Reading About Knitting...

...makes me want to KNIT!!

So I'm at a temp gig - strangely enough, at another location for the place I used to work before they laid me off... And they said, since it's a position answering the switchboard, "bring your laptop for the downtimes." 

I figured this would be a perfect way to get caught up on my knitting blogs. My favorites will be listed alongside the blog, but for now, I'm caught up with Jean Miles (Oh, my - I hope her hubby doesn't have any more major health issues); The Knitting Curmudgeon (which I'm not listing as a favorite because she blogs less than I do!); Queer Joe (too many pics of the Men's Knitfest, but some beautiful projects he's been working on)... and all I have to do is catch up on The Yarn Harlot.

Pi Shawl

The kicker, of course, was Knitting to Stay Sane. Glenna does some PHENOMENAL knitting. I swear, her designs are gorgeous. Although some folks have commented that her Jaywalker sock pattern is a tad too tight, her sweaters are "to knit for." I've - of course - written a bunch of her pattern names down, and we'll see how that goes. 

I'm also on a mission. I've gotta do a Pi Shawl... Of course the pattern is on Ravelry, but here's a picture of its "un-venter" Elizabeth Zimmerman, wearing her creation. It's in her book. 

And if you don't have her book(s) -- what are you waiting for? She's the Goddess of Knitting with Your Brain. Her instructions aren't so much "instructions" as they are "indicators pointing you toward using your common sense." 

It's a little scary trying to do her patterns. Because they're not specific in many of the respects that we expect a pattern to be. But I'm going to try. I've had a suggestion from my friend M. to try the Baby Surprise Jacket first. 

And since I have a car-load of stash, I'm going to do that. THEN, the Pi Shawl. In sock yarn. Lord help me!

Knitting...

So the first "Bowties are Cool" sock is done. I have actually started the second sock. It's just that this temp gig got in the way. They told me the one thing I could NOT do was knit. 

Sock side view

Apparently, I can cruise Ravelry, look at my blogs, etc. but knitting is a no-no. Oh well. I had to catch up on the blogs at some point. 

So - the sock. Lorna's Laces "Bigger on the Inside" is basically navy blue with black tucked in here and there. It doesn't photograph well with my phone and honestly looks better in person. 

I didn't get this from their site; I got it on clearance at Jimmy Bean's, so I'd suggest starting there. This is, for me, my "luxe" yarn. It's a bit pricey. And I'm hoping, since this is the first pair of socks I've knitted with this yarn, that it's worth it. 

Otherwise, the remaining yarn gets put to use with shawlettes. 

Bowties are Cool

I apologize in advance for my whiter-than-white leg. What can I say? I never tan. I go straight to burn. I took the above shot so you could kind of see the pattern. In the diagram for the pattern, the "bowtie" effect looked to be achieved by the ktbl that you did. But honestly? I think the bow tie image comes when that ktbl pulls together and you get the "shape" of the bow tie, with the two "wings" and the center roll of the knot. Here's a Pinterest page showing the original picture. The red looks darling, but really - it had to be TARDIS blue. 

Hopefully, the other picture gives you an idea. If you click on it and blow it up a bit, you'll see what I mean. 

The sock is snug. More than I would like, and I made a Large. I did my usual 6-row knit at the top of the cuff to make it go over my foot more easily. But the whole thing could use more ease, in my opinion. 

The yarn is certainly squishably lovely. And the color is stunning. But I'm worried about the wear. How will this work over the long-term? Will it pill like the Madelaine Tosh that I did up? Well, the MadTosh I used, in honesty, was 100% superwash, so perhaps that ramps up the pill-factor. 

Stitch definition

The stitches in this yarn pop. I mean they absolutely shine! As you can see, I used the black Karbonz and I did start the first sock using my Ott lite + magnifier, because it was the darkest yarn I've used at that size. But as time went on, it did just perk along nicely. I didn't have any trouble casting on the second sock. I could seriously see this as a vanilla sock with a cable up the leg. 

As is usual, I did NOT take the pattern down onto the foot. I learned from Roman Rib that I don't like it. So I'm not doing it. No Sock Police!! 

So tonight, I'm knitting. I really need to get cracking on that sock, because I want to wear the pair!

I also need to start on a Plain Vanilla pair for not only the stash-busting, but also for "carry-along" knitting. Something I can do relatively mindlessly, where I almost have the pattern memorized. 

Oh, and on one pair, I want to do the Fish Lips Kiss heel. I bought the pattern. This link takes you to an image. Everyone who's done it says it's a better fit than the usual heel flap. And it's worth at least one pair of socks to try. 

Heck, I did a Strong heel just to try it. (See Roman Rib sock at the left) I don't think I'll do that again, unless I feel strongly (ha) compelled. It wasn't horrible. Just not something I think will wear well in the long run. 

And I don't like that string of "lacy" look along the gusset. It annoys me. And life's too short to be annoyed at silly things when there are better alternatives. 

So Then This Happened...

Wow. In a span of about 10 days, the Pope issues an encyclical on climate change; the Affordable Care Act is (finally, please??) declared constitutional, AND we get gay marriage in all 50 states. 

That sound you hear is the sound of multiple conservatives and "Christians" whose heads are exploding. 

Though I do wish that the Pope had done a little more in exploring the idea that PEOPLE -- creating MORE people, that is -- may perhaps be a bigger contributing factor. C'mon Catholic Church - please. Birth control. Now.

So of course, there are people in a certain (Southern) section of the US who will try with all their might to delay the gay marriage issue. 

And the House and Senate can, maybe, please, please, PLEASE get past the whole kerfuffle on the ACA and get something else done...  Is it too much to ask for immigration reform and proper funding for schools, and maybe doing something about student loans rather than kowtowing to banks? 

A girl can dream. And while I'm dreaming, I'll think that maybe with this slew of good news, the overturning of Citizens United might be nearer than it has been. 

Like I said... I can dream. 

And this meme was floating around the "face-space" (that's what the kids & I call it...). 

No, sadly. He didn't say that. But the truth is still there. 

Oh, the other thing, Congress? Jobs for the rest of us. Stop worrying about getting your lazy selves re-elected and do something for us voting slobs who actually may still believe that YOU work for US. (Sorry - again with "a girl can dream.")

I'm sitting here, with two master's degrees, answering phones. And don't get me wrong: I'm HAPPY for the gig. But when I'm talking to my brother and he says, "I need to teach you to drive a forklift" -- then I have to wonder. Jobs for folks like me aren't in vast supply. Not even "medium-reasonable supply." But there are apparently jobs aplenty for forklift drivers, material handlers and welders. 

Kid #1 said he'd teach me to weld, but then he figured that, given several factors (including raging hot flashes and lack of sleep), putting a torch in my hand was perhaps unreasonable. 

I actually may take my brother up on that forklift thing. I've always been handy with my hands, and as a woman, perhaps there's a hiring preference. Yes, I'll use my gender. Thanks. I've lived with it, so I may as well use the few advantages we DO have!

The Garden Grows...

We've had rain. LOTS of rain. To the point where we haven't done anything except mow the lawn, and that barely between showers. My carefully plotted flower garden is a mess. And the veggie garden is nuts. Totally nuts. 

Tonight, we're having cod, with dill from the garden and snap peas, if we have enough. And a salad. LETTUCE we have a-plenty! 

This is the sage I took from the garden the other day. I should have put my hand there for a reference. It's HUGE. Freakishly huge. 

There's Rosemary there, too. I was cooking something - can't remember what - and I figured I'd use the herbs we had. 

I've already done a batch of pesto from the basil. And I found, sadly, that you CANNOT use common garden sage for smudging. Which is what I had intended, but apparently, it's not the right variety. Now I have to find something to do with an enormous quantity of sage. I didn't plant a lot of it. One plant, and with the monsoons we've been having, this is what I get. 

Any ideas?? I'm open! 

The Dogs...

Quinn surveys her domain

I'm not happy to report that Quinn and Raisa got into a tangle. Luckily, Hubby was home. I don't even know what started it, but it had been brewing. If I had to guess, I'd say that as Raisa enters her "adolescent" phase (she's just about 2 years old), she's been trying on the "who's top dog" thing. 

So they started in, and I grabbed Tippi - who was going to join in the "fun." I got her into her pen, Hubby got between the two, and we did sadly discover that there was blood. 

However, it wasn't as bad as we initially thought. He whisked her off to the Emergency Vet (of course, it was an hour AFTER our vet closed) and what we thought was a really bad thing turns out to be just a nip on the nose. 

I'm not saying that lightly...there are behavioral studies examining just how and WHERE a dog bites another one, and apparently, the bite on the nose is indicative of a much milder case of aggression. 

I think we need to contact a behaviorist, and so does the vet. Hubby doesn't think so. I've got to work on that because this really scared me. They're all big dogs. Raisa will not mess with Tippi after their last tangle (no injuries, but Tippi made her point). But she and Quinn? I'm not sure and I want strategies. 

Random Picture...

This was taken the other night, as I was leaving a yoga class. It was a much larger view of a beautiful cloud, but I was struck by the little sliver of moon here. 

Luckily, we are in an area that's still semi-rural. We have, for Illinois, a lot of sky in a lot of places. I've been going nuts with the sky pics. So we don't get the Northern Lights, but we do get some quite interesting sunsets and beautiful cloud formations with the storms we've had. 

Not that I want more storms! I'm feeling a little moldy!! But Mother Nature has provided some lovely sights while we're in between the storms. 

All Kinds of Interesting...

...weather, that is. Yesterday. 

The only good thing was that it was an awesome picture-taking experience. I'm terrified of thunderstorms. Oh, it's better than it used to be. But I'm still scared. 

TV antenna alongside house

When I was about 9 or so, lightning hit either our house or our TV antenna. For the uninitiated (or the young), TVs usually were restricted to a handful of channels: 2, 5, 7, 9, and 13. That was it, kiddies... 

Rabbit ears

And we had an antenna alongside the house, usually bracketed to the house and extending way up above the trees. I'm not talking rabbit ears on a TV, but an outside one. The picture here is NOT my house - it's a stock pic I pulled off Google, but this is as close as I could get. Ours was very similar to this. 

Rabbit ears, on the other hand? I had those when I lived in VA and my first "grown-up" TV was a 13" black and white. Yeah, go ahead. Fan yourself... But it worked, and I was too broke to be able to afford cable at the time. 

Anyway, it was summer, and we had had a round of pretty nasty storms. Way before the days of weather radios, you usually got an alert from the TV set, provided you still had power. And anyway, most of the time, the TV was off by 10 p.m. in our house. 

We all are in bed, and the next thing I know, my dad is hauling me out of the house onto the lawn. The living room - a corner of it - is on fire... He tried to flag the firemen down, but even though the fire barn was across the street from our house, they somehow managed to go down the street in the other direction...

Flooded parking lot

Anyway - that's why I'm really not fond of thunderstorms. Of course, I was at work yesterday afternoon when all heck broke loose. It started suddenly - we were supposed to get some storms, but not as quickly as these blew up. I mean, I was on the road to work, looked north and thought, "Whaaaaaat???" - it was getting that dark, that fast... And then: KA-BOOM!! It all hit at once. 

I was half expecting to see locusts, floods, cats and dogs. At one point, I could barely see the bank across the lot from us. And it all included pretty nasty lightning and thunder. 

The campus has high ceilings, plus about 3.5' between the drop ceiling and the actual roof deck. It was thunderous in the place. You couldn't hear yourself think. And we're also surrounded by windows, which totally freaks me out. 

The nice thing, if you can get past the scary parts, is that I work on top of a hill. I have some phenomenal views of incoming storms. Here are a few pictures, with the various cloud formations during the day and evening. 

I keep thinking of the Judy Collins song, "Clouds," though it's an entirely different subject. As storms continued to blow in, I kept an eye on the radar and figured it was going to be interesting with classes starting last night.

It was. One of our instructors was on the road for over 2 hours to get here. He came in, like a drowned rat, about 1 minute to 6 p.m., when they were supposed to start. 

As the afternoon and evening progressed, I was able to pop out and get pictures. I love the cloud formations. And I know people who love clouds as much as I do (dang - now that song's in my head!!). And I have looked at clouds from both sides now...

Look at this cool "V" formation as the next batch started to come in. The layers in the one picture were also pretty amazing. 

The light was interesting. At times, of course, when the storms were in full fury, it was dark as night. But when the sun broke through, it was really amazing. 

I got an interesting shot of the area beyond the bank building - it looks almost like a funnel, but it wasn't. It was just a weird twist to the clouds once they had passed over and dumped all the rain on us. 

The weather alarm actually went off after Storm #2... But that's ok. I have eyes. 

Huzzah - no roof leaks! Though the hail wasn't nice. No car damage; it was only pea-sized. Today, except for the fact that the ground is totally saturated, you wouldn't know it had even rained. 

And it rained again this morning before I left for work. Tippi was terrified. I battened down the house and brought most of the feeders onto the porch. In the middle of the storm, the silly female hummingbird was buzzing the front window asking what the heck I had done with her feeder! 

I like this shot; later in the afternoon, with the clouds pierced by a shot of sunlight. I was able to get some good shots southwest-ish, and the light was interesting. 

Here's another one almost worth a painting - doesn't it look like brush-strokes across the blue? It was very majestic looking, for certain. And then there's the one below, which looks like the clouds were truly pillows dipping down beneath the grey to show us that they were still friendly little things wanting to put on a show for the humans.  Yeah, after the sound and fury scared the heck out of me! 

Then came the weird light. I was sitting at my desk trying to get some work done and I saw it - it was piercing and very odd. At first, I thought, "Oh no... green!" 

See, in August, every person who's lived in Illinois for a decent part of their life knows that a green sky is not a good thing. It generally means there's a tornado either on the way or already touched down. Funny enough, in spite of the storms lowering the temperature by almost 20 degrees, we had no tornado warnings. I guess we got off lucky. See what I mean by weird light? Look how bright the green in the trees appears, and it's backed up by those blue-grey heavy clouds? 

Oh, and did I mention that I had a hot breaker? Well, you know we've had HVAC problems at the campus. We have the one breaker which apparently tried to trip, but got stuck. And it heated up. To the point where you couldn't touch it. 

I know next to nothing about electricity. But I do know that hot breaker = trouble... So we shut it off. 

Back-tracking though, the electricians came out and came through our back door - I had disabled the alarm because I needed to change the battery. They didn't knock. They're lucky I only yelled at them! They scared me!!

Anyway, so we had only 2 of the 3 units working last night, and I had fans running. Today, it's back to normal (i.e. a blast chiller). I mean, really, I could wear mitts. I'm in a jacket already. 

I feel as if the building is falling down around us. Since they announced that we're closing the campus at the end of Fall (basically, December), I've been trying to get things fixed and as fast as I get one thing done, the next happens. However, the building is 8 years old, and they don't make 'em like they used to. 

Happily, no roof leaks with all this rain. 

And another happy thing: we were rewarded for the crappy weather. Feast your eyes. It's a double rainbow. 

I almost tripped myself. I had come from the back of the campus and caught a glimpse as I headed to my office. I sprang to my desk, caught up my keys and camera phone and headed out the door.  The taller pic is a close-up. The landscape-oriented one just shows how brilliant the main rainbow was. 

Alas, in about 5 minutes, as is common with the elusive rainbow, it was soon gone. 

But while it lasted, it was fantastic. 

And before the night was over, Mother Nature had another surprise in store for us. 

You know that saying, "Red skies at morning, sailors take warning; red sky at night, sailor's delight" -- well, this morning wasn't EXACTLY a "sailor's delight" but the sky last night was.  Try to ignore the obnoxious parking lot light. Focus on the pinks and blues. Isn't it gorgeous? 

Knitting...

Not a stitch yesterday. Not even brought out of the bag, actually. It was that kind of day. That being said, I'm working the noon - 10 p.m. shift (well, should be 2 - 10, but I usually get here way too early and end up with way more comp time than I'll use...), and I already have a knitting project on my desk. 

Not the afghan. Though I did get the yarn in for the hat, cardigan and booties. No pic - tomorrow, probably. 

I'm only on the first-to-second pattern repeat. Cotton is a stinker. I have found that I can knit a couple of rows with this and then I have to go do something else. 

And I admit to a little peevishness with the Kollage circulars. This is the soft cable. And I'm almost thinking it's too soft. It kinks up there (see the top needle?) and it sometimes takes me some fidgeting to get the yarn up and over. 

Of course, it may be because this is 100% cotton yarn. And it's entirely unforgiving. I can't imagine doing anything adult-sized with this stuff. I'd have to scream. Or drink. Or cuss. Or some combination thereof. 

I do think the ladders are less noticeable. And it's helpful that I'm tugging like crazy when I switch from K to P. 

So the Rory socks are coming along. That's Roman Rib pattern, in case you didn't get the Dr. Who reference.  I finally remembered to stash some stitch markers in the bag, so on the next round of ribbing I can ditch the rubber band.

Hey, whatever works in a pinch... So it's the time of the "interminable" ribbing. Why does 1x1 ribbing take forever? It's only 1.5" or so. If I make it that far. 

I think Elizabeth Zimmerman got it right: "do the ribbing till you're sick of it." And for me, that's about 1.5" or so...

Crafty Stuff...

This would be amazing for Kid #2. Or either kid. Or me. We are all bookworms. 

I'd have to raid the bookshelves for classics. And of course, right now, since these are bricks, all the "books" are the same size. 

But it's cool. I can see them stacked by the front stoop. Or in Kid #1's case, on his deck, maybe. And for Kid #2, on the porch. 

Such a nifty idea. 

I'm not much on crafts like this, though I did make a wind chime using those small terra cotta pots. I should finish the one I have in the basement; it's got all the pots and the string. I just need to get it painted and assembled. 

I don't know who I'd give it to. But it would be nice to finish a project. 

Ahem. I do so finish projects. I have just about finished canning pickles. 

Random Picture...

This morning, fire, flood, locusts and squirrels. A storm broke out pretty quickly and pretty fiercely. Quinn was in her cave. Tippi was shaking on the couch next to me. And before she climbed up to join me on the other side, this was Raisa's reaction. 

She's not scared. Truly, she's oblivious, thankfully. Don't know if we could take THREE deranged dogs.  She was just all, "I'm sooooooooo over this weather!"

She climbed up on my other side and we sat out the worst of it while listening to an old movie plus the weather alarm giving us updates. 

So far, aside from the fact that the grass seems to have sprouted another 6" overnight, I think we're done. It'll get cloudy, and Weather Channel says "widely scattered showers or thunderstorm this evening" but it's only 30% thankfully. 

Can We Just Agree...

...that Dick Cheney is a soul-less moron with no actual experience in ANY war, and thus should not ever - EVER - be quoted as an "expert" in anything to do with the Middle East?

Unless, of course, you want to talk about the faulty equipment that Haliburton sent over, the bad facilities and the general killing and maiming of an entire generation so that he and his ilk could make billions?

Ok. There. That's the end of THAT discussion. Hey, newspapers and news outlets: STOP QUOTING THIS IDIOT! He's shot his credibility just like he shot his lawyer friend in the face. 

So. Enough. It's just as bad that Terry Bradshaw, late of the NFL, is now a Fox News(?) commentator spouting off about Benghazi. Really. I couldn't make that up even if I tried...

Knitting...

This is WORLDWIDE KNIT-IN-PUBLIC WEEK!! Go out and knit something in front of people!!

Ok, so to celebrate this great holiday, I bit the bullet and bought Fluormania sock yarn. And of course, the Teal Sock #2 is sitting again... I'm on the foot of Teal, though, so there's hope that it'll be finished sooner rather than later.

I told you it's coming along...

I'm sad (well, not really) to say that on my first day off in a couple of weeks, I went to Le Mouton Rouge and spent a bit of money on yarn. This IS my favorite yarn shop. Kelly is great to deal with, the yarns are quite nice, and the "stuff" that we knitters need? It's plentiful!

I went by myself, and I probably should have thought about that for a bit. I haven't been feeling well, and Morris is a ways from my house. 

Neon Flower

Sure enough, I started feeling a little "off" about half-way home. Took a reading and according to my sister, I'm now also throwing PVC (premature ventricular contractions). Lovely.

Back to knitting... So here's the Fluromania colorway I have. It's "Neon Flower." It's going to be wild. Seriously, the picture doesn't do it justice with the way it pops in real life. Kelly is holding 2 more for me: Ocean and Berry, I believe. 

It's a little different. I'm doing these in a plain pattern, with a K2, P2 ribbing instead of K1, P1. I also chose US size 1 DPNs and I cast on 72 stitches. Usually, I'm a 64-stitches gal, but also I'm using 2.5-ish or so...

Bright start...

I think that the 72-cast on will be fine. It's a much smaller needle; truly, the smallest I've knitted on since I knitted 3 rows of a "baby afghan" on two size-00 needles.

Which I gave away. And now that I know - I wish I'd have had sense enough to keep them... Oy. Live and learn.

So I did the usual 6-row knit-around for the cuff, and it's looking interesting at any rate.

All Hubby said was, "Well, those are gonna be bright!"

The other stuff I bought is pictured below. 

Do I need it? Of course....(maybe not). 

I bought more sock yarn. I'm on a roll. I think it's because I've finally got socks "in my hand" and they're becoming a great take-along project. It's summer. I know that I owe Kid #2 his afghan, but really - even though the house is air-conditioned, I don't really feel like working on an afghan.

He knows it's in progress. He's seen it. 

Trekking

So. We have more Trekking. Now that I have the Karbonz size 1 DPNs, I think this will be nicer than the Teal Socks. I am toying with the idea of perhaps a cable down the cuff of these? I have to look for a pattern for simple cabled socks. 

I love the colors. And I don't think that the cable would be "too much" with the colorway. I could also do the Twisted Rib like I did with the Madelaine Tosh "Franken-sock." 

Yes. This time I'll write down what I did with the heel. Thanks for reminding me...

And there's more Opal. This is still the Little Prince colorway, but it's a different color - I can't remember which number it is; it's in the bag in my office at home. It's brighter, and has blue in it, which my last Little Prince socks didn't have. 

Opal

This reminds me of a beach towel. Don't know why. But the other Opal Little Prince reminds me of autumn. 

Since this one is very definitely a self-patterning yarn, I will again do a plain vanilla sock. 

By the time I finish this, I should be able to do a Plain Vanilla Sock in my sleep. Which is nice, I think. 

At least memorizing a pattern will be good for my brain. I think I can do everything to the heel in my head. At least till the heel turn, since I have mostly memorized The Doris Heel.

I also purchased the Fish Lips Kiss heel pattern from Ravelry. That may end up on the next pair of Opal socks. Not sure yet. 

Shawl-to-be

This is Cascade Ultra Pima. A while back, I used their stunningly gorgeous garnet color for my friend Janet's prayer shawl. This is Jade. And this is the pattern I am doing: The Miami Beach Shawl. It's a free download and also, (yay!) not charted. 

Check out the awesome shawl pin I got from the shop. I figure that if I get the whole thing, it'll be the next thing on my needles.

Go ahead. Laugh if you want. At the rate I'm going, I could potentially use this as the project I knit while recuperating from the atrial ablation. 

Lord knows I'll need something to keep my mind busy. 

My Friday...

So here's a lovely look at my lovely Friday (yes, tomorrow). 

At 7:30 a.m. I have a board meeting/annual meeting at which I'll be named president of the organization's board of directors. It's a one-year term. I have to run out of there, speed drive home and change for a... 

10:30 a.m. interview with a committee of colleagues who are in charge of hiring for the academic advisor position I've applied for. Then, at... 

11:30 a.m., I spend an hour with the Dean of the adult accelerated program. Who also happens to be Special Assistant to the Provost. And buddies with the person who decided to flip my life head-over-heels.

Then, just for fun... at 2:30 p.m. I meet with the cardiologist to talk about the upcoming surgery. Hubby will be there with a notebook in hand. Because I'm telling you: my brain will shut down right about when the doc says, "It's a 5-hour procedure..."

Then, at 6:30 p.m. I have a guitar lesson. Which is likely to be the highlight of my day...

Luckily, I don't have to work on Saturday. 

But I do have a wake on Saturday. It's also the day I'd planned to whip down to Le Mouton Rouge to pick up those 2 extra Fluro skeins. I'll see how that goes. It'll be another trip down there by myself, because if I go with "The Girls" it'll take too long. It may be that I can go Tuesday, with "The Girls" since we haven't seen each other in a long while. 

If the call doesn't come for Tippi from Children's Advocacy Center. 

The wake is for the FIL of my friend Nat. It's a short one, with a private burial, and I really want to make sure I get there. 

Susan B. Anthony...

This is my new Facebook picture. I love this quote. Especially these days, when we're having a lot of trouble (in my opinion) with folks shoving their religion in our faces. 

It reads:  I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.

You tell it, sister.

See, I'm a religious person. I have no problem with other religious people. I just do not believe that the United States of America has a "state religion." 

Those Founders that the ultra-right-tea-baggieez are always beating us with? They clearly said that there was to be separation of church and state. 

I'm also not really fond of politicians saying, "God Bless America" after speeches. I think that's disrespectful to atheists and agnostics. For cryin' out loud: Even Pope FRANCIS says that they should be respected.

And I love that a woman said this. Particularly since women are usually on the receiving end of men's  proclivity to regulate and "religious-ulate" our reproductive rights and even our working and personal rights. Hey - I'd like to make the same wage a man makes. It would be cool.

And please. If you don't have my plumbing, you aren't allowed to legislate against it. 

The Storms...

Clouds from the southwest

So this happened. I went to the back of the campus to put a note on the board yesterday morning... And in 5 minutes, the outside looked like this. 

More clouds

The weather alarm didn't go off, but it was totally dark, and the wind whipped up something fierce. 

It started with a couple of plops of rain, a clap or two of thunder and then some pretty nasty lightning. 

The lights flickered briefly but we didn't lose power. 

Then it started bucketing. It didn't last long, but it was fierce. We apparently just got skimmed with that system that spawned a couple of twisters up north of us. 

There's more in the forecast for today, and I'm hoping it holds off till I get home, and settled in with my knitting. 

The rest of the clouds

What's fascinating is the cloud formations. They're pretty cool. It was another adventure in "How fast nature changes" and it was awesome to witness. I was particularly concerned about that batch from the southwest, since that's usually where tornado activity initiates.

And last night's yoga class was punctuated by yet another storm. Of course, I was by the window. Try holding Adho Mukha Svanasana (down dog to the civilians) while thunder and lightning are popping all over... It's a study in concentration, for sure. 

As I start to clear out 8 years of "stuff" from the campus, I'm feeling melancholy, and the clouds kind of reflect what I'm feeling. 

I don't know if I'll get the job I'm interviewing for. I told my boss the other day that I wished with all my heart that she or someone else would call and say, "You all are moving to the new location" -- but I think that she and I are the only ones who think that that's a good idea. 

She's pitching something for my assistant, for which I'm really grateful. But one thing is for sure. 

I'm really tired of having to reinvent myself. 

I thought I'd have a home in this job for a long, long time. And maybe for some folks, 8 years IS a long, long time. But not for me. 

Bad Karma...

So this other thing happened. A student bounced a check for a private yoga lesson. Then, my bank (which happens to be the student's bank) ran it again and it bounced AGAIN. So. No fee for the lesson and TWO bounce-fees. I've asked the student (strongly) to pay me in cash, ASAP. According to the last communication, this should be accomplished by next week. I gave the student 5 days, which I'm told is "much too nice."

My studio owner - well, this is her hot-button issue. There's a sign in the studio with the student's name and "cash only" on it. I don't know that I'd have done that, but it's her studio. She really doesn't want to have to chase people for fees. And I get that. We shall see.

If the student doesn't come forward with what's owed, I will (sadly) be reporting this to the police. It sounds harsh, but it is, after all, a business. 

If the student had called and said, "I need to change the lesson date and time" it would have been fine and I would never have thought that it was perhaps that money was tight. It's more honorable in that instance to do that -- rather than write a check you can't cover. 

You want to trust people. And it stinks when you find out that you can't trust them as often as you would like to. 

Blowing coat

Random Picture...

This is Tippi. Or what's coming OFF Tippi. She's blowing coat. So is Quinn, but to a much lesser extent. 

Raisa is, too, a bit. But not near this amount... However, NEXT year, she'll be on par with Tippi, if not more.

And no. I'm not saving it this time. I haven't even started anything with the Five-Dog-Yarn that I have.

But I've found a lovely lace shawl that will fit that yarn nicely.

It's on my list. 

I was going to go put another box of stuff into the car. But then I realized I had 2 cans of upholstery cleaner in there.

I don't think I need to have them explode. It's a cloudy day, but the car interior heats up nevertheless.

I guess it's time to save this, post it and take a toddle around the office. 

Strategic Planning...

OK, so it's time to 'fess up and talk about some stuff because if I type it, I have more of a commitment to it - at least in my mind.

But first, let's backtrack... It's been yet another "where'd the weekend go?" kind of weekend. And Monday was a doozy...

Friends...

My mom and dad have (well, dad HAD since he's deceased) friends who've been in their lives - gosh, at least since they were married, if not since high school. And now these friends are moving. To California. With their daughter. Who has given up her dream house (the one she designed) to do this. 

The husband of this pair is an artist. I mean, a really, really, REALLY great ARTIST. They're both in frail health: hers is more physical, where his is somewhat mental (due to injuries). The move to CA will of course bring better climate, but they've only lived in this county - ever - their entire lives; you can imagine the uprooting taking place.

Doug is an artist, as I've said. And as most of you probably know, when you move house, you move "by the pound." And his artwork weighs a ton. I mean, thankfully, he's not a sculptor! But his paintings and drawings are pretty big - at least in my opinion. Though my assistant, also a significant artist, says they're "average size." Guess it's an artist thing. 

The Wild Bunch

This is the piece I bought, after Doug argued about just giving it to me. Which I wouldn't allow him to do, so he knocked a couple hundred bucks off the price. 

Should have done better with the flash, but you get the idea. That's in my office, awaiting its spot in the house. 

I have "temporary custody" of 4 other pieces, but that's not the point of this section, really. 

First off, yes, this is an acrylic painting. Second, yes, most of his stuff is as good as - if not better than - this. 

Third: It would have wiped out their savings to move this stuff to CA and store it till they got a gallery to give them space.

So, after I brought this artwork home to Hubby and got "a look" for buying the horses (no, I didn't discuss it, and yes, I apologized), he said something surprising. 

I told him that Joan and Doug were in some turmoil about what to do with, essentially, a gallery-worth of art. He said, "Well, why can't we pack it up, store it at your mom's and then when they get settled, we'll drive it out there."

Some days, I remember why I married him... They were thrilled. Their daughter was amazed we'd do this, but I told her I would feel really bad if we didn't try to help out. 

So on Monday, we took both trucks and loaded 'em up. Then we huffed it all back to my mom's house, trucked it to the basement and just set it there. 

Then on Tuesday, I got the camera out and we took pictures. Of everything. Hubby is going to make an inventory sheet and send it to them. Once they get settled, they can figure out when they want it. Though my mom seems to think it'll be sooner rather than later. It looks like, with my schedule, I'll be staying home from the imminent road trip. She and Hubby will be going out. Kid #2 and I will stay home. Depending on what's going on, I may take a week's vacation to be home with the dogs. We'll have to see about that. 

We think there are about 80-90 pieces. Most of them are framed. They weigh a ton. I'm still sore...

Health...

So aside from sore, I've been reading more about the Atkins eating plan and I think I'm going for it, starting on Monday. Only because I have to shop and I won't have time till then. 

Frankly, in the meantime, I was quite indulgent. And I'm feeling it. It won't be a problem for me, because I truly don't eat a lot of junk (well, except for this past week). 

I printed out their sample "induction" meal plan and it's honestly not the "steak with butter" stuff it used to be. In truth, it's a LOT more veggies than I thought it would be. It's a ton more strict in terms of "no bread, no pasta, no wheat" for the first 2 weeks, but I can't say that'll bother me much. 

What I actually did was put that Induction week on a piece of paper, but moved things around a  bit. I don't mind food boredom. I really don't. I'll eat the same thing for breakfast - always. Anyway, I figure I can keep to this plan for the first week, continue looking at the book, and the second week (you have to do Induction for a minimum of 2 weeks), I will be in the groove and able to work with the recipes, etc. 

But here's the kicker. I never have ever gotten rid of the "fat clothes" so I always had clothes I could wear, no matter what my size. 

I think a big step in my kick to get myself "finally fit" is to empty the closet. Of all that stuff that is not the size I want to be. There are 2 suits I have that are worth the money to re-size, and I'll take care of that. 

But I have a lot of stuff that I could be wearing. But I can't right now. And it's not all about the clothes. It's about feeling better, cleaning my system and keeping myself healthy. The Atkins plan in this revised format is a lot cleaner than it used to be. 

So the start date is Monday, May 5. That'll give me time to get the kitchen stocked. And I think this will be where I need to be right now. 

Pottery Yarn Bowl

Knitting...

This is the bowl that Joan gave me. It's hand-thrown pottery from a friend of hers, and she says that she used to put fruit salad in there in the summer. All I could think of was "yarn bowl!!" So the Pink Socks are in there. And lovely, I might add. 

And I'm still working on the second one; give me a break - it's been busy! 

The next thing will probably be cracking along on the February Lady Sweater for the home project and the Teal Sock for the take-along project. But we'll see. Definitely (go ahead - laugh) I don't want to start anything else now. 

Except that socks don't count. They're "stash-busters" and "calorie-free" as far as I'm concerned. And I can always use more socks. 

Post-Racial...

Ummmmm. No. I wasn't going to go here because I don't think they need more publicity, but let's just say, without naming names, that certain NBA owners and certain mooching anti-American ranchers - well, those folks need to just shut up.

And go away. 

We are not post-racial. And we won't be till some folks either "up and die" (quoting Sidney Poitier in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner") or until there's a monumental sea-change in our attitudes. Which is not likely to happen when you have such a sharp rise in the number of hate groups in this country. Since about 2000, hate groups rose by 54% - check it out here. 

You know this, really, don't you? Without me telling you, you've seen the rise of ultra-conservatives and their "dog-whistle" stories. You've seen it in the hysteria of "Obamacare" -- which was fine by the way, when it was ROMNEYCARE. It's all in the pigment, folks. 

Then there's Georgia's "guns all over" law. Check out the gunslinger at a local Little League game. Compensating much, buddy?? If that link doesn't work, go here. Daily Kos has a great question. Have we become so afraid of the NRA that we won't even attempt to question someone's common sense? You frightened little kids, dude. 

Not cool. Stupid, actually. 

Until we can all sit down together and not have a freak-out - well, till then, we're a long way from being "post-racial" and anyone who says we now are? They're rather more than delusional. 

They - the haters - can get away with a lot more now. And that should scare you.

If it doesn't, please have someone check your pulse. 

Random Picture...

Brings to mind the Judy Collins song about clouds. Or love. Or both. Anyway, I like looking at a beautiful sky with fluffy clouds.

Clouds

Today isn't that day. Today, it's rainy and if we're lucky, Noah won't come floating down the main street. 

Today, we're looking at the rest of the week being rainy, the farmers being delayed in getting the crops in the ground, and having the yoga studio full of "creaky" students who don't do well when wet!

But on this day, outside my office, this is what the sky looked like. 

And it was beautiful.