Snow in Kyoto

It's too damn hot to think of an arsing title!

It is so freaking hot I want to scream, but that would mean sucking in more demon air.

On my brief excursion out of doors today, I saw a man walking along the road in running shorts and a tank top like he was out there voluntarily!  Exercising!  I glared at him, because he was obviously an extra terrestrial, and Up To No Good.

In other news, the Canadians have once again proven themselves to be a sane and sensible nation of people who care about others but don't stick their noses in their business.  Any Canadian woman out there want to marry me so I can become a citizen?  No, I'm not a lesbian, but just think what a great political statement it would make!  It's art!

Scandalous!

I have heard rumors that in some far and distant lands, people actually cook things without an Akita lying sprawled smack-dab in the middle of the kitchen floor.  I do admire them.  I don't know how they do it.  Personally, I never manage to cook anything without canine assistance.

Let's call it a draw.

Went to work today.  And frankly, none of us wanted to be there.  So one enterprising gentleman picked a fight with another gentleman (in a civilized, lawyer-like way) until it was impossible to do anything, and we got to quit for the day. 

So there I was, free for the rest of the day, right across the street from Borders.

Well, you know, a girl needs caffeine!

And as long as I was there, I might as well browse.

Yeah.  Not so good with the browsing.  I bought the new Janet Evanovich.  I bought a book called Wicked, which I can tell already I'm going to love, love, love.  I bought Spiderman and Spiderman 2.

That's a hundred bucks worth of browsing, baby!

Then right next door was a Petsmart.  I went, natch.  I bought a chic new kitty litter box.  Round!  Like an igloo!  And I bought a sleek new rounded metal scoop, because you just can't scoop a round box with a square scoop, doncha know.  I bought a new box of litter, because a fancy new box deserves fresh litter.  I bought my kitties some freeze-dried shrimp treats.  I bought Tomo his favorite Dingo munchy stix, and a big dino-sized Dingo munchy bone as an extra special treat.

Seventy bucks worth of pet stuff?  Holy crap!

So I get home, and there's a message on my machine that I need to get out what there was of the morning job by the end of the day.  Yay!  Expedited rates!

I've finished now, and it came to $175.  Not bad for two hours work, but I could have stayed at home, slept late, not gone shopping, and be none the worse off.

Now that's irony for you.

Or something.

Shopping!

So I've got a big shopping trip planned for Saturday, and I'm embarrassingly excited about it.  Now, you're wondering why I should be embarrassed.  Probably you're thinking that I just won the lottery, and am about to embark on a world tour of shopping.  But no.  I haven't won the lottery.  And the most glamorous place I'll be going is Target.  Unless you're a cat, then the most glamorous place would be PetCo.  But the point is, for the last few years, I've been working in a land where Wal-Mart is the only show in town.  And boy, oh boy do they know it!  You can't buy one lemon, you have to buy the whole bag.  You can't buy fresh asparagus, or even Green Giant frozen asparagus.  You have to buy Wal-Mart brand frozen asparagus.  And despite the large and wasteful packaging, it contains exactly the same as the Green Giant brand, for nearly twice as much!

But Saturday, I'm breaking free.  I'm going to Shop'n'Save, which is, in my humble opinion, hands down the best grocery store in the world.  The selection!  The prices!  The wonderful, wide aisles!  The samples!  The booze!  Then I'm going to Target.  Because Target is to Wal-Mart what Shop'n'Save is to...  Wal-Mart.  And I'll round it all out with some bulk kitty and puppy stuffage buying at PetCo.  Because PetCo is to Wal-Mart what...  Well, you get the idea.

And best of all, my mom has asked to go with me!  Yay!  I've really missed shopping with my mom.  It used to be a twice-monthly thing.  We'd go pick up my paycheck in town, then drive home spending it all the way.  It was great!  Then I started picking up more expenses, and Mom picked up a couple more responsibilities, and now we do our lonely shopping separately at the hateful Wal-Mart.  No fun.  And she said she'd drive, so I don't even have to waste all the precious drive-time!  I'll be able to knit!

With Mom along, though, I won't be able to do Target a la Crazy Aunt Purl.  Because Mom will only understand the crazy part.  But there will be other times for this.  Oh, yes!  There will!  And I'm going to buy a new lamp.  And if it has the world "halogen" in it, so much the better!  I may even break down and buy some new sheets.  I'm excited.  Oh, yes.

Pity me.

Of course, it's my weekend to work, so if someone decides they absolutely have to do a weekend depo, all my plans will be dashed, and there will be much sobbing and carrying on.  So let's just hope that doesn't happen.  Cause, you know, it's just too hot to work.  Isn't it guys?  Isn't it?

Guys?

Magic!

Midsummer Eve, the longest day of the year, and a very big, very red, very full moon rose tonight.  There's magic going on somewhere.  I can feel it.

Spindling kindling

On the whole, I've decided to forgive myself for my lack of immediate spindle spinning excellence.  Now that I've had some time to sulk think about it, I've realized that I was the only one in the class who had never so much as touched a spindle before.  And while I'll admit to petting the odd roving, I've never tried drafting it, and that was my main problem.  A couple ladies actually brought their own spindles.  One was a wheel spinner who had "never gotten the hang of spindle spinning," and two were from Germany.  And I'm sure they, uh, grew up surrounded by spindles, because they're from Europe, and, uh, Europe is like in the Middle Ages.  Right?  Right?  Shut up!  Work with me here!  I'm a woman on the edge!

So anyway, I've recently been getting the urge to try spindle spinning again.  And then the new Spin Off magazine had an article on spindling basics!  Yay!  And they start you off much more slowly, drafting out thread and spinning it with your fingers so you can get used to one thing at a time before the mad whorl begins.  Ha ha.

And I'm doing much better.  I was completely messing up the drafting.  I was more pulling the bulk up off the bit to be spun, rather than pulling the bit to be spun down out of the bulk.  Which left me with an un-spinnable rat's nest after only a foot or so.  Yech!

Now if I can just work out how to get the yarn onto the spindle without it un-yarning, I'll be in business!

Obsession

My current knitting obsession is America's Alpaca Southern Evening Lace Wrap, which I'm actually making with Lorna's Laces' Helen's Lace in a charcoal grey.  It's absurdly complicated for someone who's only been knitting since Christmas, but I'm managing fairly well.  And I'm enjoying the sensation of knitting with cobwebs and moonlight so much that I don't even mind all the frogging I seem to be doing.

Sweetness

When I got up this morning, I wandered outside to feed my cat and check my herbs, and I heard something rustling around in the brush at the edge of my yard.  I looked, and I could see something golden moving around down there, so I held still and watched, and a little golden-brown fawn came wandering through my yard, all by himself.

I've never seen a fawn without his mother before, so I started worrying that she'd been shot or run over.  So I talked to him, and he flicked his tail at me in that cynical way that deer do, but he didn't seem at all frightened, of me or his situation.  So I decided to do what anyone would, I eased inside and called Mom.

Mom said probably it had just wandered away from its mother, and they'd be reuniting shortly.  And sure enough, while I watched, it went trotting off across the hill like a fawn on a mission. 

I hope everything's okay, and that he's gone back to his mother.  I've put out some water where I first saw him, and if I see him again, I'll throw out some corn.  I know deer nurse for a longish time, but I think they also can digest solid foods.  There's plenty of green stuff for him to eat.  But I really feel that it's all right and his mother was around somewhere.  I can't imagine that he would have been so calm and fearless otherwise.

Oh, but it was a beautiful start to a beautiful day!  The color of a fawn is really indescribable, and there's just something magical about deer.  So merry and peaceful and gentle, with eyes that know the mysteries of this earth.  How wonder-ful for their lives to brush mine, even for a moment.

A conversation with my father:

Upon him sensing my reluctance to ice my swollen leg:

Dad:  I should have just sent you to the ER.
Me:  Ha!  You would have had a time of it!
Dad:  No.  You would have had a time of it.  Especially if they had to put in an IV.
Me:  No.  They would have had a time of it.
Both:  Hysterical laughter.

You see, when I was young and just as afraid of doctors and their needles as I am now, my mom tried to take me to the pediatrician.  I ran out of the waiting room and outside.  When they caught me, I attached myself to one of the pillars outside the building, and it took my mother, my grandmother and a nurse from the doctor's office to pry me loose and get me back inside.

I don't go to the doctor much.

I'll go to the ER when I'm dead, and not before.

These posts are really killing my parents' chances of making a fortune off MODOT.  Hate you, MODOT!

DVT

Oh, dear.  There's a slight chance I may be dying.  I spent about 15 hours in the car this weekend.  Hate you, MODOT and your lousy repaving!!!  HATE YOU!!!  And now my left ankle is swollen and tingly, and the skin feels all tight stretched and slightly crackly.  I didn't sprain it or get bitten or anything.  I'm pretty sure it's a DVT and any time now I'm going to get out of my chair and keel over dead. 

Hypochondriac much?

My parents have promised to sue MODOT.  Mainly just to annoy them.  I've recommended some lawyers who'll be really good at that.  My clown dream team!  Hate you, MODOT!

But I've fed the cats and the dog and the hamster, and if she hasn't heard from me by morning, I'm sure Mom will come over to feed Tomo again and keep him from eating me in the tradition of spinsters and their big dogs everywhere.  So all is well.