Everything is going to be fine.

My friend Jami Attenberg has a new novel out called The Melting Season. It's a great read, perhaps my favorite of her books so far, and it's gotten quite a bit of press. She's getting ready to head out on a book tour so please go see her if she has a reading in your town. And go by the book. Sadly we won't be able to attend any of her readings, but we are hoping to catch up with her in Las Cruces for a night as that's the closest she'll get to us on her drive from San Diego to Austin.

Anyway, awhile back, Jami asked her artist friends to create something inspired by the book. After my initial panic, I did manage to come up with a nice idea and created the cross stitch piece in the above photo. It was quite a lot of fun to do and I'm happy that Jami invited me to the project.

Read more about my piece here and see (or listen) to the other pieces here.

(Now I have this hanging on the wall above my computer as a reminder that yes, everything is going to be fine.)

Snow and more snow.

We had a lovely snowstorm today. It started snowing at around 7:30 this morning and just stopped a little bit ago. It never really stuck to the roads, but we have plenty in our yard. It's almost up to Rocky's chest! He's been insisting on going out on adventures today no matter the weather conditions. Such a little snow cat, that one.

Letter.

My contribution to the latest Words To Shoot By. Please go check out all the fabulous photos!

These photos are all of letters that my dad wrote to his parents. The first stack is from his college days, the second from his time in Vietnam and the last is a couple of postcards that he sent when he was away at camp at age 12 in 1952. I have a whole box of these and more that I still have yet to go through and read. The box includes a lot of carbon copies of my grandma's replies to my dad. I love that I have this stuff and can't wait until I have the time to really go through it.

I think it's all so fascinating.

Also, I am so grateful that Steph invited me to be a part of this collaboration because I am not taking many photographs at all lately and this at least forces me to think about something a couple of times a month. It's good.

Frank and Josephine.

My grandmother and grandfather. This photo wasn't labeled in the album but based on the other photos, I am guessing it is c.1938 in San Francisco. And it is perhaps my favorite thing in the whole album. A photo booth strip! Of my grandparents! In 1938! I love it.

The whole album is really incredible. My grandfather loved to take pictures, much in the same way that I do or so I am guessing from the shots in the album. He seemed to like to document things, take lots of photos of his wife and friends and play around with light. I have no idea what type of camera he was using in the 1930's. The pictures are all quite small, maybe from a Brownie? I'm slowly scanning the album and I'll be posting all the shots on Flickr and some here too.

My grandfather was a geologist and worked for the government his whole life. He took photos of the Golden Gate Bridge while it was being built! And he worked on the Hoover Dam project as well. We also came across slides of an atomic test explosion, but I don't have those to scan. (On the same note, when my dad was a boy scout in Nevada, his troop went on a field trip to watch one of the tests. Crazy.) It's all fascinating to me and I wish he was still around so I could talk to him about all these things. He died in 1979 when I was nine years old. At that age, I was more interested in his collection of magnets than asking him about the different cameras he used. That's just how it goes sometimes. My love of vintage cameras and photography makes me feel a little connection with him though. Perhaps he grins when he sees me taking Polaroids of myself in the mirror just like he did.

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe we're already 7 days into 2010! Hope the year has gotten off to a good start for you.

My apologies for the lack of words around here, but we're laying low, working on various projects and trying to stay warm. I've been knitting day and night, trying to get many bags made so I can start up my Etsy shop by the end of the month. My goal this week is to get 4 bags knitted and I think I'm going to make it. Might even manage five! Then next week, felting and on to more bags, perhaps some new patterns that I've been trying to work out in my head. Sales have been pretty much nonexistent at the shop which is frustrating, but hey, that's retail for you. Hoping Etsy gets things moving a little bit as cash is getting tight around here. If only I could convince the cats to go out and get jobs. But no, they would rather nap all day. Alas.

As for things I want to accomplish in the new year, I still haven't even written them down! But they've been floating around in my head for weeks. One of them is that no matter how obsessed with knitting I am, I have to try to get out of the house at least once a week to do something that is not work or errand related. This week's outing was taking two of my nieces and their friend to lunch. They drove up from Albuquerque to visit before heading back to college and while we didn't do a whole lot, it was great to see them. They are just so hilarious. We had lunch at Second Street Brewery and then they all played Wii games while I sat back and watched. Very entertaining. No, really, it was. I wish I could see all the nieces and nephews more often.

Another thing I'd like to get done is the scanning of the album of old photos that my aunt lent to me two summers ago. Scanning is not my favorite thing to do, but I've been trying to dedicate an hour to it every evening. I've been pretty good about it except for this evening. I am writing this instead. I just don't feel up to scanning. I don't know why I dislike scanning so much. Perhaps if my scanner wasn't always full of dust and hair, it wouldn't be as annoying.

This weekend will find me knitting more and watching the Wild Card games. The Steelers may be done, but we keep watching until the very end. I guess I'm rooting for an NFC win this year. Go Saints! (But I'd be okay with a Vikings or Cowboys win as well. And don't tell my dad about me rooting for the Saints!)