Bad News. Not Sure Exactly How Bad Yet

I wanted to let y'all know about this, it felt like ignoring the elephant in the room otherwise, but this isn't something I can talk about much yet. 

A few weeks ago, I noticed that Maggie was looking very round in the middle, a very obvious change. I took her in to the vet last week, and from the X-rays it looked like something was going on, but they couldn't tell exactly what. There was some fluid, which they were able to sample for testing, and they took blood to test as well. 

Nothing obvious came back, so yesterday I took her in for an abdominal ultrasound. And, yeah, looks like it's some kind of carcinoma. They got some cells to test, and we should hear next week some time, what kind it is, and thus what the prognosis is, what treatment is available, all that. I'm trying not to freak out too much yet, but it's hard. My baby girl.

Truer Words, Etc.

You know, this is so me it should have my name on it:

Is it you, too?

Just Saying

On one of my posts recently, I don't even remember which one, there was a cartoon I wanted to add to the post but I couldn't find it online anywhere. I had a feeling that I had cut it out of the newspaper and put it on my fridge, before I moved, and while I might very well have it in a drawer somewhere, I had no idea where, so I went on without it.

And then a few days ago, it popped up in my FB memories! So here it is. A screenshot of a clipping. How high-tech I am.

My First F.I.G.

Elisabeth of the blog The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist is leading by example for a month of small gratitudes in February, calling it The F.I.G. Collective. The idea is to make a point on noticing at least one thing every day to be grateful for. I printed out her tracking sheet, and while I don't plan to blog it every day, I did want to kick the month off with my first.

Yesterday after my haircut, I was going to the grocery store to pick up coffee on sale and noticed some small tents set up in the park. It turned out to be the day of the monthly Art in the Park, and while there were only a dozen or 15 tents, I figured why not stop in and browse a little. 

Some days, the browsing is its own reward, but I actually bought a few things this time. First off, I saw this flock of wooden birds next to an artist's tent.

Ibis and egrets and flamingos, oh my!

They're so cute, but I don't have any yard I can stick them in. However, it turned out he had a few that stand, so I snagged an egret to take home. 

His name is Philbert (no, I don't know why, it just is). I also bought that pretty wood bowl, after having a nice chat with the artist. He had so many items of a wide range of wood types; it was a cool set-up. The grain is mesmerizing.

I may have a thing for wooden bowls...

We have Philbert up on a shelf, keeping an eye on things. He's a good bird.

My F.I.G. for today is having dinner with a friend, which I'm very happy about! Have you found any FIGs lately?

Beyond Anne of Green Gables

The comments on my post about LM Montgomery's The Blue Castle let me know that not everyone knows she wrote other books, and she did! So many of them! So I wanted to talk about some of my other favorites.

As I said, TBC is probably my very favorite. I read this one as a young adult, and immediately fell in love with Valancy, and out of love with her mostly horrible family, even though Valancy is an old maid at her advanced age of 29, not a child like Anne. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I loved Anne! I read all 8 books, many times, though along the way I weeded them out (I'm sure I kept the first one, but it isn't on the shelf with the other Montgomerys...I wonder where it's got to?). I was of a good age for the miniseries with Megan Follows and Colleen Dewhurst, as well. I'm not dissing Anne at all, just saying that I turned to it less often as I got older.

Here are the others I did keep, in addition to TBC:

A Tangled Web is another non-child-protag book, and is actually a book of many stories within an extensive clan. A lot happens, but it's definitely the story of the many characters, and highly amusing.

Emily, Jane, and Marigold are child protagonists, like Anne, and are similar and different. Of the three, Jane is probably my favorite, but I'm not getting rid of any of them. The paperbacks are copies I got when visiting the LM Montgomery Birthplace in PEI, which is where I learned about many of her books. 

Mom and I first visited PEI in 1985, and went back four or five times more. We saw Green Gables:

As well as other related sites. And so many beautiful red dirt roads.

It's lovely up there. 

Any LMM questions?

Ready for the CBBC, and a Very Cute Cat

I'm reading a book for a book club! I know, I have probably written before about how book clubs and I are not the greatest match. But in this case, Engie's Cool Bloggers Book Club (for which you do not have to be a blogger to participate), is reading The Blue Castle, which may just be my favorite of LM Montgomery's books. Yes, possibly above Anne of Green Gables! I probably read it for the first time in high school: I'm not sure I knew of it before Mom and I went to PEI, just before my senior year, and learned that there was more to the author than Anne.

And because it's such a favorite, I already own a copy, so I don't have to chase one down. It's not my childhood copy, but I love this physical copy specifically. It's an old ex-library copy:

Very old, in fact.

Apparently it was Nellie's book at some point from the print date of 1926 on, and was then given to the library in 1978.

I love an old library book, and this one just fits into my hand perfectly. I'm looking forward to the re-read, with my Blue Castle postcard as a bookmark.

And yes, the very cute cat in the title is Maggie. She has been particularly adorable recently. Enjoy!

A Few Words on Ebooks

I haven't crunched the numbers, so I don't have exact data, but I know that over the years, I have read more and more via ebooks*. I still read physical books, mostly from the library, and sometimes I purchase them too, once I know if I love the book enough (have to support those authors, you know). 
*Largely but not exclusively Kindle.

This (unknown) number went up last year, when I started using Libby and then Hoopla to get library books that way, especially when I figured out I could use Hoopla with the second library card I have, giving me a total of 30 borrows per month that way. 

Then last fall I signed up for a Kindle Unlimited trial (two months for $0.99 at the time), and liked it so much I'm going to keep it for a bit longer, at least. I can borrow 20 eligible books at a time, and while not all books are available that way, enough are that I'm roaring through them.

Which meant that I was reading an enjoyable-enough, but not fabulous book when I came across this:

And I'm largely the same. Because honestly, at this point when I request a physical book from the library, by the time it comes in, I've forgotten what grabbed me about it, or I'm not in the same mood...Who knew I was such a reader of impulse? Are you?

Meetings and More Meetings

If they don't stop having "kick-off" meetings at work this month, I'm going to start kicking things.

The good news is that they did switch the meeting originally set for 4 on Friday to 10am instead. The less-great news is that puts it right after the other kickoff meeting at 9, but I'd rather have two hours in a row than anything at 4, so oh well.

We had another meeting that I absolutely did not need to be in this morning (which was originally Thursday, then Tuesday? I don't know), but the few pieces of good news were:

1. It wasn't run by a cameras-on person.
2. He actually did keep it to the promised hour, despite the ambitious agenda.
3. I figured out how to switch the sound source on the new laptop so that the volume was not way too loud when set at the very lowest level. I don't understand the setup at all, but at least I felt less like I was being shouted at. (Apparently one of the (many) ways in which I am a delicate flower is in volume control.)

On the down side, though, in addition to the two meetings on Friday, we got invited to another one, for next Wednesday. Which brings us to 6 kick-off meetings, totaling 7 hours. And so far, not one bit of it has any real relevance to my actual job.

I suppose I should be glad that the rest of the year isn't like this, for me. Just because I can knit through them doesn't make them not annoying. (It does make them less annoying...)

That Sinking Feeling---Literally, but also figuratively

Yeah, I need a new office chair. Mine is only a few years old, but it's started sinking now and then, which I really don't appreciate, so clearly I need to put a little more money into a better one, that will hopefully hold up to the use. Is that a vain hope? Who knows. 

It actually started doing this at least a month ago, but it seems to be getting worse. I will say that it is mightily unnerving to be sitting, concentrating on work, and feel it sink down an inch, out of the blue.

Meanwhile, speaking of work, it's January, and the company likes to have "kick-off" meetings to start the new year.

So. Many. Meetings.

Last week, we had an hour-long CEO kickoff on Thursday, and a two-hour-long kickoff for the healthcare division (two hours over lunchtime, by the way, and cameras on, people, everyone turn your cameras on).

This week, we have an hour for strategic intelligence kickoff on Thursday, and an hour for people and culture kickoff Friday morning, and then today they sent an invite for a pharma kickoff---another hour, on Friday at 4.

Friday. At four. Before the long weekend.

Seriously, what the hell are they thinking? Even setting aside that absolutely none of this has anything to do with my job, what the hell? 

Plotting and Planning: Six Weeks Out

As I knew it would when the time got closer, my trip at the end of February is starting to feel real. We leave six weeks from Sunday, and I've been doing things both more and less practical:

• choosing outfits, which isn't done yet but I started
• ordering things like travel-size toiletries and a universal converter/plug (of course I went with what Kyria recommended: thanks, Kyria!)
• buying a new roller carry-on bag; my old one is pretty rickety, so I got a new one in a pattern that I don't love, but will stand out among the black ones that so many people have:

• And, finally, deciding on a travel knitting project

Yes, my current knitting project is near enough to the end that I need to bring something else! I started the edging today. Which, since none of my current projects feels like being at the right point, means I need to make plans!

Back in 2019, I made a not-a-shawl project, named Across the Waters, and as I really like wearing it, I've been thinking about making another one. I decided that now is the time, and stash-dove for some yarn.

So, that's something! I'll wind the yarn and start it off before the trip, but since I've made it before, it ought to be straightforward enough, knock on wood.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Now that I have finally mailed my holiday cards, I can share with you!

Front:

And back:

May 2025 be good to us all.