Laundry Getting Ready to Travel

Friends just went to Guatemala. Before they went, they prepared their clothes with some spray that was supposed to make them insect-proof. I don't know if that part was a success, but I love the photo they took of the clothes all strung out and ready to be processed. Such happy colorful and cooperative clothes! Thanks, Kayte and Jim.

RIP Freyja

Dear little kitty who liked laundry baskets, I'll miss you. Hopefully we'll trap and relocate that nasty raccoon. I hope there are lots of laundry baskets full of warm socks in kitty heaven.

Common Themes, Common Threads

Here are some new blogs I've found. The Laundry Narrative and The Thrifty Poet. Interestingly, the Laundry Narrative blogger doesn't describe laundry as one of the things she's interested in (on her profile) and Thrifty Poet doesn't have any poems on her blog, but they both seem to like clothes, one of them is a mom, and there is a lot of colorful musing going on. I can get behind that. Oh, and Thrifty Poet does list several very important books by poets on her list of books she wants to read. Donald Hall, Louise Bogan, and Eavan Boland -- which is how I found her blog in the first place.

Cassie Premo Steele actually has an entire post about Eavan Boland, and quotes a piece of her prose, one of my favorite bits.

“The more I lifted a child, conscious of nothing but the sweetness of a child’s skin, or the light behind an apple tree, or rain on the slates, the more language and poetry came to my assistance.” ---Eavan Boland

I'm eating my lunch at work and since I don't like to eat at the computer, I'm searching for something new about EB to read while I eat my lunch at my little round office table. I didn't get very far.

But, in other news, I have decided to diary again, and even to try PAD, if I can find the time. Oh, and write my thesis. Remember that?

I've been worried that I needed something 'new' for my thesis, some new spin, and I've been thinking that while so much scholarship about EB focuses on her as a poet, I could focus on her as a mother -- that the role of domestic imagery in her poems is not just political or feminist, but deeply personal. That while she write poems about being a fore-bearer for other women poets (and there is plenty of criticism about that), she's also a fore-bearer for mothers who want to write. She is a fore-mother. Not a forefather. No. It seems that Cassie Premo Steele agrees with me.

"This is why Eavan Boland’s writing is, for mother writers, revolutionary: she asserts that the selfish, interiorly focused mother can be a poet. Not just be a poet, but also somehow a good poet. And a good mother."

Maybe I'll making some progress after all. A photo for good luck.



Found at this new blog, Fiber Fantasies, when searching for a new photo of EB. What luck. So much richness.

Domestic Images Inside Out

Accidental Mysteries does it again. What could be more of a domestic image than this? Woman, high heel shoes, and bones. Strangely unsettling, but beautiful. Too bad her apron doesn't show. I bet a string of pearls would have shown up nicely.

Who Could Resist Super Yarn?

I noticed this company and these beautiful colored skeins in the Facebook adverts this morning. I guess those ads are good for something, then, even something beautiful.

Cascade Superwash Paint. A great name, too, for a lovely thing.

Thank you Apple Yarns of Bellingham WA.

I plan to blog every day, now, about the progress on my thesis. Not about knitting, but sort of about beauty and the work of women's hands.

Wish me luck.

Amazing Finds of the Week

A beautiful site. Just lying in wait. Something I've been waiting for. A beautiful sight.

The Domestic Soundscape is out of Oxford, and I haven't even begun to discover the depths of this woman's ideas and images. But who can argue with a hand knit Sonic Death Monkey?

And who knew there was a Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture?? I shouldn't be surprised that it's in the UK. Thanks for being out there for me to find.

Now back to my thesis (talk about a major distraction!).

Drastically Odor-Free Laundry & Ten Frugal Tips for the Laundry Room

I heard this gorgeous phrase, 'drastically odor-free laundry' on the radio today. Here's the story, from KQED's The California Report, if you want to listen to it yourself. All about Borax and Ronald Regan. Amazing. (The photos are from Wikipedia, thank goodness for them.)



And, if that weren't enough, I also found this website: Old Fashioned Homemaking, Traditional Values for Modern Homes. And this beautiful phrase: 'ten frugal tips for the laundry room' -- who wouldn't love that alliteration? And when I tried to copy a photo from the site, the site politely thanked me for not copying. A polite website, with pink roses, about laundry and home values. I can't decide if I should laugh or cry. What do you think?

We do need a photo, though, to give you the idea. So, here's a similar hat photo (click for attribution).

Patchwork Suit

This is delightful. Thanks for Accidental Mysteries for pointing out Joshua Lowenfels' wonderful collections.

I wonder how happy a person would feel wearing an outfit like this?

Teapot Watching You

Fornasetti Teapot

Germany
1996
Manufactured by Rosenthal.
Printed to underside: marker’s mark and “Fornasetti/Jahres-Teekanne 1996”

A Laundry Folding Robot

Is such a great idea, and this video is so so funny. I'm not sure I understand the point of the exercise, because it doesn't seem that they actually built a robot, only made a movie of an animated one. But what they heck, it's fantastic. The site, Boing Boing, has some cute stuff going on, too.

For the Love of Research and Women

This is a tremendous and long article, published in the Stanford Report today, about Clelia Mosher, a researcher who studied menstruation, women's health, and Victorian women's attitudes about sex. What a delightful find.

‘The skirt, as modified by the vagaries of fashion, has a direct bearing on the health, development and efficiency of the woman. In 1893-96 I made a series of observations on the clothing of ninety-eight young women. The average width of skirt was then 13.5 feet. The weight of the skirt alone was often as much as the entire weight of the clothing worn by the modern girl.’
–Clelia Mosher, Strength of Women (c. 1920)

'She cut an odd figure on campus, Griego says, in her habitual "mannish suit." In her writings, Mosher railed against fashion: Sewing dainty clothing wasted women's study time; a young girl "making tatting to decorate her clothes or knitting or embroidering while her brother is playing ball" would grow feeble and sedentary.'

Project Linus and Blankets of Gratitude

A friend reminded me of Project Linus, a great organization (Thanks, Ka Yun!) which I've not thought about in a long time. When I'm done with Graham's blanket (my new nephew), I'll make one for them. Time to check out my local chapter, too.

This memory also puts me in mind of a program that VA hospitals have, called "Soldiers' Angels" -- very similar, where lap robes are made for hospitalized vets, to bring something home made to those sterile hospital beds and wheelchairs. Read more below. Both of these are good projects for folks who want to knit small items -- I, for one, knit in the car to keep my anxiety down. Perfect to knit and focus on caring for others -- both anxiety relief practices.

The Project Linus Mission

Project Linus is comprised of hundreds of local chapters and thousands of volunteers across the United States. Each volunteer and local chapter all work together to help us achieve our mission statement, which states:

First, it is our mission to provide love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans, lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers.”

Second, it is our mission to provide a rewarding and fun service opportunity for interested

individuals and groups in local communities, for the benefit of children.

Together we have distributed over three million blankets to children in need since our inception in 1995.

Blankets of Gratitude

This winter, thousands of veterans will spend time in a VA hospital or facility, away from the warmth of home, family and friends.

We want them to know that they are remembered, that we are thinking of them, and that we are grateful for their past service. Since we can't visit them all in person, our goal is to wrap 25,000 of these Veterans in lap robes, representative of our support and appreciation, called "Blankets of Gratitude." The lap robes will be a physical reminder that they are not alone. When a veteran receives a Blanket of Gratitude, he or she will know that somebody remembered them, that somebody labored over a handmade robe with thoughts of them and hopes or prayers for their health and comfort.

A Radical Homemaker

What a great label for the kind of feminist I am -- although I'm not sure I'm up for chicken coops, they're lovely and all, but I don't think our yard is big enough for the smell, and I'm sure our cats would love the chickens way too much. But what a wonderful sounding book. Here's an article all about the concept, 'The Femivore’s Dilemma.'

The book, Radical Homemakers, by Shannon Hayes, describes the new woman, a femivore. "Femivorism is grounded in the very principles of self-sufficiency, autonomy and personal fulfillment that drove women into the work force in the first place. Given how conscious (not to say obsessive) everyone has become about the source of their food — who these days can’t wax poetic about compost? — it also confers instant legitimacy. Rather than embodying the limits of one movement, femivores expand those of another: feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly. What could be more vital, more gratifying, more morally defensible?"

Perhaps that goes too far for me, but I do currently have a knitting project, a crocheting project, I made by hand the gift I took to a baby shower yesterday, the nasturtium seeds are sprouting, and my son refused to toss a banana peel into a trash bin in SF this afternoon, lamenting that I wouldn't let him bring it home in the car to put in our compost. Who knows where we all will land, but I like that it's somehow correct to be domestic again.

From A Dover Window 1990

My mom took this photo while in England on an orchestra tour with my brother, in 1990. I love it.

Lunch with Linda

Today 'the gals' from work went out to lunch for Linda's birthday. This is not where we ate, but the little old laundry on El Camino next door to our restaurant. I like the colors. Lunch was good, too.

Mercy Corps in Haiti

Mercy Corps has uploaded new photos of their 'Cash for Work' program in Haiti. These photos are from their Facebook page. Laundry and sweeping never looked so beautiful.

Work and Dissapointment

I should be re-writing the new outline and thesis statement to send to my adviser. I had it all done. Then I lost it. (Dang.) But instead of getting back on that horse and riding that bicycle until I'm home, I'm moping. And disappointing myself and everyone else. (I know you're watching.) Maybe I better get over myself.

You know what they say: Human beings share over 50% of our DNA with bananas. Get over yourself.


(Apparently Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics at University College, London is credited with stating this information.)

(Image Courtesy of Church of the Banana (http://www.churchofthebanana.com))

(This is only a Laundry Songs content blog because my thesis is about Laundry. Sort of.)

Some Days You Just Get Lucky

Click on the image for a larger view of this spectacular photograph.

Medicine and Motherhood

I'm not sure how this relates to laundry, but the mixture of motherhood, art, humanities and medicine about perfectly describes my life. I love this blog I've found called Literature, Arts and Medicine Blog, from NYU. I found the blog through another blog, called MedGadget, which is currently hosting awards for best medical blogs. Of course, Stanford Medical School has a blog, Scope, which is a finalist in the Best New Medical Weblog category. Could this be another interpretation of the term "going viral"??


Since Scope's current article is about antidepressants and lactation, that definitely qualifies as a Laundry Songs topic. More art coming soon (when I'm not working...)

Stanford researcher urges universities, businesses to offer benefit to pay for housework

Stanford researcher urges universities, businesses to offer benefit to pay for housework

I'm sorry, I just think this is strange. This is not what we mean when we talk about work life balance!

Posted using ShareThis

Looking for Crochet Pattterns

My brother's wife is expecting their second son -- oh, any moment. I'm crocheting a blanket. It needs to be quick, and pretty, and soft. All my books and patterns are still in boxes. And, I'm not about to buy more, as I'm hopeful the internet will offer up sweet free crochet pattern treasures. Look what I found!!!

Attic24 "Brighten Your Day" is a great blog and Lucy has a gorgeous pattern for making a ripple blanket.


I found Lucy's blog from the Whip It Up site, a great collection of all kinds of craft stuff from Australia. The world is full of women who love to let color and texture through their fingers day after day.

Still looking, though, as none of these is exactly what I want right now. I'll be trying that ripple pattern, though, later. I promise.

And, here's more! I've got to concentrate on finding a pattern and stop finding cool new blogs and websites. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the cutesy nature of the names and crafts here, not completely my style, but oh so so pretty and photographed so beautifully -- I am inspired! Posie Gets Cozy. Look at her photos! (which i have not asked her permission to copy so will not, dangit.)

Clothespins for Christmas

Patti bought me clothes pins for Christmas. Actually, they were a gift for Stella's birthday. It's been a tough tough season. Today is January 1, 2010. I'll be 50 later this year. Time to get moving!

I'm posting a photo a friend of mine (again, a friend of Stella's really) took of laundry on the line in Cuba. It was her 40th birthday. Thanks, Ellen. Hope you have a good year!