Maple Leaf Rag

MacWorld 2012, Day 1

2012-01-26T22:27:00.001-08:00

Busses in San Francisco can be crowded, which means there is a risk of pickpockets. Recently, a man on a VERY CROWDED bus was listening to his iPhone, which was safely tucked inside his backpack. A thief reached into the backpack to steal the phone, and quickly drew his hand out, empty -- the man also had a chihuahua in his backpack, and the dog had nipped the thief!

According to iKeep (myikeep.com), two million iPhones are lost or stolen every year. They have devised a solution: tether it securely. Their gadget clips to, say, a belt loop, and an extension cable clicks to your iPhone or iPod. The cable moves freely to let you access your device, but it Will Not Let Go until you press the release button. If you're just absentminded, the iKeep makes sure you have your iPhone with you, and if someone else tries to grab it, they're gonna have trouble.

So… if you don't have a chihuahua, you might want to get an iKeep!

My trip to Taos

2012-01-12T14:33:00.001-08:00

I was recently in New Mexico, and visited the Albuquerque Art Museum which had a wonderful exhibit on Hispanic Arts, and I traveled to Taos where I visited La Lana Wools and the Weaving West Gallery. At Weaving West, I was urged to visit Centinela Weavers in Chimayo, so I made a short detour (9 miles each way) during my drive back to Albuquerque. Here's a photo from the Centinela Gallery. -- Rachel Holmen

Dad at 91plus

2011-06-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

My sister Joyce took this nice photo of me and my dad, on June 1.

Post-Rapture Shoe Shopping?

2011-06-20T17:11:00.000-07:00

I passed this store window in Madison, Wisconsin, during Memorial Day weekend.

Quilt Show this Weekend - Pleasanton, Calif at Alameda County Fairgrounds

2011-04-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Beautiful opportunity quilt offered by the Amador Valley Quilters. Free parking at the fairgrounds if you tell them you're going to the quilt show. 10-5 Saturday, 10-4 Sunday.

Probably 400 finished quilts on display. Two well-known quilt artists are featured, and will give talks and demonstrations.

Almost Too Warm for Spring

2011-03-31T22:17:00.000-07:00

The weather jumped from winter to practically summer here in Berkeley. My dad called to wish me happy birthday today, which pleased me. But otherwise, the world is completely crazed, with war and nuclear problems; I spent this afternoon readng last Sunday's New York Times and getting depressed. It is true that a small number of committed people can make a change, but I lack the energy to join them. I think I'll listen to Judy Small and try to cheer up a bit.

http://www.judysmall.com.au/index.html

-- Rachel

Cat in Cold Weather

2010-12-14T00:33:00.001-08:00

Mia somehow maneuvered herself UNDER my sweater, set down on the bed; only a tiny sliver of black fur was visible.

Sent from iPod Touch

AUTUMN is here

2010-09-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today is the first of autumn (or fall, as we Murricans call it, to the occasional confusion of other speakers of English). Leaves haven't turned color here, but all they usually do in this part of California anyway is go from green to a sort of green-gold.

(And Indian Summer has yet to happen, when daytime temps will be close to 90.)

-- Rachel

Nearly Naked Guys!

2010-09-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

Outside the ballpark near my office was a group of five guys in shoes and skivvies. (Luckily it was a warm evening.) Turns out they are promoting a men's clothing drive for jobseekers -- click the link and search for National Suit Drive, which runs all through September.

-- Rachel

Misleading

2010-08-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you think, looking at the signboard shown, that you could get an ice cream cone for 79 cents?

NOT A CHANCE. This is just the surcharge for the fancy cone. Baskin Robbins does offer a cheap cone of soft-serve ice cream (not the good stuff they're known for), but it's really CHEAP, in a cheesy kind of cone -- frankly, I'd rather have a small dish. -- Rachel

Friday Adventure

2010-07-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

The old AC Transit terminal is about to be torn down; today they're offering tours of the building, including sections locked shut for decades. I'm going to bring a 35mm camera loaded with black and white film (and my digital, of course); I'll post some of the photos once they're processed. -- Rachel Holmen

The Mice are EXHAUSTED after Fiscal-Year-End frenzy

2010-07-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

The mice haven't visited in a while. Here they are, completely wiped out after weeks of buildup to the end of TechSoup's fiscal year.

I finally got to the de Young's Amish Quilt exhibition

2010-05-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

I finally got to the de Young's Amish Quilt exhibition and spent hours studying the quilts, taking notes, viewing them with a small magnifier, comparing their colors to a set of color cards I'd brought with me. I want to construct some Amish-style quilts, so I wanted to know how they actually made theirs. When they put on a border, what did it look like? What colors did they use for the hand quilting? I was lucky enough to visit with Stephen Brown, the owner of these quilts, and we talked about how important it is to preserve the colors by displaying the quilts in low light. Once a quilt fades, he pointed out, there's no way to reverse the process and get the original colors back.

[June 15: the exhibit has ended, and the de Young has removed the link, so I've edited this post. -- reh]

Another page about the Amish quilt exhibition (the page may look blank, but scroll down for text and illos)

A site that displays many of the Browns' collected quilts

-- Rachel Holmen

BIKE SAFETY: blinky lights, lights at knee level

2010-05-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

As a driver, I try to notice bikes, but some riders seem to INTEND invisibility. Others mount lights on their arms, their shoulders, their helmets. If you can only use one light, it should be at approximately the same height from the ground as a car headlight. That's where drivers are scanning the street ahead of them.

I found this light yesterday, thanks to the Rock the Bike folks' participation in Bike to Work Day: Rock the Bike dot com. I particularly like the Down Low Glow -- a set of fluorescent lights that attach to your bike frame.

-- Rachel

Bike to Work today - May 13, 2010

2010-05-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Join the Velorution!!! www.sfbike.org

I can't bike this year, because my bike was stolen and I'm waiting to drive to LA and pick up my dad's recumbent (he's not riding any more). But at least I take public transit and use casual carpool.

An invention for weaving

2010-05-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

I invented something before breakfast! (A new kind of reed for use in rigid heddle looms.) The invention was prompted by an article in WeaveZine by Syne Mitchell (who once sold me stories when I worked as editor for a fiction magazine).

Of course, once I started trying to record the original idea, seven variations popped into my head, so breakfast was very late indeed as the ideas took precedence, clamoring to be recorded and illustrated. -- Rachel Holmen

George Scithers, Rest in Peace

2010-04-19T18:39:00.001-07:00

http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=xover&group=sff.discuss.obituaries

A sweet, gentle man who loved science fiction and trains, and knew an enormous amount about both. There's a nice article about him, with an oldish photo (though as I remember, he ALWAYS wore that jacket), at http://2001.worldcon.org/gscithers.html.

-- Rachel Holmen

Lost Bus Pass

2010-04-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

During a precarious, busy week, worried about finances, lost ALL my bus passes. And discovered, by checking my TransLink use online, that somebody else has been using them. *&)*(&)&#&*#&*). Turned off the Translink. The BART pass, however, and the monthly Muni pass, are lost causes. I have approximately $2.83 to my name; this will get me home tonight, but not back to work tomorrow. My mailing address is ON the Translink card; clearly the thief didn't care.

I finished listening to WICKED

2010-03-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

Was a bit disappointed by the ending; the author seemed determined to jumble into the last few pages of the book all the things that were needed to match the Baum telling of the story, without having it make a lot of sense. Yes, officially most loose ends were tied up, but why did Elphaba suddenly become so UNsympathetic?

Not sure what I'll listen to next. -- Rachel

New-to-me Cat Settling In

2010-03-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

I've taken a friend's cat, and the first two nights she just hid. Tonight, coaxed out from under the bed with a dancing bit of junkmail on a string, she was much more social, curled up on my bed, and then went off to eat some of her dry food. After that, she actually came back onto the bed.

She has her own blog (yes, I know, it's rather precious of me to pretend to know what a cat might think), acatmia dot blogspot dot com.

-- Rachel

WICKED

2010-03-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

I'm currently listening to WICKED, the audiobook. Some of it is very amusing, but the current section is quite serious. I am impressed by the author's creation of names for his characters, and his universe-building skill.

The book is based on the Wizard of Oz story, but tells it from a different point of view, with some interesting parallels to pre-World War II Germany. There's a long wikipedia article, but I'm not reading it until I have finished the whole book. And there are two sequels.
-- Rachel Holmen

Laissez les bon temps roulez!

2010-02-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

(And how about donating some $ to KSCM, the San Mateo jazz radio station, which played FABULOUS Mardi Gras music during drivetime this morning? -- Rachel Holmen

Aloo Gobi recipe to watch

2010-01-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

I just watched BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM and then watched some of the add-on features. The one that cracked me up was "How to Cook Aloo Gobi", where the director, an Indian woman raised in Britain, shows us how to cook this dish -- with added advice and grumbling by her aunt and her mother. Worth checking the DVD out of the library just to watch this 5-minute episode.

(Yes, I'm very behind the times in my film-watching; I checked this one out of the San Francisco Library, which has a branch near my office. And I probably haven't had my TV on in, oh, eight or nine months. Another fab film I got from this branch was CHILDREN OF PARADISE, a French film made during World War II.)

-- Rachel Holmen

All Lit Up

2009-12-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

Here's the tree with its tiny string of battery-operated lights.

Live, small holiday tree

2009-12-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

I don't usually have a Christmas tree, I have a WREATH on my front door. But this year, I kept buying little tiny ornaments, and while I could have put them on a wreath, I realized I wanted a tree, and the scent of pine in the house. So I bought a dwarf Alberta Spruce. It's not gorgeous, but I'm hoping that as it grows, it will improve. Its full height is only six feet, so eventually I will plant it in my yard.

Last night, I had great fun making an extemporaneous garland from red wire and fake pearl beads. I even have lights on it, but until I buy 2 C-cell batteries, they won't light up.

Happy holidays!
--Rachel Holmen

Handsewn leather

2009-12-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Years ago, I made a split-cowhide vest for my brother Scott. He outgrew it, and gave it back to me, barely worn. (Around the same time, I hand-sewed -- ENTIRELY -- two jackets, one for my Dad and one for my boyfriend, out of shearling -- sheepskin with the fur still on it; but I later realized that nobody could wear them; the fur made the sleeves so bulky, nobody could get an arm into the jacket sleeve.) I ran into the vest recently in a closet, and I recalled how I created the design I put on the back of a thistle - I went out into my yard, sketched one, simplified it, stylized it, cut it out of colored suede, tacked it in place with rubber cement, and hand-sewed it on with a glover's needle.

Glover's needles look really odd -- instead of a sharp point and smooth, cylindrical sides, they have 3 sharp edges for a quarter inch or so back from the point. And you must sew with a sure hand. If you make too many attempts at one stitch, instead you have created a hole in the leather.

Here are a couple of photos; I'm still proud of the design, and the workmanship.
--Rachel Holmen

Salvaging a Cooking Mistake

2009-11-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

It was, oh, 1970 perhaps. I was poor. I was hungry. AND, I had friends visiting, including handsome auburn-haired Jimmie. I wanted something for all of us to eat. I boiled water and added the only package of noodles in the house, drained the noodles when they were done, and stirred in some melted butter. So far, excellent. Then I went to add a little garlic powder -- and the lid came off the jar. In dumped WAY too much garlic. I scooped out some, but a lot was still in the dish. There were no more noodles. What to DO????? I tasted the dish, and it had so much garlic in it, it was bitter.

I searched the kitchen, found a block of mozzarella cheese and a big can of whole tomatoes, maybe 24 ounces. I drained can of tomatoes, added them, stirred everything up, grated a whole lot of cheese on top, and put the dish briefly into the oven. Success!!!

"What do you call this dish?" Jimmie asked. I confessed the dish didn't have a name. "Glop!" Jimmie pronounced, and I still call it that.

(Now I make the dish on purpose. Often I include hamburger meat crumbled up in the frying pan, cooked, and drained before adding to the noodles.)

I'm cooking up some today, for my quilting group; the weather is grumpy-looking and grey, and this will be just the dish to sustain us on a cool evening.

-- Rachel Holmen

Food for Colder Weather

2009-11-17T15:23:00.001-08:00

I had an old family favorite meal today for lunch: Campbell's tomato soup made with milk, with Cheerios in it. (Plain, old fashioned Cheerios, not the sugar-coated ones.) Good on a chilly day. -- Rachel

Bridge Open Again

2009-11-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

They did manage to get the bridge open again -- and some idiot promptly earned himself a Darwin Award by taking the new curve too fast and driving over the rail. For a day or two afterwards, other drives actually slowed down for the curve, but by now, two whole weeks later, most drivers take the curves too fast.

SG Gate info on the fatality: link

-- Rachel Holmen

Bay Bridge Broken Again - Oct 27, 2009

2009-10-27T22:43:00.001-07:00

I took the 108 bus from work to the TransBay Terminal, and there was my J bus. The driver opened the door for me, but a dispatcher waved me away. "The Bridge is closed," he said. Luckily, I had a BART ticket, so I took that home, but it was pretty crowded, and with one extremely quick stop at a grocery store for frozen veggies, I got home just before 10 pm. The word I'd heard in the bus terminal was: closed for 24 hours. What SFGate is now saying is, Closed Indefinitely.

I'm not a big fan of BART, either. TOOOOO noisy to hear my audio books; in fact, I'm surprised there hasn't been a class action lawsuit about deafness among the ridership.

-- Rachel Holmen

Home-made cards

2009-10-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

My talented friend Keli made me these cards, on what looks like hand-made paper. If you're interested, contact me (reh at sff dot net) and I'll put you in touch with her. She is a wizard at birthday cards, and could probably come up with designs appropriate for other occasions as well. (And if you know great sources for rubber stamps, I'll forward that information to her as well. My favorite store, in Petaluma, seems to have disappeared.) -- Rachel Holmen

Another cat lost to me

2009-10-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

My gray cat, Pearl Too, died two weeks ago today, leaving me once again sad and angry because, as another cat-loving friend reminded me, Pearl forgot the part in her contract about living forever to be my companion. Some cats have a lot of personality, do silly things you can retell to your friends. Pearl wasn't much like that, although of course she did have her moments. But mostly, she just wanted to be wherever I was, watch whatever I was doing, and if possible sit in my lap and purr. So she leaves a big hole in my life, especially when I'm home in the evenings. (And those darn grocery stores. Do you know, they have PET FOOD aisles, just to taunt me?)

This is What Real Baby Carrots Look Like

2009-09-27T21:57:00.000-07:00

My friend Amy grows carrots, under something called Reemay; boy, they are tasty. Those things you buy as baby carrots? I hear they are actually broken chunks of big carrots, shaved round by machine, stored in bleach prior to sale. -- Rachel Holmen

Massively Ambitious: Bay Bridge renovations

2009-08-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

Next weekend, the Bay Bridge across San Francisco Bay will be closed. For some info about what's being done, see baybridgeinfo.org. You'll be able to see what's happening on Google Earth, even follow the action on Twitter.

-- Rachel Holmen

Phil Marsh and the Freight coffee house, and further ramblings

2009-08-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

I ran into my old friend Earl Crabb on Saturday night at the Phil Marsh show at the "old" Freight, the very last Satuday night they'll be at that venue, now that they're moving into their new building downtown at the end of the month. I think about ten people in the audience were under 55, and they were probably children and grandchildren of the old regulars, and there were about a hundred of us. We sang a hymn (not "angel band" but another fine old bluegrassy song with good harmony possibilities) in memory of Mike Seeger, who died this weekend, and Phil sang a lot of great old George Jones songs, stuff from the Royal Calypso Orchestra, and a lovesong with clever, tightly-packed lyrics about a long distance call, Tokyo to Tulsa, between ichiban number one cowboy and Su Li Su. (Special thanks to Gary Salzman for the calypso, and to Laurie Cohen for sonorous cello backup which particularly pleased my cello-playing seatmate, Carla de Haas.)

Phil was part of the Cleanliness and Godliness Skiffle Band, which was the first act at the Freight a zillion years ago. The band had a reunion I had to miss recently since I was out of town, so I was tickled to get a second chance this summer to see Phil.

And seeing Earl reminded me that when he and I had been dating (and he lived in Palo Alto), we used my house to host a HUGE party late one Saturday night, for the Cleanliness and Godliness band, the Mark Spoelstra band Jade Flute (now there was another man I had a crush on, Mark Spoelstra), and the visiting-from-Cambridge Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Geoff Muldaur and I compared notes and he claimed me as his "soul sister" since we get the same awful nervous rash on our hands sometimes. Tall fiddler Richard Greene was amused that I was both a singer and a seamstress. (I had started a small career, first with sunbonnets and then with men's shirts, sellling them in local boutiques.) I remember moving Maria Muldaur's fur coat into a closet since people were stepping on it, the party was so crowded; she'd taken it off and set it in a corner. The party didn't even start till about 1 am since all the bands had played gigs that night; and Country Joe and the Fish were invited but they were in Seattle, so they phoned in and said hello to everybody. But in the way of things, the bands remember Earl, and not me; and in justice, I have to say that Earl has made a serious avocation of taking photos at folk venues over the years, while I'm just a paying member of the audience. But I do pay, since I think it's important to support live music, not get by on the freebie guest list at the door even when I do know the singers.

The Freight got its name from its FIRST location, when they took over a bulding on San Pablo Avenue. Too broke to put up a new sign, they just added the words "coffee house" to the sign left there by the previous busines -- Freight and Salvage.

However, that venue held only about 78 people according to the fire marshall, and it's hard to make a go of a business that can't hold a lucrative capacity crowd when that crowd wants to show up. So they moved a few blocks away, just off San Pablo, and slowly fixed up the much-larger building they now had. (But the ladies' room still only held two stalls, leading to LONG lines during intermissions, and the green room was pretty small and there was no room for a kitchen, just a fridge and a counter for selling drinks and snacks.) The sound was okay as long as you didn't sit next to one of the walls, and the chairs were a ragtag collection, most of them not TOO uncomfortable, but that was about the best you could say about them. (Generously, you could bring in your own folding chair and use it, and people often did.)

The new venue promises to be so stunningly perfect and large, I wonder if all of us old folkies will be scared away! But opening night is sold out, a good sign. If I think I'll be in town, I'm gonna FINALLY see Rambling Jack Elliott in live performance. (He owes me; I bought a ticket to see him at the Jabberwock once, and he forgot the gig and, sometime after the show was scheduled to start, was located still in Los Angeles, 400 miles away.)

Oh, and there's a JABBERWOCK memory website now on the web, started by a friend of Earl's named Corry. Lemee see if I can post the link. I'm going to dig through old posters, scan them, and email 'em to the site. Here we go: http://www.chickenonaunicycle.com, chicken on a unicycle dot com. Corry said that Bill Ellert has died (I did see Bill at some folk event at the big auditorium on the Berkeley High campus about five years ago, and turned down a chance to go with him to the after-party because, as I told him, I'd enjoyed the concert but was afraid that the party would be full of drunk and stoned musicians, whose behavior would probably just tarnish my memories of them), so I'm glad I did get to see him a few years back.

-- Rachel

Braiding Trick from a Friend

2009-08-01T20:07:00.001-07:00

I was showing my Kumihimo marudai to my old friend Kitty Crowe when I saw her on the bus. Well, she'd clearly done more with this craft than I have yet! When I mentioned that I had trouble keeping track of where I'd stopped and where I would need to begin again, she said:

If you are working a 2-step move, do the first step, then stop. You'll always know where to begin again.

-- Rachel

Spelling?

2009-07-06T18:31:00.001-07:00

Seen at the Dublin BART Station yesterday. -- Rachel Holmen

Rainbow Braid

2009-06-24T23:32:00.001-07:00

I stumbled onto a misplaced ball of string -- hemp, actually -- dyed in many colors, set down by mistake in the yarn section at a local craft store; I think I'll make a friendship bracelet. The hemp is surprisingly soft. The navy is crochet cotton, size 3, doubled.

-- Rachel Holmen

John Whitmarsh and the wall

2009-06-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

John Whitmarsh has a studio near my office, so I often walk past it on my way to lunch, or as I come in around 8 am. I've long admired his old red pickup. Last year he shingled the wall next to his parking lot with painted cardboard; eventually it got soggy and he took it down. This week, he had something new up.

Here's his explanation, on a small card mounted on the same wall.

-- Rachel Holmen

My first share-able Kumihimo (braiding) video tutorial

2009-06-20T16:08:00.000-07:00

Feedback is solicited. Would you be able to figure out how to make this braid, from this video? (It is assumed that you have a slotted card -- called a marudai -- and some appropriate string/yarn/thread/fiber.) As an example, you could start with four 2-yard lengths of nylon cord. Take all four strands together, thread on a paperclip or splitring or fixed ring, move the ring to the center, and tie an overhand knot. Put the knot and ring at the center of the marudai, and spread out the strands as shown.

I have no idea why the last frame looks so odd, with yellow and aqua echoes of the main image -- that's not in my original file -- but the rest of it seems okay.

I'll be happy to email either the GIF or the MOV version on request. Email reh at sff dot net.

-- Rachel Holmen

See you at the Alameda County Fair

2009-06-15T13:06:00.001-07:00

I had hoped to enter several items; only one got finished to my satisfaction, an owl toy based on a pattern designed by Dianna LaFerry. Here's the owl toy, not yet stuffed, pinned up to the design wall at the Cotton Patch in Lafayette.

The fair runs July 1 to 19 in Pleasanton -- take 680 to Bernal, turn right under the freeway at the bottom of the offramp (you will then be driving sorta east), and follow signs to the fair.
-- Rachel Holmen

Tosca at Giants Stadium (WIllie Mays Field)

2009-06-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Free wifi at AT&T ballpark!!!

I'm waiting for the opera to start, sitting next to my new friend Mary who has shared her French fries with me. The sun is still up, but we can clearly see the Diamondvision screen, and Hoyt and Diane (somewhere above my head, I believe) have come onscreen and said hello to the audience.

Here's a photo of the screen, and another of the crowd which is HUGE. I'm lucky I found an actual chair to sit in.

-- Rachel Holmen

Sue Fox Open House

2009-05-25T02:02:00.001-07:00

Sue Fox, a member of three quilt guilds -- East Bay Heritage Quilters in Kensington, California (near Berkeley), the San Francisco Quilt Guild, and a guild in Maine -- decided to hold a series of open houses during May. Here are three quilts I liked, photographed the first weekend. -- Rachel Holmen

Posted via email.

Machine Quilting Lessons

2009-05-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

After attending several of Sue Fox's open houses, I got interested in having her teach me how to use her long-arm quilting machine. This is the kind of machine which sits on a table approximately 12 feet long (no, that's not a typo), and is about as related to a home sewing machine as a semi-trailer-truck is to a VW Beetle.

I had a long lesson today; how to put my quilt onto the framework of rollers which enable to work to be done; how to clean, oil, and thread the machine; how to set and use the two sewing modes -- automatic or stitch-regulated, and manual or completely free-motion; how to evaluate the thread tension; how to complete a piece. Her instructions were patient and thorough, but this was no dull lesson -- her enthusiasm for quilting, and for teaching, shone through the day. I'm not sure I'm ready to exhibit what I did, but I'll be back soon for more practice, and in between she encouraged me to draw large unbroken-line doodles on a newsprint pad for practice.

She has a new blog, so check it out: Fox Dreams Quilts at Blogspot dot Com.

-- Rachel Holmen

Succulents (Gardening) and Quilt Design (Needlework)

2009-05-24T20:29:00.001-07:00

I recently attended a workshop on raising succulents at a local nursery I like,
Westbrae, and wished that some of my quilting friends were also in attendance. The speaker, who said he'd come to gardening from a design background, talked a lot about color, texture, density, scale (size), and how these elements need to be balanced to create a wonderful garden, from small bowlful of plants to an entire wall. He generously passed around books from his personal library, and if you only check out one book after reading this post, locate a copy of The Jewelbox Garden by Thomas Hobbs, and drink in the photos. Amazon has a few copies of the trade paperback left, for around $17 plus shipping.

-- Rachel Holmen

(The photo I've posted with this entry is one I've shown before -- which I took myself, but it's indicative of the kinds of photos you'll see in the Hobbs book.)

Bike to Work Day is coming up!

2009-05-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

May 14 is Bike To Work Day. I had hoped to *own* another bicycle by then, but it's not to be. And since I'll be heading directly to the airport from my office, I will be sticking to mass transit, not pedal power.

Here's my favorite past poster for Bike To Work Day, from 2005.

-- Rachel Holmen

Charming quilts shown at Glendale show

2009-04-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here's a closeup of one of my favorites, a small quilt (maybe 2 feet square). It was called What Color is Spring? by Doralee Dohnel, based on pattern from Bareroots of Sierra Cottons & Wools.

A similarly-designed quilt, based on open squares, was this scrappy beauty.

There were several old family quilts in the show, and this was a fine example of one similar to the pattern I know as Trip Around the World.

I like quilts with patterns made of hexagons -- often they are entirely handpieced. Here are two from the show.

Modern Quilts

This bird of paradise plant, slightly larger than life, used an interesting method of sewn tucks to give texture to the leaves.

And here's a small portion of a very bright quilt.

-- Rachel

NDD == nature deficit disorder

2009-03-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

Plants (and Walls)

2009-03-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

I was struck by the elegance of this bare wisteria trunk framing someone's front window.

A few days later, I drove past almost classic Southwestern view -- the Indian paintbrush against an adobe wall -- although the paintbrush in this case is actually, I think, a montbretia. The afternoon light made the image perfect, so I pulled over and took this photo.

Brightening my bedroom, and providing a lovely scent, is this lily of the valley. I guess if you live in some parts of the country, they're practically weeds, but here in California we must buy them in pots and cherish them for a few weeks as they bloom.

-- Rachel

Winter Has Commented

2009-03-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Winter has commented on my blogpost from Monday.

(There was hard frost on my car windshield both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Here's the little icy crust at the left side of my windshield after I scraped a bit and ran my wipers.)

-- Rachel

Spring

2009-03-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Two photos taken in the late afternoon sun: There's a bird's nest in that tree, a tree about to burst into bloom. And in Berkeley, daffodils everywhere.

While today was officially only the first day of Daylight Savings Time, it sure felt like the first day of spring. Glorious weather, probably 60 degrees -- warm enough so that for part of the afternoon, my quilting friends and I sat in the classroom with the door wide open.

-- Rachel

Orchids, Quilts, More Quilts

2009-03-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

This weekend is the big orchid show in San Francisco. I've missed it the last couple of years; sometimes I console myself with a new orchid from Trader Joe's, but it's not the same as seeing a zillion beautiful and sometimes weird plants all in one place. There's a special preview evening on Friday, but I can't really justify going. Fort Mason; usually there's parking for a small fee at a nearby school, with a shuttle to the show itself.

Saturday and Sunday is the San Francisco Quilt Guild's show, featuring Judy Mathiesen. She made the gorgeous Mariner's Compass quilt shown above.

Saturday afternoon, Gretchen Jennings is giving a presentation at the Cotton Patch in Lafayette, CA. And Sunday morning, I'm taking a class there with Sonya Lee Barrington.

Too many places to be at once! -- Rachel

Potlatch, Stitches West

2009-03-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

Freddie Baer made her best T-shirt ever (if it's possible to distinguish between numerous excellent works), Ursula LeGuin and Vonda McIntyre were there, the banquet had tasty food and pleasant company, the con suite was always hospitable, and my only complaint was not getting enough time to spend with people I liked. Potlatch 18 is over, and what a terrific con it was!

In between, I managed to attend Stitches West, the biggest yarn market in the state; I bought drop spindles, dyed and plain roving (semi-processed wool, to the rest of you), snips of qiviut (musk ox fiber) and mohair and plain cream "mystery sheep", silk-and-tencel yarn, cotton yarn from Jill Vosburg (Just One More Row), rayon from Swallow Hill Creations for knitting into jewelry, paper yarn from Habu Textiles that looks like it were made from finely-sliced newspapers, truly weird linen yarn with persimmon extract that looks like brown barbed wire, orange-and-purple variegated Koigu (fine wool yarn) from my friend Merilyn Jeniye's shop Foxy Knits (and renewed my acquaintance with her sister Sharon), fabulous blue and green yarn, two skeins of Waikiki which is a sock yarn without any wool -- in a beatiful seagreen shade; and several interesting patterns. And I should have picked up Lucy Neatby's tractor sock pattern; and I would have gotten the Shelby Shawl pattern and some Cascade silk from Yarn Barn of Kansas but their line was always too long. I shopped with Royale Hare, Carolina Homespun, and more -- I'll try to amend these links when I find all my receipts.

-- Rachel

Phooey, missed the quilt lecture and exhibit

2009-02-26T19:27:00.001-08:00

I used to think going to lectures in the evening must be the dullest thing in the world. But when you listen to somebody who is passionate about what they do, it can be a lot of fun, and sometimes quite moving.

Unfortunately, I was ill on Monday and had to miss the Raven Quilter's talk.

-- Rachel

February: month of Ravens

2009-02-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Raven Quilt

My friend Raven was baptised this past week, a joyful event. And Monday, my quilt guild will feature as its monthly speaker a woman named Rose Hughes, who made the quilt shown above. Her blog, full of interesting commentary about her creative life, is Raven Speak Quilts.

-- Rachel Holmen

Cartoons about libraries and publishing

2009-02-17T17:39:00.001-08:00

Unshelved dot com

You've GOT to watch the video of the Difference Engine

2009-02-01T12:12:00.000-08:00

Short video (under 2 minutes) of the Difference Engine in operation.

Neither Babbage nor Lovelace ever saw this amazine machine operate. You can.

-- Rachel Holmen

The Difference Engine

2009-01-30T23:42:00.000-08:00

I saw a nice hour-long film tonight, about the development in the early 1800s of two interesting machines, both designed by Charles Babbage. The first was called the Difference Engine, and it was partly built when he developed another, more complex device (an Analysis Engine) which was never actually built, but whose plans were dusted off in the mid-20th century and used to create the first true computer. Ada Lovelace, daughter of the famous English poet Lord Byron (though she never knew him; her parents separated when she was an infant and her father left England) and an intelligent, educated mother, was trained in mathematics. She, far more than Charles Babbage, grasped the enormous possibilities of the more complex machine, and "got" the idea that the numbers that were calculated could represent non-numeric values (think ASCII code, for instance). She also considered the workings of electricity. But she died while still young (at age 36, I believe) of illness, knowing she was leaving behind notes and published articles that others would use to pursue her ideas.

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, currently has a model of the Difference Engine on display, so here's a rather dark and dramatic photo of it. The machine stands about 7 feet tall and occupies a footprint approx 3 feet by 6 feet.

Link to better photos, more info: http://www.computerhistory.org/babbage/

-- Rachel

Boy, is this FUN!

2009-01-30T00:37:00.001-08:00

Here are me (standing, in the white sweater) and some new friends from my table at the pre-conference "She's Geeky" dinner. I had a great time and I'll be there for the next two days.

-- Rachel

Fabric design - Lonni Rossi

2009-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

My quilt guild had a lecture last night by Lonni Rossi, who does amazing stuff with textile paints. LonniRossi dot com.

She does a lot of it by painting fabric outdoors (she has a table that lets her mount fabric inside a huge frame, approx 42" wide and 5 yards long, so the fabric is open to the ground rather than being set on a table), then setting objects onto it. Her paint is pebeo setacolor, and as it dries, of course the UNcovered areas dry first, so she gets impressions of whatever objects were set onto the paint. She has used rice, every kind of leaf imaginable, radial saw blades, grass, letters cut out of sheet metal or cardboard. She also creates silkscreens and quasi-silkscreens that let her print text onto fabric (for this she sometimes uses white paint tinted with color, over black fabric). One of her signature "looks" is to end with a heavy metallic overlay on parts of the fabric.

I may have to try toothpicks, small rocks, buttons.

-- Rachel

Discount code for SHE'S GEEKY

2009-01-27T02:54:00.000-08:00

Probably too late now. Email me if you want one. Pre-reg ended Tues, at midnight.

Info: "She's Geeky the women's tech conference starts on Friday.
http://www.shesgeeky.org

We have an amazing list of sessions proposed.
It is an unconference - so that means the women gathered create the agenda (in a facilitated process)

It is just a great event for women techies to connect and learn from each other. We provide breakfast, lunch, snacks and esspresso. **You are welcome to bring your daughters along.**

The Secretary of State of California who is very geeky signed up on her own to come on Saturday.

Friday Night we are showing the Ada Lovelace Movie at the Computer History Museum at 6pm.

Pre-Dinner on Thursday night is with Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner at Ming's in Palo Alto at 6:30
(registration at 5:30)"

--- I personally wouldn't want to miss this. ---

-- Rachel

White Violets appeared by magic

2009-01-26T15:21:00.000-08:00

I had no idea that I had white violets in my yard -- and yet here they are, growing next to the driveway! I haven't bent down to sniff them, and with only three flowers I will not pick them.

-- Rachel

Internet Shop Hop for Quilters

2009-01-26T00:01:00.000-08:00

You can participate in a fun contest by clicking the link above. Visit as many quilt shop websites as you can, and find the bunny logo hidden in each one.

-- Rachel Holmen

SHE'S GEEKY conference in 2 weeks

2009-01-20T23:42:00.000-08:00

I signed up within 48 hours of hearing about this conference. SHE'S GEEKY will be held in Mountain View on Jan. 30 and 31 (with some kind of introductory dinner on Thurs. the 29th). Sounds like fun. -- Rachel Holmen

Go, George Henne! NS Basic 7 beta released

2009-01-13T23:02:00.000-08:00

For Palm PDA geeks, NS Basic is a solid programming environment. The company is run by George Henne, a Canadian who stands behind his product. My email told me today that the version 7 beta is now available for testing, so I'll have to check it out. I've already written a time-card program and program that does the calculations that quiltmakers always seemd to need, using an older version. I'll have to try and port them to the new version.

Another plus: there is a clear, understandable book on how to USE this programming language, written by Michael Verive who also gives free tech support online (go, Michael!!) in the user forum at the NS Basic site.

Here's the link: NS Basic dot com slash Palm.

Now, there is ONE thing you must understand: the software which creates the applications runs on a Windows PC. But the applications run on a Palm PDA. (Henne also offers versions for other platforms, including various cell phones and SOON...iPHONE!!!)

-- Rachel Holmen

Santanas

2009-01-13T02:23:00.001-08:00

Gusty winds; I feel well enoug to go back to work tomorrow but will I *ever* get to sleep? Just as I drift off, another wind-mob snarls around the yard and threatens to tear down the fence.

-- R

Ladybug

2009-01-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

Usually I grab my blue-jacketed New York Times as I dash to the car on the way to the office. Today, however, I'm recovering from a virus that has me coughing a lot and sounding RAHther froggish. So I didn't collect the paper until nearly noon, and discovered a lovely warm day. (Sorry, those of you are in the cold; this *is* California.) I picked up the paper and there was a ladybug on the wrapper! I gently moved it to my gardenia bush, sorely infested with scale (nasty hard-shelled buglets that, like aphis, suck the sap from plants where they live). The bug walked slowly up to the topmost leaf, tried to take another step, then turned around and walked back. Sometimes it would stop and flex its wings, which must be damp -- first the right wing would come out, but the left would stay firmly put; then closed, then the other wing, but never both. I expect when it can unfurl both wings it will fly away, but I can hope it will stay and attack the scale

I'm sure we'll have some more nasty days, and heaven knows the whole state needs RAIN, but for today, some sun is nice. (I watched AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH recently so I *am* trying to think of ways to personlly stop contributing to the CO2 problem. I already use casual carpool and busses for my commute, but I may have to give up casual carpool since it requires me to drive to the pickup point. Taking the bus both way adds $3.75*20 or so each month to my expenses -- a lot on a nonprofit paycheck. Can I afford to, in effect, donate $75 a month to the future?)

-- Rachel Holmen

Farewell, Gaston

2009-01-07T22:03:00.000-08:00

Gaston le Bon arrived at my friend Carla's a couple of months back, a tiny kitten probably only a few weeks old; nobody knew where its mother was. Carla and various friends gave him tiny bottles of kitten formula, then he graduated to actual food, and he was growing up quite playful and handsome.

Sadly, he was hit and killed by a car today.

Au revoir, dear kitten. -- Rachel

More patterns

2009-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

Dos de Tejas (literally, two from Texas) is one of several mother-and-son pattern companies. Here's their terrific Tresillo skirt. The Spectrum Dress is nice, too, and so's the Texas Two Step shirt that has a freestanding back yoke -- almost like a short cape -- which offers a wonderful chance for embellishment.

And then there's the Park Bench Pattern Company, which offers wonderful "trunk shows" and where the designer brings actual sample clothes for you to try on right in her booth before you buy her patterns. I'm particularly fond of the Williamsburg, the Woodstock skirt (all straight seams lead to a FABulous swingy long skirt), the Chesapeake Bay jacket, Golden Gate Park, and the wonderful Santa Fe jacket -- stunning in red velvet with dark trim. The designer builds her clothes for real people, not just for those who are tall and slender. -- Rachel Holmen

La Fred, a terrific designer of women's clothing

2009-01-04T14:09:00.000-08:00

La Fred (a woman named Fred Bloebaum) lives here in Oakland, and I was lucky enough some years ago to run into her stunning "Athena blouse" pattern at Stone Mountain and Daughter fabric. The Athena blouse has a square armhole, which gives an interesting detail to the blouse. Other patterns I've liked are the Thalia pants and the Cassandra skirt. Her website is www.lafred.com.

-- Rachel Holmen

Sometimes music hits like a sledgehammer

2008-12-20T22:12:00.001-08:00

Bob Franke came to my notice when one of his songs, called For Real, hit me like a sledgehammer between the eyes. And then it offered healing.

Some of his songs are wonderfully joyous, especially The Great Storm is Over; some are just funny (like Boomerang Pancakes), all speak from his heart to the listener's.

So when I got email today from Bob about a new song, I clicked the link, and now I'm sharing it with you -- see the vodpod ribbon on the right.

-- Rachel Holmen

Dickens Fair 2008

2008-12-14T22:20:00.000-08:00

So much fun! Two friends and I went, and we had a ball. We took BART to Glen Park station and then caught a free shuttle, so no traffic or parking worries. We ate fabulous meat pies, drank mulled cider, bought among us a hat, some pirate socks, a hooded scarf, some beads, a stick puppet, and some fudge. We were tempted by corsets, jewelry, candles, fans, shawls, and yet more hats. Here's one of the vendors we visited -- she makes porcelain angel figures of everything from armadillos to zebras (including giraffes, dogs, and elephants); Queen Victoria and her handsome escort; and my two friends hamming it up under a Christmas tree. We may have to go back next weekend.

You can get a $5 discount just by showing your BART ticket; or buy online tickets at http://www.dickensfair.com/tickets.htm. (I'd definitely recommend buying tickets in advance, since there was a bit of a wait otherwise.)

-- Rachel

Craftswomen

2008-12-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

I made my contributions to the economy today: earrings from Dotty Calabrese (Just For Fun), a rag rug in a cheerful red for my bedroom (Margaret Thompson, Monterey Fiber and Design), a fragile but beautiful pottery bowl from "Forms In Clay" (Lyn Swan), some bookmarks made of interesting textured paper (Marie Kelzer Designs dot com), and a tiny upholstery fabric purse and a blue silk flower from Jennifer Shors. This was the second weekend of the Women's Building Craft Show, one that I always try to attend. It's held at Fort Mason in San Francisco; I lucked out today and found a good free parking place. (This probably offset the small traffic accident that had delayed me, when a white pickup backed into the front of my tiny Honda Civic.) -- Rachel Holmen

VodPod lets you collect your favorite YouTube videos

2008-11-29T22:42:00.000-08:00

Vodpod lets you store videos online; so far I have collected two (see at right). Vodpod dot com. But it wouldn't let me link a favorite flash video, I guess because it's not on YouTube: Love, Love, Kiwi (click on the "flash anim." icon).

-- Rachel Holmen

Blogging from Highway 99 -- the IHoP in Tulare

2008-11-24T18:01:00.000-08:00

My departure from the Los Angeles area was somewhat delayed, so when I finally got going at 2:15 pm, I figured I'd better drive till dark before I made any stops. Somebody called as I drove through Delano, but my headset for my cellphone is in the trunk, so I let the call go to voicemail. Turns out I am missing the annual highlight of my quilt guild: our annual show and tell evening. Sigh. I hope somebody gets some good pictures.

But I bought gas for $1.899, the lowest I've paid in MONTHS, and then I found an IHoP -- I love their Swedish pancakes -- and they have wifi!!!!!

So here's a photo of the weird clouds overhead at the Tejon Pass (Tejon is pronounced TAY hone, rhymes with pay phone). There's a storm coming, and I'm glad I won't be in those hills when it hits.

-- Rachel

Another photo of Mom

2008-11-20T20:01:00.001-08:00

Another photo of my mom, taken when she was 84. -- Rachel

Marion Ethelyn Patton Holmen, Oct. 1920-Nov. 2008

2008-11-20T10:54:00.001-08:00

Marion E. Holmen, age 88, of Hermosa Beach, California,
died on Saturday, November 15, 2008 after living with
Alzheimer's for over 20 years.

Marion was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, on October 16, 1920.
She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Milton; their
daughter Rachel, of Berkeley; their son Bruce of West Hills;
their daughter Joyce, of Sherman Oaks, and their son Scott,
of Silverdale, Washington. In addition, she is survived by
her sister Ardis Read, of Sacramento; her brother Roscoe
Patton, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and her sister Beverly
McAlpine, of Thatcher, Arizona. She was preceded in death
by her sister Lorraine Whitaker, of Riverside, California.

She earned BS and MS degrees in Chemistry from the
University of Arizona, where she was Phi Beta Kappa and
where she and Milton met. During World War II she taught
chemistry at the University of Arizona then worked for
Polaroid in Boston. Following this, she worked as Director
of the Religious Education program at the UU Church in Santa
Monica. While raising four active children she found time
to chair the PTA, go square dancing, learn how to sail, and
travel the US visiting family, friends, and national parks.
Her leadership style was inclusive, and self-effacing. She
was artistic, creative, warm, shy and outgoing at the same
time, devoted to her husband and family, always inquisitive,
and generous with her time and affection.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday,
November 22, at the Unitarian Universalist Community Church,
1260 18th St., Santa Monica, www.uusm.org.

Memorial gifts may be made to the Building Fund of the UU
Community Church, or to the Alzheimer's Association at
www.ALZ.org/CaliforniaSouthland (phone 323-930-6246).

Turkey Preparation for Thanksgiving (or any other time)

2008-11-17T16:36:00.000-08:00

A repeat of an old post: mapleleafreh.blogspot.com/search?q=turkey

"The Only Way to Cook a Turkey", by a man whose other publications include THE LEFT-HANDED TENNIS PLAYER.

-- Rachel

It looked like all of Marin County was burning

2008-10-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

I was out in Lafayette last night, quilting, and when I drove west through the tunnel, I was stunned to see what looked like most of southern Marin County on fire.

After listening to the radio for awhile, I learned that Angel Island was on fire. The whole island's only about 250 acres, so I'm worried it will all burn. There is a campground on the site, and wild deer (the original deer arrived by swimming across the bay from the mainland), and presumably a lot of other wildlife, so a big fire would be devastating.

Here's the shaky picture I got from my trusty Minolta camera, shot from near the highway 24 tunnel:

Wire-and-gem jewelry

2008-10-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

My friend at work, Jodi-Lee, creates beautiful necklaces. She's been kind enough to show me her technique. Her website is http://www.brideslament.net/

I particularly like her amethyst creations, and she's done stunning work with pearls and copper.

Gas Prices, Berkeley, CA Aug. 29, 2008

2008-08-30T00:52:00.000-07:00

Need a humor break?

2008-08-28T12:35:00.000-07:00

When you need a humor break, plug some headphones into your PC and go to this link:
Not Much dot Com archives

and listen to Part C where Bil Lepp talks about his neighbor and his friend Skeeter, from the archives online for the NPR show "Whad'Ya Know?" with host Michael Feldman (who always SOUNDS to me like Bob Newhart).

Lepp's own website is Buck-Dog dot com.

-- R

Kumihimo (Japanese braiding)

2008-08-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

The Oakland Museum recently held a "textiles day" with live demonstrations. I took photos of smocking and kumihimo until my camera battery ran out. This elaborate loom, worked in a way I had never seen before, was quite impressive. If you'd like the fullsize originals emailed to you (they're about a megabyte apiece for four pictures), please email me.

After I first posted this, Michael Hattori emailed and said that he's the braider in my photos (and that I had a typo on the site, now corrected). His "loom" is called a takadai and the pattern he wove, Kikkogumi. He is part of a kumihimo listserve on Yahoo Groups. The other braiding demonstrators at the museum were Richard Sutherland and Anne Rock. -- Rachel Holmen

Sixties Light Show

2008-08-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Linda was one of those 60s pioneers who performed light shows on screens behind rock bands. Here she is with her gear, at the end of a sixties party held at a friend's home. The two sets of platters hold different colored liquids; light shining through them was then reflected onto a screen -- last night just a sheet -- from the back, for the audience to enjoy.

-- Rachel Holmen

Baby Mittens

2008-08-03T22:19:00.000-07:00

I'm through with the knitting on two thumbless baby mittens. I just need to find some nice ribbon to thread through the wrist eyelets so the mittens have some hope of staying ON the child who will wear them.

Clutter: progress and setback; verticalization

2008-06-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Recently I was stuck home for most of a week with pharyngitis (I think that's medical-ese for "gee, your throat looks red!") so I paid some attention to the area of my room near my bed. I have a small table, and things constantly fall off it onto the floor. I made a list of all the things I wanted on that table, or nearby (such as my purse), and it's no WONDER things won't fit. I resolved, as I felt better and the antibiotics began to take hold and vanquish the throat bugs, to improve the situation.

VERTICALization is the goal -- things on shelves, rather than things on the floor. I'll probably figure out a way to attach a powerstrip to the wall under my bedroom window, getting yet more stuff off the floor. So now I'm shopping for a small but tall shelving unit to hold baskets of STUFF -- knitting projects, library books, CDs, etc.; I will use the table only for the radio and my morning teacup (oh, what an optimist I am!).

I recently discovered a store called Ichiban Kan which sold some really nice plastic baskets, perfect for my plan. I used three to organize a shelf in the living room, and they worked marvelously. Bought more, took a couple of them to Ikea one evening and stuck them onto various shelves, looking for units deep enough to hold these particular baskets. I also want real wood this time for the shelving; I intend never to buy pressboard again if I can help it.

My aim is complete verticalization of the stuff I like to have near the bed -- a small but tall shelving unit for most things, the table only for the radio and my morning teacup (oh, what an optimist I am!). I haven't decided exactly which shelving unit to buy, but it was nice there were several possibilities at Ikea with shelves deep enough for my baskets. So yesterday I went back to Ichiban Kan to buy a dozen baskets -- and they are out of stock!!! I don't even know if I will ever see these particular baskets again, so I guess now I'm searching for a basket alternative (though Ikea itself offers some very nice cloth-and-stiffener containers exactly for this same purpose, of holding small odds and ends neatly on a shelf).
I also realized that I could move the small stereo from my living room (where it's mostly gathering dust) to the proposed bedroom shelving, where it would give me nicer sound than my cute retro-look but not-very-high-fi clock radio can offer.

I progress by inches. If having a plan, but not much action, can be considered progress.

(I also found references to a well-reviewed book on designing a sewing studio, which I am hoping will inspire me. Details will be posted when I locate them.)

-- Rachel Holmen

Droodles and Roger Price

2008-06-15T11:33:00.001-07:00

In my long-ago youth, I remember being vastly amused by a set of books with the title "Droodles". These were odd drawings whose witty captions convulsed me.

I was trying to remember a few of my favorites -- I recall a single vertical line in the center of a frame (all droodles had a thick black line around the outside) and two tiny triangles joined at the point. Most droodles had several alternate captions. The idea was to look at the picture, puzzle a few minutes, and then read the captions.

This one was either "single strand of spaghetti, gift-wrapped", or "man with bow tie stuck in elevator".

- - - - - - -

So anyway, it's now the day of the internet, so I Googled "droodles", and found a wikipedia page about Droodles and their author, Roger Price. He had written for both Mad Magazine and for comedian Bob Hope, but after Droodles were a hit, he and a friend founded a book publishing company. You can read the whole thing yourself here, and see the Droodles website as well.

Me, I'm going to buy the Classic Droodles and track down a used copy of the first Droodles book, then share them my with 14-year-old nephews.

-- Rachel Holmen

Weaving II -- Another source for Roving (what's roving???)

2008-06-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

Aha! This is a followup post to my report on the weaving conference in Sacramento: I have found the lost name of a booth.

Chameleon Colorworks impressed me. This vendor offers something called OPTIM, wool that's been stretched so it no longer shrinks very much when YOU wash it later. Available either as yarn or as roving (plain or dyed). (Roving is fiber half-way to being yarn; it's usually fleece that has been carded and possibly dyed, sold as a continuous but very loose strand of fibers -- usually about an inch in diameter more or less. If you buy it, you probably intend to spin it using either a wheel or a drop spingle, into a much skinnier strand of yarn, which may then be plied with other strands to make a stronger yarn. But there are really cozy-warm socks you can make by simply stuffing roving in between the stitches.)

-- Rachel

NetSquared -- third set of photos

2008-05-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

More NetSquared Photos

2008-05-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Everywhere, people were engaged in active conversation, gesturing, persuading. It was AMAZING. -- Rachel

NetSquared

2008-05-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Tuesday and Wednesday, TechSoup held its annual conference, NetSquared. I went Tuesday and took a million photos in the morning, then served as Speaker Support for four sessions in the afternoon -- find a bottle of water for one speaker, getting the video guys to fix the overly-pink screen for another presentation, urging the attendees to fill out the orange evaluation forms. Here are some of my favorite pix.
-- Rachel

Yucca

2008-05-28T22:04:00.000-07:00

... ...

... ... ... ... ... ... ...... ... ...... ... ... ... ... ...
My friend Sandy gave me a yucca plant, and while I was deciding where to put it, it took root. Now it's sending up two huge spikes, easily 6 and a half feet tall, of buds, and some of the buds are opening. I got these photos by holding the camera over my head and aiming into the flowers. -- Rachel

Weavers in Sacramento

2008-05-05T17:28:00.001-07:00

I went to a weaving show this weekend, sponsored by CNCH (conf of No calif handweavers). Thanks to a spot of car trouble, all I had time for was a quick dash through the vendor areas, but I did grab shots of these two exhibits: a modern Navajo-style rug loom, and an amazing rendition of what I assume was a Louis Comfort Tiffany stained-glass window, done as a rug.

Hokett Would Work - the H-shaped loom in cocobolo

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Yarn barn of Kansas, http://www.yarnbarn-ks.com, Great SCOT booklet-- this booklet offers a fascinating new set of techniques (based on research by Peter Collingwood, weaving and rug expert) for creating interesting cords which could be used for necklaces, bracelets, and other adornments.

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The Dizzy Ewe, dyed roving -- 5 sets of related colors
http://www.dizzyewe.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=63, ruth@dizzyewe.com
(909) 944-5567

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Beautifully crafted and finished small looms, shuttles, etc.
Northwest Looms, 308 West Idaho St., Cheyenne, WY 82009, website http://www.northwestlooms.com
email klissus@msn.com

(307) 638-8003
eight-shaft, 15" weaving width, $490
offered in 8, 12, and 16 shaft models, ranging in price from $350 to
$600 for maple and oak; also available in cherry and walnut
Reeds available for 8, 10, 12, and 15 dents per inch, $28-$38
Prices do not include shipping

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Clamp loom
2779 Hillcrest Dr, LaVerne CA 91750
http://www.craftsbypatricia.com/Minirigidheddleloom.htm

-- Rachel Holmen

Still my favorite April Fool prank

2008-04-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

See 2005: http://mapleleafreh.blogspot.com/search/label/April%20fool

Doesn't hurt or damage anything, but it's frustrating for someone who THINKS they know all about their computer.

-- Rachel

MacWorld 2008

2008-01-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

A quick summary of some of the nifty stuff at MacWorld 2008, now happening at Moscone South and West. I thought these were fun, or interesting; your mileage may vary. Many of the prices quoted are available only at the show, or perhaps for a week or so afterwards. -- Rachel Holmen

SD chip that wifi's your pictures from your camera to your computer (avail center back of main hall, behind the big apple logo), sorry, I didn't get the vendor name -- probably eye-fi.

3-D mouse from Logitech -- SpaceNavigator, $60 (3dconnexion)

Download uTube videos to any MP4 player -- tooble.tv [Probably the most fun thing I saw, but it needs OS 10.4 and I only run 10.3.9]
Video tagging: yourview.tv

Recover files in damaged SD or other camera/PDA/MP3 player chips -- http://www.lc-tech.co.uk/

Computer advice from John Cleese: friendlyadvicemachine.com

A printer for $279 that would fit into a shoebox; puts professional-looking color printing on your inkjet-printable CD or DVD. Cartridges are $40 and good for approx 100 disks. (Can you imagine taking one of these to a family reunion?). Dymo Discpainter

$60 Mac webcam, USB 2 -- http://www.ecamm.com/mac/imagewebcam/

Turn your house wiring into a network: DS2.es

Sort of like Lojack for your Mac or iPod: GadgetTrak and bak2u anti-theft software

$50 drawing software for Mac: lineform from http://www.freeverse.com/; this firm also makes SoundStudio 3, for audio editing

Etch your mac or ipod (http://www.etchamac.com/)

Add a removable plastic skin, with an image on it, for your mac or gadget (approx $30) gelaskins.com

Remember hypercard? See tilestack

Capture a series of screenshots, add text -- voila! Documentation! -- www.screensteps.com

Similar to above: link pix, audio, video, text: memory miner, www.memoryminer.com; also showmacster from www.pleasantsoftware.com

Run windows software on a Mac without having a Windows license: www.codeweavers.com

Print really nice-looking books and calendars: blurb.com, also mpix.com

Screensaver world map, complete with light and dark areas, city lights, etc. EarthDesk4 from www.xericdesign.com/mwsf/

File conversions: Images -- see LemkeSoft. PDF to InDesign: recosoft ($229 show special)

Web design: www.sandvox.com. See also tilestack.com

A decent-looking bluetooth headset: http://www.joby.com/products/zivio/ (and their business card can be planted)

Call a number and dictate something; it will email you the text (perhaps a reminder to buy milk on the way home): www.integspeech.com or www.reqall.com

Web browser: FLOCK

$50 desktop publishing: iStudio Publisher from www.cfour.net

Want to get rich from your fabulously popular podcast? Contact podtrac, which will link your podcast to advertisers.

Also check out ubercaster, which helps create and edit podcasts.

Database for ordinary people: BENTO from FileMaker.

Idea mapping: www.thebrain.com

Put your screen on somebody else's (I believe this works online or at a the desktop): GLANCE.NET

Internet filter for content: getK9

Charging your gadgets: iVolta wireless charging from Taylor Technologies -- sorry, I couldn't find a link -- set your device on this metal grid, and it charges! You can get a charger plate for a desk or a car.

Or use a conventional connector, but go solar: solio.com [I'm buying one] Good show specials, not available on the web.

Digital rights management, asset management -- docmoto, libsyn, mavricmedia

the Napping Lounge

And of course, a million accessories, cases, earphones, etc. for an iPhone

Old favorites:

Online training from Lynda.com
Roxio for CD and DVD burning software
RealBasic
AmbrosiaSW (games, audio editing "Wiretap Studio" and "iToner", video editing SnapzProX)
ToonBoom Studio 4 -- animation software
Frogpad -- type one-handed -- USB keyboard approx $130
Nisus Writer -- word processing that's not from Microsoft
Office suite or standalone apps: marinersoftware.com
the John Lennon bus -- it's a complete recording studio

Hallowe'en

2007-10-31T18:05:00.001-07:00

In red, me as Dame Edna. Green facepaint, my coworker Yvonne. Duo: me and my witch puppet Miss Agnes (from Folkmanis)
-- Rachel

Pumpkins have been achieved

2007-10-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

I've been too busy to remember to get pumpkins for Hallowe'en. I raced into Trader Joe's this evening just as it was closing, and managed to score two: a small "desktop pumpkin" and a larger (perhaps 10 inches in diameter) porch pumpkin. Now I have to carve at least one of them, so I have it ready to put out the second I reach home tomorrow. I can carve the second one during the early evening tomorrow. In my old neighborhood, I'd carve them early and put them up on the porch roof, but here, they would just be smashed tonight or tomorrow before the trick-or-treaters even arrived.

I wonder if I can carve the larger pumpkin to look like Elvis?

-- Rachel

Blue AC Transit tunnel

2007-10-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

The four views are: Approaching the tunnel from the SOMA side; Looking up into the tunnel ceiling; Inside the tunnel, looking east; Looking south.

The AC Transit Building in San Francisco (sometimes known as the East Bay Terminal) is so large it spans several cross-streets. The tunnels thus created are pretty ugly, full of dirt and pigeon droppings and...um....stuff...left by the homeless people who spend a lot of time in the terminal. So I was pleased to notice, over the past several days, a serious effort to clean up one of the sidewalks, and even some fresh paint on the adjacent pillars. Tonight, I saw what they were aiming at. All the fresh white paint reflects bright blue LED light, brightening up the whole affair. Here's how it looked around 8 pm this evening, looking towards Market on Fremont.

--Rachel Holmen

sent via wifi from my Palm Tungsten T3

http://mapleleafreh.blogspot.com

Visit from Enn Zed

2007-09-25T17:38:00.001-07:00

My cousin Joan fell in love with a marvelous man -- in New Zealand. Her Arizona mother was concerned, but Joan and Martin make an extended trip to the U.S. every few years to visit.

They have two children, now both in college, so this year's trip was just my cousin and her husband. They came through San Francisco, and picked me up at my office. We had lunch at the wonderful Brick House across the street, and then our brief visit was over.

-- Rachel

Clutter, continued -- Sept. 2007

2007-09-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Slowly I make progress. It feels like none at all, but I look at my pictures, and the dates when I took them, and I see that I am inching forward.

August 25: You are looking down at my shoe and at a square of clean carpet which represents an entire STACK of boxes of unread newspapers. I flipped through them and took all four boxes to the porch. Then I realized I'd seriously overdone it with my bad ankle, so they are still on the porch, waiting till I heal more and can haul them to the recycling center. Still, I think being stir-crazy after days of immobilization, helped fuel the energy that helped me clean and toss.

Sept. 16: I moved the contents of a huge, legal-sized file cardboard cabinet into real file-cabinet space. Then I added the ancient cardboard container to the growing stack on the porch.

Here are the files in their new home.

That same day, I cleared off the things on top of my tourney chest, which stands behind where the legal box had been. Two old computer monitors went on the porch. Then I aired the contents of the tourney chest. (I also discovered that the chest itself was making little rust marks on the floor, so now it's standing on a small forest of clean, empty plastic applesauce tubs, to allow some air flow under the chest. The floor in my house seems to seep moisture up from the damp basement.)

Then last night, Sept. 24, I cleared off an entire CHAIR. It's my recliner, in the bedroom, and now I will actually be able to SIT in it. (It does have boxes still stacked all around it, which will give it a cramped feeling.) The pink sheet is to protect the velvet from cat fur.

In addition, I went through nearly one entire bag of old mail and got rid of most of it, answered a survey from my health plan....

-- Rachel