March Music Challenge

So I've been thinking of ways to motivate myself to keep writing and I came upon these writing and music challenges on Pinterest - and I thought "that's what March needs, some music". (I had to resurrect my Simpson's avatar since I hate having my picture taken).

March can linger here, it's not full blown winter, well usually, but it's not quite spring, it's mucky, and muddy, and windy, and sometimes just nasty so how do you make any nasty thing better - MUSIC.

So I took the best from the lists I found on Pinterest and created this list for me (and hopefully you) to post and write a few thoughts on why you choose the song you did.

I hope you won't be shy or judgy. I don't pretend to be a music connoisseur and a word of caution, I am the product of a weird musical combination of growing up listening to my mom's Ray Conniff and Neil Diamond records, my own ABBA, Leif Garrett, Shawn Cassidy beginnings which grew into Saturday Night Fever and disco and then into 80's pop. I love all music especially music that makes me wanna dance even though when I do, my kids pat me on the head and tell me disco is dead.

Hope you enjoy the next month of music.

Temperature Blanket - Update 2

The colour I chose next to work with is a light greyish blue. I'm not sure how I ended up with so much of this yarn in my stash but I had a great idea on how to use it up. There are two types of days in northern British Columbia Januarys, either frightfully cold with the most amazing crisp blue skies and a thick hoar frost on trees or skies full of soft grey clouds overflowing with snowflakes just waiting to come tumbling down in the fattest, fluffiest flakes you can imagine -- snowflakes that call to you to stick out your tongue to catch. So the next piece I chose to do was snowflakes on a "background" of greyish blue. The rows are quite basic, just rows of hdc and dc but the snowflakes were fun to do. However, as you can likely see from the picture, I've procrastinated stitching them on. 

Row 16: Chain 2 (counts as first hdc), turn and hdc in each stitch across row. (Light greyish blue)

 

Row 17: Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn and dc in each stitch across row. (Light greyish blue)

Row 18: Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn and dc in each stitch across row. (Light greyish blue)

Row 19: Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn and dc in each stitch across row. (Light greyish blue)

Row 20: Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn and dc in each stitch across row. (Light greyish blue)

Row 21: Chain 2 (counts as first hdc), turn and hdc in each stitch across row. (Light greyish blue)

Snowflakes: I chose to do Snowflake 2 from Beautiful Crochet Stuff website, found at: http://beautifulcrochetstuff.com/5-free-crochet-snowflake-patterns/. 

I made 10 snowflakes with the intent of spacing them out but i will admit to not having stitched them on yet. you could choose any snowflake pattern that appeals to you or even create a random flurry mirroring nature and making each snowflake unique. There are tons of patterns available on Pinterest.

Temperature blanket update

Temperature Blanket

In northern British Columbia, our temperature is pretty constant so I knew when I started crocheting a row per day to reflect the temperature there would be little colour variation. I had decided that any temperatures under -20 degrees Celsius would be purple and that temperatures between -19 degrees Celsius and 0 degrees would be blue but rather than one shade of blue, I would make a study in blue. I was inspired by little woolie's "Mixed stitch stripey blanket crochet-a-long" and love the look of the mixture of stitches. You can find her blog post here: http://littlewoollie.blogspot.com/p/mixed-stitch-stripey-blanket-crochet.html.

I was a bit concerned about how long the potential blanket would be if I used all double crochet stitches to do the 365 rows so I began with two rows of half double crochet. As these days were below -20, as days in early January are, these are dark purple.

One of my aims for this project was to use some leftover yarn, so as the temperature warmed up a wee bit, I looked through my wool stash and came up with this great dark blue. I worked a row of hdc and a row of dc in the dark blue followed by a row of sc in turquoise and another row of sc in the dark blue.

Foundation Row: Make a chain the length of the desired width of your blanket. I did count my stitches as I wanted the stitches to be divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, etc. I chose to begin with 240 stitches. Add an additional 2 ch to count as the first hdc of Row 1. (purple)

Row 1: Skip first 2 ch and hdc in each stitch across the chain. (purple)

Row 2: Chain 2 (counts as first hdc), turn and hdc in each stitch across row. (purple)

Here I switched to the blue:

Row 3: Chain 2 (counts as first hdc), turn and hdc in each stitch across row. (Dark blue)

Row 4: Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn and dc in each stitch across row. (Dark blue)

Row 5: Chain 1 (counts as first sc), turn and sc in each stitch across row. (Turquoise)

Row 6: Chain 1 (counts as first sc), turn and sc in each stitch across row. (Dark blue)

Row 7: Chain 3 (counts as first dc), turn and dc in each stitch across row. (Turquoise)

Row 8: Chain 2 (counts as first hdc), turn and hdc in each stitch across row. (Turquoise)

As I said I was inspired by little woolie's Mixed stitch stripey blanket crochet-a-long and winter in northern BC is cold and snowy so I thought that white bobbles on a dark blue background would mimic our long dark nights that often filled with big fluffy white snowflakes. The actual instructions for the bobble stitch come from Tales from Cuckoo Land (http://talesfromcuckooland.blogspot.com.au/p/bobble-stitch-tutorial-2-bobbles-in.html?m=1), which offers very detailed instructions that I won't repeat here but rather encourage you to visit their blog.

Row 9-11: Bobble stitch in dc from the instructions on Tales from Cuckoo Land.

Next came some granny stripes, again inspired by little woolie's blog and the snow outside I thought a row of white granny square stitches would sit perfectly between the dark blue that was reminiscent of our long dark nights. First I crocheted a row of turquoise hdc to separate the two sections.

Row 12: Chain 2 (counts as first hdc), turn and hdc in each stitch across row. (Turquoise)

Granny Rows:

Row 13: Chain 3, *3 dc in next stitch (cluster) skip next 2 stitches, repeat from * across. Depending upon your stitch count, it may not come out evenly and you may need to improvise to keep the stitch count and keep a straight edge. (Dark blue)

Row 14: Chain 5 (counts as 1st dc and gives a bit of space to reach the 1st gap), 3 dc in each gap (between each cluster). Again depending upon your stitch count you may need to improvise at the end to keep the row straight. (White)

Row 15: Chain 3, 3 dc (cluster) in between each cluster across. (Dark blue)

The image shown here shows the progress so far. I will try to take more images more often so the next sections aren't as long.

2016 Reading Challenge

January 23, 2016 - I have completed my first book from my Reading Challenge. The Girl in the Picture - The Kim Phuc Story is by an author from my hometown -- Denise Chong. Chong was born in Vancouver but grew up in Prince George. She studied economics at UBC receiving a BA and continued her studies at the University of Toronto with an MA in economics and public policy. While Chong has had an exceptional career in public service, she left that in 1984 to pursue a writing career in writing. Her first book was The Concubine's Children recounts the life of Chong's maternal grandmother and her mother in British Columbia.

The book we chose as a selection for our book club, is Chong's second book, The Girl in the Picture: The Kim Phuc Story. Part of our reason for choosing this book is that Kim Phuc will be in Prince George to speak at 12th Annual Dr. Bob Ewert Memorial dinner on April 2nd. In her book, Chong tells the story of Kim Phuc, the subject of a famous photo from a girl running away from a napalm attack in 1972 during the Vietnam war. I have included the photo here.

The book does a good job of describing the political events of the Vietnam war and contextualizing them in the life of Kim Phuc and her family. I went into the book without knowing much about the Vietnam war and I think Chong did an excellent job of recounting the events in a detailed and understandable way. It was interesting how Kim's fame in many ways worked against her as the constant attention from media caused several extended delays in her studies. One of the things that struck me about Kim's story, which aligns with the reasons I chose the selections for my reading challenge, was that Kim was born in 1963, one year before I was -- so we are essentially the same age. In 1972, when Kim was burned, I was in grade two worrying about typical grade two things like learning spelling words and getting home from playing in time for supper. As Canadians, most of us we are so removed from the horrors of war, I thank Kim and Chong for expanding my horizons by allowing me into this amazing story of courage.

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I wanted to share my Reading Challenge for 2016. This challenge is about broadening my horizons (and yours, if you choose to follow along) in terms of seeing the world from a different perspective -- whether that is seeing your own hometown through a different lens or seeking out a new place or experience. Perhaps it is about seeing how much the world has changed or stayed the same in a 100 years or even since your birth. You can read the books in any order. I would love to hear about what you have chosen to read, so please post your book choices in the comments.

1. Read a travel book or journal about a place you’ve always wanted to go but have never been.
2. Read a book written by someone you do not agree with.
3. Read a book by an author from your hometown.
4. Read a book or collection by an Indigenous author.
5. Read a Canadian biography.
6. Read something written about or by someone you look up to and admire.
7. Read something from the immigrant perspective or about the immigrant experience.
8. Read a book written by an author in a war torn/unstable part of the world.
9. Read something written about a gender identity and/or sexual orientation that is different from your own.
10. Read something written about a religion, form of spirituality, or faith other than your own.
11. Read a book with a day of the week or month of the year in the title.
12. Read something written in 1916. Check out this Goodreads list or Wikipedia for some suggestions.
13. Read something written the year you were born.
14. Read a book of poetry.
15. Choose a book completely by its cover by an author you’ve never read before.
16. Read a book with your name in the title or maybe by an author that shares your name (first, last, or full name).
17. Read the third book in a series without reading the first two.
18. Read a children’s book every day for a week (i.e. a picture book) -- better yet, if possible read a book to a child every day for a week.
19. Read a book of fairy tales either traditional or post-modern.
20. Read a book translated from another language.
21. Read a genre you don’t usually read.
22. Read a business or leadership book.
23. Ask an acquaintance (not a close friend) for a recommendation and read the book they suggest even if you’re not sure about it.
24. Read a graphic novel, anime, or manga.
25. Open an atlas, close your eyes and drop your finger, find a book written by an author from the nearest town where your finger lands. You could also spin a globe.
26. Read a book that you have been waiting to be published – something you have been anticipating. Perhaps a new book by your favourite author.

BONUS: As I was writing this post, I was thinking about my mom's collection of books -- she was an avid reader and at the end as she slept less and less, she would often read a book in a night or two. SO, the bonus book, is to ask your mother or father to recommend a book that they loved and after you read it, to discuss it with them. If this isn't possible, ask your child or grandparent or someone that you love to recommend a book.

Thank you to Crystal, Pat, Marianne, Lisa, and Brenda for your suggestions. 

Happy Reading!

Temperature Blanket

A TEMPERATURE BLANKET -- a friend posted this on my FB page the other day and I was totally inspired. I do a good amount of crocheting but I have had trouble finishing blankets. My problem is attention span. I'm an amazing starter full of enthusiasm but not so great at finishing projects. A blanket completed a row a day seems like a manageable way to end the year with a blanket. The idea is to crochet or knit a row each day in a colour that reflects the temperature of that day. The post gave a specific colour chart of Bernat yarns (shown below) but when I went to the Bernat yarn site, these colours appeared to be discontinued. You could easily substitute your favourite yarn.

This was of no matter to me because true to my nature I intended to mix it up a bit and saw this as a perfect way to use up leftover bits of yarn so my colours would have varied from the chart anyway. Another thing about the idea of a temperature blanket is that 365 rows is quite long for an afghan or blanket if all your rows are double crochet. So I will be mixing double crochet stitches, with half double crochet and single crochet as well as counting the rows of edging to create the border into the calculation. I have another blanket in the works inspired by little woolie -- you can see the pattern here: http://littlewoollie.blogspot.nl/p/mixed-stitch-stripey-blanket-crochet.html. I fell in love with the randomness of the pattern and the sheer fun of it. So I may attempt to combine the two projects -- the temperature blanket with the mixed stitch stripey blanket. I will post as I work my way through and show you my progress.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I knew little about this book when I picked it up. It's one of my favourite things about reading -- having something amazing unfold itself slowly before my very eyes. I chose it because I knew and loved the author, Sue Monk Kidd. Initially captivated by her writing and spirit in The Secret Life of Bees. My graduate work led me to her work in The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and eventually to Traveling with Pomegranates. I seem to naturally find my way to works about mothers and daughters. Traveling with Pomegranates at once made me sad -- that I hadn't been able to travel more with my mother -- and hopeful -- for the days when Katie and I could travel together.

The Invention of Wings was so much more than I could ever have imagined, could ever have hoped for. It's intertextuality, whether purposeful or coming naturally from the fundamental feminist works, Kidd echoes Virginia Woolf's voice in A Room of One's Own in Lucretia Mott's "odd little nook of a room. A studio ... [t]he room was not for cooking or sewing or childcare or entertaining" (273). Lucretia's room belongs to her and is not shared with any of the typical womanly tasks but rather a place to study, read, and create. It is within the walls of this room that Sarah, realizes what she envies most about Lucretia -- her sense of belonging. It's the perfect setting for Sarah's question, "Why would God plant such deep yearnings in us ... if they only come to nothing?". This truly is the question that whole book is set upon --answering to that we yearn for and the price that must be paid for dreams.

The other piece of intertextuality -- again whether deliberate on Kidd's part or not -- that resonated with me was a piece by Alice Walker, "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens". Walker speaks to the creativity found in all of us and how even in the harshest circumstances this creativity manifested itself for black slave women through singing, quilting, and gardening. Walker recalls how black women were called "'the mule of the world,' because [they] have been handed the burdens that everyone else -- everyone else refused to carry" (91). Despite Handful's small physical stature, she is left to carry the burdens of others, especially her mother and sister. But like the mule, Charlotte personifies the stubbornness of the mule in her desire for freedom and journey back to Handful.

In the same way that Kidd was inspired by the quilts of Harriet Powers, "an enslaved woman from Georgia who used African applique technique to tell stories" and whose last remaining quilts are part of the collection at the National Museum of American History. Walker's essay also refers to a quilt on display at the Smithsonian Institute, "unlike any other in the world ... it follows no known pattern of quilt-making, and though it is made of bits and pieces of worthless rags, it is obviously the work of a person of powerful imagination and deep spiritual feeling" (92-3). The artist of this quilt "an anonymous Black woman in Alabama, a hundred years ago" (93). Kidd captures the importance of the quilt Charlotte sews not only as an expression of her artistry, but as a way to tell her life story in the only language she knows -- sewing, "[g]oing picture to picture, felt like I was turning the pages in a book she'd left behind, one that held her last words?" (147). The quilt also stands as a symbol of hope for the future -- a place to hide their dreams. I think it is particularly poignant when the quilt is unintentionally revealed to Mary -- laying bare the harshness of Charlotte's life for "her owner" to see. Where Handful and Charlotte express their artistry in cloth, Sky's expression is through the soil and her gardens.

It wasn't until the end of the book that I learned how much of this book was based in fact, on the letters, diaries, and writings of the real sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimke. I think it was more powerful for me to come to this realization at the end, rather than the beginning, of the book. I can only imagine their courage and the hardships they faced.

"History is not just facts and events. History is also a pain in the heart and we repeat history until we are able to make another's pain in the heart our own" ~ Julius Lester (quoted in The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd)

Dreams

I have been dreaming about my mom lately. This is such a bittersweet experience leaving me oddly satisfied and unsatisfied upon waking. When I wake from these dreams, which don't happen all that often, I immediately attempt to go back there but she is always just out of reach like a troublesome word on the tip of your tongue that despite how hard you try to grab at it, it simply slips a little further out of reach.

My dreams of her are always vivid and usually she has a message for me. The first of these dreams came a few weeks after she left us. I remember it like it happened yesterday although it was over 5 years ago. We were walking arm and arm on a cruise ship (hey, I didn't say they entirely make sense), she was also holding hands with Bob. She told me that I had Dave and the kids and that Mike would be okay as well.

The next time she came to me, we were at a Ryan family party -- a baby or bridal shower. She was at the fridge loading the blender with ice for a batch of her famous margaritas. I asked her when she was coming home and she told me gently she wasn't. Satisfying and unsatisfying. And frustrating, as I can't call her to me at will -- she only comes when she comes. Despite my most earnest efforts, I can make these dreams happen.

Dave and I have had long talks about these dreams. I truly believe that it is my mom coming to visit, coming to me when I need her. Dave believes they are my subconscious giving me the comfort that I need when I need it. I like my explanation better but either way the take away is an oddly unsatisfying comfort.