Today I Am Angry

I am angry because not being savvy in economic ways, I could see the mortgage/housing crisis coming over the last three years. At least.

I am angry because those with those with the knowledge of economics, LOTS of knowledge, and the power to do something waited until the timbers were on fire and falling about our heads to start a process of any sort.

I am angry with a president that has used up all his credibility, and when he tells me ‘Congress must act now! Or else!’, I think…uh…wait a minute…really? WMD, anyone?

I am angry with members of congress who are responding to re-election pressures rather than thinking for themselves.

I am angry with people who were put in a position, by themselves and by others, to owe more monthly on a house than they could pay.

I am angry that my health insurance took a leap in cost and in deductible this past year (of which I am having to use), and that my employment is iffy, and my retirement took a hit the last two weeks, and I am not one that overextended myself with a bum mortgage or credit cards.

I am angry with the press for the drama/panic that makes the current crisis better news. (And I am grateful for our free press so we know what is going on.)

This is a situation that will affect us all, of that I am sure.
I don’t know the answer.
I think something may have been done earlier, but I am not an economic guru, and I don’t know what that might have been.
That is history. This is now.
It is a global problem, and we are all in this together.

Yep. Today I am angry.

Autumn Gold

Aspens at Bear Lake

My weekend was crazy busy, and I start this week with a list of things to catch up. I might just by Friday…catch-up, that is. Maybe.

It was a good, full weekend.

Friday evening I worked at home getting some around-the-house chores done, and grocery shopping, both in preparation for a retreat on Saturday (putting the eating in retreating) and knowing that there would be no time to do it the rest of the weekend.

I spent Saturday in a planning retreat with fellow members of a board on which I serve. Downside to that was we were indoors all day during a beautiful fall day. I went out to get something from the car at noon, and just turned around, went back inside, telling myself, ‘don’t even think about it…’

Hallett's Peak

After our meeting on Sunday, another brilliant day, Wonderful Guy and I headed to Rocky Mountain National Park with some friends for a hike, and a look at the aspens.

They had their best dress on, the aspens they did!

We hiked to Lake Helene, successfully finding it this time. This was one of the first hikes Wonderful Guy and I took together as friends in 2002, and when we tried to hike it again last year, we took a wrong turn….twice! On two different days!! We had warm, sunny weather until we reached our destination. I had the chance to say ‘the sun sure feels good on my back’ before it started to sprinkle, then came the graupel.

It wasn't all gold!

It was not just a passing thing. If we had not had wet weather gear, we would have ended up wet and cold. Temps dropped to the high 40’s! Halfway down, though, the sun came out and temp came back up.

Lake Helene

Another great day in the mountains. I loved it. Six more miles, too, for the hiking log.

Notchtop

On Giving Advice

Youngest Daughter had some events in her life this past week that gave me an opportunity to practice listening...and practice making an effort to just listen.

I have made it a lifelong practice and belief that I knew the way, the best way, things should be done. Why, if the world could just do things my way, it would be such a happy place!

Color me clueless, very, very clueless. Or insecure and without self-esteem is more accurate.

I have come to understand that what is right for me is just that...right for me. And I have also come to understand that right for me today is just that...right for me today. I don't have to tenaciously adhere to some tenet if I grow into a new understanding. Something different may be right for me tomorrow.

This sounds wishy washy on a certain level, I know, but it makes deep sense. It allows for growth and change.

I try to express my experience now in those terms...my experience, what I have learned, what has worked for me. I am getting pretty good at it, too, understanding what works for me won't work for everyone else.

Except when it comes to my kids. Old habits die so hard! And to be honest, I think I may have given her a tee tiny bit of advice...but I asked her first if she wanted it!

S is for...

...Stained Glass, made by a very special, old and dear friend. The Glass Gifter has been my friend almost the longest of all my old and dear friends. She and I go way, way, waaaaaaay back, to college days. And that’s all we will say about those days.

Iris and kitties! Yes....she has many of my iris, too!

A group of six or eight of us were close friends, including her Hubster (still), and the X (now not so much). Our baby girls (my three and her two) were all born within about five years of each other, staggered nicely. We spent many Thanksgiving holidays together with the other friends. Three of us in the group, including her and I, had birthdays in May, and we often got together to celebrate the ‘May Birthdays’ in fine fashion.

Did I mention our mutual love for felines?

Her kitties look west....my kitties look east....

About 20 years ago, maybe more, she picked up the hobby of stained glass. Such a talent she has for color and design. Her use of just the right color and texture in the perfect way amazes me. Her skill is impeccable as well. The joining of the pieces is fine and even. When I see stained glass on display or for sale at festivals or in booths at fairs, I am brought up short by how very well The Glass Gifter does her craft.

I have always welcomed the birthday and Christmas gifts from her of stained glass. All the gifts I have ever received hang prominently, season round…except for the few little Christmas doodads. As most were gifts directly to me, the X left with only one, and I have regretted losing even that.

When I moved into this home with Wonderful Guy, I found the front door had a sidelight. This sidelight needed….NEEDED…her art. I asked. She responded ‘of course'. What did I see there?’ Wonderful Guy and I said…

‘Oh, mountains,

a stream and waterfalls

aspen trees

a hiking trail, ….you know us!’

(Long and skinny...but I got it all in here...)

This is what we got. Designed by her. Signed by her.

P.S. The Glass Gifter was diagnosed with MS in about 30 years ago. She does all this, with that.

What I Saw On My Vacation

A knitter at Independence Square, knitting with handspun…so she said….


The Liberty Bell (finally after five trips to Philadelphia!)

It looks like it might be made of chocolate...

My authentic philly cheesesteak

The Italian Fountain Garden at the Philly Botanical Gardens

The Meadow at the Philly Botanical Gardens

The Susquehannock

during our trip to Lancaster County...

Meteorites from the Brenham Field (outside my hometown of Greensburg!) at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in DC

These are much smaller, and were found much earlier (1882) than the 'Space Wanderer' that resided at the Big Well museum until the tornado. That was discovered in 1949, and was the worlds largest pallasite meteorite, until 2005, when a larger one was found in the same field. See! Not just a knitting blog!

Rhodochrosite from the Sweet Home Mine in Alma, CO at the same museum (I have rhodochrosite jewelry from the same mine!)

which I love almost the most of all my jewelry! Rhodochrosite was a by-product of silver mining and usually just tossed on the scrap piles...but I think I have probably lectured enough on geology today....

National Botanical Gardens in DC

Two excellent botanicals on one trip!

And we had a layover in Milwaukee. I had never been to Wisconsin before, so I get to add another state to my list. It does too count!

That’s our vacation to Philadelphia in a nutshell!

Changing My Ideas…

…about what needs to be, and how I need to do things, how things need to turn out, and what that has to do with knitting.

I took knitting with me on the trip to Philadelphia where we had great weather, great visiting, and a great time.

I worked on the socks of alpaca for Wonderful Guy using the ‘campfire socks’ pattern, loosely adapting it for the loops of magickness. I knitted two dishclothes for Eldest Daughter and the Boy-o, as is my wont. I worked on another item, that which cannot be named.

So this story is about the sox of alpaca. I clipped right along on the cuff and the leg, then forgot to slip stitches on the heel. Whatever. How important can that be?

I turned the heel, shaped the gussets, and tried them on Wonderful guy. Oops. Too small to fit over his heel. Okay. These will be mine, and I will make his with more stitches and a looser cast on.

Continuing on, I start on the foot, and knit a while. I tried the sock on me. Remember I am adapting to the loops of magickness. I had too many rows on the heel flap, too many stitches picked up in the gussets, and that part was just way too big.

What to do? Continue and think it is going to work because I have so much time in it?

Who am I kidding? That would be a waste of resources, time, yarn, and more time, because I spun this yarn. I wouldn’t wear these wonderful soft sox, like that, and could I, in all consciousness make a second, poorly fitting sock, like the first? I would have to, because I surely wouldn’t wear mismatched sox.

This is a question for the ages for me. I was raised to not waste time. And frogging seems to waste all the time put into the knitting of an object.

And yet…

Now I have reached the conclusion that while my knitting does not have to be perfect, thankfully, because it never, ever, ever, ever, never hardly ever is, it does have to be workable. Un-workable is the biggest waste of time of all.

The sock she has been frogged. She has been frogged, and she has been re-cast on already. AND I am not really following the pattern. Oh yes! I am making up my own sock pattern. Maybe I will even write it down and share my own pattern of magic loopiness!

Weeee'rrrre Baaaaccck!

And we had a great time. Unbelievable how fast a week can go.

I am catching up and catching my breath, but there is important business here at House of Blog.

The post-that-would-be-a-contest elicited three entries, and I choose all three to be winners of iris. Because I am like that, because here EVVVERRRYBODDDY wins!, because I have lots of rhizomes, because I make the rules here at Needles of Iron (with an 'iron' fist....not so much...but maybe!), and finally, just because!

So, Liz, Lynne, and Wunx~, send me your pertinent info, with regards to street addresses, to:

becky.perry at comcast dot net

and I will have your botanicals in the post, post-haste. Also, let me know if you need some directives regarding planting, care, feeding, walking, and potty training, etc. of the new babies, and I will enclose that as well.

I would only add this disclosure regarding printed directions. I use them mostly as guidelines, gardening an awful lot by instinct. Mostly if you follow these three things...good sun for a part of the day, don't let them get/stay too damp, and don't plant too deep (let the sun shine on the rhizomes), you should have good luck.

A parting shot....mostly for Wunx~... at Longwood Botanical Gardens in Philadelphia.

I am, indeed, a tree hugger.

Heading Out (and ‘a sort of a maybe contest’)…

…tomorrow for a week in Philadelphia with Wonderful Guy, visiting Eldest Daughter and the Significant Other.

I am so not ready.

Oh, I am ready to go on vacation with Wonderful Guy, to see the girl-y and the boy-o, to fly away, to be away from all that is all work.

I am not packed. My list is not even made. And I always have a list. My houseplants aren’t watered. The tomatoes aren’t picked. The iris rhizomes going to live in other states aren’t mailed. Trip knitting isn’t ready, only vaguely planned…

I don’t like being in this position.

It is true it has been an unusual week, and I will be kind to myself. I will give myself credit for the things I have accomplished. The packages of iris are ready to go to the post office, and Eldest and Youngest Daughter’s have iris ready to plant for themselves. I have a vague idea of what knitting I am going to take. I only have to pack for myself.

See! Maybe just a little ahead of the game. And Only Step-Son is house-sitting, so that takes care of so much.

I don’t know if/when I will have time to post while gone. I will try, but it will be time to enjoy with Eldest Daughter. Rest assured we will be having fun!

Now for ‘the sort of a maybe contest’….

If you have been following my efforts here, you know that I have some very nice and unique iris. Many of them have been dug and divided this year, and I have rhizomes looking for homes.

For ‘the sort of a maybe contest’…

>Leave a comment telling me something you have learned that we share in common, or how how vastly we differ.
>If you would like to be in a drawing for some iris, put iris in the comment. (See! You can comment even if you don’t want iris!)
> I will put together a couple packages of 6-8 iris and send to the names of the commentors who are drawn (….if there are that many…if there are any….)

I will let you know by next Friday and get them in the mail as soon as I get back from Philly (with instructions on how to care and feed your new charges!). If you get them in the ground right away, they should be okay for the winter, even if it will be a bit late-ish.

So there you have it. My first contest….let’s see where this goes!

The Timing of the Universe

**I choose to not make a part of this blog an elaboration on what ails me. In this instance, I want to share a special gift, and what makes it even more special. Thanks for indulging me.**

I was home from work early yesterday. I had a yearly eye doctor's appointment yesterday at noon, and about 9:30, started a migraine. I rode my bike to work, so there was that, too.

Blech, blech, and double blech. What to do? Cancel the appointment? See how bad this was going to be? Call Wonderful Guy?

I decided to wait the first symptoms out, take ibuprofen instead of the 'big guns' (which I think sometimes throws me for more of a loop than the migraine), and wait to call Wonderful Guy.

I made it. I rode to the eye doctor. The exercise and fresh air helped. I scrunched up and worked my way through all their wierd light torture devices.

And I rode on home, and sort of took it easy, sort of, the rest of the afternoon and evening. I did get the last two clumps of iris dug. Gold stars!

I was home from work early today as well. I had a ...'procedure'... this afternoon. It is common enough, a needle biopsy, but my first, and I was a bit apprehensive. (Migraine, anyone?) I fully expect the results to be normal...but still...I was unsure of what to expect. (I mean, what if something went awry and...and...I deflated!)

So I get home (rode my bike again today. I'm at 700 miles for the summer as of today.) and I was fixing a bite before I head over for the ...'procedure'...(a yummy BLT, by the way, with my wonderful tomatoes!), when a package is delivered. Wonderful Guy often recieves his stuff delivered, and I am not expecting anything, so I continued to eat. But it is for me.

In the midst of my anxiety, I recieve a totally-unlooked-for gift from a old friend I worked with over 10 years ago while I lived in Missouri. We email now and again, exchange Christmas cards, and everytime I decorate my Christmas tree, I think of her because I have so many ornaments she and her sister made to sell...and I bought. She is really such a creative soul.

I sent her photos of Grandbebe Girl in her Miss Muffett in Blue. Look what she did. She had a card made....


And a gift....

Of some gourmet brownies...

Without knowing anything about what was going on. And the package showed up today.

The timing of the universe is impeccable.

And when I can go with it, life is just so much smoother.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...

Does anyone out there remember the Spencer Tracy movie, packed chock full of other stars (Milton Berle, Buddy Hackett, Sid Caesar, Jonathon Winters, Ethel Merman...the list goes on!) When Dearest Sister and I were itty bitty, we traveled to KC to see the Big Girls. They always showed us the sights in the big city, and mostly we were pretty wide eyed to what our glamourous big sisters had in store for us. One of the good times was going to see this movie, in one of the big movie theatres, in Cinemascope!

But I digress.

I read the headlines today."Will The Large Hadron Collider Save the World or Destroy It?" . (I vote neither.) "Armstrong's Back and Looking to Win an 8th Tour De France at Age 37". (I vote go for it.) Stocks tumbled as much as they gained yesterday (I vote 'agh'! My retirement!). And (disclaimer: know that I am a democrat) the McCain ticket has legs, and they are SPalin's. (I voted for Hillary, but now am an Obama supporter. See! Dem...all the way! It's the issues, not the sex, even though it would be sweet to have a woman calling the shots, but I want the shots called the way I see them. The 'publicans and I, we just don't jive. And that ends the political segment of tonight's program.)

And these stories are from MSNBC, not some offbeat website, even though a good Onion satire can be pretty darn cathartic for me.

So for balance, I have gratuitous garden photos, because I am feeling good. The iris, they are dug.


For Kate, my roses.


My pumpkin (with hand for scale). It is groo-oowing....and I know it really doesn't loooook like a pumpkin....yet....maybe it's not. Maybe it's an alien pod...maybe I shouldn't fall asleep....(anyone remember THAT movie?)


Today's harvest of tomatoes.

Lookie here! Yellow squash!


My purple hyacinth beans. Not for eating. All volunteer this year.

Wonderful Guy's raspberries. Definitely for eating.


Missouri Moondrops. Blooming again now that it's cooled off.

Marigolds. Is there anything more durable?

A Monday...

...all the way around.

I wanted to ride to work. Really I did. But it is chilly and cloudy and dampish. I just wasn't up for it. What a wimp.

Work continues to be precarious, and somehow seems more so after a nice weekend, and on a day like today.

When I come home on a day like today, I have a number of items I think I might do, but it's really more of an afternoon to change into warmer clothes and sit by the fire. If I had the makin's for chili, it would be on the stove.

Broncos are playing for Monday Night football. While I am not necessarily a follower, it will be good for knitting.

Nothing for it. Something for supper, then staying warm is the agenda for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow is suppose to be warmer. I will ride my bike tomorrow, even though I have an appointment to have my eyes checked. That will mean riding back and forth to the eye docs. Extra miles! And I will finish the iris digging tomorrow, too. Too chilly for that tonight.

I may even be more motivated for an intensely creative and amusing post on the morrow!

Weekend Wrap-Up

...and entering into vacation mode.

We leave for Philadelphia next Saturday for a weeks stay at Eldest Daughter's. She and the SO recently purchased a place and this will be my first time seeing it. The day after we leave to come home, she leaves for Europe for her job. Timing is everything!

I am taking her iris. I have been digging diligently and regularly, and have 2 more clumps to go. Wonderful Guy said one always knows when it is fall around here. There are iris and tomatoes everywhere. I reminded him it was one of those endearing eccentricities for which he fell in love with me...right??? He agreed....mostly.

What makes me happy, makes him happy. I reminded him of that, too.

A ride on the motorcycle, a hike around one of the local natural areas (Bobcat Gulch), enjoying the yard, some knitting and household chores made up the rest of the weekend.

I am planning my trip knitting. I also rewrote the chart for the Seascape Stole (Knitty Summer '08). I thought I would try it in the lace weight I bought at the Yarn Barn, but the chart looks sort of big and complicated now that I have closely looked at it. Maybe too much for traveling. Maybe I will work on socks for Wonderful Guy out of the alpaca I have been spinning.

R is for ...

...Roses.


I started my little rose garden with some of the roses I had 'back in the day' when I was much younger and birthing my babies. My mother came to stay with me at those times and enjoyed those roses very much. The daughters were all summer babies so the roses were always blooming. I was using a wee bit of her 'inheritance', and it seemed appropriate.

Mr. Lincoln

By intent, I planted them where they would recieve the morning sun.

Peace

By chance, I planted them next to the west fence.

It proved a fortuitous combination. The roses thrived there, surviving the winter in vigorous fashion.

Come Mother's Day, Wonderful Guy added two more. I chose more modern varieties, but still proven selections, with a few years since being introduced.


I can't remember their names, Prairie Sunrise and Kansas Sunset, or something like that.

The next year, another was added. A more recent introduction still.

Pope John Paul II

And this year, Youngest Daughter added to the Katherine Perry Memorial Rose Garden. I picked out the 2008 introduction!

Evening in Paris

Unless some things are moved, I am out of room with this latest addition, but there are plenty to enjoy.

Nothing Too Fancy

Trying to come up with something pithy and relevant, interesting and amusing, but it’s not happening.

I have been trying to work on the iris a little at a time, and making good progress. There seems to be a lot of other things going on, too, and I am wearing out at the end of the day. Tuesday I went to bed before 10PM. I am such an old person.

I met a good friend for lunch today. We try to meet once a month, but summer schedules prevented such since April or May. It was good to catch up with each other lives, and at the end of the meal, my fortune cookie read, “Your life will be peaceful and fulfilling.”

I’ll take that.

This is a time in my life where I can find peace and fulfillment regardless of what is going on around me. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel a bit upended at times, because I am going to. I am human. But I come back to this idea. How would I act today if I knew that everything is working out exactly the way it needs to? How would I act today if I knew that everything was going to turn out perfectly?

Because it is.

Weekend Wrap-Up

Wonderful Guy and I have had a full weekend of activity. I am not even sure I remember what we did on Friday evening, it was so long ago.

Saturday, we rode the Bandit to Estes Park and took in the Alpaca Festival. I am now in love with Paco Vicunas. Also, I won a door prize, a skein of alpaca yarn. I just love winning!


And I bought some lace weight Misti Alpaca on sale for knitting into a nice big shawl. I got plenty of yardage for it.

We continued on the Bandit across the peak to peak highway. The weather was glorious and grand, and the ride was wonderful.

Sunday, after our meeting, we had breakfast with Youngest Daughter, Bebe Daddy, and Grandbebe Girl. Afterwards, Wonderful Guy and I rode our bikes for a ways. Quite a ways, to hear him tell it! I took my camera this time, because I wanted to get a shot of this,

and this


...and look what else we saw!


Today, I started digging iris. My goal is to get a little done at a time over the next two weeks, so I don't completely kick my butt doing it this year. And again, I am wondering, what am I going to do with all these rhizomes?

My finished iPod Pocket, all felted and finished up all snazzily-like. I think I might have done this on Friday...