Half-Sunny Day

It was warm-ish and partly sunny today so I ventured out.  I stopped at the bank, then took

my black-and-red geek glasses back to Eyemart Express because one of the little silver buttons fell off the front.  Well.  They didn't have more black-and-red frames so I asked if they had any color and they did.  Black-and-crystal (that means clear).  So I acquiesced.  I'm gracious that way.  Now I have red glasses and green glasses and neutral black-and-crystal glasses.  I'm styling.

From there I went to the DMV to see about getting a REAL ID driver's license because we'll need them to fly starting in October.  There were a lot of cars in the lot and when I went in I found all of the drivers.  In a line from the desk to the door, up the side wall and curling across the front of the counters.  The men I talked to said it had only taken them 20 minutes to go from the end of the line, way down there, to the door where I stood.  I looked at the line and thought.  And decided to go back another day.  I think on the DMV website there's a FAQs section and I'll bet that it'll tell me when's a good time to go.




This afternoon and evening I knitted the last of the Advent garland sockies so now I have an even dozen.  I need to knit two more mittens and then I'll be close to finally finishing this project that's over four years old.  Time for it to be done.




02 January--Barbara Malcolm, Spies Don't Retire. 

Preparations for their day on Arawak went swiftly.  The snorkeling group voted unanimously to rent Franz’s boat for the day.

Both of their wives asked if there was a radio onboard and they were happy to be able to say yes and get on with their outing.  By that time neither Irina nor Sonia raised too many objections to the fact that their husbands would be spending the day together.  The constant worry that their opposite number would be spending the day looking to pry secrets from them had seemingly abated.  Irina was especially casual when Dimitri told her about the day on the boat.  She merely reminded him to take a hat and his “disgusting rubber suit” so that he didn’t get sunburned.  Sonia waved a hand at George saying, “I’ve got a gallery showing coming up and you know cruise ship season is nearly upon us.  I don’t have time to go gallivanting off on a snorkel trip with you.  Maybe I can go next time.”

Thank god, George thought, I don’t have to tap dance around to discourage her from coming.  He was sure that there was no way Irina would want to tag along with them.  Dimitri had said that she hated to even go into the ocean, hated the feeling of salt water on her skin and the idea of the creatures that lived, died, and pooped in the water that was touching her.  George thought it was pretty funny that someone as self-controlled as Irina seemed to be freaked out over a little diluted fish poop, but he was grateful all the same.

Plans for the outing went smoothly; enough people signed up so the rental fee was easily covered, they got permission from the Marine Park office to tie up at the mooring maintained by them on the leeward side of Arawak Island, and the last cargo freighter had brought six pallets of charcoal so they wouldn’t have to cook burgers over a fire fueled by burning wood scraps and cactus carcasses.  Davis arranged to tie up Franz’ ferryboat at the pier just past the customs office so there was plenty of parking nearby and lots of room on the pier for the mountain of gear they planned to take.

Tomorrow LC will be six years old.  Unbelievable.  

I was right about the cough's turn to wake me up in the night last night.  It's like there's a saw blade in my throat.  I don't like it.  I don't like my ears aching and my hearing being at about half-mast.  Not fair.
--Barbara