Snowdrops

Snowdrops

Originally uploaded by rjknits

English ivy and flourishes of white snowdrops in a neighbor’s yard, to the north of the sidewalk. A large tree shelters the area, and bulbs and ivy are the only things that grow there (bulbs bloom before the tree puts out its leaves).

I associate the almost black color of ivy with the bitterness of winter weather — the leaves seem to darken over the season, with hints of burgundy on the underside of the leaves. However, I associate snowdrops with the hope of Spring, so kind of a nice pull between the seasons shown in this picture.

Part of a photo series on “North” and “Green” for Project Spectrum 4.

Flowers for a Blah Day

Carnations just make the world a little better. And, amusingly enough in this photo, it looks like a bouquet for the little coffee maker that could. I snapped the photo because it reminded me of Budapest, for some reason (possibly the colors more than anything else).

Carnations in kitchen

This little 4-cup coffee maker was has been pressed back into service after a larger, programmable one decided to make brackish puddles over the kitchen counter top.

The promise of coffee is about the only thing that stirs me up and at ‘em for the long commutes to work on these cold days.

These grocery store carnations don’t smell as good as the ones from the summer garden, but they certainly add a bright bit of cheer for the kitchen. Meanwhile, outside is cold, dreary, and filled with dramatic black clouds and odd slants of sunshine that light up houses like marquees. If the camera wasn’t being used by someone else in another state right now, I’d snap a photo for you of that and my completed dreamswatch. Guess that’s a teaser.

Juvenility Juvenility*

Today, I was on a conference call that was fairly long.

A female goldfinch came to the thistle feeder outside my window, and I sat there trying to figure out how I could get a camera without being heard by the people on the phone. I didn’t figure out how to get my camera, so no pictures were taken.

I’m amazed how strong my urge was to drop everything to snap a photo. It’s possibly the result of art training, when we had 15 second sketches before the model fell on his face or shifted pose some other way. So, anyone else find themselves not quite as grownup as they hoped? Or, perhaps, responding to current situations with training from years ago?

Topical note: I also didn’t get to see the speeches, because I was working (I do try to watch them no matter which party has a new president in the White House). And yes, I did want to go to the theater to see it with everyone else on my block. Ah well. [Ahem: who is this clone who does things her parents did and sits watching the news for hours on end? No comment.].

*Points for which character from MASH (the TV show) who I’m misquoting in this blog title. No I haven’t decided if the points mean anything.

The Present Really Is Presence

Last week, I didn’t finish the deadline driven knitting I was working on for the wrap party. However, I did get two little ornaments finished, wrapped, and under the tree. In the large scale of things, not a huge accomplishment.

For the holidays, I was given the opportunity to be present in the homes of my family and the Gardener’s family. In retrospect, being in the presence of loved ones is the best present of all. No matter how irritating it is to be suddenly treated like you’re 3 years old and you’re also an expert on computers, it’s still great to be able to pull up a seat at the family table. Not everyone has that opportunity, or wants it. We did lots of mileage on the eastern seaboard of the States to celebrate Christmas. Maybe next year it’ll be at our house?

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. If you’re getting ready for 3 Kings day, you celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January, or you are still celebrating Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, have fun!

A Certainty of Flurries

Believe it or not, it started to flurry outdoors while I tanked up at the gas station. This could be the last snow I see of the season, of course, since I live over the Mason-Dixon, but it made me feel kind of festive. So did tanking up the car for less than $22.

I now feel better about buying 3 hanks of Louet Gems (colors are caribou, aqua, and pewter) to make mittens — possibly the Squirrely Swedish Mittens (Ravelry link here and normal web link here). [For those without Ravelry, it's like Facebook for crocheters and knitters. We mostly talk about crushes we have on indie dyers, speculation about which designer is the witchiest, and politics. There are currently 217,000+ people on this worldwide community, with pictures of yarn, projects, etc. BTW: yes, the French and Germans do make some more interesting patterns than we can get in the USA.]

Today’s joys: little promises of snow without inconvenience, presents (for me), and I’m spending part of the day trying to memorize words for a concert. Since it isn’t all wine and roses, I’m also dealing with work stuff while listening to more work being done in the attic. Tomorrow, another crew of workmen come back to the attic again. Today I’ve alternated between being trapped in my office by a ladder and being trapped from the bathroom pretty much all day. I’m cold, there are no bathroom facilities, and I may or may not be able to get a drink of water. I think I’m trapped in a gameshow. With yarn.

“A” Is for “Anorak”

Yes, yes. I’ve looked at the date, and it’s getting close to August (which here in the Mid Atlantic states is a time for heat, humidity, and in my case… general crabbiness). But for anyone who attempts to write short stories or blurbs for nonfiction publishers knows — this is the time to submit stories about the end of winter.

I’m thinking about expository prose topics I could write about to match that time line, and I remembered a huge blizzard in my hometown (where I actually did use cross country skis to get over to the grocery store 9 blocks away). This memory led to today’s word: “anorak”. How many of you out there had one? (In my original hometown, a “parka” was a special kind of inlaid flooring that no one could afford. “Parkay” was a brand of oleo.)

I “Googled” the word, only to find something else other than the OED definition that I know:

“A skin or cloth hooded jacket worn by Eskimos and so by others in polar regions; a similar weatherproof garment worn elsewhere.” – The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993. Vol 1.

I’m not sure when the Compact Oxford Dictionary added the following British slang definition:

“a socially inept person with an obsessive interest in something”

I used a search engine and I find things like the Anorak News (someone keeping tabs on the tabloids) and a Tarot illustrator asking whether or not he is really an Anorak (no, I know nothing about Tarot, beyond liking some of the art). I have no idea what in blazes an anorak has to do with being a wine connoisseur, but apparently Jamie Goode thinks it fits. Of course his discussion is very high-level when he talks about wine: “Was watering my tomatoes today, and struck by the remarkable aroma that comes from the leaves when you brush them with your hand. It made me think of the wines where ‘tomato leaf’ is used as an aroma descriptor.” (I had noticed and been repulsed by this when sampling wine, but never had the words for it. Thanks, Jamie.)

How did a humble word like anorak make its way from Greenland (where it was a coat) all the way over to the UK, where it’s apparently an obsessive (pardon me while I imagine an obsessive version of the Philly Fanatic) person who focuses on details? I’m not sure the Internet can tell me that one. Perhaps there was a British detective on the BBC who wore one?

Did any of you survive the late 70s and 80s (and the snow) in an anorak? Does anyone have any clue why this became slang in the UK? And when did the anorak cease to be just functional cold weather gear?