Errands as a Way of Life

You know how it is - you get back from vacation and the rounds start....no food in the house, need to get laundry done, make a bunch of new appts. for everything in the world. If you have a day job (I'm SO thankfully retired) it's even worse. Fifty-leven emails to catch up on, a big pile in the in-box and most of a day wasted until you're caught up enough to get back in sync again. It's kind of like when you were doing the double dutch jump rope game as a kid. You rock back and forth on your toes watching the rope, knowing you've got to run under and start in at the existing pace or you'll trip up and and everything will fall down around you. I'm lucky enough to have no real complaints, not having to work, but sometimes the whole errand routine seems to waste so much of the day that there is no day. Thank goodness my chilluns are dogs and don't require rides to soccer matches, band practice and the orthodontist.

One errand that was a happy errand was going to retrieve Trixie from the kennel we use on Vashon. It's called Avalon and they take wonderful care of her, right down to selecting dogs they know she can play with and won't bite their face off (she's a fear biter in spite of being a sweet little girl. She was happy to see me and to go home.

Here she is trying to re-emerge from behind the curtain after running to check that the view was as she left it. She always forgets it's pinned at the bottom so it won't gap open.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday knitting group homies had a lovely dye day today. Will blog about that tomorrow. An amazing amount of stuff was hauled to and from. At least three of us backed our cars down the driveway next to Mary B's house and offloaded stoves, dye, fiber, buckets, and a vast amount of other stuff - then had to repeat it all at the end of the day. Always seems worth it though with friends, food and the results of beautiful fiber. Some come to dye, some overdye skeins that just don't make them happy to look at, and though the results are not always predictable, they're mostly beautiful and lift the spirits.

Meanwhile, so many sad times are going on for different friends lately. One dear friend has been laid off after landing a successful job and doing very well at it. Budget cuts -ugh! A few spinning friends have recently lost their husbands to illness or are about to - devastating! And our own dear Evanne lost her darling younger dog Zala (a doberman) after a very sudden decline due to a congenital kidney problem that was a complete surprise. We'll all miss little Zala - she was a bouncy happy girl after a lot of work by Evanne and her family getting her healthy and secure in her new home. So many of us have been through it with a beloved animal companion. The hardest part seems to be coming home and they are not there, not in their favorite spots, not causing trouble, and not with us when we start our day. About the only benefit after they're gone (besides not having to pick up the poop) is knowing they are pain-free and beyond all suffering.

Have taken a little vacation from the Oregon cardi - don't want to burn out and not finish. Our Friday knitters (encouraged by Evanne) made some knitting resolutions for the year. I never did publish mine but secretly I thought that this would be the year I knit only for myself (which almost never happens) and my husband. Even though I didn't mention it out loud - suddenly the projects for others started to come at me so fast I expected to hear "INcoming!!!" and have to duck. But, when it comes down to it, I'm pretty happy to make these projects. There's something about knitting for someone you care about that makes you feel very happy. It's the "Knitted Hug" that we love to deliver. And I'm making the Oregon Cardigan for ME come swine flu or high water. There's a hilarious post over on Feral Leader Karen Campbell's blog about her overhearing a woman on her cell phone insisting that we are dealing with the "Swan Flu," not the Swine Flu. This caught on big time at Dye Day and we are now all calling it the Swan Flu. Y'all be careful out there around those swans. Remember if they sneeze, they can't do it in their sleeve as is proper - so the germs can come straight for you!