By Popular Request (yeah, right)

More random! It's what's for dinner!

• I kind of snorted at part of an email about stories in this Sunday's Globe, which apparently will include a piece about "how to hang drapes for the look you want and the life you live." When I moved into my condo, nine years ago last November, it had no window coverings at all. Since I wanted to be able to sleep past dawn, and be able to change clothes in my bedroom, I bought some simple drape panels, I think at Christmas Tree Shops, three blue ones for the three windows in the bedroom, and three yellow ones for the two windows in the living room and the one in the office. I didn't get anything for the kitchen windows, figuring I could live without coverings there. I also got those telescoping bars you can use to hang them, because I didn't want to deal with real hardware. Guess what still hangs there to this day? And the kitchen still has nothing. The life I want to live is apparently not too concerned with window covering details. Perhaps I am in the minority that way.
• I was shopping online today for a new swimsuit, as the one I have been using is at least ten years old, and giving way under the pressure of twice-weekly use. I was surprised when one site I was looking at (Lane Bryant) did not allow filtering by type of suit (one-piece), the way other sites did. But then I got to Overstock.com and found that there you can, but it actually filters out all but one suit, even though they carry other one-pieces. So that's even worse, really. On the other hand, I found a suit there that may just do; I ordered it, and we'll see how it works.
• I went into Costco recently to renew an existing prescription with my new insurance, and was more than pleased when the pharmacist told me that if I refilled it for 30 days with the insurance, it would be $9, or I could pay $12 without using the insurance, and get a 90-day supply. Uh, option B, please! I think it's really cool that they check stuff like that without even being asked.
• Oh, Bruins, please, please win one tonight.

Age and Perception: Thoughts

If I had blogged last night, I would have called it "I Should Have Gone to Bed After the Second Period," which tells you all you need to know about the Bruins game. Though hopefully I would have tempered that by talking about knitting, and how well the little cashmere scarf is going.

However, I did not blog last night, and today I have something else on my mind. The death earlier this week of David Bowie made me very sad, and then waking up this morning to learn that Alan Rickman, too, is gone*, has me thinking hard about aging and where I am in this process.
*First reaction: Nooooo! Ah, damn it!

Naturally for me, hockey comes up as an analogy. For many years, watching hockey gave me a sense of the progression of time. I watched when I was a kid, and the players were adults. As I went into and then out of high school, I got closer to the age of the youngest NHL players, which was such a weird concept for me: "I'm not remotely ready for real life, and someone my age is playing pro hockey? Is someone I watch on TV? How is this possible?"

And time continued, as it does, and more and more players were my age, or younger, and then most of them were younger, and for a while I held on to the fact that there was at least one player older than I was (thanks, Mark Recchi), but that ship has sailed. They are all younger than I am. For instance:

• "Zdeno Chara is so old, his play is declining, how much longer can he play?" He'll be 39 this year. That's not really old, just hockey-old. 
• Jaromir Jagr, who has been in the league forever, so long that some of his teammates weren't born when he started, is younger than I am. Impossible, but true.

In the last few years, once they all became younger than I am, it lost its place as an age reminder for me. They are all younger than I am, and they always will be. Nothing to see here, folks. Since then, it's the everyday reminders, the doctor or the policeman who looks so young, or the coworker who IS so young, who doesn't remember a time before answering machines or VCRs or household computers. These are the reminders of time passing, and they are strong, but not the same somehow as when people die, are just gone, too soon.

I suppose no one thinks that people younger than they are, no matter what that age is, should die. I'm of an age (late 40s) where even more on my mind is that people younger than my mother should not die, because I don't even want to go there, thank you.

Anyway. Not coherent thoughts, perhaps, but this is on my mind today. I'm off to go swimming. Tell me, if you don't want to delve into the deep topic, do you know anything about waterproof headphones? I hear such things exist. How do they work? Do you have to have a smartphone?

Little Trees Revealed

I remembered today that, since I have given all the Christmas presents I made, it's now safe to blog about them! I didn't make anything big (even including the Santa hat for the tarantula), but I made a few little trees.

The pattern is Pint Sized Pines, and it's a great way to use up scraps of sock yarn. Obviously, it doesn't take much! And while I mostly went with traditional green, you could use any color you like, to fit any decoration plan.

One exception to green I made was for my brother, who got a dark grey one.

And MaryEllen got Bruins colors, of course.

They're quick to knit, if slightly fiddly just because of their size, and if you don't have corks (I had to ask my mother for some) and there are trees in your neighborhood, a branch of similar size will work fine (viz the one on the far left in the first picture, above).

Some of the ones I saw on Ravelry had some kind of star added at the top, which was cute, but I only adorned one, as I had a Hawaii button that was perfect for my aunt's.

The little forest.

They were fun; I highly recommend this pattern.

Stream of Consciousness

There's a cat purring beside me, and the Bruins have a small lead heading into the third period.

I had a good time at stitch and bitch before that, chatting and knitting my cashmere scarf, and I also bought more cat treats (we were almost out, oh no), and got four loads of laundry done today.

I have the commercials muted, and just caught part of a very strange Jim Beam commercial that had liquid floating in the air.

It's very cold here today; fortunately yesterday, when it poured rain, it was 50-something instead of barely 30.

I'm sad that David Bowie died. I remember my brother made me a mix tape, many many years ago, that included a couple of Bowie songs, I think it was Changes and Ziggy Stardust. I also loved Suffragette City, maybe that was on it, and Space Oddity (which I always think of as Major Tom) still makes me sniffle when I really listen to it. Oh, so many greats.

Sigh. Thinking of that makes me sad, plus the cat jumped down and the Bruins game is now tied, and, well, time to turn the computer off and start getting ready for bed. Every post can't be an exciting one, I'm afraid.

Random Items

Coherence? What's that? I wouldn't know. Let's go to the pictures and see what we have.

In the Globe recently, a rerun of what is probably my all-time favorite Doonesbury cartoon.

To this day, when there is a particularly nice moon, I will still say, "Oh, wow, look at the moon." In a Valley Girl accent.

A few more movie ratings (I created a label on the blog for them, as I have a feeling I won't stop noticing, and sharing, them any time soon). How do you feel about cheap thrills?

Yes or no? What about graphic nudity in puppets?

Would that be different from how you feel about it not in puppets?

In other language-related news, a book I got for Christmas. Made for me, right?

Mind you, I try NOT to judge ... but, yeah, I do tend to at least notice.

The purse sock headed around the corner this weekend. "Look what it did, it turned a corner!"

And in yarn news, I was in Ocean State Job Lot, which if you are not familiar with is, as the name suggests, the sort of store where they often get random lots of things, and they had yarn! And grandma sent me some Christmas money... so I didn't restrain myself. Much.

I brought home three skeins in this nice blue-green (photos aren't the greatest, so you may have to take my word for that):

To accent nine skeins of blue.

I'm thinking blanket, but who knows. For $3 a skein, I can find the house-room for it while I decide. And if anyone has suggestions for a fairly simple blanket pattern in a 3-to-1 color ratio, bring it on.

UPS Update: Fail

So, that package that UPS wasn't able to deliver on Wednesday because I wasn't home (for once)? Well, although I was home most of yesterday, they neither delivered it nor left a second notice, so this morning I looked on their website and it said oh sure, we delivered that yesterday! And I said did not, until I noticed where they said they delivered it: not to my home, but to a local convenience store that apparently doubles as a UPS pickup spot. Which, yes, there is a spot on the notice to mention that they plan to do that.

You might think, as I did, that because they didn't check off that box, that isn't what they planned to do, but apparently we would be wrong to think so. What, just because they checked the box indicating that they would try again to deliver it the next day, you were expecting them to try again to deliver it the next day? Why, I suppose you also think they should have indicated which reason they had for not being able to leave the package in the first place, as the form allows, and even put the correct date at the top of the notice; you're so demanding. The 5th, the 6th, close enough, eh? It's not like one day here or there really matters, right? In deliveries that people might be waiting for...

Sigh. Fortunately for me, this was nothing urgent. And the store is about half a mile away, hardly a major inconvenience; in better weather, I would have walked over. But it's the principle of the thing.

(Though at least I was able to get a Powerball ticket while I was there. $700 million would soften the inconvenience quite a lot.)

I'm not even going to bother to complain, as I'm quite sure it would get me nowhere, there's nothing they could do other than promise to do better next time, and I'm equally sure that they aren't all that interested in providing better service. But I can't help contrasting it with another recent mistake I saw and how it was handled.

I belong to a professional organization, at least through the end of the month (the old company paid the membership fee, which I don't think I will do on my own), and yesterday they sent out an email about a new course they were offering. I couldn't help wincing to see the unnecessary apostrophe in "Ten Characteristic's of" in the name of the course, but I deleted it and went on with my day.

Today there was another email from them, with this:

They apologized, and included a coupon code for the course. Nicely done, people.

Updates of Exercise, Knitting

I often use this space to work through problems and things I'm struggling with, and plenty of the time, the topic is exercise. So you may, perhaps, have noticed a lack of angst about my recent gym membership and swimming plans. I thought I ought to let you know how it's been going.

I joined the gym on November 17th. They have a water aerobics class on Tuesday nights, and I figured I could aim to do that, and go another night and swim laps. I went as a sort of test that Thursday, the 19th, and then went to my first class on Tuesday the 24th.

Then it was Thanksgiving weekend, and I was lazy.

And then I got sick.

I was able to get to the class on December 8th, though I left early due to still being under the weather, energy-wise. The following week, I made it through the whole class, but did not go again that week, and then I was away for a week (though I did swim one day while I was there).

Upon my return, I went to class on Tuesday and swam laps on Thursday (yes, new year's eve), and did the same this week. And it ... wasn't that hard to make myself do it. A friend asked if I like it, and I said that I don't hate it, to which she admitted that for me, that's saying something! The laps are pretty boring, and I wish they had classes two nights a week, but still, I don't have to twist my own arm to make myself go.

Which is probably good, as I'm having some soreness in my right shoulder, so twisting would be bad! I'm trying to stretch it, and having the chiropractor work on it, and hopefully it will get better soon. For that matter, hopefully soon I will feel some sort of benefit from the exercise ... but give it time, right?

Oh, and I took some pictures of the hat I mentioned yesterday. Flat:

And on a small lampshade, to give the impression on the head:

I'm happy with it, Bruins colors and all! And now I'm going to eat something before bed. Yaaawwwn.

In the Office, and Knitting

Going in to work today wasn't bad. It was odd, and perhaps on the pointless side in some ways, but it was fine.

[Sidenote: In a major irony, I came home to find a sorry-we-missed-you notice from UPS. The one day I'm not home? And I don't remember having to sign for a single thing that I got delivered for Christmas, so why this one, I wonder?]

The main point of my going in was kind of a farewell for the boss from the editors, on the pretext of giving her the opportunity to provide feedback on the editorial guide updates that have been in process for months. And we did do some of that, but there was also a lot of random-other-topic conversation, with donuts. I mean, none of us have anything to edit right now, so it's not like we were taking time away from something else, but obviously she isn't high on my list of people to spend time hanging out with, so ... not the most fun ever. But it was fine. I even pulled out the sock knitting and worked on that for a while (not wanting to reach for another donut as lunch time approached). It's ready to start the heel flap now.

I'm planning to drop in again tomorrow after lunch, since that's when they're getting her a cake, so today wasn't really my final good-bye, but I did leave her a note (she was out for a walk when I left) filled with nice double-meaning platitudes ("it won't be the same without you" and "I've learned a lot from working with you"). Grown-up level achieved.

In other news, I finished my first knitting project of the year today! On January sixth, yes. That's what happens when you knit a hat out of super-bulky yarn: about two hours of knitting and you're done. It would have been done earlier in the week, in fact, except that it took me three tries to get the fit right. I'll have to get some pictures in real light to show it off. It isn't the first project of the year that I started: that would be the cashmere scarf, in its own take 2. I like this pattern so, so much better. Sometimes things don't work, sometimes they do.

Not Dead

I'm slumped on the couch, mildly sore from swimming, watching the Bruins, and fending off cat guilt from Carlos, who wants me to come to bed already. Which isn't happening, it isn't halfway through the third period, but anyway. My point is, I wasn't feeling like turning the computer back on, but wanted to check in here.

I'm fine. Well, other than the weather, which is bitter cold. Tomorrow I go into the office, which means dressing up more than usual, and commuting, but for a worthy cause, so that's ok.

And how are you?

Knitting, Not As Planned

Sometimes, knitting doesn't go as planned, and I'm facing a couple of situations like that right now.

First, I finished the little scarf-shawl I was working on, that I started in late October; I've mentioned it in passing here and there, but not too much, though I first mentioned it in theory going on two years ago! I really liked making it, and I thought I was binding off loosely enough, but it seems I was wrong, since after much soaking (it kept changing the color of the water, so I kept changing the water, yesterday afternoon and this morning) I pinned it out and couldn't get the points to block out right. I may have underestimated the power of the stretchiness that the wool would have to overcome the lack of same in the bamboo and silk components. I left it to dry, and will see how I like it. I may have to grit my teeth, undo the bindoff, and redo it much more loosely. I really don't want to, so much will depend on how it comes out.

Then, last night I picked up the little cashmere scarf that I started over a year ago, with splurge yarn from the Interweave Knit Lab I went to in 2014, which got put aside for other things, and realized that how much I loved the yarn was masking how much I wasn't enjoying the pattern. I contemplated that, and then I took a deep breath and frogged it. There isn't anything wrong with the pattern, but it wasn't making me happy, and if you have your wee, expensive bit of cashmere yarn, you want to enjoy the making as well as the wearing. I'm thinking of trying this scarf pattern, but I reserve the right to change my mind.

So that's where I am: possible and definite problems, no pictures (yet), and bravely facing the end of the long weekend. And how are you doing?

Books Read in 2015

While we're talking about 2015 facts, I have the totals for how many books I read last year. Drumroll, please:

217

Yeah, even for me, that's a lot. Compare it to 75 in 2014, for example! And 98 in 2013. Of course, those years were low for me; I blogged three years ago of reading 151 in 2012, down from 182 in 2011. Let's look at those in a line.

2011: 182
2012: 151
2013: 98
2014: 75
2015: 217

The jump from 182 to 217 doesn't seem as drastic. I think it's even funnier to contemplate why I read so little in 2013 and 2014 (for me; I'm not judging anyone else [well, except maybe people who don't read at all, or at least want to]).

A little more digging in the blog archives got me more data, if not quite the complete set.

2007: 88
2008: 122
2009: 126
2010: (can't find on blog)
2011: 182
2012: 151
2013: 98
2014: 75
2015: 217

So, basically, my numbers are all over the place, and it's just a coincidence that this last year was my record high and the previous was the lowest. Eh. Doesn't bother me.

Anyway, back to 2015: I was on pace already to read a lot, having reached 74 by June 8th, and then, well, as you may recall, I was laid off on the 11th. I didn't instantly kick into high reading gear--I think there was more sitting around, stunned, at first--but in July, I read 42 books, which was clearly escapism of the highest kind.

And really, when under such stress, reaching for a book (and then another and another) is not the worst reaction to have. I could have turned to drugs or alcohol, which could have done me some serious damage, but I didn't even buy most of these books; either I already owned them, or I got them from the library, but either way my purse was unharmed.

Of the 217 total, 108 were first-time reads and (therefore) 109 were re-reads. I couldn't have been that balanced had I been trying to!

Meanwhile, today I read my first book of the new year. I got Make the Bread, Buy the Butter from the library after reading about it somewhere (I am so bad at remembering where I read about things), and even though I may never make any of the recipes, I found her style light and amusing, and entertaining enough to read all the way through. I'll be reading her blog from here on, too.

(This made me look back at what was the first book I finished in 2015, and it was a very strange old novel called Queed, by Henry Sydnor Harrison, which I actually quite enjoyed but might not wholeheartedly recommend unless you, too, enjoying reading very old books just for the time-travel feeling of it. If you're interested, I first found it on Project Gutenberg, so you can take a look at it there.)

A Key Fact About 2015

As the calendar gets ready to tick over into the new year, one tends to get introspective about different things. One of my frequent thoughts is about my migraines, so I went to look at my tracking. Check this out:

That's my headache accounting for the last few years. Do you see what the terrible headaches have been doing? Going from 31 days in 2012 to none in 2015?

None! I can hardly believe it myself.

And headaches in general have gone from impacting over 15% of my days to less than 10%. That's pretty major, too. But it's the reduction in want-to-die headaches that makes me particularly happy. I'm sure I'm not done with them for my lifetime--could I be that lucky?--but for now, I am so, so happy. Here's to a similarly happy new year.

A Little Hockey Talk

I got home last night, after swim class and dinner with a friend, and turned on the Bruins game to find that it was 3-2 Bruins, late in the second period. I watched the rest of the game--Bruins score! Ottawa scores! Bruins score! Bruins score! Bruins score!--with much entertainment. The Bruins stopped their little losing streak, got four power-play goals, and Boston local Jimmy Hayes had a hat trick.

There was also a major fight near the end of the game, the kind I grew up watching but that aren't common these days, every player on the ice except the goalies involved. This morning's Globe had a particularly ... vivid ... photo of one of the exchanges.

Eww. I'm more or less okay with fighting in hockey, being at neither one extreme (fighting shouldn't be allowed at all) nor the other (it puts passion in the game and promotes team spirit), but that is pretty gross.

I like this photo better.

The Senators player has just dumped the flailing Bruin ass over teakettle into the bench, where his teammates are looking down at him with almost bored faces of unconcern. Like, "Oh. Hi."

I looked at the game summary on the Bruins website, and also liked this photo of McQuaid jumping to avoid a shot. Boing!

Next stop is the Winter Classic, the game that they are playing outside Friday afternoon, at Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots play (that's football [well, American football]). When the game was announced, I admit I groaned: It had to be against Montreal? I know, great historic rivalry and all, but let's be honest, the Bruins haven't generally come out on the right side of that rivalry. And then Montreal started the season very strongly, and the Bruins very not so. Recently, however, things have reversed for both teams, and while I am by no means complacent, I at least feel the Bruins have a fighting chance.

No pun intended.

Florida, Christmas, and All That: The Week in (Mostly) Photos

So! Let's get started!

You can take it as read that the whole week was warm, wonderful, relaxing, lazy even, and full of family and presents and so, so much good food. Other than that? Well, I'll use the photos to guide me through.

My flight down last Sunday (or, as an old-fashioned character in a book might style it, last Sunday week) started very auspiciously when the seat next to me was empty (it was a smaller plane, 2 seats each side of the aisle, which meant I got my own little space). Such a difference to the comfort level! I was quite pleased, and enjoyed the flight as much as one can, these days.

As soon as I realized that our flight was (unusually) taking off over the city, I pulled my camera out to get photos. Ever wanted to see Boston from the air? Here you go! In this one, at the lower left, you can see the Zakim bridge and Boston Garden

And a blur in the middle, but skyscrapers, and the Garden and Zakim again, right of center. To the left, Boston Common and the Public Garden. I think the white spot in the Common might be the ice skating rink on the Frog Pond!

The two tallest building in this one are the Prudential, to the left, and the Hancock, the dark one near the center. (Click on any of the photos to see them bigger.) Off to the right is the Longfellow Bridge, which as a kid I called the witch bridge because I imagined witches lived in the towers.

I took the camera out again over Florida. Here, I was amused by all the straight, straight roads and that one with the hook in the middle. I wonder what that was going around?

It was a little cloudy/hazy as we approached, but still photogenic.

Especially as we curved out over the water to get ready for landing.

Nice beaches, eh?

And some funny bits of island.

The civil engineer's daughter got a shot of the new overpass near the airport, which opened earlier this year. It's easier to get to the highway now.

The good news was that we landed half an hour early; the bad news is that there was another plane at "the" gate*, which had itself arrived late, so we had to wait for it. On the tarmac. For 45 minutes. While I looked out at sunshine and warmth, and knew my mother and brother were inside waiting for me. Ugh.
*I know it's not the world's largest airport, but "the" gate? Really? There wasn't another one empty anywhere?

However, even minor, petty annoyances come to an end, and at least I could stretch sideways, if not stand up (also, fortunately, I had gone to the bathroom before we descended, so I wasn't sitting there dying for that). Got off the plan, hugs, suitcase, outside. Ahhh.

Technically, I was working on Monday and half of Tuesday, not having enough vacation time to cover the whole week. However, you may recall that on the previous Thursday and Friday, I didn't have any work to do, and (spoiler alert) that continued during my time in Florida. I couldn't be more pleased to have brought the work laptop for nothing! I did keep checking in on my email, but other than a short piece that one of the other editors took on Tuesday morning (as he was working the full day and the next, it made sense for him to take it since he had more time to finish it), nothing. Again, ahhh.

On Monday, we ate lunch outside at a favorite restaurant on the water, and I (nearly) caught this boat with the funny name.

Pro-Fish-In-Sea. Nice pun!

Also, the standard pelican on a post.

Otherwise, I spent the day hanging out on the lanai, lazing, reading, chatting, checking email, drinking water (weirdest thing: the ice kept melting!). After "work" ended, I pulled out the purse sock I had been working on, to assess whether my suspicions that I should go down a needle size were correct.

Yeah, a little too wide/loose/stretchy.

I frogged it and started over, down a needle size. NBD.

Tuesday afternoon, once I was officially done (not) working, we went to the Conservancy for the boat ride, always a favorite. I noticed some holiday touches in the gift shop.

Shark with Santa hat.

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer gator.

And some interesting art out where you wait for the boat. Centipede, sort of? Who knows. Always look up!

Manatee sign on a dock.

And some ... art? Dogs? Something.

A few ibis (I think).

And a wood stork and a heron, maybe? Who knows, I could be making that up. Two large birds of some kind.

And one of them again, from the other side.

These dogs were totally fine with being on the boat, and barked strongly at us for being on their water.

Interesting stump.

As the boat turns left, we look ahead at where the water goes. Apparently there's a kayak dock that way, and they need to do some trimming. I would say so!

Elsewhere:

Would you try this? Not sure I would!

Mixed birds, grazing, as we walked to have lunch overlooking the beach on Wednesday.

And they're off!

After lunch, a walk on the beach.

And there's this year's beach-Christmas wish for us. (Last year's.)

And a sandy snowman!

Not a perfect day, but perfectly lovely.

And warm! It was unusually warm for the time of year all week. Which we so appreciated! No long sleeves all week...and views like this.

And what's a beach without an egret?

He was hanging out near a fisherman, in case something good came along.

And getting a tad impatient.

Just ... beautiful.

On the walk back down the beach, there was a small crowd gathered around a fisherman who had something big on his line. See how it bows?

We watched him work for a while, then decided we weren't interested quite enough to wait it out.

Another egret? The same one?

Who knows.

Pitcher of bliss, aka fresh orange juice.  

Interesting art piece by where we had lunch on Thursday.

Flamingos pulling a little cart? Okay.

Sunset, blurry but pretty.

On Christmas, we went in the pool in the afternoon, which felt fabulous (I was quite warm), and walked on the beach before sunset. Are you ready for a million sunset pictures?  

Well, okay, this part is looking the other way, you wouldn't think the sun was setting.

But then we turn back that way.

And then sat down at one of the hotels to have a drink and watch the rest.

And, of course, a few Christmas lights.

The full moon was fighting some cloud cover. Still neat to have it on Christmas.

The next day, packed up and wearing jeans again (and socks, and sneakers!), driving to the airport, we saw a car with Santa hats on all the headrests.

And one more blurry shot, coming down the north shore into Boston.

For some reason, we flew up over the water, rather than over land as usual, and then swung down and around to the airport. Just mixing it up, I guess.

No empty seat next to me on this flight, but no delay after landing, either, so it evens out. I was to my car by 6, and home to a frantic furry welcome by 6:30. And here I am!