Remember on Monday when I said I planned to frog the Fino Bias scarf? Well, after supper on Monday I did. With Durwood's help I turned a scarf back into 2 skeins of yarn. I got my ball winder up and wound them back up. They'll become a scarf again soon, but not right now.
Also on Monday I started knitting another one of those darling baby hats that look like flowers for a coming great-grand-baby. It's going to be another triumph.Naturally I couldn't be one project down so when I was downstairs yesterday afternoon doing a little sorting, filing and organizing I came upon three others that had to be started last night. No, HAD to be cast on, were desperate to begin the process of being created and I obliged. (I'm a nice person, deep down. Deep, deep down.)
When I was pawing through the sock yarn bin (looking for a pattern in a bag with a single skein that was in a different bin) I came upon the cuff of a yoga sock. Wonder why I stopped? I carried it up, tried to put needles back in the loose stitches, gave up, frogged it, and started over.I think my battle with that laceweight yarn last week led me to rebel. I dug out nice big needles and the biggest yarn I own, and cast on a pretty pale green shrug (that may only take me a week to make) to wear this spring. It's kind of hard on my hands but it's going really fast. That photo is of just over an hour's work. Pretty good, eh?The other reason I was pawing through the sock yarn was to gather up all of the remains of the making of various boot socks (Plymouth Encore mostly) to ball it up and pick out a couple to use to make a sock out of whatever comes to hand. I also found 2 unused skeins. Ooh, goodie, more big yarn socks. I like making socks with big yarn, but I also think I might make sure to have one sock-yarn size sock OTN for the summer too. I need to start making a dent in that big bin of skinny yarn. I didn't cast that one on yet. I'll get there.
Well. Yesterday afternoon and evening was rainy, then it got cold and, guess what? All that rain froze on everything and it snowed. Now we live in a world of ice and snow. Thunder and lightning snow, at that. I just watched a smallish branch drop off of the tree across the street and when I went out to take ice pictures it sounded like ripping Velcro when the wind picked up a bit. Pretty but treacherous and it just better not break my maple tree. I hear the neighbor out with his sorta-working snowblower, only half of the auger's turning so it's just shoving most of the snow ahead of itself. Dandy. I'm telling you right now I am not shoveling this morning. This snow can melt where it fell. I'm done with the shoveling. Done, do you hear me, D-O-N-E, done.
I ended up spending most of the afternoon downstairs just playing with yarn. In fact, I frogged one project on Monday night and brought up yarn, needles, and patterns for three of them yesterday, two of which I started last night after supper. (that's what we call "startitis" in the knitting world; I'm not ashamed) And we didn't go out after all. Durwood said his breathing wasn't up to going out in the cold so he tossed together a pan of chicken spaghetti with a frozen chicken breast and frozen sauteed mushrooms (thawed, of course, literal much?), half a red bell pepper, and half a jar of sauce. It was good and didn't take long, plus there's enough for supper tonight too. I do suspect that he won't be going to Woodman's for fresh veggies for tonight since it's just awful out there. I see carrots in my immediate supper future. Yum.
April 10--Claude Fayolle, Queen of Clubs.
Spades are always high, Mom told me.
She said no trump too or
three hearts and I know
there was a dummy at
every table. (I thought
that was mean.)
There was rubber and renege,
slam, grand slam, tricks.
It was a language
I didn't understand
but every day
at 3 o'clock
she'd call me to tell me
how she made a slam
or didn't, went down,
got set, or
got her nickel back.
Nobody talks Bridge to me
anymore, I kinda
miss it sometimes.
~~~~~
I don't miss it often because it baffled me, but I miss the teller. I really miss showing her the things I make. Ah well, she went fast and in minimal pain... I'm grateful. Sorry to be a downer but when I think of cards, I think of Mom. Oh! I get to go learn about blueberry cultivation after work today. Yippee. I should find a notebook. Toodles.
--Barbara
Cash paycheck... check. Buy that other purse book at B&N... check. Drop off SCUBA tank for service... check. Get manicure... check. Buy mealworms for the birdies... check. Spend the rest of this chilly, rainy, foggy day indoors sipping ginger peach tea and playing with yarn and fabric... that's the plan.
Skully and I met at Riverside Ballroom and walked along the George Kress section of the Baird Creek Trail. It was chilly and damp and a bit windier than we thought it'd be but we slacked off all winter, except maybe once, so it's time we haul our fat heinies out and set them jiggling on two walks a week. Outside unless it's pouring rain. On Friday we'll walk along the Fox River Trail. *nods confidently* No excuses.
Durwood's got a coupon for a free appetizer at Texas Roadhouse so we're going out for supper tonight. I'm sure he gets tired of cooking and figuring out what to cook, I know I used to, so I'm willing to eat out every once in a while. (aren't I a saint?)
April 9--Edwin Austin Abbey, "King Lear," Act I, Scene I.
"The play's the thing,"
says the Bard,
but he's the one
who wrote the plays
so of course he'd say
they are the thing
but everyone thinks
that their thing is
THE thing, so where's
the profundity in
that thought? Besides
"the thing" seems
rather vague, I'd
need a bit more
specificity to make up
my mind. Until then,
play on.
~~~~~
That's it for me. I'm off to heat up some water for tea and maybe make a grilled cheese for lunch. That's good rainy day food, right? Maybe I can wheedle a cup of tomato soup out of Durwood to have with it. I'm a pretty good wheedle, or I could just ask him. See ya bye.
--Barbara
We knew it was going to be a nice day and we knew that I was going to clean off the patio so we thawed out a little NY Strip and I grilled it. It was the first grilling of 2013 and it was awesome. Durwood sauteed some mushrooms and steamed some fresh Brussels sprouts and we made it all go away. There were lots of accompanying "mmms" too. While we ate a birdie crashed into the patio window, then the sharp-shinned hawk landed on the edge of the step, glared in at us for a minute (not long enough for me to grab the camera, boo, that pic's from last year), then turned to nab the stunned whateveritwas, and flew away. Nature red in tooth and claw, babies, it's on our doorstep.
I was able to lever up, break up, and shovel away most of the patio ice. Then I swept away the leaves and birdseed and bunny poop pellets so that I wasn't standing in it and tracking (anymore of) it into the house while grilling. I filled the birdfeeders too, which must have emitted some sort of signal because I hadn't even gotten my tools and myself off the patio before the chickadees and sparrows flew in for snacks and baths. After that I got a tarp and my secateurs out to cut down the dead mums and the decorative tall grass so that the front of the house looks readier for Spring to sprang. And I have the first "stick truck" pile out at the curb. I was going to say "the first of many" but for once I managed to clear out the garden and trim the raspberries BEFORE winter so I'm good... for now. Ooh and while I was gathering blown in trash from the garden I notice that one of the blueberry bushes has tiny swollen buds on the ends of its twigs. I'm excited to go to the County Extension office Wednesday after work for a one-night class on growing blueberries in pots. When I came in from playing in the yard there was the first indoor bug of the season on the edge of the door. I snapped its photo before scooping it up and returning it to nature. (no, I didn't stomp it, I set it free. barbarians.)
April 8--Frederic Remington, The Cheyenne.
wind and motion
hair and mane
rider and mount
bronze made flesh
madness of hooves
spear in angry hands
stolen land, dead bison
rictus of sadness
anger in every line
~~~~~
I'm liking writing poems (or poem-like strings of words) this month. It's making me happy. Speaking of happy, Happy 57th Birthday to my baby brothers, TW & AJ! Fifty-seven years, yikes! How can that be? Weren't we all kids a few weeks ago? I'm off to Monday. Hasta la vista, babies.
--Barbara
See? Frowning at yesterday morning's snow worked. (I didn't frown all day, Aunt B, so no [more] wrinkles. Love you, too.) It went away. Actually it was warm enough and drizzly enough that it went away with no help from me. Today I plan to go out and sweep and shovel all the winter's detritus (that's a polite way to say rabbit poop) off the patio. I'm tired of looking at it and it's warm enough to drag the Weber away from the house, fire it up, and grill us a little NY Strip steak for supper tonight. Yay! I'll be off later to score a few mushrooms to have on the side. I won't move the reclaimed (a polite way to say stolen, but is it really stealing if you junk pick them from the curb?) Christmas trees off the bones of the honeysuckle because there's no other cover for the birdies yet. I also want to get out the secateurs and cut down the dead things that I left out front so that the winter birds had the seed heads to munch on. I noticed that the mums against the house are poking up their little green leaves. Yay! Green things. I'm happy to see them even though the $%#^& rabbits have munched off most of my crocuses, damn them.
 |
| 2012's flowers |
I shared with DIL1 my idea of planting tulip bulbs in a circle of daffodils to try and keep the rabbits from eating the tulips. They don't eat the daffs so I think maybe they'll pass the tulips by. Maybe. It's worth a try and the circles of leaves look pretty. Sometimes it works. I bought almost 100 bulbs one October and it was too cold and I was too lazy to make a hole for each separate bulb so I planned 4 or 5 spots across the front of the house, dug a turkey-platter shaped hole to the depth for tulips (they like it deepest), put a few bulbs in the center (odd numbers, please), filled in soil until it was at the depth daffodils like, put them in a ring around where I guessed the tulips were (the leaves dodge around if you're not precise), then added more soil, planted grape hyacinths and other small things whose names I can't remember around the outside edge, then filled it to the top. I put hyacinths inside a ring of daffodils too. I like the mix of flowers and leaf shapes and colors.
(god, my hands are so dry. yours too? guess I wash 'em too much. pause while I lotion up....)
I forgot to tell you how big a hit the little messenger bag I took to Big Sister was on Friday afternoon. I showed her the pockets and how the strap goes over her head to ride across her chest so she can run and play without it slipping off. At first it lay on the chair arm by her Grandma Eileen (!!! fun to see her unexpectedly) but by the time I left an hour later her best pal Teddy was riding in it while she twirled and hopped around the room. Oh, the hats looked good on Baby Sister too.
April 7--Frederic Remington, The Cheyenne.
Like a single organism
horse and rider move
across the Plains,
man and beast as one
in defense of ancestral land.
~~~~~
Makes me wish I could ride a horse like that but I'm too chicken to get way up there and boss around a horse with just two leather strings and force of will. I could stand to ride a convertible though... maybe not today, it's only 40 degrees. I'm off to do a bit of random cleaning. Enjoy your Sunday.
--Barbara
Look! We got snow overnight and it stuck. Uck, uck, uck. It isn't a tragedy because it's supposed to get up into the 40s, almost 50 today so it'll all melt but this was not what I wanted to wake up to, wanting to wear that last boot sock I'm making notwithstanding. (what? you didn't read my knitting blog entry yesterday? here's a link, I'll wait...) I promise to use my powers only for good from now on.
I so enjoyed drawing at the Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan a couple weeks ago that I got all excited when I saw Wreck This Journal in Barnes & Nobel yesterday. See, I was feeling a strong pull to shop and remembered that I had $45 on a gift card for there so since book shopping = shopping I stopped after my oil change. I got the journal, a book about sewing bags (because I feel a bag jag coming on), and a Moleskine journal with unlined pages. Unlined pages! I love them. So open, so free, so... unlined. I had colored pencils but no drawing pencils or markers or any other fun art tools (like those pointy paper smudging thingies) so I stopped at Michaels on my way to knitting and picked up a few so more shopping. As I left the store a woman in the handicap parking space was standing beside her car, hang tag in hand, having a loud discussion (not exactly an argument) with a man entering the store. She was saying, "I just forgot to put it up." Evidently he had called the police and reported her. "Did you give them my license number?" she asked. He said that he had. "I want to go home." I was walking past, minding my business (okay, I was eavesdropping), when I saw a squad car pull into the lot on the far end, so I said, "ma'am, there they are right now" and walked on a few spaces to my car. When I got there she had teleported herself (zzzzooop!) to stand right in front of me. She wanted to complain about the guy having called. I sympathized but told her that Durwood and I are often aced out of a spot by someone who doesn't have a tag or doesn't seem to need it so I sympathized with his frustration. Then I offered to stop by the squad car and ask him to come talk to her so that she could leave. So I did. It was a lady officer with a citizen or newbie riding along, she found the call on her computer and said she'd take care of it. Honestly, people constantly amaze me, but I got to do a good deed so that was a good thing.
April 6--Paul Cezanne, Still Life with Apples and a Pot of Primroses.
Summer's blush rouges apples
strewn like storm-tossed boats
across the white tablecloth.
Pink primroses nod
in the cooling fall
breeze from the open door.
Soon the laughing summer
days will fade into
autumn's crisp chill,
primroses will wither,
the apples will retire to
pie and brandy.
~~~~~
I could stand to start my day with a slab of pie and a dollop of brandy in my coffee... but I'll settle for granola, yogurt, and fruit. I'm going to keep frowning at the snow until it melts, it might take me all day but I'm determined and I am in charge. Enjoy your Saturday!
--Barbara
Remember on Monday when I said I planned to frog the Fino Bias scarf? Well, after supper on Monday I did. With Durwood's help I turned a scarf back into 2 skeins of yarn. I got my ball winder up and wound them back up. They'll become a scarf again soon, but not right now.
Also on Monday I started knitting another one of those darling baby hats that look like flowers for a coming great-grand-baby. It's going to be another triumph.
When I was pawing through the sock yarn bin (looking for a pattern in a bag with a single skein that was in a different bin) I came upon the cuff of a yoga sock. Wonder why I stopped? I carried it up, tried to put needles back in the loose stitches, gave up, frogged it, and started over.
