Brrr!

Making some cards to give away, and dug out an old Stampin' Up set. It's a favorite, and I've done it in purple and green before. But this time, I used my Big Shot and a Cuttlebug embossing folder of snowflakes to add a little something. It came together well, although the color on the scan is not true to life.

The Journey is the Reward

Just a couple of cards finished tonight. I like the kimono stamp, but haven't used it before tonight. I'll make some similar cards using different color schemes, since I'll probably be giving this card away in a card set.

The background of this card is Hero Arts, as is the kimono, from the clear set "K." The sentiment is Amuse Art Stamps. It's hard to distinguish the Chinese characters in the background; I'm blaming my scanner. It is supposed to be a watermark-type background, but is stamped with Distress Ink in Fired Brick.

The second card uses the same kimono image. I stamped it as a background with watermark ink. The sentiment on this card is Stampin'Up. On both cards, the image of the kimono is slightly raised from the card surface with foam tape.

Ghost Town

Saturday we made a wide loop through Lewistown and the Judith Mountains. I wanted to show Morgan a ghost town, and Kendall filled the bill, at least according to on-line descriptions.

We ate lunch at a cafe in Lewistown, and then took off to find Kendall. The road is in good repair, as it was used by the gold mine at the old town site before they lost the ability to mine with cyannide leaching and closed down.

There are a few stone walls remaining at the town site, and some holes where the buildings were. The old bandstand is intact. We took pictures, naturally, and Morgan took a video of the cows grazing there. She was as excited by the cows as anything.

On the way, we passed the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" house that was built last week for a local family. The house is on the Roundup Road. It's said to be 3,400+ sq. ft., and it's nearest neighbors are trailer houses and sheds. The house the family formerly lived in was a converted chicken hatchery, which was likely a good match for the neighbor hood. The new "castle" looks a little out of place.

Wikimeme

The rules:

Go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday.

December 12:
3 Events
1787 - Pennsylvania becomes the 2nd state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1901 - Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John's, Newfoundland.
2000 - The United States Supreme Court released its decision in Bush v. Gore
2 Births
1745 - John Jay, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1829)
1863 - Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter (d. 1944)
1 Holiday
Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

People think of more ways to waste time on the internet . . .

It was a little break, I guess.

Hmmm. Almost 2 years since the last posting? I wish I could attribute the lapse to something spectacularly exciting which took over my time -- but no such luck. Perhaps it's just the constant sameness of my life that has me so un-inspired. Ah well, I'll try again.

I have decided to "convert" this blog to more of a hobby blog -- still with some personal, silly stuff, but with more focusing on my hobbies of papercrafting, rubberstamping and knitting.

Here's a sample:
This is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) I made recently for a swap. I used the "seredipity squares" technique, except instead of an inch square, I cut the background to 2.5" x 3.5", standard ATC size.

The images are all Stampington & Co. The raven is stamped on a darker purple, and cut out. I like this stamp set, and I love how this card turned out.

Read any good books lately?

Some where, some how, I got this list of books that I've seen on other blogs. Some truly are classics; the others -- not so much. I mean, c'mon, DaVinci Code? The Pelican Brief? Really?

Anywho, the idea is to indicate which you've read. Mine are in this lovely shade of purple:

1. The Bible
2. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
4. The Koran
5. Arabian Nights
6. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
7. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
8. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
9. Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
11. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
12. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
13. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
14. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
15. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
16. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
17. Dracula by Bram Stoker
18. Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
19. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
20. Essays by Michel de Montaigne
21. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
22. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
23. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
24. Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
25. Ulysses by James Joyce
26. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
27. Animal Farm by George Orwell
28. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
29. Candide by Voltaire
30. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
31. Analects by Confucius, (in classical Chinese, even!)
32. Dubliners by James Joyce Joyce
33. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
34. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
35. Red and the Black by Stendhal
36. Das Kapital by Karl Marx
37. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
38. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
39. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
40. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
41. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
42. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
43. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
44. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarq
45. The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
46. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
47. Diary by Samuel Pepys
48. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
49. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
50. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
51. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
52. Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
53. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
54. Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
55. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
56. Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
57. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
59. Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
60. Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
61. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
62. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
63. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
64. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
65. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
66. Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
67. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
68. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
69. The Talmud
70. Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
71. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
72. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
73. American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
74. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
75. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
76. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
78. Popol Vuh T.S. Eliot.
79. Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
80. Satyricon by Petronius
81. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
82. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
83. Black Boy by Richard Wright
84. Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
85. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
86. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
87. Metaphysics by Aristotle
88. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
89. Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
90. Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
91. Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
92. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
93. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
94. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
95. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
96. Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
97. General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
98. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
99. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
100. Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
101. Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
102. Emile Jean by Jacques Rousseau
103. Nana by Emile Zola
104. Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
105. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
106. Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
107. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
108. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
109. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
110. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
111. The Odyssey by Homer
112. Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
113. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
114. Sphere by Michael Crichton
115. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
116. Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn
117. The Bacchae by Eurpides
118. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
119. Starseeker by Tim Bowler
120. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
121. Sabriel by Garth Nix
122. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard
123. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
124 . The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
125. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
126. Othello by William Shakespeare
127. Why I Am Not a Christian : And Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects by Bertrand Russell
128. The Metamorphoses of Ovid
129. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
130. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
131. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
132. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
133. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
134 . The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
135. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
136. Emma by Jane Austen
137. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

I read most of the true classics and the political philosophy books in high school, so it's been a loooooong time -- no book report will be given! Those were the days, when I used to really read, and think. I remember them fondly . . .

Bad Blogger! Bad!

I admit it. It's not like I'm too busy to blog. I'm just too lazy. I couldn't keep up with my diary in junior high, either. I've read some blogs where the author commits to blogging a couple days a week. Could I do that? Once a week? Probably not.

I've gotten addicted to -- of all things -- knitting blogs. I've knit since I was a child, off and on. Finished a couple of sweaters, an afghan, multiple scarves, etc. Anyway, all the knitting blogs have inspired me to pick up my needles again. I've made a shawl for the office in a fan pattern with a microspun acrylic-rayon blend in a medium blue. I bought a pattern from Elann for a "Wind and Waves" shawl, and am working on two versions: one, in an autumn-hued wool worsted from Australia (from my local yarn shop) and one in blue-green tones made with TLC acrylic from Michaels. I'll be able to block the wool one to display the pattern, but think the acrylic one will not be as impressive, from a pattern standpoint. It's colorway is prettier, though.

I've also been fascinated with felted bags. I made a Booga bag out of Noro yarn, as recommended in the pattern. Blues, purples and greens, in a striped pattern. I made another with a Plymouth skein of wool in blue, gold and maroon. It works up in a cool wave pattern, that duplicates itself on the other side of the bag. It is a cool effect, but I think both bags are too small for me. I will likely end up giving them to my friends. I've also made a felted buttonhole bag, in Lion Landscape yarn, color is "Sunset" I think. I adapted the pattern to use a single-strand Landscape, and size 11 circulars. The pattern called for doubled bulky yarn, and size 15. I made the body a little longer than the pattern, and it looks like it will be PERFECT. I felted these bags last night -- the Noro took a little longer than the Plymouth or Lion. I knit another buttonhole bag in Mode Dea Cachet yarn, a wool, acrylic, and polyester blend. I have no idea if it will felt or not, but it's 75% wool, so I'm trying it. The colorway is Wink, orange-y and blue and green and grey, with gold metalic. It's really quite interesting. I'll post pictures when I get them developed -- no digital for me.

Batman Begins

After seeing my sister's family off after church, Sasha and I went to see this movie. It was great! Very dark, meaning that there was not a lot of light in the setting. Gotham was dark, the Bat cave was dark, stately Wayne Manor was dark, etc. Christain Bale was an excellent choice for the part of Batman; I didn't care much for Katie Holmes as Rachel, his childhood pal. Loved Michael Caine as Alfred! His character brought much-needed comic relief, and kept Bruce Wayne grounded.

There's talk of another picture in the franchise, following this beginning. Certainly the end of the movie suggested the possibility of a showdown between Batman and the Joker. If the director and cast remains the same, it would be worth seeing.

Madagascar

I took niece Marjorie to see this movie last night. It was okay -- certainly not a laugh riot. I liked last summer's Sponge Bob Squarepants movie much better.

We came out of the theater into a cloudburst. I ran to get the car, and picked Miss M. up at the door. I drove a block before I pulled over into a parking lot to wait out the main thrust of the storm. I was soaking wet, just from my 30-yard run from the door of the theater to the car.

Cinderella Man

I saw Cinderella Man last weekend. Despite the fears of my movie pal, the boxing scenes were not that intense, at least to me. She covered her eyes many times -- I watched with fascination.

I grew up with my dad watching the Friday Night Fights on television, and learned about boxing from him. I learned to appreciate a fine boxer.

As everyone knows, Cinderella Man is the story of Depression-Era boxer James J. Braddock, dubbed "the Cinderella Man" by Damon Runyon. I knew how the great match against Max Baer would turn out, and despite that knowledge, felt the tension build and easy as the ending was revealed. Skillful filmmaking never goes out of style.

I read somewhere that the studio released this movie too early in the summer season to really garner the big box office they were hoping for. This movie should be an Oscar contender in many categories -- it's a shame that many will miss it, turning instead to fluff like Mr. and Mrs. Smith or The Longest Yard.

"Into the Woods"

After drying out on Sunday morning, we attended the Billings Studio Theater production of "Into the Woods." This Steven Sondheim musical follows the lives of a number of familiar fairy tale characters, exploring what happened to them after "happily ever after." It is an amusing and sophisticated show, well-performed by some BST regulars, and several new faces.

Favorites for me were the baker (Vint Lavender), the baker's wife (Bobbi Hawk), the witch (Christie Arnold) and Little Red Ridinghood (Maddy Brown). Red was particularly funny brandishing the carving knife she used to skin the wolf! I think Ms. Brown is a high school student. She has a great singing voice, and great stage presence.

Festival of Cultures

On Sunday morning, I sat at the Festival of Cultures for an hour and a half in the pouring rain. We were under a sun shade, which kept most of the rain off until the wind came up and blew the rain sideways.

Not a pleasant way to spend the morning. No one else thought so, either, and attendance was very low. My niece, Marjorie, enjoyed herself though, running from booth to booth with an umbrella. Some days, she's every bit the 12-year old; others, she's six or twenty-six.

Watergate Redux

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On Sarpy Creek

I read this book to participate in "One Book Town." My discussion group is set for June 11th at the library.

On Sarpy Creek was written by Ira Stephens Nelson in 1938; it was the only book he wrote. It was re-printed in 2003.

The book details the ordinary lives of a community of ranchers on Sarpy Creek from the mid-1920's to the mid-1930's, when the drought pushed out all but the most hardy settlers. The story opens with a birth in a wagon, and continues through a brutal murder; adultery and redemption; anger and joy. At the center of the story are Case and Sareeny Gyler, a young couple who come back to Sarpy Creek to make a life near Sareeny's family, the Gores. Their lives and the lives of their neighbors are intertwined in a way familiar to anyone from a small community.

I can't but help compare the book to Ivan Doig's "This House of Sky" series about the valley south of White Sulphur Springs. The writing styles are different; Doig is far more sophisticated. But the storytelling is accomplished, and Nelson's simpler approach does not make his book any less readable. The characters are well-developed and real, and the situations played are believable.

Rx: Lemon Drops

The right side of my face started swelling after lunch on Wednesday. It diminished a bit, then swelled again after lunch on Thursday. That freaked me out, so I went to Immediate Care for an expert opinion.

Parotitis.

Yeah, that's what I thought, too, but it has nothing to do with parrots. It's a blocked salivary gland, the parotid to be exact. The same gland swells when you have the mumps. Such an attractive look for me! She felt there was a calcification, or stone, blocking the duct.

The nurse practitioner who saw me brought in a colleague to feel my neck; they'd been discussing this VERY THING earlier in the week. Glad to be of service to humankind . . .

Anyway, aside from the HUGE horse-pill antibiotic I was prescribed, I was advised to apply hot compresses, gently massage my face, and suck on lemon drops. The sour stimulates the gland, apparently, and will produce saliva which -- I gather -- will eventually expell the "stone" blocking the gland's duct.

And I worried I wouldn't have anything to say!

Happy Birthday, Bro

A sharp-dressed man, circa 1969.

Here we go!

I just got home from a presentation about blogging delivered by Karen, Randy and Craig. Their presentation has inspired me to create a blog, even though I don't think my life is particularly interesting. Worse, my opinions on various things are not worth repeating.

Notwithstanding these limitations, I have decided to try this out. I used to enjoy writing, and I still write letters to a number of friends. It's not that I'm without material -- but the quality of the material will be significantly less compelling than some of my favorite blogs!

We'll see how long I can keep this up.