We have a new garage door. When you’re a homeowner, a lot of things become a priority that you’d just as soon not deal with. My husband and I are expert at kicking the can down the road until we have no choice but to deal with it. In this case, the garage door, after 45 years, decided it no longer wanted to open without my husband’s help. We’re not getting any younger so …
Voila! A garage door with windows!
Let the sun shine in!
It will be nice not to have to turn on a light every time we enter the garage.
Family
We visited my nephew and his family in South Carolina this weekend. Our first visit, but not our last. He has two teenage sons and a 6-year-old boy and (almost) 4-year-old girl. The drive from our home to Columbia was long (about 10 hours start to finish); the way home was only an hour shorter. But it was well worth it to have quality time with my nephew and his family and to be (at times) commandeered by his two youngest. For the most part, they considered us as furniture and spent a goodly amount of time sitting or lying on our laps. I had hoped to see a bit of Columbia itself, but once we were there, we just wanted to be with family.
Health
The last few weeks were spent seeing a lot of my orthopedic doctor as we (once again) tried a treatment to alleviate most of the pain in my left knee. Fortunately, I really like my doctor. She’s young, she listens, and she’s, overall, very cool. I received a series of hyaluronic acid injections as expected but she also removed a large amount of inflammatory fluid before each injection. Ick.
While my knee will never feel 100% great, I’m having a lot less pain. Fingers crossed it stays that way for a long while.
Per the folks at Needle and Skein, a full service yarn shop in Minnesota from whom I got the pattern, this hat has a history:
In the 1940’s, Norwegians made and wore red pointed hats with a tassel as a form of visual protest against Nazi occupation of their country. Within two years, the Nazis made these protest hats illegal and punishable by law to wear, make, or distribute. As purveyors of traditional craft, we felt it appropriate to revisit this design.
I came across the pattern a couple of weeks ago. Since then, Needle and Skein has raked in over $250,000 for this $5 pattern; all proceeds go to immigrant aid agencies to help those impacted by ICE. You can read more about resistance art here.
While I have plenty of red yarn, it’s all dedicated to other projects. So I took an old but beloved knitted shawl of red wool and silk yarn and ripped out the crocheted trim. I thought this would be a nice way to decide if I want to make more.
Since the yarn is a blend of wool and silk, it doesn’t have the elasticity of 100% wool and it’s not “pointy” at the top. I probably should have used a smaller sized needle but it fits nicely as is. Very light, almost like I’m not wearing anything on my head. We have several more cold days ahead for my part of the country so I look forward to wearing it.
And I DO want to make more! But, guess what? Red wool yarn is suddenly hard to come by … LOL. I did find some and ordered a couple of skeins and then we’ll see. Because …
That
I am knitting A LOT. I finally finished a shawl that seemed to take FOREVER but I haven’t blocked it yet so no photos. I’ve enrolled in a workshop to make a sweater in a month (I did this last year so I know it’s doable), and I’m knitting an alpaca watch cap for my hubby. I have LOTS of projects to work on, including spinning and weaving now.
The Other: Writing
So I’m not writing, except for the odd comment. I guess I want to write because my comments can be lengthy unless I rein myself in. But I haven’t worked out a schedule. That also means I haven’t been reading or commenting much because I’ve been … knitting or doing housework which seems to take up more time than one would guess when there’s only two humans and two cats living here. I could do with a housekeeper, ideally someone like Mrs. Hall from All Creatures Great and Small. She’d be good with the cats, too.
I also do get overwhelmed at times by all the subscriptions I have to read, here on WP and now also on Substack. I have unsubscribed to a few which wasn’t easy but my priority is to stay with the writers I’ve been reading the longest. I’ve been following some of you for over ten years, and it troubles me to not keep up.
The Other: Fatigue
There are times when the energy to get through the day, to go about my life as if all was well, is in short supply. I have to constantly remind myself of what I am doing–those things I consider civic duties like calling and writing to my members of Congress, writing postcards encouraging people to vote, supporting aid agencies–and not feel put out because I don’t have the social capital or the economic capital to bring about the change we need now.
Interestingly, my husband and I have thrown ourselves into our projects–me with my crafty stuff, Greg with his astronomy and photography–in the attempt to minimize our exposure to the tsunami of daily bad news. And yet, we are often tired.
The Other: Cats
Cats all day, every day.
Raji being Greg’s lap kitty.
This time of year, when it’s chilly and we like a little extra warmth, Greg has been missing Maxine and Junior who were great, if at times demanding, lap kitties.
Back in the day when Junior and Max owned land rights to Greg.
Raji is an equal opportunity lap sitter. In the evening, when we are enjoying “happy hour” on the loveseat, he prefers Greg’s lap. Later, when we are on the couch watching TV, he prefers my lap. Wendy, at this time, will only deign to get close but not too close.
Wendy on a cushion, snoozing while we watch the telly.
Thank you for reading! Live in hope, be kind, and do no more than what you can.
It’s been awhile. I’ve been busy, but not busy. It just depends on how you look at it. My days fly by, sometimes in a (for me) whirlwind of activity. But when someone asks, “What have you been up to,” I shrug. My usual response, “I’ve been busy but I can’t remember what I did.” Or, I remember but I fear putting my friend to sleep if I share. But if I put you to sleep with this post, at least I won’t see your eyes closing.
Organizing
It was just yesterday that I had a spurt of energy and pulled out my poorly kept daily journal and my monthly calendars for 2025 and 2026 and updated all of them. The 2025 calendar will go into a drawer with other calendars. My memory is bad enough that occasionally I’ll pull out a previous year just to remind myself of when we did this or did that.
And I bought a few things that I had been planning to buy for a long time (like extra bowls for our cats’ automatic feeder … exciting things like that). I emailed friends, sent electronic holiday cards, and even went to the gym.
After all that, I still had to prep for dinner but I was so tired.
Aging
I start my days with ice on my wrist and heat on my shoulder … both on the right side because, of course, I’m right-handed. I did have a steroid shot in my wrist a couple of weeks ago (and, yup, it hurt more than the pain I was there for), but it does feel so much better.
When you positioning yourself for Downward Dog, you don’t want to have pain shooting across the top of your wrists. Arthritis is the culprit, swollen tissues are the exacerbation. Hence the ice. Even though my wrist is so much better, I’m still icing it twice a day.
Same with my shoulder. Same problem but heat feels better so … .
My left knee is still a problem but that will be discussed with my doc later.
All of this is to say that, to my dismay, I’m experiencing chronic physical limitations. I haven’t taken a walk in my neighborhood in months, in part because I dread navigating the hills and broken sidewalks with my bum knee and unsteady gait. Oh, did I mention that my right ankle is also a problem now? The tendons are tired.
Surely I have something positive to say on this first day of the new year. Surely I’m not turning into one of those “complain, complain, complain” people.
Shifting (topic)
I’m still knitting. Recently I participated in a mystery knit-a-long and produced this very warm and toasty hooded scarf.
Me wearing a knitted hooded scarf in black and blue stripes.
I’m also working on a shawl that seems more like a scarf and is taking FOREVER to get through. It’ll be lovely once it’s done. It’ll be a light, airy fabric of silk and mohair. But it’s taking FOREVER.
I picked up my weaving again. My focus is still on functional items, like these dish towels.
Two 100% cotton dish towels in stripes of natural, yellow, and orange.
Next up will be one or two hand towels. I know, I know. Not exciting! Not a blanket or an arty wall hanging. Small steps, people. It’s challenging to set up my loom and I’ve relied too much on muscle memory to get through the weaving (hence, one dish towel is almost twice as long as the other). But I’m learning.
And soon I’ll buy a spinning wheel because I’ve taken up spinning too! Right now I only have a couple of drop spindles. If you want to delay gratification, try spinning with drop spindles.
The act of spinning takes me back to when I was a student at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. I was an unhappy student until I took a spinning workshop during winter session and then a weaving course. I fell in love with both. I would spend hours in the weaving studio, sitting on a stool, my fingers twirling the spindle, while I watched the fibers catch and twist into yarn.
Writing
That’s what I’m doing here.
Cats
Lately it’s been on the chilly side, temperature-wise, and Raji exhibits his snugglebunny nature. Even Wendy is gets up close and personal at times.
Raji on my lap, half covered with my knitting project as I knit.Wendy stretching herself out on a pillow between me and Greg.
I also babysat for our neighbors’ two cats for a few days in December.
Kitty Meow Meow (aka KM2).
We all suspect that Kitty Meow Meow (aka KM2) is either Raji’s mom or grandmother. She was originally “owned” by a family up the road who claimed that they could not keep her indoors and who finally had her spayed after her second litter. Then our neighbors took her in. Well, she was at their house all the time so you can say she adopted them.
Frankie, a “snowshoe” breed of Siamese
Similar story with Frankie. He was originally from another household that allowed cats to roam and reproduce freely. I lost count of how many other cats our neighbors claim that Frankie has sired, but at least he can’t spread his seed any more and his current staff give him shelter and lots of love.
Ending my posts with cats–mine or someone else’s–always leaves me feeling happy. I hope they make you happy too.
Happy New Year, everyone! Good riddance to 2025, and welcome to 2026, a year that I hope will bring a lot of “good trouble.”
I often joke that now that I’m retired (since April 2021), I feel I have less time to do all that I want to do, not more. I don’t have the surplus of time I thought I would get by giving up my “day job.”
On the upside, I’ve been busy with living, which for me means knitting a lot and working on our gardens when the weather allows. Lately, the weather has accomodated outdoor work here in northern Florida. Also, I’ve started bicycling again, about once a week. And I still go to yoga classes twice a week and the gym twice a week.
Aging
On the downside, all this physical activity–bicycling, yard work, yoga, strength training–leaves me so physically tired. And achy. I take Gabapentin, I put menthol patches on my aching joints. I drink wine to either dull the aches or make me care less about them.
I don’t complain to my doctors because they will simply say it’s an aging thing. My body is breaking down, more or less. Ironically, the resumption of bicycling has resulted in the reemergence of bursitis in my left hip and left knee. (Ironically because bicycling is supposed to be easy on the joints.)
Does that stop me? No. I get too much joy from the ride.
Last week, an older man (well, he was probably around my age) passed me going the other way and called out, “Hi, young lady!”
I waved but was too slow to respond as I wanted: “Hah! I’m 68 years old!” At that moment, I felt like a kid.
Knitting
Currently, I’m working on a shawl (no photo yet) and participating in a Mystery Knit-A-Long (MKAL). The MKAL is hosted by Laura Nelkin, the same woman who organizes the Knit for Food Knit-A-Thon.
This is my first MKAL. We have a choice of six hoods to knit in either one color or two colors. Sight unseen and pattern unknown, I chose the two-color hooded scarf. For four weeks, once a week, Laura provides a clue to the project’s pattern. I don’t know what I’m knitting until Laura provides that part of the pattern. That’s the mystery. It really messes with my comfort zone, and I think that’s a good thing.
This is clue 1:
Knitted black and blue rectangle. Work in progress.
I presume this is the top of the hood. As always, I made a couple of boo-boos. Since this is my first MKAL, I’m giving myself the grace to just continue knitting and, worst-case scenario, I’ll keep the hood for myself.
Thanks to Laura, I’ve learned two techniques that are simply life-changing. How could I have been knitting for over 50 years without learning these tricks? It’s only recently that I’ve been participating in knitting workshops, hanging out with other knitters. Knitting, like writing, is a solitary act; but also like writing, we learn so much from each other when we come together.
Before I forget, I also knitted my husband a pair of socks.
Handknitted socks in colors of brown, green and purple.
Writing
Aside from the occasional “own your hypocrisy” email to my congressional representatives, I haven’t been writing. And as I write here, I realize I miss it.
But I often ask myself, Why? Sure, there’s the fiction I’ve played around with, but that’s not what this blog is about. I really don’t know what this blog is about anymore.
When I started writing this blog, I thought to use it as a vehicle to build a career as a freelance editor. But I didn’t really want to work on someone else’s writing. I wanted to work on my own.
So then this blog became more about building a community, a writing community for the most part, but a community of like-minded spirits overall.
And that was all well and good until I felt a “shift.” When my sister Shirley died on July 1, 2022, my worldview shifted. Imagine an earthquake, tectonic plates shifting, creating fissures, cracks in my complacency. A few more earthquakes, and my current world is unrecognizable from before July 1, 2022.
And yet … .
Maybe I just needed a break.
Cats
Wendy is doing very well. No issues with her eating for the past few months.
Wendy during the early days of her recovery.
Wendy doesn’t “pose” for the camera as much as Raji does.
Raji in his happy place.
Thank you for reading, for being here. I’m curious as to why people write blogs.
Questions: What do you get out of blogging? What do you want to get out of it? Are you getting what you want?
P.S.
My paid account with WordPress (WP) will run out in about a year, and I’m thinking about transitioning to Substack rather than renew my WP account. To that end, I’ll be crossposting, testing the waters with Substack. While I would prefer not to change platforms, WP is becoming more complicated and buggy. Life is too short for that nonsense.
Between poison ivy, mosquitoes and gnats, working in our gardens is not for the recklessly unprotected. This summer I suffered through a few run-ins with poison ivy and poured rubbing alcohol on as many mosquito bites before I threw vanity to the wind and accepted my fate: If I want to work outdoors, I better dress appropriately.
Ready for weeding duty!
Genius
Genius is not something I often (if ever) associate with myself, but in this case …
I have a fetish for Baggalini. I have several Baggalini items, from a fanny pack to a backpack and a few bags in-between. I don’t use these bags everywhere, all at once, but I admire their construction, durability, and numerous zippered pockets so much that I can easily rationalize buying another. To wit, the toiletry bag which I did not need. The one I bought from REI about 30 years ago is still my go-to toiletry bag … and it’s purple.
But this toiletry bag was on sale through eBay.
I couldn’t resist. But what will I do with it, since I don’t need a second toiletry bag?
Voila! Behold, my knitting tool bag:
Another Fashion Statement
It’s a wonder I spend any time outside at all given what I have to do to protect myself. When it comes to bicycling, I need to protect my skin from the sun, from other cyclists who might want to claim they didn’t see me coming, and potential road rash.
No surprise that hummingbirds and butterflies have found me to be an object of interest.
Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall photographed in London in 2017. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
I was sad to hear of her death. “She was only 91!” Ever since my mom died just 5 weeks shy of turning 100, I’ve set the bar pretty high for when anyone can die from natural causes. This morning I read a brief article in The Guardian about Goodall. It concluded with this:
In 2021, Goodall published The Book of Hope, in which she admitted she sometimes felt she was fighting a losing battle, but explained how she kept going.
Speaking to the Guardian at the time, she said: “You have to feel depressed, but then there’s something that says: ‘There is still an awful lot left and that’s what we’ve got to fight to save.’
“So then you get extra energy. I have days when I feel like not getting up, but it doesn’t last long. I guess because I’m obstinate.
“I’m not going to give in. I’ll die fighting, that’s for sure.”
Cats
Do I need to say anything about this photo?
Raji in deep slumber.
Thank you for reading! Tell me if you will:
Do you have to suit up before spending any time outdoors? Do mosquitoes and other biting insects find you especially tasty?
Have you ever repurposed one thing for another, like my toiletry bag for a knitting bag? Do tell because I can always use another excuse to buy another Baggalini bag.
What gets you up in the morning? Are you “obstinate” like Goodall or just naturally optimistic?
I was going to do a “Macro Monday” but the photo below isn’t a macro and there’s story behind it anyway.
What you see here is a baby bluebird. A live one, fortunately.
A bluebird chick in the hand.
First, some context: a few months ago we set up a bluebird box in our front yard. Well, it’s on the other side of our driveway, a narrow stretch that is bordered street side with azaleas and our 8-foot fence opposite the street. Apparently, it’s a good spot because a pair of bluebirds have moved in and started their SECOND clutch a couple of weeks ago. We’ve never saw the first clutch of bluebirds, but during the first and with this second, we’ve enjoyed seeing Ma and Pa Bluebird take turns bringing juicy worms to the box.
Today, when I arrived home after attending a yoga class and grocery shopping, my husband came out to help me with my loot.
Then he saw the tail end of a gray rat snake hanging from the opening in the box. He quickly went into action.
He grabbed the tail but the snake wouldn’t budge. Nothing to be done but pull up the box (it’s attached to a long pole) and see if we can get the snake out.
SNAKE WARNING: the next photo shows the snake.
Gray rat snake in a bluebird box, with a bluebird chick.
Son of a b———. We could see the snake had a grip on a chick. My husband upended the box and the snake and two chicks fell out.
The snake wasted no time in slithering away. It was obvious one chick was dead, probably smothered, but the other one (see photo above) was alive.
Then, when we righted the box, we discovered two other (alive) chicks!
I slipped the chick back into the box, we placed the pole back in the ground, and then my husband put an apron-like baffler around the pole.
We already had a squirrel baffler on the pole and thought that would be enough to deter snakes. We thought wrong.
Here’s hoping that Ma and Pa Bluebird recommence with feeding their youngun’.
Meanwhile …
Wendy is doing quite well. Two weeks now with no vomiting or diarrhea. We started her on a special diet, for now mixing it with regular food, and she’s been licking her bowl clean. The last drug she’ll come off is Cerenia, for nausea. She’ll stay on PredisOLONE for life.
We have three more B12 shot appointments, but those are in-and-out, no waiting around for the vet.
I do appreciate all the positive energy that came through your comments on my last post (Five Things on May 19, 2025). Even though I’m often hesitant to share bad news or even so-so news, I never regret it because of the warm and kind reception my words always receive. So. Thanks again.
Fear
After my last post, Wendy got better and then got worse. Two nights in a row (and less than 24 hours apart) she threw up all the undigested contents of her stomach. The first time was horrifying as she moaned and mewed for a good 15 minutes before she hurled. The second time was less dramatic in the sendup but still a mess. And yet, both times, by breakfast she was hungry and gobbling up her meds in Pill Pockets.
I actually wondered if this was how we were going to live: Wendy hurling between midnight and 3 AM and then acting normal for the rest of the day. I didn’t think it would be sustainable. At least once I feared that we’d have to make the Big Decision if Wendy kept throwing up.
Adjustment
I decided to take a stepwise approach to Wendy’s situation.
I knew that with one of the medications, her appetite was ravenous. Cute, but unnerving given the way she would hunt down any unattended food item. For example, one day my husband made banana bread, and I double-wrapped it (foil and plastic bag) and left it on the counter. A few hours later, I found that Wendy had tore through the plastic and foil and nibbled at the crust. That was upsetting since (1) she might have ingested some of the plastic and foil and (2) the banana bread was made with cinnamon and other spices which are not good for kitties. I secured the bread but also decided to stop that medication. Her appetite held.
Then we stopped giving her any dry food, including Greenies. Some of her puke had undigested Greenies in it so, erring on the safe side, if it was “treat time” (usually 3 PM in our household), Wendy got soft food like Churu or just more wet food.
I don’t know if those two changes “fixed” the problem. Maybe we just needed to give the meds more time to work, but Wendy hasn’t puked since we made those changes and it’s been nine days.
Record-keeping
We’ve had to care for sick cats before, but this was the first time I felt I needed a spreadsheet to keep track of medications. The first 8-10 days of Wendy’s treatment involved giving her medication about five times a day. Some of the pills were once a day, some were twice a day, and some were three times a day. I used a combination of a spreadsheet and pill boxes to keep track. It made the atmosphere in our household a bit tense since I assigned myself to keep track of everything. My husband wanted to help, but I wanted to be in control. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him. It was that I didn’t trust anyone.
By the time we went back to the vet for a recheck, Wendy was getting medications only twice a day. At the recheck, we received another medication and told to continue a couple of others, but everything could be administered twice a day (whew!). Wendy got a B12 shot (often necessary for kitties with Inflammatory Bowel Disease as they are unable to absorb B12 through their food while they are sick). We also got a bag full of special diet cat food.
When we got home, I started another spreadsheet. This one, however, is observational. The pill boxes work just fine for keeping track of what medications to give Wendy and when. No, this time I wanted to note how she eating, how she was taking her meds, what food she was eating, whether she was having bowel movements and how did her stool look. Whether she had thrown up.
We have another vet recheck this week, and I’ll be sharing my spreadsheet with Dr. C.
Wendy
As I write this, Wendy is crashed out on my bed. She’s been sleeping with me almost every night.
I haven’t given her any of the special diet stuff. I really don’t want to go down that road if we don’t really have to. I don’t want to “rock the boat.” She seems happy right now. More content than I’ve seen her in a long time. I want to keep her this way.
Wendy playing footsies with me.
Thank you for going on this journey with us and for sharing your positive energy.
Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for a while. I am (again) attempting to resume blogging, or at least reading and commenting. Right now I’m using my iPad to write. That is important because for some reason, I loathe using my usual setup which is my laptop hooked up to a large monitor. You’d think that would be a more ideal situation; the large monitor makes reading and writing easier. But. After spending nearly a year during the COVID pandemic working from home, my once-ideal writing space triggers a mild form of PTSD whenever I consider sitting down at that space to write.
I’m trying to get past that with baby steps. The first step was to move my fancy, ergonomic office chair (a necessity when my butt had to be parked in place for 8+ hours a day) to the garage and move my old but preferred minimalist office chair back into my room. (This also benefits my husband since he has computers set up in the garage for his astrophotography and my fancy office chair is more comfortable for him.)
I don’t know what the second step will be.
Writing
I haven’t been writing except for almost daily emails to my so-called Congressional representatives. Creative energy goes into those emails although I know they are not read. They are not verbose, but, as any writer knows, short pieces of writing take longer to write. Such writing might be exercises in futility, but I am exercising my First Amendment right so … there.
Despite that daily exercise, I’m struggling with my vocabulary. With the spoken word. I’ve been struggling to find the right word or phrase while in conversation. I have to describe the word I want (if I can) and my husband guesses the word or phrase. Recently it was the word eliminate, but that really wasn’t what I wanted. It came to me some time later: rule out. I was trying to describe a process of elimination, but in a way more commonly used by, say, medical professionals. “We want to rule out cancer,” for example, when your cat is being examined for anorexia.
Cats
Our cat Wendy stopped eating on May 8. Well, her last meal was the night before, and she threw that up. Pretty much undigested. We watched her for a day, having seen similar behavior when she had a hairball forming. When she still refused food on Friday, I called the clinic and got an appointment for that afternoon.
We went in prepared to pull out all the stops. No guesswork, please. Rule out the worst-case scenarios first. If she has cancer, we want to know sooner rather than later.
No cancer, but an x-ray suggested she might have a GI problem, some inflammation. We were sent home with antibiotics and appetite stimulants. Unfortunately, the antibiotics were liquid, and Wendy doesn’t take to liquid medicine. She struggles, fights back, and then doesn’t want to eat because the meds taste so bad.
So the next day we called the clinic and agreed to bring her in so they could feed her through a tube.
Three nights. Wendy spent three nights at the animal hospital. During this time, the vets changed out. The first vet, Dr. S was good, but she wasn’t Wendy’s “primary” vet. The second vet, Dr. C, is her primary, and one of the first things Dr. C did was an ultrasound.
Still no cancer, but now we had a diagnosis: Inflammatory Bowel Disease. It’s not really a disease but a syndrome (and I don’t know why they don’t just call it Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome). It’s indicative of a possible underlying issue. In any case, Dr. C wanted to treat the IBD aggressively. Steroids, two antibiotics, and three types of appetite stimulants. And Dr. C wanted her to eat on her own before releasing her.
The third night we visited Wendy. It broke our hearts to see a thin tube curling up through her nose, a small cone around her head. We brought food but she wasn’t interested. She was pissed. She growled and stumbled around but eventually started focusing on our laps, first moving to Greg’s lap, then mine, then settling down between us while we petted her and scratched her head. She purred.
She was calm by the time we left, and even the technician said that such visits really help the animals. I didn’t know.
The next morning, we got the happy news that Wendy had eaten a bit on her own, and Dr. C wanted her to go home where (hopefully) she would recover more quickly.
We brought a pharmacy’s worth of drugs home, thankfully only one of the medications being liquid this time. (Still was a supreme and messy struggle to dose her.)
The appetite stimulants really work. We’ve had to lock up our Brazil nuts and raisins because Wendy was breaking into the bags if we left them out.
Wendy’s been home for almost a week now, and she’s finished with the more difficult to administer drugs. The rest can be given to her in Pill Pockets which she gobbles up like treats. We have to isolate her when we’re having dinner otherwise she’ll walk all over us, trying to get at our food. That behavior should diminish as she finishes her remaining meds.
Wendy leaning in a piece of my breakfast sausage which she did not get.
We’ll take her to Dr. C on Thursday for a recheck. It’s possible Wendy will have to be on the steroid indefinitely, a small price to pay to keep our girl with us for another several years. Wendy is at least 14. We had to euthanize Maxine in December 2021 and Junior in September 2023. It’s much too soon to let go of another kitty.
Our two kitties—Raji and Wendy. May we have many more years with them.
Knitting
When I haven’t been writing emails to my reps or administrating drugs to Wendy, I’ve been knitting. Recently I finished a pair of socks that I had started at the outset of the Knit-A-Thon. I randomly selected one of my generous Knit-A-Thon donors and sent them on their way.
I do love knitting with this kind of self-striping yarn, and they are fun to wear. I always get compliments when I wear my hand-knitted socks.
More Writing
Before I go (this post is longer than I usually write, but I have some pent-up thoughts to share), another thing about writing.
Earlier I complained that I’m having difficulty coming up with words or phrases that I believe I should have no trouble conjuring. One theory is that I’m not writing enough, that my lack of blogging, my lack of creative writing has dulled part of my brain and so I need to write more. Here. On my blog. Writing might well stimulate my brain and open up my vocabulary.
Meanwhile …
I’m also inspired by what other people are writing. Here’s a post from Summer Brennan’s Substack newsletter, A Writer’s Notebook: The List.
I love what Summer does with this post, this listing of all the loves across her life. She urges the reader to make a similar list and think of it as a kind of self-portrait.
While I think that would be a lovely exercise for some, for me it would be painful. And yet, in thinking about my past loves, I can see how I matured through those experiences. Before my husband, my longest relationship lasted roughly three years. Now my longest relationship is over 35 years.
Digging up the past is fodder for a writer, but perhaps that’s why I veer toward fiction. I can look back and find a story, but rather than write the truth as I remember it, I want to make a few corrections. I’ve done things that I’m ashamed of, that I will never forgive myself for, but I can reimagine those abuses through the lens of many decades. I can be honest, but spare the whip.
Thank you for reading! Tell me:
Do you struggle with finding the right word or phrase? I’m wondering if there are any exercises out there that can help with retaining vocabulary. Please share if you know of any.
What do you think about making a list of your past loves? Would it painful or fun or both?
As I mentioned in my last post, I’m participating in a Knit for Food Knit-a-Thon on Saturday, April 5. The fundraiser will divide donations equally among four organizations: Feeding America, World Central Kitchen, No Kid Hungry, and Meals on Wheels. If you’re interested in donating, here’s the link: Knit for Food Knit-a-Thon 2025.
I’m a bit nervous since this will be my first time participating. I’m supposed to knit for 12 hours, generally 10 AM to 10 PM. It’s a honor system but, trust me, knitting for 12 hours is nothing to a lifelong knitter.
BUT.
April 5 is also the day when rallies are planned across the nation. You can learn more about that here. My husband wants to go. Two of our friends want to go. I should go. But I also committed myself to knit for charity.
So I’ve come up with three knitting projects so I can knit according to my environment. (Apologies for the poor quality of the photos. I have a learning curve when it comes other photographing indoors.)
The beginning of a watch cap in light olive.
The simplest project will be a watch cap in an overall knit 2, purl 2 rib. I’m using a design by Sandi Rosner, a knitter who also writes on Substack at A Good Yarn. [If you’re a knitter and a lover of books including audiobooks, I highly recommend Sandi’s newsletter. All her posts are free but I have a paid subscription because she offers detailed yarn reviews.] This is the kind of project I can easily do while distracted … like at a rally. Yes, I can knit standing up and no doubt I’ll probably squeeze in a few stitches while walking.
Multi-colored yarn that will be knit into a pair of socks.
The fabric in the photo above is what knitters call a swatch: usually a 6″x 6″ square knitted in either stockinette or a specific pattern with your preferred yarn and needles. The point of the swatch is to measure the number of stitches and rows per inch, or the gauge, and see if the results match the gauge of the pattern. I am the sort of knitter who tries to get around swatching, but in cases where fit is very important–for example, a sweater or a pair of socks–swatching is necessary. I haven’t measured the gauge of this piece yet, but I suspect it will tell me that I will need to use size 1 needles to knit the socks I have in mind.
The sock pattern is a simple rib stitch pattern, but with #1 needles and multicolored yarn, I need to pay attention to what I’m doing. I can watch TV more or less but I wouldn’t be comfortable taking this project to the rally. I have to be alert to any possible dropped stitches which, for me, are easy to miss when I’m knitting on such small needles.
Just the tip of the iceberg that might become a shawl … or a scarf
My third project is a Pines and Needles Shawl. You can see some versions of the shawl here: Pines and Needles Shawl by Sweaterfreak. Now I didn’t knit a swatch for the shawl, but I did experiment with three different needle sizes before I decided on one that seemed to suit the yarn best. The thing, I’m not using yarn recommended by the designer. The yarn I’m using is finger-weight yarn, or yarn usually used for knitting socks, which is finer than the recommended yarn. So … I’m using a finer yarn and smallish needles (#3) which means I’ll likely wind up with a Pines and Needles scarf. I think I can live with that.
This project requires me to pay close attention. I’ve already had to rip out (or frog in knitters’ parlance) and start that little triangle over several times. Not the kind of project that I’d want to take to a rally.
So, there we are … or here I am. I am excited about knitting all day on April 5 and for a good cause, not just my own selfish pleasure in knitting. Meanwhile, evenings are getting warmer here in north Florida so Raji’s snuggling might soon come to an end, at least for the summer.
Nature We rarely spend time on the east side of our house. Only a chain-linked fence separates us from our neighbors there, and they are on a higher elevation so we have no privacy if we are all out at the same time. Maybe not a problem; just an excuse. Still, we miss the wonder of our Camilla bushes when we neglect that side. One bush in particular gave a wonderful view of the cycle of Life, from one new bud to a spent bloom.
Snow To my utter shock, we had a couple of inches of snow in Tallahassee last week. Far less than other places (like New Orleans and Pensacola), but enough to surprise me. I’ve lived here since June 1990, and I can count on one hand the number of times it has snowed in Tallahassee. Usually we just have flurries and the snow melts as soon as it hits the ground. But this year was exceptional.
A panoramic view of our deck and back yard on early Wednesday morning.A view across our front yard.
As of this writing, we still have a bit of snow, or perhaps I should call it slush.
Writing Oh, I wish I could say I had started working on my novels, but alas, no. Instead I’ve been writing letters.
I may well be pissing in the wind, but given our current state of affairs, I have to do something … even if it’s just pissing in the wind. I am not limiting myself to only “my” Congressional Senators and Representative who are loyal to you-know-who. My attitude is that each Senator and Representative in Congress who is voting on bills that affect ALL Americans should listen to all Americans. I am being mindful to give praise when it’s due (hence the letters in the photo are to thank certain Florida Representatives for certain votes). But, yeah, when I see that a Democratic Senator voted for Kristi Noem, they’re going to hear from me.
So … letters and postcards for now. No novels.
Knitting Since I can knit or stitch while watching TV, I am doing that. No photos as yet. The shawl is finished but not yet blocked (i.e., washed). I signed up for a month-long knit-a-long which will start January 31. We are to knit a cardigan! One of my least favorite projects … lol. I’m hoping I can use up some of the stash that is threatening to break through my cedar chest. And maybe having a couple of Zoom sessions with a knitting expert will make the process less daunting.
Cats Thanks to the colder-than-normal temperatures the last few weeks, Raji has officially become a SnuggleBunny!
Raji getting close and personal with Greg while he watches TV.
I doubt that he will continue with this behavior as temperatures warm but we’re enjoying this closeness while we can. Wendy often sleeps with me, but she doesn’t cuddle. No, she just curls up in the middle of the bed and expects me to work around her.
Thank you for reading! Tell me truly: Am I pissing in the wind?
Marie at 1 Write Way 