Media, Music, and Movies

Read any good books lately?

Dad reading to great-granddaughter Cali on Thanksgiving Day.

I enjoy a good story, but I'm a multitasker, so I tend to listen to a book while I'm sewing, walking, or doing dishes.  

I caught up on a few of the classics this past summer via the collection of free audiobooks available on Loyal Books and Librivox.  These are read by volunteers, and some of the readers are very good, others not so much.  As I discovered a particularly good narrator, I'd see what other books he or she had read and listen to those as well.

Recently, I resubscribed to Audible in a special 99 cents a month, "we want you back" deal.  It was an offer I couldn't refuse.  Especially since I wanted to pick up the audio versions of a couple of the Outlander series books I didn't have yet.  Davina Porter narrates the Outlander audiobooks, and she is a delight, voicing all of the characters in such an authentic, credible way.  With the series on TV, I've started relistening to the first couple of books again.  I've found myself wondering, as I watched the Starz TV series, did it really happen that way in the books?  Some things no, or not exactly, but they are getting the essence of it right and it's been extremely well done so far.

I've also really gotten into podcasts the past couple years.  Some favorites are Serial, Startup, Reply All, Mystery Show, and Surprisingly Awesome (the last four can all be found on gimletmedia.com).  

I could name about a half dozen more  that I regularly listen to, but if I could recommend just one today, it would be Serial.  The second season is in the works and should be starting soon (I hope).  What is Serial about?  From their website: 

Serial is a podcast from the creators of This American Life, and is hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial tells one story - a true story - over the course of an entire season. Each season, we'll follow a plot and characters wherever they take us. And we won’t know what happens at the end until we get there, not long before you get there with us. Each week we bring you the next chapter in the story, so it's important to listen to the episodes in order, starting with Episode 1.

I'm not usually a huge mystery or crime drama fan, but the story in Season 1 was so compelling, I was hooked after the first episode.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one to feel that way.  The podcast was so successful, it's going to become a TV series.  If you haven't checked it out already, you can catch up on past episodes online or on iTunes.

In movies, I watched a little-known gem this past week called A Little Chaos.  It's a period piece, or costume drama, about the building of one of the gardens at Versailles.  

Ultimately, it's a romance starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts (yum) as landscape architect Andre Le Notre.  The latter actor is the main reason I rented the movie.  He captured my attention in Far From the Madding Crowd, and I'm catching up his body of work to date.  To my surprise and delight, though, I found out in the first scene that the movie also stars Alan Rickman as King Louis XIV.  Be still my heart!  Alan Rickman could read me the phone book.  Stanley Tucci also has a fun role that gives the film some levity.  I really enjoyed the movie and watched it twice, in fact.

As for music, I heard a new song on the radio yesterday that I really liked.  It's by Tor Miller, called "Carter and Cash."  There's kind of a subtle '80s vibe to it that is pretty cool.  See what you think.
 

Mixed Media

What have you been reading, viewing, or listening to this summer? 

The HST kennel quilt, now finished!

I've been enjoying a few of the classics in books by Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens.  These are things I hadn't read in my youth.  I was motivated to read the book Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy after I saw the movie this spring, the one starring Carey Mulligan and Matthias Schoenaerts.  Loved the movie, had never read the book.  I found a wonderful free audiobook version on Librivox.  That led to reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, also by Hardy (all free audiobooks linked to the titles, should you wish to explore).  In between the latter two, I also read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, which I adored.  Now I am making my way through Oliver Twist by Dickens, though I'm not enjoying it quite as much as Copperfield. 

I haven't been to see any summer blockbusters in the theater, but my peepers are getting their share of dramatic action thanks to Masterpiece's Poldark.  

And, oh my, Aidan Turner is enough to give a gal the vapors!  Or was that a hot flash?  Never mind, judge for yourselves:

Mm-hm, that's what I'm sayin'.  Who knew scything could be that kind of hot?

Speaking of Masterpieces, friends and I went to see the Dressing Downton exhibit at the Paine Art Center in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this past weekend.  Where photographs were not allowed, unfortunately.

On display were many of the costumes of the various Downton Abbey characters we've come to know and love.  The real deal, genuine article duds!  That I could not take pictures of! 

But, oh, they were exquisite.  Mary's riding costume, Matthew's army uniform, Lord Grantham's stunning red wartime uniform, and dresses, dresses, dresses!   The beading and stitching and other details were to swoon for.  The clothes were all posed elegantly on (headless but not creepy) mannequins throughout the rooms of the grand old mansion of the Paine Art Center.  What fun to see!

(Image Source)

Afterwards, we walked the impeccable gardens of the grounds outside the mansion and mooned over the flora and foliage.

Here we are below, ignoring the rules of photographic composition in posing the tallest member of our posse (that would be me on the left) next to the shortest (dearest friend Kathy).  But friends shouldn't let friends have to stare at your belly button.  This was not my idea, folks.  However, with a volunteer poised at the ready with my camera and my sister saying we should just "be bookends," I assumed my position on the end.  Do not do this at home.

Which brings me to a new show on TLC this summer that I have begun to watch, against my better judgment, but now I am sucked in:  My Giant Life.

I mean, as a woman nearly 6'3" myself, I basically live this show, so why do I need to watch it?  Well, because it's about people, dang it, and people interest me.

I watched Little People, Big World all those years, not because they were vertically challenged, but they were interesting.  The ladies of My Giant Life are no different.

But seriously?  Can they quit with the unflattering camera angles?  Here is Colleen, who is 6'6", and they are shooting her from the view of Lilliputians.  Get off the floor, camera crew—and find that woman a decent chair!

Here too is 6'9" Lindsay, who is apparently being shot by poodle-cam.

*Sigh*  

Anyway, here's me and my lovely sister Nita below.  Do not call me a giant or I'll step on you.  Kidding!  I'll just pick you up by the collar and give you a little shake.  ;)

Totally kidding, I don't have that kind of upper body strength.

I am strong enough, however, to hold my grandniece Cali on her first birthday, as she explored the heart-shaped chocolate muffin her Grandma Nita made.  

She is such a cutie!  Most of that muffin ended up on her clothes and mine and whoever else came into her magnetic little tractor beam.

Now this...

This kohlrabi is a true giant.  Dad grew a row of this giant hybrid variety in his garden, and they were delicious!  Big as a cabbage, where normally kohlrabi are the size of a tennis ball.  Not woody either, but tender all the way through.

How does your garden grow?  Mine is looking kind of raggedy about now, but the potted coleus out front is showing off.  I just moved it to the birdbath/plant stand on the front porch so that trailing stuff (that I can't remember the name of) that I planted with it has a place to flow.

As far as what I'm listening to this summer, other than audiobooks, I'm enjoying some of the music of Florence + The Machine, Ryn Weaver, this song by Twenty-One Pilots, and for the orchestral jazz fusion king of thing, this song by Snarky Puppy.  Yep, that's a pretty random smattering.

Oh, and I've been meaning to share a video.  Earlier in the summer, my brother Russ flew his drone camera over the area where my dad lives and captured some footage of the surrounding marsh wetlands and farms, which he then set to music.  You can see it HERE.  I find it very serene and relaxing.  Perhaps you will enjoy it too.

As far as sewing, what's that?  Nah, I'm working on a little of this and that, but altogether not much.  I made another little kennel quilt top yesterday, from more scrubs.  Went with a simple low volume version this time.

And up top of this post, you see that I got the last kennel quilt quilted and bound.  I used some wild 1980s or '90s tropical yardage I found on a shelf while putting the basement back in order after getting rid of the damp spot a couple weeks ago.  Serendipity!

How about you?  When you look back on the Summer of 2015, what images will come to mind?  Will there be an accompanying soundtrack?  Any particular smells conjured up in memory—a smoky barbecue, your rose garden, suntan lotion, mosquito repellant?  Feel free to share in the comments!

It's Monday...It's Miscellany

Overheard at the Flea Market
 "See this hat?" said the woman in charge of the pie booth, pointing to her head, "We Amish and Mennonite do not lie."

I didn't catch what the customer had pressed her about, but I had to chuckle.  Gotta love that Anabaptist sense of humor.

We came home from the flea market with nothing more than a couple pounds of bison from a friendly farmer (who wore a baseball cap, in case you're wondering).

Grateful for the Growing Season
The friendly farmer in my family, a/k/a Dad, has had a good crop of kohlrabi this year.  I think it's my favorite vegetable.

If you've never tasted kohlrabi, it has a mild, cabbage-y flavor, and the texture is kind of like a radish.  I enjoy it peeled, sliced and eaten raw alongside a sandwich for lunch.

The beets have been doing well too.  My favorite way to eat those is in the chocolate beet cake recipe, which I shared last year.  Can you freeze beets, do you know?  I'm wondering if I could just grate and freeze them in Ziplock bags, like you do with zucchini.

Media Musings
We watched Locke starring Tom Hardy last weekend.  I liked it very much, despite its mixed reviews on Redbox.  If you love your action flicks, you may want to pass, but if, like me, you'd like nothing better than to stare at Tom Hardy for a couple hours, then by all means, see it.  I found it fascinating and compelling the whole way through, as the viewer comes along for the ride and eavesdrops on a man trying to keep a handle on various situations threatening to spin his life out of control.

I'm still working my way through the Outlander series of books (in the middle of book five, The Fiery Cross, at the moment), but have taken a short break to read something different.  

A Wilder Rose by Susan Albert is right up my alley.  I loved the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but on discovering they were, in essence, ghost written/heavily edited by her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, I was curious about Rose.  Many years ago, I had read the biography of Rose Wilder Lane, A Ghost in the Little House, and then enjoyed one of Rose's novels, Free Land, after that.

I'm really enjoying A Wilder Rose.  It's been a terrific summer, weather wise, for grabbing some time to read every day out on the deck with my lunch.  I am savoring these days of sunshine and warmth and only wish I could soak it up and store it like a battery for those long winter months ahead...when the deck will look like this again, GAH!

(Okay, it is kinda pretty, I have to admit.  In pictures anyway.)

Palate cleanser/back to reality photos:

This little plant, whose name I forget, is doing well on my semi-shaded front porch.  And the barrel out front is a-blooming with some red and white star-like impatiens I tried this year.  

Note to self:  Forget about planting the begonia in the center of the barrel next year.  It got entirely swallowed up by the impatiens.

How is your summer winding down?  Are you grabbing the gusto of these last days before school and schedules?

A Catch-Up

I've finished the Hands2Help flimsy and have the backing and binding ready to go.  Now I just need to mop my kitchen floor and get to basting it, probably on Saturday morning.

I was W@lmarting the other day when I passed the fabric department and noticed a load of bolts in a bin in the main aisle marked down to three dollars a yard.  These included quite a few decent quality fabrics (i.e., Fabric Traditions, also sold at Jo-Ann, Hancock, etc.).  Since I needed backing and binding for two quilts, I dug and wrestled and rooted through the bin, finally unearthing a few things I liked.

Overall, things seem kind of slower at the moment in the sewing department, but I took time recently to look back at my informal to-do list from earlier in the year to see how I did in the first quarter.

All those red strike-throughs?  I'm pretty happy with that!  I'm down to one remaining flimsy (Fan-tastic) that needs quilting, in addition to the current charity quilt for H2H.  Then I need to get serious about finishing the Tea Towel Challenge quilt this month.  Inspiration, where are you?

After that, I hope to start one from the bucket list.  That'll be fun!  In case you can't read my scribbles at the top of that tattered scrap of paper, that includes a plaid recycled shirts string quilt (like this one), an Irish Chain quilt or some variation thereof, a clamshell quilt (like this one, maybe), a Scrap V quilt, some other kind of string quilt, and/or an "Illusion" quilt (one that creates an optical illusion, like this one).  Then there's the possibilities of a Winding Ways, Storm at Sea, and...oh, the bucket overflows!

Last weekend, we saw the movie Saving Mr. Banks and I really enjoyed it!  

It's funny, but I don't remember seeing the Disney movie Mary Poppins when I was young, although I'm sure I probably caught bits and pieces of it at one point or another on TV.  The music from the movie is very familiar, of course.  We sang it in school chorus, on the playground, etc.  After watching Saving Mr. Banks, I am intrigued to read the original Mary Poppins, by P.L. Travers, and then see the Disney movie version.  

Further in the realm of entertainment, I started watching An Idiot Abroad on Netflix last night, and it totally cracked me up.  After I shut off my tablet, I literally laughed myself to sleep!

On a more serious note, this Heartbleed computer bug news has me sitting up straighter this morning, reading about it.  I found good information and some helpful links in this article at NPR to make it easier to stay on top of the situation.

Do a Little Dance

The Jig is Up

There are some interesting people in this world, a slice of which you may very well encounter at your neighborhood big box store.  You've all seen the pictures and know the joke about "the people of" the store that starts with a W.  Like the woman using her ample cleavage as a cell phone holder, while she's talking on said phone and pushing her cart with her freed-up hands down the cereal aisle.  Or the guy in the bright pink baseball cap, short denim skirt and heels, with way nicer legs than mine, to note a couple of visions etched in my own memory.

So yesterday, we're at this particular W-world in a long, slow line.  I don't know if half the checkers called in sick or what, but all the lanes were stacked several carts deep each.  We happened to be in line behind a very nice-looking young woman.  She had her hair in a loose up-do, which struck me as a little odd for the time of day and season, and just above the collar of her shapely fitted white wool coat, at the nape of her tanned neck, was the beginning of what looked like a fascinating tattoo.  She was wearing jeans and brown suede high-heeled boots, unloading a mounded cart full of fairly unremarkable stuff, including cat food and a red plastic snow shovel.  Then she cordoned off a second, separate order of personal-type stuff:  Disposable razors, baby wipes, mouthwash.  In retrospect, I imagine these may have been work-related expenses.

You have time to notice this stuff when you're in line for 15 minutes and they're out of People magazine, which you would otherwise be perusing.

So she gets everything checked out and the cashier tells her it's $249 and some odd cents.  I'm thinking she'll be swiping her debit card, but no.  No, no, no.  She starts pulling cash out of her purse by the fistfuls.

And not just any cash:  All one-dollar bills.  Loosely gathered stacks of them.  She starts handing these to the cashier, who, after mouthing the words "I'm sorry," to me and those behind me in line, has to then count out piles of 10 bills each, layering them in a particular way they must be taught at cashier school.  I don't know; she had a system, is what I'm saying.  (Later the cashier tells me that $91 in one-dollar bills had been the most she'd heretofore had to count from a customer; and before I've paid, a store manager has had to come and switch out the cash drawer, because apparently $249 in singles makes it really hard to close.)

At this point, I turned to Norm and rolled my eyes at the unforeseen delay.  And I may also have muttered something about somebody having had a particularly good night, as well as something about making it rain.

"I get a lot of tips," the customer offered the cashier voluntarily as she forked over another wad.  And then she added, maybe a bit too quickly, "I'm a bartender."

The cashier looked up from the bills for a moment and said, "You must be a really good bartender."

At which point it was physically impossible for anyone to stifle a smile.

* * * * *
Do the Hustle

After shopping, we decided to catch a movie.  We saw American Hustle.

Loved it.  Best film I have seen in a long time.  (Before that, it was Silver Linings Playbook, which coincidentally is by the same director.)



I love character-driven movies, and this was all that and a bucket of popcorn.  Fantastic performances, and funny too.  Christian Bale?  I leaned over to Norm at one point during the film and said, "They should just hand him the Oscar right now."  He WAS that character.  Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper (with a perm), Jeremy Renner (with a pompadour), Louis C.K., Robert DeNiro were stellar, every one of them.

* * * * *
Step by Step

I spent time over the weekend doing all the ditch quilting on the Ironwork quilt from a year or two ago.  I've had the quilt basted together since September.

Meanwhile, I needed some of my basting pins back for other stuff, so I reckoned I could do at least all the straight line quilting around the brown parts to stabilize the quilt.  I also put the binding on, because the narrow edge was starting to fray.

I need to practice a bit before I go back and quilt the large open spaces.  I've never put a binding on before finishing a quilt, so it'll be interesting to see how that works.  Will the additional quilting pull the quilt out of square?  We shall see.

Every quilt seems to be a learning experience of some sort.  I learned that I probably should go back and knot and bury my thread ends instead of just relying on backstitching to anchor them when straight line quilting.  I have never done that before and did not do it on this one either, but probably should have.
Live and learn.

Random 8-14-13

I basted the black and white quilt over the weekend, but have been taking my time (read: procrastinating) on getting around to actually starting on the quilting.  It's the way I roll, folks.  I know this and deal. 

That means I do any number of other things instead, like become engrossed in a new-to-me TV series now available on Netflix—Ripper Street.  Matthew Macfadyen, anyone?  Yes, please!

I seriously heart this show.  Wish our cable lineup included BBC America so I don't have to wait a whole year for the second season to get to Netflix.

Last night, I pin-crastinated on Pinterest, beefing up my Hot in Here board rather nicely, I think.

Douglas Booth

I cannot wait until Romeo and Juliet hits theaters in October.  This fellow is worth the ticket price in eye candy.  And Hailee Steinfeld?  Well, I loved her in True Grit.


I should reread Romeo and Juliet before the movie, though, because when it comes to Shakespeare, I always wish there were subtitles.  I like to spend a little time with the language, you know?  Although it's not like I don't remember how the story ends.

Speaking of which, I turn on the subtitles to watch Ripper Street because I don't want to miss any of the dialog.  The writing for that show is topnotch.

So I finally started quilting the black and white quilt today, doing some ditch quilting around the black frames.  Straight-line ditch quilting in black thread on black fabric means there is really nothing to show at this point.  I have an idea to quilt the centers of the frames in spirals, which is different than the original plan, but I think it will be cool, if I can get the hang of it.  I did one on a practice pad, but when I went to quilt the first one on the quilt, it was a spectacular disappointment.  That has been unpicked and I've stepped away from the quilt to allow my frustration to dissipate.  I'll be back for another go at it tomorrow.

Finally, the gardens are producing and I've been blessed this week with tomatoes, kohlrabi, cucumbers, green peppers, and zucchini.   I did the healthy, responsible eating thing with most of the big yellow zucchini I was given, but what I really craved was my old favorite, chocolate chip zucchini cake.  Went Googling for a gluten-free version and found this recipe, which I made immediately, adding one egg and decreasing the sugar by half (it was still plenty sweet).

(Source: mygluten-freekitchen.com)

In a word:  Awesome!! 

Digging this new song by Amos Lee.

Really Random Thursday 3-28-13

It's the Really Random Thursday, March 28 edition.  Otherwise known as:  

What I have been doing while wishing winter would just go away, already.

Tea Towel "Tess" is a Flimsy
First and foremost, I finished the Tea Towel Challenge flimsy this week.

Now she awaits quilting (ever waiting, that Tess). Also a backing and binding selection, but minor details.

The good thing about March and daylight saving time is that you can take a photo outside at 6:45 p.m., never mind that it is still on top of a pile of snow.

Temps were in the 40s yesterday and today, though.  I went for a walk around the neighborhood, dodging and navigating puddles of mucky runoff, but it sure beats a sheet of ice.  The walk outside was also quieter than my treadmill, which has decided to take up its own kind of moaning and groaning.  The repairman has been summoned.  I have been bucked off a treadmill that was on the fritz in the past.  Not an experience I'd like to repeat, though it does get the heart pumping in a fear-for-your-life, adrenaline rush kind of way.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up
In other news, this headline on the front page of our small town paper seemed amusing, though I'm sure the incident itself was anything but (full article here).

Al Gore may have invented the internet, but this guy may have invented the original Spam attack (i.e., the canned kind). 

A Bona Fide Binge
Other than the aforementioned flimsy, not a whole lot else has happened in the sewing room this past week month.  I blame my 30-day Netflix trial.  And Downton Abbey withdrawals (among other things). 

Nonetheless, I do not regret the diversion.  I watched one costume drama...

(Matthew Macfadyen, Eddie Redmayne)

after another...

(Hugh Dancy and Hugh Bonneville—a Hugh-o duo!)

after another.  

I very much enjoyed this last one, in particular.  Damien Lewis plays Soames Forsyte, a possessive (and obsessed) tyrant, though you do kind of get where he's coming from.  I liked him better in Band of Brothers, but The Forsyte Saga miniseries was very well done.  If you've got a hankering for Downton Abbey era shenanigans, you will like it.

That said, I am so glad I wasn't born in a previous century (well, technically I was, but you know what I mean). Women had it rough, yo.  Sure, the clothes were lovely, if you could afford them, but underneath the veneer was all that repression and constriction.  And I'm not just talking about the corsetry.

I also watched a few documentaries in between.  It's good to balance all that romanticism with a brisk face-slap of reality, you know?  Gotta love Netflix for the variety of documentaries not available at the local Redbox.

My media junkie-ness hasn't been limited to the visual.  I've been listening to some fascinating nonfiction as well, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  Wow, the stuff you never knew.

But enough distraction.  There will be more sewing soon, sure as spring will come.  Sarah has once again put together the annual Hands 2 Help Charity Quilt Challenge.  If you haven't already checked it out, please do so and join in, if you can.  I have signed on to make a quilt (maybe two?), and the wheels have started turning.

Sing me out, Stacey, and tell it like it is.

The Green, White, Orange

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I celebrated with some corned beef and cabbage last night, and going to a flea market today.  Whereupon, I spent just a wee bit of green.

On a sweet little green and white bowl.  Pyrex! 

I negotiated on this, marked $7, asking if the seller could do better, to which he said $5, and I replied, "I'd feel better about $4," to which he mumbled something about driving a hard bargain and not wanting to make his wife mad.  But he ultimately made the deal with a smile on his face.  Me too!

The bunny was a dollar at another booth.  I like his green "tattoos."

For any genealogists tracing Irish ancestors, here's a great site, FamineShips.info.  It contains an extensive searchable database of records on over half a million passengers who arrived at the United States between 1846 through 1851 (during the famine period) and identified their country of origin as Ireland or ethnicity as Irish.

I'm sure Conlon is a good Irish name, and it's the name of the family in an excellent movie we saw the other night, Warrior.  Brilliant acting and a heart wrenching drama of an estranged family coming together over a mixed martial arts match which pits the two brothers against each other in competition.  I highly recommend, even if MMA is not your thing.  The movie is about so much more than that.

I have hit a wall, of sorts, with the Tea Towel Challenge.  I'm giving it a wide berth today and staying away from the sharp implements while I ride out the urge to hack it apart.  More on that tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in the words of Macklemore & Lewis, "We put our glass to the sky and lift up!"  (PS-Why can't Guinness make a gluten-free beer?)