Tunis fiber. Seen here on dye day.
Five
Whoa, you say, (in my imagination where “you” are paying meticulous attention), last time there were two, now we’ve jumped to five? I found the two on the left in a drawer; I guess they are two that didn’t sell last year. So now my fleet is five. Finished Mr. Multicolor on the right today. I know people like the multi-colors, and they sell, but I prefer the solids, not only because they are quicker to make. I just like the feeling of being able to churn out one color in quantity.
Book Corner 2020.4
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Two stories going on at once, and as usually happens, I liked one much more than the other. The protagonist of the modern-day story, Willa, is really a riot; a 50-something matriarch in a house that is literally falling apart. Every other line that comes out of her mind is funny. This story reminded me of The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver – in that case, the whole U.S. economy was falling apart; whereas Willa only has to deal with her own house and family. But the sarcastic middle-aged woman trying to keep it all together is common to both.
In the other thread, a house on the same lot (though, we find out, not actually the same house) is coincidentally also falling apart – but over a hundred years in the past. This story reminded me a bit of the Lydgate sub-story in Middlemarch – the ambitions of a man of science brought low by a pretty face. Unfortunately I found this story mostly tedious and exaggerated. The character of Mary Treat, the woman scientist, is intriguing; but the minor female characters (Polly, Selma) hit you over the head with caricature. And the conversations just go on forever.
Come to think of it, the conversations tend to drag in the modern-day story, too. The characters are a bit better (though I disliked how Tig was always implied to be in the right). And I really did look forward to getting back to their story – ceilings falling down; a tiny half-orphaned infant to tend to; and a hysterically funny, racist old father-in-law on life support. Kingsolver at her best.
Sunday
Couldn’t decide on one thing to talk about tonight, so you’re getting it all –
- Yarn came in for this year’s sweater project!
2. Multi-colored yarn is spun & resting on the bobbin!
3. Chicken Florentine was a success! The Italian-themed fiestaware was strictly a coincidence!
Cute, & So’s the Hat
I made a hat.
Thus Endeth My Momentum
As you can see, the Fiber Mill is temporarily on hiatus.
One-of-a-kind
All the colors being organized.
Book Corner 2020.3
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife by Connie Scoville Small
It’s funny how I got this book. My husband was telling his mother about the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland which we visited this past September, and how he found it to be a very haphazardly run place considering their impressive collection. Yeah, I piped up, and told a little story about how they had talked up this memoir written by a lighthouse keeper’s wife, and got me real excited and wanting to read it, and there wasn’t nary a copy of it in their bookshop. My mother-in-law said, oh, I think I have that book; and she fished it out. Sure enough, this was the very book!
“[A] life of people risking their own lives to help men and ships; a life of order and duty.”
This is how Connie Scoville Small describes her life of living in lighthouses along with her husband Elson, in the near-conclusion of her memoir, THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S WIFE.
From 1919 to 1947 the Smalls tended lighthouses up and down the Maine coast. I myself have little experience with life on the sea, and little patience to read through long descriptions, along with little ability to place myself in long-drawn-out scenes of nature with which I have little familiarity. I don’t think it was just me, though; Connie often seems to drop us into scenes with little in the way of helpful background explanation.
That said, I kept reading because I love slices of ordinary life from early in the last century and beyond. I could not easily picture the lighthouse-specific and maritime and boat scenes, but I loved reading about the family’s cats and cows… and of course the food. Lots of baked goods!
Rarely does Connie give us deep insight into what she, or, perish the thought, Elson, are feeling about the big picture. But here is a glimpse:
“I put inside of me my desires, my longings, things I wanted to do, if they came in conflict with what he wanted. I felt what I wanted were selfish desires… I gave and I’ve never been sorry… I wanted to rebel, desperately so at times, but I didn’t… I filled my life with Elson… I’d be so busy making it work and doing things he wanted me to do… I forgot to be unhappy and found joy.”
So different from us today. That’s why I like to read old memoirs. ( 
)
Check out the title link for her obituary – she died at 105!
One-of-a-kind
Carding to create one of my one-of-a-kind color blends.
That middle color looks really blue in this picture. It’s actually pine green. Or is it?
Book Corner 2020.2
The Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison
Just like THE F*CK IT DIET by Caroline Dooner but with very little swearing. Harrison is a registered dietician, and uses what she knows to convince you that Health At Every Size (HAES) (TM) is the only way to go. Lots of proof showing that diets don’t work, don’t last, and actually make you gain weight (NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT!). Seriously, Harrison is always bending over backwards not to offend (with constant shout-outs to non-binary-gendered people), refusing even to use the words “overweight” or “obese” without quote marks.
There is only a very short chapter about how to do truly intuitive eating. Like THE F*CK IT DIET, this book warns you that by “intuitive eating” we do not mean being obsessed with hunger cues, which is just dieting by another name. F*ck-it-style intuitive eating means: just eat. Whatever you want, whenever you want, however much you want. Enjoy.
Who couldn’t get behind that?
Harrison gives lots of reassurance that this will NOT ruin your health. After a honeymoon phase with brownies, you will settle in, your weight will settle in, and your health will be fine – or not – but if not, it won’t be because of eating the wrong things. Lots of factors contribute to health, including many beyond one’s control. And dieting is about control, so that’s not a message many may want to hear.
But it’s true; and other things that are true are: adipose tissue itself has NEVER been proven to DIRECTLY cause health problems. It’s just body tissue, after all. And: being health-obsessed, or even health-conscious at all, is not a moral obligation. There are no “good” and “bad” foods because an apple and a hamburger are MORALLY EQUIVALENT. Running a marathon and watching a Netflix marathon are MORALLY EQUIVALENT. What is “health” for, anyway? To let you live longer and more productively … to do what? Whatever is meaningful to you, THAT is the moral obligation; not health per se.
This would all be obvious if not for what Harrison terms “diet culture,” the water we all swim in. We are all afraid of being or becoming “fat” and what it will mean for our status. But this sounds shallow so we cloak it in talk of health-consciousness and “wellness.”
Just chuck it all. In other words, F*ck It. ( 
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Tytania 