Deja Vu

Well?...
I'm not sure what's going on with the weather. We have a snow day, and it's been snowing ALL day but not a drop of it is sticking. Feels a little guilty to be at home. I'd rather be at work doing things.
Crazy right?
To update you all on my first floor ceiling - the plumber came on Monday and figured out that the trap from the drain had fallen out. Great. So he's supposed to come back tomorrow and put a strap on it, and then someone is supposed to come and fix the ceiling. Of course, all of this depends on whether we get the storm of the century or not.

The Fates

Apparently the fates don't think I have enough to deal with.

I just discovered the bathroom ceiling on my first floor:
and the stuff that landed in the tub:
Oh yay.

OMG

I think we just had an earthquake in Philadelphia. Not joking. It was a little lurch, my seat moved and then the bookshelves or the door shook gently. Nothing strong enough to worry about. Either than or my house settled a bit strongly. Well, Lois Johnson, one of my profs at UArts always told a story about feeling an earthquake in 1968 (or something like that).
I really hope we don't start having earthquakes on the east coast of the US. Everything is comin' down if we do. Nothing has rebar in it. Okay - I'm going to stop now.

Because we didn't get enough snow

There are huge snowflakes falling outside. Have been for the last five hours. It's not sticking too much though. This is a good thing. We can't too much more of this. I thought I'd show my icicles from the other direction. They are pretty nice. Hope everyone had a nice Valentine's day - I did my taxes. :)

Snow, snow, and more snow

I had to run errands in center city today. What a nightmare. The sidewalks are still full of snow, crossing any street is an obstacle course of ice, slush, puddles, and other pedestrians. I got what I needed and got the heck out of dodge.
Jacques was glad I was home. He's tired of the snow, he can't run around and check all of his stations. He came outside for the photo shoot, but was very glad when we headed back in.
I have the most amazing icicles all around the house. They are really beautiful, but a bit ominous.
And it seems like it's not over yet. There is a prediction of snow on Monday. We could get another 6inches. ! This is not helping the "global warming" argument. But switch that to Global Climate Change - yeah, that works. We have not had this much snow once in my 6.5 years of living here. In fact two of the years, there was no snow. Not a snowflake.
I am using the time to get through a list of things to do that is 15 inches long. Not joking. I just measured it. That doesn't count the notes of other stuff to do on the side. So far I've got six things crossed off. Up next, boring stuff I don't want to do. But if I can get these things crossed off tonight, maybe I can make some art tomorrow!

Snow Day Thursday

Good Morning!A couple of pictures of the view outside my bedroom window. Above, the beautiful snow on all the bare branches.
Icicles hanging from the ledge. They are about three feet long.
And my poor pine tree is so heavy with snow, the top part has split in two.
We have clear blue sky today. A record of all time, 71 inches of snow has fallen on the city of Philadelphia. I've got to do my part today to dig ourselves out. Rumor has it, the city doesn't have any more money in the budget for snow removal. The only things running are the ambulances. The mayor has called for a "transition day", whatever that means. But there are still some bosses making people go to work! It's treacherous out there! One of my poor friends has to go to work, and a lot of the public transportation isn't running. I say she should protest formally, tell her boss is a crazy old git, and call it a day. But then, she might not have her job on Monday morning. (sigh). Thank goodness my boss is reasonable and has said when the Phila. Public schools are closed, so are we.
So, for the agenda today is:
1. dig out sidewalks. While this isn't exactly fun, it's not that bad either. It's definitely great for the abs. And Jacques will get to go out which he is desperate to do.
2. I have a lot of business type stuff to do. Including getting going on my taxes.
3. The saga of the silver sweater:
(ugh)
I've been working on this thing for over a year now. I thought I'd move along while I was in California and make the second sleeve. Well, I did, and I did it wrong. There is one too many rows of twists! How did I do that?
Last night, with Jacques help, I layed everything out, and looked at it. The thinner sleeve is much nicer and so I decided to knit - yes - a third sleeve for this sweater.
It looks better already. Maybe I'll get to wear it next year.
Jacques, is still the king of finding the warm spots. Here he has found the sunbeam du jour. He sat here for a while as I worked on my photos. But really he's going a bit stir-crazy. Poor guy. He wants to be outside so badly, but he does not like the snow. We'll see what he does today when I go out to dig up the side walk.

Lovely lovely Snow day, again and again

Snow day today! Good thing too. We got about 6 inches last night. It let up a bit this morning. Then around noon, just as I had finished my sidewalk, it started up again and hasn't stopped yet.
So guess what? Snow day tomorrow too!!! Lovely lovely....
Here's my car this morning: And here it is just now: Didn't do anything really today. I did weave in the ends of my gloves. They are ready to wear. But I tell ya, never again. Gloves are a major pain in the neck. I think I'm a mitten person. I'm actually thinking I should knit myself a pair of mittens in the same pattern. It sure would go a lot faster and I wouldn't have to worry about the color changes.

No Snow day today

Snow day yesterday!
I got lots done. Ran errands, prepped for class tonight, took care of some business, and finished my gloves!!!I still need to weave ends in, and I'm probably going to re-address the fingertips. I don't like how they've been finished. And this was a good lesson about thinking through what you are doing with which yarn. What a pain in the tuchus to get the gradation to work on the fingers. Look at the state of my yarn. What a mess! Will have to deal with that as well.
I was hoping for another snow day today, but no dice. That's okay, it's looking like we'll have another one tomorrow, maybe Thursday as well. As always, we live in hope.

Snowy Weekend

Lookit how much snow fell! The reports this morning were 27 inches. And it's beautiful beautiful beautiful! Big powdery drifts in my yard. Jacques braved the outdoors for a few hours today. I think he must have stayed under the porch the entire time because there were no kitty footprints in the yard. And actually with the 2 and half feet we got it would have been a sinking kitty, no footprints.
I spent yesterday on the couch (except for the hour I was out shoveling the sidewalk) knitting: I only have two fingers to go! The right glove looks so much better than the left. Probably because I didn't try it on 19 million times, and I did a much better job of making the gradated color even. I'm really happy with them despite the unevenness. I just looked on KYW our news station for school closures. It says schools are closed on Monday. I hope it still says that tomorrow morning. Then I can do all the stuff I should have been doing Saturday.
The storm stopped yesterday around 2pm, and started to clear up. We had an absolutely beautiful sunset:
view out the front window.
View out of my bedroom window.
We are supposed to get another storm on Tuesday, which according to NPR is supposed to dump even more snow than this last one. Positive thinking people! Snow day snow day snowday!

Lovely Weather

Well, we got a little snow last night.
17 inches by 10am with another 3-5 predicted by this afternoon. I'm leaning towards the five the way this stuff is coming down. And there are people out there! Unbelievable. But mostly is just quiet. So quiet. Every once in a while I can hear a snow plow or some knucklehead who wants to drive somewhere go by, but mostly its so quiet.
Jacques wanted out badly this morning. We went to the front door and he bounded out. Without a change in rhythm on the third bound he did an about face and hopped right back in the door. This was followed by some severe complaining as he stalked around the hallway.
As I went to shut the door he came running back. Possibly hoping that it was all a big joke and that this time when I opened it, everything would be gone. I let him out again and you could see him trying to figure out how to be out without sinking into the snow. He knows to step in previous tracks, but when the tracks don't go where you want to go, what then? Do you walk closer to the wall? does the step help? Nothing really helps. I think what he doesn't like is the surprise of sinking. If he could walk on top of the snow that would be fine. He quickly gave up and came back in to whine some more. I'm not complaining, this means I am now his favorite sleeping spot. He sleeps on my legs and is nice and toasty warm. Mary texted a bit ago - let's go play in the snow in the park. Not me. I'm staying in my flannel jammies, cow-girl slippers, day glow fleece with the cat and coffee. I will have enough fun in the snow tomorrow clearing my sidewalk, thank you very much.
Yesterday afternoon I went to the library and checked out some dvds. I tried going to the store but it was total madness. There was no way I was going to wait an hour in line to buy one bunch of scallions. Wontons will have to wait until I can get back to the store. Instead, I came home last night and baked an Apfel Torte. I love this cake. It's just a thin layer of dough and cut up apples, a little sugar and Cinnamon. High fiber, low calories.
I'm working on my gloves today. Here's where I am, so close and yet so far. I've got a lot of other projects I'd also like to do and I have some business type stuff to do as well. But it feels like nothing else is functioning so why should I? I'm desperately hoping that the city of Philadelphia will not get it's act together enough tomorrow (Sunday) to have things clear by Monday morning. Snow day! Snow day! Snow day!

A Big Aquisition

Isn't it beautiful!?
My very first MAJOR appliance. It's bright red (duh) and spins so fast everything is practically dry when it comes out! I washed four or five loads of laundry this weekend. No dryer - I'm going to stick with my environmentally friendly creed for now... air is free and I'm spending a bundle to blow hot air all over this house, it might as well at least dry my clothes while it's at it.
Jeff came on Friday to look at tightening up the third floor and he did not have good news. First of all he can't come until May and second of all it's going to be pricey. Maybe I have to do one half this year and another half next year. He was not surprised at the washing machine's color. Just said, I new it!
First priority is to get the Raccoon hole plugged. We had crazy rain last Monday and that blew the precariously stapled piece of cardboard off of the hole. I really don't want to have to climb up there again, but I don't think Jeff is going to do it. I think I'll rent a ladder from the tool library and clamber up there myself and do it right. (if I can).
Other than that I haven't done much to the house. I did clean on Friday - that's a good feeling - and good timing. Thank god I'd cleaned the bathroom before Jeff inspected it. That would have been embarrassing.
I tried cleaning up down stairs, I did get out the shop vac for the entrance to the basement, but really - I just feel like I'm moving piles of stuff around the studio. What I really need to do down there is build some floor to ceiling bookshelves/storage thingies. Then I think I can get most things put away.
and PS: did you notice the wierd crop of the image of my new machine? That's because I didn't have the heart to crop out the stained glass window my dad made for me when I was 8 or 9? That should explain the subject matter.

Life's Little Affirmations

I must be doing something right.
My first class of the spring semester Advanced Book Arts class met tonight.
Most of the students were there early. While we were waiting one, who'd taken the other class the previous spring asked, "Are we doing that Edible Book assignment again?" I said, "yes". She said, "Good, because I made my friend take the other class so we could do it together, we have it all planned out. That's okay, right?"
Ah - you are already planning to complete an assignment before the class even started? "Yes, that's okay. :)!"

A Really Long Time Commin'

Uh Boy.
Where do I start?
Happy New Year! That's a good place to start.
So to fill you all in on the cliff hanger, Jacques is fine. Well, sort of. He has recovered nicely from the expanding foam catastrophe. But it's been a rough time for him otherwise. I was gone for a week, then I turned back up to abandon him again to go to work, and then in the last few days it's been grand central station around here. Too many people for comfort, so of course we all have to hear ALL about it. But I'll get to that in good time....
I'll back up to almost the last post when I was frantically trying to finish my dad's Birthday present. He turned 70 on Jan 5th. I thought I might make him a book. I was going to post the whole book here but the images are no good and I'm not trooping downstairs tonight to take more. I'll do that sometime soon. Anyway - this is what I was working on back when the huge snow storm happened in December. The trudging home in the snow and the nice bus driver was all because of this. And wasn't it worth it?
For his 70th birthday, in addition to the book he got a new knee. Lucky him. Actually he's been pretty miserable. It's quite a job - getting a new knee. Not only is there surgery, but then there is recovery with some machine that makes you flex your knee. He has to be on this machine for 8 hours a day. Apparently this is not his cup-o-tea. Hang in there Daddy - you'll be so happy when it's all done. :)!
House project when I got home was to plug the darn hole where the raccoons were getting in. I decided to put cardboard up to see if they'd rip it down. It's been up for a week or so with no issues. Then I tried to get up there and put the bracket back in. No dice. I couldn't get it to fit back into where it'd come from. And since I was perched so precariously on the edge of the roof, I thought I'd quit while I was ahead. I did realize while I was up there how much work needs to be done up there. It looks really terrible. All of the wood is rotting away. It really needs to be replaced. I've been trying to see if Jeff would do it. but he doesn't seem to want to. I had a quote from someone else, but I don't trust this other guy to do a good job. I don't want a patch job, I want a fixed job and for that I'd rather pay a bit more to get it done right. Too bad I can't do it myself, but this is not a one-woman job.
Knitting: I spent most of my holiday in California knitting a sleeve for the silver sweater I've been knitting for over a year now. Unfortunately I got home and discovered that I added one twist too many. Ugh. I've got to rip out the entire thing and redo it. Since I couldn't face that, I started on the Stitch 'n Bitch, Knit-a-long, a pair of herringbone gloves. Aren't they gorgeous! While they are super complicated, I really enjoyed the challenge of working on them. But knitting is on hold this week... school starts tomorrow and I've got to get my syllabi and planning done. (so what am I actually doing?, blogging....)
While that may be the overall goal for the weekend, except for today, it didn't happen.
Saturday, the Guild of Book Workers, Delaware Chapter offered a workshop on Paste Papers. I learned so much - as I always do. The ladies at the Library Company of Philadelphia hosted it and showed us how they make their paste papers. I'm pretty excited to take what I learned and work with my students. Making paste paper is usually a pretty popular night. I don't pick up my papers until tomorrow so I can't show them here.
After picking up my farm share on Saturday afternoon I came home, had lunch, and took a very long nap. Luxury.
Yesterday I went to Pearl Art Supply - our branch is going out of business - very very sadly. But there are deals to be had. I bought a TON of paper, and supplies in general. In the afternoon Mary came over to help make Lime Marmalade. It's so much nicer to have someone to work on those sorts of projects with. We made a lovely puckery-tart batch, and since we had limes left over we had margaritas... which lead to inventing a cookie recipe. Which let me tell you is THE BOMB. We used the rolled cookie recipe in The Joy of Cooking to which one can add spices and stuff, so we added a Tablespoon of cardamom and two Tablespoons of Poppy seeds. The jelly in the middle is the lime jelly, the red is the strawberry. The lime one are really good, the strawberry, not so much. The strawberry hides the other flavors too much. These are really yummy. Do you think I'm ready for spring or what?
But of course, it can't all be good.
About two months ago, I noticed that some of the stones above my second floor window were looking like they were at the wrong angle, as in, falling out. I thought this was worrisome, but didn't think much more about it. Then Jeff (the contractor from last winter) stopped by to look at my third floor issues and I asked him what to do about it. He recommended Wally. Wally came on Friday to look at the situation, and said he'd be back THAT DAY to take care of it, that they were "ready to go". Well, that didn't work because I had to go to school for a workshop, but he was back today to pull everything out and repair the damage. I'm pretty relieved.And of course that couldn't be all of the issues right? My washing machine has said "good night." This is not surprising, more disappointing. It still works, it just doesn't stop filling with water anymore. First thing this morning, I had a flood. Now, I can put up with a lot of things, but I don't think I can put up without having a washing machine. I've had enough of laundromats. So I called Eric the plumber. He came by to check everything out - he knows Wally too, and he'll be back on Friday to fix me up with super dooper lines for a washing machine. I won't be able to buy one until this weekend, and boy, that was an expense I really didn't want. But maybe the turquoise one is still available...
And Jacques? he's just trying to keep warm. Here he is, squeezed between the heater and the trashcan, the heater is on, and it would be the warmest spot in the house.

Never a dull moment

Snow Day!!
I didn't really think we'd get one. Surely not - we had all day on Sunday to dig ourselves out of the drifts. But this morning, I received a text from Watsuki - "you got your wish!" (I'd been wishing all of last week for a snow day - just one). I couldn't believe it. We consulted KYW - our 24hr "news" station, and sure enough - right on the top of their website, Philadelphia schools are closed. Hallelujah!
I decided to be very productive today. I ran errands this morning, and then spent most of the afternoon putting plastic up on the windows on the first floor: It is amazing the difference. No more drafts when you walk past a window, and when you leave for a bit, and come back the room actually retains its heat. Will wonders never cease.
Now, despite having a snow day, the email went out that we would still have our holiday party. Sounded like a lot of fun, dim sum, making our own, at a local Chinese restaurant. At 3:45, I was done with the windows and I went down to the basement to plug a few holes I knew of down there. Sure enough there was cold air blasting through cracks. the main one I stuffed with left over fiberglass insulation bags, and the other culprit will have to wait until next year for some serious work. I decided to use the spray insulation foam stuff to really plug things up. After working for a while, I realize it's a quarter after and I need to be at this party at 5. I put the empty spray foam bottle down and call Jacques to go upstairs.
As he passes me out the door of the basement, I see that he has brushed against some of the spray foam. While I'm getting tissues to get that sticky stuff off of him, I see him shoot past me down the hall. When I finally catch up with him, he is "aacking" and is foaming seriously at the mouth. He has tried to lick the expanding, sticky foam off of himself.
Time to panic.
Call my vet - tell them they are too far away and what is the number for the UPenn vet emergency.
Call UPenn emergency, and this ding dong who has to over-explain everything, tells me I have to call the Animal Poison control hot line and get a case number before he can help me.
Call the hot line, and the most calm, nerve wracking voice starts giving you options for whom you might want to speak with!!!
Meanwhile Jacques is still foaming, we are upstairs, and he is running around the place - I'm not sure what his goal was.
Finally I get the correct option: (press one to speak with a veterinary specialist), only to get another message in the calm, not-a-care-in-the-world voice: "Because we are a non-profit organization there is a $60 consultation fee payable by any major credit card. Please have your credit card ready." Unreal. But who cares. What I don't want is for the foam to expand on Jacques teeth, jaws, whatever and have his mouth weld shut.
Finally a very nice person came on the line and started taking info. When we figured out what it was that Jacques tried to lick off of himself, she informed me that Dow Chemical (the manufacturer) would be covering the consultation fee! (Thank you Dow Chemical!)
The bottom line is, the stuff is not poisonous. Thank goodness - BUT - he still needs to be watched because the concern is that perhaps he swallowed some and if it lodges itself in his intestinal track and expands it could cause serious trouble. The vet recommended that I give him wet food with Metamucil in it (to help him with his movements). That didn't go over too well. Six hours later he seams fine, but we won't be completely out of the woods until Wednesday.
After the initial panic had subsided, he sat on my lap, let me wipe some of the left over foam off of his mouth and started to purr. And later when I started going to the drug store for the Metamucil, I noticed him trying to like the matted residue off of his fur. His tongue promptly got stuck in it and as he tried to pull it out, it would take a hunk of fur along with it and he'd give a little yelp of pain. So I got the scissors and the electric razor and went to town, butchering all of the offensive stuff out of his fur.
Of course he loved the attention, purred the whole time. But now he looks like a five-year-old whose been given a haircut by a three-year-old.
And I didn't make it to the Christmas Party. Oh well...

Not for the faint of heart

Ah, yes, we had the big snow yesterday. And for all of the talk about a "storm", it was the most tranquil storm I've ever been in. The snow just drifted down, dense and thick mind you, but it just drifted gently all day. Everything was quiet and so beautiful. A soft white blanket covered everything.
This morning... well, let's just say I finally found one disadvantage to having a property with a double lot - double the amount of sidewalk to shovel. But it wasn't really that bad. The snow was still very powdery so it was easy to shovel. I still got quite an abdominal work out. My car is buried under piles of snow made worse by the snow plows. For those of you not living in a snowy climate - the snow plows are the garbage trucks with an attachment. They didn't bother to plow my street until early this morning. I decided to brush all the snow off my car before it has a chance to melt and freeze and melt and freeze. That's when it's a real pain in the patuchus to clean.
But what I really wanted to blog about was a cat's amazing capacity to find the warmest spot in the house. Jacques is like a divining rod in that respect. Usually it's my lap, unless I'm busy, in which case it is the new bathroom floor (if I'm on the second floor), or right next to the space heater on the first floor. And I mean, right next to the heater - as close as he can get.
And since he is the divining rod for warmth - he was not interested in braving the snow. Oh sure he went with me to peek out of the 3rd floor windows:

The snow drifts have covered the bottom quarter of the window.
But when I went downstairs and he thought he might be interested in going outside, he was thwarted by a bank of snow at the back door. I think he was quite astounded. He actually just sat down and stared at it. Then he looked up at me as if to ask - what is all this? Since I was not going to stand there all morning with the door ajar while he figured it out, I grabbed him, closed the back door and tried the front door. We didn't get much further.
Yes, he braved the edge of the porch, (see first image) and then went around to the side of the porch, shaking snow off his feet as he stalked along.
He came back around fairly quickly, this really was not his cup of tea and for the first time since he's been able to go outside, he decided he was better off inside. Later when I went out to shovel snow, I gave him the option to go out again. He just crouched in the doorway and looked at me as if to say, "You have got to be kidding!"
Right here is where he'd prefer to be, of course:

Good Night

It snowed all day. there are now huge drifts in my yard, the juniper is heavy with snow, and the table I forgot to put away has a measurable foot sitting on it, and the snow is heaped up against the windows.
I went to UArts around three to print some things. I was printing on the 6th floor and had a beautiful view of the city. I printed until about 10:30 and then headed home. I was going to - should have- taken the subway, but the snow was so pretty and things didn't seem to be so bad, so I thought I'd walk home, 26 blocks. Around block 18 I started having second thoughts about this. At block 19 a bus passed me as I was walking in the middle of Walnut St (because the sidewalk haven't been plowed yet) when bus passed me. I thought briefly that I should try to flag the next bus down and see if the driver would take pity on me. I dismissed the idea as ludicrous, we're talkin' Philadelphia people here. And as I thought that thought, another bus came up behind me, slowed, doors open and the driver shouted "Where you headed?"
"40th" I shouted back.
"Get in here" he yelled, and without a second thought - I hopped in.
There was another poor soul in red Reebok's, he's also taken pity on. She got out at 38th. I was very glad I didn't have to walk the last 7 blocks, that was the uphill bit. I still had to trudge a few blocks up 40th to get home. Passed another bus that was stuck in the snow. He was only a little bit from my house, so I grabbed some of my rock salt and took it back to the driver. He didn't want the stuff at first - but then accepted it.
I unwound with a kitty on my lap.

Good Morning

Good Morning to us!Apparently we will be getting two feet of snow in this storm. So far it's quite beautiful - but I haven't been out yet to shovel the sidewalks. This also means our farm share probably won't be coming in, and I need to trudge to UArts to do some things. But at least it's through absolute beauty. Yippee!

December, Snow, Holidays...and door moldings

Well, we had our big annual Book Paper Scissors event last Saturday. This is a big book arts fair, hosted by the Free Library, and in the past it was a big success. This year however, it was a toss-up... between the weather and the economy - I'm not sure who won. Suffice it to say, I didn't do as well as I have in the last two years. Now granted it was raining pretty steadily most of the morning - and then it turned into snow in the afternoon. It must have snowed for a good five hours. Big beautiful snow flakes, but sadly, none of it stuck. It sure was fun watching the big giant snow flakes falling outside the huge windows of the library. I love the snow.
It put me in the mood for the holidays and I have finally dragged out decorations and am slowly attempting to get them up. And The Inspector was in full swing, making sure I had not forgotten anything in the boxes, and making sure things got put up correctly:
I bought this beautiful little door decoration at Ten Thousand Villages:
It's one of my favorite shops - the best place to buy gifts for everyone/anyone. However - this beautiful door decoration looks terrible without the molding:
The molding has been missing since Jeff put the door in, back in January. I've just been stalling. I don't know why. But now that decorations need to go up - things need to LOOK better than this:
So I got one side finished. Started sawing for the other side and got distracted by wanting to finish putting up Christmas decorations.

Philadelphia has been hosting a Christmas Market a la Christkindle Markt which is basically the German equivalent. It's really sweet - hosted at City Hall with lots of cool stuff to buy. I really hope it picks up. It has a lot of great German cookies and stuff for the holidays along with lots of great crafts and some German Christmas Decoration Vendors, which is nice. So yesterday I splurged and bought a 30ft. pine garland, (it was cheap) and my house smells so good! I wanted to hang it under the arch and book shelves and hang a ton of little glass balls from it. I guess I'll have to finish the outside molding tomorrow night.
While I was waiting for the images for this blog post to load, I knitted a bit more on my newest hat:
I'm pretty excited about it. It's 50% Peruvian wool, and 50% plant fiber from the same region. It's really soft and shiny. I just also hope its warm.
And in other news:
James McBride, author of The Color of Water, came to HSP last week to do research for his newest book... and I got to meet him! He is so nice. What a great guy. I asked our President to bring him up to the conservation lab if he was interested and she did. We got to show off the work we are doing and go to talk with him. After he left I sat down at the computer and got to brag about meeting him to a bunch of people, including my cousin who introduced me to him! She wrote back and said her students were reading his book at that moment! How crazy is that.
WELL, to bring the story to full circle, not only did he take a membership for more research, he sent us two cheese cakes for all our help last week. We had cheesecake sent by James McBride! How cool is that!? I'm sitting here giggling about it. What a great guy.