small hands

O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
My tables,—meet it is I set it down,
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain:

Hamlet. ACT I Scene 5.

Crime of Padre Amaro: This film is...mind boggling. Gael Garcia Bernal goes there in this one and is, of course, incredibly beautiful. Since I was raised Catholic, I was gasping in shock through much of the film. I thought the juxtaposition of suffocating dogma and hypocrisy to be quite interesting.



Speaking of villains, just in case Dubya reads my blog, four things:

A. There were and are no weapons of mass destruction.

B. The 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia, the bigger country to the south of Iraq.



C. It costs $1 billion a week for the United States to wage war/spread peace and freedom in Iraq.

Jeffrey Sachs says that the good thing about Wolfowitz being appointed to the World Bank is that, after being in the Pentagon, $2 billion to give to (the entire continent of) Africa looks like chump change.

D. One thousand, eight hundred dead Americans and counting. No count for the dead Iraqis.

CINDY SHEEHAN: Actually, I met with the President in June of 2004, a couple of months after my son was killed. We were summoned up to Fort Irwin, Washington state, to have a sit down with the president. So my entire family went. And I was on CNN last night with Larry King talking about this, and there was another mother who had met with him, and she said that she supports the war and the President, and she said he was so warm and everything and gentle and kind, and when my family and I met with him, I met a man who had no compassion in him. He had no heart. Like Karen said, he cares nothing about us. We tried to show him pictures of Casey. He wouldn't look at them. He wouldn't even acknowledge Casey's name. He called me “Mom” through the entire visit. He acted like we were at a tea party, like it was something fun, that we should just be so pleased that we got to meet with the President who killed our son.

Current Obsession: Sourdough batard slices, toasted, with butter. Okay, it’s only taken me 40 years to figure out that the day after you buy a batard to eat with dinner, you can slice it up and toast it and it tastes very, very good. Yes, I have had sourdough toast with my breakfast at Mama’s Royal Café but I didn’t put two and two together.

Current Petty Moment: I got a favorable ruling from Super Mean Judge yesterday. The person on the other side had called me weeks before offering to settle with the words “We both know how the hearing is going to go. The Court is going to rule in my favor.”

I want to call him up and repeat those words to him. I want to crow over his entrails.

I remember last year when I got the first (of three) favorable ruling against him. I wanted to tell him then “Get out now, because I will beat you every step of the way.”

Current Embarrassment: I was just driving up the building where I work, returning from Costco, when I realized that I had forgotten to buy butter!! Ma Ingalls, floating in the great cosmos, is shaking her head in disapproval.

Current Battle of Wills: My boy really needs a haircut. He doesn’t like how long it is, but he is resisting the idea of going to get it cut–nice ladies and Tootsie Roll pops notwithstanding. He had me trim some of it at home and I did a very bad job (not on purpose, but I'm a lawyer, not a hairdresser). Maybe this afternoon I can convince him to get it cut.

Currrently Chewing On: Ice. I picked up some iron pills today, because my desire to chew on ice indicates some degree of anemia.

Currently Mourning: The death of Shelby Foote. I admire his Civil War history enormously.

Yesterday I bought this fabric for $1.98 per yard. Yes!!

Ruth: Thank you for telling me what you had for dinner. I love that kind of information. Anyone else, please feel free to share. It gives me ideas.

I was heading to the hardware store at noon today, to get some more line for my lawn trimmer, and I saw two young women trekking down the street in their pajamas. With Tweety Bird on them.

I know I'm old, but did I miss the memo expanding the definition of pajamas to streetwear? I must admit that I find this expansion repulsive.

The sun has finally come out. Ack, fog all weekend seriously dampens my desire to garden. I know most people are enjoying warm weather, but the high for today in Oakland is 66 degrees.

While gardening and washing dishes, I've been listening to Ali Akbar Khan's Then and Now. It is superb and very, very relaxing.

Maria Full of Grace: This is a terrific film, about a young woman who acts as a drug mule from Columbia to New York City. The drug transporting parts are so, so intense.

Look what I got from Boy-Girl Party. Isn't it excellent? It's a mirror. The packaging was terrific, with a personal note of thanks. I gotta buy more independently produced goods.

One great benefit of picking my girl up from camp at 4:00PM is that we're done with dinner by 6:15PM. Lots of energy and daylight left. We had penne with vodka tomato cream sauce, peas for my girl and me, raw baby carrots dipped carrots dipped in ranch dressing for my boy, and garlic bread. We lit 5 tea lights and put them on a plate in the middle of the table.

I've been trying to get my boy to eat more vegetables, so the baby carrots and dressing are our compromise.

I'm thinking about this excellent woman who is in labor right now.

ETA: Robin wrote: i am with you on the plastic bags, i try never to use them. its crazy though how some clerks will try to force them on you as though you are being rude for not wanting to use their bags!

Yes!! I get this all the time. When I don't want a plastic bag for one sandwich, when I don't want 5 plastic bags for $30 worth of groceries. I must have refused 100 plastic bags, easily, since I started carrying my own. When I refuse, I get this look like--okay, I'm dealing with a strange person.

Today I was doing self-checkout (which is a gift from Heaven) and an employee came up to "help" me and placed my stuff in two plastic bags. I took my mechandise out and put it in my green shopping bag. I worry that they think I'm shoplifting. [As if. Other than the garden variety reasons I don't shoplift, I would lose my license to practice law if I did. Let's see, my livelihood or this $5 mascara. I think I'll keep my livelihood.]

I took the advice of the most excellent Darleen and got the stiffest interfacing I could find. Then I made this bag, while watching Some Kind of Monster, last night.

I loved SKM, though it should be subtitled Lars Ul.rich is the devil. I loved that they included his art sale, where he netted something like $7 million. Oh and their new bass player--yummmmmm. I really appreciated all the relationship-speak, the headbangers talking about their feelings.

I know I've been making a lot of bags and I hope my blog is not getting terribly repetitive, but I find it interesting to learn something new with each project.

I am planning a short vacation sometime soon, so y'all will have a break. :0)

Yesterday, because of a logistical snafu, I had to take my daughter to court for an oral argument. While we were waiting for my turn, we sat in the audience and wrote notes to each other. After I won my motion (yay) I had to take her back to camp and then return to work--75 miles of back and forth. She loves to go to court with me because I get her hot chocolate and a scone afterward.

Happy Solistice. The weather is still in the 60s here and the wind is relentless. I hope that it warms up a bit.



David Wiesner is really an extraordinary illustrator. These pages are from Sector 7, which has no words, only illustrations.

On Sunday afternoon my sister dropped by, which was just what I would have wished. She was in good spirits and we called our father to wish him a happy father's day. Then I barbecued chicken and we had Sunday dinner with my kids, who are always thrilled to see their aunt.

Afterward, she sat at my desk and surfed the internet for a vacation home and I sat next to her sewed a bag just like this one [Click on the thumbnail--I just learned to do this from this wonderful website], which I gave to her. She was very, very pleased, saying that she had been inspired by my anti-plastic bag credo.

I had listened to Wangari Muta Maathai's speech to the National Press Club, and was inspired all over again. Especially when she said that even though the United States has not signed the Kyoto agreement, we must act in the spirit of the agreement and do our parts. So I make and share my canvas shopping bags and refuse the plastic ones.

I've discovered interfacing. It is like quilt batting and it's used to make things like handbags more sturdy. I made this bag this afternoon and while it doesn't stand up by itself, it is more substantial.

The whole issue of interfacing was brought to my attention in this magazine from Vintage Vogue, wihch is cheaper than equilter, both price and shipping (and faster):





I took the children to see the Star Wars movie this afternoon. First we went to JoAnn fabric to get the interfacing, and Trader Joes to get some dinner items.

My fabric fast is over. I can buy fabric again. I think the fast has made me slower to buy fabric, to consider a purchase more, but oh oh how I missed buying fabric.

The children thought the movie was very sad and they were a bit bored. My daughter never wants to see it again, my boy wants to get it on DVD.

After the movie, we dropped off the groceries and then walked to the Temescal Street Fair. It was low key but very nice. We hadn't had lunch, so we went to Genova Deli and got sandwiches, then sat in front of the Walgreens on 51st and Telegraph and ate them. We ate some Lays Chile Limon potatoe chips, which piss me off because clearly they're extending the trend of sour candy (which is just wrong) to sour potato chips. Ew.

The children made crafts out of pipe cleaners at the arts and crafts booth and I bought bath salts. We had a nice walk back home.

I love the diversity of Oakland citizens. They also have some cute little dogs. There's a new bakery at the corner 51st and Telegraph and that's very exciting.

The children had bickered for a good part of the afternoon, so I was relieved when they were playing quietly together in the back yard. The silence comes at a price though. My boy came back into the house and changed his clothes and then came down and confessed that they had been playing in paint. Just stirring it around, according to them. I have to go out and investigate.

* * *

Amores Perros: Oh my heavens. If you like dogs even a little bit, this might not be the movie for you. I covered my eyes a lot, though not when I could look at Gael Garcia Bernal. It is really intense!!

Here is my Month of Softies submission for June. The theme is June bug.

This is a dragonfly, which might not be obvious. Ha! The wings are made from a Japanese fabric that I'm crazy about, stuffed with quilt batting and wired and sewn onto the body. The body is made from a Michael Miller swirly fabric that I like very much.

My son has taken the dragonfly to school today for sharing. He likes it very much. He always wants to know the -est something, like the fastest animal. Well, the fastest insect is the dragonfly.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: is an unspeakably bad film. Oh my. So terrible. Even with two of the best pairs of lips on film–Jude Law and Angelina Jolie-- this movie stinks. Gwyneth Paltrow’s character is awful, grating and one-dimensional. There is no cliche that is left out, not one; they’re thrown in wholesale. The visuals are supposed to save the film, but there is so much that is illogical and/or irrelevant. It demonstrates that all the CGI in the world doesn’t make a film if there are no interesting or sympathetic characters and if the plot is nonexistent.

Parenthetically, it was my first movie that sucked (MTS) from netflix. Gasp.

This morning I was dressing to meet FIRE for coffee when the phone rang. It was my children’s father telling me that his car had broken down and he was at a freeway exit with my kids. I told him that I would be there in ten minutes. As I drove up to them, the sight of my sweet babies standing on the side of the road was indescribable. They looked anxious and stranded, but also incredibly cute in this How-Much-Is-That-Doggy-In-the-Window kind of way. I scooped them up like a rescue helicopter and offered their father my assistance.

We (the children and I) returned to my house because I hadn’t brushed my teeth or put on my panty hose, and there was a pot of coffee brewing. I had a quick breakfast (and brushed my teeth and put on my panty hose) and then took my boy to preschool and my girl to her summer camp. She loves her camp, which is a HUGE relief.

* * *

Ruth asks: Is the [Kiwi gummy] candy like dried fruit, or is it just like a chewy lolly like gummy bears? Very chewy, like a gummy bear.

Also, whatever is Pocky?? What's it made of and what does that taste like? It’s like an English biscuit, in thin sticks, covered with a very sweet, flavored icing. Here is an interesting link.

I dropped my girl off at her first day at a new summer camp. We didn’t know what to expect and she looked a bit anxious, but I’m sure it will be fine. Lots of very helpful staffers, which makes all the difference. She is probably doing hip hop dance right now. Her schedule is packed!!

Tomorrow she needs:

shorts
new tennis shoes
swim suit
sunscreen
baseball cap
backpack to carry it all

I saw movies this weekend.

Road to Perdition: What attracted me to this movie was the fact that Thomas Newman wrote the score. I loved the music in Finding Nemo, Angels in America, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. Newman’s music is all over this film, which is beautifully shot by Sam Mendes, who also directed American Beauty. Tom Hanks as a hit man? Eh. I find movies about Irish gangsters to be cliched, with the obligatory scene of them at Mass, and dancing and drinking at a big family celebration. Jude Law is also in it, with bad teeth. His face in his last scene–oy.

Veronica Guerin: This is a film about an Irish journalist, Guerin, who is gunned down because she is reporting on drug dealers in Ireland. Cate Blanchett did a pretty good job on the film, though I found the casting a bit unimaginative. It’s interesting to see in the bonus materials the real Veronica Guerin, who looks so vital and full of life, and to understand that she was murdered a few months later.

Nausicaa: It has taken this film a great while to be released in the United States, but we finally got to see it. It is a terrific film, one of Miyazaki’s strongest, though insects make me squeamish. In the bonus materials, there is information about how Miyazaki got started making movies, which is fascinating.


* * *
I have unleashed the obsession that is Pocky on my family. Oh my. The kids want to eat it morning, noon and night, as if they’ve never had sweets before. It’s the stick like shape, clearly, that has them hooked as well as the flavor. Good thing they sell chocolate and strawberry Pocky at the neighborhood Walgreens. The downside is that it’s pricey.

Hi Ruth, welcome to my blog. Here is a good link about Kiwi gummy candy.

I’m listening to M.I.A.’s CD Arular. I feel cool. It’s good, very good dance music.



What I’m Reading To the Kids This Week:

Koala Lou
Chester’s Way
Mice and beans
The first dog
Hedgie’s surprise
Giggle, giggle quack
The nightingale
The big sneeze
The biggest soap
Buster
Treasure hunt
Super-completely and totally the messiest

A few years after I graduated from law school, I went to the funeral of one of my law professors. She had contracted non-Hodgkins lymphoma and gone through two grueling rounds of chemotherapy. During her second round, she told her friends that she just wanted to have five more years to raise her two children. She referred to her son as "My sweet boy." She was a single mother who had young children.

She didn't get five more years.

During my first pregnancy, I read Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott. In it she says that she had "one crummy little wish", which was that her son outlive her.

After I had my daughter, I understood that desire, and its co-equal: that I live long enough to raise my children and not leave them while they are still small and need me.

Also after I had my daughter I discovered the hipmama message boards. There I would read and respond to mothers from all over the country and all over the world. I got to meet teen mothers online. I also had the privilege of meeting a very young mother in person, who had one daughter when I met her and now has two. I remember being so impressed by her maturity and poise and being surprised by her age, which was 23 or 24 at the time. This taught me to challenge my ageist views/assumptions about young mothers.

On Friday I went to a fundraising get together and had the privilege to sit at a table with young mothers. I basked in their conversation, which at first centered around hair and clothes, but moved to childrearing, details about their own childhoods, and their career aspirations.

I had my children relatively late, at ages 30 and 35. This is not late for the other women lawyers that I knew, but it is actually late in the grand scheme of things. It's easy to forget that other people have very different lives than my own.

One woman on the hipmama boards was a teen mother and an advocate of respect and support for teen mothers. She opened my eyes and taught me greater respect for teen mothers. She passed away this weekend, at the age of 20 22. She leaves her son and her partner and her partner's son.

I went to Mass this morning and during the time when people call out their intentions for those who have passed on, I said her name. And I prayed that her spirit finds rest and peace.

Today has been unusual. This morning I woke up and watched the rest of The Sea Inside. It's a movie that makes you think and Javier Bardem does an outstanding job. But I don't know what the message is and I found it a little bit disturbing.

I got to court before 8:30AM, but it turned out that my hearing didn't start until 10:30AM. This put me in a bind, because I had to pick up my girl at 11:45AM. So I called my stepfather, who works near my girl's school and he agreed quite happily to pick her up if necessary.

It turned out that it was necessary, because I got stuck in the courtroom while two absolute blow hards went at it, on and on. Then I had my hearing. The plaintiff was not represented by an attorney, so she brought her mother, her boyfriend, and her two kids for moral support.

It went well, at least from my perspective. I was able to get out of there by 12:30PM and hurry down to pick my child up. My stepfather and she were eating lunch in his office's law library and having a grand old time.

I dropped her off at her playdate and then went to Ranch 99 Market. I love Ranch 99. This is what I bought:



carrots
spinach
strawberry Pocky <---I've never tried Pocky before
a Japanese knife
a cute little bowl
ginger
garlic
green beans
Granny Smith apples
baking powder
baking soda
bananas
Kiwi gummy candy which my son adores

Now I'm going to change out of my work clothes and go work in my garden.

Happy Birthday Robin!!



Big love to all the people in hot and/or humid regions. It’s in the 60s and it’s raining today and I had to turn on the space heater in my study yesterday while the weather system was blowing in.

Okay, I realize I have a waste removal thing. The waste management guys came this morning and did the big pick up. They took almost everything (yay!) except the paint cans. Sigh. I would call it a success.

The other issue was my green waste bin. Last week, the regular guy did not take it, which incensed me. Hey, what about the social contract? I drag it to the curb, I pay my bill, you take it away.

Yesterday with my hand saw, I cut down some of the branches in the bin, which I assume were the deal breaker. This morning I stood in the front window in my bathrobe and waited. He started on the top of the block and I watched him finish his coffee and have a quick cigarette break. When he got to my green bin, I saw a very doubtful look on his face. He gestured to me something about the branches, so I went outside, in the pouring rain, to discuss it with him. He said that he noted that I had cut the branches down (good memory on that guy), but he could still be at risk of poking his eye out. (Ummm....okay.) I said I didn’t want him to poke his eye out, that I would do better next time and then he pointed to the green bin across the street that he announced had been there for months but he wasn’t taking it because it is too full.

Then he pushed my green bin next to his truck and mechanically emptied it into the truck. I thanked him, he joked with me and I went in from the rain. I had to exercise diplomacy in the elements to get my green waste removed.

On Monday, after I picked my kids up, we took the car to get the oil/PCBs washed off. The car was embarrassingly filthy. The first place we went would not allow the children to ride in the car while it went through the car wash. The employees gave me incredulous looks when I asked, as if they have not been asked that before. We backed out of there in disgust and went to a second place which has a small automatic car wash. The kids rode through, happy as clams, and we considered driving back to the first place to scoff at them, but we didn’t.

Yesterday evening, after a day of not going to work (and taking my multivitamins more faithfully), I had a lot of energy to sew on the anniversary quilt. I worked and worked, fighting back the feeling that it will never be completed on time. I am half way through piecing together all the squares with the floral borders–45 squares. It feels like a long way to 90, but I just keep swimming.

While I was working, I watched the Oakland City Council meeting. Oh my. It was upsetting last night to listen to the dysfunction and bickering, while at the same time being very informative. There’s a guy at the meetings–I won’t write his name because he probably Googles himself endlessly–who speaks on every item. At first I thought he was just a lunatic. Then I started listening to what he said and he is actually very instructive; he is performing an important public service in his relentless muckraking. Local government is a fascinating phenomenon.

* * *

Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou: The children and I watched this movie on Sunday and Monday night. I was surprised that my son loved it so much, though it makes sense because many of the characters have the maturity levels of 5 year old boys. We completely dug the film (though it is a tad overlong in the middle) especially what complete losers comprise Team Zissou. My favorite scene is when Bill Murray is “dancing” to the electronica wired into his diving equipment. My son flipped over the jaguar shark.

Porco Rosso: We’re big Miyazaki fans, so we were anxious to see this film. We enjoyed it, though I didn’t quite understand the ending. There is a new Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle coming out on Friday and we can’t wait to see it.

I took the day off of work (yay) because I thought today was my son's pre-school graduation. It is not. I also wanted to move a bunch of garbage that I've been storing in my attic for 5+ years out onto the curb for the big pick up I have scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Cross your fingers they show up and take everything. There's nothing exotic or objectionable per se, but there is a lot of junk. And I would feel like a complete moron if I put all that junk out there and they didn't take it.

I'm not actually moving it. See, I'm 40 now...so I don't do what I don't want to do. My guy Victor sent over a crew and they're moving it. Lovely lads. Energetic.

We had a bit of excitement on Sunday afternoon. A transformer exploded down the street. I heard the explosion while I was in the living room and I stepped outside to see what was going on. Oil and/or PCBs rained down on me and the house and car. We walked to the corner to see what happened (I thought someone's stove had exploded) and got to meet our new neighbors (a lovely couple).

My son then had a story to tell his grandmother on Monday, as she was taking care of him because his preschool was closed. I was deeply relieved that she could take care of him, because I got stuck in a settlement conference that I couldn't get out of.

* * *

I've finished my June apron, though bless me I can't take a good picture of it.

The theme is Home on the Range. I categorically rejected any cowboy theme and thought more of a country home, little house on the prairie ethos.







I got the felt for the trees from a terrific e-bay store, Winterberry Cabin.

Last night as I was sewing, I watched the Up series. I reached 28 Up this morning. It is an incredible series of documentaries, that I had seen bits and pieces of before. As a parent, it’s fascinating to watch, because it makes me even more conscious of how raising your children influences them, even when they are distinctly individual. One of the themes of the film parallels my parents’ message to me (drummed into my head)--of the importance of education. It's clear that education is only a piece of it.

I am noticing that I'm breathing a sigh of relief when some of the subjects get married and have children--like this means their emotional life is successful. This is a stereotype, of course.

Volunteering one’s child for such a project is unthinkable to me, especially in hindsight. These children were taken to task for what they said when they were 7–and film is forever–and expected to represent their class, and defend the class structure (the upper class ones).

* * *

Wednesday night we had a roast chicken dinner. I butterflied the chicken and spread it in a roasting pan over a quartered Eureka lemon from my tree, sage and Italian parsley from my herb container garden, and sprinkled with Kosher salt and black pepper.

I carefully made the gravy, because girl is a tough gravy critic. I sauteed shallots in butter, then made the rue with flour and added chicken stock. When it was the right thickness (I thought) I strained it into a small saucepan.

My girl’s verdict on the gravy was that it was good, but a little thin and the color was a little light. Heifer My boy and I liked it and he ate a huge plate of chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy.

My girl was not so hungry because she was excited about packing for a class camping trip. My baby girl took a shower without me telling her to. A first.

I changed the dinner routine a tiny bit by putting my boy’s art pieces of the day on the table and discussing them during the meal. One piece, which looked like a Union Jack, was a spider web made out of masking tape. The other was a paper plate with an outline of his hand, painted blue, with blue and green streamers glued to it. It’s a good way to appreciate his artistic efforts and get more information about his day. He said that he asked to have a nap (which is optional for him), because he was tired that day. I’m glad he knows to take care of himself, to rest when he’s tired.

After dinner my boy blew out the candle. I love the blown out candle smell. It makes me feel very calm and satisfied, which is helpful when I have to face the mess and dishes in the kitchen.

My boy couldn’t locate a piece of his toy and insisted (cried and begged) that I help him find it. I felt such deep despair searching for this piece. I had spent 90 minutes last week looking for it. Finally, finally, finally I found it.

And then I remembered that I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before, just before my girl reminded me that I had to braid her hair for the camping trip. Just as I started the braiding, my boy decided he was hungry and wanted more dinner, a hot dog. This was after having ice cream for dessert. He’s turning into a Hobbit.

Get a hot dog, turn off sprinkler in the back yard, braid (the hair of a tender headed diva with hair down to her rear end) for an hour, story time, try to go to sleep with hot sweaty boy hogging the pillow.

I am looking forward to the weekend. I met FIRE for coffee this morning and our quick visit has me in an excellent mood. The weather is beautiful.

Amy of angry chicken has a super idea--a homemade apron of the month, in the spirit of Month of Softies.

I'm in. The theme this month (June already, have mercy) is Home on the Range. Now, I have no cowboy fabric, or any intention of getting any, so I'm going to have to go synonymous on the word.

I like the synonyms for the verb: bat about, bum, bum around, circumambulate, cover, cross, cruise, drift, encompass, explore, float, gallivant, globe-trot, knock about, knock around, make circuit, meander, pass over, ply, prowl, ramble, reach, reconnoiter, roam, rove, scour, search, spread, straggle, stray, stroll, sweep, traipse, tramp, travel, traverse, trek

Excuse me, my dork alarm has just gone off.

Oops. I gave the wrong impression from the picture in the last post. That is a completed baby blanket using the same pattern.

Here is a picture of the work in progress. Regretably, my sucktastic photography skills do not do justice to the colors (again).

I am crazy about the floral fabrics, all Japanese, especially the olive and white seersucker. Once I sew the floral onto the white, I will assemble the pieces horizontally, and then assemble the rows to complete the top.

Oh! I wanted to stay home this morning so badly. It is a gorgeous morning, perfect heat and a tiny bit of humidity. This weather does not last all summer, since the heat from the central valley sucks the sea air in and it is overcast a lot of the time.

I cut my back lawn yesterday evening and the back yard looked so shady and emerald and inviting this morning.

And then at my sewing table, my parents’ quilt, with a big pile of beautiful Japanese fabric, was calling to me. There’s something about the geometry of the piecing that really sucks me in, and believe me, math is not my thing.



I could make 20 of the same quilt and not get bored with the pattern (though I would have to make some star quilts in between to get my pointy edges fix).


I made FIRE an omelet this morning using chives cut from my herb container garden. I felt all Alice Waters, stepping out into the back yard in my bathrobe with my scissors to snip some chives.

* * *

Bad Education: I don't want to give away the plot twists, so I will say that Gael Garcia Bernal plays an actor who cross dresses. This movie has an amazing sex scene, one I had never seen in a film before, the combination of that kind of sex and love and passion. Almodovar’s film is wonderful, almost as good as Talk to Her.

Closer: I admire Mike Nichols’ direction of Angels in America, so I wanted to see this film. Plus, I like to take the opportunity to look at Jude Law when I can. This film is strange and JL’s character is weak, weak. It’s like the four characters have just discovered that they have genitals, but there’s no connection between their genitals and their hearts and brains. The scene between Natalie Portman and Clive Owen in the club is cool to me in one way–Natalie acts like a Replicant from Blade Runner.

* * *

The New York Times linked to this blog. It is so amazing.