Now I can send them to my daughter.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Not tracking very well
I ought to go to work. I WILL go to work. Only I have a Finished Objects from last week, and what kind of devotion to my public is that?
Now I can send them to my daughter.
Now I can send them to my daughter.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Life bird last week
Last Monday, to my great relief, it snowed hard enough to keep me out of work. Doug had a sweet little bird out his window; it seemed to be a sparrow with a goatee and a snazzy cap. Considerable work with field guides later, we found it was a redpoll
which is not a sparrow but a goldfinch (redpoll on left and probably right, Eastern goldfinch in middle). WhatEVER. Today I had a flock of about 40 dipping and swirling outside my window. I am happy.
which is not a sparrow but a goldfinch (redpoll on left and probably right, Eastern goldfinch in middle). WhatEVER. Today I had a flock of about 40 dipping and swirling outside my window. I am happy.
Monday, January 23, 2006
pretty insanely busy
NB - I added a picture of the anniversary dinner to the previous post, if you're into that.
Work on Friday was a bit odd, because the fledgling Administrative Assistant had booked her boss into two meetings essentially back to back. I hope he lived. I think he did, because I spoke to him this morning while it was snowing too hard for either of us to go to work. I can't wait for my computer to get its more memory-upgrade. I staggered home, where my cat and my daughter's cat explained that Doug had not fed them for the past two weeks. I was only away for four days, so I ignored them. I did laundry. I read more Lois McMasters Bujold(this trilogy, particulary the first two, has some interesting thoughts about religion), and then on Saturday I got up andand did yard work, because it was over 60F. It was lovely, and the deck needed the rotting birdseed to be scraped off. The only good weird thing the previous owner of this house did was to run a hot water line to the hose; it is much more efficient, and less unpleasant, to spray hot water all over a deck in Januaury than to use cold. Doug helped a lot.
Then I made Scallopped Jerusalem Artichokes, in quest of a low-carb dish that would warm the cockles of diggers' hearts. the past two years we have had the SCRAP winter party in the coldest large room on the coldest day of the year. This was possibly the warmest day of the year, so far, and we had it in a smaller warmer room, and I think more people than usual turned up.
No excuse for this picture, except that I thought it was pretty.
Sarah and I managed to get some spinning done.
Doug and I staggered home and got up the next morning and eventually set off for Claudia's.
This was the largest private fiber gathering I think I have been privileged to attend. I met a bunch of people whom I ought to remember, and I ate some delicious food. Sandy and Carole and Beth and Cindy among others, and fresh mozzerella and linzertorte and ... it was am amazing gathering. Etherknitter Laurie called Cassie; Norma came down with a very fanciable Polworth fleece. I also took the shoes picture that Julia posted; it was like, you go in the door and they spilled out at you.
Work on Friday was a bit odd, because the fledgling Administrative Assistant had booked her boss into two meetings essentially back to back. I hope he lived. I think he did, because I spoke to him this morning while it was snowing too hard for either of us to go to work. I can't wait for my computer to get its more memory-upgrade. I staggered home, where my cat and my daughter's cat explained that Doug had not fed them for the past two weeks. I was only away for four days, so I ignored them. I did laundry. I read more Lois McMasters Bujold(this trilogy, particulary the first two, has some interesting thoughts about religion), and then on Saturday I got up andand did yard work, because it was over 60F. It was lovely, and the deck needed the rotting birdseed to be scraped off. The only good weird thing the previous owner of this house did was to run a hot water line to the hose; it is much more efficient, and less unpleasant, to spray hot water all over a deck in Januaury than to use cold. Doug helped a lot.
Then I made Scallopped Jerusalem Artichokes, in quest of a low-carb dish that would warm the cockles of diggers' hearts. the past two years we have had the SCRAP winter party in the coldest large room on the coldest day of the year. This was possibly the warmest day of the year, so far, and we had it in a smaller warmer room, and I think more people than usual turned up.
No excuse for this picture, except that I thought it was pretty.
Sarah and I managed to get some spinning done.
Doug and I staggered home and got up the next morning and eventually set off for Claudia's.
This was the largest private fiber gathering I think I have been privileged to attend. I met a bunch of people whom I ought to remember, and I ate some delicious food. Sandy and Carole and Beth and Cindy among others, and fresh mozzerella and linzertorte and ... it was am amazing gathering. Etherknitter Laurie called Cassie; Norma came down with a very fanciable Polworth fleece. I also took the shoes picture that Julia posted; it was like, you go in the door and they spilled out at you.
Insanely busy
January 14, it rained very hard and Ellie drove us to Boston while I knit a sock. We had a festive dinner with my parents in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary. They had the decency to be embarrassed about it, as neither of them could possibly be that old. They decided to pick up an option on another 13 weeks, together, too.
The waiter told me to squeeze in; I was NOT drunk. Not that drunk, anyhow.
Do I need to add a key to the players again?
The next day, I pondered Arisia--the certain loss of a lot of money--and decided to go straight from Back Bay to Woburn, where I visited friends and met Ellie, who drove to Northampton, while I knit the sock. After some indecision, I spent the night there, getting to hang out with the very nice women on her hall.
The next early evening I drove to Henniker. Couldn't knit the sock. The next day was Tuesday. I picked up my boss, who has been out of the Bible Society/ Council of Churches office due to some broken bones, and he decided I should go to New York for an 11 o'clock meeting on Wednesday. It was supposed to be the ABS consulting with the local Bible societies, only without giving us any agenda or hotel reservations in advance, which was why I had not know when or if I was going.
I visited the archaeology office and found I am getting paid for the middle two weeks of the session of field school, as the total finds from the discovery of the site were in a medium-sized bag on Dick's desk. He says he doesn't think there will be much lab stuff to supervise. Two weeks is, coincidentally I am SURE, the length of time I am going to be given off from my real job this summer, but I may see if I can pry another week out of the office (unpaid) and be in the field. Anyway, this was not bad news at all.
I also bought a pair of real people shoes to wear in NYC, as my office boss thought the slushy hiking boots were not New York-ish. He did not want them to think I am a hick. Despite the lack of Vibram soles, vents, laces, or ankles these were really comfortable shoes. I went home and packed and drove back from home to Concord to get on 93 and return to my parents' apartment.
The next day was not as foul as they had predicted and I carried my cardboard suitcase and the dreams in my heart to the Acela on foot, proving my faith in the Shoes well-placed (which was a good thing, because I left the hiking boots with my parents). Got on the train at Track One at 7:15 like the guy said and found to the conductor's horror I was on a local. They made a very kind fast emergency stop at 128, where I did pick up the Acela. It was full of displaced air travelers. I sat next to a Size 4 blonde from an advertising agency, so I had lots of self-hatred to get on with and finished the sock I had started knitting in the car with Ellie on Saturday. And started a scarf. I don't think the straight garter-stitch horizontal cast-on-150-stitches necessarily works with all novelty yarns.
The winds which had closed the airports brought wires down, so the Acela was an hour late into NY. Winds and rain drove the New Yorkers into taxis, so I was 2 hours late for the meeting I was going to at the American Bible Society. It may not surprise my readers that some enthusiasts of Bible societies are a bit right of center. (If you need more information, email me and I will rant, but I am better now.)
After a long time, they set us free in our nice hotel in the low 70-Streets at 3:30 and I went out in search of an internet portal I could use. This gave me a wonderful walk with some amazing grocery stores
olives and sun-dried tomatoes and so on
multiple mushrooms
the coffee was more photogenic than the tea, sadly
and some views of sunset (which I was too lazy to photograph) on the buildings down the wide streets full of every kind of people under Heaven (which had stopped raining. It was in the high 50's Fahrenheit).
My shoes did what they could, but my knee is not too great and my ankles are not too great and I was tired when I got back to my room after an hour or so. I had a cup of tea. I watched a little X-Files. The other Bible Society people, all four of them, called from the lobby and we walked to a delicious Italian dinner at Coppola's. It was pleasant and pushed none of my rage buttons. By 8 pm I was having trouble staying awake, so we went back to the hotel, where I watched Comedy Central and enjoyed being an evil-minded liberal. I also pushed my camera over the edge of its resources and it is now permanently set on "night." Or there would be more pictures of New York, which is lovely and deserves to be in focus.
The meeting the next day included a few more, older, equally white, people--regional volunteers. I realized I was no longer having a very good time and knitted faster.
I wasn't too fond of this picture but actually, it may convey some of the 'end-of-my-seraphic-temperament -resources' feelings
At 4 Cassie (whose hat
is PERFECT for her -- she doesn't usually show her whole face so I won't, either) called and I was able to go FREE into New York with another liberal, to a yarn shop
and a perfect teashop and then to Penn Station. The train back to Boston was on time and I sat across from a tall (6'6"), pleasingly proportioned youth with long, clean hair and no pimples and an Apple laptop. My parents picked me up at the station, which I may be too old for but it was REALLY nice. My mom had also bought me a turtleneck so I had a clean shirt to wear to work on Friday.
And I haven't even reached Claudia's lovely party, but more soon.
The waiter told me to squeeze in; I was NOT drunk. Not that drunk, anyhow.Do I need to add a key to the players again?
The next day, I pondered Arisia--the certain loss of a lot of money--and decided to go straight from Back Bay to Woburn, where I visited friends and met Ellie, who drove to Northampton, while I knit the sock. After some indecision, I spent the night there, getting to hang out with the very nice women on her hall.
The next early evening I drove to Henniker. Couldn't knit the sock. The next day was Tuesday. I picked up my boss, who has been out of the Bible Society/ Council of Churches office due to some broken bones, and he decided I should go to New York for an 11 o'clock meeting on Wednesday. It was supposed to be the ABS consulting with the local Bible societies, only without giving us any agenda or hotel reservations in advance, which was why I had not know when or if I was going.
I visited the archaeology office and found I am getting paid for the middle two weeks of the session of field school, as the total finds from the discovery of the site were in a medium-sized bag on Dick's desk. He says he doesn't think there will be much lab stuff to supervise. Two weeks is, coincidentally I am SURE, the length of time I am going to be given off from my real job this summer, but I may see if I can pry another week out of the office (unpaid) and be in the field. Anyway, this was not bad news at all.
I also bought a pair of real people shoes to wear in NYC, as my office boss thought the slushy hiking boots were not New York-ish. He did not want them to think I am a hick. Despite the lack of Vibram soles, vents, laces, or ankles these were really comfortable shoes. I went home and packed and drove back from home to Concord to get on 93 and return to my parents' apartment.
The next day was not as foul as they had predicted and I carried my cardboard suitcase and the dreams in my heart to the Acela on foot, proving my faith in the Shoes well-placed (which was a good thing, because I left the hiking boots with my parents). Got on the train at Track One at 7:15 like the guy said and found to the conductor's horror I was on a local. They made a very kind fast emergency stop at 128, where I did pick up the Acela. It was full of displaced air travelers. I sat next to a Size 4 blonde from an advertising agency, so I had lots of self-hatred to get on with and finished the sock I had started knitting in the car with Ellie on Saturday. And started a scarf. I don't think the straight garter-stitch horizontal cast-on-150-stitches necessarily works with all novelty yarns.
The winds which had closed the airports brought wires down, so the Acela was an hour late into NY. Winds and rain drove the New Yorkers into taxis, so I was 2 hours late for the meeting I was going to at the American Bible Society. It may not surprise my readers that some enthusiasts of Bible societies are a bit right of center. (If you need more information, email me and I will rant, but I am better now.)
After a long time, they set us free in our nice hotel in the low 70-Streets at 3:30 and I went out in search of an internet portal I could use. This gave me a wonderful walk with some amazing grocery stores
olives and sun-dried tomatoes and so onmultiple mushroomsthe coffee was more photogenic than the tea, sadly
and some views of sunset (which I was too lazy to photograph) on the buildings down the wide streets full of every kind of people under Heaven (which had stopped raining. It was in the high 50's Fahrenheit).
My shoes did what they could, but my knee is not too great and my ankles are not too great and I was tired when I got back to my room after an hour or so. I had a cup of tea. I watched a little X-Files. The other Bible Society people, all four of them, called from the lobby and we walked to a delicious Italian dinner at Coppola's. It was pleasant and pushed none of my rage buttons. By 8 pm I was having trouble staying awake, so we went back to the hotel, where I watched Comedy Central and enjoyed being an evil-minded liberal. I also pushed my camera over the edge of its resources and it is now permanently set on "night." Or there would be more pictures of New York, which is lovely and deserves to be in focus.
The meeting the next day included a few more, older, equally white, people--regional volunteers. I realized I was no longer having a very good time and knitted faster.
I wasn't too fond of this picture but actually, it may convey some of the 'end-of-my-seraphic-temperament -resources' feelingsAt 4 Cassie (whose hat
is PERFECT for her -- she doesn't usually show her whole face so I won't, either) called and I was able to go FREE into New York with another liberal, to a yarn shop
and a perfect teashop and then to Penn Station. The train back to Boston was on time and I sat across from a tall (6'6"), pleasingly proportioned youth with long, clean hair and no pimples and an Apple laptop. My parents picked me up at the station, which I may be too old for but it was REALLY nice. My mom had also bought me a turtleneck so I had a clean shirt to wear to work on Friday.
And I haven't even reached Claudia's lovely party, but more soon.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Not a bad day
It is hard (though I am sure I could manage) to complain about a day beginning with someone begging to make one of one's pictures part of the cover of his new book. I believe it will be one of several and I am not getting paid, no, but I AM getting a credit, yes, which is plenty cool enough for me. Since I took it, I have no angst about looking fat or demented in it. My two friends look, in fact, cute.
The author wanted the color version. I'll let you know when it comes out.
Then I went to the adequately hideous strip-mall Post Office that Concord must have done something awful to deserve, and there was a treeful of birds in the slushy, dangerous parking lot. Not sparrows, not even goldfinches: cedar waxwings, who were ignoring cars so I could take a picture. Even if it isn't a very good picture.
And I was early to work so I could take trite pictures of the beautiful rime.
The workday was so-so, but I came home and Ellie made Stuffed Gluten-Free Shells, allowing me to try Hot-Pour dyeing like the Twisted Sisters. Way cool. The green was the only one that the dye struck the way it was supposed to, but I think the rovings will be pretty.
The author wanted the color version. I'll let you know when it comes out.
Then I went to the adequately hideous strip-mall Post Office that Concord must have done something awful to deserve, and there was a treeful of birds in the slushy, dangerous parking lot. Not sparrows, not even goldfinches: cedar waxwings, who were ignoring cars so I could take a picture. Even if it isn't a very good picture.
And I was early to work so I could take trite pictures of the beautiful rime.
The workday was so-so, but I came home and Ellie made Stuffed Gluten-Free Shells, allowing me to try Hot-Pour dyeing like the Twisted Sisters. Way cool. The green was the only one that the dye struck the way it was supposed to, but I think the rovings will be pretty.
Thursday, January 12, 2006
There are times I realize my life is WASTED
because I could be producing real art, art that means something. Like this.
I could knit a Firefly....
I could knit a Firefly....
SOCKS!
First Finished Object/s of 2006:
Two or even three days ago; size 13, Lorna's Laces 'Tuscany,' and even with handpainted yarn it might be good to check dye lots. Nor is it worthwhile to do a seed-stitch rib if you flank it with K2. One has to learn these things sometime.
I have almost finished the first sock for Ellie, and am back at work on The Experimental Hat. It would be nice if I finished that one by Saturday, when I will probably see its intended donatee (donee? Sam, anyway). It's quite possible, particularly if I can persuade my ever-loving daughter to do the drive down to Boston.
Ellie and I are not in mourning or anomie or just LOSS at all from having finished watching the DVD set of Firefly. We still haven't watched Serenity so we aren't missing the crew or wondering what would have happened if Joss Whedon had been permitted to carry his story arcs out more than maybe ten degrees. No sir, we are not FanGirls.
It snowed enough for Doug to christen his snowshoes (not in the Aussie sense, as far as I know), and then it rained really hard last night, with son-et-lumiere (even in French it's backwards). this will give my re-wrenched knee a chance to get better before we snow-shoe again. Eight inches of powder and leaves underneath that is a very comfortable fall, but I must learn to get my limbs properly composed.
Two or even three days ago; size 13, Lorna's Laces 'Tuscany,' and even with handpainted yarn it might be good to check dye lots. Nor is it worthwhile to do a seed-stitch rib if you flank it with K2. One has to learn these things sometime.
I have almost finished the first sock for Ellie, and am back at work on The Experimental Hat. It would be nice if I finished that one by Saturday, when I will probably see its intended donatee (donee? Sam, anyway). It's quite possible, particularly if I can persuade my ever-loving daughter to do the drive down to Boston.
Ellie and I are not in mourning or anomie or just LOSS at all from having finished watching the DVD set of Firefly. We still haven't watched Serenity so we aren't missing the crew or wondering what would have happened if Joss Whedon had been permitted to carry his story arcs out more than maybe ten degrees. No sir, we are not FanGirls.
It snowed enough for Doug to christen his snowshoes (not in the Aussie sense, as far as I know), and then it rained really hard last night, with son-et-lumiere (even in French it's backwards). this will give my re-wrenched knee a chance to get better before we snow-shoe again. Eight inches of powder and leaves underneath that is a very comfortable fall, but I must learn to get my limbs properly composed.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Blogiversary
It seems to have been a year since I started here at Blogspot. On the whole, a good year. Not only have I got a Job, which I really needed, but I have met a bunch of very nice people online and had the pleasure of meeting some of them in the real world. To say nothing of being practically bludgeoned into going to Rhinebeck.
Sometimes blogging helps my knitting, and sometimes knitting helps my blogging. I have made great progress on my father's second sock (he may get the pair next week, which is I think the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and still strictly speaking Christmastide). On the Sisyphean side, my daughter fell hard for a pink-lemonade colorway of Sockotta so I am in no danger of knitting anything for myself. The Experimental Hat lacks about 2 hours' work, because by Christmas my thumb hurt and I was kind of tired out. So I baked and made puddings instead, largely.
Christmas was fine; my mother thoughtfully got me Robin Hansen's mittens books (possibly trying to make sure she got the right one) and other people gave me 1491 and several others i need to pay more attention to, and some beautiful earrings from Ellie in green amber and silver. My ex-husband had hoped I would offer a blender and was pleased with the Cuisinart stainless-steel monster. She hosted Christmas Day Dinner and we all ate much too much and went off home or to the houses of girl and boyfriends.
I lack either, which probably contributed to a spiffing case of post-holiday blues, cured by both of my kids' talking to me (separately) for a couple of hours about themselves, which made a change from thinking about myself, lunch with a friend I had not seen for a couple of years and calls from some other people I hadn't heard from in a while. Maybe sometime I'll learn to call up people myself before I get so bleak. Score one good thing for the holidays; people do tend to think about reconnecting. At least other people. I was grateful.
The thumb is better, though not entirely, whether because it was time or because I am wearing a Tibetan medicine bracelet I was given for Christmas. I spent some days off reading Patrick O'Brien and watching Firefly (I'll link these later) and getting a lot done on the above-mentioned socks.
Then on the 3rd I went back to work, where my boss informed me that I had had a much much better New Year's Day than he had: he fell off a ladder and broke three ribs and his pelvis and sacrum. For various medical reasons he can't take anything stronger than Tylenol and he is still in the hospital. This has caused work to be even weirder than before, since, he knows all the ropes and I know very few. He calls and gives useful directions,but it is plain his good humor is wearing thin. Considering how much I complained about a mere sprained knee I don't blame him at all. He is probably more worried than I am about how the work is to get done, since his consists of going to a lot of widely scattered meetings and he can barely move.
I will try to be more diligent. it looks like I posted about every three days in the past year, and I am sadly behind. I hope all of you have at least as good holidays as I did, and certainly none involving untoward encounters with ladders.
Weather complaint: It hasn't been miserably cold and it hasn't sleeted much and it has hardly snowed more than is ornamental. Honestly, how can I moan and whimper? More, how can I go snowshoeing? Doug bought himself a pair and I imagine that will make the ski-slopes go bankrupt.
Do take care.
Sometimes blogging helps my knitting, and sometimes knitting helps my blogging. I have made great progress on my father's second sock (he may get the pair next week, which is I think the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord and still strictly speaking Christmastide). On the Sisyphean side, my daughter fell hard for a pink-lemonade colorway of Sockotta so I am in no danger of knitting anything for myself. The Experimental Hat lacks about 2 hours' work, because by Christmas my thumb hurt and I was kind of tired out. So I baked and made puddings instead, largely.
Christmas was fine; my mother thoughtfully got me Robin Hansen's mittens books (possibly trying to make sure she got the right one) and other people gave me 1491 and several others i need to pay more attention to, and some beautiful earrings from Ellie in green amber and silver. My ex-husband had hoped I would offer a blender and was pleased with the Cuisinart stainless-steel monster. She hosted Christmas Day Dinner and we all ate much too much and went off home or to the houses of girl and boyfriends.
I lack either, which probably contributed to a spiffing case of post-holiday blues, cured by both of my kids' talking to me (separately) for a couple of hours about themselves, which made a change from thinking about myself, lunch with a friend I had not seen for a couple of years and calls from some other people I hadn't heard from in a while. Maybe sometime I'll learn to call up people myself before I get so bleak. Score one good thing for the holidays; people do tend to think about reconnecting. At least other people. I was grateful.
The thumb is better, though not entirely, whether because it was time or because I am wearing a Tibetan medicine bracelet I was given for Christmas. I spent some days off reading Patrick O'Brien and watching Firefly (I'll link these later) and getting a lot done on the above-mentioned socks.
Then on the 3rd I went back to work, where my boss informed me that I had had a much much better New Year's Day than he had: he fell off a ladder and broke three ribs and his pelvis and sacrum. For various medical reasons he can't take anything stronger than Tylenol and he is still in the hospital. This has caused work to be even weirder than before, since, he knows all the ropes and I know very few. He calls and gives useful directions,but it is plain his good humor is wearing thin. Considering how much I complained about a mere sprained knee I don't blame him at all. He is probably more worried than I am about how the work is to get done, since his consists of going to a lot of widely scattered meetings and he can barely move.
I will try to be more diligent. it looks like I posted about every three days in the past year, and I am sadly behind. I hope all of you have at least as good holidays as I did, and certainly none involving untoward encounters with ladders.
Weather complaint: It hasn't been miserably cold and it hasn't sleeted much and it has hardly snowed more than is ornamental. Honestly, how can I moan and whimper? More, how can I go snowshoeing? Doug bought himself a pair and I imagine that will make the ski-slopes go bankrupt.
Do take care.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
It's true
The sun rose to the left of the pine tree behind which it rose yesterday!
Nice bit of montage for solar-holiday fans here
Next year I shall make the low-carb, high-protein biscotti for Dick with more bean flour. The gluten flour made one of the toughest giant cookies I have ever encountered; it was neat to feel the difference cutting those biscotti from cutting the ones I made for me (gluten-free). And think it will be bulletproof.
The pudding recipe from NPR makes more than they say it does. More than I would need for FOUR Christmases. There is no mixing bowl in the world (outside of restaurant supply) big enough for this recipe.I managed to break a nail down to the quick; although it would have made a change from coins, rings, beans, horseshoes, etc, but I did not include it. I used butter instead of suet, and real fruit instead of candied peel, and gluten-free breadcrumbs and flour. And more spice. They are steaming on the stove; the recipe suggests 9 hours. I am suggesting it will be lucky to get a few 2 hour sessions.
I am forcing one of them on Doug and his Florida-based New York Jewish girlfriend; now they have relaxed the airline safety precautions, he should be able to take it on the plane (New Year's at Disney). I'll let you know if it's edible. I'm frightened.
My thumb is no worse. I am almost done with one socks and the other is over half, so my father's feet will not be cold all winter.
Nice bit of montage for solar-holiday fans here
Next year I shall make the low-carb, high-protein biscotti for Dick with more bean flour. The gluten flour made one of the toughest giant cookies I have ever encountered; it was neat to feel the difference cutting those biscotti from cutting the ones I made for me (gluten-free). And think it will be bulletproof.
The pudding recipe from NPR makes more than they say it does. More than I would need for FOUR Christmases. There is no mixing bowl in the world (outside of restaurant supply) big enough for this recipe.I managed to break a nail down to the quick; although it would have made a change from coins, rings, beans, horseshoes, etc, but I did not include it. I used butter instead of suet, and real fruit instead of candied peel, and gluten-free breadcrumbs and flour. And more spice. They are steaming on the stove; the recipe suggests 9 hours. I am suggesting it will be lucky to get a few 2 hour sessions.
I am forcing one of them on Doug and his Florida-based New York Jewish girlfriend; now they have relaxed the airline safety precautions, he should be able to take it on the plane (New Year's at Disney). I'll let you know if it's edible. I'm frightened.
My thumb is no worse. I am almost done with one socks and the other is over half, so my father's feet will not be cold all winter.
Monday, December 19, 2005
IT, only not much
The Christmas knit-frenzy is impeded this year by tendonitis in my left thumb. Maybe a transplant? Actually, knitting only hurts a little, as opposed, apparently, to spinning (damn) and reading a paperback with one hand free (double damn). And washing dishes. Washing dishes is fatal.
So my father has been warned he may one get one and a half socks.
It snowed two Fridays in a row. Doug walked around looking out all the windows in the house and found a turkey sitting about 30 feet up, eating bittersweeet, in a tree.
much enhanced
It was snowing rather hard. A cardinal came and sat nearby, hoping to make a panorama worthy of Art Wolfe, but it was a pathetic effort.
pretty much the way it looked
The icicles outside my bathroom window, however, are giving it their All.
Sabre-toothed ice tiger teeth
Work is not a bad place. The Council of Churches in NH is one of the more liberal in the US, so I am happy there. Except that my computer needs more memory and an attitude adjustment, of which I suppose the same might be said of me.
So my father has been warned he may one get one and a half socks.
It snowed two Fridays in a row. Doug walked around looking out all the windows in the house and found a turkey sitting about 30 feet up, eating bittersweeet, in a tree.
much enhancedIt was snowing rather hard. A cardinal came and sat nearby, hoping to make a panorama worthy of Art Wolfe, but it was a pathetic effort.
pretty much the way it looked
The icicles outside my bathroom window, however, are giving it their All.
Sabre-toothed ice tiger teethWork is not a bad place. The Council of Churches in NH is one of the more liberal in the US, so I am happy there. Except that my computer needs more memory and an attitude adjustment, of which I suppose the same might be said of me.
Fruitcakes of the world, unite!
I actually like fruitcake. They are an excuse to eat sweetened slightly roasted nuts, and dried fruit infused with bourbon. Mine do not last for months unless they are refrigerated, although they will survive first-class mail, at least they seem to -- my recipients are still alive. Since I am my father and daughter are gluten intolerant (I get offended if you don't tell me to have a WHEAT-FREE holiday... well actually, not, but the "tolerance/intolerance" thing seems like it could be fun.) I make a wheat-free cake, which is nut enchanced. I like it. I wish it would be a little more consistent, since I am _virtually_ certain I performed the recipe exactly the same way last night as I did last week and the batter was runnier.
(Click here for a fine-looking nut-free version.)
To make 2 dozen cupcakes and 4 of those little 3"x6" loaflets:
Do not stint in greasing your pans. You might like to put a sort of rectangular bedsheet in the loaf pans, so you can run a knife along the ends and lift the cakes out by the edges of tinfoil, which of course overlaps the pan edges so there's enough to grab. Cupcake papers are a great invention.
Heat oven to 300 degrees
2 pounds mixed chopped dried fruit: Raisins, currants, dates (yum), dried cherries, apricots, cranberries, figs, APRICOTS (I find I need a little break in the sweetness of it all), crystalized ginger... I hate candied peel, but you may like it.
1 can of concentrated apple juice, plus two or three cans of water (after yesterday, I'd go with 2 and have the third if you need it)
(some bourbon or vodka, to loosen up the spices)
1 or more T cinnamon, and ginger if you haven't used the crystalized form;
1 or more t each cloves, cardamom,some nutmeg, maybe some of that dried grated orange peel
No garlic. Probably onion would be okay.
1/4 c oil, probably not anything strongly flavored.
Put all this in a big bowl and microwave it till the raisins are plump. Or leave to sit overnight.
Meanwhile, whir your Cuisinart through a pound or so of almonds; you want 4 cups of meal, not as fine as cormeal, something like coarse builder's sand.
1 cup of four -- I use a gluten-free mix, and I have to say you can get by with just another cup of almond meal.
1 T baking powder
Salt, perhaps.
Stir up. Let the fruit cool enough that you can add
2 eggs, or maybe three.
Stir everything together. The batter should be goopy, more than say for scones, less than for regular cake. Yet it should flow. And add at least a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans. Spoon into baking containers and top with glacé cherries or more nuts.
Bake about 20 minutes for the cupcakes, until tops are browner, edges pull away from the sides of the loaf pans (another 10 minutes) and things are not too gooey in the middle. Let cool on racks. It's fun to put about a half t of bourbon, or brandy, or whathaveyou (Amaretto or Grand Marnier are good, too) on the cupcakes while they're still in the pan, as it hisses and smells nice.
[Doug and I had a bourbon-tasting last week. Wild Turkey is as rough as Hunter Thompson could have wished, and not a waste on fruitcake (speaking of which, Truman Capote's Christmas Memory is charming, and recommended reading for any fruitcake baker); I like Knob Creek for sipping and Doug preferred the Woodford Reserve. It was a little drier and less orchestrated, more of a chamber music to Knob Creek's lush, but tidy, symphony.]
(Click here for a fine-looking nut-free version.)
To make 2 dozen cupcakes and 4 of those little 3"x6" loaflets:
Do not stint in greasing your pans. You might like to put a sort of rectangular bedsheet in the loaf pans, so you can run a knife along the ends and lift the cakes out by the edges of tinfoil, which of course overlaps the pan edges so there's enough to grab. Cupcake papers are a great invention.
Heat oven to 300 degrees
2 pounds mixed chopped dried fruit: Raisins, currants, dates (yum), dried cherries, apricots, cranberries, figs, APRICOTS (I find I need a little break in the sweetness of it all), crystalized ginger... I hate candied peel, but you may like it.
1 can of concentrated apple juice, plus two or three cans of water (after yesterday, I'd go with 2 and have the third if you need it)
(some bourbon or vodka, to loosen up the spices)
1 or more T cinnamon, and ginger if you haven't used the crystalized form;
1 or more t each cloves, cardamom,some nutmeg, maybe some of that dried grated orange peel
No garlic. Probably onion would be okay.
1/4 c oil, probably not anything strongly flavored.
Put all this in a big bowl and microwave it till the raisins are plump. Or leave to sit overnight.
Meanwhile, whir your Cuisinart through a pound or so of almonds; you want 4 cups of meal, not as fine as cormeal, something like coarse builder's sand.
1 cup of four -- I use a gluten-free mix, and I have to say you can get by with just another cup of almond meal.
1 T baking powder
Salt, perhaps.
Stir up. Let the fruit cool enough that you can add
2 eggs, or maybe three.
Stir everything together. The batter should be goopy, more than say for scones, less than for regular cake. Yet it should flow. And add at least a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans. Spoon into baking containers and top with glacé cherries or more nuts.
Bake about 20 minutes for the cupcakes, until tops are browner, edges pull away from the sides of the loaf pans (another 10 minutes) and things are not too gooey in the middle. Let cool on racks. It's fun to put about a half t of bourbon, or brandy, or whathaveyou (Amaretto or Grand Marnier are good, too) on the cupcakes while they're still in the pan, as it hisses and smells nice.
[Doug and I had a bourbon-tasting last week. Wild Turkey is as rough as Hunter Thompson could have wished, and not a waste on fruitcake (speaking of which, Truman Capote's Christmas Memory is charming, and recommended reading for any fruitcake baker); I like Knob Creek for sipping and Doug preferred the Woodford Reserve. It was a little drier and less orchestrated, more of a chamber music to Knob Creek's lush, but tidy, symphony.]
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Sometimes it snows really hard
We got 15.25 inches of light and fluffy here. The driving to work was not good, but the drive from work, when the boss sent me home at 12:30, was the worst I have EVER been scared driving in snow. My wipers got ice all over them, leaving a nice random deposit of opaque icy patches. I could not see even well enough, really, to pull over. The back window misted over. Other people were driving carefully or I would be a smashed statistic.
Fortunately I had not passed beyond the relatively near exit, where I drove into a 2-foot drift. But no one else was headed there, so I could clean off the wipers, chip the other ice off around the windshield and catch my breath. I pulled out of the snow drift with some patience and rocking, and drove around Terra Incognita (I thought that was in Indiana...), NH, with the air conditioner _and_ the defroster _and_ the heater on full blast. I finally found a person to ask the direction for the main roads. Whereupon it stopped snowing completely and I drove home. Paul the contractor,who plows my driveway, was having trouble with his brakes, so I drove up the driveway in his tire tracks (only maybe 10" deep. I love my Subaru). He finished fixing the brakes and the sun came out and I took the picture.
It was so lovely, with the sun out.
I have spent today knitting and putting off working on fruitcakes. And Christmas cards. I know I bought some....
Laura, chastened and tired and home in one piece
Fortunately I had not passed beyond the relatively near exit, where I drove into a 2-foot drift. But no one else was headed there, so I could clean off the wipers, chip the other ice off around the windshield and catch my breath. I pulled out of the snow drift with some patience and rocking, and drove around Terra Incognita (I thought that was in Indiana...), NH, with the air conditioner _and_ the defroster _and_ the heater on full blast. I finally found a person to ask the direction for the main roads. Whereupon it stopped snowing completely and I drove home. Paul the contractor,who plows my driveway, was having trouble with his brakes, so I drove up the driveway in his tire tracks (only maybe 10" deep. I love my Subaru). He finished fixing the brakes and the sun came out and I took the picture.
It was so lovely, with the sun out.
I have spent today knitting and putting off working on fruitcakes. And Christmas cards. I know I bought some....
Laura, chastened and tired and home in one piece
Sometimes it snows really hard
We got 15.25 inches of light and fluffy here. The driving to work was not good, but the drive from work, when the boss sent me home at 12:30, was the worst I have EVER been scared driving in snow. My wipers got ice all over them, leaving a nice random deposit of opaque icy patches. I could not see even well enough, really, to pull over. The back window misted over. Other people were driving carefully or I would be a smashed statistic.
Fortunately I had not passed beyond the relatively near exit, where I drove into a 2-foot drift. But no one else was headed there, so I could clean off the wipers, chip the other ice off around the windshield and catch my breath. I pulled out of the snow drift with some patience and rocking, and drove around Terra Incognita (I thought that was in Indiana...), NH, with the air conditioner _and_ the defroster _and_ the heater on full blast. I finally found a person to ask the direction for the main roads. Whereupon it stopped snowing completely and I drove home. Paul the contractor,who plows my driveway, was having trouble with his brakes, so I drove up the driveway in his tire tracks (only maybe 10" deep. I love my Subaru). He finished fixing the brakes and the sun came out and I took the picture.
It was so lovely, with the sun out.
I have spent today knitting and putting off working on fruitcakes. And Christmas cards. I know i bought some....
Laura, chastened and tired and home in one piece
Fortunately I had not passed beyond the relatively near exit, where I drove into a 2-foot drift. But no one else was headed there, so I could clean off the wipers, chip the other ice off around the windshield and catch my breath. I pulled out of the snow drift with some patience and rocking, and drove around Terra Incognita (I thought that was in Indiana...), NH, with the air conditioner _and_ the defroster _and_ the heater on full blast. I finally found a person to ask the direction for the main roads. Whereupon it stopped snowing completely and I drove home. Paul the contractor,who plows my driveway, was having trouble with his brakes, so I drove up the driveway in his tire tracks (only maybe 10" deep. I love my Subaru). He finished fixing the brakes and the sun came out and I took the picture.
It was so lovely, with the sun out.
I have spent today knitting and putting off working on fruitcakes. And Christmas cards. I know i bought some....
Laura, chastened and tired and home in one piece
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Uneasy times
Matt K. wrecked his car day before yesterday, on I-93. He is fine, which cannot be said of his aging Volvo.
Tanya who works across the hall from Dick lost her mother in a car wreck the same day before yesterday. Her father was badly injured but seems to be stable. Tanya and her husband have a relatively new baby (his first Christmas).
Next summer's field school will be in Colebrook, NH, on the outskirts of town. We will be camping at a state park sort of nearby. The site is mixed Archaic and Paleo; Edna found it in her past life as a contract archaeologist.
Drive carefully.
Tanya who works across the hall from Dick lost her mother in a car wreck the same day before yesterday. Her father was badly injured but seems to be stable. Tanya and her husband have a relatively new baby (his first Christmas).
Next summer's field school will be in Colebrook, NH, on the outskirts of town. We will be camping at a state park sort of nearby. The site is mixed Archaic and Paleo; Edna found it in her past life as a contract archaeologist.
Drive carefully.
Be nice to your mothers
A fairly distant connection (colleague and friend of a colleague and friend) and her husband just adopted a baby last summer. Day before yesterday, her mother and father were in a bad car crash; her mother was killed and her father badly hurt. I find I am sad this little baby will not know his grandma, and his mom will have one less helper.
Another friend's mom is getting 'further tests' for a possible mass with extra outlying spots on her brain.
My mom and dad are fine. I checked.
Another friend's mom is getting 'further tests' for a possible mass with extra outlying spots on her brain.
My mom and dad are fine. I checked.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Linda has a belfry OR, Home Is Where You Hang Your Batts
Yesterday, which was a cold day full of amazing limpid sunlight, Doug and I set out to see Linda Diak's new storefront/studio, in Vermont about an hour and a half from here. It was a very pretty ride, except for the drive through Alstead. This was the town that took the worst damage from the October storm. Parts of it are still pretty. Part of it has been bulldozed. There are big patches of freshly trap-rocked ditching and new tarmac. The small, pretty river runs close to the road and dips suddenly into deep, narrow gorges -- unusual for around here -- that probably added to the acceleration of the waters. Other places it flows on the surface and you can see a forty- or fifty-foot wide swath of brush that was overrun, apparently deeply, with good-sized trees either bent over or torn up altogther. And patches of fields with a new litter of bushel-basket sized cobbles. It was sobering.
Saxton's River is not far from Bellows Falls. The area has a lot of nicely preserved older buildings, including a dime store (now housing a Starbucks). Linda's storefront is on the main street near the church (and a crafts coop)and next to a good unpretentious restaurant that does a fine taco.
Carolyn and the lovely Julia Rose appeared, as did NH State Rep Claudia Chase, known to her friends also as Mirrix Looms. I hadn't seen Carolyn for years (we compared college-aged kids) and Claudia Chase was the most encouraging political item I have encountered in a long time. Enthusiasm. She was elected by a plurality of four votes a year ago, showing once again that one person's vote can matter.
And she spins.
We also got to see Tom and all three of their sons, who were affable. Now I'll be able to keep them mentally separate from Helen's two sons.
Linda was happy and perhaps a little tired. She and her husband had been setting up the place until far too late for much too long. She figured the contents of this spacious shop had been crammed into a (not yet fully unpacked) room about a third the size. Now she should actually be able to see all of her stash.
I came home with three batts and a spindle. Doug behaved very badly; he has two more spindles and an elegant rack, as well as more batts.
I am never going to get my father's socks finished. Knitting for Christmas is not for the faint of heart. And I keep stopping to spin a rich and lovely purple Diak.
Saxton's River is not far from Bellows Falls. The area has a lot of nicely preserved older buildings, including a dime store (now housing a Starbucks). Linda's storefront is on the main street near the church (and a crafts coop)and next to a good unpretentious restaurant that does a fine taco.
Carolyn and the lovely Julia Rose appeared, as did NH State Rep Claudia Chase, known to her friends also as Mirrix Looms. I hadn't seen Carolyn for years (we compared college-aged kids) and Claudia Chase was the most encouraging political item I have encountered in a long time. Enthusiasm. She was elected by a plurality of four votes a year ago, showing once again that one person's vote can matter.
And she spins.
We also got to see Tom and all three of their sons, who were affable. Now I'll be able to keep them mentally separate from Helen's two sons.
Linda was happy and perhaps a little tired. She and her husband had been setting up the place until far too late for much too long. She figured the contents of this spacious shop had been crammed into a (not yet fully unpacked) room about a third the size. Now she should actually be able to see all of her stash.
I came home with three batts and a spindle. Doug behaved very badly; he has two more spindles and an elegant rack, as well as more batts.
I am never going to get my father's socks finished. Knitting for Christmas is not for the faint of heart. And I keep stopping to spin a rich and lovely purple Diak.
Sunday, November 27, 2005
oh very well
My parents are standing behind us (very, very, very old, they assure me); Sam, 21: Laura, 49 with Asterix, 16; Daveifer, or David-now-Jenny, my ex-husband and former guy person, 52; Ellie, 19.
Thanksgiving
So we picked me up and took me to the grocery store, and as Ellie had figured out what we were going to have, it was okay.
She and my father and I can't eat wheat. She is vegetarian. My mother does not eat dairy or chicken or turkey or much egg. My son used not to eat dairy, but he got over the asthma attacks, and my ex-husband and Doug both eat everything.
So no turkey (or stuffing... I miss stuffing), but we needed some kind of festive meat. Ellie suggested that I figure that out myself as she was not cooking it. Turkey is a fine American meat, what else is? Alligator! No, not easy to find in local stores (also they say it tastes like chicken, which my mother...). My father suggested raccoon, but I opted for bison, which is quite easy to get (and if I had thought of it in advance I would have been able to get locally-raised, too).
Thanksgiving was the first day Doug has had off in about a month. He rose to the occasion by tidying the daylights out of the living room, which would almost make a person think it needed the work. I washed dishes in the kitchen while Ellie cooked black bean soup and polenta. My parents were bringing salad and mashed potatoes, and my son was bringing pumpkin pie. They and my ex were driving from Boston, leaving Early, Daveifer said, to get up here by 11.
Around noon we finished cleaning and I made a squash gratin (sliced thin with onions like Martha Stewart told Susan Stambourg) and conventional cranberry sauce, and Doug swept the steps again and dug out his car because it was snowing hard. My family called sadly from the tollbooth and said the traffic was horrible. We all changed clothes and took a few breaths. About 1:30 my son called. He and his father had jacknifed the VW in the middle of the road up here, blocking my parents, among others, and borrowing a phone from someone who had a service that works up here as his and his father's and my parents' phones do not work near my house.
We had sort of been expecting them to call from the bottom of the driveway,
but this was more dramatic. We had about five inches; usually the town plows really well, but this was a holiday. Doug went out with his Subaru and my father got the VW out of the snowdrift and they all went four miles back toward town and parked at the gas station. We got to eat (scheduled for 12), around 3.
This was after Sam had started the fire in the fireplace; the wood stove has been running, but the fireplace is more festive. Doug had thoughtfully laid a one-match fire and I assumed he had opened the damper. He assumed no one would open the damper before they lit the fire, and Sam has never lived with a fireplace and may not know about dampers, so of course he did not check. It is much more fun to open the damper with the fire GOING, and so Sam tried it, and then since the damper is tricky and the living room was filling with smoke I tried it, and then I put out my hair (only an inch or so lost) and Doug tried it (picture increasing billows) and he ended up putting the damper gently in front of the hearth.
Dinner, fortunately, was delicious.
The traditional holiday photos are grisly, but we had a good time.
After everyone left I finshed the last Harry Potter. I was sad because the person who dies died and I was out of books.
My giant red socks felted beautifully and fit me (women's 9 and a half), which is unfortunate because I made them for my contractor (men's 11 and a half).
It has been a pleasant couple of days and in an hour I will take Ellie back to Northampton (!).
She and my father and I can't eat wheat. She is vegetarian. My mother does not eat dairy or chicken or turkey or much egg. My son used not to eat dairy, but he got over the asthma attacks, and my ex-husband and Doug both eat everything.
So no turkey (or stuffing... I miss stuffing), but we needed some kind of festive meat. Ellie suggested that I figure that out myself as she was not cooking it. Turkey is a fine American meat, what else is? Alligator! No, not easy to find in local stores (also they say it tastes like chicken, which my mother...). My father suggested raccoon, but I opted for bison, which is quite easy to get (and if I had thought of it in advance I would have been able to get locally-raised, too).
Thanksgiving was the first day Doug has had off in about a month. He rose to the occasion by tidying the daylights out of the living room, which would almost make a person think it needed the work. I washed dishes in the kitchen while Ellie cooked black bean soup and polenta. My parents were bringing salad and mashed potatoes, and my son was bringing pumpkin pie. They and my ex were driving from Boston, leaving Early, Daveifer said, to get up here by 11.
Around noon we finished cleaning and I made a squash gratin (sliced thin with onions like Martha Stewart told Susan Stambourg) and conventional cranberry sauce, and Doug swept the steps again and dug out his car because it was snowing hard. My family called sadly from the tollbooth and said the traffic was horrible. We all changed clothes and took a few breaths. About 1:30 my son called. He and his father had jacknifed the VW in the middle of the road up here, blocking my parents, among others, and borrowing a phone from someone who had a service that works up here as his and his father's and my parents' phones do not work near my house.
We had sort of been expecting them to call from the bottom of the driveway,
but this was more dramatic. We had about five inches; usually the town plows really well, but this was a holiday. Doug went out with his Subaru and my father got the VW out of the snowdrift and they all went four miles back toward town and parked at the gas station. We got to eat (scheduled for 12), around 3.
This was after Sam had started the fire in the fireplace; the wood stove has been running, but the fireplace is more festive. Doug had thoughtfully laid a one-match fire and I assumed he had opened the damper. He assumed no one would open the damper before they lit the fire, and Sam has never lived with a fireplace and may not know about dampers, so of course he did not check. It is much more fun to open the damper with the fire GOING, and so Sam tried it, and then since the damper is tricky and the living room was filling with smoke I tried it, and then I put out my hair (only an inch or so lost) and Doug tried it (picture increasing billows) and he ended up putting the damper gently in front of the hearth.
Dinner, fortunately, was delicious.
The traditional holiday photos are grisly, but we had a good time.
After everyone left I finshed the last Harry Potter. I was sad because the person who dies died and I was out of books.
My giant red socks felted beautifully and fit me (women's 9 and a half), which is unfortunate because I made them for my contractor (men's 11 and a half).
It has been a pleasant couple of days and in an hour I will take Ellie back to Northampton (!).
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Like, stress, much?
The day I left for Northampton (well, that trip to Northampton), two formerly sane people on my yahoogroup blew up into a flame war and I had the second actual day at work. This meant that I met the (equally new as I) bookkeeper (she has sheep and llamas and thinks she might like to learn to knit. What....? It usually goes the other way) and the Tech Support Guy. They sat in front of my computer all four hours I was there. I took the insanity on my list much too personally, but there was some stuff going down about people being defensive of the RC church, and people being offensive about the same, and I am more than a little conflicted about being back in the theological saddle again myself (hey, I can be around it without having to inhale, right?). And not conflicted at all about wanting both of those involved to SHUT UP. I was frazzled most of the way to Smith.
Once there, I had a great time and saw a truly inspired awful hat, based on a monster in a comic book, being knitted by the kid down the hall from my daughter. I hope it turns up in Knitty one day. The next day I went to Helen's and had a wonderful time with Deanna and Susanna and Cath and Helen and Teresa! They were (no big surprise) soooo nice.... It was interesting because Deanna and Helen are old-timer Sheep Thrillers (Susanna is someone I hope I see more of; this was I believe her first gathering of fiber people and I think she had fun), and Terri is a newer friend from blogging and it was good to have people from both communities.
I don't think Helen's cat was very happy about us being there.
There was enough food for perhaps 30 people, so I could not eat the gluten-free cookies Teresa had brought. She made me take them home. They were tasty. I worked on the Experimental Hat, which Susanna had wondered if it might be made of tin foil. But I told her not to be silly, they have worked out all the important standards for making hats to protect your brain from alien thought-transmissions, and I was by no means reinventing that wheel.
Then I went back to Smith and picked up my daughter and knitted giant shrimp (the Experimental hat is modular, an I thought they were going to be turkey feathers but actually, they look more like Jumbo Tiger Shrimp) and a giant red sock all the way to Woburn (where the boyfriend of daugher abides). I forged on from there to Dedham, where I could not find the restaurant where I was to meet my friends, and ate popcorn and sulked until they turned up, perfectly on time, and with movie tickets. This Harry Potter is not a happy story, but the movie is well-done. Considering how much sub-plot they trimmed out, it was amazingly coherent and impressive.
After the movie we went to Chili's for caffeine and I had chicken tacoes. Most places, a taco involves a corn tortilla, right? Not at Chili's. I was not happy. The filling was not bad, however. I got home at twenty to two in the morning.
The flame war had not abated. Rather than go online, I spent Sunday rereading Harry Potter and the ...., well, all of them. Yes.
I read fast.
Work on Monday was much more serene and I actually got to fill an order and read some of the materials left by my predecessor. Tuesday was similar, only I drove to Northampton carrying only the toe of a giant red sock.
As I should have expected, my poor daughter was stuck in Term Paper Hell, probably because I had taken her to visit her boyfriend on Saturday. She worked. I finished the second giant red sock that night about midnight. Suddenly...I had no project.
Granted I was in the same town as WEBS, the place was not open at midnight, nor yet when we left at 7 am ... so I drove. I was home in time to take a shower before going to work (10 to 2 are very, very luxurious work hours, and I realize it). The tranqility of the day was short-lived, as I got a particularly unfair speeding ticket (my second in my LIFE), there was STILL the SAME flame war going on and it was the day before Thanksgiving and my house was a mess and we hadn't been to the grocery store and guess who had PMS? My daughter patted my hand and made me have tea.
More tomorrow, God or other Outmoded Philosophical Concept willing.
Once there, I had a great time and saw a truly inspired awful hat, based on a monster in a comic book, being knitted by the kid down the hall from my daughter. I hope it turns up in Knitty one day. The next day I went to Helen's and had a wonderful time with Deanna and Susanna and Cath and Helen and Teresa! They were (no big surprise) soooo nice.... It was interesting because Deanna and Helen are old-timer Sheep Thrillers (Susanna is someone I hope I see more of; this was I believe her first gathering of fiber people and I think she had fun), and Terri is a newer friend from blogging and it was good to have people from both communities.
I don't think Helen's cat was very happy about us being there.
There was enough food for perhaps 30 people, so I could not eat the gluten-free cookies Teresa had brought. She made me take them home. They were tasty. I worked on the Experimental Hat, which Susanna had wondered if it might be made of tin foil. But I told her not to be silly, they have worked out all the important standards for making hats to protect your brain from alien thought-transmissions, and I was by no means reinventing that wheel.
Then I went back to Smith and picked up my daughter and knitted giant shrimp (the Experimental hat is modular, an I thought they were going to be turkey feathers but actually, they look more like Jumbo Tiger Shrimp) and a giant red sock all the way to Woburn (where the boyfriend of daugher abides). I forged on from there to Dedham, where I could not find the restaurant where I was to meet my friends, and ate popcorn and sulked until they turned up, perfectly on time, and with movie tickets. This Harry Potter is not a happy story, but the movie is well-done. Considering how much sub-plot they trimmed out, it was amazingly coherent and impressive.
After the movie we went to Chili's for caffeine and I had chicken tacoes. Most places, a taco involves a corn tortilla, right? Not at Chili's. I was not happy. The filling was not bad, however. I got home at twenty to two in the morning.
The flame war had not abated. Rather than go online, I spent Sunday rereading Harry Potter and the ...., well, all of them. Yes.
I read fast.
Work on Monday was much more serene and I actually got to fill an order and read some of the materials left by my predecessor. Tuesday was similar, only I drove to Northampton carrying only the toe of a giant red sock.
As I should have expected, my poor daughter was stuck in Term Paper Hell, probably because I had taken her to visit her boyfriend on Saturday. She worked. I finished the second giant red sock that night about midnight. Suddenly...I had no project.
Granted I was in the same town as WEBS, the place was not open at midnight, nor yet when we left at 7 am ... so I drove. I was home in time to take a shower before going to work (10 to 2 are very, very luxurious work hours, and I realize it). The tranqility of the day was short-lived, as I got a particularly unfair speeding ticket (my second in my LIFE), there was STILL the SAME flame war going on and it was the day before Thanksgiving and my house was a mess and we hadn't been to the grocery store and guess who had PMS? My daughter patted my hand and made me have tea.
More tomorrow, God or other Outmoded Philosophical Concept willing.
Friday, November 18, 2005
a short trip
I am leaving this afternoon to go Northampton for the night; visit Bay Colony Helen; pick up daughter, and go toward Boston to meet friends and see the new Harry Potter Movie. In a perfect world I wiould also see my parents, but I am hoping to get home late Saturday night so I can try to repair the untidiness I have inflicted upon my allegedly tidy house, where we are theoretically having Thanksgiving. That's a whole different panic.
I will be outside my home for perhaps 30 hours. I have with me: an experimental hat which needs not that much more knitting (book to find out how to make modular half triangles); the first thirds of two FairIsle socks; two huge balls of worsted and another book to start a fancy angled scarf; a Dulaan hat; a spindle and roving. And probably at leas tone more project in case I am take n by aliens and need more knitting.
Does anyone else overpack their projects? I have some clothes, too, I htink, but who cares about that?
I will be outside my home for perhaps 30 hours. I have with me: an experimental hat which needs not that much more knitting (book to find out how to make modular half triangles); the first thirds of two FairIsle socks; two huge balls of worsted and another book to start a fancy angled scarf; a Dulaan hat; a spindle and roving. And probably at leas tone more project in case I am take n by aliens and need more knitting.
Does anyone else overpack their projects? I have some clothes, too, I htink, but who cares about that?
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