My Broken Cord

This is the angle at which it has often sat, and now that it's broken, this is where it's happiest (ie, working). The bendy part of the casing cracked and slipped down without my noticing. I scooched it back up.

Thanks for all the advice at the crack den. I guess I should shut down and unplug until I can fix it. But will I?

Late Fall Colors

deep thought

This is my phone
(yeah, it's kinda dirty)

Now that people know it's me calling before they pick up the phone, can I still say, "Hi. It's Ina?"

The View from the Library Yesterday

Don't forget to vote today.

Monday Morning Light

morning shadows

Each year when Halloween rolls around, I find myself cleaning and arranging the house--well, specifically, the view from the front door. Visitors who know me do not use the front door, so it's hardly ever opened. On Halloween morning, I spend some time creating a tableau. Then I check it from the front porch. Yes, I know that most eyes at the door on Halloween are only seeing candy, but I still set the perfect scene. This year, I decided to hang paper to hide the mess in my art studio (created in the former front room).

This morning, when the extra daylight streamed in, it created some interesting shadows.

julia and the typewriter

And here are some scenes from this morning's ride. I was halfway into this intersection when I realized it looked a lot different than it did last week.

one week later

not sure what this is about (there's a fez in there)

Happy Full Moon Monday, all.

Happy Halloween

Who are these guys?

Tonight was a glorious night.

Warm, misty, blustery.

Leaves everywhere.

No costume malfunctions.

Big kids who could walk the neighborhood easily.

A treat.

A memory.

Update: Without the photo credit, there was some confusion. The dia de los muertos folks are from the White House celebration pictures, found at HuffPo. The picture didn't say who they were. I wish I had seen them, too, m.heart!

blanket metaphors

This summer, when we were out in California, my mother taught me and my daughters how to crochet.

First she brought out a large sack of yarn balls from which to choose. The girls spent quite a while looking through all the colors, to find the perfect ones. After they had chosen what they wanted, I just grabbed the first ball of yarn at the top of the sack. Since this was just supposed to be a how-to lesson, I didn't think it mattered what color I used.

My mother taught me how to make the basic chain, then she turned her attention to teaching the girls how to make granny squares. Of course, teaching the girls was a start and stop adventure, through tantrums and frustrations. And I just kept working on my chain until it was quite long.

Once the girls could work fairly independently, my mother turned back to me, to show me how to double crochet. Now that I had invested all the time in the chain, I was going to turn it into something! Who's surprised that I now wished I'd chosen a color I like better than pale purple? Still, I double crocheted along the chain, and selected black for my next color.

We brought our projects home with us when vacation was over. My chain was to become a scarf. Then, after I'd done several stripes and wrapped it around my neck, I realized how long it was. So I decided to turn it into a blanket. I flipped it over and worked from the other side of the original purple chain, so that the pattern will be symmetrical. This is where I am so far. I look forward to adding to it through the winter.

The girls abandoned granny squares for other projects.

The 9yo designed a haute couture barbie dress.

The almost 7yo realized her curving, uneven stitches could be turned into a hat.