Happy 40th, Mom and Dad

My parents got married forty years ago today, the only day both of them plus the reverend, an old family friend, were available.  They invited some close friends and a few family to dinner, with a mystery stop on the way that turned out to be the chapel where they were married.  We don't have photographs because a cousin opened the only camera and ruined the film, but this one from a New York City trip some years ago seems appropriate:

Happy Ruby Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!

Not much to report here.  Work was very busy running up to the end of quarter, as people tried to get deals signed.  I had only a couple days when meals were granola bars and peanut butter, which I consider a win for EOQ.  Because I am home I could have at least one properly cooked meal each day, which is even more of a win.  I've enjoyed cooking local chicken, local eggs, local vegetables, and the herbs from my countertop kitchen garden, rounded out with local cheese and yoghurt and ice-cream or italian ice.

I am reading books again.  For a while, I couldn't.  Too much reading for work, keeping up with articles and reports online, and I just lost the ability to focus and enjoy the words.  A friend finished and launched a book, and I'd seem some early chapters, but it took him long to finish, and coincidentally the book comes out in an eerily similar time.  It's available free to download today, as it is the first of every month, and is a prequel to his earlier book, also free to download today.

Next I will try to finish some books I abandoned when I stopped traveling.  I had a couple that lived in my briefcase or travel bag, and when I cleaned those to put away for the longterm I found them.  They are waiting, but I have a feeling I'll dive back into them soon.

Status of June Mini-Resolutions

I did not finish two of the OTN items.  I did finish the sock, but not anything else that was in-progress.  The Center for Knit & Crochet suggested that World UFO Day tomorrow also apply to UnFinished Objects so I give myself through tomorrow night.  When I read that I was inspired to go to a bin where I have two quite old items.  One is a shawl I started during the nearly-year in Madison, and the other a shopping bag from before you received reusable bags from anywhere.  I am pretty sure I started it when I lived in Texas and the yarn shop from where I purchased the yarn is no longer in business - so it's been a while.  The pattern is fairly mindless so I've made quite good progress, and it might be done tomorrow if I figure out the top and strap.  The pattern is long gone.

I did finish the gift for my friend and the post office says it was delivered, so here are some photos:

I had just enough yarn for two bags - one crocheted, one knit.

  

I used the lace pattern from the Phyllotaxis Hat.

Kim received an elevation within her religion and I had a hank of hand-dyed sock yarn that reminded me of her.  I offered to make something out of it and she sent several ideas.  I decided to make these bags and I think they came out rather well.  Both patterns are my own design, other than following the lace pattern, and based upon measurements she sent.

Edited to add:  Kim posted that the bags are "perfect", she's thrilled.  Huzzah!

July Mini-Resolution

This is easy.  I was going to be on a Craft Cruise this month, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic and because no ships are sailing.  I'd planned to have at least one project in addition to the class projects:  Stephen West's Boneyard shawl, in yarn I purchased at his shop last year.  I plan to cast on July 11th, the day the cruise was scheduled to begin, and plan to have it finished by the time the cruise would end on July 25th.

Maybe I'll get some other UFOs finished, too.

How my resolutions did in January

Of the three resolutions I posted for 2014, one needs to wait for warmer weather, not to mention more time, so I am reporting on the other two.  I haven't updated the blog since early January, but I did three updates then, so while I am not doing as well as I would like for the second resolution I will consider it met.  I should have done an update later in the month, if only to miss on having to do so many catching up now.

The harder one is the first resolution, to do a new thing that isn't a variation on an old thing.  For January I am counting the "Get a Clue!" tour of the Mark Twain House & Museum, because I've never done a proper tour of the house, and I've never done a mystery tour like that.  My partner and I didn't win, technically, since she was sure the culprit was a different character (it came down on our chart to two, and she picked) but we had a lot of fun.

I did some new things that were variations on old ones, and a lot of fun too:

1. Dancing at the Creative Cocktail Hour at Real Art Ways.  I've gone dancing before - for several years was notorious at Chicago-area cons for wearing out a series of partners, since I love dancing and have good stamina - and I've been to CCH before, but never dancing there.  A large part of that is that I am shy about going out on a dance floor solo, although I am willing to stay there if my partner dances off.  The nice thing about RAW is that nobody cares if you dance solo, or in a pair, or a group, and the gender makeups of any of them.
2. Taking a class from Franklin Habit at Vogue Knitting Live! in New York.  Again, done plenty of classes at fiber conferences, but never that one and never from Franklin.  It was on tessellations and a lot of fun, and I got a bonus because in the "work on this for a while" part of the class Franklin discussed something he figured out about charting a different technique, and all of a sudden the penny dropped and I figured out why I couldn't get that technique when I'd tried it before.  I had felt very stupid about it but Franklin's mind works the way mine does on this topic and now it makes sense!  I am going to tell him so when I sent a picture of the piece I am knitting from my classwork.

Also in the variation-on-themes items, I have joined the Make Hartford makerspace and participated in an event there other than the Grand Opening; and I am now the "Leader of Logistics and Exchequery" for Welcome to Bohemia! shows (and related ones such as last weekend's Studio N111 fundraiser), which mostly means I make sure the stuff needed onsite is ready to go, especially at the front desk, and run the door; and keep track of things so the artsy people can have fun.

Stuff like this:

Tuesday in New York City

There has been quite a lot in the news about the snow in New York, and how the mayor didn't declare a snow emergency and people are running out of food and heating oil and the ambulances can't get through. People who were taking trains or flying home this week are stranded, or have had trips cancelled. I felt lucky to have left just before the storm started and so while I was a bit delayed, I got home. My parents similarly were delayed (with a flight cancelled, then reinstated) but returned home safely, as did the in-laws.

Despite all this, I've had plans to spend a day this week in New York City. We get the week between Christmas and New Year's off, as a long holiday. There were several exhibits I wanted to see, one of which closes on January 2nd. So I watched the trains, and took a chance. Bundled up with new boots on my feet and a fur-trimmed jacket, carefully packing everything I need for such a trip into a smallish bag that I would not have to check, and away I went.

Metro-North was on a Saturday schedule, which meant if I missed a train (which I did because the drive took rather longer than even my generous estimate) there was a half-hour wait for the next one. The station was packed with people trying to get out mostly on Amtrak. I did get a decently close parking space, and scored one of the few single seats on the train, and napped. The plan was from my arrival to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, then MOMA, and end at the New York Public Library, punctuated by a meal at some point with my friend Lily. I splurged on a taxi to the Met because I couldn't figure out where to get the bus and walking was getting arduous. Finding a taxi was a bit of a trial, but I saw a women struggling to get from a cab to the sidewalk, offered her my arm in assitance, and then snagged the taxi.

On the trip to the Met, I took a few pictures of the snow:

Can you tell that there's a car in the photo above?

So I got to the Met, and did some wandering around while I tried to figure out where to find the exhibit I really wanted to see, about art in the age of Khubilai Khan. On the way, I saw a small exhibit of Miro, a wonderful photography exhibit, and missed my opportunity to meet Lily for lunch. On the up side, on the way out I stumbled across (only figuratively, as it was well roped off) a stunning Roman mosaic floor of which I took many pictures:

Of course I have lots of closeups of the tiling! At least as far as I could reach over the ropes.

Leaving the Met, I caught a bus to Barney's to see their holiday windows, which are all about foodie icons:

It's fun to see who was represented how, and to catch a lot of the little funny bits about the persons depicted. Lily said that she went to a presentation, part of a series that The New York Times offers, where the window designer talked about putting them together and some of the fun they had in adding the jokes.

Then it was to MOMA, where the crowds were made and I decided that I would see the one key exhibit and leave. Again, I took many photos, but I won't clog this post with all of the ones of the different kitchens. Lots of time spent in looking at the videos, including the one that introduced the reconstructed German kitchen that is a centerpiece of the exhibit.

After this I went to the Library to see a highly recommended exhibit of documents about the three Abrahamic religions, exploring their similarities and divergencies. Fascinating! But near the end (when they were closing the library and hustling us) my brain was getting pretty full of images, writing, illustrations, bindings, and so forth. Coincidentally Lily called just as I flipped open my phone to call her, and we agreed to meet at a Thai restaurant near Times Square for supper. Yums! I'd been running on a protein bar for most of the day, and this was quite lovely - curried soft-shell crabs, tamarind duck, and pad khee mao with beef. We joked that it was surf 'n' turf 'n' air. The fried bananas came as a sort of egg roll, not the expected tempura-style, with fragrant honey drizzled over, but I passed in favour of a Thai iced coffee.

Then I jumped on the shuttle back to Grand Central Station while Lily and her husband took the subway home. Another single seat, another nap, and I made it home safely at about 1:30am, very happy that I did not have to go to work the next day! I did pick up a few souvenirs, carefully brought home in a free tote bag from the Met (which I'd had to parcel into pockets to avoid the checkroom at MOMA), mostly postcards from the various exhibits and the free exhibit brochures. Enjoy the links!