Interesting: I just saw a squirrel chasing a bird--over the mulch, up trees, across the sidewalk. Did the bird take his acorn, perhaps?

My teacher indulged the class today with this video:

Oh goodness...I'm still chuckling :)

Would you like to know what a day off looks like in baked goods?

• 2 loaves of whole wheat bread
• 3 loaves of pumpkin bread
• 2 dozen molasses cookies
• 2 dozen miniature blueberry bagels
• 2 dozen blueberry-lemon muffins

Part of the impetus behind this freezer-filling array was the impending expiration of nearly a dozen eggs. I bought them before Christmas break and, what with traveling and all, hadn't gotten a chance to use them all up yet.

I'm looking forward to trying one of my bagels with the blueberry jam I made in December--it seems I've been on a blueberry binge lately.

We become what we behold.

As a piece of technology, the clock is a machine that produces uniform seconds, minutes, and hours on an assembly-line pattern. Processed in this uniform way, time is separated from the rhythms of human experience. The mechanical clock, in short, helps to create the image of a numerically quantified and mechanically-powered universe ... Time measured not by the uniqueness of private experience but by abstract uniform units gradually pervades all sense life ... Not only work, but also eating and sleeping, came to accommodate themselves to the clock rather than organic needs.

-Marshall McLuhan

Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

Insouciance: the state of being carefree or indifferent.

example: "It's all the same to me," she tittered, waving her hand dismissively over the scripts strewn across the dining table. "I've done it all. You choose, dear." Yet her darting eyes and flash-frozen smile belied her insouciance, and I hurriedly grasped the first, smallish packet I saw.

Writing: the commitment of the word to space.

Walter J. Ong in Orality and Literacy (2002)

Might I recommend perusing Mother Earth's Children, a darling and whimsical collection of rhymes about little fruit and vegetable people?

image from Colette Patterns

One of my goals of this and next year is to sew a coat. Ever since Gertie did her series on her Vogue 8346 coat, I've been eager to learn some fine tailoring techniques--thus when she announced that she was hosting a sew-along for the Lady Grey Coat, replete with tips and tutorials on its construction, I happily joined. Plus, I've always wanted to sew a Colette pattern, not only for Sarai's beautiful designs, but also for their fine drafting and lovely packaging. The Sew-Along begins in September, so those of us who are participating will have ample time to gather our supplies. I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous about the cost of these supplies, but I'm determined to follow Gertie's lead and not skimp out. After all, this will be a valuable experience and, not to mention, a gorgeous coat!

The school year's arrived, and I'm finally living under a schedule again. I had all three classes yesterday, all on the third floor, and all taught by women. Now I'm trying to tease out a routine from the blob of syllabi I received, setting up my readings and ordering my textbooks and admonishing myself to keep up with the assignments. I am not behind yet.

This afternoon, however, I was floored by an email insisting I reapply for in-state tuition by the 30th, or I risk paying out-of-state for the semester. Now, having already paid this semester's bill and encountering no problems, I was alarmed by this new hurdle and, after the obligatory burst of panic and tears and wretched I'm-going-to-have-to-quit-school-because-I-can't-afford-it mental spasms, I calmly emailed the registrar and asked for clarification.

It was just a general reminder to all UNC students. Crikey.

I decided to make bread. Computer aside, I worked the dough I had made yesterday into two baguettes, slashed them, and slipped them onto hot stones to bake. A few crusty, still-steaming slices and some tomato salad later, I feel restored and am ready to settle down to my research articles and texts.

**********

Simple Tomato Salad:

2 pints grape tomatoes, chopped

A handful of pitted olives, chopped

1-2 tablespoons dried basil, ground

A handful of red onion, diced finely

A couple handfuls of cheese, shredded

Mix ingredients and store in the fridge.

Sobriquet: nickname.

example: The apartment grounds hosted hundreds of the little speck-sized pests, so that poor Millie inevitably picked up new ones each time she went outside. Having to scratch constantly earned her the unfortunate, albeit affectionately given, sobriquet of flea-bag.

If ever I were to follow a designer, it would be Anna Allen. She and I could be bosom buddies style-wise.

Her 2010 look-book is online.

Welcome to the season of summer.

I'm ringing summer in with a month-long course in databases. I enjoy taking condensed courses, for they give me the special privilege of focus--focusing on one set of concepts, one set of due dates, one set of materials, bus schedules, and classmates. Interest is relative, so what I would find unbearably dull beside reference or archives work, I now find almost...tolerable.

So here's to a fresh start in academia and a fresh start in seasons.

Mr. Reg.

I think Angela and Adam Tulliers did a beautiful job renovating their new home. Take a look at their feature on Design Sponge and their flickr photos.

I was just reading an article about the psychology of collecting* when I came across this little fact: in a study about money sense conducted by W.S. Monroe in 1899, 2,012 Massachusetts school children were asked what they would do with 50 cents a month. Can you guess what they would spend it on?

Clothing: boys-9% girls-11%

Wood, coal, food, or furniture: boys-4% girls-4%

Toys and pictures: boys-3% girls-7%

Candy, riding, etc.: boys-14% girls-9%

Philanthropy: boys-2% girls-3.5%

Christmas presents: boys-4% girls-7%

Wood, coal, food, or furniture? What a sense of responsibility need cultivated in these youngsters!

*Cameron, E.H. (1923, November). The psychology of saving. Annals of the American academy of political and social science (110), p. 156-164.

Today's rather a neat date, isn't it? Happy 3-2-10!

For those times when I'm longing to sew but don't have a suitable block of time (as is the case most days as a grad student), I have to find other ways to placate my urge. My Threads issues are worn through and I've read my pattern drafting books cover to cover; my computer's Sewing Inspirations folder is filled with subfolders marked "sleeves," "details," "necklines," and the like (it may be time to think of crafting a finding aid for these!); my shelves and drawers of fabric entice me again and again to play with various pieces, draping and pleating them.

I also dream up new projects. Currently I am taken with extended-sleeve blouses.

• Wouldn't this fabric make that lovely
  Poncho Blouse featured on Wearing History?
• What about the sophisticated

  Sencha Blouse (Colette Patterns) made up in this dyed coral?
• Or BurdaStyle's Alexander Blouse look lovely in this?

assiduity: diligence; persistent application of oneself

example: Really, the canine's assiduity was quite remarkable. No less than two hours had passed since little Bella had wandered off, leaving her sandwich crust upon her plate. Footsteps pattered by, doors opened and shut, laughter sounded from the other room, yet still he sat by the table, patient and alone, the constant grey shadow which haunted her every meal.

oneiric: related to or suggesting dreams

example: Now, walking down the hallway--past that porthole window, that door marked 103, 105, 107--she felt peculiarly oneiric...as if perhaps she had come down here before...or maybe dreamed? And suddenly the faded details of an old, old dream came back in startling similarity to the scene now before her. Her only comfort was that in her dream, that door's 7 had swung loose and hung upside down by its stem, so that it looked more like a subscript L. The door here was clearly marked 107. That is--she peered closer at the numbers.

No; it had come off, the 7 now represented only by the discolored smudge left by the missing numeral.