Knot All That

Two Days

2011-08-29T22:29:00.002-05:00

After a pretty horrid few weeks, I had a couple days this weekend to actually enjoy.

On Saturday Scott & I went to see "The Help", which we enjoyed very much. Great acting, interesting characters - at over two hours, the movie still seemed short. And of course, going to lunch and then to the movies doesn't take much energy or effort, which is a good thing.

On Sunday we broke out the scooter and hied ourselves to the Great Minnesota Get-Together - in other words, the MN State Fair. We watched the equestrian competitions, we watched the lumberjack competitions, we saw Sean Emery do his Schtick On A Stick, and of course I spent a reasonable amount of time looking at the quilts and knitting and lace and beading and felting and crocheting and sculpting and glass.

We are old, and my system is messed up by chemo, so we didn't eat the junk food that we would have gorged on in Olden Times - over the 6.5 hours we were there, we split a sandwich, a bag of mini-donuts, a little Lingonberry Lefse roll with Swedish Meatballs... and we each had our own frozen apple cider pop from the Agriculture Building. That was it.

But thanks to my scooter, a grand time was had by all ('all' being two of us). We recommend that you go, too, if you can. But get there early if you want a parking space close to the fairgrounds - there's plenty of 'Park & Ride' lots, but the Fairground lots are being taken up by Light Rail construction materials, so parking is at a premium and even at 7am we had a lot of trouble parking within five blocks or so of the nearest ticket booth.

Enjoy!!

Is A Puzzlement

2011-08-09T07:40:00.000-05:00

All my life, I've wanted to serve jury duty.

Yes, I know that usually you just sit there forever in the waiting room, doing nothing. And you don't get paid for it (at least, not really).

But it's a service to your community and your country, and I've always felt that service was a good thing. Paying back your community for all the things it provides you is something you should do, willingly and with a sense of satisfaction.

And if I actually got to serve on a jury, even better. I'd be a good jury member. I'm fairly bright, I am fairly logical, I'm big on details, I respect at least the ideal of the law and justice, and I'm relatively driven to be as fair as possible to all sides. I enjoy doing things I'm good at.

And I've worked from home for most of the last two decades, and have a flexible schedule, so it wouldn't inconvenience me in the least to serve, other than perhaps a certain soreness in the back or knees from sitting all day.

During the last two decades my husband has worked either two jobs (sometimes two full time jobs) or one job with 10-hour days. He has been called to jury duty twice in that time. It's been a huge sacrifice for him, and although he is mindful of his duty, he really would have preferred not to have to take the time from work. Our finances have never been what you'd call comfortable, so it was a bit of a hardship for the family.

Now my 21-year-old son has been called.

I have never been called. Not once. And at this point I'm not likely to be allowed to serve, even if I am called before I fall off the perch - my physical condition would now prevent me from eligibility.

Figures.**

**At least in this case, as the quote goes, the law is an ass. Why can't people volunteer to be on a 'will call' list for service when their time is flexible? Then if they are summoned again when it's less convenient, they can be excused on the basis that they have served in the last four years. It would be so much easier for people, and the courts would have to deal with fewer whiners and shirkers, saving time and frustration for everyone. I'm just saying...

She's Posting, She's Posting Not

2011-07-23T21:20:00.000-05:00

I seem to be completely out of control of both my life and my blogs at the moment, so I'm resorting to cross-linking. Sorry about that!! But not sorry enough to refrain from doing so...

If you want to know what's been going on lately, check out my other blog here.

For decoration, I give you this photo. If you link to the other blog, you will see the reason.

Irony We Didn't Need

2011-07-02T23:50:00.001-05:00

Okay, go look at the fine print at the bottom of our last post.

Now, a week later:

Someone (probably a youngish someone) broke into our van, and stole our stereo/cd player. They won't get $10 for it, but they used very rough tactics to get at it, completely destroying the entire center panel of the van. Which means we'll not only have to replace the stereo; we'll have to replace the center panel, the cupholders, the a/c and fan and heating and defrosting controls and wires and the entire center faceplate, plus a bit of the surrounding panels as well. The cost is going to be high - and so, unfortunately, is our deductible.

Sadly to say, this is the least of our problems. But it's not a problem that we needed right now.

It's the beginning of July, and I am already SO over this summer...

----

Home From The Hills, Part 2

2011-06-24T12:11:00.000-05:00

Up we got at daybreak, drove around the Badlands a bit, had our Indian Frybread with blueberry sauce, and then off we went to the Black Hills to see the Rushmore National Monument. After that, we headed straight for Wyoming and Devil's Tower.

The boys hiked to the bottom of the tower, but did not attempt an ascent. As you can see, the weather was gorgeous, the view was impressive, and a good time was being had by all.

For the rest of the day, our main goal was to reach our motel in Sheridan, in order to have a full day for sightseeing the next day. Good thing we gave ourselves daylight for that, because Sheridan had a lot of construction going on the roads, and much of the street that our motel was on was completely closed off to traffic - it took a while to find our stopping place!

The next morning, we took off for the Bighorn Scenic Byway, which goes past Shell Falls and then over the spectacular Granite Pass. On our way up it was snowing, which frosted the trees and landscape beautifully.

At the top, the snow stopped, and we were able to get out and really take in the view.

Gradually the clouds cleared, and we enjoyed spectacular views of the Bighorn Mountains as we passed through them.

So it was a very nice day as we got to the lovely town of Cody, Wyoming. We easily found our motel, the Cody Cowboy Village, which was our favorite of the motels we stayed at on this vacation; the gal at the desk (we're pretty sure she never sleeps) was helpful and extremely friendly, the rooms were spacious and cozy and immaculate, and the boys loved the spa/hot tub! Our motel turned out to be right next to the Cody Cattle Company, and that was right next to the place where they hold the Cody Nite Rodeo. So we figured we were set - we'd have dinner and a show next door, and then head for the rodeo.

Well, we got the dinner and show. But unfortunately while we were settling in at our motel, the rain started up in earnest. It turned out that Wyoming has been getting the same generous precipitation this spring that the Badlands had been getting. Unfortunately, along with the green grass, they've also been getting mud - and since the Cody Nite Rodeo is not in an enclosed space, slippery mud can be a serious issue for the horses. So we found that for once, our plans had gone somewhat awry - the rodeo for that night was cancelled, for only the third time in the long memory of the fine people at the restaurant and motel.

We comforted ourselves with the fact that our next day's plans didn't require the rain to stop, and settled ourselves snugly into our comfy beds for a good night's rest - probably not a bad idea in any case, since by then I had developed a rotten cold.

The next morning we said our goodbyes to our room and our hostess, and headed over to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, an impressive building holding several separate galleries, each devoted to their own collection. All of us enjoyed the exhibit dedicated to the history of Buffalo Bill and his exploits, but we each had our own favorite gallery. Handsome Son loved the firearms museum, which covered the history of American firearms from the Revolution through the World Wars. I particularly enjoyed the display of western art, including some wonderful paintings and sculptures by such luminaries as Charles Russell and Frederick Remington.

Finally we tore ourselves away, and headed towards the east gate of Yellowstone National Park, which had been closed the day before, but was now open. We quickly discovered why there were so many closings of roads and of Yellowstone gates:

Still, we drove through Yellowstone without incident. Well, without unpleasant incident. We had incidents involving bears and wolves and other forms of (somewhat damp) wildlife, which was a thrill for all of us.

We also spent nearly two hours touring around the hot springs and geyser basin area of the park. We arrived at Old Faithful just as it finished erupting, so we had 90 minutes or so to kill before the next eruption. Luckily they have paved a path around the area, so that those of us confined to scooters and wheelchairs could gawk at all the points of interest, of which there were many.

I thought this looked like the face of a cranky old man squinting up into a cold sky...

We got back from our tour just in time to see Old Faithful erupt in a very satisfying way, and then off we went, heading towards our hotel in Jackson Hole. But first we had to get something to eat, since it was dinner time and we hadn't eaten since our early brunch. On our way through the Teton Mountain range, we stopped at Jackson Lake Lodge's Mural Room, where we ate an excellent (although not cheap) meal while gaping at the gorgeous scenery displayed through their panoramic picture windows (click the link to see the view from the windows - that isn't a painting, it's what you actually look at as you eat).

We spent a bit more time at the lodge, just looking out the windows and pottering about on the veranda, but eventually we had to head towards our lodgings. Jackson is a tourist town, so I suppose there is some sort of logic to the street layout, but we were only starting to figure it out by the time we left. Luckily, you can get a free map of the town at any of the many restaurants or hotels - we suggest you do so sooner rather than later, if you plan to visit.

As it was, we were pretty tired and slightly cranky by the time we found our hotel, so the boys were grateful for a stint in the hot tub, and then we all just fell into bed. The next day we were up early and raring to go - and go we did, to Jenny Lake, a jewel gently set in the exquisite frame of the surrounding Teton Mountains.

The boys left me lounging in comfort at the charming Jenny Lake Lodge, where I had a delicious lunch and then curled up in front of the cozy fire in the lounge (have a visit with the concierge if you are lucky enough to stop there - she is from the Twin Cities, and represents the best of Minnesota Nice).

Meanwhile the guys took the ferry from the Visitor Center to the mountainous side of the lake, and from there they had a 3.5 hour hike and Guy Bonding Session around the rim of the lake - they also bonded with some very bold marmots and other smallish woodland critters, and saw a black bear at what was luckily a more comfortable distance.

After their long hike, the guys were happy to get back to Jackson Hole for a stint in the hot tub, a short nap, and a very generous serving of ribs from Bubba's BBQ.

The next day was largely devoted to rest, hot tubbing, doing the laundry, and looking for a hat for Scott. In the evening, however, we went to the Bar J Chuckwagon for a traditional cowboy supper and a truly impressive music and comedy show by the Bar J Wranglers. We had a great time, and fell into bed that night full to the gills with food and entertainment.

Up at 4am, packed our gear into the van again, and it was time to hightail it for home. But we still had time along the way to see more wildlife, gawk at the sights...

... and get ourselves in a minor scrape or two. About one mile outside the gates of Yellowstone, we (meaning 'I') locked ourselves out of the car, and were informed by the gift shop personnel that the rangers did not feel obligated to help anyone who was outside of the boundaries of the park proper. Great. The nearest locksmith or patrol car would have to come from Cody, at least an hour's drive away. Luckily I talked Impatient Spouse out of his 'let's break the windshield' idea; after a bit of a struggle with a wire hanger, Impatient Spouse's handy Leatherman, and with the help of a passing Cheesehead (we Midwesterners have to stick together), we were able to break into our own van and get back on the road in fairly short order.**

Off we went again, and got past Cody with no further incidents... until we hit Shell, at which point we discovered that the highway we were on was closed further up, there were no alternate routes open, and we had to turn around and go back. But we are nothing if we are not flexible (when forced to be so), so we backtracked to Greybull, went south instead of north, and took a great big loop around the higher areas of the Bighorns in order to get back up to I90. A less scenic and much less direct route, but luckily the lower climes allowed for faster speeds, so although we added a lot of miles, we didn't add too much time to our trip. By nightfall we were safely ensconced in our motel in Wall, SD, home of ubiquitous signage and thus the famous Wall Drug.

Up at a more reasonable 6am the next morning, well in time for breakfast and ice water at Wall Drug, then off for another long stint of driving. Handsome Son took over the driving near the Minnesota border, just in time to spend more than three hours traveling with a spectacular thunderstorm that was heading towards the Twin Cities. He handled the stresses of straight-line winds and nearly zero visibility with grace, and we safely arrived at home by nightfall.

Goodbye and thank you, Wyoming and South Dakota. It was wonderful to meet you - we hope to visit again some day!

** For what are probably obvious reasons, I'm not entirely certain this is a good thing, even though it allowed us to get on our way with minimal delay and expenditure. Let me point out, also for obvious reasons, that our van is more than ten years old and is a very basic model - the only semi-valuable thing in it is my similarly old and battered wheelchair scooter, which we got from a pawn shop at a very very low price, for good reason. I'm just sayin'...

Home From The Hills, Part 1

2011-06-17T11:56:00.000-05:00

We weren't sure I was going to make it, right up until the day before we left. But finally the hip was painful-but-functional, and at 4am we packed up the van and took off for our little vacation in South Dakota and Wyoming. Wagon, ho!!

Scott took care of the first major stretch of driving, and then Handsome Son took a nice long stint, leaving his dad the last bit before we pulled into our first destination: the Badlands.

Oh, it was both wonderfully familiar and magically different! In the autumn of two years ago, the grass was golden and blended beautifully with the weird and wonderful rock formations.

This spring, however, the rangers tell us that there is more green in the Badlands than there has been in living memory. Imagine, pools of water in the Badlands!!

It was different, but it was still beautiful, and we all were very happy to be there. We stayed for two nights at Cedar Pass Lodge - the cabins were very small and basic, but there was a/c and very comfortable beds, and the view was gorgeous. What more could you want? Not much, obviously...

Well, you might want some Indian Fry Bread. The Cedar Pass Lodge has a little cafe, where at night they have taco fixings on fry bread, and in the morning they have fry bread with a wonderful blueberry sauce. Not bad at all...

You also might want to attend the Night Sky talks at the ampitheatre near the campgrounds - a fun presentation is followed on clear nights by the opportunity to use some very nice telescopes, so that you can gape at distant galaxies and nebulas and planets. We didn't get the opportunity to use said telescopes this time around, but we did get a spectacular view of a close-passing storm - I've never seen pink lightning before!

On the day after we arrived - and after eating our fry bread and blueberries, of course - we drove through the Badlands Loop, and then spent time driving around the Black Hills.

Between driving on the Needles Highway and the Iron Mountain Road, we stopped for a wine tasting and wonderful lunch at the Prairie Berry Winery. Then off we went for more Eye Candy. Along the way we met some old friends...

And some new ones...

And basically spent our time feeling at one with the universe.

Then back to Cedar Pass for the night. What a wonderful time we were having!!

to be continued...

Poor Old Kitty

2011-06-01T19:12:00.003-05:00

We have had one type and size of cat for 15 years or so: small, feisty, pretty, dignified (for the most part, except when hysterically clumsy) and quite the character.

She was well into adulthood when we got her in 1996, and so now she is an elder kitty, deserving of respect and care.

Unfortunately, for the last few months she has been unable to adequately clean herself, and has developed mats that were outrunning my ability to comb out. It would take me half an hour of fighting with her to get one mat cleared, and the next day there would be two to take its place.

It got to the point where it just couldn't be comfortable for her, poor old thing, and I was concerned that she might develop some sort of skin issue that would cause her actual pain. So off we took her to the groomers, and gave her a 'Lion Cut'.

She won't let me take a photo of her in this condition - she is currently in a state of High Dudgeon.

Can't say that I blame her. Her head is literally twice as big as her body. Poor old thing, she deserves her dignity, and instead she looks entirely ridiculous. And pitiful - she is SO thin and bony.

I think of the three, she prefers being old and arthritic to being an object of ridicule. Too unfair that she has to put up with all three.

I can relate.

Well, This Is Fun!

2011-05-22T14:54:00.000-05:00

A tornado touched down and traveled around a bit at Hwy 394 & 100, and now one is developing at Como Lake, which is right near our house, so we've got sirens and weather reports and all sorts of excitement at the moment. Which is delaying our trip to my folks' house, but providing entertainment that should give us something to talk about over the dinner table (once we actually get there).

Wheeeeee!!!

Shepherd's Harvest

2011-05-16T01:06:00.000-05:00

If you are curious about what the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival is like, my friend and boothmate, Denise of Wool Alchemy, has put up a little slide show of her festival experience. You will see some of her fantastic felted Critters, plus a variety of critters of the live variety that she cooed at over the weekend (yes, even the silkworms!)

Enjoy!!

Oops, No Camera...

2011-05-01T22:13:00.002-05:00

Oh, drat!! Mom and I went on our yearly trek to the Minneapolis Institute of Art for their wonderful Art In Bloom... and as is also our tradition, we both forgot to bring our cameras.

Poor you, to have missed the wonderfulness!!

Art In Bloom challenges local flower artists to make an arrangement that reflects in some way on a particular work of art displayed in the museum. This year more than 150 artists were assigned one particular painting or sculpture, which they then had to contemplate and then design an arrangement that in some way reflected upon the artwork itself.

The displays were all pretty, some of them stunning, some of them inspirational or funny or even thought-provoking. Our particular favorite was a rather simple but beautifully done display of tall dark plum and white lilies in a stunning cobalt-to-purplish midnight blue vase, reflecting both the color and the movement of a Georgia O'Keef painting of tall skyscrapers - I always thought of O'Keef as a painter of flowers and other things natural, but somehow the painting still was distinctly hers. and the flower arrangement just carried the feeling along and complimented it perfectly.

Click on the link above and see some little bit of the previous year's event - don't you wish you could have been there? Well, you can go next year (especially you, Ms. Violet Hoarder, sweet Nancy, Kathy, Amy, and anyone else who hails from MN), because luckily it's a yearly deal.

One hint: don't try to go there at the beginning of the first day (Thursday). We arrived at 10am on Thursday... well, no, that's a lie. We got about 3 blocks from the Institute, and then got stuck in completely stopped traffic. And even that far away, no parking spots (even handicapped spots) in sight. For people who are not completely crippled up, the temptation might be to walk an extra five blocks or so - but I would suggest coming back at a later time, when the huge opening crowd won't be jostling and pushing each other back from the displays.

Mom and I turned around and went back home - and returned on Saturday at around 1pm. It was crowded enough that the valet parking was full, and mom snagged the one remaining handicapped space (after fetching a wheelchair for me at the door - the MIA provides wheelchairs and even a few coveted scooters for free, bless their hearts. Call ahead to reserve those scooters, they are a very coveted commodity!)

But once we got in, we were mostly able to get next to the displays, either immediately or after a very short wait. And oh, it was sooooooo worth the bother!! Not only did we see a great deal of loveliness, but we also met a number of very interesting and sweet fellow gawkers, some of whom knew a participating floral artist or two and gave us the Inside Scoop, some of whom were just interesting and fun to talk to. One of the gals we talked to had a beautifully knitted Norwegian sweater of incredible intricacy, gifted to her by grateful and generous offspring, bless their hearts. We were suitably impressed, of course - after all, we are lovers of fiber as well as of the belle fleurs...

We went home replete with gorgeousness, and also with chai and maple shortbread from the in-house cafe. Hey, it takes a lot of energy to Ooo and Aaaah that much!!

And thanks, mom, for all the hard work you did in pushing me around. You are a trooper, and also a joy forever. I love you muchly, muchly indeed!

In My Easter Bonnet...

2011-04-27T00:24:00.003-05:00

We had a lovely Easter.

We started out with an Easter Breakfast with Handsome Son and his new girlfriend, who was delightful.

I wore a truly exuberant Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it. It was truly impressive.

Later in the afternoon we went to my cousins' house for lots of chatting, a bit of stuffing our faces with delicious goodies, a few games of Bocce Ball in the spring sunshine for those who could do such things (there was lots of laughing, which was wonderful), and the obligatory group photos.**

In front of the Easter Bonnet there is Lovable Sister and Charming Parent; in the middle - next to the Easter Bonnet - there is Handsome Son (who has enough hair for both of us) and Beloved Husband; and in the back - peering out from behind the Easter Bonnet, which apparently likes to chew up the scenery - is the other Charming Parent.

The Easter Bonnet had a grand time. I did, too.

**And I mean 'obligatory' quite literally. Cousin Mary was very forceful in rounding us up and making us stand still, in all our squinting glory. It wasn't an easy job, but she was determined. She'd make a fantastic General. Thanks, Mary - we grumped about it at the time, but we're awfully grateful for the photos now!!
And many, many thanks to Mark and Polly for hosting the event. You pulled it all together brilliantly, as always - we never take that for granted. I am very, very lucky to be part of your family!

Happy Easter/Spring!!

2011-04-24T12:14:00.001-05:00

It's Spring, it's Minnesota... and the sun is evidently a Minnesotan, too, because it's obviously decided to skedaddle to someplace a little less unpredictable in the weather department.

You DON'T want to come here for Spring Break.

We've had our April showers - but mostly that's been snow showers, rather than the rain that supposedly brings May flowers. If I take my parents' lawn as evidence, April snow showers bring May moles. Which are rather antithetical to flowers, actually**.

So I'm thinking that in our case, April showers bring June/July/August mosquitos. Every state needs some sort of specialty crop, right?

Better enjoy May, folks. Moles and all...

**Although Moley rather enjoyed flowers, if my memories of "The Wind in the Willows" serves. That said, my parents' moles seem to be more interested in excavation than they seem to be inclined towards messing about in boats, regardless of the fact that they are located only a block or two from the river. So their taste in landscaping is probably similarly suspect.

Summer Hats

2011-04-05T00:09:00.000-05:00

I've been wearing some really lovely hats this past five or so weeks, ever since the hair all fell out (see my cancer blog for explanation of that, unless you've already been reading it). My friend Timary crocheted some lovely tams for me (see post below for photo of the one she made from my handspun), and I have a velvet hat that is just cute as a button (or at least, it is cute as a velvet hat with a big old flower on it).

Okay, you can't see that very well, but it's a hat with a band, to which the slightly poufy top is sewn above and to which the brim is sewn below, with the velvet rose attached (to hide the band's seam, as well as to look decorative). The brim can be left down all around, per this photo (taken with computer camera, which is why it's not very good) or the front can be folded upwards, which is jaunty and fun.

But these are all Cool Weather Hats, and suddenly after months and months of snow and ice and frigid temps, spring is coming in a huge rush. Now all my beloved hats are making my head sweat!!

Mom and I went to the local wig/hat store, and to Target. We searched for hats, we peered at hats, we patted and pinched and fondled hats, we even tried hats on.

Unfortunately, we learned a couple things.

1. I don't look particularly good in caps, and all the hats that are out currently seem to be either big froufrou Easter Bonnet/Go To Church hats (lovely, but not for general wear) or billed caps. I need a frame for my face, and to add some balance, since my head is relatively small in comparison to my body. Not a HUGE frame - those big 'garden hat' brims are hard to manage, and tend to want to fly away in even a slight breeze. I don't want to constantly hold onto my head, or worry about my poor bald scalp being exposed. The above hat serves the purpose well, while still sitting snugly on the head and not threatening to turn me into a remake of The Flying Nun (my goodness, I imagine that reference ages me!)

2. The colors this season seem to be brown, tan, brownish-gray, white, or red. I do not look good in brown or red, and even a nice silvery gray gets a bit dull and anonymous after a while. If I'm going to wear a hat, I want to look festive and I want to have fun with it. I like white well enough, but it gets dirty quickly when you are sweaty... and women with hot flashes sweat a LOT in Minnesota summers. Frankly, so do most of the rest of us Minnesnowtans. But let's face it, I am a woman with many, many hot flashes, and I am a woman who does not 'glow'. So even though white theoretically goes with just about everything, it's not going to work as a 'running errands and visiting friends' hat. And a whole wardrobe of white hats would be a bit monotonous.

So I'm wondering if anyone has some patterns for hats similar to the above (or knows where they might be obtained), so that mom and I could sew up a few in fabrics and decorations of my choice? Wide-brimmed cloches or moderately floppy-brimmed hats that can be folded up in front, that would look cute with flowers or pins or random balls of yarn stuck on them?**

** Well, okay, that last one was a joke. Probably. Except at a fiber arts gathering - then all bets are off.

The Cat Issues A Warning

2011-03-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

My dear friend Anne sent this to me, but The Cat says that really I should take it more seriously than Anne intended.

I probably should heed the warning. The Cat has disappeared into my knitting stash, and I'm hearing some rather suspicious clicking going on back there...

What Do You Think?

2011-02-25T12:06:00.000-06:00

** Warning: this post is in part a copy of a post over on my other blog. I reward you for your patience with a homely picture of myself in cute charming hat. The photo does not do justice to the beauty of Timary's needlework or to the lovely colors and gloss of the yarn used (if I do say so, myself). It just sort of hints at it. You pays your money (or in this case, your attention) and you takes your chances, people...

Here is the darling beret that my brilliant friend Timary made for me. It's a new design of hers, so I hadn't seen it before. You can find her patterns (including this slouchy beanie beret) at her Etsy store right here. Go ahead and check it out, especially if you are a crocheter - you'll be glad you did.

Thing is, when I got the hat she sent, I thought, "Ooo, FUN!!" And then I thought, "Ooo, the colors are so ME!!" And then I thought, "Ooo, this yarn is so soft and pretty!!" And then I thought, "Hey, this yarn looks sort of familiar, actually..." And then I realized... Timary bought my yarn a while back, and put a lot of work into making something out of it, AND THEN SENT IT BACK TO ME. It was my own handspun yarn!!

So now I am going to send her more. Some of it will be for her... and some of it will be for the really cute 20's Flapper Hat. Because I don't crochet, and am not up to learning how at the moment, but she has designed one darling hat, I must say!!

So, what do you think? Should I add a big fancy pin to one side? Or just leave it as it is?

I also bought a couple really cute, silly, fun hats yesterday - just in time, since I lost about half my head overnight last night. I'll model those soon, but I know you shouldn't be expected to handle so much feminine pulchritude at once. (koff, koff...)

Now I have these really cute hats, and no place to store them properly (the only hat I've got stored/displayed currently is my floppy old straw hat, which is sitting on the head of my son's wooden rocking horse. It's very fetching, but not very protected). So if anybody just happens to have a nice big hatbox sitting around, and wants to donate it to a needy cause, I'm it.

Been There (Both Sides)

2011-02-19T17:31:00.000-06:00

With thanks to dear friend Debi, I give you this. Is it a tad manipulative and simplistic? Well, heck, yeah. Does that make it less true, or less important to remember? Well, heck, no...

Why I Am Not Here

2011-02-18T23:58:00.000-06:00

The last few weeks have been trying and difficult ones. I haven't had either the heart or the energy to post here, I'm afraid. I have, however, been reporting in on occasion over at my other blog, so if you haven't visited there already, please do link on over and give me a little visit. Hopefully I will Get My Groove Back at some point in the future... so please stay tuned, my friends.

Las Vegas Is Awesome, Part the Last

2011-01-22T13:18:00.001-06:00

You thought I forgot, didn't you? But no, I do intend to finish our tale...

Last we saw our intrepid explorers, their message light was mysteriously flashing. It turns out that the reason my cousin - my only gal cousin, who lives in Reno and whom I hadn't seen in twenty years - hadn't answered my messages previous to our trip was that she was in Europe at the time. But now she had returned, and was wondering if it would be okay if she flew out to see us for a day?

Okay? It would be fabulous!!

So although the lovely Elizabeth had to leave before dawn, our sorrow was leavened by the knowledge that we were going to breakfast with my fabulous cousin, Christiane.

We met in Paris, and nearly immediately found ourselves in Venice. Well, in the Venetian, at any rate... as you can see from the photo, the wind blew us everywhere that day!

Inside, we watched 'street performers' and listened to the singing of the gondoliers, and visited a few of the more spectacular shops. I have a thing for masks, and there was a shop entirely devoted to that art form. I could have stayed there all day...

But we did eventually tear ourselves (me) away, and headed back out into the wider world. We visited quite a few hotels, and visited Tussaud's, where Scott was able to flirt with one of his favorite Pushy Broads.

My cousin, who hosts a political talk radio show, was able to offer her skills where they were most needed...

And we generally just enjoyed ourselves as much as it seems possible to do. We ended the day by taking my cousin to 'our buffet', and rolled back to the hotel sated and entirely ready to soak in our wonderful tub.

After breakfast with my cousin the next morning, we dropped her off at the airport and headed out into the countryside. This time we went to the Valley of Fire, which we absolutely adored.

I was extremely proud of myself, since I managed to climb all the way up the several flights of stairs going up to the petroglyphs. Totally worth the pain, I must say!

Scott, on the other hand, took things a bit easier...

Generally, we had a fabulous time. We hit Hoover Dam briefly, just as the sun went down, and then back we went for dinner (guess where) and spent the rest of the evening taking in the breathtaking show Le Reve.

Home again, home again, the next morning.

Have to say, love doing the tourist thing - at least, love it the way we do it. I can't imagine better companions, and there isn't a single thing that I wish I had skipped or traded for something else. We had a fabulous time, as we always do. The only thing that could improve the experience is to have it again!!

Oh, All Right...

2011-01-22T01:08:00.000-06:00

Since Nancy is bored and expecting me to entertain her, I give her this:

Handsome Son With New Hat

The New Year Begins Nicely

2011-01-08T10:35:00.000-06:00

Look at what I found in the mail last night!!!

This is the prize for the recent contest on the Knitty.com blog (click the blog link to see some really cool 'guerilla knitting' and other wonderful fiber-related stuff) - two lovely, soft, huggable skeins from the Loopy Ewe with which to make Cuckoo Mittens (click on the link to get the pattern for yourself - Knitty.com is a wonderful online magazine full of great patterns and informative articles. Not only that, but they pay their designers decently and then provide the patterns to us for free. Please support this community-minded effort by also supporting their advertisers and sponsors - we definitely want Knitty.com to stay around for a long, long time!)

I want to put in a special plug for the incredibly efficient and kindly folks at the Loopy Ewe. They must have mailed off the package about one second after they got my address... and I almost suspect they asked Scotty to Beam It Up, it got to me so quickly. Not only that, but the prize itself was only supposed to be the yarn - but as you can see, they thoughtfully added an extra special treat to the mix. How cool is that?

How do they do that?

2010-12-31T16:20:00.000-06:00

How do they do this?? (try it with different numbers - it still works, as long as you do do the simple math equation, even if you choose completely different numbers, which lead to completely different answers)

Christmas Flash Mob!!!

2010-12-15T00:32:00.000-06:00

I love flash mobs... at least, I love the artistic sort.

Hopefully you love them, too, because I'm about to subject you to one. My thanks to the wonderful Violet Hoarder for pointing this particular bit of joy out!

Las Vegas Is Awesome, Part the Fourth

2010-12-06T08:44:00.000-06:00

On our first full day in Las Vegas, we decided to just do a general tour of the town, so the three of us (myself, the husband, and the beautiful Elizabeth) toddled off for our first adventure.

Well, the two of them toddled. I scooted in my rented wheelchair. I was a bit of a terror at first - electric wheelchairs are not necessarily as easy to steer as one might assume, and Las Vegas is surprisingly wheelchair-unfriendly. They have lots of escalators and moving walkways and elevated walkways so that you can get over streets, but wheelchairs are (quite reasonably) not allowed on the first two, and the elevators to the latter are not always as convenient or as roomy as one could wish. Most doors were very narrow - barely wide enough to scrape one's chair through if it was aimed exactly right - and in most cases there were no electric door-openers, so that one had to have a companion to open the door in order to gain entrance at all. And that's if you can actually find the elevators or stairless doors - Caesar's Palace, for instance was pretty much impossible to get into. I'm sure there must have been one door that wasn't flanked by stairs, but we walked completely around it and were unable to find it.

That said, I'm very glad I rented a chair, as I wouldn't have gotten more than a block otherwise. As it was, we walked from Mandalay Bay to Caesar's Palace, and all points in-between. We saw lions,

and we saw Lions...

We saw large impressive sights,

And sights that were more inspiring close-up...

At the end of the day, we did find that Las Vegas does have at least one handy wheelchair-friendly service, which is their handicapped taxi fleet - it was cheaper and faster to get a wheelchair-accessible taxi to take us all back to our hotel than it would have been for us to take the monorail.

That night we took Elizabeth to the buffet at Studio B, which was counted a great success. Once again we waddled back to the hotel, completely sated and ready for bed.

The next day was spent in exploring Las Vegas' surrounding environs. After picking up picnic fixings at Whole Foods, we took off in our rented car. First we went to the mountainous desert area of Red Rock Canyon.

It was a beautiful day. Scott got a chance to commune with a few wild burros, Elizabeth was able to pick up quite a few educational brochures for her kids at the visitor's center, and I was able to take lots and lots of photos, to which I will not subject you, faithful readers. Let's just say that it was gorgeous and fascinating, and leave it at that.

We also went to the top of Mount Charles,

which Scott was able to navigate without anyone being overly concerned for life and limb.

All in all, it was a perfectly lovely day.

We arrived back at the hotel, satisfied, but a bit sad to know that our friend was going to be gone when we got up in the morning. Luckily for our spirits, the message light was flashing on our phone, and we were about to get a wonderful surprise...

to be continued!

Las Vegas Is Awesome, Part the Third

2010-12-04T09:51:00.000-06:00

Okay! Yesterday I discovered that I could use the charge cord from our Playstation to get the photos out of my camera and onto my computer. So here is another portion of my report on our vacation in Las Vegas:

We had some major glitches getting into town. On one hand, the husband had some problems making it to the gate on time for departure (whew!) and we had some major problems with the car rental agency - on the other, we were met at the plane's exit by a person bearing a sign with my name on it and a wheelchair, and then whisked to the shuttles through a complex route that I never would have been able to figure out on my own, but that saved us tons of time (thanks, Levon!)

Once we got to our hotel, there was still a bit of confusion. Our 'non-smoking' room was right next door to the hotel's meeting rooms, so that smoke still permeated the hallways and adjoining rooms. So we had to go through two long waits in order to get a room that wouldn't make me sick - and then the bellhop brought up the wrong wheelchairs, and it took a while longer in order to get that straightened out.

But once all that was taken care of, we were able to enjoy the luxury of our surroundings. We stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay (yes, that's how it's spelled), a very swanky all-suite hotel at the end of the strip, next door to the Luxor.

View from our living room window

View from our bedroom window

Inside everything was made of marble and glass (including our walk-in shower, in our bathroom with the television that we could watch as we soaked in our luxury-bath-salted tub).

The lobby level was set up like a high-end art museum, and surrounding the hotel was a beautiful temple and fountain area in which to spend quiet time contemplating our cleverness in finding a great place to stay.

Ohhhhhhmmmmmmm...

I had also cleverly researched the area, so we knew where to go for dinner - Studio B in the M Resort Spa Casino, which has often been voted the best buffet in Las Vegas. For good reason! Over 200 entree choices later (no, we didn't have them ALL, but we tried!), and stuffed full of their entirely fabulous desserts, we waddled home to greet our lovely friend Elizabeth, who joined us for the next two days of our trip.

To be continued...

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

2010-12-03T17:00:00.000-06:00

My new roommates have taken to fighting constantly, and it's driving me batty.

It doesn't help that the heating ducts create a magnifying resonance to their voices, so that I can hear them swearing at each other very clearly from nearly anywhere in the house.

I guess it's their business if they want to beat up on each other (I can hear the blows falling), but it would help if they weren't so da*ned shrill.

I wish the cat would put a stop to it, but she's old and deaf, and sleeps right through the altercations.

Sometimes I hate winter.

Stupid mice.

On Handcrafts, Why We Need Them

2010-11-25T20:20:00.000-06:00

Every once in a while somebody says something that makes you nod to yourself and think, "Yes, that's exactly how I feel!" This wonderful bit of philosophy by Renate Hiller explains why we all need to use our hands to make bits of 'useful beauty' in the world:

Las Vegas Is Awesome, Part the Second

2010-11-21T11:55:00.000-06:00

I do intend to tell you about our vacation, but at the moment I can't find my camera's USB cord, so I can't download photos, and what's the point of a vacation report without photos?

In the meantime, I will show you a bit of footage from the show we saw. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Las Vegas - the music was decent, the sets and costumes and performers were amazing.

So. Le Reve, at the Wynn Hotel & Casino. A fabulous time was had by all!

Las Vegas Is Awesome, Part the First

2010-11-11T16:42:00.001-06:00

We are back from our little vacation. Now we need a big vacation in order to recover from our little vacation.

I'm going to start with a nap.

Wish me luck.

Go, You!!

2010-11-01T09:40:00.002-05:00

This is for my son and his friends.

Young adulthood can be a wonderful time, but it is also full of pressure and stress and unrealistic expectations and fears for the future. All of this because you don't yet know who you are. Your strengths, your challenges, even your weaknesses... you are really just discovering these things and don't yet know what to do with them.

To add to the discomfort, there are plenty of people willing to give you their opinion - and whether they really have your best interests in mind or not, whether they are right or not, those opinions can hurt. And figuring out what to do with the information you are being given can be tough and confusing. It's not always easy to tell the difference between Persistence and Idiocy.

So here's the thing. When you are feeling confused or dismayed or stressed-out about a particular issue, talk to your gut. Find a quiet place, take some deep breaths, pay attention to the sound and feeling of your breath going in and then out of your body. When you feel relatively calm, explain (silently or out loud) the situation to your internal guide - your gut - as though you were telling your best friend about your problem. Since you are speaking to your best friend, expect a sympathetic yet honest hearing.

Choose two options (or three, but your clearest answer will come from the clearest, simplest choices) that you are seriously considering as actions that will address the problem at hand, and say each one - out loud if at all possible - as though you have already decided to take that action. And then just pay attention to how your stomach and body feel as you make that statement. Make each statement as simple and positive and immediate as you can. Use the present tense, so that your gut believes your statements and reacts to them directly and clearly.

For instance, if you are deciding whether you want to accept a job that will pay your bills but that seems like a dead end, or whether you will decline the job and risk losing your apartment, you might make the statements:

I will take the job.
(pause to assess your body's reaction)

I will not take the job.
(pause to assess your body's reaction)

You could, if you like, add a third...

I will take the job, but save $200 per pay check. If I am unhappy in a year, I will have a cushion that will allow me to quit and look for something else.
(pause to assess your body's reaction)

Your stomach or your muscles are going to have something to say about these statements, if you pay close attention. Some statements are going to cause discomfort, and some will feel less troublesome. That is your gut, speaking to you. Pay attention. Your gut is often a lot more in tune with your Intuition than your overworked brain is.

And if you are feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, remember this:

Election Shenanigans

2010-10-28T23:54:00.002-05:00

With the elections coming up next week, we've been getting calls and emails galore every day for the last couple weeks. We're feeling pretty cynical about the whole thing, and are not particularly thrilled with any of our choices... but this political ad certainly caught our attention. Worth checking out, whatever your political leanings might be!

We Are What We Eat

2010-10-18T11:00:00.003-05:00

With thanks to friend Denise for posting it to her blog, I give you this - because it's important that we know what we are doing to the Earth, and to ourselves. You can put those two things in either order, according to your own beliefs - it's equally compelling either way.

This is a movie, not a quick video segment. But it's well worth taking the time to watch.

New Discovery (to me)

2010-10-13T22:26:00.002-05:00

I love it when I can find Minnesotan artists that I really want to share with other people.

Today is Jeremy Messersmith. He has a couple neat animated videos on Youtube, of which the following is one. And then I'm adding a live performance, just because I like the song.

Enjoy!

October Is A Good Month

2010-10-09T22:49:00.003-05:00

October is my favorite month. The leaves turn colors, the weather is suitable for all things woolen, the air is crisp and so are the apples... what's not to love?

Not only that, but there is Halloween/Samhain. Not to mention my 21st wedding anniversary. And my sister Jana's and brother Joel's birthdays (happy birthday to yooooooo... love you guys!!)

From now until the first of the coming year, it's Holiday Madness - Hooray!!

AND October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Non-GMO Month. Please link to information on both issues, if you aren't aware of them already. They are critical to your health and the health of those you love. Take action where you can, educate where you can, get involved where you can.

Have a wonderful autumn, everyone!!

So There

2010-10-02T08:20:00.002-05:00

In case my friend Roberta is feeling all gloaty-faced about the fact that it's currently ten degrees warmer where she is (in Sunny California) than where I am (in Minnesnowta) - and I only point this out because I am currently under the covers in my bed and I am STILL shivering and have snoticles forming at the tip of my nose - I would like to say for the record that according to the weather reports I will be the warmer of the two of us by the middle of next week.

I'm just saying.

I especially want to point the same thing out to my beautiful cousin Chris, who lives in Reno, NV, where it will be in the 80's today. Yeah, you feel all happy and warm now, but who's going to be top dog on Wednesday, eh? Upper 60's, baby, that's what I'm talking about...

*********************

Why, yes, I do think my brain may have developed frostbite and dropped several black shriveled sections onto my bedroom floor. Why do you ask?

Nets That Catch Minnows But Not Sharks

2010-09-28T12:29:00.000-05:00

A long time ago I let you know about the FCC rules that now dictate that if a blogger (such as myself) were to get a free sample of - let's say yarn, for argument's sake - and were then to mention that yarn or brand name on my blog, I must also clearly post that I have profited from my relationship with that maker. Even if I recommend that yarn because I truly believe it's a wonderful product; even if I have in the past refrained from recommending other yarns that were sent to me as free samples.

Well, my darling readers, evidently we unpaid bloggers are held to standards that your highly paid newscasts and talk shows can blithely disregard. They can run what amounts to extended paid advertising, pretend it's legitimate 'news' (often under the guise of 'consumer interest' stories), and never reveal to the audience that they are watching commercials for products, rather than unbiased reportage.

You can read further about this in the L.A. Times here and here.

Aren't you glad that you have huge staffs of tax-paid governmental employees - many of whom have bigger paychecks and better benefits than you do - ever on the alert to protect you from the predatory minnows of the blogosphere? If you keep your eyes on that, you might not feel the shark gnawing on your leg quite so keenly...

Another Year...

2010-09-24T13:23:00.002-05:00

This is a duplicate post from my other blog, but what the heck.

Today I pass the Half Century mark. I celebrated by going to Physical Therapy - very exciting.

Tonight I get to go to a show at the Brave New Workshop - a family tradition, since my dad actually worked there with Dudley Riggs and Dick Guindon all those many years ago. My son was in their Teen Performance Troupe. So heck, we practically own it, right?

On Sunday my mom is having us over for a celebratory Bouja supper. No, this is not the Bouja you are familiar with - we think that perhaps 'bouja' is Czech for 'stew' or something equally generic. This is a very unique thing, and it is Heaven. Along with the Czech potato dumplings (potato-sized, cannonball-weight), totally worth the gluten-induced pain the next day. I'll be half-good and have cheesecake instead of our traditional homemade birthday cake.

I promise to be good next week, but if you can't be a little bad on your birthday, when can you be bad?

I made it another year. Yay, me!

Oh, My!!

2010-09-12T13:01:00.002-05:00

Poor Scott. He has to choose between watching the Cincinnati Bengals play the New England Patriots, or watching the Detroit Lions play the Chicago Bears.

It's a quandary. How do you choose between Lions and Tigers and Bears?

I'm Glad We're Not Their Problem (Any More)

2010-09-05T01:35:00.002-05:00

My son was homeschooled after his fifth grade year, and now he is in college. So it's been quite a while since we've darkened the door of a public school for any reason not involving governmental elections.

But when my son was in grade school, I spent a few years with our inner-city school district, teaching kindergartners to read and sometimes dealing with the EBD (Emotional/Behavior Disorder) kids. I spent some of that time in the Principal's office, dealing with the kids sent there by various teachers for disciplinary issues of one sort or another - disruption of class, fighting, stealing, cutting class, refusal to participate, sassing or hitting the teacher. There I often had the privilege (koff, koff) of meeting the child's parents/guardians, and listening to their interchanges with teachers and with the principal himself.

My experience is that for the most part, kids with discipline and/or EBD issues have absolutely no problem functioning well when given an environment in which there are consistently applied expectations and boundaries. Even kids with neurological issues - although many of the kids with EBD/discipline problems were actually very bright, indeed. In fact, the disciplinary problems were usually the sharp-witted ones.

It was unfortunately a rare occasion, indeed, where the parent called into the principal's office behaved better than the child in question. Once or twice a year a parent would sit quietly through the explanation for why they had been summoned, then apologize and offer an explanation for the child's state of mind, or ask for advice. Occasionally the parent would offer excuses having to do with a neurological condition, often blithely stating that nothing could therefore be done about the issue. But for the most part, the parent would blame the teacher, school policy, other kids, the homework, the babysitter, the government - anyone but the adults who theoretically were actually raising the child in question.

Usually this blaming process involved raised and snarling parental voices; sometimes it also involved banging or flinging of objects and pointed flouncing from the premises with the added punctuation of a slammed door. And unfortunately everyone was aware that it would probably involve the child ending up back in the office many more times before their school career was done.

Which is why the following comes as no surprise. Except in its honesty and lack of political correctness... I can't imagine the litigation-fearing schools of the U.S. would dare do any such thing.

Thanks to Susan T.R. for bringing this to my attention!

State Fair!!

2010-09-02T11:03:00.009-05:00

The delightful husband and I went to the Minnesota State Fair yesterday.

Yup, we're a sedate and understated group of folks here in Minnesnowta

If you want lovely photos of the sorts of things we saw, you can visit my talented fellow blogger, the Violet Hoarder.

I couldn't take photos, because I can't shoot photos and drive at the same time. I'm clumsy that way.

Yes, we finally wrestled out the scooter, assembled its various (heavy) parts, swore at it a little when it kept refusing to actually move, and finally managed to get it going. Once we nudged it into life, it worked like a charm, and I had a lovely time puttering along in my little machine.

We went to the crafts displays, of course, and to the agriculture, dairy, home improvement, education, and merchandise mart buildings. We puttered over Machinery Hill. We saw James Wedgewood's fun ventriloquist/comedy act,

we saw (as we have done every time we've gone to the State fair in the last 19 years) Sean Emery's juggling/unicycle/comedy act,

we went to the Lumberjack competition/show.

We usually go to the Coliseum to see the horse riding competitions, but those weren't scheduled for that day (drat!), and by the time we were done with the Lumberjacks (and done flirting with the darling baby next to us in the stands), we were pretty much pooped and decided to call it a day. We usually go on the Old Mill ride, but didn't this year because of the delicate state of my hip. We usually go to the animal barns and see some of the judgings, but didn't have time - we would have gone to those if we'd had the time and money to go to the fair again, but no such luck.

Still we did enough and saw enough to have a very pleasant day, indeed!

Well... of course, that wasn't everything. You don't go to the State Fair without eating food that is really, really bad for you! Our food choices were primarily chosen by dint of what coupons were in the State Fair Blue Book (on sale near the Snelling gate and elsewhere, $5 for tons of coupons that save you $2 or more on various food items and a few other things, a good deal if you plan to eat at the fair - and who doesn't?) Plus a few traditional items, because it isn't the State Fair without the traditional stuff.

We were determined to do our share over the 8 hours we were there, so we split an order of... hmmm, let me see:

A London Broil sandwich (steak, sauteed onions and mushrooms, melted cheese - Scott ate most of this, nearish the main gates on Snelling Ave. - can't remember exactly where)

A frozen apple cider stick (I ate most of this over the next hour - an excellent deal at $1 in the agriculture building)

Crab cakes (food building)

Onion rings (outside food building)

Garlic fries ('garden' area outside the food building)

Root beer (just about everywhere)

A Fudge Puppy (small waffle curled around a stick and coated with extremely dark chocolate, sprinkles, and a dollop of whipped cream - I had a bite and it was good but gluten-filled, so Scott ate the rest)

Of course we split a malt from the dairy building (strawberry rhubarb, yum!). And Scott can't go to the Fair without getting Tom Thumb donuts just as we're leaving, because that is Tradition (and because he LOVES Tom Thumb donuts). I took one for the team, and had donuts, too. Because I am self-sacrificing that way. (Tell Scott to quit all that snorting, it's extremely rude)

So as you can imagine, we went home stuffed, and did not eat a single thing for the rest of the day. It was an extremely bad day nutritionally, but delightful gastronomically!

We also purchased a tie-dyed shirt for each of us, and a cup holder for my scooter (which came in very handy - now if I can find a comfortable seat cushion, we're going to really be in business...)

Another wonderful day at the Great Minnesota Get Together!

For those of you who wonder what it is like living in a wheelchair:

Navigation does get a little frustrating in crowded conditions like the fair, because your head is more-or-less at the level of people's rear ends (which is a pleasant view or an interesting one, depending on the rear in question), and people don't tend to look at that level when they are wandering around and gawking at things. Or, perhaps more importantly, when they are backing away after gawking at things. Or, perhaps most importantly, whilst clutching their (third?) beer and walking around while gawking at things (evidently when you have a beer in your hand and you are walking in a crowd of folks on the street, the most fascinating thing about the fair is the sky). Which means that people tend to become challenging road hazards, either backing directly into you or stumbling blindly into the space 2 inches in front of your bumper - it simply isn't possible to stop that quickly, folks, no matter how slowly one is going.

People often don't seem to realize that wheelchairs/scooters are not able to navigate as quickly to avoid sudden potential collision situations as a person on foot. When the crowd parts to reveal a person in a wheelchair or scooter directly in front of you, the person in a scooter or wheelchair can not just step sideways in order to avoid you. And they need a bigger space to slip into than a standing human being needs. It really is simpler and kinder if you would step out of the way, rather than taking a territorial stance.

Display cases and counters are designed for an eye level and reach that is a couple feet above the eye and reach level of a person in a mobility device, so it's pretty hard to see or reach certain things. That makes sense, and there is nothing that can be done about that.

But keep in mind that getting to a counter to buy something can be very difficult, especially if one is expected to reach up to get something from a highish counter. If you see someone struggling with that issue, please feel free to offer your help - it's a small service, but an appreciated one.

It is difficult to get close to the display cases, and to get the right angle so that one can see whatever good stuff there might be at eye level. If there are crowds milling around in front of the case, it becomes nearly impossible. If you see someone in a wheelchair waiting to get a chance to get near a display case, please step aside to leave some clear space. There is a good chance that they are waiting out of courtesy, not wanting to scrape anyone's shins or run over their feet with the heavy equipment - an exchange of courtesy is a good thing, and makes everyone's day a little brighter.

There was one thing that wasn't a problem for me, because I still can hobble very short distances and although it involves some pain, I can wait in line. But the fact is that there is often a LONG waiting line for the women's bathrooms, and if there is a handicapped stall, there is usually only one. If someone shows up in a wheelchair, ladies, please give her room to go in ahead of you (so that she doesn't endanger anyone's feet or legs in trying to do the start-and-stop thing in line) and let her have the next shot at the handicapped stall, even though it means that you will have to wait one extra turn. Remember that she cannot use any other stall, so without that courtesy her wait could be significantly lengthened. If you can't do it out of kindness, do it because you realize exactly what her eye-level perspective is on you - do you really want her examining that particular aspect for an extended period, close up and personal?

Invisible

2010-08-11T17:48:00.003-05:00

Why is it that I can never find my Chibi when I need it?

Just askin'...

It's That Time!!

2010-08-09T00:56:00.002-05:00

Yup, the Fringe Festival is here... and you can find out more about it HERE.

My son isn't involved in it this year, but a lot of other very talented folks are working their very hardest to entertain you, so go and give them an ovation or two, and enjoy yourselves in the bargain!

After that, well, of course it will be time for the Great Minnesota Get Together - yes, indeedy, the State Fair is gearing up for another spectacular spate of agricultural products, education, animals, crafts, rides, music and entertainment, competitions, demonstrations, and everything you can possibly shove down your gullet with a Stick.

I'm sure some of my friends out there will have some fabulous knitted or quilted or otherwise crafted items on display there - let me know, and I'll keep an eye out for it, if body and soul allow me to attend. If I can't (stupid hips), take photos and send them to me so that I can enjoy them vicariously, please!

Moosles. Meesles. Meese With Sprinkler.

2010-07-27T22:52:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Barbara at Pathways for the following (insert 'Awwwwwwwww...' here):

Despicable Meeee

2010-07-21T03:09:00.002-05:00

This is for Roberta. But you can play, too, if you like.

Just go here, wait while the program loads, and then you can have your own super-appreciative audience, just like Gru.

Make your own Minion. Go on, you know you want to...

Fourth Memories

2010-07-04T15:58:00.002-05:00

I'll tell you about our 4th of July weekend tomorrow (or so), but today I will share a memory. I know that usually I try to respect the Offspring's privacy and dignity, but for now I will reveal a memory that is at the forefront of my mind today...

The kid was very sensitive to sound from babyhood, but by age 5 or 6 he also loved the idea of things blowing up, and he loved bright lights. So we decided to take him to the fireworks display for the Fourth.

At that time, there was a huge display that took place over the Capitol Building in St. Paul, and we found a tall hill hidden behind a public building about a mile away from our house that provided a perfect view of the festivities. Not only could we see the Capitol fireworks display from that vantage point, but in the distance we could see earlier displays going off in many of the far-flung suburbs. This kept our impatient wanderer properly entertained while waiting for the Main Event.

It also evidently left him unprepared for the percussive sound of the larger, closer fireworks. As soon as the first explosion sounded, Bren immediately through his blanket over his head and refused to even peek out for the rest of the display.

But our little performer was still exactly who he has always been; after the first few minutes, after each explosion there would be a pause, and then from the darkened depths of the fabric heap came a tiny piping, "Oooh!! Aaaaah!"

Happy Independence Day, dear readers. I hope your memories are as sweet as mine, and your enjoyment of the day as deep.

Recommendation. Because I Can.

2010-06-24T12:21:00.002-05:00

The son is starting a blog that I am hoping he will continue as he has started. His intention is that it will be a Review site, with reviews of movies, games, television shows, etc.

He has started with his review of Toy Story 3. I think it's an entertaining post, and hope that you will agree and continue to read his reviews as they are produced**.

**It wouldn't hurt if you left an encouraging comment or two, or even recommended his blog to a few of your friends - new bloggers can have a rough time getting noticed! My pre-thanks for your support...

Shoes of Doom. More or Less.

2010-06-18T13:44:00.001-05:00

I have never had good feet. Or perhaps I should say that I've never had feet that were good for shoes.

Which of course means that I LOVE shoes, I'm very picky about shoes, and I pretty much have hardly ever been able to wear the shoes that I actually like. I have very, very wide feet and pretty much the highest instep most shoe personnel have ever seen. Lucky me. My feet are pretty much built like shoe boxes. In other words, my feet are meant to surround shoes, not to be bound within them.

There was a short period during the 90's where there were shoes I was able to find that both fit and I loved them. It was a period of Period shoes - lots of Victoriana and styles from the 20's - 40's. So I found a pair of black suede Victorian button-down boots that I adored, and a pair of bone leather flapper-era pumps that I similarly loved. And a bunch of really cute flats in all sorts of fabrics and leathers and colors, with fun decorations.

But things went swiftly downhill from there. Styles changed - years where very pointy toes are In are generally years where my feet are really, really Out. I had a baby and the all too common foot-spread that accompanies that process. I got fatter, and so did my feet, which didn't help. All in all, that was pretty much the end of fun shoes, barring a brief but joyful period where I sported a pair of butterfly-bedecked quilted chinese flats that were both obscenely comfortable and silly-but-cute.

And then two years ago, due to a suggestion from a friend who has perfectly normal feet but whose style is somewhat similar to mine, I found Haflingers.

Sorry, dear Violet Hoarder, but I LOVE my Haflingers. Not, I admit, as much as the above-mentioned shoes, but they are comfy and they fit my lifestyle; hey, they are made of WOOL, they are FELTED... how much more thematically appropriate can you get?

So when I went shoe shopping, yes, I looked at other shoes. I'm only human, after all, and I do love shoes. But when push came to shove, I got the Haflingers. I'm all about the comfy.

But if it makes you feel any better, I think these ones are pretty darned cute. You know, for Hippy Throwback shoes...

Brown, Brown, Brown...

2010-06-09T08:08:00.009-05:00

I WISH I had something brilliant to say. But it's been a bit boring around here.
Well, not completely boring. After all,

I unexpectedly received a truly fabulous bouquet from my generous (and beautiful) cousin and auntie...

I've spun some Just For Fun yarn...

I've hung around with two of my lovely women friends and with my particularly lovely mother...

So that was all interesting to me, although it's not all that interesting to the innocent bystander, I'm sure.

I've done the mundane workaday sorts of Mom stuff and Wife stuff, as well, but that would be even less interesting to the reader. It was not particularly enthralling for me, either. There's just so much thrill one can get out of grocery shopping and paying bills (or putting them aside and fretting about them).

But lately it seems to me that I've mostly been endlessly spinning brown alpaca fleece. Brown alpaca fleece that has small bits of VM that I have to laboriously pick out of my yarn every couple inches or so. At least, I pick out the bits that get caught in the yarn. A lot of it just falls out of the fiber as I spin, so that I and the surrounding square footage end up covered in a brown snow of grot.

Vegetable matter, for those non-fiber folks amongst my readers, is what we fiber folks call the bits of grass and burrs and other stuff that ends up in fiber when the animal who used to wear it lived on the actual dirt-enhanced Earth, rather than on a fluffy pink cloud.

Not that I'd mind getting a bit of fluffy pink cloud caught up in my fiber. It would add visual interest. This fiber is pretty much uniformly brown. Not a lot of variation. It's not that it's a bad brown, or anything. But I've never been a fan of brown, and this alpaca is really determinedly set in its basic unsubtle brownness. If it wasn't for the fact that leaving the VM in would render the yarn fit only for a particularly penitent knitter bent on knitting the equivalent of a Hair Shirt, I would leave the grass and burrs in, to lend a bit of color.

In my infinite wisdom, when starting this project out I decided to continue in my largely unsuccessful attempts to learn the art of Navajo Plying. Navajo Plying gives you a 3-ply yarn (one with bumps and weird spots, if the spinner is me), which means that the yarn can be pretty darned chunky if you don't spin the original singles fairly finely. Chunky plain brown yarn is pretty useless, IMO, and the shorter length involved wouldn't give me the practice at Navajo Plying that I need in order to master the skill. So I am laboriously spinning (and picking through) a large bobbin full of miles and miles and miles of lace-weight brown.

It's taking forever. I may expire of fiber-induced ennui. And the worst thing is that I know that once I get through with that, I will then be facing miles and miles and miles of brown that needs laborious and inept plying. At which point I will have a skein of lumpy, weird, puritanical yarn that nobody in their right minds would want to actually use, much less buy.

Clearly I am driven by some psychological compulsion to continue with this dreary and seemingly endless pas de deux with the drab Willi of brown, brown, brown...

I hope it's a reflection of newly-forged virtues of Persistence and Determination or perhaps some slightly nutty form of Optimism (maybe it will turn out better than I expect?), rather than an indication of a compulsive mood disorder or creeping fiber-induced insanity.

In the meantime, I will never get on to something more interesting if I don't get on with it. You stay here to keep an eye on things. If I don't come out in a week or so, call for help.

Teenage Wasteland

2010-05-24T08:48:00.003-05:00

I've already lied via the title of this post - because my son isn't even a teenager any more. That particular stage theoretically disappeared last month.

But my point is still valid.

I keep reading amusing blogs by ~~younger~~ other moms, blogs that recount the various humorous and vaguely humiliating (well, not always vague, actually) antics of their children and of their own parenting adventures.

It's funny, it's fun, and for me the reading is a rather nostalgic exercise. But I have to admit that I'm jealous of the ease with which those parental bloggers can recount their struggles and triumphs. To be more specific, I'm jealous of the deep well of material from which they can dip.

Because once your kid is well into their teenage years, you can no longer (in good conscience) use him (or her) as a reasonable blogging topic. At a certain age, (sane) people stop being thrilled at being the center of attention - especially attention based on dubious behavior - and start being aware that they have a reputation to protect. And a theoretical sense of dignity to uphold.

And there is no self-esteem more tricky to uphold and more prone to being toppled than that of a Teen/Young Adult.

I really love my kid. He's bright, talented, witty, sweet, affectionate, engaging and funny, as well as being the owner of the usual number of less admirable foibles. And he still provides me with a veritable dragon's hoard of potential anecdotes, triumphs, disasters, and subjects of interest for discussion... but I can't delve into that treasure trove without potentially pricking the delicate bubble of dignity that all young adults cling to so ferociously. And arguing that many of those potential stories reflect at least as unflatteringly on myself as they do on him would not excuse me for exposing him to involuntary public scrutiny, no matter how sympathetic that scrutiny might be.

But make no mistake. I may be boringly quiet on the family story front, but I am still actively and enthusiastically a Mom.

Even, you know, at 2am on weekend nights.**

** oops, might have slipped a bit there on the disclosure front...

Spinolution Wheels at Shepherd's Harvest

2010-05-12T09:19:00.004-05:00

I had a wonderful time at Shepherd's Harvest Festival. I hope you did, too!

I got to meet a lot of interesting and enthusiastic Fiber Folks, which is about as much fun as a gal could wish for! To those of you whom I promised to visit at your booths, I apologize for having neglected to show up - I never did get a chance to leave my own except for one very short restroom break on Saturday. I was so busy that I didn't even get the chance to find and buy myself the planned Mother's Day present (heaven knows now when I will get those carding tools I was coveting...)

One major glitch - when I ran out of fliers re the Bee, I gave out ones that I had made in a rush on an earlier occasion, without noticing that for some reason I had in my hurry accidentally combined my email address and my Etsy address. This Frankenstinian combo obviously will not work if someone tried to use it to get to my website. Oops. (D'oh!)

So. For those of you who somehow got here from my flier - you are very clever! If you are looking for my store website, it actually is here:

http://knotallthat.etsy.com

Come on by, feel free to contact me with any questions you might have about the Bee travel wheel, the Mach II, or any of the other Spinolution products. I love to chat, it's so nice to have the company...

For the rest of you - next year you really should come to Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival in Lake Elmo, MN. It's great fun, there is lots to see and do (and buy), and the people are lovely. Tell them I said hi!

On Being a Donor

2010-05-10T12:11:00.005-05:00

My beautiful and big-hearted sister-in-law is doing a fundraiser for a friend of hers who has recently had to undergo liver and kidney transplant surgery. The transplant, luckily, was a success, but it was a long and difficult struggle to recovery; Tom spent three months in the hospital, which means that he and his family are now left with a very heavy financial burden to carry.

If you live anywhere near Cambridge, MN, I hope that you will take a little time out of your next Saturday and attend the Plant Sale at the Fleet Go parking lot in Cambridge, from 8am-5pm (or until the plants run out), and/or on Sunday drop in at the Pancake-and-Sausages breakfast and auction at the American Legion building at 6439 Elm Street in North Branch, 8am-Noon.

This is a case of getting a good deal AND doing a good deed - which means it's a great opportunity that shouldn't be missed.

Another opportunity you shouldn't miss is the opportunity to list yourself as an organ donor. It takes no time or effort on your part, and gives you the opportunity to improve or save many lives.

One of the bitterest things about having cancer is that I am no longer eligible as an organ donor (although my card still lists me as one). I hope that others more fortunate realize what a wonderful thing it is to be able to make one's own death meaningful by enabling someone else to live a better life and be a blessing to their own families for years into the future.

More information on organ donation - and the opportunity to register as a donor online - can be found at Donate Life Minnesota. Quick! Go do something good, and make yourself proud!

Home From The Holiday

2010-04-18T08:31:00.021-05:00

The vacation was on the whole fabulous, other than the hours spent in Urgent Care for the massive inner ear infection (and the Whale Tour that I couldn't go on because of the same). But that is a quibble, really, because for the most part it was lovely.

We went to Monterey,

then to Morro Bay,

then San Simeon,

and then Santa Barbara - oh, yeah, that's totally me -

then back again to Monterey

and Carmel.

I got a US Open At Pebble Beach shirt for Scott, so that he can watch the Open in style. I took about a billion photos, got run over by a horned lizard, and mom survived the Thunder Cloud Of Bees.

We communed with humpbacks
(too close to get into the screen)

and talked to seals

and ogled otters.

We got to experience a Stormy Sea,

but most of the weather was glorious...
and California smells *wonderful* (being carpeted with flowers at the moment).

But the two best things aren't things I could photograph.

One being the joy of spending a wonderful day of laughter and exploration with kindred spirits, Roberta and Richard. R & R are both fellow bloggers we've connected with in the past couple years; they share with Mom the experience of having lived in Scotland, and they share with Scott and I the experience of dealing with this ravening monster within, terminal cancer.

Once again, my experience of meeting online friends in person was everything I could have hoped for. They were sweet (Roberta) and funny (Rich) and incredibly kind, warm, and accommodating under rather trying conditions (having to work around my medical shenanigans). Mom and I knew they were interesting, likable folks from their blogs and correspondence - but now we know for a fact that they are also supremely lovable. It's nice to confirm one's own good taste in friends!

The other thing - the very best thing of all - was having the opportunity to spend ten whole days with my mom, just going where the wind blew us and doing as we pleased, gathering memories to tuck into our hearts and warm us in the hard times that will inevitably come. It's been a tough road we've walked together in the past sixteen months; being able to take this gentler, joyful journey was a tremendous gift. Mom's intention was to give me the opportunity to be near the ocean again, since it was the only item on my Bucket List. That, in itself, was a great kindness. But the real treasure was in being able to just be with her - to Just Be, together.

Thanks, Mom. I love you.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted...

2010-04-04T10:56:00.003-05:00

My mom is helping me tick off the one item on my Bucket List (thanks, mom!)

So I'm off to California. No, that wasn't the item from my Bucket List. The OCEAN is the item, and part of it can be seen from Hwy 1 and from the beaches along that route. So that is where we are going.

Along the way we will be visiting a few cool places and a few cool people (hi, Roberta & Rich!) and hopefully one or two cool whales.

I will report on our adventures when I return - around the 16th.

Until then, here are two Stephen Lynch songs. One is for those of you who is or knows a Gamer. The other is an Equal Opportunity Offender. Enjoy.

An Ad I Can Watch. More Than Once.

2010-03-30T22:46:00.003-05:00

First there's the making of the ad. Then there's the ad, which is short and sweet.

I think you'll see why it's my kind of commercial interruption...

Shepherd's Harvest!!

2010-03-27T07:46:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's almost that time of year again, folks!

On Mother's Day weekend, the good folks of Minnesota (and specifically, of Lake Elmo) put on a big shindig for us fiber fanatics. At the Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival you can see demonstrations of all sorts - sheep herding by those clever dogs, sheep shearing by that clever shearer, spinning by those clever spinners, knitting and weaving and rug hooking and felting and crocheting by those clever textile artists, cooking of lamb by that clever chef, music played by those talented musicians.

You can try out the equipment yourself at the various booths. You can go to the fashion show. You can eat wonderful lamb burgers and other wonderful treats. You can buy all sorts of supplies, fibers, tools, clothing, and various other goodies. You can admire and sometimes pet llamas, alpacas, sheep, goats, and bunnies. You can learn a lot about wool and handspun yarn by checking out the various competitions, and sometimes you can get a good deal if you bid on the wool from the wool competition. You can indulge yourself and give to a good cause at the same time by bidding at the charity auction. If you are clever and act quickly, you can sign up online for wonderful classes in everything from dyeing to knitting to basketry and rug hooking.

Best of all (from my point of view), you can see ME. And my folks (buy their lovely book - they'll even sign it specially for you). And Denise, and Jane, and Pam, and maybe even Nancy.

I'll be selling spinning wheels, yarn, the wonderful Timary's patterns and products, and who knows what else. I will also be demonstrating, and I'll be chatting with you, if you come. So put it down on your calendars now - I'll meet you there!

News, News...

2010-03-20T17:12:00.003-05:00

I'm leaving this post here, since Roberta already kindly posted comments - but it was intended for my other blog, so I've now also posted it there, as well. If you want more of the history on this issue in my life, you can find it all at my Rose Colored Cancer blog. If you don't, you can skip this post and go on to the next one. Thank you for your patience. We will soon bring you back to our Regularly Scheduled Program.

So, it's time to tell you about what happened after taking the LDN.

You can get good info on LDN here and here.

Well, first of all, I stopped feeling like death warmed over. I could get in and out of the car, walk to wherever I wanted to walk without more than the usual arthritic discomfort, run errands, sleep, shop for groceries. I had enough energy to pay attention to what was happening around me, and enough energy to care what was happening around me. Believe me, this is a HUGE blessing - my quality of life is so much better that I almost feel normal!*

When I reported my increased well-being to my doctors, my oncologist was encouraged and my integrative specialist was very excited. When I ran into my integrative specialist a couple weeks later and he saw how easily I was moving and how much better I looked, he was almost bouncing off the wall with excitement. Enough that I was taken a little aback, actually, but it's nice to have a doctor who really cares - and I was happy, too.

Is LDN a miracle cure?

Well, no, not really. I still have many of the side effects from the Aromasin. And I still have some of the symptoms of the arthritis, etc. But some is a whole lot better than it was before! I don't know how long I have to live - but anything that makes the quality of that time better is a blessing.

LDN seems to control some types of cancers for at least a certain period of time. Aromasin can control breast cancer for a temporary period of time (different periods for different folks). I know for a fact that the LDN improved my quality of life. And although I don't know how much is due to the Aromasin, and how much is due to the LDN, here are the results of my latest PET/CT scan:

New activity in jaw, possibly due to cancer and possibly due to infection/inflammation.
Activity in spine, liver and spleen either stable or slightly less.
Liver shrunk, quite likely due to tumor shrinkage.
Tumor in neck nearly gone/inactive.
Tumors in chest completely inactive.
Tumors in hips smaller, uptake/activity gone from 12.9 to 9.5

So although the results are not spectacular enough to make anyone sit up and take notice, they are reasonably positive.

Because of the massive doses of radiation involved in regular PET/CT scans and the large number of scans I've had done in the last year, we won't be scanning me again until there is evidence that things are heading in the wrong direction again (increased pain, tumor growth in the chest wall or lymph nodes)... so I won't be able to measure accurately what my progress is, or exactly what the time line is on the improvement end of things. But there is hope for a good few months for me.

Which is nice, because my wonderful mom and I are going to be traveling to California in April - I'm very excited to be going, and to feel confident that I will be able to enjoy this wonderful treat! I long to see the ocean again, for the first time in about 30 years. And I have hopes of seeing the lovely Roberta and her delightful husband, since we'll be in the Monterey area. Joy!!!

And more good news to come. In the next post.

I can't wait, can you?

* I've never been normal, even before the cancer; we can't expect LDN to do everything!

Opera Fun

2010-03-06T12:03:00.002-06:00

I got this from the blog of dear friend and wonderful artisan, the Violet Hoarder - link over to her blog if you are interested in music, jewelry, literature, or just entering into conversation with a truly lovely spirit.

In the meantime, here's what happened one day in the marketplace - who says that opera is only for the elite nowadays?

It's That Time!!

2010-02-12T18:38:00.003-06:00

Hooray!! The 2010 Knitting Olympics is about to begin!!

For those of you unfamiliar with this particular Olympic event, please visit the Yarn Harlot and check it out - you can still sign up. The only requirement is that you start your knitting project after the torch is lit, and finish by the time it goes out. It should be something that is a challenge, but not so big a challenge that you will be likely to fail or give up halfway through.

We are the Champions, my friends!!

I Need A Social Encyclopedia

2010-02-02T18:02:00.001-06:00

Can anybody explain to me why this is cool? I mean, it is, but I can't figure out why...

Seriously?

2010-01-22T00:59:00.002-06:00

I am hopelessly, and perhaps pigheadedly naive.

No, really. Because yesterday (well, technically, the day before - Wednesday) I truly was stunned and disbelieving when the guy in the giant gas-guzzling monster truck in the highway exit lane was speeding up and slowing down, lather rinse and repeat, in order to keep us from being able to get off on our exit. Even though he was endangering his own ability to stay on the highway. In the end he nearly caused all of us to get accordianed in some icy smoky death-capade - when he finally zoomed into our lane (an inch off our bumper), he hit his brakes immediately. We barely swerved into the exit lane at the last second and missed him by a hair.

And yes, he WAS doing it on purpose. I know, because he was looking right at me and waving and laughing (I was in the passenger seat) at the time. I mean, he was meeting my eyes at the time. It was not a friendly laugh, either. I'm not sure he would have cared if we'd run into him. I think he figured his truck made him invulnerable, so who cared if he wiped two middle aged commuters off the face of the earth?

It was bizarre, and unnerving. What sort of person acts like that? And why would anybody allow him to be in charge of that much potentially deadly steel?

It was also frustrating. My darned cell phone turned out to be out of battery...

No News...

2010-01-13T23:07:00.003-06:00

General update on my life can be found here.

On the Crafting front:

I'm plotting several knitting projects, all of which are gorgeous and perfect and charming and completely doable... because they are currently in the 'theoretical' stage that comes well before the actual 'planning' stage, and eons before the fun 'going insane in the Local Yarn Store' stage, and (blessedly) light years before the 'flinging self prostrate on the floor and pitching a fit because there is NO WAY that this #@&# thing is ever going to get finished before the end of the century' stage.

This fog of happy delusion is not the least bit dissipated by the fact that I already have two projects on the needles that are currently at the fit-pitching stage.

One is a scarf intended for my sister, made of a handspun yarn that is getting a bit ragged, having been completely knit up and then completely frogged TWICE. I do not seem able to admit to the obvious fact that there is not enough yarn there for a scarf, and I will either have to add some complimentary commercial yarn to the project or scrap the entire thing and instead knit up little tiny scarves for my sister's birds. The purchase of commercial yarn and a thorough re-design is of course the logical choice.

I'm trying to figure out whether there is enough yarn in my handspun skein to make some teensy matching beak-warmers.

My other project is an afghan intended for my aunt and uncle. I am at the stage where I am supposed to pick up 121 stitches for the edging at the top of the blanket. I have picked up 148, ripped back, picked up 89, ripped back, picked up 113, ripped back, picked up 134, ripped back.

Now, of course any sane person would have admitted defeat and divided up the edge into marked sections by at least that 89 stitch fiasco. But not me. I am made of ~~thicker~~ sterner stuff. It takes at least four abject failures before I cry 'uncle!' and admit that running headlong into a brick wall is not the only way to get out of a building...

Maybe there's a reason I'm not rich and famous by now. It's just possible that I'm not always as practical as I could be.

Good Question

2010-01-02T10:57:00.002-06:00

A lovely blogger friend asks why people attempting to blow up planes don't realize that they are going to be taken down and thoroughly pummeled by their fellow passengers before being handed over to the penal system. Good question...

I haven't really thought about that, although certainly she has a point. I've always supposed that the point for them lays more in scaring people and adding to the annoying layers of bureaucracy that clog up the system and slow things down and generally keep people's stress and fear levels optimized. They want us to feel vulnerable and small and weak. Most of all, they want us to think about them, which we mostly wouldn't do if we weren't afraid that they were going to murder us while we were going about our business-as-usual. If that is your goal, it doesn't matter that much whether your Representative (whether he truly was sent by you or not) succeeds in blowing himself up, or whether he merely gets thoroughly roughed up and sent to prison. The goal is met either way.

I have a different question - one directed in our direction, rather than theirs. I'd like to know why our airports have been effectively frozen at Threat Level Orange for nine years, even at times when they have known that attack plans were being made, or when an incident like the recent one occurs. What is the point of having 'levels' if we never go from one to the other? It's not a Warning if it stays so steady and familiar that it becomes mere wallpaper. If we never have low-threat periods during which we can aim our travel plans, if we only go to red once a nuclear attack has been actually launched - which is evidently the only thing that could knock the system from its current level - doesn't that sort of negate the purpose?

"Warning, we already blew up, and you are currently a cloud of radioactive dust blowing past this sign. Thank you for your attention, have a nice day."

Celebrate!

2009-12-18T14:26:00.001-06:00

We had our traditional Christmas Lunch at the Oak Grill today, and it was lovely. As always. I want to share the joy, but I can't serve up our lunch for you. Here's the next best thing:

Once a Mom, Always a Mom

2009-12-11T15:37:00.002-06:00

My dear friend Elizabeth sent me this, and it is SO funny. All moms of proto-adults can relate, I think, or even those of us who have observed the birds in our yards who are closely followed by their seemingly full-grown yet open-mawed offspring. Obviously this is a case of late-term adoption by a mother who just can't seem to loosen the metaphorical apron strings... very funny!

Is It Cold In Here?

2009-12-10T14:11:00.002-06:00

Oops, it's been a while since I last posted - sorry about that!

I've been a bit down (to say the least) since my latest health news, and time has gotten away from me. But life goes on, and there is plenty to keep me interested. Observe:

The biggest thing to report around here is that the kind and generous parents are gifting us with a fridge for Christmas. This is a blessed thing, because quite frankly Scott's liberal (and not entirely artistic) application of duct tape to the spots where the shelves used to be is not keeping the food from jumping out at me whenever I open the door. Those darned jars of cranberry compote can pack a serious wallop.

The other big event is that we are gifting us with a stove for Christmas. We could live without the oven - toaster ovens and electric roasters are very handy things - but when the burners stop working, so do I. So we are getting a stove with not only a working oven (and it self cleans!! Heaven!!!) but with five - count them, five! - burners. A high power burner for quick boiling, a low power one for simmering, two regular ones (for, you know, regular stuff), and then a long center burner for poaching fish, or keeping things warm, or roasting marshmallows over, or something. Sky's the limit, folks, because we've got burners to spare!*

But that is not the end of the Holiday Hijinks. Nope, there's more where that came from. We are going to do as many of the insane number of Christmas Traditions as we can manage. We are looking forward to the arrival from NYC of our dear friend Susan. We are looking forward to the New Year arrival of an old beloved friend from D.C. (older by the minute, as he will pass the half-century mark that same week). And possibly the subsequent arrival of my only Girl Cousin. So there is much to look forward to.

Happy Holidays, everyone!!

*well, we will have burners to spare, should the snow let up enough to let us get delivery of said burners next week...

This Counts As An OMG Moment

2009-11-24T18:13:00.001-06:00

Movies Yes, Parking Spaces No

2009-11-23T23:38:00.003-06:00

This past week I went to the movie theaters three times. It was a revelation.

First of all, what's with the handicapped permits? There were literally dozens of handicapped parking spaces, and both of the mid-week afternoons I went, the handicapped spaces were either all or nearly all filled. In one case all the spaces in the entire theater lot were filled, and all the spaces in the lots surrounding the entire huge mall were filled except one lonely handicapped space (oddly, on the opposite end of the lot from any of the entrances - possibly for a person handicapped by a pathological fear of doors?).

Either November is an extremely fashionable month for hip replacements, or they were giving permits out with the candy at the DMV this Halloween.

Oddly enough, when we went to see a movie on Saturday, the parking lots were practically empty.

Another issue: in all three visits, the new Twilight Saga movie, "New Moon", was sold out right up to the last showing, in spite of the fact that it was showing at multiple screens in all three (different) theaters. Also in spite of the fact that all the reviews I've seen have been... well, to put it very gently, a bit sparing in the praise department. Now, to be fair, my son reports that his college-aged friends thought their viewing of the show was quite enjoyable - but then, he also reports that his friends were very possibly inebriated and very definitely howling loudly whenever a werewolf character came on screen, which was a fairly frequent event. I suspect they also were enjoying the squeaky presence of the impressionable high school girls that comprised the remainder of the audience.

So here's what I can report: The Michael Jackson movie, "This Is It", is reasonably interesting... but wasn't quite interesting enough to keep me awake during its entire impressive length. The semi-autobiographical "Blind Side" - a movie about the inspirational high school experience of the Raven's recent draft pick, Michael Oher - was predictable and sweet and touching, a good movie for families and dates. The most recent remake of Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol", was heavy on the scary, and wince-worthy in the "obligatory unnecessarily extended chase scene" department (although I thought that with the addition of trees and a flaming pumpkin, it would have made for an admirable scene for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), but overall it was an interesting and entertaining addition to the ever-expanding lineup of movies devoted to the traditional holiday tale.

In the meantime, my travails in having to share theater lines (and parking lots) with hoards of shrieking, mincing, giggling girls were somewhat mitigated by this gift from my son. He understands my Inner Scrooge...

Important Announcement

2009-11-15T00:50:00.000-06:00

If you live in Minnesota, you have a wonderful opportunity coming up this week. On Nov. 17th, from 8am until the following 8am, you can give a donation - it doesn't have to be big, any donation will do - to the charity or organization of your choice, and if you make that donation through Give MN, they will make a matching donation of 50 cents on the dollar.

So if you were to give $10 to, oh, let's say Pathways or Gilda's Club or Vail Place or the Weaver's Guild of MN (just, you know, choosing at random, *koff*), if you made the donation through Give MN, it would be worth $15. Great deal!

Here's what you do:

1. Go to www.GiveMN.org.

2. In the box that says "Donate," type in the org of your choice next to "Find a nonprofit."

3. Click on the link for your org when it comes up.

4. Enter your donation amount, click on Donate, then complete the form.

Give MN has a $500,000 matching fund available. I imagine your favorite nonprofit could use a little bit of funding at the moment - it's been a bad year for them, too. So scrape just a little bit together on the 17th and give. Starting a bit early in this Giving Season will go a lot further this Tuesday, and we're all for stretching our dollars this year!!

I'm Old But I'm Still There...

2009-11-10T22:10:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Denise, I can present this, dedicated to Gina and Maria. They know why.

An Answer

2009-10-25T10:13:00.002-05:00

I agree that the government, being made up of folks whose campaigns are financed by insurance companies and Big Pharma, is not likely to come up with a rational public plan that will actually work efficiently and economically.

That said, it is obscene that the United States is viewed by other countries as being barbaric when it comes to health care. It is obscene that our country's health care ranks 37th among the countries of the world - behind many 'third world' nations whose records are less than stellar when it comes to other human rights issues, and who have far fewer resources to spare.

And it is obscene that working people in the United States, people who have always been "responsible for themselves," frequently are bankrupted and rendered homeless by the simple and uncontrollable happenstance of becoming seriously ill.

Equating a public health care option with socialized government is like equating public schooling and public libraries with socialized government. There are certain things that people generally feel are critical to a rational/ordered/moral society. Education and health care tend to run at the top of the list for most countries, as those two issues have far-reaching impact on other aspects of a society's long-term survivability.

This is not a constitutional issue.

This is certainly not an issue of being responsible and self-reliant. Most of the people hurt by our current system are not the 'permanently unemployed' - they already get public health care. It is those who work hard at running their small businesses and those who struggle along in low-paying jobs that provide low-to-no benefits who suffer under the current system. And to a lesser degree, it is those of us who pay outrageously high premiums for our health insurance because of the cost to the system of treating people for whom Emergency and Critical Care are the only economically possible options.

This is a social issue. It is an economic issue. It is a moral and ethical issue.

I think it's (highly) unlikely that the currently proposed plan is going to work. What I am hoping is that it will put a foot in the door, and that once the door is open, we will eventually work our way around to a system that will be better than what we have now.

I don't hope for a perfect system, by any means - just a better one. Some day. Probably after I am gone, but hopefully before my son enters his dotage.

Some day.

A Blast From The... Umm...

2009-10-19T01:37:00.003-05:00

This nifty item recommended by my dad is hereby dedicated to my lovely friends Sam and Paul. Enjoy!!

Off Topic, And Possibly Off Color

2009-10-15T00:25:00.003-05:00

This question is just for the ladies. With obvious exceptions.

What do you think is the sexiest, most erotic part of a man's body? What makes your engines rev when you are watching a movie, or a television show, or the guy at the cubicle two rows over, and he turns so that you catch him at just that angle, and...

I'll go first. Seriously, for me it is that area just under the ear, where the jaw angles and there is that tender, vulnerable spot on the neck. Seen from behind and to one side. Totally gets to me.

Yeah. I know.

Do you think maybe I was a vampire in my former life?

Forget Buffy...

2009-10-06T00:02:00.002-05:00

The Hellmouth is real, but it's not in Sunnydale, CA. It's in Pennsylvania.

Whoa.

Home From the Hills

2009-10-03T02:45:00.004-05:00

My, what a wonderful two weeks I have had. The first was spent in beautiful South Dakota with my lovely husband, and it was everything I could have hoped for. You can find a photojournal with commentary HERE. Don't you wish you could have been with us? I would, if I were you - heck, I wish I was there with us again!

After that, I spent much of another week at a retreat - I will be reporting on that on the other blog, once I've recovered my strength and fortitude. But it was educational and heartwarming and tender and bittersweet, and everything else that a retreat should be. I will be forever grateful to the wonderful women who run the Infinite Boundaries retreats, and to all the generous folks who give generously to the Breast Cancer Recovery organization.

And last, but not least, while I was in SD, I designed and knit up this exuberant pair of socks for Scott, using a skein of Trekking that he liked and a bit of orange Trekking from a pair I'd just finished for myself. As you can see, my husband is not afraid of color!

Now

2009-09-08T14:52:00.003-05:00

My dad doesn't think it can happen. The cards are already stacked, and what happens now is just noise.

He may very well be correct - it's more likely than not. But right is right, and I can't just sit back resignedly and wait for the worst to happen to my neighbors and my child, any more than I can just sit back and wait for the worst to happen to me. They may say I'm doomed, I may even think they are probably right, but I'm not going to go quietly.

So. Here's a bit of noise, and I've written to my representatives in D.C. to make sure they can hear it. They can plug their ears, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't speak the truth.

South Dakota, Tentatively

2009-09-01T10:00:00.002-05:00

Of course, I'm really looking forward to our (possible) vacation in the Black Hills. It's our opportunity to do the whole tourist thing, and we plan to take full advantage of it.

I think we'll be doing Wall Drug, the Lewis & Clark Keelboat Center, Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse memorials (of course), the various wildlife/scenic routes in the Badlands/Custer areas, Jewel Cave, Deadwood, the mines at Lead, and *maybe* the chuckwagon dinner and show at Circle B Ranch (argh, looks like it may close for the season the week before we get there) and/or the Reptile Gardens. But the thing I'm most looking forward to (other than the scenery), is the Mammoth Site. Yes, in spite of age and theoretical maturity, I still completely geek out at the idea of digging up old bones (and old buildings, and old pottery... anything historical, actually. Nowadays that pretty much means anything that pre-dates me).

Let me know if there's anything else you've done in South Dakota (or on the road between Minnesota and SD) that really made you squee. Restaurants, good motel deals, roadside attractions that may not be on the normal tourist agenda, we're up for it if it sounds interesting.

Wagons, Ho...

2009-08-31T16:15:00.008-05:00

In case you were wondering about the whiny tone of my last entry, I wrote it while trapped in my house because our car had imploded rather spectacularly and loudly that weekend and was being towed away to the mechanics as I typed. Things looked dire, and our bank account was hemorrhaging in a scary manner with each passing minute.

The car repair was more than we could afford, of course, and it seems likely the rotten machine will need more repair within the week - but it's running again, at least for the moment, and it cost less than buying a new (used) car. (Big sigh of relief from the audience, thank you, thank you...)

Looks like I'll be able to go to the retreat, at the very least.

The trip to the Black Hills is still up in the air, but I hope... I hope... well, I hope to pet a prairie dog and gawk at a mammoth skeleton on my 50th birthday, is what I hope. We'll see.

In the meantime, the Teenaged Thug is entering his second week of his Freshman Junior** year of college, and seems to be doing pretty well, from the tiny window of information I'm allowed from my lowly parental position. In other words, he breezes in late at night, kisses (or worse, scroofles) my head as he passes by, and answers all questions with some version of "Fine. Fine. It's going fine, mom," while scurrying off to hole up in his bedroom.

I should know better than to ask. But I can't help myself. I'm a mother.

On the knitting front, I've got the neon orange lace socks done. Picture that in your head - and then try to forget you did, before your brain explodes. It's just as tacky as it sounds. Of course, I absolutely love them. There's no accounting for taste, especially mine.

I am following that feat up by knitting a pair of socks for Scott that raise the retina-damage-factor significantly from the bar set by my brilliant attempt to warn hunters away from my clodhoppers. I'm using some colorfully marled and striped Trekking Maxima (the orange mentioned above was also of the Maxima line; go for the gusto when you are lucky enough to have a husband who isn't afraid of color, I say), and then I'm adding my own little Barbara Walker-inspired twist on the whole thing.

I can't wait to get my stupid camera fixed. You have GOT to see this...

**This refers to the Thug's particular situation, in which he is graduating from high school with enough college credits to start his official college career as a Junior. More on that at some point in the future. This post is long enough!

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted...

2009-08-23T16:02:00.007-05:00

The dear hubby and I have never had a Real Vacation together.

Well, okay, not exactly true.

We spent one night at a B&B in Stockholm, Wisconsin for our fifth anniversary, which was nice. We saw an eagle, strolled through a couple art/craft/'antique' stores, lusted after a few really lovely Amish quilts, and ate some very nice ice cream. We highly recommend Stockholm, WI to anyone interested, although the quilts are no longer there.

For our 'honeymoon' we went to Madison overnight to visit a friend who turned out to be too busy to spend time with us, so we shared one night in the guest-room twin bed (I was 5 months pregnant and still had all-day morning sickness, so you can imagine how thrilling that was) and then we high-tailed it back home, with a brief stopover at House On the Rock (see below). Whee.

We once spent a few days at Rose Lake with Scott's relatives. Bren loved being with his cousins, which is great. But it was very hot, the relatives understandably wanted to spend all their time with their coolers and the beautiful lake, and I'm allergic to the sun (really - I get hives). So I was stuck alone inside the small 2-room (tv-less, a/c-less) cabin-without-a-view with not much to do except read, sweep sand off the floor, and frown at crossword puzzles. Scott would have kept me company at least part of the time, but early on he jumped into the lake with his keys in his pocket... well, they were in his pocket when he went in. Naturally he had to make the 6 hour drive back home in a borrowed car so that he could break into the house and get my keys*, then drive another 6 hours back again. So the next day was taken up by his being exhausted and cranky.

Naturally, that was the day our nephew stepped on Scott's lost keys while diving off the dock, and kindly retrieved them.

We drove to Chicago for a couple days when Bren was 6, to visit my grandmother. We 'camped out' on her living room floor, naively looking forward to seeing the Art Institute, the Science & Industry Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and the Adler Planetarium (the last two were closed for some reason, I don't remember why).

Unfortunately, I can't count that as a vacation. Just as we started the trip, Bren entered his exciting 'Rules Don't Apply To Me' stage, and evidently the Rules included the ones about not hitting, biting, screaming, throwing things, or tearing things apart. So the entire trip involved hurriedly and forcibly dragging our miniature Berserker through museums/parks/stores while every security guard in the place followed us hissing 'Don't Touch!! Don't Touch!!' (loudly, so as to be heard above the shrieking) whenever we strayed close enough to a display to actually see it. We also took a boat tour past Navy Pier, but the only thing I remember about that is struggling with the temptation to just let the kid fling himself over the side and pretend I didn't notice.

Less 'vacation' than 'parental trial by fire'.**

We once went to the Wisconsin Dells with our darling boy, off-season. He was 7 or so then, and something more approximating a Human Being. Everything was closed except for one PuttPutt Golf course, a horse-drawn cart tour, the Ducks, and (Best Of All) the tackily-yet-fabulously fascinating House On The Rock. Even those were closing that week, but we got in under the wire. We spent a day at HOTR (it takes most of a day to really appreciate it), a half day in the Dells, with the night at a motel with a small indoor water park where the slides were under construction, but there were some floating 'islands' and a basketball hoop in the pool. The kid was thrilled, we were happy... good times. But not a lot of vacation time for 20 years of marriage and parenthood.***

But that is the sum and total of vacations that Scott & I have had in our nearly 30 years together. My birthday is coming up, as is our 20th wedding anniversary, and the future is looking a bit more scary and unknowable than it did a year ago. So we decided that we would go to the Black Hills (Bren has already been there with my parents, so he won't feel too deprived), have a week of relatively cheap fun, then get home in time for me to zoom off for the Infinite Boundaries retreat.

Yup. A week of vacation for us both, and then an extra few days of a sort of spiritual/emotional/vacation thing for me alone. Not easy, probably, but something I needed, and I felt really lucky to have the opportunity.

It's been a long time since we've had something fun to look forward to. We were pretty excited.

Until this weekend, when the car imploded.

Just the sound of it started a leak in our bank account. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to be a choice: either car or trips, but not both. And we are practical people at heart, so of course the car is going to win.

Drat.

*Yes, I HAVE learned to never save myself the trouble of dragging my keys around on vacation. Thanks for asking.

**This stage was blessedly short, curtailed by our agreeing that we would all stop living by Rules until Bren decided to reinstate them. This quickly led to his realization that it was rules that make grown up people cook meals and go to the park and share with smaller, weaker persons. Rules started looking pretty good, after all...

***Do not feel sorry for the kid. He is an Only Grandchild on my side, and so he has seen a great deal of the U.S. and Europe with his doting grandparents. We feel very lucky, both for the wonderful opportunities those trips gave Bren and for the bit of Peace and Quiet it gave us once in a while.****

****To be fair to Bren, the Chicago Experience was an anomaly, which is why we were so ill-prepared for it. He's been a challenging kid in some ways, as most children are, but we feel we've been very lucky, kid-wise. He's mostly been a joy to have around, and a great traveling companion. We don't plan on bringing him back for a refund any time soon.

What I Cooked On Summer Vacation

2009-08-10T19:00:00.006-05:00

Well, it's neither cooked nor was I on vacation, but it's good, so what the heck. If you are interested in food, I'm posting healthy recipes on my other blog. This one is for Avocado Gazpacho. Go check it out!

My thanks to Gretchen and Olivia for the photo, and the fun!

Rose Colored Recommendations

2009-08-07T00:36:00.004-05:00

I'm putting poor Carrie out of her misery, if she wanders over to this blog from the other, and will recommend the following to folks of literary persuasion:

One of the many things that my parents discovered they shared in common, when they met and fell immediately and deeply in love, was an appreciation of literature. My parents are voracious Readers, they come from Readers and they spawned Readers. One of the many, many authors they both love was and is Don Marquis, who wrote many fine things... but the most famous and perhaps the best were his recountings of the many adventures and ponderings of Archy and Mehitabel.

If you love wit and rough philosophy, you will visit your local library or Abe Books and get hold of one of Marquis' books... and render yourself toujours gai.

Awwwwwwww!!!

2009-08-05T23:20:00.001-05:00

Mr. and Mrs. Pao have little fuzzy growths, it's very odd!

(Help me, I'm melllllllting...)

All Right, Who Moved My Brain?

2009-08-02T11:45:00.002-05:00

I seem to be attached to the idea that knitting is something one does while watching television, and I haven't been able to spin lately, with the result that the hubster and I are watching about fiftybazillion more hours of TV than is strictly good for us.

Although we do watch 'So You Think You Can Dance' in Real Time (oh, gosh, can you believe that they put that 'Mercy' routine with Twitch and Katee on the same show as the 'Bleeding Love' routine with Mark and Chelsea, practically right on top of each other? I almost swooned with Dancing Joy...), we pretty much watch everything else by DVD or on the internets.

So we are working our way through all million seasons of ER, from the beginning (oo, George Clooney - no, wait, he's annoying in this one...), and the most recent seasons of The Closer, Burn Notice, The Shield (do we want Vic to go down in this final season, or not?), Battlestar Galactica (we've heard the ending is not satisfactory, but, well, how could it be?), and various movies. We own and regularly re-watch Firefly, of course. On the internets I keep up late at night with Chuck, the Colbert Report, Better Off Ted (Dilbert Meets Guthy-Renker), and Pushing Daisies. And with the darling boy I watch Supernatural.

All of which encourages the knitting and the posterior to grow, but is not necessarily great for the brain. I'm trying to figure out how to turn pages while keeping hold of my stitches, but so far I am mostly learning why I was never invited to be a member of the Flying Karamazov Brothers.

Does anybody have a good recipe for 'Sense and Sensibility Kebab'?

Cute, and a Bit Sad

2009-08-01T23:47:00.009-05:00

First of all, sorry for recent silence, but for some reason I have been trying to get on Blogger for several days, and haven't been able to get it up on my computer AT ALL. I could Facebook, I could Twitter, I could melt my brain with Hulu and YouTube, but I couldn't get to my blogs at all.

Luckily, this ability has returned as mysteriously as it left me, and folks...

I'm BAA-aaaaack...

And the first thing that occurred to me (because I'm flutterbrained like that) is that I didn't put up any pictures of my son's only Senior Prom.

Possibly because he and his beloved broke up very shortly thereafter.

We are sorry for the breakup - we are very fond of the young lady in question. But she is going off to college in a different part of the state, and they very rightly felt that long-distance relationships are not easy to manage, and that both parties were too young to do such a tricky thing well.

Nonetheless, they were awfully cute, don't you think? I hope that they will look back at the time they had together with nostalgic enjoyment, through the lens of lasting friendship.
They are both bright, kind, lovely young people -
and luckily they still appreciate this about each other.

We should all be so lucky!

And Now For Something Completely Different

2009-07-11T08:44:00.004-05:00

I get Dr. Mercola's newsletters, and today's version referred to this video - if you are at all interested in animal behavior, this is really fascinating!

Now I Ask You...

2009-07-08T16:03:00.001-05:00

Who needs criminals when you can get comfortably robbed in the privacy of your own home every month by your friendly neighborhood utility companies?

Brilliant

2009-06-20T11:39:00.003-05:00

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's a beautiful day and I'm about to go to the Textile Center with some lovely friends, so life is good.

Let's add a bit of laughter to that. Here is one of my favorite comedians - well, possibly my very favorite comedian, actually. He does intellectual comedy, he does physical comedy, he's literate and loves history and is tremendously talented. Also as a private person, he is shy and tends towards being a bit morose. So obviously we have a lot in common.

Anyway, here's just one bit he's done. If you go to YouTube and look up 'Rowan Atkinson', there's lots more to be enjoyed there. And of course, watch the 'Black Adder' series if you haven't already. While you are at it, check out Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, who aren't as reliable, but have their moments.

Enjoy!

Resources

2009-06-04T16:52:00.003-05:00

I plan to make a list of (hopefully link-able) resources for breast cancer patients, to make available on my Rose Colored Cancer blog.

If you have links or (toll-free) phone numbers, addresses, etc. for informational, medical, financial, and other practical forms of assistance for those who are dealing with breast cancer - including friends and family - please let me know. I will be listing info for US National, international, and individual state organizations as they come to me.

Thanks for your help!

Speaking of Later...

2009-05-27T12:03:00.002-05:00

I wish I had remembered that camera sitting pointlessly in the bag behind our table.

Really, Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wood Festival was lovely. It was a lovely weekend, and our neighbors were even more lovely (hi, Jane & Denise!!). The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the dogs were herding, the sheep were de-fleecing (at the shearing demonstration booth), the llamas were blinking in that adorable way they have, the fiber was bright and beautiful, the vendors were creative and helpful, the classes were fascinating.

What more could you want?

Well, you could want a more organized reporter, for one thing. Someone who actually took photos and got out to talk to more folks and see more things on which to report.

D'oh!!

Luckily, there were people who were more prepared, alert, and responsible than moiself. And some of them posted photos here. And here.

Don't you wish you had been there?

(I can't wait to go again!)

Behind the Times

2009-05-13T11:46:00.002-05:00

One of the benefits and flaws of surgery-enforced idleness is that you end up spending much too much time listening to podcasts and videos of one sort or another while you fiddle with string and pointy sticks. You discover new things, and old things you didn't know about - in my case, lots of political stuff, and some fun stuff, and this gal, who I can't understand at all but who reminds me of the best of the folk singers 'back in the day' - Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell - all dressed up in modern music:

Enjoy!

Shepherd's Harvest Sheep & Wool Festival

2009-05-05T16:05:00.007-05:00

I'm going! I'm going!! I can't wait!!!

click logo for info

Several wonderful new friends will be there, too. YOU should be there, if you can... and stop and visit me on Saturday. I'll either be at my parents' table ("The Wee Mad Road") with the few remaining skeins I've got left - just follow the Scottish music and you'll find us - or I'll be wandering around with a stunned-yet-greedy glint in my eye, lusting after fiber treasure. On Sunday I'll be taking the dye class and the novelty yarn spinning class, so I won't be as easy to find, but I'll still be having lots and lots of fun.

You will, too, if you come along. Oh, do come along, I will miss you so much if you don't!!

We Pause For A Public Disservice Announcement

2009-04-21T15:46:00.006-05:00

Okay, I know it's totally obnoxious to brag about your kids.

But it's truly charming when I brag about MY kid.

Really. Just ask him.

So I am pleased to announce that the Thug has been invited to be the Op Ed editor for his college paper.

This is a particular coup, given that said Thug isn't even officially a college student yet, and hasn't officially joined said college. He will be the youngest editor the paper has ever had.

A proud mother may permit herself a small 'w00t', may she not?

w00t!

Springtime Means Hello and Goodbye

2009-04-18T08:44:00.004-05:00

Spring is a fleeting thing in Minnesota. A friend (hi, Jane!) just reminded me of my beloved grandmother, and jogged a few treasured memories, one of which is this poem. It was one of the hundreds of poems she knew by heart and could recite with great drama and relish, but this one was most often murmured quietly to a sleepy grandchild tucked warmly into bed for a cozy night's sleep. It has little literary value, I imagine, and so has slipped into obscurity - certainly nobody else I know has ever admitted to having heard or read it. But I think it's a lovely little reminder of the brief joys of spring, and of life, so I share it here in hopes that someone else will treasure it and keep it alive just a little bit longer...

Baby Seed Song
by Edith Nesbit, 1858-1924

Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
Are you awake in the dark?
Here we lie cosily, close to each other:
Hark to the song of the lark
"Waken!" the lark says, "waken and dress you;
Put on your green coats and gay,
Blue sky will shine on you, sunshine caress you
Waken! 'tis morning 'tis May!"
Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,
What kind of a flower will you be?
I'll be a poppy all white, like my mother;
Do be a poppy like me.
What! You're a sunflower! How I shall miss you
When you're grown golden and high!
But I shall send all the bees up to kiss you;
Little brown brother, good-bye.

How To Come Out Of Your Slump

2009-03-18T22:41:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry I've been away so long. Lots of changes going on in my life, mostly not terribly pleasant, and I've been pouting a bit. But how can I remain depressed when great artists are creating beauty and inspiration for the world?

I'm proud to be a Fiber Fiend, because now I can present you with this:

Ain't life grand?

Important Healthcare Alert

2009-02-17T15:22:00.002-06:00

Vitamin D deficiency has a PRIMARY link to *all* cancers, including and especially hormonally-linked ones such as prostate and breast cancer. It is also linked to other serious diseases - MS, heart disease, autism, etc. Information can be found on the Vitamin D Council website, or if you want a good video to start with (takes about 30 minutes, but you get the idea within the first 10 or so):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PsyaYNX1dw

There is a huge health-care threat flying under the radar right now - see below - and our opportunity to respond is rapidly shrinking. Please take action now, if you can!

(And if you haven't been tested already, please get tested asap)

~Eileen

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vitamin D Council Newsletter

Friday the 13th, February, 2009.

Emergency!

On Friday, February 6, 2009, Medicare announced its intention to stop paying for vitamin D blood tests in many Medicare districts. If this rule passes, the change will quickly extend to all Medicare districts. Private insurers will then follow suit, denying payment for vitamin D blood tests, even for the diagnoses of vitamin D deficiency. Medicare proposes to pay for vitamin D blood tests for only few limited indications, such as rickets, osteomalacia and chronic renal failure.

Draft LCD for Vitamin D Assay Testing (DL29510)

This rule change flies in the face of an enormous amount of research, some of it published in the last few months. For example, several weeks ago, the British Journal of Cancer reported that in men with prostate cancer, those with highest vitamin D blood levels were 7 (seven) times more likely to survive than were men with the lowest levels (RR 0.16). If any media stories appeared about this amazing discovery, I am unable to locate them.

Association between serum 25(OH)D and death from prostate cancer

Apparently, Medicare's reasoning is not understood in England. A week ago, researchers at Oxford discovered the long-sort genetic link vitamin D has with multiple sclerosis. According to Medicare's new rules, if you have MS, or don't want your unborn baby to develop it, or have a family history of MS, or just don't want to get MS, you will have to pay for the blood test to decide how much vitamin D you should take to optimize your 25-hydroxy-vitamin D level.

MS link to vitamin D deficiency hailed by politicians as giant leap forward

If you are pregnant, and want to reduce your risk of caesarian section by four-fold, you will have to anti up.

Low vitamin D may increase chance of a caesarean delivery

Patients with diagnosed colon cancer are 48% less likely to die if their vitamin D levels are high. If you have this dreaded cancer, how do you know if your levels are high?

Vitamin D May Promote Colon Cancer Survival

If you fear getting demented, pay up. Recent research indicates people with impaired cognition are twice as likely to have vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D is mental health aid

If you have Parkinson's disease, or don't want to get it, get our your wallet.

Study finds link between low vitamin D and Parkinson's disease

Even the American Academy of Pediatrics recently stated,

"Given the growing evidence that adequate maternal vitamin D status is essential during pregnancy, not only for maternal well-being but also for fetal development, health care professionals who provide obstetric care should consider assessing maternal vitamin D status by measuring the 25-hydroxy-vitamin D concentrations of pregnant women."

Prevention of rickets and vitamin D deficiency in infants, children, and adolescents.

That is, the American Academy of Pediatrics now suggests vitamin D blood levels be measured in all pregnant women. Expectant mothers, concerned about their baby's "fetal development," will soon have to pay for the only test that will do what the American Academy of Pediatrics now advises, tell them if their unborn baby is vitamin D deficient.

I could go on and on. Now is the time the Vitamin D Council needs your help. I want you to do two things:

1) Email the person taking comments, Medicare's Ms. Gina Oliveri, at Gina.Oliveri@ugswlp.com, and tell her your feelings about this proposed rule change. Include your reason why this test is crucial for the health of Americans.

2) Send an email to your Congressperson and ask them to investigate Medicare's "Draft LCD for Vitamin D Assay Testing (DL29510)." Tell your representative not to let this happen. Simply click on the link below, fill in your state and zip code, go to your Congressperson's website, and then click on "contact."

Write Your Representative

Of course, this rule change will help the finances of the Vitamin D Council, as it will increase sales of ZRT's in-home Vitamin D test, which generates ten bucks per test to us. However, this rule change will end up killing Americans. We cannot let it happen.

I can't stress enough how important this is for the public health of the United States. On February 21st, in just nine days, Medicare will not allow any further input by citizens, so email both Gina.Oliveri@ugswlp.com and your Congressperson right now.

John Cannell, MD
The Vitamin D Council
9100 San Gregorio Road
Atascadero, CA 93422

Intermission

2009-02-11T08:43:00.001-06:00

I want to be a jellyfish.

On Being Chirpy - and Not

2009-02-10T14:28:00.002-06:00

I have a fabulous mother-in-law - she has all sorts of serious medical problems, has had some of them for most of her adult life, but she very rarely gets down about them. She has this amazing appreciation for everything in her life, and an abiding faith that everything will eventually work out for the best. I admire her tremendously, for this and other reasons. I asked her once how she developed this wonderful attitude, hoping to learn from her good example; unfortunately she said that she was born with it, and she didn't think it was something one developed. You either have it, or you don't.

Studies done on optimism, pessimism, shyness, etc. bear her out on this. Children evidently are inherently risk-takers or fearful, optimistic or anxious, shy or outgoing pretty much from birth, and by and large we grow up to be who we were from the beginning. These personality traits are filters through which each person passes all their experiences, and those filters determine what 'sticks' and what falls to the wayside.

Interestingly, studies also show that people who tend to be anxious, cautious, and pessimistic also tend to be more realistic than other people - they more accurately assess their own performance, more accurately assess the likely consequences of a given action, more accurately assess the likely outcome of a given situation. And yet this realistic attitude gets in their way; realistic people get less done, on average, and succeed less often than unrealistically optimistic people, people who shoot for unrealistic goals, people who take foolish risks, people who overestimate their own abilities and performance.

So don't get me wrong - I admire those who are positive in their attitudes, who set their goals high and reach for the stars, who whistle while they work and always look on the bright side of life. These are the people who get things done, and they are (usually) fun to be with while they are at it.

BUT... I was not born one of these people, and in spite of periods of resolve and effort, I have not been able to force myself to be one of these people. I am one of those annoyingly anxious, cautious, stubbornly realistic people. Attempts to force myself into acting otherwise have only lead to depression and loneliness - I knew I was faking it, and so did everyone else. People aren't naturally drawn to pessimists, it's true, but nobody likes being with fakey people. I've learned over time to accept (most of) my flaws and limitations.

As Popeye says, "I Yam What I Yam."

A well-intentioned reader - obviously a member of those number blessed with natural optimism herself, who correctly understands that an positive attitude does lead to a happier experience of life - urges me to stop talking about what I am losing and start talking about what I still have.

Well, I do know and appreciate what I have, and sometimes I talk (or write) about that. But right now my experience is largely one of loss and narrowing down and physical pain, and that is what I am dealing with. My life is challenging right now, and those challenges are likely to grow rather than diminish over what time is left to me. At the moment those challenges and losses are constantly in my face, so I have to deal with them - and I have to deal with them in my own way.

One of my ways of dealing with these challenges and losses - as well as my blessings - is to write about them, and to write about them honestly. So although I appreciate the good intentions behind the wish that I could be happier and focus more on the positive, I cannot follow a suggestion that would lead to my being insincere and Not Myself. I cannot pretend that I don't miss what I've always had and suddenly don't, or that I am not occasionally sad that my life is suddenly a lot more limited than I and my loved ones thought or hoped it would be.

I understand that this can be a Downer, and uncomfortable for some people. Luckily, they can either move on to something more positive in order to lift their spirits again, or they can wait for a bit and come back when I'm feeling better, or they can choose not to 'listen' to my whining at all. I can understand that urge, certainly!

I try to do most of my whinging/emoting on my other (cancer journal) blog, but the subject is bound to slip out onto this one on occasion. I hope that you will stick with me, and I do appreciate all the fabulous support and kindness shown to me by all my lovely readers... but please don't push at me, even with the best of intentions, to be someone that I'm not. It just makes me more unhappy and uncomfortable than I already am, which is not likely to lead to a more positive attitude on my part.

On the other hand, airing my feelings does often help me shed the heavier ones a bit. I feel better already...

Brain Drain

2009-02-09T10:48:00.002-06:00

I do intend to post something at least semi-interesting here, at some point. I do. I just don't know exactly when my brain fog is going to lift enough to let me have something interesting to say - well, at least something to say about something other than being sick.

It's not that I'm not doing anything else. It's more like everything else I am doing is either unpleasant enough that I don't want to talk about it (gee, anybody want to read a treatise on cleaning incisions? Tax talk, anyone? Anyone...?) or boring enough that there isn't much to say about it (I watched TV last night. And the night before that. And the night before that.)

I do have some thank-yous and interesting things to post in terms of photographs... when my body will let me do some decent photography. I'm hoping that will be soon, but it won't be NOW, which would definitely be my preference.

So I must ask you all to be patient with me (something I am failing at woefully, myself), and wait just a little while longer. In the meantime, if you want to treat yourself to some whinging, feel free to visit me on my other blog, where I am less constrained by taste and tact. After all, I've never managed to shut up completely, not for long!

Some Serious, Some Not

2009-01-19T07:29:00.003-06:00

I don't want to repeat myself too much, but I wrote something yesterday on my cancer blog that I think might be of general interest. If you have a moment, and can bear with a few more minutes of Me, it might be worthwhile to think on this particular issue.

For those of you who have already read that post, and who have nothing in particular to do, look up "Mike Birbiglia" on YouTube. Funny guy...

Remember that Wednesday is the first big surgery, and that I probably won't be posting here for a week or two. Updates on my progress will be posted in the 'Journal' section of:

http://caringbridge.org/visit/eileenm

You can leave a message for me on the 'Guestbook' page, and my mom or the guys will make sure it gets to me.

See you in a couple weeks!

On Gratitude

2009-01-18T05:50:00.005-06:00

I've been struggling for a while with the impulses that gratitude inspires, and the fear that in thanking the many people who have been so kind to me in the past few weeks, I am going to seem to be asking for more.

It's a quandary. Do I want to sound greedy? Or do I want to seem ungrateful?

Having spent much more time than I should in hovering between the two, I will now err on the side of expressing my feelings.

I am so grateful to all the lovely people who have been sending messages of encouragement and support. I cannot express what each and every kind word has meant to me during this very difficult time in my life. I know now that I do not walk alone, and that understanding is infinitely precious.

That said, I also feel the need to acknowledge the extra thoughtfulness and effort that some people have gone to in order to shine extra light in this rather dark time. I am unendingly grateful to Nancy and Tom for their gift of art and inspiration; to Pat, Dori, Annie and Pat F. for their ongoing advice and support; to Timary for her encouragement and tutelage; to the Paos and to Gretchen for their invaluable gifts of laughter and fun; to Deb M. for providing something to occupy the hands while the mind is full; to Carol Lee, Stephanie, Jane and Timary for helping me breathe just that little bit easier as the medical expenses mount; to Jane, Denise and Nancy who are giving me something to look forward to (see you all at Shepherd's Harvest!)... and to all the women I've met online who are traveling on the same road, and sharing the same burdens.

And most of all, I need to thank my family for their patience and love and support. Especially my mom, who has been there with me every step of the way and never lets me fall.

You are all a light and a blessing, and the world is a better place because you are in it.

Thank you.

On Being the Cobbler

2009-01-11T05:12:00.003-06:00

Here I am, a spinner and knitter - and I have been suffering the pains of freezing fingers all winter so far, because I don't have a pair of mittens or gloves!

I feel as though I don't have the yarn, which is ironic. But I feel as though the yarn I've spun is too precious to waste on myself - I want to share it!

I only have one bit of commercial yarn, and it's so BORING, just one flat color (but a deep intense color that would not lend itself well to dyeing experiments)... and I don't have a mitten pattern that appeals to me for yarn in one flat color, or have enough to allow for lots of big fun cables. Plus the resulting mitten would be too thin to be effective in our MN cold snaps.

I do have a bit of fiber on the wheel (thank you, Debi M.!), and I'm experimenting with different spinning techniques. I am hoping that something fun will come out of it - it won't be skillfully spun enough to sell, but hopefully it will be usable enough to make mittens of. Unfortunately, I am spinning so slowly that the yarn might not be done by the end of winter... especially since I am likely to be interrupted by the (possibly simultaneous) mastectomy and hysterectomy, and expect to not be in spinning shape for at least six weeks.

I may have to make do with the thin commercial yarn, if I can get going fast enough.

Fast. Me.

HA!!!

I may have to make do with either being the Cobbler (along with his family, if you want to be nitpicky), or being the proud owner of The Emperor's New Mittens...

Yes, I Am Talking To You

2009-01-07T23:02:00.003-06:00

Okay, children, I know that many of you somehow managed to get out of school having failed to have comprehended the majesty, the power, the sweeping scope and pure entertainment of that least beloved of subjects:

HISTORY

Yes, I am talking to you. Admit it, you thought history was dry and dull and something to be avoided whenever possible.

Well, put those preconceptions away, boys and girls - because as you are about to find, History can be both inspiring and hilarious!

(History is also apparently full of expletives and a bit of self-induced nausea; don't say we didn't warn you...)