Up!

Yesterday, Jordan and I went to see Up! Normally we don't go to the theater to watch movies being, instead, content to wait for them to come out on video. But it is summer, Jordan had been working hard and doing well with his responsibilities, it looked like a cute movie, and I had heard many good things about it, so I thought, "why not?'. Plus it had an adorable, animated, talking dog - who could resist that?

This was indeed a good movie. It's the story of a man and the love of his life, the great adventure they plan to take, and how life moves along more quickly than we ever plan on it doing. It's also about integrity and keeping promises made - a reminder our society can certainly use. Mostly, though, it's about not missing the adventure, and friendships, you already have while waiting on your big plans or looking to the past. For an especially good synopsis and review check out POParitaville.

At times poignant, funny, sweet, and just plain cute, it makes another winner for Disney/Pixar. I laughed out loud, I nearly cried, and left happy that I'd seen it. If you haven't yet seen it, check it out.

Cooking As Art

Therefore cooking as an art - 'Hidden Art', if you want to call it so - should be recognized and then developed in everyone who has to cook, wants to cook, or could cook! Cooking should not be thought of as a drudgery but as an art. Talent in this art form differs, of course, and would not be identical in each individual even if developed, but that is not the same thing as not recognizing it as an art form and not attempting to develop it.

The danger today, for both men and women cooks, is to take the short cut of using prepared and frozen foods all the time, using things from packages, bottles, tins and cans, rather than starting with fresh food, or food from one's own garden. I am not advocating that we never use anything pre-prepared, to save time for other things, and I realize that many - perhaps most - people do not have a garden; but one can at least try to get away from the 'plastic trend' in the area of cooking and it is healthy, in several meanings of that word, to try to do so.

~Edith Schaffer, from The Hidden Art of Homemaking

A Quick Note

Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be.
~Robert Browning from "Rabbi Ben Ezra"

I just returned from a trip to Utah for my sister's wedding. It was beautiful - simple yet elegant - just like the happy couple. I'm so excited for them and wish them nothing but the best.

As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman:
Though she bends him, she obeys him;
Though she draws him, yet she follows;
Useless each without the other.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from "Hiawatha's Wooing"

Happy Independence Day!

Happy birthday America! The single most patriotic thing any of us can do is to read the document that proclaimed our independence. Our freedom was bought with a very great price; may we remember and never forget.

The Declaration of Independence
(full text in easy to read type)
(the most often reproduced printing)
(the original document)

Galveston Shawl

I'm back to work on the Galveston Shawl. I'm doing the edging, and it's turning out quite well. The yarn is a blend of merino/silk in the pewter colorway that I spun on my wheel.

I had some issues with the pattern, so check for errata before knitting it up. I also would repeat what the designer stated - this is not for the novice knitter. I do like this pattern, and would recommend it to experienced lace knitters, or an intermediate lace knitter (who has knitted on an edging before) looking for a challenge.