Growth, Decay, and Rock n' Roll Marching Bands

Many, many things going on of late. I'm just going to bunch them all together here and hope it doesn't sound too rambling.

Last week we trekked my little car down to Florida for the second annual Harvest of Hope Festival. I'm happy to report that there was a noticeable drop in the number of gutter punks roving the fairgrounds this year.  Much less smelly, even with the addition of the muddy ground.  Harvest of Hope is a great organization that raises money for the families of migrant workers.  We saw some great bands this time around, including The Mountain Goats, Billy Bragg, and Broken Social Scene.  One of the best acts we saw was a band from Chicago called Mucca Pazza, a sort of rag tag punk rock marching band.  They were awesome and amazingly well-arranged for having about 20 members dancing around the stage with horns, pom-poms, and guitars.  You should check out their music but don't miss a live show if you can catch it.

On the seven hour car ride back to Athens we drove the back-roads and meandered around some old Southern towns.  It was a bit sad to see the downtowns with all the empty buildings.  Tim and I are planning on moving in the next year and opening our own store in some unknown place.  All the empty storefronts made me feel both nervous and excited to get started.  It's like when you begin a big project and the task seems insurmountable but you can see a glimmer of the ultimate results.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . we've started once again planting our little garden.  I'm afraid we're not very attentive gardeners, but I'm determined that this year we'll get more than just a handful of beans and tomatoes from our harvest.  I spent the day digging up the soil, planting seeds, and redesigning our compost so we don't lose so much to little scavengers.  As I was digging through the compost I came upon a big colony of earth worms.  I love those little guys.  They're so simple and singular.

Cat in a basket . . .

                



                                              

Hey You! Sit down and Listen!

Over the last few years (specifically, the exact amount of time Tim and I have been together) I have found myself thrust into an environment that I would have never guessed I would be around, let alone a part of. I have always loved music, but I loved it for it's comforts, for it's familiar words and tunes, for it's reminder of love and family and car trips I might have otherwise forgotten.

I never felt that devoted to KNOWING music or knowing and hearing lots of bands. In fact, whenever I went to a concert I mostly just felt bored. I mean, really bored. Not necessarily because the music was bad, but something about that environment just couldn't capture me.

Well, needless to say I've had to get over a lot of that. There's a lot of waiting involved with being in a band. A lot of waiting and then hurrying up. It's taken me a while but I think I've finally learned that the secret to enjoying music and enjoying playing music and simply to allow yourself to enjoy it. So often, I get caught up in the hurried details of having to do this or that or forgetting something or thinking we forgot something, or forgetting the words or the keys or the chords.

This week we enjoyed a house show at our friend Jesse's house, featuring the extremely talented Chris Bell. There's just nothing like enjoying the music of your friends with your friends.

The Long Wait Part 2

So, you don't have to tell me that it's been a ridiculously long time since I updated my blog, though some of you already have. The good news is that when I wait this long I usually have more to say and more pictures to show you. I'll start with the more recent . . .

This past Sunday we awoke (in the early afternoon) to find gobs of snow on the ground and still more spilling from the sky. A week earlier we were in Detroit for my lovely sister's birthday and saw snow there, but any snow at all is a rare sight in Georgia and this was a positive blanket. Being from the Midwest (El Kansas, to be precise) I've seen my share of snow, but Tim (the bf) and basically everyone I know down here is from the South. Tim didn't get to see snow until he was 17! He just kept walking around saying, "This is blowing my mind!" To the left you'll see the slightly retarded but endearingly lovable snowman we made.

All in all, I'd say we got about a foot of snow. In the north this wouldn't be such a great big deal and people would pretty much go about their normal lives. But this is the South, meaning two things: 1) No snow plows or salt trucks, and 2) No one realizes the importance of cutting down dead trees. We were most effected by the latter, as our street became strewn with fallen limbs, and one especially monstrous tree that fell across the entire road and took out the electricity on our block. We survived by candlelight for about 36 hours until about midnight on the second day, when I had just finished a candlelit shower (luckily our hot water heater is gas) and flipped the wall switch out of habit, only to find that our electricity had miraculously been restored. I definitely don't think I could have survived before the late 1800s without complaining a lot.

Though the snow was a bit inconvenient, I think overall it was a nice change from the routine.

In other news, I have been a total bum about my Etsy shop which I guess isn't really news so much as lack of news. I have all these new ideas for really cute pillows with some embroidery, but I can't get myself motivated. So, I've decided that today is the day. I finally posted my first new item in a while. It's a cute lacy little scarf. I love this goldish mustard color a lot. I think because it looks kind of vintage. Also, it makes me want to wear shirts with poofy sleeves. Don't ask me why. This me trying to look all fashion-y and stuff. That's not what I really look like though.

Tomorrow we'll be heading down to Florida for the Harvest of Hope Music Festival. We'll only be spectating, not participating so hopefully it will be a stress-free weekend with some good music. We'll also be camping which is always both fun and irritating. Like I said, I like modern conveniences. I like to think I can be a little rough and tumble when I need to be though.

Thanks to anyone who has been willing to wait for months to read a new blog post. I hope you weren't holding your breath.


This is our cat Rilke, looking positively pissed that we've decided to let here experience snow.

The Trappings of Cold(er) Weather

Back blogging again. It's been a while now and the weather is getting colder. Our new house seems to have drafts in all the appropriate places, inlcuding our bedroom. We've been keeping warm by drinking lots of hot chocolate, playing music, and listening to our friends play music. Not to mention, of course, a whole lot of knitting.
I've become rather addicted to Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn because it's so big and fluffy, and I love the bright solid colors. I feel like this may be a habit I need to grow out of, as most of my recent knitting projects revolve around this yarn, and I'm afraid the effect will get old. Neverless, I've used it to create some new items for the shop, some which I'll show here . . .

I just posted this hat today. It came out looking a lot more boy-ish than I had anticipated, but that's all right since boyish-ness isn't exactly prevalent in my shop, except of course for the adorable beardie men who are really more for lover's of beards than beards themselves. The ornaments are back, and the pins are always available.


People don't seem to be in much of a buying mood these days (hmm, I wonder why?) and the vibe over at Etsy has been decidedly down-hearted. I'm coping by trying to wear out my knitting needles and use every scrap of yarn and fiber I have in the house before buying new supplies.
Despite somewhat desperate times the changing seasons puts me in the mood to be productive and not to whine too much. Whine a little, just not too much.

We've been enjoying our weekend with our friends from the band "The Accident that Led Me to the World". They have beautiful harmonies and a very melodic acoustic sound. Check them out. They had some unfortunate luck with their van breaking down . . . twice. I'm sure they could use some encouragement, and some CD sales to help them get back home. They played a great show in our living room while we ate caramel apples with our friends. All lovely cold weather activities. Not that it has to be cold outside to do any of things, but it's probably better if it is. There's too much to write about to cover it all in one post so I'll just leave you with a few more pictures.


This is an example of a new kind of neck warmer I've been working on. The lace-up kind. They haven't sold yet, but we'll see how it goes closer to Christmas.



And this is my cat, Rilke.