Rainy

Off and on all day.  *sigh*  Good thing I demolished the garden yesterday.  I have high hopes for being able to mow the lawn Wednesday or Thursday so that it doesn't go to seed before I come home from The Clearing.  Maybe my neighbor who mows his lawn when one blade gets taller than its neighbors will come over and mow.  Nah, that'll never happen.  Besides I'd be mortified.




I noticed yesterday that the blueberry bushes' leaves have turned bright red.  I'm glad to see leaves.  Remember that the demon bunnies had eaten them back down to the ground over the winter?  Well, they grew back; they didn't make flowers or berries but they did make lots of leaves and branches.  And I have a nice chicken wire fence around them that's even buried an inch underground to keep the little critters away.  Fingers crossed.



I threw all of my new fabric into the wash today after I got home from the back cracker and then sat on the couch to knit--and didn't get up until time to fix supper.  After supper I sat back down (well, actually I ate on the

couch so I pushed my plate aside) and kept on knitting.  I am embarrassed to say that it took me an hour, once I got to Row 5 of the cable pattern and didn't seem to have the right stitches to follow the pattern, to remember that there is Errata for that row.  I'd even printed it off the other day but there I sat knitting three stitches, frowning at the instructions and then at my knitting, tinking (k-n-i-t backwards) the stitches, frowning at it all again, then putting it down for a minute or five, before picking it up and starting the whole thing over.  An. Hour.  The printed correction was within reach.  All I had to do was stretch out my hand and the solution was mine.  This is two repeats of the pattern; 5 more pattern rows, then ribbing, and it's done.  I'll make at least one more so that I'm comfortable with the cable pattern because that makes up the cuff of the mitts I want to make next.  So I'll practice and get a pair of coasters out of it.


October 8--Egon Schiele, Krumau.  The town looked like a postcard from the top of the hill.  As Jeanne drove the rental car down, the place looked shabby and unkempt.  Plaster flaked off walls, roof tiles were missing, even the trees looked limp and sickly.  She slowed at the edge of town and watched for a gas station.  The few people she passed shot furtive glances at her, no one smiled, no one waved.  Not a friendly place, she thought.  If she hadn't needed gas she'd have kept on driving.

I made a big decision this morning.  I'm not going to try to sell the furniture that's left in the storage on the Internet.  I don't want the hassle.  So I called the local auction house to see how soon they could pick it up--December 12.  Really?  Unacceptable.  So I called St. Vinnie de P, they can come on October 23.  Much better.  No one wants big, heavy, brown furniture these days so they can haul it away and maybe someone will love it.  I just don't have the mental or physical energy to deal with it.  I'm proud of myself that I'll admit that and not run myself ragged.  Must be growing up.  Finally.
--Barbara