martinimade

"Some people are unburdened by the details of history."

-- from here. I just love this phrase. It reminds me of the Southernism "bless your heart," in that it calls the subject a fool as politely as one possibly could. (Also: this piece really sums up what "privilege" is vis a vis lots of stuff but touches on push-back from those who are losing it.)

Also: my Friday running wrap-up is live at another mother runner. It features unflattering pictures and a tale of stubbornness.

It's been a busy week but none of the busy has been particularly noteworthy. Or, perhaps, none of it feels noteworthy because we are all so very cold. So, here. Have a corgi.

She can sit on command....

... but requires belly rubs afterward.

(Because of a variety of circumstances, Lisa and I are taking a Figs break. But! For those who just started reading the blog, I'm going to reach deep into the wayback machine and toss up some old Figs for your enjoyment. Like, say, this one.)

“I don’t know, Edwina. Somewhere along the way it just got so complicated, like somehow my self-worth was related to my Amazon ranking number and why no one wants to buy the next book. Ten years ago, I would have been thrilled to just have one book published, much less two. And, yet, here I sit, stuck in a remarkably meaningless game, if you look at the big picture. I mean, for each rung I climb I just keep worrying about the next one. That’s nuts, right?”

“I don’t know about that, hon. Might just be the way yer wired. Wouldn’t hurt none to switch to decaf, maybe. Lemme just deliver this fried chicken and I’ll get you some pie. Pie cures most doubts.”

“Do you still have the blueberry? That was some fine pie.”

 “Saved a slice just for you, hon. It looked like you might need it.”

Text ©Adrienne Martini; illustration ©Lisa Horstman. Until the end of time. Or something.

* Persistence is success.

* The joy of jelly.

* Wow. Such. Bad. Advice. (NSFW)

* Bread squirrel.

* #12 might be my favorite.

* My love for Meryl Streep only grows.

* Really?

* The Pittsburgh bucket list.

* Uncle Sugar and Aunt Flo.

* What a costume designer does.

* Vaccines work. (NSFW)

* One of the reasons we left Tennessee.

This weekend was a whirlwind of running, cleaning, cooking, and driving. There was a trip out and back to Poughkeepsie. There was a rehearsal for the kids' service at the UU. There was the assembling of queso and summer rolls. It was that kind of weekend, the kind when starting the work week seems relaxing.

With all of the running around, I didn't take any pictures, except for these of a pastry purchased in Poughkeepsie that reminds me of the Pittsburgh Italians:

Outside.

Inside. And it was almost worth all of 48 hours of frenzy. Almost.

"Fear is forgetting that everything is fine."

-- Real Simple, January 2014.

Also from that same issue:

"Talking to your friends is often better than reading parenting books. Even experts who have written parenting books agree. 'I believe in safety, consistency, using a car seat properly, and vaccines,' says Wendy Sue Swanson, a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital and the author of Mama Doc MEdicine. If you don't have time to find every answer by digging through your bookshelf, schedule dinner or coffee with a friend who has children slightly older than yours ...."

And, for those following along, my week one training blog is up.

Sometimes you have to go a very long way out of your way in order to come back a very short distance correctly. 

This is my second attempt at knitting a right front for my Chimera cardi. You can read about the first attempt here. I think I might have nailed it this time. But I won't really know until it sew it up with all of these bits:

So there's still plenty of time for it all to go horribly wrong. 

McGregor is, of course, just waiting for his opportunity to pull out all of the pins and shred the sweater front with his claws of justice. He's like that.

Because of a variety of circumstances, Lisa and I are taking a Figs break. But! For those who just started reading the blog, I'm going to reach deep into the wayback machine and toss up some old Figs for your enjoyment. Like, say, this one, which is a) based on a true story and b) makes me giggle.

* The strange story of V. C. Andrews.

* Promo stills are hard, y'all.

* To hell with West Virginia - and why we should know ahead of time what is being stored.

* Again - this might only be funny if you're from the 'burgh but they crack me up every time.

* In gun America.

* The history of Europe, in .gif form. 

* Globes fashion, a la Genevieve Valentine.

* Wow. 

* And a wow of a different sort.

* It's a mystery.

* Vulnerability.

* So ... this has happened.

* I love this post.

* Reality isn't real.

There's more to the story, of course, because there almost always is. Maybe I'll tell it later in the week. But the short version, the more important one that isn't all about me, involves six miles on the treadmill thinking about how much I hate the treadmill and how lucky I am that I can run and how not fair life can be sometimes.