dreaming@echonyc.com

last year i thoroughly pruned the overgrown lilac bush at the corner of the house. so thoroughly did i prune it that this year we have

i'm expecting a bumper crop next year, but this year i'm bereft. i used to be able to open the living room windows and get drunk off the fragrance. this year, the only aroma is...well, the hamster-cagey scent of the damp cedar mulch.

now, most of my neighbors have lilac bushes that are just groaning with blooms. a lot of the public buildings do, too. even the dilapidated rental house on the corner has more blossoms than they can possibly use.

i would like to know your opinion: how wrong would it be for me to sneak out like a thief under cover of darkness and trim a few branches for my own personal use?

Posted by dreaming at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (37)

paul got an excellent picture of the bird nesting under our eaves.

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paul's mowing the lawn right now. maybe you can see him on the webcam. if not, check him out here.

i'm on tap as soon as he finishes to attack the back, which is overrun with dandelions so vigorous i think they've evolved into carnivores.

i hope i don't disturb the mother bird who's built her nest atop one of our outdoor light fixtures just above the deck.

Posted by dreaming at 04:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (34)

• brown sugar
• white sugar
• parchment paper
• potatoes
• real mayonnaise (though we have a lot of light mayo)
• broccoli
• chocolate for baking (semi-sweet and milk)
• tomatoes
• lemons

Posted by dreaming at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (56)

yesterday as we drove back from visiting several artists' studios, we saw a big, ugly plume of smoke over downtown montpelier. we decided against driving downtown to check it out, figuring they didn't need the extra traffic on main street at the moment. here's what happened:

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from abcnews.com's the note:

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and y'all thought what i did to lunch was mean:

This is a dear chicken transformation set. It is made from the two-tone felt cloth of yellow and orange, and even if it takes, it is finished to the pop impression. Please observe the feather of the chicken currently attached to the both sides of a hat. please imagine a profile when a cat covers it is as dear as it blows off involuntarily -- since it can equip with the head volume to which the reed of a chicken also attached — hat on a piece of Velcro, attachment and detachment are easy.

link found on clive thompson's collision detection.

Posted by dreaming at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

i finally brought my palm pilot out of the mothballs for the first time since i got my new computer. you should know that my pilot dates back to 1998; it's practically a clay tablet to be scratched with a sharp twig.

the cradle has a serial connector, but because my computer was made this century, it includes usb and firewire, with no serial ports. this didn't seem to be a problem, as the fine folks at keyspan had anticipated my problem by making serial-to-usb adapters.

i know what you're thinking: yeah, but i bet she found a way to fuck it up. indeed i did.

first i ordered the wrong adapter from amazon. then i borrowed paul's, a solution that worked but not a permanent one. finally paul went to smalldog and bought an adapter just for me — greater love, etc.

just one problem. the adapter has ports for round serial connectors, not the small rectangular 9-pin ones. and amid all our cables, we couldn't find a round-to-9-pin adapter. behold, then, the birth of frankencable.

that's right. 9-pin to 25-pin; 25-pin to round; round to serial-to-usb adaptor. it was going to be a miracle if this actually worked — which of course it did not.

i tried everything i knew to get my computer to talk to my pilot, but the pilot kept bleating, "unable to establish a connection with your computer." i checked all the connections between the various parts of frankencable, and they seemed tight. it wasn't until i'd tried to sync two or three times that i realized...

...i hadn't actually plugged the usb adapter into the computer.

Posted by dreaming at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

just thought i'd share a picture of my latest pedicure. i bought this flashy new polish by revlon — it's a shiny magenta that makes my toenails look like pink chrome. of course, it's 50 degrees out here, too cold to show off in sandals, but under my thick, woolly socks hide the toes of a temptress.

you'll be relieved to learn that i successfully resisted the blandishments of the nice lady who bullied me into getting holographic glitter polish last time.

Posted by dreaming at 05:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

now hear this: i am not to blame for terry's recent denim debacle. nay, i lay the blame gingerly at the exquisitely-shod feet of oprah goddamn winfrey. she's the one who told you to try on the long and leans! i merely reported that i had.

but, terry, if it's any consolation, chortle at this. yesterday morning i put on my smashbox cream eyeliner, carefully applying it with my special brush — the one that's only about an angstrom thick — and taking pains to avoid smudging it in any way. now, i've had problems with this product in the past, but after carefully questioning terry (the best real-life makeup artist i know) about her technique, i figured it was time to give it another try. and i looked smashing, no doubt about it.

the next time i looked in the mirror was two hours later, after a protracted consultation with my doctor. the eyeliner was smeared all the way down to key west. i think the good doctor showed admirable restraint in not laughing at my horrifying raccoonish visage.

Posted by dreaming at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

thank you, louisiana, for this.

the mug shots alone are reason enough to evacuate, betty.

Posted by dreaming at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

in the oven right now i have terry's emeril's my strawberry coffee cake. terry was kind enough to provide real-time kitchen support via telephone, so i have high hopes for it.

i'm baking it in two loaf pans instead of the single 10" round, and i'm a little concerned that perhaps i should have divided it into three, but in about 40 minutes the proof should be in the pudding (or all over the of the oven, one).

Posted by dreaming at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

the seeds of my doom are aloft.

i wish i could show you this on the webcam. the air outside is just clogged with some kind of fluffy windborne seed. i don't think it's dandelion or thistle; paul suggested milkweed. whatever it is, it bodes ill for my lawn.

it's strange to be able to see the course of the air currents so clearly.

and it makes me want to buy a 55-gallon drum of round-up.

Posted by dreaming at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

hummingbirds caught in the act!

last time i checked, it looked like the same bird was feeding at 5:36, 6:07, 6:23 and 6:44. is he just a glutton, or do we have doppelgangers?

Posted by dreaming at 06:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• cleome (mixed pink and white)
• a peony
• zinnias (two colors)
• snapdragons
• calendula
• red geraniums
• blue lobelia
• yellow marigolds
• dianthus
• chartreuse sweet potato vine

Posted by dreaming at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

i'm watching the birds at my computer even as we speak. (you'll need windows media player and flash mx to do it.) right now they're not up to much. i think they may be sleeping in.

Posted by dreaming at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

okay. let's review.

within the matrix you have nice food, sharp-looking clothes, and soap.

outside of the matrix, you have runny gruel to eat, grimy rags to wear, and mechanical squid hell-bent on frying you to a crisp.

well, gosh, morpheus, i'll take the blue pill.

back here on earth, here is my review of the movie:

they simply wouldn't stop talking. when they did stop talking for two minutes at a time, there would be hitting. now normally i like the hitting, but this hitting was...well, boring. and then there would be more talking.

and the whole thing was shot in bad-skin-o-vision.

i demand a refund and three apologies.

Posted by dreaming at 09:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

here's what we're going to do today:

1. head downtown to the farmers' market. they don't have a lot yet in the way of produce, but a couple of weeks ago we got some baby bok choy that was stupendous. (no adult vegetables for us, thankyouverymuch.) there are also scallions and spinach. it's fun to see what changes every week.

2. drive to burlington to see the matrix reloaded at the big theater with stadium seating. review to come, but i can probably write it before even seeing it: big, loud, stupid fun.

3. go to costco for staples. our supplies are running low, meaning that our basement looks like normal people live here instead of survivalist militiamen.

Posted by dreaming at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

did anyone see me on the webcam as i mowed the lawn today?

Posted by dreaming at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

the other day i realized with a shock that my jeans were so ill-fitting that the crotch was riding down around my knees. so today i went in search of new jeans. now, this is usually a very painful process. but today i was guided by a guardian angel named...

and they are. they're a dream. they're from the gap, a style called long and lean. the rise is kind of low, which works well for me and my regrettable pot belly. the fit is slim through the legs. they flare at the , enough to look fashionable but not enough to make me feel like i belong in saturday night fever. and the fabric includes a hint of lycra, so they fit smoothly but not tightly.

love my new jeans. of course, the best part is that i left with a pair two sizes smaller than the pair i walked in wearing.

Posted by dreaming at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

molly ivins on the u.s.'s failure to find weapons of mass destruction in iraq:

Posted by dreaming at 04:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

in honor of my new haircut, today you can watch me on the webcam. if i'm not there when you check, you can see it here.

what can i say? i was getting tired of looking at the birch tree in the rain.

Posted by dreaming at 03:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

i witnessed a very burlington scene this afternoon as i was going back to my car on the top deck of the parking garage. a couple of youts^TM were balanced on the rail of the garage, five stories up, and yelling down to passersby on the ground. "if i jump, will you catch me?" real jackass kind of stuff.

what made it a burlington moment is that when the kids decided to hop back down onto terra firma at last, they called down to the people below, "okay! have a nice day!"

and they actually sounded sincere.

Posted by dreaming at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

so last night paul and i were talking about, well, amphibian reproduction. (we're such a fun couple.) he was telling me about one species of rain forest frog that incubates its eggs in its stomach. "how," i asked, "do they keep from digesting the eggs?"

"fancy mucus," said paul.

Posted by dreaming at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

so good i had to hustle them into the freezer, lest i eat every one. chocolate chunk and toffee bits, mmmm.

Posted by dreaming at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

this weekend, lunch helped me make a quilt top for a wall hanging, about 18" x 24".

Posted by dreaming at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

today i planted...well, everything:

• lupine
  
• poppies
  
• iris
  
• phlox
  
• african daisies
  
• bleeding hearts
  
• lily-of-the-valley
  
• broccoli
  
• basil
  
• sage
  
• scallions
  
• campanula
  
• some cute little variegated foliage thingies
  

i took it as a good omen that some of my plants had wriggling stowaways — earthworms that traveled all the way from burlington in the pots of my new plants. they will add a much-needed jolt of genetic vigor to the current population here, i'm sure.

Posted by dreaming at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

enjoy swanson's new hungry man all day breakfast. it's chock-full of...well, of...

Posted by dreaming at 06:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

my friend steve tells me that the amazing poem generator (courtesy of the excellent commander taco) yields this for my site:

go on, try it!

Posted by dreaming at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

in paducah, betty fulfilled a lifelong dream.

Posted by dreaming at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

if i saw a thousand quilts in paducah (and who knows how many there actually were?), there were maybe twenty i wish i'd made. these might be the top three. click on the tiny image to get a bigger picture.

crescendo, by carol taylor, pittsford, ny

this one interested me mostly because of the intricacy of the background. each little square in the background is, oh, about an inch square, if that. and every place you see a square or a circle in the background, that's appliqued on. the wavy lines are couched — colorful cording held in place by zigzag stitching. i also really like the gradients in the quilt from dark to light and back again.

spangled star banner by susan k. cleveland, west concord, mn

this one is incredibly precise in its workmanship. what the picture doesn't really reveal is the exactitude of the piecing; the feathered star in the detail picture is probably about 6 inches and perfect. the binding has several very thin strips of piping in it, the appliqued circles are about the size of a quarter and absolutely round, and even the machine quilting is utterly controlled. i was surprised by how much i liked the muted color scheme. every color in it is sort of off (rusty red, murky teal), while i tend to prefer clear primaries.

wildlife, by ellen highsmith silver, rye, ny

i don't have a picture of the entire quilt, which is okay — the charm of this one is really in its details. it's an appliqued quilt featuring dozens of amusing little animals, done in a folk art style. every time i looked at it, i found something new to smile at. although it didn't win a ribbon, this quilt constantly had people around it, taking pictures and saying, "oh! look in the corner...!" i particularly liked the mother opossum carrying her babies, the mother bird feeding her babies, the red-winged blackbird among the cattails, and the quail and oreo cows (yes, oreo cows).

Posted by dreaming at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

not to be outdone by terry, yesterday i began my yardwork for the season. i cleaned out all of the front beds, raked about a ton of thatch from the lawn, and attacked many a burgeoning thistle with round-up. i broke my first sweat of the year and developed an impressive blister on my palm, but i didn't mind: the sun felt good after the long winter and the air smelled like hyacinths. unfortunately, now it is only a matter of time — perhaps mere days — before i accidentally touch a slug. paul helpfully suggested that i touch one on purpose to deprive them of the element of surprise.

Posted by dreaming at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

as i fretfully chopped vegetables for dinner last night, i whined to paul, "where is my suitcase?" just then, the doorbell rang. it was the guy from the airport, suitcase in tow. i think it was the call to the airport police that finally did it, because the three calls to the airline's baggage service certainly didn't seem to do jack.

Posted by dreaming at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

currently featured in my front yard:

• a host of golden daffodils
• purple hyacinths
• magenta hyacinths
• the burgeoning foliage of my allium from mars
• a million wild violets, foliage thereof
• tulips ready to bloom at the drop of a hat

pictures to come when the current monsoon ends.

Posted by dreaming at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

home again after a long but uneventful day of travel. on the new orleans/chicago leg, i sat next to a scruffy man listening to medical abstracts on tape. he was a doctor. on the chicago/burlington leg, i sat next to a beautifully groomed young woman wearing an enormous diamond ring and carrying a bag from a medical conference. i wonder if she was a gynecologist, as her bag proclaimed, or a doctor's wife, as her ring did.

somewhere along the line, my luggage and i parted company, and it did not arrive in burlington. the man at the ticket counter swore they'll have my suitcase delivered to me in the morning. contents: about twenty yards of fabric, three pounds of now-thawed crawfish, and twelve pieces of fried chicken.

yes, i am that stupid.

Posted by dreaming at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)