June 2006

These are long, long days here in Seattle… Officially the sun rose at 5:12 this morning and set tonight at 9:11, but really the sky starts lightening before 4am and the last light fades after 10:30pm. It makes it hard to sleep. The cats awaken at 4 wanting to be fed. And to top it off, it was really hot this weekend (it hit 92 F today, a true scorcher for Seattle) so it’s hard to have any energy to move around, let alone knit.

Heather posted an explanation of the solstice (and more here), showing how we are actually further from the sun during this time of year. Also, oh so helpfully, an etymology of the word Geek. Thank you, I needed that.

Recently we were talking about how far north Seattle is. An East coast friend of my father visited, and he was wondering if Seattle were “about as far north as Boston.” When Jeff and I finally looked it up, even we were stunned to see how far north we are compared to the eastern seaboard of the US: our latitude of 47°36′ is equivalent to the northernmost tip of Maine! We’re about the same latitude as Quebec City. Of course our climate is much more temperate than those places, thanks to the warming effects of the Pacific Ocean, but think about the daylight implications — and in winter, the dreary darkness, which leads to many cases of so-called Seasonal Affective Disorder (when darkness makes you SAD).

Last weekend was the Solstice Parade, an annual event celebrating midsummer in the funky-but-gentrifying neighborhood of Seattle called Fremont. My favorite float was the Global Warming one, which had this beautiful mural (above) as well as a “Bush” character holding a hair dryer to a papier-mâché earth. Skiers swarmed around him, complaining that their favorite ski slopes are melting!

Of course the parade had the requisite (and famous) “naked cyclists” which I choose to call painted cyclists. Some of them have really cool body paint! You can see more Solstice Parade photos on my new photo page.

Today was my friend Lena’s annual solstice party. I made my first piñata this week; Cheryln was in town from Portland and we decorated it together. It was supposed to be a fiery red sun. It was one solid piñata, taking endless hits to cave in. The candies, toys, and cut-out stars we filled it with were a hit with the kids.

I’m going to San Francisco at the end of July! We’ll be visiting my stepsister Christina… and sightseeing. Anyone have suggestions about must-see spots?

Today is my mom’s birthday. We celebrated already on Monday with a tea party at my sister’s house. Above, my mom and stepdad Fred. We were also celebrating Fred for father’s day!

Left: my mom, Fred, and my sister Claudelle at the tea party (What can I say, my family likes highly-patterned shirts!). Center: tea in special cups. Right: my nieces Tabitha and Jessica at the party.

Here is the dishcloth I handknitted for Mom. It’s a watering can with a heart on it (from an on-line pattern) in Lion brand cotton. The blue is Project Spectrum-appropriate too!

Jess and Tabs showed off their handball skills.

And last but not least, two sassy girls saying “Happy birthday Granma!”

Today I received my order of massively cute kitty stuff created by Cathy Peng. She has a tuxedo kitty named Suki, who is the star of these images. Since I have two tuxedo cats, I just love Cathy’s work! I ordered a card, three cat pins, and a bookmark — and she threw in some extra cards as well as a nice hand-written note. Thanks so much, Cathy!

See her other sweet items available for purchase on Etsy. (I’ll be looking again once I get a job…)

Got this from Miriam of Mim’s Knitting Frenzy.

Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me — it can only be one word long. Then copy and paste this into your blog so that I may leave a word to describe you. (This means you, too, lurkers!)

In volunteering at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington, I met this fellow Kent Peterson, who commutes by bike from Issaquah to downtown Seattle, a three-hour commute on a fixed-gear bicycle. He and his family were recently featured in a Seattle Times article — a family of four with no car. It may sound amazing to some, but they enjoy their lifestyle: “We just don’t like driving.” Check out his bike blog too.

I have twice sold my car and tried to make-do without one, but the problem is, I’m not really a cyclist. I keep trying, though. And I certainly drive less than most people I know (Kent’s the exception!).  This is one area the Europeans have us beat.  When I lived in France, it was easy to be car-free because of the excellent public transit and because things are not so spread out as they are here.  I miss being able to walk to my grocer, baker, the vegetable market, the hardware store, etc!
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Here are some other interesting links I’ve found lately.

Cosette, a woman from Vancouver is doing her thesis on knitting, using all recycled yarn. Way cool! Check it out.

Literature Map the tourist map of literature. Type in an author’s name and see who is closest to them.

Collective Prose You know this game where everybody gets to add one sentence to a story? Well, here’s the online version.

Visited Countries Click the boxes of countries you have been to, hit go, and you get a map you can post on your blog.

Mapped Web, by the same guy as the Visited Countries, purports to “show us how close countries are to each other in psychological terms” by analyzing which countries’ names are referenced in websites. An interesting concept…

Material World This fascinating Nova project shows families around the world pictured with all their belongings. The results are eye-opening on how over-consumerist we are in some regions. Make sure you click “See entire image” under each picture.

In the silly stuff category, see how a computer works.

Too cute for words: The Daily Kitten.

More cuteness, not just feline, at Cute Overload.