Of Words and Yarns

It's time for some verb tenses! Come on, it's fun!

• I had ordered some yarn (which has arrived)
• I (had) ordered some (more) yarn (which is on its way)
• I have ordered more yarn (which will come, one day)

Wasn't that fun?

Yes, the frivoling-about-with-birthday-money continues. Here's what came this week.

First up, from Blue Barn Fiber, in the base I Knead This (MCN 80/10/10), the colorway Wanderlust.

Which is pretty enough in the skein, but unwound? Stunning.

I got the larger skein, 150 grams, so it will make a nice big cozy shawl.

And the other is more from Periwinkle Sheep, of whose yarn I am quite fond, these quietly lovely skeins of Sport Wolle (100% merino, sport weight, very soft), in Water (2) and Well Spring (1).

Ahhh. So nice. Makes me happy. And:

More to come!

Here, for My Fellow Word-Nerds

Take two minutes and listen to this. Fascinating!

 

Rainbows

When my mother and I were driving Sunday afternoon, I was taking some pictures (since she was doing the actual driving).

Like this palm tree:

And then, a rainbow!

Which reminded me that we saw a rainbow Friday night, on the way to dinner, that I didn't show you. I was driving that time, but when we stopped at a light, I got this shot.

See the rainbow, near the bottom? Apparently the pot of gold is in the Wells Fargo bank building. Who knew?

Birthday Dinner

Hi there!

Happy birthday to me!

My birthday was last Friday, and I took the day off work and have had a long*, lazy, quite lovely** weekend. 

*I don't get Monday off, so not an extra-long weekend.

**Given 2020 standards, anyway

Back in September, my mother asked what I'd like to do for my birthday dinner, and after a bit of pondering, I remembered a restaurant we went to once where they have outdoor dining, literally feet in the sand, along the beach, and it seemed to me that if we got lucky with the weather, watching the sun set as we ate would be fun.

Which it was!

And as you can see from the sky, we did get quite lucky with the weather. Because it rained most of our drive there, and sprinkled some on the way home, but not a drop fell on us at dinner. Amazing!

See? Feet in the sand!

(I don't know if I should blame the sand for the bug bites I came home with, 10 itchy spots on my feet and ankles, but although they are annoying, it was still worth it.)

This young man was net fishing as he went along.

I'm not sure he caught anything, but an egret was hanging around hopefully, in case he did, and wanted to share it. See? Just to his right.

It's pretty much a postcard view.

As the sun...

...sinks slowly...

...in the west...

The light on the water, mmm.

It was also a very fine meal, but the view seals the deal.

When it was time for dessert, they brought me a slice of key lime pie with a candle in it, which was really nice of them, but it's not actually my favorite dessert--too tart, even when beautifully done--so we also got my actual favorite, creme brulee, one to eat there and one to go. She hesitated when we asked for it to go, and I assured her it didn't have to be pretty, since I'm well aware that it isn't a dessert that to-go comes naturally to. They did an amazing job.

Both beautiful and delicious the next day.

More to come on birthday gifts, but this was the first thing I wanted to share.

Alarms and Yarn

No metaphor, but an actual, literal alarm: a building near us had its alarm go off, roughly half of forever this afternoon.

WHOOP, WHOOP, WHOOP.

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.

(Period where if you're outside, you can hear the distant recorded voice telling people to evacuate, and if you are inside, all you 'hear' is a pause just long enough to make you think it's done, before the WHOOP starts again.)

So that was fun.

When it had been going on for about an hour, I looked up the number for the city's code enforcement, and called them to ask if this counted as violating the noise ordinance. The call was pushed through to the sheriff's office, so I asked them if something, anything could be done, and she said they could send someone out for it, thank heavens. A bit later, a fire captain called me back to confirm where I was talking about. My tax dollars, joyfully at work: a few minutes later, the noise stopped!

Well, kind of. The fire captain called back to let me know that the reason for the noise is that that building is testing a new fire alarm system, and apparently the noise will continue today and tomorrow. I said, "It has to go off for that long to test it?" And he said that apparently they are testing that it gets set off in every unit. It restarted again shortly after he called.

So at least we know: it's intentional and short-term. But wow, is it annoying. My poor mother and her headaches.

In happier news, yesterday's mail brought me yarn! Won't these make something pretty?

I placed an order with Yankee Dyer on Friday, and it got here Monday! How impressive is that! (Very.) And it is lovely and soft (this is the Yankee Crush base, which is 70% BFL, 20% silk, and 10% cashmere), and was on sale. Win all the way around.

More to come!

Thought of the Day, Thought for the Times

I ran across this today and thought I might not be the only person who needed to hear it.

Mental shift: I’m not behind or unproductive. I’m doing as much as my mind and body are allowing me to do under perpetual stress and fatigue.

— Dra. S.M. Muñoz (@SusanaPhD) October 5, 2020

 

A Small Laugh

It doesn't decrease the shitshow out there, but this made me laugh today. Bless whoever came up with it.

*Yes, that is too a word, the dictionary said so.

Strange Times

I can't bear to go into the current state of things right now (what has happened to my country?), but I think this sums it up.

Yarning

I'm having fun shopping, and planning and plotting, with some birthday money from my mother. And I'm looking at this vendor, Blue Barn Fiber, that I haven't bought from before, but which is mighty tempting. 

Just look at this beauty:

But there's also this one.

I'm going back and forth on which to get. Though I admit I also found myself thinking:

But I don't know, as I think about it, I do like the first one just a bit better. I still like the second one, but maybe just one this time. Mmm, yeah, I think so. Off to click. Click-click-done! Thanks for hearing me out.

What?

 

Two Thoughts Regarding the End of Daylight Saving Time This Year

On the one hand: 

But on the other:

Wouldn't that be nice?

Keep On Knitting On

Knit night!

 

Oversharing; Voting Info Fatigue

 How Much Info to Share

I was thinking this morning about how one could share information about a situation, and how one decides how much to share. I could say, for instance, to the woman at the lab where I popped in to see if they could do my bloodwork then, that I stopped by because I was in the area. In fact, that's what I did say. But I could also have said that I was nearby dropping off a package at the UPS store; it's more information than she needs, but it could count as making conversation. Some people like that conversational padding and others just want you to get to the point, and it's hard to know which is who. (I heard, years ago, about a company that had some sort of indication that went on employees' badges, to show whether they would prefer you just ask directly for what you need, or would like to chat a bit first.)

I also amused myself by thinking of how I could easily have gone full-blast into babble-level oversharing. "I was dropping off a package at the UPS Store. It had a return label, so I didn't need to pay or anything, it was quick, but it's very time-sensitive and I made sure to get a receipt in case anything goes wrong. Have you heard of Cologuard? Well, what they refer to as your 'sample' has to be back to them within 72 hours of your 'collecting' it, so they have a next-day delivery label on the box. And believe me, the collection process was pretty gross, so I don't want to have to do it again. Can you imagine working for that company? They must have to wear nose plugs to do that job. It makes me queasy to think about. I told myself, doing it this way can't be as bad as an actual colonoscopy, but I wouldn't know; I've had appointments for a colonoscopy twice, and each time, the day before, I got one of my killer migraines, you know, the ones where I want to die, and I couldn't even drink water without throwing it up, so I couldn't do the prep. I told my doctor that I've hesitated to reschedule it because those days were so awful, and she said I could try the Cologuard first and if it's clear, I'm off the hook for three years at least. I hope it's clear! Maybe in three years I'll have gone through menopause and my hormones will have settled down and I won't be as prone to migraines. I'm about to turn 52, you'd think the system could shut down already!"

Not my style, but kind of funny to think about.

VOTING

I could not agree more that voting in the upcoming election is hugely important, perhaps more so than ever before. But recently I have started to notice some signs of fatigue in myself related to the reminders to vote. They are everywhere! And I'm already voting! I'm registered, I've checked, and I don't just have a vague intention to vote, I have it planned out. But I open Instagram and there's a reminder to vote. I open Facebook and there are reminders to vote, to check your status, here's where to go for more information...and these are good things for those who might need them, but oh my god, I'm going to vote, I promise, could you just chill out a little. I'm scared about how this is going to go, and I'd like to not be reminded of it constantly. I'm just so tired.

Though if it can make me laugh, I will love the reminder, as I did at this image, tweeted out today by Mark Hamill (who you should follow if you don't already):

Trump Refuses Inauguration Ceremony, Flees Capital in Disguise! I cackled out loud.

A Good Day: Fresh Air and Yarn

 Happy fall to you! (Or spring, if you're in the southern hemisphere; anyone?)

We celebrated here by turning off the air conditioning and opening the windows, as the humidity is finally down far enough to make it pleasant to do so. And it's wonderful! The fresh air smells fabulous.

And then the mail brought me this:

Soft and gorgeous. If you need me, I'll be the one carrying yarn around and petting it.