I didn’t take very many photos on the trip to Puerto Rico. I didn’t want my camera to get wet and sandy, and most of our fun was had at the beach. I’m not sad, but I felt silly that I think about taking “vacation photos” but rarely keep the camera with me on regular days. Monday was sunny and gorgeous and so I walked the few miles to the Hoyt subway stop on my way up to Columbia (first I thought, I’ll walk to Atlantic, then Nevins, but I didn’t get on a train until Hoyt).
The Hoyt stop is right up against the downton Brooklyn Macy’s — where ESPO has painted this gorgeous “Love Letter To Brooklyn” mural on the parking garage. I had seen it quickly, on bike, and of course on the internet, but it was great to discover it all over again, especially on a day that I set out to pay attention to the place I live the way that I had to each new thing when in Puerto Rico.
A few more:
I also noticed this excellent address ironwork:
And realized that we really are getting a stadium:
I just got back from Epic Lady Vacation in Puerto Rico. We stayed on the beach in San Juan for the first few days, because, as Naomi said, “we’re not here to prove how bohemian we are.” Instead, I said, we went to prove that we have nice shoulders, that we love swimming in the ocean, and that we tan up nicely. In July, lying on the beach at Fort Tilden or Jacob Riis, I pointed out how good we are at enjoying the sun and ocean and declared that we should plan to do this when it’s cold in New York. So we planned for Puerto Rico in January, and then all of a sudden exams were over and we were taking off our flip flops and beach dresses and plunging into the Atlantic.
(Naomi and Naomi, walking in Vieques)
The thing about vacation — at least for me — is that time spent not doing certain things reminds me that I love them. And vacation is not really a time for making. I knit a little bit of sock when we were hanging out in our little traveller’s apartment one night, and I made us a salad when we realized that beer wasn’t really dinner, but vacation is not time for cooking or crafting. So it was nice to come home and trudge through the snow to the coop to buy oranges and meyer lemons and grapefruit for Three Citrus Marmalade . I zested, cut away the pith, supreme the segments, and boiled it all up with sugar. It took longer than I expected for the pot to hit 220 degrees, and even so I’m not sure that it really set, but I have 6 beautiful translucent jars of sweet and tart citrus deliciousness.
Tomorrow, I write my second comprehensive exam of my PhD–my sector exam. I’ve been reading and making notes for months, and tomorrow and thursday I get to finally answer some questions and put these ideas together. I’m looking forward to it, really.
I made a dress! I had been working on it in bits and pieces, but took New Years Day off of schoolwork to finish it up. It’s Macaron from Colette Patterns, and the main fabric is stuff I bought at the Workroom back when I still lived in Toronto. I bought both blue and orange fabric to use as the contrast, but ultimately decided that the orange was better and that I could certainly use the blue for other project.
I made a size 8, and the only thing I modified was the length of the pleat stitches–it was tight around my butt so I picked them out and re-sewed so that they stopped above my butt. The whole thing is only okay–I know that I’m not a very careful sewer, so things don’t line up quite right everywhere. I’m much better with quilts because they work great even if they’re not totally square. It’s good to do some clothes-sewing once in a while to remember that it’s hard and time consuming and not the thing I’m best at. It’s easy to lust after dresses and pledge to make them, so I’m happy to remind myself that it’s not as easy as that.
The other day I took two of my wintercoats to get fixed. There’s a guy on Washington that did a great job taking in a Lily Pulitzer dress I bought secondhand for $30 even though it was a size too large, and so when I decided that two vintage coats that were my mom’s were worth saving despite missing toggles and a destroyed lining, I brought them over. The coat that needed a new lining is actually too big, and because he was going to reline it we/I decided that it should get taken in as well. It’s so impressive to watch someone who _is_ careful pay pin up a coat so that it fits properly. I also got an excellent earful about the economics of New York’s garment district! I already knew a bit about it because of the Design Trust’s Made in Midtown project, and it was great to hear my Crown Heights tailor talk about engaging with the district as part of his work.
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