LAST DAY TO REGISTER TO VOTE Monday Oct 22

Or, as I like to think of it, last day to register to vote so that you too can complain about the administration. If you don't vote, you don't get to complain. (If only that was enforceable.) You can register online until midnight.

What I Did Over My Su(rgical) Vacation

Impressive, no? Well, maybe not. If not, completely the fault of the camera. (And not the cameraman (me), pattern, Crown Prince Stole (Nancy Bush) or yarn (Cupcake Fiber Co).)

 

It was virtually the only thing I could do while recuperating. I couldn't read so much as a magazine article or fluff novel (much less the stack of continuing ed stuff I'd planned on reading!) I did watch some television (because hello, still me).

 

So I knit. Row by row. I scaled it down, it's a scarf rather than a shawl because I only had 700 yards but isn't it beautiful?

Just nod yes.

 

 

Thankfully, since then, I've been able to read, and to work, and as of last week, tie my shoes.

WATCHING: Once Upon A Time (oh, how I want all their costumes), Dancing With The Stars (I'm not sure I care who wins, as long as it's Gilles. Who coincidentally, is also on Switched At Birth. Season Finale tonight!!

...and Castle, NCIS, NCIS LA, The Big Bang Theory, Haven and Blue Bloods. Oh, and Covert Affairs. And probably more. What's your favorite show this season?

READING: Assembling California by John McPhee. Really, really interesting! it's a look at how California was assembled over the millenium geologically. I'd always thought, if I thought about it at all, that California was submerged and just, I don't know, rose to the surface during and Ice Age, maybe? All the water locked up in glaciers? But shifting tectonic plates (is that an oxymoron?) pieced California together over time. More when I get through more than the first two chapters but already hooked. He has a very accessible writing style.  

 

 

Unconcious Mutterings:

 

1. Authorize :: Engage
2. Plunge :: Headfirst
3. Work :: Work Work
4. Throttle :: Choke
5. Drill :: Down
6. Toot :: Whistle
7. Conference :: Knit
8. Hodgepodge :: Desk
9. Bumble :: Politicians
10. Scandalous! :: Tell Me

Also go here and give generously. Prizes! Great cause! (or directly at Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) Spectrum Disease at Guthy Jackson if prizes don't interest you).

 

 

Great Googly Moogly

1. Exorcise ::demons
2. Theory ::chaos
3. Possible ::improbable
4. 1600 ::1666 Great Fire of London *
5. Feeling ::Groovy **
6. Excuse :: Reason
7. Mortality ::inevitable
8. Trivial ::pursuit
9. Pupil ::dilated
10. Challenge ::confront

From LunaNiña but shamelessly copying Shut Up and Knit.

I live! I stand, I sit, I'm back on my feet, I still can't tie my own shoes but thank heaven for sneakers and boots. It's amazing how much bending, twisting and lifting we do without giving it a second thought. Well, how much I did and didn't.

Haven't knit a thing since my scarf sized Crown Prince Shawl (well, a top hat, but I still have to felt and probably shellac it). Anesthesia brain cleared up a bit so I was able to read Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Llosa Vargas for Aarti's A More Diverse Universe book challenge (although reading and actually participating was a little bit beyond me, when your surgeon says 6-8 weeks, they might know what they're talking about. 

Anyone have any thoughts on the Mirkarimi debacle?*** I'm not sure I'd care at all who San Francisco appointed Sheriff if the defense for him didn't keep running along the lines of former SF Mayer Art Agnos saying"....“Anyone who knows Eliana Lopez knows she is not a woman who could be or has been abused..."

Wha'?? Not a woman who could be or has been abused?  Because you can tell by looking? One caller to KGO radio this morning dismissed it because "it didn't require medical care." Pat Thurston rightly queried if it would still not be abuse if he'd socked her in the face or punched her in the stomach because those wouldn't require medical care either. (He demured.)

Maybe a bruise on the arm of a Latin American actress doesn't sound like abuse but why doesn't it? Because she's an actress? Latin American? Her husband is part of the Progressive party? Because it really is political hash? I'm not sure I want to know for sure. All those scenarios are too depressing. And smack in the middle of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. 

* Although I should have thought of Pennsylvania Avenue.

** Fair Warning: YouTube.

***Notice how I don't care at all about Lance Armstrong?

 

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Taking Tuesday off has completely thrown off my calendar. I missed a meeting last night and worst of all, I completely spaced my mother's birthday today until I saw the date on the calendar!! Argh! I'm a terrible daughter. Happy Birthday, Mom!

 

OTOH, we spent the day together on Tuesday watching the Inauguration. I approve of Michelle Obama's Inauguration Day dress. I'm sure she'll be so relieved. Not so fast, my First Lady! Your ballgown wasn't as beautiful, mostly because the lights made it impossible to really see it and she looks better in classic lines rather than frou-frou. Forget the adorable flubbing of the oath,the closing of Gitmo, what the Obamas really need to do is take a couple of dance classes. Her dress was a little too long.

 

I must have Aretha Franklin's hat.

 

Regardless of your political leanings, the Inauguration was amazing. The crowds at the Mall! The parade! I thought it was disrespectful of both the new President and the citizenry that most of those in the Presidential parade stand bailed quickly, but it did look like there were gale force winds ripping through it. It might have been a wee bit cold in the Mall too. I hope this truly does usher in an era where people "....are not judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

 

As you might have guessed, I opted to watch from the comfort of my couch, thankfully. Flipping between all of the cable news stations and a couple of local ones to see how the locals were taking it, I think I managed to get a nice close up and detailed coverage. The parade did me in though it was Mom's favorite part. She loves a parade.  I could only handle watching four of the TEN Inaugural Balls. What an exhausting day. And yes, I'm talking about watching it.

 

I did manage to knit more on the Curve of Pursuit but didn't finish it or even the square I'm on. They went much faster in the beginning. Hmmm.  

 

Dad's cardigan? The sleeve gauge is way too tight so I had to rip it out and pick up some bigger circs (and who knew that saying "I need to buy some circs" would be so confusing to some people?) which is good news  because the yarn will go farther.

 

Your Word is "Think"

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don't have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you're in school or not, you're probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you're not learning, you're busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you've experienced.

What's Your Word?

 

Is that not a great word? And from Chris from Stumbling over Chaos: 

 

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Literate Good Citizen
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

No fad reading at all? I read The Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter. At least a couple of them. OTOH, I haven't read Twilight or The Historian or ..........I  can't even think of any other bestsellers.