Swoosh

It was so windy today that the birdfeeders spent the day swinging and swaying.  One squirrel found the peanuts in the wreath and made inroads.  On the plus side it was sunny most of the day too, but the clouds arrived in mid-afternoon, blown in on the big wind, I guess.  A Downy Woodpecker found the suet pellets and hung on for a swooping ride back and forth in the wind.

 

I finished the January Preemie Hat #4 this afternoon.  I'm disappointed in the picture because there's a thread of sparkley mylar in the yarn and it doesn't show.  Some little miss will have a swanky new hat.

 

 

Tonight at the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild meeting we learned about knitting sweaters top down and I started the February Doll Sweater to learn the technique.  So I started at the neck edge and knitted along, increasing along the raglan sleeve lines.  I'm about halfway to where the sleeves get separated and put onto waste yarn to hold on until the rest of the sweater is knitted, then I'll go back and knit the sleeves one at a time.  LC has dolls that this sweater will fit so it will have a home when it's done. 

21 January--Barbara Malcolm, The Seaview. 

Chapter 38

I took my shower hoping that the water would wash out some of my irritation.  I was really angry at Will and Marie for coming unannounced.  I knew that their intention was not to check up on me but to surprise me with their help and support, but it sure did feel like an invasion. 

At least Iggy and I had still had all our clothes on.  If Will had been a few minutes later that might not have been the case. 

I didn’t say anything to Will and Elizabeth about calling Marie.  We met out in the courtyard; I brought out three glasses of juice and rum and we sat enjoying the night breeze and the quiet sound of the surf from the beach across the road.  I watched my son and his wife get more and more nervous as the time passed.  I knew when Will looked at his watch that he was thinking that we needed to start driving to pick up his sister or maybe they had decided she should take a taxi here and he was gauging when she might show up.  I didn’t think that Marie would have called her brother after talking to me; she always was eager to postpone conflict if she possibly could. 

I drained my glass and stood.  “Why don’t we get into the car and go pick up Marie?” 

Will and Elizabeth had put their heads together to whisper to each other, my question snapped them both erect in their chairs.  Will was the first to recover.  “Why?  Mom, what are you talking about?”

 I reached over and snagged their glasses, tossing the ice cubes off the edge of the deck into the night.  “Oh, Will, I am no stupider than I was when you were kids.  I can smell a plan cooking a mile off.  Too bad I can’t smell one cooking over the ocean, isn’t it?  That would have saved me and Iggy a spot of embarrassment this afternoon, wouldn’t it?” 

I smiled at their stunned faces.  “I called Marie as soon as I got back to my studio; hearing the lilting mix of French and Creole in the voices around her gave it away.  She did try to tell me that she was at home but I knew that if she were at home she would be flying down tomorrow.  I figured she had taken the less expensive route to Anguilla and flown into St. Martin, took a taxi to the ferry dock in Marigot, and she was waiting for the ferry.”  I shook my head at their foolishness in trying to pull one over on their mother.  “You figured that we’d be eating a nice meal and, pop, in she would walk, right?” 

Will looked disgusted.  “Yeah, something like that.” 

Elizabeth reached over and squeezed his hand.  “It is okay, dear.  I don’t think your mom is too angry anymore.”  She looked at me.  “Are you?” 

I sighed and shook my head.  “Come on.  It's a pretty long drive on terrible roads over to Blowing Point.  We can stop at the Ferryboat Inn for supper once Marie arrives.” 

We all went out and climbed into my rented Toyota.  Will spent the ride cringing every time a car came toward us.  “Who dreamed up this crazy way of driving?” he said to no one in particular at one point when we rounded a corner to find a truck filling most of the road and bearing down on us like a juggernaut.  I slowed and maneuvered the car into someone’s front yard a few feet so that the behemoth could pass us without removing the passenger side of the car. 

“Well,” I said, “think about it.  It's cheaper to import cars from the States where we have left hand drive, but Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory and they drive on the left side of the road.  So you have here the odd occurrence of left hand drivers driving on the left side of the road.  I heard once that the reason is in the days when knights fought on horseback most of them were right handed and so they carried their weapon in their right hand.” 

Will snorted again.  “That wouldn’t have lasted this long.” 

“You don’t think so?  People keep traditions of behavior for a lot of reasons.  Remember I told you that I asked your dad’s mom when we were first married why she always cut off the bone end of the ham before she roasted it?  Well, she asked her mom who told her that her grandmother hadn't had a pot big enough to roast a whole ham, so there we have one entire family of women who chop off a bit of the ham because someone five generations back had cookware that was too small.  This is no sillier than that.” 

Today's toss was an old sweater vest that I haven't worn in years.  It's too big.  Out it goes.

Writing was interesting today.  It said that you have unlimited travel money.  Where would you go and who would you take?  When we were really into diving I always said that I'd charter an airplane for us and the dive guys and we'd go diving all over the world until we were done.  That's what I'd spend my money on.  A real fantasy.

We had a guest visit the guild zoom meeting tonight and she works in a public library in a city south of Green Bay.  She told us about a download service called Hoopla that doesn't have waiting lists.  If they have the book, you can borrow it, and for three weeks.  That led to people sharing authors and book series that they liked so I have a nice list of new titles to explore.

--Barbara