missives from the birdcage

busy busy busy

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:13:57 -0500

writing my Nanowrimo novel thingy. And also an article that I'm feeling a little half hearted about, but that needs to be done if it is going to get done, and soon. Maybe both of these at the same time not such a good idea. But all of the writing is distracting me from the rather disappointing election we had here. Because I love the idea of having a governor who thinks I'm half a person because I have interior rather than exterior plumbing.

In the meantime, I'm getting close to the 10K word mark on my novel, so pens up!

And also, because this cracks me the hell up every single time, I will share:

Death by Tray

Mr. P and I were discussing this last night, and it is just the beauty of Eddie Izzard having encapsulated that moment that we have all had in which we find ourselves being defeated by relentless stupidity. Which is kind of how I feel about the election.

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Get yer novel on

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:25:57 -0500

It is that time of year again! That's right, Nanowrimo time!

I've signed up again, and again I have way too much on my plate so I'm not sure that I'll be able to finish... but hope springs eternal, and I said the same thing last year, the year before, and the year before that, and still managed to finish anyway, so you never know...

Nano_09_blk_participant_120x240.png

So if you've ever had a hankering to write the great American novel, or a mystery, or a sci-fi novel, or whatever, go sign up!

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UG.

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:30:00 -0400

This morning while trying to get ready for me to go to my Letterpress class (yes, I'm taking a six week course in learning how to do Old Skool printing. With little type blocks. And an electric press from the thirties. I'm making Christmas gifts for people. Because I have geeky literary friends who will really dig a hand set, printed on nice paper, paragraph from À la recherche du temps perdu. Which will, sadly, be in English because they do not have diacritics in their type sets. Sad clown), and while Mr. P was running around trying to load up the car to take his things to DC to be hung in the gallery for his opening next week, that some jack. bastard. tried to break into Mr. P's studio/the garage sometime in the last day and a half or so. The person in question did this by bashing the crap out of the doorknob, thereby bending the cylinder, and ensuring that the door will be frozen in place forever more. On the upside, I believe that this may have discouraged the asshat (likely some stoopid tweaker) from continuing his mission. On the downside, the door is now stuck in place and will necessitate a repair we cannot afford (unless, that is, Mr. P's show sells out. Do you hear this, universe? We need a sold out show). On the upside, the key for the lock was bent and very near breaking in half, so this was going to be on the repair agenda in any case at some point. On the downside, I'm very unhappy that some freaking tweaker was in our backyard, bashing the hell out of the doorknob to the garage, which is about fifteen feet from the backdoor of the house.

Needless to say, this is not in any way raising my somewhat anemic affection for our current home city. I lived in three different developing countries for almost five years, including one that had no rule of law, and the sum total of my encounters with crime were the loss of two cheap bicycles and a shirt stolen from a laundry line. Almost ten years in New York City and I once had someone take two subway tokens and two dollars out of the pocket of a jacket I'd left unattended on a couch at a club. Four years in Washington, D.C. and once someone broke into the building where I lived (but not my apartment) and stole cash from my landlady's purse. We've been in this house a year and a half and we've got tweakers in the backyard wielding 4x4s. Makes me long for those halcyon Phnom Penh days....

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Space baby

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:22:57 -0400

Last week I finished up a baby quilt for a friend who just had her first child...

Space Baby Quilt

Space baby detail

I included some fabric with space aliens on it :)

waves on back

And finished it just in time to find out that yet another friend has a bun in the oven. Seems like the production line won't be shutting down any time soon :)

In the meantime, just back from more work travel, and am ready to not travel anymore.... though there isn't a reprieve coming any time soon (like January, I think). That said, I'm pretty happy to have moved into late October without having caught swine flu at any of the schools I've thus far visited.....

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I ain't afraid of no ghost

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:34:11 -0400

Went to the Richmond Varietease Halloween show, and fiiiiinally got the film back.

Rv1_49

Show was really good, very funny and enjoyable.

Rv1_30

Good variety of performers....

Rv1_45

Still trying to sort out working with the lighting set up...

Rv1_61

It's a bit dark, but I think workable... If you're in the area, it's worth coming down to see. More pictures from the show on my website here.

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Opening soon

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:33:00 -0400

My love, Mr. P, has a new solo show opening at Irvine Contemporary in Washington, DC on October 30th.

Phil's New Solo Show

The work is fabulous (I should know, since I live with it!), so if you'll be in the area between Oct. 30th and December 12th, come see it! He'll also be giving a gallery talk on the evening of November 12th. More information about the show can be found on the Irvine website. And of course, more of Mr. P's work can be found on his website.

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good weekend. And then packing.

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:37:22 -0400

Mr. P and I went to the Montpelier Fall Fiber Festival this weekend, because he's the kind of guy who will spend a day driving up to Orange so that he can watch his wife oogle sheep and alpacas and fondle yarn. Lots and lots of yarn. This is why he is a total keeper.

shetlands

Sheep!

Angora goats

Goats! These guys were so cute. I was all for smuggling one out.

alpacas

Alpacas!

warm wall

Yarn. Lots of yarn.

Mohair

Of course, I had to get some. I couldn't resist the mohair...

American as....

Capped off with turning the apples from the farmers' market into apple pie. :) And then packing, because I'm heading out for work again eeeeearly tomorrow morning. But even that is better with pie.

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on the road again....

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:14:23 -0400

Unlike Willie, I really could wait to get on the road again. That, however, is not among the options. Had to go to DC over the weekend, came back last night, and today I'm heading to the Northern Neck and then, again, to NoVA. Because what's a day without I-95?

As I was driving home last night I heard that William Safire died. I cannot recall ever reading one of his political op-ed pieces without becoming completely infuriated, however, I loved his On Language column. I wonder who will love language the way that he did now that he is gone?

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All kinds of stuff

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:36:49 -0400

The last few weeks have been crazy busy-- lots of stuff going on, including my hitting the road for work once again. Just got back last night from my first multi-day out-- the first of many to come. In the midst of all of that we had to say au revoir to our dear friend Carrie.

Dear friend Carrie

I lived with Carrie and her superdog, Sky, when I first came to Richmond and was half living here and half still in Arlington. She was an awesome roommate, soon became and awesome friend, and has been such a large and wonderful part of our settling into our new city-- it is hard to think of not having her in town! We are very happy for her-- she is starting a new job in an field that lets her get her creativity on, and is moving to New Mexico (I am jealous!), driving along even as I write. We're happy for her, but we miss her already!

aprons

I've been busy making stuff, too....

hats and hats

And we took in what is prolly the last harvest of the year. (I had planted peas for fall, but the bunny ate all the sprouts, so no peas for us :( )

tomatillos & red peppers

Tomatillos and sweet red peppers...

Hot peppers

And hot peppers. I put them all together for dinner the other night....

tomatillo soup

tomatillo & corn soup

Tomatillo and Corn soup with sweet red peppers (and a few hot ones, too). Delicious!

Running Man

In the meantime, Mr. P has been busy building a person out of wood. :)

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Is it true?

nobody@vox.com(Jenn F.) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:01:33 -0400

Is the Amazon conduit actually working again? I dunno-- the most recent update says October 15th...

The Likeness: A Novel

Tana French

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Penguin Classics)

Ken Kesey

The Lovely Bones: A Novel

Alice Sebold

And yet, there they are.... books I've been reading that I actually managed to download and put into my library. Whoo! I even put in some videos! How exciting!

Let's hope that it stays that way.....

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