Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tuesday Tunes

So I'd give this world
Just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

This song is from Mermaid Avenue Volume 1, a project that Wilco worked on with Billy Brag. If you have not heard it go get it - now! It's a beautiful collection of music that was created from lost lyrics that the late, great Woody Guthrie wrote but never got to put to music. I think the boys did an admirable job of creating the melodies and arrangements to capture Guthrie's words. There is also a documentary about the entire process which is a fun watch, if you're really into Wilco, Bragg or Guthrie. There is also Mermaid Avenue Vol. 2 as well!









"California Stars"

I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd love to feel
Your hand touching mine
And tell me why
I must keep working on

Yes I'd give my life
To lay my head tonight on a bed
Of California stars

I'd like to dream
My troubles all away
On a bed of California stars

Jump up from my starbed
Make another day
Underneath my California stars
They hang like grapes
On vines that shine
And warm the lovers' glass
Like friendly wine

So I'd give this world
Just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight
On a bed of California stars
I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight
On a bed of California stars

I'd love to feel
Your hand touching mine
And tell me why
I must keep working on

Yes I'd give my life
To lay my head tonight on a bed
Of California stars

I'd like to dream
My troubles all away
On a bed of California stars

Jump up from my starbed
Make another day
Underneath my California stars

They hang like grapes
On vines that shine
And warm the lovers' glass
Like friendly wine

So I'd give this world
Just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

So I'd give this world
Just to dream a dream with you
On our bed of California stars

(Dream a dream with you)

Monday, July 26, 2010

Good Fortune

I was greeted with a wonderful, surprising email from Amanda Blake Soule of SouleMama today. I had won, one of three giveaways offered by a sponsor of her blog this past weekend! Each weekend sponsors of her blog are featured and they offer a prize for a lucky reader who leaves a comment. So, this past weekend, I visited SouleMama, like I do most everyday, and I left a comment because I was so struck by the fabric featured. They are really adorable prints from Japan, all sorts of sweet patterns for making pretty much anything for my kiddos. Or, for just sitting there and staring at the prettiness of the pattern rather than cutting it.

I left the comment in the hopes of winning but I didn't think I would. I've left comments on the site before, and it's a very busy blog with hundreds of comments for prizes like this. I also took into account my lack of luck when it comes to giveaways. I won a huge stocking filled with board games when I was about eight at our local convenience store. From then until two years ago at a La Leche League event in Albany, I had won nothing. Nothing. At. All. I also will admit to being still slightly upset about not winning any swag from the recent Ravelry Search Party. (ok, I REALLY didn't expect to win anything from that one, with so many other entries to compete with, but I was really in love with each of those prizes!)

So imagine my shock and sheer giddiness when I groggily opened that email this morning. I won something!!! I actually won!!!

I am now the very happy (and lucky) recipient of a gift card to spend at This and That From Japan!!! Now I have to figure out what to get, which is not as simple as it might sound. I'm debating making a quilt for Syda for Yule or making a dress for her, or pjs or about a hundred other things. I'm thoroughly enjoying having such hard choices to make.

Many thanks to Amanda for her fantastic blog. The chance to win fun, crafty stuff is great but I visit her site daily for inspiration and reassurance that there is beauty in the chaos of our daily family lives and there is almost always enough time to knit a row or two. Of course, I have to thank Lisa too for her generous gift card because clearly, where would this post be without her?!
Seems my good luck may be starting! (PS, if anyone needs me I'll be on Etsy)




Sunday, July 25, 2010

Summer Perfection

What a great way to start a Sunday! Sydney and I went blueberry picking this morning at the local farm . There was just something serene and perfect about being out in the sun, picking berries, listening to the bees buzzing around, voices floating up from rows over, sharing that start to the day. Quite nearly a most perfect morning. Happy weekend!














Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Tuesday Tunes

It's a very exciting Tuesday Tunes this week! The Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival is this weekend!!! I'm not sure that we'll actually make it this year, but I'm still damn giddy that it's happening and daydreaming about being there. Our absence has nothing to do with the festival itself but is a clear example of my lack of planning and procrastination. I kept thinking the end of July was so far away...um yeah, it was in May, not so much now.

Anyway, the Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival is a wonderful event that showcases traditional Bluegrass as well as general acoustic sets, including Honky Tonk, Gypsy Jazz and even Irish. The festival is also incredibly family friendly (from what I've been told from friends who take their young kids every year.) Your ticket includes the price of your own campsite so you can make yourself at home, venture out to see and hear the incredible music, visit vendors, make new friends, watch competitions in banjo picking, fiddling and even take workshops and compete in the songwriting championship.

So, with that as my inspiration this week I'm sharing two videos because I couldn't choose just one with so many great bands to pick from!

First up, Steep Canyon Rangers W/ Steve Martin. (he won't be there, but they will!)


Della Mae - I'll Get It Myself

Monday, July 19, 2010

Summer Loving




Was gonna have me a blast. Alas, it is not to be this year. :( KnitMaine 2010 has been canceled. I'm off to weep into my current project, thankful it's soft cashmere to comfort me in these times of disappointment and heartbreak.




http://knitmaine2010.com/

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Typecasting

I didn't see this one coming. I predicted the sibling rivalry, I knew there would be countless battles over who got the first, last, red, blue, old, new Object-of-Desire-at-Given-Moment - that's just a given with more than one kid in the house. We've dealt with it pretty well, at least I like to think so. Most of the time the boys are able to find a solution to their conflict that doesn't involve injury or "I Hate Yous!" screamed across the house.

What I didn't expect was the bond that I'm seeing develop. The boys are really connected to each other. Much more so than I had ever expected and it's wonderful and strange all at once. The wonderful aspect is fairly obvious. They make each other laugh, they get upset if the other is hurt, they share, they cannot sleep without the other and they play together. I mean really play, and there's not much better than watching what their little minds come up with together.

They clearly have developed a bond. They are a pair now, a united front, a team. The rival? Sydney, the little sister, who else? A few weeks ago the boys were playing a game where they had to get on the ship, which also doubles as their bed at nighttime, and get as far away from the sea monster as they could. About twenty minutes into this game, they landed on a tropical island and their worries over the sea monster had disappeared. But only to be replaced by a new fear of the ever vicious Sydabeast!!!

The game plays out that Sydney sits on the floor, she crawls around and changes her location as babies do, and the boys run in and out of whatever room she is in screaming as if she is running after them with teeth bared and claws extended. The boys make it safely back onto their bed, or the couch (a small boat that they row back to the main ship), rest for a few minutes, discuss where they "HAVE" to go next on the island and then repeat the above scenario. Today at the beach, the boys started playing this again in the water only this time Sydney was "Sydney-Lake-Monster" - their version of Loch Ness Monster. (thank you Scooby Doo, not my Scottish heritage for that one) She played along and splashed while the boys swam around her, and she even growled a few times. That's really more of her means of communication now rather than an attempt to be scary. The boys don't care, it still makes pretending she's a beast more believable in their eyes, they couldn't care less what her methods are to get into character as long as they can make her the villain they run from.

For now, it looks as though Sydney will be cast as the villain in the local games. I think she's going to have a good run. She's got another year at least until she's really got some major words coming out and can start trying to dictate the storyline. I'm certain the three of them have already started working on their bond and we'll just have to wait to see it unfold as Sydney gets bigger. I just hope the boys realize that she may not always want to be the beast...or she may take to the part too well and enjoy scaring her big brothers for years to come. Either way that growl is going to come in handy!

The Sydabeast in her natural habitat. (featuring a bruise from learning to stand * I mean, a gruesome battle)


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tuesday Tunes

Yes, it's Michael Franti again. I don't have any shame in posting the same artist again so soon, none at all.

i wake up in the morning its six o'clock
they say there may be rain but the sun is hot
i wish i had some time just to kill today
and i wish i had a dime for every bill i've got to pay
some days you lose you win
and the water's as high as the times your in
so i just back in there where i learned to swim
try to keep my head above it the best i can
that's why,

here i am, waiting for this storm to pass my by
and that's the sound of sunshine coming down
and that's the sound of sunshine coming down


Thursday, July 8, 2010

MIA

"Fiber is magical - we invite you to let it put you under its spell!"

In case I disappear for a few days in August - this is most likely where I've run off to. I'm already excited and wishing it was now, even though I realize that is wishing away most of the summer. Tsk, tsk I know - but I think it might be worth it!

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Tuesday Tunes

There's nothing like a good cover, and Levon Helm only does good covers. Bonus points are offered this week for anyone who can name the origin of the song *without using Google* and extra bonus points if you're under 35. (I can't be the only one who likes "old" music right?!)

Also, bonus points = reassurance that you have good taste in movies and a plate of brownies or cookies if you're local! ;)