But, really, the dog comes first
Not Knitting
Decadence
Nov 26th
Dictionary.com, definition:
–noun
1. the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay: Some historians hold that the fall of Rome can be attributed to internal decadence.
2. moral degeneration or decay; turpitude.
3. unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence:
4.(often initial capital letter) the decadent movement in literature.
10 on Tuesday: The Gluttony Edition
Nov 23rd
Ten things I love about Thanksgiving:
1. pumpkin pie
2. apple pie
3. lemon meringue pie (because the myer lemons were in early this year)
4. pecan pie (because, you know, after the first three – why not?)
5. butternut squash soup
6. cranberry sauce
7. cranberry sauce with cream cheese on crackers (Picture on Thursday!)
(At about this point, I was embarrassed with my focus on food, pleased that I hadn’t freaked out about household clutter and undone yardwork, and wondering if Carole meant “things to be thankful for” and maybe I should “love” seeing tons of people and family and football.)
8. a walk in the woods
9. sunny crisp autumn weather
10. people and critters to share it with
10a. Dude (his list includes turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed taters, and whipped cream. He is eternally grateful that I like pie. I am grateful that he likes football.)
Aurora (her list includes walks in the woods, belly rubs, marrow bones, turkey livers, turkey necks, turkey parts and plate washing.)
Nickie (her list includes football (with its warm stationary belly to sleep on)
Ned (his list includes “increased household activity level” because that is just so interesting! I am grateful for Ned – he does keep the horizontal surfaces cleared off.)
Alas, alack, and woe is me …
Nov 21st
I seem to have missed autumn this year.
It’s not like I totally missed it – there were spots, here and there in my travels.
But nothing like walking in the woods, with dogs rustling in paths of gold, and the magic gleeful noisiness of so many leaves falling from trees at the same time.
/sigh
So, 5 weeks ago; my sister wondered if it would be warm enough to still plant my forsythia if she brought it to the Legal Interlude.
I assured her ‘no problem’.
(Then the car was full and it was a problem of a different sort.)
So, 2 weeks ago; my sister wondered if, the weekend after the Knitter’s Retreat/before Turkey Day was still o.k. to plant my forsythia (which had been resting and protected at Mom’s house):
Yup. I think it’ll be o.k.
Random other pix. (All taken this weekend – it was hard to miss. We’ve got a ton of yard work to catch up on.)
ooooh … I can just feel the waves of sympathy washing over me…
Drink Coffee
Nov 8th
I wrote this in a comment – in response to Mangofeet’s blog post about the time change yesterday. I decided it was a good line, and I should share:
I have reset the time on my watch 10 times in the last 5 weeks. (And there is one more time to go today. Two if you count the stopover in Phoenix.) I have no idea what time it actually is.
But if an alarm goes off, I drink coffee.
12 in 12: Part Two
Nov 7th
*This is the second installment in the 12 Books in 12 Monthes – a series designed to encourage reading books that I’ve been meaning to read for some time. (‘Where’s Part One?’ Good Question. Answer: it deserves more time and effort.)
Sun Tzu, The Art of War; translated and with an introduction by Samuel B. Griffith
I picked this book for the challenge because:
1. it had been hanging around a long time
2. I had tried to read it, several times, but failed to see the appeal. But,
3. it is a classic in Chinese literature (or, at least, military literature).
I’ve heard that much of the insight can be related to modern life – be it business, sports, or just living. I heard about this book in college (let’s not talk about how long ago that was.)
There are tidbits of wisdom inside but there is also much editorial comment. (Which is well done and scholarly, but it’s more a book about a book than just Sun Tzu’s Art of War.)
I read it twice – once, skipping all the editorial stuff (a very quick enjoyable read) and again, slower with all the editorial knowledge about how this came to be or what was happening in China 2000 years ago or how this line might be alternatively translated. All excellent info, especially for a college course, but it did detract from reading Sun Tzu himself.)
A number of reviewers (on-line) suggest re-reading it numerous times, to let it sink in and adapt to one’s own life.
I don’t think so.
However, best example (badly paraphrased):
Sun Tzu: [War] is a matter of vital importance … appraise it in terms of the five fundamental factors … moral influence, weather, terrain, command, and doctrine.
If I take “war” to mean life or actions, then this line becomes “appraise each {action) in terms of what is right or honorable, the larger climate in which one is operating, the immediate local environment, capabilites of self and ”doctrine”. (In the Title this word is translated as “Art” but in the text, translators (not just Griffith) tell me this word is “doctrine” which is law or method.)
That is good advice in any century.
However, the idealist in me must shut up point out: This book is about winning (and losing) and how to win. I hope to find myself creating more win-win situations than win-lose.
Alice’s Socks
Nov 6th
Although I married Dude, I had never actually met his sister, Alice. We’d talked and emailed – but never met in person.
So the first time I met Alice, was in hospice – just a few days ago. Her illness was sudden and traumatic. She was surrounded by family and flowers and gorgeous quilts a local quilting guild had made. (I learned later that Alice had spear-headed this effort. The Guild cleans and maintains all the quilts.)
Alice had asked for no other visitors – she told me it was so she could rest up for me.
When Dude and I arrived, she’d been been talking to her daughters. After greeting, we let them finish the conversation. I wished I knew everyone better – given the stress of the situation I didn’t want to offend anyone by knitting; but given the stress of the situation, I really wanted to knit.
My ears perked up: they were talking about quilts and UFO’s and stash and STABLE.
I had not realized that Alice was a Quilter. But the language she used (and explained for her muggle daughters) made me (only in my head) raise my arms in triumph and squee “My People!”
I immediately pulled my sock out of my purse and started knitting; I knew Alice wouldn’t mind and that was what mattered.
She finished the conversation: who gets which UFO and how Billy would help get the stash to the Quilting Guild and how the “girls” could finish the pieces she’d started.
And then Alice turned to me.
She asked about my sock (Gayle’s Art yarn, standard top down stockinette, intended for me).
Alice told me that her quilting friends had started knitting – socks, because it was portable.
And she’d watched them make tons of socks.
But she hadn’t received any. Because she wasn’t family.
And wasn’t that the prettiest sock yarn she did ever see.
About this time, I’d finished the gusset and was looking at the sock. I’d made the heel flap a bit long because my arches are so high. But I thought it might be a bit too big.
So I tried the socks on, over my existing socks. And yes, they were indeed too big.
So I asked, ‘Alice, what size shoe do you wear?’
This sock fits Alice.
Clearly these will be Alice’s socks.
It didn’t matter that she might never get to wear them, the likelihood that I, after a zillion socks for me, would get the size wrong, made this particular pair of socks destined for Alice..
I knit frantically all day and into the night. I knit at dinner. I finished the first sock and cast on for the second. I was afraid to finish (as if I my knitting would have some cosmic impact on Alice’s health.) I was afraid not to finish (as if Alice might wait for my socks). A quilting friend went out the next day and got me a darning needle so I could tie the ends in. I knit. I knit.
I didn’t make it. I wish I had known her better.
Alice Roberton (May 14, 1945 – October 24, 2010)
10 on Tuesday: The Simplified Edition
Nov 2nd
10 ways to simplify your life
0. Vote.
(This actually does nothing to simplify my life in this civic-minded town even with uncontested elections – we all (apparently) voted anyway. This means there was a line at the voting place and I have preserved my right to complain for the next year. So says Mangofeet.)
1. Clear the clutter (some help for that)
(If you check out the clutter blogs, one way to “trick” yourself into simplifying is to play a game: “I’m moving oversears”: what would you keep? what would you get rid of?
I find that young four-footed pets are good for this. A puppy chewing on every available surface clarifies very quickly what you really want, and what you don’t. )
2. Think.
Do the stuff you want to do. Organize/simplify the stuff you have to do. (Personally, I have paperwork issues and aspirational clutter issues.) Skip the rest.
3. Get the cats a new water fountain.
(It died a few months ago. It was ancient and I have been unable to replace the motor. Ned thinks that knocking items off the kitchen counter is a fine way to get our attention and get us to turn on the water. This is the very definition of chaos, not simplicity.)
4. Do Less. (Just say no.)
(Just stop. Take a break. No New Projects. For a while. No knitting, no gardens, no home improvement. I will rethink this strategy when the UFO and book queues are down in the (low) single digits and the calendar has some white space and I get bored.)
5. Read Elaine St James
I read the books when they came out. I didn’t take everything to heart but I have incorporated some of it so thoroughly, I only realized it when I scanned the chapter headings:
6. Drink water: I’ve never been a soda drinker and sugary drinks are high-caloric low-nutrition. Drink Water: cheaper, healthier.
7. Walk the Dog – exercise (for both of us), outdoors (both of us). (Caveat: It is hard to consider a diabetic samoyed “simple”.)
8. Use Speed Cleaning to clean.
9. Stop buying clothes that need to be dry cleaned.
(Let’s turn that into “knit your own sweaters – and hand-wash them.” Sure that’s simpler.)
10. Go for a walk in the woods.
Three More Random Things
Nov 1st
First: I couldn’t have said it better. Go read Panopticon and watch the video.
(Although, personally, I have pledged to myself to never promise to knit anyone anything at any time — too stressful. This does not mean that handknits are not gifted. It just might not match the season or event.)
Second: It is Nov 1st. (Yes, yesterday was Hallowe’en.) The Harlot’s furnace war is over for the year and Dude turned on the heat. (The two actually have nothing in common – it was getting cold in here and tonight should be frosty.)
Nickie thought it was way overdue.
Third: Random photo from Ireland: a map rock.
(hmmm … if you click on the photo, it will embiggen. It’s hard to see when it’s small.)
Random Adventures Post
Oct 31st
1. Adventures in Travel:
Dude and I are both home (weary, but home).
We spent the weekend prepping dog food and doing laundry – before leaving again. (For the first time, as I was folding laundry, I just dropped it back into the suitcase for the next trip.)
1a. We leave again on Thursday. At least, that is what the ticket says. I believe it may be too early in the morning to count as Thursday.
2. Adventures in Home Ownership:
Dude put up a new screen door. (The old one was broken in more ways than just the missing latch that Ned took advantage of for his personal adventures.) (It might be too cold for a screen door – but it is actually in direct sunlight and quite toasty warm … and Nickie loves impersonating a solar collector.)
2a. Ned has been body slamming testing the new latch.
3. Adventures in Cooking:
I made banana bread today. (How domestic of me, I know!)
3a. The microwave may be haunted: I put some butter in a dish to melt – it did. And then it turned off. And then something tipped the dish over onto its side and spilled the melted butter all over the microwave.
3b. Nickie promptly hopped in to do clean up duties.
3c. Aurora protested. I told her she didn’t fit in the microwave.
3d. Why did no one mention that the frozen bananas have to thaw before I can cook with them? (I was afraid to microwave them. They might explode. Or something. See 3a.) How is it that this is the first time I noticed?
4. Adventures in the Time-Space Continuum:
a) Hallowe’en??
Dude insisted: we hung a seasonal flag, popped a jack-o-lantern outside, and bought some candy. (I think he just wants the leftovers.)
Now we’re using the new screen door to give out candy without giving away Ned. Excellent. (Top half slides down leaving 1/2 of door open.)
b) I have exactly 36 hours between returning and leaving again for the Knitter’s Review Retreat. (I’d squee but I’m much too tired. At least I get to spend the next few evenings pondering the yarn stash and books and whatnot in preparation for the Stash Lounge.)
5. Adventures in Reading:
I finished my first book in the 12 in 12 series. Alas, I have not written the review. /sigh It’s about writing – it deserves a proper review.
6. Adventures in Knitting:
a) I found the yarn:
b) I restocked my emergency sock knitting. (See, I’ve all ready started reviewing the stash.)
c) I have not progressed on the sleeves. (Maybe a desert island would help.)
d) I figured out a pattern for the Red Scarf Project:
Ten on Tuesday: the Hallowe’en edition
Oct 26th
Ten ways to enjoy Hallowe’en
1. Jack o’Lanterns (or, if you prefer, pumpkins!)
2. Stock up on candy (preferably non-chocolate), turn on the porch light, and watch the stream of kids in costumes.
3. Decorate the dog. (I think Aurora will be Best Dog this year.)
4. Admire the seasonal decorations.
5. Drink hot apple cider (spiked is good!)
6. Skip the trick or treaters, save the candy (preferably the chocolate variety) for yourself.
7. Make the house dark, turn on a movie and ignore the door. (This is most useful for those with dogs who are terrified of small urchins in costume.)
8. Peruse the web for pets in costume.
9. uh… er… Make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!
10. Stalk the stores for the post-Hallowe’en candy sales.
