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August 31, 2005

what can it mean??

Ok, last night I dreamed I was at a dinner party, seated across the table from Laura Bush. It took me a while to think of anything polite to say to her, and when I finally opened my mouth, what I said was I really liked their puppy, Miss Beazley.
She thanked me and we laughed about how funny puppies are and that was about it for my conversation with Laura Bush. Hm. In real life I'm not sure it would be so different. Because really. What but what could you say to Laura Bush anyway??

Marcel says this

I'm taking a nap now

Until the big dog comes home.

Posted by pippypippy at 08:38 AM | Comments (1)

August 27, 2005

Critical (m)ass

Ow!Ow ow! The potholes on Chicago streets are serious and they will smite you! "Reclaim the streets? Ha!" they smirk. Or rather, they yawn! Egads! Some of those monsters could swallow a 102 pound Pippy whole, bike, helmet, knitting needles, and all, you better believe it! Chicago roads are no place for the meek, or the faint of heart or butt! You need a comfy saddle and buns of steel, dear readers. Thus, my butt is somewhat bruised today. But its a small price to pay for the joy of riding with the thundering herd of bicyclists of all shapes and configurations (humans and vehicles! And at least 2 happy little dawgs in baskets on handlebars!How I wished Marcel could ride with me!) in a joyous, noisy, slightly out-of-hand (but that's the beauty part, isn't it?) raucous, undulating, coasting, bouncing, howling pedal-driven parade of wonderfulness!
The beginning of the ride dragged a little, it seemed to take some time to get everyone moving and then there was a small matter of a Marshall Field's delivery truck strategically placed to block the entirety of (I think) Washington Street, going west. Oh! It reeked of conspiracy! Cars were trapped, bikes were not! Eventually the whole of the ride squeezed through the bottleneck and were moving again, west, then south.
Some highlights of the ride include the entire families smiling, waving, and calling out their support (sometimes repeating back to us our collective wishes to all we encountered of "happy Friday!") from their porches, front lawns, windows, and cars as we snaked through the neighborhood in Pilsen. People shopping and working in the colorful storefronts and supermercados along Halsted St. came out to watch and many also smiled and waved. As we passed a park a Mexican man with a huge smile applauded wildly, making victory gestures in the air and shouting "USA is number one!" His enthusism was wonderful to see, no matter how one feels about the sentiment.
Among our numbers also were at least 2 mobile djs, and some spectators danced along the sides of the streets.
As darkness fell we rode on and on through industrial areas, across several bridges, over railroad tracks (sometimes losing small groups to the inevitable flat tires) everyone howling collectively under highway overpasses and viaducts. The circuitous route had me disoriented and a little nervous, but at the same time exhilerated from the speed, noise, and new surroundings. When we headed west on a rather deserted seeming stretch of road, abandoned looking railroad tracks appeared on the right side, and a wall. I pointed out the spooky tracks to my riding companion, (Dave of the 6-person Polyamorous Pride Ride, we were unfortunately on seperate bikes this time). Then suddenly a row of imposing, identical buildings, that looked like a prison, and having no idea what street we were on, I pointed out it looked like a prison. That's because it was. We were at 26th and California, circling the jail. As we came around to the front, we passed the imposing courthouse, then areas of fence, with security guards unsure what to make of us blaring past, waving and wishing them happy Friday. High up in small, backlit, barred windows of the rectangular jail buildings we began to notice silouhettes waving at us, looking small and sad. I waved and waved with all my might and yelled up cheerful words to them. We saw also families waiting outside the fences, holding bundles, clutching children's hands. None too cheerful, but nonetheless curious, they watched us too, and we waved and pedaled.
Soon we were swooping along a curving road, taking up one side while semi trucks came towards us, slowing and giving us room, we yelled and gestured for them to honk and they blared their horns. In a darkened area of road we swooped around a sloping curve and down, howled through a short overpass and then went up, up, and over a bridge, some standing on the tall median and raising their bikes over their heads. A young man in a polka-dotted clown costume did what is apparently a Chicago Critical Mass ritual and thus the clown costume came off to reveal oh, yes, he was a rodeo clown, apparently, going completely cowboy under his oversized pants! Approval was immediate,loud and emphatic. Believe it!
Oh, the ride went on and on!
On Archer Ave, my back tire was swallowed whole by a water-filled pothole, splattering my feet with lord knows what grossness (tried not to think about it too much) and eliciting a smallish squeal. The tire bounced out again, not before my life flashed before my eyes, (for a moment I saw myself tumbling through blackness, bicycle, messenger bag, and helmet flying around me as I whirled to the other end of the tunnel, China) and I carried on, only slightly grossed out by some dampness in my sandals.
Flash forward~ the ride went on and on through Chinatown (may or may not have been before the prison, I was completely disoriented most of the ride) where I heard some people drop off for bubble tea.
We climbed an incline through industrial buildings, clamored over a metal bridge with a view of the skyline from the south.
Turning north again, I found we were on South Michigan Ave, more familiar terrain, and passing Columbia College and then on into tourist territory again. As we sped past the parks and the Art Institute throngs of tourists waved, cheered, and danced. The pavement became smooth and I felt a second wind, gliding across the newly resurfaced surface, oh yes, the fresh asphalt felt like riding on smoked glass, it was bliss! We turned east at Monroe, bouncing over the bridge, again passing throngs of tourists staring, some unsure if we were up to something unsavory, some smiling and again voicing support.
It never occurred to me that going onto Lake Shore Drive maybe wasn't going to be such a great idea. Oh but man it was fun! Some blocked traffic at Monroe as the herd of us turned collectively, furiously pedaling down the middle of the outside 3 lanes, a few unfortunate drivers were still surrounded in the middle lane, looking fairly confused, and driving very carefully. The twinkling skyline formed our glorious backdrop as we sped over the river, past Navy Pier and the ferris wheel, around the curve and swooped and flew down the long incline before Grand Ave. We had a slow-moving police escort the whole way who seemed not to be minding our presence, or so I thought. For some reason I am a little naive about these things. At some point the ride abruptly stopped at the end of the breathless incline, sirens blared and blue lights flashed as more police cars came from behind us. Up ahead I could see one squad car at an angle across the line of riders. Everyone began to climb and pass bicycles over the low concrete wall between the road and the lake shore bike path. At that point I had lost sight of Dave and was unsure if my arms were strong enough to hoist my bike over the barrier. As I was looking ahead for Dave I watched as two (white) cops grabbed a black man from the crowd,
shoved him into the concrete barrier, and threw his bicycle over the wall. I was one of the last riders still standing on the side of the road, and I started to yell and point at what the policemen were doing. They walked towards me as Dave lifted my bike over the wall. I yelled at them that I saw what they had done, that it was unneccessary, and that if they wanted they could grab me too, but they should know I weigh 102 pounds. Ok, it kind of came out funny. But I wasn't sure what their plan was and I was totally terrified. In any event, they just told me we were breaking the law. Oh yes. Breaking the law. Serious business.
Anyway, the ride broke up, then and there.
Dave and I sat at the beach for a while, listening to the waves, watching the cars and the pulsing lights of the skyline, and the ferris wheel.

Posted by pippypippy at 11:13 AM | Comments (4)

August 24, 2005

its a war on terriers

Marcel loves his Humvee!

Rarrrr! I eat you! Take that, Humvee!

Posted by pippypippy at 12:19 PM | Comments (4)

August 23, 2005

What

does one call a bicycle built for 6? Could it be.. a Sex..cycle??? A Sextocepede? Is that lewd?? Oh, I am so confused!In any event, it was rumored that one sex-partite pedal driven vehicle might make it out for Friday's Critical Mass ride. However, alas, and alack! It has been confirmed, the vehicle is out of comission! Due to an unfortunate turn of events, resulting in a sorry state of affairs, the collapse of the 3 back wheels!And no time for repairs! So me and my splendid red rat helmet will be astride My Little Pony as usual. And accompanied by who knows what sorts of characters. That's the beauty part, isn't it?

In any event, here is also the Marcel update! (I am procrastinating. Thus, the torrent of words!) Strolling on Saturday, with a friend, waiting for the 5 o'clock show of Broken Flowers at the Davis, we went into Sit! the doggy boutique, to get Marcel's fave treats~ Chummy Yummies, made from salmon, they're smelly, oh yes! They were out of Chummy Yummies, but the did have a stuffed camo colored canvas u.s. army humvee, complete with obscene little roof-mounted gun- truly lewd! And while I am loathe to encourage this sort of thing in the young people, it was pointed out that my boy probably would fall short of height and weight requirements for enlistment in the armed services. Thus, the Humvee was taken home, and delivered yesterday much to Marcel's obvious delight! Oh, the gun was the first to be chomped, you know it. The Humvee was flung about, thrown against the wall, and tucked into bed, by the long eviscerated hand puppet (named Tuppet) and Douglas P. Leghorn, the rooster who is not long for this world.
Believe me, you need a visual, dear readers.
Trust me when I say I am working on that!
More later!
Oh, and my mom got me the new Vogue Knitting yesterday. I want to make several things, most especially the hand warmers shown on the obscenely cute blonde model. She can't be real. I don't like her. Ok, I do. Maybe its a love/hate situation. Still. She must be a robot.
Ok I truly have to go now.

Posted by pippypippy at 12:12 PM | Comments (1)

August 20, 2005

C is for

Cookie!

and also for cute!

Note the sassy paw action! The soft shiny coat! (fyi, Marcel swears by a daily teaspoon of flax seed oil for coat maintanence!)

A dogue with a mission!
To feel the solid concrete under his paws!

Marcel loves his Uncle Wininger.

You betcha!

Posted by pippypippy at 11:21 AM | Comments (4)

August 18, 2005

still a little slothy

Ok so I needed some time to process the whole vacation thing! Plus my brane was still fuzzed and furred from the sloth, oh, the sloth! The sloth of it all! We practiced the non-work aesthetic all week long, with all of our might. Thus, my brane transmogrified to mohair. Hopefully this is a temporary state of affairs. It seems to be coming back around. Felting, you might say. Not too much though.
Anyway, here is something of a summary of the Delaware beach house vacation~
Everything went smoothly at the airport, David (splendidly kilted) and Rob and I hooked up and soon three bloggers were making their way across Delaware.
We arrived at the beach house and were met by Molly, Fairie God Child Caroline, and everybody's favorite Brave Little Man, (oh the little hands! The pointy little chin! The funny little giggle!) Joseph, also known as Joe-joe. Lucky recipient of more pairs of tiny handknit socks than he can possibly wear. He's cuddly! Believe it!
Here is what else we did at the beach, not necessarily in order, but listed here for your edification~

David and I walked to the beach and watched dolphins playing in the morning. Oh dolphins! What is it about those guys? Mostly it made me think also of the song by They Might Be Giants, called Mammal. The one that goes like "their names are called, they raise a paw. The bat, the cat. Dolphin and dog, koala bear and hog". So I had to sing that a few times. Once we saw a dolphin jump all the way straight up, which is highly unusual and very lucky. Its true!

We also went to a doggy shop called Yuppie Puppy, and patted Chai, the dog so mellow he's practically comatose. Marcel was not really sure what to do with the bright red lobster-shaped yum-yums I brought back for him from there. He did eat a claw though. I think Lucy the boxer enjoyed the leftovers.

A few times Caroline and I chalked on the sidewalk. It was discovered that Caroline does not like the sound of lawn mowers. She also doesn't like baths and lumps in her food, just so everyone knows. Lumps in the food, not acceptable. She is, however, easily bribed with sugary cereal. Yes. She's 2 and a half.
Caroline also was enthralled by small mechanical animals on display in front of shops by the beach, as well as the hermit crabs in cages. So much so that one has made its way to upstate New York. Does it have a name?? Its unknown at this time!

Ok. Onward.
Walks on the beach were taken, greasy, salty fries were eaten on the boardwalk.
Some people swam in the ocean, and some of them came out looking like glittering sea lions, grains of sand and drops of water clinging to their eyelashes, the tip of their noses, their whiskers. Being puny and not fond of the sensation of being swept out to sea, nor finding myself face down eating sand, I tend to fear the ocean. Thus, I am like those little birds with the skinny legs, who only get their toes wet. I hovered near the shore, awaiting emerging sea lions only.
My new two-piece suit did make one appearance on the beach, on my person, and to my utter amazement absolutely no one was scandalized, pointed, or laughed. Its hard to say if that is because I am not pale and goofy looking or because we camped in the shade under the end of the boardwalk. In any event, it worked out fine.
Ooh and sock yarn was bought at Sea Needles, a nice nice yarn shop, and highly recommended, if one finds oneself in Bethany Beach, Delaware, oh go there!
Quite a bit of knitting went on. And plus some people cooked a lot of yummy food and some people ate. And ate. Oh yes.
Other bloggers have posted beach house photos
here and here.
Oh, there is more I could tell~ but I am feeling lazy, practically to the point of rigor mortis today, not sure why.
Yesterday I was all bounce, believe it!
Today I sit around eating sugar-free bon-bons from this place,
yum! A gift from a friend from the legendary Polyamorous Pride Ride!
Once in awhile I knit a row on some socks.
Its a lot of effort, though, typing, eating bon-bons, knitting.
Here is a vacation photo for a bit of visual amusement~

Me! In the airport in Baltimore, waiting for David to czech in for his flight home, which was sooner than mine.
Pretending not to be sad, industriously knitting a child-size sock.
The heel of which I messed up on the plane and had to re-do when I got home. It worked out fine though, in the end.
So that about sums it up!
Big big thanks again to all who arranged and sponsored the trip, and all who came along and cooked!

Posted by pippypippy at 05:28 AM | Comments (4)

August 15, 2005

back!

Well! That was fun!
Where oh where to begin?
Coffee.
Ok, hold on.

Posted by pippypippy at 07:51 PM | Comments (3)

August 06, 2005

Pippy Travelogue

Today I am packing up my knitting and taking it on the road! Its true!
For the Sometimes Annual Hinshaw-Helpychalk Wedding Anniversary (sort of, I think except don't know exact date, forgive me!) East Coast Beach Trip. At least 3 bloggers will be there, an auspicious number if ever there was one. And one blonde childe, oh yes, ye Fairie God Childe, to be tickled, if she's feeling up to it! (rumor has it there is an ongoing situation involving a bat, a rabies shot [try not to be alarmed! Although it does seem alarming!] and a reaction involving a fever. Poor kid. Think good thoughts!)
Rumor also has it that a rather daring, for a Pippy, 2 piece bathing suit, black with pink flowers, was purchased yesterday! Oh yes my tummy will be exposed to the world, or at least part of Bethany, Delaware! Pretty out there for a spinster. I'll be bringing a back-up one-piece in case there is a sudden attack of modesty. We'll see.
The eye-blob update~ blobs seem to be fading somewhat, or maybe I am just used to them. In any event, saw the eye docs on Thursday and was told that my condition appears to be stable. Then, just when I thought I was off the hook, it was added that even though it was stable they wanted to do more laser treatment. Oh, how to describe laser treatment? Picture 8000 flash bulbs concentrated in one big green flash of light directly into your eyeball. 1000 times, all around your eyeball, while you are laying on your back in the dark, trying to look up, left, right, down, all the while your eye just wanting to close. Then 1000 times in your other eyeball. And then you have this headache for a little while. Not fun, dear readers, believe it. Don't let it happen to you!! Unless you need it. Because it does tend to save one's vision, for which I am grateful, really. It just freaks me out a little bit! And tends to leave one a little blurry and disoriented. If it weren't such a serious situation, it is kind of an interesting buzz afterwards, looking at the world in soft-focus, feeling ever so slightly light headed. Probably mostly because of forgetting to breathe while gritting one's teeth to keep one's eyelids from closing. But still. Its pretty surreal.
Big thanks again to John for going with me and bringing me home safe!
Anyway, I am so looking forward to this trip that I can hardly sit still! More about the trip and hopefully photos when I get back!
Also, a full report on the yarn shops of the Delaware coast.
I kiss you all good-bye!
And as always Marcel kisses everyone, but he is not going anywhere except the park. He likes the park though so that's fine with him.
Have a good week!

Posted by pippypippy at 05:55 AM | Comments (1)

August 04, 2005

Hey Marcel!

What's up?

Well it was pretty hot and so I had to put a toy fire truck on my head.

Here is the Pippy update in a nutshell~ lots of knitting has been going on, oh yes, believe it! Its good for stress and not thinking about eye blobs (more about blobs later). So the Chickami, in black Rowan wool cotton, is moving along nicely. The rows and rows of stockinette stitch make it the perfect project for outdoor knitting in semi-darkness, as I did last night in the cool of our garden. Then it began to rain lightly, and I moved under the gazebo, and sat listening to the soft sound of the raindrops on the leaves and on the roof. Its also very extra hypnotic while listening, on headphones, to familiar, friendly voices reading Harry Potter.

It seems I am in a creative frenzy these days, a welcome distraction from obsessing on my eye blobs (are they fading? Are they not fading? Are they bigger? Smaller?). Duchamp! is actually moving along a bit, and yesterday I finished a page of the poetry section. In addition, I have come back to an obsessive activity I was fond of between knitting phases, and am cutting a linoleum block to do some printmaking, yes, actual art! So we'll see.

Today I follow up with my eye doctor about the blobs.
As always I am filled with dread but John is keeping me company so hopefully everything will work out fine and there will be good news about my eyeballs.
Thanks to everyone who has expressed concern, btw, and thought good thoughts! It really has meant a lot to me. And continues to!

Posted by pippypippy at 08:53 AM | Comments (2)