You know those scanner bars that are found on packaging in the shops? You know, the ones with thick and thin lines that look like they’re some sort of code from caterpillars?

Back in the 80s, decade of skinny ties, Michael J. Fox, and Sheena Easton (whose style seems to have come back in the costuming of Rhianna, but nevermind), I had a dark blue shirt with dark black pinstripes (or perhaps it was a dark shirt that was pinstriped black and navy blue). It shimmered and flickered, possibly giving everyone a headache. And now that pinstripe look is back again, but changed a bit by the designers. So there’s the mermaid sweater from Hanne Falkenberg. This beauty as well (yummy rippled stripes). And this design for the wee set (Ravelry link right now).

I’m starting out small, to see if I like doing side to side designs. If I do, someday I may splurge on a Mermaid kit (purple/lilac/aubergine or black slate/cyclamen — it’s sort of delicious trying to decide without spending any money). But for now, between starting small projects and daydreaming about the time to complete my big projects, I’m back to knitting again. And it looks like pinstripes are in. Hurrah!

I am always amazed at how talented, kind, and intelligent my friends and family are. You know how to make a really crummy day simply splendid.

Of course, this may reflect the fact that I got home at 9:00 PM on a Thursday evening, to find a hot chicken dinner waiting for me. Priceless. Or I have friends who are willing to have me call them from one town over from their house, telling them I’ll be nearby… and they drop what they’re doing so they can socialize. Again — priceless.

It doesn’t hurt that I live in what I think of as my own garden preserve, lovingly tended by someone who actually knows what to do with plants and doesn’t kill rosebushes (kismet and absolute cleverness). So what small things are you thankful for?

It’s been a Hard Day’s Night, as done by Peter Sellers impersonating Richard the III. Go here if you haven’t seen it yet.

An argument to Beethoven’s 5th, all done with music.

Teaching ravens to fly underwater (Moore and Cook).

I think Peter Sellers is the best of the lot, but Sid Ceaser and the comedy timing of the argument might work better for more people. Enjoy!

OK, this is sort of a silly photo shot, but I was wondering if I would be able to catch my shadow on a the window during a sunset. Not only did I do so, but I also caught the reflection of my camera. I was 40+ feet up in a hotel, looking out a plate glass window over Dallas… and well, it’s sort of startling.

One shadow menaces the Comerica skyscraper across the way, while an even larger hand with a camera is reflected off to the right. It isn’t good photography, but it would make a marvellous scene from a sci-fi story. Debbie only Did Dallas… she didn’t menace it with gigantic shadows.

Latest news from people who don’t have to get up early in the A.M.: so far the Phillies are doing better this game (10:42 PM on a Monday evening). Go Phils!

OK, this may be a little off the usual blog entry that people expect here.

I’ve started a photo series exploring what the ladies’ room of today looks like, now that we don’t have fainting couches and such waiting in the lounges of department stores. The most I’ll ever show is mirrors, sink, tile, etc. The rest of the facility I’m editing out (unless I’m in the Victoria Albert Museum and there’s a museum exhibit of the swan toilet from the Victorian era). Thank you Philadelphia Museum of Art for opening the Perleman wing. The quality of light throughout this museum… well, there’s a lot more to the exhibit than just the art — the light is mesmerizing. I did get some great shots of large glazed pottery urns in the light in the main exhibit hall. But the real fascination started with the photo to the right, because the light coming in a bathroom window was just amazing. And then, I saw the sink and realized that American Standard and all sorts of other sink manufacturers would love light like that in one of their catalogs. Since I was in a museum, had a camera, and was absolutely alone (I would never use a camera if there was someone else there…. ew!) I shrugged and took the photo.

One tiny little Batman walked his pudgy legs up the stairs to get his Halloween candy.  His mother, in the background, was jumping up and down, cheering him on. He was the only child I got to see on my porch, and he somberly received his one piece of candy and headed back down the stairs.

Visiting cherubs, princesses, and PowerRangers — this is what I miss from when I lived in the suburbs. But I do not miss how far away I was form everything. Today I walked to the library; I made some of the late ripening figs into fig marzipan cake; I walked to the corner bakery for bread. All in all, a satisfying day in the city, with fall leaves decorating the streets with gold, while roses still bloom. I would never have been able to walk to anything except a library in the suburb in which I used to live. Everything there was set up for car commuting.

I brought home the following books from the library:

• Miles Harvey, The Island of Lost Maps: a True Story of Cartographic Crime. Published in 2000 by Random House, NY.
• Bernd Heinrich, Summer World: A Season of Bounty. Published in 2009, Ecco.
• Julie Phillips, James Tiptree Jr: a Life of Alice Sheldon. Published 2006, St. Martins, NY.
• Agatha Christie, Murder in Our Midst. Published in 1967 by Dodd, Mead and Company, NY.

The book about the maps is interesting. But I’ve been drawn into the dual life of Alice Sheldon. (How could one resist a story of a child taken on an African safari at age 6, who then grows up to write fascinating science fiction from the persona of a reclusive male author?  The family she has is very different, and it’s an interesting study of how environment can cause odd growth patterns in people.) I’ve been a fan of Heinrich’s writing ever since I read his book about ravens years ago, and I’m looking forward to reading Miss Marple as well.

Meanwhile, I am knitting. I have found that my gauge is off on one project, so I may have to frog it and get different size needles. Perhaps 2.25 mm. Bah. Frustrating because I like the fabric I’m getting, but I know that if I have any hope of the little garment fitting anyone, it needs to be redone.

For Project Spectrum, I headed West to the land of tall buildings and the fictional home of JR Ewing. Back again, without extra yarn. I’m hoping the pictures I took will come out and I’ll be able to show you the few blue skies I got to see during a short visit to Dallas. There was great food, I got to see people I see once a year, and I wasn’t in the office. The bad part — I’m exhausted, I’m not sure I have something appropriate to wear tomorrow morning, and the cats were very very angry.

No, I did not go to the museum about Kennedy’s assassination. I did get to see an amazing Asian art museum (if you’re ever in Dallas, check out the Crow Asian Art Museum to hear calming beautiful music while getting to look at some of the most splendid jade from China and interesting marble temples from India). It’s weird that I got to go West to see mementos from the East. But here we have East brought to the West by avid collectors; and the old within the modern world of skyscrapers.

“It is always easier to knit when your instructions are underneath an impenetrable, fuzzy, breathing wall. Cats know this. Knitters need to accept this.” Thus spake the Cat with great gravitas.

Quote the knitter, “Ack! Get out of my way! Stop playing with my stitch markers.”

[Purring from the cat. Then he hops off the bag with the knitting*, the instructions, and my knees, his work done.]

*Yes, that’s the Honeycomb vest and its instructions, waiting for me to be able to find out what I did wrong. I’ve knit the same 5 rows over and over again. If this piece doesn’t work, it won’t be for want of trying and then dawdling.

Interesting cookbook — My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking by Niloufer Ichaporia King. Sadly it has to go back to the library before I get to try any of the recipes, but I enjoyed the personal stories interspersed with info on Bombay and Parsi culture. I hope to get this one out again and test drive a few of these… perhaps caramel cardamom custard (dessert) or the coconut fish (main dish).

Today’s lunch was lovely — leftover buckwheat pancakes with peanut butter and blackstrap mollasses.

Tonight’s dinner — balti spice, lentils, rice, almond, and raisin pilaf. Again, you’ll have to trust me that this works.

A plea to people baking for jumble sales, church sales, school sales: for the love of fish, if you label something “apple cake” don’t make it one of those ghastly apple cakes with zucchini hid in it. I’m a grownup. I eat zucchini without subterfuge. I do not want to find long, mysterious strands of zucchini peel interspersed in my cake no matter how decorated it might be with brown sugar. I’m contemplating pitching the fakeout cake (which may or may not have apples in it for that matter).

Clean floors,

enjoy the sunshine,

pick figs and make fig jam*,

knit a little,

and generally discomfit the cats.**

Huzzah. (It all beat the hell out of listening to bongo man down the block practice outside.)

*3 little bags of freezer jam, carefully put in a larger freezer bag to protect them. There is a small bowl of jam waiting for cheddar sandwiches tomorrow.

** The cats hate floor mopping, especially in a room that has been a battlefield of “thinking outside the catbox.”