I Got an Oil Change...

this morning and found out that I need new front brakes.  Whee.  They aren't bad but they're rusty and they pulse a little; since I'm going to Lexington in a week I'll be getting new brakes on Friday.  I would not be happy driving all that way with potentially faulty brakes.  No-siree-bob. (which DS said as "I'm-sorry-Bob" when he was OJ's age)

It was another gray bleak day today.  Not all sunny and bright like yesterday but mostly cloudy and just one big drear.  That made photographing the Bluejays difficult.  I had to turn off the flash and then the one on the peanut wreath decided to do an acrobatic move to try to pry out a nut so that's what we've got today.  (photo interpretation, from left to right--wing, tail, wing)


Oh, I packed up a box of stuff in the basement and put it into the car for donation.  I hope to get back to the "one box out a day" that I was good at last winter.  I have to clear a path from the workshop to the stairs because my car friend, JR, is coming over on Thursday evening with a young, strong helper to get a couple of Durwood's big tools out of the basement.  I'm trading them for some car stuff (but not the brakes, unfortunately) besides one tool needs a new switch and the other has never been set up since I met Durwood so I don't even know if I've got all the parts.  They're outta here.


My knitting mojo seems to be intermittent.  I finished a cast sock the other day and another one this evening.  I used the same pattern but different needle sizes.  The gray one is the correct size.  I don't know what made me so tense that I made the bright one so much smaller.  Well, I used the needle called for in the pattern and went up three sizes for the gray one.  Tense much?


I just checked my email and had one from Xanterra, the company that has the lodging

concession in Yellowstone.  Seems that a year ago today I made our reservations for last August's trip and they think I should do that again.  I don't think so.  It was a blast.  In fact, just yesterday Lala and I were talking about all of our favorite parts but we both also said it cost more than we'd anticipated so we won't be doing that again anytime soon.  This was just before we went white water rafting, our last hurrah.  I'd do that again.  And again.  I'm so glad that Lala found it in a "things to do" book in the cabin and talked me into going.  To be honest, it didn't take a lot of talking.


28 October--Barbara Malcolm, Spies Don't Retire. 

Billie sat at her desk looking at her calendar and thinking about the success of introducing George and Dimitri the night before.  She felt a shiver up her spine remembering the looks on Dimitri and Irina’s faces as she advanced toward them towing George and Sonia in her wake.  She knew she shouldn’t have done it, shouldn’t have broken either man’s cover but putting the two retired spies together under the bright lights and in the middle of the dance floor was irresistible.

Thank God Bertie couldn’t resist telling her about his suspicions about what Major Clemment really did for Her Majesty.  For years she had gathered gossip at lunches with Bertie and used each and every piece of it to her advantage one way or another.  But last night’s introduction had been her personal triumph.  She was so happy with herself that she even forgot to call Minerva Minnie.

The housekeeper wondered if her employer were ill.

Dimitri walked from his car through the open door of the Rose Inn.  He saw no reason to go around to the front; he went in the back like everyone else did.  The short hall wasn’t quite long enough to give his eyes time to adjust from the glaring sunlight bouncing off the white gravel parking area, so he paused in the doorway to the small dining room.  His eyes probed the corners of the room looking for Major Clemment.  “Damn,” he cursed under his breath, knowing he would convey his nervousness and relative weakness by being first to arrive.  He heard the scuff of a shoe on the tiles behind him and turned to see a silhouette of a man framed in the doorway.

“We could spend all morning dodging around, both of us trying to be the last to arrive.”  It was Major Clement.  “What say we go in together?”  George walked toward him and stood beside him like a genial host urging him to enter the dining room.

“I was allowing my eyes to adjust to the dimness,” Dimitri said.

“Of course you were, old boy, just like I was in the men’s room.”

By unspoken agreement they sat at the table nestled in the darkest corner of the room and each took a chair that allowed them to have their backs to the wall.

Tomorrow I'm going to get my eyes checked and hope to find some cool new frames.  Every time I go I think I'll get some wild colorful ones and end up with brown or black.  *sigh*  I'm such a disappointment to myself.
--Barbara