AGE

On Getting Older


Lately, three things have come to my attention about the issue of getting older.

One:

There was a list going around on the internet on the topic of the advantages of getting older. One was that no one would accuse us of being hypochondriacs. not.funny. (Well, it sort of is, but you know what I mean.)

Two:

I listened to a man on NPR (being old and all, I can’t remember if he was a doctor or a researcher) who said that we shouldn’t call getting older aging; we should call it-----Deterioration. Not nice. Not nice at all.

And Three:

I think of myself as ME! Just plain ME. Yes, I know I’m older than I used to be. But when someone speaking about a group of people she had encountered at an event said to me: They were about your age, I thought, Wait, WHAT?

I thought I was just me, a bit older than I used to be yes, but just me. I hadn’t realized that OTHER people knew this. I thought they just thought of me as ME. Not OLD me.

My cover is blown? Or I had no cover to begin with….I was just fooling myself?

Maybe I will go for this look.

I think she's having fun.

Pioneer Woman and Memorial Day

Pictures speak a thousand words, maybe even more.

Just for Fun

Confusion

Reigns.

I used a provisional cast on for the skirt I am starting. It is supposed to be an easy way to hold live stitches. If I had used my brain, I would have remembered that I could have just cast the stitches on to my Knit Picks interchangeable needles, then taken the points off and capped the cord and kept the live stitches on the cord. But instead I crocheted a chain and knit into it.

The idea is that the red yarn would just pull out easily as I picked up the live stitches. I have tried picking up from both ends, but the waste yarn will not pull out. So I have just spent 45 minutes picking up stitches one by one, and clipping out the waste yarn stitch by stitch. And I'm only about a third of the way around the 222 stitches. Aaacccckkk.
And at last night's knit night, after I finished all the rows I needed for the skirt waistband, I started an EASY project, the Clapotis scarf. Sallyknit was wearing hers and I loved it, so since I really, really need another scarf, I picked out this lovely Malabrigo sock yarn, colorway 852 Persia, to make my Clapotis. I cast on, knit 14 rows, and pulled them out twice. It's EASY, says everyone at knit-night. Not for me, apparently. So once I finish the mess I've made of the Hip in Hemp skirt cast on, I'll try the Clapotis again.

Knitting is fun. Knitting is fun. Knitting is fun.

Hydrangeas and an Air Horn

Lacecap Hydrangea:

I don't remember the names of any of my hydrangeas and the little tags that came with them are long gone. But a hydrangea by any name would be as lovely.

I LOVE them!

Also, while watching coverage of the terrible tornadoes last night in Missouri, I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for anyone in the path of natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding) to have on hand an air horn. I would hate to be buried under layers of a building turned to rubble and not be able to shout loudly enough to be found. An air horn would take care of that. I used to have one that I bought for my daughters to carry in their cars, but they both thought I was crazy and never took it. So it's somewhere in the house, I think. I should find it and put it in the cubby that we think of as our tornado shelter.

Otherwise, I'll have to get another, and I don't remember where they are sold.

But Not Yesterday

Apocalypse not.

Whew, says Baxter.

Apocalypse Now?

That's what I've been hearing. My older daughter says that it's supposed to happen at 6 pm local time everywhere...a sort of rolling rapture.

I hope I'm still here tomorrow, as I forgot to sign up for post-rapture petcare and Baxter loves to eat.

I think I'm safe. I'll be here.

Summit Shawl

Finished, now blocking. It is shorter than I like, but I unintentionally made it one column wider, and that is the reason. I didn't discover that I had miscounted until the shawl was well under way, and I wasn't about to rip it out. It will have to do.

It looks complicated, but it's not. It is just very time consuming because of all of the back and forth knitting and purling on small numbers of stitches. Turning and turning the work.

And now on to something completely different: One of my peonies. I LOVE peonies!

Dumb Luck

I have just finished the Summit Shawl. That tiny ball of yarn above is all I have left and, boy howdy, am I lucky. I never once weighed the yarn or the shawl to see how much I had used by this point or that point, so I had no idea how long to keep on knitting. AND I had never actually read ALL of the directions (dumb, lazy luck) to know that I had to finish on a left-curving section in order for the bind off instructions to work. I just kept on going and suddenly noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of yarn left. But I had just worked a left-curving section. So I was golden. Whew.

I'd rather be lucky than smart? Not really, but I'll accept it here.

Now, (past exonerative tense here, since I will admit no blame) mistakes were made. But I can fix/hide them, so once I have done that, and tied off the ends, and blocked it, this shawl is over. Thank doG.

Why, I Oughta.....

What rights or recourse do I have with a business I pay nothing to? No contract. No money.

No recourse, you say?

Well, never mind then. But Blogger deleted yesterday's post ( although not just mine, SO THEY SAY) and some of you might have missed this.

And you might have missed the 20 or 30 two comments about the video. So it's back.

As an apology for the icky video, here are some pictures of flowers in my garden:

My clematis.

Water Lily.

Water Lily in the pond. We put it in about a month ago on the recommendation of a pond supply business. The large leaves will help obscure the fish (if there are any left) so that the visiting heron won't have such an easy time picking them off.

I love having flowers in my own back yard!


Update: Well, those tricky folks at Blogger. Now they have re-posted yesterday's post, but not the 20 or 30 two comments. C'mon guys!!!

So Wrong It's Right?

No, that's not it. It's not right.

If this is wrong, I don't want to be right?

Nope, that's not it.

Uh, it's just plain WRONG! In so many ways. But I watched it anyway.

Now I'll share it with you.



You're welcome.

(With thanks to Rants from Mommyland)

Good News/Bad News

The good news: My Claudia Handpainted Yarn, Ocean Depth color, is finally here and I can knit the Hip in Hemp skirt.

The bad news: My Claudia Handpainted Yarn, Ocean Depth color, is finally here and I can knit the Hip in Hemp skirt. (I don't understand the pattern yet.)

Isn't it pretty??? I know that I'll figure it out once I get the stitches on the needles.

!!!!!!!

What the heck is this and what is it doing in my house!!! It is almost three inches in length.

Does it bite??? Is it dangerous???

Well, not any more. I vacuumed him up. I hope that serves as a warning.

These Boots Were Made for

ME!!!

I'm just back from Austin and visiting my four grandchildren (and their parents). I had a great time. They are all fun and...quite often, quite unintentionally...funny. We all had a good time until the very last few minutes there. We were just about set to leave for the airport when grandson (age 4) ran and then fell, hitting his chin on the coffee table CORNER. Ouch.

So off went daughter and grandson to the ER and off went my son-in-law, two-year old granddaughter and me to the airport. Grandson ended up with three stitches (poor little guy) and I ended up languishing on the runway for an additional 1 1/2 hours because of a groundstop in Atlanta.

But grandson is fine today and thanks to the versed he was given in the hospital, has no memory of the trauma part of the ER visit.

And I am back in Atlanta...sniff...and still waiting for the Claudia Handpaint to show up so that I can knit the second skirt that I need to wear with my new boots.

Yee Haw, y'all!