It's Been a Long, Strange Trip...

 Seriously, I started to write this in JUNE. And then I hit a wall. The wall consisted of a lot of things. Boss Lady's retirement and the attendant stuff, things happening in the family, delayed grief from my sister's death, busy-ness from a training I was in the midst of...a lot of things. 

But mostly I felt like there was a hole in my soul. Even with the monumental stuff going on in the world, I was just...numb. When Katanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice, I was excited. And numb. I didn't have words. 

When Roe was overturned, again: stunned. And numb. 

When Beto O'Rourke called out a protester, same thing. "About time" and...numb.

When TFG got that search warrant served on him...you'd think THAT might break through the fog, but it hasn't, really. 

I just feel bad that I haven't written and it's like I fell of the face of the earth. 

The Postcards...

So I've been venting some spleen with postcards. Actually, my studio is going to be a gathering place for folks writing postcards to voters for a particular candidate. I believe in the power of the postcard. 

We do so many emails, so many texts, so many phone calls...a postcard is something different. My friend "A" latched onto this, and I ended up sending a bunch. To the SCOTUS and to the idiots who don't support sensible gun legislation. And as thank-you notes to those who are actually legislating. Doing the job we elected them for. And reminding those who're slacking off. 

I'm absolutely not sure if it does anything but it makes me feel like it's SOMETHING. Especially in these times when we all feel so out of control on the whole ball of ugly that's happening in this country. 

I enjoy reminding Uncle Clarence that, while he's dumping "precedent," he'd best be careful: At one point in history, he would've been 3/5 of a person; he couldn't vote; and he and Ginni couldn't marry. Loving v. VA was only decided, after all, in 1967... 

I got my postcards from VistaPrint, but you could get them from anywhere - maybe you even have a stash of postcards that you picked up on your travels. You know nobody wants them, and if you're decluttering, why not use them? At least you'll be making your point. It's pretty therapeutic. 

The Knitting...

Well, there's some progress. I had to add another ball of yarn. And then the age-old question: "How do I do this so that it doesn't look clunky?" It's honestly easier to do when you're knitting with an appropriate-sized needle. Like, if I'm knitting socks, I'm using a size 1 or 2 needle, and the fabric is pretty stable. But with the Long Sands Tee, I'm knitting a linen yarn with slightly bigger needles, to make that "lacy" fabric, so I could do a couple of things:

I could knit double for a few stitches. I could end at a side seam so that I could just knit 1 or 2 stitches and "bury" the new join in the side. Or I could do a variation on a spit join. 

For the uninitiated, the spit join is usually used (in my experience, at least) when you want to join two balls of wool. Like, straight wool, not superwash, not mixed with any other fiber. The reason is, you take Yarn A and "unwind" about 1-2" of it, and do the same for Yarn B. Then, you spit in one hand, lay the yarns with the unwound ends overlapping, and rub your hands together to build some heat and "felt" the yarns together. It's remarkably strong. 

But with linen, it doesn't felt. So the variation I found was to unwind part of the end of Ball A and the same amount on Ball B. And braid them together. 

I went to The Google and looked for "ways to join yarn," and found this. The demo was on a worsted weight, so they used a paper clamp to secure the end. Of course, as you can see, all I needed was a paper CLIP... 

The only thing I don't like is that, because I'm using the larger needles to get the drape in the fabric, I can see where this is at. And of course, it's the front, toward the center. 

As a new skill, it's cool. But as an actual way of construction for my garment, I really wish I would have done it on the seam. I'll get a picture of it, and show it next time. 

The project is coming along nicely. It'll get set aside in September. My mom is (finally) having her hip replaced, and I'm "it." I will be taking her to the hospital, and I'm hoping she stays overnight to be observed. She's well into her 80s and honestly, if something happens, I'm skilled enough to dial 911. And that's about it. She should stay overnight, and I thought I had her convinced. But she's waffling. Don't get me wrong, all her marbles are there. But she thinks she's MY age...and she's not. There are benefits to her staying in the hospital overnight, including the fact that the elderly don't come out of anaesthesia easily. If she were to try to get up, and I wasn't right there, there would be a problem. If she was in the hospital, there would probably be an alarm and someone (or several nurses) would be able to deal with it so she wouldn't hurt herself. 

So my "surgery knitting" will be socks. The Kindle will be charged. It takes about 2 hours for the surgery, so I'll probably stay put. It's easier. This is where I miss my sister. She was "the person" for this stuff. I can take care of the other stuff, but medical things are out of my area. 

I Did a Thing...

I got an email from Amazon saying that, basically, my Kindle (3rd gen) would no longer be able to download books. Well, that kinda sucks. I didn't update it; no need to. It was working just fine. But what's a Kindle if you can't get books, right? 

You can see (a) the difference in size - the old one is on the right, and the new one is on the left; and (b) the difference in the brightness. The new one is much cleaner, and you can make the light more "warm" as you read in the evening, to cut down on the blue light. 

I was given a Fire (Gen 8), which is cool. I have a lovely case for it, and I have TWO games loaded: 2 versions of Solitaire. Yeah. Big gamer, that's me...

In that Amazon email there were two coupons, and I figured, "let's see how this works." I got the grand sum of FIVE BUCKS for my old Kindle, but with both coupons (and a $40 e-book credit!), I got a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition for a grand total of $90. Which, Hubby says, was LESS than he paid for my Kindle Gen 3 lo those many years ago. Happy day!! I'm just getting used to the lack of a keyboard, and learning where things are. 

I loaded my $40 worth of books - it wasn't as many as you'd think, but I got some good ones. I don't necessarily like the way they organize them. My old one, I could dump "read" books into a file. This one, they have "read" across the book, but with the transfer of my books from the Kindle Gen 3, some of the "read" were transferred as "un-read." 

I also got a nice cover, Van Gogh's "Starry Night." I'd have loved a TARDIS one, and I may still look for that! I'll say that it fits in my purse better. And it has increased my reading time. I have a lot on my TBR (To Be Read) list, so putting a slight dent in that pile. 

The benefit of the Kindle as opposed to the Fire is the longer charge on the Kindle. But it's a piffle; both are nice. I can use books from either when I read them to my yoga class on Sunday nights. It takes up less room. And my bookshelves are already overflowing. 

So I'm happy with my 2 new "toys." I would like to do another game, but I can't decide what to do. I've looked at the word games (I do love Scrabble), but nothing has made me say, "Yeah, I can do that without it driving me nuts." And unfortunately, the Fire comes with ads. Which is incredibly annoying. 

I Did Another Thing...

My hair needed to be re-touched. Yes, I love my silver, but I'm not opposed to playing with a little Rose Gold every so often to shuzh it up a bit more. My stylist, a young woman, said to me recently, "How do you feel about rose gold + violet?" I figured the worst that could happen is that I didn't like it. 

I love it. I've gotten so many great compliments on it. I wasn't going to do it for the summer, because I thought I'd be able to go to the barn more. Well, they changed their parameters, and my hip was acting up (see below), and so I figured I'd give it a try. 

It's quite obvious in the sunshine. And I think it looks spectacular! Is it vanity? Yeah. But it's a little vanity. 

Yeah, my hip is aggravated. I had one cortisone shot that lasted about 3 months, maybe 4. I was disappointed, but the doctor seemed to think that was a good result. I guess all in all it was, considering that your hips never rest. You're either holding them in place sitting or they're supporting you even lying down and standing. 

So I had a second cortisone shot and it hurt like a bugger. Doc really hit The Spot there, and Hubby said that I levitated "about 3 feet off the table." It's been bothering me more, and that's my basic objection to cortisone shots: I tend to do stupid stuff because it doesn't hurt. It makes me feel like it was before I hurt myself. Or it hurts because I've been stuck at the computer too long. Or I slept funny. Or I stood up too long. It's a no-win situation. I'm looking at an experimental treatment, because they don't replace hips for a torn labrum. Thankfully. One of us in the family with a titanium hip is enough!

And I Did a FINAL Thing...

I finally finished (after 1 revision) my 500-hour teacher training thesis. I haven't heard back from this revision, but I'm hoping they like this version and I can check this one off my list. In the meantime, I completed an 85-hour Prenatal Yoga training, which I've wanted to do since 2014...At last it's done. 

In the meantime, I started a 20-hour prenatal training, and I'm going to finish that, mainly so I can get sequence ideas. It's always nice to get some inspiration. 

I've done the community (free) prenatal class and I have a student body of...one. The other one was 30+ weeks along, so she's near to term and probably not coming back. I'm hoping to get a community going, and I know it'll take some work, but it will be worth it. 

I also hired a teacher who's a triple-threat, sort of. She's a student of mine who did her training during Covid, and she's certified as an ASL interpreter, and is a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, so while her training was from a studio with a Christian bent, she is well-versed, and can do some nice classes. She also can appeal to the other population segments. 

We're also working with a local group to do trauma-informed yoga with sexual assault clients. Things are moving in a positive direction, and we're hoping to continue to grow. 

Random Picture...

Frog legs. Or "sploot." Whichever. We were at my mom's house and Buddy decided that he was going to relax. I can't resist frog legs. Or sploot, or whatever you want to call them. 

Quinn usually does frog legs, and Tippi used to. I haven't seen Raisa do them - but she has her own quirks. 

I appreciate when a dog can relax around me; frankly, it usually happens because I'm a dog person. Honestly, it also usually happens with cats. I guess I just have the "thing" that allows them to let themselves hang loose and mostly ignore me!

I will write about all the Big Important Things that have been happening. Just not right now. It's enough that I figured I'd land here and spend some time with you all. Thanks for being here.