Fair

We made it to the fair yesterday. We ate a few things. We saw bunnies and knitted things and other textiles. The Lindstrom fish was there. We saw art and people with funny hair.

Cataloging News

Did you hear that many libraries are abandoning the Dewey Decimal system for Netflix categories? The Cronk of Higher Education writes about it here.

Dewey Decimal Category	Netflix Category
000 – Computer science, information & general works	Sci-Fi & Fantasy
100 – Philosophy and psychology	Special Interest
200 – Religion	Faith & Spirituality
300 – Social sciences	Gay & Lesbian
400 – Language	Foreign
500 – Science (including mathematics)	Sci-Fi & Fantasy
600 – Technology	Documentary
700 – Arts and recreation	Music & Musicals
800 – Literature	Romantic Comedy
900 – History, geography, and biography	Cerebral Drama

Maybe Google will clean up their meta-data and start using the Netflix system too (better than nuthin').

Friday Fun

I was digging around, looking for ideas, when I found this "watch cat" photo. I don't think I ever posted it before, but even if I did, who cares? I love how fluffy and orange he looks in the sun.
I found this in my London photos - isn't the contrast between the fancy, old fashioned light post and the modern plexiglass with chrome great?

And this, a street performer on the south side of the Thames in London. She reminds me of one of my favorite street artists in Santa Monica.
Someone was looking at rare books the other day at the library. I love the hand colored plates of insects in the old books.
This is from Franconia. Doesn't it describe me oh-so-well? ;-)

I bought this at Eichten's Bistro (thanks Kathy). My mother's aunt Virginia was an incredible cook, and she used to make jam from the chokecherries on the farm. I look very forward to opening it (as soon as I'm done with my current jar of my Auntie's rhubarb). I haven't had chokecherry for so long I'm a virtual chokecherry virgin.

That's it. I put in my notice today. In two weeks I'll be able to do things like cook dinner, clean my desk and pull weeds. And knit more. And read more. Can't wait!

Nature

News In Brief

What is this woman watching so carefully?
The awesomeness of The Wee One:
I'd forgotten how entertaining it is to watch a newborn's facial expressions. He's amazing. He also slept through breakfast, which was great, because his mother and I got to talk without interruption (ok, maybe we paused on occasion to watch his facial expressions).

In addition to meeting newborns, I've been knitting a little. I started this in....April? and have part of a sleeve left now:
Boy-child got new shoes for back to school:
Custom Vans. He and Girl-child chose the colors.
Three weeks to go and I'll have some free time.

Franconia Sculpture Park

A big part of my "daycation" last Tuesday was spent at the Franconia Sculpture Park.





It was fantastic!

World's Largest Knitted Fish

150 balls of bulky yarn.
A bunch of determined knitters.
A record breaking event.
A fun daycation activity.

Women in Movies

Found this little treasure through The Kat's blog:

Have you ever heard of the Bechdel test? It's a test, popularized by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, that asks three questions of movies:

1. Are there at least two women characters in the film?
2. Who talk to each other?
3. About something other than a man?

If a film fulfills all three, then it passes the Bechdel test. If it doesn't, then it doesn't.

The full article regarding the Bechdel test and recent sci-fi movies can be read here. It's revisited here. I rather like this John Scalzi; must go investigate further. For info on Alison Bechdel look here. Her book Fun Home is fantastic.

Letters of Note

Take a look at this site - "Correspondence deserving a wider audience"... a virtual treasure trove of ... so many things! The writing, the trivia, the historical situations big and small that the letters remind you of when you read them.

Be sure to check out the thank you section. I love Obama. I loved the book Life of Pi too (sorry Sarah). And although Andy Warhol was known to be an asshole, the folks at Campbell's Soup apparently appreciated what he did for them. I wonder what he thought of the thank you letter.

Honestly, has there ever been a better way to pass the time than by following endless links through the Internet?

Wonder and Monsters

One last shot from Shadow Puppets. You know how there are moments when you are reminded of that special sense of wonder that children have? This little girl provided us with one of those moments at the Kenwood show:
Then we stumbled upon a monster artist at the Red Hot Art event in Stevens Square Park yesterday. I love, love, love her stuff.
Many of her monsters make me think of Where The Wild Things Are. She also reminds me of Girl-child; two young women who maintain a child-like playfulness in life. It can manifest itself in little things that are part of everyday or through their more formal creative efforts . It doesn't really matter, since it's all great fun and makes others smile.
She has an etsy shop and a facebook page. Stop by and visit her.
There were lots of other things there too, but I can't share today. I love Christmas shopping in July.