Can I whine?

It snowed again this morning.

My cold won't end. My side hurts from coughing. 

I submitted three job applications this morning. 

I don't feel like writing.

1st place

All he had to do was "place" to get to Nationals in Dallas. He won first.

The first question he drew was about Asian airlines. My boy knows that topic.  I wish I could have heard it.

Our snow patch

Our narrow driveway doesn't get the sun so the snow is slow to melt. I did get the car out.

Later that morning my neighbor called to tell me that he hoped I didn't mind that he put some snow on our drive. "No, it'll melt." 

He tends melting snow banks around his house, sending a shovel into the icy heaps to break it up so that it will melt faster. Then it occurs to me. Under that mound of snow between his house and our drive is his garden patch. 

Can there be anyone as optimistic as a gardener?

My two purple socks

I did get some knitting on my purple socks this weekend. On the first sock, I switched to the grey for half the foot, hoping that I would have enough purple to get at least the top of the leg. I didn't switch soon enough.

I should have my sister write a guest post on losing and finding my knitting in the airport.

Bloom in the rain

From our visit yesterday. Spring has come to Texas. 

A long day of traveling

The plane was delayed. We were waiting for the hotel shuttle in the pouring rain. One marked van after another passed through. It was just like any other airport. Then I looked across the lanes to the landscaping on the other side. It took quite a bit to make the bushes out, through the rain, in the dark.

Everybody together now: "The Yellow Rose of Texas..."

A new skill

I can wind yarn that unwinds from the center. What a great idea!

I wrap a large needle, twisting it as I go. Secure the outside end when you finish winding. Slip it off the needle.  Pull the yarn from the center of the ball. It sits nicely and doesn't roll around.

Has everyone been doing this all along? Thanks to newstitchaday.com for enlightening me.

View from my window during mud season

The sun encourages the blooms of my begonia.

Orion and me

On my walk last night, the sky was clear enough to see the stars. I turned around and looked up and there was Orion with his belt hanging over me.

I thought back to a time when we first moved to Canyon and were subscribing to the morning paper. I remember a specific morning, running out in the dark in my nightclothes,  snatching the paper on the sidewalk, turning around and looking up. There was Orion overlooking our roof.

It is comforting to know that Orion is still up there after so many spins of the earth.

Blame it on Bach

I love waking up early on Sunday morning so that I can drowsily listen to a radio show called "Pipe Dreams" on my local PBS station at 6 a.m. I usually fall back asleep and miss the second half hour. This week it was titled "Bach in America".  It was sublime. The objection that I have with my station is that they broadcast only the first hour of the two hour show.

I have discovered that a station from Schenectady that I stream plays the full two hours  8-10 p.m. on Sunday nights.  This week, I decided to go for my walk listening to it. The sidewalks are mostly clear of ice. I needed to get a good workout in. I pumped it to Bach.

After I got home, I continued listening as I got ready for bed. And indeed, fell asleep with the last notes from the show. However my sleep was disturbed in the night with leg and hip pains from overexertion.

I blame it on Bach.

And then there were 11

My good friend B suggested that I register. "People will want to give you gifts." By registering, I could let them know what my intended and I wanted. Suiting our tastes, and not wanting to seem pretentious, we picked out stoneware, flatware and stemware to use everyday. In those days before online registries, it took some coordinating of our families and friends in Michigan, Texas and Louisiana.  They were very generous. What we weren't given, we were able to complete using monetary gifts.

I would like to send a message back in time to those dear people that their best wishes were not for naught. We are still using the gifts everyday. Well most of them.

I suppose it's strange to note my wedding anniversary by counting something other than years. As you might expect items we use most frequently have broken through the years. We have only one tumbler, five dinner plates and six soup bowls and wine glasses.

Not long ago, I knocked the top shelf of my cabinet and one of my sherbet glasses crashed to the counter. They aren't used frequently. Now there are eleven stashed up high.

I haven't counted my spoons recently. I'm sure we still have most of them. Certainly enough to last us another thirty years.

Meeting for breakfast

I splurged and had breakfast on Saturday at the local bagel shop. I don't do it very often. In fact, I had to look at their menu to see what they served.

I looked around as I found a seat. On Saturday, there were more families, fewer students. There were a couple of tables of women meeting.

I miss that. Over the years, in the different places I've lived, I had standing breakfast meetings with good women friends. I haven't taken time to nurture those sorts of relationships lately. The internet is wonderful for keeping up with people, but I miss sitting across from the table from a good friend. It's hard to make connections in a new place.

Maybe I should add that to my list.

Looking underneath

I have been working on my beads: organizing, repairing, stringing.

Look underneath to the white flannel. It's a padded diaper that I made just about 18 years ago.

Unfinished

My socks have gone unfinished. I expected to have a let-down after finishing my cardigan. But these socks have dragged on.

I have been thinking about it and realize that often I procrastinate when the outcome doesn't have the same appeal as when I started.

In this case, I am worried that I won't have enough purple yarn to finish. I switched to grey for the toe of this first sock. I am not confident that I'll have enough to knit the top of the second.

I don't care if they match, but I have been dreaming of purple socks. Now I'll have grey socks with some purple.

Progress noted

Reducing stress, exercising daily and eating healthily are tools in controlling my diabetes. I have not always been able to keep my life in balance. In May of last year, I was out of a job. I needed to be healthy to face an uncertain future. In June, I started recording my daily walks on a fitness app on my iPhone. In September, I started this blog with the four simple simple rules to keep me on track.

Progress isn't quickly achieved. There were snow drifts blocking me from time to time. But progress is being made, nevertheless.

I went to the doctor this week. My lab results were great. I'm down twenty pounds. My doctor said she was proud of me. 

I'm proud of me. This is the most important struggle in my life, for a healthy future. I can't wait to get out hiking on the hills above my home.

When?

I'm starting a pool on when we get the car unburied.

One problem is that the sun doesn't get to the driveway between the houses. But a couple of days above freezing makes progress. You can now see the side mirrors.

Just for the record, the truck is behind the car.

Sewing sister

I walked downtown. I decided to go all the way down to the Salvation Army, just to look. I started on the side wall with all the glass and dishes sorted by color, candy for the eye. Later came the books and soon I realized that a sewing sister had given up her treasures: Patterns, trims, notions, even a pressing pad. I circled around to the checkout and saw it behind the cashier's shoulder in the front window, a Singer Featherweight. Asked to see it. Noted the serial number so that I could look it up. It was in good condition, well cared for, not overly used. It had been tagged for a couple months and the price was reduced $100, but still very pricy. It was marked "no color" meaning it wouldn't be included in the daily sale where certain color tags are half off.

I left without buying anything, mindful that someday my treasures will end up at the Salvation Army.

A Parisienne breakfast

Memories flooded over me this morning as I saw chocolate croissants for sale at my grocery store. I remember our trip to Paris in 2008. We stayed at a delightful small hotel with breakfast in the basement. It was a good breakfast laid out with many healthy options. They also had chocolate croissants. I knew I was apt to over-indulge and waited to have one on our last morning. It was worth the wait.

I won't say I wasn't tempted this morning. But memories have no calories.

The early morning shadow

An oddly shaped shadow of my house appeared out my upstairs window. I put my coat over my nightgown and went out to investigate. I thought it might be icicles. It was the porch ceiling pillar.

Disposable

I went for my blood work. I noticed that the phlebotomist was wearing a coat made of that non-woven material so often used in shopping bags now. I suppose it's made out of recycled polypropylene. The coat wasn't insubstantial. It had ribbed cuffs and snaps.

I asked her about it. She said that she had concern about the effectiveness of laundering traditional lab coats.

The whole interaction gave me pause.

My concern grows about our disposable society. Don't get me going about K-cups.

Return address I don't want to see

We got a letter from the IRS. It wasn't bad news. They do know what is going on in my household, don't they?

Decision made

I'm not keeping old T-shirts with pictures/logos on them. I don't work for these places anymore. I've moved on. I can't be sentimental. Even the cute Girl Scout one has to go. They all have to go. I'm not making a T-shirt quilt of them. There is no need to keep them.

This almost 60 year old needs to dress with more dignity.

I hope spring comes soon

The deer are stripping all the green on our bushes.

Choices: what to stream

We don't watch a lot of current TV. I do monitor my newsfeed, keeping up with what is current.

I did watch the first two seasons of House of Cards. I look at my Netflix homepage and I see season 3 ready and waiting for me. The picture of Frank and Clare on Air Force One gave me pause.  I just have to be emotionally committed before I can start it. There are 13 episodes. There's no character to root on. Do you know what I mean?

On the other hand, I saw that Parks and Recreation has just finished to fond farewells. I have now watched a couple of episodes. I'm not sucked in yet. It just is goofy with a hand held camera that drives me nuts. How long do I have to watch before I start caring for the characters? Like Barney Miller care? Do I want to commit to six seasons?

What to do? What to do? Or should I watch Parenthood?

What I am wearing at home

I'm not on the beach anymore.
How does one accessorize a flannel nightgown?
Wool clogs with hand-knitted socks carry over the stipe motif.

Thaw?

I looked at the forecast. The red squiggly line passes above the blue horizontal on Wednesday. Rain coming, too.
The word is out. Spring thaw begins on Wednesday.