How to Read a Town

felt macarons from Little Fluff Stuff

How to read a town, how to research a city, how to figure out where to live-- it all depends on what language you're speaking.  For me, I speak walk-able, bike-able, old architecture, crafting community.  And affordable, but I'll maybe have to learn a new dialect.  Looking at a new town when you've never been to it is hard.  I have no idea what people did before the internet (guess I should ask my mom).  I'm going to share some of the tips I've figured out about judging a town's compatibility.

1. Meetup.com-  Meet-up is a good place to start.  Smaller areas probably won't have a lot of entries, but a large city should yield up a group for just about anything (Southbay Goth Meet-up, LARPers, Raw food and board games night).  Pick your keywords and see what you find.  Now, I'm not sure how wide-spread meetup is, and it may be used more by some age groups than others.  Or maybe you don't even care about age groups.  Check it out.

Knitted cowl from Nisey Knits

2. Since this is at least 40% a craft blog, I chose to do some scouting through Etsy.com. Using their Shop Local search, I found sellers from the area we're looking at.  Then, I sent a handful of friendly notes asking about the availability of craft supplies and whether there was much of a crafting community.  I got answers back almost immediately about stores to go to and offers of help once I get there.  That was probably the most positive thing that's happened so far.  I'd like to thank Little Fluff Stuff (pictured above), maukDesigns, Nisey Knits, and La Plume Ethere for helping me feel at home before it's even my home. I even got an invitation to knit with someone!

3.  Google Street View: I can never use this feature without thinking HOLY SHIT IT'S THE FUTURE.  I've used this to check out my childhood home (they cut down my damn tree!) and find bike-able roads.  Now, I can snail my way through entire neighborhoods.  Looking at things from above always make them look weird and clinical, but street view is nice. The absence of deciduous trees in California makes me sad, but using this I could see that there are plenty of leaves out there.  Through a freak occurrence, J wasn't able to rent a car for his trip, but he could use the street view maps to check out the sidewalks.


View Larger Map

4.  City-data.com- Discussions from their forum often come to the top of my searches when thinking about moving/trailing.  It's a large enough website that you can almost always find someone moving from/to where you're going.  The design leaves much to be desired, but it is chock-full of facts. You won't laugh (you might cry, looking at housing prices) but you'll get some of the big answers.  This doesn't particularly give you the feel of a place, but gives more precise information about demographics/employment/industry than any Wikipedia article.

5.  WalkScore.com lets you know how much your city respects pedestrians and cyclists, which isn't important to everyone but it is to me.  And since it's hooked into Google Maps, you also get a list of cool places, by category, near the address.  For me, if all that pops up under coffee is Starbucks, I've hit a dud.

I hope this helps someone.  When J applied for jobs in Portland, I had more of an idea of what to expect. I'd been there and its reputation preceded it.  This part of California, though, boggled my mind.  And when you're feeling boggled, it's easy to focus on the bad stuff.

Windy day, stayed indoors.

For the first time on this glorious 4-day holiday, we got up before 10am, which gave us time to watch an episode of Fringe (our new obsession) and me a whole lotta day to do crafts.  Here's my workspace:

My workspace/dining room table.

I started off wanting to visualize my idea for fabric sculpture: specifically, a fake terrarium.  A friend and I tried our hands at mini moss gardens, but couldn't keep them alive.  I decided to make one that wouldn't die.  Unfortunately, I think my moss (green velvet) is too dark.  Looks a bit drab.

My wire-sculpture skills suck, so I thought I'd try my almost non-existent soldering expertise.  Did you know that soldering is not the same as welding, no matter how much you try?  I ended up with little bits of wire with what looked like garden bells on the ends.  Very industrial Dr. Seuss (see last two pics).  Verdict: they'll make a good addition to more abstract pieces, and I didn't burn myself on my iron.

After inhaling traces of metal, I tried to make some tiny flowers from fabric, but for some reason I had chosen felt.  As soon as I tried to cut the small 4-petal flowers, everything was fraying.  So, I painted the uncut pieces lightly with Modge Podge to see if that would toughen them enough to keep together.  Still haven't checked on that project.

An old favorite: frightened broccoli. Next to that are some sweet pea tendrils and a little snake.

I'd made a pea pod ornament before, so I took it to the next level: super tiny.  The picture below shows them at about 5X actual size. Each pea is about 1/3 the size of a black peppercorn.  The flowers you can sort of see are attached to small dressmaker's pins.  I'm not so proud of those.

Pea pods

I tried working with the felt some more, sewing little flowers together (look like pansies maybe?) and tried to make sweet pea blossoms from clay.  Those are hard!  I found some solutions to making the stems by wrapping thread around the wire, french staircase-style.  Takes a while, but I think it will work.

Good thing to know: baking Sculpey at 275F will not cause bits of thread to combust in your oven.  Success!

The first of my earnest xmas crafts.  Fabric terrariums.  I knew I'd use those miniature stags I just HAD TO HAVE one day!

I think this one is for my sister-in-law.  I think she likes stags, definitely silver, looks creepy/pretty. Perfect!  I tried to stain the inside of the jar a lightish transparent blue, but I don't know if it will work in the long run.  Originally, there was a tiny turtle in place of the stag.  Why did I change it?  I must have gotten distracted, knocked off the tiny turtle, and remembered buying a packet of tiny deer at a yard sale.  It always feels great when you find a use for something you were pretty sure would be useless.

My rustic/rusty windowsill

Next, I'll see how I will arrange the pea pods.  I may go find some pretty twigs and make a bean bower, like in a garden, and attach the pods to wires, scatter lone peas on the ground.  Have I found my calling?

[Update: I gave the dog a bath.  I bet you were wondering.]

Getting myself all excited

Did you know that in England, fanny and bum do not mean the same thing?  Not that I say either of those things, but it's just blowing my mind how many language differences exist between Americans and Brits. I shouldn't be reading this stuff instead of working, but daydreaming about moving to another country is so much better than my boring job in a basement. Especially on a day when it is raining.

But maybe I'll just have a boring job in a basement in rainy England?

Or maybe I'll be stuck here indefinitely.  It's a doldrums day.

I did make some resolutions last night, of the mid-year variety. One is to start journaling again (in a real journal), to write a few entries here per week, run more, and learn to sew.  I'm going to the fabric store after work today and I'm going to find an easy pattern and just throw myself in. I need something pretty to wear to make me feel good.  That works sometimes.