Weekend Report

I would have dashed this off earlier, but like Rabbitch, my computer has been on the fritz lately. I'm hoping that a new power cord will do the trick, but I fear it may be a terminal illness (Get it? Computer? Terminal?).

Anyway, David & I drove downeast to my grandmother's Thursday night, the plan being to spend Friday and Saturday driving around and scoping out venues for our wedding, places for guests to stay, possible options for rehearsal dinner, post-wedding brunch, etc. Friday, of course, looked like this:



We got at least 8" (20cm - don't ask why I know that without doing any calculations), though it was a little difficult to tell with the high winds and drifting. Needless to say, the day was a total wash and we didn't venture out at all.

Saturday was much nicer and we managed a bit of driving around. We were only able to properly visit Three Pines B & B, which is about 15 minutes from my grandmother's in a lovely spot overlooking the water. I'd been wanting to visit them for some time because they're completely off the grid and they have a small farm with a small flock of rare breed sheep. Though too small for the actual event, I think, it may be a good place for David & myself, and perhaps some of our friends with kids, to spend that weekend. David loved it so much that when we got in the car to leave he said, "Forget making a reservation. Let's just see if we can buy them out."

I took several pics of their animals, but my favorite has to be this one of their Shetland ram, Fideles (I think I spelled that right), who is very handsome and very friendly.




I'm Gonna Live Forever, I'm Gonna Learn How To Fly

After my recent mention on the world-famous Cute with Chris show, Chris posted a follow up letter and cute pic from (not of) me on his blog. Chris is not a pal o' mine, to answer knitnzu's question, but a Canadian actor whose work - particularly one film I first saw several years ago - I like very much.

I have Stephen to thank for finding Cute with Chris, because Chris appears in the full length version of the short posted here. He looked vaguely familiar (maybe because my feeble memory remembered the movie, but more likely because, as the staff at work all pointed out, he looks like a veterinarian we all know, incidentally also named Chris), so a little bit of googling brought me to the CWC site, and I was quickly addicted. After all, who can resist a talking plastic horse with apparent gender identity and God issues and animals with laser eyes. Certainly not me.

My 15 Seconds of Fame

Do you think maybe I have too much time on my hands?

Delicious Apocrypha

Recently, I was introduced to anadama bread, which is apparently indigenous to this area (well, coastal Massachusetts, which is only a few miles away). The 'true' story of this bread's origin goes a little like this:

Many years ago, there was a (farmer/fisherman) who had a (lazy/industrious) wife named Anna who was an (horrible/excellent) cook. One day he came home to find that she had cooked (yet another dinner of corn meal mush/a wonderful bread with cornmeal and molasses). So (disgusted/overcome) was he, that he (threw together the mush with some molasses and flour to make some/sat down and savored a slice of her) bread and muttered, "Anna, damn her."

I, of course, believe every word of it. And since I have a surfeit of flour, I decided to make some. Here's the recipe:

- 2½ cups water
- ½ cup cornmeal (The recipe I found said "course" [sic] cornmeal, but our supermarket had slim pickin's in the cornmeal dept., so I used a finer grind and it still worked wonderfully)
- ½ cup unsulphured molasses (or "moles' asses", as I usually call it)
- 1tsp. salt
- 2Tbsp. butter, preferably unsalted
- 1 packet yeast (2½ tsp. if you have a jar of it like I do)
- 5-6 cups of flour (I, of course, used whole grain spelt flour, but plain ol' boring white flour is fine, too)

Boil the water and stir in the cornmeal. Turn down to low heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for up to an hour (I did maybe 20-30 minutes). Remove from heat and add the molasses, salt and butter. Allow to cool to lukewarm and add the yeast, stirring it in well. Allow the yeast to proof for about 10 minutes - this brings it out of dormancy and allows you to see if it's still viable, as the mix should start rising. Stir in about 4½ cups of the flour and turn the dough out onto a well-floured board to begin kneading and incorporating the remaining flour.

Kneading bread dough is very important, as this is what starts to get the gluten molecules crosslinking, which is what makes yeast breads chewy and not cake-like. The No-Knead Bread avoids the kneading step by letting the dough sit and ferment for nearly 24 hours, but for traditional recipes, the dough needs to be kneaded for about 10 minutes, until it pretty much stops sticking to your hand and looks kind of like this:



Once the kneading is done, place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and coat the dough with the oil. Cover it and place in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk (an hour or so, depending on the temperature). Punch the dough down well, divide and shape into two loaves, and place in two greased bread pans. Cover again and allow these to rise until again doubled, like so:



While the dough is going through the second rise, preheat the oven to 400ºF (204ºC). When the dough is ready, bake it until the loaves sound hollow when thumped - about 25-30 minutes. Turn them out of the pans while hot, and you should have something that looks a bit like this:



We had thick slices, warm and buttered, with a salad and quiche for dinner.


Mmmmmmmmmmm

New Toy

I stayed up for a long time after work today, waiting for the UPS guy to bring me a package. I bought a new lens for the new camera - a 50mm/f1.8 Nikkor autofocus. With a price tag of around $100, it's not as rugged a lens as the slightly faster 50mm/f1.4 Nikkor, but at $150 less, I could still break it and buy a new one and come out cheaper. And the combination of a wide maximum aperture and Nikon optics means I can still get photos like this:



or this:



with waning afternoon light and no flash. At full original size, they're not the clearest of photos, but they work well as snapshots, particularly considering they're of subjects who don't like to be still for any length of time.

With a bit of flash and a still subject, it does even better:



This is a hat I started yesterday in Berroco Pure Merino that I got on clearance from Webs. It's a basic 2 x 1 rib that turns into a cabled rib in the black. I'm making it for my cousin Brian, who will be shipping out to Afghanistan at the end of March. It should still be quite chilly there, so I figure the extra warmth will come in handy.

Needless to say, I'm worried about him going on this tour, particularly given the current state of affairs. For the first time in his 15 years in the Air Force (in a non-combat role as a mechanic), he'll be going on convoys that may be targets for attack - an eventuality that is likely enough that he's undergoing combat training at Ft. Bragg right now. This assignment is his choice, and I certainly respect that and mostly just want him to come home safely, but I can't help but wonder how different the situation there would be if we hadn't diverted so much effort and money to the unnecessary war in Iraq and had instead focused on finishing what we had started.

And because I can do little else to change the situation, I knit on and hope.

One Year

Today is my first blogiversary. It hardly seems like it's been a whole year, but when I look back on it, there's been quite a lot crammed into the last 365 days. According to my archives, this is post #188, which means I've managed to come up with something to write on average slightly more than every other day. This means I either blather on a lot, or just maybe I've got enough to say to keep me blogging.

One of the things I've enjoyed the most over the past year is getting to know other knit bloggers out there and hearing from people who actually take the time to read this one. This is quite the community, and I continue to be amazed at what a wonderful group of people y'all are - generous, supportive, funny, and just plain decent. I could kvell for days.

Except that it's time for me to get ready for work. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

A Couple Things

I imagine some of you have probably already seen this on Scout's blog. If not, then you need to read it. In this case, apparently, Justice was not only blind; it was profoundly retarded and in need of institutional care.

I Told

So over the last several months I've gotten a number of e-mails and calls and mailings from a US Air Force recruiter trying to get me to enlist as a Public Health officer. My grandfather and two uncles were in the USAF, and my cousin and my brother's ex-wife are currently enlisted, so it would probably be my choice of the armed services if I were to enlist. Except for one little problem.

I was on the Board of the Lesbian & Gay Veterinary Medical Association for 6 years and have been in their group photos in the Journal of the AVMA many, many times. You'd think that the FBI must have a file on me for such seditious activities (Hey, they're monitoring those crazy militant Quakers), or that the military would at least have a blacklist - after all, we're not that large a profession - but apparently not. So to clarify, I sent him the following e-mail:

You keep sending me recruiting materials, and I have a couple questions for you:

1) My partner is self-employed. If I were to enlist, would I be able to add him to my health care coverage?

2) We are planning on getting married in June of 2008. Would it be possible for us to have a military wedding on base, even though the marriage won't be recognized by the US government (We will be going to Canada for the legal marriage part, since they're rather a bit more forward-thinking)?

And just in case he's particularly thick, I attached a photo of David & myself. Had I been less tired, I might have thought of something more pithy to say, but I figured it should at least get the point across. Think he'll keep sending me things?

Mmmmm, Spelty

For the last several months, David & I have belonged to a local food co-op, or buying club. This is not a co-op like most of you are probably familiar with, where there is a brick-and-mortar building and the general public can come and buy items. We're just one of a group of households that place an order together once a month and then meet up at one member's house when the delivery truck comes.

This has generally a good thing for us since, although our local supermarket actually has a reasonably good natural foods section, it allows us to buy a lot of the foods we eat regularly at lower prices than we get at the supermarket. The downside is that we often have to buy these foods by the case or in institutional size packages, which poses a bit of a challenge for a family of two in a tiny house. The current challenge is figuring out ways to use up a 25 pound bag of organic, whole grain spelt flour. These dinner rolls were a good start.



Tomorrow there will be a loaf of No Knead Bread.

Sweater Progress

I finally finished the first sleeve and attached it to the body!



Little milestones like this are so encouraging. It makes me feel like I might actually finish this and get to wear it before next winter. Maybe.

Rested, Sort Of

I was up for 33 hours, so you'd think I'd need at least 11 or 12 hours' sleep. After 8 hours, though, my body decided it was time for me to get up. I guess it wants a Spa report, too.

I didn't see anyone I knew when I first got there, but it wasn't long before I spied Julianne Moore Cheryl and her new 'do,



who, of course, had her Seraphim shawl for all to see (a small piece of which is in that collage, but it's her baby to show off in all its glory). Peeking out from behind Cheryl in the photo is Carole, and behind Cheryl's hands is Laurie.



I was also very excited to see Debbie, who was there with Kellee and who will hopefully manage to swing by here on their way home today. Juno was also there, as were PumpkinMama, with her very cute and surprisingly quiet little pumpkin in tow, and Monica, whose lovely handspun shawl also made it into the collage. I know there were others, too, but adding lack of sleep on top of an already poor memory is a bad combination when it comes to accurate journalism.

I even had a couple people come up to me and tell me they read this little blog. Had I been more coherent, I'm sure I would have blushed. I even remember (I think) April's name, but I will just tell you now that the next time you see me you'll have to remind me all over again (or is that you sitting next to Laurie?). My brain, as usual, is hellbent on causing me embarassment.




One of the neatest things there was all the circular sock knitting machines. These machines are antiques from the early 20th century and can crank out socks like nobody's business. They basically make long tubes of stockinette, but they can do short row heels and toes. The owner of this machine had made about 4 pairs of socks during the course of the day, connecting them with lengths of waste yarn. All that needed to be done to finish them was to knit ribbing at the top by hand (some machines can even do the ribbing) and graft the short-rowed toes. It made me want one ( even more), but there's going to have to be some serious destashing and getting rid of other clutter before I can even consider it.



My haul from this event is quite modest. I really showed admirable restraint, as the vendors really had some nice items. The wensleydale is from Grafton Fibers and will hopefully someday be turned into something light and lacy. The skein of superwash/mohair is from Pogo & Marsha at Friends' Folly Farm and may turn into a hat for Dulaan. And the 'Favorite Mittens' book I bought from Betsy at Quiltessentials. I also stopped by on my way out to see Dave Paul of The Merlin tree, and he fixed me up with a fresh peg for the Scotch tension on my Hitchhiker, since the original one has shrunk down in the dry air and hasn't been gripping well lately.

I did actually do a bit of knitting in the midst of all the socializing. I got a bit more done on the sweater sleeve. Only about 15 more rounds to go and I'll be able to join it to the body and start the second one. I took the Hitchhiker but didn't do any spinning while I was there. Cheryl and I did try showing Kate, whom I had not met previously, how to spin, and Carole imparted a truly precious piece of advice she'd heard given once on drafting ("Pretend you're giving the fiber a hand job.").

That's pretty much all I have to report. Laritza asked about the woman in the sheep cardigan. I really don't know. She just happened to be there when I snapped the photo of the room. Something in the back of my brain tells me that I've seen that or a similar design somewhere before, but whether it's a handknit or commercially-produced I couldn't say. And then there's the matter of my unreliable brain. I would welcome comment from anyone who might know, though.

Spa

I'm barely functional at this point, so a more thorough post will have to wait until I've actually slept, but I thought I'd offer up a couple visual impressions of Spa 2007.

Accountability, Anyone?

Today brought this wire story from the AP asserting that Iran's elite Quds force is "enmeshed in Iraq". What really, really bothers me about this article is that it presents this - not incidentally the Bushies' latest talking point - as incontrovertible fact, then doesn't really offer anything to back it up. The article states that "[t]o make their case, U.S. military officials this week showed reporters in Baghdad pieces of EFP equipment, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades that they said were directly traceable to Iranian manufacture." The problem is that the writer left out the part where the officials admitted that the direct involvement of the Iranian government in this was not confirmed, but inferred.

Now, do I believe the Iranian government has some involvement in Iraq? Sure. They've got a strong interest in doing so, and it would be naïve to think that they'd stay out of it. What bothers me about the article is that it essentially fowards the Administration's accusation that Iran is directly engaged in a dirty war with us, with no attribution for the main assertions and no real critical analysis. Remember Colin Powell at the UN with his vial of white powder and photos of "mobile chemical weapons factories"? Have the media learned nothing in the past 4 years? How many times does the Bush team have to cry wolf before these reporters realize that they are the butt of his very worn and not-at-all-funny joke?

There's a very good article here about the media's unmitigated use of anonymous sources for such stories. The problem I have with the AP story is that for much of it, the reporter doesn't even quote Anonymous, which to my mind is even worse.

In a related story, country music singer Kenny Chesney asserts that he is not gay.

Take a Deep Breath

Okay, now that I got that off my chest, a little knitting update. Not surprisingly, I had a good bit of time on my hands at work last night, with absolutely nothing coming in for the entire first half of my 15 hour shift. And my hands were being cooperative, so I was able to get a fair bit done on the sweater sleeve, up to the end of the ball I was working with. I still have about another 4.5 inches to go to finish the sleeve, though, as I have longer-than-average arms.

And in case you've forgotten what the yarn I'm using for this looks like, here's a gratuitous bit of yarn porn:

Test Photos

The new camera came, and I had to wait almost 24 hours until I got home and could play with it. Here are a few of the first test photos:

Sylvie, apparently trying to decide which personality she wants to be today





Inga, posing like the lady she is





Rosa, in one of her favorite spots





And The International Fashion Mogul in his natural habitat studio

If I Were a Rich Man...

...I would probably buy one of these:

Hasselblad H3D 39Mp med. format DSLR, street price w/ 80mm lens approx. $32K

Since I am not a rich man, I opted for one of these, instead:

Nikon D80 10Mp DSLR, street price w/ 18-135mm zoom lens approx. $1200

I'd been wanting to upgrade my photographic capabilities for some time now, and since I've become David's de facto photographer, the little Olympus point n' shoot just wasn't really cutting it anymore. The Nikon will eat up whatever tax refund I'm getting, plus a bit more, I expect, but I had a 6-month-no-interest option and figured it would be a worthwhile use of funds in the long run. It's scheduled to arrive sometime during the day Wednesday, assuming that UPS doesn't get slowed down by...

...The Impending Storm.

We're supposed to get a hell of a Nor'easter here, and the snow has just started. By the time I'm supposed to be leaving the house for work, we're expected to be in the middle of blizzard conditions. Since driving 50 miles in a blizzard isn't exactly my idea of a fun time, not to mention pretty much insane, I'm actually leaving about 12 hours early, while it's still coming down fairly lightly. We have a tiny bedroom and a bed at the clinic, and a shower so I don't offend my coworkers. My bag of spare clothes is packed, and I'll cart along the Hitchhiker and a bit of knitting in case I don't get tons of people driving in through the heavy snow and freezing rain (You never know with these things, sometimes it seems to bring out the crazies).

Sleeve Progress

I finished the increases on the sweater sleeve last night, so only a few more inches to go before I can attach that one to the body and start sleeve #2. The hands are only allowing a little bit at a time, but I'm taking it easy and not pushing them and things are going okay, albeit slowly. If I pace myself well, I may yet get a chance to wear it before it's sweltering, but I'm still not going to lay money on that.

And if anyone reading this is going to Spa this weekend, keep an eye out for me. I'll be going after I get off work Saturday morning, so I'll be the really, really sleepy guy with lots of earrings.

Update: Dug In

Made it to work fine and before the roads got too bad, though the semis barreling past me on the turnpike and kicking up thick, billowing clouds of snow did make for some tense moments here and there.

Only 11 more hours until my shift begins.