Author: BeverlyArmyWilliams

Hurrah!  Aaron from my SnB completed his first project: a scarf.  He says he’s not going to knit anything else, but we’ll see, we’ll see.

H is for Harry Potter:  I saw the movie today and enjoyed it, and I’m all weepy right now from finishing the final book a few minutes ago.  Don’t take my weepiness as any kind of spoiler.

H is for husband.  I like mine very much, indeed.

H is for hangovers, of which I haven’t had one in years and years and years.  The last one was bad enough to swear off excessive imbibing of alcohol ever again.

H is for Harris Tweed, which I think is quite swank.

H is not for random, which is what I’ve been tonight.

Gifts.  Remember how I was sick on my birthday this year, so it never got celebrated?  I think bad weather cancelled the make up day, and finally, in order to release my disappointment in the lack of festivities, I told Neal that he could buy me running gear so I could attend the Spring Glen Running Clinic that Blog-free Kim is organizing.  I’ve been purchasing the gear on my own, bit by little bit, so Neal needed another gift idea.  One day in the shower (I get all my best ideas near water), I thunk a thought that would work.  I wanted a kitchen garden. 

G, then, is also for Garden.  When I moved in, Neal told me I could have one, but the location he’d determined for it was not to my liking.  This spring, as he re-landscaped our front yard to put in a birm and a meadow (minimizing the lawn extensively), I pointed out a scraggly bit of yard not too far from the kitchen door.  "There," said I, "is where my garden should be."  As the person in our family with no landscape architectural background, I expected my idea to meet resistance, but after a wander about the yard, my location was deemed perfect. 

Then I began to describe my vision.  I wanted a circular shape.  I wanted beds in the shape of wedges that would meet in an interior ring.  I wanted a sculptural bean pole that would look interesting in the snow.  I wanted a gate.  After sketching and much discussion, Neal began to work his magic.  He used geometry and sticks and strings, and we agreed on a hexagon.  It’s so cool to be married to a man who can build the things I dream.

The garden is taking shape.  I’ve planted a few things, but it was a bit late in the season for that.  Next year, though, my garden will be brim full of produce, herbs, and cutting flowers.  I’ll spend time with seed catalogs this winter, and I’m sure I’ll make some sketches as I decide what I want to plant where.

I’ve been reading a few garden blogs, including Pocket Farm, and Bliss.  Next summer there’s bound to be a lot more gardening on my blog.

What are you growing in your garden?

Friends are loads of fun, aren’t they?

I have 3d friends (stole that term from Pippi) that have been around for years, and some new ones, too.  I’m rich in those friends, and I love that women I’ve met through different times in my life like each other, too.  There are my childhood friends, my NY friends, my writing friends, my ABQ SnB girlies, and my bff in the hood.  The boundaries blend, and they all become simply friends.   

I have blog friends, some of whom I’ve met in real life, some whom I look forward to meeting, and some whom, despite the distance, I know I will meet.  Look what came in the mail from Ms. Giving Flower herself.  She brought this across the ocean for me, and when our meetup wasn’t a go, she sent this anyway.

There was a chocolate bar, too, quickly consumed and thoroughly enjoyed.  The yarn is already on the needles and will make a fabu pair of socks for me.  Kimberly chose the colors with care, thinking about my Wedding Shawl as she selected.  If that thoughtfulness doesn’t bespeak a kind friend, what does?

Friends, you sustain me.  Thanks!

Elegance.

E is also for environmentalist, a synonym for Neal.  He’s made me take second looks and have second thoughts about the impact of what I’m doing on our beloved Mother Earth.

E is for Enough with Not Finishing things.  And for encouragement.

Kirsten and I have joined up to make August the month to Get Some Things Finished a.k.a. UFO Knitters Unite.  This is an informal deal, but there is a Flickr group set up if you’d like to get a dose of encouragement for your own finishing up with things.  Here’s a glimpse of what I hope to finish this month, but there are a few items that are gifts for folks who read this blog, so they will remain hidden.

Neal’s Christmas (ahem) 2005 socks.  I have to finish the short row heel on the second sock and knit the cuff. 

I’ve got a perfect Project Spectrum knit to complete this month: Chickami.  The yarn is brown, purple, and orange–could it work out any better?  I’m enjoying this knit as I watch the final season of the Sopranos.

This mysterious thing is Mystery Stole 3.  I’m a Slow Bee, but I’m hoping to catch up with the clues this month.  No need for links here, right?

I’ve also got a Shadow Shawl on the needles, but I really need to concentrate on that to remember what I was doing with it last year.

Let me know if you’re joining us in Eradicating UFOs!

Dreamers.  There were an awful lot of wonderful dreams as well as declarations of contentment proffered in my little contest.  Thank you to everyone who entered.  I found it inspiring to read your comments, and even if I don’t respond to each one right away, know that I’m cheering for you to reach your dreams.  I had Neal pick three random winners as I started to feel that to do it any other way would mean 38 skeins of yarn would need to go in the mail.  So.  Meg, Kathy B, and Frarochivia are the winners.  I’ll e-mail you in a bit to get mailing info.

My dreams?  In addition to publishing my novella-short story collection and my novel?

• Teach English in Ghana
• Ride my bike across the country
• Run a writing conference
• Raise money for pediatric AIDS research
• Learn to weave
• Turn a fleece into a sweater
• Spend a year living in another country
• Work at the Globe Theater
• Be a really good person
• Learn Latin

As I made strawberry pancakes for breakfast this morning, I commented to Neal that I could live to be 100 and never have enough time to do everything I want to do.  I guess the trick is to keep at it, to always be on the lookout for opportunities and chances to make my dreams come true.

Isn’t life good?

Cherries.

I discovered I like them just last year.  I’m that way with food.  I say I don’t like something, but it’s usually because I’ve never tried it.  The whole pit thing was the turn off for cherries.  Tomatoes were also on my no-eats list, but the first time I tried a sun-ripened tomato, I kicked myself.  My dad used to eat them off the vine like apples, and now I understand why.

I’ve decided to delay the contest one more day.  I bet you can imagine what I’m going to say "D" is for.

B could be for Beverly, my name.

B could be for beaver, my totem animal.

B could be for blizzard, the weather conditions at my birth.

B could be for blue heron, my totem bird.

But today, B is for bikini wax.  Boys, why don’t you stop reading now and move on to something else?  This ain’t going to be sexy.

Once upon a time, I lost a bet to my boyfriend.  His Boston Red Sox won a little series against my New York Yankees.  He wanted me to go Brazilian, but as a waxing virgin, I was not ready to go all the way just yet. 

What’s a girl to do in the face of hot wax on her, shall we say, delicate parts?  Call a more experienced friend to get a blow by blow of what’s going to happen.  I called Mary.  After explaining to me what I could expect, she surprised me.

"I have a girl crush on my waxer."

"Seriously?"  Did Mary like pain?

"Seriously. I mean, she’s so nice.  I can’t explain it.  You’ll see."

I went to my salon for my pre-Thanksgiving mani-pedi.  I was going to meet Neal’s family for the first time, and I was his class reunion date. What the hell, thought I.  Why not fulfill my bet today.  I told the young woman doing my nails that I wanted a bikini wax, too.  She looked a little scared.  Crap. She went to talk to the swank older woman who ran the place.

"This will be her first time," said the swank older woman.  "I’ll show her."

"It’s my first time, too," I said.  The two women giggled, led me into the wax room.  After I changed, the older woman instructed the younger woman to hold my hand.

"Squeeze her hand if it hurts," she said.  The swank older woman was fast.  Rip, rip, rip, rip.  Done.  The younger woman held my hand and smiled at me while all that ripping was going on.  I knew what Mary meant.

When I moved to Albuquerque, I was at a loss.  I’d been faithful to my salon for years.  Where would I get my hair cut?  Who would wax me with kindness?  I made friends with another writer a year ahead of me.  She had the nicest eyebrows I’ve ever seen on a non-model.  I didn’t know if it would be pushy to ask for her waxer’s name, but I did, and she was thrilled.  See, it’s a huge compliment to be told your eyebrows are divine.  All too often, they’re not.  She loved her waxer; huge girl crush.  After my first appointment with Denise at Chez D’or, I fell in love, too. I had great eyebrows, and the bikini waxes? Practically painless.

Aren’t you just dying to know what I’ll come up with for "C"? 

I loved Cassi at Bella Dia’s idea for August and thought I’d join the fun. 

My first entry is A is for Army, which is my maiden name.  I’ve heard every joke you can imagine from "that’s enough food to feed an Army" to "As in Navy?" and, by the way, my dad was in the Air Force with a man whose last name was Navy!  Also, my sister just up from me (I’m the youngest of five kids–I’m the tie breaker) is named Maureen, which if you say it just so, sounds like Marine.  None of us kids have been in the service, though. 

When I got married at 21, I took my husband’s last name, but felt strange.  It finally struck me: I missed my Army.  I started to use both names (not hyphenated, though) and felt much better.  Last October, after being divorced for two years, I changed my name back again.  Since my recent marriage, I’ve been living in a no-name land.  Some things are in my first married name, some are just Army, and some are in my new two-not-hyphenated names.  Slowly they’ll all get to the new name.

Tomorrow…B is for?  In the meantime, I want to remind you to leave a comment on the previous post.  I’ll select winners tomorrow morning and post pictures of the pretty stash they’ll be getting.  I’ll also talk about my own private UFO August.  It worked so well for me last year that I’m doing it again!