Purlewe!

Dear Secret Pal,

I love you. I mean that. I got my package today with cashews and local apple butter and I just had a happy moment at my desk. it smells like divine PBJ sandwiches here at work.. adn I am thinking abotu sneaking a few cashews before lunch.

Plus I suffer from the same thing you do. ONE MORE BOX will make my life better. I just know it will. Thank you for the super cute lunchbox.

And I am a HUGE fan of buttons. I could spend all day playing in a button box. THANK YOU!! I am already thinking about yarn I could use to make the buttons shine!

Pics later tonite and I'll post them on PK.

With undying love,
purlewe

Sam recommended and then dropped off his copy of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. I just finished it today at lunch. WOW and WOW. I won't ruin the story for you but I wil say that it alludes to a catastrophic ending, so you have plenty of time to abort and decide you don't really want to know.

I liked it. altho I would say as much as I wanted to keep reading it I am glad I did it in small doses. I think if I had sat down and read this all in 1 or 2 sittings I would be bereft. Super well done and Sam says there is a sequel. hurrah!

From her website:
From The Sparrow

It was predictable, in hindsight. Everything about the history of the Society of Jesus bespoke deft and efficient action, exploration and research. During what Europeans were pleased to call the Age of Discovery, Jesuit priests were never more than a year or two behind the men who made initial contact with previously unknown peoples; indeed, Jesuits were often the vanguard of exploration.

The United Nations required years to come to a decision that the Society of Jesus reached in ten days. In New York, diplomats debated long and hard, with many recesses and tablings of the issue, whether and why human resources should be expended in an attempt to contact the world that would become known as Rakhat when there were so many pressing needs on Earth. In Rome, the questions were not whether or why but how soon the mission could be attempted and whom to send.

The Society asked leave of no temporal government. It acted on its own principles, with its own assets, on Papal authority. The mission to Rakhat was undertaken not so much secretly as privately--a fine distinction but one that the Society felt no compulsion to explain or justify when the news broke several years later.

The Jesuit scientists went to learn, not to proselytize. They went so that they might come to know and love God's other children. They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the furthest frontiers of human exploration. They went ad majorem Dei gloriam: for the greater glory of God.

They meant no harm.

I know I haven't written anything public lately. If I haven't been swamped with work I've been in a crummy mood. I just haven't been a sparkly diamond who wants to just gush.. sorry about that.

Work has been heavy. I have been ordering alot more things than usual and I still have normal duties. So me=overwhelmed.

Flower show last week was lovely. Spring is always a good thing. It is coming, but just not soon enough.

LYS Crawl was awesome and I had so much fun. I met a ton of new folks who were very funny and interesting. I hope that we do that again.

I've been cooking and knitting. My two favorite thigns. I am hoping to get one big project outta the way so I can get finishing up on some others. I hope to have a cleaner slate by summertime.

kismet09 was writing about this in her journal and it made me think. About how I meet people and if we connect on a broader level. It is funny b'c my friend Bess called it "Being one of us." Knowing instantly that you share a history with this peron you just met. Being able to connect with a person based on an interest or characteristic and finding a true blue friend.

I feel connected to people who...


---know how to relax, but also when to work.
---love to travel
---love to learn
---can be extroverted, but know how and when to be alone
---are adventurous eaters
---laugh alot
---love animals
---have a hobby they are passionate about
---knit/spin
---can sing or play an instrument
---read voraciously
---are creative either by making, or doing something in their life that produces art.
---people who try to go green
---people who question authority, esp if that authority is being overbearing
---people who try to make healthy food choices like csa/localvores/chemical free food. But who also know that sometimes nothing is better than a plate of food that isn't good for you.



What are some of yours?

For those of my friends who are using rabbit ears to get their tv shows. Here is some info from PBS re: the conversion to digital 2/09.

http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/faqs.html

I just went through my FL again. I was pretty ruthless. Partly b'c I won't update my birthday through LJ and so I get alot of "click to if over 18" stuff that bothers the hell outta me. So I dumped a ton of communities and some friends. It has nothing to do with who you are, only to do with my sanity.

And my sanity is walking a very high tightrope right now. I am pretty bad off in a number of ways. I am so sad about Ben that every little bump in the road is a huge mountain I am sometimes too tired to climb over. Last nite the kitchen sink died. Either the garbarge disposal bit the dust, ot else I have a back up to put all other back ups to shame. I took the sink apart and could not find the problem. The earliest it will be fixed is tomorrow. the latest? thursday. I was a pretty miserable lump last nite.

I'm trying to cut down on the whole time on LJ thing anyway. So in reality cutting down the FL is a good thing.

COMMITMENT CEREMONY on FunnyOrDie.com

I just had the nicest vegetarian chinese meal in a long long time.

Su Xing House on Samson between 15th and 16th. (Next to Oyster House)

Everything sounded delish, which made it harder than normal to decide. But I got Asparagus with Wheat Gluten in brown sauce, my coworker had Seaseme Tofu. It comes with a choice of soup and a side dish for lunch (and there are like 9 side dishes!!!) I had Hot and Sour soup, brown rice, and a spring roll, but I was tempted to get braised mushrooms.

My dish was delightful. the asparagus were cooked just right, the gluten was almost like tender centers of bamboo shoots. The tofu dish was stellar.. little puffy clouds of tofu fried hard on the outside with a yummy sauce. I have enough left over for lunch tomorrow. YUMMY!

I know so many of you are veg and wonder where to eat in the center of the city (and we all have our favorites, come on.. but we do get tired of them) but this was top notch yummy.. and I heard from my co-worker that their extra spicy dishes really are mind blowingly spicy. (the hot and sour soup was MUCH warmer than some places I have been to)

Now who wants to go to lunch with me there??? Cos I cannot wait to go again!

Last nite's fiber nite was a good evening. We were full, but not overflowing. I got alot of work done on the Bohus that I had to rip out. *sigh. Doesn't that suck? Nothing like doing a really hard row with 3 colors and purling as well as knitting and BAM.. you rip the whole sucker out. I'm trying to decide if I want to rip out the row before it too. I had dropped a st a few rows down and I am off by 1. You can't really tell.. the colors are too close in color. (deep green and deep navy.

The tomato lentil soup was good, but just not my favorite. I never have been a tomato based soup fan. I know that it was yummy though. And if any of you want to try to recreate it I used the first recipe in the "How It All Vegan" book.

Last nite was really nice. We went to the orchestra. They were having a Bernstein tribute. So they played songs that related to Bernstein (Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky), a medley of West Side Story, and then premiered a composition for Time for Three Which was modern and awesome and totally more jazz than anything else.. (ok jazz, classical and bluegrass mixed. Weird I know, but I loved it. Written for them by one of their past teachers at Curtis.) and they ended with Tchaikovsky's Francesca de Rimini which was all about Dante's inferno. I can truly say I loved all of the music. Usually there is one that I don't like, but wow.. all of them blew me away. And Time for Three? all of them hot numbers who really know how to wail.

http://www.tf3.com/ go, listen, fall in love.

Got home late, but still went to bed even later. Wanted to see Ninja Warrior for the first time and got hooked. Dammit. Why must I love the strange japanese tv shows?? I just do I guess.