Post-Easter Crap...

Well, that's technically true. Like clockwork, I have a post-Holy Week cold. It's a doozy. I have a solo this Sunday. As in TOMORROW. Will I be able to sing? Will I be a baritone? Will I get through the service and still have a voice?

Hmmmmm. All good questions. All unable to be answered until tomorrow, to see where my voice ends up. 

It is snowing outside. Yes, I'm not crazy. Yes, it's April 27, 2019. Yes, this actually happened a long, long time ago -- 1967, to be exact. And I don't think we've recovered from THAT. 

I've spent the past 4 days (Yeah. Started Monday night, to be exact.) drinking tea and water, and eating soup. Tonight was the first time I've had something solid to eat. No worries; I like soup, but I figured I needed to get rid of the leftover meatloaf. 


Oh, and because I have great timing - today was my "Spring Pedicure." Lucky me, I may have acquired a yoga student. But I was in flip-flops in the wet, cold rain. Not a brilliant move. But I have lovely blue toes. 

I wasn't planning on this color; but when I saw it, I was in love. It's one of the shades of blue in my yoga studio's logo, so I bought it, too. It's OPI, called "Dreams Need Clara-fication." It's technically from their Nutcracker series, but I thought of Dr. Who, of course! 

Originally, I was going with "My Dogsled is a Hybrid" which is an older color. Check it out on their website; it's a nice "1960's looking" green-blue.

Now, though, that pedicure is stuffed into fuzzy "house socks" because my feet are freezing. 

Did I tell you that I'm kinda over this weather? 

On the bright side, here's a shot of my neighbor's "fish flags." He hasn't been able to fly them for a few years; the top flag had a line break and he said it took him a while to find the replacement part. 

They're lovely, large koi fish, representing his family. They were very striking against the recent grey skies. 

Let's catch up a bit on stuff...

Easter...

Well, I could make a million baking lamb cakes. At least mine wouldn't have plastic faces. And they wouldn't taste like cardboard. 

I didn't do one this year. We have done them before, and the kids love them, but nobody in the family is eating many sweets lately, so it's just easier to make the potica and keep it simple. 


There's the requisite "Peep Art." This is a great one, actually... Yes, in case you're asking, I really don't have any idea how to share that stuff with my phone so I do it really old-school and take a picture of my laptop screen.

It gives my kids something to roll their eyes over. 

Don't judge. 

It was nice to have Easter Sunday "off." But speaking of "off" -- Hubby and I went on a bike ride that day. It was a glorious day, my first on the bike in over a year because of all the tummy troubles. 


Ten miles. I felt so good. But I fell on my bike. 

You read that right. 

I got off my bike to take a picture of a "carpet" of violets. And as I was getting back on, the bike slipped out from under me and my right knee hit the sprocket. It's a lovely greenish color; the gal doing my pedicure was quite stunned at the coloration. 

And it hurts like crazy. The trail was that crushed limestone stuff. It's easy to lose control; funny thing was, I was trying to get ON the bike and the whole thing just went over sideways. 

Could've been worse. 

But then, I haven't fallen off my bike since my age was in the single digits. 

I don't bounce the way I did then...

Mother Nature...

At first I thought that this cold might be allergies. Since my car was literally covered in pollen the other day. Seriously had a "golden" tone to the green paint. 

I went to the car wash on Thursday at lunch, just to scrape a layer of it off. 

One of my students insists that that's all my trouble is: "It's sinuses related to allergies."

Respectfully, no it's not. I know the difference. 

I did take a walk, even though I felt kind of crappy. It was nice to be out in nature, even with the coughing and sneezing. Watched this guy try to catch his lunch. He was remarkably calm for how close I was. 

I also found another little friend. Luckily, I wasn't getting dive-bombed. This one is roosting outside of the front door on our church hall. 

ON the door. 

This is a shot from inside. 

Robins are not the cheerful harbingers of spring when it's nesting season. 

They're mean. And they'll dive bomb you without a second of hesitation. One of them used to roost on our front porch light. Then it moved to a bird feeder. 

The mailman was afraid to deliver our mail. 

Small but fierce. 

So far, this one has stayed in his nest and has only given us a stink-eye. The Vicar hasn't disturbed him; she's a live-and-let-live kind of person. Nesting season will be over soon.

The Knitting Dilemma...

Well. I have a dilemma. The Multnomah Shawl is giving me some problems. There's some weird crap about the stitch markers, and it's just strange. I thought it was straightforward, but her directions are kind of not cool. 

My problem is 10 rows of Feather and Fan. I love Feather and Fan and I've been dying to make a shawl with it. 

This is gorgeous; MadTosh HT (high twist) merino, for a very special, knit-worthy person. And the way this is constructed, the drape over the shoulders will be phenomenal. 

But the Feather & Fan is driving me nuts. 

It doesn't appear to line up in successive rows. So I fudged it and now I'm frustrated. 

I've temporarily set it aside, till my snot-addled brain can think. It's only April; I have time for this. 

I even added a second set of markers, to delineate the K5 middle section. I wish she'd have just done that YO, K5, YO thing without a zillion remarks about stitch markers. 

It sounds like it would be easier. 

Maybe not. And maybe I'm misinterpreting the whole thing. 

I'll go back to Ravelry and see what others have said. I love the Spectrum colorway. And I love the heft and drape of this. It'll keep the eventual wearer nice and toasty. 

I just have to get my head together to figure out how to keep each part in line. 


So I pulled out The Book. When I'm bored at work (shhhhhhhh, don't tell), I'll troll blogs and pick up notes on items I may want to knit. 

I've found a hat for both of the kids; I try to make a hat every other year. I know last year I made hats, but this is a nice double-layer one that I think they'd like. 

I also have several pages of shawls. So I could check those out. Lord knows I have stash. 

And in the meantime, I pulled out the Traveling Scarf -- a/k/a The Before-and-After Scarf. I will be getting something to replace that lime green for the second half. And I briefly thought about doing another one for the recipient of the shawl above; but this is honestly MILES of garter stitch; and I don't know if I could do TWO of them (it's a 2-part item) by December. 

If I can get to my LYS to see if she even carries this lace alpaca, I might give it a shot. If nothing else, it's totally mindless and easy enough. Just kinda boring. 

Even with the prospect of beads along each end to hold it down. Blocking might actually be a nightmare -- it's going to take an entire floor, which I don't have empty at this point. The finished length is about 5-6 feet. 

But it's alpaca and laceweight, so it'll be warm but light. A totally different feel than the Multnomah, which kind of reminds me of those British dramas I watch where the mom of the family wraps herself in a shawl and braves the British winter weather...

Anyway; I started another pair of traveling socks, because the green ones are close to the heel. That makes 3 pairs in progress; I just need to buckle down and deal with finishing them. It's another Opal yarn. Self-patterning, so it's vanilla and great lunchtime/outside knitting. 

What's on your needles? Are you starting to think about Christmas yet?

Anyone got wisdom for me on Multnomah?

Random Picture...

I was going to take a picture of the snow on our neighbor's roof, but I decided against it. 

I was running late for the pedicure, but it turned out ok, because the person doing it was running behind. This was one of the things that held me up. The annual Walk A Mile in Her Shoes Walk that was done by our local domestic violence shelter group. 

Men walk a mile in high heels. The high heels are donated. And these guys did it. 

In the pouring rain/snow mix, down one of our main streets. 

It was inspiring and sad at the same time. 

Domestic violence is a scourge. People still victim-shame, and perpetrators still get off fairly easily in many jurisdictions. And often, the victim isn't believed -- till she's dead. 

I know - domestic violence can happen to anyone. Male or female. 

Either way, it's a crime, it's a shame, and we're better than this. We need to crack down on the availability of guns, legal and illegal. And the illegal ones are the hardest nuts to crack. 

I don't have answers. But I know we have the brains in this country to do it. We just have to have the will. 

I Had Forgotten...

...How mind-numbingly, crushingly, amazingly BORING plain old knitting is. 

As I recuperate and the bruises from the IVs slowly fade (though I still have a most colorful groin area, if you want to know...), I thought I'd alternate knitting projects. 

So you know I finished the baby sweater. I had enough yarn to do "something" -- but not another baby sweater. I don't like "newborn" sizing because babies tend to run "linebacker large" in our family, and I'd hate to waste the knitting on something the kid wears for one picture and then never uses again.

I thought, "I need a go-to Super-Simple, Awesome Baby Layette to put together so that I have the items in stash, rather than knitting a sweater here, a couple of hats there, and  -- oh -- I've never done BOOTIES!" 

So that's what I've been working on, as well as knitting a few rows here and there on the Fluro sock. 

Ultimately, my Super-Simple, Awesome Baby Layette will be a combination of patterns. The sweater is a pattern I got from renewing a knitting magazine, so I'll try to find a link. The hat is my own pattern, so I'm working on it (there's the mind-numbing thing about knitting 14" or so and tossing in an every-so-often yarn-over to keep me awake) and will debut it if it works. And I haven't decided which bootie pattern to use. Once I figure all that out, it'll show up here. 

Not my creation -- I must state that. Except for the hat, I am not designing it. I'm just aggregating patterns that are go-to items for a gift. Often, I think, we resort to our old favorites, and there's totally no reason NOT to do that. 

I just want mine in a folder so I can find them the next time I have to baby-knit. 

The NFL...

Has blown the call. I mean seriously. Check out this editorial from The Schenectady Daily Gazette.  Apparently, in the grand scheme of "What an NFL player can do wrong" -- domestic violence is far, FAR down the list. 

See, here's the thing: The NFL has suspended player Ray Rice (Baltimore Ravens, if you're counting) for 2 games. Seems Mr. Big Man knocked his fiancee out and there's footage of a beating. So Commissioner Goodall says, "We simply cannot tolerate conduct that endangers others..." blah. Blah. Blah... It's only 2 games, dude.

The NFL has suspended players for LONGER for LESSER infractions, such as suspension for EIGHT games for failing a second drug test. I'm all in favor of clean players, but let's just wake up and smell the coffee... You're effectively telling me that DOMESTIC VIOLENCE rates a lesser suspension than failing a pee test. 

Just read the editorial. And then let the NFL know how you feel. I know I will.


The Great Pickle Relish Experience...

So Hubby has been a total champ. Since the surgery and the explosion in the garden coincided, and since we'd already thought that this would be The Summer of Pickle Relish, he's been doing all the chopping.

Yes, that's a LOT of relish!

First, I wasn't able to just stand up long enough to do all the work. Then - I'm on a pretty effective blood thinner. I think he's afraid I'll chop more than pickles! So he even tried the food processor, which didn't work. I mean, luckily, he did about a quarter of a batch and we realized "pickled mush" wasn't the look we were after. So we - HE - reverted back to chopping. And chopping. And chopping. 

The end result (and we're still not done yet) is FIFTY-ONE jars of relish. Half-pint jars. Today, though, we're giving up on relish. We will finish off the cucumbers, though he's threatened to rip out the remaining plants!! 

Today, we'll be doing - or starting - sweet pickle chips. He doesn't like dill pickles, and frankly, I have a lot of those left from the last Pickle Expedition. And I also have a couple cases of Bread & Butter. So we found a recipe for "sweet spears" and I don't see any reason why we can't make them "chips" instead of spears. So when he gets done with the dog-walking, he'll get to use the food processor (seriously, he really IS the only one who uses it!) and slice them into 1/4" medallions. Then we soak them overnight. Tomorrow, we process, by making a brine, packing the pickles into the jars and pouring the boiling brine over them. A 10-minute soak in the canning pot, and we should have a bunch of pint jars of pickle chips. 

Personally, I love them on a good pulled pork or on a ham sandwich. We also adjusted the recipe for the brine; we ended up throwing a lot of it away, and so we knocked it down a bit. We still have some "light" jars, but I think we can make "refrigerator pickles" out of that brine, by chopping up cauliflower florets, artichoke hearts, etc. and just stashing them in the brine for a couple of weeks in the fridge. Pearl onions would work, if you can eat 'em. 

Back to Knitting...

RAK package

So on a FB page I am involved in, we have what are called RAKs. Random Acts of Kindness. We choose a member and we mail something to him or her - just because. It can be knitting-related; tea or coffee have shown up. So has an abundance of chocolate. This is what I got as a RAK package, just before I went into surgery. 

This is a lovely sock bag in U of I colors (it was a fellow IL resident who sent it to me), a fantastic ball of sock yarn and a knitting mag - which has several patterns I'd like to start on. 

The RAK list got so overwhelming that the FB page administrators decided to move the RAK portion to Ravelry. Which reminds me - I have to go check to see if my package arrived to its sender. 

Random Picture...

What species??

Before I go back to the mind-numbing baby hat...I want to show you what turned up on the cone flowers yesterday. And I want to tell you that this is a photo from my phone's camera. I am not sure which species this is, but I've been fiddling with the cone flowers all summer, trying to catch the huge bumblebees and the various butterflies that have come along. I did see a swallowtail, but the little stinker moved so fast that I couldn't catch him. 

If anyone knows what this is, please let me know! 

All I can say is that he waited patiently for me to take the picture. I've also seen a slight uptick in hummingbirds, though I think we need to take down all the feeders and give them a good wash. 

And the birds are loving the bubbling water under the tree. We're fiddling with the other bird bath; I think it may need to go in the shade, but we're still working on that. 

It's been a really amazing season for the garden, and it's not done yet. We've gotten about 6 tomatoes, and before you scoff, realize: we planted tomatoes for about 4 years running and got nothing. Nada. Zip. This year, the cooler weather, the rain and the general timing of the season have conspired to make even a lazy gardener look "very productive."

REALLY, Florida???

So Marissa Alexander is set to go to trial now, for SIXTY YEARS for firing a shot into a wall, in the direction of her abusive estranged husband.

And someone says, "she didn't have to go back into the house." Really?

Reports say that she didn't live in the house, but had thought that the abusive estranged hubby wasn't home. Apparently, though it's not clear, there was something there she needed...? Either way, at the time of the incident, she did have a restraining order against him. I would like to think that she was as certain as she could be that he wasn't in the home before deliberately putting herself in this situation.  

The abusive estranged husband had already broken through the bathroom door and grabbed her by the throat, shoving her to the ground. According to the records, he was badgering her about the paternity of the child she'd given birth to "days" prior. 

She tried to leave, through the garage, but the door wouldn't open. I don't know - maybe Florida garages don't have service doors like ours do in Illinois.

I do wonder where the new baby was. But I don't have any indications in anything I've read on this matter.

See, here's what makes me angry. She was ALREADY convicted, for a term of 20 years (...though it was 3 counts. The judge combined the sentences to one of 20 years). This move by the judge, to have her serve the 3 sentences concurrently instead of consecutively, was what was tossed out by the 1st District Court of Appeal. Under Florida law, the original judge wasn't allowed to combine the charges that way. But wait... Different appeals courts in Florida have different opinions. Some say that Daniel CAN stack the sentences. Others say no. 

And so now the DA is re-trying it. What happened to double jeopardy? Anyway, this retrial, set for July, will (absent a plea agreement) will land this woman in jail for basically the rest of her life.

Because she fired a warning shot. At an abusive spouse who was charging her. The spouse claims that his kids, who were with him, were the victims here.

Well, yeah, probably. Because he chose that day to assault his estranged wife IN FRONT OF THEM. So that makes him what? Daddy of the Year??  

The Circuit Court judge, James Daniel, said during jury instructions that she had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was abused. 

I would think a restraining order was "beyond a reasonable doubt." But you never know about juries, especially those in Florida. It took the first jury twelve minutes. TWELVE MINUTES. To find her guilty. 

What's outrageous if you have a conscience and a soul is that, just recently, two white guys got away with KILLING black kids. Using "Stand Your Ground," they claimed to be in fear of their lives. Uh-huh.

Like Marissa Alexander WASN'T? With an estranged, abusive husband choking her, as opposed to, say, loud music playing in a car? Or a kid walking through a neighborhood who "looked gangster"? 

This article in Huffington Post is even more galling. Apparently, Daddy of the Year has had multiple "baby mammas" and has "laid hands on each of them" according to his own words. 

Oh yeah, this guy wins Prince Charming awards everywhere he goes. Here's a link to a Daily Sundial blog that just about summarizes it: if you're black and/or female, I guess the law isn't on your side. Your Prince Charming can run his scraggly butt out of the house and claim YOU threatened him. Of course, after HE "laid hands" on you. 

I want to vomit. Here's the thing. I'm past 55 years of age and I'm white. I'm female, a feminist, and have worked for a long time in male-dominated fields. I know from discrimination and the "pink collar" crap. I also know how men can get really intimidated by bright, educated women. And that doesn't count the double-whammy of being black.

I am under no delusion that we are now a post-racial society since Barack Obama's election (twice) to the Presidency. I was, however, thinking that just maybe, in 2014, the US would perhaps, somewhat, a teeny tiny bit, be post-gender. 

Yes, the statistics regarding our political representation (18.5% in both House and Senate) and the number of CEOs (4% in the Fortune 500 companies, and 4.4% in the Fortune 1000) are still pathetic. And we won't even talk about why anyone with ovaries would be Republican.

But still. Michael Dunn could "stand his ground" in a parking lot. Marissa Alexander can't do that in a home she once occupied? At least Ms. Alexander was being physically assaulted. 

Dunn just didn't like the music. 

Concealed Carry in Illinois...

So today, as long as I'm ranting on domestic violence, I read that the State of Illinois' new/stupid law allowing the citizens to carry concealed weapons may have a loophole. A large, frightening loophole. 

As a side note, a pox on Representative Brandon Phelps, who sponsored this NRA-written law. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your soft squishy parts. In your next life, may you come back as a worm. One of those night-crawlers that creep onto the sidewalks after a heavy rain -- you know, the ones everyone steps on...

Anyway. I digress. 

Under the current Illinois law, a person can be arrested for just about any offense including domestic battery.  Wait for it. You'd think, "Ok, ONE arrest and done."

Noooooooooo. You can be arrested up to five times within a 7-year period. Do you understand how incredibly ludicrous and stupid this is? How many times will it take to actually kill the woman you're assaulting? And those are only the situations where it's reported.

Domestic violence goes unreported. A lot. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has put out a flyer outlining some of the statistics. They're not as current as I'd like but the numbers are still staggering. Add the availability of concealed carry to this. 

Then add the fact that Illinois is broke, and that the background checks may not extend across state lines.

Right now, the IL statute is more restrictive than the federal statute, and the "domestic battery" segment is the only misdemeanor in the federal statute. Of course, the gun lobby is going wild about this. They want that misdemeanor REMOVED from the federal statute. The US Supreme Court held oral arguments in a Tennessee case that would repeal the "Lautenberg" amendment and restore gun rights to convicted domestic abusers.

Let me repeat that. 

...restore gun rights to convicted domestic abusers.

Has your blood run cold yet? If not, check your pulse. Women in this country (and particularly in Florida) are going to become an endangered species unless we duck our eyes, follow our man 5 feet behind his noble self, and act as breeders. 

Yeah. That's how I wanted my future to be. 

Random Picture...

Satellite picture

I'm not in the mood for cute-puppy-pictures. However, I will use these, that I found on The Google... According to today's paper, about 80% of the Great Lakes is still frozen. That hasn't happened since the mid-1990s. Spring, groundhog to the contrary, will be late. 

But Mother Nature is certainly putting on a show for us. 

Light-house-sicle

Icebreaker

Ice Beard