Ice

It was raining when I opened the curtains this morning.  Raining.  On February 4.  In Green Bay, WI.  Sheesh.  It got up to 40 degrees today but it's supposed to be only 14 degrees tomorrow and snow on Wednesday.  Double-sheesh.

When I went out to get the newspaper (that wasn't there anyway; it'll probably come with tomorrow's edition) I noticed that the surface of the driveway was suspiciously glittery.  Ice is what happens when the ground is frozen and the air warms up and then it rains.  The driveway had turned into a bobsled run.  Arrrgh.  Discretion being the better part of valor, I texted the organizer of the monthly 1965 St. Agnes grads lunch that I was staying home and by then he'd emailed the class that it was too icy and lunch was cancelled.  That meant that I didn't spend the rest of the day imagining them all having cheeseburgers, fries, and laughs while I sat at home being cautious.



Instead of tossing something I moved the side chair from the guest room into the crib-vacated corner of my bedroom, not so I'd have a place to drape clothing (although there's quite a bit of draping of grandkid blankets and my sweater) but so that corner of the room isn't so empty.  I'll find something to fill it with.  Today wasn't a great day, mood-wise.  Three straight days of fog and drear sent my mood right into the cellar.

I tried to bolster my mood by going downstairs and sewing the last of the flannel dresses I cut out last fall.  I'm glad to have it finished but it was so cold down there I kept having to stop sewing to stick my hands in my pockets to warm up my fingers.  I'm blaming the dampness from the rain.  Now I get to spend some time cutting out more things to sew, things that I already have fabric for.




I knitted on the sock after supper but still need a half-inch before time to put in the waste yarn for the eventual heel.  I lost a stitch somewhere a few rounds back but once I checked to make sure I hadn't dropped a stitch (and I'd better not find one running up the leg later; I suspect that I knitted 2 stitches together accidentally) I just made a stitch and kept on.  Look, LB, I made it to the blues!

4 February--Tropical Obsession. 

Prehistoric marks on stone are the only evidence of life in this desolate place. Once a long time ago, a wading bird stalked across this muddy flat and left its fleur-de-lis of a footprint behind. Sun baked the mud dry, the climate changed, and the cycle began. Water receded, leaving the land high and dry. No rain came to wash the print away, no playful wave erased it. The mud hardened, compressed, and kept the faint record of the bird's passing on its face until one day it could no longer be lost. The mud had turned to stone and left the anonymous footprint of a long-dead bird to tantalize us, to lead us on to what is to be.

I hope like heck that I can go out tomorrow.  It's my day to work the weight machines at the Y and I need to get out of here for my own good.  Besides I ate the last little dish of ice cream after supper and I can NOT be out of ice cream.  Cold, I can deal with.  Snow, I can deal with.  Ice, I stay home.  It's just that simple.
--Barbara

More Fog

It was warm again today.  Well, that's what they tell me anyway.  I made the executive decision to stay in my yoga pants and hoodie, do laundry, and knit all day so I didn't go to the Y, didn't go to the store, didn't go outside except to nab the newspaper off the front porch.  I needed a stay at home day.  The fog was around all day but it really got thick just after sundown.




I enjoyed watching this squirrel get itself up the crook to the peanuts.  It tried to climb the Slinky a few times, each time looking at the coils gathering below its paws but not getting it any closer to the tempting peanuts over its head.  About the fifth time it realized that it had to reach through the coils to the crook and climb that to be able to stretch across to the nuts.





In between loads of laundry (5 of them???) I knitted on the Zauber Orange sock leg.  I figure I need about another inch before putting in waste yarn where I'll add the heel later.

It occurred to me that it's February so I spent some time this morning getting the February pages of my Bullet Journal laid out then I dug out the project bag that holds my charity knitting supplies, cast on a preemie hat, and got it done just as the clock struck 10 PM.




My other accomplishment today was collapsing the Pack & Play that has stood in the corner of the bedroom for nearly 5 years because all the people who slept there are too tall now and OJ is in day care so nobody comes to Meemaw's house one day a week.  Even more amazing is the fact that I managed to get it folded up and fitted back into the carry case.  It went downstairs on a shelf for when DD and her family come visit because there's someone who'd fit in there just fine.

3 February--Tropical Obsession. 

Looking like a handful of zebra seeds, the Zebra Nerite shells cluster in the shallows at Pink Beach. Each one is different from the others, like fingerprints or snowflakes, they appear to be small modern sculptures arranged in a gallery of black rock, turquoise water and a dome of sky so blue it should be classified as a separate color. Feeling like the whore at a church picnic, Nola carried her woven beach mat and tote bag holding her bottle of water and paperback novel as far down the beach as she could go from the happy families and napping tourists. She was overdressed. She had packed for one for the more cosmopolitan islands where her six-hundred dollar swimsuit and cover up worn with gold leather thong sandals and two-hundred dollar sunglasses would put her squarely in the middle of the female pack. Instead she found herself alone on an island where the best dressed wore khaki cargo shorts, Polo shirts, and Teva sandals. She couldn't have stuck out more if she'd worn a sign. She would go home except Detective Inspector Rooibos had asked her not to leave the island until he finished his investigation. That, and the unpleasant realization that she had no home. She had spent the last seven years with Jack in a series of apartments and hotels. All she had was the contents of her three suitcases--and a little emergency money stashed in a safe deposit box in Chicago. She was stuck.

Today's toss went right onto the "thinking about it" shelf.  It's a tote full of Durwood's and DS's Boy Scout manuals, neckerchiefs, and badge sashes.  I need to consult DS to see if he wants any of it.  I'm guessing that there are collectors of old BSA manuals and gear so if he doesn't want it I'll put it on eBay.  Maybe.

Here I am up past 11 o'clock again.  *sigh*
--Barbara

A Foggy Day...

 


Fog is what happens when the ground is frozen below zero and the air warms up to freezing and a bit above.  What also happens is that the birdbath glacier starts to thaw a bit.  I'm glad I'm not out driving around because I'm sure that the streets are slicker than greased glass right now.  I'll make a decision about whether to go to the Y to walk tomorrow based on road conditions.  Maybe I'll put myself through my paces from Megan the trainer's handouts and get all sweaty in the comfort of my home rather than venture out.  We'll see.

A couple knitting friends invited me to accompany them to check out the newly opened yarn shop in Appleton, Casting On.  It's right on College Ave. down near Lawrence University in an old building with gargoyles on the pediment.  They're about half stocked with high end yarns, a bit out of my price range.  I did fall prey to a skein of Crazy Zauberball sock yarn in purples but couldn't justify buying any others.  I didn't ask but wonder if they'll be getting more yarn in since they didn't have any cotton or baby yarn and nothing really moderately priced.  I hope so because I want them to be successful and stick around.



I knitted a few more rounds on the Zauber Orange sock inching closer to the blue-green yarn that LB likes so much.

I also frogged my first attempt at brioche, went down 2 needle sizes, and am happier with the result.  I think that the yarn I chose might not be the best for this technique but it's good to learn on.  Something plied a bit tighter might be better but this is just fine for practice.



2 February--Tropical Obsession. 

Sunday morning and people are on the move. It's easy to tell who is a local, who is an expat, and who is a tourist. The tourists are easiest; they're the sunburnt ones in tank tops and flip flops, but nice flip flops, on their way to a dive site or standing frowning in front of Cultimara grocery trying to figure out why it isn't open. The sight of the string of locals entering the church down the street finally clues them in--the dignified women in their dresses, white shoes and hats, the men in dark slacks, pressed white shirts worn with a subdued tie, and the children starched and pressed in their Sunday clothes. The boys and girls are easy to tell apart; the boys look like miniature men in their dark slacks and white shirts, the girls look like flowers in pastel or bright dresses, their long coltish legs all knobby knees and tendons, their hair captured into braids to lie close to their heads with a handful of plastic clips or beads on the ends. All of them wearing Sunday faces filing into the cool dimness to say a prayer or sing a hymn or even, judging from the look on a few of the older women's faces, set God straight about a few things.

Well, I tossed the remaining containers of that veggie & farro stew that I over-kaled.  I've eaten about half of it and it isn't improving with age.  I looked at the bowl of it I heated up for supper and was underwhelmed.  Out it went.  Once again the laundry chute is full.  Has it really been that long since I did wash?  I don't know but I'll tackle it tomorrow.  Did the groundhog see its shadow?  I never remember if seeing the shadow means more or less winter.  Personally I don't think that an overgrown gopher's view of itself is a reliable predictor of weather, anymore than the TV weather guys are reliable.
--Barbara

Knobs!

 

This afternoon I tucked my newly-learned doorknob expertise under my belt and attacked the frozen doorknob and its cohort in the living room.  It was easy to disassemble the old knob and take it out of the door.  I was glad I'd watched the YouTube video so that I put it in the correct way.  It'd be easy to put that part with the tongue in wrong.  The most challenging part was getting those long screws in straight to hold the inside and outside parts together but I managed along with the help of a tiny LED flashlight I held in my mouth.  For some reason the strike plate that came with the knob didn't work but the old one on the door jamb did, so I left the old ones and tossed the new ones.  No, I'm not keeping the old, broken doorknobs "just in case."  I'm tossing things, remember?  I wasn't even tempted.  Oh, and the doorknobs are today's toss.

Also this afternoon I went down to the library with seven of my knitting pals and started learning how to knit brioche which is a thick, double knitted fabric mostly used for hats, scarves, and cowls.  This purple knitting is my practice swatch.  It isn't as tight and squooshy as it should be.  I'm a loose knitter so I need to go down at least one needle size and probably two.  I'll frog this and start over with a smaller needle.  


Tonight at knitting I worked on the Zauber Orange sock.  I'm almost through the green and into the blue-green which my friend LB is anxious to see because that blue-green, teal-ish color is her favorite.  I had a brainstorm last night.  I'm going to knit the leg of this sock down to where an afterthought heel should be (it'll be easier to understand when I can show you), put in waste yarn, knit the foot to where the toe decreases start, add more waste yarn, knit another foot with different yarn, add waste yarn for another heel, and then knit up the leg to the ribbing.  I bought a pattern called Afterthought Everything Sock at the yarn shop in Indy in November and since I don't knit pairs of socks I'm thinking I'll play with the same technique but change yarn in mid-pattern so that I'll have my usual mismatched socks.  We'll see how that works.


I spent most of the morning scanning patterns into the computer so that I could try to figure out how to put them on Knit Companion on my iPad so that I don't have to haul around paper patterns and managed to get them in there and CS, who taught the brioche class, helped me get them assembled in the program.  Thanks, CS! 

1 February--Tropical Obsession.

Nola stumbled down the irregular cement steps to stand clutching the obviously handmade wall with gaps carved in it. Her knuckles grew white and tight with the strength of her grip. One of her nails, her red-painted acrylic nails, broke with a sharp crack and it flew out to fall into the sea like a drop of frozen blood. This is where they found him, the Detective Inspector told her. This is where the couple of divers, a man from Wisconsin and his wife, were making the climb down, burdened by their scuba gear to dive at the site they call Thousand Steps, stopping to rest in this very spot. From here the wife saw Jack's body floating face down in the clear blue water and said to her husband how odd it was for the man to be snorkeling in a shirt, shorts and sandals when he realized that Jack was not snorkeling. That Jack was not lucky to be seeing barracuda so close. The wife had started shaking and ran up the steps as if she weren't wearing fifty pounds of gear. They drove to the petroleum tank farm at the top of the island to call the police, neither one of them willing to stand in the stillness of Thousand Steps to keep what was left of Jack company.

There weren't any birds of note, hardly any birds on the feeders when I was looking at all.  The temps today were in the double digits ABOVE zero.  Imagine that!  It's supposed to get into the 40s on Sunday--and rain, more like freezing rain.  Oh goodie.  If it isn't one weather extreme it's another.  It sure was nice not to have my lungs freeze when I went outside and not to have frost on the inside of the doors and windows.  I need to study up on weatherstripping on doors.  I suspect that's something that needs doing when it isn't a bajillion degrees below zero.  Something to do in spring.
--Barbara