FiberTribe: No Luck with Giotto

Feed My Head 2010

Andrea Camilleri: The Wings of the Sphinx (Inspector Montalbano Mysteries)
The wonderful, irascible Inspector Montalbano of Vigata, Sicily is at it again. Did I mention he's wonderful? And there are 10 earlier ones in the series.
Ariana Franklin: The Serpent's Tale
The very wonderful Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar (prepare to die!) continues her work. Who knew that the wretched pit that is present day Salerno once housed an amazing and Europe-reknowned medical school? Where even women were allowed to become doctors...
Ariana Franklin: Mistress of the Art of Death
Wonderful. And amazing as a first novel. There are some inevitably cringe-worthy scenes (if you're going to be true to the middle ages) but Franklin's ability to bring those times to life is spot-on. And she is amazing with the first of the Plantagenets. Makes me want to jump his unsavory little bones.
Nicholas Blake: The Worm of Death
Vintage 1960 British murder mystery. Good if you'd like to learn quayside shipping vocabulary for the docks at Greenwich...
Kent Haruf: Where You Once Belonged
Well written but depressing. Very depressing. His others are better.
Kent Haruf: Eventide
the sequel, sort of, to the wonderful Plainsong. I know that he's the father someone related to a knitblogger I read regularly. She mentioned him one time and the prior book Plainsong. Who? dunno. I'm not sure I would have appreciated Haruf as much had I not moved to a small, rural town. Go find him. He's quietly wonderful.
Ray Kurzweil Ph.D.: Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever
Another state-of-the-research book from Kurzweil and the longevity physician, Terry Grossman. I liked Fantastic Voyage better, but for sheer quality of information relevant to our health today, it's hard to beat. You can get a free (but for the shipping cost) copy at Ray and Terry's, their website that sells the supplements key to the program. As they say, they don't care if you get the supplements from them or not, just get them, take them and make the lifestyle changes. Then we'll be around to benefit from the next geometric progression of the health research paradigm.
Mehmet Oz M.D.: Healing from the Heart: A Leading Heart Surgeon Explores the Power of Complementary Medicine
so far so good. the ego required to succeed in the star-system world of cardio-thoracic surgery is only minimally present at the half way point in this book. In his world this is no doubt radical, radical stuff. Interesting to see the highest towers of traditional western medicine allow alternative therapies in.
Diane Ackerman: The Zookeeper's Wife
Love Diane Ackerman. Just started this, I'll get back to you...
Dana Stabenow: Whisper to the Blood: A Kate Shugak Novel (Kate Shugak Novels)
Another keeper. All is not well in The Park. The Aunties have taken matters into their own hands. Be afraid. another bit of wonderfulness from Dana Stabenow. Once again I'll be tapping my fingers for another year till the next Kate Shugak mystery shows up. Sigh.
Byron Katie: A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are
Loving What Is continued on...tough Work but is there really a choice about it? heh.
Greg Mortenson: Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
Alrighty, I'm late to this game but if you haven't read this, go forth and read it NOW. It's a wonderful tale and it's not over yet. As we ramp up the war in Afghanistan why not join the Dept. of Defense and do your required reading? As Rep. Mary Bono (yes, that one) says, you'll learn more about the region from this book than you will from months of Pentagon briefings. Go Dr. Greg!
Andrea Camilleri: August Heat
Camilleri's latest Inspector Montalbano mystery set in Sicilia. Just wonderful. Now I have to wait a year for the next one. Crap.
Janwillem van de Wetering: The Japanese Corpse (Soho crime)
Two Dutch cops sent to Kyoto to solve a murder in Amsterdam involving the Yakusa. Van de Wetering is a 'voice' like no other. He spent several years in a Zen monastery in Kyoto himself. The entire series has been re-issued by Soho Crime and is totally wonderful. And the cover design by Cheryl Cipriani is awesome. Yes, I'm a cover art ho.
Anthony Bourdain: Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)
Alice Hoffman: Practical Magic
The hardback has an illustration taken from Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Proserpine. Much nicer. Hoffman's a great storyteller. And I always want her characters to go forward to the next book. But they never do. Go read this one anyway. You're welcome.
Tony Hillerman: The Mysterious West
This is a REALLY wonderful short story collection edited by Hillerman. Lord, I'm going to miss that man. All of the stories are set in the west or midwest, small towns and large. They're quirky and somewhat unexpected, especially relative to the usual work of the authors like J.A. Jance, Dana Stabenow (a bit darker), Lia Matera (chilling), etc. The true find for me is Wendy Hornsby. One of the best written stories, independent of genre, I've ever read. I've never read a more skillfully built exposition of the backstory built into the actual story. wow. I'm off to see what else of hers I can find.
Charles de Lint: The Wild Wood
Re-reading this bit of loveliness from de Lint. Among other things, it's about an artist who's lost her mojo. It's apropos given that I've re-started The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron.
Elizabeth A. Lynn: Chronicles of Tornor 3: The Northern Girl (Chronicles of Tornor)
Found this as I was repacking ancient boxes of books. It was written in the late 70s and is flat out wonderful. It's the third book of a trilogy (the 2nd one is Dancers of Arun) I highly recommend all of them. It's Fantasy with an incredibly drawn world worth of an Ursula LeGuin, deep and quirky characters, and stay-up-all-night story telling. go. find them.
Julia Cameron: The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity [10th Anniversary Edition]
A birthday gift from the Gomez. Starting this once again after years of hiatus. Wonderful.

« Ok. Now Everything Hurts | Main | Retrograde or WHAT?? »

July 06, 2005

No Luck with Giotto

Well the Knitting Goddess has redirected me back at the criss-cross Vogue #5 top. Which is to say that I have suddenly, after 25 years, begun knitting on gauge? WTF? Size 10 needles, one size down, which normally do the trick did not do the trick to get gauge with the Colinette Giotto for the wrap cardi. And I'll be making a trip to Michael's for el-cheaps size 11 needles since the gazillion pairs in my stash have all gone missing.

Maybe I'll go seam up the Zen ribbon top I knit last summer. Ya think? Boring, I know.

In more scintillating news, we are now the target of the first Caribbean sea sourced tropical depression, set to arrive here on Friday, please god as a tropical depression and not yet as a hurricane, though hope of that is looking dim (see above). For explanation, the early part (ususally June and July) of the hurricane season normally produces hurricanes originating in the Gulf of Mexico or Central America. And the west coast of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas are the targets. But when we get a little further into the season, the hurricanes start rolling up from the southeastern Caribbean. And late in the season the really long distance ones originate as fronts coming off the west coast of Africa with plenty of nice warm water to fatten up on before rolling up the Caribbean bowling alley toward Cuba and us here in South Florida.

So here we go again, peeps. And me without my hurricane supplies. Time to hit the stores tonight and tomorrow before the panic sets in. Much time for knitting though, when cooped up inside.

Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink

Comments

Well, they did say this would be an active season and it starting off fast. Hit the stores and stock up. Don't worry about the yar, if you need yarn, the rest of us will take care of you.

Posted by: Mia | July 06, 2005 at 12:18 PM

Ugh! Please just let it stay south. Please, please, please.

Posted by: Wendy | July 06, 2005 at 12:38 PM

Ugh! Please just let it stay south. Please, please, please.

Posted by: Wendy | July 06, 2005 at 12:39 PM

My dad's name is Dennis, and he's a pretty mellow friendly kind of guy. I hope the same will be true with this storm!

Take care.

Posted by: Heidi | July 06, 2005 at 12:55 PM

Sharks and storms. Never a dull moment, eh?

Posted by: Neena | July 06, 2005 at 03:18 PM

It's deja vous, all over again...

Posted by: Gina | July 06, 2005 at 03:47 PM

This is just one of many reasons why I couldn't live in FL. But it's trumped by the heat.

Posted by: Liz | July 06, 2005 at 03:49 PM

Oh wiat.. deja vu... LOL.

Posted by: Gina | July 06, 2005 at 03:57 PM

Read in the news how bad this storm is. Thinking of you and hope things are okay at your end.

Posted by: Siow Chin | July 08, 2005 at 02:20 AM

Hope the storm isn't too awful. and hope your knitting relieves the stress of the storm!

Posted by: carrieoke | July 08, 2005 at 10:49 AM

Hang in there and knit like crazy!

Posted by: Amy | July 09, 2005 at 08:38 AM

Oh how well do I know! We are in for the loooong run!
Be safe,
G.

Posted by: GinaRenay | July 09, 2005 at 06:14 PM

Hope you're safe and well. We're hearing about the storm here and it doesn't sound good. Get those supplies in!

Posted by: Mary | July 10, 2005 at 07:50 PM

Ack! I hope you're safe and well too.

Posted by: Heather | July 11, 2005 at 01:08 PM

Water, candles, wine, knitting...you did remember the chocolate, right?

Hint: if it gets really hot, don't mix chocolate with the knitting, especially after a few glasses of the wine. Don't ask how I know. Just trust me.

Take care, okay? :-)

Posted by: Lee Ann | July 11, 2005 at 03:32 PM

was thinking of you during Dennis last week - my dh was stuck in Miami, thought he was going to Key West but they stopped boarding the plane just in time... its awfully early for this crap. We're going to St. Lucia next week to dive - I see that Emily's on her way there too. Hope she's long gone by the time we get there...

Posted by: Jeri | July 12, 2005 at 10:39 PM