Weekend for One

My sweet has been gone for the weekend, which is the first time since August that we have been apart for more than a night. He's at a manly-men-only-weekend at the cabin of a friend where many husbands and boyfriends of people I know gather to drink beer, bowl, compare the ridiculous mustaches they are required to grow as an admittance requirement and, I'm sure,do other assorted things I care to know nothing about. This weekend gave me some time to spend by myself and with my parents one-on-one.

After a Friday commute home in powerful wind and rain, I stopped by the annual Coalition for Photographic Arts (CoPA) Member Photo Exhibit. My Dad is a part of this local photography group and wanted me to come see the show. I braved the nasty weather and the ridiculous Third Ward Gallery Night parking situation to see the show in what used to be the Aveda Institute building. The show was great and I have not been to any kind gallery show in a very long time (except my sister's culmination BFA show). I schnibbled on some homemade cookies, looked at interesting photos and got to meet some of the people from CoPA that my Dad is always talking about.

A few endearing things about my Dad. One: is that he always refers to his friends and acquaintances by their full names, almost expecting that the listener knows all of these people, which of course I don't, but there is something colorful about that. Two: is that my Dad gives huge bear hugs, sometimes so long that you feel like he won't let go, but there's something endearing about that too. At least you know you are loved in that moment.

I didn't stay at the show long because I'd made a promise to myself that I would visit one of the two Landmark Theaters in Milwaukee to take in a film no matter how exhausted I felt or how far away the East side is from my house. I love the Oriental Theater the most, but ended up at the Downer instead because I picked a new version of Jane Eyre out of the lot of foreign and independent films currently being screened by Landmark in Milwaukee. It's rare that I go to any other movie theaters than these two because I love the selection they play, but also because a movie experience here is like stepping into another era. They are such an amazing gem in this city and if you have never been to one, I say go to both, now!

I used to shy away from going to movies alone, because it made me feel awkward. But now I love it. It's liberating to know that I can go alone and it's no issue, even on a date night like Friday. But it's also an intimate and personal viewing experience that can be a nice contrast to going in a pair every now and then. When I go on my own, I select the film I want to see at the exact moment I want to see it with no compromise and the experience is completely my own. Funny to say that something you do sitting in the dark next to fifty other people can be personal, but it is for me.


Since I didn't eat dinner before hitting the movies, I allowed myself to indulge in a little movie theater gluttony: honest-to-God real buttered popcorn, Dots and a lemon Italian soda.

I was unfamiliar with the story of Jane Eyre having never read any of the Brontes. I guess there are something like 19 film versions of Eyre dating back to the early twentieth century. This version was dark, moody and somewhat slow moving. I liked the story and the themes explored. I liked the British landscapes, the sensuality and the effective projection of the central character's rich, yet also stilted inner life. I liked the chemistry between Jane and Mr. Rochester and the clipped sensuality of their interactions. Overall, the whole of it hit me in the right place for a rainy, evening-for-one kind of night.


The marquee lighting up a misty, cold night on the East side.

On Saturday afternoon my Mom graciously treated me to lunch at Cafe LuLu down in Bayview. This restaurant is a Bayview standard having existed there since before the neighborhood was definitively "cool". My family used to go there together for dinner sometimes before my parents got divorced. It's also where I often go to dine with friends and the first stop when we were celebrating my bachlorette party. Ry will go there with me, but it's not his favorite. So, I was happy to go for an afternoon with my Mom. Afterward we visited several local shops in Bayview and the Third Ward looking at sewing stuff, stationary, mid-century antiques and assorted accessories. We ended our shopping at Home Depot where I bought the tension rods I need to complete my kitchen curtain sewing project.

The rest of my weekend has been utterly devoted to sewing curtains. After completely the panels for the large window which I posted earlier in the week, I was set to start the valences for the other smaller windows. This was going to be a bit more complicated because I had to attach several panels together to make them long enough to cover the window. Even though I was fairly sure I had underestimated the amount of total fabric I needed, I still made an entire valence out of just one panel hoping that it would work. It didn't. It looked silly and I had to rip out the seams and do it over, doubling the length. I measured out my new fabric needs and learned that I'd barely have enough to make valences for the two corner windows and wouldn't have enough for the others.


Guess who kept getting in my way? Every time I got up to press a seam he was sitting on the ironing board. Every time I went to sew a seam he sitting in my chair. What can I say, the little fur ball loves his mommy.

Even though I started out carefully measuring, I eventually got a little more lax and started eyeballing it. I know from the first part of the project that this doesn't work. Remember how I ended up with two different curtain lengths? Well, for some reason I did it anyway and again ended up with valences of two different lengths. The summary of my night and a bit of this morning was seam-ripping, seam-ripping and seam-ripping again!

They are finally done and I am very happy with the look. It's funny how we were used to the windows being naked for almost an entire year. Something as simple as a little curtain makes a big difference for how finished the space looks. It makes me excited to try other home decorating sewing project around the house that will make our home unique.

There is something wonderful about creating something you know can't be bought in a store and is totally yours. Even though it's been challenging, I like that I am developing a handcrafting skill that is not super common place anymore. I know many women and men sew, but comparatively few with how many did fifty years ago when people made their own clothes and home decor items all the time. It feels good to be keeping a handcrafting skill alive in my own fledgling little way!


The almost-finished product. This is before I evened them out. It's not completely apparent in this pic, but there was about an inch different in length between the two. I took 'em down this morning and fixed 'em.

Epic Battle With My Sewing Machine

My old supervisor, Matt, gave me a sewing machine for our wedding two and a half years ago. I finally took it out of the box and have been trying to teach myself how to sew. Well, sew something anyway. It's taken me about seven hours of fiddling around, but I have two panels of my kitchen curtain project sewn. They are far from perfect. The first one I sewed is about an inch shorter than the second and the pattern is crooked. However, they are finished, they are hanging and I feel accomplished. Never mind that it took several significant meltdowns. I now have something unique and handmade to show for them. I won't worry about fixing the wonky one until tomorrow!


Our new curtains hanging proud in the kitchen window.


Ry's big project of the past few days.

Melt

It's awesome to see little signs of spring popping up everywhere! Since our yard doesn't have much southern exposure we don't really have anything green showing itself just yet. We have, however, seen a massive melt. Nearly all of the six foot tall snow drifts we had are completely gone except for about a little six inch snow mountain.

I was in the Tosa Village earlier this week for an appointment and took some time to walk around. I visited the Little Read Book, Salamander and nosed around near the river. The torrent of water in the river interested me and I caught what I felt was an artful shot. Funny how we went from this just a month or so ago...


Huge wedge after the neighbors snowblowed us.


Snow shoeing on our street before it was plowed.

To this now...


Massive melt!

Not much new happening in our lives except trying to get out from underneath a pile of mess created over the past few weeks as we completely abandoned our personal life for our political life. Ry gets nearly all of the credit for any cleaning that's happened this weekend. Though I managed to cook a few things for the first time today: a nummy soup with ingredients from the new Asian food store around the corner and some Veganomicon banana bread muffins.



Other new things, I'm starting volunteering as a adult literacy tutor this Tuesday and I'm attempting to make curtains for the first time ever. A friend who owns Drawstring Studio ordered the fabric especially for me and even let me take the bolt home to measure out what I needed. Talk about accommodating! Measuring stressed me out because it's my first real sewing project with my sewing machine and even simple math is scary to me. But I accomplished it with Ry's help. He was especially patient with me and my crabbiness at doing something new. New things are very, very hard for me. But hopefully when I am done these curtains will make our retro kitchen look even more awesome!



Lastly, I've apparently become the type of person who writes my municipal officials as well as my state legislators. Today I wrote to my Alderman, Bob Donovan, because there is a new business that opened in a vacant store front around the block from our house that looks absolutely horrible. I guess the owners' idea of advertising is propping a twin mattress wrapped in plastic with a shoddy handwritten sign in Sharpie outside their storefront. This just does not cut it for me. It especially doesn't cut it for me when it's out there in the rain or snow sopping wet.

I guess another good thing about the political ridiculousness of our state right now is that it is getting me more involved at the local level. I now know all of my state and city representatives by name and overall, I am pleased with my representation. At this point there is only room for me to become even more aware, which I fully intend to do.

Speaking of seasonal change and impending spring, I hear thunder outside for the first time in months!

My Disposition Has Been Lifted Up By Powerful Hot Air Balloons

That title sounds like a bunch of flowery nonsense, but it's what my pre-coffee mind came up with to describe the sudden swell in my heart for everything lately. It's been a very busy, but good several weeks on both work and family fronts. A brief synopsis:

Cabin Life
Ry and I were all set to go camping in the Michigan U.P. with my bro-in-law Jon and his lovely girlfriend, Megan. However, the forecast called for rain and a high of 28 degrees. Instead we rented a cabin on a lake just Northwest of Milwaukee. We had one lovely night with homemade veggie and tapenade pizzas, many bottles of wine, dice games and conversation. We had one night that turned into a bit of a debacle due to an unexpected and ill-behaved guest.


Sunrise on the lake.

Fake deer?

Ry living out some kind of post-apocalyptic fantasy, like he's watching a mushroom cloud or something. At least that's what it looks like to me.

Fall colors from Powder Hill in Pike Lake State Park.

Teenage graffiti up on the watchtower.

Carmel apples from a local orchard's roadside stand.

Awww, sharing carmel apples makes for a cute picture.

Sacs of apples, beautiful.

Carmel apples, delish.

Cider, obviously.

Holy Hill off in the distance.

Campfire.

Guest Ready
We finally got our second bedroom set up into a cozy little den, which means that we can now accommodate guests!


Ry reads about Mormon polygamists in the comfort of our little library.

Sunny afternoon.

Operation Baby Quilt, Check
I finished my newest baby quilt for a little baby boy that will be born next month. If I do say so myself, I am very pleased with the final product as well as the progress I'm making in terms of craftsmanship. This was my third quilt and I can see marked improvement. I'll be starting a new one in just a few weeks.


Little Tucker Stark, this one's for you! Embroidery detail.

Finished product.

Corner detail.

All folded up and ready to go.

ALS Walk
Many of you know that my uncle Mark was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease two years ago. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is slowly taking away Mark's ability to control his muscle movement. He has lost use of many of the major muscles in his arms and some in his legs. This muscle movement degeneration makes it very difficult for his to complete daily tasks. This disease has changed his life, our family's life and is very trying. Mark's spirit is very strong and he has a large support network, including a loving advocate in my Godmother (Nouna, is what I call her in Greek) and Aunt Steph. On Sunday October 10th, Ry and I participated in the Milwaukee Walk to Defeat ALS on the Redner's Raiders Team. My mom, mother-in-law and father-in-law all walked in the event to support Wisconsin ALS families. If you don't know much about ALS, please check out the Wisconsin ALS Association website. There are many families out there who need assistance, financial and otherwise, especially because ALS affects a small population and there is little research happening for a cure.


Me and Mark.

The Fam.

As I mentioned above my in-laws Al and Beckie came for the event. They stayed with us in our newly arranged guest bedroom. Together we dined on delish homemade meals, including Ry's homemade sourdough english muffins!

Fall Cooking
We've been doing some creative fall cooking, including these Vegetarian Times recipes for butternut squash with vegetable stew and Indian stuffed cauliflower.


Stuffed squash.

Cut open.

Victorious Marching Band
Last night Ry and I traveled to Whitewater to watch the WSMA State Marching Band Competition. My cousin Greg was recently promoted to Lead Band Director, so we wanted to watch the first landmark show under his direction. I got a bit silly and emotional with a few tears of joy in my eye. I am so proud of Greg, working with this band has been his dream and it's a huge accomplishment for anyone, much less someone who has only been out of college two years! They won the competition sweeping all of the individual category awards. Wow! I told Ry way out, "I can't believe this is his job!" I still think of Greg as a cute curly haired little kid with a big smile and glasses. I bet he is just pinching himself right now. I am swelled up with pride!

Life's Simple Pleasures

Our beautiful little beast finds the sunny spot.

Herbed french brie, olives, homemade sourdough and french wine. Dinner of champions. Ah yes, the presence of cheese. I have officially demoted myself to vegetarian. Do you like the total lack of fan faire around this decision, especially after much waxing and waning about whether I would eat a chocolate donut just a few months ago. Vegan is just too hard.

Finally, I feel like I've turned a corner at work. I've gotten past some of my fear of something new and the challenges of transition. I know I've only been there two months and I don't have it all together, but I feel I am in the right place, working with great people and have much potential for the future. Funny, how sometimes you end up right where you should be. I'm even doing professional development reading at home, for fun, go figure.

A New Knudson Family Member

And not the baby kind, for those of you that may have just gotten ahead of yourselves. Today we welcomed Ry's old cat Silvio back into the family. Silvio lived with Ry for five years until we had to give him because no cats were allowed in our residence hall apartment. Apparently he was in need of a new home again and we got the call asking whether or not we'd be in a position to take him.

Since giving up Silvio Ry had been very vocally basking in cat-free life, saying that he was so glad that he didn't have to clean up any cat hair and that it was gross how they climbed all over everything. He said he never, ever wanted a cat again. I still held out hope that someday maybe we could get one, or at least some kind of pet but had mostly come to the conclusion that our house is too small for a dog. The night before we got the call I was looking at little grey cats on the Humane Society website, hoping to very passively entice Ry into a new one.

We took a few days to deliberate and to weigh the pros and cons. Silvio was always extremely active, sometimes very aggressive (I have a big bite scar on my leg to prove it) and very vocal. We thought about the house and how we'd keep it in order, whether he'd break our things, whether he'd eventually be compatible with a baby. In spite of all of the questions, I still wanted him and Ry essentially left the choice up to me.

Last night we went out for dinner at a restaurant with a patio called Senor Luna that we saw along a bike path in New Berlin. On the drive there we got a big chuckle thanks to a middle aged man driving a bright yellow Miata with a license plate that read "MENTOR". He was jamming out thoughtfully to Steve Nicks singing "Landslide" and then pulled out a rag to buff finger prints off the door while he was waiting at the stop light. This scene was just too much for each of us. Senor Luna was nothing spectacular, but we enjoyed sitting outside and drinking margaritas. We kept laughing because I was wearing my sunglasses with mirrored fronts and Ry could not stop looking at himself and making goofy faces into them. Afterwards we stopped at the pet store to by supplies like food, litter box, toys, etc.

We spent this morning cleaning up the house and put away a few valuables that we were worried Silvio might break, such as the clay candeleria from Mexico that sits on our mantel. He was dropped off at around 1:30 and we've been watching him check things out. He was very timid and quiet at first roaming from room to room. Overall he seems a little mellower, a few more years might have just done him some good. He's still vocal, meowing every time he enters a room to announce his presence. He loves our big windows and has found a few perches that will probably be permanent.

In other news, Ry has been experimenting with a new whole wheat sour dough starter he created from the original starter my friend Kathleen gave him in Durango, CO on our summer road trip. We've been rich with bread and it's starting to taste more sour with the new recipes Ry is trying. Not sure whether I mentioned the starter before, but it was a pretty spectacular gift. It's been alive and well in Kathleen's family since 1963 when a customer who needed dental work couldn't pay for it and traded Kathleen's father the starter in exchange for the work.

I've been mostly going to bed early without doing much else after getting home from work this past week. This afternoon I tried out a new recipe from Vegetarian Times that I had been excitedly waiting to make. It was a kasha black bean soup. When I initially identified the recipe as something I want to try, I had bought all of the ingredients. However, by the time I got ready to make it I had already used them. So, I subbed out red bell pepper for hot fresh banana peppers and black-eyed peas for black beans. It only took about a half hour to make and was a spectacular lunch for a cool afternoon. We paired it with Ry's crusty homemade bread creation from this morning and voila!

Since I've been getting questions about the vegan pledge, here's where we're at...we've still been eating mostly vegan, but have integrated dairy items (mostly cheese) just a few times a week. It's simply too hard when you're not always in control of where you are and what they will have available. Sometimes it's just a nice treat. I'm trying to look at it in a less rigid when than when we initially committed. We are totally meat free, we feel much better, have lost weight and are still mostly vegan, most days. We've made good progress and that good progress is not negated by dairy every now and then (mostly weekends).

The other thing I started working on is a new hand sewn baby quilt for my old boss Michael. He and his wife are set to have a baby this fall and I haven't been able to work on one since little Chloe Hetzel was born in February. It will take me some time to complete, but I've posted pictures of the preparation and pinning process.

Finally, my drive to and from Whitewater has been just lovely over the past week. It's starting to look a little bit like fall with a red or yellow tree popping up every now and then. Also, I've been some great wildlife including sand hills cranes in flight, hawks, a woodchuck and a lovely cream colored horse mottled with red spots. I can't wait for fall colors to hit in earnest. This is by far my favorite season of the year.


Ironing the fabric after I washed it and pre-shrunk the organic cotton/bamboo batting. All supplies from Drawstring Studio, which has an Etsy shop and a local brick and mortar store in Bayview. A friend Danielle owns this, so...go buy local and support her great fabric store!


Cutting off a little excess batting after I sandwiched it smoothly between the two layers of fabric.


Pinned with the edges folded over.


Silvio, our new/old addition.


We are so crazy for fresh food it's a little ridiculous. Fresh goodies from last week's West Allis Farmer's Market.


The Kasha Black Bean Soup turned Kasha Black Eyed-Pea Soup.


A slice of Ry's homemade bread with natural peanut butter and Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry, my favorite delicious brand of French jams. The variety I love most is Four Fruits, if you are going to give it a shot.

All Hemmed Up

In Chicago again for a professional conference where we are interviewing people to fill my job; that's sort of surreal in itself. The environment is frenzied and alerts a dormant sense of anxiety in me about what will come next. Lots of go-getters and over-achievers who make me question whether I'm doing enough. On the other hand there are some familiar faces here at make me feel instantly at home. I have also been briefly tempted to go for a few jobs out in Arizona, even though I know our family is really committed to Milwaukee, at least for the time being. The idea of being back with some of those great folks, especially the idea of working with Gretchen again, and of living in a city with such awesome access to nature's wonder, is very alluring.

I was out of the office early this week for a medical procedure at Aurora Sinai Hospital, which struck a little bit of the fear of God into me. When I was rolling by on a hospital bed with an IV stuck in my arm, wearing an oxygen mask, I thought to myself, "I've got to get this stress and my health under control" so I don't wind up here again any time soon. My hubby and my mom took good care of me. Amazingly, even after being sedated I felt comfortable walking home, stopping by the realty office to drop off some paperwork and eating luch at El Cabrito (one of our favorite, authentic Mexian restaurants in town).

Ry dropped me off at my mom's before heading off to Chicago for a next-generation Grateful Dead show. I zonked out on my mom's couch instantly. When I woke up we chatted, she showed me how to hand-hem pants, and we ate a delicious dinner she had made. After I learned the first few basic hem stiches from my mom, I took over and finished the pair. It felt like an awesome accomplishment to learn such a practical skill, especially since I'm such a shorty. I think it will come in come in handy in the future and probably encourage me to purchase new pants instead of worrying about when I'm going to take them to a tailor. It's easy as pie. Thanks Mom!