Radio playlists for June 2013



The name of the show: Blackbeard's Delight
Your host: Prof. Kitty
The station: WVEW 107.7 Brattleboro, VT


June 6, 2013

  • No Reason: Vega
  • Music Sounds Better with You: Stardust
  • An Anniversary Away: Reverie Sound Revue
  • Hommage: Les Frères Checkolade
  • Let's Go to Bed: The Cure
  • Shake Your Rump: Beastie Boys
  • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Barbie Dolls: Pizzicato Five
  • Balloons: Foals
  • Amor Fati: Washed Out
  • Naked As We Came: Iron & Wine
  • Le Tambourin: John Renbourn Group
  • Sun King: The Beatles
  • Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone: Bobby "Blue" Bland
  • My Name is Buddy: Ry Cooder

June 13, 2013—Electronic music, featuring new Boards of Canada

  • Telephasic Workshop: Boards of Canada
  • Gemini: Boards of Canada
  • Reach for the Dead: Boards of Canada
  • Around the World: Daft Punk
  • Introducing the Year 2000: Buckminster Fuzeboard
  • Digame: Ui
  • St. Elmo's Fire (Radio): Uilab
  • 6-0-3: Lali Puna
  • Gardens in the Rain: Tomita
  • Aranjuez: Tomita
  • Semena Mertvykj: Boards of Canada

June 20, 2013—80s nite
  • 1984: Van Halen
  • Goody Two Shoes: Adam Ant
  • One Night in Bangkok: Murray Head
  • Cruel Summer: Bananarama
  • Der Kommisar: Falco
  • I Go Crazy: Flesh for Lulu
  • I Can't Wait: Nu Shooz
  • Tenderness: General Public
  • I Would Die 4 U: Prince
  • Modern Love: David Bowie
  • Whip It: Devo
  • I Wear My Sunglasses at Night: Corey Hart
  • Somebody's Watching Me: Rockwell
  • Promises, Promises: Naked Eyes

June 27, 2013

  • The Devil in the Kitchen: Ashley MacIsaac
  • Fantastic Cat: Takako Minekawa
  • Sentimental Love: The Elevator Drops
  • Staying in Love: Raphael Saadiq
  • Saturday Afternoon: Jefferson Airplane
  • Wave of Mutilation: The Pixies
  • Voila l'Eté: Les Negresses Vertes
  • Same Dream China: Gold Panda
  • The Modern Age: The Strokes
  • Cemetry Gates: The Smiths
  • Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone: Bobby "Blue" Bland
  • Sure Don't Feel Like Love: Paul Simon
  • King of the World: Steely Dan
  • Take My Time: Junior Senior
  • Summertime: Sidney Bechet

Happy Summer Solstice

I've written elsewhere about this day and Marie Antoinette, and about this day and St. John's Wort.

Right now, here are my weekend plans in the form of an iPad sketch!




What are your favorite solstice memories? What's your to-do list for the weekend?

 Happy summer!

Stitch fix 5: Lacy lace!

I got another Stitch Fix box in the mail recently--the 5-item mail-order clothing subscription that I like to get every few months. After what happened last time with the white shirt and the black Capri pants waitress outfit, I did some research and changed my style profile in a few places. Many thanks to the commenter who pointed out that the different style types have Stitch Fix Pinterest boards. I definitely got a better handle on what the categories mean.

Despite my profile tweaks, shipment #5 had some surprises for me! Not always good ones! Thanks to my mother who wisely pointed out that it's good I don't love everything in each box. Otherwise my clothing budget could get really crazy.


All the promise of a tidy, tissue-wrapped gift! (That I paid $20 to receive)



Item 1: Isadora cowl sleeveless jersey top by 41Hawthorn.

The only one that is not lace. I like it a lot! Problem is, they sent me the exact same top as a short-sleeve version in my last shipment, and I bought it. I don't really need two tops of the same style and the same color, so I passed. A different color and I might have bought it.



Item 2: Kegan textured lace 3/4 sleeve top by Under Skies.

I have a fun pose, but this top reminds me of grandmothers. Or great-grandmothers. It is made of stretchy lace. It is aqua greeny-blue. It is not my style.




Item 3: Stellar lace stripe short-sleeve top by THML.

I really liked this one! It just had one issue, which was holes. Let's view in closeup.


The front lace placket has a line of openings from top to bottom that exposes tiny dots of skin. Not a huge deal. But it means that if I wear this to work as is, people will be able to see my bra. I could wear it with a camisole, but why buy a shirt that needs another shirt? Cute, but I'm not ready to commit.



Item 4: Munro tie-waist striped cardigan by Evolution by Cyrus. 

Despite the fact that I explicitly said No Stripes in my style profile, I kind of liked this one. The distinctive lace stripe is cute, and the fact that one stripe turns into a tie is also interesting. I sent this back because I just wasn't willing to pay $88 for it. Nice try though!



Item 5: Alex floral print lace overlay tank by Mystree. 

It may be hard to see, but this is a nice, wide-strapped tank with a modest grey floral print, which is then layered over by a major bunch of gray lace. While I've never paid $58 for a tank top before, this is the piece that I chose. I love gray. I can see wearing this to work all summer!




I want to make a plug for how easy Stitch Fix is! When I describe it to people and try to explain the pricing (you pay $20 for each shipment, but it's applied as a credit to any purchase), I usually say something about how the prices may seem a little high for Brattleboro, but it's worth a lot not to have to even leave your house to shop. You have three days to try things on before returning them. Whatever you don't want just gets tucked into the enclosed postage paid mailer, and throw it in your nearest mailbox. Done!

So a few questions... are you into the lace trend? The chevron trend? The cut-out trend? The maxi trend? Something I haven't heard of yet?? Happy last day of spring by the way.

Up in my grill

We purchased our first gas grill! We've had a great second-hand Lodge hibachi for years. But seeing how easily our neighbor grills year-round with his gas grill, I really wanted to take that step. My dining partner researched grills and found one with good reviews that was well within our price range... and cute.
It's a Char-Broil TRU Infrared Patio Bistro Infrared Gas Grill, and trés petite. I am so excited!

To inaugurate the grill, we got some sausages and steak tips from the North End Butcher in Brattleboro. I made a quick herb rub for the steak tips by mincing summer savory, thyme, oregano, and a touch of lavender. Lots of salt and some pepper, too.

We grilled the sausages on lower heat for about 10 minutes, following the butcher's advice, then cranked the heat to high and added the steak tips. We moved the sausages to the holding rack so they wouldn't get too crispy. I also grilled some mushrooms.

The whole exercise was so easy and fast, and the food was delicious. While steak tips aren't a fancy cut or anything, they are forgiving and yummy, so we'll definitely try them again.

Do you grill? What are your favorite grill items? I feel like such a novice compared to most people. I want to grill everything now, from chicken to peaches to halloumi cheese to pizza to salmon to baby bok choy. Grilled watermelon!

Shady Run: West River Trail

Last week my Sunday long run was cut short by one of the runner's foes I'd forgotten about: heat. I set out to run my self-prescribed 9+ miles at 10:20 am on June 2. It was probably about 82 degrees already (I'm guessing, I didn't check). I was wearing my usual outfit of capris, knee socks, hat, and technical tee. I had my water, my GPS watch, and my phone, and I started on my way. As I ran down my flat road of choice--a route I've been using all spring--it slowly dawned on me that it was Really Hot Out. The road was in full sun, and I was woefully overdressed. (At least I was wearing lots of sunscreen!) Then, my run started to change as problems unfurled.

First, I realized I wouldn't be able to make it to my turnaround point, so I decided to take a shady side road instead. Then I realized I wasn't going to make it to the side road (always keeping in mind that "making it" involves dividing my perceived energy in half, so I can turn around and run all the way back to my car). Then I realized that I was starting to feel quite odd--a fear took over me. I felt impending doom, and that even if I did turn around, I might not be able to run all the way back. So I turned around. I also saw that my heartrate had spiked to 170, which is not good. Usually I see that number when I'm sprinting, I do not want to be at 170 in the first part of an easy country run. So what to do?

That's when I did the highly unusual. I walked. I walked until my heartrate got back down to the 150s, then started jogging again. Then I got the chills. Knowing how ungodly hot I had just been feeling and what I was wearing and the temperature, this seemed worrisome. My heartrate started to creep up again. So I finally threw in the towel--I stopped my watch, meaning the run was over. I started to walk. And I called home for a rescue.

That run was a huge learning experience. Conditions change! Formulas need to be adjusted! What had been working for several weeks didn't work any more on a hot summery day. I was disappointed, and felt stupid for trying what I tried, but I'm also proud that I was safe--that I was carrying water, that I was carrying a phone, and that I used both to help me get through the experience without something bad happening like heat prostration or my heart exploding.

Clearly it was time for a change. One obvious choice is to get out for my run earlier in the day. However, as I've mentioned here before, my spouse and I have a "sleep in one day" deal on the weekends and I can't bear to lose my one lazy morning of the week. Another idea was to hire a babysitter for two hours on Sunday morning so that I can still run fairly early while my husband sleeps, and not lose my Saturday sleep-in. Or a third idea: run in the shade.

Today I had a unique opportunity for a long run because the rest of my family went to the Strolling of the Heifers parade and Expo in downtown Brattleboro. I was left to my own devices, a precious and rare occurrence. My first thought was to go for a run! I could get my Sunday long run done on SATURDAY! And I knew just the shady spot for it. The West River Trail.


Look at that shade! It was lovely. I started at the Marina Restaurant in Brattleboro. The trail runs beside corn fields and goes under the I-91 bridge, then becomes wooded and shady for about 2 miles. It was perfect.


See that white-hot strip of pavement through the trees and across the river? That's where I was running last week. The West River Trail is pretty much exactly parallel to my Route 30 run, except it's on the shady, quiet side of the river. It's a pretty obvious improvement! (The main reason I haven't done this before is that I have to drive to the trailhead, whereas Route 30 is very near my house.)


Another view of the trail--dappled with sun but not sweltering.



After about 2 miles of bosky shade the trail opens out into a sunnier logging road. But at least it's not hot pavement.



The setting seems so New England-y, with giant rocks and flowering shrubs (and powerlines).




At a bend in the trail I got a full view up the West River.



After 3.67 miles (per my watch), the trail ends at Rice Farm Road in Dummerston. Rice Farm Road is charming, dirt, and country. Any passing vehicles tended to be pickups or bikers, and they all waved.



Look, numbers! These look like good negative splits (progressively getting faster and faster). I have an excuse/theory about mile 8, which is that in the shade of the trees, my Garmin can't catch the satellite signal. For the price of some shade, I'll take it.



Training note: In my quest to find a sugary snack I can easily consume in transit, I tried a sample pack of Jelly Belly Sport Beans on this run. I really liked them! There were 4 flavors in this packet, and two of them were nice and tart. Also they're a good size and texture for running. I find something too goopy or chewy tends to distract me or even get in the way of fast, steady breathing. I liked the Sport Beans!