sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

June 20, 2010


question for the bookish sorts
posted by soe 2:50 am

Dystopian fiction: Fantasy? Science Fiction? Neither?

Category: books. There is/are 5 Comments.

June 19, 2010


weekend plans
posted by soe 1:37 am

I’m hoping this weekend won’t be too busy. Tomorrow I have the annual Sock Knitters’ Anonymous photo scavenger hunt to take part in. The past two years I have puttered around waiting for Rudi to get home to help me with the picture-taking part of it, but this year I hope to get some of the shots while he’s out on his bike ride on Sky Line Drive.

I’ll have to go over to the garden and water and pick peas and beans and probably the last of the strawberries. We ate our first bean crop last night and our first pod of peas. And our lettuce has featured in salads and tacos.

There might be the first trip of the season to the local pool. And maybe I’ll make granola. I also plan to do a bit of cleaning to capitalize on the tidying Rudi and I did earlier in the week. But otherwise I have a very quiet weekend planned curled up with books and sock test knitting.

Luckily, the weekend has already started off well, although I admit to being a little nervous after spending nearly an hour sitting by myself at a jam-packed Sculpture Garden jazz concert waiting for Rudi or John to join me. Luckily, the weather was beautiful, the music was pleasant, the three girls I approached kindly shifted enough for me to squeeze our blanket down, and I had knitting. I should have eaten something while I waited, though, because it took me a while to stop being cranky after Rudi and John arrived.

Since this week is the Summer Solstice, we found ourselves being kicked out of the garden while it was still light and back in Dupont Circle while the night was still young. The three of us, arguing the whole walk uptown about … politics, cars, immigration, and perceptions … decided to keep the evening going and headed to Locolat, where the conversation grew steadily lighter as our topics switched to movies, superheroes, and film projecting. It was a nice way to mark the start of the weekend.

How about you? Do you have plans for this longest weekend of the year?

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June 17, 2010


alight, towelling off, and music in the park
posted by soe 9:15 pm

How? How is it already Thursday? Time is speeding past. I mean, we’re nearly at the Summer Solstice. I’ve got to ratchet up my summer plans before I’m trying to hold a barbecue at Thanksgiving.

Luckily, we can always count on Thursdays to let us slow down, take a deep breath, and recollect three beautiful things from the past week (or in this post’s case, today):

1. We happen on the playing fields just at dusk. Fireflies ascend from the carpet of grass like embers from a fire. (To give credit where it’s due, that’s Rudi’s beautiful — and apt — simile.)

2. General Henry Thomas must have had quite a grueling ride last night because as I bike around Thomas Circle, a man on a cherry picker is toweling off the horse’s bronze hindquarters.

3. The lights on 17th Street conspire so that I am biking home past Farragut Square just as strains of “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” waft past me. The K Street light turns red, which cements it; I turn into the square, deploy the kickstand, and enjoy the final three songs of this week’s Golden Triangle Summer Concert Series. The band this week is the Lloyd Dobler Effect — and they are fantastically fun. They remind me a bit of early Vertical Horizon, back before they sold their soul for a major label record deal.

The D.C.-based band has a cd (which I’ll be buying) and several shows coming up in the area this summer. I hope to catch at least one.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world this week?

Category: three beautiful things. There is/are 2 Comments.


tour de france knitalong
posted by soe 3:00 am

The annual Tour de France Knitalong is rapidly approaching and I’m not sure what I should do. As usual, there are several categories, two of which are appropriate for me:

Yellow jersey = those tackling something really epic. Maybe you want to try lace for the very first time, or socks. Maybe you want to design and knit a fair isle-inspired sweater, steeks and all, before the riders finish that final lap on the Champs-Elysées.

Polka Dot jersey = completion of languishing WIPs. (The more, the merrier: go for as many summits as you can!)

I could definitely qualify for the Polka Dot jersey. There are plenty of projects that are “under construction” and some of those have been so for a long time. (I can think of two sweaters, several socks, and a purse off the top of my head…) Entering this category would be the responsible thing to do.

Or …

I could cast on something new for the Yellow Jersey. Something exciting. Something that will be forever tied to the Tour de France, in the same way that the mousie socks I knit a few years ago will forever be tied to the 2006 Winter Olympics. I have pretty green yarn that could be a new early fall sweater or lavender-hued linen for a summer cardigan that’s been sitting around forever. Or I could knit the knee socks that were part of Sock Madness.

What would you do?

Category: knitting. There is/are 2 Comments.

June 15, 2010


the event of the season
posted by soe 12:50 am

Darling,

It’s so good to see you back. You’re looking well. A little color in your cheeks that wasn’t there when you left.

Me? Yes, I admit I did get a smidge of sun last weekend.

No, we didn’t make it out to the shore. We stayed in town for the event of the season. (more…)

Category: dc life. There is/are 6 Comments.

June 14, 2010


would you care for a drink?
posted by soe 1:47 am

Summery Drinks

Please help yourself to a cocktail. I’ll be back Monday with a full recap of the weekend’s festivities.

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