Two Mysteries.

Mystery One:

The photo of the finished Summer Mystery Shawlette (Rav Link)

I used my first shipment from Foxfire Sheep Shares.

This is Flock Sock in Marigold. I used a touch more than a skein and a half. It is about 48 x 29 and I probably could have blocked it more aggressively.

This was lots of fun to knit and I needed (read: was compelled to) to download the second clue while I was in Atlanta because I wanted to knit it on the plane. It was a fun and easy knit. And I'm not usually a KAL kinda gal. (I may even make another!)

I ordered two skeins of this in natural to make another Cable Crossings hat. I'm so glad I did. I really loved working with this yarn.




Mystery Two:

Why would you keep this as the name of your law firm?

Click to enlarge.

I've even seen this firm advertised on bus benches.

Seriously!!

(ETA: I thought the dumpster added to the ambiance.)

I never watch SOTU addresses....

..... as Aurora Greenway in "Terms of Endearment" says, "blahhh, blahhh, blahhh..."

Instead, we attended a fun performance of "Fiddler on the Roof" .... Much, much better choice.

However, I've been hearing some good things about Ryans' rebuttal. Particularly, from an evenly split (between R & D) focus group. They liked that he spoke in facts....a little like Sargent Friday I suppose. But this quote is the tipping point. This vision is just so compelling (why yes, I am a little nuts, why do you ask?), from Jonah Goldberg at the National Review Online.

Ryan never comes across as a bomb-thrower, but tonight he talked like an ER nurse trying to talk down a violent hippy from a bad acid trip, which is pretty impressive given the substance of what he was saying.

Gotta Love Dennis Miller...

..... he described the Delaware senate election as

"Bewitched vs Bewildered"

Gotta love it.

Which brings me to a curious thing. I saw a DE senate election advertisement this morning on TV. People this is Central PA....not even Southeastern PA, which maybe would make sense. We are closer to Maryland and West Virginia, but even that's a stretch. Hummmmmmmmmmm.

On sock puppets and other stuff.....

I think that Dennis Miller is probably the funniest guy on the planet. He rarely expresses malice, but is real high on the snark-o-meter...a man after my own heart. He called Biden a "sock-puppet in a power tie". Seriously....I couldn't stop laughing. Sorry, but I'm still chuckling about it. (He does kinda resemble a sock puppet.) I suspect that based on what I know about Biden, he seems pretty secure ego-wise, he'd probably think it was pretty funny too.

I'm having monkey mind about starting another shawlette/scarf, because you know, ninety degree weather is the perfect weather to knit something one wears around the neck. I also think it means I have too many choices, and too much lovely yarn at my disposal. Yikes!! If I get off my lazy backside this weekend maybe I'll photograph all the choices, and see if that helps. Maybe ya'll can vote to help me.

At a farmer's market on Tuesday evening, I stopped at a booth that was selling yarn, Tamarack Farm. As I was longingly fingering a beautiful 3-ply, fingering/sport weight natural, charcoal colored skein, the proprietor commented "You can always spot a serious knitter. They have no problem feeling up the wool in this weather." It was lovely, and not unreasonably priced. About $8.50 for 188 yards. I'm thinking it might make really warm socks for my DH, who has a, seemingly, deadly fear of cold feet. (But he hates hot weather too. Don't know what to make of this.) I'm just not sure how much yarn I should get. Maybe I should consult one of my sock knitting references...duh. I'm thinking I should get three skeins. I'm guessing a #2, or #3, needle and 400+ yards for a decent pair of male socks, average foot length.

Sometimes I think that I have to illustrate the ....um....odd environment we have here. This is what one sees at the Tuesday night farmer's market in Boalsburg.

Notice anything unusual?

Yes, Virginia, that's a tank. Because I am not a WW scholar, I can't tell you if it is WWI or WWII, however, it is a real, decommissioned tank. (And before any commenter mentions it, yes there is a plaque, but I didn't want to walk back because the weather was threatening.) As I took this shot, I had my back to two 50 foot long anti-aircraft guns from the Battleship Pennsylvania.

We here in Central PA are not expecting an invasion, at least not a hostile invasion. (Our invaders wear sneakers and flip-flops and carry smart phones.) This particular farmer's market is held on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum. As is usually the case with residents, I've lived about five miles from this museum, share my life with a vet, and have never visited the place. I'm a bad girl. Yes, indeed.

As I was browsing the other wares at the market I happened upon a farmer selling beets. Now I've not been a total beet convert (my experience limited to the kind pickled in jars) but I've been seeing recipes that included sauteed greens (with bacon, can anything with bacon be bad?) so I decided to purchase a bunch. The fellow had three kinds - red, pink, and white (they all had specific varietal names, but....whatever) and I was vacillating undecided. I finally asked for the "pink" and, I think, because he was overwhelmed with beets, he asked if I'd like to try A white beet. Sure I said....he hesitated for a second, and said, here...take a whole bunch. I offered to pay him for the white bunch, but he refused. Nice man..."beeten" down I guess. (HA HA). The story doesn't end there however, my life is never without a complication, I now have two huge bunches of beets sticking up in the back of the Forester. I go to pick up my hubby from his office. He gets in and I say..."hey, guess what? I bought us some fresh beets at the farmers market." His response...."I hate beets". Sigh....I am now beginning to be "beeten" down myself. But the white beets are delicious - very sweet. And I was right about the bacon......

You know .....

... you live in a small town when this is news!!

I guess I shouldn't complain.

Read the comments....priceless.

And just when you thought it was safe...

....it's Just Shut Up Friday!

This is just too easy...like shooting fish in a barrel.

To quote an acquaintance:

Turn off NPR, take your head out of your bag of chips for 10 seconds and look at a map!

Yes, Peggy, Arizona is a border state.

Dem county supervisor: Arizona’s law might have been justifiable if it was a border state

For the record--we are living in an age where ANYONE in the public eye does not get a pass on the stupid stuff they say. Please think carefully about making idiotic statements in public. Trust me when I tell you, that this is not the 15 minutes of fame Andy Warhol had in mind.

Just Shut Up! Thursday

Oh good grief.........please stop now.....you all are beginning to embarrass me.

Watch the video....seriously. These people should not even be allowed out without a "keeper and a shake rag". (This quote is from a very funny "coming of age" book, called Red Sky at Morning. If you can find it in your library, read it. I found a copy at a used book sale. But I digress.)

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/10/new-feminist-spin-on-tebow-ad-we-were-joking-but-not-really/

I'm going straight to heaven.

No, really, I'm not "passing go", not stopping to "collect $200", just straight to heaven.

1) I accompanied my mother to a Red Hat charity luncheon over the weekend. You know the "Red Hats", they're women over 50 who wear purple with red hats (if you don't know-Google is your friend). The things you find out about your mother when she's with her friends...I tell you. First, they think she's a hoot! They have no idea that my sister and I occasionally discuss where we'd hide the body. Second, she ALWAYS "forgets" her red hat. She has, at least, half a dozen, but apparently never wears any because she doesn't want to mess her hair. It was educational in so many ways.

Because she is on a fixed income and we weren't there for her recent birthday, hubby and I wanted to pay for the tickets, the majority of which goes to Ruth's Place, an agency for homeless women, a fine, but tiny charity. I knew there would be a brawl if I tried to give her money outright. So I left the cash, with a note, in an envelope on the dresser in the bedroom where we stayed. Sure enough, first thing this morning, I got an angry phone call asking why we did such a terrible thing. Ummm...maybe because we're working, we like to give to worthy causes, and treating ones family is hardly a hardship. Sheesh....Mom, just say thanks!! 'K? I have now fielded no less then 3 phone calls in 30 minutes about this, while I'm trying to work out a presentation with a colleague that we have to deliver on Friday. (See what I mean about hiding the body?)

I don't usually shill for charities, but if the spirit moves you Ruth's Place (that's Ruth from the bible by the way), is in great need. And while we're on the subject, there is also The House Of Care a tiny non-profit here in State College. They take care of individuals at the end of their lives and run on a shoestring. My director is the president of the board this year, and not only does he run the operations and finances, he mows the lawn. That's how small this operation is. I have a soft spot for those people who see a need and just do something. They don't have the weight of grants or the United Way, or whatever behind them. They just do SOEMTHING. OK, those are my PSAs for the month. Back to regular programming....

Anyway, the Red Hats raffled off donated gift baskets, had a speaker (who was too long, though interesting), and singing nuns....yes, the singing nuns from the Sisters of Mercy. The only one wearing a habit, also wore blue satin bloomers trimmed in lace under her habit. (Yea, ask how we all saw the nun's bloomers.) One of the other sisters looked like she was wearing hand knit socks....but, I never got a chance to ask her.

2) I would appreciate good thoughts, prayers, burning sage, etc. whatever is your habit (no nun pun intended) for this lady...My MIL fell and broke her hip (what else?) over the weekend. As of today, surgery was successful, we are hoping that the post surgical recovery is uneventful, and have our collective fingers crossed for successful rehab. To say the family is a tad worried, considering her age, doesn't quite describe it. Broken hips are very dangerous at this stage of life, and can really change the dynamic of how an elderly person lives. My sister, Nurse Rachet, however, was quite optimistic. She calls my MIL feisty, and if anyone can bounce back she can. I'm hoping she is right.

3) While fielding angry mother phone calls, updates on my MIL (because the sons never get those calls do they?), I'm getting worried emails from my sister who is leaving for vacation, and has a sitter watching her cats. She is worried about her cats. Shall I retype that? She is worried that her cats will be lonely. I told her to worry that they'll poop in her shoes from pique! One will spend the entire time hiding, the other will hardly know she's gone. I have also been given the task of not putting them in a shelter "if something should happen". I told her I'd sell them to a circus. Dementia would make a great lion (maybe not tame-able), and Velcro has a future as a clown. No problem.

OK...you can open those pearly gates now!!

The wisdom of Bezzie...

From the comments on yesterday's post:

Maybe the goldfish was actually an Al-tuna? Ok, yeah that was bad.

Ya' think? Well, not so fast.

Meet Al Tuna.

Seen ....

... in our chronically balky elevator at work: