Old photos

Some people dread looking at other people's family or travel photos. Me? I can't get enough of them. Especially older photos. There is a quality to the old photos that simply can't be captured by today's technology. Some people think it's because the photos are black and white that they look timeless. That is over simplifying it. You can take a photo with a digital camera and convert it to black and white and it will not look anything like a real silver gelatin print. In fact, the black and white paper I used as a student didn't even look like the older silver prints. The paper companies cut down on the silver, so you didn't get the same rich tones.

I really like this photo of my father and my grandmother. I don't mind the fuzziness of the photo. In fact I think it actually adds to the atmosphere a bit. I love how they look so comfortable together. The fact that they are even wearing practically the same outfit adds so much to the loveliness of the photo for me.

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

Christmas has crept up on me this year. I keep slowly chipping away at things and think I may actually pull it off by tomorrow. I made a snowman-shaped cake for Lindsay's school holiday party. I have the gifts. I knit those cute little cork guys. I baked Christmas cookies yesterday. I have to wrap the presents tonight. And then voila....Christmas tomorrow!!!

Happy Holidays!

Scarves

We had a holiday celebration at Lindsay's school today. All the parents bring in food and mingle and then everyone gathers together to sing holiday songs. I'm such a sap that it makes me misty eyed each year. Can't imagine how much of a basket-case I will be when Lindsay is in her first school play!

We are so lucky this year to have two lovely teachers. I knitted them each a scarf as a way of thanking them for all of their hard work.



This scarf is made using Barbara Walker's Open Star Stitch. The yarn is a mystery since it's from a ball someone gave me. It is soft and a bit fuzzy.



This is from the Knitty pattern Wisp. I made it with one ball of kidsilk haze yarn that I dyed using Kool Aid. It was a test skein for a pattern I wrote for the first Stitch and Bitch book. The pattern in the book is hand dyed also and is called To Dye For sweater.

What's next a bald eagle???

I was looking out my back window two days ago and saw something large moving in the grass. It was very hard to make out what it was because it was brown and everything in the backyard is brown right now. Besides it was behind some plants. Upon further inspection I realized it was a hawk and it was tearing away at something for its lunch. I grabbed my video camera and put it on zoom, but it was even less noticeable than w/ my own eyes. Kind of like the white bunny in the snow storm. It flapped over to a part of my backyard that I couldn't see from my window, but seemed to still be in my yard. Lindsay woke up from her nap a few minutes later, so I picked her up and quietly opened our back door. At first we didn't see it, but then it flapped away carrying something round and dark in its talons. A rat perhaps? This neighborhood has been overwhelmed with restaurants and bars and subsequently with rat sightings. I think it's a wonderful tipping of the natural scales to see hawks coming to Smith Street to dine. I went into the part of the yard where the hawk was eating earlier and saw a pile of feathers and a small piece of intestine. Probably a starling.

I'm not sure what kind of hawk it was because I really didn't get a good look, but I'm guessing it's a Cooper's hawk.

In Focus

This past Thursday I was asked to participate in a focus group. They selected people who are pretty certain that they are going to move out of NYC in the next year or so. I have always wondered what focus groups were like and always wanted to be a fly on the wall during one. Well, my friend Ruth hooked me up with this group. I keep forgetting to ask Ruth how she knew about it in the first place. The group actually was Philadelphia specific. They really wanted people who were considering moving to Philly. I have a friend who is moving to Philly this summer, so I was able to get her into the group as well. The client was the Philadelphia tourist board, and they are looking to lure people away from NYC to live in Philly.

It was FASCINATING! Okay, the questions were pretty simple, but what was interesting were my fellow participants. How DID they find some of these people? One guy interested Reiko and me the most. He spoke a lot, but it was really hard to understand what point he was getting at. He was interested in moving to Philly because there was an MTV episode of The Real World that took place there. Yikes! I'm sure some of these people vote also!

At the end of the 2 hour session, we each picked up an envelope with $125 in cash and went our separate ways. How funny. I'm also selling stuff on Ebay if that doesn't cement my status as white trash.