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...

Straus Home Ranch

yesterday i went with a couple of friends to the Straus Home Ranch in Marshall, California. we took the day off to get out of the city and visit some cows. the day started off a bit rainy, but by the time we got to the farm, it was clear and sunny.

the Straus family is quite amazing. they were and continue to be pioneers of organic dairy farming. if only all the gigantic farms could become small farms and use sustainable farming and energy to produce food that helps sustain the environment. food that is far healthier and yummier to eat! we got to sample the new Straus mint chip ice cream and coffee ice cream - DEElicious (and available at Whole Foods and Berkeley Bowl, among other places).


the herders

links AND it's not christmas, but...

this tomte arrived from my mom in the mail:



she got him on her trip to Sweden last month. my mom has a great collection of Swedish tomten and is helping me start one too. here is the new tomte with the old (last year's) tomte:



right now i'm listening to mr. roy orbison. my parents got me hooked on him a long time ago. crying is the greatest song. (also great are leah and it's over.)

some links soon to be added to my links page:

crafty blogs: hop skip jump, naiive knitting, twine and postage, yvestown, red current, my little mochi, crazy for fiber, and the daughters of crazy for fiber mom: bird in the hand, mama unraveled 2

photographer linked from andrea: david nightingale

illustrator: laura heit

creatures: whitewall toys, esserini

blogs: counting sheep, ever so humble

licks

went to see juliette {lewis} and the licks last night. what a fun show! i can't really say how good they are, since i was a bit too tipsy and since i was starstruck by/crushed out on juliette lewis (she is so hot and fun and energetic!). but i do think they were actually good too, despite my bias.

in other news, the mecozy shop has been updated with some new scarves and cozies.

and i dragged out this mini quilt i started a while back and never finished. i'm not sure how i feel about it, but am thinking i'll quilt it finally. maybe that will help it somehow. any suggestions for quilting patterns? it kind of seems like it should be quilted in a V shape with parallel lines fanning out??



i got my first postcard from the postcard swap, from Hanna in Sweden! it's great! i'm going to wait until i have one or two more postcards to post them.

Bird's Eye

so i finally went to Scout, the store in oakland that i've been meaning to visit and share pictures of with you. to my surprise, the space scout occupied is now occupied by Scout and Bird's Eye. Bird's Eye is in much the style that Scout was, and Scout is now more of a bath and flowers store i think. i ended up taking pics of Bird's Eye, now owned by Ari. even though the space is rearranged and different now, i still love the colors! check it out. the first pic is of both stores.













after going to the store with Laurel and her little one, she modelled my newly completed scarves for the mecozy shop. they'll be up on the site by monday i think, but here's a preview. (when i've taken pics of myself in the scarves, i've had to take like ten to get one ok picture. but with laurel, i just take one pic and it's perfect! she's like that. thanks Laur!) i love those hanging yellow flowers too.

portraits of trees

i find keri's april 15th post, "connections," helpful in response to my last post on disappointment/anger.

also helpful is to revisit my grandmother's brother's art (does that make him my great uncle?). i love his portraits of trees. he painted a lot of trees in Italy and i can feel the heat coming off of the pictures and relaxing me. i want to eat the lush paint and feel the leaves against my face. he writes of painting trees,

"Ur dess (fargerna pa palettens) kaos och ur naturens outtomliga rikedom maste jag finna den ordning som ar bildens. Men jag hoppas att bilden bevarat nagot av det oavslutade och ogripbara, levande kaos som jag utgatt ifran och som for mig vittnar om naturens oovervinnerliga kraft."

here are a few of Torsten Bergmark's paintings. (unfortunately the scanner distorts the colors a lot. i'll replace these with photos when it's light out.)


Det Sista Mandeltradet, 1991

Djungel, 1987

Olivtrad och Lianer, 1985

Tack Torsten for dina fina malningar.

shash's anger management

today was one of those days when i realized how glad i am to know some dogs and cats. and to have some good friends. and to have good friends who will stand up for what is right, alongside me. it was one of those days when some people in positions of power in my life did some FUCKED UP SHIT.

i don't know why it continually surprises me when people i have respected betray me or those around them. i guess i would prefer to still be surprised, because if i wasn't, i'd be perpetually depressed and disgusted with humans. i know this particular disappointment will pass. i just have to figure out how to let go of my anger, to stop shaking. i think i will be doing a lot of hard swimming this week. speed swimming. kicking the water with all my might (in my bathing suit that is way too floral compared to all those navy blue speedo swimmers in the pool).

at times like this i think about how privileged i am, and how people who have less power in society than i do must experience so many more abuses of power, on a daily (or almost daily) basis. how do these people keep from dying inside? how do they trust? how do they keep the dream of justice alive? i guess maybe they know some dogs and cats and have some good friends too.

pincushion

crazy pincushion flower:

i don't think i'll make it to the Oakland this weekend to take the pictures of my favorite Oakland store. i was going to combine that trip with taking pics of my friend Laurel modelling the latest scarves to go in the mecozy shop. but i keep buying more yarn and thinking i need to wait to take pics of all the scarves at once. it's gone from three scarves to five or six, and i don't think i'll finish them all by tomorrow. we'll see.
i got my list of postcard swappers from Myra. i am excited start working on my cards and to start receiving cards! thanks to Myra for organizing the swap. check out the cute button Tania made for it.

yummy fabrics

i may have to make a little quilt with these fabrics

pinky "helps" me sort through the mess that happens

store fantasy

Although I love being in my room, sewing, drawing, knitting, I think it would get lonely if I did this full-time. Even though I’m an only child and like to be alone quite a bit. Right now I create at least one day a week and work an office job four days a week. I am trying to figure out how to balance that out more, like work somewhere 3 days a week for 5 hours a day, and then do what I want the rest of the time. Unfortunately, Pinky Leon the cat is not out there pounding the pavement, so I don’t think HE’ll be supporting me in this balancing act.

Sometimes I dream of opening a little shop, maybe with other artist/crafters and all working there various days of the week. We would sell our wares and the wares of other local crafty folks. I am partial to (recycled!) paper goods and little mysterious treasures, artwork, knits and some houseware kinds of things. There would also be a bookshelf stocked with the favorite books of those who work there (I know I have a list of books that I think should be required reading.). And it would have to be cozy of course, with at least one green wall. Maybe a little mural in a corner near the ceiling, something whimsical. Maybe a plate of "cookies of the day" every so often. Like Thursday cookie day. I get the sense that it would be hard to survive as a retail store, but one can dream...

Venus magazine has a “Store of the Ish” that is usually inspiring. In the current issue, the store is Ferdinand owned by Diane Toepfer. “Toepfer likes to think of Ferdinand as not only a shop, but also a meeting place for crafty people. She helps out with an indie crafts bulletin board…sponsors openings for local artists…is active in Spindleworks, a Portland org. that connects the disabled with arts.” I like the idea of incorporating the community into the store and vice versa.

Another store that was featured in Venus is SF’s own Needles and Pens.

This weekend I plan to visit one of my favorite stores in Oakland to take pictures of it for you (if they’ll let me). I go in there and I feel like I’m transported to another time and place. It’s like entering a piece of art or a story. This store definitely has like its own spirit or soul or aura or something groovy like that.

SF sunny day walk

so, frequently i have these urges to move somewhere far away. to a small town or to the mountains. to Oregon or to Sweden. someplace where i can, at some point, afford to buy a house! someplace greener or friendlier or something-er. dissatisfaction. today i was thinking about moving, and decided i should snap out of it and take a walk in the sun of SF. take my camera and notice the good things. here are lots of pictures of some lovely SF Mission and Noe Valley houses and some funky stuff (a window full of shoes and a dino-lizard car-protector. the shoe window unfortunately was very reflective, so it's hard to see all the fancy shoes.)

yellow trim

pink detail

hot pink door

bursty flowers

minty

turquoise

shoe window

dino-lizard car-protector

Svenskar: Craigslist Stockholm CHECK IT

wow. i guess my CL wish was granted. just like that. got this message back from CL:

"hmm, let's see if i can knock this one out real <> 04/08 16:28:33
quick... *poof* Craigslist Stockholm DONE! They do that sometimes - once it has more posts it'll get linked to the main page. Enjoy and tell your friends. :)"

which confused me at first. but it's for real!

mina svenska vanner: check out stockholm craigslist and start using it!!! yippeee

ps. nar bara en stad i ett land har CL brukar alla i landet anvanda den tills flera CL finns i det landet.

linkage and Swedish Craigslist!

Just added a bunch of new links to my links including the below (many of which you may already be familiar with, and many found on Camilla's blog)

Photographers: Loretta Lux, Kathleen Connally
Blogs: Something to Say
Illustrators: Banjo
Clothing: Bird in a Skirt
Swedish blogs and blogs by Americans in Sweden or Swedes in America: Tuula, Bara Jenny, Astons Sida, Stephanie, Stavfel, Give Us This Day Our Knackebrod, and Francis Strand.

Francis Strand captures the idiosyncracies of Swedes, Swedish stuff and Sweden, and does so with hilarity. He writes about things that I’ve sensed or experienced in regard to Swedes/Sweden, but have never been able to articulate this well. He’s like the David Sedaris of Sweden (you know when David was (is?) living in France with his Frenchman. Sorry Francis if this comparison has been made before.) I’ve only read about three months of his blog, and I CAN'T WAIT until I have time to read it from the beginning.

To all the Swedes and Swedish Americans out there: Please ask Craigslist to start a Stockholm Craigslist! I want a Stockholm CL so that I can find sublets and interesting events when I visit Sweden.

You should want a Swedish CL because Craigslist is a GREAT, free resource for finding all sorts of things. In San Francisco (where CL started) almost everyone has used CL at one time or another. It’s great for finding housing (roommates, rentals, temporary rentals, real estate), jobs, for finding activity partners and selling and buying things (furniture, tickets to concerts, etc.) Kolla Craigslist.

CL existerar nu i stader over hela USA och i andra lander (du kan se alla stallen CL finns pa hoger sedan av karmen nar du oppnar deras websida.) Tydligen for att starta CL pa ett nytt stalle, tillrackligt med folk maste begara det av CL. CL ar jatte latt att anvanda ochsa! Prova. Snalla!

powerlines and crafting

soon to be scarves in the mecozy shop...

the green and pink yarns have cashmere in them and they're very soft and light. nice to knit. lately i've been making long, skinny scarves with patterns. i had to use some bright, springy colors to counter the muted or "earth-colored" cozies i'm currently making. here is a preview of two of them.

and here are some powerlines at dusk. i think they're burying powerlines on my street now. PG & E is up to something loud and slow and dirt-producing anyway. in case the lines go away...


and here is the lovely Anya (a friend since elementary school). she sent me this picture of her in her mecozy scarf.