The last two days I have been sewing a kamiz/underdress/chemise out of a lightweight white linen. I have been in a state of wonderment as i have been working with this simple fabric made from flax fibers.

It is a textile which has been found in excavations in turkey at Çatalhöyük, samples of which have been dated to over ten thousand years ago.

Flax fibers have also been found in Dzudzuana cave in the foothills of Caucasus, Georgia. as of this past September they have been dated to approximately thirty thousand years ago in an article in the publication, Science.

As I have played with the scraps of the fabric I think of its use in clothing and bindings over the millenia.

I think of the wrappings on the mummies in Egypt. I think of the undertunics for the vikings. i think of the chemises beneath the opulent gowns and the ruffed collars of Elizabethan England or the merchants of Venice.

I know you are thinking I am a dweeb due to being a costumer. I have sewn clothing with dyed linen before. But, for some reason this particular weight and its white colour is really giving me a sense of connection to those who have come before.

So yeah, here we are in the twenty first century surrounded by advanced technology which has given us space stations, computers and automobiles, and synthetic fabrics like nylon, tyvek, carbon fiber and acetate, but yet we continue to use a textile from thirty thousand years ago.

Simple things amaze me.

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Kimberly Daniels of the Christian Broadcasting Network wrote an internet article warning against the dangers of Halloween candy. The woman is out of touch with reality.

“Most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches,” Daniels wrote. “I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.”

Another misguided quote is this one:

The word "occult" means "secret." The danger of Halloween is not in the scary things we see but in the secret, wicked, cruel activities that go on behind the scenes. These activities include:

* Sex with demons
* Orgies between animals and humans
* Animal and human sacrifices
* Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
* Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
* Revel nights
* Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
* Release of "time-released" curses against the innocent and the ignorant.

If indeed all these activities take place, why are the murders of innocent babies not reported in the news? The rape and molestation of adults, children and babies?

What is interesting is that the original article has been removed from the CBN website. How quickly people forget that you cannot erase something which has been posted to the internet.

Her little diatribe is posted in full on CharismaMag.com Read it if you think you can handle the level of ignorance which is on display.

I am tired of receiving "Your credentials are very impressive... I regret to inform you..." responses to resumes and applications.

Really, really tired after fifteen months.

Here is a tale of the invasion of the Ukraine by Germany during WWII as told in sand by the 2009 winner of the Ukraine's Got Talent, Kseniya Simonova. The imagery is simply amazing and powerful as she shows tranquil life being disrupted by war. Life, death, memory and love are depicted simply through the use of sand, a light table and a pair of hands.

The words in the final scene translate to "You are always near."

It had me in tears at the end. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

when being admitted to the hospital for some outpatient tests yesterday i was asked the requisite questions such as address, phone number, emergency contact, etc. the one that threw the admitting clerk for a loop was when she asked religious preference. i answered, "pagan."

i had to spell it for her. seriously.

...there is a shortage of canned pumpkin pie filling? i wanted to buy some pumpkin gunk today in order to start baking pumpkiny flavoured stuff now that it is autumn. mmmm... muffins, pancakes, bread, pie.

there was someone else also looking. seems she had been to a competing grocery chain. neither store had any and didn't know when they would be getting another shipment. the stock clerk at the store i was at said they had sent requests to the manufacturer but so far were unsure if they would have any until maybe next month.

i don't want to wait. i want pumpkiny food stuff now!

frakking idiot

from Medium Large

well isn't this just peachy?

a few months ago i located a deli/grocer which specialises in indian food. i was specifically looking for some spices for cooking that aren't available in a regular grocery. i was happy to have found some of the more esoteric spices called for in indian cooking.

i decide today to make chana masala which calls for a pinch of hing (asafoetida) powder. this is a pretty pungent spice which means a little gets you a lot of flavour.

i get all my ingredients out and begin cooking only to discover the damn bottle of hing i bought has been opened and is half empty.

yeah.

when i opened the flip cap i saw foil. alrighty then. i unscrew the lid to remove the foil. i discover that someone has removed the foil seal and pushed about half the crumpled remainder beneath the shaker holes to make it appear that the bottle was sealed. the bottle is empty down to just above the bottom edge of the label that covers the full way around the bottle. wtf?

into trash the bottle goes, unused by me. and it isn't like it is a small bottle either like those dinky ass bottles of spices from McCormick or Spice Islands from the regular grocery. i bought 3.5 ounces of the damn powder as that was the smallest bottle there was.

peachy. just peachy.

(from claire_issa's flikrstream) Moishe and Max cupackes made for my roommate as a farewell present.

These are texas-sized snickerdoodle cupcakes. For frosting and decorations I used chocolate ganache (Moishe), canned vanilla frosting (Max), sprinkles, store-bought gumpaste eyes, and fondant tinted by hand.

tonight i was watching the antiques roadshow on a whim. turns out it was an episode filmed at the los angeles convention center. i didn't think much of it other than "oh, i have been there".

about half way through an item comes up for appraisal in which the very first thing shown is the hilt of a sword. "huh," i thought. "i have seen a sword with a hilt just like that."

then they panned back. well, hell. not only have i seen that particular sword i have actually held it in my hand.

the sword is an ottoman shamshir of damascus steel with a rhino horn pistol grip hilt which belongs to a very old man whose uncle found it in a cave while on a mining expedition on the isle of cyprus in the 1930s. the uncle found a cache of ottoman and roman treasure. a number of the items are now in museums in italy and on cyprus.

the old man brought the sword to someone i used to work with to have it restored. yeah, i have held the perfectly balanced sword and admired the craftsmanship of the persian blade folded to look like fine wood grain. the turkish made grip of rhino horn has a solid gold hallmarked langet. according to the expert on the roadshow it was made in the late 17th century.

small world.

in the current debate (if it can truly be called a debate due to the clueless not understanding the meaning of the word) about health care in this country there have been townhall meetings. during these meetings there has been a proliferation of people using the word NAZI to describe the president and his policies.

my question is this to those who are making said comparison:

when did adolph hitler push for health care reform for europe?

while driving today i was passed by a two door honda civic. there was some front end damage, a windshield that was completely shattered and slightly concave to the inside of the car as though it had hit a body, and when it went over a bump in the road the trunk came open. the driver was talking on a cellphone.

middle aged, overweight men wearing shorts will cause blindness due to the paleness of their ghostly white legs.

a filmmaker in portland is getting set to film this autumn a macabre tale based on a series of children's books by james bellairs. the film is called widow's walk lake

here is a taste of what is to come. the tone of the film looks marvelous!

i went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter: The Half Blood Prince last night. i thoroughly enjoyed it and intend to watch it in the theatres again.

all i shall say at this time is that they nailed teenage love and relationships. i was in a theatre with 3/4s of the audience comprised of teenagers who laughed or commented frequently during scenes in which infatuation, love, friendship and angst were portrayed.

no spoilers from me. i shan't say a thing due to the newness of the movie's release.

get out and see it!!!!