last tuesday afternoon of 2010 in postcards

**this one is to my pal, u. in san francisco. the CDR mentioned in this note is the podcast of Comedy Death Ray. I’m commenting on the Dec. 17 xmas episode. i've never seen "Bored To Death" but i'm a fan of its creator, Jonathan Ames, and actor Zach Galifinakas.**

Tues dec 28^th 2010 – closing in on the end of the year…

After what seemed like weeks of uninterrupted rain we’re having some bright, sunny, warm days here. Warm enough for shorts, but still I’m in pants. The weather reminds me that I haven’t worn flip-flops in 2 mos. TWO MONTHS! What kind of living is this, I ask? Thinking of popping in @ my local nail salon to just say hello. The new year provides a good excuse. :) ¶ Spent some time @ a new-ish used book store near Kaldi: found a 1^st edition of M. Chabon’s “Mysteries of Pittsburgh!” I’m not a collector, but picked it up. $15.oo cheap. I’ve read it so many times. :) ¶ Listened to the CDR xmas special. A Bob Ducca ailment caused me to laugh loudly @ SL Coffee. Good thing the patio was empty but for me. :)

**I once visited with my sister Deb while she made a meatloaf of ground turkey. At one point as I helped her by pouring dried oatmeal into the bowl as she mixed it she asked, “do you put oatmeal in your meatloaf?” Unless lentil burritos are considered “meatloaf”, I’ve never made one. That she thought I had my own “meatloaf method” killed me. this card is going to her.**

12.28.2010

So, Elvis’ cook used saltines where you use oatmeal. Maybe it’s a southern thing. :) Funny, I’ve had this postcard for years waiting for just the right recipient. When I saw it today I said, “yes!” ¶ Thank you for the merry xmas text your sent! @ 6:30 am. You are an earlier riser than the rest of us. The double whammy of broken-foot & torrential rains kept me from my xmas ritual of hiking followed by a movie. Spent the morning putting on soup in the slow-cooker. Spent the evening sitting at an outdoor café chatting w-a woman who reminded me of my pal, Vinnie, drinking cappuccinos. Today is bright & sunny – I’m soaking in sun, sipping iced coffee, writing post-cards & watching the neighborhood go by the café patio. I’m off until Jan. 3. Work is shut. Still can’t walk w-o crutches, so I’m a bit stir crazy. This sun is helping, tho. Spectacular day!

Oh! You’ve got the wrong zip code for me!

**for a couple years now i've received letters from my sister even though she's using the wrong zip-code.**

**this to my friend and college-era housemate, s. in santa rosa.

Hey! It’s the last Tuesday of the year… After the days & nights of crazy rain & cloudy days we’ve got some brilliant, sunny, warm weather. The days are still short: The sun is down by 5pm, but while it’s up, I’m gonna be sitting here. :) ¶ This is the kind of day that has a person resolve to Do Something. To Get Things Done and Be a Good Person. You see Potential. I’m fortunate that I have enough experience w-this feeling tht I’m not writing down any of the ideas for action nthat are popping into my head: the enjoyable part is just considering them all. The good stuff will surface again on a not-sun-soaked afternoon. When I am willing to act on it. :) I think the coffee has plenty to do with it. And the groovy tunes. Man, the advent of the walkman in the 80s changed my young life. And here I am w-an mp3 player & headphones in 2010. But, of course!

**this one to my pal, mel: my college-drop-out-era housemate, and old friend.**

3:15p – from a still sunny spot on the patio of Kaldi Coffee – Atwater Village.

The sun is bright & warm today, but it is still winter so it’s low in the sky. Although it’s still early in the afternoon the shadows are getting long. This time of year, at this time of day I am unsettled, trying to remember which café patio has direct sunlight the longest. [I think it’s Silver Lake Coffee – will likely head there soon] I’m looking for the highest ground on the north side of the street. :) ¶ 30 min ago I was feeling all the potential & momentum that a dry sunny day brings after rain. But then I went into the café to order a cappuccino. Had to wait for a while. Then had to put additional coins in the parking meter. By the time I sat down the spell was broken. The breeze is stirring, cool. But then! I took a sip of this coffee: brilliant! AND the song, “Lake Swimming” by Laura Veirs came up on the mp3 player. Gorgeous! ¶ I brought knitting, a novel & postcards out today. Ended up just writing postcards. Something I noticed: when I’m writing letters or p-cards, I spend time looking around @ traffic, people, birds, the sky. When I’m knitting, I’m always looking @ what I’m working on. This is a good enough reason to write at least one p-card every time I plant myself @ a café. Make the most of being in a public place. :) Think I’ll pull out a quilt top in progress from the depths of the closet tonight. Haven’t sewn in months & it’s starting to wear on me. Boxed up this proj. over a year ago. Alright then: IT’S ON! (there’s that potential I was talking about!)

**I notice that while I am writing the last card I am trying to recapture the glow I felt in the third. So much so that I dare to write down a Big Idea when I said I wouldn’t.**

transcription stuff of note:

snax: avocado, cucumber tomato sandwich. xmas cookies from u. in sf!

tunes: richard swift: the atlantic ocean; duke's birth announcement mix

days in the neighborhood

i took this pic surreptitiously from my car. it was meant to capture an actor/comedian, of whom i am a huge fan, who happened to be standing on the opposite corner. i felt like an ass taking the pic, and was kind of relieved that it turned out i was holding the phone so low that he was obscured by the car at the light. no real story here, i just thought it would be a funny pic for the page. intersection of note: Commonwealth @ Los Feliz Blvd.

in an effort to take advantage of time off this summer, i've been doing a lot of sewing and knitting. i've got a still-unfinished dress draped across my sewing machine. i have to move the pieces every time i want to use the machine. i put in some time on it last week: finally got the collar in. next up: easing and shaping the sleeve caps. not a ton of work, really, just tough to get my (summer scattered) mind around it.

last fall i bought a book called "one yard wonders." it's full of projects that require only one yard of fabric. i thought this would be helpful in my plan to use some of the yardage in my closet. many of the pieces are one yard or less, intended when purchased to be used in quilts. so far i've made 3 projects from the book. really two, but i made one twice. :)

here is what i finished this morning: a new ironing board cover:
i LOVE this fabric. i bought it at least 8 years ago while on vacation in Arcata. i bought enough of it to make a dress, but as the years passed and i filled out *cough* i lost my enthusiasm for a dress that might draw comparison to the little cows on the bottles. so, i've been toting YARDS of this for YEARS. i used a little of it when i made some potholders a few years ago.

i used the pattern to make covers for the smaller, tailoring ironing board that i have:
there is a 2nd board for pressing sleeves on the underside of this board. i've got two more small domestic projects like this that i'd like to make: a clothespin apron and a sewing machine cover. as ever, choosing the fabric is that bit that slows the whole process. i vacillate between the cute/kitschy and the pretty. eh.

last month i made a bag for my pal l.'s birthday. this was also in the one yard book. i used light cotton where they recommended a heavier cotton/canvas. i had trouble finding fabric i liked for her in the heavier weight, so in the end went for the pattern i liked best.

it wasn't a complicated pattern. the bits that took the most time were the curved seams. since i used a busy fabric, i didn't stew about whether there were folds in the curves. i had a couple of small ones. (excluding 2 full days of fabric shopping) overall it took about 3 days to make. you could cram it into two, but it would have to be pretty focused. i had a deadline, so worked at a steady clip for the first day, completing the exterior of the bag. i spread the lining and clasp construction over a couple days.
here are some construction pix:
the finished bag exterior:

the lining: the (comically small) pocket pinned in place & the top band with half of the magnetic clasp in place. [this was my first time installing a mag. clasp. it's heavy for such a light weight bag, but otherwise i dig it]

**bonus: you can see the old ironing board cover under the pieces here. it's stained from steam and batik wax: eyesore is the word that comes to mind.
here is the finished bag:
i'm going to make one for myself from some grey wool suiting. (of course i bought the suiting when fab shopping to make this bag.)

i've also been logging some long hours reading and staring off into the blowing palm trees at my favorite cafe patios round town. and knitting. so far: 3 pair of baby booties, and 10 baby clothes hangers. 'tis the season among my friends. in an effort to get some of these knit goods out the door i'm sending the booties and hangers separately.

after a light rain this morning, the sun has broken out. i am heading out for some patio/cappuccino time.

of note:
pre-post lunch: rad salad that included bleu cheese crumbles, eye of the hawk ale
music: m. ward, "post war"-->frightened rabbit, "winter of mixed drinks"
on deck: pedicure

saturday in two parts

friday afternoon i made plans with sang to hike on sunday. it was a loose plan with one goal: a good, long, semi-challenging hike. having made that plan let me focus all my housekeeping chores on saturday.
i woke up early, did six (6!) loads of laundry, dishes, swiffered most of apt., took out the recycling & trash, cleaned out the fridge, washed my kitchen trashcan, cleared away a stack of mail (ads, catalogs, etc). after all this was done i walked up the street for a pedicure.
after the pedicure i went to a cafe up the street for some reading. the following is a post card i wrote while sitting there. look for the twist:

5.2.09 Saturday afternoon...
"Perhaps all short stories can be understood as ghost stories, accounts of visitations and reckonings with the traces of the past." --Michael Chabon, from "The Other James"

I've been slowly reading a collection of short stories by Hiruki Murakami. I didn't know if was his writing, the translation, or my approach to his stories, but all of them had a dreamy quality. The voice in my head as i read them is calm and steady. just a minute ago i finished reading the M. Chabon piece noted above. as i read that line i had an "oh. of course." moment. so, in the last few minutes i've been applying that sentiment to stories i've read.
[oh. my. god. there are two crazy hyper chatty children running all around this patio. around my table shouting to their parents. they never stop making sounds. i can't even maintain concentration enough to finish this p-card. just try to get a bit contempletive in any public space in los feliz these days. pfft.
ending on a good thought: i'm going for a hike tomorrow w/my pal sang. i don't know where yet. we just made the plan to do it. i always defer trail selection to him b/c he's the man in the know.
--evonne


follow up: our friend travis joined us! we hiked a trail in the santa monica mtns. that included a scramble to sandstone peak, the highest point in the santa monica mtn. range. at the peak we sat in the crazy gusts of wind, holding our hats and ate oranges from travis' backyard.
man, it was gorgeous! many wildflowers still in bloom. stunning views of the ocean to the west and the valley to the east.
in this pic of NYPD Blue's editorial dept: sang is the 4th from the left in black, travis is on the right in the blue shirt.

i'm now going to watch more jeremy brett as sherlock holmes and hit the hay.

if this love is wrong, i don't want to be right.

**letter written while sitting in the front cafe section of "stories" bookstore in echo park." it's on some well traveled green lined paper that i carry around just in case the letter writing mood hits. also: i JUST figured out how to put links in the text. look out!**

sunday 2.15.09 5:30p
mostly cloudy sky, dusk, lighted signs getting turned on.

i am in love.

i am in love with this bookstore. last weekend i noticed it for the first time. it's on sunset blvd in echo park, near the echo. it's a bookstore and cafe. the front of the long, narrow shop is all glass. there are tables and a long bench up here. i'm sipping an americano, that, when it was hot, was quite good. :)

the shop sells new and used books! it's not a big space, so you can imagine the selection is...select. (damn, painted myself into a language corner there...) there is a small craft section with good & interesting books on sewing, knitting and needlework. including a book from "subversive cross stitch", of whom i am a fan. :) )
the cafe counter is in the back of the shop along with...a back patio.
patio.
number two on my list of wonderful cafe attributes, second only to remarkable coffee. it's too cold out this evening to sit outside which is how i came to be here. now that i know about the patio. well.

this stretch of sunset blvd is also part of my favored bike path route in the summer. used to be: bike to millie's, eat, then bike to sea level records. since sea level shut in 2007 i've ridden down here, but only to turn around when i get close to dodger stadium and head back.

consider all these attributes--independent book store, new & used books, coffee, tables that look out onto echo park foot traffic, the patio, bike route--and put them all in the space that used to be sea level records. yup. same store. well. what's not to love?

bonuses: they are playing velvet underground and have free wi-fi. so. for now, until all the screenwriters & students discover this spot, i have another cafe to add to the rotation.

before writing you i was reading (oh! i hear the coffee grinder from the back of the store!) michael chabon's book, "Maps & Legends." i've just started the first piece (it's a collection.) this line made me laugh out loud:
"An entertainer is a man in a sequined dinner jacket, singing "she's a lady" to a hall filled with women rubber-banding their underpants up onto the stage."
this in the same piece in which he mentions nabakov, nurse romance fiction, and star wars. i love his writing. (i was going to write, "i love him, too." would have added symmetry to this letter but just seems a little too familiar. :| )

additional cool things about this book store: the guy sitting at another table was just served a salami sandwich. the bread is really crunchy. sounds terrific! and: a woman just sat down at the table next to mine and struck up conversation about the m. chabon book on the table.

ahh! and randy newman is playing now! good lord. how do i keep from spending all my time here? (oh brainstorm! back patio may be ideal for a knitting group!)

alright. it may be time to head home. before coming here i was @ orchard supply. bought a sheet of screen to install in my door. Believe it! and a new broom. it's time. :)

**as i transcribe this i realized i haven't properly finished this letter. well. i packed up, headed home. i didn't get the screen installed last night. wanted to wait until daytime to do it. {black door, black screen...just easier to see in the day} i spent a considerable amount of time standing on a stool in my kitchen re-arranging the glassware that belonged to my grandmothers, and great grandmothers. this put the sangria pitcher is a more accessible spot. key for summer!
also: my hallway is FULL of containers of fabric and yarn from the closet. found just the right fabric in there. :D

it's monday morning. i've spent it sewing in my pajamas.**

why i didn't see grant-lee phillips on saturday.

saturday morning i drove up to the greek theatre to buy some tix for a show. turns out the box office there is closed for the season. so. decided to use the out and about early on a saturday momentum to visit the DMV to replace my stolen (grr) car registration sticker. had to stop by the apt to look up the saturday hours. the information i found on their website stated that saturday DMV hours have been discontinued b/c of california's budget, which has yet to be set.

now. i remember that i can get this DMV service at AAA, so i head out. from the time i pulled out of my drive way, to the time i was pulling out of the AAA driveway: 45 min. done! easy!

back at the homestead i worked on a few things including the Never Ending Screen Door Project.

yes! (for those of you familiar with said screen door, it is, at present, lying on the floor of my dining room, torn screen and moldings removed, fresh coats of paint covering the scratches and dings from The Incident {sigh})

decided to walk to kaldi cafe in atwater. it's a great walk that takes me around the reservoir on rowena, over hwy 5 and the los angeles river. i really wanted to see the state of the river after two days of heavy rain.

armchair birder note: no birds on the reservoir. hmm. there was a flock of what looked like geese on the bank of the river. it was a bit far from the hyperion overpass to see.

at kaldi i had a rich americano, sat outside and read some roy blount. it was cool, but not raining and the sky was full of dramatic cloud formations. when it got too cold to stay out i got another americano and headed to the little knittery. .

i hung out there, did some knitting, chatting. when i got up to leave it was about 6:30. as i put on my sweater i looked out the window: downpour. i reflected on the decision i'd made hours before to wear a fleece jacket, instead of a rain jacket. to carry a wool bag, not a nylon backpack. to wear hiking shoes instead of my impervious muck boots. to bring my dinner-plate sized travel umbrella instead of my full sized, morton's salt girl umbrella.

when i headed home from atwater on foot, it was pouring rain. this was the heaviest rain i've ever walked in. and i lived for six years in humboldt county without a car. i've logged a lot of time walking in the rain. as i was walking over the hyperion bridge back to los feliz huddled under my umbrella, a car drove by, through the rain running down the gutter of the overpass and DRENCHED me. instantly. it felt like someone threw a bucket of water at my back. i turned to look down the road and saw the traffic light change, and watched two lanes of traffic headed my way.

it felt like someone was hurling buckets of water at my back in 2 second intervals for the next 2 minutes. a couple times, i put my umbrella down to cover my back, but it was raining so hard my head was getting soaked.

i was able to keep my head, and therefore headphones dry, so at least i could listen to music as squished home. there is never a bad time to hear ray charles.

when i got home i went straight into a hot shower. just out of the shower: lightning. decided to stay in, listen to some sarah vowell's "partly cloudy patriot" and continue on my crafting jag.

beer of note: mendocino brewery's eye of the hawk
snack of note: trader joe's mini dark choc. covered graham crackers.

i did miss grant-lee's little room show. again. dammit.

photo is of me during happier rainy times: june 2004, bonnaroo. pic taken by suzie. :)

knit-tacular!

since mid-december i've been on a bit of a craft tear. i'd been in a bit of a creative lull, but i got a request from roberta for a green scarf. my friend petra turned me onto some amazing yarn: rowan cocoon: merino wool and kid mohair. SOOOOFT! then, she showed me a terrific pattern: kim hargreaves' "haven."
roberta and i exchanged a flurry of texts while i was in the yarn store re: color and yarn weight. after "green," "chunky" and "city over sporty" she gave me license to knit what i wanted. now that she's received it in the mail, i'll post some pix.
this is a close up of the lace pattern.
(the fabric behind it is the back of a quilt i made)


---> in this shot you can see how long the scarf is. that is a queen size bed! for the record: i did NOT make that quilt. it's from the company store. :)

i knit this scarf in coffee houses across los feliz, silver lake, chicago, new york, and coast to coast on virgin airlines.

back to it: this scarf stoked my creative bug. since i started it, i've also been working on a beret made of pale green alpaca (oh lord, again with the softness!), some covered baby hangers for baby hoover, come close to finishing the supa-bright kids' quilt, and made this rad bag from an urban craft center pattern: i love the bee fabric. it's lined with some purple fabric from the stash in my closet. woo!
one last highlight: i've been pulling together some pix of my old quilt and knitting projects. this is a baby sweater i knit for roberta's son, beck:
that is a slice of buttered toast. r & i were housemates at humboldt. properly preparing toast was an art form in our apt. :)

this sweater is the first project i knit using the intarsia method. the pic is off-center. alas. there is a companion sweater to this: features an eggplant.
(if any of you have a pic of this one, let me know!)

also: this morning i decided what phrase will go on the bright kids' quilt.
i'd been waffling between "i will not fail you rainbow chicken" and "there will be snacks!" when i woke up this morning i was singing andrew bird's "tables and chairs." so.

as a bonus, that phrase always makes me think of my friend, natalie. :)

how things go...

**written jan 17, saturday. sitting in a window seat at urth cafe, santa monica. for the record: cappuccino and tortilla soup. :) *

again, the fruit of making no plans is a chance encounter. this time with dear friends not seen for too long.
whenever i have these random meet ups i think about all the decisions that could have resulted in our missing one another. tonight, it was right down to turning left, not right, after crossing the street.
there they were: emil, moe, amy, kirby and baby kate!
i've had one chance meet up with moe before: outside the arclight cinema in h'wood. when i lived on the west side, we used to live in the same neighborhood. seeing each other on the street wasn't so rare, and was always a treat.
just two weeks ago i ran into my friends sue & craig at a dave rawlings machine show @ largo. for MONTHS sue has been dilligently trying to meet me for lunch or something. (i'll be seeing them next weekend when i attend their baby shower! *crazy exciting this!*)
when i have these unexpected friend sightings, i realize i am a lucky bastard. those who know me, are familiar with my reluctance to make plans. that these people who mean so much to me just happen to be on the same street, at the same show...

these chance meetings remind me of vinnie. she's my oldest friend. whenever we were within a certain range of the other we would cross paths: bumping to each other @ the tapestry & talent fair, she & loretta driving down guadalupe expwy. when i was sitting there, on the hood of my car which was stuck in the mud, her walking across my blanket at a grateful dead show in monterey (i didn't even know she listened to the dead!)...
this doesn't happen to us anymore. i live in california, she in oklahoma. but i think about her a lot. she is on my mind. i wonder if we're doing the same "running into one another thing" but long distance, in thought.

11.22.08, postcard & letter medley

*this first bit is a postcard. i met the recipient when i was first learning to knit 7 years ago. she hosted a knitting group that i joined. this postcard is a bit weedy in the knitting content. if you're not a knitter it might just give you a little window into what i'm pondering while staring into space in the back of a cafe.*

Sat 11.22.08...9pm?
Sitting at the back counter @ Intelligentsia. Just about to dip into round 2: Americano. *heart*
It may be overstating it, but i'm feeling like a physicist who's just cracked an equation: i've been crunching numbers trying to alter a knitting pattern to make it bigger. Evidently the woman who designed this-quite lovely-beret has a noggin 6 inches smaller than mine. the math involves increasing the number o' sts to be picked up around he i-cord band (not ribbed), then calculating how many would result in the correct # o'sts after increasing, to follow the pattern repeat. i'm crediting, at least partially, the cappuccino. and the patsy cline songs on the stereo here. :)
I've been on a bit of a craft hiatus the last few months. work and concert travel have kept me busy.
However: the urban craft center is re-opening @ their new location on main st. in santa monica, so i can feel the craft wheels begin to turn in my head. hooray! writing to you has me wanting to start a knitting group...or maybe its the coffee...

**a letter written a few minutes later...**

11.22.08--saturday night, sitting at the back counter at the cafe with the best espresso in town. the best part: it's in my neighborhood.
been wanting to thanks you for the wonderful fall gift! the leaves you sent are sitting atop my piano. even if the weather here is slow to co-operate, i know what season it really is.
i've been a little low energy today. have guests in town. decided to bail on the movie we'd planned to see--ended up napping for 2 hours. perfect! am now skipping the concert i was planning to attend tonight in favor of a little cafe loitering. when the days get shorter here evening cafe sitting gets mellower. those long hot days keep all my fave places too busy to hang out for long. (the nerve. ha!)
jumping topics: this has been an odd employment year out here: the writers' strike last fall really made things very unstable. i've worked on 3 shows this year (after spending 4 mos. out of work.) am finally in a pretty stable situation. then this morning i heard news that the actors' guild is close to striking. this has been looming for months, but i've been hopeful that they would resolve the contract disputes w/o striking. there is just no goodwill from the other unions left after the writers' strike. and in this economic climate? i had some choice expletives this morning when i heard the news. i still feel that as a union member myself (4th generation) any strike should be honored b/c that is your power. but this is just too much now. i'm just happy to be working on a show that doesn't give me grief about billing for overtime that the show incurs.
ok. time to shift this again: for the record i bought this card @ an amazing coffee house in kansas city, mo. a couple summers ago. i was there for a wedding. one of my firends there found a hotel for me w/in walking distance of this cafe. turned out to be so hot & humid there, i walked once, ddrove the rest of the time i was in town. sometime i will tell you about the conversation i had w/a guy there that started with, "can i ask you a question?" a memorable day, that. :)
it's almost 10p. i'll head home & do the dishes while this espresso is still working.

ps. miss you like crazy and am itching for a road trip. good combo!

3.1.2008--written on a split open atm deposit envelope

3.1.2008 How things work out...

I was shuffling around my apt. debating just how to spend the next couple of hours: errand to bank, cappuccino, or stay in do some sewing...I finally decided to walk to the bank, gathered a few things and headed out. on a side street with little thru traffic i was stopped by a family looking for directions to Universal Studios. They had a map. It's a tricky neighborhood to drive in for the uninitiated. I gave them directions and we parted ways. I was walking in the direction they needed to go, so once they drove around the block, etc. they passed me as i walked over HWY 5. I watched their car as they missed the u-turn they need to get onto the HWY. I could tell they saw it (brake lights, but no chance to switch lanes.) I walked slowly, watching for their car to find it's way back to the on-ramp, but never saw them go by. I tried to steer them mentally, but to no avail. i hope they found the fwy & made it to the park.

When I got to the bank i discovered that I'd left my ATM card at home. It's late on saturday, so the bank is shut. So I walked back to the cafe. The fellow working is one of my 2 fave baristas in town. After I got my cappuccino order in he told me that today is his Last Day working. His 2 week notice is ending today. I was out of town, then out of circulation, so i didn't hear about it. he made me a stellar drink. that when he asked "regular milk" he meant whole, not 2%, and that you can balance a coin on top the foam he makes, makes me so sad to see him go.

as i walked outside to hang out i lamented that i decided not to bring any postcards to write about all this stuff. I looked in my bag and found the unused deposit envelope i'd grabbed at the bank.
so.
how things go. :)

And now the sun is officially down. I can pick out some of the deep blue sky behind the cloud cover. I'm going to have another cappuccino before this fellow leaves, then walk home and have dinner with the neighbors. :) *heart*
sometimes, life is just that good.