Guess Where I Went

This morning DS came over to figure out how I can play DVDs on my TV for me--which took him less than 10 minutes.  *sigh*  Then he carried up some heavy things for me from the basement and helped me turn my mattress which I can do alone but it's king size and takes me a while, it's much simpler with two people.  I asked what his plans were for the rest of the day and he said he had to run to the IRS office in Appleton to have some form stamped for the bank.  I invited myself along.  We got there just after noon.  They're closed from noon to 1 PM, of course.  So we went to lunch at an Indonesian restaurant he used to pass when he worked for the beer distributor.  They have a lunch buffet.  It was divine.  Every dish we tried, and between us we tried them all, was tastier than the last one.  This is all I ate, cross my heart, although I did have a steamed coconut cake (small cupcake size) for dessert and we shared a couple spoonfuls of an Indonesian sweet of papaya in coconut milk with rose water and giant tapioca.  I mean GIANT.  Like marble size.  Very tasty.

We went back to the IRS office and this time the door was unlocked so he went in and I stayed in the van.  He was back in a jiffy and fuming.  Seems starting today until Dec. 27 they're in training so they won't be helping anyone.  Then why did they have the door unlocked????  DS called the lady at the bank and the loan can't go through without that form so we drove to the next nearest IRS office--in Milwaukee.  Downtown Milwaukee.  In the heart of downtown Milwaukee on Friday afternoon.  We lucked out and found a parking place on the street about a block from the office and just after the time that you have to plug the meter so FREE parking.  We walked down to the office, rode the elevator up a floor, DS went in and got his form stamped, we walked back to the van, and drove home.  We were gone from 11:30 until 5:45 for a 2 minute office visit.  Crazy.  But it had to be done so that building the brewery can move forward.  Plus I got to spend most of the day with my son who is a very busy man and spends his time with his family and at work instead of dancing attendance on his mom.  

Guess who didn't take any knitting.


At Friday night knitting, I tried to cast on the next critter hat for a grandkid's Christmas.  See this pitiful bit of knitting?  It's about the sixth or seventh time I cast on tonight.  For the first few attempts I kept losing count, then I got the right number, knitted 6 rounds and decided that it would be too small for any of the heads.  It took me three more cast-ons to get the number I think might be right and by then there was only enough time to knit one round before it was time to come home.  

 30 November--Indian, Melancholy Girl with a Sitar.  The sky was an odd navy blue color and the clouds had halos of gold as Rhianna walked home from her guitar lesson.  The wind raced along pushing leaves and litter skittering past.  Small stones hit her ankles and shins.  She leaned into the gusts and shifted her guitar case so that the wind didn't use it like a sail.  She was three blocks from home when the big fat raindrops fell like ripe plums to pop and spatter on the sidewalk.  She heard the roar of the storm and knew she'd never get home before it hit so she looked around for a place to shelter.  In a lightning flash she saw the park pavilion and ran to slide under the steps out of the wind just as the sky opened and the rain fell in torrents.

I'm tired.  I shouldn't be tired, all I did most of the day was ride in a van and talk, but still I'm tired.  I'm glad I went along to keep DS company since he has to get up at 4:30 AM to get to the bus barn by 5:30 in case he needs to drive a route so I'm sure that by the time we were driving home in the dark he was tired.  He's a good man, we did good raising him, me and the old guy.
--Barbara