Thoughtful Friday

 

It is not length of life, but depth of life.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

There were still 3 more of us to come (and one not pictured) - but we cousins have always been incredibly close.

Photo circa: 1979

Scoutleader!

Scoutleader is the name of the lady who is spoiling me during SP12 — and spoiling me she is! Look at what arrived today:

This is the most incredible package! Well beyond anything I expected.

Listen to this, there are 2 skeins of the softest Bamboo/Silk/Merino blend sock woll in vibrant, happy fall colours. Then there is a skein of 100% bamboo — it feels so much like cotton. Bamboo is really amazing stuff. I’ve never used 100% before and I’m thrilled to try it out.

There is a great sock pattern to go with the luxe bamboo & silk AND Addi Turbos! My favourite - the join is so smooth. And she is much better than I am at choosing - she sent me 40″ length. I got the 16″ length and it is a little tricky to Magic Loop with.

She also sent me the Yarn Harlot’s book At Knit’s End - my favourite and one I was thinking of borrowing from the library again! Synchronicity I’m tellin’ ya.

There are 2 pyramid teas in Earl Grey and Chai — my absolute preference in teas. And a box of scrumptious looking Caramel Latte biscotti — it’s like she knows my guilty secret: Medium Creme Caramel Lattes from the coffee shop behind my house (ok, not directly behind my house but a 3 min walk. ok, not that I’m walking).

As if that’s not enough - there are handmade stitchmarkers with the prettiest beads and a set of Narcissus notecards.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! You are far too generous. But I love it!

Lost Books: Watership Down Pt.2

I very much enjoyed this book - and as I continued to read, I enjoyed it for itself and not for what it said about Lost to me. However, since this is what the post is about…that is what I will focus on.

Fiver questions their very existence saying to Hazel, “You’re sure we are here, then?” Hazel dismisses the question out of hand - this exchange reminds me of the Man of Science/Man of Faith debates between Jack and Locke. Jack regularly dismisses Locke’s arguments.

In their quest for does, Hazel’s rabbits come across a warren called Efrafa. This warren is run by a military despot, General Woundwort. In describing his experience there Holly says of the rabbits “The holes are all hidden and the Owsla have every rabbit in the place under orders. You can’t call your life your own: and in return you have safety - if it’s worth having at the price you pay.”

This reminds me of New Otherton - Ben has everyone firmly in hand - either through direct orders or through manipulation based on fear. Like Efrafa, when our Losties join their camp, Holly goes on to say “Things can’t go on like this - the system’s breaking down. But it doesn’t do to be heard talking about it.”

Juliet’s exclusion of Ben from the Book Club is a small symptom of the underground rebellion building up under Ben’s leadership (the response of the Others to Locke’s appearance & Alpert’s open acceptance of him are other signs that they were chafing under Ben) . Ben is wise to it and has Goodwin dispatched — that this also serves his personal ‘romantic’ aim is convenient — and so removes Juliet’s support. The others in her Book Club are aware that they are doing Ben ‘wrong’ but they are uncomfortable about it and unlikely to continue to meet without him, especially as Juliet is critical of Ben.  In Efrafa it is also a doe who voices discontent, who questions authority for her group and when one of the males joins them in this resistance he is severely physically punished.

In the telling of one of the rabbit legends of El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle, Rabscuttle is seperated from his warren and imprisoned by a King. He is kept locked up except when he is made to work digging. Hmmm…Dharma biscuit anyone?

Oooh there is a particular legend of the Black Rabbit of Inle that strikes me as similar to Jacob/the Island (thus far anyways). Here is his description: “The Black Rabbit of Inle is fear and everlasting darkness. He is a rabbit but he is that cold, bad dream from which we can only entreat Lord Frith to save us…When the snare is set in the gap, the Black Rabbit knows where the peg is driven; and when the weasel dances, the Black Rabbit is not far off…The Black Rabbit brings sickness too. Or again, he will come in the night and call a rabbit by name; and then that rabbit must go out to him…He goes with the Black Rabbit and leaves no trace behind. Some say that the Black Rabbit hates us and wants our destruction. But the truth is - that he also serves Lord Frith and does no more than his appointed task - to bring about what must be.”

 

 

Jacob is the biggest mystery remaining - for me anyways. I at times think he is the Island or the Island’s representative. It is interesting that this Black Rabbit’s appointed task is to bring what must be - that seems eerily like the ‘course correction’ Desmond fought against. The reference to sickness is interesting too - I wonder if we will learn more about the disease that Rosseau’s people fell prey to (well, fell prey to her) the people in the Swan were innoculating themselves against something - whether it was real or imagined we don’t know yet.

Incidentally, while traveling to meet with the Black Rabbit of Inle, the rabbits heard from “far above, the cry of some great, evil bird on the wing.”

Later the rabbits are invited by the Black Rabbit to wager their lives on a game of Bob-stones, a tradional game played with stones similar to gamling along the lines of Odds or Evens, wherein the opponent must hazard a guess as to whether the stones cast are light or dark. Obviously games of chance feature in many mythologies and legends, but it calls to mind the recurring games theme in Lost: backgammon, chess, Risk, golf, ping pong (ok, there is not a great deal of chance in Chess — unless you are playing me! I have no strategy- but sometimes I can hang in there for a long time! to the aggravation of better players). 

The rabbits escape from the Black Rabbit’s lair and, since I just started rewatching Season 1, it reminded me of the Losties first encounters with Smokey after the Pilot was killed; it said of their escape ‘they did no know where they were going, except that they were going away from the Black Rabbit’s warren.’

Towards the end of the book, Hazel’s rabbits learn that General Woundwort plans to attack their warren. Some of the rabbits are fearful and want to run again but Hazel stands firm and vows to stay and fight, that they’ve been through enough and they will fight to the end if necessary. This is not unlike the Losties determination to hold the beach despite Rosseau’s instructions to hide in the jungle.

The chapter that marks the turning point in the rabbit’s fortunes is entitled: Dea ex Machina.
                                                      
Deus ex Machina (god out of a machine) was the first Lost episode to scare the bejeezus out of me. Certainly not the last…

The book’s epilogue begins with a quote from Through the Looking Glass “He was part of my dream, of course - but then I was part of his dream, too.” I sincerely hope the conclusion of this series does not end with any St.Elsewhere style - dream sequence revelation. Sincerely.

Deeper Lost books are on order, but in the meanwhile A Wrinkle in Time is my next Lost Book Club selection.

 

Fresh from the Garden

Since I saw Jamie Oliver’s new At Home episode about peas & beans, I have been waiting to try the pea sprouts. (incidentally: what I wouldn’t give for that garden of his!) Turns out they are totally delicious & refreshing - they taste just like young peas.

Kira cannot stand to see us eat anything without her. She had a good deal more trouble trying the sprouts than we did!

I don’t think she’ll bother with them again.

In other long weekend news: It’s been a little warm here.

Mail!

‘The Mail is good to me

And so I  thank the Mail

For giving me the things I need

A book

and some prep for emergencies.

The Mail is good to me.’

Based on a childhood favourite (which has somehow become censored in my memory from Lord to Earth — not sure how that happened…)

My Grandparents had a copy of this Disney book and Johnny Appleseed was a hero to me. I used to wish I could travel around planting and harvesting. It might have helped create my lifelong interest in gardening actually.

Another inspirational children’s book is Miss Rumphius. Last year I harvested the seeds from our Lupins at work and we gave them to all the children on Earth Day in celebration of Miss Rumphius with a little cup and some soil.

What books from your childhood do you still cherish?

re: mail order goodies - The book is written by this blogger and the Emergency Knitting Kit is available here.

Thoughtful Friday

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Marcus Aurelius

Secret Pal 12 - Question #3

What would I consider the perfect amount of stash?

That is a difficult one - it varies for each knitter/crocheter…or just plain stasher!

For me it would be perfect to be able to start whichever project I felt like at any time because I had the stash for it. No need to take a jaunt to the LYS (which isn’t open at 10 pm when urges to cast on new projects seem to hit). It would be truly amazing to have so much stash you could choose between 2 or 3 colours for your project.

Actually…I might just need my own Yarn Store. That way I would have the keys and the alarm code. Full time access baby.

What about you?

ETA- not my stash - image from google

Weekend in Review

So this weekend was quiet. It began with a dreadful bout of stomach flu and a LOT of sleeping/napping. Before the flu hit I went to the garden centre and added this lovely to my backyard — it helps screen out the neighbours (nice as they are, it can be awkward staring at each other while we eat) somewhat.

 

I am sure it has a proper name (the latin was something like Eurocopyborus) but I call it a Daisy Tree. The bees love it.

Quite a lot of progress was made on Ophelia..only to discover that sometime during the end of The Good Shepherd (I hope I was not the only person thoroughly in the dark throughout that movie! I had no clue what was going on or WHY?!) I had reversed the pattern half way through the 1st ball of yarn and nearly all of the 2nd ball. Temporary depression set in and I nearly frogged it and left it for something else - I also considered NOT ripping back but…better judgement prevailed and I ripped, knit 2 rows backward (to make sure I had the 4 row pattern in hand at the right row!) and last night during Eagle vs. Shark I nearly caught up to half of what I had ripped back. Argh!

 

I apologize for the blurry pic - I really need a new camera. This one will not photograph white at all - it leaves me with pics that look like there has been a visitation.

On Saturday we went to our local Farmer’s Market, where we got the most delicious strawberries ever! Yum. And we arrived there to find a celebration in progress.

I only just found out that it was a Sikh holiday: Essentially Sikh history, with respect to Sikhs as a distinct political body, can be said to have began with the martyrdom of the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev in 1606. Sikh distinction was further enhanced by the establishment of the Sikh ‘Pure’ brotherhood or Khalsa (ਖਾਲਸਾ), by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699.[33] This gives the Sikhs, as an organized political grouping, a history of around 400 years.

My Mother loved this young girl’s torquise Sari and asked to take a picture. They were a little embarassed, but willing (little did they know they’d be blogged!) We enjoyed the most delicious fresh samosas, dhal, barfi etc. Along with fresh fruits and drinks of all kinds from our generous Sikh community.

The rest of the weekend consisted of this:

interrupted by bouts of reading and feeding 30 more baby fish!

In other yard news: Look what bloomed!

 

Secret Pal 12 - Question #2

Only 3 more days of school left here in BC. This weeks question is: As a kid, what did you look forward to most about summer vacation/break/holiday?

Well there were a few things I loved about being home for the summer.

1. Unlimited reading time - most of which I did outdoors in the tall, tall grass that went unmown in one section of our backyard, close to our raspberries which would last for the first few weeks of summer at least.

2. Unlimited outdoor time - if I wasn’t reading I was running around outside. Building forts in the forest, catching minnows, exploring the woods and swimming in the rivers and lakes close to home. More time was spent in the river than my Mom would ever want to know about! I would head out of the house in the morning with a cup, (or bucket) a book and a package of Premium Plus crackers. No towel. I would dry in the sun. I would return home in late afternoon or right before dinner depending on the weather or how hungry I was. Sigh. Those were the days.

This was the view from the river I swam in.

3. Family Visits/Kids Party - when we were all young one of our cousin’s lived in California and each summer they drove up for 6-8 weeks. They brought gifts (yay!) and a bit of the exotic with them. We had many family rituals during those summer months, one of which was a Kid’s Party whereat all of us cousins would receive gifts from our Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents. A total summer highlight. I remember the night before they arrived from the US being unable to sleep because I was so excited - I would kick my legs under the covers and try not to squeal out loud. When the family was coming to Squamish I couldn’t wait for them to arrive so I would ride my bike to the entrance of Valleycliffe and then race home to let everyone know as soon as their station wagon cleared the horizon!

 

Ahhh the 80’s.

A Lost Thoughtful Friday

“Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don’t you John? Now picture a box that you can wish anything into. What would you say to that?”
                                                        - Benjamin Linus

 

If someone looked at me the way Ben looks at John Locke my insides would shrivel up!

What would you wish into the box?