how many ways can we love Cee Lo? AND DONUTS.
Popping in for a very quick post while eating my impoverished little diet lunch. These two videos have my head spinning. An ASL version of Cee Lo Green’s F*^k You, made even better if that’s at all possible, and a piece on Cambodian donut makers in southern California. I have a soft spot in my heart for all things Cambodian….and, well, donuts. My kryptonite. My achilles’ heel. And now I’ve gone and revealed that to all of you. (mmm, donuts, part of the explanation for today’s lunch I guess.)
Awesome, right? R-i-i-i-g-h-t.
put your money where your mouth is. Come. On.
That’s me. And you. And your neighbors. And your kids and parents. I don’t care how little money we think we have, I don’t care if we’re unemployed, I don’t care if we’ve been unemployed for a long time, the fact is we’re rich. If you don’t just travel to other rich places, if you get around in the world, you can finally get slapped in the face and remember….oh yeah. I’m real rich. Like, loaded. Like, unbelievably rich. Like, I didn’t have to watch my babies die of starvation. Like, I’m trying to work off some of this excess weight for God’s sake. Like, I have a freaking computer and too dang much stuff. Like, I have a faucet in my kitchen (I have a kitchen! with a faucet! with all the clean water I want!).
And the thing about it is (not to go all Sally Struthers or anything), people in other parts of the less-rich world can do a hell of a lot on a hell of a little.
Thank you, Marnie, for telling me about Kiva, a hub for microlending, putting together people around the world, those who are seeking a small loan, and those (of us) who are rich beyond belief. I just lent these Cambodian people $25 to help them hire laborers to harvest their rice:
I wonder if I drove through their community when I was there last month. They still need $600 to get to their goal, so maybe you, in all your rich-i-tude, will become an investor. Because it’s not a charity, you’re investing. You can just let Kiva direct your investment, or you can pick a country / gender / type of loan. Since I just returned from Cambodia, it’s a very nice way to stay connected to a country I loved (thank you again, Marnie).
I’m not telling you about this in a way to pat myself on the back (good grief, $25 lent), but rather to remind you that you’re really very rich and $25 could mean a cow or a pig for someone else. And you’ll get it back. Come on. Happy holidays.
wanna see what I got in Laos and Cambodia? Do ya? Huh? No? Then can I interest you in a WIP?
This’ll be a me-heavy post, so apologies for the seeming-narcissistic episode of me! Me wearing this! Me wearing that! Hi, it’s me! Enough about me, here’s a shot of my earrings…..on me! Anyway…..
I picked up a couple of small souvenirs on our recent vacation; I always buy a pair of earrings, and every time I wear them I get a rush of the place. The cool black ones I bought in Diocletian’s Palace, in Split (Croatia); the onyx and mother-of-pearl ones I bought in a little shop in Cusco; the heavy ones I bought in Udaipur, in India…such wonderful memories. This time, though, I bought two souvenirs, one from Laos and one from Cambodia.
my Khmer kroma, and Lao earrings
The scarf is called a Kroma, and you see them everywhere in Cambodia. They’re always checked, like this, and they’re quite often red. They’re always wrapped around people’s heads, to keep them cool, but they’re multipurpose items. They can be rolled into a pad and placed on your shoulder to cushion a yoke, or on your head to cushion a heavy basket; they can be used to carry babies and fruit; they can be worn around your neck, like a regular old scarf. It was the most distinctively Cambodian thing I could think of, that I could incorporate into my everyday life. I bought this at the big Central Market in Phnom Penh, and I have already worn the hell out of it.
lao earrings
These are heavy, and I’m having to train my earlobes to wear them. I’m definitely not a Buddhist (or art) scholar, so I’m absolutely guessing here, but I do wonder if there is some kind of Buddhist symbology in the design. Maybe not, but the wheel makes me wonder. I bought these in Luang Prabang, from a woman who sold her handwork on the sidewalk.
And now for the &c. Here’s where I am on my wonderful sweater (excuse my wet just-out-of-the-shower hair):
hi! look at my sweater!
(oh! see my earrings there?!) I’m at the waist now, so I’m hauling. I spent yesterday knitting, so I got a lot done. Here’s the back:
look at the pretty cables!
I’ve got another post percolating in my mind, but I probably won’t write it today. Yesterday, I watched a bunch of movies while I worked on my sweater: M, by Fritz Lang, Elf (for a complete whiplash-inducing change of pace), and three about Joseph Cambell. One of the Joseph Campbell movies was called Sukhavati, which means the place of bliss. So I’ve been thinking about a lot of the things he talked about and have something to say, but will do that later.
follow us to laos and cambodia!! here’s our travel blog -
click here to visit our travel blog!
We’re en route to Laos and Cambodia, y’all – you may not know this, but we’re good about keeping up our travel blog while we’re traveling. As long as we have a connection, we try to post every day. Pictures, stories, even little bits of video. We’ve done this for all our travel blogs – vietnam, croatia, peru, holland, honduras, india, everywhere.
We’ll land in Phnom Penh Saturday Nov 20 around 6am (NYtime), so we won’t have any posts until later that day, at the earliest. But do check in with us now and then – we’ll be seeing some amazing things and we love to share! I’ll be back to Thrum-ming on December 5.
(four words to tempt you – Thanksgiving at ANGKOR WAT)
Angkor Wat at the approach of sunset - incredible....
Choum reap lia! and La gohn! (goodbye, in Khmer and Lao) See you from the other side of the world.
xoL
my head hurts, and there’s no way i’m eating a tarantula, even if they ARE deep friend. and no, a grasshopper doesn’t sound better.
New things! A skin for my Kindle, courtesy of Decalgirl. Since I rarely carry it in my purse, seeing as how I’m home all the time, I don’t have to keep it in the heavy leather case. But I don’t want the white surface to get dirty-looking, so voila!
love the little boy in the dunce cap
even the back gets a skin cover
Also: the lace ribbon scarf I’m making for my friend is going much faster than the other two I’d knit in sock-weight yarn. Also, I’m a much more skilled knitter now than I was when I made the other two scarves with this pattern. No mistakes, no need to check the pattern, it’s as easy as falling off a log.
it's going pretty quickly in Rowan Felted Tweed!
Every variety show needs at least one kind of freaky sideshow, right? One thing that’s an acquired taste, not for everyone? Well, this fits the bill in a lot of ways. This appears to be one of the most common street foods in Cambodia. NOT FOR THIS GAL.
deep-friend tarantulas. but hey, the hairs burn off!
tarantulas not your thing? then how about.....GRASSHOPPERS! no? (me neither!)
I might lose weight on our vacation, but there are lots of things to eat besides bugs. I’m counting on it.
Today was one of those lost days, thanks to the terrible low pressure system hanging over our heads. Ugh, the headache, the too-many sudafed, the pressure on my forehead. I’m knitting and watching a yoga video on Netflix. Somehow, it’s helping. 
going to a kingdom, and i have a neat picture to show you – check it out.
In no particular order:
my visa for Cambodia! COOL!
And, I won a giveaway! I never win, though I can’t say that any more, can I? Over at Oiyi’s blog, I won a copy of her LaReine shawl pattern, a skein of gorgeous yarn to make the shawl, and an adorable tape measure. Since I lost my tape measure at Marnie’s wedding in July, I’m thrilled about getting a new one. And I can’t wait to knit the shawl. Thank you Oiyi! (rav link for the pretty shawl here)
heading to the other side of the planet in only 136 days.
There are only 13 more days until the big wedding event, but (and yes, I am counting) only 136 more days until I leave for my trip to Laos and Cambodia. A little at a time, the details are falling into place – today I finalized my reservations in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Here’s the main reason I want to go to Siem Reap: Angkor Wat.
Angkor Wat at sunset - incredible....
I’ll remind you of this when it’s time to go, but I’ve got the blog all set up.
This will be the most unusual Thanksgiving I’ve ever spent, in my 51 years of living on this earth.
Happy independence day, y’all. It has a special meaning for me this year.
flying the great circles
Well, anyway, I’ll be flying over the North Pole when I go to Laos and Cambodia in the fall. Want to see? I’m so excited!
That leg will be 15 hours, following a Great Circle, then I’ll change planes and fly 3 hours to Phnom Penh. I’m flying Cathay Pacific, which may well be a great airline, but it’s not Singapore Airlines, which is the airline I flew to Vietnam. But I don’t care! It’ll be my 2nd flight over the North Pole, I am a very very lucky girl. Here are the specifics, once I’m there:
I just finished watching The Big Sleep and spinning – what a nice morning! I slept in so late – 9:30! – and wish the day weren’t half over, but what to do. You need a lazy day now and then, right? Now I think I’ll make some bread, my favorite ciabatta recipe, and then do some knitting, and maybe a little more movie watching. One of my goals is to see all the AFI’s top 100 films, so there’s an abundance waiting for me. I hope you’re having such a lovely Sunday too!
we’re going back to the other side of the world!!
First, this is a reservation. An actual, already-booked reservation. Here’s the legend:
- JFK = JFK airport in New York
- HKG = Hong Kong
- PNH = Phnom Penh, in CAMBODIA
We’ll be going to Vientiane and Luang Prabang in Laos; Phnom Penh and Siem Reap and Kep in Cambodia, and of course, Hong Kong as a transfer point. The blog is set up, and I’ll add information there as the itinerary firms up. For now, what I know for sure is that I’ll be spending Thanksgiving in Laos or Cambodia. Isn’t that amazing?
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