I decided that, given how much time I'm going to be away this summer, working on the garden was going to be impossible to keep up, so I'm taking this year off from garden stuff.

I'm quite surprised at how much is coming up and blooming happily even though I've been ignoring it.(well, OK, the weeds are also happy, but not as bad as I expected).

Even my railing planters--evidently the last couple years of petunia have seeded quite nicely.

The past couple years of putting in annuals has paid off well--daffs, iris, day lilies all very happy. And I think the peony will bloom this year.

This fall I *will* do a little--want to put in mor dwarf daffs and a bunch more iris/daylilies. But that's it.

NEXT year, OTOH, I'll get back into it.

Have iPhone. Suggest apps. :-)

OK, I now have accounts at LJ, Linked-In, Facebook, Dreamwidth and email via MIT, my lab, yahoo, gmail, and possibly through my web domain.

Can someone *please* write some kind of meta software that will tie these all together in some coherent fashion?

thx :-)

So *all* of the RSI stuff went away by the third day in France. We'll see how long it takes to come back...

Back from the first of the summer vacations. Here's a couple pics taken less than half a mile from my grandparents house:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/TdF1.JPG
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/TdF2.JPG

and the view up the hill from where I was standing--the house at the top (you can only see the roof and top floor) is my grandparents'farmhouse--a house older than my country. Cool.:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/LouB1.JPG

and lastly, my favorite view of all from the vacation:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/ham1.JPG

I have some form of RSI..I think. Oddly, not in my wrist but rather mostly in my right shoulder. So possible culprits are:

WoW (tho I haven't been playing that much recently)
Computer use in general (I *have* been doing a lot of surfing, and reading ravelry--and my desk to chair relative heights at work is really unergonomic)
Sectioning at work
Knitting (I *soo* hope it's not this!)
Sleeping weirdly (I do often kind of find myself wedged between the cat and the spouse when I wake up)

Or possibly a combination of all of the above. Sigh. I have to fix this, it's not going to get better without me changing something.

Much housework done, yay.

Stripped Mel's vihuela case, picked up thin wood strips and staples for putting in the velvet lining. Washed velvet. Will (hopefully) put in the lining and batting this week.

While at Lowe's noticed the chandelier we have been thinking of getting for the dining room was on clearance. Didn't see any on the shelves. Ended up buying the floor model (last one in the store) for $18. That's a $150 chandelier. For $18. Of course, we have to have an electrician come and wire the ceiling for it (we were already planning on doing that) so it'll cost a bunch for that. But still.. :-)

Assorted misc storage units for bathroom and clothing. This is good and will hopefully make the place look less chaotic.

Seriously considering an iPhone--because my current phone is old and one of the tabs that holds the battery in place is broken so it keeps shutting off. Need new phone, can go to family plan with J, can combine my iPod into my iPhone and thus carry less around...all good. But haven't bought it yet, maybe this week, but probably when we get back from France.

..just ordered the following patterns...

Coraline tunic: http://www.whiteliesdesigns.com/patterns/lpullovers/160.html
Evangeline tunic: http://www.whiteliesdesigns.com/patterns/lpullovers/157.html
Nanette tee: http://www.whiteliesdesigns.com/patterns/lpullovers/155.html
Ruby cardigan: http://www.whiteliesdesigns.com/patterns/lcardigans/158.html

I think I now have enough patterns in my ravelry favorites and in books/hardcopy to last me the rest of the century. However those who are close enough to me to give me gifts (this is *not* a hint) would do well to give either other patterns from this site, or yarn to make those I have (tho probably not in those colors. stick to blues, greens and purples, and maybe rich red) (and the patterns nicely tell you the yarn requirements in their descriptions). Just saying. :-) (actually, I should add that to my family xmas list...)

ETA: I *really* like the mouse-over function--where you see the page in the link without actually having to go to it.

Blocking is amazing. Here is my latest shawl.

Before blocking:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/Allapreblock1.JPG

and a closeup:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/Allapreblock2.JPG

...and after (well, during) blocking:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/Allablocking1.JPG

and a closeup:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/Allablocking2.JPG


....and my ever helpful aide:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/Allacat.JPG

Tomorrow is Renn Dance night, last one of the season.

First Church Congregational, Cambridge (the stone church next to the Sheraton Commander hotel in Harvard Square) 7:30PM, $8. Loads of fun, you should come!

This week was the Boston Early Music Festival.

I clearly need to get out more. I went to more concerts in the past 4 days than in the entire previous year. And now my brain is full.

I didn't get to go to anything in the first half of the week. I took off Thurs (and I don't work Friday anyhow) and did the last 4 days. So, deepest apologies to those of you who's concerts I missed :-(

Thurs:

Boston Recorder Quintet. A pick-up group with Tom Zajac, Roy Sansom, Judith Linsenberg, Roxanne Layton, Heloise Degrugillier. Fabulous concert. Wonderful variety in shades and colors. A program that included music from 7 different centuries (including this one).

Paul Leenhouts' master class. Got to hear the first two sessions. Always interesting to see what he says to people.

Fri:

Seth Warner, vihuela. A solo vihuela concert. He covered all 7 (?) of the vihuela sources. Lovely lovely lovely. I would give a lot to someday get my vihuela to sound like that.

Good Pennyworths. English lute songs. Very good group in terms of technical stuff (tone, intonation, musicality..) The performance practice was more Renn Faire than authentic Renaissance, but I enjoyed it (although I feel slightly guilty admitting that).

Ensemble BREVE. This was the one performance I was really disappointed in. Partly, it was the third concert I went to on Friday and I walked into it with a headache. Partly, it was in the Church of the Covenant which has dreadful acoustics for recorder/baroque flute, and I was about 9 rows back. The baroque flute stuff was barely audible due to the muddy acoustics, and was frightfully out of tune for part of it. The recorder stuff was clearer, but still difficult to hear.

Sat:

Amici da Lontano. Also at the Church of the Covenant, but much much clearer. Spectacular concert. Jenifer Thyssen, soprano, and friends. Purcell, Merula, Jaquet de la Guerre, etc. Wonderful. I need to keep an eye out for any recordings she has done.

Polyhymnia. Exequias. A funeral mass written for Philip II (died 1598) by Christobal de Morales. Done in it's entirety. This was glory.

Sun:

Flanders Recorder Quartet. I think this might actually be the first of their concerts I've managed to get to. Four musicians, about 20 recorders, one heart. They were amazing. I crave that level of ensemble.

I find it both disturbing and gratifying that one of my coworkers asked for my vacation schedule so that she can plan her vacation at the same time....

I did give her the names of the other people in the lab that can do her sectioning while I'm gone...but she still seems to want to schedule around me...

A few of the projects I've been doing:
Druidic bracers:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/druidbracers2.JPG

Onyxia scale cloak:
http://www.mit.edu/~cjsmith/dragonscalesshawl2.JPG

http://www.genomequilts.com/genome.php

But I'd have to figure out what gene to do....

OK, stupid question of the month, and I really should know this.

I'm looking at the BEMF website, and all the various concerts have ticket prices etc. What exactly does a Festival Week Pass actually get me? I still pay the same for all the BEMF concerts, as far as I can tell.

So I was carrying my vihuela on the T the other day, and someone asked me what it was...so I told her (actually I generally tell them it's a guitar, unless I feel like explaining...). She said, "oh, I thought it was a harpsichord". I'm still trying to figure out what she thinks a harpsichord is. Maybe a harp?

I find this amusing:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5165490

Anyone have a swift and ball winder that I could borrow or visit to use at some point in the next month or so?

I have 6 skeins laceweight and 1 skein sock weight that I need to turn into balls.

And I'm not doing all that by hand.

Is DW something I want to be trying to get a code for? I'm on LJ mostly to keep in touch with people I dont see that often. Journaling isn't my main reason. And it has been eminently successful for that--I now am much more caught up with a number of friends. I want to stay that way.