Late night ramblings

It’s been a little while since I last posted, so I thought I’d catch up since Saturday. Not a whole heck of a lot of stuff has happened in the last two days. In fact, Saturday night really became Sunday morning at which time (7 a.m. EDT) I toddled up to bed - and slept for about 4 hours, thus missing church for the second Sunday in a row. Got a lot of knitting done, though, LOL. In fact, I set aside the SOTS-III for just a couple of days to work on some other projects, one of which is a project I’m supposed to finish for the Ravelympics and is supposed to be a gift for S. And I’d like to finish up the Chinese Lace Pullover sleeves and finishing before the end of September. And I’ve joined the Mystery Stole 4 KAL (hmm, wonder what all my women friends are getting for Christmas this year???) But there is one light at the end of this yarn tunnel:
On Saturday, I went online to Ravelry - a great place to meet other knitters and other (often free and very good) patterns - and I looked at my “notebook” (collection of all my fiber-related info). Often when I look at the number of projects I have, I get disheartened by the “51″ that appears in that slot. But on Saturday night, a lightbulb went on. That “51″ includes my finished projects as well as my WIPs (works in progress)! So my collection of projects are no longer a silent rebuke to me of my obsession and wasteful spending, but also a reminder of some of the things (more for others than for myself — although it is a photo finish on that one) that I’ve actually finished, completed, am DONE with! So I really only have 49 1/2 projects left to finish - just kidding - more like 24 or 25, which is tolerable, although not the best.
If you’re a knitter, you know what it is that drives us to do something so ridiculous as staying up all night to knit a sock. I didn’t bother trying to explain it to my family - which is - save myself - populated by normal and fairly sane people. What can I say - I just had to turn that heel! Well, the first sock is done and I promptly cast on for the second and am now halfway through the cuff ribbing. Colin’s Bavarian Sock pattern if fairly simple to memorize and I’m having fun with it and of course adding my own errors, er … amendments to the pattern, mostly having to do with having feet that swell on a regular basis.
Also pictured here is a scarf in various weaving patterns, knitted along the length, crowding stitiches onto a circular needle. It shouldn’t take too long to finish that. Finally there’s the lace scarf in various neutral colors. All of these (except the socks - I’m going to selfishly keep those) are gifts, I think:). It’s a lot of fun to knit a weaving type of stitch with this variegated yarn - it gives the effect of a tweedy woven piece and it’s a lot of fun.

Sunday was a fun dinner for B’s birthday which really happened on Thursday. She found out she’s being transfered to a more challenging store and she’s tackling that task with some trepidation - and I have no doubt she’ll do it well!

Today was a typical Monday, except that I had court for both a.m. and p.m. dockets - and none of the hearings were particularly difficult. In between, I went to the office and dropped off paperwork to avoid the rush tomorrow.

Tomorrow the grandgirls are coming for the day and John and I are splitting the morning and the afternoon between us, with a little help from one of our adult daughters who works until 2. It’ll be good to spend time with them. Plus, some of the day, I can work at home making and returning phone calls once my a.m./noon meeting is concluded.

Next week, the grandgirls start before/after school care and daycare. I think I have more anxiety about that than their mother does! Letting go is not easy!

Lately, I’ve been staying up all sorts of hours. I don’t know why. It’s not as if I don’t know when I’m tired, LOL! I think it’s that childish desire not to “miss” anything. It’s also late at night when I can do things like sit and knit without feeling like a lazy bum (I do that during the days when I’m off work, but then I feel like a lazy bum, LOL).

I have not been walking for two reasons: one, work has been really busy and I want to keep ahead of things and two, I’ve been exhausted (see above paragraph), and three (wait I said two)…never mind

School is started at various times across the great state of Merlin. Locally, it starts next Monday. The week after, choir and bell choir start up and I cannot wait. In the meantime, I’ve been spending more time with John, at home whenever I can. Soon, life will get busy again and I will be running, let alone walking!

Well, I’d better get some sleep.
Good night and peace+

Happy Blogiversary Happy Blogiversary Happy Blogiversary Happy Blogiversary

Or at least I think it’s been about four years since I started this process a while back at live journal where I was musikmysterium - and then on to Blogger and duplicated at wordpress. In fact, I think the wordpress blog has all the entries from this blog that were deleted (except one or two I had intended to delete anyway), and the livejournal blog, in addition to the few entries when I was solely posting on WordPress, so if you want to see my sordid past from August of ‘04 to the present (rah!), that’s the place to go. But if you do go there, you know that means you have no life!

I have been toying with the idea of boring a larger audience with a podcast. I’ve gotten the recording software from mypodcast.com and taken the first steps, but I’m going to have to plan things out before I put my voice out there. We shall see… who knows?

I wanted to write a little update to that post (during what I refer to as the interregnum between blogs) at wordpress, in which I described a dream I was having. I’d like to give you (or actually record it for me) an interpretation of that dream - not exactly Freudian, but I believe possibly valid - again…who knows?

I think the “elderly” woman in the dream was really a younger woman in disguise - hence the twinkle in her eyes when she calls herself a “grandmother.” I think she really represents my mother and let me tell you why. One of my younger brothers once described a dream he had when he was about 5 years old in which a lady floated up from the ground and came to him. She was fun, playful and full of joy. They spent some time together and had a lot of fun. Then it was time for her to go. He asked if he could go with her. Her response was laughter, and something like “oh nooooo - not for a long long time!” And off she went. His description of her was very similar to the way our mom looked shortly before she died. She was very young - only 27 - and had frosted her hair with a lot of blond, though she was a brunette - but hey, it was 1962 and it was the cool thing to do as it is now.

I used to joke about that dream with him, saying, I wonder why I never got any cool visits like that (boy, isn’t that a typical sibling thing, LOL?). Well, here it is, 42 years later and I get a visit, LOL! I think the bearded man in the picture (whom I only saw from the side and whom she seemed to regard with affection) was my Dad - not there yet - he’s still alive and yes, he has a beard.

Now here’s the thing: Does this mean I believe in visits from the beyond? I don’t know. It could be that my subconscious was delivering to me the desire of my heart. Sure I’d like to know that’s what it meant, but I’ll have to settle for some happy thoughts, hope and faith for now. Someday I’ll either know for sure or it won’t matter. My gut tells me there was something real about it all. But there are some who would send me off for a psych eval on the basis of what I’ve written here. Of course, there are FAR more plausible reasons than this blog post to do that in my case

In the meantime, we have received our first clue/hint (first 61 rows or so) for the Secret of the Stole - III. Here are pics- suspiciously like the swatch, LOL! I’m about to start row 39. I think.

Well, tomorrow I hope to make it to church (have been extremely lazy - also hoping to get to a service at the National Cathedral to see what it’s like, but it depends…). I have to see at least three clients and we are having a dinner celebration for B’s birthday tomorrow evening, so it will be a full day
Good night+

Old News, but we need to listen. Are you listening?

Got this from Brenda Dayne’s blog - Brenda Dayne of Cast-on podcast fame. The remarks are apparently being made by one Sally Kern, an Oklahoma state representative. Can you imagine what it must be like for gay teens in that state? Frightening thought. No wonder so many gay kids try to kill themselves! If any gay teen is reading this, please know that this old lady thinks you’re fine just the way you are!!! So there you gaybashers out there!! The organization that created this mini-video should be commended for countering such ignorance.+

Well, I guess that first post wasn’t meant to be.

I was writing about my day, visiting three teenage clients who really needed some time and attention from me, two of which were 2/3 of a triplet trio all living for the time being in different placements. How I got an earful about foster homes and wondered how to really really listen to kids to be able to keep them safe. How Colin’s blog taught me how the relationship between parent and child endures, even if it’s toxic. And, most sadly, how that relationship causes kids to think their situation is their fault. And that makes me want to cry! If we would only LISTEN to these kids, they’d have so much to say to us. But they are so used to people not listening, not believing, patting them on their heads and saying (if only figuratively), “there, there, we know what’s best for you.” To coin a phrase my dear daughter S says, “I call BULLSHIT on that!” I left those visits vowing to listen to each and every one of my clients no matter what. And to fight for them, whatever the odds.

Sometimes one needs a day like today to open one’s eyes. And not just once!

But unfortunately, I hit the wrong button and my post was deleted, so you, dear 1.5 readers, are stuck with this post instead. Lucky you, LOL!

I missed my knitting meetup tonight. Oh well. I had a terrific time this morning and afternoon, talking to some great kids, so all was not lost.

Tomorrow a.m. is court, then two meetings. Hard to believe a week has passed so quickly. That’s OK, I’ll be thrilled to see September too

Last night, I decided to do a second swatch for the SOTS-III (Secret of the Stole III) on the actual yarn I’m going to use with needles one size up - KnitPicks Pallette with size three KnitPicks Harmony circular needles. I also decided to do the beading using a crochet hook to string the bead directly onto the loop to be knitted. The presentation of the beads, the drape of the pattern and increased laciness convinced me that this combination is a good one -although the designer does suggest a lighter, more pastel yarn. I like it nonetheless. You be the judge:

As you can see, the yarn is a little greener than anticipated, and darker. However, I still like it, especially with the more pastel-looking beads. Works for me. I don’t know who the recipient is going to be, I’ll have to think about who it is who would appreciate a wrap like this- and for whom the color(s) would work. I want to decide as I’m making it, so that person can be in my thoughts and help me to picture how it should look. Hey, worst case scenario it’ll be for me. Now that would be too weird!

OK, I’m kind of wiped out, so I’ll end here. Tomorrow’s a busy day. Good night+

I love this kind of day

At 7:30 a.m. I get a call from a colleague in another county who cannot be two places at once (they never taught us that in law school, sorry, Judge) who needs me to cover a shelter hearing. I’m on call in my county, so I have to wait to see if I have a shelter hearing. I find out I don’t, so I’m OK to help out in her jurisdiction. So ….shelter hearing is at 1:30

I hit the ground running (ok, schlepping) to a meeting near DSS (at Panera), which lasted too long because we all just chatted a bit too much, but we did get things done. Then another meeting in our city office - which I have to cut short because I’m running to court. Off to my colleague’s office to grab the file and then to court in plenty of time, meet the client (age 4), have the hearing, then go home.

whoosh!

Not a lot of hard work, just a lot of running around. But I would do anything for Connie - she got me started in this work and I owe her big time! Besides, I’ll take this kind of practice over sitting behind a desk any day!

It was nice getting to my old stomping grounds if only for one little (uncontested) hearing. There were a few changes - a new Master (who was in my class at Law School and is one of the nicest people you could ever meet - and no, I’m not saying that because he’s now on the bench, LOL - it’s one of those things that when someone does well, you think (”YES!”) and it just makes you happy for them because you know they deserve it.) It was also nice to see some of the people from DSS and the courthouse I used to work in a few years ago.

I got home and got to see John for a while before heading to Diane’s house for dinner. Diane invited a bunch of us who helped her during her recovery from surgery to dinner. This was the fourth dinner she had done and it was unbelievably good! After a four-course meal of Mexican food delights, she topped it off with a carrott cake - her mother’s recipe! She is so talented - I’m lucky if I can make hot dogs without salmonella! Sally and Charlie and Mimi from choir were there, and two friends - Kathy and Janie - from Diane’s Single Again group were also there. Janie just got over some rough surgery herself, so it was a time of thanksgiving. Diane sang a Jewish blessing for those of the group who were Jewish and Charlie said an impromptu Xian grace. The company was lovely and I know everyone enjoyed themselves! It was really good to see everyone. It’s funny, during the summer I don’t get to see as much of the choir members as I usually do during the year, so this was a special treat.

The weather this week has been just stunningly beautiful from the 60s to the 80s (F), not the grueling summer heat we’ve been having since early June. I am so grateful - and thinking of my friends spending the next couple/few weeks “down de ocean, hun” and glad they can really enjoy their time there - and that John is not keeling over from the noonday sun when he mows the lawn!! (And bless him for doing that).

In the meantime, the summer is slowing down to an August hum. I haven’t gotten a lot of knitting done the past couple of days, but that will change soon:)I hope, dear 2.5 readers, that your summer is what you need it to be! Peace Pax Friede Pace +

What’s new in YOUR life?

I always say “not much” and then go into a laundry list of details. Anyway, this weekend was…. well, interesting. I gave blood Saturday morning without incident - or so I thought. Then Diane picked me up so John could use the car with A/C and off we went to see Olney Theatre Center’s production of The Rabbit Hole - a well acted play about a very sad topic: the loss of a child. The set was state of the art and the acting was superb. We thoroughly enjoyed this thoughtful exploration of the pain of loss, its impact on the characters’ other relationships, and the very unique personal expression of grief. I found myself really liking the protagonists - people who found their lives horribly altered, yet wanting to remain good people despite terrible odds. You feel for these people and you never ever want to be in their place.

After the play, home, a little bit of e-mailing and a small supper. Then, but 6:30 I had to get to sleep. I was feeling weak and shaky and achy and wondered if I should call the Red Cross 800 number, but wait, this wasn’t West Nile Virus, LOL - it was exhaustion just made a little worse by having given blood. So, I toddled off to bed for what I thought would be a two-hour nap or so - and woke up at 8:30 the next morning! I missed church, which was OK by me because it’s never the same when someone else is in the organ loft (but I really don’t like to do that!). The rest of the day prepping for John’s work guests was spent with a case of the shakes and blurry vision, but after some lunch and a lot of water, I was feeling a lot better. After dinner and drinks and dessert and some good conversation watching some of the Olympic games, our guests left. I can safely say a good time was had by all, LOL! But I’m still kind of wiped out. Funny. I gave blood in 1972 and had similar symptoms, but had totally forgotten it. I just need to drink more water and lay off the other stuff, LOL! (I was referring to diet sodas - high in sodium - and coffee!)

OK that was majorly boring! What else is new? There’s a possibility I may be starting with someone in a new business venture. We’ll see. It’s just an idea right now, but it could be something really good. Again, we’ll see.

On the work front every day is something new, none of which I can safely discuss here, so ….

On the knitting front, I’ve done some of my ravelympics work on a lace sampler scarf I’m making for someone for Christmas. It’s in a bunch of neutral colors. I started with ye olde feather and fan and moved on to a pattern I found here . I think I’ll stick with this pattern until the last five inches and then back to feather and fan for a little symmetry. Hope the recipient likes it

And of course, I’m obsessed with how good the beaded swatch for the SOTS-III turned out, so I took some pics in daylight and am posting them here.

Well, it is a Monday, though I’ve missed a meeting this morning because I felt so cruddy - and it appears there are no pending shelter hearings, so I’m in the clear there. And my paperwork is done, so all I have to do is drop it off to the office. So I need to return calls and arrange some visits, which I can do in a few minutes. I think I’ll go get some sunlight and then back to work!

Bye ’til later!

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Shhhh - don’t wake anyone up!

I had to post my first knitting with beads. The swatch is a little too tight and small - so I will definitely be using the size 3 needles. I also added a row of beads at the end just to see if I could use the crochet hook to get them on and I could! You need to click on the picture to see them. With all of that, I’m pleased with the way they turned out. Just for S and G (”sh*ts and giggles”), I added a picot edge in crochet. It’s a little thing- about the size of a mini handkerchief - but I think I’ll use it for something if only on my dresser. Silly, I know, but it’s good to know I can do this and it doesn’t take up a lot of time in the knitting.

Oh well, time for bed!

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Olympics, Weekend fun and more

This is a collage of some pictures and logos taken from the Internet. If anyone knows a reason that these are not to be shared here, please let me know and I will remove them!

Lately, I’m feeling a little like the kid whose best friend just left for vacation with her parents at the end of the summer. In my case, it’s my best friend heading for the beach for a well earned rest with her dear husband. I have to find ways to entertain myself - and that’s a good thing. Never healthy to depend on one person for anything. And in just a few short weeks it will still be hot, but summer will be over and my favorite season begins. In the meantime, the Beijing Olympics started - early this morning for us, early evening for those on the other side of the earth. We just saw the opening ceremonies and it was awesome in the real sense of the word. There’s something about the Olympics; it brings back hope that we can all live in peace. Silly perhaps, but true. Speaking of silly, Ravelry has its own version of the Olympics - Ravelympics. I’m a member of teamcolumbiasipandknit and I’ve cast on for the Saguaro Socks by Joanna, except I’m trying for a pair of fingerless mitts for S. Joanna suggested I turn the sock pattern around a bit to show the cabling off to its best advantage. I agree. While I’m writing about knitting, here’s a picture of someone else’s project that I am finishing off in my own way. Mary from our Sip ‘n Knit group was de-stashing, had already crocheted the below granny squares, but hadn’t sewn them together and lost interest in the project. I picked it up - after all, I have no other knitting projects extant, do I? - pieced it together, and crocheted edging with an interesting novelty yarn from the box. I may frog it if it starts looking too tacky, but so far, I’m liking the colors. If I’m not too ashamed of it, I may just give it back to Mary:). Below are three other bits of yarn I had the temerity to take home with me. I rationalized that (1) I could put it to good use and (2) I wasn’t spending anybody’s hard-earned dough.
OK, stop it, I hear ya!

Yesterday and today were court days in the morning. I had lunch with the boss yesterday afternoon on my way home and then CRASHED. Remember my last post wherein I said something about winding a bunch of sock yarn hanks into balls? Well I did - until about 5 in the morning. What was I thinking?!! I made it through court fine, paying attention to what our clients needed (that’s number 1!) and went to the office, dropping off some overdue paperwork (!) and returning some phone calls. Then, after lunch, I went home, and did the aforesaid crashing (i.e., sleeping in a twisted position on the couch) for a couple of hours before heading for the Greenbelt Metro stop to pick up B from her mini vacation in Myrtle Beach with J and her family. Then home, prepped for today’s cases and then bed.

This morning was a fairly quick docket - had to get one case postponed and the other was fairly straightforward. Went home, answered some e-mails and then off to the movies. Ellen and Connie and I had not really spent some time together since the end of May and before that I think it was sometime during the Kennedy administration, LOL! I mean, Connie and I talk and e-mail fairly regularly because we’re in the same kind of practice, but not so with Ellen. So it was terrific to plan a Friday afternoon at the movies followed by a quick dinner (Chinese food of course - in honor of the Olympics in Beijing:)) We saw the total chick flick: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Yes it was a sequel and it was about a bunch of girlfriends and yes, it will very likely be on HBO and will definitely be on video soon, but it was good clean fun. I had tissue packets in my purse. Good thing - I was sitting between Ellen and Connie and handing them out literally left and right. Of course I didn’t cry. Oh no, not me, LOL It was so good to see both of them and to catch up. We left with promises to “do this more often.” I brought John home some of the leftover chicken and cashews which I think hit the spot (and alleviated my guilt at not being home for dinner.. again).

Tomorrow morning, I’m giving blood at St. John’s and then Diane and I are going to see a matinee play at the Olney Theater. A dear colleague of mine - Tom A. and his wife, Terry, have a gift subscription but had to be out of town for a family trip. They kindly offered me the tickets. John cannot make it because he’s working a ball game tomorrow, so I invited Diane - and she’s driving! A month out of the hospital and she’s driving! It’ll be good to catch up with her and I’m sure I’ll find the play interesting. It was so nice of Tom and Terry to do that!

Lest I have less than 50 projects going at once (yikes) I am swatching for the Secret of the Stole III - another knitalong. You can find it at http://www.knitwith.us/ if you’re interesting in joining. This will be my virgin voyage into using beads in my knitting, so I want to try in the swatch in order to see how I’ll do. The yarn pictured here is not the yarn I’m using - it will be bluer with variations in color, but not the wider variations you see here. I actually made a scarf out of this yarn and this was what was left over. I just couldn’t throw it away. This yarn is very similar in thickness to the yarn I’ll be using for the stole, so it should be a good example for me - plus I need the beading practice. I have 6-0 beads (whatever that means) and I was surprised to find that a size 10 (1.30 mm) crochet hook can fit through most of them. Hopefully I’ll have some results for you tomorrow. Learn something new every day

Please pray for Joanna and family in Seattle. They lost a dear friend to cancer. From what little I’ve read about him, his loss must be a terrible one. My heart goes out to them. If you don’t pray, then please send out good, warm and loving thoughts to them. Who knows - it may help

Good night and God bless - She always does

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Thanks to GailR:)

Well, I’ve been tagged again You all know we pretend to hate it, but c’mon it’s another way to share our likes and dislikes with our little web community, LOL!
Here’s what I’m supposed to do:
1. Put the logo on your blog: DONE!
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you - I have a link on the side bar to Gail and now it’s here, also
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs
Wow - just seven? This is tough:

OK, I just mentioned Gail’s blog, so that one doesn’t count toward the seven, but I will tell you that Gail is a gentle soul who loves her family dearly. Two of her grandchildren, like one of mine, have been diagnosed with autism and she has been a wonderful support and encouragement to me as I am beginning to negotiate those waters!

1. This blog I just started reading today, although I should have started a couple of weeks ago when the Lambeth Conference started. It’s Bishop Gene Robinson’s blog - he’s the first openly gay man to be consecrated a Bishop in the US- He’s from New Hampshire. I’ve heard him speak before - he’s quite a compelling speaker and not one to be ignored by those of us who identify as Xian. His blog’s title is Canterbury Tales from the Fringe. For many reasons - most of them I believe to be political - he was not invited (or was he “uninvited”?) to the Conference, but he is reporting as an observer. For you knitters out there, sorry, I don’t think he’s a knitter. I’m also on the lookout for the blogs of Merlin’s new Episcopal Bishop and the other Bishops from Merlin. When I find them, I will link them in the sidebar.

2. Here’s another blog- Soul Collage and Sisters - one of the contributors is LynnZ from the Columbia Sip ‘N Knit (whence I came a couple of hours ago). She and her sister, Risa, have learned and are now teaching others to use the technique of collage to express the workings of the inner soul. I do not even pretend to understand the entire concept, but I believe it was something that began with terminally ill people attempting to express that part of themselves not touched by illness - the part they see as eternal perhaps. It seems a great idea for finding those things spiritual that unite us and I find it fascinating.

3. I’ve mentioned him before, but I really think that Colin’s blog is truly interesting. He’s a fine person who happens to have had a terribly rough childhood. Reading what he has to say about his struggles informs the work I do. I try to keep it real (for want of a better way of putting it) and Colin does just that. PLUS - he’s a knitter and a terrific one at that. He also raises and shows Lhasa Apsos (hope I spelled that correctly) and is (I think) a medium - with a healthy wicked sense of humor. All of this makes for great reading. The photography is often quite good on his blog - and he has the funny habit of naming his sock patterns after handsome leading men or athletes

4. Annie Modesitt is a bit younger than I am (gee, ya think - maybe like 10 years?) She’s sorta kinda from my neck of the woods, but is now living in Minnesota with her husband and two kids - and her husband is battling a terrible form of cancer (I think NIH is still looking for a delightful form of cancer, but you get the idea). You knitters out there know Annie from her knitting books, techniques and designs. I like to check in on her blog from time to time.

5. I love knitting blogs where there are lots of beautiful pictures of knitting - like Janet Szabo’s blog, Musings on the Art of the Cable and her beautiful Aran work (I have all of her books and subscribe to her newsletter Twists and Turns - very worth it on all counts!) and

6. Knitting in Color where colorwork looks complex and beautiful but within arm’s reach. There are so many blogs out there - it’s hard to cut this list down to seven, but to finish off the list, I’d have to say I really enjoy

7. Stranded on Fair Isle - not the exploits of a woman who has moved with her family to Fair Isle and is now a crofter (farmer) (as Marina pointed out, that would be http://fairislefibres.blogspot.com/, which is now defunct), but a woman who has the totally amazing goal of knitting fifty fair isle sweaters by the time she turns fifty - which is even better detailed on her “Fifty by Fifty”blog which you can find by clicking on her profile in blogger(of course she knits! beautifully!). Marina, please accept my apologies!

If you want to see more of the blogs I enjoy reading, they are listed in the side bar

4 Add links to those blogs on yours DONE!

5 Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs I’m sorry - I did leave a message at Janet’s and Stranded’s but there was no place to leave a comment with the Bishop (THANK GOD!!!) and it just got too embarassing. I guess the MEME police will have to arrest me.
Sorry.
Good night
PS Knitting was fun tonight. It’s very late, but I think I’m going to wind me some of the hanks I have in stash.

Ruby and Madison Tuesday

John is off work and the grandgirls are here to give their other grandparents a break from their usual babysitting duties - and to fill in the gaps before daycare and before and after schoolcare start. It’s cloudy here in central Merlin and the forecast is calling for the usual summer thunderstorm, so I don’t guess a walk around the lake is in the cards today. That’s OK, I will get a couple of visits in this afternoon, provided no shelter hearings turn up in Connie’s jurisdiction (I’m on call for her so she can visit with her nephew who’s just lost his mother and grandmother in the same month, poor baby.) So far, it doesn’t look like there are any pending shelter hearings in either of our counties, so it looks like I’m getting to the office and getting some visits in.

Last night I get into the “zone,” knitting until 4 a.m., beginning the sleeves on the Chinese Lace Pullover. I’m knitting them the old-fashioned way - flat and one at a time. There just isn’t enough real room to do two at once (long story) and the pattern is really hard to lose track of, so it’s unlikely the sleeves will evolve into different lengths. I also did not do the sleeve in the round in magic loop because it just didn’t turn out well when I tried it. It’s a pain going backwards and forwards to follow the chart, but it’s not that tough and most of the pattern after the lace section is a big fat rib, so no problem. I’ll have some more pics when I’m done. The good news is, the recipient never reads my blog, so a picture won’t spoil the surprise.

I decided to turn the Saguaro Socks into the Saguaro Fingerless Mitts - and I’ll have my modifications written up and will send them to Joanna for her use (since it is her pattern!) and it will be her choice if she prefers to post it or have me do so. But let me finish them first and see if they are worthy of the name, LOL

After my long night, and short sleep, I was up at 7:30 (not great, but thankfully, I have a fairly flexible day today). John had a dr’s appointment, so I had childcare detail until he got back. Both of the grandgirls are really cool. I don’t think Mads is feeling well - perhaps she is tired - but she is a bit withdrawn and hungrier than usual. (Guess the hunger is a signal of tired vs. ill?) Ruby is the pistol she usually is! Eats like a bird and only peanut butter and juice. Dori, their mom, is asleep upstairs in Betsy’s bed after an overnight shift at the 911 center. Donald, their dad, has a full day of work. I’m so glad we all live nearby. It makes me realize how much we missed when our kids were this age and there was no family around. The fact that the sibs are so close really contributes to this.

Oh, I almost forgot to post about Danny’s play in DC. The Forum Theatre is playing Peter Weiss’ play Marat/Sade or the full title: The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade. Doesn’t that just sound fun for the whole family? I remember studying this “play within a play” when I studied German at Middlebury, but for the life of me could not remember much from it. The English was easier to understand, from the Narrator/Jester/musician rhyming in the style of Shakespeare’s couplets, to the feverish, frenetic ramblings of the paranoid schizophrenic playing the part of Jean-Paul Marat (that extremely complex role being played by our son, Danny Gavigan). The director of the Asylum, another real historical character, named Coulmier, offered a counterpoint of ironic political satire in the form of soothing remonstrances to calm the patients, reminders that things were different since the French Revolution/Reign of Terror and threats to close the play, as he leads the audience to their seats. Steve Beall, a former member of our choir, played this role - and he did so admirably, never breaking character, though he clearly knew Nancy and Rennie who had come with us (bless their hearts!) to the wilds of Northeast DC.

Well, it finally happened: the moment every mother of an actor dreads. Danny had one scene in which he is pulled from his bath, emulating birth. Of course one isn’t dressed when one is born and this scene was no exception. Thankfully, he was on his tummy and there was another actor caged to the side who could quickly distract our attention with his wild political rantings (a straitjacketed man whose first spoken line in the play ironically began with “Liberty!” I just wish he’d warned me, but it really wasn’t anywhere near as traumatic as I thought it would be. Of course, Nancy thought it was hilarious. Thanks, pal

The Washington Post was not that exuberant in its initial review of the play, but other papers seemed to appreciate it - and Dan’s and Steve’s performances - more and more. In my humble and unprofessional opinion, it was one of the most challenging roles Dan has had. I believe he rose to the challenge well, as did Steve. This was not an easy play. The actor has two real roles: that of the mental patient and the part he is playing in the asylum’s play.

We went out to dinner afterwards at Clyde’s and we had a very pleasant time, dropping Nancy and Rennie off at their home and finally getting our own selves home by around 2:30 in the morning. But we don’t do that often and it was well worth it. Besides, none of us had to be up at any particular time the next morning, so no harm done.

Sunday was the late service and home to get ready for S’s birthday. I talked her into Chinese food, since she’s a vegetarian. Danny and Casie came and joined us later, bringing their own order with them. Then it was the obligatory poker game. John had to work and hit the sack for a nap before his last overnight. I took the couch in the playroom/dining room to do some knitting. Both of us heard the conversations, filled with laughter, about the time K and D “ran away” in their brand new Doc Martens after they were told they couldn’t go out. How J and her friend E were playing in the back yard and couldn’t understand the concept, while Dan, S and B freaked out as John and I waited it out (and virtually killed them later - it’s a miracle they live to talk about it now, LOL!)

Yesterday was a visit, a court appearance an almost walk that never materialized and some real communication. Not bad for a routine kind of day.

Let’s hope today has some real meaning too

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