Evidently I Hurt March's Feelings...

...yesterday morning when I said it wasn't very leonine because it proceeded to snow and blow all day making the roads icy, sending people into ditches and pirouetting through intersections (not me).  It stopped snowing around 5 o'clock just as the weather guessers had predicted (they have to be right some time) so I made my slow way home, parked across the street, and got busy clearing both sides of the driveway with my trusty red snowblower.  It didn't take long since there were no vehicles to dodge and I even blew a strip up the street toward the neighbor so our plow drift wasn't too big.  Just as I got the snowblower put away and started down the driveway toward my car--guess what happened--the plow came around the corner and shoved a drift where I had just finished clearing.  Thanks, buddy.  Since I knew he'd be coming right back on the other side of the street (where my car was parked) I hustled over and moved it into the driveway, then I restarted the snowblower and recleared the driveway.  I guess we got about 3" of snow in all.  It's back to being all pretty and fluffy and white out there with a pale blue sky and wispy clouds.  Guess what Saturday's temp is supposed to be.  Go on, guess.  Yep, 50 degrees.  It's supposed to be in the 50s for three days and then dive back into the 30s again.  All day yesterday I kept looking out the window thinking, last Wednesday it was 65 degrees, and shaking my head.  At least it gives strangers something to talk to each other about.
 



Did you hear a faint ripping sound coming from this direction this morning?  That was me frogging most of the sock I started and worked on yesterday.  By bedtime I had to face facts that I had made the color work, the navy parts, too tight.  I hadn't turned my sock tube inside out like Ann on Mason-Dixon Knitting advises so the yarn was pulled too tight around the corners making the sock leg too tight.  Arrrgh.  I knew I should have done that, it would have saved me ripping out 21 rounds of sock BUT frogging the colorwork let me change from navy, of which I have two skeins, to this orange amber skein, of which I have only one.  Besides we all know I like red and orange way more than I like blue... although I don't hate navy blue... and I don't hate ocean turquoise blue... sky blue is nice but only in the sky... To be truthful pink is really the only color I dislike in all of its shades and hues.





I tried hard to take a bird picture to put on here today.  First I spied (with my little eye) a male Goldfinch with the faintest hint of yellow on his head but he flew off just as I turned on the camera (darned squirrel).  Then I got all set to snap a photo of a Downy Woodpecker on the suet.  She took off at the last second too, so last-second that I'm surprised that there's not tail feathers at the edge of this photo.  Imagine a small woodpecker.

March 2--Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky, Portrait of Maria Lopakhina.  "She looks like an angel," Marta said.  We stood in the last gallery in the museum. All I could think of was how far we'd have to walk to get out into the air.  We'd spent all afternoon shuffling past dark paintings, crumbling statues, and bedraggled animal mounts in faded dioramas.  I had long go reached museum saturation but Marta insisted we visit every display and gallery in the warren of rooms that made up the Lyon Browne Museum of Art.  I figured it was named for big deal art collector but it turned out that Lyon Browne was a younger son with a penchant for second-rate art and bargain basement natural history displays.  None of his heirs wanted any of it so they had some plaques made, printed up guides, and started charging admission to Lyon's huge house.

It seems like nothing about knitting would disturb your sleep, doesn't it?  Well, I got up to toddle to the potty around 4 o'clock this morning, got started thinking about did I really want to keep going on that sock knowing that it wasn't right or did I want to wind up that orange amber yarn and then rip out to where the navy started?  I couldn't for the life of me go back to sleep so I lay there stewing until my alarms went off, got up, and solved my yarn dilemma first thing.  God, sometimes my brain gives me a pain.  Time to finish this and zip off to work.
--Barbara