Such Sweet Hands

I was unaware of the fire until we stepped out for an errand. Before that I had merely noticed the pink cast to the light and thought about the dust storms of my Lubbock childhood. Thanks to dust storms, a pink lit day is sort of just right for spring out there. I didn’t bother to wonder why it was pink here though. Luckily we were headed to see a condo and I brought my camera along. I snapped a ton of photos as we happened to drive in the general direction of the fire.

This is the intersection of Olympic and Western. Other folks got pictures from much closer, but I love that this humble Burbank grass fire made itself seen all the way to Koreatown.

I’ve mentioned before that Tiger Lily (sometimes I spell it Lilly, just because it looks silly) is camera shy.  She’s simply shy about most things.  But she trusts me.  She’ll sleep curled up close to me at night, she follows me around the apartment sometimes, when she’s bored she’ll come get me to play with her, she’s developed a pesky but adorable habit of “begging” for table scraps without begging, and she’s simply the sweetest little thing.  Of course this sweetness is multiplied many times because she trusts me more than anyone else and only trusts two people at all.

The girl enjoys an afternoon sun nap.  Note, she’s not totally crashed out. She’s aware of the clicking camera, at any moment she may spring into action and dive behind her couch.  Yeah, she has her own couch….  that’s another story.

Wednesday, March 28 was a rather poopy day.

When working on several projects for various entities, one sometimes finds herself standing in the middle of several almost finished tasks and no idea how to prioritize which to finish up and send on it’s way first. (At least I do, because I have a rather dysfunctional relationship with my to do lists.) I was at the crux of one of these “to do list quandaries” when everyone I have outstanding work with emailed or called at once to see if this or that could make it’s way to him or her that day. My brain short circuited and I became paralyzed in my to do list. As soon as I’d start to concentrate on one thing, another popped up and I was literally jumping from thing to thing in a pretty manic way. I was some poor little wonky mixed up crochet robot in need of reprogramming…

A friend asked on IM how I was doing and I responded that it felt like knives were dropping from the sky. ….um, I guess that made sense. I was pretty stressed out. I really felt like I was juggling hot potatoes, but hey, “knives falling from the sky” works too. My dear friend in a moment of clarity with a heart of silliness responded, “combat them with the power of scrubbing bubbles!” That made me giggle. I sent off emails begging for more information, begging for time, wondering if everyone really needed things right away. I noticed I was very stinky on top of being helpless to choose one task to prioritize until I heard back from anyone. So I took a bath.

This is the view from my bathtub. This corner of my apartment always looks neat. Cool shadows, purple tile, it looks clean and calm enough I can ignore the cat litter box sitting directly to the left of this area.

Hiding in the bathtub did make me feel better. My brain seems to calm itself when all I have to look at is old tile and bubbles. As I got out of the tub I remembered the advice from hours earlier and laughed out loud. With a clearer head I chose something on the to do list that involved holding yarn in my hands (when missing other info to prioritize your work, reach for the yarn right?) I had indeed fought the falling knives with the power of bubbles and it worked!

Having spent the first 15 years of my life livng in a windy and thunderstormy sort of place, today’s windy weather made me feel right at home. Where I’m from this is how March is supposed to be: shiney bright sun with huge gusts of wind that come out of nowhere. If only the barometric pressure would have dropped and things sat still for a couple of minutes. Not that I’m wishing a tornado on Los Angeles, but sometimes I miss that tingly feeling you get when you breathe in that eerie air that warns of one. Maybe it’s just time for a springtime visit back home.

This is the view from the courtyard. Poor recently bloomed plants! There are petals everywhere!

Honestly, Monday was a tough day.  I worked hard, felt sick, had one of those identity crisis where one spends the afternoon tallying ones worth.  I worked some more and then I indulged in 3 hours of the final episodes of Six Feet Under.  Damn, that final segment is simply breathtaking and a good antidote to the afternoon’s troubles.  I love a show that kills off all it’s major characters with such grace…

I didn’t feel much like taking pictures, but that’s the nice thing about flowers.  When I moved to Southern California I knew any trying mental state could always get a reprieve thanks to the flowers.  I feel like a spoiled girl getting to live on this courtyard  full of roses and calla lilies.

Two Sundays in a row we’ve gone to Cha Cha Cha. Last week it was brunch before Felted Circuits class and this week it was early dinner after class. It’s simply one of the yummiest and most satisfying places. And who can refuse decor that is so colorful, with strings of lights and and all sorts of interesting altars. These last two visits we’ve been seated by a new piece in honor of our mayor.  I noticed it makes a lot of people smile…

This is Twilight. On my 8th birthday I came down with a fever at school and was sent home. I sprawled out in my mom’s huge bed and fell asleep watching teevee. I spent the day zoning in and out, falling asleep and waking up. It felt like The Beastmaster was on HBO the entire afternoon. Then I woke up, just after it had gone dark outside. The lamp at the side of Mom’s bed was on, and Twilight was standing there under the lamp. She was a gift from my brother.

I was already a seasoned lover of unicorns. But, she was my first My Little Pony, they were still pretty new. I loved her and as my My Little Pony set up grew, she stayed the favorite one. She stood out from the other My Little Ponies and existed outside of the stable playset the rest of the ponies lived in.  She just always seems to belong wherever I am.

She’s one of those things that has traveled with me through several moves, always kept out in the open on a desk or shelf.

Yeah, I totally *heart* My Little Ponies.  How could I not?  They’re the perfect intersection of girly things, magical horses, with manes and tails to brush and decorate with special clips and ribbons!

We have here a rather boring picture, but that is much of what I’ve been up to.  Switching between rather tedious work and sorting out the stuff in my office.  A quick snap of the view from my desk at that moment.  I have too much stuff…

You might see the shadows cast on the wall by the chandelier, I love those shadows.

There’s no way around it. If I’m going to share a glimpse of the daily events of my life for a month, pizza eventually comes up. Not so much because of me, but because of Rob, my pizza loving sweetie. That’s him, with our friend Maiteeny, her passion for food and finding new places to try is only matched by Rob’s adoration of a great pizza. She tried out this new place, Vito’s, the night before and called us with a review so glowey we had to return with her the next day.

Most places don’t succeed at adding fresh veggies to a pizza. Things end up wet and sloppy. But this place makes a tasty spinach and ricotta pie. The ricotta is sweet and creamy, it really adds something…  Being able to order a slice of something veggie is a nice counterpoint to all those slices I get of Rob’s standard favorite: pepperoni and mushrooms, as seen above.

Breaking from the mold of photos being froma specific date, I’m posting one from last fall because this just came out!

You’ve already seen pictures of the bag here. And it’s predecessor here. And you’ll be hearing more about it later. I’ll be telling you all about every step of making these bags.

This is the “Versatile Wrap Top”. Wear it wrapped in back, wrapped in front. Wrapped snug or drapey and slouchey. Wear it open like a vest… the list goes on. And yeah, there are stringy bits hanging in this photo… This reminds me to finish my own, I really want to wear it!

I love both of these patterns and can’t wait to see folks make and love them too.