2011 Booklist

It looks like I’m getting to this a whole month earlier than last year!  Here’s what I read in 2011, excluding business books, cookbooks, magazines and other research materials. (nf) is non-fiction.

from http://deliciousindustries.blogspot.com

Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights—Jessica Kerwin Jenkins (nf)

Curiosa: Celebrity Relics, Historical Fossils & Other Metamorphic Rubbish –Barton Lidice Benes (nf)

The Electric Michelangelo—Sara Hall

Astrid and Veronika—Linda Olsson

A Reliable Wife: a novel –Robert Goolrick

Green Angel –Alice Hoffman

The Red Garden –Alice Hoffman

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle—Barbara Kingsolver (nf)

Sin in the Second City: Madams, Ministers, Playboys, and the Battle for America’s Soul—(nf) Karen Abbott

The Kingdom of Ohio—Matthew Flaming

The River Wife—Jonis Agee

Her Fearful Symmetry—Audrey Niffenegger

Riding Lessons—Sarah Gruen

Ms. Hempel Chronicles—Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum

Touch: a novel –Alexi Zentner

The River King—Alice Hoffman

The White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf —Stephanie Barron

Eccentric Glamour—Simon Doonan (nf)

The Weird Sisters—Eleanor Brown

A Very Modest Cottage — Tereasa Suratt (nf)

The Oracle of Stanbul— Michael Davis Lukas

Eat. Pray. Love—Elizabeth Gilbert (nf)

Death Masks—Jim Butcher

Pontoon—Garrison Keillor

A Discovery of Witches—Deborah Harkness

The World Beneath—Cate Kennedy

Birth of  a Killer—Darren Shan

The Witch’s Daughter—Paula Brackston

Boneshaker—Cherie Priest

The Help—Kathryn Stockett

The Day the Falls Stood Still—Cathy Marie Buchanan

Correspondence: An adventure in letters—N. John Hall

Dracula the Un-Dead—Dacre Stoker

The Little Stranger—Sarah Waters

Impatient with Desire—Gabrielle Burton

Among the Wonderful—Stacy Carlson

The Time Traveller’s Wife- Audrey Niffenegger

Bloodroot–  Amy Greene

The Gargoyle—Andrew Davidson

Ecstasia—Francesca Lia Block

The Dovekeepers—Alice Hoffman

Speakeasy Dollhouse, vol.1—Cynthia von Buhler (graphic novel based on nf)

The Hangman’s Daughter—Oliver Potzsch

What have YOU been reading? Anything amazing that you would suggest?

What lurks…on the other side of I-480

Last week, my sister Meri (VP in charge of new experiences and adventures) and I started out on an innocent stroll around our Tremont neighborhood, lured by the sunshine, and the guilt of being sedentary.  Close to heading home, she convinced me to take the foot-bridge that passes over I-480 near Clark Fields.  I was brave. I get vertigo. It’s really unfounded, I know, but that’s the facts.

Mr. Hooper and Mr. Varga proudly posing at the entrance.

Suddenly, we came upon… Hooper’s Farm, est. 1994. And the proprietor happened to be around, with his assistant, Mr. Varga. They were very eager to share with us their little urban farm, so we got a tour and learned about just how many pounds of green beans can really be grown on two trellises. 40 lbs, a couple times a season! They are donated to a local church which provides meals 7 days a week to the community! And Garlic, glorious stinky garlic! I spied at least five large patches of garlic growing across the double lot. I was gifted with two large bulbs to take home for myself. If you want to win my heart…

Me and Mr. Varga, with garlic.

Now, not only did I learn about garlic, green beans, and collard greens, but I learned some Spanish from the fascinating Manuel Varga, who is a retired Electroplating chemist with some great stories to tell! (Kids, never ever ever taste the electroplating solution because unless you have 43 years of experience it could kill you).

These guys sprout their own seeds in the  greenhouse from the previous years’ crop and collect enough rain water in barrels to water the whole farm off-grid.  Everything they produce is either given away  or sold to fund children’s programs. And If i hadn’t walked over that bridge…. well, there really is a surprise around every corner if you just take the time to walk around and see it!

Garlic!

Hooper's Greenhouse

All photos by Meri Ruble 2012.

Welcome Autumn!!

Well! How quickly time passes when you’re busy! All of a sudden it’s November and I wonder where the last four months disappeared to. I guess it’s easy to lose track; my summer and early fall have been a whirlwind of costuming adventures.

Oh yes, the wardrobe trailer is sooooo glamorous.

To start, I worked on costumes for Groundworks Dance Theatre’s ode to the music of Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and Akron, OH.

Then, I worked as the seamstress on my very first movie, filmed right here in downtown Cleveland! What a ride. Sewing in a trailer until 3am many nights and handling thousands of dollars worth of fancy denim. I have no idea when Boot Tracks, starring Stephen Dorff, Michele Monaghan, and Willem DaFoe (awesome guy btw) will be released but I do now have an official IMDB entry. 

 

I am happy to share some pictures of the new clothing line that I have been sewing for local purveyor of exquisite antiques and bohemian style, Stash Style.

There is great news to share, but enough for tonight. Bisous!

 

Ruffled bustle skirt

 

 

Layered linen and antique lace

Little Stuff

(from Pinterest but I don't know where specifically)

I was talking with my stepdad today when we were hanging out. He asked me what I had been up to, anything exciting? “Nah,” I said. He said “well, maybe it’s the not-so-exciting stuff that’s really better.” (and I’m paraphrasing since my memory is not so great). But he’s totally right. My life isn’t all that exciting, but cool little things happen all the time.

Today I:
1. got to play with 4 baby kitties. seriously, if you want to adopt one, contact me asap. they are very good natured and pretty.
2. encountered a totally fearless bird on my dad’s garden fence; he only flew away after I pet it. I’ve never seen a bird so close up before)
3. was given the framed photograph of my paternal grandmother as a very young child, that I’ve coveted for a while now. It looks great next to A’s grandfather’s antique clock.

Has anything happened to you lately?

Me Made June, Week #3…cont.

I faltered a little this week, but I did okay. Aside from the new shorts I mentioned earlier, I’m getting into rerun territory in MMJ.

The climbing vine sweater made it through the entire day on Tuesday.

The Matryoshka re-fashion was today’s feature. I bought this great printed shirt a while ago that was impossibly small, but I cut apart the motifs and stitched them onto an inexpensive t-shirt with embroidery thread.

Me Made June, Week #3

Frilly Knickers! 

Ok, now that I’ve got some attention… MMJ 2011 seems to be going very well for most of the ladies whose blogs I have seen. These gals are resplendent in some very stylish skirts, dresses, and shirts.   I love seeing other people’s creative ideas for making the most of what is on hand or in the thrift shops. I’ve lived most of my life this way out of necessity, but that doesn’t mean I am going to stop searching for great ideas and new ways to innovate the mix of new and old.

 

 

I was home alone last Friday night, and I decided to make…something. Wearing the same couple pairs of sleep shorts all the time gets boring. So I got the pair that fits well, and made a pattern. I dug a little in the top strata of my stash and a couple hours later, Voila!  Two pair of shorts (NO you may not see my exquisitely,freakishly ,white legs in them) for ZERO dollars, since I had everything .

 

The white and lavender calico is a modern fabric left over from an 18th century theatre project, trimmed with cotton eyelet in bulk from Zinck’s in Berlin, Ohio.  The red/white stripe is a vintage 1940s cotton remnant cast off by the store I work for, with old-stock red rick-rack trim from the same era. Now that I have an easy little pattern to use, I am eager to make more Me-Made loungewear!

Summer Fun Time

A couple weeks ago, my dear friend and partner-in-crime, Alicia, and I commenced our Summer of Adventure. Generally these epic (well, maybe that’s an exaggeration) quests begin on the porch swing.

Over Memorial Day weekend, we ventured to University Heights in order to visit the historic Lakeview Cemetery, which began in 1869. It is a particularly large and lusciously green expanse that has a myriad of architectural styles, and especially fragrant lilacs.  On this occasion, the weather was becoming itchingly humid, so we restricted our stroll to the portion of the cemetery where many Jewish decedents are interred.  I saw some unusual monuments such as a tall stone marker in the shape of a tree, as well as particularly old markers that were so timeworn that they were sinking into the earth itself.  We also saw  large groupings of markers for family names that would be familiar to those in Cleveland;  such as Halle, of the bygone Halle Brothers department store which was home to Mr. Jingling.

When we tired of walking, we went down the hill to Cleveland’s Little Italy for cups of incredibly rich strawberry and pistachio gelato at Corbo’s. We sat on the sidewalk and people-watched and planned our next adventure.