I have lots of little things to share. Tragically, many of them require photos, which I cannot upload because my camera cable is 75 miles away. Bullets will have to do.
I have been back in Minneapolis at the salt mines* accounting job for four weeks now, which accounts for the shocking lack of real posts.
This situation will continue until some days after April 17.
Deal with it.
My knitting has slumped to the purely mindless, a 31-stitch-wide Montego Bay scarf.
That pattern gave me fits the first time I made it, but now it is just mindless enough. Really, how hard can a 2-stitch pattern be?
Don't answer that.
The yarn is the Alchemy Silk Purse that I thought was destined for something else.
I realized since I wrote that post that I would get a lot more use out of a long skinny scarf than a triangular shawlette.
Silk yarn is lovely to knit.
Silk yarn is easily damaged by careless frogging or tinking.
I don't care.
Much.
I have a nearly visceral urge to cast on some socks.
Not gonna happen, though. I have forbidden myself to touch sock yarn until I finish this scarf.
At the rate I am going that will take until sometime after April 17.
Work is getting really busy. A week ago on Friday afternoon I ran out of work, so I put out an email to the managers I work for, alerting them to my availability.
Guess what. I got more work.
So much that I worked all this past weekend.
And had to take off most of today because I had worked myself into a migraine.
Silly kats never learn.
The drain pipe between this house and the city sewer was blocked on Saturday.
Ewww.
Smokey and I spent Sunday evening roto-rootering it out.
More ewww.
It works now.
:-)
The house still smells.
:-(
The weather is nearly warm enough here for open windows.
:-)
Nearly.
:-(
On Sunday the only snow I could see in the city was a few scraps in places where 1, it had been piled up, and b, it was in the shade.
Today even those had melted.
:-)
Nice weather is nice.
Not for the farmers, though; we went into the winter in a drought condition and got only a fraction of the normal snowfall.
Watch for food prices to rise.
You heard it here first.
Okay, enough for tonight. Morning always comes earlier than it should, imho.
* This is a joke and not at all fair to the job. I like what I do, my employer is one of the best, and, last but not least, they pay me almost as much as I think I am worth ;-)
Take this quiz at the Pew Research Center site and report your results in the comments. There are only 13 questions and the whole thing will probably take you less than a minute.
From the email wherein I found this quiz:
"This is a terrific and reasonably easy 13-question test. And it shows results in a number of ways. It clearly indicates that the majority of Americans don't have a clue about what's going on in the world. No wonder our politicians take such advantage of us. It's astonishing that so many people got less than half right. These results say that 80% of the (voting) public doesn't have a clue, and that's pretty scary.
"There are no tricks here - just a simple test to see if you are current on your information. This is quite good and the results are shocking.
"I believe it was Winston Churchill who opined that ' . . . the biggest argument against democracy is a 5-minute conversation with the average voter . . .' "
You have probably seen references (I first typed "reverences", which may be appropriate in this case) to Wovember. I cannot decide if this is a British thing or if it is world-wide, but really, who cares? It is a chance to celebrate a wonderful fiber*.
A few facts cheerfully stolencheerfully lifted gleaned from Wovember.com:
Unlike nylon, rayon and other man-made fibers, wool is a renewable and natural resource.
There are 1,000,000,000,000 sheep in our world, or approximately 1 sheep for every 6 people.
China and Australia are the top wool-producing countries in the world, tied at 302,000 tons each (that is 604 million pounds!).
One last factoid:
As far as their reputation for stupidity is concerned it turns out that sheep are not half so dumb as we have always assumed. Recent experiments have shown that sheep are really quite bright. They have the ability to recognise their shepherds and each other. Nor do sheep have a short attention span. It was proved that sheep could remember the faces of their shepherds and other sheep amongst whom they had lived for up to two years. Some sheep have also learned to roll across cattle grids on their backs and new measures may have to be taken in order to keep them penned in because it has also been shown that they can teach each other this naughty trick.
Do go to Wovember.com and look around. They have lots more information about wool and sheep, plus an abundance of sheepie photos.
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* A fiber that, tragically, I have some trouble wearing. Unless it is very nice merino, it itches. And unless the indoor temperature is somewhere south of 66˚ F, one that is too warm for this post-menepausal woman. But I persevere in my knitting of it...
We got snow (see yesterday's post for the evidence).
And on Tuesday Smokey went to check on the pontoon boat and motor he bought, sight unseen, a month or so ago. (Ours was partially but fatally sunk when one of the pontoons sprung an unreachable leak after spending last winter in the lake.)
What, doesn't everyone buy their boats in the fall?
First off, have you heard Marc Martel, the singer who can channel Freddie Mercury's voice?
Here he is with some backup singers in 2007.
Cf the originals:
I have long felt that the death of Freddie Mercury was a tragic loss ot the world of rock 'n' roll and to music in general. He was so, so talented, even beyond the fact of his four-octave range. Queen's music remains some of favorite, as I am sure it is for many (including Wayne and Garth). I mourned the loss of Janis and Jim Morrison and Warren Zevon and Frank Zappa and Jerry Garcia when they died, but imnsho none of them were the monumental talent of Mercury.
This past week we lost another giant when Steve Jobs succumbed to pancreatic cancer. No matter his personal quirks and failings, he was an unparalleled visionary in the computer and electronics field. Quite simply, he changed our world, not once but over and over. The Mac. The iPod. The iPhone. The iPad. Apple can replace a CEO but can they replace his creativity?
Here is my idea. If Freddie Mercury's voice can be re-found in Marc Martel (I cannot speak to the latter's other musical talents, but they seem to be prodigious), how about Steve Job's imagination and dogged pursuit of simplicity and perfection? Let us have a world-wide audition and see what comes of it.
I am a charter member of the apostrophe police, and I currently trying to find out who I need to arrest for this egregious overuse of the little curvy devils.
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This year's birthday was quite restrained, but Smokey and I did go out for dinner at a very picturesque location nearby. Tthe menu turned out to be unimaginative, but the food was excellent and the setting was lovely.
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The shawl is slowly coming off the needles, which leads me to the all important question: what to cast on next? Should it be the sweater on the left but done with vertical stripes like the swatch on the right (please turn the swatch 90˚ clockwise in your mind), using the Noro yarns below?
Alex has requested a rugby-style doggie sweater for Percy, her and Matthew's rescued pit bull terrier, and has chosen yarn from my stash:
I am all excited about lace knitting and am considering using some Rowan Calmer I bought on closeout at Webs for a Cece (but I would make it longer and with 3/4 sleeves):
(I am not fond of the color of the Calmer -- color at right side of skein is truest -- and am thinking of overdyeing it. Tea, for a browner tone? Rit, if I wanted dusky blue? Anyone have experience?)
There are a number of other project swimming in my head but I'll stop here.
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I picked these wild blackberries three feet outside my front door.
My best friend from high school has a restaurant in the Restaurant Capital of the World -- Dorset, MN. Population 22, restaurants 4 (down from 7 at one time in the past). I blogged about her restaurant awhile back.
The Twin Cities media have discovered Taste of Dorset! Story here; if you wait, the video will appear at the top and you can see and hear my friend Kathy, sitting in La Pasta and talking about Dorset.
She is older than I am. One day. Which I will never let her forget.
My one comment on the royal wedding: did anyone else but me think that Kate needed a hand-knit cashmere/silk shawl around her shoulders during that open carriage ride? Every other female at the wedding (except that one granddaughter who sat next to Beatrice's unfortunate hat) had on a coat or jacket of some kind, the men were in wool uniforms and suits, and there She was in sheer lace and silk. The poor thing must have been freezing.
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Thought(s) for the day:
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There is the tiniest hint of spring in the woods. Taken last weekend:
Can you see them? Here, let me help you:
Round-lobed hepaticas, always the first to bloom. They range from white to deep purple and are a welcome sight every year.
Another week down. Only about 50 hours this week -- not because the work load is slowing down, but because I am. Didn't get to work until 11 on Saturday, but worked until 9:30. There is a certain drafter whom I would like to sit down and explain a few things to -- his befuddled workpapers were the reason I couldn't leave at, say, 4pm, but neither of us has the time nor the will. Someone else will have to teach him. If he is even teachable; I have my doubts.
Eight more working days to go...
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Okay, some of this may be TMI but bear with me -- it is something I found very interesting and illuminating. (That last was a bit of a pun that may become clear later. Or not.)
It had been my habit at home for months and months to take my iPod with me whenever I use the bathroom. Whilst doing my business I play a hearty game or three of Word Warp. Some people read magazines or the newspaper. I play Word Warp. YMMV. When I went back to work I continued this practice, although I try to limit the amount of time I spend away from the desk.
A month or so ago I noticed what seemed to be a vague pinkish color in the, er, receptacle before I flushed. I worried a little but let it go. Then I noticed that the pink stain was still there AFTER I flushed. Okay, I thought briefly, weird. Back to work.
Then I noticed this.
That's the floor of the handicapped stall (which I use because the others are bit claustrophobic. There are currently no handicapped women on our floor so I figure I am not inconveniencing anyone.) See that pinkish blob? That is my attempt to re-create what I saw.
Guesses?
.
.
.
.
Yeah, it's the afterimage of the iPod screen, which is intensely blue on the Word Warp game. Mystery solved.
And that is your science lesson for today, children. Please put away your science books and take out paper and pencil for a spelling quiz.
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On Saturday I did something incredibly stoopid. I took my nighttime meds, which make me sleepy, in the morning before I went to work. I realized the mistake immediately, but I am not one who could stick her finger down her throat to bring them back up.
I worried about this all the way to work. The day before I had had a fit of sleepy in the afternoon that required a second cup of coffee around 2 pm. Drug-induced sleepy at this stage of busy season would be deadly, so to speak.
To compensate I made myself three (3) shots of espresso once I got to the office (snazzy coffee machine there) and had a regular Coke with my lunch. It worked; I was sleepy for only a few minutes around 2 pm, when the meds were starting to take effect but the caffeine hadn't kicked in yet.
And, yes, I did sleep that night.
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This is one our partner/principal/director/senior manager private offices (upper part of a cubicle in the foreground).
This is the office next to it.
Happy April Fool's Day!
When the occupant of that office came in the next day he was on his way to a client meeting and didn't have time to enjoy it. He had to fight his way in to find his dress shoes and fight his way out again.
Later that day we all heard a sound like popcorn as he delighted in popping all those balloons.
I keep a list of the books I read each year, and a few years ago also started keeping a list of the ones I started and gave up on. For the first time ever, my list of "Did Not Finish" is currently longer (10) than the ones I actually finished (9). As might be true of any such list, the DNF is more reflective of my mood when reading than it is of the quality of the books. Right now, while doing taxes and consequently brain-dead after 8 pm, I find that it is the rare book that I can actually read and comprehend. I have finished only one book, a thriller, since I started work on February 7. Apparently a job is the enemy of literacy -- in my case, anyway.
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A friend emailed this to me, and it touched my heart. Googling revealed that it was first published here.
Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend's home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.
During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out a sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets.
It's utterly amazingly that where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, "Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another."
Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often.
We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not. No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.
There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.
Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.
And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.
They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend's husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.
Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don't. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.
Thank you again for your care and Love of me,
With Love in return, to you all, Anne
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You may have read / seen / heard about the gas main explosion in Minneapolis on Thursday. I missed it entirely, having been back in Wisconsin for meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If I been in Minneapolis I would most certainly have known about it; the site is about 1.5 miles from our house.
Caution: this video was made, apparently, by a young man with a limited vocabulary; his commentary is definitely NSFW. But it is the best video I found on YouTube. After the young man's initial comment, he spliced in some audio from a local radio station, which includes an announcer who doesn't know how to pronounce Nicollet (NICK-o-let, not Nick-o-LET).
If you don't want to watch the video, here are some choice screen shots of cars that were parked close to the site.
The melted stuff reminds me of that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when they open the Ark of the Covenant and the Nazis' faces melt.
To orient you, here is Google's shot of the area looking north toward downtown. The orange star marks the approximate site of the blast, the orange arrow points to the tree that is no more, and Cub Foods, a large supermarket, is outlined in red. Our house is somewhere off to the upper left. I think the man who took the video was standing on Nicollet Avenue, initially up between 58th and 59th Streets, and later, after the fire was out, near 60th.
The freeway at the right , I-35W, is one of the busiest in the country, and the explosion occurred near the end of the morning rush hour. It is amazing, considering the neighborhood, that no one was injured.
How can ebooks be all gone? They are not physical objects that exist in a limited number. I think what they mean is that the 70% off sale will end on a specific date, but the books will not be *gone*, just more expensive.
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Do any of you ever wear your socks and high heels together? Have you ever seen ANYONE actually do this? I live out in the sticks where a clean flannel shirt and bib overalls counts as Sunday best, so I may be a bit out of touch.
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This one doesn't make me go Hmmm but it did make me laugh.
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Aren't these just the cutest things you have ever seen?
The number of spam e-mail messages circulating on the Internet at the end of December tumbled after the world’s largest spamming operation mysteriously went dark on Christmas Eve.
Study linking childhood vaccinations with autism was complete and utter fraud. (Duh.) In 2008, for the first time in 14 years, measles was declared endemic in England and Wales. I'm pretty sure there is a special place in hell for Andrew Wakefield.
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I recently set my computer wallpaper to change every minute to a different photo from my pictures folder, and I copied over a huge bunch of my photos there. It has been quite pleasant to see photos I had forgotten about (if the photo doesn't go onto the blog it slips from my memory). Sharing the fun: gonna post one some of those random photos here occasionally.
Antelope grazing with suburban Buffalo, WY in the background.
I went to the November meeting of the MN Knitters' Guild, where Annie Modesitt was the speaker. These are her designs that she discussed. The red bolero-type jacket is actually felted.
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Temp was -9˚ F. this morning. This photo, taken at the convention center in Milwaukee in September, seemed appropriate.
My doc called this morning to tell me I have a normal pancreas, yay! She said she will have to bake cookies for the medical records department because it took an act of god to get my results. Whatever.
Thank you all for your concern. Now we can all have a merry Christmas!
I decided to do my own Ten on Tuesday list this week.
Ten Reasons to Vote Today.
Nifty sticker to wear on your lapel. "I voted!"
Cute election judges... if you are a 70+ year old male.
Free coffee and cookies.
Opportunity to see your local community center / fire hall / village hall / elementary school full of people with good intentions.
A chance to knit (while standing in line).
The only time you will see some of these names in print. County coroner? County assessor? Who are these people?
Polling place just might be near your LYS. Everyone who votes deserves a yarn treat.
Easiest way in the world to be a patriot.
Chance to do something that millions would [and have] die[d] for the right to do.
And finally, the very best reason of all...
If you don't vote you lose the right to complain about your government.
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I'm sick of campaign ads, junk mail, the media buzz, and especially the recorded phone calls. Campaign signs, though, are kinda fun. I first noticed them when we were in Wyoming in June. There were campaign signs everywhere. Didn't notice [m]any in Montana, though. Later in the summer I saw them on the North Shore, plus they started to crop up here at home.
I weeded my collection of knitting books on Sunday. (Why did I ever think I needed so many? I almost never consult them.) These are the *culls* and for sale at roughly half the cover price. All are in like-new condition. Titles are linked to their respective Amazon page, where you can read about them.
Edited to add: We have a taker! Thanks, Jeanne; I am sooo glad to get rid of one more pile of stuff.
I cleaned out a corner of my bookshelf/bedroom yesterday* and decided that I did not need to preserve my copies of Interweave Knitting. They are free for the cost of postage to anyone who wants them -- one, several, all.
There's also the Fall 2007 issue of Knit Simple if anyone wants that.
E-mail me (addy at upper right sidebar) with your desires and your zip code. I'll get back to you with how much it will cost. Payments by PayPal or personal check. Offer good until midnight Friday, October 15, at which point the mags will hit the recycling bin, never to return.
I also have a couple years of Wisconsin Counties magazine if anyone is interested in those...
No, I thought not.
* I am attempting to follow a rule I read somewhere a few months ago: get rid of one thing every day. What with all the traveling we have done the past month or so I have fallen behind, but Sunday's efforts made up for it. A bunch of shoes and tote bags are now in the Goodwill box and a pile of books is in a bag for the library.Tomorrow, who knows? Maybe I'll get rid of a dogcatrefrigerator something else.
Meet my new wallpaper. From Gizmodo's (or Lifehacker's, don't remember) photo challenge.
I like to keep my desktop icons along the right edge of the screen; this composition is perfect. It doesn't hurt that the kitteh in the photo is the spittin' image of our En Ensch (but looks way smarter)...
