Hey guys, it's Boxing Day!

Wikipedia offers the following history:

During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor "boxed up" leftover food, or sometimes gifts, and distributed them the day after Christmas to tenants on their lands. Many poorly paid workers had to work on Christmas Day and took the following day off to visit family. As they prepared to leave, employers presented them with these Christmas boxes.

I am currently at the bottom of a canyon in the mountains of Orgeon, so bringing boxed goods to the poor would entail an awful lot of snow boots and trudging. Instead, I'll share a picture of the view currently to my left and continue recovering from a severe food coma.

Pictured: Splendor

Excerpt: before the trip

Scene: Joel is shaving, Robyn is deciding how many pairs of leggings are appropriate for Christmas in Bend.

Joel: (face covered in shaving cream) What if I had a giant white beard?

Robyn: You'd be called Pappy and sell maple syrup on the side of the road. On weekends you'd play in a jug band at the local gin joint. But you wouldn't be playing the jug so much as drinking moonshine and hassling the mandolin player.

Joel: Great! Just checking. (dances a bit of a jig)

Robyn:

Le Tattooiste

I recently saw a friend's gorgeously designed Art Nouveau-styled tattoo, on the theme "Death and the Maiden". What I love about her design is the way the tattooist started with images from prints and reworked them into something covering a three dimensional surface.

This brought me back to a tattoo idea I've been kicking around for a while, based on Art Deco illustrations. I recently discovered George Barbier and Georges Lepape, and am entranced. I love the way the figures work against the background patterns, and how stylized and menacing they appear.

You just know all these party guests have concealed stiletto knives and cocktail rings filled with poison.

As of now I have no idea how to work this into a concrete design, but I'd like some figures on the back of my left shoulder, framed with an abstract design that comes across the top and down my arm a bit. 

Samples below, I'm thinking of something like the theme "Murder in the Cabaret":

Travel to the Booktryst blog, for "A Decadent Night in Paris with George Barbier". 

Idle hands are the Devil's playground

Setting:
Casa del Robyn y Joel

Time:
Saturday Night

Background:
I've turned down two social engagements (pajama party, board games) for the dubious pleasure of writing a collection development policy/writing annotations for a bibliography on Indian captivities in American literature/studying for an archives exam. Joel, similarly anti-social, is shouting things at the University of Oregon football game. ABC Family has been playing Harry Potter movies all day, and I may or may not be having funny feelings about Rupert Grint:

Pictured: wizard chic

But now it's late enough that my diligent work ethic has worn off, which leaves me time to recipe-blog about what I'm wearing on my face.

Aspirin Mask:

According to expert resource Jezebel.com, aspirin is composed of the same acne-fighting acid as the spendy products I buy on Sephora, which makes it an excellent spot-treatment or ingredient in a face mask. This evening I tried out the following concoction:

• 6 non-coated aspirin tablets. Put them in a cup or a bowl (I used a martini glass) and add a few drops of water. You don't want to dissolve them, just to break them up into a gritty paste. 
• Add a heaping spoonful of plain yogurt. I used a fancy Greek-style brand from the health food store, which is thicker than the regular stuff and stayed in place better. 
• Add about a teaspoon of honey. You could also try some smashed avocado, a drizzle of olive oil, cooked oatmeal, a twist of lemon juice, or an egg white. (Now this is getting me thinking of breakfast. I'd like Eggs Florentine with sourdough toast and fruit salad, please. And another cup of coffee.)
• Spread the mixture on your face, avoiding the area around your eyes. Leave it on for about 10 minutes, and before rinsing it off massage it into your skin a bit to exfoliate. 
• Rinse thoroughly, and follow with a good moisturizer.Your skin should feel nicely cool and glowey.

Pictured: beauty, horror-show

Buenos Dias a Todos

It's going to be a dance-y @#&%ing week!

Exactly like Library School:

Via Hark, a Vagrant

Leave the light on

If I had witchy powers, I'd definitely use them to set my friends up with the funkiest rappers in our suburb:




This weekend was just enough, liveliness and time to sit quietly. Emma and I swapped photo stories of our friends who live in cabins with turkeys and whiskey, or who plunge bare hands into beehives.

I'm partway into many things and feel I'll have the wherewithall for some completion. Whether this means the apartment will ever be fully unpacked or assembled is a different kettle of fish. But groceries: bought, stockings: washed, archives articles: read(ish). Those things are small, but they're enough for now.

Tomorrow and the next day I get to run around between meetings, and feel like I'm part of some grand planning. I need to finish writing Practium descriptions that reach for stimulating terminology: implementation, coordinator, liaison, analysis.

Also, Coffee and Pears

Prize winners for today:

1.) The trees on my street, for combating homesickness with colors rivaling New Hampshire's.

Not pictured: the glorious crunch of stepped-upon leaves.

2.) New Kitten, for finally settling on a name. Allow me to introduce Marlowe:

Pictured: uncharacteristic stillness

Yeah, that's more like it.

Named in the tradition of both the Dr. Faustus author/possible spy/Elizabethan bar brawler and Raymond Chandler's tough guy private eye (represented in film by Humphrey Bogart and Elliott Gould). I firmly believe that cat names should contain multifaceted allusions.


3.) Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Alec Baldwin, who have my sincerest congratulations.

Too tired for exposition:

Stories of Sunday Class

I like asking Joel questions while he's sleeping:

"Honey, what should I wear to LEEP class?"

"...a nice pair of shorts. And...a fruit blazer."

Happy Birthday, Mom

Ginger Brew

I have another job. This one entails, more or less, continuing as "The Voice of HPNL".*  No word yet on whether this will include a cape and a mysterious alcove.

I'll have stories about film archives, webpage building and library politics, but for now here are some things made possible by wages:

Orchid Bell

Wrapt

Eee! (The shelter calls him Garfield, but I call him Cicero)

*Videos 2 and 3. Video 4 is in the works, about Boolean.

Anadama oughtn't to rhyme with Alabama

I think that living in the middle of the country drastically intensified my love of New England. When autumn rolls around I'm longing for vivid leaves, decaying barns and ghosts.

Anadama bread is a lovely spicy-sweet creation that I would eat as French Toast at my favorite breakfast spot in high school. The molasses and nutmeg will sustain you through the months of blizzards, which are a metaphor for your stoic and flinty composure among the ghosts.

Adapted from this recipe: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/dining/124arex.html because I don't have a bread mixing machine.)

Sorry for the dismal photo, it is dark like the turnips in the root cellar.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/3 cup molasses

3 tablespoons butter, softened, more for greasing bowl (you may replace this with corn, canola, or any other neutral oil)

1/4-ounce package active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used half all-purpose & half bread flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (Whole nutmegs and all manner of decadent spices may be found at the Indian grocery stores, along with samosas sold in paper bags. Sublime!)

Process:

• Mix the cornmeal together with a cup of water and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring another cup of water to a boil. Add the cornmeal mixture and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes.

• Add the molasses and butter and stir to combine, until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Let it cool to room temperature.

• In another small bowl, mix the yeast with 1/2 cup hot water (100-110 degrees = microwaved for about one minute) and a pinch of sugar. Let this sit for about 10 minutes, until a foam covers on the surface.>

• Pour the yeast into the cornmeal mixture and stir to combine. Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Sprinkle in salt and nutmeg, and stir until the dough forms a shaggy ball, with most of the flour absorbed.

• Turn the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. If you can gaze into middle distance and whistle melancholy folk tunes, all the better.

• Butter (or oil) another bowl and put the dough in, turning a few times to coat. Cover the dough with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until risen double (1 to 2 hours)

• Tip: If your kitchen is growing cold and drafty, the bread may need some help to rise. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and set it on the bottom of your oven. Place the covered bowl with dough on the middle or top rack, and leave it closed in there while it rises.

• Once the dough rises, punch it down and shape into loaves. Since I don't have loaf pans, I made a boule instead. This ended up being very large, so next time I'll divide the dough into two balls and make two loafs. Once shaped, put the loaves in oiled pans (or for boules, on an oiled cookie sheet), cover with plastic wrap, and let rise another hour or so.

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 45min - 1 hour. The bread should be dark brown and sound hollow when tapped on the crust.

• Let the bread sit in its pans for 5 minutes, and then cool on wire racks.

• Enjoy while warm, I particularly recommend with tamarind chutney and hot tea.

Ciao Bella!

This afternoon we're off into the West. Weddings and babies and merriment are to follow.

Point:




Counterpoint:

A Session in the Conservation Lab

Book in hand: a nearly repaired "For Whom the Bell Tolls". The spine building process was much more exciting, but would have been tricky to capture, as it was all scalpels and glue.

See? Brand new spine and almost ready for some reading action. I think the edge of the original binding is still a little ragged (it kept unraveling with each cut), but it's not bad for my first attempt.

What's this? Hell's bells!

And some lout stuck it with Scotch tape!

Filmoplast's the awkwardly-named way to go.

All better! (Though with stains from the old tape) Moral of the story: Kids, don't Scotch tape your library books, or the Preservationists will take you away to the land of dust and silverfish... 

Hear Ye!

(image via Hark, a Vagrant)

Morning Times

Waking up

Craft time

Fluffy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn

Songs for Saturday

Et aussi, regardez la première Dame de France, maintenant Mme. Sarkozy.

"pourtant quelqu'un m'a dit..
Que tu m'aimais encore,
C'est quelqu'un qui m'a dit que tu m'aimais encore.
Serais ce possible alors?"

I believe Carla Bruni and Michele Obama are friends, and that they gallivant around Paris looking damn stylish.

Memento

September 11th, the one day each year that Fox News & Co. believe New York City is a part of America.

Dear American Filmmakers

Please stop remaking excellent movies:

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Some Yank decided the film ought to look more like this -

(Like Twilight but with a naked girl! You kids like the Twilights, amirite???)

Inspired adaptation from American screen writers:

"I'll help you."
"But...you're a girl."

Tomas Alfredson, director of the Swedish film, had this to say:

Remakes should be made of movies that aren’t very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong...I’m very proud of my movie and think it’s great, but the Americans might be of an other opinion. The saddest thing for me would be to see that beautiful story made into something mainstream.

"Let Me In" producer Donna Gigliotti responded:

We're incredibly admiring of the original...but to be honest with you, that picture grossed $2 million. It's not like we're remaking 'Lawrence of Arabia.'

Stay classy Americans, stay classy.

September is time for projects

It's been a long time since I regretted the end of summer, and this one in particular feels like getting back to business.

For example, I have a job! (Digital Media GA for ATLAS/OCE. Oh how librarians love those acronyms)

Also, I'm an Aunt! (in-law, or near enough) Joel's big sis went into labor on Labor Day.

And there are home projects. The first is for many curtains. While the new apartment is large and splendid, all the big windows look out on the Methodist(?) church across the street and on our frat-style neighbors to the right and left.

September is for planning, October is for implementation, I hope.