A lovely day for hockey fans, for knitters, for readers---why, that's me!

Well, it's been quite a good day, and the very least of it was getting the laundry done (that makes it satisfying, but not this kind of good). My pleasure at the day is due to two main events. And neither, sadly, is the weather, which was at least sunny but was very chilly as well. Sigh.

First, hockey. The Bruins are now officially in the playoffs, having won today. Yay! They only needed one point to be in (you get two for winning, one if you lose in overtime or a shootout). By getting two points, they'll finish higher than eighth place, which is significant as no one wants to face the Capitals in the first round. If Toronto wins tonight*, or if the Bruins get a point against Washington tomorrow, they'll stay in sixth, quite respectable given how their season has gone, with more downs than ups.

*All season we've wanted Toronto to lose, as we have their first-round draft pick**, but now we'd like them to win one!
**And they lost enough that we'll be picking first, second, or third, which is excellent.

It wasn't just the win, though, that made it a good game. Just about the craziest thing I've ever seen in a hockey game happened today. A little background if you're not a hockey fan: when your team is penalized, you play a man short, and although it's certainly possible to score that way, it's obviously a lot less likely than that the team with the man advantage will score. Before today, the Bruins had only three short-handed goals this season.

Now they have six. And they got all three on the same penalty, within one minute and four seconds. How unbelievable is this? It's never happened in NHL history. That is, three shorties were scored in 4:44 once, but that wasn't on the same penalty. This was wild; I felt like I might be dreaming. You can see it here, with the Carolina commentary incidentally; I just watched it again, giggling.

There was also almost a bad incident when the Bruins almost let in an empty-net goal on a delayed penalty, which would have been very embarrassing, but my boy Patrice Bergeron lit the jets and got to the net only just in time to sweep the puck off the line and out of danger. Whew.

So that was a huge relief and made for an enjoyable afternoon. When I got the mail, though, I had a very nice surprise waiting for me. Fellow-blogger goosefairy had told me recently that she had a book she wanted to send to me, and there was the package today. With not only the book (and how often is something as intriguing as a werewolf novel in blank verse going to come along? can't wait):


But also this yummy yarn:


So soft, 100% merino, and the colors make me think of outside things, growing things, as everything buds outside at last after this seemingly-endless winter.


And! In this adorable little holder:


So clever, so simple though I could never do it, and don't miss that button!


These beautiful, beautiful stitch markers that have me thinking about what to cast on that needs markers because the plain workaday ones I use are not going to cut it anymore:


Aren't they beautiful? Seriously? She made these things!


Color me impressed. If you're not a knitter (I'm never sure if everyone who reads here is, or not), they're like bookmarks for knitting. Except instead of sticking a piece of scrap paper in to mark your page, these are like a lovely gilt-edged artistic marker brought back from Tuscany (just for example, my friend).

This lovely surprise care package made my day. Thank you so much, goosefairy, for the spirit-lifter, which is much appreciated in these times especially.

Would that everyone had such a good day.