That plan included lots of pictures. There were going to be pictures of the prom, pictures of the graduation celebration, pictures of Mothers' Day stuff, pictures of the spring burgeoning about my yard, pictures of the Birthday, pictures of the H.S. Graduation celebration ....
ahem.
I've got pictures. Some. Not as many as I'd like. But my phone (whose camera records more megapixels than my camera... go figure) and my computer are no longer on speaking terms. This means that the best I can do is email my pictures to myself. And when I do that, the camera shrinks them "for" me... until they're too small to be worth much on the blog.
In frustration, I let that stop me from blogging! I "couldn't" blog until I fixed the picture issue.
????
That's silly.
It's also a bit of a wake up call. How many things do we not do because we can't do them the way we'd planned?
I had planned to set up my 90% finished living room with new shelves for the DVDs (since the old ones no longer stand up, having had their bottoms warped), and with a new gadget to allow me to stream my music from the hard drive (where I'm uploading all my CD's) instead of keeping all the CDs on the massive shelf.
I can't find a DVD storage unit that is both attractive and sturdy enough not to fall over (I already have falling over ones) without bolting them to the wall. Thus, I've not quite finished putting those things away.
I can't seem to get the folks at the local purveyors of electronic gadgets to identify the gadget I need to stream my audio stuff through my stereo (they all say they know it can be done, they've seen it done, they know people who do it, but they don't know what it takes to get it done). Instead of just setting up the stereo the way it was, I'm waiting to get the gadget, and we're relying on the bad radio that was built into the intercom in our house for music.
I'm letting the fact that I can't do it the way I planned to do it interfere with getting it done. How dumb is that?
Sure, I'll keep burning my CD's to the system so that when we figure out the how, we can implement it... but today, I'll focus more on putting together what I CAN do instead of why I can't get it the way I want it.
If we look, I'll bet we'll find lots of places in our lives where we've let not being able to do things the WAY we want has kept us from doing them at all. I know that there are several other things in my life that suffer from this silliness. I won't share them all, but here's one more:
There are lots of things in the house that constitute clutter now. I'd like to get them out ... into the garage perhaps ... and then sort them for sale and/or donation. But... the garage is a mess. And the weather and my schedule haven't combined to allow me to clean it out to make room either for the stuff cluttering my house, or to sort what's already there, much less more stuff. Somehow, I've let this prevent me from de-cluttering the house, from getting rid of some stuff that I know will wind up at GoodWill, and from simply chucking things out there for later contemplation.
This does not sound like a win win to me.
Planning is a good thing. But letting plans keep you from doing what you want to do... not so much.
Perception is an interesting thing. As a Massage Therapist, and
Bodywork provider, I am increasingly aware of the differences in
perceptions that people have about what I do. And I notice that
people’s perceptions of what massage therapists do, affects their
perception of our professionalism, and that affects how they treat us.
These perceptions are guided, at least in part, by a number of things. But in the end, it seems to boil down to this:
Folks tend to see Massage and Bodywork in one of three ways:
Massage is part of preventive healthcare and/or health maintenance
Massage is part of reactive healthcare (used to fix a problem)
Massage is a luxury
Sometimes,
folks also see that Massage (as part of healthcare) can be beneficial
for conditions unrelated to muscle responses (including depression,
anxiety, asthma, headaches … etc. etc.). And sometimes, people still
see massage therapy as something …. slightly ... turpitudinous.
How do people come have one opinion over the other?
Some of it is likely to be prior experience and background. We can’t change that.
But other things come into play.
Media.
How
massage therapy is portrayed in movies and on television shows colors
our views about massage therapy. Unfortunately, it’s rarely shown as
part of healthcare; it’s mostly shown as something available to those
mysteriously wealthy people who don’t appear to have jobs, and if they
do, those jobs clearly do not pay for the wardrobes and cars and
vacations they have. That can be changed, but it will take a lot of
time before the folks who make movies start showing preventive
healthcare as part of the story line.
Location
Yep, just like the old Realtor’s say, location is important. It impacts people’s perceptions.
When massage therapists are found mostly in salons and spas, folks tend to think of them as luxuries.
When
massage therapists are found mostly in Chiropractors’ offices, folks
tend to think of them as related to healthcare, but only to the extent
that they think of Chiropractic care as healthcare and not some bizarre
charlatan’s trick – and only to the extent that the care is related to
backs.
When massage therapists are found connected or adjacent to
Physical Therapist’s offices, folks tend to think of massage as related
to healthcare, but only to the extent that they are involved with fixing
something that has gone wrong. Massage can help you recover faster
from knee surgery, but not keep you healthy.
When massage therapists are found in strip malls, people tend to get … inappropriate ideas about massage.
How people perceive massage and bodywork affects how they perceive massage therapists.
If
they perceive massage as part of healthcare, then they perceive massage
therapists as professionals. They also perceive us as having real
training – knowing about physiology and anatomy. And they value our
work.
But if they perceive massage as a luxury…. They tend to have
less respect for therapists. They don’t think of our training as
having been rigorous. And some still forget that there are boundaries
they ought not cross.
Perceptions are strong, and they change our behavior. But knowledge can change perceptions.
This means that one of my jobs as a massage therapist is to educate my clients and those people with whom I come in contact.
Education
But
… when healthcare providers start recommending massage to their
patients, those patients begin to see that massage and body work can
be part of overall healthcare. Luckily, more and more healthcare
providers are beginning to discover that massage and other bodywork can
be hugely beneficial to overall healthcare. This is especially true
today, when people are being asked to do so much more each day, with
slowly decreasing resources. People are working longer hours, and
processing more and more information daily; and thus more and more
people are suffering stress. And stress can lead to all kinds of
illnesses and all sorts of pain.
When stress leads to pain,
current medical practices seem to be to medicate it. Pain killers and
muscle relaxants may temporarily relieve the backaches and headaches and
sore necks. But they don’t cure the problem. Massage, on the other
hand, can relieve the intermediate cause of the pain (by softening over
tight muscles, and eliminating “knots”. And, while massage can’t
eliminate the root source of the problem (high stress jobs without job
security, increasing bills, less time for self, etc.), massage can give the body a chance to escape from the perpetual fight or flight responses that those high stress jobs impose.
Unfortunately, one massage will not resolve months or years of stressful living.
However, regular massage can dramatically
reduce the impact of the high stress lifestyle. In so doing, massage
can reduce the likelihood that a given person will experience some of
the more debilitating stress-induced conditions. And, it can help
alleviate a lot of the pain from the medical conditions linked to
stress, including depression, anxiety, headaches, even asthma. Massage
can also alleviate some of the discomfort associated with other
conditions (even things like COPD, if the proper techniques are used by a
well-trained therapist). Massage and bodywork can be extraordinarily
helpful in places you wouldn’t expect them to be (like addiction
recovery).
Sure, massage is a treat. Anything that feels good is a
treat. And things that let you feel good afterwards (even if they
don’t feel great at the time, as is the case with certain therapeutic
massage techniques) can also be treats. But massage and body work are
also great preventive medicine. (kind of like fresh fruit -- a treat that keeps you healthy).
How people perceive massage and bodywork affects how they perceive massage therapists.
If
they perceive massage as part of healthcare, then they perceive massage
therapists as professionals. They also perceive us as having real
training – knowing about physiology and anatomy. And they value our
work.
But if they perceive massage as a luxury…. They tend to have
less respect for therapists. They don’t think of our training as
having been rigorous. And some still forget that there are boundaries
they ought not cross.
Perceptions are strong, and they change our behavior. But knowledge can change perceptions.
This means that one of my jobs as a massage therapist is to educate my clients and those people with whom I come in contact. (Guess what -- you are among the people with whom I come in contact ....)
One of the fun and wonderful things about blogging here (and on other servers I'm sure), is the ability to draft a blog post and then schedule it for later publication.
That creates a bunch of weird timey wimey* problems
Pre-scheduled posting means that I can:
1. Think of something brilliant and witty and perfect to post for someone's birthday any time at all, type up the blog post, plug in the pictures etc., and set it to post automatically on the appropriate date. That way, when the date arrives and I've got nothin' (or I'm such a twit that week that I just plain forget)... I'm still good.
2. Have a really productive day when I'm oozing good post ideas out my pores, and not lose any of them. I can just write a whole swack of posts, and then set them to post later, say, every other day ... or once a month just in case, or even at appropriate times (like Birthdays and Holidays etc).
3. Write a REALLY long blog story that takes up several posts all at once, then set it to publish serially.
4. Plan ahead for times when I know I won't be able to blog (say, for example, when I'm in class for four days, or driving across the country ... ).
That's wonderful!
But, oddly, it's also troublesome when you've blogged ahead by ten days
or so, and something happens that's worthy of blogging TODAY -- and it's
time sensitive, but doesn't fit into the flow of your current blog
stream. For example ... posting about May Day and how we've adapted one
of the various traditions surrounding that day will no longer be timely
if I wind up doing it in, say mid-June.
See ... timey wimey issues.
Alas, this scheduled blogging ahead toy also lets me get ahead of myself to the extent that I can get used to not blogging regularly. If I've lined up half a dozen blog posts, all written and fun and ready to go ... I can set them to publish themselves every other day, and be good for nigh onto two weeks. If I then let those two weeks go by without blogging, I'll have lost momentum. And that's a bad thing in any context.
Think about it... if you make yourself dust one room of the house every day, you get into a rhythm, and you might even not notice that you hate dusting. But... if you then get all fired up and dust the whole house because the President of the Junior League is coming to visit ... you'll be far enough ahead that you won't have to dust for several days... and you'll lose momentum and poof, there goes the well dusted house you'd managed to creat.
Okay, you're right. no one does that. I know I don't do that (even if I do covet a well dusted house).
Let's try something more realistic. If you weed five square feet of garden every day, you won't spend much time doing it, and your gardens will look lovely and your flowers and veggies will thrive without competing for space with the dandelions and ragweed and that grassy stuff that sneaks in from the lawn. You can get into a habit. You can do it without noticing much anymore. Until.... you have a burst of energy (or the grand-kids come over and weed for you or your spouse treats you to a professional lawn guy one day for your birthday), and you weed the whole thing at once. Then, you can take a few days break... except that three days later the weeds are coming back everywhere, and now you're behind.
Or exercise.... it works if you do it every day. Or every other day. Like a regular blog post, running a mile every day gets you seven miles a week easily. But... it doesn't work nearly as well to blow it off for ten days and try to get your mileage up all at once.
See?
Not good.
hmmm. I wonder if this explains why I'm so bad at taking vitamins...
Recently, I've been on a bit of an organizing/cleaning/sorting binge. I'm tackling closets and storage spaces like a bit of a maniac. That's okay, every time I finish one I feel so good about it I take it's picture (later this week, I'll show you the Massage Closet - it's beautiful (in my eyes anyway).
I keep meaning to take "before" pictures so that when I get all sentimental and show off the "after" pictures, you'll understand. But, alas(?), I'm too interested in getting to the work to take pictures.
So.. where is this leading? Back to the Yarn Closet, where we learn (sort of) that while I'm clearly a bit unhinged when it comes to collecting yarn, I'm not quite as crazy as I look when it comes to knitting needles.
As is true of many knitters, even when I was finished with the Yarn Closet, I wasn't truly finished. I keep finding yarn lurking about the house, and having to go find it a home in the Yarn Closet (and then update the Ravelry inventory). Some of this is because there are projects I was planning to start, but then delayed, and the yarn got pulled. Some of this is because there are bonus storage places in the Living Room. So... that continues. But as I find the yarn, I'm putting it AWAY, and logging it into the Ravelry database.
But... the side-show to the Yarn Closet that is now eating my days is the corollary project - inventorying the needles.
For those of you not addicted to sticks and string, I'll diverge for a moment to explain why so many knitters seem to have large needle collections, and why, for that matter, anyone would want a large variety of needles:
1) The obvious reason: knitting needles come in different sizes. When the circumference of the needles changes, the size of the stitches those needles create changes. When the stitch size changes, the fabric changes. You simply can't use the same needles to make socks that you do to make a bulky cabled sweater. So, since I've never heard of a lending library for needles. tends to want at least one set of needles in every size one has ever been called upon to use. Unless you keep using the same yarn all the time, sooner or later, you need more needles.
2) Knitting Needles come in different types -- There are three basic types of needles: straight needles (what you see in comics etc. - two sticks with points on one end and a stopper thing on the other), which are great for knitting things in pieces that you'll sew together;
circular needles (two sticks with points on one end joined together by a flexible cable and which range from as short as 10" or so to as long as 60"), which work quite as well as straight needles for knitting pieces, but which also allow you to knit around and around creating a seamless tube -- which is lovely for sweaters, eliminating the need for seams;
and double pointed needles (sets of four or five sticks with points on both ends), which are wonderful for knitting tubes that are too narrow for the logistics of circular needles (like socks and sleeve cuffs and the tops of hats.
There are also things called Flex Needles (of which I have one pair). Flex needles are a sort of cross between straight needles and circulars - they have tips like circulars from which a cable extends, but they have stoppers on the ends like straight needles. This lets you create, in effect, a really long straight needle. I tried the one set, and decided that it's just as easy to use circulars for back and forth knitting.
3) Knitting Needles come in different lengths - Straights are typically no shorter than 8" and get only about as long as 14"; Circulars typically range from 16" (though 12", and even 11" or 9" do exist, they're really hard to work with) to 60"; Double points range from 4" to as long as 10" but rarely go above about 8". Which length you use depends in part on what you're making, but also on personal preference. You can use 8" double points to make socks, for example, but I rarely use any longer than 6" and actually prefer 4".
For circular needles, the differences in length are necessary to allow different circumferences in the tubes they make. You can make something as small as about 14" or maybe even 13" on a 16" needle if the yarn is forgiving, and you can get up to about 25" worth of stitches onto a 16" needle --- but that needle is just not going to hold your 36" sweater. As you can imagine, the situation is similar for longer lengths, until you get to the really long ones. There's a method called "magic loop" that will let you knit a sock (9" circumference) happily on a 40" needle. Some folks love it. I'm not one of them, but I can magic loop in a pinch. That means that I have circular needles in about 9 lengths, and double points in at least five lengths (see the picture above).
4) Knitting Needles are made of different materials, with different finishes. This is where we get picky. Yarn slides about differently on different materials and different finishes because some materials and some finishes are slipperier than others. The shiny metal needles are very slippery; if your yarn is also slippery, you're likely to lose stitches. The slipperiness of the metal needles depends on the finish; some are really slippery, some are only moderately slippery. Casein and plastic needles are not very slippery. Bamboo needles tend to be a bit "grippy", and birch is somewhere in the middle. That slipperiness difference can actually change your gauge (the number of stitches per inch you get when knitting a given yarn on a given set of needles). Gauge is important to making a garment fit. Sometimes, to get the gauge you really want, you have to change needle material and not needle size.
I periodically go on insane perfect-gauge quests in which I am
determined to force whatever yarn I am using for a given project into
the exact gauge the designer specified (you'll hear more about
this with the upcoming Bohus Report). This means that over the years I
have acquired needles in brushed aluminum, coated aluminum, nickle plated
aluminum, birch, wood laminate, two kinds of bamboo, casein (a milk
product), and several forms of plastic. If you've got antiques on hand, you may even have bone or ivory needles to play with. And still, sometimes I find
that I can't get gauge with what's in the house, and have to go find a
new brand. Recently, they've started making square needles (which work surprisingly well).
5) Needle sizes vary a bit by manufacturer. For most needle sizes, there is a fairly universal size. US Size 7 needles tend to be, fairly reliably, 3.5 mm in circumference. But, not every manufacturer has their gauge set precisely the same way (since the error tolerance on that sizing is greater than zero), so some US 7 needles are bigger than others. The difference between a 3.52 mm needle and a 3.57mm needle will show up in your gauge.
Worse yet, for some US needle sizes, the prescribed mm correspondence varies. US 1s are either 2.25 mm or 2.5mm. And US 2s can be 2.75 or 3.0. More gauge differences.
6) Some knitters, like me, have more than one project on the needles at the same time. Every now and then, this means that a knitter will be working on more than one project that uses a given size needle. This leads to duplication in the needle inventory.
Even so, I've discovered that my early days of buying a new needle when I thought I needed one have come home to roost. I looked at my Ravelry Needle Inventory and found that at one point, I'd input a lot of information about my needle collection. It included some numbers that causes one pause (7 sets of the same size circular needles in the same length? really??), but I have no idea whether that information includes double-entered data.
I haven't even tried to maintain the inventory since I input it literally years ago. That means that even if it was accurate then, it's not all accurate now. Worse yet, as I go digging up needles from the various temporary holding zones, I'm finding that I have more than I'd inventoried of some of them. This is not quite offset by the fact that as I've broken some tiny needles, I've not updated the inventory to reflect the loss. So... I may or may not have 10 sets of 2.75mm double points. (I'm pretty sure I don't, since I rarely use "standard" length double points.)
In my next posts, there will be a tour through the inventory process (what I'm doing differently to ensure accuracy this time), and a discussion of just what kind of insanity doing a needle inventory has led me to. I anticipate that in the end, I'll wind up selling off part of the inventory.
There are a number of blog meme-things out there called Ten on Tuesday. Typically, someone decides what sorts of things those ten will be (ten favorite restaurants; ten things in your refrigerator; ten books you've read this year... something like that). I've decided to do my very own Ten on Tuesday: Ten things I've accomplished in the past week.
1. Last weekend I survived another birthday. It was low key, and wonderful. I accomplished one thing: I finished knitting the Climbing Cables Socks.
2. Yesterday, I soaked the Climbing Cables Socks. They're drying now, but have promised to come out for a photo shoot in the very near future.
3. I lured both Golf Pro and the Ball in Chain Socks out into the light of day for a photo shoot.
Alas, I was unable to lure the camera battery into participating, so I had to make do with the camera in my phone. I'll try again when I've got a better camera.
4. I completed the last step for my application for the Massage License. All forms have been filled out, and signed and sealed by the appropriate parties. I have had my fingerprints taken via the LiveScan method, and released to the department the results of their criminal background check. I have ordered the transcript from the school (we will not grumble that I'd already sent one to the testing folks, the State evidently needs its own copy). I've written the check, written the cover letter, gotten copies of everything, printed the label, stuffed the envelope. This afternoon, I'll be taking it all to the post office. (And then I'll resume fretting over whether I sent it in too early -- too early means that I have to write that check again in December)
5. I finished drafting and proofing the written part of a pattern for which I'd only finished off the charts. AND, I sent the written directions to a tester. I'd already had the charts tested, so I know the design works -- now we see if my transcription from charts to words works. I know that it's important to have a written version of the pattern, but I do not enjoy creating them. This is likely to mean that several patterns will continue in limbo, published as chart only designs, because there's not much return on the time investment to fix them.
6. I updated a five year old pattern to clear up an error someone found. I'm sad that there was an error, especially that it was still there after all this time. I'm thrilled that someone bought the pattern, and that she then followed up with a question so I could fix the pattern.
7. I cast on for a new mitt design for Book Worm. (I'm also pondering another mitt design for both girls. I'm pondering that one enough that it's invading my dreams).
8. I successfully cleaned and treated a nasty cut that Kitty got while playing about in a local stream (one which runs through town, and has gone through varous phases of being clean and being polluted over the years). Even so, it was a dirty cut, and we wound up in the doctor's office the next morning getting it looked at -- antibiotics are now on board. The doc said I did a good job with it, which is comforting. I can now add "capable of performing decent first aid" to my list of attributes.
9. I tracked down Golf Pro's great grandfather in a recent genealogical hunt at our local library. Alas, his father's family was in Canada, where the census information does not go back very far.
10. In my newly rediscovered relaxation time, I've watched enough TV that my DVR is no longer at risk of running out of room to record new things. I've also been reading non-massage related things at a rate that actually meant I'd run out of novels to read from the library! (I promptly fixed that, but it's been well over a year since my shelf was not full of things that I'd renewed AGAIN because I hadn't finished reading them.
The best thing about Ten on Tuesday lists like this is how good you feel, realizing that you've NOT in fact wasted a week. Yep, I actually got stuff DONE!
This evening, I drove up to my bank's Drive UP ATM machine. You know the kind -- a little lane leading up to the box. They expect you to be in a car...
I looked at the keypad and noticed ---
BRAILLE!
really? in the drive up lane?
Why does it make me nervous to think that people driving their cars might need braille access to the atm?
In almost everyone's life, sooner or later, there comes a time when you are called upon to name something or someone. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's not.
Bookworm went through a phase once where she named everything. Sure, every kid names his or her stuffed toys, but she named instruments (not that uncommon), note books, iPods, pencils, .... everything. (She did not, alas, offer up a name for the house. I'm fond of named houses.... but that's not the point here.) Naming came easily to her. I envy her so.
Naming is not my forte. When I named my daughters, I first spent hours (I could have earned a degree had I spent that time differently, I'm sure) poring over name books -- tasting them, feeling them roll across my tongue, chasing down their origins and meanings, putting them in combinations -- testing the combinations for sound and mood and definitions.... And in the end, I narrowed the names down to several, and waited for my daughters to "tell" me what their names were.
When new cats come into the house, I look at them, and contemplate the names that resonate with their appearances, but generally wait until their personality is clear before naming them. I also listen to the cats. They too "tell" me what their names are. With the more recently adopted cats, I first listened to see if they were at home with the names they came with -- they were, and so we did not re-name them.
I am now faced with a new naming challenge.
When I first started massage school, I figured out (even before the first day of class) what I wanted to name my future massage business. But then, when we all dashed out and got free business cards to hand out at Community Outreach events (so that we could drum up "business" for the free massages we give as homework), I found that one of my classmates had also come up with that name. She put hers on her cards.
I pouted for a minute, but figured that this meant one of two things: we are destined to become business partners, or I'm destined to choose a different name for my massage business. Either way, I had plenty of time.
Time's up.
Our new class is on business -- how to build a massage business. While part of it is things like taxes and leases and financial statements, part of it is creating forms and pricing your work. The forms themselves are easy for me. But at the top of every form, in the middle of every business card, is one consistent thing that I suddenly find very challenging: A business name.
Naming criteria may have something to do with this. For a child, one wants a name that is not too pompous and cumbersome for a toddler or child, but not too babyish or wispy for a professional adult, while avoiding formidability. It needs to last. Depending on your preferences, it either needs to be happily abbreviated into nick-names that aren't offensive or belittling, or it needs to avoid lending itself to abbreviation. It ought also to fit the child (like you can figure that out after 12 hours of labor when the child in question is seven and a half pounds of sleep or hunger).
For a pet, the criteria vary a bit depending on whether this pet is a free roaming creature or a caged creature. With the caged animal, you needn't worry quite as much about whether when you call out this name across the yard/field/house the name is distinct enough to be recognizable. Shouting out "Agamemnon Come..." not nearly as effective as calling for "Rex". Of course, this name should also fit the animal, but that tends to be easier when we do the naming (for all but pedigreed show critters/horses that tends to be 6-8 weeks, when they've starting coming into their personalities).
For a business, on the other hand, the name should be simple, memorable, and informative. It should avoid weird impressions (especially in massage - one does not want to give the impression, ever, that one is offering services that are illegal in most states). While it is true, now that I've looked at it a few times, National Fish Therapeutic Massage is a memorable name -- it's memorable mostly because one spends a while wondering what on earth Fish have to do with massage, and not because it seems relevant.). They say that you should avoid using your name if you're a woman, just so that the creeps out there don't decide that the feminine name sounds alluring... or the strong professional name identifies a dominatrix.
So. I'm back to naming my business. I want to convey a tad more than just Therapeutic Massage since I will be doing energy work as well as standard Swedish stuff. I'm already certified in Reiki (and am planning to get the next certification level soon), so I need to avoid a name that sounds too clinical, and yet I also need to avoid a name that sounds too "new agey". I do relaxation massage, but I also do deeper tissue specific work. (Is anyone surprised that I'll have a complex blend? Me either).
So, here I am.... overthinking things to death, contemplating using other languages (like that will be comprehensible to the English speaking population that will represent 90% of my clients), and poking around in all sorts of places looking for the right name. Meanwhile, my family keeps making wholly inappropriate suggestions, just to see me puff up and get all pompous about the importance of avoiding suggestive names.
What is in a name? While it may be true that the rose would smell as sweet no matter what name we give it, the rose's name doesn't have to tell people who don't know who or what it is what it does. And the rose's name need not inspire new clientele to trust it enough to risk the cost of a massage, while subtly and quietly telling those in search of an erotic massage that it's a complete waste of time to call.
Today is Mother's Day.... so I'll celebrate by resting and letting my family pamper me. Yesterday, however, I finally turned my attention to the garden. Some of it, is doing perfectly well on its own.
Alas, the pond is growing a bit of algae, but we won't discuss that. Instead, let's take a closer look at that archway back there.
The roses on the left are doing well. The honeysuckle on the right are past their blooming best. And the wysteria across the top.... needs a bit of pruning.
Back on the patio itself, we've got this.
But the planters... the planters were another story entirely. Yesterday morning,they look like this:
And this:
The only one growing anything was this one:
The johnny jump ups are return volunteers from last year's arrangement, but the rest are weeds.
Yesterday afternoon, I cleaned out the dead leaves and dead plants. I weeded the planters that were still trying to grow things. And took Kitty to the plant store to help me choose the plants to fill those empty planters.
I tried to be restrained. I did. But in the end, my basket was full. So full that Kitty swore that this basket had too many plants in it.
It was a small basket. Especially for plant shopping. But even I had to admit thath the counter looked a little full....
In the end, however, it turned out that I had just the right number of plants. I didn't even have a single plant left -- even in the little four-packs. And now, the planters look like this:
and this:
A little closer look? I thought you'd never ask --
I think this one is my favorite of the plants we got -- the color is so very intense.
And the round ones look like this now:
My favorite of these, would be this one...
Ahh... gardening!
Did you notice? There's a plant in each box that you would not expect me to buy. Why? Well, go back and look. They're orange. I hate orange..... but it makes a lovely accent when it's just a little splash of color. I broke out of my comfort zone to put that accent in this year.
Now I'm all inspired to start in on the front yard. That will be a lot more work. Weeding a flower box is easy. Few weeds, loose soil means that the roots aren't that deep, and getting them all the way out is pretty easy. Weeding the real garden, is no where near as easy. The ground is packed, the roots are deep, and all tangled up with the stuff we want to keep. "Tilling" the soil in a flower box is easy. Tilling the soil in the actual ground is another story.
And yet.... when you work in an actual garden bed, you can put perennials in along the way, so that the work lasts for years. That might actually keep me motivated. But not this weekend.
My Mother's Day wish for you all: May your Mother's Day be as lovely as my patio garden ... and may all your gardens bloom and grow as you like them.
Every now and then, I think about blogging (which is not to be confused with actually blogging). I've been blogging for quite a few years now (it rather boggles my mind when I think about it). I've been blogging long enough that I don't actually remember when I started! I've been here at Typepad for a bit over six years. And I blogged elsewhere for a few years before that.
That's a lot of blog posts!
At first, it was a whim. I thought it would be fun (I was right). I didn't expect the ways in which it would change my view of the world and what I do in it.
I didn't expect to start feeling as though it was necessary to have a camera with me at all times, just in case something I saw sparked a blog idea and I wanted a picture. When I started blogging, my cell phone did not have a camera. Then, for a while, when I upgraded my phone, one of the criteria became whether or not the camera would produce pictures that were good enough for the blog.
Seriously? Yes. I didn't ask whether it could take pictures I'd want to keep for myself -- to remember people or events. I didn't ask whether it could take pictures I'd want to share with my family (photos of my girls for their grandparents). No. I asked whether the pics would be blog-worthy. (Sigh)
From time to time, I've taken pictures not because I wanted to keep a memory, but because I had to "feed the blog".
I didn't expect to develop a wee editor in my head who kept track of what event or scene or encounter was "bloggable." And, when I started, I certainly didn't expect to find times when blogging became an obligation. Since then, I've hooked up with BlogHer, and since they now pay me enough to cover the costs of blogging, it is reasonable that I feel an obligation to post regularly. Which leads me to today's dilemma.
My life is interesting to ME right now. But it's not as full of what I think are bloggable moments as it used to be. Because I'm studying a lot and doing homework (i.e. giving massages), I'm spending less time knitting. That means I have fewer interesting knitting updates to provide (assuming of course, that you're interested in knitting at all - but this is/was primarily a knitting blog, so I like to pretend that you are). I'm also spending less time wandering around my yard noticing all the lovely things -- and thus taking fewer pictures of them. And I'm not getting in as much travel, so there aren't those things to share.
Yes, school is dominating my life (yay). This semester, we're studying pathology, and delving slightly into various massage modalities. When we were learning muscles, I found more things to share on the blog that had to do with what I was studying. Now, well, pathology is fascinating, but generally kind of icky. I'm not anticipating that very many of you want to read about the icky stuff. And the modalities are fascinating, but we're not studying any one of them in enough depth for me to feel like what I have to say about them will be useful.
So... the thing that is consuming most of my time lately is not as easy to blog about.
Oddly, that hasn't lessened my desire to blog. So... you're getting random thoughts and topics. I'm trying to think of a way that will improve the coherence of the blog (and thus make it more interesting). So, I thought I'd put up a wee little poll to see if you all are willing to share what you'd like to read more about.
As some of you may know, I go a little nuts with candles during the holidays.
This means that dozens (or more) votive candles get spread around the house (and burned). When you do that, there always seems to be a sort of ring of wax at the bottom of the candle-holder that you just have to throw away.
That always irks me. So this time, as I cleaned out the candle holders, I accumulated those wax rings...and then stuck them all into the holder with the tallest wick -- sort of giving that candle more wax. As long as you don't put grossly competing scents together, it turns out to work pretty well, even if it does look kind of weird.
Having done that, I got to thinking about those stubs of tapers that you wind up with at the end of the day. And the occasional wax overflow. Again... seems so wasteful to just throw those away.
Votive holders to the rescue:
They look weird at first... but soon settle into looking like plain old votive candles.
Golf Pro is not going to find my new need to collect dead candle wax very amusing...
My email seems to be insand. I'll write an email, and send it.... Thunderbird tells me it's been sent... and yet, folks aren't getting the emails!
Very annoying.
So... if you've sent a comment (particularly to the post "Visible Progress") but haven't gotten my response (yes, that's right, I really do try to reply to most comments), please comment here and let me know.
Meanwhile, it's snowed again. And yesterday, I risked it all and shoveled the front walk, and did round two (getting the last bits) of the driveway. So far, my shoulder has NOT complained. I'm impressed and pleased..... but still not trusting of the progress.
As for the snow, I can't decide whether to hope it stays or goes -- we seem to be having roof leaky problems. The roofer can't come look until the snow has melted off of our roof -- of course the melt may also mean more water coming in. Sigh.
I think I'll go back to cleaning the house for our Annual Solstice Party. That's got to be more fun than fighting the technology or the roof.
The Holiday Cards are starting to come in... and it got me thinking about the tradition of sending Holiday Cards.
First, of course, it got me wondering whether we have any cards in "back-stock" and how many I'll need to buy, and how many I'll be sending .... but as I stood in line at the post office to buy stamps today, I began musing...
To whom does one send these cards? and why?
When I first got married, I found that my husband had an interesting dichotomous view of cards. On the one hand, he didn't see any reason to add notes to cards, and didn't really want to be involved in their sending at all, but when I asked him to tell me who he wanted to send cards to -- he gave me a list of about a hundred people.... without thinking about it very hard. (Lots of them were business acquaintences).
I send holiday cards to all of the family members that I so rarely get to see (and, as I do with some of the friends who receive cards, I typically enclose an Annual Letter that sort of summarizes the past year so that folks we don't see enough can keep up with our shenanigans). I also send them to the friends I'd claim as family if I could. Those are easy. But there are also those whom I've not seen in ten years or more -- and some whom I've never met but who were Golf Pro's friends back before I met him. There are some people about whom I wonder -- our only contact seems to be this annual exchange of holiday cards.
There was a point when it seemed like we were sending a hundred to a hundred fifty cards out, and not getting so many in return... and I got all anal and weird and set up a spread sheet to keep track of who we send cards to, and who we receive cards from. (It also helped me keep track of how many cards to get, and whether I'd actually send one to each person THIS year). After awhile, I started weeding the list -- folks to whom we'd sent cards for a certain number of years without receiving a card (or other contact) began to fall off the list. And of course, when cards came back becasue the people had moved, I either removed the person from the next year's list, or began a diligent search for the lost friend.
This year, we're a bit cash strapped. This year, I wondered whether I ought to forgo this ritual. After all, between the cards themselves, and the newsletters, and the labels (my hands can't write that many addresses by hand), and the stamps, it gets pretty expensive to send out Holiday Cards. We send out twenty to our "closest" family alone.
For so many of these people, I have e-mail addresses -- why don't I just e-mail the Annual Letter along with some warm Holiday Greetings? Or send e-cards? Mostly because there is something special... different... more meaningful about a tangible card. It's an object I can hold in my hand; it's a paper upon which a real person has written words just for me (even if it's just a signature). It's a contact that the electronic media just doens't quite match. And... it makes my mantle piece look festive ... and as the number of cards exceeds that which the mantles can hold, reminds me - visibly - for the rest of the season that there are a bunch of folks out there who care enough to send a card.
And so... because I want to keep that human connection going, I succumb to the material craze of the Holidays, and buy cards (well, okay I usually buy them in July at this amazing discount store in Maine), and buy stamps, and print, and write... and send those personal notes to my friends and family along the way.
Luckily, this year, the back-stock seems pretty full.
I'm simply referring you to a couple of pages on the internet to be awed by some chalk drawings that will blow your mind. (with a nod to The Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth who shared them via email). It's truly worth the two minutes to look at this you tube slide show.
Those are nice, moderately tame things (well, except perhaps for the shark). But this guy ... makes sidewalks almost scary! But damn are they awesome!
Here's a video of how Edgar Mueller (and team) made the Cravasse in Dun Laoghaire for the "Festival of World Culture" which took place from August 21. to 24, 2008.
Chaos. It's what's for breakfast. Here's a bit of chaos inducing silliness from the Psychiatry Department.
Which number would you push? (Actually, it makes more sense than most medical/psychiatry deparmtent phone answering systems).
Closer to home... we have more chaos
My back yard has turned into a jungle. This is the price I pay for
being too damned lazy busy to maintain it myself. Realistically, we hire folks to cut the lawn because the summer months tend to mean that I'm gone for a whole month, and the Golf Pro is gone for four days at a time on and off all summer. To avoid the recurring jungle phenomenon, we hire folks. We used to have great folks.
I've recently learned that the people I've
hired to mow the lawn and weed whack the be edges daren't actually
whack the edges because they evidently can't tell the difference
between a weed and a plant, and thus fear whacking a plant. If it's not fear of plants, its fear of hoses -- they can't whack one bed because the hose is too close to the edge.
Realizing the limitations of the weed whacker, and my own limitations as a weed hunter, I've even hired folks to spray deadly chemicals on certain types of weeds (I have found no non-toxic solution to the thistles that think this is the spawning ground from heaven). They have
evidently been spraying fertilizer instead. The bad kind of chaos has taken over.
My favorite lawn savior is out there now preparing to fill the back of his pick up truck with plant debris and haul it away. I am not amused that I'm paying him to fix what I've already paid to previously paid to prevent. I wish like crazy that I could hire HIM to do the stuff that my current "team" has failed so miserably at, but he's only in town about four days a month.
I'm similarly unamused that I'll be making scads of phone calls to try to find people who a) know what they're doing, b) aren't afraid to do what you hire them to do and c) don't think it's reasonable to charge $55.00 per hour to do work that requires very little training. One fellow thinks it's sane to charge me $80.00 to mow my lawn and whack the weeds -- once! (I struggle with that since I can't get a job that pays even half that). I'm even less amused that I have to make 20 calls leaving messages before I can even talk to one person about the possibilities.
However, touring the chaos that is now my back yard reminds me -- If you look closely enough, some of the good kind of chaos still shows.
This is the grass plant that we're going to have to cut out because it's overgrown all sense of civility and restraint and is trying to take over the yard...
Most disturbing to me is that despite having been vigorously trimmed (whacked to almost nothing) it's growing far larger than it was ever supposed to get, and is squishing the lovely dogwood that we planted so that we could enjoy the variegated leaves and the red twigs it will show in winter...
It is still kind of pretty to look closely between the blades...
But wait, what's that yellow blob?
Isn't she amazing?
And there are some plants that I was sure had long since stopped blooming, but which are pulling out one last effort.
That clematis was stunning in June. But mostly, it's been ... well... a boring old vine. I love surprises like that.
I'm not so fond of volunteers gone mad. Do you see anything... awkward... about the path beyond the bridge?
How about now?
Yeah. It might well grow into a lovely tree of some kind. But not there. And not in any of the other dozen or so places that particular beastie is thriving around the yard. They're going the way of the half dozen mulberry volunteers.
At least not all of the volunteers are undesireables... There are things appearing in the planters that I didn't put there, well, at least not this year (nor in fact for the past three years). Chaos... in a good way.
There's even a volunteer dogwood in the front yard that we actively want to keep!
And finally, two things that are thriving, without having been over taken by weeds... right where I put them.
Still fascinating to me... and still lovely with this growing right behind it.
Days like this I almost want a condo.... but I still revel in the beauty of a garden, even a feral one.
We've had this lovely pleasant not-quite-summer weather for so long that I've forgotten how to handle real mid-western summer weather. So once warned that this weekend means a return to 90+ degrees with a heavy dose of humidity ... I nixed any outdoor plans.
First, we slept late.
Then I caught up on all my Lexulous and Wordscraper games on Facebook, and read blogs and chased quizzes and learned that I might just be able to kill a man if it came down to it:
My result for The Can You Kill a Man? Test...
Maybe I could...
I scored 20% Cold and 46% Level-Headed!
In a pinch, I could do it, but I'd need a damn good reason to. And I'm not going to be too happy afterward.
I think this is actually a pretty accurate answer. Eventually, though, I had to venture out of the house. So I took the girls, and Kitty's bike, to a local Bike Project establishment. Bike Projects are very cool things. They're all over. In Austin, in Baltimore, in Bloomington,in Ghana, in Lansing, in
New Orleans, in Reno, in Urbana,in Wilmington, in ... (you get the picture... just Google Bike Project and your town name; if there's not one in town, go for the state, you're sure to find one). Our goals for this trip were several:
Find out how Kitty can join up to learn how to repair bikes (they have this project for kids under 15, where by the kid learns, repairs a bike for the Project, and then gets to repair a donated bike for his or her own and keeps it!);
Repair Kitty's bike, and determine whether or not she'd outgrown it (she hadn't, yay);
Get a basket of sorts put on the bike so that she can carry the clarinet to and from school;
Get a helmet for Kitty, so she can ride her bike to and from school;
Get a light of some sort on the bike in case "from school" becomes "in the dark";
Miraculously find a bike that fits me so I can replace the bike that was destroyed when GolfPro tried to help me clean out the garage a few years ago.
And... we accomplished them all! We still need a really truly headlight for Kitty's bike, but we got the rest covered (including BRIGHT blinky lights for front and rear), and I'll be getting her a horn (likely one of these) before school starts, but her bike is ready to go, basket and all. Turns out if she joins up, someone will help her learn...but they're still working on the best way to go about it.
As for my bike?
Isn't it lovely? Note the lovely drink bottle holder? And, though you can't see it in this shot, a nice rack on the back .... see...
Yes, the seat is a tad torn up. I'm likely to have at it with duct tape. I might even go shopping for a new one. But... since NEW bikes are hard to find for under $400.00 these days, I'm feeling pretty darned smug about this one. Our whole bill, "new" (i.e. repaired donated) bike, basket, blinkie lights, helmet and all, was $115.00. And the repair work? Caitlin did most of it herself, with guidance, and thus we paid nothing but learned something.
Life is good.
That was enough of the hot outdoors though, so we've come home, and I've been reading blogs etc. and found a new-to-me but delightful blog .... with a contest!
I did try to get pictures of Natalia, since she's clean and dry and everything. But she's shy today. We have to wait until the sun is in a different place in the sky I guess.
Have you seen those new commercials for that G2 stuff?
Does the grammar failure bother you? Less Calories??? LESS Calories? Hello... if you can count them, and so many people count calories every day that I believe they qualify as countable, then the word we're looking for is FEWER.
My TV is making me crazy now. It's NOT diveriting...sigh.
I think I'll go finish the toes on my new socks... (pics tomorrow when there's daylight).
I've been on a roll. And though I have one more FO to show off, I think the roll is a bout to slow down dramatically. There are no more AFO's lurking about, and I've no wee projects to start.
So... here are the booties I finished up for CPY last night.
They look like baby thigh highs to me... but that's what Susan wanted, so that's what Susan gets.
Meanwhile, I've been pondering friendship. I've actually been pondering it for a long time, and have started this post repeatedly, but never quite liked what I wrote enough to publish it. I've decided that if I don't just do it... this post will badger me forever.
What does it mean to have a friend, or to be a friend? And how do friendships get started. Similarly, how do they end? And what happens when one person unilaterally decides to end a friendship?
I like to think I'm a pretty good friend. I welcome people to my home, I call or email or write letters or send instant messages (and lately -- even text messages). I pay attention to life's milestones, and try to acknowledge them. I give gifts, though far fewer than I would like, sometimes for the milestone moments, or the "obligatory gift giving" days -- sometimes just because. Once upon a time, when I was single, and had a nice hefty paycheck, I gave gifts without consideration of the cost. Now, with two children and aging teeth and a house that cost more to live in than we'd anticipated ... oh, and no job, I give less than I used to, and perhaps to fewer people. But friendship isn't based on GIFTS is it?
Friendship seems to me to be based on mutual trust, affection, respect and interest, and at times, simple familiarity. Somewhere, two or more people find that they share an interest, or that by circumstance, they see each other every day. And then, they find that they share attitudes or more interests. And through social interaction of some sort (meeting at knit-nights, rehearsing together, working together, having coffee or lunch, responding to blog comments, email, phone calls, what have you), they develop some sort of bond. And they respond to that bond by increased interaction -- and a thing we call friendship develops. And maybe even the urge to give gifts.
Over time, one or the other will commit some trespass that annoys the other. And discussions will ensue. Generally, with friends, we get past it, and the friendship continues. With mere acquaintances, we sometimes don't, and the relationship, such as it was, dissipates. But, from what I've seen, friendship isn't one of those things that you just switch off abruptly without reason. At least, that's what I've always thought.
I have (had?) a friend who has, of late, stopped responding to emails, stopped returning calls, stopped responding to comments to her blog, and hasn't acknowledged a gift I sent several months ago. Through her blog, I see that she is still communicating with other friends, talking on the phone with them, receiving and delighting in gifts -- because she blogs about it all. I see that she's not suddenly too ill to communicate with the world. I can only assume that I've done something unforgivable to her (or to someone she loves)-- but I can't for the life of me figure out what that something is. Six months ago, I was visiting her home, hanging with her family, and happily exchanging gifts and stories. Six months ago, she was "Auntie" to my kids. Now... the radio silence is deafening. I've even emailed to ask what offense I'd caused that she so steadfastly refuses to speak to me...(I told her that if she wants me to leave her alone, she need only tell me so (and why if possible) but have gotten no response.
And I'm sad to lose that friendship. I miss our emails. I miss her comments on my blog -- and I miss her responses to my comments on hers. I miss looking forward to visiting her again. I miss the phone chats we had for a brief while. But mostly.... mostly I'm confused. I can't quite let go because I just do not understand what happened that caused a person who emailed me three or more times a week to suddenly stop responding. I have pondered my many failings, and come up with nothing to explain why she's abruptly turned her back on me, silently.
Either way, it seems that I've been shunned.... for her other blogging friends (with whom I also used to have an intermittent email correspondence) have now also stopped responding to my comments on their blogs. Maybe I'm just not cool enough to be in their crowd. I linger on....
Perhaps, I overestimated our relationship. I thought I had a friend. I thought that her repeat invitations to stay in her home were signs of friendship. I thought our emails were exchanged in friendship. I thought that her gifts to me were sent in friendship. My gifts to her were sent/given in friendship. In fact --- I have another gift for her that I don't quite know what to do with... I bought yarn with her in mind. I designed and knit a small shawl with her in mind. And now, it sits ... languishing, neither worn nor bestowed, for I fear that it will be unwelcome..... or will be found wanting, or that it will be perceived as trying to buy my way back into her good graces. For a while, I admit, it sat because I was hurt and angry that she hadn't even so much as acknowledged receiving the last gift. But still, it seems to know it was meant for her. And I can do nothing else with it.... Every day, I think I should just mail it to her anyway.
Do rejected friends still have the right to give gifts? If not, what does one do with a gift that was conceived and made with prayers and thoughts for a former friend imbued in every stitch?
Various blogs I read (I'd linkity, but then I'd practically install a
list of my top 25 blogs here, so it's not really practical) have been
reminding us that public intoxication, even in the guise of celebrating
the season with your friends at seasonal parties, is a bit gauche. They've also reminded us that public intoxication in the
guise of celebrating the season with your co-workers at office
sponsored seasonal parties is a Bad Plan. As in Not Wise. As in Just.
Plain. Stupid.
I've seen this in person this year. Saturday I mentioned that the office holiday party I went to on Friday night
was... a bit exciting. It was a prime example of why allowing yourself
to be over-served at your employer's holiday party is a Poor Career
Choice. I refrained from saying then that it seemed rather like
someone there decided to do a Jerry Springer audition, but the more I
ponder it the more that description seems fitting. I'm still blown away by the things she said. I've since learned that the individual in
question took her rather alarming behavior out on the town, and did a
repeat performance in a local sports bar/restaurant frequented by folks in her employment community and their friends. Another poor
career choice -- it took what had been at least confined to a small group of people and made it public. And, unfortunately, what she was saying meant that folks couldn't really separate her stuff from the employer. It showed such a frightening lapse in judgment, that it
effectively put her employers on notice that her behavior had the potential to become volatile
anywhere.... even, perhaps, in the conference room with a client.... or worse. She really left them no choice.
The moral of this story? If you behave badly enough, even the holiday season won't save your job. And public intoxication can lead you to behave pretty badly.
Now, I realize that this is a season "full of cheer". Some of it is in
children's faces. Some of it is in our hearts. But some of it, especially when folks aren't otherwise feeling cheerful, seems to be in
liquid form. And the liquid kind seems to be readily available at holiday parties.
I also realize that this season, there are all sorts
of things to plague our minds: The big public ones, e.g. The Shrub is
working on issuing decrees that bypass the Congress, which decrees will
do awful things for the Country; the economy sucks; the transition
between presidents will not go smoothly even if both Bush and Obama are
genuinely trying to make it happen, because people like Illinois'
governor are behaving badly;
and...the smaller personal ones: we will
not finish our Holiday Knitting on time because we were, once again, a
little unclear on the concepts that there are only 24 hours in a given
day and that even if others pick up the slack elsewhere, it is not
possible to spend all 24 of them knitting; we're also behind on the gifts we'd decided to try to buy instead of knit this year, because the stores don't seem to want to carry what we want; and the gifts
we thought we could buy for less, were more, and our checking
account is looking thin.
But as we go forward, taking on more and more
liquid cheer to get us past the increasingly obvious facts that plague
us, (like the surprise gift that must suddenly be added to
the knitted item list that needs to be finished -- more on that later) let's remember to care
for our livers and our careers, by keeping our inebriated outbursts
confined to the privacy of our own homes, shall we?
And when you've tossed back
one too many egg nogs...... lift neither the phone nor the needles.
Trust me, you'll thank me in the morning.
I was reading blogs this morning, trying to catch up. (stop laughing) (c'mon... okay, you're right. pause to laugh a little bit hysterically at the idea that I might ever catch up on the blog list) There. As I was saying... I was reading blogs, and came upon this post from JoyKnits (only a few days late), in which she was recounting her visit to Soulard Market in St. Louis. Ahhh Soulard! I have great memories of Soulard. Among my favorites -- taking a friend and my step-sister, and finding baby ducks (I thought they might have been Muscovy Ducks, but ours were all white).
In the age when three 10 year olds wandering Soulard alone wasn't scary, my parents set us loose to wander around while they went to fetch food (fresh veggies, fruit, meat from the butchers, etc). We found baby ducks, and when my parents found us, we were sitting on a bench, each of us with duckling in hand, petting and grinning.
The ducks came home with us. They grew up -- one was male, VERY defensive of his gals. One died in the winter of sheer dumbness. I'm serious. The silly thing sat on the frozen snow until it all melted underneath her warm body; then she stood up, until it froze over again, and tried to walk out. Dumb. We moved the ducks into the basement after that, but she never did quite recover.
Her fellow duck, however, fared fabulously, and that spring we saw five ducklings. The were around for a few days, and then disappeared without a trace. They were followed by fifteen ducklings. Fifteen.
Papa duck became even more defensive of his brood. I still remember the bruise on Dad's calf from a time he got too close when feeding them. Ducks, as you may or may not know, reach out with their misleadingly non-sharp non-pointy beaks, grab a bit of skin, then twist and use their wings to flap backwards. It HURTS!
So... 17 ducks in the yard.
Consider -- we lived in town. Right in University City. This city, you may note if you check the map, is surrounded by other cities. It's no where near the "country". And though we had a nice yard, it wasn't huge. We were not in an area where raising foul in the back yard was an approved activity.
Eventually, someone called the city on us, and we had to get rid of the ducks. When Dad went to move them (he released the adults into Forest Park on one of the ponds there), he found another 23 eggs in the nest. egads! Silly us. We should have been collecting and eating those eggs! Wonder why we never thought of it.
Another trip brought rabbits. BIG rabbits. I'd no idea rabbits came that big. But for reasons I never did get, my Dad brought home three rabbits one day. Built them a lovely hutch that nestled in under the back porch. The largest of them, he named Fat Albert (after the character in Bill Cosby's routines -- this was before the cartoon came out, we'd only listened to stories about Fat Albert).
Alas, the dogs got to the rabbits. One at a time...
But I still remember how magnificent those rabbits were
So.. thanks Joy! I enjoyed that little trip down memory lane.
I spent a few days cowering in pain from my sinus infection. I'm currently loving penicillin derivatives.
I started the Halloween Costume Construction lunacy. This year, we're doing the T-Tunic thing. You know, fold fabric in half, cut neck hole, pin to fit, sew side seams..... They can look like this:
But when you're doing something snazzy with sheer fabric for the sleeve, you have lots of extra from the sides... so you can do a variation on gores for the skirt... leaving you with something like this:
I still have some gores to sew in.... and some sleeve work to do... and likely a hem or two... But we made a start.
I also spent about three hours on the phone with our HealthCare provider's accounts department (after who know how many hours working out a spreadsheet to line up what I know we've paid with what they show we've paid). They don't show "received $100.00. They show all the bizarre ways they've allocated any given payment to a charge.... so $100.00 gets broken down to $2.37 to this date of service, $15.20 to that one, 25.00 to this one 12.43 to this other one... $0.90 to that one (I kid you not)...etc. etc.
We found a good $100.00 in stuff that's been unallocated for over a year, and thus doesn't really show as credited.... Now I'm checking on whether they've over-allocated after insurance payments.
I'm hating it.
On the good side... I've also been spending time with the spreadsheets for Seasons of Lace... and awarding raffle prizes right left and center.
I had actually bound off the stealth knitting project I'm doing, but realized that I really did have enough yarn for another repeat of the lace body... and ripped it all back to use up as much of the yarn as possible. Now I'm nearing the end again. Sure wish I could show you!
Then we learned about Hurricane Omar. You see, many many months ago, we got an omigod deal for a weekend in St. Thomas. $399.00 paid for five days and four nights for all four of us!! I managed to score plane tickets for all four of us for $329.00 each. This weekend is the weekend we're scheduled to go (Oct 18-22). Then this hurricane shows up and starts glaring at St. Thomas.
We got notification. American Airlines seemed to be saying that if we were scheduled to fly between October 13 and October 18, we could reschedule at no extra charge. We figure that's a good plan, manage to move the amazing hotel deal... only to learn that the latest we can reschedule the flight to is.... Oct 18.
Huh? Why reschedule from Oct 18 to Oct 18????? Moving it would have cost $563 PER PERSON! hello??? more than the original tickets by a lot!
So, after hours of agonizing, and contemplating what to do with our weekend (since DH had finagled the time off), we had to scramble to reinstate the deal for this weekend. NOW I really need the break!
Meanwhile, my dear friend, the Divine though Blogless Elizabeth, has given me my birthday present a tad early (it's not til Monday).
Are those not the CUTEST knitted shoe/slippers you've ever seen for an adult foot? And they fit perfectly!
I Heart My Shoes!
I'm a little sad that they aren't really appropriate for the beach.
I'm secretly gloating a little that I get to spend my birthday on the beach.
Joy nominated me for a blog award! DAYS ago even. Okay, now it's bordering on weeks.
I'm tickled to show off my blue ribbon ---
As with all good titles, the ribbon comes with some responsibilities -- and they're what kept me from showing off right from the start.
Here are the rules:
Post the award on your blog.
Add a link to the person who gave you the award.
Nominate at least 4 other bloggers and add their links.
Leave a comment at the recipients’ blogs so they can pass it on.
Four. Hard to choose just four. I enjoy so many ... and so many deserve the award.... and that's why I've been dithering over this post for so long. I mean, there are over 25 blogs in my Google Reader list that have been plunked into the "Favorites" folder. So I've had to consider which of these favorites were "more favorite" (is like like "more equal"?).
Then, I realized that many of these blogs are blogs I love because I love the people who write them. I wondered ... would I read this blog so eagerly if I didn't KNOW this person?
I’m passing it along to just a few of the blogs I enjoy:
1. The FairyGodknitter lace knitter, mom, friend, awesome tour guide for the Buffalo area, and all around witty and wise person who maintains the most amazingly positive attitude in the face of adversity.
2. Your Pharmacist May Hate You non-knitter (as far as I know). Yes, it's true, I do read non-knitting blogs. This one, written by a pharmacists who refers to himself as DrugMonkey reveals all sorts of things that you hoped weren't true about the pharmaceutical industry, the medical industry, life, and the way politics intersects with those things. He also tells some pretty amusing drug store stories.
ARGH - times two!
I'd finished this post, and when I went to save/publish it.... it ATE the last chunk, the one in which I'd said
ARGH this is so hard! So far I've listed one blogger whom I didn't know before I'd read her blog, and one I don't know at all. Let's see if I can do that again.
3. What Housework knitter, dyer of amazing yarns (her color sense is brilliant), mother, inadvertent farmer, and all around great person ...
Nope. I can't. I would offer you Dilbert.com blog, but he's so big I'm pretty sure he won't respond at all. He's actually very informative... but still. That leaves me with a woman I knew through lists, and references, and whom I'd met a time or two at events before I visited and stayed with her this summer.... after which I started reading her renewed blog.
4. Grafton Fibers: Linda's Blog spinner, knitter, crocheter, blender of incredible spinning fibers, co-owner of Grafton Fiber Arts (maker of awesome needles, hooks,spindles, and looms, and purveyor of said awesome spinning fibers), shepherd, mother, staunch advocate for her children, and teller of tales of the evils of Man that will curl your hair, while making you proud as hell of her for her tenacious and valiant efforts to withstand the onslaught.
5. As Nora and Joy have said, it’s really hard to pick just 4 - there are
so many more. I've skipped the obvious ones. I mean, how many blue ribbons does Steph or Franklin need? If you’re reading and commenting, thank you, thank you!
Please take the ribbon and pass it along!
Thanks again Joy!!!
Meanwhile, while reviewing the blogs I read, I was (aren't we always?) lead to one I'd not read before, which had embedded this video.
It's good. It's funny. It's smart! And in the end, it's serious and has an important message for us all. Please watch, and think about what this man has to say. (oh, and enjoy the giggles).
I have a big nasty rant brewing for my not-so-friends at Comcast. But first... there's something important anyone who knits, or who knows or loves someone who knits should read. Go on... I'll wait. If you read it a day or so ago.... read it again.
It's hard to type with the welling up thing my eyes are doing after reading that. Franklin's right. What we do IS important. And we ARE beautiful.
And since that's true.... why does Comcast have to treat anyone who is stuck with it's services so damned badly!???
I have had connectivity problems with my comcast email since they bought out my former ISP. (We're talking months here) The server times out. Over and over again. But not ALWAYS... so it's an intermittent problem. So I get to call them. A lot. Sometimes, they tell me that it's a known problem and they're working on it. Sometimes they write up a "ticket" and tell me that a tech will call me within 24 -48 hours. Until yesterday, no techs ever called. When I got peeved with the shitty service (that included reports logged on my account saying that the problem had been resolved even though no tech ever contacted me, and the problem was still very much there), I asked to speak to a manager type. Here's what they do for that.
1) The person you're on the phone with logs into his/her computer, and tries to log into a "chat system". You wait while this happens.
2) When the person finally gets into the chat system, he or she then has to explain what your problem is, what he or she has done about it, what anyone else has done about it, and why you want to speak to an "acceleration agent". You wait while this happens. No matter how long this takes, you wait.
3) Eventually, this request gets sent to someone who decides that you can speak to an acceleration agent. They then send a telephone extension number to your "customer service" person. You wait while your person gets this extension number.
4) The customer service person then attempts to conference you in on a call with the acceleration agent. But first, you wait while he or she explains stuff again.
I'm not sure what really happens next, because this process takes at least 1/2 an hour. By the time I got to talk to the acceleration agent I had been on the phone for a total of 50 minutes, and was too angry to speak rationally. I explained this to her, and asked her to return my call in a couple of hours when I'd be able to behave civilly. She promised to do so, but seemed to want me to stay on the phone while she put a bunch of stuff in a form. I hung up.
I hates Comcast.
And they wonder why I don't want to add their phone service to my account.
I likes the tech fellow who came out to my house and solved some of the problems, but he hates their system too.
Oh -- if you're talking to SALES, and not tech support.... you can get a manager almost right away. I know this because sales keeps calling to try to entice me to add their phone service. I'm so up for having my phone line be intermittently available. NOT
And while I'm ranting about folks not doing their jobs..... today I had an appellate argument. Yep, I got all dressed up in my lawyer suit and drove for an hour an a half to defend an appeal on a case DH had won on summary judgment. I'd done my homework. I was primed and ready. Opposing counsel (who, it turns out, was in my first ballroom dance class) was primed and ready. It didn't seem to me, however, that the panel of judges had done their homework. I'd be very surprised if they'd read the briefs (why do we write them if they're not going to read them??). The questions they asked made me wonder if they had any idea what the case was about, who the players were, or what the real issues of law were that they were there to decide. They'd have known if they'd read the briefs. I can't say that they were either primed or ready. Either that or they were trying to trip us up somewhere. Harumph.
I lost a lot of good knitting time preparing for that case. (But they do allow knitting needles into the appellate court building.)
But tomorrow .... tomorrow I might get to go hang at the yarn shop with Janna, who is in the area for sadder things (and thus safely away from the floodwaters in Iowa), but thinks she'll be able to squeeze in some time for blogger meet up fun. And better yet.... one of they LYSs is having a 40% off sale on some of her stuff tomorrow.....
Although I had a lovely weekend, It started with a very weird experience at my bank. Admittedly, this particular scenario made my day a tad bit easier, I'm not at all sure I like it.
Here's what happened:
I was getting ready to escape to Chicago for the weekend, and needed to bring some cash. So.... we drove up to the ATM on the way out of town. I went to a new branch of the bank .... one I've never visited before... because it was much closer (and barely out of the way to the highway). I wondered aloud why I don't use this branch, since it's so much closer to home.
The drive through ATM is clearly designed for SUVs and minivans. But I was in a Prius. So reaching the keypad was a bit more challenging than I'd intended. First I managed to get into the system in Spanish. Laudable I suppose, except that I can neither speak nor read Spanish, and thus could not conduct my transaction. Then, when I finally got in, in English, and told it I wanted some cash from my checking account, it asked "which account?".... and listed Account 1, Account 2 and Account 3. Odd. I only have one checking account with this bank. I selected number 1 figuring that with only one account, Account 1 had to be right. It had asked for my pin once, but evidently it wasn't convinced. It asked for my PIN again. It didn't like what I entered.
I canceled my transaction, started over, and tried again selecting Account 2, with the same results.
I gave up and went inside.
I strolled into the bank wearing comfy traveling clothes, and told the teller what had happened. He remarked that this "select account" thing was new, and that it was indeed confusing those customers who have only one account. He told me that if we have only one account, we're supposed to choose account one. Okay....but that didn't work, did it?
His Sidekick (a woman who was standing behind him) asked if I wanted him to call card services to see if there was something wrong with my card? "Sure," I said. "And can I get cash... I don't have my checkbook with me...
"
"Sure," says Teller Guy.
So, as I'm standing there, and Teller Guy is getting a cash withdrawal slip to fill out, Sidekick takes my ATM card, and calls over to card services. She reports that there have been two failed PIN entry attempts (likely the two I experienced at their drive through), but that she could have them reset my pin for me right there. I said, that sounded fine, and gave them a new PIN number.
Meanwhile, Teller Guy fills out a checking withdrawal slip for me, and asks me for my account number. I rattle it off (it's an easy one). He writes it into the slip, and then processes my transaction.
In mere moments, she gives me my card back, with the new PIN, he gives me $200.00 in cash, and
I walk out.
Do you notice something missing from the above scenario?
Sidekick never asked for the original PIN.
Teller Guy never asked for any ID whatsoever.
Seems to me, I could have been a thief who had stolen a purse, nabbed the ATM card and the check book... memorized the checking account number, and gone into the bank for some cash.
Seems to me that when a bank client you've never seen before says "Hi, I can't get my card to work," a bank employee with any hint of security consciousness wouldn't respons to "there have been two failed PIN attempts" by offering to reset the PIN without getting an ID.
Seems to me that when a person comes into the bank w/o her check book, you ought to ask for ID (or at least have the person confirm some other piece of information) before merrily giving her cash.
I'm just sayin'.
Luckily, I suppose, I am the owner of the account, and thus, no one stole money from me Friday.
From there on, it was smooth sailing. E (my walking buddy, not to be confused with the Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth, with whom I also sometimes walk) and I drove up to Chicagoland, where we landed at her Mom's house. We were soon met by Alyse and Evan. Joanne served us a truly delicious dinner, and we all went to play on the Wii Fit. I neeeeed one.
Saturday, we went into the city for Brunch at Wishbone.
Can you say Yummmmmm. I can. I'm quite sure I ate more than I should have. I had an omelet with cream cheese and bell peppers, grits, and crab cakes. And Mississippi Mud (espresso, condensed milk, cream, ice).
Thus well fed, Alyse and I took Alicia to Loopy Yarns. I was cameraless I know, I know, BAD Blogger behavior), but Alyse took a few shots (she's promised to send them to me). I tried very hard to be good. I managed to resist sea silk, and Manos and a 25% off on Rowan yarns sale. But this particular hank of sock yarn would not let me leave it behind.
oops
I blame it on the yarn fumes. You see, my room at Alyse's house is also a yarn storage space, so I slept with yarn fumes all night. And then, well, Loopy Yarns is rife with them. It's hazardous. I'm thinking I did really well. (Notice that I'm not outing Alicia or Alyse? They bought more than I did. see... I was good.)
It was a good thing I was feeling strong despite the yarn fumes... as it would have been a bit awkward hauling the big bag of yarn I wanted to buy into the Caddillac Palace Theater. At a bit of prodding from Alyse's husband (who called us), we tore ourselves away from the yarn store to take a brisk walk up State Street so that we could be thoroughly entertained by Muppets!.
Avenue Q may resemble Sesame Street in some ways... and yes Oscar's trash can would have fit right in .... and the style of presentation may have been similar... but Avenue Q is definitely NOT a kid's show. If it were a movie, they'd have to rate it NC-17. I don't care if there's no human nudity involved, that much sex on stage is not for kids.
BUT.... Avenue Q is not (just) muppet porn (though one muppet insists that the Internet is for Porn). It's a great show... full of laughter, that makes you think about some serious issues (like, say, Racism) in ways that make opening the topic more accessible.
The rest of the weekend continued... full of friends and good food and good conversation, and food, and even some knitting. Some not so happy making knitting.
I have been struggling to get Rivendell started in a way that means it will actually fit. You see, as written, with my yarn (that is the perfect colorway for this sock), the sock will not fit over that wide place where your heel and arch are .... I've tried about four needle sizes -- to get it over that wide spot, the gauge had to be far too loose for socks. So I've been trying to modify it. I've made it so the very top (where the wrapped stitches prevent a lot of stretch) will actually go over my heel/instep. But that means that its baggy baggy around my ankle.
grrrr.
At least it's pretty (even if this picture is hiding how lovely the yarn is in person).
I'm sure if I think about it, I'll have lots to say about this weekend (besides THANK YOU Alyse, for putting me up in your house!)
But right now... it's HOT, and I'm tired and hungry, and thus cranky, and have blogged my fill for the day.
Laverna has given us todays ramblings. They're all her fault. Besides, you know how hard it is for me to resist a blog related contest! (Go see). She's in a funk because spring was abruptly sucked into Dog Days of Summer worthy heat, and is hoping that we'll be able to collectively provide enough things we love about summer to get her to appreciate it.
So. Here are some of the things I love about summer (and the fact that some of these work in Spring and Fall too should not detract from their summerfulness).
Waking on my own schedule. I do not have to get up early just to roust the kids for school. I get to get up when MY scheduled needs it. Which tends to mean that I actually get enough sleep.
No shoes. Even though this means no socks :-( .... but I much prefer shoelessness. Especially when the reason for shoes is that without them you'd get frostbite on your toes).
Daylight. Lots of it. Taking blog pictures at 8 p.m. in real daylight.
Traveling! It's vacation time around here, and that means I load my kids and my knitting into the car, and drive off to visit family and friends I don't get to see in the other seasons.
Lobster. I get fresh from the sea lobster whenever we visit my Mom (Mid-coast Maine) in the summer. Ditto mussels and clams. yum
Flowers. Lots of them. Blooming all over.
Swimming. Preferably around 4:00 in the afternoon when most of the folks at the pool have already gone home. Ahhhhh.
Stitches Midwest. I get to go almost every year. I'm regularly overcome by yarn fumes, but I love re-encountering all my fiber loving friends, and talking to the folks I buy yarn from and all the goodness that goes with a big fiber event.
Knitting in the Gazebo. Even when it's hot, the ceiling fan is usually enough to make a nice breeze.
Dining al fresco. Lots of restaurants have lovely "beer gardens" where you can sit away from the ubiquitous televisions, and enjoy a nice chocolate martini or a mojito beneath the stars.
Canoing (or for those lucky enough to be able to do it: SAILING!)
Ice Cream and Custard. Especially the smaller ice cream stands where you can get the "home made" variety. We have one here in town, and there are two near mom. They just aren't open in the winter....
You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out.
Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia.
Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person.
You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.
You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.
Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.
You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people.
You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts.
You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.
Well, I can certainly live with that description of me. I wonder if it's got any basis in reality.
What it doesn't tell you is that I'm a person whose family can accumulate enough leftovers in the fridge to fill all of these plastic containers (and leave them until they're inedible),
and still have a refrigerator still looks this full after we've cleared all those leftovers out.
Nor does it tell you that I'm a person whose productivity can be seriously impaired by cats..
Note the lack of space for knitting in my lap?
See ... there... how am I supposed to work on any lovely lace when I've got all this adorable catness in my lap? I mean seriously?
Look at these guys:
Who can resist??
All I was able to do was go for a less challenging project
It's the Noro Outtakes Scarf Hat. The scarf was a bit too much of an ambitious plan for the yarn I have left, but it's clear to me that I'll be able to finish the hat. I'm doing a variation on the Marsan Watchcap. I actually wished I'd found the pattern before I gotten through so much regular ribbing that I didn't want to frog again... I rather like the twisted rib she used. Mostly, I just like that I've found a hat that works with what I've done so I can work that as a simple blind follower. I CAN do that.. sometimes. Usually it takes test knitting to get me to just do what I'm told. But from here on out, I'm going to do what I'm told on this hat...
I am the sort of person who can do that. Really....
Recent Comments