Summer in the City

I've been knitting furiously in an attempt to reach the armpits of a summer-weight sweater before starting my impossible schedule. I made it. Although it seems unlikely that I will finish the sweater before October, I will knit on.
I continue to enjoy the sights to and from the bus stop, around campus and in my yard.




Pato and I saw the movie, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I thought they did a good job with it. Pato liked it even though he hasn't read the books.

I recently saw Reds as well. I don't think I'd seen it since it came out; I found it at the library and checked it out since I remember liking it. It was great. You should watch it if you haven't, and revisit it if you haven't seen it lately.

My decadent TV of late has been watching The Tudors. What a nasty lot they were. Very entertaining. Great costumes.

And speaking of TV, I can't see a rider mower, and I get upset when I see someone mowing the lawn in flip flops, ever since watching the Mad Men scene with the rider mower at the party. I think that show scarred me for life.

Phone Call

The phone rang very early this morning.

I had that feeling.

You know what I'm talking about.

It was Girl-child calling from Ghana to say hello.

What a relief!

What fun.

Turns out she was having nightmares about bad things happening here.

She had to know we were all ok.

I guess I'm not the only one having a hard time adjusting to no communication for a month.

She's doing great.

Witty Barbs and Retorts

(Ooohhh, I like this one!)

Your result for The Who's Your Classic Film Alter Ego? Test...

Bette Davis

32% SexAppeal, 47% Comedic and 0% Gender!

Fasten your safety belts, your alter ego is Betty Davis, the queen of American drama and a mighty wielder of witty barbs and retorts. Betty was a tough woman, not an easy one to be reckoned with; and neither are you!

Take The Who's Your Classic Film Alter Ego? Test at HelloQuizzy

And speaking of film, I hope to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo this weekend...

Isabella Rossellini's Green Porn

Isabella Rossellini has done a series on animal attraction called, "Seduce Me"

This is the bedbug issue:



You can check them all out here.

Ironies

Irony the First

It is hotter in the Twin Cities than it is in Accra, Ghana. Really. I have my iGoogle page set up with current temps in both cities and today is the second day in a row that it's hotter here. Of course, we broke a record here and it's not as humid as it is in Ghana, but still. Ironic.

Irony the Second

This one is tragic. You know that oil well that is deep under water and far off shore and proving nearly impossible to plug up and stop? They drill deep and far from shore because of environmental issues with drilling near the shore. If it weren't so deep and far they wouldn't be having such a hard time getting it under control. (thanks Pato)

Irony the Third

We were in a little traffic jam the other night. Turned out there was a state trooper and two cars pulled off to the side on the exit ramp. Do you know what the person in front of us did? He rear-ended the person in front of him. We all heard the big crunch. Even the trooper who was standing right there. Bummer. Then there were four cars and a state trooper pulled over.

Shop Hop Weekend

It was the annual shop hop weekend here in the Twin Cities. No, I didn't have to go. But I did.

I found lots of novelty yarn, which is good for tagging, in the sale bins.

I found some very bright green sock yarn, which I think Girl-child will like.
Temptation is hard to resist.
I am hopeless.
For works in progress, this is my no-brainer for the summer; it's a silk scarf in a fish net pattern. Actually, the pattern is called Montego Bay and the color of the yarn is Hummingbird. It's looking nice and the yarn is yummy.

I think I forgot to mention the socks that were interrupted by the broken wrist were finished while I was in physical therapy. They're for Boy-child, who likes his reinforced toes and heels to be in a contrasting color.
And I whipped up another hat for Boy-child. I think by the end of winter he had given all of his hats away. I couldn't make him a new one though, because of the wrist. I am now prepared for fall. (It looks much better on, but today it's 87 degrees out, so you'll just have to imagine it).

And this is a cardigan. Really. You are looking at the back and part of the collar and shoulder.

I wonder when/if I'll ever finish it?

May Flowers and Fauna

Girl-child is in Ghana, Boy-child is finishing up his junior year in high school and I'm just trying to enjoy the walk to and from the bus stop.
I got a new job, but it's only half-time. I start June 1st.
For the summer, I'll be working 50% time at the new job, and 75% time at the old job.
That's more than 100%.
I guess I'll be pretty busy for the next few months.
Nonetheless, I'm going to try to stop and enjoy the flowers.
Hopefully, in September I'll quit the old job.
But I'll have to find something supplementary.
Remembering to notice cute fuzzies, flowers and all other such things that make me smile is going to be important.

If I start whining please remind me of inspirational things.

Preparations

As I prepare for Girl-child to go for a study abroad program, I also prepare for the arrival of Blinker.

The ends aren't woven in yet, and the little ties have to be made for the booties, but I'm basically ready for a boy:
Or for a girl (that second pink bootie is done now):
Folks are surprised I know someone young enough to be pregnant. Well I do. So there. And it's not a grandchild.

In the meantime, I took Girl-child to REI and Target today to get mosquito netting, sunscreen, insect reppelant with DEET and other such travel items. Before we went in I threatened to introduce her with, "This is my daughter and she's amazing. She is going on a study abroad program to Ghana." I was told by Girl-child that I was not allowed to do this.

As it turns out, it wasn't necessary. Everyone at REI was dutifully impressed when they found out where she was going. One person wasn't really sure where it was.

It's tough when you grow up in an airline family to find a corner of the world to call your own, but she's done it. Pato was in Nigeria way back when, but no one in the family has been to Ghana. She leaves Wednesday.

I'm really excited for her. I'm going to miss her. I'm glad it's only 3-1/2 weeks.

Illusions

Take a look at the Best Illusion of the Year winners here.

I've posted the first place winner here - I love that it is very low tech:

Mothers' Day - Expectant and Actual

Although I think Blinker, expected in July, is a boy, I made a pink back-up hat just in case.
And I started on the matching booties; boyish color first:
Can't understand why I still don't get the color consistently right.

Oh well.

I also received emails, text messages, a coffee gift card, flowers...

And an awesome pair of felted earrings from the Walker's local jewelry artists sale:
Did you know that Mothers' Day started as a peace thing? I sure didn't.

Recital

Girl-child has been taking tap and modern dance classes at the U. Last night was the end of semester recital. I've never seen so many people having fun during the last week of classes.

Tap was pretty predictable: the danced The Copacetic:


The modern dance instructor is a high energy guy. You can tell:

This was a slowish moment - not too much is blurry:

The horizontal form with one arm on the block is Girl-child:
Tah-dah!

We haven't been to a recital in a long time.

It was lots of fun.

Beetle Love

Worth the five minutes it takes to watch through to the end:

(Have you ever felt like that happened to you? I know I have.)

May Day Parade

Blinker's Hat

The first of the baby hats is done - second one has been started in pinks. Matching booties will follow. We don't know what the gender of the baby is (due in July, hat and booties won't be needed before September/October so plenty of time).
And the first ball of yarn is used up on the cardigan. Unfortunately, it's been languishing for a few days.
Some tagging was done too. I like the fact that by doing it in pieces the new bits will always be brightening it up. We didn't get questioned by the police today; too gloomy out. Who's going to argue about a splash of color on a gray fence on a gray day?

The fish and glitter are in honor of Sue Fisher; she used to say she was part crow.