Figures of Speech

Couple of shiny days keeps good humour aloft at home, but not in the Gaza Strip, or many other places if I could bear to pay attention.

Are they all hot and sunny, does the Northern Hemisphere at least encourage us to stay indoors - and watch old war movies........

Spent some time today trying to clear back the stitching detritus ready for the New Year, many many pins and a varied selection of needles found their way back into the correct place.

In the never ending search to improve on the Venus of Wollendorf I made a very sturdy female, who is now my pin cushion. I can happily stick pins all over her - except the breasts and head. Too close to home to risk any voodoo.

I am making a trio of Big Women, which I May call the Three Dis-Graces, as i find it hard to resist a quip. I would really like to make one 6' tall, but I need a Sponsor! or at least someone willing to give it a home.

If our Big Women Exhibition comes off next year I will at least be able to offer many and varied Tummies, plus a few Pot Bellies from my clay days.

I am desperate to make a large Artemis too, at least my obsessions are mainly harmless, not genocide or ......................

Chrimble

This is actually the tree from 2006, but as we are still using it, I decided to take a short cut. Jo, a friend from the next village, is a willow weaver so she made this for us. It looked much the same this year except it was in the conservatory this time.
Xmas day was cloudy, wrinklies turned up and seemed to have a good time, except ma in law forgot to bring our Xmas presents - but that is what it is like to be a wrinkly, as I am finding out.
Today is a real gift as it is sunny, if with a cold N wind.
Lots of people in their Xmas knits walking happy dogs round The Clamp. Hattie agreed to leave her Xmas toy behind and accompany us, she was also happy to return to said toy and the knowledge that there is still much turkey and ham awaiting consumption when we got back. Always a helpful doggy.
Skyped with young mother, father and baby in his Santa outfit. Lots of snow in Reno.
Son has not yet got round to getting a web camera, so got his phone call passed to his g'ma when the pics of smiley baby arrived.
Son says he and the other "orphans" [those without a partner to organise a Xmas for them] are gathering at the local bar to deep fry a turkey. He thought he would take mashed potatoes, but no means to reheat except deep fat fryer so i expect they will go in too.
I have new scarlet slippers, too soft to click, a dongle so I can get on line when we are away, a silky bed spread and lots of book tokens [once the last lot limp in].
I am reading American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld at the mo, Amazon sent me 2 [my fault, impatient finger] and as i am enjoying it have given other copy to Noisy Friend. Usually we totally disagree on films and books, it will be interesting to see if this one brings us together.
Friend in the West Country sent me an Eco Diary which is very absorbing with lots of sky, earth, flora and fauna info. Very complex, but very simple, hopefully I will finally be able to identify more than Orion's Belt.
Sherlock Holmes play is about to come on the wireless, so shall stitch a bit and listen, except Dylan is doing one of his music pics on this station........................choices.

dark side of the moon

The main colour here in the country is brown. Even tho the ground here is light and sandy the cold relentless rain has managed to transform it into a scene reminiscent of the trenches. The leaves have mostly abandoned the trees and fallen into the thick glutinous mess of decay, glimmering paley in the deep sodden ruts, before they succumb to brownness.

Or is it me?

The full moon was huge last week, menacing close to earth every14 years. It shone into the strange dark shadows of the fields piled high with small mountains of muddy sugar beets, waiting for the lorry to escort it to the sugar factory.

We are, as ever, protected by the holly and ivy, still green. That's why it is used in Xmas wreaths to hang on our doors it seems. Ancient peoples used to believe it must have magic powers to stay green and shiny when everything else had dried up and fallen to the ground.

Perhaps if I got round to making some tomorrow it would encourage Xmas cheer. Have to be red bows tho, as the birds seem to have made short work of the berries.

I shall go and light the fire, that still works its magic for ancient and modern peoples.

In Nevada the kids light a fire in a big oil drum to warm the garden BBQ and cut designs in the sides. I ate so much meat and drank too many milkshakes it seems, as my cholesterol count has shot up from 5+ to 7+.

still moaning

Jet lag is a nasty thing, - Go West, young woman is fine, - coming back is torture.
One tip is to ask for an Asian "special" meal. I can't stand the cubes of something they dignify as meat, nor the squishy cheese lump that passes as vegetarian. But Asian means i get spicy vegetables and rice, almost enjoyable. Tho the hostesses do seem non plussed by my lack of burka, and search far and aisle before accepting it really is for me; probably get myself on the Homeland Defence list for person of interest as well.
I watched 3 films and read 1 book on the daylight flight out, lots of activity to divert me from my fear, but driving home in the dark, above the clouds is ghastly, lonely and horrid.
I did manage to cram a book into my eyeballs, tho I doubt it troubled my brain much, can't remember what it was. Yes I can, Jesse Kellermans last one, fatal flaw - unbelievable plot.
Also watched Hancock, which was mildly amusing but not as good as when he had a HHHalfhour on the wireless.
Man Who Works decided to get a heavy dose of flu as soon as we got home, so he hasn't as yet turned up at the office. As he is soon to retire he will become Man Who Doesn't Work Any More, which will be a change of life style for us both.
Apparently both offspring separately developed Winter Vomiting Virus as we left, and it seems many hospital wards here are closed because of same, so i am clinging to my health with whitened knuckles.

Hopefully the Young Mother has recovered from the squits and not passed it on to Young Father or youngest member

Big women have their uses

I am so jet lagged, I feel as if I am made of very thin glass that is just about to shatter. The first night home I slept well, at approximately the appropriate time, but since then [2 nights] I don't think I have slept at all, except when I conk out, delirious, mid afternoon for an hour.

Fortunately the Test Match is on, [us v India] starting at 4am, so I can put the ear piece in and relax, except when Sehwag is batting obviously.

Tonight i must search out the Valium the doc gave me for the flight home, didn't send me to sleep then, but surely it will work in the safety of my own bed.

I ventured out to walk the dog for the first time today, [she seems to have enjoyed her holiday with Mother and visa versa] - it is astonishingly cold and wet, great muddy puddles and an ruthless wind.

It seems Reno now has snow [but of course as everyone chants it is a different kind of dry coldness] shame we missed it, but Driver is probably relieved not to have to negotiate the mountains thus decorated.

When with daughter i returned to type quite quickly and unravelled the wires involved in supporting some of her Shower gifts and made a "pregnant woman" .

Wrapped and stitched with a spare skein of wool. Unfortunately Daughter felt she should keep her facsimile, to remind herself of what once was, which was a bit of a shame as we have an exhibition planned called at the mo "Big Women", but I guess I can repeat the experiment.
We are charged to make a "vessel" for another exhibition, perhaps I could construct a Big Woman vase.
A functional piece of art is often easier to sell than a wall hanging, that people worry about how to keep clean; - answer - blow on it occasionally.
A linked group of women could surround a vase.
I do so enjoy making soft sculpture, but I need to find outlets or sink beneath the woolly limbs.

San Francisco

Another location, fairly familiar, but later in the year and thus colder than we are used to. Cable carred down to the Wharf, followed by a our clam chowder in a bread bun, a first for son, even tho he has lived here for 12 years, I guess you don't do the touristy things when you work every day in a place.My objective, not achieved last time, was to see the pelicans.

Pottered onto quay 9 and there they were, stalking high above on the fishery buildings waiting for the trolleys of fish to be maneuvered and to drop some tasty cargo, obviously we have timed things wrong, before.

First time I was here was in 1969 I guess, -with Him Who Shall not be Named, now consigned to the devil, hopefully not literally, but I hope he singed his conscience on the way through at least. For reasons best known to twenty year olds we had hitched across America in a matching pair of deeply fringed leather jackets and too little impulse control, but then that is befitting our age. Little would get achieved unless young [even older] people did daft things at times.

It was daft and dangerous, but we survived and stayed in SF for about a month, a bit late for the whole Haight Ashbury experience, didn't even get into a Grateful Dead concert. That might have changed our lives - instead after too much speed we decided to change our plans not take up the offer of a place at Albuquerque University,but to Greyhound back to New York, but return to Europe and an archaeology degree at Durham. Quite a contrast.

SF hasn't changed that much, they were putting in the ground work for the Subway then I think, and I swore never to descend into the depths, but of course one does in the course of a life time, several times.

Now each time we visit I am amazed by the sudden eruption [not the earthquake] of new, exotically shaped buildings, emerging shiny and purposeful defying any thought that life could ever have been fulfilled without them.

In contrast the numbers of crazy people muttering the streets seems to proliferate, it makes for uncomfortable tourism, counter intuitive to ignore the urgent, if private ranting of intense, and mostly, black faces.

mum,uncle and star of the show

Today we drove up to the mountains to visit with friends of daughter. L and L bought 40 acres way up in the sage brush and lived in a caravan there for about 3 years till they had built the house of their dreams.
When we last saw them they were feet deep in snow, with a leaky old fire and a mad cat [he was very opinionated, L had to throw paper balls up the far end of the trailer for him to chase, so she could scramble out of the door without being attacked, he didn’t like to be left alone I guess].
Now they have this wonderful adobe style building full of light and comfort, and wonderful views. Around the house hop blue jays, chipmunks, rabbits and ?grouse. L feeds then every morning so it is like a Disney cartoon with them scurrying around.
The two bathrooms [and sauna] are wondrous for English eyes to behold, the living room has floor to ceiling windows crystals hang reflecting the clear mountain light, bet that cat wishes he had shown better manners, they regretfully had to have him put down when the paper balls stopped working.
Second visit was to dinner in Reno with other friends, and their offspring and relative’s [one mother and g’mother] offspring comprising four babies under 3 plus our own wonder babe of one week. Very chaotic and convivial, guess this is what only children miss out on.

Travis cooked us stuffed chicken breasts........stuffed with what he called pineapple sausages, wrapped in bacon with a slice of pineapple, and salad, excellent.

The living room and kitchen were joined around the fireplace, if you see what I mean, so the kids and our young father could run in screaming demented circuits, until the kids gave in and collapsed in happy heaps. Some older people expected tears before bedtime, but young father kept his end up OK.

This is now Saturday our last full day, "onesies" [what I call babygrows] have been painted for posterity to enliven Baby's days in the future, the fairies have been finished on the nursery wall and a BBQ is being prepared.

Tomorrow we drive to San Francisco with son.

sand dance

The desert casino theme is becoming a habit, last time we visited daughter we first stayed for a couple of days in Las Vegas - in the Luxor glass Pyramid. An amazing edifice which shut even our sceptical mouths, or rather let them drop open.

No dollar had been spared to cover the joint, even the lifts, with Egyptian slant eyed maidens offering food to the gods. Only by stroking them [when safely lone in the elevator] could one tell it was a stained/coloured fibre glass? copy.
Sphinxes and huge enigmatic cats abounded on the floors, Ramses strode thru the halls of one armed bandits. Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, the endless corridors smelled of something like formaldehyde but I am not sure that was intentional.

[Sadly this is the nearest we have been to the real thing, our previous Nile Cruise was spendiferous but only visited the wonderul palaces; having not read the literature I expected pyramids, next time maybe.]
The casinos in Reno are less culturally aspirational, there is no re-creation of Venice [including gondolas] or Paris and the Eiffel Tower; the Sands was the nest for Frank Sinatra and his acolytes, built in 1947 it has two towers these days and claims to have 18 floors, but there is no 8 -11 and of course no 13th floor.
We explored the Eldorado and Circus, Circus……..pretty boring, just lines and lines of one armed bandits, endless variations on the theme of how to lose your dollar. Small enclaves of black jack, craps, poker.
The Silver Legacy was perhaps the most enjoyable with a beautiful art deco glass ceiling and a huge pseudo mining tower stretching up into the cloud painted dome.
Casinos in Nevada are exempt from the no smoking laws so they stink in a way we had almost forgotten, but they feel totally safe for all ages, sexes ages, even cosy. Not in the least exciting, but then I don‘t gamble. Maybe not all classes however, I would suspect only blue collar at the tables and machines here
Son arrived yesterday and stayed up till 3.30am giving the “house” his hard earned cash, tho hopefully not too much of it, and seemed quite happy at the outcome.
He got his first ever full house or whatever on his machine, [took a photo to prove it] so won $75 for his quarter, but soon ploughed it back playing twenty one.
When he went out this morning at 11am an Alaskan woman and her mother he was playing with, were still at the table. They come here once a year and this is what they do.

Sleep can sometimes be a difficult trick to pull. What seems so easy to achieve in the morning can be nigh on impossible at night with thoughts spinning on a loop, obsessively burrowing and exploding at arbitrary times.

The casino has perfected quiet rooms, in spite of piling floor onto floor but the concept of a soft bed is beyond them. Maybe it is all part of the campaign to get guests out of their room and down onto the machines.

The rooms are seemingly hermetically sealed, which is appropriate for it's desert theme, I have not as yet been inside a pyramid, but the TV does suggest a sarcophagus. They are heated by blowing hot or cold air machine according to the Pharaohs' own appreciation of the situation, so at 2am you can wake up freezing, and then at 4am sweating.

I have always hated giving in to sleep, I regard it as resented hard work and am relieved to scramble out of bed at 7.30am. Strangely I started waking at this time here, regardless of the altered time frame, but lately the total slippage of routine into what Baby [and daughter] needs has completed confusion.

Today I was awake at 4.30am, drinking tea and reading the spurious Memoirs of Jane Austin, but then I closed my eyes and it was nearly 10. Breakfast at the coffee shop, lunch disappears into a biscuit, and today we are promised Tofu burgers. This is a meat eating household, often personally dispatched by the New Father, but the fridge is full and has to be mollified.

Last night we ate in the Diner again, hotdog and banana milk shake, almost as good as the peanutbutter milkshake I had on a previous trip.

Why do hotel mirrors have that strip light above them which turns every face into a Plague victim?

I am suffering doubly, as many many photos of the new baby are being taken - some include his granny. Comparisons between his beautiful skin and my aged body cover cannot be avoided.

Our diet is somewhat out of our control, sometimes we cook, but mostly daughter and son-in-law make the decisions.

Last night we had authentic burritos from a Mexican joint that only seemed to serve other Mexicans, so we were interested in widening our culinary experience.

Hmmmmmm - mine contained a grey mass that might have gone neigh, if it could get itself back together. The very large rectangle reminded me of the suet pudding [with jam] we used to be served at school, and dubbed "dead baby in a blanket". I didn't think it was appropriate to mention my wander down memory lane at the time.

I guess it was the equivalent of a Cornish pasty, but this one at least was not as tasty.

I bought some fruit to up our vitamin C, this included the biggest sweetest Granny Smith apples I have ever seen. The Supermarkets have so much and such varied food we stand in awe. Much of it seems to include corn syrup however, it is difficult to find anything "plain".

Last night we took daughter to Target, a huge store where they have everything, if only you could find it. hours of wandering aisles later she had collected pile of baby necessities and I got some moisturiser. The weather is still lovely, but the air is very dry, or maybe I am just drying up.

the kraken wakes

Reading the news from home I see that there is snow and sleet, which feels very strange, as here we sit, higher than Ben Nevis, yet bathed in sunshine. I do have on several layers so i suppose it isn't exactly sunbathing time.
Around four o'clock the temperature plummets as they say, but the snow on Rose's Face [Mount Rose, - she has a fine female profile viewed from Reno] has yet to reach the other mountains that enclose us.
Baby decided to become a monster last night and screamed with enthusiasm most of the time he wasn't feeding it seems, so new parents took him for his first checkup to make sure he wasn't a werewolf or similar.
Nope - he is a fine specimen of humanity, doing what he should.
When he has tanked up now we will rock him while they have a sleep, then we all go shopping, joy! I shall get some moisturiser, this mountain air is dry.
Saw 3 eagle like birds this morning wheeling above the pigeons, above the river, some guy told us the were Umac birds, which is a bad joke I half remembered so we didn't get too badly caught.