extended memory

i read an awesome article about terese agnew in the utne reader, and i want to type about her somewhere so i don't forget.


this is her most famous work. she's an art quilter, with a political bent. yes, that's a quilt. made out of millions of little tags that were sewn in sweatshops. amazing, huh?

updates

well, from the last post, i got 3 of the first 4 things done. didn't clean under the desk, but did clean it off, and it was quite a task. also painted in the bathroom and fiddled. i took desk pictures, before

and after


one of the things i unearthed in the little scraps of paper on my desk was a list of things i forgot to blog about. i mean, i blogged about these subjects, but there was always one point i forgot to make.

in my blog on brown line construction i forgot to mention one of the best parts. sure, i'm as grumpy as the next person about construction. but they're CONSTRUCTING something! i really like transfering and once a week or so noticing, "my god, they destroyed the whole TRACK" or "where did the PLATFORM go" or "check out the new shiny fence". it reminds me of nan saying she minded lsd construction much less once she saw the machine that unzips the barriers from one side to the other to open up a lane for rush hour traffic. i would feel much more miffed at all the construction delays if all there was to show for it was some police tape.

in my blog about garrison keillor's a writer's almanac,, i forgot to mention the best part, perhaps. which is his tagline. i think i want to take it up as a personal mantra to live by. my life statement, the goals, a summary of the way i live. at the end of every podcast he says, "be well, do good work... and keep in touch." what more could ANYONE ask for out of life?

finally, in my list of all the things that are changing in my life between may 9th and 19th, i forgot to mention postal rates. which would have been a nice extra item to fill out my list.

hey hey! one more note i can throw away!

just so you know....

even though i haven't been blogging, i have a good excuse. i've been organizing instead. see here.

and here

and here

and there are more closets to go, unfortunately.
if you want to see the shelf-by-shelf breakdown, including closeups of my new

cornhusk

baskets, head on over to flickr

stories soon, i promise.

best. salad. ever.

i bribed myself to go grocery shopping by letting me buy whatever i want for dinner. i bought a box of organic alfredo mac and cheeze. and this produce:

including snap peas, radishes, sprouts, raspberries and parmesan. bizzare, maybe. but also fantastic!

365 days

i feel like my online presence has been stronger recently, but not here, unfortunately- i've become obsessed with flickr's 365days project in the past week. so i guess if you want new info from me, you can find it at my flickr page.

so if you'll excuse me, i'm going to upload more pics of myself now. also, going to the electronics recycling center with my girlfriend, to her square dancing class, and hopefully getting some serious crafting time in. still trying to decide if i want to go to the UofC folk fest tomorow, or stay in where it's warm. recomendations?

resolutions with photos

first, my new inspiration with the flylady- she doesn't demand a kitchen sink, now, does she? my bathroom sink gets really shiny. i can shine that every night before i go to bed. i am also going to try and buy a new dishwashing tool to maybe make me do my dishes slightly more often. there may be hope for me yet.

photography-wise, it seems all i've done so far since getting home from squaredancing is take photos of my cat. she's so nosey. so i decided to teach her a lesson with the flash. this was such a horrible picture it inspired me to start taking the let's-prove-i'm-learning photos. so my next entry will be from my autodidactic photography school!

photography lesson #1

in this week's photography class, we will be exploring the P setting. P stands for program. the camera will automatically chose the shutter speed and fstop, but turning the wheel with change the program up or down the scale for the same exposure. in this way, the camera will choose the ideal exposure, but the photographer can choose the shutter speed or fstop within the limits given by the amount of light available.

for my first homework assignment, i took photos with extremely long exposure times. this gives the subject time to move within the frame. as you know, cats are excellent for this because they hold very still, but also walk out of the frame before the shutter closes.


now, i thought a ghost cat should have a ghost owner.


taking these self portraits made me want to explore moving in the frame during the exposure time, instead of just moving into the frame, so i set the timer and did this self portrait as shiva:


for my second assignment, i took photos with as large an apeture as possible, to give the shortest depth of field. i also used the zoom to make the shortness as obvious as possible.



i also used sunbeams as another way of separating my field of focus:


finally, i did a study on a library book. the page shot most clearly indicates the blurry backround, the focused middle ground, and the blurry foreground.

these two contrast focus on the spine vs. focus on the text


and as for this photo.. well, i had to include it in my presentation because i just like it. it's my favourite from this week's shoot.


here ends today's lesson. tune in next week when we explore the "Tv" setting.

schönes weihnachten!

work was long again today. hotglued 48 snowflakes (covered in grape glitter, btw) to plastic picks, among other things. was so surprised when i remembered the christkindlmarket- when am i going to fit that in this year? and ch said, what are you doing after work today? so i went with ch and hugo after work and it was marvelous. a warm night, and hugo hadn't been there before and found it magical. i kept waxing nostalgic and was a walking dictionary of random german factoids. we drank our glüwein out of our commemorative mugs and ate our potato pancakes and took photos of silly ornaments.

after that we were on another SLOW SLOW train, but i went to women and children's first bookstore to do some serious holiday shopping. did end up buying 2 things for me (hey, i NEED a new planner) but was able to find the gift i need for tomorrow and ordered the other one i want for philadelphia. made a lot of phone calls- the only person i could get through to was my dad. my goodness, where is everyone? then i went to devon market for some stocking stuffers and when i came home... MY BOX FROM HEARTHSONG ARRIVED! jr and d are coming over tomorrow night for christmas. jr still believes in santa, so i'm so glad that there will be gift options and stuff for stockings. i'd have been so sad if it had been late.

so if you'll excuse me, i have some wrapping to do!

pictures and picture talk

so let's see. we ended up getting to the party later than imagined because when i opened my stockings 2 long ribbons fell out- they didn't come pre-laced! so i had to lace them all up before i could go out. it was very-time consuming. it was fine- we didn't really mingle much, there were hairless muscular tattooed strippers wandering around, the catered munchies were good, there was porn on the coffee table, etc. here are my new shoes:
someday i'll have a better picture. talking about new shoes, i inspired a. here are her new shoes:

anyway, i just realized i never posted the photos of d, jr and i in front of the decorated christmas tree. so here they are:




there are other pictures from my last roll, the snow in the garden, jr and the kitty, and closeups of bits of d, mostly. if you really wanna see them, they're on the flickr page. we took a whole roll at the playground yesterday, but they turned out quite disapointing. i bought film with an 800 asa in hopes that i could take more inside photos, but then i took it to the park in the sunlight with reflective snow, and the colors totally suck- it's all greyed out. i just don't go through enough film to use a whole roll one place though- i wish i could change film speeds each picture. i guess in the winter i should keep 800 in the camera, but have a roll of 400 or 200 around for those snowfilled sunny photoshoots. i did get some cute ones, though, so i'll have to scan them in. soon, i swear.

christmas time!

ok, so i have a couple of pictures to catch up with:
first, i know a said i couldnt' talk anymore about my fabulous thanksgiving, but i wanted to include this one because it includes wine:

and i also never posted d's new sexy haircut:

next, i want to show you how BEAUTIFUL the flower shop looked on thursday with all the pointsettias in it:

and then i have pictures from the spectacle space on friday- both christopher and i in the fat suit he was making. you can tell when the sun went down...



ok, so that catches us up to yesterday afternoon. it was so beautiful when i went to take out the trash i went back in the house to take my camera with me while i went to the store. i took all sorts of melting dripping freezing pictures- hopefully some of them will turn out. yes, i know i need to still scan in my last roll. i will do it SOON, i promise.

i came home and finished up sewing the bags, and d came over with guacamole. she helped me glue them in- DAMN, it's easier with an extra set of hands! we got them done in record time.. athough stil a little late to the party at joe's house. when we got there most everyone was pretty drunk already, but there was good food and wine enough for us to catch up. ch had made lentil soup and joe and stacy went to the middle eastern restaurant and got all kinds of yummy looking pies and hoummous and felafel and stuff. oh, it was good! and joe was SUCH a good host. i guess cause he and danny don't entertain much, he pays attention to his skills. plus, it's always fun to hang out in an artist's house. good wall treatments and the like. and in the living room, i asked joe, is that your or danny's book, and he's like, um, they're all my books. yeah. working at borders will do that to you. i love people who love books. it's like when you know a painting from a class or postcard, and then you see it for real in a strange museum, and it's like, i know you! an old friend, a little bit of home. books always make me feel comfortable. at least, comfortable books do. i imagine, like, The Study with the leatherbound gold gilded volumes all the same size. that's not so comfortable. anyway.

we ate, played apples to apples, had a great time. stacy and d and i all cuddled together, the conversation was risque, lewd and offensive. i was so glad d played along instead of being disgusted or hurt.
here's joe and his cute cute dog:

and here's me, d and stacy:


so then TODAY, d had said she'd wanted to go to church, and i was like, good for you, and she said she likes to go for advent, and i'm like, oh. maybe i'll come too. we woke up early enough, so we both went. i was really really impressed when we were leaving, shaking the pastor's hand, he didn't say like, "glad you could join us." he said, "hey caitlin, nice to see you, i love your stockings!" i was totally bowled over by him remembering my name. d was like, well, i did talk about you alot when we met for coffee... but still. i think that's pretty impressive, seeing as how i'd only been there once before.

and oh, what a bad choice the strumpfhosen were! so cute, but it kept getting colder today! right now it's 14F, which is -10C. high of 20F. nasty. but after church we were on a tree hunt! d knew a couple of places on north, but there was a lot right by the church, so we went there. sure it was expensive- even more expensive than my last tree three years ago... but it is a beautiful specimien. the guy showed us the frasier firs first, and i'm like, something a little cheaper, a little dumpier, something that will loose all it's needles right away, but smells good. and he's like, i have the tree for you. it's a blue spruce, about 5 feet to the tippy-top, but about 4 feet wide. it is the roly-polyist tree you ever did see. we stuffed it in d's trunk and drug it up my icy front walk and steep steps and put on the tinsel and the lights and now it just looks beautiful:

she's bringing jr over on tuesday to put on the ornaments, we'll pop popcorn and string it with cranberries while watching the muppet christmas carol (as per family tradition). i hope there will still be snow- and daylight!- so i can take some christmas card photos of them playing out front. then i can make hot chocolate and read picture books. ah. it's a lovely little vision. i had the fabulous 70's star, beads and lights from my previous tree, but i felt it needed more, so d and i bought more lights (the big bulbs), some larger ornaments, and the tinsel. i always want to buy EVERYTHING for chirstmas and have to rein myself in to the simplest option- one book, one decoration, one cd. but the more christmases i spent, it piles up in that box on top of my closet. SO, now i can buy the frillier options, to add to my collection!

but right now, it's cold in my cozy little apartment. i'm gonna go make some soup.

my life right now

feast!

clockwise from upper left:
stuffed squash, homemade rolls, gravy, turkey, root vegetable cobbler, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, canned cranberry sauce, 24hr salad, stuffing. not picured- wine and pumpkin-apple butter pie.

yum. all the hits of my childhood, with the exception of aunt deann's cheesy corn cassarole, plus wine and good music. after the feast we played whoonü and apples to apples, and then who knew again. and of course we ate in between each. it was very much being like family, other than the lack of generations. ah, what odd relatives i have here in chicago. thanksgiving for me is so much about flavors for me- blending the sweet and savory, cranberry, butter, sage, marshmallow, pumpkin. (oddly enough, christmas is more about smell- pine, cloves, cinnamon, candle wax, peppermint, oranges, snow- odd since smell isn't usually that important to me.) joe demanded we stay pretty traditional, which i was glad of. it was perfect. this was the 3rd thanksgiving i'd ever spent away from family. when i first went to su casa i was there for thanksgiving, and then the next year i was in northern ireland. i was pretty lonely for both of those, so i wasn't sure how i was gonna feel this year, but i was very loved. got texts from the fochts, z, leah, michelle, deb. and a called. and my mom.

and i got that comment from j, which i am also feeling quite contemplative of. first, j's little sister hates cards even more than she does. and marty won't ever play. now, i am a big gamer. i love playing games and find it an integral way of interacting with my relatives. my friends, we tend to sit around and listen to music and drink and chat. but without the other things to bond over, it's hard to just chat, and i think games are a way to actively be present with others, and have fun, without the pressure of necessarily peforming or working at conversation. i was always taught that it's important to spend time with my family, and i don't get much of it, so i should make it count. i am totally cool with non-players sitting at the table with us and trying to learn the rules- or even just drinking coffee and making snarky comments. or if one group wants to play games and another wants to watch football, that's cool too. but i guess i'm like grandma (shocking! i can't believe i ever wrote that about anything!) in that i get really upset when people choose to participate in individual activies (reading books, watching tv, surfing the internet) instead of participating in community. of course, doing the dishes is always a get out of jail free card.

you know, i've been thinking alot about the things i miss about l, things especially that i don't have in d. but i should look at it both ways- i was always sad that l hated cards, and i'm really excited about playing 500 with the family when d comes home with me for christmas.

photos!

finally, i'm getting these up. i didn't realize how long it takes me to scan in pictures. these are just the highlights, a bunch more sewing ones can be found on flickr. enjoy, and comment!

most are sewing photots:


there's this one from the garden;


the cat making trouble with the bowling ball bags; but then also being cute,



the halloween square dance! it's josiah, philana, me and marshall:

and here are marshal and i actuall dancing!


and i hope you've scrolled down this far, because a wanted to see more pics of d and i, so this one's for her.
here we are with the apple pie we made for ch and hugo:


but the winner of it all is this scan! i am so happy that i have a scanner now, just so i can show you the picture jr drew for me.


it just doesn't get much better than that.