self portrait tuesday

kath has proposed a series of documentary self portraits for october's SPT. this is a series i guess then from my two weeks in sweden. (actually didn't know the theme while i was in sweden, but thought i could use these...) she suggested gritty. these aren't so gritty, but i'll try for gritty later this month! :-) will also have to try setting the camera to take the pic. i love that kath gives us homework!

first travel--


by foot (holding an ice cream wrapper)


by commuter train


by car

and then fika legs--

Ulrika Lönnå

sommar-gladje (summer happiness)


blå blad (blue leaves)


blå timme I (blue hour I)

here are 3 more embroideries by my aunt, ulrika lönnå. these are photos of photos, so they don't do the originals justice. she has numerous pieces in the "blue hour" series, all of tree trunks in the above blues. lovely!

and (correct me if i'm wrong ulrika) she did a series of embroideries on old pillowcases that already may have had some embroidery or lace on them. these had to do with dreams.

more from sweden

mormor resting



this tiny embroidery hangs on the wall (the wall you can't see in the above photo) by mormor's bed. i thought the two pink photos looked nice together. the embroidery is by my aunt, ulrika lonna, who is an amazing arist. i will post more recent embroideries by her on monday.

hej igen! hi again...

kanner nastan for att skriva lite pa svenska nu efter att ha just varit dar, men da forstar inte manga vad jag skriver...

i'm back from sweden. while i was there the leaves started turning from green to yellow. the weather was perfect. clear blue skies and sun, though not hot.

so many things i love and miss about sweden. the first things are, flying in, the green and lack of ugly grey buildings everywhere. stepping into the airport, the air. it's amazing how different the air is. and the light. the air and the light are two elements that are strangely significant for me. those and the language. i feel at home in this air, light and language. i wish this other home were not so far away and didn't require a planeride to get there...

i've always struggled between choosing to live here or in sweden. over the years i've just become more entrenched in the U.S. and i can't write well in swedish, which frustrates me. and the lack of queer visibility is also stifling in sweden. but here, i feel so cut off from sweden. there aren't a lot of swedes around to talk to. i don't know any here. i love that i can read swedish blogs (like camilla's, karin's, tuula's, hanna's, jenny's, and sara's) and see bits of sweden/swedish culture/swedish people through the computer.

some other things i love about sweden:
*the moss on the stones (which i think happens farther north here too, like in washington)
*the general sensibility of the people
*allemannsratt
*lack of an overwhelming amount of massproduced products (although that is changing each year that passes)
*the small size of the country - makes government and everyday life seem so much more manageable. more possibility to effect change, keep track of news, more possibility of connection...
*swedish design
*fika


mom and mormor

and of course my mormor is a huge connection for me to sweden. she is the reason i've gone the past four years to visit. she is not doing so well now. it was very hard during this visit to see her suffer. she has become very quiet and tired. i spent many hours each day sitting with her in her quiet. but even so, she still managed to tell me the things that matter.

(more pics to come... may have a fika series and a self portrait series and an entry about my aunt's artwork among other things.)

(soundtrack to the visit was death cab for cutie's transatlanticism. so good!)

looking forward to checking out all your blogs that i've missed while away...

till sverige!

see you at the end of september.


photo by Staffan Brundell
vi ses!

self portrait tuesday: body parts

so i started out going by kath's theme of body parts and trying to take a photo of my skinny (in comparison to the rest of me) fingers, but it ended up being an eyeball/nose picture instead. it's not flattering, but i like it for some reason.


and here was another in the group that i liked because it looks like i'm some kind or weird creature who can wrap their eyes around their head! watch out.

i'm starting to get the pre-travel jittery excitement feeling. like i drank too many blended coffee beverages. of course i've already had trouble sleeping for a week because i dread flying, despite the fact that i've flown all my life. andrea's 9/12/05 post is appropriate...

ps. i just found these on six and a half stitches. wow!!!

cupcakes

cupcakes for a party. i had forgotten how fun it is to decorate cupcakes!


erica making each cupcake unique.

i think arc from port2port posted this link a while ago to all cupcakes all the time. wow. there are some beautiful cupcakes on there!

pet to blog: show me tummy!

yummy tummy
and a little bit crazy

weekend pics

here are some pics from the weekend. (i'm taking a little break from self portrait tuesday. i'll start up again when back from sweden in october.)

vegas waiting for her ball to be kicked, in stalking position


sandy snoot


feet


here is my new shelf from ikea. i can't fit a nightstand by my bed, so this shelf will be it. right now with some gee's bend quilt postcards. this is a typical pinky shot too, sneaking under the covers.


CUTE. my friend fin eating a labor day meal.

quilts for katrina

here's my square for quilts for katrina

2 links

1. check out ana's most recent collage ladies. scroll down a bit.
2. i found laboratory 5 while perusing the wonderful things folks have donated to the etsy shop for hurricane relief. my favorite items on the lab 5 site are the paper quilt cards they donated to etsy. see one below.

update

just updated the mecozy shop. the bears are now for sale there.
have a good weekend!

pet to blog: videos! and hurricane relief effort

i finally started using the video feature on my camera. here are a couple of my first ones.

1. pinky purring. you don't hear the purring over the background noise until the last 3 seconds of the clip. make sure to listen at the end!

2. pinky demonstrating his rollover technique. i'll try to get the slower rolling back and forth version at some point.

3. first ever camera video - vegas wagging. it makes me laugh because it's a somewhat typical christina and shash exchange in the background while vegas just stands there being so dog.

had to post some fun videos to contrast the sad news of the hurricane. as all are saying, it is unbelievable and tragic.

i plan to donate some crafty goods to the Crafters United, Creative Minds Join Forces for Hurricane Katrina Relief. you can donate goods for sale at Etsy or purchase goods. money goes to the Red Cross for hurricane relief efforts.

you can also donate directly through the Red Cross as you probably know already.

what to do in sweden besides fika

going to sweden soon to visit my mormor who broke her femur and elbow. i hadn't planned to go to sweden this year and was saving up vacation days. but now that i am going, i can't wait. i need to see my mormor and i need to get out of SF!

possible things to do while there, besides just being a lot with mormor (probably will only have time for a few of the below):

*take lots of pictures
*visit and fika with camilla and morran!
*draw mormor, mom, others
*keep a journal with drawings
*get that poster at moderna museet that i've been thinking about since last july when i was there (i'll show you it once i get it!)
*go to used plate store pa kungsholmen
*go to myrorna and other thrift stores to look for cool fabrics
*go to marimekko store and fabric stores
*go to art museums, waldermarsudde
*visit with my friend amelie
*skargard (archipelago) day trip
*do something queer-related (i have yet to find a queer scene in stockholm. it's very illusive, if it even exists at all. and yes, i've looked pa soder.)
*eat fil, hart brod, svensk ost, svenska potatis, kex choklad, cocosbollar, chokladbollar, princess tarta och dricka saft
*fika fika fika (for non swedish speakers, i found a good description of fika on some physics forum. it was posted by someone who goes by vaxan. "for example - in swedish: ska vi ta en fika? or even: ska vi fika? has no english equivalent, the nearest english analogue would be.. fancy a cuppa? or in the american language: would you like to join me for a cozy cup of tea or coffee and sweets or sandwiches, and most likely at a café or someone's home? - the phrase 'ska vi fika?' evokes an instant feeling of coziness in swedes, in english speakers it makes more intellectual demands (more synaptic operations)" i love the part about how it evokes an instant feeling of coziness. indeed!


a garage door in bernal heights, sf (where i walked around this weekend) somewhat reminiscent of swedish house colors


the red garage was right by the bernal bricks, a small portion of winfield street that is brick. i love the bricks.

feria report

(see more detailed mecozy display here)

the feria fair was a bit of a bust. not many sales. mostly my sweet friends bought things (thank you!). below is erica modelling a scarf she bought, and jen and christina holding a packaged up bear.



see how cheery they are?! it's the mecozy goods i tell you. hehe.


here is armani selling her beautiful harmani jewelry. (website coming soon.)


and here i am looking much more relaxed than i felt! (pic taken by christina)

and when i get my act together i'll put the bears up for sale on www.mecozy.com.

bring your friends' pet to blog: CUTE!

(note cute paw placement)

today i'm bringing the shiniest dog ever to my blog. this is Vegas!, the shiniest dog ever. she lives (as seen here) with jen and christina.

i had the honor of being present when Vegas! (then known as Jojo) wiggled her way into my friends' (and my!) hearts at a milo mobile adoption about a year ago. we had gone to the mobile adoption for jen and christina to look for a puppy, but they weren't 100 % sure about really getting one that day. none of the dogs made them feel sure, so we left after a while to peruse the nearby sporting goods store.

we decided to walk by the dogs again on the way back to see if our friend corrie and her dog were still there. they weren't, but Vegas! was! she was little and sweet and black. a milo volunteer said all of her (was it 6?) siblings had been adopted out, and she was the last left because she wasn't a looker (black animals being the hardest to adopt out). we took Vegas! around the block (actually i think jen carried her around the block), and jen and christina both had this muted, excited energy. like they both really wanted her but weren't sure whether to influence the other with their excitement. we sat down on a stoop and jen and christina actually made me listen to their thoughts separately in order to come to a decision. they each told me how sure out of 100% they were (meanwhile the muted excited energy feeling was getting more and more intense!) i forget what their percentages were, but basically they both really wanted Vegas! and the small missing percent was just their still not wanting to pressure the other person. (i of course was 100% sure, very much wanting to be a doggie auntie. hehe) anyhow, they adopted Vegas! and since then she has gone to puppy school and agility, has about 25 toys, multiple collars, gets a huge assortment of treats, gets lots of good walks, is showered with love and has numerous adoring aunties and uncles. she is the most spoiled puppy i know! and the shiniest.


(licks)

what a happy family!
more of this cutiepie later i'm sure. cuz you can't really see her cutest features here (besides the shiniest of fur) - ears, snoot (the family word for snout) and eyes. and tail. damn she has a lot of cute features.

scrapy cards

cards i am making for the fair i'm going to be at this weekend. how much should i sell these for? i have no idea. 3 dollars?

for any SF folks, the fair is Feria Urbana. it's this Saturday from 12-5 at the Canvas Gallery on 9th Ave., near Lincoln.

more red and green

farmers' market organic heirloom tomatoes yum



jen choosing her tomatoes carefully

complimentary color bears

fronts

backsides (one on right is fabric from an esprit dress i didn't wear once. i used to buy dresses mostly for their patterns, but i rarely wore/wear the dresses. can't seem to part with them either though, so some are becoming bears.)

bring your pet to blog/meet lollipop lu!

it's been hard for me to wait to post pics of the fabulous lollipop lu until today. lolli arrived on saturday all the way from alison's in australia. she came with all sorts of goodies (great stationary, tea in a cool bag, stickers and candy). i took this pic of lolli and pinky when they first met and they just looked too funny together with their suprised eyes. and i thought it was perfect for take your pet to blog thursday, so had to wait until today to post (i'm not patient about these sorts of things.)



here is lollipop lu making friends with hank the cat. they've been very polite and still have not licked their way through this pop!

another PL with lolli pic. lolli wears a beautiful scarf (pattern from Loop D Loop).

thank you alison! definitely the cutest prize i've ever won! and a thank you gift IS on its way to you soon...

self portrait tuesday: bedtime toes

bedtime toes



more bedtime toes



bedtime corner

took these last night while listening to sigur ros and thinking of this poem by may swenson:

The Process

Lie down upon your side
and fold your knees
Bend your hands at the wrist
against your chest
as a cat or dog does in repose

Close your eyes and feel
your brow smooth out like a small
cloth in the wind
or a brook slipping
to gentle waterfall

Now wait for what will happen
Something will

Beneath this hill of breathing hair
a steep mine
Within this ear
oracles of echoes seep
Wide and clear the eyelid's dome
a galaxy where suns collide
and planets spin and moons begin

Words are birds perceived
in a secret forest
Fed by nerve and vein they hop
from twig to twig and up
an ivory ladder to the top
where it is light and they remain
and are believed

i felt very calm and folded last night (one can feel folded, really).

having my mom here this past weekend reminded me of where i got my worrywart-ness. she worries about just about anything. though i love her, the worrying drives me a bit crazy. worry seems to be a way to try to control one's life and it distracts oneself from the present. i wish we could just decide not to worry, which i guess is possible to some extent, but is easier said than done.

on a silly note, is anybody watching "so you think you can dance?" it's the american idol for dance show. i saw one episode and hope to see this wednesday's. my former hip hop teacher is on there! folks who know me (and don't already know about this) will find it hard to believe that i took hip hop for almost a year, but i did, and one of the 2 teachers i took it with was Allan, who's in the top 24. i have to say though, Nick's performance got me teary eyed, so I am rooting for him at the moment.

Svenskar: Undrar om nagon kanner nagon som vill ha hus/djurvakt (o jag kan betala hyra ochsa) 1-3 veckor i September (efter den 13:e) i Stockholm. Helst pa Soder. Min mormor har brutit benet och armbagen och jag vill halsa pa henne. Hon bor pa ett alderdoms hem o jag vill garna ha ett stalle att bo separat fran hemmet.