dog days

Christmas project complete!

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:33:55 -0800

I gifted everyone their scarves for Christmas, and they all seemed to like them very much. Whether they like and wear them or not, I learned a lot about knitting in the process of making them, and tried out several new techniques that I had either never used before, or only tried once or twice. My favorite part of the whole project was seeing how different they all were!

purple lace

dropped-stitch ribbon

jewel-toned basketweave

chunky buttoned warmer

leaf end neckwarmer

fuzzy neckwarmer

criss-cross purple and silk

pink ruffle warmer

green zig-zags

sock yarn warmer

hugs and kisses cable

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Photo Quest -- Christmas

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:07:01 -0800

As everyone has grown older, gone to college, and moved out, our family Christmas traditions have changed some over the years. But the center of those traditions is celebrating Christmas with my mother's family on December 24th, Christmas eve.

We all gather at the house my grandparents used to live in, and where my cousin D now lives. Most years, there is a main table that we crowd up to 14 people around, and the great-grandkids are forced to sit around the kitchen table. This year, as many of the great-grandkids have finished college and a few brought their significant others, there were seven crammed around this little table! We all have a potluck dinner featuring ham, baked beans, and pork pie, and catch up on the news of each other's lives. By the end of dinner, everyone is talking across each other and at the top of their lungs to be heard, but we are all having a great time. The dinner table is pushed back, many folks change into the pajamas they brought along, and we all take our traditional seats at the table, on the couches, and on the floor around the tree. These days my father continues the tradition my grandfather started of having everyone guess how many presents there are, and then he keeps count throughout the night. One of the great-grandkids plays Santa, and presents are passed out, opened, and oohed and aahed over one at a time. Sometimes we take a break partway through to stretch our legs and have dessert, which always includes sticky monkey bread and fresh whipped cream pastries. Many of the presents say "From Santa" on the tag, even though we all know that he hasn't gone house to house yet, but we know who the real Santas are at this gathering. All of the gifts under the tree are from cousins to cousins, aunts and uncles to neices and nephews. We finish late, sometimes after midnight, and take our time having another bite of dessert, gathering up presents to take to our cars, admiring others' gifts we didn't see and saying thank you for ones we got. Then we all go home and wait for Christmas morning to open presents with our individual families.

One very firm holiday tradition is no photos! Most of my relatives are camera-shy, and a fuss is made if flashes start going off. So I made two collages to describe my Christmas. The first are all of the old decorations that I remember from when I was little, and that my mom still puts up every year.

Christmas decorations collage

The second is a record of this year's trip home: the long flight from Salt Lake City, complete with an unplanned overnight stop in Washington, DC, when my flight in was late and I had to wait until morning to catch the next flight to Boston; my sister's snow portrait of one of the rhinos she works with at her zoo, and playing with her dogs in the back yard; bits and pieces of the Christmas eve decorations; and a final photo from my last night in town that someone snuck with a cell phone.

Christmas 2009 collage

Here's wishing everyone a very happy New Year!

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Wedding planning

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:59:43 -0800

So, I know that not everyone will care about this post, but I kinda feel like I need to write it anyway. I have been compulsively watching wedding shows on TV for about a year now, and I thought I had an ok handle on what was needed to put a wedding together. Wow, not at all!

First, like just about everyone in the world, I thought that weddings were a lot cheaper than they actually are. T and I are super lucky that my parents want to foot the majority of the bill, especially as, with first T and now me not working, trying to just make ends meet, much less put away money for the wedding, has been a real challenge. But we are already going over what I thought was a reasonable though cheap budget of $5000. If I had a ton of friends and family in the area to help and could do the reception outdoors, it might have worked, but having to hire people to do everything makes that a lot harder to do. Of course, even if I had a million friends here in Utah, I would rather they felt more like guests than staff on our wedding day, so I might do exactly the same things. In addition, I am trying to give myself the luxury of a day-of wedding coordinator, someone to make sure the reception hall is decorated, the vendors all get to the wedding on time, and that everything runs smoothly and I don't have to be the one to put out fires during the day. Turns out, even though they are waaaay cheaper here than elswehere, a good and inexpensive planner is still quite hard to find.

I freaked out a little at first, especially when I was concerned about staying under $5000. I just couldn't get everything we wanted for that price, I was freaking out about what compromises we needed to make, and I was doing all my research online, which meant I didn't have a good feel for who really was good and who wasn't. I also had trouble getting over the anxiety of cold-calling and meeting with people -- I really hate high-pressure sales environments, and thought I was going to get stuck in one if I had to meet with people to get pricing quotes. Fortunately, T talked me though my unnecessary panic, and I started getting quotes over the phone. So far, no one has tried to force or hurry us into a decision, so all of that anxiety was completely unnecessary.

In fact, we have had several meetings with different vendors who have given us suggestions on other people to look at, and everyone we have met has been very helpful, understanding, and kind. Another thing about this area that has helped us out tremendously is that fact that most folks in Utah don't go in for long engagements, so starting our planning 7-8 months from our date actually has put us ahead of the curve here. Most people here are only engaged for a few months, and our photographer just told me that, in his experience, all the college kids will go home and get engaged over the holidays, and then once they get back they will start booking for June. So we have been ahead of the rush for weddings. Getting married on a Sunday has also helped -- even though it was difficult for us to find a venue that was open on Sundays, it means that most other vendors aren't already booked on our day.

So, as of right now, I am feeling pretty good about everything. We have a gorgeous venue, whose owner also has a hotel nearby and we have gotten a great rate for rooms from them. We have a cake decorator who was trained by Duff Goldman of "Ace of Cakes" fame, an amazing florist who doesn't mark up her wholesale flowers, a really sweet minister to marry us in a non-religious ceremony, an incredibly helpful and friendly photographer who will be attentive to both our schedule and our photographic style, and a caterer who can deliver delicious food, a bartender, and even an escape limo for us at a really reasonable price. I have appointments set up with 3 more wedding planners, having already met with one. We need to figure out where some of our rentals will come from, like a bounce house and a margarita fountain, and we need to find a good DJ, but I have some recommendations from our photographer. We also still need to figure out where we will get our invitations printed, and have to think about putting up a wedding website, but other than those few things, I think we are in very good shape!

Viva la wedding!

inspiration

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Snow Dogs

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:51:54 -0800

A few weeks after we started dating, T and I went to the mountains with a large group of friends to go Christmas tree hunting. Cara was about a year old, Diezel a little over two, and I think it was the first time that either of them had seen snow. Remembering how hard they bounced around and played and wrestled always makes me smile, so now that we live somewhere that actually gets snow, I couldn't wait until there was enough for them to really romp around in.

Cara's funny eyebrows and beard and fringe pick up all the snow and get highlighted, while Diezel just loves to lay in it and be cool for once. I discovered that they both like eating snow quite a bit, too! Now, they are getting to be old dogs, and the snow certainly wasn't chest-high on Cara like it was last time, but they still had a blast playing in it.

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Weekend knitting project

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:30:30 -0800

Well, it has gotten cold enough that the hat I made for T just wasn't cutting it anymore. So he asked me to knit him something that would keep his ears warm in the wind without requiring dorky ear-flap ties. I went online and found a pattern for a balaclava on Knitting in Color's blog. T picked out the yarn, a soft 100% nylon black worsted weight yarn. I decided to make it really super thick, so that the wind wouldn't blow right through it, and doubled the yarn, using slightly larger needles than the pattern called for. I think it came out quite well:

DSCN1865

DSCN1866

Yes, it is being modeled by a paper towel holder, but you get the idea. *smile*

I looked at several different patterns online, but I liked that fact that this one was ribbed all the way to the crown, since it seemed like it might fit a little more snugly than some of the stockinette patterns I saw.

The pattern just said "men's medium/women's large," and T has a 23 1/2 inch head measurement, so I guessed on the best way to do the sizing. I could have gone a little smaller than his head, which is I think how the original was sized. That way, it would have been a bit more snug on the neck. But I was afraid that with the really heavy double-knit yarn, any stretch would open up the ribbing and the stitches too much, and make it more vulnerable to wind blowing through the fabric. So I went with his head circumference, and it seemed to fit just right. I also added an inch to the neck length, to make sure it was plenty long for such a big buy. The knitting itself was so heavy it was weighing me down as I was trying to knit it! But I know that he will be very warm out in the Utah snow that he is not used to. Now I just need to get him to quit calling it a baklava -- it's a hat, not a Turkish dessert! *smile*

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Instant heirloom

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:34:26 -0800

Several years ago, I inherited my grandmother's button collection. This was not a collection of rare buttons or anything, just her large chocolate box filled with buttons of all shapes and sizes. I organized them, finding all the buttons that were matching sets. I gave some away to friends. I made a little curio box for my sister and a playing card box for my dad, using her buttons as decorations. I sold a few of the older ones, like most of the black glass buttons, a couple of cellulose women's belt buckles, and some WWII military buttons, to a local antique sewing shop, not for the money, but because I wanted them to go to good use. And for years the remainder of the collection (which is still pretty hefty!) has sat with my crafts. I have always wanted to do something with the dozens and dozens of small mother-of-pearl buttons in the box, but I didn't know what.

So for Christmas I have been working on a knitting project that involves lots of neck warners for relatives, which means I have been delving into the button box again. I like the fact that the buttons came from my paternal grandmother, while many of my knitting needles come from my maternal grandmother. And then somewhere along the line I came up with an idea for those mother of pearl buttons.

While he's not necessarily as sheep-y as I'd like, with the buttons lying flush and therefore not looking very wooly, I like the way he came out. The buttons have different amounts of shine and lustre, and the variety of shapes and sizes is appealing, I think. l see this guy as a little treasure that I can pass on to my kids in the future, letting them know, "These were your great-grandmother's buttons."

button sheep

tail view

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Walking in a wintry wonderland

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:29:32 -0800

Took a bunch of shots with my phone yesterday while the dogs and I were walking in the hills. I know, there are only scraps of snow left in these parts, hiding out wherever the sun can't get to them, so people probably won't think this is much of a winter wonderland. But the air was crisp and chilly, and all the foliage has turned dry and brown. And the dogs were having a great time running through the brush on the hills, so much so that I barely saw them. But the best part was the clouds -- so gorgeous!

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A picklin' fool

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:52:02 -0800

DSCN1844

After watching a couple episodes of Good Eats with Alton Brown, I decided to try my hand at making pickles. Not real kosher dill pickles, which are the kind I actually prefer -- those require actual fermentation and that scares me a bit. No, I decided to try a batch of his sour refrigerator pickles.

The recipe was quite simple. Add the following ingredients to a saucepan:

1 c. water

1 c. cider vinegar

1/2 c. champagne vinear

1/2 c. sugar

2 tbsp. plus 2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. whole mustard seed

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. celery seed

1 tsp. pickling spice

Bring these to a boil and then let simmer for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. When done, add the hot liquid to a clean, airtight glass jar that contains 1/2 yellow onion and 2 medium cucumbers, both thinly sliced, and 4 crushed cloves of garlic. When it is completely cool, put in the fridge. The pickles will last up to 3 months.

DSCN1848

Now, I ran into a couple small problems. I looked all over town for champagne vinegar, and couldn't find it, so I substituted white wine vinegar instead. I have no idea how much of a difference this makes. Then, I discovered that my jar was quite large, and that the sliced veggies weren't covered by a single batch of liquid. So I made a second batch of liquid and only added one more medium cuke, and everything seemed to work out ok. Alton Brown's recipe specifies that the liquid should go to the top of the jar, and obviously mine didn't, so I am hoping this will not lead to any bacterial complications. I used antibiotic dish soap on the jar, and I hope that was enough. Not to mention, they are disappearing pretty rapidly. *smile*

The final result was quite different from my usual pickle, but I still think they're pretty good. They are kinda halfway between a sweet and a dill pickle, but nice and crunchy, which is part of what I like so much about kosher dills. This makes them ideal for T, who is a sweet pickle fan, but not so much for me. Also, the cider vinegar is quite noticeable, and adds to the sweetness. I think next time I will experiment with a different mix of vinegars, reduce the sugar and possibly increase the salt a little, and maybe leave out the turmeric, just to see what that does. Interestingly, the cucumber peels turned my garlic cloves blue, while the turmeric turned everything else yellow.

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Photo Quest: Pet Photos

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:23:31 -0800

I have about a million photos of my dogs, and I think nearly all of them have already been posted on my blog, so I won't go through my old photos. But, oddly enough, just a day or two before this challenge posted I decided to take a bunch of extreme closeups of my dog, Cara. We call her a lab mix, but we have no idea what kind of mutt she really is, and she has hair in the oddest places. I was leaning in to give her a snuggle while she was sleeping, and I just thought the little cowlick on her chest was super sweet, and that started the whole thing. So here are a few of her closeups:

cowlick

feet

ears

Then, while posting these, I stumbled on a very funny and probably never-before-posted picture of Cara, taken the day after I got her (see how clean her brand-new collar is?)

backyard boot

And, just so I don't play favorites, here is one more picture of T's dog, Diezel. He loves to sit downstairs on the couch during the day while I work, watching the world go by. T always comments that he doesn't sit like a normal dog, he tends to sit way back on his tailbone. So when I came down for lunch and found him propped up like this, I just had to laugh and snap a pic. Diezel just stayed totally still, lounging like this, until I could get a good shot.

chillin'

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Post Secret #78 -- Diagonal Lines

nobody@vox.com(anthrogrrl) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:54:50 -0800

I went through all my old archaeology photos for this challenge. I found that I use diagonal lines quite a bit. Here are several of my favorites. There has been no editing, with the exception of a little contrast/color intensification and some cropping, in some cases.

Most of the sites that work well for these are historical sites, where buildings, corrals, or fences provide the diagonal lines. But I take a lot of landscape shots while I am in the field as well, and I realized that, in many cases, the landscapes I like the best have a diagonal line within them, be that a stream, a hillslope, or simply the lines of the road.

historic farmhouse

2 snow tracks

wary cattle

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