Making It Up » photographs

If we don’t live in Antarctica, where did all these penguins come from?

Francesca — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:43:23 +0000

There was a bit of snow this week:

Doesn’t it just make you long for hot chocolate and a big blanket?

Summer sun

Francesca — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:36:22 +0000

That time between day and dusk when the breeze and the water are still warm and the sun has mellowed…

There was a birthday*

Francesca — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:26:13 +0000

In November, I had a birthday. And for my birthday, Ed gave me a Holga, a sort of “toy” camera, plastic down to the lens, but shooting medium format film. But the unpredictability of the camera means that printing a whole role is impractical. But we’ve wangled a scanner off Ebay and now I can actually see (more than in the negs) what I’m getting. And so can you!

More to come as I sort through negatives and scan them in. But what I like even now is the lack of control I have over what a Holga does. It’s a toy, after all, not a precision instrument. There’s so much in my life I am not in control of, but feel like I should be. Here is something I am simply not in control of, and nor could I be, not really. So I surrender. It’s not easy, but when I do it, it feels good.

*Yes, there is also Daniel’s birthday which after several days of sugar is almost over (one more event to get through) but I’m not blogging about that. Well, maybe later.

Glimpses of my new home

Francesca — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:27:00 +0000

Tuesday, autumn came. So I took a walk.And looked at the colors.

And thought about where I lived.
No, it’s not England.
I like how this very old lamp has a very new kind of bulb in it. Energy-saving!
Actually, I just like lamps.

You can almost see my house from here.

Last year I was super-blogger and posted twice: once about our kettle and once about how mixed my feelings were about the elections.

Halloweee — oh look, is that more candy

Francesca — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 03:24:00 +0000

I’ve had a fair bit of chocolate (mmm, is that a Snickers? They really satisfy, you know) so things might be a bit waaaaaayhay around here tonight. Mostly, I’m going to take the sneaky way out and show you photos. And while I don’t want to be reductionist (or not permanently) I think that the children’s costumes are pretty representative of who they are right now.

Take Helena for example. She decided last Halloween that this Halloween she wanted to be a “little bunny.” And so she was. Her granny bought her the mask. Her mother made her the costume. Helena sewed on her own tail. She is not any rabbit in particular. Just a rabbit. A little rabbit. A little rabbit who collected all her candy in a carrot she also had her mother make (last night, dammit). She is steady, determined and unflappable. She also likes to be cute and so she is.Daniel finally (after spiraling through wanting to be a television program, an oven, a Martian and Calvin again, decided he wanted to be a black hole that would suck all the available candy into its gravitational well. He wanted people to throw candy into the black hole (that was himself) that would spiral around and land up in a vacuum cleaner bag (because a black hole is a vacuum naturally).

This costume proved to be unmakeable in the Stunt-workshop. In fact, after much tinkering, it still looked way too much like a strange black dirndl skirt. So we surrendered that idea and Daniel decided he could be Space. And carry a black hole. You can just about see it in this picture. Indeed, people did throw candy into the gravitational field and we created a small rent in the space-time continuum for him to retrieve the candy later.

His outfit deconstructs as follows: his head (sprayed red) is a red giant. His body is the solar system. His trousers are stars and constellations with occasional distant galaxies. His flashing sneakers are pulsars and his scarf thing is more star-scattered space. And he carried a black hole.

Complicated, esoteric and deeply quirky. And all about space:
I
carved pumpkins.
This one cracks me up. It’s pumpkin pie, geddit? Oh that kills me.

Happy Halloween, everyone. NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo start in fifteen minutes! I’m going to bed!

I am I. Small injection of reality.

Francesca — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 02:14:00 +0000

What children out house hunting look like.

Oh no, wait, that’s what Ed looks like househunting.

Ha hahahahaha. Okay, not really.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Francesca — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 18:17:00 +0000

Mince pies, with Nigella Lawson’s vegetarian mincemeant…
Homemade marzipan stars dusted with icing sugar, ready to go on the Christmas cake
Marzipan bites, ready to be dipped in dark chocolate for my sister, who loves marzipan
Candied orange peel, also ready to be dipped in chocolate.
Christmas butter cookies, cut and sprinkled by the children.
What Ed brought back from a foraging expedition. I have already drunk an astonishing amount of cider.
There’s a small chicken in the oven for Sunday lunch and there are rum truffles chilling in the refrigerator. I’m also thinking of making pfeffernusse before we go to see a nativity play in Chestnut Hill. I wish I were this productive all year round. Perhaps it’s the cider. No matter — it’s been a lovely whirlwind of flour and sugar and slightly burnt fingers and all sorts of lovely things piling up around the kitchen.

Merry Christmas everyone — I hope all your houses smell of cinnamon and apples and all good things.

Courage of Convictions

Francesca — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:16:00 +0000

I often think our lives are a little too manic. Too much time in the car, not enough time in the woods. Too much time at school, not enough time just playing. Too much time with the rushing hither and yon and not enough time just being content with oneself and the world.

With Ed’s job offer comes a chance to go somewhere slower. Somewhere quieter. There would be less driving. Less running. There would be less to do. There would be a larger kitchen and more green space. As we face this choice, I think — this is what I wanted, right? This is what I said I wanted.

But at the crunch, I’m not sure it is.

Does this mean I lack the courage to follow through on what I believe? Possibly. I am not so much of the grand courage and more of the dogged persistence brand of person. I have a vision in my head that’s a little bit like SouleMama (color, craft and muddy children) and is probably a whole lot of wild inventing by the displaced New Yorker who used to imagine she’d have been Laura Ingalls’ best friend, really. Yeah, well. I’m good with subways, squeezing into tiny parking spaces, navigating museums and finding good coffee. Horses, not so much. The only time I ever rode a horse the instructor scolded me for pulling the reins too tight. Dude, if the reins were any looser, I might as well be riding bareback in a tutu. And don’t talk to me about scrapbooking. I respect your craft, if that’s your thing, but me? I’m going to keep all my photos and paper crap in big piles for my grandkids to sort through and ask each other in wonder and disgust: “Now who the hell is this and why is she falling off that horse while wearing a tutu?”

And can I bear to leave yet another place that has come to be home? In me still are the quiet mournings of other homes I have loved and left. Can I add another one to the list? Can I bear to leave yet another group of friends? How many pieces of myself can I scatter across this world before I dissolve? I have moved often enough to know that friends remain – not all, certainly, but some. And the friendships change but they still grow. They still flower. And so will I — I do know this. But any uprooting is hard. And it takes time to grow deep and down again.

So, I sit here and wonder — can I go somewhere new again? Can I really have a quieter life? Can I make it the beautiful thing I imagine? Or am I going to hop into a stolen convertible and drive hell-bent-for-urban-leather back to civilisation? Am I going to rack up enormous phone bills and avoid scrapbooking parties and drink too much gin in my large kitchen? Will my children be happy and muddy and content, or will they whine about how we never get to go running through the giant heart anymore.

I have no answers. Even after seven deep breaths. I am waiting for my courage to rise.

Haiku

Francesca — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:39:00 +0000

Uncertainty is
Uncomfortable. (Also
My natural state.)

Edited to say: No Daniels were injured in the pursuit of this photo. Although he was attempting to ride his bike and the scooter at the same time, he in fact, staged this accident and then yelped dramatically until I came to photograph it.

If knitting is stress relief, how do you think I’ve been feeling lately?

Francesca — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 17:25:00 +0000

Now Helena has new socks to match Daniel’s new socks. New socks for everybody!

The beginning, to show my secret pal how handy the stitch markers she gave me are working out.

The finished raspberry hat, now enroute to its new baby owner.

A completed Klaralund, already worn (although not photographed on the body) and much admired. I especially like the wide sleeves and how smart this looks on, in contrast to my core wardrobe of t-shirts.

And with some of the leftover Noro Silk Garden (84), a mini Clapotis. This is its preblocked state. If I had known what a flexible pattern Clapotis was, I’d have made this a little wider, but it’s still lovely. I especially like how the stripes of the pattern go one way and the stripes of the yarn go another.

Here it is being blocked. It’s about 8 inches wide and four feet long.

Here it is a little closer.
And a little closer. Oh, how pretty (can you see the mistake?). It was fun and quick to knit (I love dropping stitches on purpose). And although I’m still not sure how much I like the fabric this pattern makes, I am very impressed with the enormous cleverness of the pattern and its designer. Guess who this is for. Go on. All right, I’ll tell you tomorrow because you’ll never guess.