a little red hen

Super Bawl* Sunday: Ads a Feminist Could Support

Much chatter* about this year's TV ads accompanying today's football event, the yearly display of testosterone with accompanying rise in spouse abuse.  Women's Media Center has coordinated shout-outs to  CBS to dump the ad.  And been ignored.  Everything more you'd want to know appears in the blog,  The Reclusive Leftist.  She rightly nails patriarchy as the true source of the problem.

For image, I offer one  saved on my desktop for a couple of years--a poster on bus kiosk around New York City.   I'd support variations on it year round.  Living closer to the ground, so to speak, these days in Portland, Oregon,  I now start the day with the  local Oregonian delivered to my door in contrast to the national NY Times (read later when picked up at the front desk of my retirement community).

Locally Portland would seem to harbour more women abusers than back east (I doubt this) because the "small" incidents here are reported by the media.   In NYC only prominent men receive notice by journalists.  Coast to coast, however, they are always lightly punished. 

Writing to promote the "Geezers' Crusade" , David Brooks on the Op-Ed page of the Times, wants us to do more on behalf of younger people.  Would he support a movement by older people that demands  more visible signs of respect for women in every American city--bold ones like this poster? 

Could it happen in  your city?

Roxie at the beach in winter

This was the second winter that we thought we'd go some place warmer than where we lived.  Last year it was traveling from NYC  to Portland for December and January.  We were treated to 19 inches of snow.  But had a good time and found Terwilliger Plaza, the retirement community where we've relocated.

This December, Leanne, our daughter-in-law in New York, had an idea for us to meet up in her home state, North Carolina.  Her uncle gave us the keys to a beautiful house he owns at Wrightsville Beach.  Surely that would be milder than our new home in Portland.  Not exactly. It was wonderfully sunny the week we were there but  very cold and windy.

Roxie, our granddaughter was unfazed by the climate while I'm wrapped up in just about every piece of clothing in my suitcase.

We enjoyed connecting with Leanne's extended family who put together a great birthday party for Roxie's third.  had some great oysters, celebrated Roxie's birthday #3--including a castle-cake baked by Leanne's sister.

Our presents for her were a sweater set from wool spun by Ron.  He knitted the hat; the two of us made the cardigan.

Doing this was a test of our marriage since our knitting styles are very different. Ron surprised me by announcing when we were finished that we ought to do it again!  That's a possibility--maybe a sweater for Elianna in Portland, our youngest grandchild.

We ate some great seafood, a broiled flounder was my favorite, along with the view from Oceana, a  restaurant nearby at the end of Wrightsville Beach.  (Roxie with her Princess cellphone appears to be deciding on her entree.)  Our son Nick and Ron got lost in fresh oysters a couple of times.

Seeing Roxie again was a treat; she has grown since we saw her last summer before we left New York for Portland.  Distance grandparenting will always be a challenge.

And now I have knit chickens...

A few weeks ago, I went back to Close Knit, a favorite yarn shop here.  Last winter I bought Noro yarn and pattern there to make this vest;  finished when we returned to New York.  One of my more successful yarn projects.  It  helped that there was an already-knit version I could try on  to check out the fit. 

Knitting chickens, representations of them not the actual bird, has moved  along my plan to knit kids' toys.   First,  a yellow Polka-Dot Chicken from Susan B. Anderson's "Itty-Bitty Nursery."  I was going to give this to Zoe but decided to keep it.

I rationalized that her baby sister might tear it  and get into this bag of  beads used to weight the bottom.  Zoe shares my fondness for chickens,  chases  uncaged ones resident in the nearby schoolyard. Hope  they  make it through the winter.

Because she's partial to dots, I added them to another  Susan B. Anderson pattern for a striped chicken.  And produced this larger hen for her to take home.  On visits with us, she plays with the smaller one. Clara is the name she gave to  both.  Sounds  old-fashioned from a modern little girl.

 
Sent off this sweater for Roxie's Purple Bear that I made in August, just before we left NYC. I've started another animal for her,  a Hippo from Susan B. Anderson's new book, itty-bitty toys.  Did Susan and I meet at Knitty City?  I have a signed copy of the other Itty-Bitty. She is a very inventive designer who blogs here.

Feeling quite righteous because I'm only using yarn from my stash for these projects.   Found more funky chick patterns at Ravelry--that comes after the Hippo and another vest for myself, this time with Ron's yarn.

Recalling my hen obsession while she was in Paris, Maxine Levinson at Knitty City sent me a photo she snapped of a poulet store.  I lost it and effort to retrieve it via Google led to a blog called Paris Breakfasts.  Discovered many sides of  chicken enthusiasm among the French.  Something little red hens everywhere are trying to tell us?

Starting to use her as my avatar.  Please note the beaded necklace.

Posting less than I'd like because we continue to have a busy time in Portland, O, with taking classes, finding intriguing lectures.  This week the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard came through to promote his book, "Good without God: what a billion nonreligious people do believe."    Saw Philip Glass' new opera,"Orphee" and liked the music.   A group  sat in the lobby doing live blogging.

More  boxes await attention.   Though I feel frustrated about my ability to influence national politics, there are local issues to work on.  Oregon, like California, has votes often on initiatives outside regular elections.

The outcome of Initiatives 66 and 67  will have profound effect on funding for schools and social services.  "YES" is the word for the  January 28 election. 

"Small Is Beautiful" in my everyday life

Last night we picked up our daughter and went to a downtown movie.  Last show, we were the only ones at Lloyd Center Mall to see "The Informant."  Curious film--glad for lack of violence or gratuitous sex--maybe I missed the point?  Afterwards,  realized I'd dropped my Ron-knit-hat and new gloves.

[Aside:  Minor challenge is adjusting to current Portland weather.  Thought cold times had arrived--wrong.]

Called the Mall this morning, got number for movie office.  "Wait a minute," the woman said, "let me look."  She returned, described my lost articles.  Later today I'll pick them up at the box office.  Meanwhile we had a brief and pleasant exchange about the oddness of being alone at the movies.

Oh, I am liking so much the scale of life here.  Take Sunday morning just passed.   Along with 17 others,

[Aside: Every now and then some of that much-advertised rain appears]

I scribbled away for two hours at a Community Writing Workshop at HOT LIPS Pizza on Hawthorne.  Write Around Portland puts these on to give new and not-so writers the "experience of the transformative power of writing in community."  Very intergenerational--17 on up, one other grandmother, other recent transplants.

[Aside:  Hot Lips' pizza has been a favorite since our family settled nearby...delicious Pear Soda, a new addition...and the jams.  Website text on how they came to add these by accident rather than corporate plan is my notion of  modern Portland-style, as contrasted with old-fashioned.  Again, more later.]

Why the workshop, I hope you ask.  Need a jump start on writing in general plus a push to working more on  my plays about life among the not-so-old  as we get more so. Preferring "old" lately as adjective and noun.

[Aside:  The WAP session was a push.  More came from unpacking another book box (endless), finding books of ten-minute plays.  More later.]

In synch with E.F. Schumacher and the beauty of "small,"  decided to get rid of many more books.  Reading Fran Johns' postings on the True/Slant blog, listening to children of the old talking about the burden of parents' wish for them to receive their "stuff," resonated.  Okay, they really, really live in the here-and-now--a thing or two from Mom and Dad's pile and that's it.

  [Aside:  Our son-in-law cherishes his grandfather's college football helmet, our daughter dresses her children in sweaters I knit for her--and saved.  My daughter-in-law in New York took on this blue baby dress of mine.]

Keeping the flame of  Schumacher alive is a society with a number of programs,  and a blog.  Good ideas do not go out of style.

 

The Sad Part of Leaving New York

It's all about the people we love and leave--till we come together again in the City or Portland.  Our "distance grandparenting" shifts coasts with our move.  We've had many good times with Roxie and her parents in our last days in New York.

This photo is a favorite of mine from a delightful  Sunday we enjoyed last winter in Dumbo, under the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

Knitting, Blogging, Leaving: the Gerund Review

Do you recall learning about  -ing words?  It was junior high,  1945, University City (suburban St. Louis).    Once again, I was in another new school-- the 8th one in my litany of public schools.  Having always been a good reader/speller, I was thrown off by having to learn RULES for grammar.

At the same time, I was required to take Latin and discovered the gerund.   With Latin as an organizing principle, I could now put together what came naturally to me and the RULES.  Present participles, however, are more elusive.

Since I began blogging three years ago, I've moved into "slow knitting," i.e., less production.  Finally completed the chicken sweater for Zoe in Portland (large enough to last through next cold spell).  Her mom and baby sister are in the photo background; her expression a result of instruction to stand still.  It's a match for the white one made for her cousin Roxie in NYC.  Pleases me that granddaughters will have "matched" garments.

Meanwhile, yarn from Close Knit in PDX (bought on our winter visit), vest for myself, finished last month.  Just in time to store in closet.  Imagine as worn by ample female walking into Powell's in October.  Noro Kochoran wool/angora/silk, pattern is Rowan Colorscape Clunky Collection.

 Then there's the other vest.  Takhi pattern looked easy.  Did not realize the cotton yarn had to be doubled.  Photos demonstrate virtual body it has become--only one of its "issues."  Much help from Knitty City here in NYC but will not be wrapped up before we leave.

Speaking of knitting, August 5, my natal day,  began with a long coffee  klatch with Kay Gardner of the blog (and cottage industry?) Mason Dixon Knitting.  Talking with Kay is always very special:  my fantasy is that I would have been sharper and kinder (you figure that out) like her if I'd been born 20 years later, gone to law school.  And a more independent knitter.  And funnier. 

Kay along with her blog and book partner, Ann Shayne, model a way of collaborating  we could use more among women.     [photo of Ann and Kay, left, introducing second book, "Knitting Outside the Lines,"   last Fall at Knitty City.]

Fiber has been an amazing community in the 15 years back in the City.  The other day a very sweet goodbye email came from Judi Seal of the UWS Knit Circle after my message to unsubscribe from their Yahoo group.  This Upper West Side gathering at a Starbucks carried me through many ups and downs in the early years of this century.  It was my introduction to  remarkable changes in knit techniques, styles, yarn  since my previous go-around in the 1980s.  I never would have thought fiber would fulfill so many of my needs.

Then there's blogging. Many thanks to all of you who wished me well on my last post.  Knowing you're out there, open to my not-very-regular appearances has been a boost during these months of  "the selling process."  Westward there are new friends from blogging-- a meet-up with Anne Gilbert of 20th Century Woman and more encoounters with Hattie of the Web.

The mover has been here to assess the project,  gave us packing/leaving dates.  We close  August 28.     "Waiting," that power-filled gerund, never my strong suite, but it's feeling within reach now. 

Ron Bloom Celebrates Another Birthday!

All my love and thanks for all the places we've been, crises we've survived,  children and grandchildren we've loved...

...and your great patience in teaching me too many things to list...what I've learned from your pleasure in sharing with everyone who comes within your range.

  All of us look forward to many more June tenths with you--

most especially yours truly ...

Celebration: High-Rise Style...Last night--a building party where we live. Lee Morgan, Ron's co-chair and great party-giver, suggested this one as they wrapped up their term of office, turned it over to another pair. Singing the Birthday song was a high point of the pot-luck evening...who says New Yorkers don't care about one another?

A Sweater, A Village, A Question

Alternative title for this post:  It Takes a Village To Make a Sweater, or Can This Marriage Be Saved?  This colorful cardigan for Eliana, our most recent grandchild, became a joint project by chance.  I was having difficulty using size eleven needles to make Elizabeth Zimmerman's famous "Baby Surprise."  At the height of the past year's shoulder discomfort, I could not manage 100+ stitches on a circular needle.

Why not encourage Ron, happily knitting hat after hat, to try an easier sweater pattern with the same yarn, a product of his own spinning.  He was cautiously agreeable; pattern-reading has not been his thing.  But I would help!  Here's Eliana in a sweater I made for her mother forty years ago.

An added complication was that the blue and red yarns were spun very early in his learning this craft.  That is, they are not too amenable to being knit.  We got some great help from Betty Balcomb at Knitty City (wearing one of her own glorious productions).  A bit of input from Close Knit in Portland when we were there this winter.  But the project kept slowing down.  Would we ever complete it in time for use before summer?

Biggest problem was the awful instructions for this medium-complex, cuff-to-cuff cardigan.  I guess to keep the cost down, it was printed on both sides of one page--sort of a run-on style.  Also, the designer is British and, though we speak the same language... knitters know what I mean.  Finally, I had to give up certain knit niceties to accommodate Ron's distinctive style, although he was ready to rip and redo at several junctures.

With many stops and starts,  we finally finished, sewed in our respective labels,  and mailed it to Portland this week.

Handmade wood buttons down the front are from Russia via Peace Fleece. Even if you're not a yarn person, it's an inspiration to read about Peter Haggerty's  successful experiment, started in 1985, to bridge cultures through commerce.  From his farm in Maine where he and his wife raise sheep, he travels to connect and partner with shepherds in Russia, central Asia, and the Middle East. 

The little yellow buttons at the collar points come from a trip to Toronto some years ago and are actually made in Canada.  Rachel, Eliana's Mom, says there's still a chill in Portland, so our funky production should get a bit of use this season.

Knit, Eat...Winter's End

The brightly colored red, yellow, blue yarn that Ron's knits here was all spun on his wheel.  He's making a  simple pattern that I talked him into trying for our youngest grandchild, Elianna.  He  prefers  producing more hats but agreed this time.  Because the sweater I tried to make, Elizabeth Zimmerman's famous "Baby Surprise," proved too painful to my right arm.  It required  many, many stitches on a #11 circular needle.

  Meanwhile I'm trying to finish a pink and black version of the little hen sweater knit for Roxie, our local grandchild last year.  This one is for Zoe in Portland, the three year old.  I've completed all the pieces.

 It's a little odd since I decided to carry the pink yarn across the back of the sweater rather than use a separate ball on each side as I did on Roxie's.

This has produced a puffy surface on the front.  You can see how the pink knitting around the black hen has been stretched out.  I'm not sure how cross-stitching a feather design on the front will work out on a not-flat surface.  I'm trying to decide if each piece should be blocked before putting it all together.  Time to visit Knitty City for more input from Aryn on the next step.

In the food department, we've focused over the past year on eating at home.  Mostly this is about liking our own cooking better--except for two Vietnamese restaurants--one in the neighborhood, the other in Greenwich Village.  Oh yes, and  weight control is an excellent "excuse" for eating in our own space.

 A very long time ago, I bought this packaged soup.  Later realized it required coconut milk.  Turned out quite well.  Spring for Ron is about buying a box or two of Matzohs; this is a new one from Israel.   Nothing religious here; we do not observe Passover.  He has explained that this is when they are freshest.  Matzohs went well with  the coconut ginger soup.  Definitely  but would have tasted really good with the addition of real coconut from Hattie's Web in Hilo, Hawaii.  A long trip.

This is my kitchen in Manhattan & it's for sale!

Yes, that long winter visit in Portland, Oregon,  even with its unseasonable snow, confirmed our decision.  We'd gone with the idea of  re-locating.  Call it Second Stage Retirement.  In the first one we were in our early sixties, had two unmarried children. 

Fifteen years and one quadruple by-pass later, we're ready for  a place slower than New York.  The subway steps are more of a challenge these days.  Both children are married, have their own kids. The idea of being with the three in Portland as they grow is very appealing.   It is, we believe, our last move until the very final exit or Third Stage.

With the unstable real estate market we wondered, as we left in mid-December, whether we'd look to buy or rent an apartment as a temporary measure?  Few days before we left, I Googled "retirement communities" in Portland.  I'm still not sure how it escaped my eye before.  It's been around for 50 years!  Unlike most retirement places, this one is  right in town--we could walk to the center city, take a bus to our family's neighborhood.  Maybe a possibility?

 January 10, was our first visit to Terwilliger Plaza.  A non-profit  CCRC   (continuing care retirement community), it is designed for "healthy people looking for security.   When I stepped toward the reception desk to sign in, the pleasant resident volunteer (I'd say she was a bit older than I, maybe early eighties), looked at my Obama button, smiled, said "Isn't it wonderful?"

 That first  surprise was followed by the second:  it was much more affordable than Kendal on Hudson, another non-profit CCRC, that interested us earlier.  Plus the apartments were attractively designed, most with a  view of Mt. Hood.  Most important was that  Ron was very enthusiastic too.  The postings on the bulletin boards on each floor indicated that we would be comfortable with the social environment.  Of course we'll be a bit "different."  Always a bit outside the line,  I was amused when Ronni Bennett once described me as one of New York's  "typical upper west siders."  Yes and no.

Speaking of Ronni and selling our apartment, I called her last week to talk about the upcoming sale of our apartment. She left the City three years ago  after an extended effort to sell her much-beloved place in Greenwich Village.  Just like our visit with her in  Maine two years ago, our free-flowing conversation surveyed everything from blogging to bagels.  Great to hear her laughter again and get her input about financial stuff we'd face.

Leaving Roxie, our local granddaughter, is the sad part of this move (seen here with a pickle, one of her favorite foods).  We rationalize by saying that our daughter and her spouse are permanently (or as much as anyone can be these days).  Our son, Roxie's dad  has the potential for more mobility as a young academic. 

Many readers  had much to add on my December post, "Housing Ourselves in Late Life."  The dialogue continues today and in the months and weeks to come.  In my effort to include a PDF file for the first time on A Little Red Hen, this is how the link offers itself-- Download Co-op flyer NEW color.  If you know anyone who would be interested in our  two-bedroom co-op in Morningside Gardens, that will give you the photo above plus two others and details.   Our very special community with its six buildings around a beautifully landscaped central garden has a history of being unknown in New York.  Thanks to Wikipedia we get our due in their description of  the many sides of  the upper westside neighborhood, Morningside Heights.

[Visit Marlys Styne's Never Too Late! for another Elderblogger experience on a recent move to a highrise CCRC in Chicago.]