Like The Queen
Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.

3 Comments:

Bess Dear, you are absolutely correct! Who puts an exra 's' in? The Grammar Dunce, that's who. Now I know that, as a Canuck, I can be accused of 'Briticisms' in my writing, but I happened to have had a superb series of English teachers, back in the day when grammar was actually taught in schools...

Come to think of it, using correct grammar is an example of how a discipline sets one free... like your orderly closets!

Hugs and Happy Friday!

By Blogger Margaret, at 10:18 AM  

Hey! You stole our snow! We were supposed to get some, but it was delayed in the US and the snow clouds fizzled out before they got to us. We're getting rain now.

What beautiful watercolors! I love the cloud and sail action on the second one.

By Blogger inukshuk71, at 9:25 AM  

Thank you for sharing

By Anonymous Bryson, at 12:48 PM  

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Friday, February 27, 2009  

Vintage Queen ramble all about herself



Ahh Marge – It's not the apostrophe I hate. It's that third S that drives me nuts. Bess' opinion is that 2 S's are enough and one need not toss in an extra one after the apostrophe.

I am officially thrilled that today is Friday because yesterday every cranky ornery crabby difficult person decided to visit the public library and make outrageous demands. And someone has stolen our Bride's magazine – and the plastic holder for it. I hope her marriage is a total failure and that he turns out to be a bounder. She also stole Glamour and it's cover so I hope she also catches her heel in her prom dress and falls flat on her face.

Hmmm. Well. Really I don't hope that. We don't need to add more misery to the world. But I hope we never get another thief in the library again. That's fair. And it was the absolute cranky-box day. We have one patron who is alright when she takes her medicines, but when she doesn't she comes into the library and makes loud outrageous demands on us and our time. We've been short staffed all week anyway and yesterday I was alone at the front desk when she came in. By the time help arrived at lunchtime I was already wound up and the call about the budget issue that has been lurking around forever and now must be resolved just added to the whole flavor of a wired Thursday.

So. So I intend to dance the happy dance today in celebration of Friday. Because a lot of sweet things have been going on this month. Even difficult things like our budget issue, which is hard to resolve, are getting resolved and when they are all fixed the library will come out a head. Funny how there is always this flip side to even the most daunting of issues. The realization that once you are on the other side of it it will never pinch you again.

I've been working this winter on finding a more centered and honest way of living my life. Back in January I decided to live my life around the concept of Freedom – decided, after my inner self told me that was what I was going to be working on. Not freedom as in let's run away and live on a desert island (or in a yurt – did that 30 years ago), but a freedom that one has when one lives more truthfully with one's self. The freedom you have if you've organized your closets so you can dress in a flash every day, unhampered by tightly squeezed clothes that don't really fit and that hide the few good pieces you own. The sort of freedom that comes when you have a bill paying routine. The freedom of being grown-up enough to get the business end of life out of the way and so you have time to play.

You can impose that sort of tidiness on yourself from the outside and if the system is really well designed it might even stick. But if you've grown it from within, it'll stick more easily and it, as well as the rest of your life, will feel more fun. And that involves honesty. Honesty to self, that is. A deep honest truth that addresses issues instead of hides them. Nowhere is this more important than with your health. If you don't exercise because you are too tired .... you know this is not true. Oh you may be tired, but if you are always too tired to exercise, and you don't have some chronic condition, just too tired – then there is something else you have to deal with – a bad job, a mean spouse, a self-punishing attitude.

That last one is the most common of all and it carries over into eating also. I had never realized what an emotional eater I am but I have been noticing this a lot. Who would have thought that the evening I wanted to work on the color choices for my adult surprise sweater and then found the light wasn't bright enough to distinguish between this orange and that one – that I would suddenly crave chocolate cookies? Then there was the evening I was so sleepy, but I was trying to stay awake to play crossword puzzle with BD. The next thing I knew, I was in the kitchen, digging almonds out of the jar. Not hungry, mind you, just trying to change how I felt with food. Fortunately, I realized this and went to bed before I finished the whole bag!

When I thought of emotional eaters, I'd think of the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral – where those women sit around with the box of chocolate bars, competing about who had the best bad date story. Or Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibbly with her refrigerator full of ice-cream. I hadn't thought of those moments of emotional stress that I plugged with food. So I have only a flash of boredom. That's all it takes to set feet in motion towards the kitchen.

Anyway – I have been working on these issues because I would like to be slimmer and I would like to be healthier, but most of all, because I would like to be freer. I would like to be free to shop for clothes on the sale rack that don't look like feed sacks dyed navy blue. I would like to deal with issues that are bothering me, rather than masking them with chocolate, so that I life my life un-bothered – free do savor the good things, enjoy the pleasures, dance lightly across the floor.

It never ceases to amaze me that when I mask my (admittedly small) dissatisfactions with food, I am telling myself that I can't solve my problems or worse – that my problems are unsolvable – which leads to an even worse inner belief – that Life Is Bad and Can't Be Trusted. And when I operate from that premise I end up putting even more restrictions on myself than that Life ever would dream of putting on me.

Conversely, when I address the issues – be they hunger or bad lighting or even cranky patrons who don't take their meds – I don't just deal with those issues, but I seem to want to reward myself with the things I want. I enjoy productivity more, I see solutions to other issues that hadn't yet become problems ... dealing with life as honestly as I possibly can unclogs all sorts of plugs that had been formed or were forming in my life.

Knitting? I knit? Well, no. not right now. I'm between projects, actually. Everything I want to work on requires a big needle - #10 or bigger. And I haven't any – and when I was in Richmond last it was a Monday – and the Addi turbo store was closed. But I have ordered some #10's and will cast on something next week. As for this weekend – I must write knitting rather than knit yarn. I have to write the handouts for my lace edging class.

Oh la and I have to dash because today is an early day in to work. Happy Friday Dancing to you all.

posted by Bess | 7:24 AM

1 Comments:

You may hate that apostrophe, Dear Bess, but it's grammatically correct when you want to possess something, and have a name like 'Bess'! :-)

Just call me Lynne Truss! ;-)

Hugs!

By Blogger Margaret, at 9:42 AM  

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Thursday, February 26, 2009  

Morning exercises





I just can't stop playing with these watercolors. I'm particularly fascinated with this process of sketching people. I am afraid .... I am afraid this has become another one of

(shudder)

Bess' Passions!

And I will tell you one of Bess' peeves. Perhaps her pet peeve at the moment. Certainly part of the menagerie. I hate it when people put an apostrophe S after words that already end in an S. While BD's peeve - his punctuation peeve of the day I suppose - is people who put the apostrophe after an acronym. CD's for example. I say it makes for a clearer image. He says it is a possessive and wonders what the CD owns.

Nothing like a house full of curmudgeons, hmmm?

Happy Thursday.

posted by Bess | 7:08 AM

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Tuesday, February 24, 2009  

Joined by friends





Lawsee this is more fun than chocolate! These are samples copied from the book Putting People in Your Paintings by J. Everett Draper, North Light Publishing c1985. And they're so much fun to do. I figure - if I copy every image in his book I'll know something about painting people when I'm done.

Yes, Cathy - those colors on my wheel are poppin'. but who would have thought I forgot how to do a Navajo Ply. I plied up a little bit last night and it was so awful I set the whole thing aside. I'll come back to it later in the week but my goodness. My hands felt like footballs. Or kitten paws tangled in yarn.

This will be an interesting week at work - and I believe I'll go get ready for it.

Ta.

posted by Bess | 7:10 AM

1 Comments:

Wow, look at all those vibrant, gorgeous colors! They're bound to give you superpowers for your work week.

By Blogger cathy, at 11:05 PM  

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Monday, February 23, 2009  

Chasing away the grey of a February day


What's needed on such a day is Color!

From Mother Nature (via the grocery store flower bins)





And on my spinning wheel





And from my palette





It adds to the delight of those redwinged blackbirds. I'm glad I prompted such good memories for my friends. I bless those birds every time I hear them.


Off to the city today to take my mother to the dr. Then back home to the Week Of Destiny at work. I welcome all good wishes from all friends out there.

posted by Bess | 6:40 AM

2 Comments:

Oh! I love red-winged blackbirds. We don't have 'em around here (too dry), but I remember how common they were when I was growing up in Ohio. (There was a marsh near my house where they would nest). I love that call - we always described it as "O-ka-leeeee!" that they make.

By Blogger fillyjonk, at 2:51 PM  

Oh, oh! At our last house we had bird feeders. Red wing blackbirds would visit us in enormous numbers, wipe out our supply of bird seed, but it was so worth it. Literally hundreds would perch in a huge tree on our backyard and serenade us with the most beautiful music and calls! I was amazed at just how many sounds these birds could make :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:26 PM  

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Sunday, February 22, 2009  

Not the flu

But it may as well have been. I was sick as the proverbial dog this past week. I'm just getting back on my feet. Went back to work yesterday - a good move, since on Saturday, all the other offices are closed so nobody in any of them can complain that you didn't do the things you said you'd do. Which you couldn't because you hadn't planned on getting sick.

I had been wanting a week off this winter. I had the accumulated leave. But I'd looked over my schedule and decided I didnt have time to take off now. I'd do it later. My body decided otherwise. This happened last August too, when things were sort of slowed down but not quite - and again, I had the leave, but I decided "No. Not now." and my body gave me a sinus infection.

Next time I think I need some vacation, by golly, I'm going to take it!

All the samples for the class are done. It's just a matter of writing up the handouts - which I shall do next weekend. I'm between projects right now. There's just enough time, possibly, to get started on a wool sweater. I certainly have enough wool to knit (for about 108 years) but I want to use some bulky weight to make a jacket in st.st. with shaped waist and seed stitch collar and cuffs.

But I never knit in bulky weight yarn. I've been sampling on a size 9 but it's still a little too tight. A 10 would be better but the next size up I have is a 10.5 which I think will be too big. I guess... I guess I have to buy some more needles. Poor Me.

I have to do an order for the class kits so it will be easy for me to add that on, but here's the rub. I want to wait till I have a better idea of how many students signed up for the class. I don't want to make up kits and find the class has been canceled due to no signups. But I don't want to make 2 orders and pay 2 shipping costs.

Of course, if this is the only problem in my life - I should count myself lucky, right? It isnt of course, but most of the problems in my life are about this size so, in fact, I am lucky and will stop complaining. This is mostly just filler because I don't have anything interesting to write about.

So. Instead I will show you something magical that appeared yesterday!




Yes. One of the sweetest sounds of End-0-Winter. The Red Winged Blackbird. How I love that sound of his tooteling call. It's chilly today and we may even get a little slushy snow mixed in with our promised rain, but I know. I know that springtime is coming and there will be beautiful sights and sweet scents and many songs that both calm and energize you just one step outside my door.

I'm wishing that same knowledge for you all as the earth tilts back towards the sun.

Happy Sunday.

posted by Bess | 8:01 AM

3 Comments:

I love to look at your paintings, Bess, and now, these wonderful examples from your mama! My mother never felt she was creative in any way: "a pattern knitter and a recipe cook", she called herself. Little did she realize how creative her cooking really was. I think with greater encouragement, she could have valued her creativity more...

Bless your mama!

Hugs,

By Blogger Margaret, at 9:14 AM  

Oh, the "Nudes in Bikinis" and the story behind it, is just priceless! She's very talented, and what a funny, witty solution!

By Blogger Catherine, at 6:03 PM  

What beautiful paintings! I can see now that artistic talent runs in the family. What a fun way to circumvent contest rules and how touching that she painted your son's likeness to help you deal with his leaving home. Your mother seems like a very special lady.

By Blogger inukshuk71, at 3:02 PM  

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009  

An Extra Holiday



I am taking today off – and I may also take off tomorrow – because we may have snow – or what passes for snow in Virginia. MsHoroscope advises me:

Try to spend as much time in yourself as you can today and tomorrow. As I warned you about a week ago, the Sun is about to move into your 7th House of Other People, at which point you can expect to spend even more time thinking about other people than you already do! So take some advice from your Stars and get thee to the massage therapist today, or the hairdresser, or whoever it is (or wherever it is) that's going to make you feel relaxed (at least) and maybe even pampered.

So today I will paint in the morning and go to my weight lifting class in the afternoon and eat sauteed scallops for dinner.


The trip to the parents was sweet. I took my watercolors to mama who is my favorite watercolor artist. She was stimulated and excited and delighted that I had taken up her passion. We've made a date for a painting morning and we're both really looking forward to it.

Here are two of my favorites of her paintings – one because, of course, it's my PABDOS and it is also an example of the deep connection she and I have always felt. LD was my only chick and besides, we were simpatico – we have always understood each other. And I did not do Empty Nest with grace or dignity. It was all suffering. I was already begining to spiral down in his last year of high school and one day when I was visiting mama, there in her studio was this portrait. I hadn't known she was painting it but I knew exactly the photograph she used, the day the picture was taken ... and she captured him perfectly. She said “It's for you. I know you're having trouble and it will get worse before it gets better. I thought you needed this.”



Man – I still sort of reel when I remember that day and how much she loved me and how much she would go out of her way for me.

This other one is a favorite because it represents something special and magical about my mother and it also demonstrates one of the major lessons she taught me.



This was the last painting she did for public display. It was for a juried exhibit that would be hung in all the big financial buildings in downtown Richmond. Just days before the show, which was a contest with prizes, the word went out from the bankers that there were to be No Nudes on display. She really was suffering from all sorts of old age issues and she didn't have the energy to paint something else. So she took that bright origami paper and cut bikinis out of it and glued them onto the nudes with rubber cement.

The judging was done on local PBS TV so she actually got to watch as the judges went around discussing the winners. And hers was one of the winners. She told me she didn't think it was artistic enough to win – there were many finer paintings – she thinks she won because of her way of handling the No Nudes dilemma. And that is what I love about this painting. I could take the bikinis off but I never will. They are the lesson she taught me – that there is always a door in even the longest, highest brick wall.

Oh my it was fun to be her daughter.

posted by Bess | 7:45 AM

4 Comments:

That is a beautiful idea. I remember lace edged pillowcases that my granny made for my parents. I had them on my bed as a child.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:13 AM  

Such beautiful edgings! I see even more adornment in your future. It seems like the perfect thing to do on a lazy summer day.

By Blogger Unknown, at 1:15 PM  

I know that edging! I recognize it! I've done it to border a place-mate in a much younger era of my life. I've also knit something like it onto a very old shawl pattern...

There's a repetition to it that is very soothing to the soul. It may seem like a slide into the ordinary, but hey -- it may be just what you need to set you up for the week ahead.

Hugs!

By Blogger Margaret, at 9:28 PM  

Great post thanks

By Anonymous Masonry Arlington, at 12:08 AM  

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Monday, February 16, 2009  

More Lace

Hmmm. Blogger and my ISP aren't talking nicely to each other so I'll take this window of opportunity to show off the next-to-the last of the lace samples. I have one more pattern I'm going to finish off - a more complex one - and then that will be it for the lace edging class photos.

I sewed the ecru lace onto one end of the towel - I'm knitting the other lace on - same pattern, same size needles. This goes much slower and I tend to knit more loosely so it's using up more thread. Sewing it on is much easier to plan and to execute. I wouldn't knit it on again, but I'm glad I gave it a try.


I've thoroughly enjoyed exploring this fascinating bit of the knitting craft. I am so glad I sat down and did these bits. I am so wanting a set of elegant bedding now, all trimmed out in my own knitted lace. Sounds like a summer project to me.


Off to visit the parents today - not much time to write and not a lot of inspiration either. After the most est perfect est of Saturdays the rest of the weekend has been a bit of a slide into ordinary.


Guess I've just got the blues.

posted by Bess | 7:05 AM

1 Comments:

"Anyway – the week ended and it's a glorious three day weekend – the last of the year till the end of May"

Huh? Don't you have any time off at Easter?

P.S. The dinner sounds fabulous. I treated myself to red wine and chocolate pudding -- home-made, no less!

Hugs!

By Blogger Margaret, at 9:22 PM  

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Sunday, February 15, 2009  

She's baaaack!



And from MrHoroscope:

Why not try standing on one leg as you juggle all those soft-boiled eggs? The planets have lately seemed extremely keen for you to stretch yourself as far as you can.

Yes. That's what this past week has been like. Busy – demanding – challenging – energizing – fun – and yet – unremarkable. Just ... all the busy you can be, working in a library. And having a cold. Just an ordinary cold but enough of one to send me home early 3 afternoons in a row, when I found myself putting my head down on my desk and trying to sleep a little. I know when I do that it's time to use sick leave. I had some serious paperwork to do and a couple of command performances that required my person to be there, not just my directions, which is why I didn't just stay home, but I think I made the paperwork job about 3 times bigger than it was because my head was so fuzzy.

Anyway – the week ended and it's a glorious three day weekend – the last of the year till the end of May so I plan to savor it. I scurried as fast as I could and it was still 2 o'clock before I finished cleaning the house – but it sparkles now. BD was off doing BD things but he came home with valentines candy – oooo baaaad. I had already promised him his fantasy steak dinner as my Valentine's Day gift.

No. It wasn't served by a hooter's waitress

He likes really hot sizzling steak so he likes to go to those all you can eat steak houses where the food is so-so but there's a steak chef who will cut you endless pieces of beef right off the grill. Sadly not only is there usually too much mediocre food at these places, but I usually eat too much too much AND then there is the 50 miles of driving we have to do to get home and unbutton our waistbands. And the steak isn't always all that good either – even if it is hot. So.
So I came up with an plan to create this experience at home. First you must understand that my kitchen is very efficient but it is definitely not an eat in kitchen. It's an L shaped galley type kitchen with tons of counter space but no place for a table. Not a real table anyway, but it's not too small for those wooden folding TV tray type tables. I set two of them up facing each other in the kitchen space between sink and stove, with the coffee pot within arms reach, the wine rack just behind me, and the stove right beside my left knee.



I have a cunning little stove top grill that fits over my gas burner and I bought some high quality steaks and cut them into small portions. When everything else was ready I put the first pieces of meat on the grill and rang the dinner bell. We sat in the kitchen and as one piece of steak was served another went on the grill. BD got his sizzling steaks, and don't doubt it, I got mine too, but he got most of them, and we had the fun of dining in our house in a room where we've never eaten before! It was such fun it was like having a new house. It was the most fun and afterwards we could go unbutton, unzip and lie down by the stove with dog heads on our chests.

It was the most fun dinner we've had in ages!

And now it is just the middle of a sweet three day weekend, not the second half. I promise – there will be knitting photos and content before I go back to work on Monday. I'm just about finished with the lace edges but I found my favorite knitting stitch dictionary and I still have some beautiful #5 pearl cotton .... I just have to try one more pattern.

And for those of you who don't have a 3 day weekend, but who will make it possible for me to shop on Monday – thank you.

posted by Bess | 7:05 AM

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Sunday, February 08, 2009  

What do you need when you have everything?
More Peonies
Sunday exercise
peony

peony,
originally uploaded by besshaile.

posted by Bess | 5:53 PM

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I wish I worked in a library so I could read books all day too.


Statement heard by every librarian who ever lived


You're all so right about the Information Technology (library jargon) debacle. There have been developments, though. The first ITM (the one I didn't tell present ITM about) used to work for the school system and when he registered our domain name he used his school email address. Yes. You are getting the picture here. The school system's ITM has created an email for the long gone ITM and my new ITM was able to log in and get the information he needed.

Some things go beyond bizarre, hmmm?

We have won this round but the fight is not over. We can't call it a victory till our library web page is back up and working. Let us hope it will happen by the end of next week, since there is more to the story. There is always more. Before all came crashing down, I tried to update the web site and somehow disconnected it from the library collection database. When it was accessible you could look at the page but you couldn't find out what was in our collection.

Ah well. Sumpum's always happ'nin in a library.

Knitting blog? Knitting blog? You expect me to be knitting through all this? Well, of course I am. But nothing vividly interesting. I'm still making lace edges. Pretty ones like this:


With help from my bird friends.


There is a beautiful royal blue edge on a hand towel – but it is upstairs and the camera and computer are downstairs and I am too lazy to get them together. I'll have a photo of it soon, though, since I want a picture of the lace being knit onto a foundation of blanket stitch embroidery along the edge of the towel, to put in the handouts. It's easy to do but it might be difficult to explain ... a picture will fill in all my meager words leave out.

After a week of bitter cold and No Snow! Grrrr, we have typical Virginia February temperatures .... 68 and sunshine. The house is sparkley clean, maybe more so than I might have cleaned it but I have a bit of a sore throat. If I'm going to be under the weather I don't want to lie in bed looking at dust dinosaurs rolling around on my bedroom floor. And if I can shake this thing off – well – there. I'll just have a nice clean house.

Today is S's 50th birthday and we are gathering to help her mourn her youth. But with any spare time I can scrounge up today I plan to paint. While the sun is so glorious and the trees have no leaves on them I may also go out and capture some sylvan architecture.

Happy Sunday to you all.

posted by Bess | 7:21 AM

5 Comments:

I know it was tough, Dear Bess, but I'm still chuckling! At that rate, the dentist is definitely a better time. LOL!

Hugs!

By Blogger Margaret, at 8:30 AM  

It really was a funny day and we're all still sort of gasping for breath about it.

By Blogger Bess, at 9:37 AM  

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By Blogger Bess, at 9:37 AM  

If he didn't run screaming into the night, that's a brave and stalwart IT Man you've got there. :)

By Blogger cathy, at 10:39 PM  

Happy Sunday, Bess!

By Blogger Unknown, at 3:43 PM  

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Thursday, February 05, 2009  

Crazy Hump Day



All, and I do mean ALL the astrologers are screaming at me that I must werkwerkwerk till September when Saturn moves out of Virgo. AND that February will suck me dry with stressful situations mostly having to do with computers. AND Mercury was going to start moving forward on Monday but I better be prepared for one last kick in the teeth.

SO

I had to stay home Monday but when I go to work on Tuesday I find we don't have Internet in the library. That is - the staff network is down. Went down Monday. Why? Non-payment of bills. Since August!!!! The county is supposed to pay the bill. I gave the ISP the county's p.o. box # but I don't think they had it right, because one day I was at the CA's office and the secretary complained that someone had just brought them our bill with the wrong address on it. She said she'd called several times and given them the correct P.O. #, so I suggested she send it back unpaid and insist on them using the right address. I suppose that was snerty of me. MyBad.

But the main thing is .... I have only ever seen one bill in the 2 years, or is it 3, that they've been our ISP. So Tuesday I ask the ISP to fax me the bills. And they are so much more than I'd contracted for I call them and ask "How? How can 4 old ladies with computers and a server suck up that much bandwidth in a month?" The worst month was January, 2 months after we'd moved the public computers to a different network.

Their answer? Someone has been stealing bandwidth assigned to the library. Everyone, including our IT Man, says it can't happen except from within the building on the machines plugged into the network. The ISP people ask in a sneery tone, "Are you sure your staff isn't downloading movies at work?"I mean ... I mean... that's a little like “Are you sure your grandma isn't downloading 8 hours of porn flicks for 8 consecutive days in the church Sunday school room – while kids are having a Sunday school lesson.?"

"We're old!" I told him. "We're your grandma! I'm the youngest person here and I don't have an i-pod, and none of us know how to do streaming audio"

I think problem is with the ISP .... 4 gigs of downloading Christmas day? I don't think so. Not even the cleaning crew - the only other folk who have a key to the building, would come in on Christmas Day to download movies on the library computers.

They say they'll turn us back on when we've paid half the bill. I say if they can't plug their leak I am going to have to find a different ISP.

So I sick my IT Man on this and yesterday he showed up with Solutions. But problems also. You see, our domain name was set up by the IT Man before last. You might remember that last August our previous IT Man died of a sudden heart attack then. Our present IT Man is showing me this printout of how the domain name was set up and he points to ITM before-last's name and email. Sadly, though my name is listed as library director, in typical ITM control freak anal fashion, only his email is listed. So, to get our library's domain name and be able to host our website here or there or somewhere else - you have to have the secret domain name identity code. If you forgot what it is or lost it, they will happily email it to the ITM. So my cute new ITM says to me "Can you get in touch with this fellow?" and into the silence I answer, "No. He's dead".

"What? You didn't tell me you'd lost two ITM!"

It was like a skit out of Saturday night live. Because your durn tootin' I didn't tell him. Can you imagine the ad? "Wanted IT expert with death wish."

So. that was my Hump Day. At least, that was the easy part of my Hump Day. I'm so glad I go to the dentist today!

posted by Bess | 7:05 AM

5 Comments:

Ick. I hate weight training. Bo-o-o-o-ring...in or out of a gym. Wanna lift pounds for me too, dear heart? ;-)

Hugs!

By Blogger Margaret, at 9:22 AM  

Oh poor Marg. I LOVE weight training. It's so utterly self absorbing. Besides, I always walk away feeling so energized. Today we did upper body and I feel like my neck is an inch longer and my upper spin is maybe 2 inches - so now I'm 5'9!

And whey you are in exactly the proper form - NOTHING hurts and you can lift more.

oh la - don't get me started ....blablablablabla

By Blogger Bess, at 4:24 PM  

Your knitting lace for sheets gave me an idea ... maybe I'll knit some lace to trim some good towels for ME.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:39 PM  

Dear Bess, Have just tried to post acomment went all round the houses-and am back again. I do truly sympathise - but had a good laugh,
Hope you've got it sorted, I would be running up thewall by now
Love Anne

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:26 AM  

Attorney and Law Firm Information and Directory. Find Legal Information, Laws and local Attorneys.

By Anonymous free legal advice, at 2:39 AM  

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Monday, February 02, 2009  

Harder to do than I thought it would be



But more fun than I had imagined






Copies of paintings in the lessons from Frank Clarke and Janet Walsh.

And in stary news here is what MsHoroscope has to say to me today:

YOUR MIND: Your excellent analytical skills could go into overdrive this month so make time to talk things though with a trusted friend or counselor. Getting your worries off your chest helps you see that life is really full of possibilities. YOUR BODY: It's the month to overhaul health and wellbeing. Restructuring work commitments gives you regular time for physical wellness. Focus on muscle strength and consider including weight training in your health program.

Well, guess who has a weight lifting session with Tanya the Personal Trainer today? Yup. As for my excellent analytical skills - and every other part of my life - it is going into overdrive all year. I was laughing with a friend about this when I told her I thought maybe I could take some time off in 2010. It's not really that bad but I am BUSY busy busy busy busy this year.

I'm not too worried about anything at the moment but hey - I'm sure a worry or two can find me. Mostly I'm just going along for the ride during this interesting time. And of course, thinking about shaddows and light sources and paynes grey and how it makes so many greens .... and lace. knitted lace. I am in love with knitted lace. I am going to pop for some really good plain cotton sheets and knit lace edging for them. for me!

One day.

tomorrow.

At Tara.

Happy Tuesday to you all.

posted by Bess | 2:44 PM

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Here is a finished cuff pulled up over my pajama sleeve.

What a cute t-shirt embelishment this becomes. It goes swiftly too so I think this will be the first project my students knit. I'll give them enough yarn to make a pair - it comes to about 70 yards so each ball of P&C ought to yield 3 pair. I also plan to give them 2 skeins of DMC #5 pearl cotton to knit the same lace edging on smaller needles to sew to a hand towel. I'm thinking that there ought also to be, in their materials kit, a pair of #3 wooden needles with snarp tips - and that means purchasing KnitPicks harmony double points and dividing them up among the students.

I don't really try to make $ on the kits - just so I break even - but if I have to get the needles - and these are quilters, not knitters, so I don't expect them to have much of a stash of good quality needles - I'll have to consider the shipping costs. Still and all I think I can do that - break even - and we can have a very productive class.

My weekend had to flex itself into a different shape from what I had anticipated because my niece came for a visit. I knew she was coming but I hadn't realized how soon. We poured over old family photos and I gave her a stack from the hoard I brought home when we closed out Mama and Daddy's house. There are mountains of them and going through them with her made me realize the enormity of the task. It is SO big I believe it's time for

TaskMistress! (photo coming soon)

The chore mistress who breaks big projects down into doable tasks.

Because I have 3 boxes of these things and we only went through 1. And some are getting stuck to photo albums because, back then, we didn't know about acid paper and other destroyers of the minutia of our memories. But with the aid of TM maybe I can winnow this stuff down to someting useful and valuable (How many photographs of me as a 1 year old in a coat and hat on the Florida beaches does any family need?)

Of course the upside to all that would be Space In The Spare (sort of) Room. A rare and valuable comodity.

oh la - I just wish I had another day off. I am so in the mood to stay home today. Alas. It can not be. Off, be off, oh Queen. It's Monday already.

posted by Bess | 6:56 AM

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Sunday, February 01, 2009  

Knitting photos come last



Oh la! Has it been since Tuesday! I'm sorry about that. Life has swamped me and if the horoscope people are right – it will continue to do so through most of this year. Happily – I like surf and I can swim and besides – it's all just so much fun. Busy. But fun. Not like 2007 which was busy and horrible.

I spent yesterday in Richmond at a play with BH and her girls. This was her Christmas gift to me. This year we exchanged theater tickets. So I'm giving the house only a lick and a promise – swiping vacuum over hairy rugs, hitting the bathroom sink and mirror and changing sheets. Because today I plan to visit with my niece and then paint.

I only started the Friday painting class picture. I had just the one hour since we'd had to move the class to lunchtime and the rackumfrackum dvd player at work does not have a fast forward or a rewind button on it. At least, none of us could find it. When we needed to stop and actually do the technique being demonstrated we could do so, but if we missed something and needed to back up a bit .... we had to start all the freakin' way back at the beginning again!!

These paintings take about an hour to do – at least, I can do them in an hour at home – but not if I have to keep watching the same opening scene over and over again. When we can take the class in the morning before work on Friday I can actually go on more than an hour and just skip lunch. We do paperwork on Fridays and it's not so important if I do my 2 hours from 10 – 12 or from 11-1. Just so I open up to the public at 1 o'clock. My classmates finished up their paintings with gleeful success. I brought the dvd home with me to finish up mine. And I want to paint another one too – or do some brush stroke exercises. So that is what Sunday afternoon will be devoted to.

I can do this because I have been so good with my lace samples. Yes! I know this is a knitting blog. Of course, first of all it's TheQueen's blog but still and all -here is proof of knitting.

Same pretty lace edging stitch in Sugar'n'Cream with #8 needles (wouldn't that make a nice sweater cuff?):


In DMC Pearl Cotton #5 on size 1 needles (with a little leaf knit with #3's)


And in same DMC Pearl cotton on a #3 needle.



Daffodil knitting.




Have fun with your toys!

posted by Bess | 8:51 AM
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