Beware of the Bun!

Goodnight and I continued our reading adventure in Oz.  Last night’s installment was great for some laughs.

General Jinjur is a female in charge of an all-female army.  At first glance, it appears they have no weapons.  But do they?

The following excerpt if from Chapter 8 of The Marvelous Land of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, 1904.  The book is in public domain and available from the Project Gutenberg website.

They were divided into four companies, and Tip noticed that all were dressed in costumes similar to that worn by General Jinjur. The only real difference was that while those girls from the Munchkin country had the blue strip in front of their skirts, those from the country of the Quadlings had the red strip in front; and those from the country of the Winkies had the yellow strip in front, and the Gillikin girls wore the purple strip in front. All had green waists, representing the Emerald City they intended to conquer, and the top button on each waist indicated by its color which country the wearer came from. The uniforms were Jaunty and becoming, and quite effective when massed together.

Tip thought this strange Army bore no weapons whatever; but in this he was wrong. For each girl had stuck through the knot of her back hair two long, glittering knitting-needles.

This section tickled Goodnight to no end.  She laughed and laughed as I read.  I got a kick out of it, too, but for reasons that run a little deeper than Baum’s plot.  It may involve a knitting Gram . . . and an aiport security breech . . . code red . . . maybe.

Image source: http://i.newsarama.com/marvelnew/jan2010/97_the-marvelous_land_of_oz_3.jpg

Gram’s Vintage Flowers Illusion Table Runner©

I have a vintage textile that I use as coffee table-cloth.  It’s done in dark woolen yarns.  One day last week, I was sitting in the living room, knitting on a shawl, when I glanced at the coffee table-cloth and wondered whether I could convert it to an Illusion-style knit design and get a similar result.

As I tend to do, I made a smaller piece for practice.  You can find the face cloth and the PDF file for the knit pattern in my previous post.

With the completion of my Gram’s Vintage Flowers Illusion Face Cloth© sample, I went to work on converting the pattern to a larger piece.  I’m fond of table runners in my dining room because I like to see the wood on the table, and yet have some color at the same time.

Most of the design work was done when I finished the face cloth, so with a few minor changes to dimensions and colors, I really just needed to get knitting.  That’s the fun part anyway!

Here’s a photo of my vintage flower textile so you can see what I was aiming at:

 

And here’s a photo of what I came up with after converting it to an Illusion-style design:

Of course, the flowers disappear when you change your viewing angle to 90 degrees.

I like it.  Viewed from the side, it has a sort of Hispanic look to it, don’t you think?

Here’s the link for the PDF file for the pattern:  Grams Vintage Flowers Illusion Knit Table Runner 

I realize there are quite a few different colors required for this project as the pattern is written and it can get costly, however, it was my goal to emulate the vintage textile, so I see it as a necessary pleasure!  To reduce the cost, it could be knit in as few as two colors: with one for the background and one for the flowers.  Lots of possibilities, really.

Happy knitting!

Gram’s Vintage Flowers Illusion Face Cloth©

I have been fond of vintage textiles for a long time.  One type in particular, used a lot of darker colored wools on a background of black.  I have no explanation for why I like them.  I just do. 

So I decided to challenge myself to see if I could come up with an Illusion-style knit piece that would look like an old textile.  It was a fun challenge for me.  The first round resulted in the following face cloth, which is a necessary sample before converting the design to a larger piece.

Here’s what I came up with:

The photo below shows the face cloth from an obtuse angle.  It looks like flowers and that was my goal.

Illusion-style knit designs look like stripes from a 90-degree angle and the images disappear as in the photo below.

I want to include a photo of the wrong/back side of the fabric.  In the photo below, you can see the Illusion image, but the colors are reversed from the front.

If you want to try it, here is the link to the PDF file for the pattern: Grams Vintage Flowers Illusion Face Cloth

Errata:  If you downloaded the pattern before 8/8/2011, the yarn color for line 63 was omitted and has been updated.  Thanks to the knitter who spotted the mistake. 

It’s noted in the pattern itself, but I should say here, that the vintage colorway my not be to every knitter’s liking, but the design would work for any number of colorways.  Goodnight suggested red flowers on a green background might resemble the poppy field from the Wizard of Oz movie.  She also suggested that gold on a green background would resemble the pot of marigolds I have on the dining room table.

So, I guess, pick your favorite flower and go from there.  Or knit my vintage version!

If you like the face cloth and want to see the table runner – please see my next post.

Happy knitting!

 

Dinner by Alphabet – Q

If you’re feeling kinda queasy

Cuz you think I’ve had it easy,

But for dinner, next in line

We’re up to ‘Q’,

Let me be quick to stop your quaking.

Goodnight and I are making

A satisfactory meal

To share with you.

Actually, Dinner by Alphabet – Q was in the bag before we went to the store.  Goodnight and I both knew what our main course would be without speaking it aloud. 

That left dessert.  Goodnight was up for that.  I gave her the recipe, demonstrated one thing, and then let her get to work.

Dinner by Alphabet – Q 

Main Course

Quinoa Hotdish con Queso - quinoa is crop that originated near the Andes in South America and is known for it’s edible seeds.  It has  higher protein content than wheat or rice. 

Dessert Course

Quince Tarts – quince trees are native to southwest Asia and are related to apples and pears.  Locally, I found them available in a product called quince paste.

Beverage

Qahawala bel Habahan – Egyptian Cardamom Coffee

I could have made a quiche for our main course, but I already knew we were having quince tarts for dessert and tarts are mini-pies.  That would have given us pie for the main course and pie for dessert.  Wait!!!!  On second thought . . . duh!!!! What was I thinking?  We could have had pie – twice!

Dinner by Alphabet – Q was quick, good quality, and quiet.  And I am the Queen of ‘Q‘ – despite what you read in my previous post. 

Must scoot.  I have a tough afternoon ahead of me.  I received a knitting magazine in the mail . . . . .

I Should Know Better

Really!  Some mistakes are so obvious that I should really be able to predict them – and yet, I continue to stumble along in this whole . . . grand-parenting thing.

Last evening, Goodnight and I had settled onto the couch, laptop loaded with book two of L. Frank Baum’s Oz series.  We take turns reading for a chapter and then listening for a chapter. 

I follow along when it’s Goodnight’s turn because I want to see if she’s reading the words properly.  She reads so fast that she either misses or substitutes words.  I want to catch that because I think it will transfer to more accurate work in math, as well.

So . . . she was reading along and came to the word ‘asking.’  She said ‘athking.’  She does not have a lisp, so I wondered what that was all about. 

“Asking,” I said, simply.

She began the sentence again.  ” . . . . ‘ashking,’ she said this time.

“Honey, that word is ‘asking’, ” I said.  Can you try again?

” . . . . . afking.”

“The word is asking, dear.  Can you hear the consonant?  Ask-ing.  As-king.  Aaaaasssssss – king.”

Yup!  Before I got it all out, she had rolled off the couch onto the floor at my proclamation of a new kind of . . . . um, royalty.  I couldn’t contain myself either, though I was laughing for a different reason.  By that time, I realized the a**-king was me.  Or at least I was the Queen.  Of all things!  You’d think I would know better, right?

I think she set me up from the beginning.

It took quite a while for her to recover.  I had little luck in containing myself, for that matter.  I’ll let you know when I do, though I expect it to take a while.

This morning, while Goodnight was in the shower, I took a broom outside and began sweeping the driveway. 

There is a maple tree in an adjacent yard and a TON of seeds have fallen onto my driveway.  No worries!  It’s fun to watch them on a windy day.  They look like helicopters when they come down.

There are so many of them this year that I wanted to get them up before it rains and makes them into a soggy mess.

I had collected a nice pile of them while Goodnight was getting dressed.  When she came downstairs, she found me outside.

“Wow!  Gram!!!  Thanks!  That was nice of you.”  And before I knew it:

I was really trying to sweep them up to get them in the trash can before the garbage truck drove by.  I think she knew what I was up to and waited by her window until the time was right, because those are not her school clothes.  But life is short and she could do worse than to throw a pile of maple seeds into the air . . .  so I let her toss the lot. 

Then, while she got into her school clothes, I collected them again.  The garbage truck came and went and I have two bags of maple seeds that I’m certain will tempt her after school.  As well they should, eh?

Now, About My Cigars . . . .

Wow!  Has it been over three months since Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and my question about . . . cigars?  Where has the time gone?

Yesterday we celebrated Pentecost at church, which is the official end to the Easter season, so I thought I would write a brief follow-up to . . . cigars.

This isn’t religious post because I am about the worst person to write that sort of thing.  I’m rather an imp, actually.  And stuffy people in stuffy situations need a teensy bit of ‘unstuffing.’  Case in point:

I had to work at two church services this past weekend:  one on Saturday night and the other on Sunday morning (yesterday).  The church I was working at is not the one I regularly attend.  What I do for work there involves communication with the Liturgy Director (LD) and the Choir Director (CD).

When I arrived on site yesterday morning, the Liturgy Director told me there were several changes from the night before, but he hadn’t had the time to print a new order of service for me.  His instructions went something like this:  “That one’s out, this one goes to the end and the end one goes to the middle.  Do you think you’ve got it?”

Gram: I think I’ve got it, but if I don’t I’m going to make up stuff.  Hope you don’t mind.

The LD looked puzzled and it took a moment for him to realize that Gram just . . . might . . . have been . . .  pulling his leg.

The next person I ran into was the CD.  I told him that the LD informed me of the changes from the night before.  “Too bad, ” he said.  I made another change just now.

I saw out of the corner of my eye that the LD had followed me over to the CD, so I said to the CD:

What’s the most recent change?  The Liturgy Director told me you were having the choir sing “Come On Baby Light My Fire” by the Doors.

I couldn’t even get the sentence out because the LD snorted out laughter in church and the CD was a second behind him.  In fact, they nearly konked heads as they doubled over.  It’s fun watching two gentlemen trying to hold back a guffaw – and failing.

Word of note:  Pentecost scripture readings mention tongues of fire – and the song by the Doors – wouldn’t do at all.  I knew that, but I wanted to see if they had a sense of humor.  They did.

If they hadn’t, they probably wouldn’t have wanted my ‘cigars’, either.

Now back to my Lent, Eastertide follow-up.

In my Ash Wednesday post, I posed some of my options for Lent.  My summary is this: 

I didn’t give up my job for Lent.  I didn’t give up fish for Lent.  I didn’t give up trying to be good for Lent.  And I didn’t give up cigars for Lent because I don’t smoke cigars, of course.

But . . . .

 

I might have . . .

 

once . . .

 

long before I became  a Gram . . .

This was a lodge in the mountains  near Ten Sleep, Wyoming . . . though it does resemble a saloon in the old West. (can of Coors notwithstanding)

Grams should have some fun secrets, don’t you think?  It’ll keep ‘em wondering why I’m always laughing when I get to the nursing home!

Gift Certificate at the Cemetery

Goodnight and I took a drive to the cemetery this morning to see if the card I left for the widower was gone.  It was gone.  I left it there for him on Thursday.  I checked on it yesterday morning and it was still there, so he found it yesterday sometime.

At least he’s gotten it.  That may be all I’ll know of it, but that’s ok.  I don’t go to the cemetery that often.  The next time won’t be until mid-summer . . . . . for ‘Balloon Day.’

“Slightly Crunchy”

Goodnight has a science test today.  Her test is on light, rays, optical instruments, color, etc.

I help her study, but my requirement is that she read the chapter, look at the questions after each section and write flash cards for all the key terms – first.

When I asked her what ‘translucent’ meant, she burst into laughter, doubled over in her chair and said, “Slightly crunchy.”

I laughed too, because it’s shared humor that happened long before she studied her light chapter.

I’m not sure what our discussion was anymore.  We were probably talking about windows, though.  I asked her if she knew the difference between transparent and translucent and she said , “Yah!  Translucent is slightly crunchy!”

“Huh?”

“Yah, Gram!  That’s what Chef Ming Tsai (PBS) says.  If you cook your onions til they’re translucent, they are slightly crunchy!”

That girl loves to watch cooking shows like her mother did.  Goodnight’s mother became a chef.

So . . . “slightly crunchy” has become one of my best lines when we play “Bet I Can Make You Pee.”

But not when we’re studying for a science test.  I had to pull her out of her giggles with the boring ‘transmission, absorption, reflection’ discussion.  But she should do fine . . . if she doesn’t get sent to the office for giggling during her test.

Speaking of chefs and cooking – today I am taking full advantage of the cool weather before it sky-rockets into the 80′s and 90′s next week.  I’m going to roast several meats all at once today.  Then I portion them for meals, slice some for sammies, freeze everything and hopefully keep my oven off in the heat of the summer.  Saves energy:  the oven’s, the AC’s, and mine!

Think about it!  How long do meats take to roast?  What do you think Gram will get to do while the meats are in the oven?  Yup!  I’m gonna knit!

I love my retirement internship!!!!!!

Honoring His Lost Love

I haven’t had any luck with taking my strawberry bread to the cemetery.  I think the widower I met on the Saturday before Mother’s day gets there before I can.  I have to drop Goodnight at school.

So here’s what is going to happen today.

I stopped at the grocery store where Deli Dude and Check-out Angel work, where we shop for Dinner by Alphabet, and I got a gift certificate.  The deli has dinner specials every week day evening.  Officer Friendly’s favorite was Monday because it is a full turkey dinner.

The man told me that he would have celebrated his 54th wedding anniversary at the end of this month, which is next week sometime.  So I bought an anniversary card for him.  I am going to tuck the gift certificate inside the card, write a note to him and give him the list of daily dinner specials at the grocery store deli.

I’m going to stick the card in a plastic bag (in case it rains) and clip it to the flowers he got his wife for Mother’s Day.  I hope he’ll see his name on the envelope, and then go have a dinner on me.

It may be unconventional, but I have been blessed by so many miracles in my life that I try to be a catalyst for them in other people’s lives.

If he’s only missed three days at the cemetery since she died, then he’s bound to see my card before his first wedding anniversary in over half a century without his wife.

Grief touches me deeply.  Devotion to promises impresses me to the same degree.  I just wanted to do something that eases his pain a little.

Anniversary of a Miracle

They seem to come and go without fanfare anymore – as well they should, perhaps.  My niece is so much more than a lucky survivor of SCIDS (Severe Combined Immuno-Defficiency).  She has grown into a lovely, confident young woman.

Twenty-one years ago this week, Miracle had a bone marrow transplant because the immune system she was born with, wasn’t sufficient to fight off even small colds.

This is Miracle on her BMT day.

We are all so grateful to her donor.  Without her act of generosity and selflessness, Miracle would not be with us.  A number of years after the BMT, Miracle was able to meet her donor.  I get a lump in my throat just thinking about the gift that person has given to those of us who love Miracle, and the autistic children that Miracle is now helping with her degree in music therapy.

This is Miracle when she was allowed outside the hospital for the first time after being in isloation for a year.  She was still on the hospital grounds and had to go back inside.  But the trip outside meant progress.

Many More Anniversaries, Miracle!

                                              With love, Auntie