Feeling Crappy

Posting about a big trip like this always feels daunting, when one is tired and trying to get back into regular daily life and all. And this year, what with getting my period just as I got home*, and then having this cough-throat thing**, I have to say that I'm extra daunted. I want to write about it! But feeling like I'm wearing a lead apron slows me down.
*Which is far better than having gotten it at any other time during the trip! But not getting it at all would have been best by far.
**I thought it was a cold, but apparently a lot of people down here are having respiratory effects from red tide in the air, so it may just be that.

I have managed to kind-of/sort-of unpack, in that not everything is put away, but at least it's out of suitcases, nothing is so in the way as to be tripped over, and the suitcases are back in the garage.

I have had lots of laps and cuddles with Miss Maggie, though she would probably say, not enough.

And she even let me stay in bed until 8 both today and Saturday! Quite a concession from the cat who knows full well that most days, my alarm goes off at 6:30, so why aren't you up yet?

I have photographed the Rhinebeck haul for posterity, and looking at it gives me such joy. Shall we take a look?

Project bag from Stitched by JessaLu, the perfect size for my current shawl project; lovely cashmere/silk laceweight via Jo of Celtic Memory Yarn; the Rhinebeck tote bag; another good project bag with the label "petit Juillet" that I can't find online info about; new book by Clara Parkes, autographed.

A skein of luscious merino sock yarn from Dancing Leaf Farm; MCN from yarnhygge.com; green (!) from Long Ridge Farm (they only had a few skeins, and lots of other products, in their booth); and the autumn rainbow from Dirty Water Dyeworks, which no, I don't have a plan for, but the colors just fell together too well to pass up. I'll come up with something. Also the two pins resting in the green yarn: "This is my Rhinebeck sweater" and "Thanks, I made it."

And yes, sheepskin slippers. Yes, I know I live in Florida. But if I'm going to visit the north in October again, my freezing feet need them. I'll wear them down here, too, even if I don't need them the same way here.

Handmade by someone who has clearly been doing this a long time and knows exactly how it should be done. (He's retiring, in fact, but there's a new owner taking over.) I found his website very amusing; if you have a few minutes, take a look. For instance, the chart detailing exactly how they are unprofessional is hilarious.

Well, I'm not "all caught up," but it's a start. Please join me in hoping that the red tide blows out to sea and takes this fog of lassitude away with it.

Stupid Day

So today I:

1. Had moderately bad cramps
2. And a backache
3. And a slight sore throat, just enough to make me worry that I caught a bug on the way home (travel is so gross that way)
4. And also felt so tired and droopy that sitting up straight seemed very hard (which might be related to 1 and 2, or to 3, or both)

And then I'm editing something in PowerPoint, which always drives me crazy (the program is Not Designed for Editing), and the writer mentions a clinical "trail" more than once, and half the thing is in UK English instead of US, and oh look, here they talk about 9 trial arms and follow it with a list of 7, yes it's a numbered list, and number 7 talks about numbers 1 through 8... argh.

Vent, vent, vent. Tomorrow is another day. (That will feature the same report, but don't remind me.)

Home

Made it home yesterday.

Tired (and crampy, damn it), but glad to be home.

It was a great trip.

But so glad to be home.

And I'm not the only one.

(She snubbed me a bit at first, but she also slept with me last night and was on my lap this morning while I read the papers, and has been checking in on me today between naps [hers, not mine, alas].)

Much more to come!

Having a Wonderful Time

This has been a great trip!

I'm also exhausted and ready to not live out of a suitcase. My own bed, my bathroom, my CAT. But no regrets.

Rhinebeck weekend was wonderful, and not just for what I bought there, but look what bought!

 Close-up on the yarn:

I fly home tomorrow. See you later!

Here's the View from the Train

On Monday, I took the train from Syracuse to Boston, and took many scenery photos along the way. Didn't have the camera ready when I saw a heron flying along, but I did get some nice shots, I think. (You'll notice that one of them is not like the others.) Enjoy!

Here's One Thing

The trip is going well! I thought I would show you what we did today, just as a start. Enjoy, and don't miss the dragonfly!

And Away We Go

I leave tomorrow for my mega-trip! Planes, train, automobiles! Apple Festival and Rhinebeck! I'm quite excited.

And I'm packed and organized, except for the last-minute stuff; in fact, I was mostly packed and organized Tuesday night. I don't know that I've ever been so ready so far ahead, but with all the logistics of this trip, I kind of had to be.

I'm really ready for a vacation from work, too, though this week was a lot more chill than recent weeks have been. Still happy for a real break from it.

I doubt I'll be posting over the next two weeks, though I suppose it's possible. If you know me enough to know my real name*, I'm sure I'll be putting plenty of things on Instagram; if not, well, see you on the other side! Try not to get into too much trouble while I'm away.
*Actually, no, ccr is not my full name!

Feeling like this: 

But better.

To Me!

The Sandra Boynton birthday classic! I don't have this on a mug, but this morning I drank my coffee out of her Wee Fish mug.

Close enough.

Happy fifty-first toooo meeee...

A Little Comic Relief

I ran across mention of these funny coasters today, and have to share my favorites.

Check them out, they have a lot of fun ones!

Thought for the Day

It is surprisingly difficult to decide what to pack for a cold-weather trip when you are in air conditioning (because it's so hot/humid out).

Long sleeves?

Full-length jeans?

Socks?

Jacket??

(I know, I am a wuss. Still, cross your fingers that I don't encounter actual bad weather up there. My friends don't want to hear me if that happens.)

Pre-Packing

While I don't leave until Friday, today I started getting serious about putting things together. Lots of piles. Trying to figure out the best ways to pack for a trip that includes planes, train, car trip, Apple Festival, Rhinebeck ... it's a bit much, though that may be the-bit-of-a-headache-I-have talking. I truly am excited for the trip! But it will be a relief to be on the way, and past the stage of trying to anticipate all possibilities. There is, after all, very little I can forget that will be catastrophic, and the odds that I will get through the whole trip without wishing I had brought X or thought of Y are vanishingly small, so I just need to embrace that and move on. (Easier said than done, of course.)

It's going to be weird not to be hot, to be honest. I just pulled up weather.com, which says that here it's 90 and feels like 100. Switch to Syracuse and it's 62, feels like 60! Which is perfectly nice October weather there, just a big change to me. I'm well aware that looking at the forecast this far ahead is a waste of time, but of course I've been doing it anyway, and next weekend has gone from highs in the low 60s and lows in the low 40s to (just now) highs in the 50-60 range and lows around 40, which is a bit brr. Fortunately I already had coat-scarf-gloves-hat on my packing list, but it will be a shock to the system.

And fun! And possibly chaos! And a nice long break from work, which I am looking forward to after all the IT chaos we've been through recently (though that has settled down somewhat).

I'm already missing Maggie, though. Can you believe that I'll be sleeping in four different places, and not one has a cat? I  expect she will be velcro-stuck to me when I get back, and I will enjoy that very much.

I do hope she doesn't drive my mother too crazy while I'm away. She doesn't approve of me leaving the house in general, and she is sure to be vocal in her disapproval when Mom fails to produce me for her highness.

Knitting (and Finishing!) This, That, and the Other

A week from now I'll be on my way to New York, before I go to Massachusetts, then NY, then MA, before returning home. Safe to say, it's going to be quite a trip! And there will be a distinct yarniness to it, I am happy to say.

For one thing, I'll be seeing my friends' baby as he turns a year old, and giving him this:

I'm quite pleased with how this sweater came out! (The pattern is Henry's Sweater.) I hope it fits him. As the knitter, I can say with confidence that it's not perfect, but as the Yarn Harlot mentions in one of her books, if it's hand-knit, it's okay if it looks like a human was involved in its making (I'm paraphrasing, of course). If I wanted to give him a machine-knit sweater, I could have, but it wouldn't have been half the fun.

I also finished the last pair of socks (pre- and post-washing photos to come), and started the next pair, because it's not like I can be without a pair in progress.

The yarn is Continuum Self Striping from String Theory Colorworks, and I'm very excited to see the wide stripes develop.

For the trip up for the funeral, I pulled the Seashell Shawl out to bring for travel knitting, since at that point the sweater was almost done (I was on the second sleeve). I had put the shawl aside to start the sweater, and was pleased to find that I still enjoy the shawl.

I mean, it's a good thing, I have quite a ways to go! But it will come with me on this next trip, and I expect to have a lot of knitting time, so we'll see how it looks when I get back.

Last night, meanwhile, I was knitting on yet another project: the blanket I've been working on for over a year! The poor thing has been put aside for project after project, but I'm going to try to make a hockey-knitting priority. It's such nice yarn (Three Irish Girls Springvale Worsted), and I want the blanket already.

We'll see how that plan goes, but it was off to a good start last night, as the Bruins began the new season at last! Go, Bruins.

Not the Usual Reasoning for an Ad

I suppose we've all done it, looked up something online and then had days or weeks of ads for that thing showing up everywhere. I already bought the car, the boots, the shirt! But the ads keep coming along.

Today, though, I got an ad that frankly shocked me. It's for something I didn't know exists (if it does, that is; but if you think I was clicking on it, you're insane), and I cannot in my wildest imaginings figure out how it showed up on a Washington Post article I was reading.

I mean, do I order from Amazon? Yes. But still, what on earth? I have a strong feeling that I don't want to know.

Spam Leads to Snow

This morning I went to an old blog post to delete a spam comment, of which I get a few now and then, and had to stop and look over the post, which was from The Winter Of Snow, aka 2015, when we had a blizzard every week for more weeks that I can remember. And while I didn't need validation of my decision to move to Florida, if I did, this would provide it. Wow. Talk about not-so-pleasant memories.

Meanwhile: I have bunches of knitting progress to update on. Soon, soon!