Sunday, October 30, 2005

sunday

Brunch was slow. Joe and Tom came in and made it better. I was still bored. Andy Weedman never stops talking. I love him, but it's like being with my sister and my mom when they are in high spirits and I just get worn out. It is almost Hallowe'en, which marks our five year "the night we met" anniversary. Five years I've been with this guy, and he still likes me. Wow. Some folks are coming over tonight for a sort of small celebration, and to entertain me. I am drinking gingerbeer. Life is good.

Friday, October 28, 2005

and it grows and grows

Forty-two names on the roller derby listserv. Kate recruited three more tonight while she was working. I can't believe it. I need to come up with a clever name for myself, like Gunna Hurtcha, or Anne Putation, or Juanna Rumbel. Those windy city rollers have it down. But we will too.
Work was kinda slow tonight, but I'm sure my double tomorrow will be exhausting. I got a message from the gutter guys, they're coming next week. Rehab rolls on.

Thursday night

Kate's pal Eldon rolled into town toniught and we fed him and then dragged him down to the cabin at the city museum. He's only going to be in town tonight and we had to show him the city museum, because it is the best place around. Monstrocity was open so we forked over our ducats and climbed around in the joy that is that whole hunk of steel for an hour. Then we sat around the fire pit and drank beer and toasted marshmallows and chatted. Unfortunatley, the camera has run out of batteries and I cannot upload the awesome pictures I got while I was suspended three stories above the ground encased in a cage, and hanging from the wing of an airplane. I have to go to sleep now, because I promised Glenna I would take her to the airport tomorrow so she can fly to L.A. for a weekend with her girls. Quick note: never jump feet first into the ball pit. You might jam your finger and then you'll be miserable like Kate.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

just so you don't think I'm obsessive...


hand and sock
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
...here is a non-roller derby related post.
Actually, I am obsessed with Roller Derby. But as most of you know, I am also really into knitting. Here's a photo of one of my current works in progress. It will be a sock. One of a pair, to be precise. I'm working on a few other things, but they are intended as gifts, and therefore cannot be displayed on this blog, where some unsuspecting reader may just spoil his or her Christmas. Nobody wants to spoil Christmas, now do they?

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

We are growing!


second practice
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
Our second basic skating practice was tonight. Eleven girls came, including myself (i'm not in the picture, I took it.) Micah came along for fun. The four of us who went last night seemed to have improved since yesterday. The girls who showed up were awesome and totally enthusiastic. There were three girls I didn't know who came, Lizzy, Jennifer and Lindsay. I collected phone numbers and email addresses and gave them flyers to hand out to their friends. I'm so excited about the speed in which we are growing! I got about six emails this morning. Liesl said she would start working on a website for us. Kate and Launa are scouting alternate locations for skating practice and I am getting organized for the big meeting, which will take place on November 6th at Duff's. I talked to Karen this morning and she said I could have the New Room after 8:30 that evening. Everythig is falling into place.

First Rollerskating Practice


skates off
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
Kate, Launa, Liesl and I went to rollercade tonight to practice skating. We all had a blast and I only fell down once. I got right back up. I haven't been skates in so long, but I seem to remember how to do it. We're going again tomorrow night, and hopefully every Tuesday and Wednesday until we all rock. I would give you all the details (the music they play rules!) but I must sleep and rest my aching bones. I know this will get eaiser with more practice. It is so totally worth it.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Rainbow dishes for an autumn day.


Why I Like Color In My Life
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
I had coffee with mom and Toni at the bread house. We saw Maggie, her folks and little Robertson. We saw Joe, who was quite sleepy before coffee. We talked for a long time. I let Kate sleep in after her exciting night of getting drunk at a birthday party for a bookstore. She had to work anyway, and we would have made her late. Jill didn't come, but I'm guessing she just didn't leave herself enough time in the morning.
I made about 100 copies of the roller derby flyer at kinko's and will set out to distribute them this afternoon.
I took this picture of my dishes when I got back to the house this afternoon because I am acutely aware of the waning warm weather, and although I am enjoying the reds and yellows of a St. Louis autumn, I know the steel greys and dirty whites of winter are just on the back burner, waiting to sneak up on me. I think the reason I cram so much color into my surroundings is so that I can survive each desolate expanse of grey that is the city under snow. Since I've taken up knitting, this has become eaiser. I tend to choose yarns with amazing, eye-crossingly bright colorways and just focus on those all winter long.
Roller Derby update: skating practic starts tonight. I'm almost positive that only Kate, Launa and I will show up, but we are all meeting at Rollercade tonight at 7pm to fall on our assets, I mean practice skating. I haven't been on wheels in years, so this should be interesting. I'll bring the camera.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

Sunday Off!


IMG_1227
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
It was too cold for brunch outside today so I gave Steve my station and dragged Kiki out of bed. We traipsed down to Cherokee to test drive the new Shangri-La diner. Hell of good brunch, all buffet style. Everything was vegetarian and yummy. They had two kinds of eggs, blue cheese hashbrowns, tofu scramble with tomatoes and black beans, palak tofu (like palak paneer, but with tofu!), strawberry-orange juice, fruit, shitake mushroom bacon, oatmeal, and CREME BRULEE FRENCH TOAST. I have never had anything so amazing. The texture was like creme brulee, but with an undertone of brioche bread, and there were heaps of carmelized brown sugar on top. I ate too much food. I might explode. The one bad thing about Shangri-La is the interior decor. It is decorated exactly how I would decorate a restaurant. It's like they crawled into my brain and stole the file on cool brunch spot decor. Curses, foiled again.

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Up too early

I need to read my work schedule a bit more closely. I got up at eight thirty, got dressed, had breakfast blah blah. I thought I had to be at work at ten. Just as i was getting ready to leave i looked at the calendar. I don't have to be at work until eleven. I could just go in early, but what would be the fun of that?

Friday, October 21, 2005

gray and rainy days

I went out to coffee with Mom, Jill, Kate and Toni yesterday, and when Kate and I walked home the sun was shining and the air was all crisp and clean. I love autumn in St. Louis. All of a sudden the weather got all cold on me. It rained last night and this morning. Everything feels damp and cold and I don't want to leave the house. I just spent most of yesterday watching Lord of the Rings and knitting. I did finish the first legwarmer I was working on and started the second, but that's not enough for a full Thursday.
Hazel is miffed because she didn't get a walk this morning, but it's just too gray out.
I have to work tonight and I wonder if Matt is ever going to get out of bed.
I hate gray and rainy days.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Wednesday

Not much to report, not much excitement anyway. I ran some errands today, and had another session of teaching brownies to knit. This time was a bit of a disaster. The girls were all riled up when I got there, and attention spans were at an all-time short. I did manage to get a few of them to knit a few stitches before the hour was up and everything descended into chaos. I split after the meeting and came home with the worst headache ever. I was supposed to go practice rollerskating with Kate tonight, but my head was throbbing. I ate some excedrine and tried to take a short nap, but after an hour I still felt like I had been kicked in the head.
I finally recovered, and Jill came over to fill me in about the trip to MD while Kate and I worked on the flyer for Roller Derby recruitment. We are going to copy them tomorrow morning at Kinko's, after coffee with Mom, and then the recruitment will begin! I already have about twenty-some girls who are interested, most from Bbh.
Kate talked to Jerome about posting on the Stlpunk page, and I think that will get people's attention too.
I'm really glad this is moving forward. I'm also planning to go to Chicago for the Windy City Rollers Finals on November 13th. I want to take some folks with me so they can see an actual bout and get as pumped as I am about this. I need to work on the league roster now. Night.

Friday, October 14, 2005

Roller Derby Baby, it's the future!

And the future is here! I've been doing a lot of research and recruiting and I have about 15 ladies who are very interested. Here's the email I sent out:
Okay Ladies,
You've heard me babbling about starting a Roller Derby League here in St. Louis for some time now, but I've finally decided to get serious about it! Last weekend I went to Chicago to watch the Windy City Rollers League Semi-Finals. It was awesome and I have just one thing to say: We can do this!
St. Louis used to be very big in the Roller Derby world. I've been doing research. Roller Derby is coming back, just like St. Louis, and we need to put our city on the map.
Right now we're in the planning stage and I'm trying to get together a list of women who are interested. The way I figure, we need a minimum of forty women to form a league consisting of four teams. We also need coaches for physical training, referees, score keepers, sponsors, spaces to practice and train, a website designer... the list goes on, but I'm getting
ahead of myself. Basically, I'm just working on a list of interested women right now. Once I have about forty replies, we can get to work on having a meeting to discuss everything else.
Here's the deal: if you would like to prove your badassedness to the entire metro area, let me know via
e-mail to
rollerderbystl@yahoo.com

I'll send a reply to let you know when I get a response and I'll keep in touch. Also, check out http://www.windycityrollers.com for pictures and info about the Chicago league.
Thanks for your time girls, and I hope to hear from you all in the near future.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS TO ANY WOMAN YOU THINK MIGHT BE INTERESTED!!!!
Sarah Kate

so far I'm still in the planning stage, but everyone I've talked to is pumped, and that makes me happy.

Morning Walk 10.14.05


Morning Walk 10.14.05
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
We got up and took the dogs for a walk. I am looking for a small storefront to rent for a studio. I want something within walking distance of the house, so I have been scouting in the neighborhood on the dog walks. I found this little cute block of California that has Soulard style houses. It's only a couple blocks from my house, but alas, no storefronts. The search continues.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

sea of humanity


sea of humanity
Originally uploaded by aerolith.
First off, that's not my picture. I found it on flickr. I didn't get too many photos on Sunday. I have one of Julie after the race that I'll post.
Watching the Chicago Marathon was an unbelievable experience for me. I am not a sports fan. (I know some of you are saying, what about baseball, Skate? Baseball is a religion folks, not a sport.) I usually don't pay any attention to marathons, unless you count being mildly ticked off when one crosses my path on my way to work.
In the past I would never have gotten up at five thirty in the morning to watch a bunch (try 40,000) of random people run through a city, but this time my cousin Julie was among those random people.
Julie is more like a sister to me than a cousin, we grew up a few blocks from each other, and although she is six years younger than I am, she possesses a quiet maturity and spiritual calm that I have always respected and admired. She ran the marathon last year and I did not go. My mom, my sister and Aunt Patti (Julie's mom) went and talked incessantly about how awesome it was. I figured I'd go this year and see what all the fuss was about.
Annie and I took the train downtown Sunday morning. We met up with our folks, donned matching red shirts that read "Julie D. from W.G." and saw Julie off at the starting point. We then hoofed it down to the 13 mile marker, which is about the halfway point. The throng of people didn't stop us from finding a good spot to watch for Julie's pace group, the 3:40s. Annie and I had made posterboard signs that said things like "Go Julie" and "What lies ahead and behind is nothing compared to what lies within us" and "Julie D. from W.G." so she could see us and know that we were there to support her.
As thousands of runners passed us, the crowd shouted out encouragement to those in the race. Most people had their first names written on their shirts. Cries of "Go Joe!" and "You can do it, Molly!" and "Good Job Sheryl!" were constantly called out from the crowd. These were random people calling out to other random people, showing support for strangers in a way I have never before seen. The atmosphere was like a giant party, with cheerleaders.
After Julie passed us we split up. Mom, Dad and Aunt Patti went on to the finish line to get a good spot, and Annie and I tromped down Canal Street to the 21 mile marker just outside of Chinatown.
Julie said that last year, the 21 was the hardest point for her. She stopped. She was lying on the ground, ready to quit. Another runner came over and gently talked her to her feet. He told her that if she had made it this far, there was no reason not to finish. He knew she could do it. She got up and finished the race, with no idea who this guy who had gotten her back up off the ground was. Annie and I decided that our girl didn't need to rely on the kindness of strangers this year. We would be there.
It was quite a hike down Canal, and just out of downtown, we encountered the East Pilsen Street Fair: a swarm of people, booths hawking everything from fake Versace handbags to car parts to elotes (delicious hot corn on a stick with chile powder), and little room to maneuver. We pressed thru, and made it to the 21. We were sure we had missed Julie, and our hearts sank. I couldn't find anyone in the crowd of runners with a 3:40 pace number on them. I saw a 3:30 and a 3:50. I was terrified that we had let her down. Annie was cursing the East Pilsen Street Fair under her breath and I was starting to shake, on the verge of tears when we heard Julie scream "Anne! Sarah!" and there she was, looking strong, beautiful, amazing and, well... sweaty. She waved off the banana she had asked us to bring and shook her head at our offer of water and ran right by, gracefully blowing my mind. I felt so much pride and respect for Julie at that moment my heart almost burst. I turned to the lady next to me, who was looking at me as I jumped up and down like a monkey and shouted "That's my baby cousin!" She smiled and nodded. "You must be so proud."
Annie and I caught a cab back downtown, after our scare with the 21 mile mark, we decided not to risk walking. Our legs were burning from racing thru East Pilsen, and the adrenalin rush left me feeling as if I had run eight miles too.
We found Mom and Aunt Patti, but Dad had disappeared. We later found out he had weaseled his way up to the grandstand and had gotten himself a sweet seat in the bleachers. Julie saw him as she crossed the finish line at 3 hours and 47 minutes, 26 minutes faster that last year.
After much stressful regrouping the day ended, and I was off to The Congress Theatre to watch the roller derby semi-finals. I met my friends, we had a blast. In all the excitement of roller derby, I couldn't stop thinking about my little cousin Julie, who has grown into an incredibly strong, fast young woman; and my respect for her which has also grown, exponentially.

Monday, October 10, 2005

missing blog entries

I just realized that the last two posts I wrote haven't appeared in the blog. I hope this is an anomally, due to strange wifi. I am confused by it, the blog said they went thru when I typed them.
Quick recap of the Chicago trip:
Friday: Quick painless flight. Dinner at el Presidente with Annie. Sleep.
Saturday: Eggs Florentine at the Bloomingdale's Restaurant. Shopping with Patti, Julie and Annie. Dinner at Maggianos. Sleep.
Sunday: SPORTS CENTRAL. Marathon in the morning, Julie's time was 3:47. 26 minutes faster than last year! My cousin is tough as nails! Walking about six miles, big feat for my lazy butt. Roller Derby at night with Kate, Beth Launa, Gabe, Sara and Gretchen. I am now officially obsessed with Roller Derby. More on that later. Sleep.
Monday: Lunch with Mom, Dad and Annie. Shopping by myself at Chicago Comics, several bookstores. Window shopping for shoes. Hanging out at the hotel with my folks. Blogging.
I'm leaving tomorrow at 11:10. Gonna call my charming husband now.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Louis using the toilet?


Louis using the toilet?
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
He's really getting wiser in his old age. I walked by the bathroom this evening and there he was.
Seriously folks, the trip to Chicago is tomorrow and all plans are set.
1. Annie will pick me up tomorrow evening, we'll grab a bite and make signs to wave at Julie as she runs by.
2. Saturday, maybe a bit of shopping. I hope they still hold stuff for me at Chicago Comics.
3. Sunday is the marathon (Go Julie Go!) and roller derby finals; Gabe, Kate, Launa and Gabe's New Girlfriend will be going with me. A victory dinner for Julie will follow, and then maybe a bit of libationitory (yes I just made that word up) celebration. Mmm... alliteration.
4. Monday I'll hang out with the family, and
5. Tuesday I'm coming back home. Whee!
Look for posts and pictures from Chicago. I need to check the weather channel, I think Chicago might be cold this time of year.
Today I had coffee with Mom, Toni, Kate and Aunt Patti. Mom gave Patti and l the shirts she made for the race. I got all my errands done today, except for the recycling, but I'll do that tomorrow. I'm so ready to go I can't wait! I'm going to finish watching Degrassi Junior High and hit the sack kinda early.

empty yard in daylight


empty yard in daylight
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
Here's the promised shot of the backyard after the trimming. I am still freaked out by the starkness of the situation. I just keep telling myself that the yard will be perfect for an enormous vegetable garden next spring.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Kate's Home!


Kate's Home!
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
Kate returned from New Orleans tonight, and promptly passed out on my bed. Matt was sleeping in there, but he's unmoveable once he's out for the night, so I just let them sleep. I talked to Kate for a couple of minutes before she collapsed. She said it was like being in a war zone. There were few people around, mostly millitary personal and police officers. She helped her father's friend assess the damage to his properties in the French Quarter. I'm going to get her to tell me more details tomorrow and I'll see if she will let me post some of her photos. She said the quarter is coming back to life, stores and restaurants are reopening and all have "Now Hiring" signs in the windows, but outside the quarter is so devastated and empty. She says that housing is going to be the major problem that the city faces in the next year. She went to visit a house owned by Marie, a friend of her folks. The water damage on the first floor was so extreme that the walls were crumbling, and the mold was so pervasive she couldn't breathe while walking through the house. The attic on the second floor was totally untouched. The house will have to be leveled. All the beams are rotten and swollen from the flooding. She says about seven-eighths of the city is in that condition. The French Quarter is the least damaged section of the city, because was built on the highest ground. All of the buildings outside the quarter, even just a few blocks off Claybourne street are still without power.
I feel so horrible for all the people who lost their homes, their loved ones and their entire world in this disaster.

empty backyard at night


empty backyard at night
Originally uploaded by sarahkate.
Sorry I waited so long to take this picture. As you can kind of see, the elm is cut way back. Matt says this was necessary, and that the tree will grow back much fuller within the next few years. I feel guilty. I hope it didn't hurt too much.

Why yes, I have seen Serenity!

Twice now. I went on Sunday night, even though I was still feeling sick and again last night. I do believe it is the best movie of the year. Granted, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire isn't due out until November (saw the trailer twice) and Howl's Moving Castle was awesome, my vote still goes to Serenity.
I went shopping today, I bought a new bag with a padded laptop pocket, so the iBook will stay safe on my travels. I'm getting all set for the Chicago trip this weekend. Annie is going to pick me up at Midway on Friday night and we will party til Mom and Dad show up on Saturday with the husband, then the whole crew will go to cheer on Julie as she runs her little heart out in the Marathon. Yay Julie!
As I am typing this, there are four sweaty men in my backyard trimming the trees. I feel bad for cutting down the Atlantis Tree, but its roots were encroaching on our foundation and the risk of permanent damage was too high, so we had to take it out. I would like to plant a Japanese Maple in its place, only slightly furter from the house this time.
The dogs have been sitting at the backdoor looking very concerned and slightly confused by the goings-on. My vegetable garden has been completely smashed, although the guys did have the decency to pick all the peppers that were big enough and place them on the porch.
I'll put up pictures tonight when they have finished. That's all for now.