Dagnabbit

Last night I started knitting a butterfly on a leaf and chrysalis toy for LC and OJ.  I knitted on the leaf a bit this morning and look at what I found.  The yarn is frayed.  One or more of the plies has broken.  I can't make a toy with broken yarn so off it goes to the trash and I started over.

When I was looking at my stash yarn to see what I had to use to knit this toy, I dug out a skein of blue-green and tan striped cotton which looked to me like the colors of a monarch chrysalis so I tried it.  I love it!  It's exactly how I imagined it would be.  I'll still need to use the green for the leaf part but I have another skein of the green, hopefully it isn't frayed in places like the other skein.  Fingers crossed.




The landscapers showed up while I was visiting a friend this afternoon and look!  The western end of the retaining wall is looking, well, wall-like.  There's a lot more to be done but they've made a good start in a couple days.  This morning they had to finish up a job that's been in process for a while but kept being delayed due to the frequent rains we've had.

Speaking of frequent rains or watering the bales too much, I think that I overwatered the romaine lettuce plants and killed them.  Damn.  So on my way home from my friend's house I stopped at a greenhouse that's been around for decades and found more romaine plants and some butter lettuce plants too.  I also picked up a little pot of sweet basil since the rabbits or chipmunks have eaten mine all up.  I'm considering building a bit of fencing to keep them from eating this batch.  I also bought a little packet of sugar snap pea seeds.  I don't know where I'll plant them but I'll figure something out.


5 June--Barbara Malcolm, Horizon.

“Gail?  Gail, is that you?”  I heard a voice behind me.

“Clara!  I didn’t expect to see you.”

“Yeah, like I’m not here nearly every day.  I almost didn’t recognize you.  You look so different.  That sweater’s wild, you’re wearing jeans, and boots.  Wow, what a transformation.”

“You remember I told you about Samara, the teenager in my painting class?”  She nodded.  “Anyway, she said last week that I dress too much like an old lady, and you know what?  She was right.  So we went on a little shopping trip last Saturday.”  My hand went to my hair again, “Notice any other changes?”

            “Oh my God, you cut your hair short.”  Clara put her hand on my shoulder and turned me back and forth.  “I’m not used to seeing you in anything but that bun you’ve been wearing ever since we met.  But it looks good.  I think I like it.”

I could see doubt on her face.  “Hey, just because I bought a few new outfits and got a haircut doesn’t mean I’m different.  Inside, I mean.”

“I guess.  Pretty soon you’ll be too cool to hang around with me.”  She shook her head, said good-bye, and walked away tugging the hem of the floral polyester blouse she had been happy to find on sale when the two of us were at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago.

I walked around the aisles in Merrick’s alternating between feeling guilty because of the changes I had made and angry at Clara for making me feel that way.  I fumed all the way home but, as I drove past Clara’s house and saw her old station wagon parked in the driveway looking a bit lonely, my anger at her lack of enthusiasm evaporated.  I had known Clara for over thirty years and she had been my best friend through thick and thin.  A hundred dollars worth of thrift store clothes and a city haircut shouldn’t be enough to cause a rift.

          I wondered why Clara wasn’t right beside me making changes in her life.  She was at a crossroads too; her youngest had moved into an apartment in Simpson after graduating from the tech school so she and Hank were alone together for the first time in nearly forty years.  That had to be hard, and maybe it went some way toward explaining why she was sure the changes I had made would push our friendship to the brink.


I had every intention of sewing today but I spent a bunch of time fooling around trying to get a knitting pattern onto the Knit Companion app on my iPad and then spent most of the afternoon visiting with a friend.  Oh well, I'm not on a time schedule.  Tomorrow afternoon I have a trainer session which means I'll be smelly and tired and feel great tomorrow evening.  I look forward to it.  Well, maybe not the stinky part...
--Barbara