Forsythia. It's blooming. It suddenly occurred to me if the rhubarb, chives, and the poppies are up maybe the forsythia is blooming so I asked Durwood to check out the window by his bed. It is! And not just a little, a lot. I can't get out and around the house with my walker so I had to take pictures through the window. I think I did okay.
Working together we got the hummingbird feeder filled and hung out. (no, I didn't take it out, Durwood did) Here, birdie, birdie, birdie. Durwood wanted there to be a hummingbird on it right away but I reminded him that he needs to be patient. I usually don't see one until the honeysuckle starts to bloom and that doesn't even have leaves yet but according to the Hummingbird Migration Map they've been seen in our area so the feeder is out. A House Finch in its summer plumage stopped by for a drink this morning too so at least there was a bird to see.
I cast on and finished the first preemie hat for May. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not May yet but I want to make 4/month and thought I'd get a jump on it. I noticed as I was closing up the top that I missed a round of purl where the hat body and crown meet. *shrugs* Oh well, it's cute anyway, I think, and the yarn color is Toasted Marshmallow. Kind of neutral, kind of plain, but I kind of like it.
This afternoon I have my next doc appointment. I hope the x-ray shows the correct rate of healing and I hope they take off this (coming apart) cast and give me a boot. They said that the boot only comes in black so it's a good thing I have bright cast socks to enliven the gloom.
April 26--Tom Till, Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.
There,
in the tide pool
at your feet,
the setting sun
lights the way
until the distant lighthouse beam
pierces the dusk.
~~~~~
It's another gray, drizzly day, chilly too but April showers... and all that. Spring's like that around here.
--Barbara
... instead of blogging yesterday because I'm still stuck on the couch with my broken ankle on a pillow. I just didn't. There. No excuses, just the bald truth. I didn't feel like it so I didn't. So there. (ooh, I felt all firm and self-actualized there for a minute)
Part of yesterday's problem was I decided once again to stretch out the time between pain pills faster than I should have and it was an overcast, drizzly day, so achy pain crept into my day until by late afternoon I was a frowning, cranky mess. (poor Durwood) I came to my senses, took an extra pill, went to bed early with another pill, dreamed of having a blood clot in my left calf most of the night, and feel much better today. Whew.
I threw together a surprisingly good supper last night. Durwood needed a nap (he's still the champion napper especially with all of the extra things he's doing to take care of both of us now that I'm laid up) so I said I'd get the supper going. I found this appealing 3-ingredient recipe on Allrecipes.com and knew it was our kind of food--and we had everything on hand. Slice a big onion into rings (I cut it in half, stem to root, instead) and put them on the bottom of a big crockpot, put a whole chicken (breast side down) on top of the onions (we had a whole cut-up chicken that turned out to be a good substitute), then pour 20 oz. of jarred salsa over it (ours was mango salsa--it worked) and cook on High for 5 hours. Yum. Durwood sauteed some zucchini and boiled a couple baby red potatoes each. It was yummy and so easy that I could make it even with only one good leg. I was feeling sorry for myself putting myself in pain for the day so I ended my meal with a piece of the salted caramel kringle that TW & ARA gave us last weekend. We're minding how we eat it and making it last, although Durwood did confess that he's been eating pieces for breakfast every now and again. Breakfast! What an idea.
In the afternoon I bore down and finished the last Sudoku Berry square. Hooray! Now I don't have to make anything else in that pukey color. (except if LC decides she wants something made that color, then I will suck it up and knit with it.) I was afraid I'd run out of yarn before I got to the bind-off so I found myself knitting faster and faster so I'd get done before the yarn ran out. Not logical, but it worked. I've got a walnut-sized ball of the stuff left. (there's more downstairs for LC's imaginary something)
After supper I knitted on the May Seamen's Cowl. I was excited to see if my stripes experiment would work and I'm happy to say, "yes, it works." A couple more rows of the red and then it's back to the gray; I like it.
I have been ordering used pop-up books from Amazon Marketplace since the Storytime Librarian showed us 600 Black Spots last winter. I knew that ordering used books, especially pop-up books would be a chancy proposition and it was, so I spent Saturday afternoon with some cardstock, markers, and packing tape unkinking folded pieces, reattaching torn places, and in the case of this red page, cobbling together a complete new pull. It isn't perfect and the repair of the torn edges of the slit is far from invisible but now the page works. I am enamored of these books by David A. Carter and plan to slowly acquire all of his books. Pop-up books may be my new fascination--and I can say they're for the grandkids, now, can't I? Very smart, I am. Plus by buying them through "Amazon Smile" every purchase benefits my chosen charity, which is The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, WI where I go for a writing workshop/retreat every year and have gone at least once a year for the past 15 years. It's a win-win.
April 25--Tom Till, Karnak Temple, Egypt.
A dozen sandstone rams,
one headless,
guard the temple approach.
Hear echoes of the chants of long-ago priests,
hints of fragrant incense perfumes the air,
antiquity envelops you.
You become still
inside
as your steps slow
to better drink in the connection
to all those who trod these stones
before the birth of Christ.
~~~~~
Nothing exciting to do today except cut up a fresh pineapple and pour in a bag of frozen blueberries and one of frozen strawberries ($1 on sale, yippee!) so I'll have fruit to eat again. I hate being without fresh fruit. I feel deprived when we're out. Off to sharpen a knife.
--Barbara
For the last two days I have been absolutely convinced that the heavy overcast of the morning would stick around all day. It didn't. Today started out sunny so I'm going to say it'll stay sunny all day. Even if it doesn't I'm happy to be wrong if the day turns from cloudy to sunny--even stuck on the couch as I am. I have high hopes that they'll take off my cast on Tuesday, put on a boot, and tell me I can start putting a little weight on my left ankle.
Oh, I somehow managed to break off a piece of my cast yesterday. I noticed at Friday Night Knitting that my cast boot felt too tight so I loosened it, which helped a bit but when I got home and took it (the boot, not the cast) off it still felt odd. When I ran my finger around between the cast and my foot I noticed that a triangular piece of the top section over my little toe had broken off. Wha-???? It hadn't slipped inside, wasn't in the cast boot or the toe sock, not on the floor. Where is it? I do not know, but everything seems to have recovered from feeling odd and so I'm leaving it alone until Tuesday when I see the medicos again.
I managed to peek outside the other day to see that the bleeding hearts and peonies are up against the privacy screen and the rhubarb is tall enough that I can see it over the grill and garbage can on the other side of the patio. The bulbs are putting on a lovely show out front, no tulips yet, but I expect them soon. I am so glad that our house faces south and has that brick lower half so that the sun warms it early and things grow fast. What I didn't get a picture of the other afternoon was a mallard drake waddling around the backyard. He didn't stay long, probably because there wasn't enough corn on the ground to entice him and the Mrs. to linger. Drat. I've gotta get to Fleet Farm for a bag of the kind of seed I like, need to go to the birdseed store for more finch seed too. Stupid broken ankle, stupid walker.
Last night at Friday Night Knitting, CB gifted me with two more cast socks, a green & yellow one and a glittery red one with tiny sequins in the yarn. Guess which one I'm wearing right now? You're right, the red one.
I finished the April Seamen's Cowl last night at FNK and couldn't resist casting on the May version when I got home because I'm excited to see how it turns out. I don't have enough of either of these yarns to make a whole one so I'm going to make 1" stripes of each color--gray, then red, ending with gray. I think it will look very spiffy. I have some solid colors of the same sort of yarn--downstairs where I can't get to it right now--so I'm hoping that by June I'll be able to go down there and grub around in the yarn bins on my own. Fingers crossed, even if I have to slide down on my bum with a cane in my hand, and scoot up the same way. I have backpacks, I can carry things.
When new babies come we like to give the big sibling gifts (because the new babe gets so many presents) and look what I had in "the barrel" for LC--sparkly pink shoes and some fishy blocks. Durwood's got some wrapping paper up here, he says, so we can get them all ready for the next time she comes over. I'd take them to her but all of their entrances have more steps than I'm capable of navigating right now. Darn it all to Hades. I WANT MY CAR. I WANT BOTH FEET. Sorry, I had to holler, just for a minute.
April 23--Walter Bibikow, DS5/T-23 Tokyo.
Two boys fly by
on a bicycle--
one pedals,
one stands on the pegs.
Dressed for school,
tidy & neat,
their faces reflect
unrestrained freedom.
They soar
over fantastic landscapes,
outpace
attacking hordes
with Doppler-ing laughter,
as they speed
toward decorum.
~~~~~
I'm pinning high hopes on Tuesday's visit to the doctor but suspect that I'll be out of the cast, still with the walker, and my left ankle probably still won't be weight bearing. But I can dream. I was excited to see that Aldi has pineapple on sale this week so knitting friend, MW, is on the job to bring one (and a few other things) around later this morning. Friends are so good to have.
--Barbara
This has been a very special week in our lives. Last Saturday in Lexington, DD & SIL1 brought home our new, big grandson, Aa, as their foster son and as soon as is legally possible (90 days) adoption papers will be signed and he'll be ours forever. A little closer to home, DS & DIL1 delivered LC's baby brother, OJ, on Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock. He's 22.5 inches long, 8 lbs. 11 oz. and I think he is quite possibly the handsomest baby in the Western Hemisphere. I got to meet him yesterday and can already tell we're going to be great pals. Like my friend, LL, tells her grandson, we're pals for life. Not that I'm not pals for life with LC too, you understand, I can see the three of us getting into all sorts of lovely adventures over the years. He likes me, I could feel it.
Durwood drove me down to the Bay Lakes Knitting Guild meeting last night. It was the night all the Design-a-thon entries were displayed and voting commenced. There weren't as many entries as I thought there'd be but I really enjoyed seeing and touching all of them. It was hard to decide which one to vote for in 2 of the 3 categories, not so hard in the third as there was only one entry in it--mine. Guess I'm a winner this year. By default, but I'll take it. I worked hard on my entry. Oh! and now I can show them to you. Yay! I've been nagging the membership all year that all it takes to be a designer is to pick a stitch pattern you'd like to try and turn it into a dishcloth. I found a "fishtail lace" stitch and made a dishcloth, well, probably a facecloth because the yarn's pink and pretty shiny, but I just added a few border stitches and zoomed. A little wash, a little blocking, and voila! a design. In the next category I resurrected an old scarf pattern I made up to try to learn to hate purling less. Once again, I used a single stitch, the "purse" stitch, cast on, and purled until I ran out of yarn. I used two skeins of the same variegated yarn and held them together to get an interesting mix of colors. For my third entry I worked a tiny bit harder--but only a tiny bit. I wanted to make a felted purse that will function as a purse and not just a fashion accessory so I knitted a gigantic bag of brown wool on big needles and ten feet of I-cord out of the same yarn, then felted it all. I lined it with a bright print (so things don't get lost in the bottom), cut holes to thread the handle through, and made three danglies of beads and Chinese coins to decorate the front. None of it was particularly difficult knitting, actually writing the patterns out so someone else can knit it too was trickier. Once again, I am so glad I played along. Winning is never my goal, stretching my knitting skills and being braver than I was last year is where it's at for me. I'm not going to quit nagging the Guild members about entering. It ain't rocket science, people, it's sticks and string. Get a little brave. We already like you so you won't be risking disfavor even if what you make isn't perfect, we'll be impressed that you tried. We're swell like that.
Knitting progress was made. I got Sudoku Block #8 crocheted together and all the ends woven in last night and this morning. Now I only have to knit one more Berry, Violet, and Snow squares, put the last block together and then get started knitting the strips to join them. Hey, maybe I'll finally finish that Sudoku Throw in time for next year's Design-a-thon.
Today's big adventure is going to be taking a shower--all by myself. You try doing it with only one functioning leg and tell me it's not an adventure. I'm eternally grateful that DD gave Durwood a handheld shower nozzle and installed it for us for Christmas a couple years ago and we bought a shower chair at Walmart last year. These two items make showering by myself possible. I thank you, DD, and I'm certain the noses of those around me thank you too.
April 22--Walter Bibikow, DS5/T-20, Tango, Argentina.
Their bodies entwine,
faces turned away,
as if eye contact would
fling them to the floor
in unrestrained lust.
So their torsos press together,
hands clasp,
legs thrust and cross.
The music holds them upright--
but just barely.
~~~~~
I have always been struck by how people dancing the tango never look at each other despite the fact that it's the most sensual dance. Today I don't think the gray sky will be pierced by sunlight the way it was yesterday. It has the look of staying all day. April showers bring May flowers. And what do Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims. Gotcha. Man, I love goofy riddles.
--Barbara
That's this morning in a nutshell. Oh, and by the way, I am feeling supremely sorry for myself here on the couch. I'm sick and tired of not being able to walk on two feet, my cast is snagging the upholstery, I want to go places BY MYSELF, and I want to see my children and grandchildren RIGHT NOW. I'm tired of measuring and monitoring the amount of green vegetables I eat and I want to stir up a gigantic cauldron of homemade soup because we're all out, I refuse to eat canned, and the deli soups have too much salt. (let's see... anything else?) I want to be able to go downstairs to get the yarns I want, instead of having to direct someone not familiar with my storage space and unfamiliar with any type of yarn, and I want to cut out and sew up the projects I want to make. I think that covers it.
Salvation! Coming back from a trip to the bathroom I glanced out of the front window and saw buds. On the maple tree. BUDS! Hooray!!!! (yeah, yeah, everyone knows how I hate exclamation points but sometimes they're warranted and buds warrant them today)
I spent most of yesterday working on the BLKG Library pages on Ravelry, going through the inventory lists, item by item, and then making a satellite list of the things I need to find and photograph on the library cart because they're not in Ravelry's database. (a working knowledge of Excel would have been handy for that) I did a lot of printing and then reprinting because I put the papers into the printer bale the wrong way, so I got my exercise going from the couch to the printer about six times before I was happy with what I had.
I knitted a few more round on the April Seamen's Cowl--only 2 more inches to go. I also cast on a knit the very beginning of the very last Sudoku Berry square. One of the things I need Durwood to do today is go downstairs and find the other color squares so I can put Block #8 together.
I whipped up one more preemie hat yesterday. That means I've got this nice bunch of them to take to Guild tonight for someone to deliver to the NICU. (If I could get around on my own, I could take them myself, now, couldn't I? Bah.) And I printed off the donation form to turn in too so we get credit for them, credit with whom I don't know, but the Guild wants to keep track so track I will keep) I'd like Durwood to bring up some other colors of this yarn too; I feel the need for a change. Maybe I can scootch down just a few steps so I can help him find what I want...
April 21--Walter Bibikow, Rome, Italy DS5/T-19.
The light of sunset
tints everything as if
gilded.
Midas-touched trees,
benches, buildings
glow.
The old man sits on
his usual bench,
the golden light
turns his glasses to doubloons,
his face like the profile
on a Roman denarius.
~~~~~
I'm thinking there'll be an outing today to visit someone new. I see that Durwood has on jeans and a going-outside shirt (as opposed to a staying-home, ratty around the collar flannel one). I'd better wrap this up and put on a shoe. I'm already as dressed as I'm going to get.
--Barbara
Well, normalcy for us. See, I have a theory. To me, normal people have set weekly menus--Sunday is chicken, Monday meatloaf, Tuesday spaghetti, Wednesday hot dish, Thursday take-out, Friday fish sticks, and Saturday burgers on the grill--just as an example. If you're in a normal family, you know what's going to be on the table at supper, here things are different, except on Tuesdays. Tuesday is $10 Tuesday at Papa Murphy's so we get a large Papa's Favorite, have them take off the black olives (too salty) and add fresh tomatoes; we eat half that night and save the other half for Friday night when I leave early to go to knitting. Since I broke my ankle 20 days ago we haven't had pizza, and we've missed it. So I suggested to Durwood that we have it last night. I called our local Papa Murphy's and asked if they'd consider delivering the pizza to Durwood at the curb (it's a little far for him to walk from the parking area and still reliably breathe) and the guy said, "sure, we do it all the time." So we counted out exact change, added an extra buck for a tip for the curbside service and had pizza. Yum. Now we'll have an easy supper option for tomorrow night when I want to go to the Knitting Guild meeting because it's Design-a-thon showing and voting night--and I have things entered. Woohoo!
I finished Sudoku Snow #8 yesterday afternoon. Now I need someone to bring up the other color squares so I can join them into Sudoku Block #8, which means that once I've knitted just one more Berry, Violet, and Snow square I will make the last block and can work to figure out how I want to knit the strips to join them and how I want to edge the entire thing.
I knitted a few rounds on the April Seamen's Cowl last night. It's about halfway. I sure like this yarn color, and I'm plotting to use two contrasting variegated colors for the May cowl. Hey, maybe I'll even be able to go downstairs and sew some ditty bags in May. Ach, probably not but a girl can dream.
For today's project I want to make a new list of the items on the BLKG library cart that aren't in Ravelry's database to see if I can find some of them tomorrow night to take their pictures to put on the guild's page. I also want to bring a few items home to start a newsletter column to let the membership know what treasures are available under that canvas cover.
April 20--DGR Studio, Inc., DGR9542
Here on the water planet
waves wash the shores,
slosh from coast to coast,
swirl in currents that brush along continents
like a global conveyor.
Rivers spill soil into the sea,
carry bits of North America to South America,
to Africa, then Europe,
glance off Iceland and Greenland,
to flow back along North American shores,
joining us all into
One.
~~~~~
My fingers have been still on the keys for more than a minute. I can't think of any snappy way to wrap this up today so I'll just say "see ya" and sign off.
--Barbara
Well, our small taste of 70-degree days has passed. Last night the temperature dropped like a stone, the wind picked up dramatically and blew in clouds and chill so we closed all the open windows and listened to the tree branches keen in the night. I was frowning out the front window this morning, wishing for sunshine, when I noticed a faint haze of green on a weeping willow tree behind the across the street neighbor's garage. We used to have a weeping willow and it was the first tree to green up. I loved that about that tree even if it flung branches all over the yard, and neighborhood (which grumpy neighbor, Mr. Brand, made me come and pick up from his yard when I was a kid AND an adult), at the slightest provocation.
My bulbs are blooming up a storm too. I maneuvered my walker (god, that sounds so old lady, doesn't it?) to prop open the storm door so I could lean out to snap a few photos to show you. Nearest the porch are the grape hyacinths which are so small and so proud of themselves. Slightly farther away is another patch of them but these have white with pale blue stripes squills mixed in. You can see a white regular sized hyacinth nearby. And at the end of the flower bed are clumps of daffodils, one of the clumps I planted in 1978, the year we built the house, and just before DS made his entrance.
I kind of goofed off most of yesterday, surfing the web for no good reason, and listening to an audiobook. I knitted on Sudoku Snow #8, got about 3/4 done, and knitted a few rows on the Seamen's Cowl.
The big thing I did yesterday was go get my blood drawn so they can make sure I don't make any blood clots. While the lab receptionist was wheeling me out I caught sight of dive buddy, BF, so I asked her to park me in the hall so I could make him take me out to the van so we could visit for a few minutes with Durwood (who had waited in the van) too.
April 19--DGR Studio, Inc., DGR9525.
Purple sea fans
undulate
in the surge,
lure us on
like Sally Rand
in her heyday.
Sensuous, languorous
like beckoning hands,
they entice us to explore
the secrets they conceal,
then reveal.
Tiny shrimp colonize
the fan,
mimic its colors
in perfect camouflage.
Flamingo tongue cowries
inch along the veins.
Do they get queasy
in the sway?
~~~~~
Don't remember Sally Rand? Don't know who she was? Here you go. I think I want to grow up to be her--or at least have her fans. I collect fans, did you know? One of these days I'll take their pictures and show you some of them. Well, Durwood's out there making my breakfast, it's hell not being able to make myself coffee when I get up but I can't walker and carry coffee, but he's good about fixing me just what I want. Coffee's coming, gotta go.
--Barbara
Forsythia. It's blooming. It suddenly occurred to me if the rhubarb, chives, and the poppies are up maybe the forsythia is blooming so I asked Durwood to check out the window by his bed. It is! And not just a little, a lot. I can't get out and around the house with my walker so I had to take pictures through the window. I think I did okay.
Working together we got the hummingbird feeder filled and hung out. (no, I didn't take it out, Durwood did) Here, birdie, birdie, birdie. Durwood wanted there to be a hummingbird on it right away but I reminded him that he needs to be patient. I usually don't see one until the honeysuckle starts to bloom and that doesn't even have leaves yet but according to the Hummingbird Migration Map they've been seen in our area so the feeder is out. A House Finch in its summer plumage stopped by for a drink this morning too so at least there was a bird to see.
I cast on and finished the first preemie hat for May. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not May yet but I want to make 4/month and thought I'd get a jump on it. I noticed as I was closing up the top that I missed a round of purl where the hat body and crown meet. *shrugs* Oh well, it's cute anyway, I think, and the yarn color is Toasted Marshmallow. Kind of neutral, kind of plain, but I kind of like it.
