Life is busy.
So I checked today. Dang. I'll be investigated for collusion with Russia. Twenty-one pageviews in Russia and 18 in the US... What's going on here? Bots?
Hope y'all like my political rants, reading preferences and knitting. Oh, and cooking...
Knitting...
Starting off at the top of the list. This was a gift from one of my students. Her sister is the dyer, and she brought it back from the Indiana State Fair. She said, "Tell your Hubby that this is MY fault!" It's beautiful and I think it will be a shawlette. The yarn is too pretty to put on my feet and hide in shoes. Just because I could, I joined a Facebook group for shawl knitting. Oy. Probably shouldn't have. Because I'm now in as deep there as I am with socks!
So many projects.
And I'm planning on doing as many as I can, while I can. Though I'm going to have to go on another yarn diet. (Go ahead. Laugh. I'm laughing, too.). I really have to get some things done, and I feel good about those things that are really progressing because at least I'm moving forward. Today, I should have brought my knitting along. I had some time, and I didn't have any knitting. But I'm at an area with the sock where I need to concentrate, and I figured I could work on it a bit tonight, which I'm going to end up not doing, actually.
The magic has happened again. The heel turn. This is why I like a traditional heel. This little bit of glee when you can start to see the cup of the heel forming. The short rows, which freak me out otherwise, are my bona fide signal that the foot is near. And where there's a foot, there's a toe. And that means that I'm nearly done! I finished up the heel turn and closed the gusset last night. I was going to do more, but as you'll read below...stuff happened, and I went to bed a little early.
The end-of-summer cold hit at its worst yesterday, and I actually woke up this morning without a voice. Nevertheless - 4 cups of tea later, I could at least speak. A hot shower, and I was off to work.
I got adjusted by my chiropractor, and while it's not a "cure" it does help. Seems like it got my lymphatic system working.
Basically - I thought I was going to have all evening to knit because I didn't think I was going to be able to teach tonight. But I was able to.
Oh, and I spent about 45 minutes ripping out part of a sweater for my friend Roberta. She managed to drop a stitch. Cotton yarn, straight needles. Typically, this is a recipe for disaster, and it kind of was. But I ripped back 2 rows and was able to get her back on track.
She was clenching her fists and breathing like she was having an asthma attack. And I get it. Watching someone rip your knitting is a little --- ok, a LOT --- painful. I thought I wasn't going to be able to fix it, but I got lucky. Whew!
And I also did stop by Betsy's Tea and Knitting. Picked up more Gunpowder Green tea (love that stuff!) and another package of stitch markers. I swear, they walk away. They up and walk out of my house.
Them and tape measures. Somewhere in the universe there's a place where all the stitch markers and tape measures go. And they sit there, laughing at us.
Cooking...
Hubby made this last night. That also helped the cold... Chicken soup with LOTS of garlic in it. And shallots. Lots of them. The chemical compounds in garlic and onion-related veggies are good for your immune system, too. It'll be good tomorrow. It's always better when it sits for a day or so. Tonight after class, instead of the soup (which would've been a good idea), I had a grilled cheese sandwich.
And snapped yet another rubber band. At least this one I didn't swallow. I hate those things, and I'm hoping that at the next orthodontist appointment, I can stop wearing them.
Something else I've been using to help my wellness is my Young Living Essential Oils. This is this past month's Essential Rewards order. The stuff in the front row - that was free. I use the Ningxia Red every morning. Even the dogs (the elkhounds, at least) get a little bit. Full of antioxidants. For this cold, I've been using a bit of Thieves Vitality oil in there. Wowza - that'll open your nose! The items in the front are mainly the entire kid's line of oils. I use them anyway. They're a nice addition to my stash.
The supplements (in the back) are Sulfurzyme (use it like you would a joint supplement - because that's what it's for), Multigreens (a supplement with concentrated "superfood" green veggie goodness), Super Cal (calcium) and Super B (B vitamins). I buy this stuff at the store anyway, and these are also infused with the essential oils, so for the same price as what I buy in the store, I'm helping myself stay well.
New Flowers...
I went to repot an orchid I've had for 3 years. Only to find that it died. So I bought another one, but it's supposedly a "mini." I don't know if it needs repotting or if I need to wait till it's done blooming. I want to repot it because I want to bring it to the studio, but in its current pot, it's top-heavy. Just what I need is a yoga student knocking the thing to the ground and not only killing the plant, but hurting themselves on the pot shards.
I rinsed out the old pot and put new bark in it. Also -- this one came in moss. Is that something I need to wash off the roots? Can you mix the media?
I can't find anything in my "Orchids for Dummies" and there's conflicting stuff on the internet (go figure)...
I'll take advice from any orchid folks... Chime in! This one is not the same bloom as the original, but it's the same family. Quite pretty, and I'm pleased with how healthy it looks. I want to keep it that way.
Kindness Rocks...
I've been planting my rocks all over. Waiting for someone to find them. This one I left outside my church, on the concrete bench. "Be a Nice Human."Easy enough to say. Hard to do, right? It seems that we have a lot of challenges. I try to be cool, calm and collected. I try not to say things that are nasty. I try to be good to everyone. Or at least nice.
But. Then there are days. There are times when "the stupid" is so strong that I can barely stand it. It's amazing how dense some people can be. I mean, even in regard to the most basic of things, people don't think. They absorb whatever's shoveled at them, and I've come to see that, whether true or not (a) if it's in print, people tend to believe it, in spite of all the "fake news" crap floating around; and (b) if you say something often enough, with enough authority, you have believers.
So if I say the world is flat often enough, and with authority, there are corners of the internet -- dare I say "corners of the planet"?? -- who'd believe me wholeheartedly, in spite of pictures or science -- or pictures AND science to the contrary.
I swear that if one more person posts something stupid about the hurricanes being God's vengeance or the fires being retribution for something, I'm going to punch someone. I'm not convinced God is mad at us.
Mother Nature, on the other hand, has a LOT to be peeved about. And she's not above showing it in a manner obvious enough for even us humans to get it through our remarkably thick skulls.
Steampunk Lincoln...
Outside Betsy's, I saw this and stopped dead in my tracks. First off, Mr. Lincoln is missing a leg. Not sure if it's supposed to be missing or it just wasn't shipped with the rest of it. And second... Is this steampunk? I mean, he's half in armor, and he's got gears and a chimney coming off his chair. And there's that one leg thing.
I've never seen anything like this. And I don't remember anything in the local paper about it.
The plaza is a nice area to sit in, though it's kind of close to the Amtrak tracks. It would be cool to ride past this and stop for a break. It runs alongside the old I & M canal, and is part of a really nice trail system through the historic area of Lockport, Illinois. This part, in particular, is across the street from "Lincoln Landing" - which is a relatively new "installation." It used to be a batch of historic structures known as "Symerton." Which was once a small settlement here. But they moved them up the road a bit, and restored them. And where Symerton once was, they redid the landscaping and put enormous chunks of local limestone in.
Which, because it's Illinois, cracked, and they had to do it over.
Anyway, Lincoln Landing is on the other side of the big bridge, and still has part of the canal system there. We used to bike it a lot, and we haven't done much of that this year. Between the busy-ness of my schedule and Hubby's shoulder bothering him, it's hard to get time in for a ride.
No Picture...
...but the promised story. Last night, I was on a conference call. Lucky for me, I didn't have to do anything but listen and take notes. I was already in my PJs at 7:30 p.m.!
I can't smell anything. I have a stuffed nose, a semi-productive cough which keeps me up at night, and I want to take my eyeballs out and freeze them till December.
I smelled skunk. I mean, it caught in my throat and penetrated the stuffed sinuses.
In walks Hubby in disgust and he puts Raisa in her crate. Raisa is licking her chops and has a funny look on her face.
The stupid dog launched herself off the deck at a rather large, and then peeved, skunk. The dog got skunked and Hubby barely managed to get out of the way of a blast.
He made up a batch of dish soap, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda and doused her. She got mad. Tough kibble, you moron!!
This morning, we re-washed her with a blend of Thieves cleaner, water and Purification oil, which I had diffusing all night (the oil, not the cleaner). And he took her to the groomer for yet another bath.
I think she's ok, though if you get really close, she still stinks. Even the elkhounds were disgusted.
Though I'm not sure they'd ignore a skunk either...
Tuesdays With Tippi...
We're in year 5 or 6 of doing this. I can't remember, but I think we're closing in on 6 years. Tippi loves it still, though now I have to lift her into the truck. Our goal was to walk more and get her to lose some weight, but again - busyness and then it got hot -- or at least hot if you're a 9-year old dog with a double coat. I'm going to start walking her more now, though. The weather is changing and she really needs to move. I lift her in and out of the truck, because I've noticed she's a little stiff in her hips.
I'm giving her the Ningxia Red, some turmeric supplement and will start her on Sulfurzyme, too. It won't hurt her, and it could help her mobility a bit. Of course, getting at least 10 lbs. off her wouldn't hurt. That's going to take a while though.
We'll keep you advised...
Random Picture...
Lately, the sky has been fascinating. Whether it's because of the huge hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, Juan and Katia) or the change of weather or the wildfires, everyone's been commenting on the striking clouds and sky. This was a little chunk of it outside my office yesterday. Tonight's sunset was hot pink, turning to purple. Hazy - what with the smoke we're getting. Even though we're 3,000 miles away, the fires are immense. We expect to feel the ramifications of this weather and these fires for quite some time.
Someone in class told me tonight that Irma could reach, theoretically, into Indiana and Ohio.
Think about that. Hurricanes in the Midwest. Still think global warming is a hoax?
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