Head and shoulders above the rest

If you've never been to Etsy you should mosey on over. It's a wonderful place to find hand made goodies.

If you're not a DIYer or even if you are a DIYer but you want something handmade which isn't in your DIY-genre check it out. This is the case for me ... I'm a knitter, but I can't really sew. Well, I reckon I COULD sew if I applied myself, however I lack the patience to practice and improve. My mom was a fantastic seamstress, but maybe it's one of those things that skips a generation or in my case just manifested into a different craft. All the same Etsy supports my theory those who can, do and those who can't... buy!

I love the idea of supporting a fellow craftinista. One of my faves is Precocious. She makes fabulous bags and now... headbands :) I've been faithfully wearing my felted satchel bag that I knit a couple of years ago, but we had some wicked heat +100 about two weeks ago and I quickly realized that boiled wool against bare skin on those days just isn't comfy. I needed cotton and I needed it bad! There it was... the sling bag! I worked with Andrea (she is well named too :D) and got to select from a variety of Amy Butler fabrics and we collaborated on "The Andie". I absolutely love, love, love - j'adore my bag! (Any Eloise fans out there? You get me.)

So next I inquired about headbands. I noticed in Precocious' profile something about headbands. Now I don't have a very circle-headband friendly HEED. I have a flat head or something, who knows! So I usually opt for the C-shaped headbands, but cute ones are very difficult to find. I mentioned the idea to Andrea and she noodled on it. A few days later she surprised me with the news that she made a couple of prototypes, et voila!! Headbands!! Now let me tell you I also have a very sensitive noggin when it comes to headbands on account of my spectacles. Not only are these headbands abso adorable, they are comfy as all get out! There I am below in one of my new headbands.

Long live the entrepreneurial spirit and super talented craftinistas!

Interesting "Norm-isms" for today

• Thursday is my favorite day of the week because it's the promise of Friday which leads to the weekend.

• I enjoy D&J. What? Josh is lovable and funny, Drake is self-centered but often funny and Mags and I adore Megan for her sinister intelligence.
  
• <------I also enjoy ....which is a show on Nick about three teen friends in Australia who become "cursed" as mermaids and change into mermaids when they touch water. I just hope that punk kid Zane will finally learn to be a good guy.




• I was taught never to take food or drink from a stranger. Yet, in NYC, people answer the ad for a "flavor tripping party" on an apartment rooftop. The star of the party is the "Miracle Fruit" which has a protein that binds with the taste buds the effect of which is essentially like slipping a sugar sock on the tongue. Miracle Fruit turn acidic things sweet. Lemons taste like candy, wine tastes like Manischewitz, goat cheese like cheesecake. Interesting concept and the cat that hosts these party discovered it while searching for diabetic-friendly recipes for a friend. While it sounds cool, I guess I'm old fashioned and like my taste buds just the way they are.

• The Baskin Robbins York® Peppermint Pattie Brownie Sundae packs an astonishing 1,610 calories and 222g of carbs (74% RDA)!!!! I know you're saying "Andie, don't be buzz kill", but DUDE!!! That's the almost the entire total caloric intake for an adult in a day! BLERG!!! Kind of brings new meaning to "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"!! Make no mistake I'm not a food nazi cos I've never met an It's It I didn't like, but phew!

• The average human head weighs about the same as a roaster chicken.... or 8 pounds. Now that's finger lickin good. For more interesting facts consider reading Mary Roach's book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers".

Share the Road

Yesterday Chris came home and told me "I have a funny cycling story to tell you". Well, after he told me I can tell you... I didn't find it funny. Not funny one bit.

For whatever reason unknown to my mind, sometimes people on the rural roads of our area... any area if you ask cyclists.... find it amusing to pit their half ton or more of automobile steel against a 15 pound carbon fibre bicycle frame. Keep in mind that these cyclists are human beings clad in nothing but foam atop their melon for protection. Why is it? Why do these people do such things?

Since Chris has been cycling for the past 6 or 7 years, he's encountered a lot either first hand or by word of mouth. Among the encounters ...cyclists have been charged head on by pickups, clipped with side mirrors, had hot dogs thrown at their back, been shouted at and called "faggot" among other colorful epithets. One of the women that rode for his company's cycling team in Austin TX was killed by a motorist in a hit and run during a one of her rides.

Once, Chris' encounter was with a woman charging sidelong down her dirt driveway toward him and the oncoming group of cyclists in her SUV... WITH her young daughter in the front seat. They called CHP and she denied everything, though there were 20 witnesses. Why does law enforcement take the side of automobile drivers? Doesn't it make her at fault for charging through her driveway and gate into oncoming traffic whether cyclist or car?

Now back to our story...Chris told me a guy buzzed him about 8" off of his shoulder during his Tuesday ride. As a friend tells me (also a cyclist and EMT) something like that can be the difference between life, life in paralysis or death. The kid fishtaled to a halt and Chris along with the guy he was cycling with went up to the guy and asked what he was doing. Chris told him "you could have killed one of us" and the kid said "I will kill one of you". What gets me about this mentality is I bet that kid is "Pro Life". I'm making assumptions, but I've lived long enough to know his ilk.

So it was during this part of the story the Italian blood in me begins to bubble up and I'm ready to go Michael Douglas in "Falling Down".... seriously considering going out on that road and waiting at lunchtime for that kid. A steady stream of obsceneties poured forth from my mouth (don't worry Maggie was showering and unable to hear this story or my potty mouth). I think my words are still (homage to A Christmas Story) hanging over the San Francisco Bay. The audacity of someone threatening my husband.. Maggie's dad! I can see how people commit crimes of passion, really I do. I do look good in orange and it's one of my favorite colors, but I prefer not to wear it for 30 or more years. Incidentally I do know the name of that woman in the SUV and where she lives.

Cyclists are tax payers and they are techincally driving a vehicle on roads paid for by their tax dollars, they are not "target practice". Cyclists are road warriors out for fresh air and exercise. Cyclists are sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, husbands and wives. Cyclists are human beings.

My mom, eloquent woman that she was, told me two things in my life which I can still hear.

• "No one is better than you and you are no better than anyone else. We all take our pants down to shit."
• "Manners are free... everyone can afford them."

With those pearls I leave you with the following requests... please:

Treat people with respect and courtesy.

Value human life.

Share the road.

Mambo Italiano

Last week I had a joke grenade dud. It was not from lack of trying but rather my recipient's lack of focus. And believe me, I'll admit when one of my "pearls" is well, a grain of sand instead.

I forget her name .. something ending in "etti" or "icci" etc... but I made the joke we Italians enjoy making (some, I should say) and I said "that's a great Irish name!". Of course I knew it was not Irish... I knew it was Italian, but she replied to me, deadpan.. "it's not Irish, it's Italian". Fehgehdaboudit!

It seemed moot to me at that juncture to even try to salvage the joke, but I was fraught that a fellow Pisano, didn't get it. Now, my mom always said that in our family village in Genoa, Italy some of our distant cousins had red hair, freckles and green eyes. There was talk of Irish blood and possibly bloodlines back to the Vikings! Though no one can really prove it. My mom herself had auburn hair ('til it greyed), green eyes and freckles! Hmmm.. curious!

I do have a fondness for Irish music come to think.. jigs, reels and airs. If only I could make a celtic fiddle sing! If that's your cuppa, let me introduce you to Maeve Donnelly. Chris took me to see her at the Freight and Salvage on Valentine's Day. Fantastic! It was heady! Maeve really worked over those strings like well .. you know that scene in Waking Ned Devine where the whole village is at the pub, millions of pounds as good as theirs and the band is playing... fiddler going nuts .. everyone in the pub held captive in silence until during his crescendo he finallly breaks a string..(mark 3:02 - 4:08 -and don't worry the old bitty got what she deserved) ....then an uproarious cheer. Good times. Also.. what a name! Maeve Donnelly.. now that's an Italian name!

When my mom married my dad in her heady quest to "Save the Vowels!" she was rewarded with a truncated last name to which I was ever grateful during those years of No. 2-pencil-bubble-your-name-standardized-tests. 11 letters to 3, pre-tty... pre-tty good! Interestingly enough I have a scads of freckles on my nose and cheeks!

I also consider the two halves of me... good food, I must say - Italian and Chinese. Chris' dad ponders why I do not cook Chinese food to which I always reply... smart Chinese people know it is easier and cheaper to get good takeout! Of course, Chris having that Basque/Mexican/French Canadian lineage.. we've got some pretty good food there.. cheeeeeeese... Mmmmm...

Still it is interesting to think about.... Irish blood could explain alot... I mean, I've never met a potato I didn't like.

Sláinte!!!

Band of Brothers

Today we remember and honor the fallen warriors who have given their lives for our enduring freedoms.

Shakespeare said it well and provided the name of the amazing series Band of Brothers:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.

Thank you Band of Brothers and Sisters for giving the ultimate sacrifice whether the cause right or wrong.

And I raaaaan....

Well, more precisely.... WE ran. Mags and I went out for our LIVESTRONG training run this morning at Sycamore Grove. It was a wonderful morning.. so much different than last week's run at 86 degrees around 10am. This morning around 11am it was a glorious low 60's and a delighful cooling breeze with some cloud cover.

Maggie is learning to pace herself so she can run longer. To be sure she can run fast as a cheetah, but I'm teaching her how to keep her pace moderate to endure longer running. She can easily clock me when she decides to pour on the coals. She may have a future in cross country methinks.

She is often less ambitious than I prefef, but she's a kid after all... and really who does want to expend more energy than they have to when it's not "just for fun". Still, I feel compelled to challenge and encourage her to push herself because I know she is capable of so much. She only wanted to go 2 miles today, but we ended up going 5k after all!

Along the way we decided to enjoy a respite in the sycamore trees and listen to the wind rustling the leaves and all of the sounds we miss when we're not focused. So we had our little moment of Zen where we listened to the grass rustle with lizards and snakes, buzzing of flies and dragonflies. We were lucky enough to see two gopher snakes, one in a hole .. his head not visible, but seemingly thick about 2/3 down his body with lunch. Another gopher snake simply stuck his head out of the hole, tongue flitting about smelling around.

It was a satisfying workout. On the way home Mags asked me to play the "classics".... which to her is our 80's music.... There we were .. a couple of gals after our run with the windows and moon roof open on our Slug Bug.. wind blowing in our hair as we listened to Boston's "More Than a Feeling" and her next favorite... (and a perennial fave of mine) "Mr. Roboto" by Styx.

Thank you very much-o, peanut, for another fantastic training run.

Be the change.

LIVESTRONG

Bountiful garden

Yesterday we drove up to see Chris' folks in Clear Lake. We had a groovy time hanging out, scoping out their garden, eating, yakking with them and Chris' sister, Michelle.

When I mentioned interest in asparagus, not only did they send us home with 6lb bag of their fresh cut asparagus... they also dug up a root ball for us to plant at home. Dad gave us some explicit instructions, most of which I remember.. hopefully Chris remembers the rest, if not, we'll call Dad back. That root ball must be 40lbs! I'm so excited! I can hardly stand it.

So, the heat last week was very good to our garden ...

This photo was taken May 12th.

Just a mere 10 days later after 4 days of solid 100 degrees the garden burst into this...

Taken May 21st

Our fruits/veggies: early girl tomatoes, sweet 100 tomatoes, basil, green bell pepper, jalepeno, scallions, eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, corn, carrots, baby mescalun lettuce, canteloupe, strawberries and grapes. Maybe I'll end up with a booth at the farmer's market .. heh heh... We planted the corn, scallion, carrots and lettuce from seed. We also planted sweet peas from seed as well as sunflowers and those are all happy as well. Excitement!!

Good reads....

Karma .. it's what's for dinner!

I was perusing the info super highway for a knitted pattern to make the original sock monkey of my childhood. Now, I've never liked the sock monkey .. even as a child, much less now, but Maggie always wants one and keeps asking if I'll knit one for her. It is in "the (perpetual) queue", but I have stalled hoping she will lose interest.

What I did find was something is a link for Artists Helping Children. What a fantastic cause! Of course my intention is thick where time is thin, but I'm sure I can manage something! Maggie, who has a highly developed sense of empathy and community at the tender age of 8, always saves a bit of her money which she wants to donate to the Children's Hospital of Oakland. Crafty or not, it doesn't take much to brighten a sick child's day and even a simple hand made card can make the difference.

Today's Karma Challenge... pay someone a compliment and make them smile. GO!!!

Knitsploits

Currently I'm working on a prayer shawl for our friend Jan. Jan and Bill were our fabulous neighbors across the street. They have three sons and we really miss them being just across from us. Jan's mom went through chemo treatment last year (in her 80's!) and did really well. She developed pneumonia about a several weeks ago and passed away. Having lost my mom relatively young (she 56, me 20) I understand what Jan is going through. It doesn't matter how old you are it still sucks.

Jan is one of those fantastic people that just captivate me. She works for her church and is in charge of the liturgy. Having not grown up Catholic, I'm not sure what that means, but it is important.. I know that. She is one of the few Christians I know that I truly respect because she walks the talk, as they say. I've been quite disillusioned with organized religion during my life and I remain skeptical, but Jan is truly someone who represents her faith well.

As I work on the prayer shawl I remind myself to send positive thoughts into stitches and at the end I will take the shawl to her Priest and have him bless it as well before giving it to her. I could not find a pattern I liked well enough so I developed a pattern by choosing a stitch in my Vogue Stitchionary and built the shawl around that stitch. It is a twisting leaves pattern.

I'm about 20" into the shawl and only have 50" to go! HA! Jan is about 6' tall so I need this baby to be almost as tall as her to wrap comfortably around. I'm not sure where I got that idea, but it seems to me that most scarves or shawls that wrap should be about as long as the wearer is tall. This would be a fast knit for me as I top out at a staggering 5'3". Haa!

I hope that I can put some inches on this shawl over the long weekend. I'd sure like to finish it before too long so I can give it to Jan. Fly little fingers... fly!!!!!

namaste

andie

What this race needs... is more COWBELL!

Chris has been cycling now for oh... 6 years...maybe longer. Cycling has improved his physical and mental well being as well as, if I'm honest, given him an even more kick ass, well..... ass!

He rides appx 20-25 miles a day during the week and occasional weekend rides. It has all led to this.. his first road race!

Sunday we awoke at 5:15am (wow.. I haven't seen the front end of a sunrise that early in a long time) and left the house by 6am due East to beautiful, exotic and hot as hell Modesto! As we drove over the Altamont we saw the road was peppered with fellow motorists with bikes atop their cars... all destined for the Modesto Road Race.. a 56 mile circuit.

When we arrived at the site just after 7am it was already 77 degrees. Phew! Chris got registered, got his one day cycling license and got suited up and had time for a short warm up. The Pro's started at 8am and Chris started at 8:20am. About every 20 minutes we'd see him (Maggie more often with her sharp kid eagle eyes!) but I was able to get him in one action photo!

Maggie and I made sure to shake our cow bells (yay Livemore Farm & Feed!) each lap and Mags even brought a smile to one lone rider who had fallen off the back of his peleton. He was pedaling alone in earnest, 86 degrees by that point, no reprieve by way of the peleton slipstream... slogging out the miles trying to catch back up or be lapped and catch on the back. As he went by Maggie rang her cow bell and cheered him on and he managed a smile. (note the cowbell next to her in the chair :D)

When we waited for Chris to lap we busied ourselves by helping the race folks and picking up cast off water bottles from cyclists and putting them on a bulkhead.

Chris not only finished, he finished in the peleton and with nary a bike flat or road rash. Success!! We are so proud of him! He even rolled back in with a smile. (He placed #46 in a field of 65.. very respectable for a first timer!)

LIVESTRONG

Our LIVESTRONG event is coming up quickly! We're all very excited. We're doing well on fundraising and hope to exceed our goal of $300.

Shameless plug.. if you are looking for a cause and want to donate please visit one of our respective pages .. all funds go toward "Team Rosendin" as we have only specified a Team fundraising goal, not individual.

Maggie's Page * Andie's Page * Chris' Page

Setting goals and achieving them.. that's what Maggie wrote to me in her Mother's Day letter about why she is proud of me. That gave me wings!

This morning we headed out on the trail after Chris returned from his training ride for tomorrow's race. It was already 80 degrees and the sun was pretty intense when not in the cover of the shady sycamores. We chose the Veteran's Park side and plodded our way on the Nature Observation trail.


We took a few breaks here and there, but when I could see Maggie's pluck waning I reminded her of the unconditional depths of the human spirit.... the brave astronauts who went into space not ever knowing if they'd return or the child that is fighting with all their might against cancer.


When I begin to fatigue those are the sorts of things my mind turns to in order to find that tiny bit of energy in the well. I draw on Chris' encouragement and his support of me. I think of my dad who did not have the chance to fight his cancer. I imagine my folks along side of me giving me strength and encouragement. I want them to be proud. I hope that they are proud.


Yet it is always my little Maggie who is the biggest catalyst for me. In her I see so many possibilities. I want to be a strong role model. She makes me want to be the very best of myself. She is my hero.


Maggie and I completed our 5k and we all enjoyed skipping rocks down at the creek. Later we reveled in our hard work and enjoyed an afternoon at the pool.

BE THE CHANGE

Tea for two and two for tea

Maggie and I have gone ga ga for tea. Something amazing has happened. I've suddenly found my "inner girly". Prior to Maggie I had no pink in my wardrobe, now I have quite a bit. I've always loved tea and Maggie has enjoyed it also, but since we viisted the Pleasanton English Rose Tea Room we have gone simply bananas for tea.

It was such a relaxing and enjoyable time just sitting and chatting, enjoying each other's company and having tasty tea and yummies.

The Menu:

Maggie - Oolong Jasmine tea, peanut butter and jelly, petit four, baby chocolate cupcake, fresh warm scone, fruit

Andie - Chocolate mint tea, egg salad, veggie delight, cucumber aoili, fresh warm scone, lemon cake, mini apple pie, fruit

The mission:

All of this inspired us to take an unused corner in our front yard and create our own special tea garden.

Before

After

and afternoon tea....

Oh... DUDE... SHE LIVES!!!

Favourite words from one of my favourite Disney/Pixar characters.. Crush from Finding Nemo.

It's been a while since I posted here. I'm inspired by our friend Paulano who has just started blogging.

Come with me as I actually going back in time and ramble on about the first day of Farmer's Market. It was an insufferable 101 degrees on the first day of Farmer's Market. That is mighty unusual temp for mid-May. Maybe those Global Climate Change scoffers will start to believe.

As is tradition, I always get a photo of Maggie at the same lamp post.

We found many glorious goodies that day... tomatoes, pablano peppers, white nectarines, tender asparagus, persian cucumbers and of course... kettle corn.