long stretch of blanket

a blanket for my boy!



did i really think i was going to achieve all sorts of things today? i guess the blanket took longer to sew up than i had anticipated. what with lunch, several bathroom breaks, and a cat who was imitating a toddler added in.



now it's time for a long warm bath and a nap, before date night! have a lovely weekend.

long stretch of friday

it is a dark and dreary day, with rain expected.

tashi is going home with a friend after school, and spending the night with her. that means i have a long stretch of day to do all sorts of things, and then dan and i get to have a date night! date nights are to be fully appreciated, as things will change considerably once baby arrives. i think we are going to have dinner at bizou, as i have been craving seafood, and they do wonderful things with seafood at bizou. and we are going to see milk finally. it has been coming and going from the downtown cinema, but once again, seems to be back. so i am very excited about all this.

i have been busy this morning doing house tasks, including laundering the fabrics i am about to make my baby blanket with. see you when it's complete!

does nesting = urge to sew

today i ordered two books from amazon that i'm looking forward to receiving, sweet booties, which is full baby stuff to sew, and softies only a mother could love, because it looks so totally fun.

i am not quite there with the knitting know-how. and since my little fella is going to be born in the virginia springtime quick to turn into roasty summer, knit stuff isn't first on the list. i also still have many adorable things that my mother once knit for a baby tashi.

right now, sewing sounds good to me. why has it taken me so long to get to this place where i want to sew things for the little mister?

i came home from work today wanting to sew. but so many of my fabrics are extremely feminine. why is that? even the vintage stuff. and while i have been waiting for the day i'd make my own boy a bend the rules blanket out of a sweet owl flannel i picked up a while ago, i didn't have a chenille piece big enough for the backing to make it today.

so i pulled out the star & moon fabric i've had for a while, and made a bib. a simple little bib. i was really pleased with how quickly i found i could make it. just enough sewing to soothe the urge, and plenty of time left to go out and enjoy the bonfire a neighbor had going. these bibs are great for practicing sewing around curves too.

and so there it is, my first homemade item for my own baby. i've made bibs and blankets for other people's babies over the last couple of years. but now the time has come for mine!

cosmic cotton on the front:


soft cotton chenille on the back:


and so hopefully there will much more of that. if my arms can continue to reach past my belly to the sewing machine, that is. i can't believe how * big * i'm feeling. and i'm a little afraid of how much bigger i might get. two months seems close, and ever so far. i can barely bend over these days! speaking of, time for some yoga, and then, bed.

suitcase poem XVII

who grasps
soft underside
both vulnerable and revolting
icy hand insists
a portal
where nightmares pass
& pass
drifting into ease
clinging apprehension dissolves
palms cup cleansing plash
stems fill clutch
color sky

lunchblog update

having a bit of a lunch break here at the workplace, and pondering.

feeling a lack of creativity in my life, and wanting to change that.

sure, i have been creating a baby within, but some of that process should feed into that which i create on the outside. there has been a lack of poetry, a lack of working with my hands.

so i think i will fall back to a prior poem series. and i would like to resume my short lived collage-a-week activity. this means, moving all my collage materials into the house: boxes and boxes of magazines and odd books that have been sitting in the garage since we moved in october. it will be a good thing to do before baby arrives, so that all those magazines are at my fingertips during nap times when i just may want to do a little cutting and pasting!

that is what i have been pondering, while eating this messy burrito, dropping beans and rice into my keyboard.

signs of spring

is raking considered good prenatal exercise? i'm hoping so.

yesterday before dan and i took our walk i noticed crocuses and snowdrops blossoming at the edges of the yard, popping through a blanket of dead of leaves. since then i've been consumed by the urgent need to rake.



we moved here when autumn was well on its way, and since setting up our indoor world was a priority, the outdoor world was somewhat neglected. it's a big yard, and the leaf accumulation is rather overwhelming. some raking happened here and there, but much of the leaves got pushed to the edge of the yard, where the forest begins, where so many bulbs are now popping up. thus my urgency to clear the way for what's to come.



i was told that the original owner of this house was a master gardener. i think her landscaping has been neglected for years, but bulbs will always return. i am so excited to see the world spring into a feast of colors.











and the flowers are just a fragment of it. there are ornamental trees and shrubs all around us. it will surely be season of surprises.



i would like to have an herb/vegetable garden too. i'm not so sure i'll manage to get that started this year, with the baby coming. being our first year at this residence, i'd like to observe what grows on its own, before i start adding to it.

while i wouldn't complain if there was just one more great snowfall, the signs of spring are filling me with wonder and anticipation. miracles will continue to appear all around us.

list of the week

Dan asked me when I was going to make a new blog entry. He said, "The world is waiting!" I guess the inspiration for words and images has been a bit low. I am trying to think up some sort of game I can play with myself so I will post (and create) regularly. For now, here is a list of ten things about my week.

1. This morning I made banana, cranberry, walnut bread but I didn't have cranberries or walnuts so I added tart cherries and orange peel instead. Accompanied by steaming Chai and fresh grapefruit, it was delicious.

2. Tashi had mid-winter break this week but it was all pretty low key.

3. I've been staying up too late, what with not having to spring out of bed and get Tashi ready for school.

4. Tashi and I saw Coraline. It was fun. I think it's the first 3-D movie I've ever been too. I thought the 3-D aspect was entertaining, without being overdone. Should we read the book?

5. This week I successfully combated pregnancy induced edema and acid reflux.

6. Prenatal yoga is a good thing. Even when every bone in your body is too tired to be lifted, you will feel so much better after a yoga session if you just make yourself do it.

7. On President's Day Suzanne, Kevin, Julian and Jakob visited us. We ate cheese and bread and hummus and strawberries, went for walks and chatted. Julian loved up the cats. We fed our horse neighbor carrots.

8. We picked up our digital converter box this week. I'm thinking this all a wild scam and really don't care that my tv picture is brighter and crisper. Real life is full of light glare, shadow and dust motes. I'm glad that our government coupon arrived and we only had to pay $10 for the silly box. It's weird that now when the reception is bad there is no static on the screen, the image just freezes or turns into a work of cubism.

9. Tashi's aunt Sue gave her an I-pod. Now we're really gittin' modern around here.

10. Last night Dan and I played Bananagrams and limited our words to those that were food related. We were a little bit loose about some things. It was quite a challenge, but I managed to end up with just one useless letter tile in the end. Pretty good!

fishing for connectivity

our dsl at home is out once again.

you can pretty much guarantee when there is a picture of part of my face in a blog entry, it's because i'm at a cafe and using photo booth to provide the visual image. i can't seem to make an entry any more without at least one photo.

dan and tashi are at a play that one of tashi's classmates is in. as much as i would have enjoyed it, i didn't feel up to sitting in crowded bleachers for two hours with my swollen ankles and sore back. i was hoping to avoid edema this pregnancy, but woke up on friday with sudden gigantic ankle onset syndrome. i have increased my liquid intake, taken a few epsom salt baths, elevated my legs, engaged in a good yoga session, took a great three mile walk yesterday, and have been drinking nettle infusion. the swelling has definitely decreased, but it's something i'll need to be pro-active about throughout the remainder of this pregnancy i think.

the necklace i am wearing is from my brother-in-law. it is a tibetan dorje/phurba combo, and has some beads of stone, silver and bone. he is always a great one to be matched up with in the haig christmas present exchange, as he often chooses awesome hand crafted jewelery from a neighborhood gallery, art and soul. along with the necklace, he gifted me with charming silver earrings of a cat playing with a ball of wool, topped with stone of citrine. thanks dan!

aha, they have returned, so i will sign off!

on and off

we've been having trouble with our internets here in earlysville. apparently a "line card" needs to be replaced at the local switch, but it's taken the phone company a few visits to establish this. in the mean time we keep losing DSL and they keep rebooting it temporarily. * sigh *

yesterday i made dan and tashi these huggable hearts for valentine's day. i couldn't access the directions, due to lack of a net connection, but i pulled it off. the arms are a little long with the thumbs pointing in such a way that they are not exactly reaching out to hug, but my loves were amused with them never-the-less.



i was led to the pattern by the excellent crafty crow, the go to website for holiday and kid crafts. through the same resource tashi and i came across this recipe for melt in your mouth peppermint hearts. we made a couple of large batches of them for her classmates. man, did we go through a lot of powdered sugar! but they are so yummy, "like fast melting altoids," dan said, though far tastier, really.



this morning we had a happy valentine breakfast with banana chocolate chip muffins, strawberries and cream. mmmm.



did you notice the table cloth? i have been on the hunt for reasonably priced vintage tablecloths, with no luck. but on thursday i found this lovely for only $1! it's in great condition too.





while i'm on this random ramble, i'll mention the excellent patti smith documentary we watched last night, dream of life. it is a beautiful montage of images, clips, songs, poetry and vignettes from patti smith's past and present. intimate, artful, haunting, inspiring and highly recommended for those that love this legend of a lady.

into the light

we had a remarkable weekend of sunshine and mid 60's temperatures. it was a welcome hint of spring, though i wouldn't object to another snowfall or two. some of the weekend was simply spent gazing at sun pouring through windows, or lounging in it.




photo by tashi

despite my cough and congestion and general lack of energy, i had to get out into the lovely weather. so we paid a visit to some of our favorite farm animals.


photo by dan

the one eyed horse and her companions.


photo by dan

and the furry fjord.

we wandered down to the creek where tashi and her friends had built a fort of sorts.



they had found a deer skull, or at least that is what we think it is, and placed it on a stick as a sort of flag. it was amazing to study its seams and layers.







it was a weekend full of small beautiful moments,



inspiring awe.


photo by tashi

in the dark

tashi's class performed the song simple gifts at the waldorf winterfest on friday night. the lights suddenly went out but the kids continued playing, which impressed us all.


Winterfest Waldorf 5th Grade Simple Gifts from Zoe Krylova on Vimeo.

today's tour

i've been fighting a cold all week and woke up at 4am this morning with a flaming sore throat. so it looks like today will be a day of naps, slippery elm tea, cough drops and reading. there is an all school musical performance tonight, so i have to in the least get myself into a state where i can comfortably attend.

in the mean time, how about a little show and tell.



some fellow-parents from the waldorf school have passed on this hand made cherry wood cradle for us to borrow. we are co-sleepers, but it may be a lovely napping spot for the wee one. carved underneath are the names of about a half dozen babies that have used it prior to ours. it is really lovely, and the cats think so too. they fight over it.



this morning, loki wins.

below are a batch of steve keene paintings i carted home for our family over the holidays. once a charlottesville resident, he had an exhibit at the second street gallery. you can read a bit about his process here and here. he basically makes boatloads of paintings, many with random text included, and sells them for affordable prices. the paintings at the second street gallery were $10 or $15 each.

this one was for me, a nod to sonic youth.



and for dan, this neil young tribute.



mischievous fairies for tashi.



a piece for our house.



and another.



here is a pleasing music video of steve keene painting a pretty girl.



i really do love the idea of affordable art!

in defense of mommies

my land posted this and i had to join in and spread the word. click on the image for a bigger, more readable version.

superbowl party for three

i'm not much of a football person. i find it a brutal and somewhat boring sport, what with all those starts and stops and big men piling on top of each other over and over again. the sonic quality of a room when there is a football game on tv usually makes me retreat. but reconnecting with old high school friends on facebook reminds me of when the steelers were the bomb. and so i found myself in the spirit yesterday. maybe it's the little boy testosterone in my body!



so dan, tashi and i had a little superbowl party of our own. i made a tasty vat of chili, served topped with yogurt and cheese. we had fresh baked bread. guacamole. salsa. chips.




and cupcakes for dessert.

any excuse for a celebration!

and it was fun, watching the game. and exciting. but i still don't really get it.