In the mean time -

Well - it's been a while since I posted - and that's because I've been busy. You are surprised?
Halloween weekend, I went up to visit a friend for her 40th in Massachusetts - Western Mass - which is so beautiful this time of year. I took Amtrak, and after New York (to Albany) the tracks run along the eastern side of the Hudson River. What a view - it's absolutely beautiful. Melanie had a birthday party - which was fun and great- I got to meet her two new kitties, MJ and Oscar - who are soOo cute. They are the Mouse Patrol - and apparently doing a great job. It was great seeing Melanie and also great to see one of my favorite former interns, Amanda - got all caught up with her on her her life which seems to be just spiffy. :)
When I arrived back home - I discovered that I had an opossum in the trap. The opossum was fast asleep. Apparently one sleeps during daytime - no matter what situation one finds one self in. I let it out - because a) opossums don't live in peoples attics and b) they eat all the bugs and grubs in the garden... and then! the darn thing played dead. So I backed up and it revived and started munching on the paper mulberry berries lying all around the trap - not in the least disconcerted.
Now - the squirrel I caught the next day in the trap was a different matter. The poor thing would go crazy every time I came near it. I took it over to Kelly Dr. Opened the cage - the darn thing went shooting across the grass - not up the tree like I thought it would, but straight across four lanes of traffic and up the embankment to the other side of the street. I couldn't believe it! Well, now it's got Kelly drive, the Schuylkill River and at least several blocks between it and me. I can hope that it won't come back. I'll set the trap out again this weekend - we'll see what I catch this time around.
Speaking of this weekend, I curated a book arts show which opens this weekend. It is a show of Australian Book artists I met while in Australia this summer. The work is amazing and the gallery is really great!
As soon as I have a link I'll post it. In the meantime - here's a pic of me with Monica Oppen's book Dark Forrest, with Anne-Maree Hunter's book The Tower of Babel in the foreground. I'm really excited about the opening this weekend. Should be fantastic. I just have a three hour drive down to Washington DC. - that's all.
While I was away last weekend - look who discovered the radiant heat in the bathroom!:
yep - those tiles are about 86 degrees - compared with about 65 degrees for the rest of the house. Now at least I know where to find him. :)
I also managed to finish one of the shelves in my studio. With a little help from Home Dept the Ikea shelves are just perfect.
Yes - that is peg-board nailed to the back of the shelves. Nice, eh?
I'm working on the next set which are wider and which I think will accommodate the little Adona Printing press my dad gave me. I think that will go a long way in book production. I'm super excited about my studio now. Slowly things are falling into place.
And finally - SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) is on strike! It's amazing. The traffic is amazing. I heard on the radio that Septa calculates about 900,000 rides per day! And now with them on strike - all those people are in cars, or on bicycles. In the morning it's not so bad - I've been riding my bike, and dealing with half asleep people. In the evening - well - hold on to your hat - because people are tired, and cranky and crazy! Plus - all these people who haven't been riding their bikes are doing the darndest things. I actually yelled at a guy today who was riding the wrong way! I was ticked - because here's the thing: The Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia has fought long and hard to get two streets in center city to have bicycle lanes painted on them. We finally got two streets (one running in each direction), and they are one block away from each other .... and here comes this knucklehead! No helmet - coke bottle thick glasses - riding the wrong way in on a one way street! And I can't believe I'm actually battling bicycle traffic! Most of me is thrilled - but a little part of me is annoyed - especially when someone you passed a block earlier has the nerve to park in front of you when you are both waiting for a red light. Then you just have to pass him all over again - and yes - it's always a guy.
The good part about the strike - it's been so quiet on my street - I forget how noisy those buses and trolleys are.
Now you're caught up - more later.

If you want something done... (part 2)

Sure enough, I didn't hear back from either one of the pest control places. I called one and she told me to just get rid of it myself. "Take it to a wooded area." Great. Had I known that, I would have done it on Sunday.
I took the poor little guy out to Wissahickon creek in Chestnut Hill this evening. He was so dehydrated, he walked right into the creek and drank and drank. I hope he makes it. He was so cute.
Hopefully I catch the next one soon and we can be done with this chapter!

If you want to get something done...

You've got to do it yourself. One down, one to go.
I called two people today to see if there was someone to come get the raccoon. I didn't expect an answer at the one place, but the other one advertised 24/7 service. Hmph. If I can't find someone to get the poor thing by tomorrow, I'll have to take care of getting rid of it myself. And before anyone even thinks that means I'm going to kill it - I'm not. I'm going to take it out to the Wissahickon and let it go. I'm taking a baseball bat with me to to keep it from attacking me. But let's all hope I don't have to do that.
I'm also making nice progress on my perfect shelving unit. Notice the pegboard on the back? How perfect is that!?

Pink Scarf Knit-a-Thon

Way back in August, while I was sitting on the beach in Newcastle, I had this idea. I wanted to knit pink scarves for Breast Cancer patients and survivors. I've seen this done before, but I really wanted to do it here with all of my fellow knitters. Use up some of our stash!
I started talking with one of my knitter-students and she was excited about the idea as well. I had no time to research where to send them, so she took care of that, and I hosted. We invited tons of people, but the knit-a-thon boiled down to me, Stevie, and Jacques. This was probably a blessing in disguise because it gave Stevie and I a chance to work out the problems with this project, mainly, that we can't pass knitting from person to person - people knit differently. So we realized we would pass the yarn - much more fun anyway. We both got about 10 inches done, got to try out some different stitches, and threw a bunch of other ideas around for how to approach this project. We want to try to do it again - probably February - because that's the pink month. We will drum up a lot more publicity, sooner - And we need to make sure it doesn't rain, like it did all day today.

Ask me what I did today…

I worked with William Still's Diary. I am making a clamshell box and designing the label for it.
William Still was an abolitionist along with Harriet Tubman. He kept a journal of all of the "runaway slaves" that passed through his station on the Underground Railroad. A sizable donation was made and the book was conserved by the Conservation Center of Art and Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. I took a cab ride with Leah to pick it up last Wednesday.
It was wonderful to read every entry : each started with "arrived"…

Arrived - that word that is so loaded. This diary, filled, every page of 1 and 1/4 inches thick of it filled, with entries of people who had "arrived" at freedom. I held the book in my hands, the record of what happened, of the subversiveness that lead to freedom of so many people, I couldn't help but be moved. And the word arrived, such a positive word, I couldn't help but smile and be joyful! Even though these events had happened over 150 years ago!
If he had been found out, if his diary had been discovered, if he had been caught,… but he wasn't. I took several mini-breaks today to read entries - one of my favorites read:
a man who is respected by both his white neighbors and colored friends… he left a wife and 5 children, all free." (Free is actually underlined, but I don't have that function on blogger).
This is only my favorite because it brings everything home to me. My grandmother went into hiding during WWII from the Nazi's. Not because she was Jewish, but because she disagreed with the government and they came after her. Her plight was not the same as the slaves, but the action is the same. The willingness to abandon everything, everything, because one believes they are safer - surer - or have survival, if they leave. I don't know if I could do the same. I hope I am never put in to the same test.
The entire Still Diary, with transcription, is available at www.hsp.org

I am a genius

Okay - well, that's probably debatable, but I feel really good about my idea and that it actually worked! With lot's of help from IKEA and Home Depot, of course.
I've been hoping and looking for the perfect cabinet/shelving/drawer unit thing for my studio for a long time. Of course, what I want doesn't exist. I've wanted card catalogue drawers for lots of storage and other sliding drawers for more storage. Finally, I've been able to construct my own. That is, I know how to construct my own - it's still a work in progress.
Firstly - I bought these little numbers from IKEA: It's amazing what a little stain and polyurethane will do. I'm not sure where they will end up - but it will be someplace worthwhile.
And then I discovered, IKEA has finally made 7ft. tall shelving units! Brilliant!
So much more space to organize stuff! Things I don't need much will go up high. Other things go on lower shelves. I plan on working on that side of my work table so here's where my genius and Home Depot came in.
I bought the paper trays from IKEA - and drawer mechanisms from Home Depot. And voilá!
Drawers of stuff that slide in an out! And it works! That's the best part! Usually my good ideas don't actually work because I've forgotten some vital Newtonian Law of physics or something - but this time it actually works!
I haven't finished it yet because I spent most of the day grading my brains out. Ugh. I hate grading. My dad always tell a story about a prof. at Whittier College who said, "I teach for free, they pay me to grade." Well, amen to that. That's exactly how I feel. If I wouldn't have to grade - whew! Life would be great, and I'd have the perfect shelving thingy for my studio all finished.

I caved

It's gotten cold. Really cold. Much sooner than last year. It's been in the 40's for the last few days and it's cold.
I caved. I went to Home Depot and bought a space heater. Guess who took the prime seat? I'm thinking of going back to get another one for the bedroom. Thank goodness the one from storage is here as well. It's downstairs warming up the studio. I'm not looking forward to my heating bill.
I got tired of waiting for a pest control person too - I bought a racoon trap (live animal). Let's hope I can get 'em. I need to get my house insulated! And they are what's holding up the show.