bag 'n' trash -- home of monster yarn

B is for ....

of course, it's only B and i'm already behind.  *sigh*  oh well, i guess i've been too busy yarn shopping because ....

B is for Binge!

you know, because i didn't already have a large enough stash. 

so yeah, i've been a little out of control.  since christmas, i've done some damage and i'm afraid that i'm having a hard time stopping.

i'm going to blame this crazy shopping frenzy on the fact that i'm hungry most of the time with the weight loss plan and everything and the depression of being stuck on a weight loss plateau while the rest of you all eat yummy snacks that i can only dream about like a child and sugar plums.  see, i'm delirious with the hunger.

or i'm doing my part to help the US economy get back on it's feet.  yeah that's it. 

or maybe because all of this yarn is just so damn pretty. 

 

ooh pretty lorna's laces bullfrogs and butterflies for a clapotis (my third.  but this one is for me)

or some baby ull for adrian's snail  mittens in The Book of Yarn.

or ......   

some green alpaca for another gathered scarf . 

and then there's the sock yarn .  i kind of fell head first into a giant bowl of sock yarn.  but sock yarn is like vegetables .. NO POINTS!  so i can binge all i want on sock yarn, right?  RIGHT?!

A is for ....

I'M IN IN 2008!!!

if you recall, i participated in this along only peripherally in 2006 because i had missed the deadline.  if you'd like to see my posts/pictures from 2 years ago you can click here or check out my ABC photo album .

but this year, i'm officially in.

and i am pumped!  ha!

so here we go.  for the letter A i've got two.

A is for apple.

and

A is for alpaca!

one of the challenges of this along is to post photographs of things/places/etc. that reflect your personality or are meaningful to you.  in the coming year, my subjects may not appear to fit these criteria.  i'm not a particularly huge fan of the apple, for example.  (although i do love alpacas.)  but it's almost impossible to not include a bit of myself in every photograph i take, because every image is a reflection of how i see the world around me.

by the way, this is post number 666.

heh heh.

Back to Work

and i was just getting used to being a "kept woman."

it's bad enough having to get up at the crack ass of dawn to go back to work after almost 2 weeks off.  but when it's barely 5 degrees out, minus 14 with the windchill, that's just mean.  hey god.  come over here.  lean in, so i can poke you in the eye.  closer.  there you go.  *boink*  how's that feel?! 

on a positive note, being back at work means i have more time for blogging.  HA!

anyway, just a little housekeeping today, kind of related to my january 1 post.  but with much less navel-gazing.

first of all, a group of us have gotten together to encourage each other to get healthier this year.  i've created a group on ravelry called "less w8 in 08."  (again, i'm cracking myself up here.)  if you're in ravelry and would like to join, please do.  it's awkward to "invite"someone to the group because it's a little like saying "hey, you're fat.  want to join our group?"  which is not the intent at all, especially since i'm the only fat person in the group.   if you aren't in ravelry, i'm sorry, you're on your own. 

also, i've joined two other groups:  the NaSpinMoFo whatever it's called and the 2008 version of ABC.

if you recall, i played along in 2006 without officially joining.  but this year, it's official.  anyway, for more information on both these groups, just go see carole.  i'm too lazy to go into the details and she's done a wonderful job explaining.

that's all i've got for today.  oh... one more thing.  don't forget:

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Z is for ....

Zinedine Zidane!

one of the best soccer players of all time and argueably the best of his generation, this summer, during the world cup, it was all about zidane. 

his number was emblazoned on the backs of children at versailles.

and his handsome face was plastered all over parisian bus stop shelters and the walls of the metro.  (i'll take his brooding dark looks over beckham's golden boy prettiness any day).

unfortunately, his was the headbutt heard around the world.  oh well.  a sour way to end a competitition and an amazing career. 

*************************************************************************************

ta-da!!!  my first completed along!  that was fun even if i wasn't ever officially a member of the along but i'm glad i'm done.  some posts were obvious -- i knew i would finish up with zidane months ago -- others -- like xylem -- not so much.   had i not gone to france, i would have been screwed ... no quay, no vaux sur mer, no notre dame.

anyway, i hope you enjoyed going through the alphabet with me. 

 

 

Y is for ....

YULE!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!  AND BEST WISHES FOR 2007.

X is for ....

Xylem

ha!  how's that for an X?  in 1985 i graduated with a B.S. in biology.  yes, a very useful degree when your grades aren't good enough to get you into medical school (fuck you organic chemistry and your little dog), but the mere thought of going back to school to study more biology is as about as tempting a prospect as getting a full body wax.   thank god i took typing in the 9th grade.  however, i did learn about xylem ... and it's friend, phloem.   and now i have an honest to good "X" post.  how many of you can say that?

xylem is made up of the cells that move water and anything dissolved in the water from the roots, up to the leaves and other parts of the plant.  phloem is made up of cells that bring food (phloem starts with the "f" sound -- for food) produced in the leaves through photosynthesis (so cool, photososynthesis, only second to protein synthesis which is my favorite synthesis ever) back down to the roots.  how xylem does this is very ingenius, but i'm not going to go into any details because this blog may be a lot of things, but what it is not is a botany blog.  (although i did  teach a botany lab  for one semester which is funny considering that i wouldn't know a plant if it bit me on the leg -- well i kind of would, since i'd guess it was a venus fly trap since it would be the plant most likely to actually bite me on the leg.  plants aren't big biters).

****************************

i may be cracking open my old text books (or probably an updated version since i'm sure some information has changed in the past 20 years, although now with the democrats in the majority in congress, evolution is back on the table -- which is cool, because i love evolution) for a little review in the next few months.  i don't know yet.  i still have to do some research, but we'll see. 

W is for ....

Windows

i have a confession to make ...  i'm a bit of a peeping tom.  not in a gross, creepy sort of way, though.  really.  but more in a ... what kind of people live in that house? how have they decorated?  ooh i like the color of that wall  ... kind of way.    when i lived in boston, i used to enjoy walking through the backbay and the south end around dusk glancing through the windows to see what the interiors of these old brownstones were like.  it's a bit tougher to do out by me now since i'm usually driving by.   but i still take quick little peeks. 

i've always been interested in what's going on inside.  when i was a kid, i used to draw these elaborate house interiors on sheets of graph paper taped together so large that i needed to use a yardstick to make my measurements. 

i think that maybe that's why i like to read blogs.  in  a way, a blog is like looking into someone else's world, their stuff, their homes, their lives.  without the risk of being accused of being a little creepy.  usually. 

******************************
i'm not exactly sure that i understand what's going on here -- but i'm going to do this because cate asked so nicely.  some guy has this project where he's trying to determine how fast a meme can get around the blogosphere.  i'm to beg you to link to his project page as well ... so i'm begging ... he's a poor graduate student FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!! and then ping technorati.  be sure to post plenty of cat pictures ... i think he likes them.

this is what evil looks like by the way ... really. 

V is for ...

Vaux Sur Mer

when i go to France, Vaux sur Mer (Vaux on the Sea) is where i ultimately end up.  it's where i spent my summers as a teenager, and where my parents have retired.  In the winter, it's quiet and a little depressing.  half of the shops are closed, many of the houses are inoccupied, and the skies are gray. during the months of June, July and August, though, it's vacation-o-rama (ohh another "V" word) when tourists from all over europe come for the beaches.

the beaches ... right.  i don't have a picture of the beach. 

sorry.  alrighty ... that's "V." 

 

U is for ....

UP!

i spend a lot of my time looking down at my feet so i don't step in dog poop, or trip over my own big feet.  when i'm in france though, i spend a lot of my walking time with my eyes gazing upwards (ironic considering the risk of stepping in dog poop is considerably greater there then here, although not nearly as bad as when i was a kid).  you never know what you'll see.

the eiffel tower from the inside.

and up the side.

le sacre coeur.

the inner curve of the arc de triomphe

la sainte chappelle exteriors.

and interiors.  the stained glass in the upper chapel of la sainte chapelle is considered the best example of stained glass in the world. 

the ceiling of  bir hakim metro station (you get off here to go to the eiffel tower)

through a window at versailles.

of course, if you spend all of your time with your head in the clouds, you're bound to miss little gems like this small plancard that i spied on the back of a motor scooter. those french are so wacky sometimes.

T is for ...

Talmont-sur-Gironde

Talmont is a tiny village (population 83 give or take) that juts out into the estuary of the Gironde.  it's about 10 miles from my parent's house and it's a place i insist on visiting everytime i go home.

i've already shown you the hollyhocks. 

my favorite thing to do is walk along these narrow alleyways and paths, wondering what life might have been like here centuries ago. 

for most visitors, though the highlight is this 11th century romanesque style church, Sainte Radegonde. 

and its tiny cemetery. 

both of which overlook the gironde and are protected from the tides by these centuries old fortifications.

i really love this place. 

 

S is for

Sunflowers

one of my favorite flowers.

they're the radio city music hall rockettes of the flower world, the syncronized swimmers of nature, following the sun as it cruises from east to west across the sky.

i love their big giant heads and the fact that they can grow to be taller than i am.

hearty and easy to grow, they provide beauty and nourishment. 

and they make me smile.

R is for ...

(LA) ROCHELLE

every time i go and visit my family, i have to make a stop at La Rochelle.  it's always crowded when i go, and finding parking is ridiculous, but i do enjoy walking around the old harbor and it's surrounding areas.  and what's not to love about a city whose history includes pirates!  arrggghhh!

Q is for

QUAY

so i've been screwing around with this post for over a week now.  i had "q" down weeks before that, but i haven't been able to write anything that doesn't sound forced and stupidly encyclopedic to accompany these photographs.

english was never my best subject in school, but that just means that i got A-/B+ instead of A's. my writing is utilitarian, grammatically ok, and just perfect for writing up lab reports, work memos, and scientific papers.    a few years back, i took a creative nonfiction writing class at grub street and didn't make a total fool out of myself -- a very brave thing for me.  since starting this blog, however, i realize that my writing compared to others really just sucks.  like there's some sort of funnel between my wordless thoughts and the part of my brain that puts those thoughts into words through my fingers onto the computer screen.  i'm an excellent and very fast typist so it's clearly that part between my emotional thoughts/feelings and forming words based on those thoughts that is all muddled.

of course none of this has anything to do with my post.  or these pictures. 

see, when i try to get back to this post, i've got "nothing."

even this picture is all out of focus.  kind of like my brain.  by the way, this is a bouquiniste's (secondhand bookseller's) stall. 

they sell old magazines, and newspapers, paintings and prints, photos, gentlemen's publications (cover the children's eyes!).  great old stuff from as early as the turn of the last century if you're willing to take the time to browse.  i find them to be a little sad, and am amazed that these guys actually manage to make a living especially since most have resisted filling up their space with plastic eiffel towers and cheap t-shirts.

P is for ...

PIANO LESSONS
(and you thought i was going to say Paris)

when i was a little girl, my mother had me take piano lessons. at first i was excited.  my first teacher was this young, right out of music school, crunchy granola type who wore birkenstocks, didn't shave her legs and smelled, i would later recognize, of patchouli.  it was 1970.  i was 7.  i didn't know any better.  my excitement wained when instead of having me play contemporary tunes that i heard in movies or on television, she had me playing bela bartok. 

my next teacher was the pretty young music teacher at my brother's elementary school.  the music choices were better, but i hated practicing for 30 minutes a day, and she was so nice that she didn't seem to mind that  that musically i had no talent what so ever.  my last teacher was probably 100 years old.  she had taught at the new england conservatory and was now retired, crippled by arthritis, and needed help getting up the stairs into our living room.  when she drove up to our house in her 25 foot (it seemed) oldsmobile, you couldn't even see her head above the steering wheel.  just her little crooked hands. 

my mother finally let me quit after 7 years of torture;  torture for me, and the rest of the family that had to listen to my pounding several days a week.  she said i'd always regret quitting.  but honestly, i never have.  my old piano still sits at my parents house, unplayed.  kind of sad really.  for the piano.

a couple of years ago, my inlaws gave j and i an old piano.  no one else wanted it and we had room for it.  plus i think it's a beautiful piece of furniture. the cats like to play it.

O is for ....

THE OPERA

the day we visited the Opera Garnier (not to be confused with the modern, more controversial Opera Bastille) was a hot one, and we spent several minutes sitting on the cool marble steps inside.  unfortunately the only picture i got of the inside was that of the mask above.

a week later we visited the Musee D'Orsay where they had an exhibit on the design of the neighborhood and architecture of the opera, including a cross-sectional model of the building, and a model of the stage showing the behind the scenes pulley system.  i apologize about the quality of the pictures.  it was hard to take pictures without flash.

N is for ....

NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL

i'll let you read about notre dame, because everytime i go, i'm rendered speachless speechless (and totally freakin' unable to spell).  i only wish my photos could convey the awesomeness that is this architectural marvel.

M is for ....

old minis

old mini parked in front of a new mini

(oops! not a mini)

someone else's mini

my mini

L is for ....

LA TREMBLADE....

located in the departement of Charente-Maritime, La Tremblade is a small town situated on the banks of the Seudre, an estuary of the Atlantic.  my fantasy of living in a small town was feuled by summers spent hanging out with my cousins.  oyster farming along with tourism is the primary industry of the region.

K is for ...

KINDER?!!!

 

SURPRISE!!!!! (pronounced -- surPREEZ)

featuring Bob L'Eponge (aka SpongeBob)

mmmm yummy chocolate, in the form of an egg ... which is available all year long, not just at easter

and when cracked open ...

hides A SURPRISE!

there's also Kinder Chocolat (Kinder Not-So-Much-A-Surprise).

all of the chocolatey goodness, without the toy.   in a pinch, it'll do.

J is for ....

who else, but J.

able to lift small child with one arm tied behind his back.

calls his mommy every day

intrepid traveller not afraid of carrying his wife's purse

cuddler of cats.

friend of dogs

flipper of birds...

I is for ....

ICE

i will be thinking of these pictures when the temperature hits the 90s this weekend.

H is for ....

man oh man, i'm way behind.  "H" was hard. at first I wanted to post about "hands."  I've got a thing about hands, especially men's hands.  Problem was, I wanted a good hand picture and well, it just wasn't working. Then I thought, "I'll post about 'home'" except that I wasn't all that sure I wanted a picture of my home on the internets. And well, my home kind of looks like ass these days.  Remember, we are the hillbillies in the neighborhood.  (oh i could have made my "h" hillbilly hill!). 

so here it is the beginning of june, and carole's posting about kissing and i'm still 3 letters behind.  so here we go.

HARE

.... because we have an entire bunny family (i've spotted 2 -- so you know there's more) living on our property.  so fuzzy and cute.

G is for ...

GARGOYLES

ready for a close-up?

a little search on the internets made my entire belief system come crashing down.  all of this time i thought gargoyles were these little grotesque monster guys that sit on the ledges of gothic cathedrals to ward off evil spirits.  but that's not really true.  well it is, these are gargoyles.  but what makes them a gargoyle isn't their funny little scary faces (some of them are kind of cute, aren't they) but the fact that they are water spouts.  yes, that's what a gargoyle is.  a water spout. 

when i took these pictures during my last trip to france i could have sworn i took dozens, there were so many of these guys hanging from every ledge of notre dame cathedral.  if you ever go to paris, do not miss seeing notre dame.  it truly is divine, in every sense of the world.

and the gargoyles are cute.

F is for ....

FRANCE

as many of you know, i'm from france (but i am not a conehead). my parents both immigrated to the united states in the late 50's-60's.  they were both very young.  my mother came to join her sister and brother because there was nothing left for a 19 year old girl to do in her native village of cominac.  my father was 24.  he worked for renault and was made an offer to come to the US for a 6 month training.  he ended up staying 18 years.  my parents met many years later while my father was dating my mother's roommate.  my father dumped the roommate and married my mother 4 months later.

my parents, brother and i moved back to france when i was 13. although i came back to the states to attend college, the rest of my family still lives there today;  my brother in paris, my parents in a small town on the atlantic coast.  i don't get to go back nearly enough and when i do, my time spent there is always too short.  by the time i start thinking in french again it's time to go home.  i get asked a lot if i'd ever live there again.  when i was single, the thought did occur to me.  the ideal situation would be if i could travel back and forth for work, but there aren't that many jobs out there for bi-lingual french english health services research project managers. 

this summer, j and i are taking the older nieces for a visit.  it'll be fun to show them around.

E is for ...

Eiffel Tower

sorry i'm a little behind.

D is for

DOG

rocky is my greg/peter/bobby that i adopted when i married my mr. brady (except that my mr. brady isn't gay).  he's accepted my marcia (well "mark") and jan and cindy as best as an old dog can.  i never thought of myself as a dog person, i always thought dogs were too high maintenance and needy, but this guy is a trooper.  he's funny, sweet, and loves his ham and cheese.  and he doesn't lay on my knitting.  can't beat that.

C is for ....

CAT

napoleon isn't just any cat though.  he's been with me since 1990 when as a 10 week old kitten i brought him home along with 8 week old josephine (she was his "aunt").  josephine died 6 years ago but napoleon is still bright and healthy (he celebrates his 16th birthday next month) and loves laying on my knitting supplies. 

B is for ....

Well, it’s one for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, cat, go.

But don’t you step on my blue suede shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

Well, you can knock me down,
Step in my face,
Slander my name
All over the place.

Do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh,
Honey, lay off of my shoes
Don’t you step on my blue suede shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

You can burn my house,
Steal my car,
Drink my liquor
From an old fruitjar.

Do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh,
Honey, lay off of my shoes
Don’t you step on my blue suede shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

ABC-Along

over new years weekend, i didn't do much blog reading.  the end result of that is that i missed the whole ABC-along joining thing.  missed the deadline.  out.  no chance to play.  several of you out there still encouraged me to play along.  and like the unpopular girl who gets ignored by the popular ones at school but who still wants to be part of the group, i said fuck it.  i'm playing anyway.  i'll just set up my pictures to the side here.  next to the popular girls.  not so close as to get in their way.  but close enough that it could possibly look as if i'm playing along.  you know, to people from the outside. 

so i've got the button, but it doesn't link to anywhere. pretty pathetic isn't it.

anyway, IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME I'VE EVER BEEN EXCLUDED!!!!!!!!!!!

so this is my first entry.

A IS FOR .....

ARACHNID!!!!!!!!!!!

they are HUGE out here i'm telling you.