Basically to say, more tomorrow

I had a really great day today, the kind that has left me limp with the weary. I can't even look at all the photos I took, but tomorrow I should have time between loads of laundry. For now, I will give you the first photo I took today.


We live in a strange and wonderful world, don't you think? I had never even heard of such a thing. Have you? Would you wear it?

(I was buying plain old underwear; this was by the register while I waited to pay.)

Finally Friday

This was me this morning:



Eventually I did get up, of course; sigh. Don't you love being a grown-up?

Today was a lovely weather day, though from 8:30 to 6, I only saw it through the windows. Still, knowing it was there helped me get through a full-tilt day better than I might have. There were a few moments when I had to breathe, just breathe through all the gotta-do-its tugging me in twenty different directions, and I think if it had been raining, that would have been even harder.

I was thinking about the weather (you: No! Really?), and today was actually a really nice Spring day. Warm, but only in the sun. In the summer, other years when it's actually summer, it's hot in sun or in shade, during the day and at night. We haven't had that yet this year. One night this week, I closed the windows because it was too cold to sleep with them open. In July? Weird, man. I am, of course, delighted to have blue skies and sun, but you know, never satisfied. I like hot weather.

I'm going down to Rhode Island tomorrow to spend time with friends, so I stopped on the way home to fill up the gas tank. I had to snap a photo of these two signs on the pump. Click to make big:

They made the no-AmEx sign a little train? Oh-kay.

And instead of using an ampersand (&), or the letter n by itself, or even the word and for heaven's sake, they used a ñ?

Also, do you want your candy cold?

It was a lot of puzzling in very little space.

I thought I was going to be watching an episode of Torchwood tonight, but it turns out the two episodes I watched last night were the only ones on the DVD I currently have out from Netflix. The Doctor Who DVDs generally have 3 or 4 episodes per disc, but Torchwood is only 2 or 3. I disapprove of 2. Not Enough. I shall have to find something else to watch tonight. Or perhaps I'll read. Who knows.

And for Netflix, I want to watch the 5th Harry Potter movie again before going to see the 6th, and I don't own it (yet), so I think I'll get that before going on to the next Torchwood.

Just realizing that I haven't had dinner yet. Time to do that!

Nothing else matters

My mother came through the surgery fine. They say it went well. She sounded tired, but okay.

I'm very, very tired myself, and no one even cut me open. Today at work was a crazy, busy, one-thing-after-another day. Which is fine, because everything's fine. But I need to spend some quiet time with cats, and peas, and these:


Sunlight
on my raspberries
makes me happy

Where is the sun? Have you got it?

This weather needs to pull itself together, and soon. Today we had a tornado warning! What the hell, people, Boston does not get tornadoes. Mother Nature needs to get a grip. (It's supposed to start getting better Friday, but I've heard that before.)

Tonight I have a request to make of any who might read here. My mother is having surgery tomorrow (hip replacement), and any prayers or well-wishes you care to think would be appreciated. We would have liked this not to be necessary, particularly this year, but as it must be, may it go as well as possible, is what I ask.

And now I shall return to my book, a charming novel called The Making of a Marchioness, by Mrs. Hodgson Burnett (yes, her). The main character enjoys every little pleasure so greatly that another character comments,

"What a temperment* to have! I would give ten thousand a year for it."

*sic

Not only am I enjoying the book, I hope to have some of her joy rub off on me.

Thundery Tuesday

Yesterday was sunny still. When I left work it was about 80 and sunny. Today when I left, it was 65 and the rain had just stopped. Very sad change. I was able to bear with it better than last week, though, after having had the sunny weekend. I felt remarkably light and free at work yesterday, with nothing to complain about. I hope the sun returns soon, but I was only pensive as it rained and boomed today, not wanting to cry.

I'm really tired tonight, though. I didn't get to bed early enough Sunday, and then last night I was out late, baby-sitting for my friend's twins, who will be two next month. Great boys, but that's a workout right there. By the time they were in bed, I needed to sit for a while with ice water and not move. I got some knitting done on the new socks, but not too much, and no photos yet.

I don't seem to be capable of much more than that, tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will bring my usual mojo, such as it is, back.

Two Days of Mostly Sun, and I am a new person

I am fully prepared to rhapsodize about the weekend's weather, but I want to cover the knitting news first. You don't mind, do you?

I finished an experiment that I'm pretty well pleased with. Recently I was thinking about how my friend's twins will be two in August, and I'd like to make them a little something but what, and I came up with this idea: take a couple of the alphabet squares I have left from the ill-fated afghan project of a few years ago, then pick up stitches along the sides and knit in different colors and varieties of yarn, and it could be a fun little texture/color toy. Or something. I finished the first one, and like it well enough that I will start the second shortly. The top:


And the back:






Not all that complex, but I'm happy with it.

I also wound the Smooshy yarn I just bought, and started a sock yesterday.


Here I am testing it out:


I have the toe started, and am about to start in the round. It might be slightly too big; I'm undecided, so I'll go a little further and see. If it is, the frogging won't be too painful. More knitting time for the yarn money! I like making socks, but I still wrestle with the size-pattern-fit issues.

Now, on to the weekend! And the weather that is not complaint-worthy, but due praise! And exclamation points! Here is some of yesterday's blue sky:


And here is today's:


The recent weather woes have me so crazy that after yesterday was finally nice, I started to worry that this summer would be an inverse of the usual problem. You know how so often weather on holidays is bad, but it's nice other days? Well, I thought, if the fourth of July is nice, and the last really, really nice day was Memorial Day ... does that mean the next nice day isn't until the next holiday? But that's Labor Day! September! Two months away!

No worries. Not only was it sunny when I woke up this morning, but there was barely a cloud in the sky. I could hardly believe my eyes. Before I went out, I looked from window to window, amazed by all the blue.

Yesterday a friend and I went on a long walk, and it was just gorgeous. We ate ice cream outside, then sat out and relaxed (it was a long walk; we were tired!), and then ate outside. Today we went on a shorter walk before a nice, low-key cook-out. It was all simply divine. Here are some of the highlights.

By the way, I was a few blocks away from home yesterday when I realized I forgot my camera, and I turned around and went back for it, as I could not imagine going without it. I blame the blog for this.

Flower going from bud to fuzz.

Don't the unripe ones look like mini melons?

Would this be a sunrise flower?

What about this?

A shy flying thing (butterfly, moth, something) that would not open its wings for me.

Some sort of flowering tree, very un-New England-y.

Steps to nowhere, now.

More fluttering things.

Can you believe all that blue sky? It's so blue.

I bought yarn!

I did, real yarn, lovely yarn. See?


Tho colors are just glorious, like the very best of sunset. And it's so soft!


I can't wait to start playing with it.

I actually bought another yarn, too, unplanned but unavoidable one I saw it and touched it. So why no pictures? Well, it's for a secret project, so I think I shouldn't show it. Otherwise ... it wouldn't be secret. (If you're on Ravelry, you can see it in my stash. Don't give it away!)



Now, if you look back at the yarn photos, you may notice something unusual about them. Yes, that's right: that's sunshine. I was so excited by the even partially sunny day that I took my yarn outside for a photo shoot.

It wasn't a completely cloud-free, which is something I seem to remember happening, in other years. But at least there was some sun. I was pathetically grateful. I walked around a nearby town, seeing things.





It was a nice, relaxed day, and now I still have Saturday and Sunday. Ahh.

Big plans for the long weekend

We've had some rain here lately, had you heard?


Yes, mostly much grayness, but also wet. In fact, there was a BOOM! of thunder at 4:20 this morning that didn't just wake me, it almost knocked me out of bed. I went around closing the few windows that I had left open in defiance of the brrr, then got back in bed listening to the deluge. Good times! Today has had flash flood watches and flood advisories all over. (There are only two for my town right now. Earlier there were five.)

Everything is wet. The flowers are drooping:


Raindrops puddle on the plants:


And the ground can't take it all in:


There's still beauty here and there, but it's all covered with a fine layer of moisture.


I think these are peony petals. I didn't know that they disappear into the pavement when it's this wet.


This morning, the Globe took a break from the weather stories (how bad business is for places that count on nice weather, like restaurants with patios and food stands; how good it is for indoor playgrounds and other indoor entertainment; how effing depressed 99% of us are by now) and printed this beauty, which I can hardly believe was really in the paper. Click on it to make it bigger:


How to build an ark. I'm so glad they converted cubits to feet; that will make it much easier.

On to the weekend. Happily, my department was told to leave work at 2, which is a charming habit the company has before holidays. I celebrated by stopping at two different libraries on the way home, to pick up holds. With my visit to a third library yesterday, I feel very prepared for the weekend.

I have movies:

• Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, a classic which I haven't watched in years
• Music and Lyrics, which was fun
• Lars and the Real Girl, which got good reviews but I never managed to see

Also I have a disc from Netflix with a few episodes of Torchwood, which I'm just starting to watch. Fun!

Then there are books:

• Because I Am Furniture (I read a good review)
• The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (ditto)
• Dead and Gone, by Charlaine Harris, which I read already but might re-read
• The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, which if it is half as good as it looks I will be telling you more about before long
  
• and, for the knitters, Fiber Gathering: Knit, Crochet, Spin, and Dye More Than 25 Projects Inspired by America's Festivals (hello, Rhinebeck! I am waiting for October!)
  

Whew! Between that, and the usual tasks like laundry, the days will just fly by.

If it doesn't rain for that key 21 minutes Saturday night, I'll watch the fireworks on TV. I did hear this week about a party at a friend-of-a-friend's, but I felt I had to pass. I've been rather down in general since Dad died, no surprise there, and while I can manage social, somewhat, I don't feel up to festive. A party on the 4th of July is Festive. Not this year.

I'm trying to listen to what my instincts tell me I can handle. Dinner last Saturday with friends? Yes. 4th of July party? No. One step at a time.

And now, again, Harold is hanging around, mewing for me. He's such a love hound. I don't really mind, though; it's nice to be wanted.

Happy 4th, if you celebrate it. Happy Canada Day a day late, to our northern neighbors. And anyone else? Happy whatever you like.

Fantasy vs. Reality

Fantasy Weather for Massachusetts on July 1st: hot, probably close to 90. Sunny. You probably want air conditioning, but you still say, what a gorgeous day! I love summer!

Reality: Gray, rainy, foggy, and about 60. There's a flash flood watch.

According to the forecast*, it may be sunny a week from tomorrow.

*And we all know what that's worth.

Oh, sure, they say this Sunday will be only "partly cloudy", but we all know what that means. Five minutes of sun over the course of a day Does Not Count.

According to the Globe this morning, in June the sun was only out 27% of the potential time. (I would link to it, but the Globe's website chronically sucks at being able to find something that was in the paper.)

I bought fresh peas again after work, because peas are only fresh in the summer. If I'm eating fresh peas, it must be summer.

Right?

I feel numb

It's from Novocaine, not U2 (though I do like that song). Yes, at the dentist again!

Like three weeks ago.

And three weeks before that.

And three weeks before that (though that one was the cleaning with a how's-the-crown-doing, not just cracked-tooth related).

Really it all started in March. Since we are now at the end of June, I will try to remember this experience next time I start to grind my teeth when I get annoyed. (The dentist didn't say that's what caused it ... but I think not taking chances here would be good.)

Speaking of being at the end of June ... has anyone seen the summer weather? It should be here somewhere, but I can't find it anywhere. And while we're on the subject, please join me in a rousing "hiss, boo" for the Globe, using this quote in their "the weather sucks and it keeps on raining" story this morning:

“It’s been very persistent, and it could go on for the rest of the summer,’’ said Frank Strait, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

I think I speak for everyone within at least a hundred-mile radius when I say, "Bite me, Frank." I don't think that's the Novocaine talking, either.

Well, maybe it is. Partly.

I'm off to eat some popcorn in the manner I used when I had braces, and wasn't supposed to eat popcorn: one piece at a time, melt in the mouth. It's sort of peaceful. Zen and the art of popcorn intake.

The LOL comes along at last

This was me two weeks ago!



I'm pretty sure that's just what I looked like that day.

Today wasn't fantastic and joyful ... but it was nothing like that day, and that is saying something.

Not Really Here

Not that I was planning a long involved post, but now I am only here to say "hi and bye" because cat people, have you noticed how "Just give me five minutes" means nothing to a cat? Harold is having A Day, and he Needs me. Have a nice evening, everyone.

Cats on a Saturday

Since the weather of late has tended to look like this:


I was terrifically pleased to see this yesterday morning.


Sunshine on my kitty makes me happy.

This morning, the two of them were on the bed (again). They get along better all the time.


Six months ago, I wasn't sure I would ever get a close-up of Miri. Can you see the mix of black and white whiskers?


Of course, along with shots like that, I get shots like this:


Super extreme close-up. Her nose didn't quite touch the camera. Not quite.

Week end

It's Friday night, it's the weekend, I'm worn out. For me, actually last week was worse than this week, but for some reason the stress level at work was higher in general this week, and I've been looking forward to being here, now, since about Wednesday morning.

So basically, blog, I have nothing for you. And when in doubt, throw up a cute cat picture. Not one of mine, this time; it's via Cute Overload:


Happy weekend.

Do You See It?

Do you know what's in these fields?

Sunshine.

See it?

Ahhhhh.

This morning it was still gray. Pathetically, as I left the house, I found myself thinking that it was a "brighter" gray than we've had recently. Still. Gray.

For much of the day, it was completely cloudy, before it became what could charitably be called mostly cloudy. Even when I left work, there was a large cloud between me and the sun. But it passed, it passed, and all is joyful. I bought more peas at Wilson's (it's such a short season), and I'm wearing shorts. Shorts!

And I'm smiling. For now, anyway. Blue sky. Sunshine.

By the way: are you one who believes that famous people seem to die in threes? When I type that, it sounds ridiculous, but ... when Ed McMahon died yesterday, we were talking at work about it. Then Farah Fawcett died today, and then driving home I heard about Michael Jackson. Now, the three really have nothing in common, but ... it's funny, isn't it?

Oh, crud

Remember Monday? Remember that the guy on the radio said there would be sun on Wednesday? So guess what it was like when I woke up this morning?

Go on, guess. Three guesses, first two don't count.

Yup. Raining.

Actually, for most of the day it was gray and misty more than actual rain. The mist didn't seem to be falling, but just there, in the air, making it tangible.

Still, enough. I want to see the glowing orb in the sky, and I want it now.

Okay, not actually now, I know the sun would have set by now if we still had a sun. But tomorrow?

Tomorrow they say we will have sun in the afternoon.

And they had better not be fucking with me again. That is all. I still have the tail end of this cold, which seems determined not to leave until the PMS gets a firm hold on me. I just think that, for the sake of everyone who has to work with me, it would be better if the sun came out. I'm simply being philanthropic.

Locally Grown

I went back to Wilson's tonight for some more of "their own" peas. Much to my delight, signs were up announcing "their own" strawberries! I stuck my nose near the box and they smelled like heaven.

I ate one on the way to the car. Red all the way through, melted in the mouth, tasted like the essence of strawberry. The sun isn't out*, but summer is here.

*Maybe tomorrow? Only a 40% chance of rain tomorrow. More likely Thursday. The Globe this morning was validating: this actually is the second-gloomiest June on record, and there's a week left.

Rain and Cough and is there anything else? (yes)

Can we get this clear?

Yes, I'm still kind of sick. (Cough, cough.) I went to work today, but that took all the energy I had, plus a little. I didn't even go to my stitch and bitch group tonight. When you don't have the energy to sit and knit with friends...?

And I know, I've been complaining about being sick for a few days now. Okay, five days if you count today, which I guess you do, right? (Cough.)

But still. This?


Yes, they are accepting applications for this senior living community, and invited me, by name (no "resident", oh no, my full name), to learn more. And although I can see at least 4 little layout errors on the card, they didn't even have the decency to make an egregious spelling error, so that I could mock them and feel a little better.

Shit.

Though I must admit, now more than ever, I do feel that I "need a helping hand", and who doesn't want a beautiful, new, affordable apartment? But they only tease; you know that if I tried to apply, they would reject me out of hand, simply because I am only 40.

At least it doesn't say, "You're pre-approved!"

So yeah, being sick isn't helping my mood, that card didn't help my mood, and the weather, ye gods. I left work tonight to a driving mist, which sounds kind of odd but really, that's what it was. When I stopped to get gas (fueling the car in the rain being preferable to running out), the stuff was almost perfectly horizontal, which might have been more neat if it wasn't so ... damp. The station did have a canopy, but really those only help with nearer-vertical precipitation.

The DJ on the radio station quipped that on this second day of summer, isn't it lovely out? Then muttered what sounded like, will it ever end? Later, he said that the forecast says sun by Wednesday, and 85 degrees Thursday, and "we'll see, I'll believe it when I see it." Amen, brother. Amen.

A high school friend's update on Facebook says, "Day 4 million of rain. The Ark is almost done, I hope I make it in time."

A final thought, related to neither my cold nor the weather. (I know, I can't believe it either.) On the way home tonight, I got cut off by someone who then slowed down, pulled over, and generally acted like he thought I wasn't going to let him in front of me. Since he was already in front of me, having cut me off, I was frustrated by this behavior. You already cut me off, don't slow things down more!

Which got me to thinking, I prefer my scofflaws to be competent. Around here, they are, more often than not. I've said before that at least in Boston, if a driver hits you, it's usually because he meant to.

But am I weird that I prefer it that way?

Yeah. Still sick.

Being still kind of sick did not completely ruin my weekend, but it sure has cramped my style. Today, I managed to vacuum (oh, that long-haired cat!) and to get to the grocery store, but the laundry remains undone and even the dishwasher is only half emptied. And I have no energy. In fact, I'm getting a headache, which officially louses up the rest of the evening, even if the medicine does stop it in its tracks. Sigh. Cough.

When it came down to it, I chose to spend my limited energy on groceries over laundry. I still have clean clothes, whereas the food situation was getting dire. I spent more than usual ($50.20), but according to the receipt, I saved $22.61, which sounds promising. It feels like progress, or something.

What else? Well, it's raining. And about 60, with a cool breeze. Between the weather and my fever, I've been freezing and sweating at the same time much of today, which is just as unpleasant as you would think.

I can't come up with words depressing enough to express my feelings about the weather Boston has had for June. I can't seem to stop looking at the 10-day forecast, even though I don't believe it's accurate, and then get enraged. We might have some sun on Friday?? Maybe?? At least it's getting slightly warmer, but seriously, who's in charge of this nonsense? I want to complain.

Time to snap out of it. Last month, in Florida, I got to see some lovely flowers. Time-travel with me.






Aren't they wonderful? Flowers simply amaze me. Unlike the recent weather, they're a part of nature that fills me with awe. The world isn't all bad, when you're looking at flowers.