Touching Base

Oh boy, the days just fly by and I never get to Fried Green Tomatoes anymore, though I often compose mini blog posts in my head, mostly while I'm driving.

The posts in my head are snippets about the new preacher at Circular who is working out very well, thank goodness (in last Sunday's sermon, Pete Seegar was likened to the old-time bibical psalmists. Well, of course, but I had never quite thought of it), but just now I have lukewarm enthusiasm for church as a regular thing -- couldn't I just read his blog?

They are snippets about the "campaign season" which I can hardly stand to turn in to. . . but still I had this reflexive feeling that I wanted to watch the party conventions.

And that leads to a snippet about living sans television, but that is a real quick snippet because it's hard to really know what we're missing because we're um, . . . missing it. All I know is that whenever I do get to see television I think "No, I really do not want this going in my house all the time."

I miss commercials. Annoying as they are, they are a bit of cultural lingo I miss being tuned into. Sometimes in the conversational swirl, I realize I've just been eliminated because I've dropped into the "we don't have cable so no TV reception" hole. But really, the only things I miss are The Olympics and The Oscars (and Masterpiece Theatre and Sunday morning news talk shows but now we're back to not wanting to go to church. . .)

For mindless diversion, we have Netflix and this summer we watched five seasons of a show that ran from 2006 - 2011 on BBC called Doc Martin. He was a surgeon in London but developed a phobia of blood, so now he's a GP in a small village in Cornwall. He's the stereotypical surgeon with no social skills, no bedside manner but he's in a small community where he really needs them. It's filmed in a lovely seaside location and has wonderful quirky characters. Now that we have run through all the episodes, we actually miss the people who populated the little village of Portwynne. We're looking for something else to love but haven't found it yet.

Here's a recent weaving project:

Using these particular colors was an assignment from my weaving study group -- and I made myself use yarns I already had so I dug into these novelty wools and mohairs -- I suddenly remembered these are not ideal for warp threads. Anyway, I'm not crazy about it, it looks very 1970s to me.Plus, it is too much wool for our Lowcountry winters.  I think I'll take it to GreenPeace and let it be the house scarf for anyone who needs one. It gets cold enough up there to appreciate it even if the colors are a bit blah.

And of course every other day I'm sure I have something totally original to share about Fred & Ethel.

This is My Chair

This is my chair

This is my couch

That is my bed

That is my bench

There is my chaise

There is my settee

Those are my footstools

Those are my rugs

Everywhere is my place to sleep

Perhaps you should just get a hotel room

          from I Could Pee on This and Other Poems by Cats

I'll try to check in here a little more often.

Cat in the Bag

Ethel has discovered a paperbag makes a great toy. She circles it, she bats at it, finally, she gets in it.

 

I lay down on the floor with the camera because she is so-o-o cute, but she decides she doesn't want to be cute for the camera.

I'll bet she wishes she could take MY picture.

Changing the subject, I bought this African Violet for $0.75 off the "almost dead" table at K-Mart.

Stay cool, friends. It's entirely too hot outside.

Doldrums. . .

It is so easy to get busy and not write anything here. We've had an incredibly mild summer until this past Wednesday when the heat and humidity call rolling in on us. We've had rain, tropical breezes and Super Moons causing lush tides.

 For a while it was most pleasant to get up a little early and go for a walk. . .

We will still try to get some walking in, but it's going to be more work now I'm afraid.

I have given up on knitting baby socks. I really tried, I'm turning my attention to other knitting and weaving projects and someday will come back to the tiny sock project.

This is as good as it got, and a better picture would show you that the heel still isn't right. (They're still pretty cute, aren't they?)

We went to an event at the Aquarium one night and saw not only fish, but Lemurs from Madagascar!

I love the 2-story fish tank at the Aquarium

I'm not sure why an Aquarium would have Lemurs, but they do. . . They are very busy, like to climb and have these very flashy tails. . .

This one wanted to get to know Duncan a little better. . .

And since we've shifted for sea life to four-footed animals, I'll close with a couple of pictures of daily activities of Fred and Ethel.

Ethel napping on the couch

Fred monopolizes the chair.

It's almost the 4th of July. . . time is flying.

Fred Does a Trick

Tending to my Knitting

Here is one of my first knitting projects that is not just embarrassing. They are made with some of Mrs.  Ashby's yarn that Ethel kept rolling down the stairs. I decided she wanted me to do something with it. Too bad cats don't wear sweaters.

Little shoes! Aren't they cute? I don't know who they're for, or even who they fit, but I followed directions and made them. I had to cast on, knit, purl, do some ribbing, bind off, sew some seams, and make pom-poms. (Pom poms are pretty advanced.)

Thursday I'm going to start a class on knitting socks. Here is a baby sock I made just by following the directions in a book.

This was my first time using double pointed needles and it felt really awkward. It would probably be easier to start on something requiring larger needles than baby socks.

 Clearly there are problems (aside from the harsh color); most significantly the perfect hole on both sides of the ankle. There's something about that part of the instructions I didn't get. I've decided this will be my pre-instruction example and after the class I will try again with a baby sock and show you what I've learned.

Nice Evening Out

I was downtown tonight on a stretch of East Bay I don't travel very often. There are some stellar homes/businesses/apartments down there. Here's two quick pictures taken with my phone after a late afternoon rain.

Easter Flowers

We've had an very early spring and in the last week temperatures have ranged wildly from the high 80s to the low 40s. We took a walk in a sweet residential neighborhood right behind the Battery this afternoon and I enjoyed looking at yards, behind gates, and generally at plants. One of the things I've always liked about Charleston is you don't have to have your entire house and yard in tip top shape. You can pull it off with one small bed running down the side of your house, or around one tree. It sort of takes the pressure off. Here are some of the pretty spots we saw. (Google's Picasa has given you all kinds of new photo editing options, so I've played with Easter egg colors.)

Behinds one of those tantalizing gates

This is the Catholic Diocese's grounds -- right off of Broad Street.

Another shot of that pretty lawn

You can't go wrong with pansies

Here is a very formal side yard set up for outdoor dining. Sweet.

They decorated the tree they had. . .

A pretty little bed between the front entrance and the street.

Amaryllis grow in the yard down here.

Knock-out roses and the remains of a white azalea.

Who is this man? (I should talk - I have a plant stand with a lady's face . . .)

Honeysuckle

 

 

It's been a nice day here. Happy Easter, everyone!