Monday, November 25, 2019

A Sign of the Season

I just love this!
We're good here; my brother is in town for the holiday, and we're keeping busy. If I don't come back before the weekend, have a happy Thanksgiving (or random Thursday, if you're OUS).

Friday, November 22, 2019

One Year with the Furry Dictator

Can you believe it's been a year since Maggie came home with me? I can't believe it!

Here is the first photo I took of her, at the pet store:
Not the best shot ever, but hey. Here's the face, too:
At home, she wasted no time exploring. Blur!
Though she did sit still sometimes.
On the lap already.
And next to the lap, one of my all-time favorite pictures of her. On her first full day here!
(You can read more about her start with us here.)

A few other favorite photos:





I could go on and on, but I'll end with a little video I shot today, when we took a short sunshine break. It's an awkward angle, with me reaching down from my chair, but I hope it shows how she loves to be rubbed-and-ruffled that way. I don't know that you can hear it, but she was purring loudly!

(If it would show up. But it won't Sigh.)

Happy first year, baby girl. Here's to many more.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Even Just for a Small One

I only have one small dent on my car, but I really want one of these decals for it. I mean, Wile E. Coyote!


Some people are so creative.

Sunday, November 17, 2019

A Sad Sight, with a Maggie Chaser

I was in a sporting goods store yesterday, and was saddened to see this juxtaposition:
I can't blame them for the cross-merchandising, but it makes me sad that there's a display of mace next to the women's running shoes.

In a happier photo, I finally 'caught' Maggie in the act of one of the stranger things she sometimes does: rearing up to closely inspect the lamp.
She generally drops down as soon as I get the camera ready, but I finally got it. (And no, she wasn't trying to lick it. She had been washing when the impulse struck her to prairie-dog.)

She's also been caught in the act of not sitting gracefully:
And in the act of being adorable:

Friday, November 15, 2019

Maggie and the Zoomies

As with most (if not all) cats, Maggie gets a bit crazy sometimes. She might race from room to room, attack a mouse toy (then walk away, sneak up on it, and pounce again), or just roll around on a chair or footstool over and over until she almost falls off. This always reminds us of Teri Garr in Young Frankenstein:



But back to the cat. Last night after I got home from knitting, she tried my lap only briefly before deciding that no, she needed her own chair. And then she got silly about it. These photos cover about two and a half minutes; count how many direction changes that included. Enjoy!


















Close up of crazy eyes:



I make it 8 turns?

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Bruins; Birthday

1. To follow up on the Bruins mention here Tuesday night: I should have turned the game off after the second period, when the Bruins (after not the greatest first half hour) were up 4-0. Instead, foolishly, I stayed up, and got to see them lose 5-4 in the shootout. Argh.

2. I've been meaning to show you a few things I got for my birthday, so here:




These seem to be what I have pictures of, anyway; I got lots of lovely things! Happy birthday to me!

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Bruins Note

The Bruins, who started the season very well, have been on a bit of a skid lately, and I have to say that if they play badly in the first period tonight, that may be all I watch. I've had it with the "how do you play hockey again?" look they're sporting recently; I'm too tired to stay up and watch it.

That is all.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Bang Bang Bang: Roofus Interruptus

The roofers story, so far:

They arrived on Monday, September 9, after having been expected since August at least*, and made a great deal of noise all week (12-hour days, Monday through Saturday) working on the roof and erecting scaffolding around much of the building.
*You know, so they could do all the noisy disruptive work "while no one was here."

They worked the following Monday through Wednesday, at least; after that, I can't be sure of the rest of the week, as we were in NY for my grandmother's funeral.

We expected that they would be back on that Monday, the 23rd, but there was no sign of them.

In fact, they didn't show up for the next, what, I think it was five weeks*. Which means five weeks of almost half the parking lot taken up by their stuff, and scaffolding still up, and scaffolding around the garage doors making access to the garages difficult. But at least no noise.
*We heard a couple of different reasons, so I'm not really sure why.

They showed up again two weeks ago, so that would be October 28, and were working that week. But last week, they weren't around until Friday afternoon, when they seemed to be packing up some of the supplies and taking them away.

Which would be delightful, except that we can see a side edge of the roof from our kitchen window, and the roof there is clearly not finished.

They were back this morning and were doing more packing-and-removing, and in addition, they were banging around on the scaffolding so loudly that I had to close the shutters (between the noise and the 'quality' of my current report, I had a bit of a headache).

It turns out that the board has decided to have the finishing work put off until the insurance comes through for the Hurricane Irma damage (2 years and 2 months ago, and counting!), so the scaffolding is going away, and we're getting our unobstructed view back. A few more days of banging and it will be clear skies! And possibly clear parking lot, which would also be nice.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

What I'm Knitting

I brought two projects with me on my trip last month, so let me update you on how those are going.

First up is socks, of course; using the Simple Skyp pattern I practically always do, and the String Theory Colorworks Continuum Self Striping yarn that I mentioned I was so excited to start.

On the first plane north:
On the second:
I was knitting on the drive to the airport, and as it went from yellow to orange, I had some uneasy thoughts of candy corn. But as soon as the red came in, it was fine.

The next day:
Waiting for the train:
In the car on the way to Rhinebeck:
At Rhinebeck!
Back home, and checking to see if it was too small.
Its heel didn't seem to want to get over my heel:
 
But a little cautious adjusting showed that was more about the needles than the sock.
I'm going to try it on again after I get past the gusset, but I think it's going to be okay. And I love the wide stripes!

The other project is a shawl: specifically, the Seashell Shawl, in Spunky Eclectic Eclectic Lace (Merino Lace). It's coming beautifully! I started this back in August, put it aside while I made the baby sweater, and happily picked it up again once that was done.

On a plane:
On the train:
Lighting makes a big difference to the colors. At this point, it's big enough that it can't be fully spread out on the needle, so after I got home, I added another cord so I could really get the full effect. This is what 400 stitches looks like!
And it will get bigger before it's done.
Plus it will block out more.
 I just love how it's going. Though each row is an undertaking!
Tonight I think I'll pick up the lap blanket that's been mostly neglected, and work on that while watching the Bruins--that is, if a certain lap cat allows me enough space for it. We'll see!