Brilliant, just brilliant
June 22nd, 2012
UPDATE — July 1, 2012: As my self-loathing mellows, I have begun to reassemble some of the missing photos.
Oops. I just changed the location of my blog again (check your address bar). And I forgot to download my uploads before I uploaded them. Does that make any sense?
It means that all the pictures I’ve included in posts since the beginning of April are now gone forever. This is quite sad as I didn’t bother to save any of them on my hard drive, figuring that a copy on the server was good enough until I got around to running the next back up. You can see how well that plan worked. And there was a glitch in the server’s back up, so there’s really no way to get them back.
On the other hand, most of my posts lately have been dull and insipid, so it’s rather fitting that they lose their images and therefore become truly irrelevant. I’d delete them to hide my shame, but that seems like too much effort.
Bah.
Go West, Young Woman
June 1st, 2012
And so I went.
Here I am, before I left, standing under the Washington Square Arch in Greenwich Village. I’m wearing an old prairie schooner smock with pinafore and bonnet, perfect duds for pioneering. The jeans and the sneakers may not be authentic, but they’re decidedly practical. Willa Cather would surely approve.
What’s that you say? I could be standing in front of any large marble structure? How can I expect you to believe I really posed under the Washington Square Arch wearing such a ridiculous outfit?
Well this ought to prove it.
With fondest regards to the dear friend who took these pictures on my very last day in New York City…
Irresistible Deal
May 27th, 2012
Alas, Walmart wins again. I had a sudden craving for poly-chiffon and decided to check the fabric counter at the local Walmart before traveling 15 miles to the nearest independent fabric store. I wasn’t expecting much. Our Walmart seems to specialize in loudly-patterned quilting cotton and bolts of scratchy stuff labeled “made in China: undetermined fabric content.”
A first glance through the modest double row of bolts seemed to confirm my suspicion. The only sheer fabric in sight was very stiff and hideously iridescent. A once-over of the sale fabrics piled on a table behind the shelved bolts yielded a lonely remnant of corn-colored poly-chiffon for $1.50 per yard. Definitely not the color I’d envisioned, but it was an exciting find none-the-less. Clutching my treasure, I walked towards the cutting table past the other side of the sale pile. And then I saw them. Three bolts of deliciously sheer, drapey poly-chiffon, in chocolate, claret, as well as the original corn I’d already found. And THESE bolts were $1 per yard.
I bought every inch they had. It’s in my washer now.
Hallowe’en, Age 13
May 25th, 2012
I was a big fan of the Bard throughout grade school, but it took the influence of my fellow eighth-grade musketeers, Kelli & Alexis, to inspire me to dress as a Shakespearean character for Hallowe’en.
Our California front yard is the perfect setting for Titania, Queen of the Fairies. Or Faeries, if you prefer.
I guess I was busy with school, because my ever-willing mother made the entire costume. The base of the costume is a muslin dress, with a gathered empire bodice and gored ankle-length skirt. That’s topped by a series of home-dyed sheer panels gathered into a ribbon to tie around the waist. A flower crown for my head, and ribbon wrapped flowers pinned to the over skirt completed the ensemble.
That same year, I did find time to build an ass’s head out of papier-mâché. But I don’t think anyone wore it for Hallowe’en.
I felt oddly at home frolicking about in this outfit costume around our new home…
How Does Your Garden Grow?
May 24th, 2012
Probably better than mine.
But considering that I’ve not put spade to ground for more than a decade, and that our yard is mostly sand, and that we are plagued by gophers and intense sun, it’s not too bad for a first try.
This particular plot is nestled into the roots of a recently felled tree, in the hopes that the dryad will stick around. Plus the network of roots underground keeps those pesky gophers at bay.
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