Bringing Up the Rear

So... I still haven't told you about Rhinebeck, have I? Rhinebeck was, well, Rhinebeck: familiar scenes, vivid moments with people I see all too rarely, and a touch of the completely bizarre.


The bizarre was foreshadowed on the Friday morning, when I saw this next to my front walk after shipping Taz off to school. Snow, not just in the air but on the ground, on October 16. It didn't last long, though, and, inauspicious omen or not, Ruth and I couldn't wait to begin our adventure. We left around 3:00, and our trip out was uneventful.

And then we were there...









...and then it was time to go.

As we drove up the Taconic we admired the sunset over the Catskills, a strip of blue on the western horizon portending better weather coming our way.


Not soon enough, alas. The snow started in the Berkshires and followed us almost all the way home.


And what remains? A bunch of great memories, and, of course, the loot. Left to right: superwash merino fluff from a vendor I always visit but whose name I can never remember; Briar Rose Legend in a purple/mustard colorway that somehow twanged my color sense — I who steadfastly maintain that I hate yellows and browns could not resist this, probably because of the purple — Briar Rose alpaca laceweight; Bearfoot in a solid plum and a colorway called Heather that I'd never seen before.

Bring on the snow: I'm ready.

Alchemy

Squares...


become strips...




become blankets.


That's why I've done the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon three years in a row, and that's why I dragged Kathy and Rachel into it. (Many thanks to them and especially to Kathy's lovely daughter, whom Kathy dragged into it and who is an all-around good sport.)

My fundraising page will stay up for another few weeks.

Saturday Sky

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-- Robert Frost

Eye Candy Friday

Thankful Thursday

Last year, when I was posting every day, now and then I listed things I was thankful for. Now, with inspiration from Kate, the ever-inventive Carole has created a new weekly theme just for the month of November: Thankful Thursday. I never met a theme I didn't like, especially when posting every day, and I love to count my blessings, so I am all over this one. I am thankful for:


Grant, who is clever and creative, and also cuddly.


Miss B, who is bold and brave, and also funny.


Taz, who is just cool.

Clueless

You may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much lately, recently going over six weeks with nary a peep. Since it's November, I thought I'd try NaNoBloMo (or whatever it's called: I can never keep these things straight), and I thought I'd have plenty of material, since there was so much I failed to blog about, and some of it is still (reasonably) relevant. So today I was going to show you some nice Rhinebeck pictures, including my ill-gotten loot, but I find I'm not in the mood.

Last spring Maine became the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriage, but put actual implementation on hold until the results of a ballot question were in. I've spent quite a bit of time in Maine, and it is a fairly conservative state, especially the farther north and the more rural you get; but it's also a "you mind your business and I'll mind mine" kind of place, so I had high hopes. Yesterday voters repealed the measure.

I'm sad, and I don't understand. What possible benefit can come from depriving gay couples of a basic civil right? How is it your business that gay couples want to be able to be each other's emergency contact and insurance beneficiary, raise kids together, live together, sit at their spouse's hospital bedside? Your church doesn't recognize same-sex marriages? It doesn't have to perform or celebrate them. (In all states that have passed same-sex marriage so far churches can legally opt out.) You don't recognize same-sex marriages? You don't have to invite the happy couples to dinner, and I hope you'll forgive me if I don't invite you to dinner either.

One of my Facebook buddies brought this site to my attention this morning. The idea is simple: since most states don't recognize same-sex marriage, let's not recognize marriage at all. Now, I don't think I can pull this off, especially living in Massachusetts, but try a thought experiment: consider of some of the married couples you see all the time, your friends, your coworkers, your parents, your kids. Replace the word husband or wife with boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other, partner, or longtime companion. It diminishes them somehow, doesn't it? That's how it's always been for gay people. I can't believe I never thought of it in quite those terms before. What do you mean, boyfriend? He's my husband. Denying same-sex couples the right to marry doesn't make him more so; in fact I think it makes him less so.

The only comfort I can find is that time is on our side. As time goes on, as the sky over Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire stubbornly refuses to fall, as young people get older and the children of same-sex marriages continue to flourish, the tide will turn. It can't come soon enough for me.

Ten on Tuesday

This is an easy one.

Ten Ways to Waste Time on the Internet

1. Collecting Shakespearean insults to hurl at my friends. Thou caluminous rampallian maggot-pie!
   
2. Web Sudoku.
   
3. Visiting favorite pron sites. (It's not what you think. OK, on second thought, if you know me it probably is what you think.)
   
4. Working on my Internet startup business plan.
   
5. Two words: Bejeweled Blitz. I'm not linking this one: if you don't know how to find it yourself, I'm not about to enable you.
   
6. Facebook. See #5.
   
7. Looking up my driver's license. (Yes, you can really do this online. Kinda scary in a way.)
   
8. Online shopping.
   
9. Blog-hopping. I read knitting blogs and political blogs, and I can start with one of either type and spend the whole day linking and reading and linking and.... Sometimes I can even go from knitting to politics and back again.
   

   And my all-time favorite...
   
   

10. I'll bet you know without touching this link. And if you do touch it, I am not responsible.

Taking a Hike

Right after Miss B started school a call went out for volunteers to chaperone her team on a field trip to Mount Wachusett. I had chaperoned her second-grade class on two such trips, and I had fond memories of an easy hike up a wide, gently sloping trail. I was in better shape then, but I figured the exercise could do me good. Grant, who didn't go on the second-grade hikes but who has been working out three or four times a week for the last year or so, also signed up. Then we forgot about it until a week ago last Friday, when Miss B informed me that she didn't need lunch money because of the field trip. "What fie... yikes," I replied, and ran upstairs to put on my long johns. (This turned out to be my smartest decision all day. I may have been slow, but I was warm.)

The first thing we learned when we got to school was that the kids were divided into groups of five, and that we would be hiking several different trails up the mountain, with three or four groups assigned to each trail. "One trail gets really steep toward the end," said one of the teachers on our bus. "I hope I don't get that one."

The bus missed the trailhead the first time, so we began our hike a bit later than the other groups. We had a nice group of kids (not including Miss B, who preferrred to be in a different group), and the first two-thirds of the trail was easy.


The kids had a list of items to find and photograph, which included one interesting thing of their choice. They picked this enormous fallen tree.

Shortly after that the trail began to get steeper, and steeper, until we realized that this was probably the abovementioned "really steep part," and for the last couple of hundred yards I was very glad Grant was there: I wasn't talking to the kids, or anyone else for that matter, because I needed all my breath for breathing. I made it to the top, just barely, and I collapsed onto a picnic bench and enjoyed the view for a few minutes while the kids went off to explore.


It was some view, I have to admit. I recovered enough to take some pictures, and then I walked over to join everyone else. All the other groups but one got to the top before we did, and we were just pulling out our bag lunches when the teachers announced that it was time to start hiking down... except for us. Because of our delayed start we got to take a few minutes to eat, and then we rode the bus back down.

It was great fun, except of course for that last couple of hundred yards up. I would do it again. But just in case I get the chance I'm going to make a lot more use of the local conservation land from now on. Time for walkies!

November Already?

That's a lot scarier than the ghoulies and ghosties who came to our house last night, although some of them were pretty scary too. (No politician masks this year, though.) If it's November, that means it's almost time for the third annual Pine Street Inn Knit-a-Thon. The Pine Street Inn in Boston is best known as a homeless shelter, but they also have programs that help people move off the street permanently. The blankets we put together next Sunday will be gifts to people in the Pine Street Inn's supportive housing program.


Since I'm also working on other knitting deadlines, I've pledged to make just ten squares this year. The two in front are mine; the other three were sent to me by the utterly fabulous kmkat. I'm also leading a team of crochet assemblers, having suggested to the organizer that we could crochet some blankets together instead of seaming (since, to be perfectly blunt, I suck at the latter).

So, I know you are asking, "how can I help?" If you live in the Boston area, you can participate in the Knit-a-Thon; email me for details. If that doesn't work for you, guess what? I have a fundraising page. Give a lot or a little, but please give! Team Crochet thanks you.

Ten on Tuesday

Hi! Surprise: I'm back. I'd gotten out of the habit of blogging, and while I have plenty of material to catch up on (alpacas, knitting, Rhinebeck, and that's just for starters), I'm easing back in as gracefully as possible with...

Ten Favorite Movie Moments

1. A Fish Called Wanda: Otto realizes simultaneously that 1) Ken seriously intends to run him over with a steamroller 2) he is up to his ankles in cement.
   
2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding: "I'm a snow beast."
   
3. Back to the Future: George cold-cocks Biff, then stares incredulously at his fist. (I've had several such moments while playing sports. No, I've never knocked anyone out, but once in a blue moon my body shocks me by doing exactly what I want it to.)
   
4. To Kill a Mockingbird: "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."
   
5. 28 Days: GracieGwen bids Jasper goodbye, both sad and happy that he and the person she's become don't know each other. (Edit: The character's name is Gwen, not Gracie. I got my Sandra Bullock characters mixed up.)
   
6. Tootsie: Michael begins to realize that what he thinks of as his kindness toward Sandy is exactly the same as what he thinks of as Ron's cruelty toward Julie. (It's hard to single out one moment when this happens, as it's a process throughout the movie. It would have been nice to show Michael treating Sandy as a human being toward the end, but of course that would have disrupted the nice fluffy romantic arc with Julie.)
   
7. The Birdcage: Albert, entirely comme il faut in a white shirt, dark suit, tie, and dress shoes, crosses his legs to reveal that he is wearing pink socks.
   
8. Pretty Woman: Edward discovers that Vivian has been secretly using dental floss.
   
9. Breaking Away: Dave works all night oiling and adjusting the crummy bike the Cutter team has been issued, turning it into a fine machine.
   

   And my all-time favorite:

10. Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Sir Bedevere scrutinizes the peasant who claims that the witch turned him into a newt.

Thought for the day: I have many favorite movie dramas and tragedies, but it's a lot more fun picking favorite moments from comedies. I could have picked several from most of these.

A Little Learning

...is not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I drove down to Carole's neck of the woods to take a workshop on fiber photography with Gale. The woman is amazing. She talked about lighting and backgrounds and depth of field and all kinds of stuff that I never think about at all, or if so only in a "let's get out there before it gets any darker" way, and then I just put my subject where I want it, take 40 million pictures from lots of different angles and hope for the best. Now, with luck, I can be a little smarter about it.

Gale began by showing us some of her photos for her book, Shear Spirit, talking about lighting and angles and backgrounds and how to make everything add up. Then we went outside and took pictures of our yarn and/or knitting (which we had been asked to bring, and by some miracle I remembered them, and my laptop, and even my camera).



This is the best picture I took all day, of fellow participant and extremely agreeable model Lisa sporting Sibyl. I asked her to wear the scarf because it went so well with her shirt, but draping it that way was her totally brilliant idea.

Thanks, Lisa! Thanks, Carole! Thanks, Gale!

Saturday Sky: Lake Storm

Recovering

Again, seems like I'm starting every post this way lately (every post that has words, anyway), thank you, everyone, for all your kind wishes. Taz and I came home from the hospital early Saturday afternoon, and he's had no ambition since, but he looks a whole lot better. Apparently this flu can dehydrate a person very fast, and all he needed was tons of fluids. I felt a bit silly, since we could have done that at home, but everyone including the hospital staff and his pediatrician has assured me that we didn't mess up and the hospital was the right place for him at that moment.

Meanwhile, I have a slight but definite sore throat; I called my doctor's office and got put on Tamiflu, no questions asked. So far I have no other symptoms, and Grant and Miss B are fine. I've been cleared to work at home this week, as our CEO is completely paranoid about germs. That's a good thing, as long as I don't become deathly ill, of course. And our babysitter is feeling much better and will probably be able to come tomorrow, so I can devote my full attention to getting some work done.

Just One Damned Thing After Another

We had to cut our sojourn in Rangeley short by a couple of days when our (wonderful, fabulous) babysitter came down with swine flu. Today Taz was extremely lethargic, showing no inclination to eat, talk, or move, so Grant took him to the doctor this afternoon and discovered that he has the flu too. He has none of the standard flu symptoms and seems to be dehydrated despite having had what I would normally think would be adequate fluids, so he's in the hospital (not Children's, fortunately, our local community hospital) overnight for observation, and I'm here with him.

Let's hear it for hospital wifi.