Thawed

All of last week's snow and cold is gone--for now.  I believe we're supposed to get back to below freezing and snow tomorrow, but 2 days of above freezing, foggy drizzle is kind of an upswing from the arctic deep freeze of the last 10 days.  It was so warm this morning I could finally get the umbrella pole out of the stand so I put the table top in the shed and the pole in the garage.  There's still an iceberg in the stand so I propped it on a 2x4 in the corner so it can continue to drain.

I put seed and peanuts in the platform feeder early and didn't even make it into the house before the first bluejay came to sit in the apple tree, call out to all his relatives within earshot, and zoom down for first pick of the peanuts.  He was too fast for me to get his picture on the feeder (all I got was a blue tail blur) but I zoomed in and caught him in the tree whamming the shell on a branch so he could eat the nut.

Proof that we live in a small world:  a knitting friend called to chat earlier and mentioned that one of her mom's caregivers needs to be replaced. She asked if I know anyone who does that kind of work.  I was just about to say no when I remembered that one of my dive friends' wife does it so I mentioned her name.  HH said, "Mom's cousin married someone with that name."  "There are lots of people by that name around here," I said.  "They're not the beekeepers, are they?  That's who Mom's cousin married."  Yep, they're the beekeepers all right.  What a round about way to make a connection!

November 23--Attributed to Adam Eck, Casket (with Allegories of the Four Elements.)  Geneva kept her important papers in a carves wooden box with a key.  She bought it in an antique shop in the city when she and Evan were first married.  He spent his days in meetings with accounts while she prowled the antique shops tucked into narrow buildings on side streets near the old part of town.  At first she was put off when the antique dealer called the large wooden box a casket but when he explained that it had never held remains she bought it.  Evan teased her about her box, calling her Queen Isabella, telling her that important papers belonged either in a safety deposit box or in a lawyer's vault, but she liked to keep her things nearby.  Besides she had never really trusted that Logan Williamson at the bank kept his hands out of the safe deposit boxes.  He was the nosiest man she'd ever met.

On my errands this morning I stopped at JoAnn Fabrics because they had bags of mill ends yarn for $3.99 in their ad and I was curious.  Three bags came home with me, three bags of yarn that I intend to turn into hats and mittens for school kids.  See?  This is selfless yarn, not for me at all, yarn to give away.  














That's my reason for breaking my yarn diet. Really.  I'm going to go dig out some needles and cast on right now.  Ta-ta!

--Barbara