Lindylu visits SF

pashmina lindylu waiting for the BART


Lovejoy's Tea Room - delicious!


Mexican treats!


El Rio's Mango

amount of stumbling

lately the hugeness of the web has been a bit overwhelming. links upon links. it's exciting, but sometimes i need a little break.

a dear friend is visiting for some days starting thursday, before she goes to Israel for the first year of a five year rabbinical training she is about to begin. this just after completing TWO master's degrees! (she's a passionate one.)

all of this to say i may be out of touch for a week or so. or maybe i'll have some pics along the way of my crazy, loving friend and rabbi to be...

in the meantime, some photographer links found through Andrea, port2port, red currant and Sara Smedman:

Alison Bank (SF gal)
Kristina Loggia
Sally Mann
Erik Wahlstrom (svensk) check daily pics too.

the new glasses and mirror glare (and no more self portraits for a bit!):



the glasses are for staring at the computer, not for walking around. the woman at the glasses store, who my friend (who hopefully isn't reading this) has a wee crush on, says that i will stumble if i wear the glasses for walking (of course i stumble walking already, but i'm sure the glasses would increase the amount of stumbling).

Erasure

more knitters:

katie and katie has some fun knitting links which i'm just starting to peruse
jennifer
caro of splityarn

last night i went to see Erasure with some friends. they were at The Independent, which is a pretty small venue for Erasure. it was such a blast! everyone was singing along to the songs and Andy Bell was so funny and sweet and he totally rocked (or pop-ed) out - singing and dancing with so much energy and camp. loved all his and his backup singers' outfits too. his last outfit consisted of gold sequined short shorts and gold sequined little booties. my only complaint was that they didn't sing any of their abba covers. i wanted "take a chance on me."

here's a fan slideshow from their tour.

turquoise

earthy scarf

here's the earthy scarf. i'll put it in the shop at some point.



and here's a pic i like just because there's an unexpected pinky leon cleaning his paws in the background.

maybe curtains

check out Mati Rose's new website!

although i was just writing of getting rid of STUFF, if i move, i may have to give myself a housewarming present in the shape of this rug from anthropologie. see a better picture of it here.

i wonder how kitty vomit would look on it....(one always has to wonder this when one shares a home with mr. pinky leon)

her blue body

Check out the beautiful slideshow Martha of Naive Knitting put together of bloggers' studio confidantes! Whatever Martha makes, she makes really well!

I finally went to Noe Knit, the latest knitting store to open in SF. I like it much better than other SF yarn stores (just from my first impression anyway). The woman who worked there today was so sweet. Maybe this was because it wasn't so crowded today with everyone at Bay to Breakers. At the other place I go, it's so crowded that the people who work there don't seem to have the time or the desire to answer any questions.Though the Noe store doesn't have quite as much of a variety of yarn, I will definitely be going back there.

Here is the delicious and heavenly yarn I bought today. I knitted half of the skein tonight - couldn't wait to see the colors coming out from the center of the ball. Call me earthy, but I love these colors!



Speaking of eathy colors, here is one of Alice Walker's beautiful poems about the earth and colors. I'm reading one of her books now. She is one of my very favorite, if not favorite, authors. Her poems, fiction and essays consistently move me more than anyone else's. Tears stream down my cheeks when I read her words, not just from sadness, but from joy and just from feeling so much. She's a healer.

We Have a Beautiful Mother by Alice Walker

We have a beautiful
mother
Her hills
are buffaloes
Her buffaloes
hills.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her oceans
are wombs
Her wombs
oceans.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her teeth
the white stones
at the edge
of the water
the summer
grasses
her plentiful
hair.

We have a beautiful
mother
Her green lap
immense
Her brown embrace
eternal
Her blue body
everything
we know.

papery roses

from the backyard

i like how the pink ones look like mexican tissue paper flowers.

my haircut yesterday makes me want to cut off even more! lately i just want to get rid of stuff. things and hair are weighing me down. must be spring.


some links: six and a half stitches, portakal agaci, my odd little forest, natascha rosenberg, yesterday shows another day is here

soon i will post something creative! unfortunately my search for housing/a housemate is rerouting my energy.

last of the postcard swap, some links

here are the last 3 cards i received in the swap from Super K, Sandra and Melissa. thank you for the loveliness!

it's funny how the cards seemed to arrive according to theme. the first 2 i got were collage, then came some bears, and now these two bunny rabbits.



links soon to be added to my links page:

poster makers (i love these!): The Small Stakes, Bloom, The Bird Machine

paper makers (i love these too!): Herman Yu, Peculiar Pair Press

illustrators/artists: Cire (everyone against everyone), Obssessive Consumption, Kim's Suitcase, Elesavet

blogs: Soulemama, Not Martha,

Swedish blog: Skuggsidan

mother's day

happy mother's day to my two favorite moms!


mom and mormor

comments, linkaloo and postcard swap

doh! thanks to mav for explaining to me that my comments were switched to only blogger folks being allowed to comment. now everyone can comment. so comment away!

links that have been added to my links page:

crafty blogs:

i heart sensible shoes crafty AND funny
friendbunny good stuff
misocrafty and some more good stuff

art:

germainekoh.com-knitwork wow!

photographers:

port2port one good-looking and cool blog. beautiful photos. and i like the "take your pet to blog" days. :-)

folks i sent postcards to in the swap:

Marta of http://martapoeiras.blogspot.com
Jessica of http://www.digifoo.com
Tania of http://taniablogs.com/tania/
Susanne of http://grouchyfrog.blogspot.com
Jen of http://jen.fl-comics.com (you've never seen so many cute pink kitties!!!!!)
Joleen of http://joleensartisticendeavors.blogspot.com
Katey of http://onegoodbumblebee.com
Jessie of http://bellablue.typad.com
Nicole of http://myblog.de/muffnelke
Aimee Ray of http://www.livejournal.com/users/merwing

here are the 7 cards i've gotten so far in the postcard swap. thanks everyone! you all are so creative. i'm thinking about collage lately, so i'm especially drawn to the cards from kristen and hanna.


swappers:
onmyfrontporchswing.blogspot.com
mylittlemochi.typepad.com
swoozieramblings.blogspot.com
ihanna.nu.blog
liketotallycute.blog_city.com
wolen20.nl
and one was missing a url

Julia (1914-2004)

i'm thinking about volunteering again (when my housing situation is settled). it's been a little over a year since i stopped volunteering. Julia died April 1 last year. she was 90 and born the same year as my mormor in Sweden. Julia was like my American grandmother. talk about self-serving volunteer work! i started out as a "friendly visitor" through the excellent Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, and ended up becoming friends (pretty quickly actually) with the crazy, life-loving Julia Acevedo. i was lucky to know her for three years.

the first time i met Julia, she lifted her sweatshirt top to show me her missing breast, as she did many first time visitors (she was a breast cancer survivor and i think she'd had her breast removed around age 70?).

i took Julia grocery shopping at Safeway every other week. being a very social person, Julia really enjoyed our trips, i think because it was the only time she got to leave her house/block. our Safeway trips generally lasted almost one and a half hours (even though if i went on my own, i could get her groceries in ten minutes). she liked to draw out the trip. she loved food, and she loved to look at and talk about food. we walked the aisles slowly and she commented on the food and the passersby, "oh la la!" she'd say with a little hop to her step, when she saw someone who was dressed up, or scantily dressed. once Julia commented on how beautiful and elegant this very tall woman (who was actually a man in drag) looked on the arm of her man.

she carefully examined the food at the store. because Julia was nearly deaf, and her French accent VERY thick, our communication was interesting. most strangers couldn't understand Julia very well, if at all, but after some number of visits, I grew used to her accent and started recognizing the French and Spanish phrases she liberally peppered her English with.

since she couldn't read the tiny price tags on the groceries, i read them to her, or rather i yelled them to her. generally i'm pretty soft spoken, but there we stood by the meat freezers as she passed me the turkey necks. "$3.74!!!" i'd yell. "what?" "$THREE SEVENTY FOUR!!!!" and on and on, comparing various turkey neck prices that differed by 20 cents. then on to the pig feet. i think she particularly enjoyed the meat section since she knew i was a vegetarian. i swear she picked out the grossest meats for me to examine - meats dripping with blood, livers, pig feet, turkey tails and turkey necks. she tried to convince me to eat meat. said i needed to gain weight because she had been happiest in her life when she was a bit fat.

once back in her house with the groceries put away, she wanted us to drink champagne, or "peepee d' virgin maree," as she called it. i really can't drink champagne at 1:00 in the afternoon, so i settled for her grapefruit soda, much to her dismay. then she would tell me stories about her life, the more lewd the better. we laughed. when she noticed how i laughed when she swore, she started swearing more. she knew she was a feisty one. she had a bright blue, veined, penis-shaped ice holder in her freezer. it was there for months before i noticed it. and when i did, oh what joy it brought her. she had been waiting for me to discover it, and she cracked up like a great joke had been played on me when i finally did. but she also blushed and explained me how one could use the penis-shaped ice in drinks at parties.

Julia loved the view from her house of the bay, her garden, people who dressed snappily (a pillbox hat a visitor wore would be remembered and described again and again for months), a good looking endive, quesadillas, lewd jokes, talking to people, music, the Ford Mustang that she had years ago (and kept a picture of in her wallet), turkey necks (needless to say), her second husband who died unexpectedly after they were married 15 years, and especially her dog (named "Ou est tu?" - "where are you?" in French). a couple days before Julia died, Ou est tu started not letting people into Julia's room, barking and barking. she wouldn't leave Julia's side.
here are some pics of my dear, missed friend Julia. talking and laughing. with Ou est tu.

from Finland

i received the photo i ordered from satu palander! it's lovely. and she sent along some little freebees, including my favorite freebee below. nice!



my scanner doesn't do it justice.

the photo i ordered is sixth down from the top on the above linked page. it's the sleeping photo. i love the colors and the wrinkles in her shirt. something about the air in satu's photos i really like.

one of the reasons i started this blog was to motivate myself to do some regular drawing. it hasn't quite worked yet. but soon, soon...

housing help

SF people!

my great roommate has to move, and i'm not getting much of a response on my Craigslist ad, so if you know any nice people who are looking for a place (or if you know of a place looking for a pretty quiet person (me) and her cat, let me know), here's the info:

2 rooms avail. for one woman at 775.00 a month

the flat is huge and sunny. it has 4 bdrms total, a large living room, eat in kitchen, split bath, back yard, storage area, washing machine and tall ceilings. lots of closet space. close to Atlas Cafe and walking distance to Mission and Valencia St.s

your rooms are one med-lrg room and one small-med room.

i have one cat and you must like him! (he's very likable.) no other pets allowed unfortunately. you can read about me here. ;-)

thanks for your help! please pass on to your friends.

flower card collection

and some other favorites:



i need to get a closeup lens for my camera...