husband the builder

husband has a habit of going slightly over-the-top when i ask him to build something. i mentioned one day that i needed a nice little rack for my thread, so i could see what colors i've got when i'm sewing. i imagined a little rack of 3-4 rows that would maybe hang on the wall, but husband made this instead. it's at least a head taller than i am, holds 104 spools of thread and features a turning base so i can turn and see what i've got. right now, it's completely unworthy of the old dining room where it's standing, and it leans thanks to an uneven floor, but it's just completely awesome. and it, along with an old-fashioned three-layer pot for extracting juice using steam that he picked up in a second-hand store, made for some of the best christmas presents he's ever given me.

he also recently built this over-dimensioned (and not quite finished) little shelter for our mailbox and trash can. they passed a law last year that the mailbox had to be out on the property line and accessible by vehicle (if you live out in the country) by the end of 2011. many people put theirs out earlier, but after our postwoman asked chastised sabin one day last summer in a most decidedly churly manner about how we had to move our post box, we decided to wait 'til the very last day.  i mean really, yelling at a child about the post box? please. the weather turned ugly before husband could finish painting it, but it's already passed the hurricane-force winds test, so it's a good one. those poles are sunk a good meter into the ground - husband doesn't build things halfway. what he doesn't know is that once he's painted it with that weather-proof paint, i'm going to dress it up with something a bit more colorful.

*  *  *

happy weekend one and all!

three things you know are true

i woke up at 2 a.m. with a splitting headache and it has been hanging out with me ever since. it actually hurts to think and don't even think about asking me to finish a sentence.  i was having a (probably only semi-coherent) skype chat with a bloggy friend. we were talking about my upcoming courses that start next week and she sent me a link to this lovely video. i've never tried spoken word poetry, but i think i'll use it with my students in the coming months. what a beautiful idea! of course, this is a TED talk - they have all the best stuff. if you have 20 minutes, do watch it, you won't regret it. and besides, if you don't watch it, you won't understand the title of this post.

horseshit

it's very difficult to run a riding club in an economic downturn. some months ago, i agreed to go onto the board of the riding club where sabin rides. i was assured that it was very pleasant and there were no politics and no bad blood between any of the board members. herein lies my first mistake - i believed that.

the first meeting i attended was presided over by the then-chairman, a man i had never previously met. he didn't greet me or ask me to introduce myself or even explain why i was in the room. he then proceeded to say that everything to do with the budget and various agreements regarding the leasing of the facilities and the contracts with the riding teachers would be taken outside the meeting by him and the people involved and that we on the board didn't really have to concern ourselves with that. whew, what a relief that was. not.  then, he verbally attacked the wonderful and down-to-earth woman who owns the stable itself - yelling at her, condescending to her and generally being a complete ass.  i wrote a little bit about it here, in a rather obscure way. i left the meeting wondering what i had gotten myself into.

not long after that, that chairman "resigned" with some encouragement from some of the other board members. and a lot has since come to light about how much he was hiding about what bad shape the club was in economically. these clubs are independent quasi-public associations and while the club gets funding from the municipality, it also has to fund itself - through lessons, membership fees, distribution of trash bags to households (a "job" it does for the municipality twice yearly), selling scratch lotto tickets, holding horse shows and running a kiosk (that sells a lot of french fries) at the horse shows. but these clubs are often riding the ragged edge and only barely making it.

i agreed to be "horse responsible" - since i grew up with horses and most of the others involved on the board are just supportive parents and not really all that horsey. so, it falls me to make agreements for borrowing horses, selling the ones we have, buying new ones, making agreements for the students who have the right to ride the lesson horses on the weekends (they can pay extra and do that), and the general day-to-day health of the horses. sounds reasonable enough, right? well, that too i was wrong about.

of course everyone and their dog has an opinion. and there is a great deal of pressure to make new horses magically appear with absolutely no financial backing (do you have any idea how hard it is to find a free horse?). and don't even get me started about the sniping, the backstabbing, the rumors and the standing and loudly talking about horse problems in front of parents and students.  and there were supposedly no politics involved in this job.

what i've learned is that people will invent politics where none need exist.

things you can do when you have a cough

have i mentioned that i have the cough from hell? it's keeping me up half the night and giving me fits all day long. i get some relief from this opium-laced cough syrup, tho' it also leaves me unable to operate any machinery heavier than my iPhone. the lack of sleep is making me decidedly crabby.

so i went to the library for a little inspiration. i picked up a book of pretty pictures of workspaces and fell in love with the light and with the ladder and with the stacks of books in this shot.

the low ceilings around here meant my old ladder from the bathroom at the old house was too tall to be used, so instead i took one side of an antique iron bed i brought over from the US when sabin was a baby and used it as a ladder to hang up some works in progress - both as decor and as a reminder to work on them.

i picked up another book at the library...of course it's on nordic food and i love the look of this vegetable garden bread - leaving the veg rustic and whole in a focaccia - i'll definitely be trying this as soon as i feel better.

i pulled myself together and hung up some of our paintings that we did at the old house. they used to hang in my blue room and now they're on the wall behind the couch. i don't know why i didn't hang them ages ago. it makes it look like people actually live here.

there was even time for a bit of bunny love. the bunnies are wild demons as they chase one another around the cage, but as soon as you bring them inside, they're snuggle central.

and now, back to my knitting...

what do you do to pass the time when you're feeling under the weather?

the traces we leave behind...

husband spends a lot of time with his inner architect and i spend a lot of time on pinterest, pinning to boards with names like husband could make this and lysthus (featuring inspiration for my next blue room in the garden), kitchen goodness, the rather prosaically named house ideas, and gardens. the best part is, husband really builds the stuff he draws. now if i could just use all that inspiration i pin...

i'm so charmed by husband's building detail drawings. i find them all over the place. tucked into books, written on the edge of a newspaper left on the table. sometimes they're even scrawled on a board that gets incorporated into the actual thing when he builds it.  he comes by it honestly, since his father was an architect. just as i am compelled to write as the child of a long line of journalists. maybe that's why the traces i leave are words and notes scribbled in the margins of the books i read. and these musings in cyberspace.

the way is clear, the light is good

the way is clear,

the light is good,

i have no fear,

nor no one should.

the woods are just trees,

the trees are just wood.

i sort of hate to ask it,

but do you have a basket?

into the woods

and down the dell,

the path is straight,

i know it well.

into the woods,

and who can tell

what's waiting on the journey?

*   *   *

a feather stone for the first person who knows where these lyrics come from.

preferably without googling it.

*   *   *

i'm planning on having a slow year. 

and january is starting off a bit slow. 

i have a cough from hell. 

so i'm taking opium-laced cough syrup,

which gives the world a kind of a golden tinge.

and makes me feel all floaty.

and a bit distant.

but that said, it really doesn't seem that bad.

hello twenty twelve!

a brand new year, fresh, pristine, just like a brand new egg.  2012, i have a lot of plans for you. 

i know it's just another day on a calendar, but it does feel like a fresh start.

let's use it wisely, shall we?