I Hab A Code

I don't want to hab a code.  I pretty much hate habing a code any time of year.  I started Zycam or whatever the Walgreens' generic equivalent is last night, maybe that'll hold it at bay until I can slip out from under it.  Fingers crossed.

Aunt B says that Beach Week starts tomorrow in NC and the forecast is for rain all weekend and into next week.  That sucks.  What do you do with a bock of people expecting to go boating and beaching and fishing and stuff when it's raining?  How many games of checkers or Monopoly can you play?  How many naps can you sell to a houseful of adults?  How much food will it take to keep the natives from getting too restless?  Send the rain our way, I say.  So what if it'd be bucking the jetstream the whole way, we need the rain.  It's the end of July (yes, really, I know, I'm amazed too) and already I don't have to mow the lawn this week.  Granted we've built on mostly sand and landfill so the water doesn't stay in the ground for long but we need rain.  We're almost 2" short.

I saw this coming up alongside the kettle planter and wondered what it was.  It's corn.  Field corn planted either by a squirrel or a chipmunk.  I don't want corn growing in my front flowers.  There's even bigger plants on the renters' side.  Guess I'll be the one out there yanking up volunteer corn.  I'd let it grow in back but not in front.


I'm into stripe #11 out of 14 on the Oriole Wings Wrap.  It's kind of meditative knitting.  The only tricky part for me is remembering to "make 1" before the last 2 stitches on the curving edge, so I do a lot of tinking back 3 stitches to make sure I've done it but it's only 3 stitches, if it's much more than that I let it go so there'll be a jog or three on that edge but no one's going to lay it out with a French curve ruler to check the arc.  (are they? nah)  I'm good.  I made it to the foot of the Make It Even Ankle sock.  I'm thinking I'm going to go downstairs and nab a US4 circular needle and Magic Loop the rest; I think it speeds up that kind of tubular repetitive knitting.

But what I've really been doing in my free time is working my way, chapter by chapter, through the manuscript rewrite.  I'm up to Chapter 6 and I can feel parts of my brain waking up, ideas are creeping back, poking their noses out.  I'm catching them on the pages of my new notebook from DD before they can get away.  This is a very cool notebook, it has a pocket inside the back cover so that's where I store all my little scribbled notes for scenes and stuff.  Thanks again, DD!  You're the best.

On Sunday she and I were talking about her making a purse and me making a tote and yesterday I got an email about a Craftsy class to design your own handbag that was half price yesterday only.  Only $20 bucks!  Who could resist?  I called her and sent her the link and we decided to split it.  It looks very interesting.

July 31--Kitagawa Utamaro, The Artist Kitao Masanobu Relaxing at a Party.  Look at all the girls clustered around him.  He looks as if he doesn't care, couldn't be bothered but you'd better bet he's paying attention to how many of them there are.  I  am also certain he knows which one's father has the most money and which other one's father has the most clout.  Look at him lounging there.  He's slumped as if he's too weary or too sad to make the effort.  I can see the calculating look in his eyes, figuring which one is most likely to cheer him up and how.

I'm going to go stand under a hot shower and let the steam work on clearing my head.  All this stuffiness makes me feel stupid.  Bah.  Lately I don't need the help.
--Barbara