Please pardon my absence from Tea Leaves. I'm still here. I have been distracted, nearly beyond tolerance, by (amongst other things) :
- A swarm of wasps in my bathroom. At first, just one, then two, then - many - My husband came in to look. "They're not bees." They were yellowjackets. I'd been swatting them and spraying bleach on them. (I know, I know - not many people in this world use bleach as an insecticide. I'm - imaginative.) We had no idea where they were coming from, so he duct-taped every conceivable opening. Next day, more "bees." And then, I saw one crawling out from behind the shower enclosure. How relieved we were - so that's where they're coming from! The next step was to find out why they were coming under the shower enclosure, so I went outside to look - and saw a pandemonium of swarming yellowjackets climbing under the siding. They have built a nest there. A huge one, judging from the furious buzzing. My husband is, as I write, closing up every conceivable opening into the shower stall. If this doesn't work, I'll have to abandon the bathroom and let the yellowjackets have it.
- My boss, who is pushing me, none too gently, into retiring as soon as the state decides its version of 30 years. You know something? I'm ready.
- The first cataract surgery. I replaced the lenses in distance and reading glasses because I was seeing two separate worlds. The second will be in 1 1/2 weeks. Again, I'll replace lenses. 6 weeks later, my eyes will (for the first time in my life) be both usable and stable. Then I'll face another eye surgery - but I can't think about that right now.
- Proof that I needed cataract surgery. I was looking for eye drops in the drugstore and wondering why they didn't have the brand I needed. It took me a full 5 minutes to realize that I was looking at a shelf of nose spray.
A gift card from Borders. What does your average reader use her gift card to buy? Well of course. Looking for Anne of Green Gables and a Devil Duck.
to be continued...
Oh dear. Caitlin, you had better fold up your Anne of Green Gables tent and slink away before the idiots nut jobs good citizens of North Bellmore, Long Island come after you with their torches ablaze...Think I'm kidding? I just came across this. I checked it out. It's true.
(And yes, I'm a Long Islander, but - North Bellmore is in the Other County.)
No, I'm not taking a trip to India. I was playing air sitar in my car. Also, air glockenspiel. Doesn't everybody? What better daydream than to imagine creating lovely music? A friend at work gave me a story by Alice Adams to read ("Rose, Rhododendron"). I read it last night before I settled down to begin the last few chapters of Anne of Green Gables, and now I am finding it hard to remember which story had the roses, which story had the mayflowers, which story...
In both, two small girls meet and recognize the other as a kindred spirit. Flowers figure in both stories, but the flowers in "Rose, Rhododendron," are screens to hide something less lovely and more dire than either girl really knows.
(I was reminded of Hawthorne's great story, "Rappaccini's Daughter," with its toxic garden...)
Anne's flowers represent nothing more or less than pure beauty, and each time she interacts with them, they become lovelier. What pleasure to be reading her story now!
It's so lovely to have a day off. The only sound in the house is the whirr of the washing machine. Earlier, you would have heard buzzing; that was the sound of my defuzzerizer. (Translation: lint and pill remover.) Once the laundry is done, I shall settle down, listen to Anne of Green Gables, and knit.My thoughts and energies have been darting about, exhibiting and causing great mischief. Therefore, I've been doing small knits - a dishcloth, hats - and only doing larger or longer projects a half hour at a time, if that long. Still, I have gotten some things done.In the picture: a pink beanie for Caps for a Cure, and the beginnings of a red Spiral Preemie cap. (The hat is so cute that I want to bite it.) I started the hat at the beginning of last night's Yankee game. I'm sure every Yankees fan's emotions were spiraling until we had a comfortable lead. (Damn that Steinbrenner!) The blue lace scarf is Barbara Walker's vine lace, and the yarn is Starry Night. I had a couple of really bad false starts with the pattern because I didn't read the last lines - i.e., end K2, or end K1. After a few "why do I keep ending up with 2 extra stitches?" experiences, I went back to the book... I'm substituting Slip 1-knit1-psso for the SSK because I hate SSK (and because Barbara Walker says I can). Although I still plan to knit mittens for Anne of Green Gables, I have decided that this scarf will also be a project for Anne. - "Listen to the trees talking in their sleep," she whispered. "What nice dreams they must have." The scarf will the her night sky.....
I'm dreaming of the fall, of cool weather, of evergreens gracing the countryside as the autumn leaves begin to fall - and of knitting along with Anne Shirley as she gets to know the lovely Prince Edward Island.
Coming this October --
Would you like to join? Send an e-mail to anne.knits@yahoo.comand check out the blog at anneknits.blogspot.com.Thanks, Caitlin, for organizing this knitalong!
(edited 8.6.07)
