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Endangered Textiles

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2015| 2 Comments »

You have heard of “slow food” and perhaps “slow money” (a loan with a long time to pay back) and other efforts designed to help us reduce the often meaningless haste of modern life. Well, Cousin Claire has been posting news on Facebook about another slow movement that is sure to intrigue you, Slow Textiles.

Says Slow Fiber Studios on its About page, “We are founded on a simple intention: to offer real-world insight into the multifaceted and holistic practice of textile-making. Slow Fiber Studios™ offers dynamic, hands-on field study programs in diverse areas of the world where textile culture runs deep — India, Mexico, Japan, France, Italy, and on. We believe the best way to understand a philosophy is to see it being lived.”

Here is a description of a 2012 offering: “Special opportunity to travel throughout India with Yoshiko, who has been exploring this country for over 30 years (lived in Ahmedabad in 1983/84 on an Education & Culture Fellowship and frequent 3-month residencies spanning 3 decades). Yoshiko will introduce her friends in India who are involved in welfare, community empowerment, and cultural sustainability projects.

“Tour Highlights: natural dyes, organic cotton cultivation, handloom weaving, khadi, biodynamic farming, architecture, local food and religion, contemporary art and design educational institutions, museums, solar energy development, hand spinning and weaving wild silks and Tibetan wool in Himalayan communities.” More here.

How well I remember the wistful feeling I got in reading the book Lark Rise to Candleford when the beautiful handmade lace was spurned as soon as the factory-made came in. There is something to be said for speed and efficiency, but also something to be said for craft.

Photos: Slow  Fiber Studios

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Fiction and Empathy

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 31, 2014| Leave a Comment »

As an icebreaker at lunch Monday, a colleague asked us all to go around the table and name a New Year’s resolution. I said I was going to emulate the phone-reading guy in the comic who tells his friend, “Yes, I just got a text, but I think there’s also a subtext.”

I meant that I want to go beneath the surface of things, to listen to what people are really saying. You know how you can sharpen your skills in that department? Read fiction.

That’s according to an Emory University study written up at Mic. Gabe Bergado has the story. “It’s not news that reading has countless benefits: Poetry stimulates parts of the brain linked to memory and sparks self-reflection … But readers of fiction? They’re a special breed.

“The study: A 2013 Emory University study looked at the brains of fiction readers. [Neuroscientist Gregory Berns and coauthors] compared the brains of people after they read to the brains of people who didn’t read. The brains of the readers — they read Robert Harris’ Pompeii over a nine-day period at night — showed more activity in certain areas than those who didn’t read.

“Specifically, researchers found heightened connectivity in the left temporal cortex, part of the brain typically associated with understanding language. The researchers also found increased connectivity in the central sulcus of the brain, the primary sensory region, which helps the brain visualize movement. When you visualize yourself scoring a touchdown while playing football, you can actually somewhat feel yourself in the action. A similar process happens when you envision yourself as a character in a book: You can take on the emotions they are feeling. …

“Need more proof? Psychologists David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano at the New School for Social Research focused on the effect of literary fiction, rather than popular fiction, on readers.  For the experiment, participants either read a piece of literary fiction or popular fiction, followed by identifying facial emotions solely through the eyes. Those who read literary fiction scored consistently higher, by about 10%.

” ‘We believe that one critical difference between lit and pop fiction is the extent to which the characters are complex, ambiguous, difficult to get to know, etc. (in other words, human) versus stereotyped, simple,’ Castano wrote to Mic.” More here.

Thank you, Claire, for sending this. You know what I like.

WP_20141231_17_28_21_Pro

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Electric Fat Bike

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

TreeHugger frequently covers biking. And since my four-year-old grandson has mastered all but the braking on his new two-wheeler and expects me to start biking with him, I think I better cover bikes, too.

Here is an article by Derek Markham from the TreeHugger website about a new bike that aims to combine the best of two worlds.

Writes Markham, “When you go from riding a skinny-tired road bike to a mountain bike with fat tires, it opens up a whole new world of cycling, even if you don’t ever leave the pavement. With fat tires (and perhaps some suspension), your bike can float right over bumps and cracks in the road without rattling your teeth, hopping up or down curbs is almost effortless …

“But even with these advantages, there are still riding situations that can bog down a mountain bike, such as sandy and snowy conditions, and if you really want to go where most people don’t, then a fat bike is the next logical step.

“Fat bikes, with their extremely wide (4″) tires, can make a sandy wash or a gravel road as easy to ride as a packed singletrack (well, almost as easy), and riding in and on snow and mud can be something you seek out instead of try to avoid. But those big fat tires also take some extra effort, and if your thighs aren’t quite up to the task of pedaling a fat bike through and over slush, snow, sand, gravel, or mud, a fat bike ride can be grueling. However, when you add the power of a 500W electric motor to a fat bike, such as Biktrix has done, a virtually unstoppable Juggernaut is created.” More here.

Hmmm. An upstoppable Juggernaut might impress my grandson, but I am pretty sure he doesn’t want me to be as impressive as he is. He told his dad Saturday, “You need to be slower than me.”

Besides, the electric part reminds me of mopeds, and I really don’t like mopeds.

Photo: Biktrix

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A Recipe from Every State

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 29, 2014| 8 Comments »

Did you catch the NY Times article before Thanksgiving featuring a special recipe from every state? Asakiyume says she made the wild rice recipe and the persimmon pudding, “both of which were fabulous.”

Since my husband and I lived in Minnesota for a few years in the 1990s, I had to check out that state’s recipe. If you listen to Garrison Keillor’s radio show A Prairie Home Companion, you know that food in the “hot dish” capital of the world is often a little … different. (“That’s different!” as the book How to Talk Minnesotan teaches us to say when we’re feeling skeptical.)

Anyway, the Minnesota Thanksgiving dish is grape salad. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be delicious, but some of the other state recipes look positively luscious.

Here is the grape salad recipe. It gave me a chuckle.

  • 2  pounds seedless grapes, removed from stems and rinsed, about 6 cups
  • 2  cups sour cream
  • 1  cup brown sugar
  • ¾ cup toasted pecans (optional)
  1. Heat broiler. Put grapes in a large mixing bowl. Add sour cream and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula, making sure all grapes are well coated.
  2. Transfer mixture to a 2-quart ceramic soufflé dish or other baking dish. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over top. Place dish under broiler as far from heat source as possible and broil until sugar is caramelized and crispy, about 5 minutes (be vigilant or you’ll risk a burnt black topping). Rotate dish as necessary for even browning. Chill for at least one hour. May be prepared up to 24 hours ahead. Just before serving, sprinkle with toasted pecans, if using.

More state recipes here. Save the collection for a special occasion — or next Thanksgiving.

Photo: David Tanis/NY Times

More here.

Photo: David Tanis/NY Times

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Tree Aid Helps Africans and the Environment

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I liked this story at TreeHugger on protecting trees and fighting poverty at the same time — especially the part about the importance of women in the effort.

Sami Grover writes, “The old trope that we can either have economic development or environmental protection has been pretty much blown out of the water by this point. …

“Nowhere is this more true than the dry lands of Africa, where desertification, resource depletion, climate disruption and political unrest have all taken their toll on communities’ ability to survive and thrive. There is, however, plenty to be hopeful about too. …

“Tree Aid, a charity which works with villagers living in the drylands of Africa, has long been at the forefront of this fight. By working cooperatively with villagers and on-the-ground non-profit partners in Africa, the charity doesn’t just plant trees, but rather increases villagers’ capacity to protect, nurture and utilize trees to protect their soils, increase agricultural yields, and provide a buffer against the drought, floods and failed crops that are predicted to get ever more common with the advance of climate change.

“A new free report from the charity, entitled Building Resilience to Climate Shocks, the charity is seeking to spread the word about how trees can be used to both alleviate poverty and protect the environment at the same time. …

“Previous tree planting efforts in the drylands have often failed because they’ve either focused on the wrong species of trees, or they have failed to take into account the needs, resources and skills of the local population. …

“Unless short-term needs are met, long-term needs are compromised. … Tree Aid has worked with villagers to develop alternatives to ecologically damaging land management practices:

TREE AID provides training for villagers to plan ways to make money in the short-term as well as the long. For example by producing honey from the bees which live on unburnt land and using fallen trees for fuelwood. This gives them enough income to sustain and invest in their futures and environments, as well as preparing themselves for weather extremes. …

“One of the strategies the charity uses to build climate resilience is to establish ‘Tree Banks’ within a community. These banks are essentially mixed-species tree plantings that can provide for a range of needs from fuel wood to animal fodder to fruit or other products. Each community establishes rules and management practices for when and how a Tree Bank may be used. …

“Any successful strategy for regreening these regions must work within those cultures to empower and educate women as caretakers of the environment: When women take part in decision-making there is a long-term positive impact on trees. They become important forest caretakers.”

More at Tree Aid, here ,and at Treehugger, here.

Photo: Tree Aid

 

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Doodle Contest Draws 200 Entries

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 27, 2014| 2 Comments »

I like to listen to the radio show Studio 360 (on the arts) as I drive to tai chi Saturday mornings.

In October, I heard about a contest the show was running. The Studio 360 website explains: “We challenged you to The Great Studio 360 Doodle Dare. Cartoonist and newly-minted MacArthur ‘genius’ grant winner Alison Bechdel started a drawing — of a disconcerted young woman grasping at something unseen — and we asked you to complete the picture.

“More than two hundred doodlers took our challenge, putting Alison’s character in every imaginable situation — fighting spaghetti, hitching a ride on a dragonfly, hanging off of Iggy Azalea’s backside. …

“ ‘I was amazed by how many submissions there were,’ says Bechdel. ‘And many of them were really, really wonderful.’

“Carlolita Johnson explained in her submission that the drawing depicts something that really happened to her. ‘She had a little dog that was rolling around on a cliff above the ocean and the dog went over,’ Bechdel explains to [Studio 360 host] Kurt Andersen. ‘So it was exciting to me, because I like to write about my own life, to see someone turn this into a real scene from their own life.’ ”

More here.

Alison Bechdel’s original drawing next to the winning submission from Carlolita Johnson (Studio 360 Doodle Dare) 

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The Many Virtues of Compost

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 26, 2014| 2 Comments »

Tara Mitchell writes at EcoRI News, about the many virtues of compost. It’s a timely topic for gardeners starting to think about spring and what to order from the seed catalogs that arrive this time of year.

Mitchell reports from Wrentham (MA), “John Engwer, owner of Groundscapes Express Inc., and Butch Goodwin, operations manager, recently led Ecological Landscaping Alliance (ELA) participants on a tour of the company’s composting facility, explaining how compost is made and discussing its many benefits and uses. …

“With the recent implementation of the Massachusetts ban on food waste being buried or incinerated, food scrap from hospitals, restaurants and supermarkets have become another component in the composting process. Food scrap from a local hospital is now incorporated into Groundscapes’ composting operation. …

“Goodwin said the material takes about four months to decompose and is then left to cure for another two months. It’s then screened. The finished product, dark brown, moist, light and crumbly, smelling of earth and full of microbes, is then ready to be delivered. …

“Engwer emphasized the importance of using, reusing and retaining existing wood, stumps, brush and other natural material on site so that organic matter can remain part of the cycle of growth, death, decomposition and renewal.”

You can find more on the how-to here.

Photo: Ecological Landscaping Association
The first step in the Groundscapes Express composting process is mixing the raw materials. 

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Magi

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 25, 2014| 2 Comments »

Do you know “The Story of the Other Wise Man,” by Henry Van Dyke? It’s about a fourth wise man who sets out with treasures to give the baby born in Bethlehem.

He never makes it, because along the way he has to spend the treasures one by one to help someone in need. At the end of his life, he feels he has failed. Then he hears a voice saying, “Verily I say unto thee, Inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me.”

Background on the tale is at wikipedia, here. You can get the whole story at Amazon. Better yet, how about your local library?

Sleep tight, Everyone.

Art: Hans Memling
Adoration of the Magi.

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Abstract Cookies

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

After my older grandson (4-1/2) and older granddaughter (nearly 2) let me play too as they decorated their gingerbread cookies, I went home and pulled out the sugar-cookie recipe from the nursery school cookbook John made in 1975. It’s still the best.

Observation on cookie cutters: Swedes know their moose. I have several moose/reindeer cookie cutters, but the only one that works well is the one from Erik’s mother. It has plump legs and antlers. Why is that important? Because skinny legs and antlers invariably break off.

The grandson, granddaughter, and I have the same abstract aesthetic when it comes to decorating.

The Little Mermaid window ornament is from Erik’s sister, who lives in Denmark.

121414-abstract-Xmas-cookies

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Ferguson Library

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , on December 23, 2014| 2 Comments »

When the town of Ferguson was turned upside down and the schools had to close, the library stayed open and provided children with learning activities and comfort.

People around the world felt the urge to “do something” for Ferguson, and I began seeing tweets about donating to the Ferguson Library. To have an objective like that was a relief to the feelings, but I had no idea what a special library it turned out to be, how many kinds of help would coalesce around it, and how much I would learn about libraries in general from following @FergusonLibrary on twitter and Facebook.

The Ferguson Library has been sharing the work of other libraries and exhibiting great insight about using this moment of fame to benefit the community and the important work of libraries in our society.

One of the many nice things that have happened is that a children’s book author has organized donations from other authors, and they are coming in from near and far. It all makes one want to spend a lot more time in the library.

Gingerbread house at Concord Library

library-gingerbread-house

 

 

 

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Two Christmas Trees

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on December 22, 2014| 3 Comments »

xmas-treeThis is the tree in my warm and cozy house. The tree in the picture below, a picture you may think is entirely black, is actually sitting all by itself on a river bank that floods in spring.

It makes me think of the carol about King Wenceslas, who “on the Feast of Stephen” (December 26) spied a poor man out in a blizzard and went with his page to take care of him. “Bring me flesh, and bring me wine; bring me pine logs hither: Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither.”

The story goes that “heat was in the very sod that the saint had printed.”

Not being able to heat the sod underneath our feet (or command a page, for that matter), many of us consider sending a check to a food bank at this time of year. Still too many hungry people.

tree-on-river-bank

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Feeding the Emperor’s Panda

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , on December 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Rainy days at the shore and holidays are for many families today the only time they play board games.

But for folks in Omaha, Nebraska, an unusual coffee shop provides frequent opportunities to play games — including some that, guaranteed, you never heard of.

Robyn Murray reported the story at the radio show Only a Game.

“Remember playing Monopoly and Scrabble around the dinner table? Arguing with your siblings about who gets to be the car or the Scottish Terrier? Or whether Z-A-Q could ever be a real word? Well those days are coming back — with just one variation: The arguments are getting weird. Did you feed your monster properly? Can you trust her to save the world with you? And what’s the best way to ensure your family doesn’t have to go begging — selling bread or planting beans?

“Welcome to the revamped world of board games.

“At Spielbound in Omaha, Neb. — a newly opened coffee shop and board game library with what’s believed to be the largest collection of board games in the country — the Short family recently played Takenoko, a Japanese board game.

“ ‘We are trying to please the emperor by taking care of his panda and growing a most excellent garden that feeds his panda,’ Justin Short explained.

“There’s a comfortable feeling about Spielbound. The tables are wooden and the booths leather. There are no television screens, just a cozy bar that serves beer and coffees with names like ‘Taste of Sweet Victory’ and ‘Dice Delight.’ Downstairs, four foot shelves are stocked with board games. Each box is a little work of art, with titles like ‘Arkham Horror’ and ‘The Road to Canterbury,’ with pictures of ships, dragons and submarines.

“The Shorts come here a lot on their monthly family pass. Short has a collection of 200 board games at home. But that’s nothing compared to the 1,200 available at Spielbound, at least according to the Shorts’ children:

“ ‘It’s just fun to play as a family whenever we get down here,’ Isabelle said.

“ ‘I like pretending to be something else and do something else,’ Sabrina said.

“ ‘I like beating people,’ Cameron said, laughing.”

More here.

Photo: Robyn Murray/Only A Game 
Spielbound, a coffee shop and board game library in Omaha, Neb., holds what’s believed to be the largest collection of board games in the U.S. with over 1,200 games available for patrons.

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Slowing Things Down

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 20, 2014| 3 Comments »

When John was 3, I made a 16 mm movie for a class. It was abstract. It involved giant road signs saying, “You Slow Down!” and my 3-year-old doing one of his favorite activities — dragging all the yard tools onto the top of my car.

My teacher didn’t give me a good grade because (a) there was no logic to it (so?) and (b) there were too many jump cuts (point taken). But who can see a sign like that and not want to take a picture of it? “You Slow Down!”

Wherever I drove today, there were too many crowds and too few parking spaces. An anxious vibe was abroad in the land.

Fortunately, there are activities that invariably slow me down: an hour at tai chi, with lots of ocean breathing; a couple hours playing with grandchildren and singing with them to John’s guitar; an amble among the hurried shoppers; doing my exercises; drinking hot cider; writing about it all. I can’t do any of that fast.

Now I have a question. Does ambling among hurried shoppers just make them irritated or help to calm them, too?

The photo below shows my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss moderating the tempo at work yesterday.

top-boss-at-the-office

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Redesigning Streets with People in Mind

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 19, 2014| 2 Comments »

We’ve been speaking of public transit and well-planned cities of late. Here’s a story from the radio show Living on Earth about a Boston neighborhood that is fed up with streets built to keep cars and trucks happy and is demanding a more human focus.

“JAKE LUCAS: On a bright Tuesday morning, in Boston’s western neighborhood of Allston, a small group of locals with picket signs crowds onto a little wedge of concrete. They’re standing on Cambridge Street, right where a highway on-ramp splits off from the fiercely busy six-lane road that has been a sore point for years.

“HARRY MATTISON: Cambridge Street is a street that’s a crucial link in our neighborhood, and it’s also an incredibly unsafe, dangerous street.

“LUCAS: That’s Harry Mattison, a 31-year-old software developer who’s a longtime advocate for pedestrian and cyclist rights in the area. Since Cambridge Street was last redesigned 50 years ago, it’s been high on the list of residents’ complaints, and with good reason.

“Two pedestrians were killed here in the last two years. And one of those accidents happened just a few weeks before this rally, when a car hit a man as he tried to cross from the on-ramp to where the protesters are standing now.

“They’re holding signs with messages like ‘My kids walk here,’ and they’re demanding a safer Cambridge Street. Mattison has three kids, and laments not feeling safe on a street that cuts through the heart of his own neighborhood. …

“The city is already working on a short-term fix to make Cambridge Street safer. But in the long term, the transportation department has bigger plans. It’s going to bring the street into the modern day and transform it using the principles of what’s called a ‘complete street.’ Complete streets look different in different places, but the idea’s simple – make transportation systems about people, so there’s equal access for all forms of travel and all people.

“Boston’s Transportation Department has its own complete street guidelines. The head of policy and planning, Vineet Gupta, says that in Boston, every street redesign will include a handful of features from a menu of possibilities.

“GUPTA: Any street that’s going through a redesign process will have some elements of complete streets in it based on its size, based on what the community wants and based on where it’s located.

“LUCAS: In some places that’s as simple as narrowing the road by adding a bike lane. Projects with more room and better funding, like Cambridge Street, might also allow for things like new bike sharing stations, more trees along the street or smart parking meters that direct drivers to open spaces. The final design will be tailored toward the wants and needs of the people who use it.” More here.

Photo: Jake Lucas
Harry Mattison and residents of Boston’s Allston neighborhood march at the Rally for a Safer Cambridge Street on July 28, 2014.

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Generous Humans

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 18, 2014| 2 Comments »

Lately, there have been so many stories about kindhearted people tucked in among the opposite kind of headline that, at this rate, if I wait another week there will be too many for one blog post. A good problem to have, of course, but I think I’ll just go ahead and give you what I’ve collected so far.

First there was the woman who went to the Toys R Us in Bellingham and paid off all the layaway plans. Then there was the woman who did the same thing in another Massachusetts town.

Next was the widow who put her engagement ring and wedding ring in a red Salvation Army bucket hoping that, if someone bought them, the charity would receive $20,000. Another widow did just that. She also put out the word that she would like to give the rings back to the first widow.

On Cape Cod, a man believed to be an emissary of a grateful resident has been showing up in fast-food restaurants, asking the manager how many people work there, and dolling out that number of $100 bills. All those generous souls are anonymous.

If you’re not full to bursting yet, how about the homeless man in Preston, UK, who gave a student his last $3 to get a taxi after she lost her money? And how about the student herself, who then organized her friends for on overnight on the streets and raised over £20,000? Now the homeless man is getting an apartment and advising on ways to help the nonprofits that had helped him.

Sam Rkaina at the Mirror writes, “A campaign to raise money for a homeless man has raised an incredible £21,000 after it went viral. Dominique Harrison-Bentzen set up the appeal for an ‘incredibly kind’ homeless man called Robbie who offered her £3 for a taxi home when she lost her bank card on a night out.

“She set up a fundraising page to pay for a deposit on a flat for him and yesterday took part in a 24 hour sleep-out on the streets of Preston. The 22-year-old says she has been overwhelmed by the support from the public after the fundraising target was completely smashed.” More on that story here.

Photo: The Mirror
Dominique, second from left, and friends experiencing a night of homelessness to raise funds.

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