Candy Management Rule #1
October 31, 2008
Next Halloween, when two 10-year old princesses come to your door and ask “How many pieces of candy can we take?” DO NOT say, “As many as you want.”
Judder
October 31, 2008
Today I learned a brand new word: Judder.
I also learned what it means: $1,000.
Max, my trusty old car, had started to shimmy a bit when I applied the brakes. Not much, just enough to be noticeable. I took him in Thursday for his 60K mile checkup and casually mentioned the shimmy thing.
“You mean it’s juddering?” asked the service manager. My puzzled look produced the explanation that this meant rhythmic short and sharp little jerks. It was most often caused by worn brake pads but there could be, he added ominously, other reasons.
Turns out the other reasons are “bent rotors,” which happen when you repeatedly apply the brakes hard and overheat the rotors…or something like that.* Replacing them is apparently a massive pain in the neck, worth it only if the customer possesses a thousand bucks.
Drat.
*Since I am one of the most sedate and careful drivers I know, there obviously must be another reason.
Esther’s Chest
October 29, 2008
This is Halloweeeeeek, my favorite time of the year. In glassland right now, the winter rains haven’t quite settled in, the leaves shimmer with color and the winds rise just enough to blow the clouds away.
It’s also the week of the Pilchuck auction which, given the elections, current economic climate and all the scared rich people out there, may be in for much rougher weather than usual. So this year, my Halloween story combines auctions, ghosts and what happens when, as now, fear runs away with common sense. (BTW, if you want to read past Halloweek stories, like the one about the dead chicken ghosts or my candy story, feel free.)
Feeling flush
October 27, 2008
To the list of things you can do in a bathroom stall (and believe me, it’s an extensive and varied list), add: Job interviews.
I kid you not.
Nature upside the head
October 26, 2008
There’s pictures of nature, there’s nature photography and then there’s the work of Michael Durham. Someday, if I keep practicing really hard and the angels finally set up shop behind my eyes instead of only stopping in for a visit every year or two, I’ll grow up to take pictures like this guy.
I’ve never been into all this tramping through the wilderness stuff–very few campsites have room service or high-speed Internet connections–but his stunning images make me want to get out there and see.
Yasmen (Lebanese)
October 23, 2008
- Review website (Yasmen doesn’t seem to have a site)
- Location: Beaverton
- Price to fill up (and I mean fill up) two people: $60
I chatted idly with the Yasmen employees while I waited for Robyn to arrive. “It’s only 7:00 so I guess we’re kind of early?” I asked, gesturing at all the empty tables. Most of my Middle Eastern and Mediterranean friends recoil in horror at the thought of dinner before 9:00 PM, so I figured that our early arrival explained the lack of patrons.
But they shrugged. “You come here on a weekend and this place will be so packed you can’t get near it,” one smiled, “But during the week? This is pretty typical, any time of day. Nobody here.”
Moth
October 22, 2008
Rushing off to work this morning, I saw a silhouette move across the back door. It was a moth, one of those floor-of-the-woods types with the furry wingtips and wings shading themselves against the light.
I grabbed the camera and got off a few quick shots, then, satisfied, I contemplated the moth. No fair to leave her in the house to be eaten by my cat, not when she’d posed so nicely.
I cupped my hand toward her and she fluttered into a panic, beating frantically against the glass, so I backed away. Then I quietly, slowly extended a finger to the glass beside her and held it there. After a minute or so she clambered onto my finger, and calmly sat while I fumbled the door and the screen open and walked outside.
I shook my finger slightly; she didn’t move. I shook it harder, and she sprang from my finger to my cheek. She lingered for just a moment, then flew above the eaves and out of sight.
Rain on a tin(nish) roof
October 20, 2008
Woke up this morning to the drumming sounds of rain on the skylight, lingered a moment in bed enjoying it, and in its usual convoluted meanderings, my brain dredged up my old neighbor Mike and his tin rooflet.
All of me(s)
October 16, 2008
Gosh, there sure are a bunch of me out there.
One of the neat things about the Web is the ability to search (and find) just about anything once you get the hang of it. I did a quick search for my name, just to see what I’m up to, and found all kinds of interesting women. For example, “Cynthia Morgan” is:
- A truck driver who’s had scary adventures ferrying soldiers and equipment in Iraq (and written a book about it).
- A fiber artist in Australia who’s done some smashing quilts
- A real estate attorney and realtor in San Diego who’s also had some lobbying run-ins with the city council (oops)
- An actress who was in the epic film “Bikini Island”
- A realtor in Atlanta
- An historical romance writer (who also worked for BYTE Magazine…eerie)
- A photographer who specializes in weddings
- A rather forbidding-looking hypnotherapist
- A nurse-midwife in Alabama
- A rheumatologist in Washington DC
- A medical missionary in Bangladesh
- A Dallas tax attorney (actually, a bunch of us are attorneys, in Seattle, DC and other spots)
- A registered voter in Iowa who supports Barack Obama
- A clinical psychologist in Michigan
They look like a really interesting bunch and it’s kinda cool that so many are published authors; maybe Cynthias just gravitate to writing. 
Might be fun to get us all together for a reunion at some point…
What a lousy time to have an auction…
October 15, 2008
(given the state of the financial markets), but the Pilchuck auction is later this month. Once again I’m going to miss it due to prior commitments (and a kilnbuilding project that’ll either bankrupt me or drive me nuts, maybe both). But at least I can have fun with the online catalog…
It’s kinda nice to see so many artist-buddies represented in the auction catalog this year, as well as the work of artists whose stuff is hanging around my house. There’s a (drool) machine from Bandhu Dunham, a nice piece by Lawrence Morell, and an intriguing piece from Pino Cherchi, too.
The fun stuff, though, is looking at work from newer artists:
Claire Belfrage: A glassblower (every year I say glassblowing has about reached its limits and every year I’m wrong). I enjoy her use of color and texture.
Carol Milne: I lost a silent auction bidding war for her GAS donation this summer, a “knitted” cast glass bowl, and still regret it. I did get a chance to talk with her there (and ask how she gets all the plaster out of those tiny crevices…”elbow grease,” she grinned).
Brian Howard: Brian uses found objects and glass to create really surrealistic insect habitats–you just gotta see them. I was in a show with him this summer and absolutely fascinated by his work.
Kazuki Takizawa: I’m not entirely sure why this work keeps catching my eye, but it does, and I keep going back to it.
Elissa Batchley: She’s doing interesting things with float and chickenwire that make me want to try them…
Ah well. There’s always next year.