martinimade

Some shameless promo -- I had a thing happen during a run that had never happened before. I wrote about it over at Another Mother Runner.

Many things:

• This is me.
• Related. (FYI: this piece also name checks my favorite historic nun.)
• The best satire is almost indistinguishable from reality.
• How I travel.
• This piece is as beautiful as everyone has said it is. 
• I remember running into Watergate Salad all the time as a kid during the 1970s. I wasn't a fan. I, too, wondered where it came from and where it went. Now I know.
• Ellen Raskin remains one of my favorite writers.

This hot and humid summer (and my increasingly close approach to menopause) has finally broken my longstanding resistance to wearing sleeveless tops for something other than running. I finally have reached the age where I DNGAF* about the condition of my upper arms and just want to be as comfortable as possible in a house with no AC and an office with substandard AC.**

So I looked around for sleeveless tops for a grown-up. My office-mates don't need to see my bra straps. I don't want to wear some weirdo blend that pills when you look at it crooked. And I want to look like a woman in my late 40s, not like one in her 70s. 

Once those limits were applied, the racks were empty.

Which is when I realized I have a sewing machine, a desire for a project that doesn't take weeks to finish, and some meager sewing skills. I poked around a bit, heard high praise about Grainline Studios, and picked up the Willow pattern. When Scott and I went to NYC a few weeks ago, I bought fabric and thread at Mood. And when I had a few hours, I committed some sewing. 

Top number one: 

Apologies in advance for the bathroom mirror pixs. I worked with what I had.

The fabric is a cotton/linen blend.*** It's cool and comfy and only touches my body where it absolutely has to. Thumbs mostly up. 

Top number two:

Yes, the cotton fabric has moths on it. How could I not buy this? 

My supervisors were sleeping on the job.

The artsy shot.

The obligatory bathroom shot.

On the whole, I am pleased with how they turned out. As long as you don't look too closely at the bias binding, these home sewn garments look like actual clothes, which is progress. Also: I discovered that bias binding is super fiddly but worth it. 

These little experiment went well enough that I'm pondering committing more sewing. Any patterns/designers you'd recommend? 

-------------------

*Do Not Give a Fuck

** We're not great with air conditioning in this part of the Northeast. We can efficiently heat the bejeezus out of anything enclosed, mind. But cooling is not in our wheelhouse

*** While cutting the fabric for top number one, I discovered my eldest child had used my fabric scissors to cut granite or something so there was a pause while I waited for new scissors to arrive. 

• From the desk of Emma Lazarus
• It's okay that it is hard.
• Nice melons.
• This has made the rounds before but it gets more meaningful for me each time I read it.
• You should be listening to Conspiracyland.
• Sounds like a great place for a summer home.
• If any of you find yourself in Cooperstown, give me a call. I'm only a few minutes away...
• I want to go here.
• Laura Lippman is my new hero.
• How are your levels of rage? Could you stand a little more? 

And in shameless self-promotion: all about a sweaty, celebratory 5K in Seneca Falls over at another mother runner.

• The Washington Post understands me.
• All of these are true.
• You'd be shocked what you can find in college yearbooks (and I say this as someone who spends a lot of time looking through them).
• Bang Bang Girl Gang.
• This is a huge problem in Otsego County, too, and there are no great solutions.
• Next time I'm in Japan (and there will be a next time), I plan to collect as many of these as possible.
• Megan Rapinoe can tell you where to put your "yes, buts."
• My expectations for pants/trousers is the same.

And some shameless promo: a word or two about the summer and running and giant roosters over at Another Mother Runner.

Over at Another Mother Runner, I put in some meaningful miles and, as anticipated, grouse about the weather.

• I, um, wow.
• The more I read from Taffy Brodesser-Akner, the more I want to read from her. The last graf of this is perfection.
• Somehow, I am always surprised by how petty people can be.
• We fear the wrong things.
• This world is a wonder.
• This is a searing, gorgeous piece of writing that will change absolutely nothing.

"Another cornerstone — when you think you are running hard, run harder. Try to keep running harder for longer than you think you can, bringing your body and your mind closer to the edge, that moment when the ritual becomes the revelation. Running, he knows, is filled with truths that can be found only when we learn to be comfortable with discomfort, to go to the place we fear more than any other — and stay there, without fear."

-- from Matthew Futterman's book about running guru Bob Larsen, as quoted in the NYT

I know. Long time, no update. I've been out of the country and wrote a little about my adventure for Another Mother Runner.

• It's all about the vagus nerve.
• The school photo industry.
• Brains are weird and terrifying.
• Cats gotta cat, yo.
• I might have posted this once already but it remains a great story.
• Challenge accepted.
• I could watch this for days.
• This anger isn't new...
• ... and this is why.
• ... or maybe this.

Once again, six other women and I ran around Seneca Lake (in seriously bitter weather). Here is what that looked like.