The Mailman Cometh

The postie has come, and I have some goodies to show.

First off, I ordered  and have received a number of books. I love Abe Books, which is Da Bomb. Cheap, and you can find free shipping often. I got two used DMC books: Tatting for Today #15209, and Festive Tatting #15218. Both are by Marion T. Leyds, and have great patterns. These books are great additions to my library.

I also acquired two new books. One is Marilee Rockley's great Tatted Jewelry. The illustrations are really lovely in this book, and Marilee's patterns are terrific. And I love tatting jewelry for me! The other new book is Tatting Collage by Lindsay Rogers. I really love the format of the book - it's spiral bound inside a hard cover, and the pages lie flat! Lots of small patterns with a number of techniques used, great illustrations, plus a history of tatting at the beginning.

Now to the mystery item I received, via Mr. Postman. ("Mr. Postman, send me a dream....")

Some very, very nice tatter commissioned The Shuttle Shop to make my own personal shuttle! I don't know who this might be, but I surely thank you, O Magic Shuttle Fairy Godmother. Ain't it grand?

Even DH was impressed. He thought it was very well made and beautifully done. I love it!

It's nice to have a Tatting Fairy Godmother. Every tatter should have one.



Larry has continued making Toy Tableaus. This time, it's a poker game. He made the deck of cards himself - they're very tiny! - and dealt and played several hands until he got it right. I asked him who won this hand. Why, the tiny robot, of course.

Double Decked Felines. They can sleep anywhere.

A bit of unusual stuff

Strange Unusual things are happening.

Moe, who is seldom sick. has been running a stiff fever because of having strep throat. Augmentin pills are huge!

It's been raining every other night, but not for long I think. But long enough to grow some awesome mushrooms! This one is at my office.

 Vader has been displaying strange poses. and showing his fat belly. No, not strange  - this is normal for him!

Cisco has been a sink cat. (He likes to drink out of the steel container this way.)

And something eggplant-colored appeared at my house. Wait - something eggplant?

Craig's List provided a new-to-me 2009 Honda Fit Sport, in Blackberry Pearl. (We needed a second car, and this was a steal.)

Will wonders never cease?

Ephemera

First things. Does anyone recognize this pattern?

I got this oval doily along with some shuttles (including a large pink pumpkin seed one) on Etsy.

This smaller one too. Evidently they were a set. (Interestingly, the thread was described as ecru. That's the greenest ecru I've ever seen.) Anyhow, the tatting is lovely. Someone did a fine job, and I'm happy to have this.

I'm still making Christmas trees, over and over again. I won't bore you with them. I'll show you a grouping when I have enough for my Sunday School class.

A side note: for all you bloggers, please check the Spam contents of your Comments folder on Blogger. For some reason, my comments have been going to Spam. Help me by marking them Not Spam! I promise, I'm not writing vile comments!

Sophie is showing off a thrift store find of mine - I found the lamp, complete with shade and working light bulb, at the local Value Village for a whopping $10.10. Not bad, huh? I didn't have to re-wire it or anything!

The employees club at my company has a Christmas party every year. (I don't belong to this group, and don't go to the party.) Evidently folks don't know how to dress for such an event. Seriously, cat suits? Leisure suits? Masks? Plus, they need spelling lessons - or at least spell check.

Cisco is perfectly dressed for any occasion. He's the cleanest cat I've ever known. See how white his fur is? It's softer than any bunny.

Vader feels he is also perfectly dressed for any occasion. Like planning BADNESS.

Back from Charleston

I'm back from a family visit to Charleston SC. All my siblings came, plus my Mom was there. My sister from across Hotlanta brought her eldest daughter, I brought Moe, and my brother had has wife and 17 month old daughter. We met at the home of my other sister, who lives in Charleston with her husband and 2 college age children.

It was a lot of fun. We ate and talked and visited and laughed together. We stayed up very late. I was worn out by the time we left - I even had to take a stop for a nap on the way back!

Driving through Mepkin Abbey, a former plantation

We had a lovely visit to Mepkin Abbey, but did NOT get to plant Daddy there. More on that in another post.

A Civil War era gown at the exhibit. It is festooned with sequins.

Moe and I went to the Charleston Museum and saw the exhibit I wanted to visit, and more. We did not make it to the ocean. But we did eat a lot of shrimp.

Moe kayaked many times in the brackish lake behind my sister's home. We also observed the neighbors fireworks out back on the 4th. And it was HOT.

Seen and heard while there:

While I was driving near Columbia SC, Moe looked at a a sign and said, "Goo is love!?! What does that mean? Oh wait - that's a D."

My brother saw a sign for a clothes washing business. The sign read "Laundry Mat".

While driving back from Mepkin, Mom and my Charleston sister and I had a discussion about food quality of American vs. European grocers. (We were discussing Aldi.) Mom said, "Well, the quality of the food seem to be better, and if there is a problem, European vendors will commit suicide or hari-kari in shame, unlike Americans."

Finally, Moe and I saw these big cows in a chicken sandwich chain. The cows were hanging from the ceiling, and the girl cows looked, ahem, unusual with their tails between their legs. I went over and spoke discretely with a cashier, saying they may wish to move the tails of the cows. She said, "Why? I don't see any - Ooooo." And she got a manager right away.

More on what we saw soon. And thank you for the warm wishes everyone sent for our anniversary!

Regional weirdness

I live (as I always have) in the South. That's southern USA, for you non-Yanks. The South is really quite different from the rest of the States. For one thing, we talk funny.

Now I'm not just referring to our distinctive drawl. (And on that - there are many regional variations. Georgia alone has at least 9 documented different southern drawls.) No, I'm talking about the way we pronounce the names of places.

For example, a town in south Georgia has the same name as the capitol of New York state, Albany. Albany, NY is pronounced ALL ban ee. The Georgia one is pronounced all BIN ee. Please note the middle vowel change, along with the change in emphasis. I'm not kidding.

Near me is the town of Buchannon GA. Not pronounced BEYW can uhn, but instead BUCK an uhn.

Sometimes the variation is different by an adjacent state. The coastal town of Beaufort, SC is pronounced BYEW fort. The coastal town of Beaufort, NC is pronounced BO furt, and don't you forget it!

Remember the story of the Breman town musicians? Nearby Breman, GA is not pronounced BRIM uhn, but BREE man. No musicians that I know of.

It's easy to tell the non-native Hotlanta folks. They mispronounce our major thoroughfare Ponce de Leon Ave, which is correctly pronounced pahns duh LEE on. Well, duh.

Sugah, whachew tawkin' 'bout? Shoo.

My accent is normally a cultured central Hotlanta accent, which to many Southerners sounds like virtually NO accent. I used to do international software support, and I can speak very clearly. But I occasionally say ya'll and use soft Rs, dahlin'. And when I visit family, I slip right back into the regional accent I grew up with. My father had an upper Piedmont SC accent, fairly strong. And my mother, well a dear friend of mine (from upstate NY) loves to call and talk to Mom, because she thinks Mom sounds just like Olivia de Havilland in Gone With the Wind. A different variation on the upstate SC sound, soft and cultured.

What regional accents/pronunciations/names are funny where you are?

Vader has no discernible accent. Just badness. (But he's so durn cute....)

I've been tatting a bit, to mitigate the pain of doing the bloody taxes. (I mailed off a large check today. Ugh.) I've become enamored of Lizbeth's Spring Garden. This will be a small doily, the Daffodil Doily from Learn How to Tat by Janette Baker. Aren't the colors lovely?

Wednesday wanderings

I've done a touch of tatting.

This is a variation on Jane's Winsome Drop earrings, done with about doubled amount of gold luster cranberry Miyuki rocaille beads size 15/0, using gold DMC metallic thread. The large center bead came from the loot I got from Fox.   I tatted this directly to my gold findings instead of using a metal loop. These earrings were worn today at work - I rather like them.

The boy kitties are hanging out together.  The bad kitten tends to mirror what Cisco is doing.  Believe it or not, the kitten is almost asleep here.  Limber fella, isn't he?

And some random fun.....

You must go here and look at the recipe for this decadently yummy chocolate cake or pie or whatever. it is  I think I would swallow my tongue with joy if I ate it.  I would brazenly lick the plate.  I probably wouldn't sleep for three days either, from all the chocolate.



And you simply must watch this.  What I like the best about this video is that he's doing this to amuse his 3 year old daughter.

I do NOT recommend making this:

Making it is blogged here.  The blogger found it as revolting as appears.  This also looks vile.  Hmm.  Maybe I could make it for my MIL.  Oops - that was vicious.

I will not buy this.  Eww.



I just don't know what to say.

Okay readers, have you come across anything weird or fun while trolling the web?

Stuck

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head? I've got one playing over and over. Argh.

I took Curly to see the doctor on Monday, and on the way back he wanted to listen to the latest Glee album. As you know, the Stooges and I are serious Gleeks. We lurve Glee. I sing along with most of the songs on the show.  But some songs they sing are ones I don't know, like the Lady Gaga ones, just because I'm older and I don't listen to current pop radio.

But I'll be damned. I've got a Lady Gaga song stuck in my head. And I like it.

It's fun. I played it several times on the way home.

It's catchy. Weird, but catchy.

Speaking of weird, did you see this article about Think Geek getting sued?  Every year, Think Geek creates a fake product or two for April Fool's Day.  It seems that the National Pork Council is suing them over one of these, as it claimed to be "The New White Meat".

The Think Geek product made me worry about Charlie.



Poor Charlie.

Work has slowed down a smidgen. And I'm starting to get into vacation mode. No motivation. I want to be lazy, like a cat. Sleepy.

And here's Curly's little kitten, now known as Vader. (I still like the name Mr. Mittens.  Or Demon Spawn) He likes to curl up on me and lick my face before he goes to sleep. Then he wakes up and bites me.

toodles...