More of this and that

Brrrrrr. It's -21 F outside with wind chills between -30 and -40 F. I'm glad I park in a heated garage.

Here's my Christmas cactus.

It is more than 30 years old and hasn't bloomed for the last several. It was worth the wait. As you can see in this image, it has bark-covered trunks. There aren't a lot of blooms but, as I said, it's the first time in 12+ years.

Knitting: Yes, I still knit. I've fallen for the Noro 1x1 two skein scarf. The first image is made of Noro Silk Garden in 84L and 245. The colors are very bright. I made this one most recently. 45% silk, 45% kid mohair, 10% wool. I never thought I could wear mohair so I'm glad I tried this one. It doesn't itch at all.


This second one was made first using Noro wool. I didn't keep the wrappers so I can't tell you the numbers. I'm amazed at how soft this one is. It's 100% wool and is very scratchy in the knitting process. The yarn sticks together and that's really annoying.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are a fact of life, even more so now with the rise in the Gulf water temperatures. My first reaction to people who chose not to evacuate was "Why did you stay? Quit complaining! It was your choice!" Some of the people who stayed behind are too stubborn or too stupid to understand what the consequences are and then they scream bloody murder when they find out.

But I realize as I read the news accounts from various sources that one big reason so many stayed is money. It costs money to get into your car and drive and it costs money, usually, to stay somewhere other than your own home. The extra cost after having evacuated once already for Gustav can be too much for a family.

To these people I suggest, "Stop complaining!" Stop complaining because it took rescuers so long to get to you. Stop complaining because you don't have any power to run your air conditioner or refrigerator. Stop complaining because you can't use your toilet. These things happen.

To the ones who are in shelters, again, "Stop complaining!" Perhaps you are only getting a small amount of water every few hours and a little peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat. Perhaps the folding cot you are sleeping on is uncomfortable. This isn't your home. It's a shelter. Things are supposed to be meager in shelters because of the sheer numbers of people needing assistance. I suspect a large percentage of people giving the assistance are volunteers. Give them a break.

Because of the increased number of hurricanes and their increased size and intensity, I say it's time for people to start thinking about living somewhere else. Somewhere farther inland and up the hill.

Living in New Orleans, for instance, below sea level, is just asking for problems. Living inland but still at sea level is still asking for trouble. I understand there's a lot of history to be lost by abandoning places like New Orleans or the many small towns along the gulf that have been there for a couple hundred years. But that history is in danger of being washed away anyway. Better to lose history than lives. Things can be replaced. People can't.

- - - - - - -

Sometimes I wonder if the earth is just getting back at us for trashing it. I read in the Discover magazine about all the trash in the oceans. There's a huge floating garbage dumb that circles the Pacific. I'm glad Jacques Cousteau isn't alive to see it. We have land fills containing poisonous trash. We have industrial sites that seep poisonous chemicals into our drinking water. We have nuclear waste that will never go away. We have trashed Mother Earth.

I think she's pissed and wants to wash us away like so much dirt on her hands.

This 'n' that

Betty and I went to the Stitch 'n' Pitch at the Dome again this year. Here are members of the Barbershop Harmony Society singing the national anthem. They did a great job.


I said in an early post this spring that when the lillies bloomed I'd post some photos.



There was a strong thunderstorm that moved very quickly into our area. The people who own the camper below had left in the morning to go shopping when the sky was blue and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day. They didn't tip one end of their awning down to let the rain drain. As you can see, the water pooled in the awning and got heavy enough to break the tubular support. With the help of others at the camp, it was repaired before the weekend was over enough to get the awning up out of the way. I understand, however, they had to buy a new one.


Years ago, this lovely old oak tree was the support for a wonderful tire swing. The rope was long enough to really get your stomach going. You could swing very high on it. We lost several large trees, but, except for the awning above, there was no major damage to buildings or campers and no people were injured. We have a couple storm shelters on the property, one of which has a little TV set to watch weather warnings.


This lily really needed to have it's picture taken one more time after the rain.

Eagle Brook Riders in the Rain

Eagle Brook Church has a motorcycle group: Eagle Brook Riders (formerly known as Velocity Riders). Every spring, summer, and fall there are scheduled rides. So far this year, David and I haven't made many because of his heavy traveling schedule. But we decided to go today. It was planned as a long ride (230+ miles).

The day started sunny with little innocuous puffy white clouds against a blue, blue sky. I forgot to count the number of bikes but it was a couple dozen or so. Here we're resting our arses after the first hour or so.


This is David's Gold Wing 1500. I, of course, sit behind and am referred to as a "co-rider" in the Gold Wing circles. I used to drive a little Kawasaki 120. This is nothing like that. Relaxing, for me at least.

At the half-way point, the group stopped at Hansen's Hold-Up. It's a great little place situated on the top of a hill. David is standing next to a PVC pipe saguaro (sawarro) cactus statue. The valley in the background seems to go almost forever. We're looking mostly south here.

Here's a list of the specials for the day. David had the pulled pork and I had the Philly beef. It took a LONG time for our food to arrive but we did all show up at the same time and there were other people there as well. The food was well worth the wait.

And we don't want to forget the current traveling socks. These are, I think, Lorna's Laces in her Black Watch colorway. Thinner yarn than I'm used to on size 2 45-in. flexible needle. Can't wait to finish them. What I like about knitting socks is they are portable. I got a couple rounds done while we waited for our food.

David stood in line to place our order and is seen here looking out the window at the weather.

It looked rather gray when we arrived.

The rain started to fall.

This is our ride captain for the day, John, taking photos of David taking photos. John is part of an organization that raises money for a surgeon to travel the world and reconstruct children's faces. See www.rideforsmiles.com for more information or if you'd like to contribute. John will be going on a 30-day fund-raising ride. He is paying all his own expenses and taking pledges for the miles he will be traveling.

The rain came from smallish black clouds moving at a fair clip. Several passed over us, and our bikes, while we ate. David had found a nice covered location and spoke to the owners of that space when we left. They were quite nice about it. (I guess David is into forgiveness rather than permission.)

When there was a break in the weather and we'd finished eating, David and I took off and drove straight west. That was a good idea. Except for a few rather light sprinkles, we stayed pretty dry all the way home.

As always after a ride like this, I'm pooped. A nice hot shower to wash off a little road grit and a Cuba Libre (made with Appleton VX and [I'm sorry...] caffeine-free diet coke), I summoned the energy to write this blog.

Now I will load my home printer driver onto my work laptop before I lose administrative rights. Pentair is pretty careful about what is loaded onto their machines. But the fellow who built the machine for me suggested I load my home printer driver so I can print things at home if I need them. Thanks Marco.

Then I'm off to bed early. All that fresh air is just too much for me. By the way, my shoulder did well on the trip. Full-strength Motrin is a wonderful thing (if you ignore the flatulence it causes [Gas-X seems to help some]).

Knitting in the Snow (warning: photo intense blog)

Those of you who know who the Yarn Harlot is will understand why so many people came out on the windy, showy, icy evening to hear Stephanie Pearl-McPhee speak. For those of you who don't know who she is, click here to read her blog.

Here we are at the University of St. Thomas waiting in line for the event to start.

The Yarnery put on the event, scheduled and rented the space, advertised, gave away door prizes, raised money for Knitters without Borders. To help pay for the event, they also sold books that Stephanie was kind enough to sign, as well as miles (kilometers?) of lovely yarn.

This is my friend Betty.

And my friend Ann.

I "Kineared" a gorgeous shawl. I'm not showing her face because she had no idea I was taking her picture. Isn't that beautiful work?

Of course, we started the event with the Canadian national anthem, Oh Canada. Stephanie is from Toronto.

Periodically, the Yarnery lady would draw for door prizes. Pattern books, yarn, you name it. We all got lovely bags that work like little backpacks to put our prizes in.

And, of course, the event wouldn't be complete without some "roasting" in the form of music. I apologize, I can't remember the name of the Yarnery's group! I'm sure some wonderful person can put it into the Comments for me. Anyway, you can see the photo of Stephanie on the slide screen above that adorable young man. There were 4 who played and sang: The adorable young man, the two ladies singing (one of whom played guitar as well), and the piano player. They were very, very good. My next blog may well have a brief video, assuming they don't put a comment in here asking me not to. Of course, they will have to find my blog to do that.

Finally, Stephanie came out to begin her talk.

But first she had to take "sock" pictures of us all.

As always, her comedic presentation had us all in stitches.... (sorry)

Mixed in with her humor was some serious information about knitters entering the "theta brain state" and becoming healthier, calmer, more alert people, who are more aware of our surroundings and able to learn and remember more than those who don't knit. (And did you know knitters outnumber golfers, 2 to 1?)

She was very validating.

After a brief question-and-answer period where she elaborated on her walk to the store for toilet paper and beer (see March 18), we politely ordered ourselves numerically (we were given numbers as we arrived), and lined up to have a brief moment with our hero and have our books signed.

This is Betty again; we're waiting in the line. I was #58.

Ann was number 61.

I "Kineared" a gorgeous, lacy sweater while we waited.

Just behind us was this amazing piece of knitted tapestry. She's doing a series of these.

Finally, Betty and the Harlot.

Me with the Harlot

And Ann and the Harlot.

At the beginning of this blog entry I mentioned the snow. When I left my office in Anoka at 4 p.m., it was just very, very windy. I had to struggle to keep my car in my lane. By the time I reached St. Paul it was snowing heavily. It felt like God was throwing snowballs at me.

After the event was done it was just raining (albeit freezing rain). The drive wasn't too bad. There was a lot of slush on the road but driving up Snelling Avenue at 35-40 mph didn't feel too scary.

But I realized, as I was getting close to home on County Road E, that it was ice, not dirt, that was blocking the light.