Almost as soon as DS, DIL1, LC & OJ arrived for an Easter visit yesterday after naptime, we smelled smoke. Since we're a block from Burger King and I figured some neighbors were grilling out on such a nice day, I ignored it. It was very windy so who knew where the smoke smell came from. DIL1 got up to look out the window and said, "hey, the tree next door's on fire because the power pole fell over." We all leaped up to look out. LC and I went out onto the porch just as the transformer blew with a big pop so we hotfooted it back inside. Soon we heard sirens and two fire trucks arrived to cordon off the street and warned us all to stay indoors. In not too much more time the public service guys arrived to shut off the power lines and get to work. At one point there were five public service trucks, two fire engines, and two water department trucks on our tiny street. Once the power was out the kids left to go to the grocery and give their hopped-up-on-too-much-sugar kids some room to run, not that OJ's walking yet but he was really enjoying going around and around our round coffee table just as fast as he could. He's going to turn from a quadruped into a biped very soon.
Happily Durwood had plenty of oxygen tanks because with the power off his O2 machine doesn't work. No power also meant no supper cooking, no heat, and, eventually, no lights. We were very lucky that it was in the high 60s yesterday, not the 20s so we didn't freeze. The power came back on around 8:30 so we didn't have to go to bed at sundown like the pioneers or sit staring into the dark.
Still bugged by whatever virus is visiting me I wasn't all that hungry for supper last night so I just went to Burger King for a couple burgers and some fries to split. I know, I know, not the best food to put in a dodgy tummy but it was Easter and none of the "hot food" bars in groceries were open so I couldn't get baked chicken. I survived. I still can't get too far from the bathroom but I survived. I had yogurt for breakfast to introduce some healthy bacteria back into my system. Hope it helps.
Okay, now you deserve a better mental picture of my life. See the daffodils? Pretty.
April 17--Childe Hassam, French Tea Garden.
Bee investigating
the jam jar
hums to itself.
Cup of tea cools
in the shade.
Silver needle flashes
in and out
embroidering a tea towel.
~~~~~
It's not as warm today as it was yesterday but it isn't as windy either. Maybe all the power poles will remain upright today. Fingers crossed.
--Barbara
It's been just warm enough and just rainy enough that things are happening. I don't remember planting what look like mini-hyacinths but there they were when I was out picking up windblown trash yesterday. Maybe they're just stunted but I think they look cute.
We have a dandelion. Durwood's less than thrilled but I recently read that dandelions are the first nectar producing flowers that bloom so the bees can get busy and bees are in trouble from all the pesticides and insecticides people spray around. I've always liked dandelions--their cheerful bright color, their puffy white seed heads that make flurries of what look like fairies when the wind blows. He thinks they're weeds. Tsk.
The forsythia has a lot of buds and a few are open. More, many more, to come. The forsythia is a flowering shrub that I remember from when I was a little little girl in Evansville, Indiana. I don't know why it's stuck so firmly in my mind but I always think of Mom asking, "For who?" when we saw one and I'd say, "Forsythia." Shows how long something you say to a child can stick with them. So watch your mouth.
In the flower bed behind the kitchen one of the ferns is just beginning to show a little green. See the little fists of fronds just barely visible? And those pink sprouts are the peonies (from my grandma's farm in Evansville) just poking out.
Today is one of the rainy days. I woke up to thunder rumbling in the distance and there have been off and on showers all morning. I think it's supposed to really warm up today and then be nice for Easter tomorrow. I hope so, so there can be outdoor Easter egg hunts instead of the indoor ones we used to have when we moved up here and there was still snow all over come Easter. My farm grandma used to hide her Easter eggs in the rows of daffodils she had planted down by the driveway. I remember my cousins, brothers, and me all decked out in our Easter finery hunting eggs in the yellow flowers. (good lord, I'm nostalgic today)
I kind of got carried away knitting on the leg of the Helical Sock Sock yesterday and got a good inch beyond where I'd intended to start the heel but this is pretty much a made-up sock so no worries. I added a short-row heel in yarn #2 at Friday Night Knitting, well, I was one row from nibbling back the held stitches for the heel when it was time to leave so I sat right down when I got home, finished it, and then got all three yarns back into action for the drive down the foot.
April 15--Illuminated manuscript, Ascension of Christ.
Waving angels stand
on a pyramid
of bubbles.
People holding books
cluster
at their feet.
Jesus squirts
through a hole
in the ceiling
to play with cherubs.
Um, I suspect my interpretation is
off.
~~~~~
Tax day today but because it's Saturday the slackers have until Monday to get their returns filed. We got ours done last month and already have the refund in the bank--and have spent a chunk of it fixing my struts. Hey, it's starting to look a bit brighter outside. Maybe I'll get dressed and run my errands while it looks halfway nice. Happy almost-Easter.
--Barbara
We've got it. All kinds of growing things are ready for their close-ups. The hyacinth has a few daffodil buddies. The oldest daffodils that I planted 40 years ago when we built this house are up and just about ready to pop. (they're the farthest and brightest yellow clump) The chives and daylilies have shoved their way out of the soil to bask in the sun and rain. (so far today it's sunny but they're saying rain later... boo) And the rhubarb is growing by leaps and bounds.
This cardinal has been here a lot lately but I haven't seen his lady love since Wednesday. Maybe she's feathering the nest. See all those leaves? It was really windy the other day and all those leaves came over from other yards--or maybe they're some of the ones that overwintered against the side of the house. I'm calling them "mulch" and ignoring them.
No electronics played tricks on me at work yesterday so I got my work done in good time so I could add an inch or so to the Helical Sock Sock. I started adding a short-row heel but realized that the leg was too short for that just yet. It's the right length if I was going to add a heel flap and gusset but not long enough for the short-row heel. See, I want to do that so I can use one of the three yarns for the cuff, one for the heel, and the third for the toe. I guess you have to be a knitter to understand.
Last night I overcame my confusion and frustration and got on with Section 4 of the Hempathy Brambling Shawl. I was flooded with excellent advice which let me understand what I needed to do and figure out an understandable way to keep track of where I am and what to do next. Thanks to all who chimed in on Ravelry and The Lounge at MDK. I should have taken a picture but I didn't when I realized that five or six rows back in the blue section I knitted when I should have purled so there was a row of garter bumps across the blue. Arrrgh. I glared at it for a while and then shifted the stitches to my right needle and dropped the offending columns of stitches down, one by one, then used a crochet hook to get them back in order. You can't even see where the mistake was. I rock! (sorry for my dorkiness)
April 14--August Macke, Colored Composition (Homage to Bach)
Music as color,
music as shape.
Tiny dots of sixteenth notes,
swoop of crescendo,
curve, curve, curve of flutes,
stair steps up, down
as the notes rise and fall.
Deep bass colors--
fiery reds
cool blues
calm greens
charging yellows
rest in white--
listen to the colors of the notes.
~~~~~
I know there's a name for seeing sounds as color but I don't remember it. Ah, yes, good old Google. It's synesthesia. I kind of wish I had that. Wouldn't it be cool to see the wind as a color? See swoops of blue or purple as the breeze rises and falls? I think today I'll go out and pick up the windblown trash in the yard--again.
--Barbara
If yesterday had a theme, it would have been "frustration."
The day started out well. I read the paper, posted on the blog, got lunches made for this week, got myself dressed and off to work on time. There was a little blip when I got there and there was a guy rattling the front door, asking if we were open. I did not say, "well, obviously not since the door's locked, the lights are off, and the Open sign isn't turned on." I didn't say it. I smiled brightly and said, "we open at 10." like a good little store clerk. And then he didn't buy anything--but that's neither here nor there.
Shortly after the non-buyer left, the very tall UPS guy brought a not-too-big carton of stuff needing to be sorted, entered, priced, and put away. I didn't really mind, after all, that's what they pay me for, right? Doing that sort of thing is kind of the epitome of "playing store" like we used to do when we were kids, only on a slightly grander scale. Things started well, I got it all unpacked and sorted, dug out the order so I could check off things as I entered them into the POS, and began. Thirty-six of the things in the box were neoprene mask strap covers (to keep your hair from being pulled out) with pictures on them. Each different picture has its own letter after the general part number that IS NOT indicated anywhere on the packaging, only the general number is there, which means I either have to make a guess or consult the catalog. I gathered up the ones I was confident I knew and began, only to have the price sticker printer run out of stickers. Not to worry, we have more rolls in back. I got one, put it in, and for the next two hours could not for the life of me make the @$#%& thing print. I reinstalled the roll of stickers, turned the printer off and back on, cancelled the print, rebooted the whole system, nothing worked. I ate my lunch (to give it time to contemplate its misbehavior) and tried again. Still no luck. So I called Mrs. Boss, she suggested that I do all that I'd already done twice, then said to call her later if I needed Mr. Boss to come and see if he could figure it out. After we hung up, I completely unplugged the printer to set it up on the counter so I could reinstall the sticker roll. While I was doing that she called back, asking if I had put in the right roll and I had, then she said to try printing one more time, so I got it plugged back in, called up one of the items, told it to print. It did. Which one of the many things I did made it work, I have no idea. Then again, maybe it was the hammer I threatened to "fix" it with that did the trick. Whatever it proceeded to merrily print stickers for the rest of the day. Of course I ended up guessing wrong a few times as to which picture was which letter but fortunately the wraps are in plastic so it's easy to peel off the sticker to put it on the correct one.
That was really enough frustration for one day but the day wasn't done with me. After supper (yummy leftover WW Balsamic Chicken and rice) I sat down to knit on the Hempathy Brambling Shawl because I was at the place where the next color came in and that's an exciting milestone. I knitted the twenty or so rows, turned over the instructions to find that the pattern designer assumes a whole lot more competence than I have to offer. Seems she felt like she'd established a pattern of increases over the last 90-some rows so she could say "the body increases continue every 4 rows" and I'd know which increase she meant and when to do it. Understand that once you add in a color or two the original color (purple) has decreased and the other two colors (yellow and blue) are increasing. I turned the instructions over and back to see if I could divine which of the increases might qualify as a "body" increase and finally decided to just post on a forum and ask for help. Happily I discovered two responses in my email inbox this morning. I will be gratefully printing them out and making margin notes--tonight. I'm done with it for now. It gets a time-out for the day. Besides my sock needs more rounds, it got neglected during the price sticker debacle at work.
And the grackles have discovered the suet. Grackles and squirrels are the reasons I bought the two-sided suet feeder in the first place, but it's a gray, chilly, rainy day today and I'm just not in the mood to be gracious. Besides the Balsamic Chicken I made in the slow cooker last Monday has given me a stomach ache. We had the chicken fresh from the cooker on Monday, on Tuesday morning I felt queasy. We had the chicken stored safely in the fridge for two nights, I'm queasy this morning. I don't think we'll be having the third meal's worth that's still in the fridge anytime soon. Omelets (or something) for supper tonight. Or I'll call it a frittata which sounds more supper-y.
April 14--Hippolyte Bayard, South Flank of Notre-Dame, Paris, 1850.
Buttressed and scaffolded
surrounded by blocks destined to become
part of her facade,
Notre-Dame rises along the Seine,
watches her reflection,
primps in the sunshine,
awaits the completion of her towers,
the bells that will be her voice.
~~~~~
All right, I'm done complaining and whining, for the morning anyway. I need to shower and drag myself across town to work. Fingers crossed the very tall UPS guy doesn't stop again.
--Barbara
Even though the sun shines with enthusiasm some days and we have more and more blue sky days there's still frost on the roofs when I open the shades and this morning the birdbath was iced over. (I unplugged the heater last weekend.)
The Spring weather has encouraged the Cardinals to court. The Mister was pecking seeds on the ground under the platform feeder and, for not enough time for me to take their picture, the Missus came by to be fed and courted a bit before they both flew up into the apple tree for an instant, then they flew away.
In other backyard news, the rhubarb's getting taller and the leaves are getting bigger. Soon there'll be pie!
I got to the place where the blue yarn starts on the Hempathy Brambling Shawl last night. I was happy to realize (remember?) that my Kindle is also a tablet so I could call up the instructional video on twisting the yarns together where the color changes and watch that part over (and over and over) so I don't have any holes where the purple and the yellow touch.
On Monday night I assembled the bunny puppet for the Easter Bunny to put in LC's basket Sunday. I like it. (yes, it has a fluffy white bunny tail) I can see myself making more puppets using this pattern since they're quick, easy, and very cute. Plus I bought enough fleece to make more since it was 60% or 50% off so there'll be no shopping needed when the whim strikes. Hooray.
April 12--Eero Aarnio, Armchair.
Like a glass of red wine,
this single-stem chair,
white, molded,
upholstered in burgundy,
invites to you sit in its intoxicating design
and sip.
~~~~~
What I want to know is how come it's rainy and chilly on my days off and sunny and warming when I have to go to work? Huh? Anybody? Time to pack up my lunch and head out to keep the world safe from SCUBA diving for another day.
--Barbara
... and more flowers bloom. Look at those daffodils showing themselves off and I swear the rhubarb shot up three inches overnight.
It's a gloomy day but we had a small thunderstorm earlier so everything got a little drink of nice fresh rain.
I really got into knitting yesterday. In the afternoon a bunch of the Friday knitters got together at the home of a friend on chemo (who is avoiding possible germification in public knitting spots) so my Helical Sock Sock got a couple inches added on. Then right when I should have been going to bed I succumbed to temptation and cast on a Brambling Shawl (the second of A Year of Techniques) in some Hempathy out of the stash. The recommended yarn is fuzzy and soft, Hempathy is crispy (I'm hoping that, like linen, it'll soften with age--fingers crossed) but it's what I have and it's souvenir yarn from our last Yellowstone trip so I'm happy to find something interesting to make with it. Ten more rows and the yellow gets added. This color-block intarsia is a technique I've never tried, I've never tried any intarsia, which is what you use when you make a sweater with pictures in it like the ugly Christmas sweaters which I would never ever make, so this seems like a painless way to learn something new. I wear little shawls a lot so this will be a welcome addition to my (pitiful) wardrobe.
I've got WW Balsamic Chicken in the slow cooker and it's making the house smell heavenly. I decided to fish out the chicken breasts and shred the meat with two forks so I don't have to futz around with weighing the pieces and portioning them out. This way I can just spoon it out in equal portions and not have to think so much. I'll ask Durwood to make some brown rice later and supper tonight and for two more nights will be all taken care of. I'm kind of on a slow cooker jag, it's making life a lot easier.
Look what I sewed this morning. Now I can sit with my needle, thread, and thimble tonight while I watch Antiques Roadshow and get it all assembled. See? I told you the Easter Bunny would get done long before the deadline.
April 10--The Catalan Jewish Codex, Jewish Passover Feast.
the book is dated "1350"
family around the table
feasting, praying
tradition handed down
in words I can't read,
looking upside down
but telling the same story
as the Maxwell House Haggadah
does today
--with thanks to Kay Gardiner of Mason-Dixon Knitting
~~~~~
That's it for me. I've got an appointment with our financial advisor in a little while. Gotta gather up my papers and list of questions. I feel so grown up.
--Barbara
