At the opening of my family’s art show Animal, Vegetable, Spiritual: A Family View, I was asked if I had any formal art training. I haven’t. But I have a photographer for a father and a ceramicist for a mother, and I don’t know how many art museums I was dragged through as a kid. My sister has been drawing since the day she first picked up a crayon, went on to attend art school, and has become a glass and fiber artist as an adult. I got interested in quilting in 1996, joined the Tompkins County Quilters Guild, and became friends with many brilliant fiber artists. So the answer is: No, I haven’t had any formal training, but I’ve had plenty exposure to both art and artists. My art has been learned through osmosis.

Two years ago, we were discussing the fact that every member of our family is an artist and wondering how unusual that might be. The idea of having a show as a family came up and we all agreed it would be fun to do. In fact, it turned out to be a lot of work, but it all came together nicely in the end. Last weekend, I went to Maryland to attend the opening reception, which I am happy to say was packed with enthusiastic viewers.

The artists at the reception: Don, Cleo, Jane, and Kit Dunsmore (Photo by Russ Poole)

Here are some pictures of the gallery and the artists with their work to give you a flavor of the show.

My father, Don Dunsmore, with his photo "quilt" Morning Glories

My mother, Jane Dunsmore, with her piece Free Ride II

My sister, Cleo Dunsmore, with her necklace Sea Turtle

And me, Kit Dunsmore, with my Quilt for An Inner Child

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Family View is on display until November 29, 2009 at The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland.

While I was away, a package I had ordered arrived from Knit Picks, and I was excited to find it waiting for me. Then I opened it up, and this is what I found:

East Meets West Satchel kit

This tapestry-style purse is a knitting project with 21 different colors of wool in it. It came in a bunch of colorways, but I went with the blue one. The pattern is really more like a novel with full color illustrations. It uses techniques I’ve heard of but some of which I’ve never done.

My initial reaction after “what was I thinking?” was to wonder if anyone had managed to put this thing together. On Ravelry, I found 30+ posts about this project and none of them said “I am going bald from all the hair pulling” (my guess is that I’ll get to be the first to say that!). A couple of them were super detailed and full of helpful hints and suggestions, so I calmed down and am now a little more eager to give this thing a try. I’m afraid, however, it will not be a relaxing-in-the-evening kind of knit since the entire thing will require lots of counting.

Step one is easy though. I have to knit a gauge swatch to make sure I buy the right size circular needles for this. After that, the real challenge will begin.

The one-line concept for Lars and the Real Girl borders on revolting: a man orders a life-sized sex doll and introduces it to everyone he knows as his girlfriend.
The reality of this movie is sublime: a man acts out his ideal, loving, and non-physical relationship with another person by interacting with a doll, and the entire community around him supports him as he works through the emotional issues that have been holding him back.
Lars (Ryan Gosling) has a hard time interacting with others. At dinner with his family, he is withdrawn and barely eats. At work he gives everyone the same forced smile and nothing else. Whenever another person touches him, he feels pain. Everyone wishes he had a girlfriend, but Lars knows a relationship with a woman is impossible for him.
Enter Bianca, a life-sized, life-like sex doll. Lars treats her like a living human being. When he first tells his brother and sister-in-law he has a date, he mentions that she is in a wheelchair and on the quiet side.  Gus (Paul Schneider) and Karin (Emily Mortimer) are too delighted to care – until they meet her. Lars holds conversations with Bianca, and interprets her “whispers” for the others. At dinner, he is a lively companion, talking, eating, relaxing to a degree not seen before.
Gus is horrified and convinced that his deluded brother needs to be hospitalized. Karin has other ideas. In the end, they agree to take Lars to the doctor, under the guise of getting Bianca an examination, and the doctor plays along. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) is a psychologist as well as a doctor, and she believes that mental illness isn’t just a disease, that it can be an opportunity to communicate. She explains that Lars is trying to tell them something, and he needs their help.
Thus begins what becomes a community-wide effort to support Lars as he lives his delusion that Bianca is a real woman. I don’t want to give away any more details for fear of spoiling things, but I can guarantee that this clever script and the delicate performances by the entire cast have memorable results. The magnitude of the love and understanding Lars receives from others is what makes this such a unique and moving film. The word compassion is never mentioned, but the movie drips with it, ultimately showing how compassion towards others leads to healing for all. Charming, optimistic, heart-warming, unpredictable, and full of hope, Lars and the Real Girl is a jewel of a film. Don’t miss it.

When I saw that the theme for Inspire Me Thursday was cupcakes, I was disappointed. I’ve seen candy-colored cupcakes popping up everywhere lately and much as I’d like to love them, I can’t. As someone who used to adore dessert but can no longer eat sugar of any kind, I avoid images of sweet foods, no matter how cute. They no longer have any positive connotations for me. I wasn’t going to do anything for IMT this week, then I decided I really needed to. So here is my take on cupcakes. It won’t be popular and it may offend someone but I gotta be me.

And I admit it: I love the way this turned out.

Inspire Me Thursday did just that this week. The theme is “Positivity” and having it in my head as I looked around the last few days has helped me to see lots of positive changes in my life. So I decided to make a page in my journal in honor of the things I have done/am learning to do. Thanks, IMT.

Two weeks ago, I went on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park that was abundant in wildflowers. Most of the day was overcast, but the sun did come out in the early afternoon, when we were up high, and gave us some dramatic views of peaks, clouds, trees, and rocks.

The hilltop disappearing into the cloud gives you an idea of how moody the hike was early on.

One of the larger patches of Indian Paintbrush we saw

There were masses of green mertensia along a stream we crossed.

I love the lines (and asymmetry) of this dead tree.

Grace Falls in the mist

One of many clusters of columbine

This little guy got very close to us; he clearly expected a treat. So we took his picture.

I assume the red on these leaves is something nasty but the red on green was stunning in person.

For more pictures from this hike, see my Hiking in RMNP photo album on Facebook.

I could not put this book down. A historical fiction thriller about a group of people trying to find a serial killer in New York City in 1896, The Alienist does a wonderful job imagining how early detectives did their work while painting a graphic picture of life at that time. I got deep satisfaction following the various characters as they learned what they could from the crime scenes and did what Poirot would suggest: think about the psychology of the crime. At that time, psychology was a new, mistrusted, and controversial field, and the psychologist of the title is on the cutting edge. He instructs his colleagues in theory and case histories, and together they build a picture of a man who would commit such crimes, intending to use it to find the killer.
Carr doesn’t waste a moment – almost everything that happens helps move the story forward. Evidence and psychology are used logically to solve the crime, making it a 19th-century procedural with lots of instructional material provided along the way. And the political, economic, and social setting of the novel are all part of the story, which includes Theodore Roosevelt, who was a police commissioner at the time, and John Pierpont Morgan, one of the great financiers of that century.
The only weakness in the book was the occasional slip that every historical novel I’ve ever read falls prey to – inclusion of details that do not serve the story. The most grievous was a short scene at Roosevelt’s house in which every child who is old enough to has his or her moment in the spotlight being memorable. Otherwise, it mainly showed up as the occasional paragraph listing streets and buildings passed as characters traveled from one point in the city to another. By the end of the book, these particular passages didn’t bother me as much because New York is an important part of the story and having a real sense of the city as it was then gives the novel a firm foundation. And overall, Carr had a good understanding of the heart of his story and kept the historical elements from overwhelming it.
The other thing this book made me realize is why I find fiction so much more compelling than nonfiction – fiction provides the details I long for, and things make sense. Not long ago, I read The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, which tells the true story of the serial killer H. H. Holmes in tandem with the events surrounding the 1893 World’s Fair. Despite the excellent research he did, Larson could not answer the questions I wanted answered. Why Holmes did the things he did is not really known, and that left me wanting more from the book. The Alienist completely scratched that itch. And having done his homework in order to create a believable killer, Carr gave Holmes his due. Holmes was in Philadelphia awaiting execution during the spring of 1986, and though he is only mentioned a few times, he is well used.
An engrossing read for those interested in the era and who love mysteries.

A negative space heart in the clouds, seen while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, and caught on film by Dana Geary:

The peak in the picture is the Little Matterhorn.

Photo by Kit Dunsmore

Last weekend, we intended to spend four nights camping in the Snowy Mountains near Medicine Bow Peak with friends. We picked an easy loop hike that would allow us to backpack in, camp for a few nights in one spot, and do interesting day hikes on side trails. One of the advantages of our choice was being able to start at high altitude, so that the hiking itself wasn’t all that strenuous. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.

The hiking itself was as intended – exercise, but not the backbreaking slogging that can go with climbing endless trails with a pack when you’re not really in shape to begin with. However, the area we picked for our first camp spot turned out much wetter than we realized. (There was a little “marshland” symbol on the map, but none of us noticed that…!). We were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes that made cooking and eating dinner so unpleasant that the teenagers with us were happy to forgo dessert in order to retreat into their tent.

Molly and Sarah before the Bugs. (Photo by Dana Geary)

Photo by Dana Geary

We did have a net tent that we set up and used as a place to get a break from the mosquitoes. Even the dog learned the joy of being able to go into this shelter and get away from them.

The next morning wasn’t as bad, though it was still buggy. The girls did not want to stay out another night, so we packed up and hiked the rest of the loop to get back to the car. The day started well but it rained heavily all afternoon, making the last few hours of the hike cold and wet.

This picture of me only hints at how wet I was. I'm not wearing my hat because it was soaked through. (Photo by Dana Geary)

It's still raining, and one of the signs they are sitting by gave us the cheery news that we had almost 4 more miles to go. (Photo by Dana Geary)

Remarkably, the scenery was still gorgeous. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, I’d have taken endless pictures. There were some things (like flowers) that I just couldn’t resist.

Photo by Dana Geary

It was hard to get good pictures at all with the low light, but Dana got a couple that really captured the beauty of the place. I imagine the rainy part of our hike might be easily replicated in parts of Scotland (although I’m not so sure you would see snow…)

Photo by Dana Geary

We saw a little wildlife and lots of wildflowers.

A pine grosbeak that hung out with us in the parking lot. (Photo by Dana Geary)

Columbines (Photo by Kit Dunsmore)

Photo by Kit Dunsmore

I am dying to go back and stay longer, and I think we now have a better idea of which sections of the trail are likely to provide better camp sites. Maybe Kurt and I will head back up there before the year is out. He bought a Wyoming fishing license but didn’t get to use it.

More of my photos from this trip can be found on my Facebook page.

Another found heart, this one on a trail in Wyoming.

According to the rock expert with me at the time, the striations are glacial in origin.