Lately I've been thinking that I've lost my mojo. I can't seem to write anything beyond this blog (and barely that some days), my knitting's unsatisfactory, I'm not sewing, and my ass seems to be glued to one chair or another. Last night I proved myself wrong. I get to go meet a new baby this afternoon and I've knitted a couple hats for her. Yesterday when I was barely awake it occurred to me that I had forgotten to make something for the big sister. See, I always try to have a gift for the old children because EVERYBODY brings a present for the new baby who has usurped all the attention that was previously hers/his and it's just not fair that IT gets a present and the more deserving person, the already kid who used to be the center of the universe, doesn't. So I clattered downstairs to grab One Yard Wonders to take to work to see what there was to see. I have plenty of fabric so I didn't worry that I'd have to buy any and I wanted something useful, like a bag. I paged through and there it was, a kid-size messenger bag with a pocket (I put on 2) and a shoulder strap. I went downstairs around 7:30, dug out some cute fabric, cut it out, and had it all sewed up, pressed and was back upstairs by 10 PM. Brilliant! Genius! I still got it! Huzzah! And it's so cute. I'll definitely be making it again, plus it has the cleverest way of making the bottom that I was gobsmacked when it turned out.
I was astonished to see that the patio blocks had emerged from the snow the other day. Now look, there's hardly any snow out there. The remaining snow's all on the patio so I still have to be careful when I go out to top up the birdbath of a morning but I'm thrilled to see the rabbit pellets, crushed brown grass, spilled seed, broken birdbath heater, and blown-in trash that is revealed with the snow gone. Although they are saying we should get a half-inch of snow tonight. Arrrgh.
April 5--Egypt, Mosaic Glass Inlay.
Twin white stars
floating face up
in indigo seas,
hold points
to stay together.
Red-ringed center,
yellow as yolk,
warms them in the
cold blue void.
~~~~~
Oops, gotta get a move on, I've got an oil change this morning. Toodle-oo.
--Barbara
Yesterday I had to call Mrs. Boss to ask about... something and she told me she'd spoken to a guy from Sheboygan over the weekend who said he planned to come in to buy everything so she reminded me what discounts I could give on what, which I appreciated because my mind's not as sticky as it used to be and stuff slides out. Jim and his buddy, Dave, arrived around 1 o'clock... and didn't leave until 4 o'clock. Holy crap! They both wanted regulators and Jim wanted everything else, except a snorkel. Holy crap. It was fun to have actual work to do at work, to put actual cash money into the till, to be able to call Mrs. Boss at the end of the day to tell her the total and hear the relief in her voice. Dave spent $1600 and Jim spent $2900, and that was with across the board 10% discounts. Holy crap indeed. I felt kind of dizzy and head-spinny after they left. It's been a long time since I've had a day like that. Years even. It's on days like that that I'm sorry I don't get a commission, but then I think of the rest of the time when I'd have nothing but moths in my wallet and I'm grateful for a salary. Of course I usually wait until 1 o'clock to eat my soup to allow for
lunch break customers so that meant I didn't get to eat until after 4
but I didn't mind one bit.
Then I got to go to yoga after work. It was lovely to stretch my body. I especially like triangle pose and cobbler's pose (because I can do them, I guess) and can approximate others. I'm great at corpse pose (lying flat on your back at the end of class), cobra pose (lying flat on your tummy) and not bad at plank but totally sucky at most of the rest. I don't mind. Mardi says there's no judging in yoga; there's no snoring either but there is farting on occasion (toot!). Doing yoga makes me feel good. I need to do yoga more.
April 4--Amadeo Modigliani, Boy in a Striped Sweater.
Solemn blue eyes gaze
from the smooth face, a quirk
of a smile adds a twinkle to them.
Rusty red hair cut
high and tight over jug ears
springs above.
Navy jacket and sailor-striped sweater
make his red hair richer
and his blue eyes pop.
Master Reginald McPhee
on the brink of growing
from boy to man.
~~~~~
Looks like it's going to be another sunny day. Watch, it'll be overcast and rainy tomorrow when I'm off work. Ah well, I'm not staying at work just so the sun stays out. I know that I'm not really the cause of weather but sometimes I'm not so sure. Plan something fun for the weekend. Do it.
--Barbara
Least of all me. Oh, man, have I got a badbadbad case of the blahs. I can't seem to motivate myself to do anything. I'm not walking (for exercise), not exer-cycling, not yoga-ing, not sewing, barely knitting... all I do is sit and play hidden object games on the computer (at home) or knit a little (at work) with an earbud shoved into my skull. It's like I've had a lobotomy. I will go to yoga tonight after work (Mardi's teaching so YAY!) and I responded to Skully's early morning email with a suggestion that we mall-walk on Friday. Even if she has to drag me around by an earlobe (remember nuns doing that in grade school? not to me, of course, to the bad boys) I need to force myself up and out.
 |
| June 2012 |
Next Wednesday I'm excited to be signed up for a one-night class on how to grow blueberries in pots. My three little blueberry bushes are stunted and forlorn. They try but we don't have the correct soil for them and they get shaded out by the tomatoes. Perhaps they'll be happier and more productive in pots. And I walked into Harmony Cafe last Friday to go knitting and saw someone with a planter full of leaf lettuce. I don't know what it was about (there was a tri-fold, science-fair-ish poster but I didn't stop) but I did want to bzzzzz off all those gorgeous green leaves and have them for my very own. It's time to plant... soon anyway, around Mother's Day around here and some years as late as Memorial Day. *sigh*
April 3--Mexico, Pottery Whistle.
Blow in his tail,
music comes out
his mouth.
(Does anyone else think
that's odd?)
The reverse
isn't much better,
a kind of artificial
respiration that makes
musical farts.
Haven't we all kissed
an ass (one end
or the other) and wished
for music?
You know how to whistle,
don't you, Steve?
You just put your lips together,
and... blow.
~~~~~
There's my Lauren Bacall impression for the day. It's from To Have and Have Not a black & white movie from 1944 that I remember watching while piled up in Mom's canopy bed one night when Dad was out of town. They used to play an old movie at 10:30 PM and we'd sit up and watch them. Good times. Great movies. Time for the day to get moving.
--Barbara
The snow has melted back to just the thickest, densest drifts and up against the retaining wall the grass is greening. Really. See? Of course the temperature isn't cooperating; it's barely above freezing and I can see frost on the neighbor's roof so it's obvious that it got below freezing last night. Also I nearly froze my fingers going out to put corn in the squirrel feeder and take a picture of the green grass. The crocuses are up and blooming on the south side of the house and in the warmest corner I can see a hyacinth spike peeking out. I know we're getting there, we're just not there yet. Although there is a baseball game score on the front page of the paper, that must mean something.
I called my friend KS up at The Clearing yesterday to tell her (warn them) that in fewer than 7 weeks I'll be up there to stay for a writing workshop. I'm excited to be going there in spring this year to see the wildflowers (if the snow ever lets up, they had snow on the ground yesterday morning, ugh). She wasn't there so I called her on her cell only to discover that she was driving back home from here. Man, I wish I'd known she was here, we could have met for early morning coffee or something. (really, I'd have gotten up and out early for that... oh, stop laughing) Did I tell you she learned to knit not too long ago? I knew I liked her.
April 2--Jean Lemoyen le Lorrain, Border Design.
Swirls of red and gold
dissolve into shapes of birds,
flowers, the sun,
a Hero
with sword and shield,
a fog of righteous certainty
trailing in his wake.
~~~~~
April is Poetry Month so I thought I'd poem along. Enjoy your day and don't forget to vote if you have the chance. Avaunt!
--Barbara
Well, I got a little ahead of myself last week. I had every intention of casting on a hat and shawl at Friday Night Knitting, but I couldn't bring myself to cast on the wool hat and couldn't find the inside end of the lace weight for the shawl. So I kept working on the cotton kerchief which I unexpectedly like how it's turning out. After a little hitch in beginning it, it's ticking right along and I like the way the marled green color's looking. I have high hopes for it once it's finished, walked, and blocked.I did survey the other knitters about whether to finish the scarf or frog it and start over. I kind of think it's too wide for comfort but I also don't think I want to rip it all apart and begin again. Z-Dawg suggested that I back up just to where I started the decreases, knit until I'm really running out, bind off, and see how I like it. I think that's what I'll do.I tried casting on the shawl last night after I wound the yarn up but the needles I chose were too blunt for the yarn. I looked online for pointier needles but didn't want to spend the moola. Big needles ain't cheap. I unearthed some metal needles which are okay but this morning I remembered that I have a pair of Knit Picks Harmony needles almost the right size and they're extra pointy. I'll be giving them a try after work.
April Fool! Hah, I got you, didn't I? Didn't I? Tell me you were fooled, even just for a nano-second. Oh, all right, it was a cheap shot. I'm sorry I made you clutch at your chest and made tears well up in your eyes. That didn't happen either? Well, crap. You're too smart for me.
We had a grand day yesterday in Shawano, a delicious feast in a pretty setting with great company and Porter. The deviled eggs had smoked salmon and dill in the filling and were topped with tiny diced pickled beets and there was some lovely Gouda to put on crackers to have with our mimosas. For lunch we had ham, scalloped potatoes (none of those box kind either, real ones with NO butter [heh, yeah, right, it was a holiday, we splurged]), fresh green beans, baby carrots, rolls and soda bread, with bunny banana cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert. This time I got to help clear. Finally. Must mean we're getting to be real family. Yay!
This morning I glanced out the patio doors to see the wispy clouds tinted pink by the sunrise. It made me smile at 7 AM on a Monday morning. I hope it makes you smile too. And suddenly I hear birds outside not just snowplows. Bird song! Springtime! I really need to salt the patio before I go to work, it's treacherously icy for feeder filling and birdbath topping up. Scary slippery.
I need to call our tax attorney guy this morning. See, I want to apply for Social Security, since I'm 61 1/2 as of March 1, but Durwood's afraid if I start getting it at whatever the percentage of the whole is for me now I'll only get that percentage of his when he kicks the bucket. Our broker didn't know, maybe the lawyer will, if not it's off to the SS office for us, maybe after we vote tomorrow, because I want to use part of it to pay down the mortgage and save the rest. Saving's a fairly new concept for me. I take after Mom, I think about spending first and that kind of drives Durwood crazy. No, not kinda, it really drives him nuts, but we need to have the backyard regraded so the runoff quits running to the foundation and into the window wells and we need $$ for that. And we need money to pay for going to North & South Carolina in October. So I need to start getting those checks. Do they start before your birthday? I have lots of questions.
April 1--La Maison Martine, Textile. Gina shaded her eyes with her hand. "I'm not taking any more of those pills. They're making my eyes funny." Dave looked at her across the desk. "What pills?" "Oh, I've been having bad headaches so the doctor prescribed some stronger pain killer." She shook her head. "I've been taking them for a couple weeks and they seemed to be helping but today they're making my eyes funny." He frowned as if she wasn't making sense. "What do you mean they make your eyes funny? They look okay to me." "Not how they look from the outside looking in, you goofball, how they look from the inside looking out." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "They're making your shirt look like it has pulsating orange and purple blobs, flowers maybe, with green leaves. Very crazy. It's making my head ache even more." Dave smoothed the front of his shirt with both hands. "It may not be the pills. That's how my shirt really looks." He looked sad. "It's new. D'you think it's too busy?"
Okay, I'm off to keep the world safe from SCUBA diving--and get my paycheck. Paycheck, yay!
--Barbara
I am working hard to rejuvenate my mojo, re-energize it, find it. I have the 2-days-of-yoga achy muscles to remind me that I got up off my fat ass to do more than get a snack this week, and I love it. I plan to do it again and pretty soon my muscles will work and not hurt. That'll be a good day.
I so enjoyed drawing at the museum in Sheboygan a couple weeks ago so I got myself a copy of Wreck This Journal at B&N too. I will be getting the colored pencils out of the box under the bed as soon as I post this. No page will be safe.
I also got myself a treat: a little 3x5 Moleskin notebook with unlined paper. I love unlined paper to write on. See, I'm too German and rule-bound to write across lines but if there are no lines I could write any which way. I usually don't, but I COULD and that's what I like.
I've been working on my latest boot sock. I really like the yarn. I think I'm about 10 rounds from decreasing for the toe. I'm sure I'll get it done in time to wear it before it's too warm for a thick sock. (god, what did I just do? did I wish for the cold to last longer? I need to lie down with a cool cloth on my forehead)
