THE YEAR 1904

Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home.

Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the country for any reason.

The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza

2. Tuberculosis

3. Diarrhea

4. Heart disease

5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30.

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-time servant or domestic.

There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.

And I forwarded this from someone else without typing it myself, and sent it to you in a matter of seconds.

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.

FEBRUARY ALREADY

I'm trying to be creative in a textile sense, but last week was like this, in fast-forward:

Mon-work; Tues-work; Weds-sick/sleep; Thurs-sick/babysit sick granddaughter; Fri-work; Sat-lay around for 1/2 day watching DVDs (The Constant Gardener and I am a Sex Addict). Sat night-take grandkids overnight; recover Sunday afternoon. And now it's Sunday evening and I haven't gotten much done.

I did felt some extra wool fabric and surround in cotton duvet-style covers (photo soon, when I locate my camera). I placed one under my bottom flannel sheet which keeps my bed warm and toasty; much warmer than without. I'd love to find a way to make a prototype and market this or anything made of wool.

Wool is magical. But it's getting harder and harder to find 100% wool these days.

Another creative textile idea is A SHOE QUILT:


What woman doesn't LOVE shoes? I found this graphic on the internet. A great way to use up extra cotton fabric and, of course, use wool batting in-between.

Trying now to think of Spring and Summer goodies for Los Bebes and myself. I've got lots of linen and some cotton.

IT'S A MIRACLE!

For the last ten days, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop.

My civil service coworker and I have been overloaded for about the last three years, taking between 50 to 100 phone calls a day, each of us. That's an average of 1,000 phone calls each per month. And we're expected to process payments and paperwork as well, which is of course impossible. Try reading a letter while being interrupted by a headset phone call every two minutes. While working in a software that times out every two minutes.

Every day I have around seven software screens up on my work computer, one software being Internet Explorer to keep my feet on the ground and my sanity while angry customers yell and curse at me. I drift in cyberspace, remembering the real world.

About ten days ago, that changed. Mercifully, because my coworker was in the hospital having tests for chest pains. This usually means over 100 calls for me and a whole lot of yelling from people who have been on hold for over ten minutes. But I only received 50 calls, and my "pending" work stack went down instead of up.

Our software provider finally came through with their contract and are taking half the calls.

Good God. What a difference. I'm still adjusting to being productive again. It will take a while. I'm still in shock. More later.

LONG WEEKEND

We had an extra day off the job for Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. He's about the closest person we have to an American saint. Flawed but, my God, did he ever change the world.

I've rested and then rested some more, in-between a little housecleaning and trying to find the right proportions of a new poncho I'm knitting. I'm using a yarn unknitted from a Margaret O'Leary sweater, size small, so there's not much room for error. I am not size small.

Watched a BBC rendition of "Wives and Daughters" and find myself quite taken with Elizabeth Gaskell. I've seen "North and South" which was more moralistic or Calvinistic. "Wives" was full of sumptuous costumes and landscape. And Michael Gambon, whom I adore, is at his finest as a gruff but loving country squire.

AND on the special features are interviews with Margaret Drabble and Fay Weldon, two of my very favorite novelists. What a treat!

My grandson, nicknamed Big Bomb, and his sister were over on Sunday. Bomb is standing, dancing, and getting ready to walk and run. I took us all out for breakfast at Tomate, our favorite Berkeley cafe.

The Princess was moody and actually didn't want to leave. Last weekend she didn't want to stay. She is simply a moody child and very sensitive. She is my heart.

How awful for children to have to go from one home to another. Luckily she has always stayed at my house on weekends and feels quite at home here, but the switch from one environment to another is shocking for a small child. Parents separating is trauma; the switching of homes is like a rerun. I don't know if they'll ever take it in their stride.

To my utter amazement, Deirdre Nelson left me a thank-you comment on my blog post mentioning her work. It's like writing a fan letter and having the object of your attention write back. I was thrilled. Here is a photo of her with George, her knitted puffin.

She mixes language and textiles in a unique way. Now she is mixing wildlife and the history of Nova Scotia into her current work. Amazing.

I am more and more in love with history as I grow older. The leaps and errors of our human race. And of course in the present, our messes and successes.

I'm now trying to take my job supervisor's advice and look at my job as comic relief. To laugh at the lies people will come up with to get out of paying a parking ticket. If they could only be that creative with other parts of their lives, what a creative world it would be.

RED SKY AT MORNING...

...sailor take warning.

Red sky at night
Sailor's delight.

Our skies have been clear and crisp, although I spend most of the day indoors. The webcam from Lawrence Hall of Science in the Berkeley Hills is my window to the world.

In our office, we took a collection to buy flowers for a coworker who died last New Year's Eve. Olive was a lovely woman who had a hard life and fought cancer for many years. We were all hoping she would live through another remission, but no. She once asked me to come in early to the office and join her Christian prayer circle and I was flattered by the offer, though I declined.

This made me think more about my own mortality and what disposition I wish for my own earthly remains.

I've told my son to have my body cremated and bury the ashes under a redwood tree, but I think now I wish for my ashes to be scattered or buried on the Isle of Skye, or anywhere wild in Scotland. Who would do it, and with what money?

As my son said about these wild areas, "There's nothing there."



But the air is the cleanest I have ever breathed. The air there feels so right, it fills your lungs naturally with clean, cold goodness and awakens your body with its freshness.

And something about the colors there, the red and green and brown with a sprinkling of grey rock. While in a gift shop in Portree, I saw a handwoven scarf/shawl with just these colors. The fibre was cashmere and the price was around $300. Of course I didn't buy it, but sometimes I wish I had.

Last weekend's granny duty was tough. The baby had an ear infection and my granddaughter was moody (when is she not?). After awhile she cheered up:

A NEW YEAR - FULL MOON

Went to see Children of Men over the New Year. Clive Owen is gorgeous (Bent, Croupier, King Arthur, Gosford Park), and acts well in the movie. The theatre was full, but the story didn't translate that well to the screen. The onscreen violence was like spending an hour in Baghdad. Wait for Children on DVD.


On the crafting front, I spent some time looking in to the recent work of my favorite Glaswegian textile artist, Deirdre Nelson. And lo and behold, she has knit a puffin.





I first saw a display of Ms Nelson's work in Edinburgh's Tolbooth Museum, a cozy snug of a venue. It was entitled My Dear John, and it was calligraphy on lace and fine linen, as I recall. Apparently the show was written up in a back issue of Fibrearts and I may just have to purchase that back issue so I can see it again. Ms Nelson has a website:

http://dstitched.blogspot.com/

CHRISTMAS

On Christmas Day, Los Bebes came to see what Santa left them at Grandma's house:

Because Baby Nima is teething, I didn't get the turkey stuffed and into the oven until late--Nima was crying and chewing on my collarbone much of the afternoon. So dinner was Gerber's Organics for him and side dishes for us while the turkey and orange cranberry stuffing roasted away.

Princess Munai was happy with her toy puppy, fairy dolls and a red cardinal Audobon bird that chirps, among other goodies.

The best gift she gave me was when she chatted away in big girl talk about Christmas Eve and Santa and her dreams.

Since her parents split up, she's been talking in baby talk and a mysterious "secret" language which I call Fairy Talk. She's finally communicating freely again. In words that her Daddy and I can understand.

The baby, when not teething, is crawling everywhere and getting into everything possible. Everything normal there.

All of this activity opens up great communication between my son and myself about his own childhood. Which it should.

After the overnight on Saturday and the Christmas Day festivities, I slept for 13 hours.

Now time for New Year's resolutions. During this holiday weekend, my usual news addiction was shut down. Time to tune back in, as desperate as the news is these days.

Tonight going with friends to see "Children of Men", with Clive Owen (my favorite actor), written by P.D. James, one of my favorite writers.

QUILTS, QUILTS, QUILTS

Went to see the Gee's Bend Quilters' exhibition at the DeYoung Museum in SF.

My favorites:




The new De Young is mind-boggling. I wish I'd had more time.

Saturday night I had Los Bebes and it was freezing cold in my unheated bedroom. Baby boy and I moved into the living room where we cuddled up on the kids' couch donated by Grandma Harriet. I have definite ideas for quilts now ... and plenty of fabric to work with. The Gee's Bend ladies were strong and fearless in their work, as well as their lives.

SPEAK THY MINDE

I was just notified that my application for a transfer within my department was turned down because I have a "bad attitude". In short, when I think a management decision isn't a very good one, I say so (diplomatically, of course). I also make a lot of suggestions to management. And a few times have made very clear to management that I think we (the front line) are not being treated very well.

As a coworker succinctly put it: "It's not your work that holds you back, it's your mouth."

And I can accept that. After all, this is a free country and I believe in the First Amendment. Others around me also believe in it as long as they aren't being criticized or called to take responsibility.

So I'm good enough to do the shit work, but not good enough (in attitude) for an easier job. And this is civil service. Corporations are even worse. No, I take that back; they are about the same.

You can outwork everyone, have few or no absences for months, accept responsibility for your errors. That won't outweigh coworkers who take lots of time off, talk more on the phone with friends than with customers, and do little work but smile and tell management how well they're doing, even as the place dissolves in chaos.

I know this, but have never been able to accept it. SO the only answer is to start my own business. I have 16 months of car payments, 1-1/2 years until I can cash out some retirement and 3 years until I can get a small pension. It's a crap shoot if I make it that long. In the meantime, I'll have to put more energy into my own business than into my day job. Tant pis.

WEEKEND FUN

I discovered YouTube by looking up Hugh Laurie and Alan Davies last weekend.

If you like "House", you'll love Hugh Laurie singing his silly hit: "Mystery" at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APPGW82NBNk

and then, I looked for dishy Alan Davies (anyone remember Jonathan Creek?) Imagine my delight to discover the BBC's "QI" (for "quite interesting") with several British comedians on the panel; including Alan Davies. Kind of a Monty Python quiz show but much faster, wittier and now-ier. Hosted by Stephen Fry.








A waste of time really, learning how long a woodpecker's tongue is, but better than television.

I now see why Google snapped up YouTube. No commercials and you can pick what you watch.

Sounds very promising.

FIGHTING THE FORAGING GENE

While scrounging through baskets and drawers full of others' cast off yarns and fabrics, a chat started up between me and another woman doing the same at EB Depot.

She: "What is it with us women and foraging?"

Me: "Like in nuts and berries?"

She: "Yeah. I always feel like some cavewoman coming in here and scrounging up usable stuff."

Me: "Considering prices in yarn and fabric shops...."

She: "I know. But that's not really why I do it. Don't you have more than enough projects?"

I didn't even have to think that one through. I have tons of supplies, thanks to places like thrift stores, East Bay Depot and SCRAP. And not nearly enough time to do work on the projects I've started.

Me (sighing): "More than enough. "

She: "I think it's a genetic thing. In times of stress we women walk around with one eye open for usable goods."

Me: "Maybe. I know other women who go shopping when they're stressed, to malls. I hate malls."

She: "Do you hoard stuff?"

Me: "Do I? I've got drawers and boxes of stuff."

She: "Honey, some of us have rooms full of stuff."

Maybe that should have made me feel better, that others have this obsessive/compulsive hoarding condition or whatever you call it. But it doesn't.

I confess, I have this image of a coming disaster--a nuclear war or climate crisis where everything will break down. No electricity, no heat except burning what we . We'll actually go back to living like tribes. Kind of like that series Doris Lessing wrote about years ago (Shikasta?).

And I'll be the old lady with fabric and clothes and yarns to make warm things for people during a new Ice Age. Or else we'll start growing fur again....

POST HALLOWEEN

Oddly, when I showed up at work in my thrift store costume of witch's hat, halloween sweater and long weird fingers (total cost $12), my Christian co-workers kind of creeped out. When I once mentioned to them that I'm not a Christian but more or less a pagan, these Baptists gave me the same look. We had a luncheon and the Born-Agains stated they don't celebrate Halloween because it's the "Devil's Day". Oh dear. We really are in a divided nation. I notice they love decorating Christmas trees and giving kids Easter baskets but they don't realize that is pagan also.

Sadly, I did not get the Library job. Boohoo. But I have other interviews set up to get away from the place I now work. Love the people, hate the job.

BOOBOO AND ME

Here I am, wrinkles, broken nose, grey hair and all with my grandbaby booboo who is seven months old. We had fun playing last weekend and I caught a fleeting glimpse of what he'll look like as an adult. Once he grows hair, that will change his looks considerably. He is very sweet natured and loves, I mean LOVES women. He always seems to have a hand laying gently on your breast.

He and his big sister took a nap after lunch.
















Right now these kids (and my hobbies) keep me sane. On my job for the City of Berkeley, I've been called a Nazi, a white bitch, a rapist and murderer. Last week, a Berkeley resident called me a cunt. Whoever thinks Berkeley citizens or visitors are laid-back and "nice" have it all wrong. Our callers really have entitlement issues.

But great news! I have an interview for a job at a library this week! One of the best inventions ever conceived is The Library. I spend two or three lunch hours per week there as it is, checking out books, films, books on tape. God, I am hoping to finally land a meaningful job. I think it would make my life so much better.

AND at lunchtime today in Berkeley, one of my heroes--Al Gore--made a speech in the civic center park. Of course street crews were steam cleaning the urine off the homeless shelter steps across the street in the early morning, and every police officer in Berkeley was out in full SWAT gear. I listened to him for about 20 minutes (he showed up 45 minutes late) and then went back to my office. It was too hot and I keep up with his campaign as is. The crowd kept shouting, "Run, Al, run!"

To wind up the week, the Piedmont Avenue Halloween parade in Oakland, CA will be held this Saturday. The main street is closed off and hundreds of kids come to parade in costume and trick or treat at all the local shops. I have my witch hat, scary hands and Halloween sweater ready. My granddaughter Munei will be Tinkerbell and Nima will be a Tootsie Roll.

MY LIFE IN MOVIES

I love to just hang out in my little Oakland house, pottering around. And often that means watching films (or as the Irish say "fillums"), usually borrowed from the library.

During the last three-day weekend I watched The Magdalene Sisters (not for the faint of heart or stomach, or for lovers of the Catholic Church), and a piece of fluff called Love in a Cold Climate (crap).

The most interesting by far was Mirrormask, a teenage fantasy film that introduced me to the art work of Dave McKean. Years ago I saw some of his work while I was visiting Edinburgh; it's work you are not likely to forget. Beautiful but incredibly creepy at the same time.

The screenwriter stated that after a Sony executive saw the film for the first time, he said, "That was like watching Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, on acid, for kids."

After watching this film, I had some very interesting dreams.

If it were not for the Internet, I think I'd be absolutely crazy by now, doing the work I do, talking to people all day long. The movies give me another life, many other lives.

ALMOST A MONTH...

...since my last post.

Working 8-10 hour days and some Saturdays has me beat. And every Saturday night I have a date with my two grandbabies, which is great fun but as exhausting as a three-ring circus.

On the side (ha-ha), I've semi-committed to writing an article on my favorite craft supply spot, the EB Depot on San Pablo near Ashby in Berkeley.







http://www.east-bay-depot.org/

Time, time, time is my biggest need right now. I am on vacation this week and just want to sit around my house; procion-dying, knitting and sewing while watching movies or listening to books on tape. Tomorrow I join my son in taking the granddaughter to her early morning gymnastics class. I spent half a day looking for my digital camera and FINALLY found it in my backpack from two weekends ago.

It's nearly midnight. More soon....

Sunday night:
And so I did. For five days, I stayed in my little house, sewing, knitting, listening to books on tape. My son who is house-sitting next door came by each day. I think he was worried about my going off the rails because I had no outside-the-house ambitions. He is such a social animal, always likes people and sound around him. But as he grows older, less and less. Where he lives now doesn't even have a tv so he can try to focus on his microbiology and physiology classes.

In five days, I made 3 pairs of soft pajamas for myself, knitted two hats for my grandson (which are too small), dyed four items a soft bottle-green, finished crocheting an orange blanket with rainbow edging, and made the grandson 3 pairs of pairs of jim-jams for the baby as well. I also experimented with felting 2 thrift-store sweaters into purses, sewed up a carry-bag for my knitting and made a knit/felted toy mouse.

Today we took Los Babes on the Alameda-San Francisco ferry. With little time, we rode over and back and my granddaughter had a blast watching the waves, boats and seagulls. Baby Evan ate pureed bananas and closed his amber-brown eyes to nap for a while wrapped up in my down vest. It was a good day and the visit too short.

And tomorrow it's back to the grind. There were so many things I wanted to do but did not. But it's okay. I was selfish and did what I needed/wanted. My next break will be the last week of the year when we are "asked" to take the week between Christmas and New Year off. I will and gladly. Feel like a human being again and not a wage machine.

WHAT KEEPS ME GOING

A new week begins, a six-day week because we'll be working next Saturday. Last weekend was good, I took the kids to the Berkeley Botanical Garden and the day was lovely. They both have colds so the sunlight and clean air was good for all of us.

My special treat was going to SCRAP in San Francisco on Saturday morning and looking through the piles of STUFF they have. Wonderful stuff. For a crafter, SCRAP is heaven . Fabrics, yarns, odds/ends, paper, glass, wood. And all dirt cheap. Check it out: http://www.scrap-sf.org/

My ideal life would be to run such a place or spend each day making things with my hands. Sewing, knitting, crocheting, painting. I know I can run down to Target and get a made-in-China baby hat for $3, but I'd rather knit one from yarn I bought for 25 cents.

If I can stand it, in four more years, I'll be able to retire with a pension of $1,000/month. That would be heaven for me. That would pay most of my mortgage. Four more years of opening letters and answering angry phone calls and putting up with insane management. Also four more years of steady wages and excellent benefits. Hmmm.

In the meantime....


My grandson at six months, wearing his dainty three-year old sister's T Rex tee-shirt. Both kids are nearly the same size.

After working five days a week with adults, I'm glad to spend time with children. It balances out the madness of the modern world.

THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH

Sunday was spent with an 11-year old buddy doing various Sunday things, and later watching this film which I love and have in my DVD library. About 1/3 way through it, he was hooked and kept asking me what would happen. I only assured him it had a happy ending. Over and over again, he tried to prod me about the ending. Then, right before the finale, he started acting up and rough-housing. This again made me think how boys are not very well primed to show or experience emotions, except physically. Or is it testosterone that makes them physically respond to emotional situations? Probably both.

My young buddy is an inch taller than I (at 5'3") am already and I imagine myself giving him a hug when he is a foot taller in about ten years.

At any rate, if you feel like taking a trip to Ireland about 50 years ago, I recommend this film for the half-fairy tale script, and for the music. It's dead magic.

WATCHING THE WORLD GO BY

At 56 years old, my credo is "Do No Harm". I have said and done so many things in my life at this point, I want to do as little harm as possible in what's left of my years.

I'm watching others around me making decisions that may affect their lives permanently and doing my best not to offer advice unless asked for it.

Don't all decisions affect our lives permanently? A friend from China once told me that the Chinese people are very careful about what they say, because once something is said, it cannot be unsaid. Sure, we can deny or apologize or backtrack, but what is said hovers and refuses to go away.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT

Have your five-month old grandson keep you up all night because he is teething. In a day or two, having fallen asleep over books and meals, you'll find your jeans a little loose around the waist.

Not to complain. Babies are great. When they're unhappy, they suffer. When they're happy, they glow. They don't try to manipulate except on the most basic of terms.

Problem is, as much as I love the babies, I've had little time to work on my passion: textiles.

I've got boxes of fabric and yarn and two bookcases of project instructions.

THE INGEO PROJECT

During my websurfing, I've discovered bits and pieces about this new product made from corn fibers. It's called Ingeo. Having a passion for recycling and fibers, this completely intrigued me.

http://www.ingeofibers.com/ingeo/products.asp

According to a number of press releases, this product can be made into totally sustainable/ recyclable cloth or yarn. There is already Ingeo yarn available at Southwest Trading and lots of Ingeo roving available for spinners on commercial sites as well as Ebay.

Sounds great, right? I asked for access to the Ingeo "online product library" to find out more and was tersely emailed that only reps from big companies ("preferred partners") are granted the golden keys. With over a year of marketing and press releases about this stuff, I started wondering why it isn't flooding the market yet. The Ingeo website above is terribly secretive and vague.

Hours of online frustration were ended by a blog search of the word. Leave it to Bloggers to come out with what's really going on with this project. Some of the gazillion crafters on the Internet inform us that this fiber melts at 160 degrees F, so cannot be ironed or even washed in hot water. Spinners love spinning it, but apparently it doesn't knit up well. It also smells of corn syrup. For those of us with an acute olfactory sensory apparatus, this just won't do.

Apparently Patagonia was all set to use Ingeo until it learned that the corn being used is genetically engineered. Patagonia, famous for using fleece made from recycled plastic bottles, refuses to use genetically engineered anything, even for clothing.

Europeans refuse to have anything to do with FrankenFood (genetically engineered plants). I can't blame them. They know from centuries of experience how making changes that can't be reversed can wreak havoc on the entire planet. We in the U.S.A. "just do it".

I have ordered a tank top made from Ingeo, just to see what it feels like. But for my own uses, I'll stick with the tried and truly sustainable favorites: wool, organic cotton, linen and recycled acrylic fabric and yarns.

Far more hopeful is knit apparel made from bamboo. I bought a bamboo tank top at the Green Festival last year and it has remained soft and sturdy.