fashion crimes

I remember how intimidated I was when I first met Jeff's side of the family, especially the Ridpath women. Tall and slim, each of them could have stepped out of the pages of a fashionable women's magazine. Carrying themselves with natural grace and poise, their clothes (whether casual jeans or floor-length evening gown) exuded good taste and elegance...I always felt like a bit of a country bumpkin when I was in the same room.


Jeff's mom took us to Niagara-on-the-Lake this week for dinner and a play ("Picnic", which was excellent). It was somewhat chilly, so I had brought my leather jacket. When we left the restaurant, my mom-in-law retrieved my jacket from the coat check for me. She handed it to me with a laugh, saying, "I knew this coat had to be yours...only you would wear leather in June."


She said this with affection, of course, but I admit feeling a brief twinge of embarrassment, as if I had just belched loudly in a high-class restaurant. And then I wondered why it was so wrong to wear leather in June. I've never been able to master all the complicated rules of the fashion world (and to be honest, just haven't had the motivation to try); I'm sure I've committed more fashion crimes than most people. I wear black in spring, white in winter, socks with sandals, and carry a backpack with a skirt. My standard dress in university was track pants and a sweatshirt, with running shoes. I have little patience with hair-fussing, so generally let my hair air-dry after a shower, combing it with my fingers if I don't have a brush handy (which is frequently). I'd much rather spend the extra time checking e-mail one more time, finishing a few more pages in the book I'm reading, noodling on my harp.


I'm such a geek girl.


The clothes I do like the most tend to be the most comfortable and fraying around the edges (because I wear them all the time), or too over-the-top to wear except on rare occasions (my fave "formal" piece of clothing is a tight-waisted flared black velvet jacket with gold embroidery and tiny sparkly bits embedded into the cloth...I bought it for $12 at a vintage clothing shop on Queen Street).


When we were growing up, my Mom made most of our clothes. I still have clear memories of her bent over the sewing machine, cutting and hemming, holding pieces up against us to see if the size was right. She'd comb through sewing shops, looking for fabric sales. Our clothes may not always have been the height of fashion, but I suspect my parents were more concerned with getting clothes on our backs rather than making sure we were in style. I do still cringe when I see childhood photos of my lopsided grin staring out from a younger self clad in mismatched plaid and crooked horn-rimmed glasses, but the grin is genuine, supported by a happy childhood and much love.


Although I didn't appreciate it properly back then (what child does??), I am grateful now, thinking of all affection and time my mother put into each piece of clothing she made for Ruth, Jim and me. I still have a few pieces left, but can't bring myself to ever throw them out, no matter how worn or out-of-style they may be. Maybe someday I'll learn how to quilt squares of the pieces of fabric together into a comfort blanket. Even grown-ups need comfort from time to time. :-)


Going out to brunch with some friends this morning. Hm. Looks a bit chilly out; better get out that leather jacket...

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Do you consider yourself fairly well-dressed compared to most people?

writing again

To you filkers out there: If you haven't already, be sure to check out Andrea's Housefilk Info page. Many thanks to Andrea for researching and maintaining this resource!


Worked on my song collaboration with Andrea yesterday. This project is a fun challenge for me, since I don't do songwriting collaborations that often. I've never been that great at the "Rand and Adam" type of songwriting process, where you work on a song with the other person in the same room. (Speaking of Ookla The Mok, Adam recently posted an amusing Marcon report online, for those interested). However, I think it would be fun to do more collaborations by e-mail and smailmail, with exchanges of music files and cassette tapes.


Created some more Filemaker databases to help with my novel prep. I've designed them so I can use them for any other fiction novels I'm working on. I'm not a Filemaker expert, but part of the enjoyment of the process for me is learning more about the program through practical application, working on projects that I'm actually going to use. Since my deadline isn't really until September (end of our sabbatical), it leaves more room for experimenting with bells and whistles.


I have four databases so far: character description, society and culture, background info, and a basic plot outline. Each has its own subtopics. Each character record, for example, has fields for a name, brief summary of who they are, appearance details, motivation in the story, basic relationship with the other characters, conflict, and miscellaneous notes.


This may seem like overly elaborate prep for a YA novel (YA = young adult), but I figure it's worth experimenting. I don't tend to remember certain types of details well, and as a result often have to go flipping back through previous chapters to look up nitpicky info again, so I don't have one of the characters' hair change colour halfway through the book, or forget to tie up a loose end in the plot.


As I create and fiddle with these databases, I'm also working on my actual novel prep. Each project helps with the other...I'll be fleshing out a particular character, for example, and realize that there should be a section where I can describe the fact that she's crazy about 60s kitsch, or named her dog after the star of an obscure movie she saw in fourth grade, and so on.


Yes, I know I'm supposed to still be on my sabbatical. :-) But I'm finding that I can't NOT write. My Blatherings were enough to satisfy that hungry bit of my writer's soul before, but now that's not quite enough. I feel somewhat like a chocolaholic who has been forced to go on a diet for a long while and, suddenly finding herself free to eat anything she likes, craves a total immersion in all things chocolate.


I suppose that's the reason I'm going a bit nuts with the comic strips, Flash experimentation, new 'zines and resource Web sites, songwriting. I've also been reading anything I can get my hands on (right now I'm plowing through "Son of the Shadows" by Juliet Marillier, which is WONDERFUL).


I'm also starting to (*gasp) spend less time online, and more time in the Outside World. Reading, playing and writing music, interacting with people face to face. Part of this is simply because I need the break. But I also suspect that it's because of my own fiction writing. I can't write in a vacuum. Or I suppose I could, but my writing would be flat, the characters mere caricatures.


So if I skip a Blathering now and again, or don't seem as glued to my e-mail as I used to be, that's why...I'm out in the world looking for source material. :-)







Today's Blatherpic:


- Morning at the cottage.


- Sign outside an antique/secondhand shop. Parki, Kate, Jeff and I browsed briefly (and they did, indeed, have Contents).

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll: (Courtesy Chris Conway)

Do you think you're happier now than you will be 10 years into the future?

father's day visit

BELATED HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY to Scott Snyder! (his birthday was on Sunday). You can reach Scott at Cosmo@musician.org.


Many thanks to those of you who e-mailed me or posted about additional anti-itch and insect repellent treatments. These included:


- Calamine lotion. Or hanging out with someone who is more attractive to mosquitoes than you are. (Alison George)


- Liquid soap. "When mosquitoes bite, they insert an acid into your skin. Take a bit of liquid soap and dot it on the bite. The alkali in the soap neutralizes the acid in the bite and should help ease the itching. Don't wash it off immediately." (Pam Upper)


- Take a hot sauna and then jump in the coldest part of the lake. (Dave Clement)


- Eating garlic is supposed to have some insect-repellent properties, as well as including brewer's yeast in one's diet. (D'Glenn)


- Anti-itching: Caldryl, Gold Bond powder or cream. Insect repellent: anything that is 100% DEET. (Jim Poltrone)


- Hot water. (Jeff Kesner)


- Epson salt and water paste. (Gail Kesner)


- Benadryl. (Sharman Dorn)


- Extremely hot water. (Jeff Bohnhoff)


Jeff and I went back briefly to Toronto for Father's Day; we took my Dad out to the Mandarin for dinner, hung out at my sister's afterwards. Great Chinese buffet...much better than the usual limp noodles and soggy chicken ball fare so common in buffets. What kind of buffet person are you? Do you:

Fill up mainly on your favourite ingredient?

Try to get as many samplings of as many dishes on your plate as possible?

Pick a few choice dishes that you like and then lust after the ones everyone else chose?

Skip the salad, go light on the main course, load up on yummy desserts?


We had brunch with Parki and his sister Kate. Parki's place looks great...he's been gradually renovating and painting over the past few months. We browsed antique shops after brunch, and I found a wonderful manual Smith Corona typewriter. I've been looking for one to replace the Underwood (now deceased) at the cottage. It's been a long search...I wanted a typewriter that was functional yet had character. This one definitely has acres of the latter, with slightly crooked letters and finicky spacing. I love it. I'll need to find a new ribbon for it, though; I'm hoping there are some still available.


I have a thing for old typewriters, despite their relative clunkiness and impracticality compared to word processing programs and computer keyboards. There's something inherently appealing about the clackity-clack of the keys, the rhythmic sound of the carriage return, a sheet of white paper gradually filling up with ideas and stories, right there before your eyes. My first typewriter was an Underwood, and then I graduated to an electric typewriter (can't recall what brand) that I won in a Canada-wide high school writing contest. I remember having to use those crumbly slips of eraser paper, laboriously pausing each time I made a typo. That's something I -don't- miss. My favourite key on my computer keyboard is the "delete" key, which I use as often as possible.


Also went out for dinner at Golden Thai with Helen and Alec, who are visiting from the UK. Checked out the PalmTopShop and drooled over the new iBook. Jeff and I are thinking about trading in our current laptops (I want an iBook; he wants a G4).


I'm starting to experiment with CafePress.com, which I found out about from Jodi. A few people have asked me about Waiting For Frodo t-shirts, so I've created a Waiting For Frodo t-shirt design, for those interested. I posted the design yesterday and have sold two t-shirts. Pretty cool service. I think I'd like to create a Dandelion Report shirt as well (all profits will go to Interfilk) and perhaps some others.


I'll be out of touch later this week; Jeff's mom is taking us to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a few days. To Andrea - good luck with your concert at Contraption this weekend! Sorry I couldn't be there. :-(







Today's Blatherpic:


- Me snoozing with Annie and Sara. Annie is clutching Flatmouse, Jeff's childhood toy.


- Drawing of Shakespeare by Sara, for a school project. Not bad for a 6-year-old, eh? I'm also impressed that they're studying Shakespeare in first grade at all!

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Are you happier now than you were ten years ago?

itching

32 bug bites. Jeff has 2, his parents have none. Somehow this doesn't seem fair, especially since I'm the only one with insect repellent on pretty much all the time. I've been experimenting with different anti-itch remedies in anticipation of our hiking trip, and would be interested in hearing advice from any of you with experience. Here's how I rate the ones I've tried so far:


AfterBite: This stings, which makes me think it's working. Seems to work ok, but only if I apply it immediately after I get the bite (which doesn't happen very often).


Anti-Itch Gel: (from the Band-Aid people): Seems useless in terms of stopping my bug bites from itching, but the camphor does have a pleasant cooling effect. I spread some all over my arms and legs last night since I was so hot in the sleeping cabin. Didn't help my itching, but did cool me off enough to let me sleep.


Cortate: I'm sure the hydrocortisone ingredient must do something, but probably right away. My problem is that the itching drives me mad before it takes effect and I start scratching again. I'm so bad.


I haven't heard the cottage mouse lately, and strongly suspect that she is now an ex-mouse. :-(


When Jeff and I went back up, we noticed a Very Bad smell in the vicinity of one of the cupboards. Jeff investigated and found a nest of four dead baby mice. :-( Brittany was very sad (but fascinated at the same time). She told us that when she and her mom were at the cottage (Jeff and I had gone back to Toronto), one of their dogs killed a mouse that was running across the floor, and the mouse must have been the mother. I think she was right.


Fortunately my mom-in-law's dog isn't fast enough to catch anything, though he does put on a pretty good show. Jamie is one of those small yappy terrier dogs who acts like a much bigger dog than he really is. He's pretty cute, though, and when I scratch him behind the ears he tends to roll over on his back so I can scratch his tummy as well.


I bet Jamie doesn't get any bug bites.


Today's Blatherpic:


- Self-portrait.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

If you saw a mouse run across the floor of your house, would your first reaction be one of fear?

humid

I've updated My Life In A Nutshell.


It's been the kind of day when the air is so humid and hot that everything is damp, and the minute I step outside into the furnace I immediately feel like lying down and have someone pour ice cubes all over my body. The cottage freezer isn't that big, however, so instead I usually wander about in a half-doze, looking for a breeze.


Or I jump in the lake. There's nothing quite like it; I strongly advise everyone to jump in lakes on days like this (lacking a conveniently located lake, an unheated swimming pool or town fountain will probably do). One minute you're light-headed and crabby with the heat, clothes damp and sticking to your equally-damp skin...the next minute you're leaping off the dock, sun beating down on your head, cold water glittering below, an inner voice screaming, "No! Wait! I change my mind!" And then you're plunging in, gasping with the shock of the change in temperature, senses screaming awake. It feels even better if you've been in the sauna just before (not for the weak-hearted).


My mom-in-law got here yesterday with her dog Jamie. She brought swordfish, which we barbecued for dinner, yum. I'm a HUGE swordfish fan. I took a photo of dinner last night, but am too lazy to download it right now (the heat and all that, you know). Jamie hates swimming.


I'm not sure how many of you have checked out Jeff's personal homepage over the years, but those of you who have will know how dull it is. Despite its dullness (or perhaps because of it), people have written to Jeff commenting on his page. He gets very excited about this "fan mail" and almost always posts it online. He was highly amused to recently get the following:




Hey Jeff,


I know I haven't written to you in a long time, but I have just been so busy... you know how it is.


Heh.


I was doing some ego surfing (you know, running my name through a search engine) and a link to your page popped up. It seems that you kept my long-since-submitted comment on your "minimalist" web page. That was over 5 and a half years ago!


Well, your page has evolved (a bit) and it's about time for an update, an in-depth review of your progress over the past five years:


Your page has left the realm of minimalism and entered into a Zen-like existence. That is, presenting something exactly as it is, rather than through the filter of ideas, opinions, etc. Zen masters practice this by asking themselves a Big Question, such as "What am I?" If they ask such a question strongly and sincerely, the answer they receive is "Don't Know." This is exactly what I was left with as I revisited your page after all these years. As a result, I now carry with me with a deep feeling of awe and spiritual awakening.


Zen ia also a deliberately inscrutable teaching, made even more enigmatic by its interpreters, who spend many years writing innumerable books to explain what they insist is utterly inexplicable. In the words of Lao Tzu, "they who tell do not know; they who know do not tell." In not telling me anything when I visit your site, I come to realize that you must know everything. I celebrate your enlightenment.


Though, in this light, I found the addition of colour and Javascript rollovers to be disturbing.


Have a nice day! I'll check back in another 5 years.


Patrick Doelle

Domino/Web Developer/Consultant

Toronto




Today's Blatherpics:


- Chipmunk swimming across the lake. Photo by Jeff.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Have you been swimming in a public area (lake, pool, etc.) within the past 12 months?