Random Photos:Food

The pattern? Berries and beer...

Saturday

Boy-child made breakfast this morning:

Here is the washable cast:

Typing is too much of an effort when I've nothing much to say (which is most of the time...hmmm)

Two-Fer

So it turns out that my first broken bone is two broken bones.

I went to the orthopedic specialist yesterday and was delighted to discover no surgery will be required...makes the two broken bones look like the best news ever. The bones in question are the radius and the scaphoid.

I'm sure they told me all of that on Monday in the emergency room but I was too dazed to retain the information.

At any rate, I got a purple cast (as in, When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple). Girl-child started decorating it last night. The other good news is that the cast is water-proof, so I don't have to bother with plastic bags when I shower. She also mentioned that I was sure to figure out a way to knit with the cast. "You mean if I figure it out I can knit?!?" I asked. "Sure," she replied.

Woot! I did several rounds on a hat last night.

Picture forthcoming.

Keep Calm

Sarah at the libraries sent me the link to this Keep Calm and Carry Yarn poster. I wonder if, perhaps, she understands that I knit so that I don't kill people. (the poster is sold out, btw)

• My staff and my family are in grave danger
• I go to the orthopedic surgeon's office tomorrow
• I am hoping surgery is not necessary
• If I can not knit in the future unless I have surgery I will have to submit
• The doctor in the emergency room said either way it was going to be 6-8 weeks
• We can only hope that my family, friends, staff and I survive the ordeal
• I am not very good at being helped
• Thanks again, Susan, for putting up with me
  

On the bright side, Boy-child is being forced to learn his way around the kitchen. Yesterday was cookies. He does not like to bake. Today was chili. He likes to cook.

Icy Morning

I knew this was going to happen :-(

On Being Smart

I received this delightful email today (thanks Noel):

Recently, in a large city in Australia ,
a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.
It said, "This summer,
do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman,
whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster,
responded publicly to the question
posed by the gym.


To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.)
They have an active sex life,
get pregnant and have adorable baby whales.
They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.
They play and swim in the seas,
seeing wonderful places like Patagonia ,
the Bering Sea
and the coral reefs of Polynesia .
Whales are wonderful singers
and have even recorded CDs.
They are incredible creatures
and virtually have no predators
other than humans.
They are loved, protected and admired
by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don't exist.
If they did exist,
they would be lining up outside the offices
of Argentinean psychoanalysts
due to identity crisis. Fish or human?
They don't have a sex life
because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex?
Just look at them ... where is IT?
Therefore, they don't have kids either.
Not to mention,
who wants to get close to a girl who smells
like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me:
I want to be a whale.

P..S.. We are in an age
when media puts into our heads
the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends.

With time, we gain weight
because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads
that when there is no more room,
it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.
So we aren't heavy,
we are enormously cultured,
educated and happy.
Beginning today,
when I look at my derrier in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

Beautification Project

You may recall that last November, on an outing that was art filled and inspiring, Girl-child and I tagged a bleak corner of our fair city, leaving a small splash of colorful fun over I94:
This week Girl-child, Friend and I went back to the fence. We hope to add to it regularly, in an attempt to transform the drab space into a cheery corner. We chose the brightest yarn we could find.
Although interrupted briefly by a friendly police officer who was concerned that we may be throwing ourselves or objects off the overpass and into the oncoming traffic, I reassured him that such was not the case. I also took the initiative to educate him on what we were doing. The nice young man, seeing that I was not unlike his mother, took the lesson well and drove away while we finished up.

Hopefully there will be more to come.

Never Again

Tomorrow is the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Let's not forget, or get complacent.

There's a party to celebrate tonight, which I was thinking about attending, but it's raining out. Rain in January in Minnesota is an ugly thing. I'm not going.

I had an interesting conversation with Boy-child the other day about abortion, though. He has a friend who is twenty. The twenty year old just found out that several years ago a girlfriend of his had an abortion, but didn't tell him about it. The friend was having conflicting feelings about the fact that the girl didn't tell him at the time. Boy-child and I ended up having an interesting discussion about it all, which included an exchange that went something like this:

Boy-child - Do you think that girl should have told him that she was pregnant?

Soxanne - It's too bad that she didn't think she could share the information with him at the time. I'm sure she had her reasons.

BC - Do you know anyone who's had an abortion?

S - Yes.

BC - How many?

S - I'm not sure. Half a dozen maybe, that I can think of.

BC - Do I know any of them?

S - Yes.

BC - Who?

S - That's not for me to divulge.

BC - (pause) Yes, I see that's true.

It's interesting to see him processing it all.

I was 13 in 1973, still going to catechism classes once a week; I was quite confused about it at the time. I guess the catechism wasn't convincing, given that I ended up volunteering for Planned Parenthood and The Red Shirts.

Uff-da

Been soooo busy. Not sure with what. We'll go Sheepish Annie-style with bullets today.

• Girl-child is home from Chile
• She stayed one night and was off to her own place again
• Boy-child may be sick
• Too much celebrating the success of last week's presentation
• Part of the celebration was making cookies and sending them to a friend of Boy's
• Apparently the friend never had anyone make cookies for him before
• I find this very sad
• Boy and I saw Abrazos Rotos and it was great
• Girl and I saw Julie and Julia which we enjoyed very much
• All of us saw Sherlock Holmes, which was good but too long
• Who knew Sherlock Holmes could be done with action, special effects and good-looking men?
• I have two sleeves on the cardigan
• Only the button-band to go
• And buttons too, I suppose
• Today is the first day of the semester
• I have a new student to start training
• Short week - woot!
  

More later, possibly with photos.

Pact

So they deserved it? I don't understand!?!

Honestly. Boggles the mind.

Beautiful Day

Today was one of those rare, perfect days.

It started out foggy which meant everything was heavily frosted and very gray early on. Then the sun came out and for the moment before the frost melted we had beautiful scenes everywhere with a backdrop of clear, blue sky.

The sun quickly melted the frost and it was gone.

The middle part of the day was maybe not so perfect, but tolerable.

Then after dinner I went to Boy-child's school to watch presentations. There was a delightful young woman who did her senior project on comics. She was great. Then there were two boys who gave slightly painful presentations, one on Roman Culture and another on Why Humans Can't Live on Venus. Then Boy-child did a presentation on The Geography of WWII. (Sorry about the bad picture, but there is always resistance to photo taking and I was going with a minimalist approach). He did a great job.
This is a better photo of the map. He used game pieces, blocks and whatever was available to help with the illustration of troop movement, invasion, occupation and constantly changing borders.
It's pretty hard to believe he was about to drop out of school a year ago. I'm glad he's found a good place. He was so excited about the project, he loved doing it, he learned a lot and he was obviously proud of his work. And rightly so. His mom is proud too. And thanks, Nicole, for joining us.

Cold Weather

It's been pretty cold here. Not much fun to go out. Knitting has helped me a lot as far as keeping me calm during what used to be weeks of cabin fever.

This is what the bus stop looked like yesterday as I trudged from the dentist's office to work:

This past week I have been entertaining myself with Mad Men and knitting new glittens for Girl-child. I fear I forgot a lot about how to make these and the second one is much better built than the first, but we'll see. The scrap yarn line across the one on the right is where the mitten cap will be attached.
She's due back from Chile in a little over a week, so we'll see how they fit then.

My dear friend, Susan, does not knit but she does work with clay. This is what she made us for Christmas - sheep for the knitter, salt and pepper set because we have a collection.
In fact, maybe I'll photograph some others from the collection to show just like I did with the ornaments. Stay tuned.

And another excellent winter activity: Puzzles. I received this one for Christmas. I love maps and I love Paris.
I have not, however, gotten very far with it yet.
We warmed up enough yesterday and today to get a little snow. Tomorrow we're supposed to be in the deep freeze again. I guess I'll either get going on the puzzle or finish the glittens. Or both. Depends on how long the cold snap lasts.

Wingnuts of the Year

(thank you, Susan, for the link)

I have nothing to add.

An Exceptionally Silly Quiz

It's too cold out to do anything so here's a very silly quiz.

Your result for Which Lenore Character are you test?...

Ragamuffin

20 Lenore, 20 Lenore, 10 MrGosh, 20 Pooty and 56 Ragamuffin!

Ragamuffin can at first sight look like a ragdoll with worms for hair and polyesterfilling, but he has a very interesting story and personality. Ragamuffin was an immortal vampire who fed upon the flesh of the living. One night he attacked a young woman and ate her, but unfortunately, her sister, who happened to be a powerful witch, witnessed the attack. The witch cursed him and transformed him into a doll. A drop of Lenore's blood eventually returned him to consciousness, but since her blood was mixed with embalming fluid the curse was only partially lifted: he will never cease to be a doll. ( He lives with Lenore in her old mansion and has the doubtful pleasure of being a patient attendant on her many adventures.

Ragamuffin is a little unsure of some of Lenore's crazier ideas and is oddly enough the occasional voice of reason. Still, Ragamuffin is very loyal to Lenore,

Take Which Lenore Character are you test? at HelloQuizzy

Post-Holiday Knitting

Back to knitting now that the holidays are over.

This is a pair of socks for Boy-child - same yarn as Mr. Peters, the original sock monkey. The sock was started just before Christmas. Can't imagine what I was thinking.
Today I cast on a new pair of glittens for Girl-child.
I also finished a hat for Boy-child's friend Peter.
I made one of these for Boy and he wears it all the time. The pattern is simple and quick.
And the RTW cardigan now has a sleeve:
I finished this a week or two ago - thanks again, Rosemary. I loooovvvee the yarn and I think this pattern was perfect for it:
One more day of the long weekend to knit a few more stitches...