pre dawn deep

4 a.m.

it was one hundred o/clock

and the tide was low low low

the receding water laid bare and dry the 

artifacts of doubt and indecision

the cat snored and the radiators rattled

still in the night 

no meaning would be extracted

laying inconsolable in the shallow tidal pools

Gulliver like 

tied tightly by eleventy thousand bonds of reason 

all the while knowing beyond certainty that 

the tide would soon come in and re submerge the clues of 

self restriction  

where they would sway  and wave and shimmer in the phosphorescence

like lovers leaving forever on the conveyance of your choice here

forever

forever

forever

Craftsy

Have you heard of Craftsy.com? 

    recently I started to read of bloggers who were either giving or taking some of the classes. It is a nifty platform and great if you want to take a class conveniently and most definitely less expensive than taking one in person. 

     My latest class is with Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin and it is swoon worthy-- Hand Embellishing Knit Fabric. I have ordered the fabric and stencil and look forward to many happy hours of hand sewing.  I already received the pattern (Donna Karan V1263) and while I wait for the fabric to arrive, I may use it with some  fabric I already have just to get started on something!

     !!!There are some free classes for you to try out if you want to give Craftsy a test run. There are classes at all levels of expertise in knitting and sewing, cooking, beading and more. A virtual plethora of classes- from nationally recognised artists and crafts people and none of the classes are more than 40 bucks. If you have ever paid for an actual in person workshop you will know this is a great price. I am not affiliated in any way but I am well pleased with my expereince there and thought I would share. I have taken the serger class and a class by Susan Anderson in how to knit a giraffe as well as some others that are in my queue:)

   I love the internet!

BoB

This is the bag (or bin or bunch or bucket) of blocks that I have chosen to work on for the Linten challenge. There are 59 of them sewn into circles. The edges have to be closed and the round parts folded inward to make a square and then yet can be stitched together. That's the plan. It took me ten days to her them off the shelf. What are the odds of finishing by Easter?

little nothings

The snow from the great blizzard of 2013 has been cleared and here in coastal New York, it is life as usual.

 In other areas the storm was much more ferocious and incapacitating. The Long Beach trains were not running but I made it to the Rockville Centre station and managed to get to work in the city. Fotunately Mike was able to come in and get me so I did not have to navigate the rail system to get home. 

Luke is officially seven months old and is very wonderful. He is of course very advanced and delightful in all ways and charms us endlessly. 

things I have been working on:

I have been writing every day as per my resolution. It is a small enough thing to do each day and it is acheivable. I am working slowly on the triangle quilt and small knitted objects. I bought a pattern for a sweater from the 2013 Brooklyn Tweed book that I plan to make for a certain someone. and that is all of the sweet nothings that I have in play on this Valentines Week. 

Do something sweet for someone you love and accept all such offerings with equal parts joy and gratitude. 

(words of wisdom are free)

Winter lines

Here we weren't affected 

By the storm 

By the rushing, blind water

Here where the steel rises gray and bleak and insentient -

Our minds are like that sometimes. Able to rise above.

Able to resist the surge

Like emotions, swelling,

changing entire landscapes. 

Altering them

And yet we think to resist. 

We think we can stem the tide. 

Divert the mighty ocean. 

It is the ocean,

I tell you. 

We do not even matter. 

Even after we return to her 

abject or ashes,

even then we do not matter. 

Baby sitting.

We baby sat last night. Someone did not want to go to sleep.

Well it certainly has been a robust 2012.
Happy New Year
and
Good Health
Peace and Plenty
Love and Fullfiment
Time to live your Dreams
And Time to Dream some more

finished

Wreath with Nisse

I made this wreath from a piece of an army surplus blanket that I had in my sewing room. It had already been cut into pieces or I would not have cut into it. The nisse figure I bought in Copenhagen. I sat on the couch and rolled strips of felt into different sized flowers and sewed them down and stuck them on with hot glue. The litte felt balls I bought at Purl Soho. And the red buttons.
I reallly like the way it came out. I like to keep track of my finishes and so here it is. Official. FInished.

december musings

so far I have only though of one resolution for the up coming new year and that is not to buy any knitting patterns and I think i have already broken that one-

In just 4 days the light will begin to last longer each day.

I am grateful for so many things in my life. 

All of my kids and my grandson are healthy and happy.

I love my partner and he loves me.

I have a warm home. 

My job keeps me on my toes. 

I am fueled by creativity and curiosity.

I live in a country where I can vote, speak, worship, drive, and live the way that is right for me and where 

reading and writing are the norm, making ignorance a choice, not the expectation.

I have enough art supplies and fabric and wool and knitting implements and space to create whatever I wish and I have friends and family to support me in this adventure.

I can buy books and read them on my phone if i want. 

Life is good. 

maybe a better resolution will be just to count my blessings instead of looking for things to fix. 

on friendship

I do not love that part of you that 

rages and snarls and stands hard against the injustices.

it forces me to look at them 

hard 

and rage along with you when I am wanting to be

drifting in the current

observing and analyzing and counting the days and moments

even in those counted moments are the frames of laughter and sheer glee and an understanding that this glee does not ever mitigate the truth and the hard actions that must follow and the cowardice that I would choose if ever I really had the choice

oh make no mistake

I have made the choice and I have chosen and chosen and chosen to keep my eyes open and my pen flowing and my colors true

and chosen to stand by you with my truth 

for we can never, even as the best of friends 

embody the other's truth .

we can only witness- and when asked, 

we can make the choice to remain friends even in the dark passage when fear stalks the true and the edges of truth are too hard to ascertain, we abide. 

and in those currents from which,

me in mine and you in yours,

we throw the other a life line, 

it becomes another strand in the safety net-switching metaphors here,

in the high wire act of life and 

the way we live it,

we all need that net.

Today's catch

It's the season to over commit to making decorations! In our wanderings today we found ourselves on the street where City Quilter is and I could not pass up the chance to stop in. The first thing to catch my eye was the bag of red buttons, quickly followed by the felted balls and Sue Spargo book. Of course I could not leave with out some felt yardage to make into a wreath.. Or wreathes. The dilemma of a creative is to have enough supplies on hand in the fullness of time when the iron is ready to strike. Or something.

In a few short days we will be back home and the luxury of roaming the city will be bygone. We are grateful to have been able to stay in the city close to where I work, in a warm safe place. But we are ready to go home and will be glad when all systems are go. If you asked me tomorrow to pick where I might want to live, I would choose NYC. Of course that would change when the weather does. But it has been fun to be here during the holidays.

End of November

Last day of November 

In the city gray and lovely brisk and bustling with holiday shoppers. 

Today we plan to walk in Central Park and window shop along fifth ave. it is a city tourist pastime. It suits my mood. November does. Ready to tuck in for winter sleep. Ready to dream smoky dreams ready to forfeit summer and bright spring promises. I am older now and for every promise spoken there has been one broken. For every green shoot pushing through the earth there is also an end. We are at the end now. We will walk through the park in our warm winter clothes. Behold the winter festivities. Behold the last wisps of autumn smoke curling into winter skies. We will trust in the promise of spring even as we count the steps home. 

hat pattern by wooly wormhead on ravelry
I finished my hat. 

We went to Saks on fifth ave and were galled by five hundred dollar Oxford shirts and dazzled by outrageous. antler chairs. We went to the Metropolitan museum  and  enjoyed art. 

Un sung heroes.

And the debris is being cleared from our street. These guys are out filling up huge dumpsters with the stuff that everyone has been piling up on the sidewalks and streets. Residents are very weary of navigating through the mounds of trash and it feels good to finally see some it getting cleared away.
We still have no heat or hot water and the house is chilly but what could be worse is the possible freezing of the pipes if the temperature goes down.. Since there has been no heat in the house the pipes will freeze in a jiffy. So mike is working on getting our gas burner and hot water system replaced. Trouble is, so is everyone else.

For mark and nancy an li and billy et al...you probably know one of these people

Starship Log Day: Whatever. 

Still holed up at mike's moms, hereafter to be referred to as mil. Mother in law. That fourth letter in the world Else is just too much. 

I continue to read and be mortified by people blaming the unions and power companies for the lack of commodities that exist post hurricane Sandy. I guess this is their first hurricane. They are hurricane newbies. They have never faced this before and they are having hissy fits all over the place. This may be the first time they could not use their hair dryers. 

These things, electricity, plumbing, central heat and supermarkets are commodities. They are not guaranteed to be in place in the event of natural disasters. They are not birthrights, even if you live in long island. They are man made and therefore fragile constructs and shall hereafter not be taken for granted. 

Nor should we take for granted the people who maintain them. And it is just plain ignorance to use this as a platform for union busting rhetoric. I see rumors-rumors! about how union workers are using this catastrophe as an excuse to rake in the big bucks. If they were making such big bucks honey, they would not need unions. How dare any one say that these people don't care. They are the ones out there in the storm, not sitting here posting to Facebook. It's time to put on your big girl panties and get out there and help. 

 It takes time and expertise to get things running in a safe and efficient way. I think it is offensive and ill advised  to rant that this whole thing is LIPA, ConEd or National Grid' s fault.  Who can we blame for the pile up of sand? Who do we blame for the sewage system? For the storm surge? The wind? Makes no sense to blame anyone. No one has walked off the job. They are earning their pay. And it is not easy right now. Those are the guys and gals up in the cherry pickers rewiring the island. Some of them have lost their homes and they are still out there working. They are not simply flipping switches. If it were that simple, we could do it ourselves and we would not be having this chat. We are all used to living in the first world and this is a good reminder of how a lot of the world's people struggle every day. 

Scientific American reports that this is an unprecedented disaster for our area. It is not time to post scurrilous ill informed rumors. There is always someone's who is worse off than me. Being in a disaster area is not fun or fulfilling or even entertaining, but I will not sit here and read how somebody thinks it is some disaster mongering LIPA workers fault that they don't have power yet. That is just dumb. Just plain dumb. 

And it really ticks me off. 

day five home #Sandy

     We have been back in New York for five days and have not gotten power or heat back yet. There is water to flush but not to drink or wash and there are no trains from long beach to get me to the city for work. Because it is cold at our house and we are welcome here,  Mike and I are staying at Else's apartment until conditions change in a favorable direction. Does not seem likely given the current nor'easter which is blowing more wind and water our way. Today, because of the storm, we have stayed in, for the first time since coming home, we not driving the 65 miles to our house. We figure it would do no good to bail out and then just have to do it again tomorrow. And there is the question of will we have enough gas to come back. Everything was pulled out of the basement and the cats have enough food to last a day or so.  It counts as a day of rest. Did I mention it is cold out?

     People who are not resting: the power people-LIPA National Grid, Con Edison, AT&T and Verizon- the police and firemen, the volunteers and co ordinators. FEMA, the garbage carters. All these people have been at work around the clock trying to restore us to what we consider normal. It is a shame they are not more appreciated and paid better. With out them we would be in a right fix. I do not like to see them maligned in the media, social and otherwise, when they are out there doing all this work while we wait. So just stop. All will be well, It was a hurricane. This is what happens in a hurricane. If you are safe and somewhat dry, you are ahead of the game.  Rant over. 

     Did you see my giraffe? Is he or she not adorable? I officially finished him/her today, riding out another storm, far, far away from normal. I packed a very ambitious knitting bag, so I will not run out of things to do which makes me happy. Happy is good. But I want to go home.

London layover

So. Mike and I are at mike's moms in Riverhead. He is off to hunt for gas. We are safe and warm..our home is still standing but it is not habitable. We were there  yesterday, tossing everything from the fridge and the basement. Turned off the gas and power and water. FEMA has brought in porta potties for residents. There is no plumbing. No water. No toilets, showers or  drinking water. No fresh water. Water water very where and not a drop to drink. 

There are humvies patrolling the streets to keep order and a curfew in effect. There are no trains in or out and state police check your id to get over the bridges. 

and the drone of generators heard while people pump the soup of sewage seawater and rain from their houses. We have about a ton of crap covered crap to throw out. All of our neighbors cars were ruined. They are piled up on the median, the electronics are shot. There is a huge fortune to be made in waterproofing electronics. Ours was at the airport while we were away and is ok. 

We had some adventures while trying to get home. I knew my kids were safe so I did not worry. Still it was hard  to see all of the pictures and stay calm. 

Originally our travel plans had us in Copenhagen till tuesday. The plan was to fly standby from London to New York. We decided we needed to get back before the storm [insert why remarks here ] so we purchased full fare tickets from british airways. Not cheap. So much in fact that my credit card would only cover one.  We had to borrow money from our hosts to buy a second ticket. My affection for my bank has diminished markedly. Nuther story. Mike and Thomas had to go to the airport to buy  his ticket, only to find they did not want to accept a Danish credit card. It had to be an international credit card. In Denmark,  mind you. Fortunately, Thomas had such a card and further crisis was avoided..

So we arrived at the gate in Copenhagen to find that the flight was delayed, which meant that we would miss our connecting flight. All the while the media were hyping this 'Perfect Storm', this 'Frankenstorm'.  After arriving in London, we were told  that all flights to the east coast were indeed cancelled and British Airways would love to put us up over night and rebook our flight for four to five  days hence. Or fly us into bloody Baltimore where we could rent a car( ha) ( see previous  reference  to maxed out credit card) and drive into the hurricane to arrive home ( maybe) Just time to be evacuated, trapped or worse. 

The other option we were told was that since we had actually bought full price tickets ( first time ever not flying stand by to Europe) they would put us up in various hotels for the duration of our stay. Not a bad deal, except we had to go to the departure gate each morning to get our daily vouchers and, based on availability, we would change hotels. Kind of like the Tickets box in Times Square. Not so bad except it took three hours to get there and back and then you had to move all your crap, er bags, to the next place on a bus, or pay nine pounds for a cab, or walk. By the time you had accomplished this heroic feat the day was awastin' and there was that lunch buffet.....and it should and shall be mentioned here that other airlines did not give their passengers vouchers for more than two nights. British Airways was a class act all the way. And not back to my previous rant;

By day three, and one really crappy hotel, we decided we would pay our own way and stay where we wanted to stay..but British airways gave us the vouchers for the hotel we were any way and there we stayed for days three four and five..did I tell you about the laundry?  

So as it turns out London is not a terrible place to be trapped if you like  London. And we do. So we traipsed along with all of the other refugees to the city and got us some culture..we went to the Globe Theatre, we went to the Victoria and Albert museum. We went to St. Paul's. we went to the museum of natural history..,we perused galleries on the Thames. One was a british watercolor exhibit and the other a photographic shown on women in the army in combat in Afganistan. We ate pies at the Pie Ministers in a court yard filled with pigeons. Yum.  I bought some knitted gauntlets for my girls from a woman who operated her knitting machine in the courtyard. Very cool. 

On the odd day I stayed at the hotel and watched the news.  We were exhausted and needed to know what was happening. And on one day I sat and knitted the whole day. Which some may view as a waste of timeout to me it is merciful peace. Mike braved the tube and went to Harrods wherein he was crushed by the madding crowds and came back in tatters. 

Finally,  on November second before daylight, we bundled up all our stuff and took the Hoppa to then airport for the last time. We tried and failed to wangle our way to an upgrade to business class. Never hurts to ask. And away we flew.  Smooth sailing to JFK the gateway to Christendom. Or what ever.

More from the wanderer NQR and long.

Hello all. Thanks for thinking of us. We are all safe, all the kids and grand kid are on high ground.  And that is what is important. And I have enough yarn in my suitcase. Thanks to excellent enabling by Tilde. 

My tiny house has always been above any high tide so far,  but we do not know if this was the case this time as the tides were higher than ever before. And the cats are home alone. They have food. Currently the town is unlivable as there is no water or power. We know there will have been damage. But not to what extent. Funny. When I think about what I could lose,  I think of my paintings of my kids, my easel and my sewing machine. Trivial I know. I do not let my mind go further. 

Today we make the daily trip to the airport from the hotel to get our voucher for the night and meal. British Airways has taken very good care of us. We have a a new hotel each night. Lol. We are the diaspora of airport hotels. I took a picture of a bunch of women dragging their suitcases from one hotel to the next. It is on my camera and I can only get wifi on my iPad so I will post it later. We have been in a very good hotel and a mediocre hotel( no soap or wash cloths?) (really?) and our current one where we will try to stay until we are able to get a flight out. It is not too hard and not too soft.. It is just right.  But the policy of BA is to move us each night. Which does not add to our good mood. Wish us luck! Other airlines have been much less accommodating. 

London is of course wonderful and  today we will venture out again. Yesterday we stayed in our hotel and snoozed and read and ate. We needed it. And we watched the news which has had very good coverage if the monster storm which wiped out our little island after it took out the Caribbean. We tend to forget that..they were hit much harder and our losses are replaceable. So I am grateful and confident that we will recover. And what we do not recover we will do without! Minimalism! I'm in!

I wouldn't mind going to St. Paul's again. And the Victoria and Albert museum. We thought we might go for a ride on the London eye but there was a multiple hour queue and no thanks to that.  

So that is our story. I am going to go wander about. 

Cheers! 

__,_._,___

Safe from the storm

Spent the night in london at an hotel courtesy of British air. They have given us a reservation for a flighton November 2!! 
I am not un happy except that each day we have to travel to the airport to get a voucher for the next nights billet. So after we do that we will go and see what we can see. After what they charged us for the tickets it seems ok that they are paying for our lodgings and meals :) 
The kids  are all safe and away from long beach. Jen and jay and lucas have put everything up on tables and left the building. Katy and alex do not live near the water. So ...The cats are home but bailey put out food for them and the neighbor has a key to feed them if no one returns to the house in a couple of days. 
So. It was not meant to be that we got back today. 
Waving from heathrow !!
Xoxo
Martha

Martha

Pic Stitch

Created with Pic Stitch for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

http://www.bigblueclip.com/linkshare/picstitch.html

Almost finished!!

Pattern by Susan B Anderson, Itty-Bitty Toys