Awesome Baby Cow Quilt

When Mr. Field Notes and I visited Japan in January, one of the more unconventional things we did was go to a quilt festival.

Although we saw quite a few traditional patchwork quilts, it was the unconventional quilts that caught my eye.

This cow themed quilt continues to be one of my favorites. It had upwards of 40 different cloth cows of various sizes, shapes and expressions. At the time I walked away from the quilt, I thought it would be wonderful to have one like it but with monkeys. I could adapt the OrnaMonkeys I've made for the purpose. That was the idea, anyway. My travel companions were enthusiastic about the idea, I think because they thought this whimsical cow quilt was fantastic too! They thought I should make the monkey quilt and enter it into the 2010 quilt show. I could compete for the prizes too and maybe win some big bucks... to pay for another trip to Japan??
Maybe I will make that quilt one day.

Until then I wanted to share the crazy clever cow quilt. Here are some close-ups.

Button Nose & Eyes

Rope Tail

Ring Nose & Alphabet Body
(I like the one to his right too!)

Metallic Mama & Baby Moo Moos

As you can see, the quilt is three-dimensional in a way most quilts aren't. I really like that aspect of this one.

An Academic Dream

A few nights ago I awoke from a dream — the kind I love; the kind that makes you think hey, what if Freud was right and dreams represent wish fulfillment, what if this is what I subconsciously wish to happen?

Mr. Field Notes had taken a couple of classes in psychology at the community college (Intro and Developmental) and loved them so much that he decided he wanted to go to graduate school and get a PhD in psychology too. He wrote his dissertation on the degree of bonding between dads and their newborns in c-sections versus vaginal deliveries. Then we moved to Maine where we shared a position in the psychology department of a small liberal arts college.

That would be freaky.

Of course now, I want to plan that study (I have an idea for the general hypothesis and an inkling of an idea on how to test it). I think it could reasonably get grant funding given the topic. This may be my new direction rather than his! And, this is also so like me. Once I have too much to do, I pile on more. And I thought an academic career didn't appeal. But then recent life experiences prompted me to realize a nifty study that could actually get some grant funding and would also be a nice extension of my own dissertation research, and I suddenly find myself wanting to sit down and do some background research to write up a proposal. Huh. How about that? One can get A LOT of background reading done while nursing.

Back to work!

According to my present employer, I need to get a note from my doctor to go back to work. I've decided I'm ready to go back to work. I see him Tuesday and hopefully he'll sign off on the plan. I have no idea what to expect as far as my chances; I had a c-section so I am thinking he might think it's too early. BUT —

I have already gone back to work in the job of my own creation, selling my handmade paper. I've bundled up and sent out several orders since returning home. I've even collected '09 seeds for use in cards and paper for planting season '10: arctic poppies, bachelor buttons, dianthus and snapdragons so far. The zinnia will be ready soon.

It was a relief and highly gratifying to spend time outside gathering seed pods from my plants. I even took photos of a new product and listed it for sale online. Click the pic to see it up close! The flowers are confetti you can plant and use to grow flowers. The paper flowers are chock full of seeds I gathered from my garden plants. They really do grow too.

That's how I got these beauties at the left. I tell you, I cannot wait to teach Baby FN about plants!

I am ready to go back to work! I need it for my mental health. I hate being cooped up and cut off. That is a killer. So getting back to my former routine as much as possible will be good for my mental health and ultimately my physical health too - that mind/body connection is bona fide. That's the argument I will be making if my doc balks at the idea of me returning to work. I have an easy desk job that I do from home so I can't imagine I'll need to argue much, but I am prepared in case he does.

My doc (me, LOL) signed off on me going back to my papermaking job the first weekend I got home, about 4 days after delivering (and having a major abdominal surgery). I have been taking it easy. Really, I have.
I promise.

More on the labor and delivery soon. I am really eager to share the saga, even if no one is really interested, I need to write about it soon while it's still fresh in my mind.

I labored at home by myself and reached 8 cm dilation without needing pain meds or anybody around me. I don't know what the hell I was thinking, really. It just didn't hurt as much as I thought it would and the contractions were coming 2 weeks early so I didn't even think I was in real labor. Boy was I wrong!

It turned out to be a big week of work: The butterflies I make with seeds I embed in the pulp made an appearance on the front page of etsy. Click the photo to see the butterflies close up.

They didn't sell out, but several other things did that day! What a nice surprise to have. The last time I got that level of free advertising was a year ago. What timing! Fortunately, I have been teaching Mr. Field Notes how to press the paper so I can still make paper for orders. He does the hard, physical labor part while I do the creative, technical end. It's a great division of labor. I will really miss him when he's no longer taking leave time!

Vestigial Characteristics: Monkey Features of the Human Newborn

Newborn babies arrive with some pre-installed software and hardware that demonstrates, beyond a shadow of a doubt, our primate heritage.

Vestigial features like Darwin's point (see post below) evoke the pointed ears of Old World Monkeys — the ancestral line of nonhuman primates from which human primates descended. Old World Monkeys have pointy, Spock-like ears. You can see them perfectly in the photo of the baby saki monkey at the right.

The ears of Baby Field Notes have this point, named after Darwin because he was the first to observe and write about it. The arrow in the photo shows where she also has a tuft of hair growing from her ears. Right now the hairs are about 1/2 centimeter long. Like the hair growing on her shoulders, this hair will thin out with age.

Perhaps you can feel a small bump along the rim of your ear. Feel along. Not everyone has one that is pronounced and if so, it is often only present on one side. That little bump is a relic of your ancestors' descent from monkeys. So is the shoulder hair and ear hair of the newborn human primate.

In fact, humans are just as hairy as other primates, including other apes. We have just as many hairs per square inch as chimps, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans. Ours are just so fine and so short that they appear to be invisible, thus giving humans their 'naked ape' label. We're not really naked and hairless at all. Look closely at your skin under good lighting the next time you get out of the shower and you'll see what I mean. Our faces are hairy too.

As for pre-installed software, newborns have a number of reflexes that would clearly have been evolutionarily advantageous. One, the Palmer grasp, wold have been useful for grasping onto mom's hair in an emergency if she had to move abruptly. Newborns can actually support their own weight with it. I am not willing to experiment with BFN, but you can see in the following video exactly how impressive this reflex is.

Palmer Grasp Reflex

The Palmer grasp can be seen in human newborn feet as well.


The Moro reflex is another reflex useful for keeping baby with mom when she moves. Other primates occasionally hold their babies when they move, but for the most part, nonhuman primate babies latch onto mom's hair on their own and can stay in contact with her while she moves even when mom doesn't provide support. Humans retain these reflexes in spite of not being able to take advantage of them. They are atavistic, vestigial traits. These reflexes, like the presence of a nonfunctional appendix, illustrate that not every trait that is a product of evolution has a function in its present form.

Moro reflex

A Better Photo of Baby Field Notes

I love her so much!

Newfies Meet Baby: Nanny Dogs Extraordinaire!

Katy the Newfoundland, Chief Baby Guard,
reports for duty!

Both newfs were justifiably curious about their new housemate and also very cautious. They were not afraid. They showed gentle, profound interest in what she was.

Sniffing.

Lots and lots of gentle sniffs to her fuzzy little noggin. Those became delicate kisses to her head and cheek.

I don't recall any excitable tail wagging during the introduction nor do I recall Yuki wandering around with her tail raised. She showed complete submission. I was very surprised we did not have to establish dominance over her — she just knew. I think that must be part of the Newfoundland's "nanny dog" reputation.

After they met and things calmed down we set Baby FN down in her 'bassinet.' Both dogs peeked over the sides to see and sniff her. As things returned to relative normal at home, both Katy and Yuki would periodically go in and check on her. She doesn't fuss, she just sleeps and makes little cooing noises when she wakes. She displays an amazingly 'easy' temperament right now. Perhaps too easy, her pediatrician says. She thinks my baby is "too content," so we're agitating her around feeding times to get her properly worked up into an eating frenzy so she'll put on good weight.

Yuki, if she knew, would be flabbergasted to hear BFN needs to be prodded to eat a bunch. Flabbergasted! And no surprise here, Yuki thinks I smell fascinating. Katy hasn't shown much curiosity there — she seems to get that I am nursing "puppies." Katy has always been very maternal toward Yuki so that's no surprise either!

Regarding Katy, she immediately took charge and bossed Yuki into being a better dog. And, for her part, Yuki appears to have grown up overnight. Well, it's more like 3 nights since I was in the hospital that long. I had to have a C-section. Ugh. More on that later.

Although Katy immediately assumed command of baby guard duty, she did allow Yuki a volunteer position. And, Yuki has already earned a promotion.

Brevet captain of the Baby Watchmen
after her battlefield promotion

Baby Field Notes Arrived!!

Baby Field Notes decided to join the primate family early! She made her grand appearance in dramatic fashion on Tuesday. I am already admiring her prehensile toes and monkey ears. Her ears even have little tufts of hair near the 'Darwin's point.' Click here to learn what Darwin's point is.

7 lbs, 20 inches
11:05 pm, July 14

When I have recovered, I will definitely write a labor and delivery post! Right now, we all just need to catch up on some ZZZZZZzzzzzzzs.

Artful Bento Food for Kids

I know it's a long way off, but I think these would be a super cool way to make taking a 'sack' lunch to school more fun.

Mr. Field Notes and I searched high and low while we were in Japan for the perfect bento box for Baby Field Notes to use once she's old enough to take her lunch to school.

We decided, without discussion (I think) that she would be sent to school with food made at home rather than eat the lunches provided at school. It's something I think Mr. Field Notes is really excited to do, I know it. I think he wants to be just like the dad in the movie Eat Drink, Man Woman. It's a good movie about food, fatherhood and family ties. At one point in the movie the dad makes gourmet bento meals for a little girl every day for school - to the envy of all of her classmates.

We have yet to find the bento box, but we have plenty of time. She's not even here yet! Speaking of that, she'd better hurry her little butt up; I am getting tired of waiting.

So, I don't know if we'll actually be sending Junior Field Notes off to school with gourmet bento box lunches, but it's something to aspire to and these are certainly inspiration!

July Scientiae: Mirror, Mirror

Patchi over at My Middle Years is hosting the July Scientiae, a round up of blog posts from fellow scientist bloggers, and her theme for the month of July is "Mirror, mirror on the wall." Now normally I don't participate in these things, but I figured this is a good excuse to reflect on life and who I am, seeing as how July may very well be the month that changes my identity forever.

She asks us to "Think about who you see when you look in the mirror. How do you see yourself? How do you think others see you? Who would you rather see? Some days it might be hard to even face the mirror, other days you might stare at your teenage self looking back at you and wonder what happened since. What do you think that person looking at you is thinking? What would happen if you could step through the looking glass?"

When I look in the mirror these days, I see grown woman who's finally got clear skin for the first time in, I don't know, say 24 years?! I also see a woman whose body has undergone major changes during pregnancy, namely, an evergrowing belly and chest. But I have not fundamentally changed. I don't view myself any differently, really. Some days, if it weren't for the mondo belly that is constantly on the move, having practice contractions, and kicking up horrendous heart burn and acid reflux, I wouldn't even believe I was pregnant. It is still a bit of a shocker that I am pregnant and will be a mom perhaps even sometime this month.

I will be someone's mom.

How will that change me? I have no idea. I can't predict that. Everyone says it changes you, but does it? Really?

I know the dynamics of the Field Notes' household will change. But I cannot imagine undergoing some radical or monumental shift in my own personality or identity. I'll still be Field Notes. The responsibilities will change, but not fundamentally. I'll still have to get out of bed everyday and tend to others' needs, clean house, stay informed, earn a living, pay bills, set a good example.

My whole life I have been preparing to be a teacher.

That is who I am. That is my identity.
Being a mother, a parent, is only a very specific kind of teacher.

Once upon a time, as a little girl, I would arrange my stuffed animals in a classroom and hand out papers, teaching them lessons. Later, as a teenager, I would teach my classmates and friends, and occasionally my sister when she'd have it. I actually made homework assignments and textbooks — not real, actual textbooks with hard bindings and all, but notebooks full of information and pictures — material for my 'students' to use to learn. I wish I still had the anatomy book I made. I remember being fascinated with anatomy and drawing colored diagrams for the book I made, complete with parts for the 'student' to label.

Eventually I became a college professor and got paid to teach! At some really, really top notch schools too. I loved teaching, but I hated some of the crap that went along with it, namely the expectation to publish, publish, publish and apply for grants and always be spectacular. Now that I've been on a break from all of that, I can see that I am and have been, much happier and much less stressed even though I have much, much less disposable income.

Will I ever go back to academia? I don't know. It might not be for me. But I vow to never, ever let myself believe that I am squandering my education if I don't.

I will always be a teacher; indeed, a great teacher.
Being a mother, a parent, is just a very specific kind of teacher.

And, it's exactly the teaching role I am looking forward to now. Bring it on!

Baby Book - Finished!

A couple of after-lunch hours here and there and voilá,
The finished 'high contrast' baby book:

The front cover crinkles when touched and so do all of the pages with ribbon loops hanging off the edges. There are 6 pages.

My initial thought on which grommets to use didn't pan out — they were much too small. But before I even figured that out, I had an absolutely hilarious failure of a time 'winging it' to set the original grommets on test fabric. Problem — I didn't save the instructions and couldn't figure out that it's essential to punch a hole first and *then* set the grommets. Ooops! I finally figured out the right way to do it after visiting the king of knowledge: Google. And, thanks to Dr. Google, I picked up a new tool and learned how to set metal grommets.

The New iPhones Rock!!!

First we dumped cable; then we dumped TMo. I still don't regret getting rid of cable. We never watch TV. And I doubt I'll regret switching over to you-know-who as part of the deal to get the iPhones. Mr. Field Notes and I both got the sooped up ones, the 32 GB 3GS.

We decided to get the larger capacity ones so we could shoot video easily and never really have to worry about how many songs, photos or videos are stored on them. The camera is suprisingly good. Here's a short video clip, one of the first we shot on the iPhone:



I've already started emailing my family photos and videos, so we can practice for when Baby Field Notes finally arrives. The camera and touch screen do take some getting used to, but is easy enough. And it is incredibly easy to email anyone photos and video taken completely on the phone. The only thing I don't like is that when I'm doing a gmail-based chat, the computer sometimes fills in words for me and changes spellings and entire words so I end up sending mangled garbage that makes no sense. I like chatting via gmail and Facebook to cut down on texting charges. The freebie games are pretty sweet too. "Paper Toss," a free game that involves tossing paper balls into an office garbage can with a fan blowing is pretty addictive. I think I've already given myself carpal, well actually forearm, tunnel syndrome at least once!

I even chatted via Facebook with a friend today while she was in labor. She certainly raises the bar for me! Not fair, not fair.

Etsy.com Peddles a False Feminist Fantasy — Well, does it?

I am sure this article has been floating around the etsy world for a while now, but I just discovered it and thought it was worthy of discussing. It basically makes the argument that etsy.com as company peddles a fantasy to women that they can start their own home business and quit their day jobs. It's a fantasy because vanishingly few are actually able to do this, according to data which etsy has gathered. The article also observes that vanishingly few men sell stuff on etsy. Why? Because they can't make enough money there. It's a valid observation and explanation.

You can scroll down to the bottom if you'd like to read the original article.

So here are my off the cuff thoughts on the essay based on my experience selling on etsy, paying attention to what other sellers do and say (in the forums especially) and seeing how my own small niche in its marketplace has panned out over time.

First off, I think the article is dead on. Yes, it generalizes about how many etsy women are basically SAHMs who are being supported by their breadwinner husbands. Truth be told, I am not so far outside of that category. But there are plemnty of women who sell stuff on etsy who don't fit that mould.

Why are male sellers not well represented on etsy? Sure it may have something to do with there not being a lot of money in it. Now, I am not a "top seller" by any means, and I have not quit my day job, but I have made at least as much as the seller highlighted in the article, so I consider that a tremendous success.

That being said, I do not make even close to enough to make what I do a full time job with health insurance, etc and not be dependent on a second source of income. So, yes, I think the etsy allure of a feminist dream is pure fantasy. However, etsy as a company does not sell it so much as the community (of women) wanting, expecting and asking how to realize that dream.

I have a hunch that most of the people who sell on etsy do not have a marketing or business background and so are unprepared for exactly how to make their arts & crafts a truly profitable endeavor. And most probably have no idea or do not accept the fact that it is difficult if not nearly impossible to make self-employment truly work, let alone operate a profitable business from home that is based on arts and crafts. Perhaps in the 'good old days' it was more possible but now with cheap, foreign-made crap ubiquitous, all it takes is our disposable culture to make it damned near impossible to sell handmade goods at a price the market will bear.

Why buy a $95 handwoven scarf when you can get a perfectly decent scarf for $10 at any number of Big Box stores? And why buy handmade paper at $3 a sheet when you can get ten times as many sheets for the price by buying handmade paper that has been imported from Nepal? Sure, some people can afford the high-end handmade stuff that is Made in America. But there are not enough of them.

Figuring out what to charge for any given item is but one problem, but I see it as the biggest one.

The vast majority of sellers on etsy severely underpay themselves and undervalue their work. Prices are ridiculously low for the time it takes to make the items sold. Some women admit to charging only for the material/supplies! Many charge a modicum for their time. Perhaps they do this becasue they know the market will not support a higher price, for reasons I just stated.

But perhaps many women simply undervalue their time. It is as though that old shampoo ad motto never sunk in: Because I'm worth it!

This is a generalization, but I think men are less inclined than women to undervalue their time and so when they find out that the etsy marketplace (with its attendent competition with other sellers there and from brick and mortar stores) does not support the higher prices they set for their work, they ditch etsy altogether or find another venue for their work where they can get the price for their work that they demand. I'd love to see data on whether men start and then abandon etsy storefronts at a higher rate than women do.

When it comes to pricing on etsy, I think women are more likely to just lower the price of their work and accept less.

We have learned to do this our whole lives. I think if women demanded more for their work and set prices that gave them fair compensation for their time, prices on etsy would be higher. But the marketplace competition does seem to drive prices down, and without being able to mass produce more creations at a lower profit margin, the end result is that no one can make very much money there at all.

I've seen the going rate for certain things I sell cut in half when a new seller moves in who undercharges for (her) time. I know how long it takes to make the things and am unwilling to accept less for my time, so I just don't sell those items as much anymore. I'd rather do that than undervalue my time.

But...

I am a feminist.

And I have a day job.

And I have no delusions about the chance of successfully working from home selling arts and crafts.

But, I still really wish women would demand more than $4 an hour for their time! It's a tremendous disservice to everyone.


Here's the original article:
http://www.doublex.com/section/work/etsycom-peddles-false-feminist-fantasy

Practice makes perfect.

Sometimes I will throw myself into a project without practicing first, figuring I'll nail it the first try. I do this all the time when giving a talk, and the vast majority of the time it works out really, really well. The first time I give a talk, it just goes better. It's not like a I don't prepare, because I do — I just never rehearse in front of crowd or even a person or dog first to practice. It's the same for most of my class lectures too. Maybe it's my enthusiasm for the topic the first time around that makes all the difference. This is not great when you have to teach a class over and over... and over. That's why it's important to constantly tinker with the subject matter and material so it's always fresh.

With other projects, I gravitate toward the same approach but sometimes have the good sense to actually do a real trial run. I am so glad I did that today with my sewing project. I had to fiddle with my sewing machine (I don't really know what I'm doing, really) to test out some stitches and adjust some nobs to see what they did..... trial and error style.

That's how Miss Yuki's new toy came to be. I knew I needed to practice stitching a sort of patch like thing onto something before I attempted something similar on the fabric book I am making and certainly want to get the new-to-me stitch perfected before attempting fabric alphabet blocks.

The Y on Yuki's new toy turned out well, I think, not that it matters at all to her, but it certainly looks extra cute hanging out of her mouth. I used scrap fabric from a blanket project, stuffing from old dead toys and a squeaker rescued from one of those mortuary toys. Yes, we have a mortuary for dead toys. This one will probably only last a week or so.... such is life with Newfies. They are very hard on toys but absolutely FLIP OUT for soft squeaker toys. So, I get many occasions to repair and sew new toys.


Poor Katy did not get a matching one with a big K on it... not that she noticed. Yuki actually shared this one enough to make Katy happy. And, truth be told, Katy would have rather been given a real bone.

Infant Visual Development - Supplies

The best visual stimuli for developing babies' vision are bold, black and white patterns with lots of contrast. With that in mind, and with my glasses slipped down to the tip of my nose librarian style, I selected fabric for my next sewing project.

Newborn babies cannot see much of anything which is why bold, stark patterns are best. If you have exceedingly bad vision (20/500), like I do, you can get a sense of what the world looks like to a newborn baby by looking at things with your glasses off. Forget about making out fine patterns — only the big shapes bordered by significantly lighter or darker shapes stand out, and even they are blurry.


I chose fabric that offered a decent amount of contrast but also had some variety in shapes - some circles, some lines, some squiggles. Different portions of the visual cortex respond to different stimuli based on how lines are oriented so it's important to represent a variety of patterns. I also tried to achieve a variety of textures because tactile feedback is important too, but being in a small town, I had to settle for what I could get. And, I am satisfied I got what I needed for these:

• 'taggie' blanket small enough to take anywhere
• fabric book
• blocks

The blanket will have 9 squares on the front and the red 'minky' fabric on the reverse. Ribbon loops and braids of ribbon will hang from the edges and maybe from in between some of the squares. I may put some cellophane in between the batting in some places so it crinkles when touched.

The book will be 6 inches square and designed to lie open flat. I may add some concentric circles in contrasting colors to the fabric that doesn't have much contrast. Concentric circles appeal to babies, as do simple faces, so I may make one of them too. On some of the pages I am going to put some cellophane in between the batting so there's auditory feedback as well as well as visual stimulation.

The blocks I will save for last and hope to make 6 so each side can have a big, bold letter or number on it in red, white or black felt — for learning the alphabet.

With the scraps, if enough is left over I hope to make some stacking rings. They, like nesting cups, are a good toy for promoting cognitive development. They provide practice in planning, ordering and discriminating sizes.

I think the White Stripes would approve of my fabric selection, don't you?

Arctic poppies!

Poppies rank high up, perhaps at the top, of my new list of garden favorites. Just like lavender and snapdragons, poppies grow extremely well in my yard. It has got to be the well-draining soil and sunny exposure.

This year, a California poppy plant overtook a lavender start I had planted in the front yard. The poppy plant grew and grew and got to be the largest poppy bush I have ever seen. It was at least three feet across and two feet tall. It was a giant. And I wasn't too disappointed it killed the lavender, after all, we have lavender coming out of our ears over here, so to speak.

And just within the last week, some arctic poppies bloomed and I see a whole bunch more buds getting ready to bloom. They started from seed from poppy plants I found growing over by the college. I used many of them in my papermaking. I always lose seeds off the surface of the finished paper so I collect them and toss them outside. In the fall I tossed a lot of different seeds in a blank spot right where the dryer vents out. The arctic poppies were one plant that took off there. It's so cool that one of the tiniest of the seeds I scattered, powder really, is what took off. The hollyhocks and lunaria are going great guns too, but I've grown them before so they aren't as exciting, or as pretty, in my opinion.

Arctic, or Icelandic poppies, are native to subarctic regions of North America and Europe and are a perennial, however as I learned today, they behave like annuals in areas with hot summers. It makes perfect sense. So, I'll be gathering seeds from them this year so we can have them again next year.

The trick with the arctic poppies is to sew the seeds where you want the plants to grow - they have sensitive roots so you can't ordinarily successfully transplant them unless you are a botanical transplant specialist, I suspect.

For some truly amazing close-up photos of poppies — to make you ooh and aaah and perhaps cultivate a love of botany — you simply have to visit this website: A Close-up View of the "Icelandic (Arctic Poppy) The photo of the poppy 'hatching from its coccoon' is my favorite.

Baby Birth Announcement: It's a Gorilla!

(Credit: San Francisco Zoo)

A baby gorilla who was born 6 months ago at the San Francisco Zoo has started making some appearances now that he's old enough.

He is way too cute. I don't think there's anything in the world cuter than a baby gorilla, that's my bias. Maybe my own little baby 'gorilla' will be cuter, but I doubt it. Is that mean? What can I say, I am biased I admit it: I love baby gorillas.

As with most zoo birth stories, this little bugger was rejected by his birth mama but another female stepped in to care for him. She carries him on her back in the customary "jockey style" position. The babies ride face-forward sometimes, other times facing the reverse direction. Whatever feels good and works. Having hair makes it easy to hang on to mom, giving her the ability to move around more or less unencumbered, unlike human moms who must use at least one arm to support a baby she carries.

Even though human ancestors lost their hair a long time ago, for whatever reason — it's still a mystery even though there are some interesting theories — human babies have retained the moro reflex.

Babies up to around age 4-5 months, in response to being startled by a loud noise or falling sensation, will extend their legs and arms with hands open then bring them back to their body with their fists clenched.

It's an obvious safety mechanism left over from the days when that sort of automatic response would have helped the baby grab mom's hair in an emergency - having to quickly flee a spot, nearly falling out of a night nest up in the trees, etc. I don't know for sure since no one really makes a big deal of studying such obvious things, but I'd bet all primates have this reflex as newborns.

The absence of it in humans, or presence of it but only involving one side of the body, is a sure indicator of neurological problems.

There are lots of other cool reflexes babies have only during their first few months of life. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

And, yes, I am a little envious of the whole gorilla-baby-can-hang-on-to-mom-but-human-baby-can't thing. It means I'll have to find a sling to wear if I want to have both hands free. Ideally, I'd have one I could use to nurse hand's free. Gorillas don't have to wear diapers either...
I'm just saying. Not really looking forward to that end of things. But, I have smelled gorillas, and as much as I love them, holy man alive - they freaking reek!

Let's just say they have a distinctive odor. But they are still the cutest little beings on the planet. Little Hasani, whose name means 'Handsome,' even has a baby registry at the zoo in case you want to send him stuff.

You've got to see the video of him with his surrogate mama for the first time. You can see her playing the airplane game with him - putting him up in the air with her feet and hands while she lies on her back. Chimps do this with their babies too. It aids motor development. There's a lot of continuity among species in early primate development.

Mama Gorilla Plays Airplane Game With Baby Gorilla

Container Gardening Avec Les Chiens

My mother in law came to visit for the weekend and wore me out! Actually, I think it was mutual at one point, but she's still standing while I ... am ... not.

Our big success was Container Gardening With The Dogs. Yuki came outside to supervise the entire thing, but I hope it wasn't because she was eyeballing which ones to uproot later. Fingers crossed she won't revert back to her old shenanigans! She did a truly commendable job of being companionable without being intrusive, which is to say she stayed within 2 feet of us the whole time, never stole anything, gave polite kisses, didn't knock over anything and actually curled up behind me to lie down once near the end. She was so well behaved, she could have easily passed for Katy, who was inside napping the entire time. Lazy bones had a good excuse though — she went on a giant walk the night before.

Just like usual, I bought more plants than I needed to fill the containers left over from last year so we had to root out the plastic ones from the garage. I also had to get 2 hanging planters of petunias. I love them and get 2 every year just to make the porch more cheerful. They usually bloom until October so it's well worth the cost.

Salvia, zinnia, snapdragons and some others I forgot the names of make up the rest.

Snapdragons are my favorite garden plant mostly because they grow extremely well here. Because Yuki destroyed most of my snapdragons from last year, the only ones I have growing now are either in their last year (perfect for gathering seeds for next year!) or got started this year from seed so they're really tiny. They will be amazing next year, as will the newbies who just moved in. The last few years I had red ones and also peach with yellow ones. This year and the next we'll have white, yellow and rose colored ones in addition to whatever takes from the seedlings.

I plum wore myself out! But, I did so in fantastic looking toes — we started the day with pedicures. Purrrrrrrfect!

Yuki's Path of Destruction: Ways to R&R puppy style

Ever since her first day home, Yuki had a fondness for the garden lilies. It's just not a fondness I appreciated very much. After the number she did on my garden last year, it's a wonder how I managed to have any plants come back this spring. But, the lilies grew back and Yuki's back at them. This time, putting her ever-so-cute-I'm-not-gonna-get-in-trouble-spin on things.

Caught messing around once more in the lilies, she hammed it up for me by sticking her nose through the porch slats long enough for me to snap a photo to share. It really was adorable, that face. She still got asked to leave, though. Which she did, thankfully, and without too much damage done.

She's been running through the lilies ever since she got here. This shot I took right before she completely disappeared in them around this time last year when she was just 8 weeks old and small enough to hide in the long green fronds.

Yuki loves to R&R in unusual places.








Under the dishwasher..


















Wedged between the toilet and bathtub..








** On **
Mr. Field Notes (he assures me this is actually very comfortable). They've also been napping like this since day one with no letting up now that she's approaching 100 pounds.

Further Forays into Felt Food: Squid Dinner plus Veggies

I know, I know, it's poor form to ape other artists, but I had to try to make the squid I saw in my favorite felt food artist's shop on etsy. I am not selling it, so it's okay to plagiarize, right? Actually, most of the art I have ever made in my life is totally copied (sh! our little secret). I think most art at some level is.

The veggies are really easy to make yourself:
Green beans - piece of cake to make - just cut some green rectangles, roll tightly and stitch shut.
Cooked carrot slices - also easy - cut two quarter sized orange pieces and a long strand. Stitch the strand to one round doodad then most of the other. Leave a centimeter unstitched as an opening to put fiberfill inside, then stitch closed.
Green onion stalk - cut two of the cream pieces and two long green pieces about 1.5 centimeters wide and 10 inches long. Fold the stalks in half, pin, and machine stitch closed down the middle. Then stitch the bulb around the edges leaving space at the top to push the green stalks into the pocket and hand stitch closed.


The garlic bread and squid take a bit of fenagling but are relatively easy to make. It just takes a bunch of time to stitch the squid legs and the french knots used to make the pepper for the bread can be tedious. Two of the ten squid tentacles have little cups at the ends that were fun to make, and surprisingly easy to pull off. But, the squid 'legs' are enough of a pain that I would make them another way if I had to make another squid. One can always just buy one from GoBuggy on etsy, if she's got them in stock! Her store is very popular, for good reason. I think she's got the best Japanese felt food on etsy. But curiously enough, she hasn't done sushi. Hmmm. I'm eager to try that myself, in fact.

Ew! Newfie slobber goes everywhere.

When you share your life with even one Newfoundland you get used to slime, spit, slobber, drool — and all the places it lands. It starts with your lap. The cute puppies get a drink of water then head straight for you to show off how smart they are, having found the local watering hole. Then they move on to the couches. They make convenient napkins, just like pant legs. Eventually you notice the floors get their share of the drool too. More than their share. Soon you notice slime streaks on the walls. And every once in a while, you spot it practically on the ceiling.

That's where I found some today — a nice, big long streak of dried slobber complete with fur (a lot of it) stuck high up on the wall nearly at the ceiling above the bathroom door. Ew. Gross. Thanks guys. Did you have to put it so high up?

You can sort of make it out under the words in that photo. That grayish smudge is a ball of slimed, matted newfie hair the size of a quarter. A streak of dried slobber 8 inches long hangs down from it. Ew.

Who the culprit is I'll never know. Just a little present from one of them, thought I'd share. It's all part of the charm of having newfies. Since I had the camera out, I thought I'd take the opportunity to show off the other things now hanging on the walls. No, not cobwebs and more goofy newfie goobers, just good old-fashioned art. We finally hung our art, well, most of it.

Here's a little tour.

Some Japanese fabric (the so-called lucky cat you see everywhere in Japan). If you look closely in the background you can spot Yuki hanging out on the 'big comfy chair' watching traffic. I'm convinced she's got her own version of a trainspotting game going on given how much time she spends gazing out the window from that spot.

Of course, most days the window in front of her is so covered with her own nose print slime I doubt she sees much! I'd have to clean that window every day to keep it looking nice. Vacuuming once — sometimes twice and even up to four times a day — is about as much dog-inspired cleaning as I am comfortable 'scheduling' so the vast majority of the time, that window is ... dirty. But who cares. You make a lot of 'adjustments' to standards of cleanliness when you invite a big, black shagorrific dog (or two) into your home.

Moving on... on the wall in the living room containing Dirty Window we've now got some handy dandy shelves with real, handmade art on them!


The art is a series of three 14x14 inch custom pieces on canvas I commissioned from an artist on etsy.com. She did a wonderful job with minimal instructions to make a crow, bluebird and a green egret. The shelves are from Pottery Barn. I bought them, no kidding, in 2007 as a reward to myself for finally finishing some horrendous piece of statistical analysis for my dissertation. It took until now to finally deploy them. Delayed gratification.

More framed Japanese fabric from my favorite store in Kyoto: RAAK. They specialize in material for furoshiki - the cloth used in traditional wrapping of packages, gifts and lunches. RAAK is operated by a Kyoto-based textile company called Eirakuya, which was founded 390 years ago. A trip to RAAK is a must if you find yourself in Kyoto. They make just about everything out of their fabric — furoshiki, hats, wallets, purses, teddy bears and more. It's not cheap either (nothing in Japan is) so be prepared for a big bill if you go hog wild like I did.

I bought a TON (almost literally) of furoshiki cloth. I think it was my single biggest expense from Japan, but I knew I wouldn't be back for quite a long time so I allowed myself the splurge. The framed stuff isn't furoshiki, but I saw panels like this hung all over RAAK stores in Kyoto and thought a set of three would be perfect for the dining room. The choices were immense, and difficult, but in the end I chose these three for being iconic of Japanese culture and because they fit the color scheme of the dining room (red and black). All I had to do was find three that looked good together. Michaels craft store did the custom framing. They do a great job, but definitely wait until they have a good coupon. I used one that got me 60% off the entire framing order!