An Offering for Christmas Eve

This time of year is significant for many people. Some recognize the birth of Christ, others the miracle of the lamp oil, still others the solstice and the return of light.
Light is a common theme - the light of the guiding star, light of hope, light of God, light of the sun. So too, the restful darkness that lets us appreciate the light and renew it within ourselves.    
It is also a time to appreciate the light of knowledge. A time to celebrate our ability to light the dark and keep warm in the cold. A time to marvel at our ancestors observing the skies and knowing the changing seasons.
The finest reminder of the light for me is the Christmas Eve broadcast from Apollo 8 in 1968. The crew and their craft represented a coalescing of light - the light of knowledge and ingenuity, the light of bravery and exploration, the light of faith - in God or scientists and engineers.
The account of creation in Genesis, of the creation from darkness was apt-regardless of personal belief - as a major part of the Western canon it influences art even today. And the theme of naming having power and causing things to come into being is a common one in mythology and can be seen in a way in the voyage of Apollo 8 itself.     President Kennedy called for the US to send a man to the surface of the moon and bring him back by the end of the decade. He spoke, millions listened, thousands worked and created and transformed words into actions and things.

So, on Christmas Eve, I wish you all well in the restful dark and the returning light and offer you the reading given by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell and Bill Anders from the depths of space between Earth and Moon on December 24, 1968. 

Merry Bes-mas!

 

He even has rosy cheeks!

Best wishes and hopes of peaceful joy to everyone!

(Extra thanks to Tom for Photoshopping the image for me because I couldn't figure out how to get GIMP to do it)

Happy Halloween!

Image via WikipediaCreepy-ass skull of a sacrificed child with shell and obsidian "eyes" brought to you by the Aztecs, via Wikipedia.  

While analyzing and excavating human skeletons has never really creeped me out, I think uncovering this might have at least registered a "buhhh."

Shopping

We went out and did some shopping today for household stuff and groceries.  Aaaaand I had a 50% off coupon from Michael's so I scored a Polymer Clay Pasta Machine for rolling out sheets of clay and combining colors and all sorts of other fun things.
This should be helpful in some upcoming projects I have in mind.

We're settling in for a quiet New Year's.  Tom has some beer and we got some sparkling lemonade to toast with.  Oreo has been busily burying his tennis ball in the Xmas tree skirt and then digging for it and has succeeded in dragging the whole skirt off the tree and across the room.
I think movies are in order eventually.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ordinarily I would post a clip of WKRP in Cincinnati, ("As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!") but I thought I'd mix it up a bit this year.


Best line:  "That's not necessarily a deal breaker."

Mommy mouse and Baby mouse Amigurumi Crochet Pattern.

Mommy mouse and Baby mouse Amigurumi Crochet Pattern.
Originally uploaded by Handmadekittypics

I love this cute little mousey momma and baby in sling. The little bow on the tail is adorable too. Nice Christmas-y colors, too - for those who celebrate these could be great little decorations or gifts.

Pattern available in Handmadekitty's Etsy shop (check out some other adorable patterns there, too).

In which very little happens

Not much going on lately.  I had an pretty disconcerting episode of freezing while standing the other night. I had been in the dining room looking at my bookshelves for something to read and I just froze. For a few minutes I literally could not get my legs to move, but I was still standing.  I thought I might be stuck there for a while, but everything started working again, so not a huge deal.  This is good, as Tom was asleep, so who knows how long it would have been before my pitiful cries for help woke him up.  ;P  Just another symptom to report to my neurologists, who will undoubtedly look puzzled and disbelieving because they work hard at living up to their nickname:  "The Douchetastic Duo."
Ahem.
I figured out the costume and hair for the amigurumi and she is nearly done.  Her polymer clay accessories are cooling after being baked and she should be ready for delivery tomorrow.  Once everything started making sense, it went pretty well.  I'll post pictures after she's been delivered.
I slept most of today and am still tired.  My various plans for getting things done are mostly being postponed daily because I'm too tired, too twitchy, or have other things to do.  Sigh.  Not giving up, though.  Dammit.
I am pleased, though, that Netflix now has Mystery Science Theater 3000 on instant play.

On the schedule for the rest of the week:

• Get some stamps put together and used
• Start on my next knitting project (fingerless gloves of some variety)
• Make some napkins
• Work on the crochet hook case I started sewing months ago.
• Work on the crocheted bag I started crocheting months and months ago.  It's getting close to finished.
• Think more about holiday gifts - who is getting them, what they're going to be, when I need to start them, etc.  Last year we made chocolate bark for people and Xmas cookies for doggies and I'm thinking of doing the very same thing this year because it was easy, tasty, and everyone seemed to like it.  I'm also inclined to crochet or knit things, but that's time consuming and unpredictable.  :P
• Work on a crocheting project for Tom.  (IS A SECRET.  CANNOT SAY MORE.)

Oh, and I have a doctor's appointment Friday.  Endocrinology.  Boring.

Happy Independence Day!

In honor of the holiday, I give you the following video, found courtesy of an old friend of mine. (Thanks, Sara!)

American or not, may your day be happy and fun and possibly filled with Muppets!

Carnaval no Rio

Carnaval no Rio
Originally uploaded by joyceamigurumi

The details on these Carnivale ladies are fabulous - I love the feather details and the awesome shoes.

Happy Easter

I do all da work � Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?: "
see more Lolcats and funny pictures"

An Easter food musing

So, I'm lounging on the couch watching Good Eats on Food Network - I assume they're running Easter-associated food shows leading up to the weekend.  Tonight's episodes have been ham (I missed most of that one) and lamb (on as I type this).  Both very tasty things - lamb is really under-appreciated in the US in my opinion and pig is damn tasty.  :)

Something that usually occurs to me and then speedily flees my brain after the Easter season is why ham and lamb tend to be the traditional foods for Easter lunch or dinner (at least in the US, as far as I know).  

It seems strange to me that one option is something that Christ (not getting into historicity here, just going on basic "accepted" knowledge) wouldn't have eaten as a good Jew (pork) and the other is a creature associated with one of the many titles given to Christ ("Lamb of God").  I'm probably way over analyzing, but it just like either disrespecting the cultural origins of Christ or eating him (not going into Catholic theology here - I spent enough years being catechized in private school), which I would think would be creepy for at least some flavors of Christianity.  :)

I can guess at reasons why for lamb - the association with Passover, spring being lambing season, etc.

Pork I can postulate as having been historically easier to raise than, say, cattle, and ham as a traditional preserved food, thus providing a source of meat even in the early spring, probably even before lambing.

Anyway, I just find it anthropologically interesting - not enough to devote a large amount of research, but enough to comment on and make random postulations based on whatever is floating around in my head after 10 years of higher education.  :)

Any comments?  Similar musings?