Friday, June 27, 2003

Well. to continue the Japanese theme, here is a scan of my woodblock Hokusai
print that Kuni gave me.

I think Scott has one too. This is part of a famous series of views of Mt Fuji.


I think the text in the upper left roughly tranlates to "Don't let the
water grab you."

Thursday, June 26, 2003

We are gearing up for our trip to Disneyland with the kids. They are beside themselves with excitement, and Barbara is, too. I am girding my loins. What does that refer to, exactly? Did some ancient people used to wrap their loins in girdles before jousting or something?? Well, I'm not planning to wear a girdle, since the heat will no doubt be in the triple digits. Oh, that's right, I also don't have a girdle. I don't know how our mothers' generation survived those damn things.

We'll be staying at the Disneyland Hotel and riding the monorail and going to everything. We're off to mecca on Sunday and back on Tuesday, and I'll try to write a report of the trip if I haven't busted a loin.
Leah Brooks at 9:01 AM

Monday, June 23, 2003

It turns out that a quite famous English painter, John Singer Sargent, painted a portrait called "Miss Eleanor Brooks" in 1890.



Leah Brooks at 2:52 PM

Friday, June 20, 2003

Friday must be the most universally loved day of the work week. Coffee tastes better on Friday. There is a certain sense of relief that even if you don't finish that project today, you'll get to take a couple of days off, and come back refreshed to tackle it next week. No one can be in a really bad mood, because after all, it's Friday. Co-workers greet one another with "it's Friday!", in a happy tone. You can always get fish and chips somewhere on Friday. Going out to dinner and a movie on a Friday night is the best, because it really extends the weekend. People go home early on Friday, so the afternoon rush hour is earlier and you are less likely to get snarled in traffic.

Also, there's the Friday Five. Sometimes, the questions are interesting. Today, they are about hair. This seems slightly boring, but really, everyone has a story about hair. I remember my seventh grade French teacher who had long, very very long, brown hair. She decided to dye it blonde. There were several mistakes made in the salon, and the result was that her hair all fell out, and turned several different shades of blue and pink. It was greatly amusing to our seventh-grade senses of humor. Now, I feel sorry for her.
Leah Brooks at 9:51 AM

Monday, June 16, 2003

These kids are the best! Ariana, Aidan and Jeremy in our backyard yesterday.










Leah Brooks at 5:18 PM

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

Barb is going to be writing another essay on food for Safeway's magazine, and so we were talking about food memories. I was thinking that every person I know probably has a food memory associated with them. Let's start with the family:



Mom: Macaroni and cheese. I have tried to make it like she did, but it never comes out crispy enough on top. Canned tomatoes and lots of cheddar cheese, and milk. Baked in a bowl.

Dad: Fish. Preferably one that he caught. Not that he fished much. Mom hated the smell of fish, so it always was a big deal whenever we got to eat it. And she let us know that she was only cooking it as a favor to him. "MM, Marvelous!", he would say.

Meredith: I think the very first time I had brown rice was at Meredith's. I associate health food and fresh vegetables with her.

Bob: White bread in a bowl with milk and sugar. This taste treat was something that Bob taught me to eat as a snack.

Scott: Cherry phosphates and Reese's peanut butter cups. Scott was so kind to me when I was a kid. He took me for phosphates downtown at the soda fountain. And he collected the paper "coins" that came wrapped in the bottom of peanut butter cups until he had enough to get an entire box of peanut butter cups. Somehow I was involved in this scheme. I remember the glee when the huge box of candy arrived. Funny, I don't like Reese's today.

John: I can't think of a food right this second that I associate with John, but I think of him at the dinner table, tipping back his chair. Farther, farther. Didn't he tip over at least once? Or did Scott give that chair a tiny kick?

Leah Brooks at 10:58 AM

Friday, June 06, 2003

The internet is amazing. Today I happened across the webring for Unusual Internet Museums, and saw collections of banana stickers and side show items and the national lighter museum.

The other night we were discussing the concept of the human "cluster". People tend to cluster around something that interests them, and gosh, the internet is the best way to find your cluster. The thing is, you may not know what to look for. I didn't know that I was fascinated by broken tile until I started working on the mosiac. I didn't know that fruit labels would become an (albeit brief) obsession until I started searching for a particular type, and appreciated their variety and colors. It's exciting to think about how many interesting hobbies may be lurking out there, unknown to me until one day, I'll happen across them while looking for something else. Then bam! they'll grab me and I'm off! joining another obscure cluster, finding friends I didn't know I had.
Leah Brooks at 2:17 PM

Thursday, June 05, 2003

Trying so hard to remain an optimist in these difficult political times. Well, they are difficult for us liberals. Read this and grin. And when CAN I buy my SMART car?
Leah Brooks at 10:58 AM