Green Dilly Beans

E is for Entomology

The letter E is brought to you with a request for help.  My sister, who will graduate from the University of Minnesota-Duluth this spring, is taking Entomology this semester as part of her biology degree.  Like many entomology classes, she is expected to assemble a bug collection for identification. 

She is learning the hard way that mid-winter Duluth does not provide the best conditions for bug finding and collecting.  She and her classmates are scrounging every nook and cranny looking for critters.  All her current specimens are so tiny, we had to resort to one of Onion's baby toys to photograph for this post. 

Here's our plea - if any of you readers live in warmer climes (that should be just about all of you), and you come across any members of the insect family, would you send them to my sister for this project? 

We're not sure how many specimens this post will turn up, but I've learned to never underestimate the boundless generosity of knitters and readers.   

Who knows? Perhaps someone has a moth infestation that could be a silver lining for my sister?! If you're willing to help in her quest to gather members of the insect kingdom, leave a comment and I'll follow up to send you the details.  Thanks!

D is for Duluth

I thought that a move back to the Midwest would satisfy my penchant for long winters, lakes, and easy access to the outdoors. However, frequent visits to see my sister in Duluth have made me wonder, how far north is north enough for me?  The siren songs of Portland are quelled by the knowledge that I need a severe noticeable contrast between the four seasons that the West Coast just couldn't provide.  Although Minneapolis is a great city, I sometimes feel that it just isn't cold, snowy, wintry, hilly, and forested enough for me. It is strange to think of limiting my search for a city to settle in to areas north of the 45th parallel.  Thankfully, I've got another 2 years of school to sit and think on it.   

C is for Cooking

Cooking is one of the things B and I do best when we are together.  Our most recent shared meal featured pan-seared venison steaks (thanks bro!), radicchio risotto, roasted brussels sprouts, and a salad of spinach, endive, blue cheese, and bacon. 

We don't get to see much of each other these days and cooking allows us to work together as a team, even if only for a short time.  My mom has offered the observation that it is always better to want to see more of someone, rather than less.  Wise words from a wise woman. 

Besides, who needs flowers when I've got a table-full of yarn to serve as the backdrop for our candlelit dinner?  Now that's romance.  Happy Valentines Day to one and all. 

B is for Books

           

School, food, and fiber.  Books are, quite literally, the story of my life these days.

I love how, in the photographed section of my cookbook shelf, the featured cuisines span the globe from Senegal and Finland to India and Betty Crocker. 

A is for Anatomy*

Yes, I have a giant medical chart of the human digestive system on my living room wall.  Purchased recently on e-bay for about $30, it measures 43" x 63", making for one big wall display.  It is one of the first things people see when they enter our apartment.  From their reactions, I would guess that people either love it or are too polite to say otherwise. 

My unquestioning decision to hang this piece so prominently, from the oral cavity right down to the rectum, represents some of the things I value about my upbringing.  I worked in a neighbor's antique store during high school and my aunt and uncle own an antique/vintage/junk (in the best sense of the word) store.  This diagram dates to 1946 and once hung, complete with the pull down roller shade, in a medical school classroom, now it sits over an antique trunk in my living room.  I love the history and stories that come with old objects, and the new life we can give them in making them our own.  On the flip side, my grandparents taught on the university biology faculty at a university and made sure to incorporate science learning into all elements of life.  Lichen growing on craggy rocks was used to dye fiber, microscopes analyzed lake water samples, and successful fishing trips provided a glimpse into the recent diet and organ systems of our catch (Most famously we found a mole in a bass' stomach.  That was one hungry fish).  This enormous anatomical chart makes me thankful to have grown up in a family that embraces both biology and the repurposement of unusual items to make a house a home.

In a more concrete sense, my choice for the letter A also represents a renewed commitment to my health.   Living alone as a grad student has taken its toll on my gym routine.  It's hard to get out of bed when it is below zero and B is not here to physically drag me out into the cold.  Maybe this public pronouncement will spur me to regularize my jaunts at the gym. 

*I joined the 2008 ABC-along in January and immediately fell behind.  I'm playing catch up this week to join the rest of the pack.