It's Coming!

I know it's only just September, but guess what that means? Hockey season is coming!

The Bruins (as I assume other teams do as well) have a few informal practices this week, called captains practices, when players start getting on the ice together and playing around. Next week, the rookies will report for their training camp, and the week after that, it's full training camp. The first preseason game is September 22, which is less than three weeks away! 

Yayyyy! Hockey season, hockey season, hockey season.

I'm a little excited. Hey, I'm only a fan of one sport, and summer can feel pretty long. Bring it on.

Look at this flower

I was at Fresh Market on Friday and saw this cool flower, which made me think of artichokes.

It's a pink ice protea, apparently, and after thinking about it, I went back today and bought some. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how they open up!

Unplanned

This is where I say, Mom is fine. Somehow. Well done, 2011 Toyota Corolla, you served well to the very end.

Well. My to-do list has some new items.

More On Voting

We just had our primary election in Florida, and turnout in my county was about 25%.

One in four. Oh, people. We can do better.

(I am happy to report, by the way, that the school board candidate who wanted students to kneel for the cross lost.)

They do say they expect turnout in November to be closer to 90%, because it's the presidential election, and gosh, I would hope so. I mean, if you're not voting now...with everything that's at stake....when?

If you've been reading here for a while, you have probably gathered that I am...not a Republican. I was not a huge Biden fan but not hugely against him, even after his debate performance, but when he stepped aside for Kamala Harris, and with all that has happened since then, I have been surprised by the feelings of hope that I'm experiencing. 

And I freely admit that I knew nothing about Tim Walz, but the more I hear, the more I love him. LOVE him. 

I mean, he looks kind of grandpa-like, but he isn't at all old. Compare him to the opposition, for instance.

Remember the man or bear debate from earlier this year?

I know this one is virtually impossible to read, but if you search on "Tim Walz high school project genocide" there are a number of articles on it. It's fascinating! The way he thinks!

There is the absolutely hysterical fact that the other side is trying to claim that Walz wasn't really a coach, because he was an assistant coach, and, like, really? That's the big dirt on him?

Now, of course, for the editors among us, there is a dark side of the ticket to brace for:

Anyway! In all seriousness, I am very reliable in terms of voting in every election--are you? if not, maybe now is the time to start? don't feel bad for the past, change for the future!--but I will admit that I've never been that involved in campaigning, etcetera. But this year, this last month, I am feeling a bit more inspired, and when I saw mention of Postcards to Swing States, I thought, that is something I could do. 

I mean, I am not knocking on doors, or making phone calls, or working the polls. Let's be honest. These are all great things to do, but not for me (eww, people). Writing postcards encouraging people to vote, though, that I can do. And I can afford the stamps, as well as the hand cramps (though if I do some every week, that should be minimal). I signed up to do 100, and chose Florida specifically.

My postcards and instructions arrived this week, and the paperwork has some suggested messages. And maybe I am overly sensitive, but I do not at all like the first suggestion:

Message A: This “social pressure” message is the most effective based on many studies:

Thank you for being a voter! Who you vote for is private, but whether you vote is public record. Please vote in the Tues. Nov 5 election!

That sounds like a threat! No! Personally, I would not at all like to get that message. But the other two suggestions are better, and I'll probably alternate between them.

If you are a US citizen, please register to vote now. And if you're already registered, you can double-check and make sure you still are, here.

Please. It's so important.

Knowing My Limits; Sunset Sky

The light in our freezer has been acting up recently, going out--sometimes coming back on, but now not for a while--so I pulled out the manual to see if I could replace it. After all, I change the water filter, how much harder can a light bulb be? Even if I can barely tell where the bulb actually is...?

Well. The first thing the book says is to unplug the fridge. Umm. Really? Not that that's difficult, of course, but it seems ominous. I've never needed to unplug a fridge.

Next, it warns that I should wear gloves, to avoid getting cut. Nope, I'm out. I am not a handy person in the slightest, and if there's that much of a chance of the bulb breaking--and presumably showering the freezer with broken glass--no, thank you. I know my limits.

Is this something you would do without thinking twice? Have you hit a similar point where you instantly knew something was more than you were comfortable dealing with?

~~~~~~~~~~

Last night, I got off a zoom call with friends and went into the kitchen to feed the cat, because of course. There was a glow to the sky that made me look out the window, and wow.

That's through the window, and does not capture the almost orange glow of reality. So I stepped outside, and although the building obstructs the view more, the color is more true.

It was something else. The tourists got a good sunset, for sure.

Trip Anticipation, Part One; and Movie Scenes That Stick With You

I've written many times about how much I enjoy planning and anticipating and thinking about upcoming trips, treats, and the like. Since my New England trip in the spring, I haven't had any firm plans for next trips, but now there are a couple of things in the works, yay.

First up, I knew that I wanted to visit my aunt near Syracuse for Apple Festival in October, if everyone's health allowed it, but I finally made my plane reservations last week*. Which meant I had to do so much sorting through flight times that didn't work for me!
*With trip insurance, of course, just in case

My mother has long said that the reason the flights in and out of Syracuse are few, not direct, and poorly timed is because the airlines know that no one is going there unless they have to (she was glad to move away from the area after growing up there, as you can surmise). My feeling is that they are very much scheduling for business travelers, which is why there are so many early-morning and evening flights. 

No, I don't want to leave at 7 AM.

No, I don't want to arrive after midnight.

No, I don't want a seven-hour layover.

No, a 43-minute layover is not a good idea!

In any event, I was able to find flights that work better for me, so now I can start the fun of planning! I'll need to rent a car, which I haven't done in a while, so hit me up with any advice or recent experience you have on that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you ever found you remember a scene in a movie much more strongly than you remember the movie overall?

I was looking at a list of movies yesterday and it included No Reservations (do I need to say "spoilers" before I talk about a movie from 17 years ago?). I remember seeing it, but have only vague memories of it. However, I immediately remembered that one scene, the one where Catherine Zeta-Jones as the chef has her take-this-job-and-shove-it moment, and I found it on YouTube:

I watched it several times, and I can't pin down why I found it just SO satisfying, but yeah. I love it. While not feeling the need to watch the whole movie again.

BTW, I don't exactly need the Portuguese subtitles, but although there is a clip of this scene on the IMDB page, it cuts off before the (very satisfying) end of the scene, and also it changes "the asshole on 7" to "the guy on 7," which really mutes the impact, I think. I suppose there's a PG-13 version? Don't know why.

Stress Reading Update (Already)

My friends! After I complained yesterday about how I can't borrow any more library books through the Hoopla app this month because I only get 10* and I borrowed them all, and I read your comments on it, I got to thinking: 
*Poor Engie only gets two a month! I feel so greedy, wanting more than 10.

• I have a card from my local library system (Card One)
• I have a card through the reciprocal borrowing program with another library system (Card Two)
• In the Libby app, I can see and borrow books using both cards
• I only have the Hoopla app through the first library
• But does the second library use Hoopla too?

IT DOES.

I needed to use my other email address to set up the account, but it let me, and not only that: it gives me 20 books a month. TWENTY! Forget about accomplishing anything, I'll be reading now.

Yeah, you know I borrowed a book the minute I got this set up...

Stress Reading

While I have definitely done plenty of stress eating through worrying times, lately I've been adding another coping mechanism: stress reading. I have read A TON this summer, to the point where, this week, I learned that the Hoopla library program/app/thing has a monthly limit. Because I hit it. For the first time ever. Halfway through the month.

Mind you, I do prefer to borrow ebooks through Libby, so I tend to go to that first, and that program also has limits, but it's by number of books borrowed, so if I hit 10 and want to borrow another, I can just return one to open a spot. But Hoopla is different. Apparently.

I mean. I'm in the middle of a series! but I'll just have to read other things for the next two weeks. Apparently.

Yarn!

Recently some of my (yarn-enabling) friends mentioned that Purl Soho was having a sale, and I capitulated to the temptation, telling myself that I have been wanting to explore more knitting with cotton now that I'm in Florida, and they have a lovely yarn called Morning that is 75% cotton and 25% yak, which softens it up beautifully. I was looking through projects using it on Ravelry, and came across a beautiful rainbow blanket someone made, and, well, you know how I am about rainbows. I bought most of the same colors.

They also threw in a little sample skein:

With regular skein, for scale:

Santolina. For cotton/rayon/hemp, it's softer than I would have expected.

So that might be fun to play around with. Someday, when I find the time. I have so many happily ongoing projects right now, I'm not feeling the need to start anything new*. Though as I plan a couple of trips, that may change!
*Subject to change without notice

Voting

This weekend I finally pulled out my absentee ballot and sat down to review my voting for the August primary. As a registered Democrat, I was voting for US Senator, and then two races each for circuit court judge and school board, each with just two candidates. A fairly simple one this time! It will of course be much longer in November.

The school board ones were very interesting to me (I mean, "interesting"), as they are not done by party: that is, I was only voting for the Democratic options for Senator, to pick who will run against the Republican candidate in the final election, but the school board candidates, who as it happens are Republicans (not that unusual in Florida), are not separated by party in the same way.

Which meant that when I was reading about each candidate, I ran into things like this (as a "Value You Bring to this Position"):

Ohhhhh-kay. Kneel for the cross. In public schools. Yeah, no.

The ballot is completed, as is Mom's, and I dropped them both off at the library, which is an early voting site. I'm a big fan of early voting, though absentee is even easier, as I can do my research at home and fill it out without waiting in line. How does it work where you are? Do you have early voting? I think it's a great idea. Anything to make it easier for people to vote!

Anyway, the library is very convenient: I had a book due to return, and a hold that came in, so two errands in one stop. Yay!

I really liked the first one, Legends & Lattes; hopefully this one will be as good.

Re-Post: Review of Full Speed to a Crash Landing, by Beth Revis

Back in June, I wrote about a good book that I got to read ahead of publication, and now that it's out, I wanted to re-post what I wrote, in case any sci-fi fans could use the reminder! 

Full Speed to a Crash Landing by Beth Revis comes out August 6, or as we can now call it, Tuesday. 

I was approved for an advance copy by Daw Books--thanks, y'all!

Publisher's description:

A high octane sexy space heist from New York Times-bestselling author Beth Revis, the first in a novella trilogy

Ada Lamarr may have gotten to the spaceship wreck first, but looter’s rights won’t get her far when she’s got a hole in the side of her ship and her spacesuit is almost out of air. Fortunately for her, help arrives in the form of a government salvage crew—and while they reluctantly rescue her from certain death, they are not pleased to have an unexpected passenger along on their classified mission.
...
A phenomenally fun novella that kicks off a trilogy of sexy space heists and romantic tension, Full Speed to a Crash Landing is packed with great characters and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end.

My review:

I raced through reading this and enjoyed every twist and turn along the way! Ada has an upfront attitude and hidden depths, and she’s not the only one who may not be fully what they seem. As layers are pulled back, I was constantly reevaluating what had come before—it really made me think. I kept putting it down to ponder and then immediately picking it back up because I had to know what would happen next. The ending was both satisfying and left me wanting more: I look forward to reading the next in the series.

Also, I really want to talk about some things in the book that would be spoilers, so please read it and then let me know, and we can talk!

Yeah, Yeah, Hi, I'm Here

I didn't intend to go silent there, but life was a bit much and blogging fell down the to-do list. Mom was in the hospital for two days recently after a medication interaction knocked her sideways, and she's still a bit wobbly, but we're hanging in there.

I did want to pop on today to mention that we're not in danger from the tropical storm you may have heard about (Debby: did you ever hear a less threatening storm name?*), which is currently going by the west coast of Florida. It's side-swiping us, so we're getting plenty of wind** and rain, but we're lucky and it's nothing more. I mean, there's probably street flooding, but I'm not going out today, so not a problem.
*It's making me think of Debbie in the movie Addams Family Values, and I suppose she did have a dark side to her apparent perky cheer, didn't she?
**It is SO windy right now

 Anyway. We're here, we're fine, and I need to restrain myself from reading all day and get some things done.

Reading all day is much more fun, though.

Her, Again

I know that I just did a Maggie-on-my-lap photo sequence recently, but this morning she was just ridiculous, and I have to share. Enjoy!

What a life.

Audible? Are You Okay?

I got an email from Audible with my recent listening stats, and it shows that these are my most-listened-to titles, which is accurate.

(I listen to audio books to fall asleep, so I tend to listen to the same ones a lot, because I know them well enough that the need to follow the plot won't keep me awake.)

However! It then goes on to suggest these titles for me:

What on earth?

I am perplexed.

Like Dad Used to Say

My dad was a bit of a wiseass, and one of his sayings was, "I made a mistake once. I thought I was wrong." In fact, I think he had it on a sign on his desk! I was reminded of it this morning when I was trying to figure something out, and thought that I had made a mistake on my "books read" spreadsheet.

Back in 2013, I started this spreadsheet to keep track of what I read when (some day I plan to write about all the things I use spreadsheets to track). Over the years I have added more and more things to track about each book I finish (I don't track the DNFs). I don't necessarily know what items I added when, but as of today, I put:

• the date, title, and author
• whether I read the book for the first time or it was a reread 
• was it from the library
• was it sci-fi/fantasy, YA/YR, non-fiction
• was it on the tablet/e-book
• was it an advance copy

At the end of the year, I copy the date/title/author fields onto a tab called "combined," so that I can sort by title or author to see when I first read a book, when I started reading an author, how many times I've read a book, that kind of thing.

So, an author I have discovered this year and greatly enjoyed (listing those is another blog post on its own: I've found a bunch this year) is KJ Charles, and she has a new book releasing this week, which is a sequel to the first of hers that I read. I wanted to read the first one again, but it wasn't on my Kindle, AZ doesn't show I bought it, and the entry on my spreadsheet doesn't say I got it from the library. In fact, I didn't check off tablet/e-book either, so I was very confused about how I read the thing: I read more and more e-books these days, so that was where my mind went first.

Finally, I thought to check my actual, physical bookshelf. There it is!

Oh, that's right! I bought the physical book from the UK. They had it on sale, with free shipping. Now I remember.

And now I can read it again before the e-book of The Duke at Hazard drops into my Kindle on Thursday. (I generally prefer not to mix formats, but the e-book is $2.99, and the paperback is $17.99, and for that much of a difference, I can stand it. Well, it's not as expensive from the UK, oddly enough. I may end up ordering that too.)

A note about the series, btw, which is Regency period romance that the author called "Heyer but gayer" (any Georgette Heyer fans reading?): they are neither straight nor straight-laced, so if men with men and on-page sex is not your thing, pass on by. The author has a whole page on content warnings for other items in all her books as well. I very much like her writing style, but everything isn't for everyone.

Nap/Lap Level: Expert

This morning, herself really threw herself into napping.

Would that I could relax half as well.

Naming Things

I turn to the blog for serious answers to serious questions, so brace yourself:

Does your family name things around the house? 

I was thinking of that this morning, when I went to get ice from the fridge-door ice maker and it gave me far more than I needed. "Jeez, Fred, calm down!" I said, as my cup runneth over.

Because, yes, we call our ice maker Fred. No, I don't know why Fred, specifically. But it clearly needs a name so that we can either thank it, or chide it for being overly enthusiastic. (Fred is a giver.)

So, do you name things? Appliances, cars, anything?

Library Woes

Before I start this story, I want to stress that I love the library. Libraries are awesome. I borrow tons of books that I want to read, or at least try, but don't want to own, and I appreciate that so much.

However.

I requested a book a while back, and for some time now, a few months at least, it has shown that I am hold number 1 of 1 for the one copy that is checked out. I've been meaning to ask them about it, so when I went in on Saturday to pick up a hold, I stopped at the desk first (holds are self-serve, across the room) and asked the woman there if she could tell me anything about it.

She looked up my account while kindly explaining to me that sometimes, if there are a lot of holds, it can take a while for it to be your turn. Uh, yeah, don't teach your grandmother to suck eggs, honey. I repeated that I have been hold 1 of 1 since at least April. 

She looked at my holds, and once she confirmed which title I meant (that would be, again, the one that I'm hold 1 of 1), she said ah and called another person over to confirm that, as the book had been billed, it was apparently not going to be returned at this point, and they should cancel the hold because I would not be getting it. As we circled around this point, one of them mentioned that it had been billed in October.

At this point, I am thinking that if the single copy of a book has been billed for months, the system should not have allowed a hold to be placed on this book. Which I still absolutely believe, but I didn't bother mentioned it to them in that moment, because it's not their fault that the system is set up in this stupid way.

I also did not get into why they wouldn't be reordering the book, which only came out last year, because I do understand that if there isn't demand, they might not. Just because I want it. I do get that.

So they kept saying that they should cancel the hold, should cancel the hold, and I said fine, and went to get the book I was picking up. When I scanned my card, though, it told me that I owed a fine of 50 cents. Now, the fine was real: I was a day late returning two books last month, and since I hadn't returned anything late in a long time, I was surprised that they charge a quarter a day for that. But okay, fair enough, that's the rule and I was late.

But I paid the fine, a week prior, when I was in. I remember that I was pleased that I had two quarters with me to pay it. 

And now it's saying I still owe it. On top of the previous interaction, I was kind of pissed. But okay. I checked out my book and went over to the desk, where the first woman still sat. I told her that it was showing I had a fine, and that I paid it last week, but here's a dollar, could you be sure that comes off. And god love her, I don't know if she's new or she assumes that no one knows what they're doing, but she looks at my account and starts explaining to me which titles it was that I returned late.

Bless her heart. I KNOW.

I put the dollar down and said, I know, here is the money, could you just please take it off the account, and I walked away, probably leaving her thinking I was rude, and maybe I was. But I use the library all the time*, I know how it works, and it's not that I can't afford to pay it, or even to pay it twice, and maybe they do get a lot of people trying to claim they paid when they didn't, but I paid it, I did.
*I have borrowed 50+ books from them in the first half of this year. Didn't finish all of them, but it does indicate I am familiar with how it works.

As I drove home, I was thinking that if the system still says I owe it the next time I'm in, I'm going to have to stand at the desk until they can prove to me that it's really off this time.

And then I got home and when I looked at my account, the hold is still there. That they said multiple times they would have to cancel now. Still there.

Okay.

I checked the other library I have a card to, and they have the book, so I'll get it from them. But do I have to be the one to cancel the hold at the library here? 

Why, Yes, I AM a Crazy Person. Knitter. Whatever.

When I was writing up my recent guest post for NGS, one of the things I mentioned knitting was the 2-in-1 socks, and apparently thinking of it woke the I-should-do-that-again feeling that had been slumbering in me since I finished the first ones. I can't really explain why. You do it once to prove you can, but doing it again? Hmmm.

The pattern strongly suggests using yarn that you can start in two different colors, like different points in self-striping yarn, and that is totally true. My yarn choice the first time was not good in that regard, but this time, I knew better.

I wound up this beautiful colorway, trifolium, in the Continuum yarn from String Theory Colorworks.

So pretty. It rolls through red, orange, yellow, green, purple.

I wound that off into two balls, and cast on. Separate at first:

And then combined.

And a while later, I had this:

See? One inside the other.

I checked frequently to make sure they weren't crossed anywhere.

The ribbing is...well, it's a total PITA. When you get to the body of the socks, you're knitting the inside sock and purling the outside sock, so the two working yarns stay where they are, front and back. But in order to do one-by-one ribbing, you have to move the front yarn in, knit a stitch, move the yarn back, knit the inside stitch, purl the outside stitch, then bring the back yarn forward to purl the inside stitch, then put the back yarn behind again. And then do it again. And again.

The pattern says to do an inch of ribbing, and adds: "You could work for longer, but you probably won't want to." Word.

By the time you give up on the ribbing and switch to the plain stockinette, it almost doesn't seem like a crazy thing to be doing.

Almost.

So. I have no reasons. But this is what I'm doing. Apparently.