Recovery Phase

My mother had her shoulder replacement surgery on Monday, and the hospital sent her home last night. She's doing quite well, considering, and I'm not having to do a ton to "take care of her" so far, but I do find the worrying about things part exhausting.

Anyway, if I get quiet for a bit, this is why! We're good, just busy recovering. 

The Ten-Year-Old

Yesterday was Maggie's birthday; now that she's ten, has her life changed much?

Not so you'd notice! Happy birthday, furball.

Tomorrow

Going to a yarn shop tomorrow! A fun day out with friends, and a yarn shop! And you know what that means.

I can't wait to report back!

Buying Yarn Online vs. In Person

There are many divisive issues in the world of knitting--circulars or straights? metal or wood? English or continental? acrylic or wool?--but I don't expect many knitters would argue that the best way to buy yarn is in person. Being able to touch the yarn, feel how soft or how strong it is, how light or how dense, sticky or slippery, these are all important factors depending on what you want to do with the yarn. And no computer can tell you with 100% certainty what the color will look like to your eyes, or if those two colors will really go together. Shopping at a yarn store or a festival is the way to go.

When you can.

And, of course, you can't always. Especially in these pandemic years, sometimes your choices are buy online or don't buy.

I have had mixed results with online purchases. If you've read here for long, you know that my top compliment to a yarn is how soft it is*, and I remind myself of all the times I've been shopping, touched a lovely yarn, and then dropped it back down right away because no, not for me, not soft enough. I approach online buying with caution, rarely buying a yarn unless I either have seen it in person before, or I am informed by someone I trust that it really is soft.

*And truly, soft isn't always the most sensible choice, depending on the project, but I am very tactile, and enjoying the process is hugely important to me. I may never knit with linen because "it softens up when you wash it, it will just get softer and softer" does me no good in the knitting with it before that happens.

And even with such caution, the color thing still trips me up regularly. Those two colors don't go together at all! Or, hey, I know this colorway is called turquoise, but it looks like a deep gorgeous sapphire--oh, look, in person it absolutely is turquoise. Hmm.

Therefore, when I was shopping Treasure Goddess's sale last week, and saw a couple of colors I liked, I decided ahead of time that I liked them both, even if they didn't go well together.

So, of course, they go great together. 

Reverse psychology, or just dumb luck? Either way, I'm happy.

This weekend, I'm going on a field trip with knitter friends to a yarn store I haven't been to yet. I can't wait!

Quick Yarn/Knit

I'll get better pictures in daylight, but look what loveliness the mail brought me!

So soft and squishy!

Also, I'm halfway through the yarn I have for the Wheelwright shawl, and it is this big so far.

And I am loving it.

The Ringling Museum in Sarasota

Really, mostly the grounds of the museum!

When I say I took a lot of photos, well. You'll see.

Proof that it was what I say it was.

It's sad that they have to ask people to be patient, isn't it? Mom and I ate at a restaurant recent that had put a sign on the door: "We are understaffed. Please be kind."

Winter down here is not winter up north, of course, but I find it's still nice to see flowering things.

But it wasn't just plants: lots of statuary, too. Of course.

Now this puzzled me. It's a little reflecting pool, and at the end of it, a sort of podium.

See? As though someone is going to stand there and, I don't know, declaim over the water.

I didn't get the ticket to go into the residence, but admired it from outside. It's quite a building; I can't imagine living there.

Back to plant life.

Encroaching on the roadway there.

Regularly, small planes were going by overhead.

Really, idyllic is the word for the grounds.

Back to the "oh, right, this is an art museum" stuff.

Including a reproduction of my favorite fountain in Rome, the Fontana delle Tartarughe (The Turtle Fountain). 

As a huge fan of the sculptor Bernini, I was enchanted with the theory that he added the turtles to the upper rim because he felt the fountain was lacking something.

I went down the long gallery on one side, where a guard told me the older works were. Nothing absolutely grabbed me, but I studied enough art history to enjoy it. At the end, though, was a special exhibit of contemporary art (which is not at ALL my thing), and the contrast was jarring.

This is art?

Anyway! If that's your thing. I'm not judging, but I was glad to go back outside.

An egret across the water.

And a cormorant (or possibly an anhinga).

I don't think I got close enough to startle the egret, but he did take off, and the reflections of his flight caught my eye.

Yellow flowers:

On a tree that otherwise looked dead.

Near the entrance, I almost missed the glass collection.

I'm glad I went in! A whole variety of types of glass art.

Including the amazing free-standing dress from the sign.

And this Chihuly-like piece.

And this mammoth piece!

Look at the detail.

This one was my favorite, though, for the colors and the patterns.

From the side, you can see it isn't flat after all.

Outside was this one piece, which I photographed from the front:

The edge:

And the back:

Waiting for the group to gather, my eye was caught by this composition.

And that's all! ("All," she says...)