Windy Day

The wind blew up a gale yesterday so I decided to just cut down all the dead stuff and leave the leaves for another day.  I had to use rocks to hold my tarp in place as it was, raking the leaves would have been a waste of energy, although I did see a neighbor out around noon chasing the dozen leaves that dared to sully his pristine grass.  People need a hobby.  I swept all the leaves away from the patio when I was out removing the dead plants and by the time I went out to fire up the charcoal to grill our supper steaks there was a quadruple-sized drift of leaves again.  *sigh*  Even though it's sunny and not windy today, in fact, a perfect yard-work day, I've got a mountain of laundry (where do all these clothes come from?) and a presentation to organize so I won't be raking/blowing/mowing the leaves today, I'll be ignoring them instead.

I'm freaking out about the presentation I am scheduled to give to the Knitting Guild next Thursday night.  I have been trying to figure it out for weeks now and have to organize, type it up, and print out handouts TODAY, no shilly-shallying around because I work two of the three days until then.  I'm usually very calm about getting up in front of a crowd, you might even say I'm a bit of a microphone-hog, but for some reason having to give a half-hour talk about Ravelry, the Internet site where knitters can organize their yarn, search for patterns, and find like-minded knitters, is giving me the willies.  I know all I need to do is pull myself up by my bra straps and get over myself, but I seem to paralyzed by trepidation.  And that's just not me.  But I promise that as soon as I hit "publish" I'll open up Ravelry and Word and get the job done.  Cross my heart.  Really.

 Durwood has two denim shirts he got from Gillette ages ago that he absolutely loves and has worn to shreds.  I turned the collars last year to give him more time with them but they're little more than rags.  I found some chambray shirts a few years back but they're a pale substitute for his beloved light blue denim.  I have tried to find the exact brand of shirt online but they're evidently a promotional brand so unless I want 100 of them I can't get them.  Every once in a while I surf around trying to find acceptable alternatives usually without luck, but a couple weeks ago I found some that I thought were okay at a reasonable price so I ordered two for Santa to bring, and I bought a gorgeous dark gray denim shirt for him at Fleet Farm when I was there the other day.  Today in Fleet Farm's ad there are light blue denim shirts for 20% off (grrr) and he's talking about going to get a couple this week when he's out and about.  Do I tell him I've got some or do I let him get one and then after the holidays he'll have three?  It's a thorny dilemma.

November 10--Etruscan, Set of Jewelry.  The bag Louisa pulled out of the back of the old dresser was heavy.  She'd bought the piece of furniture as a farmyard auction late in the summer and only how did she have the time to clean it up.  When she pulled out the bottom drawer she heard a clunk so she knelt down and reached into the dark space.  Her hand closed on the linen bag that was tied shut with twine.  She set it dresser top and got busy untying the knot.  She thought about just cutting the twine but she liked unpicking knots and what if she wanted to tie it up again.  A gasp escaped her when she opened the little bag; it was full of gold jewelry and it looked old.

I'm glad I trimmed the rose canes and the forsythia yesterday.  Now neither of them are scraping at the sides of the house.  That is one annoying noise.  Okay, time to go fling the laundry around and, yes, work on my presentation.  I promise to stop procrastinating.
--Barbara