A Little Better

This morning I couldn't sleep beyond 6:15 so I got up to find only a little ice in the birdbath and no frost on the grass.  That's a little better, not a lot, but better-ish.  The sun's shining brightly so it only seems right that it should warm up around here, doesn't it?  According to the weather guys it's supposed to get near 60 and cloud up a little today but be closer to 70 tomorrow with no rain.  Hallelujah.  Now let's try to string a few days like this together, okay?

Friday Night Knitting last night was a laugh a minute.  Lyn & Steve are selling their house to make Mesa, AZ their permanent home (they'll rent a place for summer visits here--what do you call reverse snowbirds?  sunbirds?)  Anyway Steve told her that he wasn't renting a bigger moving truck to haul all her yarn to Arizona so they carried almost all of her yarn stash to knitting last night for the knitters to pick through and take what they wanted before she took the remains to sell at her sister's rummage sale today.  What's left after that goes to charity.  She did charge for the four 10-packs of cashmere she had but the rest of it was "take what you want."  I exercised almost superhuman resistance, that is, until the bag of 38 skeins, no 2 skeins the same color, of tapestry yarn was uncovered, then I almost leaped off the couch to snatch it up.  (a person can knit with tapestry yarn, can't she?)  See, I've been wanting to knit the E.L.F. Cap (because I am a dork) from Unofficial Harry Potter Knits but didn't want to have to buy all the colors and then there they were all in one bag and all for free.  Yay!  Thanks a million, Lyn.  The rest of the evening I spent watching the other knitters poke through the mountain of bags of yarn, finding things they couldn't resist, and analyzing what they should and shouldn't take based on their storage space.  I think Lyn had almost as much fun watching her yarn go as when she first bought it, maybe more.  It was a fun night that makes me want to go turn out all my yarn bins, look at the contents with an objective eye, and do the same thing in a month or so.  Since today's job is laundry and I'll be down there in the basement for a few hours, maybe I'll make a start.  (remember, Barbara, OBJECTIVE eye, check your emotions at the door)
 
I caved and bought a different, cheaper, oranger oriole feeder yesterday and put it out.  Hopefully the orioles will use it and stop hogging the hummingbird juice.  My ferns are sprouting and there are buds on the blueberries.  Things are happening out in the yard and garden, just way more slowly than in past, warmer years.  Does this mean it'll be warm into November?  That, too, would be odd.


May 17--Meissen Manufactory, Table Snuffbox.  When I was a child I loved poking around on my grandma's dressing table.  There were pots and potions, soft powders, and mysterious tiny bottles of scent.  She kept her jewelry in one of the drawers and I spent many happy hours draping myself in beads and chains and bangles.  When Aunt Hattie asked me what I wanted for my sixth birthday I said, "junk jewelry."  She cruised all the five-and-dime stores and a couple of Goodwills to find me a treasure trove of necklaces, bracelets, and pins for my gift.  For that I loved her more than buttered popcorn.

Okay.  Time to go fling dirty,  then wet, and then clean clothes around, and maybe sort out some yarn.  That's like spring cleaning, right?  Right.  Tally ho!
--Barbara