Title? Let's Call It the Tuesday Night Report

I sometimes feel as though I shouldn't be complaining all the time about being tired because there's no particular reason for me to be so tired, it's not like I'm working 20-hour days or caring for a newborn* or something, and yeah tired so what.

*After I typed that in my draft e-mail, where I jot down ideas for what to write later, I noticed that the Google-ads were listening:

Funny, in a creepy stalker way.

But ohhh, I am so tired. Thinking I shouldn't be doesn't change anything. I turned off the light last night at nine oh five, slept like a rock, and dragged myself out of bed after several exchanges with the snooze button this morning. I basically never get as much sleep as my body wants anyway, and throw in this bout of allergies or whatever has me congested to high heaven* and bang. Doomed.

*Which reminds me, is it time for more meds yet?

On to more cheerful topics. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Not only did I get them here, and on Facebook, but I got e-mails from my optical shop, my university alumni association, JetBlue, and the company that has my IRA (though theirs was less of a happy-birthday message, and more of a "time for the annual review of your beneficiary designations" message, which is a little less whimsical). I got e-mail messages from friends and family near and far, as well as some actual mail. Including this:


Isn't that cute? And the cake we had this weekend:


The cake-decorating supplies gave my aunt some trouble, and the green candles she'd put aside hid until well after dinner, but overall I think it turned out well, don't you?

Happy birthday to me ... make a wish!

Overall I'm enjoying the birthday season very much. And though the leaves weren't spectacular this weekend, the foliage was more advanced there than it is here. See?

Pretty.

There's more to show you ... another time.

I'm looking forward to watching the Bruins game tomorrow night. I saw some of last Thursday's home opener, but I was packing and getting ready for my trip, so I spent more time half-listening as I moved around from room to room. Saturday night I was out of town. I did listen to part of yesterday's matinee* on the radio, but I was working on a project with audio during the afternoon, so I couldn't listen all the time. I just want to watch a game, you know?

*The Bruins subscribe to the idea that Columbus Day is a holiday. My company does not. Though to be fair to them, if they did, I would have been driving back from New York during the game, so in that sense it's much the same.

I did, by the way, really enjoy watching the coverage of the raising of the Cup banner last week. It was, perhaps, a little over the top, but it's my team and I loved it anyway. However, I was perplexed to read that before tomorrow's game, Versus is showing a half-hour show those events. Coverage of the celebrations of the achievement ... very circular.

Yeah, that makes sense. Time to go to bed!

So, So ... What is the Word? Tired, That's It

Oh, boy.

I had a great trip, a great visit, and have much to show and tell you.

But not tonight. My allergies kicked into a higher gear starting on Saturday, and the congestion in my head is a bad thing.

I'm going to sleep now. Later!

Happy birthday to me!

Happy birthday to me!

(I'll be getting home late on Sunday, but I hate to miss posting this on the day. While I love to extend the birthday celebrations before and after, there's just something about the actual day. Happily, Blogger allows post-dating. Post-dating posts? That sounds wrong.)

Also:
Whaddaya tink? I buyed him 4 urburfdai." title="funny pictures - Whaddaya tink? I buyed him 4 urburfdai." height="512px" width="382px">
Not Carlos...but it almost could be, couldn't it?

No Coherence, I'm Afraid

Spoiler alert: I did not get laid off today

Oh, I really want more time to blog tonight. I want to get this out of my head, and I also want to pack for the weekend, and I want to watch the Bruins raise the banner and play their opening game. Would that I were triplets tonight.

Briefly, anyway. It wouldn't have been a great day in any case. I started to get a migraine mid-morning, and while the pill I took worked eventually (thank heavens), what that meant is that after I felt briefly even worse, I then felt not so bad, but not great, the rest of the day. And that's before a woman in my department, and another half-dozen people in the company, were let go without warning due to the economy and the company not meeting its goals.

Urg. I hate the idea of someone having a job in the morning and not having one at lunchtime. I was totally flashing back to my sadly frequent recent memories of layoffs. I basically pulled into myself this afternoon, like a turtle that's been poked at. Retreat...

Recently, I received my free-birthday-drink postcard from Starbucks, and I decided to use it for Friday after work, before I hit the road for Grandma's. And starting yesterday, it's been randomly popping into my head, the image of leaving work, stopping at Starbucks, and heading out. I was puzzled at first--I mean, I like the caramel fraps and all, but not usually to the point of daydreaming about them. I thought it over, though, and I came to the conclusion that it's because that's the point when the week, with all the things I have to do to get ready, will be done, and the weekend begins. Of course that turning point is on my mind. Even before the layoffs.

Gotta go, much to do, but my brain will be churning, I know it.

Um ... have a good weekend?

Hockey Shows, Weather, Cats

Scattered around the floor, there are always plenty of the pull-tabs from milk bottles. Pan loved them, and now Miri does, so it's years since I haven't been stepping on the things. Carlos doesn't usually pay any attention to them, but tonight he played with one enthusiastically for about 30 seconds, bending and twisting and pouncing, then walked away without looking back. Silly cat!

I did manage to get to CVS tonight to pick up my prescriptions (I craftily drove into town another way, so that I didn't have to pass the house, since that was what tripped me up last night). I even got a parking spot near the door! Unfortunately, they did not have the new SI in all its Tim-Thomas-cover glory, so I have to get that another time. I wonder if Petsmart carries SI? I do want to pick up more cat food before I go away.

Speaking of going away, I checked the weekend forecast for my destination and was pleasantly surprised:


We all know that the actual weather could be very different, but at least this gives me pleasant thoughts about it ahead of time. Don't worry, I'll still bring my boots. And coat.

I enjoyed watching the Bruins special on NESN tonight about some of the places they took the Cup this summer. My hockey viewing actually started at 7, with Andy Brickley's season preview (fun!). It's a half hour show, and for some reason they played it at 7 and then again at 7:30, so I switched the channel to something else until 8 (no, I couldn't get up: cat lap). When the Cup show ended at 9, it started again from the beginning. Isn't that rather odd programming? No matter how I enjoyed the shows, I wasn't going to watch them again immediately. And if I'm not enough of a Bruins fanatic to do so, few are. Weird.

Tomorrow night is the season opener, and between that and packing, I will either blog briefly or not at all. In any case, I'll be back here next week, before Rhinebeck! My, October is busy. At least, my October is!

Life's Like This

Work is better since I had the reality check, aka review, but it still has its moments. Just this afternoon, in fact, I had a moment when it felt like my head would explode, but I dug my nails into my palm to stop myself saying what I was thinking*, and the feeling passed.

*Basically, Are you fucking kidding me?

After work I went to get the oil changed in the car, pre-trip, and in the end also got a new battery, since having one that will likely fail at the first cold snap sounds like a bad idea to me. (Apparently it's unusual for them to last 5 years? And since I've had the car 5 and a half, well, there we are. Cha-ching.)

I was, of course, knitting while I waited, and when I held the sock up to my ankle to measure it against the sock I was wearing, another customer said, "Oh, you're making a sock!" Well, duh, though I guess I can see how it might not be obvious to muggles. Theoretically. (Really, it looks like the arm of a baby sweater. But trust me, it's a sock, and yes, it will fit. Yes, me. See?

It's an awful picture, but it proves my point. Not that I tried it on for him: one must draw the line somewhere, and for me today, removing my sock at the car repair shop was over that line.)

It's only Tuesday, but that was my second knitting-muggle-realization moment of the week. The first came yesterday at lunch, a meal to which my boss invited me and the rest of the group (six of us) for no apparent reason. After we ordered, of course I pulled my knitting out, like I'm going to just sit there? But after a while I realized, I'm kind of used to knitting in public opening at least a brief conversation. Oh, you're knitting; what are you making; that kind of thing. That's not why I do it, but it's often what happens. This time, no one said anything. Interesting.

Back to tonight: I successfully fought off the urge to stop at McDonald's even though I drove past two of them (yay me! willpower FTW! for once), then was going to stop at the pharmacy to pick up some prescription refills, but found myself in my driveway, having turned on auto-pilot. Whoops. Tomorrow is another day, CVS!

Which is fine, as long as I'm home before 8, to catch the show on NESN about the Bruins' Summer with Stanley! They got their Cup rings tonight, and, um, wow, words fail me:

(found on NESN)

Well, one: shiny.

And you know what else? Apparently I have to pick up this week's Sports Illustrated! Timmy Thomas, look at you. (I guess I was meant to go to CVS tomorrow: I can pick it up then!) Then the banner is raised Thursday night at the home opener. Whee!

And I'm jumping around a lot tonight, but I have to close with a quote from Rachael Herron's new book, A Life in Stitches, which by the way is excellent and I very much enjoyed.

...I'd wager that all knitters, even on the strictest of yarn diets, invoke the Souvenir Yarn Clause when we travel. Souvenir yarn--especially if it's just sock yarn--doesn't count.

Laughter, sniffles, nods: Good book!

Told Me

The thermometer* tells me that it's 60 degrees out, though the air coming in the window** feels colder. My ears tell me it's raining, again.

*Actually weather.com, but same difference.
**Of course the windows are open; the baby likes open windows! Have to keep at least one open as long as possible.

Nobody told me that no one else would show up for stitch and bitch tonight (though one person did call to say that she wouldn't be coming). Kind of a bummer, but I went and ran some non-exciting but necessary errands, so the time was put to good use. Those of us going to Rhinebeck need to firm up our plans, though. For the calendar tells me it's October. And four days until I leave for Apple Festival, which is a week before Rhinebeck.

(Not taken tonight--it's dark out!)

The baby tells me it's bedtime, though his internal clock is not reliable. Hard to be, when you sleep 20+ hours a day, you know? Still, it behooves me to listen, I think. I didn't sleep well last night, so I've already taken a unisom tonight. Sleep well!

Cat and Yarn and Chocolate, Mainly

Today has been a good day for hanging out with my buddy here. It's as if he knows I'll be away two weekends running, and wants to store up some snuggles and laps for the drought.

Not that I mind.


Though after 2-3 hours on the couch this afternoon, my bladder forced me to rouse him. The spirit is willing...

Meanwhile, I mentioned yesterday that I got some early birthday celebrating in, and it was wonderful. If you can plan a birthday right after a very good friend is going to be in Ireland, you too may end up with such wonders as real Irish yarn!


It's 200 grams, by the barely visible label, and has an authentic feel and even slight sheepy smell, which makes me imagine the creature in its field, growing its fleece away for me.


This lovely, on the other hand, has no label at all, and while I can weigh it myself, its yardage will remain a mystery. Fun!



It's a deeper blue than the photo shows, and flecked with color. Delightful! I don't know what either will be, but in due course you'll see these again.

Now, any good friend can bring chocolate, and other than when weird things like chilis enter the mix, most all is welcomed by me.


A true friend, though, one who really knows you, can hit the center of the target. See these? Minstrels, of course, are what M&Ms dream of being when they get to heaven. And go close up on the other two:


Honeycomb! And butterscotch! Mmmm, mmm.


Wouldn't it be such fun to work for a company that purveyed happiness?

Finally, this lovely will hang where I can see it, since I don't wear jewelry every day, but love to have it and look at it.


I promise, I will wear it, too!

Picassa and Blogger are having a difference of opinion on when this photo is right side up. I know this isn't it, but this is an argument I can't win. Still, isn't it a funny name for a necklace style, a donut? Yet who can argue?


I've frittered the day away most pleasantly, if not so productively. Now there's laundry in the machines, and a few other things to get to before bedtime. Good night!

A Good Day

I can't decide whether to follow that up with "at last" or with "can I have some more please", but anyway, today has been good. Yesterday was actually pretty good too, so perhaps I'm on a roll.

Yesterday first. I had the review with my manager, and it went really well. I felt like she really listened to my concerns about how far I have (and haven't) come yet, while she also made clear to me that I am doing well, she is pleased with my progress, and she doesn't expect me to be further along than I am. I was surprised by how reassured I was by her take on the situation. I know that I can be harder on myself than others are, but I guess I needed to hear it again.

It doesn't mean the job isn't still going to be hard, and that I won't have bad days and get frustrated. But I need to try to remember that it will take time; it's not just my imagination, this company is complicated, and there's a lot to learn. Patience, patience.

After work, I went to the house of friends* who were having some of us over for dinner for their daughter's seventh birthday. No, I can't believe she's seven already! And she and her brother, who was three in May, were really good, energetic of course but such good kids, so it was a very pleasant evening.

*JP and JB, specifically

I had a few bad dreams last night, isn't that odd? One was bad enough that I had to hug Carlos and stay awake for a few minutes; I kept slipping back into the dream when I closed my eyes, and I didn't want to, the bad guy was way too close and really scary! Finally I let myself go back into it consciously to re-write the ending, which seemed to work somehow (sounds funny to me, too). But that doesn't explain the odd one later, where I seemed to be a Japanese man, walking around and around an odd hotel-like place with my real-life best friend and a large suitcase, trying to find a room or maybe a cubby, which ended with an enormous snake ... that was weird.

I went over to my friend SG's house at 10 this morning and hung out with the baby for a little while while she and her husband were painting. We played for almost an hour, if you understand playing to mean that I either handed him toys, or maneuvered him to where he could get at them, and then he tried to get them into his mouth. He's only four months old, but is he determined! Anyway, then it was bottle time, and he chugged it down and conked out for half an hour, which I very much enjoyed holding him for. Ah, babies.

This afternoon I took it easy, as I had a little bit of a headache, then my friend JDJ came over to celebrate my birthday early (since I'll be away the next two weekends), with lovely gifties I'll photograph in daylight tomorrow to show you, and then we met another friend, E, for dinner, which was delicious. It was such a nice evening, and it kicked off the Season of the Birthday* very nicely.

*Just celebrate ON my actual birthday? Why? That's so ... limiting.

Photo Briefs
I hit historic, or at least notable, mileage today, just as I pulled into the gas station.


The latest sock is, according to my Ravelry notes, my 14th pair, and the eighth in a row in this pattern. I love this pattern.


That was yesterday; it's a bit farther already. The yarn is from Apple Festival last year (item 2 in this post). Mmm, alpaca.


This morning, one of the comics summed up perfectly how I feel about October.


I like it for what it is ... but not what it leads into.

I Was Meant for a Life of Leisure. You?

All this work nonsense lately has me thinking: I wasn't meant for this. I was clearly meant to be someone who did not have to earn a living. What about you?

I haven't got much on my mind other than the work thing lately, and you know how that's making me feel. Tomorrow I have my "three"-month review (it's actually been four months, but whatever), so I'm hoping for an open discussion that will leave me feeling like we're heading in the right direction (hint: the direction that doesn't end at the funny farm or back at the job search), doing what needs to be done to improve the situation. Time will tell. I'm going to a little girl's birthday dinner after work, so at least there will be something good about the day regardless.

Meanwhile, can I send you elsewhere again? Specifically, and again via Boing-Boing, may I recommend the Men of the Stacks calendar? There are some hot librarians out there, raising money for a good cause. Who wants one for Christmas?

A book makes a surprisingly good fig leaf, doesn't it?

Not Quite Scraping the Bottom

Well, it's sad that this is meant for a positive statement, but today was not as hateful as yesterday. I yearn for a good, satisfying work day (four months is a long time to spend feeling like an idiot), but sufficient unto the day is the bleargh thereof.

I'm hunched forward like I'm wearing a yoke, though. That's not good.

Usually when I find I'm a bit down, it helps to schedule some things to look forward to, but right now, I already have things to look forward to, and it isn't cheering me up in the moment. I mean, sure, I look forward to dinner with friends, to hanging out with my friend's baby, to Apple Festival and Rhinebeck. But I still feel the way I feel.

So, in lieu of something more productive, look on the bright side: here's tonight's therapy.


If you can't beat it, drown it in chocolate, I always say...

I Smile Because it Sucked

Today kicked my ass. It sucked. Suuuuuuuuuuuuucked. Today can bite me, and be over already.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be over here with my head in the ice cream.

I'm kidding.

There isn't enough ice cream in the world to make this feel better. So! What will?

Well, there's this guy, of course:


These, finished last night:


There's a lovely rant from Borders employees somewhere, which you really ought to read if you ever go into bookstores (and if you don't, why are you here?), and most especially if you've ever worked in a bookstore you must read it! (Click on it for full size, or read it here.)


And this, which I was a little leery of watching when I already wasn't cheerful--a memorial service, and Jim Henson's? Wah. But his friends and fellow Muppet-eers are singing his favorite songs, and, well, honestly. Elmo sings Lydia the Tattooed Lady? Sold. I'm in. (I love that from The Philadelphia Story; well, I love the entire movie, but anyway.)



Close your eyes and hear Scooter or Fozzie; then open your eyes and marvel. (Thanks, Boing Boing.) At least watch the first few minutes. Or click here to go to the mind-blowing combination of Henson and Milne. Whoa.

I got a little sniffly at the end, but overall it made me smile. Which is valuable.

Reading; Hockey; Ignoring Fall Won't Stop It

I've been reading a lot lately, books I've read before and new-to-me (ahh, escapism). I've been re-reading the Sarah Tolerance books by Madeleine Robins (excellent Regency/mystery series about a Fallen Woman who becomes an investigator) and the Beka Cooper series from Tamora Pierce (really enjoyable young adult adventure/fantasy) in advance of their new books this fall (yay times two). I've also been enjoying the Temeraire series from Naomi Novik; turns out that I enjoy military fiction set in the Napoleonic era if you add dragons (who knew?).

I just got Ready Player One from the library, after reading a number of very positive reviews, and I really enjoyed that as well. If you think that you'd enjoy speculative fiction about the future, and if you are a child of the 80s, pick it up for yourself (I can attest that you don't have to be a game-player to enjoy it, though I imagine it would deepen your appreciation). The kind of mind that can imagine such detail amazes me.

Having finished that, I went in an entirely different direction by picking up Rogue Herries, by Hugh Walpole, in a used bookstore yesterday. It's one of those titles that was vaguely familiar to me without my quite knowing why, but I dipped into it and thought it looked promising in the Quiet sense, something I prize. I am enjoying it so far, and this passage especially resonated with me:

The most common sensation for her would always be fear, and the constant duty of her life would be building up sufficient courage with which to meet it. Apprehension would attack her at every turn. It was as though she had three skins less than other folk.

Make of that what you will, but it seems a good book. And it amazes me that I can pick up this book, a first edition from 1930, for two dollars, and own it for the rest of my life. What a world we live in. I also picked up a neat little copy of Mosses from an Old Manse, on a whim. Haven't delved into it very deeply yet, so we'll see.

I didn't buy any of these; I wonder if poise is so easily attained?


Don't you like the Trade Mark notations on this title page?


And this note intrigued me as well. How quickly we forget, I suppose. Wartime conditions!



**********
Now that my brother has received his birthday gift from me, I can show you what I made for him. If you know him, you know that he is not the sort who naturally "goes with" cross-stitch samplers, but I couldn't resist this one:


I had some trouble getting a good picture, I'm afraid. The mat is medium grey, the frame black.

The colors of the flowers were designed to be brighter, but I changed them; for him even the red is somewhat risky. This is the person who once described grey as "pastel black" after all.

**********
I really need a baby.

No, no, I don't mean I need to have one. I'm single and about to turn 43, without any money to spare: I believe that ship has sailed. But have you seen the Bruins baby outfits? I want a baby to put these on!

There's the general Bruins outfit:


And the Cup-specific one:


I love them both. I am restraining myself from buying them because what would I do with them? Frame them and put them on the wall? But I really love them. (Go to the website to find them and more.)

I had to laugh when I saw this:


Yes, very true. And a lot less depressing than this one, at that:


Sigh.

A ? Or a ! Perhaps; Could Be, Anyway.

It's Friday night.

I don't have a headache.

I'm wearing my Cowch's Corner t-shirt, and listening to the Bruins preseason game on the radio.

So to celebrate National Punctuation Day (tomorrow), I choose The Exclamation Point!

!

What about you? What would you like to punctuate?

Feeling Better (relatively speaking)

I'll be brief, because my week'o'migraine has me in a bit of a pit around here. In a nutshell:

• it got bad
• it got worse
• I didn't go to work yesterday
• I spent all of yesterday either sleeping, or moaning on the couch when my upset stomach wouldn't let me lie down
• this morning was better than that, but not enough that I didn't call in to work again
• my appetite did return somewhat, not hard considering that Wednesday's intake consisted of ginger ale and a few saltines in the morning, and a bowl of cereal in the afternoon (which I then spent several hours expecting to see again, if you know what I mean)
  
• I finally left the house this afternoon, having finally felt well enough to shower, and drive, and not wanting to have to reschedule my doctor's appointment and miss more work for it later
• for the record, having a mid-grade migraine made the annual GYN appointment neither better nor worse
• right now it's mildly painful, but tolerable
  

Well, so that wasn't particularly brief. Point is, I just ordered a pizza, and now I want to try to dig out the kitchen a bit, because urgh.

It's not the only reason that I sometimes wish I was in a relationship, but when I'm sick, it sure would be nice to have someone who wanted to scramble an egg or heat up some soup for me. Ah well, tonight the pizza man delivers, which will have to be enough.

Please join me in wishing that this headache is done, though. If it comes back tomorrow, oh, please don't let it come back.

Where I Was Last Night (when I wasn't at the computer)

In bed. I went to bed at 7:30 last night.

There's nothing to make you appreciate a regular Monday like having one with a migraine. It's not debilitating, but I've been at the low end of functional. Urgh. One sure sign of problems: the glow of the computer screen seems awfully bright.

Today was slightly better, mostly. Kind of. Sometimes I was pretty much fine, other times I was trying to hold my head really still as much as possible, and not move my eyes too much to avoid the rubber-band twang of the optic nerve to the brain, which feels just about as good as you would imagine it to.

Right now, it's barely painful, but I'm a little nervous that the tide will turn again. The only really weird part is that the pain is on the right side, when before the appointment it was the left side. I almost always have left-side pain, so this is ... odd.

That's all I have tonight. As you can imagine, I'm sure.

Weekend Report: Of Ups and Downs

Well, it's been quite a busy day around here, and some of us are in recovery mode.

Himself:

And behind him, herself:

She is on high alert today, and I can't exactly blame her, as catching her for the vet went very poorly. I think we just got lucky last year. Next year, the vet says, I should put her in the bathroom before the appointment time, so we won't have to chase. (Of course, I'll still have to chase her, I suppose.)

There was, happily, no bad news from the visit, pending the blood test results for Carlos's potassium levels. Which will be good, I have spoken. But there was another casualty of the day, I am sad to say.


A hole, in the heel of the sock. Very sad. I only finished them in April of last year. These days I air-dry all the hand-knit socks, but I didn't used to; maybe that would have extended their life. Or maybe the hybrid pattern mix I used left me with a heel that wasn't strong enough. Whatever the reason, it makes me sad.

Making me happy, though, is that I found a purse I like! My old one was wearing out, and I was having such trouble finding a replacement that I actually liked. My mother suggested I try Wilson Leather, so yesterday I went to the outlet in Wrentham, and rather to my own surprise picked up this:


It's the right size, the right strap length, and while I kept expecting to change my mind about all the colors, well, I like them.

Plus, it even goes with my sock knitting bag!


There was a patch of slow traffic on the way, and I got to see some cars up close, over and over. Like this surprising* Nordiques fan:
*The team moved to Colorado in 1995!

And a fellow crafter, if not a knitter:

Even better, on the way home was a great sunset sky.

Ah, the Joys of Being a Woman

Some cycles are mild, and then some (even on the miracle pill) have me stifling groans all the first day or so. Guess which this one is?

Yup, that's right. Oooohhhhhhhhhhhh. Ooof.

But not all is lost. I recently read The Little Lady Agency after Kate mentioned it, and no surprise, she was right. Very good quality chick lit! I have to get the next one from the library now, but here's my point: Melissa has a habit of finding the three best things about a given person or situation, which reminded me of how I sometimes get in bed and try to think of the three best things about my day, in order to fall asleep on happy thoughts. So, here we are for today:

1. It's finally Friday, and I didn't even have to work late tonight. Weekend!
2. I tried a salted caramel mocha frap' at Starbucks this morning, and it was good! I actually like the regular caramel ones better than mocha; I wonder if they'd put the salted caramel topping on a regular frap'? Mmm.
3. Codeine, and how it doesn't need a prescription when you're in Canada. I'm not sure I'd have been able to work today without it. I'm not overdosing: the bottle says no more than ten in a day, and I've had 8. But some months I don't need any, so that's still a sign. Not the good kind of sign.
   

Anyone else want to play?

Let's Blame the PMS, Shall We?

It's been a grumpy day. Nothing major, just grumpy. Probably PMS, plus weather. Who really knows why? It hasn't been a particularly bad week, and nothing particularly bad happened to turn my mood today, so we'll call it hormonal.

The weather was markedly cooler and unsettled all day. After lunch today, I got up and walked from my desk to the kitchen, looking out the windows and noticing how much darker it had gotten. I threw my trash away, turned around to walk back to my desk, and saw that in the maybe 30 seconds I'd been facing away from the window, it had started raining.

Pouring, actually. Downpour, flood, whatever you want to call it. Weird. Then it stopped, then it rained lightly, then it stopped, then there was some blue sky ... on my drive home it sprinkled slightly on and off.

***

Yesterday at work, I had a casual kitchen conversation with a co-worker about office fridges, how nasty they get, how no one wants to clean them, etc. This morning, I arrived at work to find someone else cleaning the fridge out. So, I wanted to ask the question, for those who work in offices:

• Does your office have a cleaning schedule, a plan, a person responsible for the issue?
• Or does the fridge get cleaned out when someone caves, and Just Can't Stand It anymore?
  

***

I'm off for codeine/cat/chocolate therapy. The real vitamin C!

Fruit, Mostly

I haven't been eating enough fruits and veggies lately, so I stopped at Wilson's tonight, and had fresh corn on the cob for supper, followed by cherries that are deep and dark and sweet, well worth their cost. I also bought carrots, celery, and onion to make bean soup this weekend, once the warm weather wanders away again (80s today, 60s coming). Apples and wild blueberries as well: no excuses while this lot is around.

Speaking of fruit, when I was out last weekend I looked up at this tree:

And noticed what appeared to be fruit upon it. Any idea what this is?

I leave you with a peaceful view. Good evening!