Marquette in bloom

It has been sunny and spring-like this week and I have loved every minute of it. The world has greened up and the flowers are out in force! It's too beautiful for words, so I won't use any more. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


Pretty tulips welcome you to Marquette by the library.


The engineering building peeks out over trees in bloom.


These trees are right in front of the building my lab is in. They smell fabulous.


This view of the Pere Marquette statue in front of St. Joan of Arc chapel is always particularly lovely.


The library peeks out over another gorgeous blooming tree.

It's easy to get into a good mood when you walk around in the midst of all this. :)

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Unfinished business... of AWESOMENESS!

Today we're having a blizzard. Classes were canceled, there were whiteout conditions -- it was a great day to stay inside and, well, it would have been a great day to knit, or (ahem) take down my Christmas decorations (do NOT comment!) or some other nice, indoor, productive thing. So, instead, I futzed around and didn't do anything in particular, really. I did take a pretty impressive nap, though.

But that's not what this post is about, nosireebob! It's about awesomeness, and blizzards are not awesome. Well, they can be pretty great, but not awesome. No, this post is about two things. The first is: Gator got his gift in the mail today! And he loves it! And now I get to show it to you! Happiness all around!


It's a simple rag quilt made with some coordinating flannel I purchased a couple of years ago but had never used. It's not quite bedspread size, but I would totally use it for one. I slept under it (nekkid, even!) the night before I sent it to Gator (you know, for a little extra love in the package. Hee!) and I was not too hot, not too cold. Just right.


The backing is a light grey that makes a subtle border between the squares. The backing is also a courser weave and it frays really well. It gives the quilt a great look, but I washed it four times and the lint trap was as full as full could be all four times. It could probably stand to be washed four more times. It eventually will be. It's all good.

Most instructions online advise cutting the seam allowances every 1/4 inch to encourage fraying. I've made one before following that advice and didn't like the results. So this time I cut ~ every 1/8 to 1/16 inch. Basically, I made the cuts as close together as practically possible. I like the effect much better. Thus, like I said, the full lint trap. But I still dig it.


Purple is Gator's favorite color, so its inclusion is key. And what geek god doesn't love knights and castles and wizards? He asserts that this is a most awesome prize. I hope he sleeps under it and dreams of me. Not riding a unicorn. Don't ask.

My second piece of awesome business is that two people, Laura and Molly Bee, awarded me with the You Make My Day Award! How cool is that? I've never been awarded before! So fun! You guys make my day, too!

Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.

I pass the award on to Missa, Becky, Sue, Dorothy, Judy, Dawn, Julie, Laura, Steve, and Tricia. You all make my day, every time you post. Pass it on!

I also updated my links over on the right, there. That's a continuing project, but that's what I've added for now. Maybe you can find some new friends in there, too! Wouldn't that be AWESOME?

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Morning glory

What a glorious morning here in Beer Town! Up here on the roof of my building, the sun in bright, the air is dry and the breeze is cool. Wonderful!

The pool is open for the summer (it's being cleaned right now -- they take good care of it):


The view is very clear this morning -- you can see right out to Lake Michigan -- and the buildings almost glow in the morning light (although I'm not sure that really comes through in the photo):



The Marquette campus is always beautiful and this view is only a little better than the one from my living room:


I'm sitting up here with a cup of coffee, my camera, and the awesome thing I found waiting for me in my mailbox yesterday:


Yes, the first issue of my awesome gift subscription to Craft: came yesterday! It's crammed full of wonderful articles, how-to's, and inspiration on every single page! I am having a blast pouring through it. Thanks again, Trish!! You rule!

While I'm up here with my camera and all this great natural light, I might as well photograph some yarn...

This is my progress on the Zodiac pattern from the latest issue of Knitty. I don't think I'll actually use the zodiacal design for the embellishment, as I want it to be useful for any child down the road. But I like the overall design and I'm sure I can find something cool to embroider onto it once it's finished.


I lurve Cotton Ease and was tres excited when it came back onto the market, but I must admit I'm less than thrilled with their palette. I wanted something gender-neutral and bright, and the store I was at was out of Lime (not that I would have necessarily picked Lime, but still). So I went with Terra Cotta. I like it myself, but I wish there was more selection. Plus, they don't have brown in their palette at all (the Taupe is really gray-ish). Brown! Don't they know how hot a nice chocolate brown is right now?? Those Lion Brand people, I tell ya'. I worry about them sometimes.

Oh... Uh oh. Do you see what I see? This could be very, very bad for Sus. Yes indeedy, that there is some... Sock yarn!!!


No, I'm not looking to get in on the Summer of Socks, but I swear the new Knitty was chock full of motivation for this ol' gal. Of course, I see socks everywhere on knitting blogs and I oscillate between not caring that much to desperately wanting to join in the fun. But the new Breeze pattern locked onto me hard, and Gator graciously bought me yarn and needles to dive in while I was visiting. But I've sworn I won't start until the Zodiac is finished. After all, babies wait for no socks.

Thanks for sharing in my delightful morning on the rooftop! It's been a treat. We'll have to do this again soon!

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Literary frustration and stupid groundhogs

I've read two books in the last week. Pleasure reading, even. Granted, they were quite short, but they were books, and I read two of them.

I bought both of them years ago at a local bookstore in my hometown called the BookStop which was run by mothers of girls I went to school with. It was charming and friendly and sometimes Gator and I would just go in and read the backs of books we wouldn't ordinarily read then buy a bunch of them. Many I've not yet read. But I brought a few up here with me and I finally pulled a couple off the shelf. Both enthralled me but both, ultimately, left me completely unsatisfied. I suspect "literary types" would say that this is because I'm unsophisticated and want everything laid out for me. Well, not exactly, thankyouverymuch, but it's true that I don't read Finnegan's Wake for a reason. I want to read a story. Stories, according to Mrs. Espey, require a beginning, a middle, and an end (climax, deneoument, etc. etc. yes, I know, it's still a beginning, a middle, and and end). If you refuse to end your story, don't get pissed at me because I find this annoying. You're not cool and edgy, you're falling asleep on the job.

The first book I read this week was Who Will Run The Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore. Funny, in just looking up the Amazon entry to make that link, I noticed that the reviews were either five or one stars. Strong feelings. I agree. It is both good and awful. A book that I refer to as "all middle". The beginning is awkward, as if you're already supposed to know something you don't. The main story is a flashback. The middle (of the "middle") eventually draws you in and you start to really care what's happening to these girls, teenagers in a small town with lives that are unappealing and so they try to create something more fun, something finer, that they share only with each other. This part was well written and enthralling. But reality eventually intervenes and life marches on leaving their constructed "lives" behind. The present is briefly described and a future hinted at. And then it ends. Infuriatingly.

The thing that is most troubling is that this is the story of a woman, unsatisfied with her life, who reminisces about her teenage life with her best friend and laments the loss of the girl she was then. Or, more precisely, the loss of the girl she wasn't then, as she mostly wanted to be her best friend back then. She finds that she's become jaded, cynical, not-so-nice. But I don't know why. Am I supposed to say, "Oh, well, yeah. We all get jaded and cynical. That's just life and growing up"? Well, it's not. I'm unsatisfied. Harumph.

The second book I read in one evening. It was Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates. I'd never read any of her stuff before, but I knew she was a pretty popular author and fairly well received critically. It seemed interesting when I bought it, so I went ahead and jumped in. AND WAS IMMEDIATELY, IRREVERSIBLY SUCKED IN. Wow. Cool book. Slice of life of a sexual psychopath told from his effed-up point of view. But. So "slice of life" that again with the no ending. Man. I understand what she was trying to do, what she was going for (more so than Ms. Moore, anyway), but I read the last page and actually threw the book across the room. Sucker-punched. Killer.

I know there are different kinds of reading. What I want right now is pure escapist reading -- the pure bliss of reading something that WILL NOT have the words immunofluorescence or mitochondria in it ANYWHERE. But I can't stand formulaic stories or your typical romance novel or fantasy one-off. So I look for something quirky because, let's face it, I'm quirky. But quirkiness often comes with the "meaningful stylistic contructions" that just piss me off. So, once again, I may be too weird for the world. I'm pretty used to it, really I am.

But thanks for letting me vent about it, anyway. :)

Now, in hot "Hows about some nice groundhog stew?" news: It's April 11, and we're going to get six inches of snow today, with three more likely tonight. Oh, and 40 mph winds. This is why we need so much beer up in here. Seriously.

Maybe all this is just how I make the lab look like a pretty warm, fuzzy place.

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Weather for psychotic mimes

It's bright but snowy this morning.



Yesterday was all kinds of crazy windy. Great training for Shields and Yarnell, I'm sure, but icky for overly bundled-up students with big ol' backpacks trying to cross traffic. I would just get my balance for trudging against the gale and then, suddenly, it would change directions, causing me to stumble around drunkenly. Big hood and loss of peripheral vision did not help. At one point I inadvertently turned 90 degrees in the middle of the street because, while lifting it to take a step, my left leg was blown across my body and landed about two feet to my right, causing me to pivot towards oncoming traffic. You can't pretend you meant to do something like that. I haven't been outside yet today, but I'm hoping it's calmed down some. Yowza.

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Blizzard o' fun

This was the sky this morning, after last night's snowfall but before tonight's forecast blizzard conditions. A check of The Weather Channel shows SE WI to be in for 12+ inches tonight. A weekend to stay in and knit.



So far, this weekend has rocked. New Friend Veronica and I ate awesome Roly Poly wraps, we totally closed down yet another mall in the greater Milwaukee area, I found some perfume I really like (which is so difficult for me), I learned that there is a new Star
Wars novel out that I might actually want to read (even though I'll probably cringe through most of it -- but these are old, well developed issues of mine), and I found The Shoes.

They are orange! They are cute! They are all technology-y and stuff! They feel like nothing I've ever worn before, and they feel goooood!! I'm very psyched. They even come with a DVD to teach me how to wear them, they are so advanced!

So, remember when I got pretty origami paper? I still totally love it, but today I found a folded paper activity that caused me to set that pretty paper right to the side. That's right, kids, I printed out, cut out, folded, and glued together a Bald Britney Paper Doll. Oh, the joy. She had a total meltdown and I was rewarded with a new, free crafting experience! It's the simple pleasures, I tell ya.



Now to curl up in the glow of my shoes and Britney doll, watch the blizzard happen around me, listen to old re-runs of This American Life, and knit, knit, knit. I know you wish you had my life. I know it.

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Blah

Here's today's Saturday Sky, around 7:30 am. It's a blah day. And cold. Zero F as I write this. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 1. Monday's -1. Welcome to the great white north after all. Thank the maker for that awesome down parka I got from the Eddie Bauer outlet for $30. Totally.



I haven't felt like writing lately. I'm sure it will pass and then you'll wish for these sane days of silence. You watch.

Snow Day

We got 13" of snow today. Classes were canceled; offices were closed. Alas, cells continue to divide, so I had to go into the lab. Friends from India had first snowball fight; I helped.



Still having beer and free popcorn tonight, thankyouverymuch. Hooyah.