for a few years. Even better, the article suggests he may work for an art gallery or an auction house while he's here! How ridiculous can you get? A royal (make that the most eligible, high-profile royal) working for an auction house will have a pretty hard time escaping the public eye. I'm the first to tell you that most aspects of life at an auction house are not at all glamorous (particularly today in the aftermath of our 3rd round of layoffs), but we know how to put on a good show.

Anyway, if it's true, may I suggest he apply at Christie's?

posted at 9:54 AM # (0) comments

Monday, May 12, 2003

P.S. Words of praise or encouragement happily accepted. Please direct to kate at tikaro dot com.

posted at 12:19 PM # (0) comments

I've been having a great few weeks-- we are on hiatus from house work (although that will resume this weekend) and I am spending lots of time working on creative stuff. It makes me really happy! Here is the knitting needle storage case I made for my mom as a Mother's Day gift. I modeled it after a similar case John gave me for Christmas (which means I was improvising the construction rather than following directions, which means there were many sessions with the seam ripper when I closed seams too early...). I started it on a snow day in late January and thought it would be a simple 2-hour project. Four months and two hours later, it turned out beautifully (if I say so myself). Mom loves it.

I finished the back of my purple cabled sweater last night-- this picture is from a week ago, but gives you the general idea:

I hope it will go smoothly, because I got ahead of myself at last week's sheep and wool festival and purchased the yarn for my next project! Plus, I am planning to visit a friend of my mom's this summer and spend a day quilting. Maybe a double Irish chain? Or a log cabin? I don't know, but I'd like to make a bed-size quilt as a belated wedding present to John and myself. The list of projects goes on and on.

I was at a memorial service two weeks ago for a long-time member of our Quaker meeting. The man's son stood and shared that Paul had considered his life very exciting because he had worked with so many media and techniques in his art. I feel that way about my own hobbies (mine are hobbies, Paul made his living as an artist)-- I feel very lucky to have the time and resources to learn about wool and sheep and cotton and the techniques of knitting and quilting and dressmaking. My only fear is that I will not have enough time in my life to try all the different ideas in my head! My favorite most thrilling part of creating something is watching the progress from raw material to finished product. The raw material is exciting because of its potential. I love how each step done well looks right. The object looks organic, as if it grew on a vine according to a natural plan.

posted at 11:49 AM # (0) comments

Thursday, May 08, 2003

I have referred to this past week frequently as hell week. Now that it's 80% over, it wasn't so bad. Here are the photos I've been meaning to post. Interesting text may take a bit longer still.

Below are the chart I made to correct the scarf pattern, and the 75% complete qiviuq scarf:

If I get more time, I would like to post a bigger version of the chart so it's actually legible. Pretty soon, I might qualify as a knit-blogger! Next up: photos of cabled sweater.

posted at 11:09 PM # (0) comments

Monday, May 05, 2003

I had the best weekend. I don't even want to get all blogg-y about it-- no Gen-X nostalgia or sarcasm. It was just COOL! See John's blog for the photos of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. SO much fun. We also gardened and did house chores. It was awesome. Will post photo of my container garden tonight...

posted at 12:47 PM # (0) comments

HOME - ARCHIVES