holiday centerpiece class

after many seasons of talking about, i am offering a floral design class this december. in time for our holiday dinner tables, it will be a 3 hour centerpiece design class which will allow us to make our christmas/holiday floral arrangements and show them off to family on the day. sign up for a december 21st (sunday) 10am-1pm class in pennington. we'll have 10 spots, 9 are still available. it will cost $135 (cash or check) including the materials and you'll take a beautiful centerpiece home. we'll learn how to select, care for, clean and cut fresh flowers, how to prepare and green a container and how to make a natural look holiday centerpiece. we'll learn about vase life for different flowers and greens; how to make and use bows and other decorations in a floral arrangement, etc. all this right in time for the first day of hanukkah (monday the 22nd) and christmas is thursday the 25th.
bring your favorite low container or use one of ours. sign up here in comments or e-mail me at pensive.weeds@gmail.com with any questions. hope to see you there.

fun and games

this rooster costume was requested a long time ago by Fedia and he stuck to his selection. so about a week before the princeton parade i started making it with absolutely no idea of how to accomplish the look. the crest, the hardest bit, worked out as so many things in our lives thanks to t.Ira. she left me some bright red yarn that turned out to be perfect for this project. it was thick enough. i chrocheted without a pattern adding on every stitch in the third row to achieve the right curve. i reinforced on either side to help it stand up, but in hind sight should have crocheted a wire right into the backing. as it is, the wire is threaded in, sewn at the bottom and the crest still kind of flops over. the feathers were easy. an old sweater, fabric glue....a long evening, though after having done it and seen how hard and shrinky the garment itself got, i should have sewn them individually. the tail was a lot of fun. large feathers from a craft store, wicker-srapped wire and red fleece to make shorts to attach the tail. cannot do anything without a glue gun. red rubbery fabric to wrap old rainboots in and we were done. he actually liked it. i thought he may not want to wear it, but we are even keeping it all for dress up.

sonia was a frog. we have used this costume for the 3rd year in a row. it was too small. i forgot that i got it for fedia's 12-18 months. next year we'll have two make two and i cannot wait.

the farm

the farm, or as we call it 'ferma', is in all essence a member of the family. one would not be able to guess that it is the largest csa in the country, so understated in appearance, simple in operation and lovely in spirit the honey brook organic farm is. http://www.honeybrookorganicfarm.com/ we go once a week to pick our share in the farm stand and sometimes spend 2-3 hours in the field picking 'pick your own' crops. the kids love it and i cannot think of a better way to spend an afternoon. something so natural about a 4-year old recognizing different herbs, tomato and tomatillo plants, carefully pulling eggplant off the stalk and holding back his 2-year old sister from putting a hot pepper in her mouth. they both love to pick green beans and sample the different varieties, the dragons being the favorite, i suspect having much to do with the name. we have met at least two very large grasshoppers this summer, countless worms and caterpillars and have brought many a stink-bug home on the flower stems. at home we take the bounty out and sort. tomatoes stay on the table and sauce tomatoes sometimes get washed and cut right away for pasta sauce for the winter. one day this autumn fedia stood at the kitchen counter for over an hour, helping me cut plump plum tomatoes that he picked. and while the sauce turned out a little lumpy, it was nonetheless delicious.

spring crown wreath with ribbon streamers

i've made a couple of these. the idea came from the yarn itself. the softest llama unspun roving from a farm in massachussets. this is
a handweave that one of my grandmothers' taught me. i use it for

belts, bracelets, necklaces, etc. it seemed the right thing to try a headband as halloween and costume time approaches. it worked out perfectly. takes 15 minutes and offers hours of delight and playtime. i added a few beads in the front, ribbons in the back and spring crown princess look was complete.

adding to our family of hats

as the weather cools down my fingers crave once again for the crochet hook and the tender sweet yarns from the wooly lamb http://www.thewoolylamb.com/. i start these from the center with three-four stitches and work my way outward, deciding on the shape as i go along. someone might remember fedia's hat from last year in blue italian wool with the dr seuss accent at the
top - scroll down to may 25th to see. (he still loves it and has been wearing it these cool mornings and after the pool). hence i've been working on the girly ones. everything i make for sonia ends up selling before she gets a chance to wear it. this aqua one on the right went to fedia's friend mei. i cannot wait to get that picture. sonia is reluctantly modeling here. she happens to look serene, but i had to chase her before she ripped it off her head. the striped knitted sweater is paulina's brilliant present for sonia's birthday. it fits perfectly. and i think she is keeping the pink ribbon hat below.

a thought

as i move about in my daily life noticing social changes, snapping bits of npr while a baby sleeps in the car, catching bits of news, holding on to interrupted thoughts, following yesterday's conversation, i attempt to construct a sound and logical argument. but then i stay up too late, lose track, procrastinate, get fired up and everything starts appearing related to everything else... so this will have to remain an entry in progress.

a lack of consistency is a big problem for me in the current republican doctrine. These people are self admittedly fervently christian, but they find it ok to despise, promote hatred, speak of the unforgivable whilst christianity is simply all about understanding and forgiveness. Sara Palin is unequivocally pro-life, no exceptions - but yet it's ok to walk around with a semi-automatic and shoot defenceless animals for kicks. They may not be human babies, but they were created by the same omnipotence according to their belief - how could it be ok to kill anything? As well as, to a staunch pro-lifer how could initiating a war be an acceptable policy... the same question troubled me with Mike Huckabee.
how can a conservative republican be in support of any of george bush's policies, such as patriot act and warrant-less wire tapping? if the conservative aim is to reduce the size of government and get it out of the private lives of the citizens, hasn't george bush's administration worked directly against those? by the same token, it's unclear how child bearing and rearing - this most private of matters for individuals and families, has ended up at the forefront of that party's agenda.

Brugmansia

I

I bought a white bottom facing brugmansia a few years ago with the intention of wintering it over in the sunroom. Alas, I could not make it happy and it withered by late February. Never doing that again, thought I. However, in late spring its offspring popped up all over the garden and by late June giant plants flooded a rather tame mostly indigenous garden. Except the flowers this time around were facing up, plants themselves not too beautiful, obviously self seeded in less than optimal conditions. This year I tried transplanting the rogues to the front garden and leaving them to their own devices for a month while traveling.

Presentation - Презентация

Viktor Gindilis in 1974 as filmed by E. Ananiev

A new book "Episodes from the Soviet era" by Viktor M. Gindilis was published by ОГИ in Moscow and presented in cafe Bilingua on August 27th 2008. Family, friends, colleagues and many others came to hear about the author and the publication of the book and share their memories. It was a heartfelt evening featuring many of those mentioned in the book. A worthy tribute to the author, collectively missed on that evening by all present.

many more photos from the presentation at
http://picasaweb.google.com/tgindilis/Presentation#

москва

Никола Звонарь на Рождественке

the frog

before the transfer

we found him on the shores of the lake in rosedale park and brought him home. fedia was told that it was his birthday present and he was happy. after the transfer by our pond.

summer ends

inevitably it does and we are left with a glory of memories and experiences... and in my case close to 900 photos. we went to Moscow this summer and had a great great time. the kids loved it, though from wealth of experiences and impressions they got used to catching and snooze wherever possible. Moscow has morphed back into a self-aware, beautifully tended city of history, business and vibrant daily life. There are flowers, displays and restored gems everywhere. There are playgrounds for kids in every courtyard and there is a multitude of parks all over the city with imaginative floral displays and activities for the kids.park of the 50th anniversary of the victory in the 2nd world war. it's very close to our apartment but we took a tramway and metro to get there, which was also a tonn of fun.

Frogs

Those who know us will not be surprised by this fabric painting. We love frogs. I saw this print in Pennington Quilt Works and walked out with it (did pay for it). It has water, frogs, dragonflies and waterlilies...

what else could one ask for? I have been wanting to make something for the kids' bathroom - both for decoration and with the purpose of an interest point on the wall as they do spend a while there. It was very easy. A desired piece of fabric sewn onto a heavier felt base, wooden plank glued at the top for a straight display and a matching ribbon strap at the top. Once I sat down it took me an hour, maybe.

the tree of knowledge

I made three trees from different fabrics for the kids' room to create a flexible separation line and to give them a new game to play - magical forest (i thought it would be a good way to engage their soft toys that get neglected unfairly). i was very proud when they were actually finished and even resembled the original concept. though the kids asked to take them out of their room after a while - go figure. but it surprisingly looks good in our bedroom.

for Jess, who might just be the coolest visitor

A few weeks ago Jess came to visit from London. We loved it, the kids loved it, the cats loved it. It was a wonderful afternoon of chatting, cooking, eating and playing. Some drinking. It is both a marvel and a given that people born across oceans, raised in utterly incomparable circumstances and living on different continents can have similar experiences, almost shared memories, same palates. Thoroughly heartening. Jess was greeted by the waterlily, but the passion vine and stephanotis may have missed her just by a day.

The cherry tree was generous this year and we all had tart sweeties to our hearts' content. Even Tom Truelove stopped by and told a story about his father working on the railroad 50 years ago, before airconditioning; people riding with open windows, throwing pits and seeds out along the tracks; he would dig up young saplings coming up along the track and re-plant them in the garden; his mom used to make cherry pie, didn't even bother with sugar; what do you think about them apples (they had those too). We stopped at Cream King for icecream on the way home, Jess made a lovely salad, and we all had a nice dinner outside. Somehow there is no evidence of Jess actually taking part, but she was here, indeed. A few days later we went to get icecream with the kids and took pictures... simply because it is such a sight. We'll hope to see you soon, Jess, on one of these continents.

mr lincoln and other roses

this heavenly flower one can almost smell just looking at a picture. it is perfect in every way, so much so that even common garden pests do not dare touch the flower (they'll eat everything else, though).
here is another beauty, a new addition this year. it is a marvel so many colors can be contained in one flower, changing and deepening as the petals open.

constant lily

here is this same lily, possibly 4-5 years later. this winter i forgot to transfer it to the fish pond, which is deeper and water there never freezes completely. it did not seem to make a difference. this is the first smile it has given this season. i'll be counting.

business and life

i have long found it impossible to separate business and personal in my life. things, thoughts, people become permanent actors on this stage. as things get made: bags, hats, landscape designs, floral arrangements, dry floral bouquets, i send them off to their new homes with a certain sadness, there is a part of me that wants to keep in touch... not only with that, which my time, love, creativity was put into, but also with that new person who is taking it home. genuine connections are not easily made, i find, and it takes immediate recognition, effort and depth to bring them out in our daily lives, personal or business.

as always, t.Ira was my constant teacher in practicing simplicity, openness and humble concern. when it comes to her yarns especially, i want to send them to a lovely home (when i knit, i think about what she would have made with it, where it would have gone). here is a hat for her great grandson Carl, who was just born to Anton and Fleur. i thought it would be lovely for him to have something she might have made. she stopped knitting in her last years, but she kept this yarn as she kept everything else for a reason - it might be just the right thing one day. and that is what i am working on. i would like to prove her right to the last little strand.

fedia's hat

when one's children are exactly two years apart, it works out much like having twins. two of everything and much time must be devoted to teaching the basics of trading. so if i make a hat for one, i must produce a comparable item for the other. here is evidence of hat number two. it is not that easy, though, because they still want the item currently in the hands of the other child. here advanced trading skills, distraction techniques, (scolding does not work at all) and animal noises come in to play.

the night

Fet, a Russian poet of the 19th century believed that it is at night time that the true essence of things is revealed. When our vision and understanding are not clouded by light and extraneous details. At night our most basic instincts are heightened and what truly matters takes prevalence. In the depth of night my winy, contrarian, disagreeable babies turn into wonderfully mature and considerate angels who whisper and say 'yes, mama', and accept my authority, if only for a few short sleepy hours in the day.

Violets and moss

Violets are a state flower of New Jersey, which is ironic - they make me think of Paris and the 1930s. Though they are in abundance here. Really a perfect garden plant: a prolific ground cover that blooms and does not get in the way of other plants. I look forward to the day my garden is all violets and moss and the mower can be done away with.

The hat

This hat just happened. It is made out of Italian kid mohair with some acrylic. It is multicolored and the brim, of course is a similar texture little doo-dad of dark aqua mistery yarn from t.Ira's

chest of wonders. I have found it hard to complete a project without

adding at least a little bit of her jems.
The kids love it. Predictably, I have to make a second one for Fedia. There is a threaded ribbon, it gives it a nice shape. The scarf is one of Pat's and it matches beautifully - could not have turned out better if I planned it.