Mowing!

This morning while I was showering my own personal garden elf pulled up and our lawn got mowed.  Hot-diggity-dog.  I think I'm going to like this; Durwood will pay the bills and I won't have to go out in the blazing summer sun (if it ever arrives) to mow the grass.  Look at the cool stand-up ride-on lawn mower he has too.  Not that I would ever get one because I don't have anyplace to keep it, don't know what to feed it, and he had to do some walk-behind mowing on the steepest hills anyway, but it sure looks like it would be fun to play with for an hour.  He's trimming and cleaning up the clippings too.  I think we made the right decision.

In the "Now That Wasn't Smart" department, this morning I was feeling bad that I don't have any photogenic knitting progress (I'm working on the collar but it looks pretty much the same) or any newly bloomed flowers to show you, so I decided to trudge up the hill in back to take closeup shots of the apple tree blooms.  All went pretty well (although blue sky behind the white blossoms would have made for better contrast) until I turned to come back down the hill.  The grass was wet, my slippers don't really have treads, and my right foot decided to slip.  My left foot held firm but got folded out of my slipper and when I fell (of course, I fell) I fell straight down with my left toes pointing back the way I had come stretching my shin and ankle muscles to the max.  Not to the breaking point, just to the ouchie point.  The front of my ankle is pretty sore and it doesn't want to turn or twist, but I've got it encased in a nice tight support and will be propping it up on a chair with an ice pack once I get to work.  It'll be okay, it'll mean I do more knitting than cavorting around this weekend, but by next week it'll barely remember I fell on it.  And I have some nice apple blossom photos too.  So it's a win/lose.  Some days are like that.

Then a pair of goldfinches showed up and posed.  I like them, I especially like the way they dull down their bright yellow for the winter and then molt away the dull, muddy yellow for their bright golden yellow and black in the spring.

May 14--Bill Milne, Profile.  He stared straight ahead, stoic, unblinking, as if riveted in place and stripped of all emotion.  I could see how uncomfortable he was with the intensity of the artist's eyes on him.  The fact that he was shirtless only added to his discomfort.  God forbid that the artist had been a woman.  Being shirtless in her presence would have had him doubled up in shame.

Man, I sure wish I'd been content with long-range apple tree pictures.  This ankle hurts and I can tell it's going to be a major annoyance for the next few days.  I didn't need this.  At least I can still complain, I didn't sprain my mouth.  Knitting Guild's 5 Year Anniversary party is tonight.  Knitting and treats!  Woohoo!
--Barbara