BFL envy

I think I've gotten too comfortable spinning BFL and merino top.  Last week I bought some corriedale.  It feels rough and my spinning is more uneven than usual.  It's very crinkly and there are little balls of fluff stuck in here and there.  I hope it feels softer after I set the twist, perhaps it has some residue dye.  But anyway...I miss the BFL.

Geocaching

First time geocaching!  Hubby and I went to Quihi, Texas which is a veritable ghost town.  I have lived within 20 miles of it pretty much my whole life, but had never gone there.  We explored an old Alsatian cemetery at the Lutheran church which houses the graves of some of the first settlers to the area.  Many of the epitaphs were written in German.  The cache itself was only large enough to contain a tiny notebook, a stub of a pencil, a (jasper?) red polished pebble, a heart/cross pendant.  I wanted to the pebble since I love stones, so I replaced it with one of the small fabric yo-yos from my purse.  The second cache in Quihi that we went to wasn't nearly as exciting--it was in the parking lot of a bar.  Not worthy of pictures.  Mostly because my camera had lost all power by then.

Everyday sights

I didn't mean to start a photo blog........but I've been taking a lot of pictures lately, for some reason.  Then again, this blog is about little details, as I frequently can't see the forest for the trees.  Anyway, my new years resolution was to take more pictures.  I meant to take pictures of people, but I keep taking pictures of things instead.  Still love them.

I noticed these leaves swept to the curb as I went to my mailbox on Tuesday, couldn't resist taking a picture.  Is it wrong that I bring my camera with me to check the mail?  I have been entirely too aroused by the mailbox ever since I joined Postcrossing.    

For a few minutes every afternoon the sun finds its way through a small space in the canopy of tree leaves above our balcony to form a thin stream in the window through the leaves of my plant.

My little box of postcard joy.  Thought it looked better with an artistic filter. :)

Bookcrossing

I have at last found proof that intelligent life may yet (or used to) exist in Castroville.  I view these signs with the same vigor and expectation as a paleontologist finding fossils.  Proof that life existed in some form an indeterminate length of time ago, but probably no longer exists.  Valiant Bookcrosser of the past, I hope you didn't perish in some sort of ancient asteroid fallout like your reptilian friends.

Expedition

Today I went on an expedition to meet a high school friend for lunch in S.A. and eventually ended up at Half Price Books where I found many wonders of awe and inspiration.  I was looking for The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas.  What I found was almost better:  three postcard books (about 60-80 postcards in all!!!!) and some brain food all for the low price of $12.

Also went to my parents' house to scan some postcards and was left admiring this sight:  a horse's big ass.  Her name is Cula.  You can see why.  That pile of crap is some of the many articles of useless garbage that my grandpa buys at auctions for no particular reason.  Once I found a box of about 50 broken umbrellas at his house that he'd bought at an auction.  He lived in a tent when he was a kid for several years during the Depression, and hasn't been able to shed that hoarding mentality.

I also saw this last night, which made me extremely happy.  Reminds me of "sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.  Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie."  My pretty swallows, I know that they will leave the nest for good some day soon.  They already fly away all day to catch insects, but they still come back and sleep together as a family at night.  Four young birds and their parents.

Yesterday I hit a sparrow with my car.  How on earth I accomplished this feat, I could not say.  But I did, and it was pitifully sad.  Can you believe I come from a family of hunters?

Productive today...

I have been spinning for about 6 hours straight--very therapeutic and niiiiiiiice after the long break I had from it.  Finished spinning about 6 oz of BFL lace and fingering weight singles, and plied those for 252 yards of sport-worsted weight yarn.  I also still have a significant amount on a bobbin, and I might Andean ply that.  This also needs to be dyed.  Green is my go-to color, but might branch out.  I want to try my hand at the Felicity hat.  This will involve learning to use DPNs.  I haven't knitted a hat before, seems like a good time to try.  With cool weather about 2 months off, yet.  Womp.

Also got a haircut today.  The hairdresser got a bit scissor-happy, and my hair is quite a bit shorter than I had envisioned.  It still looks cute....but short.  It will probably be the right length in 2 months and an inch.  At this moment, when the wind blows I can feel it on my scalp.  This is why I need a hat.  In case my scalp feels too naked. 

Problems that reading can prevent:

Patron: "Hi, my son accidentally logged off of his computer as soon as he got on."

Me: "I'm sorry, the only thing you can do is just sign him up again." (There is a 1.5 hour wait).

Patron, her face becoming cumulonimbus: "WHAT!  That is not fair, he just made a mistake!  That's not right!"

Me: "When you click "done" on the computer, a message pops up that says, "Are you sure you want to end your session?"  You have to click "yes" on that before you end your turn.

Patron, becoming more incensed: "HOW CAN YOU HAVE A SYSTEM THAT DOES THIS TO PEOPLE?  HE JUST MADE A MISTAKE!  THIS IS NOT FAIR!"

Me, resisting the urge to perform a massive facepalm: "If you make a mistake and accidentally push "done" on the computer, then another message pops up that asks you if you're sure you are done.  Only if you push "yes" will it close your session.  If you read the message and push "no" because you realized you made a mistake then your session won't end.

Patron: "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!  HE JUST MADE A MISTAKE!"

I shrug because I don't know what else I can tell her, and I'm getting mad because she is blaming me for the fact that her son made this dumb mistake.

Patron: "IS THE MANAGER HERE? CAN I SPEAK TO THE MANAGER?!"

Sunday sights

1. 500 miles of smiling white clouds and intense sunshine.
2. Frenzied mass of red, white and blue balloons freed into the sky.
3. Crows.
4. Fresh baked Czech Stop kolaches on the way to my MOUTH.
5. Two new postcards in the mailbox from Sweden and Indonesia!
6.  Driving past Holland.  Texas.  Welkom bij Holland!
7.  North Texas through amber lenses.
8.  Cats wearing clothing.
9.  Wonderful, intelligent, flowing words penned by Anne Bronte.
10. Beloved University of Texas tower glowing in evening sunlight.

Despite being in the car for 5 hours, I would say I had a very nice Sunday!

Birdies

We have been watching a new batch of swallows brewing in the same nest as earlier this year.  The babies have hatched!

This year has been very birdy for me.  If I was to slap an icon on this whole year it would be a bird.  I've been enjoying this nest with different broods of swallows, I watch hummingbirds at my feeder, one bird used to gripe at me if I was sitting on the porch because it felt like I was threatening its nest, I had a bird seed feeder up for awhile until the fat buggers ate all the seeds, I got to pet a chicken, I almost held up Lytle traffic the other day because I was watching a duck family cross someone's front lawn.  I'm quite wingy myself, too.