Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Gotcha

 
At least I assume that's what this Sharp-shinned Hawk said when it sunk its talons into the Junco it drove into the patio door glass this morning.  There've been a lot of birds hitting the glass lately so I assumed that the hawk had rediscovered that its favorite target, the junco, had returned to join the bird buffet in the back yard.  And evidently I was right.



 

Today I wore the last unworn new Dress no. 2.  This is the most expensive fabric I've bought in a long time but I had a 50% off coupon so I didn't pay full price.  I really like this pattern and I have a few lengths of flannel to make more winter dresses but there's one Dress no. 1 (jumper style) cut out so I'll get that sewn up tomorrow which will make it okay for me to cut out the flannel dresses over the weekend.  Hooray!




Last week one of the writers read a personal essay about her weekend at a retreat cabin in Lower Michigan and she talked about squirrels.  Durwood had a vendetta against squirrels so listening to her made me think of him and cry--finally.  I cried and cried, and my fellow writers let me cry it out.  (God, those are some wonderful women.)  I found a bushel basket of stuffed squirrels and chipmunks in a gift shop so I got one.  I never begrudged the squirrels the corn, peanuts, suet, and seed that they eat, I even bought a double-sided suet feeder to accommodate them but, I gotta tell you, Durwood did, in spades.  For years he'd plink at them with his BB gun, never killed any or even hurt one badly but he thought that he could effect a Pavlovian avoidance response.  Never happened but he kept trying until he was so shaky I took his toy away.  I'm happy to have this little stuffed squirrel to remind me of him and my week at The Clearing.  (it's a magical place, trust me)








I finished the leg of the Woodland Plain-Old-Sock last night so I started knitting the heel flap using the Eye of Partridge style heel.  I like the way it looks, it's as durable as the old-fashioned ribbed heel flap but it looks cooler, IMHO.  Next I turn the heel, pick up gusset stitches, and decrease back down to the original number of stitches, then knit even until it's time to toe.  Sock!












 

I didn't write the prompt last night.  It was almost midnight by the time I got to bed and I was bone tired, so tired that I slept until 9 o'clock this morning.  Makes for a very short morning.  Then I had a haircut and met the cleaning lady at the storage where she and a friend loaded up the bed and drove off with it.  Now the storage unit is empty and swept, I let the lady in the office know that it's empty, so that'll save $66 a month.  I think I'll salt that into a special column in the ledger and use it for something special.  Might as well save it since we've paid it out every month for the last 16 years, don't you think?  Time to hit the hay.
--Barbara

1 comment:

Aunt B said...

Wonderful to have those caring friends around to comfort you through your crying jag. Funny how something like a squirrel can trigger that reaction. But you knew it had to happen sometime. You look very cozy and warm in your "expensive" dress. And just in time. You've already had that "frost on the pumpkin" morning.