June 08, 2005
National Geographic: Part II
What? Oh. Hi. Sorry. Didn’t see you standing there. I'm still distracted by Norma’s story about how she watered her dead mole and it disappeared. First I’m having trouble wrapping my head around the fact something I experienced here in Seattle has someone 3,000 miles away sprinkling water on dead rodents. And, secondly, I’m starting to suspect that we just imagined the crow taking the mole. Apparently what really happens is that when moles come in contact with water, they dissolve. We have scientific proof.
(Side note: Because Rebecca seemed particularly girly-girl squeamish about the mole in the birdbath story, The Mysterious K had a devilish plan to go to a craft store, buy a scrap of dark fake fur and put it in the birdbath for Rebecca to…er…enjoy when she came to the Garden Party. I managed to persuade TMK that this was not how one is nominated for Hostess of the Year although, secretly, hell, I woulda done it—but I was too busy cutting rind off half of the brie.)
One of the things about TMK is that she Is Not Patient. A classic example: If she asks me to get her something from the other side of her overly-wide desk, in the nanosecond it takes me to even find the object in question, she has already grabbed it and is using it. Similarly, if she asks me to feed the dog, by the time I reach the kitchen, Frankie is licking the last scrap of food out of her bowl. TMK also sucks big-time at sitting still and being quiet—traits required for any kind of bird-watching. Ditto for bird photography. Double-ditto for photographing hummingbirds.
So how do you explain this?
Yes, this photo, which I just lerv, was taken by our very own TMK last weekend, but in a uniquely TMK way. Now, TMK is a thoroughly self-aware; she knows fully that she sucks big-time at sitting still, being patient, yaddayadda. Yet she was determined to take a photograph of the hummingbird that visits her honeysuckle vine on a regular basis...without having to sit and wait for it like a true birder. Her solution: She positioned herself in her recliner (yes, inside, in the living room) in such a way that she could see the honeysuckle vine; got her industrial-strength digital camera and telephoto lens all calibrated and ready; hung the camera around her neck...and turned on the baseball game. Problem solved.
You scoff...yet the proof is in the pudding.
In Dulaan World, I’m getting more and more reports of people mailing their boxes to Arizona. In fact, my aunt (Cuzzin Tom's maw) reports that she recently mailed, in her own words, “five huge boxes of knitted goods” knit by her and her friends in Vermont. Local knitter Paula reports that she and Lori, Linda, Meg, Maurene, Laurel of the group "The Plied Pipers of Renton" recently mailed in 42 items. I received about eight more items at Ferals on Monday (thank you June, Andrea, Diana, and Anonymous from the Eastside Knitters Guild); I should receive about ten more at Guild next Wednesday (thank you, Susanna!); and recently received this photo from Wren of items she has sent to Arizona:
You guys are all uh-mazing!!
Time to check in with Meredith to get the latest stats...
ok wren has to share that sweater with the multi colors/piping etc?? day-um I am smitten with children's clothing. (and no this does not mean I am smitten with children.)
I am opting to send my box bright and early monday morn. I'll let you know what all is in it when I do. promise.
PS? ms. tmk? can you send me the rest of those hummingbird fotos.. 'cos I know you took more than one.
Posted by: anj on June 8, 2005 11:37 AMI hate the rind of brie!! Rock on rind-free lovers of the world!! Hope to meet you soon....well face to face anyway, we have met through the white board!! Smiles!!
Posted by: Courtney the Cool on June 8, 2005 11:41 AMAs for TMK's lack of patience--one thing I have learned about TMK is that she is a PROBLEM SOLVER. And problem solving trumps lack of patience every time! Of course she came up with a Marvelous Solution--listening to baseball, after all, goes well with any activity, birdwatching, photography, knitting, bubble-bathing, gardening, eating....I, too, am getting a little anxious to know the latest count from FIRE. (PS Ryan, I left one of my hats at your house--the orange one with the flaps--hasn't been blocked, and I'm a stickler for blocking things before I hand 'em over to whoever, so could you bring it to Guild so I can give it a steam bath before I send it? Thanks, buddy!)
Mary B
Posted by: Mary B on June 8, 2005 11:56 AMHere is the forumla for knitting 49 items for the Dulaan Project: 1. Put the flyer with the cute Mongolian faces on a bulletin board in front of your knitting chair; 2. Assemble all of the wool left over yarns from your stash in a wire basket in front of the knitting chair, just below the pictures of the cute Mongolian children; 3. Sit in the knitting chair; 4. Pick up the sweater you have started for your son, or the shawl you have started for yourself--then look at the Mongolian children again. Remind yourself that you can always do the shawl later; that your son has many sweaters to wear already. Ask yourself, "how long can a little hat take?" 5. Start a hat for a Mongolian child. Repeat as many times as desired. Mary B
Posted by: Mary B on June 8, 2005 12:08 PMMs TMK? Amazing photo. Truly amazing.
The story about fake fur in the birdbath made me giggle. It sounds like something I would do.
Hope you have a great day!
Posted by: Stalker Angie on June 8, 2005 12:09 PMAnj, I'm not sure to which sweater you refer: three of the four sweaters are multi-colored: one is a tomten jacket, with i-cord edging--the backmost one in blues and greens. The others are baby surprise jackets--the topmost one (in red, green, blue and a little white) is one ball each of highland wool (from a russian prime pullover that almost appeared in the NYTimes) with a couple of rows of white leftover from a project in shelridge farms' worsted weight. That one was so adorable I almost kept it, but common sense--my friends are mostly now getting married and no offspring are expected for years to come--prevailed, and it should have reached AZ by now.
Posted by: wren on June 8, 2005 01:32 PMROFL. Um, do I sound just a tad crazier than you'd like to have a friend to be, for, you know, WATERING A RODENT and having it disappear? Have I scared you off yet?
How mitigating is it that I put a box in the mail on Monday with 12 items in it?
The Scales of Dulaan, you might call it.
Posted by: norma on June 8, 2005 05:22 PMWhat an awesome shot of that hummingbird, TMK!
Posted by: Susie on June 8, 2005 05:51 PMAnd now somehow I feel less bad about scaring TMK wiht my panic alarm on Saturday. MY CAR knew she was trying to FREAK me out which really isn't that hard. I got freaked out today because said car is a bird poop magnet! Big ole poop magnet! Seriously -- how are the moles? Any Mole sauce?
Posted by: Rebecca on June 8, 2005 10:39 PMwren-
the one on top, with the red/green sleeves and the blue body with all the white bits. MUST HAVE. *ahem* sorry its just so darling and I rarely see darling anymore.
Posted by: anj on June 9, 2005 07:51 AM