One day last December I was busy sewing and listening to This American Life on NPR. Even then I had a love/hate relationship with the radio program: listening to it seemed to me often like a cheap thrill and somewhat voyeuristic, but I often couldn’t resist and found myself sucked into the bizarre and heart-wrenching [...]
Archive for December, 2009
This American Life: One Year of Not Listening
Posted in Free Speech TV, Immunizations, Link TV, tagged Free Speech TV, Immunizations, Link TV, National Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, This American Life on December 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Pat’s Lemon Cake
Posted in Baking, healthy cooking, tagged cooking healthy meals, lemon cake, lemon curd on December 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Pat is the manager of the NICU where I work; and she is a fantastic manager, a very gifted leader. Plus she’s very funny. Pat is from West Virginia and thoughtfully offered to translate for me by phone if I had any trouble the first time I went to Asheville, NC a few years ago. [...]
Grasslands Bakery and Cafe: Day After Christmas
Posted in Grasslands Bakery, tagged Grasslands Bakery, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, Sonoran Desert on December 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Just in time for the new year, my mom painted the new sign for my parents’ bakery, The Grasslands, in Sonoita, AZ: I was visiting for Christmas; and it was quite cold, nightly lows in the low 20s: however, the pansies on the patio (my mom has a very green thumb) survived just fine: It’s [...]
Port Kirwan Come Home Year: A Newfoundland Reunion
Posted in Newfoundland, Port Kirwan Come Home Year, tagged Newfoundland, Port Kirwan Come Home Year, Rachel Maddow on December 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I’ve always thought it a bit bizarre that I have relatives–and quite close ones at that–who are from Newfoundland. I mean, how many people can say that? It’s a small, isolated part of the world and a largely misunderstood one at that. Rachel Maddow’s mother is from Newfoundland; so that’s already a very positive indicator. [...]
Transcription Ambition: Organizing the Impossible
Posted in Irish Fiddle Tunes, Irish Music, Irish Sessions, Uncategorized, tagged Beanie Odell, Irish Fiddle, Irish Sessions, Red Wellies, Tucson Irish Music on December 21, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Yesterday, Sunday, Gordon and David and Roz came over and we had some tunes around the dining room table; sounded very good. We’ll go at it again before Christmas. I’ve been trying–slowly–to transcribe some of my favorite really big and juicy tunes: The notation is like a scrapbook of where I’ve been tune-wise and where [...]
Another go at cloud fabric
Posted in Uncategorized on December 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I was so excited about the results of the fabric I dyed a few weeks ago that had cloud shapes on it, thanks to flour paste resist. Sadly, as cool as that fabric turned out, it’s just not going to fit into the design of the new art quilt I’m working on. Now I have [...]
Irish Music en route to Tucson….
Posted in Art Quilts, Ireland, Irish Music, tagged Art Quilts, County Clare, Ireland on December 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last year I met David and Roz when they came to Tucson from where they live in Kilshanny, County Clare, to visit their family here. At that time, I’d just been playing the fiddle for 6 months after a nearly…..7 year break. I’d quit for 7 years because there just was no Irish music scene [...]
Gold, Women and Sheep
Posted in Colbert Report, tagged Colbert Report on December 16, 2009 | 2 Comments »
This latest from the Colbert Report is absolutely hysterical.
To Cook or to Quilt? That is the question.
Posted in healthy cooking, tagged cooking healthy meals, efficiency, Grasslands Bakery, home-made dog biscuits on December 13, 2009 | 2 Comments »
If I could eat like your average American, I’d probably get more art and music done because I could eat fast food and frozen meals. I’d be more efficient. I’d probably compromise my health in the long run and end up w/type II diabetes by age 50….but, in the short-term, I’d be efficient. Efficiency is [...]
Belly Dance Believe It Or Not
Posted in belly dance, tagged back pain, belly dance on December 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Dogged by back pain this past week, I really didn’t get much sewing done; it was hard enough to get in my car. I’ve looked into, practiced and paid good money for all kinds of old (such as yoga) and new (such as The Egoscue Method) approaches to healing-of-the-back; I have all kinds of braces, [...]
